Chapter Soundtracks:

(*1) Kakamora, Mark Mancina

Disclaimer:

The movie, 'Moana', is copyrighted by Walt Disney Animation Studio. It was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker and the co-directors were Don Hall and Chris William. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures in 2017.

I only claim copyright to the characters, and some of the elements of the story, that are of my own creation.

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Chapter 4 The Kakamora

(*1)

'' Gods I don't believe it! Our journey across the ocean has only just started, and already we are facing enemies bent on hampering our mission to restore Te Fiti to her former self,'' I thought with dread.

Maui wrenched the harpoon from the mast, uttering a sound of frustration.

'' KAKAMORA!'' he practically spat out.

'' Well, something did come at us,'' I sighed out to Moana who turned to look at me with wide, startled eyes.

She held a tight-fisted hand over the magical stone heart.

'' W-what are Kakamora, Maui?'' Moana asked with a nervous air to her voice.

'' Their murdering little pirates.'' Maui spat out shortly.

That was all I needed to hear in order to immediately spring into action without even looking in the direction of our approaching enemies!

I tightened the stays with nervousness pressing against my chest as I'd never had to 'sail for my life'( well, I did have to a year ago). But after years of being on a boat, doing these small adjustments came naturally.

I moved to the back of the boat after tightening the yard-line, my chest tight with nervous anticipation as I crouched, grabbed the rope and took it off the paddle before tightening the rope.

'' I wonder what they're here for,'' Maui commented sarcastically.

'' Would you two dumb-dumbs focus?!'' I gritted out between clenched teeth and unfurled the sail.

Maui and Moana stumbled as our boat ricocheted forward before catching their feet under them again.

THE HEART! THE HEART! THE HEART!

The little pirates had begun to actually chant out in an understandable language, but their voices sounded rough and animalistic.

'' They're after the heart of Te Fiti!'' Moana gasped out loud.

'' This day is turning out just swell,'' I thought sarcastically, rolling my eyes in frustration.

'' Okay, definitely not cute little coconuts,'' Moana gulped nervously.

The Kakamora all wore expressions of fury upon noticing us attempting an escape.

'' Well that's just wrong,'' I thought as a short hysterical sort of laugh escaped my lips despite the tense situation.

I turned my head back in the direction we were attempting to escape.

'' You actually thought them cute?'' Maui exclaimed and slapped the side of his head in disbelief.

My amusement was quelled as soon as it had begun upon hearing the sound of the pursuing ship behind us.

Moana, too, was becoming more panicked when she realized we were now being chased by pirates keen on pillaging Te Fiti's heart for their own use.

'' They're gaining on us, ocean, please help us!'' she cried out to the unresponsive water.

'' The ocean doesn't help you, you help yourself,'' Maui scolded before turning to actually watch me for the first time since the boat started moving.

His expression held some surprise upon realizing I'd already done the necessary adjustments to the boat when he'd still stood preoccupied with the sudden appearance of the Kakamora.

A pleased expression took its place for a moment before Maui's attention shifted back to the pirates.

I chanced a glance to the back side of the boat as a war-horn was put to use and the sound of their wildly beating drums accompanying the sound was nerve-wracking.

Those creatures did look threatening despite wearing coconut armour and being the height of only about ninety-five centimetres.

They all had bristly looking hair that looked a lot like the fibre on a coconut and they had long sharp looking talons.

Seeing those Kakamora using a massive conch- shell as a warhorn made the situation worse.

And so did Moana's panicked exclamation.

'' CAN'T you shape-shift or something?''

I snapped my head back to view the impending argument playing out in front of me.

''Do you SEE my hook, Curly? NO magic hook equals NO magic powers!'' Maui shot back at the panicking girl, gesturing down to Mini Maui who was shaking his head in confirmation.

'' You are the demigod of the WIND and Sea, Maui! Are you unable to BLOW more wind to our sail? Moana's ancestors didn't build this canoe for high-speed chases!'' I snarled out.

Maui and Moana both turned to me in surprise before a thoughtful expression crossed the man's face.

'' Is it possible for you to make the boat go faster?'' Moana gasped out to the demigod.

But before we could confirm my thoughts to be either a 'yes or a no', our thoughts were distracted by the sound of another harpoon flying through the air.

Whoosh...

'' AHHH!''

A tortured shriek escaped my lips as my senses were suddenly assaulted by a sharp, tearing agony.

My grip on the rope and paddle faltered as stars entered my vision from the pain that had assaulted my senses.

Maui jumped in to pull me out of the back of the canoe and towards the centre of the deck, tightening the rope at the same time so as to stop the sail from slackening and slowing down our speed.

I felt soft, small girl hands press down on my calf and forced myself to blink away the stars in my vision.

'' W-what hit me?'' I asked in a dazed voice.

'' That was a harpoon, Maija. It made a glancing hit and you have a rather deep scar running the length of the side of your calf, '' Moana answered with a tight voice.

Her brown eyes were peering worriedly into my dazed, pain-filled eyes.

'' W-we don't have the time to focus on the wound, just- OW!''

Moana had increased the pressure to stop the bleeding, and I couldn't suppress a pained groan.

'' T-tie it tightly with something and focus on the pursuing Kakamora,'' I finished in a strained voice.

''A-alright, Maija,'' Moana muttered shakily and used one hand to unwound the coral-red shawl from around her waist.

As she started wrapping the wound tightly with the shawl, I blearily focused on her face and winced as she tightened the shawl once before fastening it.

Moana looked at me apologetically upon noticing my pained reaction, before her eyes shifted to the fishing rod fastened over my shoulders.

It didn't take me long to realize where Moana's eyes had wandered, and that since her paddle had to be used elsewhere, she was without a weapon.

'' Take the rod, and use it to fend off the Kakamora attempting to board your boat. It's a sturdy rod that can handle reeling in a large shark,'' I implored quietly.

Moana gave me a thankful smile before she stood up to stand over me protectively.

I felt the fishing-rod slide off my back as the young Islander took it for her use, and I struggled to turn around to see what was happening with the Kakamora fleet, but just as I did the air was filled with the sound of more harpoons launched from the massive mother-boat.

A mother-boat that looked more like a small island than a pirate ship!

'' That's not good,'' Moana moaned as the harpoons smacked into the post and the gunwale.

She suddenly lost her balance and partially fell on top of me when the ropes attached to the harpoons were tightened, and our boat lurched backwards from the immediate pulling dealt on the ropes.

'' Definitely not good at all,'' I gasped, struggling to swallow back a shriek of pain when the girl landed on my injured thigh.

'' I'm so sorry!'' Moana yelped as she scrambled away from me.

She then swirled around to stare at the enclosing mother-boat in wide-eyed panic.

'' The day turns from 'weird' to 'bad'. How can we possibly get away from the Kakamora?'' I grumbled inwardly, turning to stare at the enclosing boat before switching my attention to Maui.

When I saw him pulling the harpoons off the wood, I suddenly remembered the Finnish- knife (puukko) that my grandfather (from my mother's side of the family) had assigned to me in his Testament.

I sunk my hand into the back pocket of my shorts and rummaged inside until my hand enclosed around the smooth wooden handle.

'' Maui, catch the knife!'' I shouted and lobbed the knife towards the rather surprised demigod.

But my aim was true, and Maui easily caught the treasured artefact and started hacking at the bases of the harpoons where the ropes were at their tightest.

Splash, splash, splash

The Kakamora that had tried to board our boat using the ropes, fell into the salty water with startled screeches as their way of entry was intercepted.

Maui finished freeing us in record time, jumped back onto the steering end of the boat and ended the rather amazing spectacle by heaving in a breath and then freeing it against the sail in a huge gust of wind.

Our boat ricocheted forwards and Moana yelped as she almost lost her footing a second time.

But she didn't lose it this time around, for which I was silently grateful.

'' If only this boat had a differently angled sail, this boat would outrun those Kakamora boats easily,'' I moaned out loud, even as I hoped we'd gain some ground on the 'little beasties'.

'' What do you mean by that?'' Moana asked me, not missing the little snippet of knowledge I knew would have been handy at a time like this.

'' I meant exactly what I said, if the angle of the sail was more towards the nose of the canoe, lowest at the tip of the sail, getting away from that heavy mother-ship wouldn't be a problem,'' I grunted out.

'' You sure know a lot about sailing, Sweetheart,'' Maui exclaimed from the steering end.

I shook my head in exasperation at the demigod.

Why did he still sound like he was caught off guard over my knowledge of boats? Had he not listened during those first weeks on that drab little island when I'd told him that I'd been practically raised sailing by my father and my grandfather (from dad's side of the family)?

'' I told you, Maui, that teaching sailing to children and adults was my job before I became your island apprentice,'' I drawled out with tiredness and physical pain in my eyes,

BOOOOM, BOOOOM, BOOOOM

The sound of the shell- horn being blown once more and the sound of the angrily beating drums had me wincing.

Those murdering little pirates certainly weren't giving up their chosen treasure so easily.

And what made the situation even worse...

'' MORE boats, the mother-ship is turning into MORE boats!'' Moana exclaimed in disbelief as she stood in a battle ready stance.

Her fingers gripped my rod tightly as two smaller boats were released by long mooring lines that had held them secure to the sides of the mothership.

They broke off from the much larger wooden ship and began to quickly enclose on us from both sides.

I stumbled to my feet holding onto the mast for support as I looked around wildly for an idea to salvage the situation before we were caught and be unable to escape.

While the mother-boat looked ridiculously heavy and slow to turn with its tall, simply built tower and even full height coconut trees with leaves, these two pirate boats were smaller and faster.

And yet, compared to our boat, they looked cumbersome and would certainly not be able to make sudden fast turns.

'' That is it, we can make sudden turns,'' I realized with sudden clarity and whirled around to address Maui who was looking at the approaching boats with a deep frown on his face.

'' Maui, those boats won't be able to turn as fast as us! If we pivot our boat towards the opposite direction at just the right moment we can hopefully cause those boats to crash,'' I exclaimed as I limped towards the demigod.

'' You are wounded on one leg and the girl doesn't know how to sail,'' Maui gritted out between clenched teeth.

'' Then you make the pivot happen and I'll be in charge of steering; you know I can sail. But if we are gonna make this plan work it's going to have to happen before those puny pirates attack us with more harpoons,'' I retorted with forced calmness.

This was not the right time and place to argue about this subject, and I hoped Maui would realize that at the current moment this plan was our only solution to escape.

'' Then mind the steering,'' Maui answered, coming to a quick conclusion that I may be in the right in this matter.

He quickly got up, grabbed me under my armpits with one arm and plopped me down into his vacated seat, still holding the rope taught to keep the sail from slackening.

He then quickly handed me the rope and paddle.

'' You know my war-call by heart, Sweetheart, so when I use it, pull the paddle from the water and jam it back in once the turn has been made,'' Maui told me as soon as I had a firm grip on them.

'' Aye, Maui, I shall do it,'' I answered as more adrenaline seeped into my being.

Currently, it was the only thing keeping me on my feet at this time, and the pain from overwhelming my senses was the adrenaline.

'' Moana, hold on tightly to the mast!'' I called out to the teenager who had been watching and listening to us making up the plan.

Her expression told that she hadn't expected to see any teamwork happen between a mortal and this particular demigod.

Thankfully Moana didn't question my words.

Instead, she jumped to do my bidding when she saw Maui readying to make the turn.

The teenager grasped the mast tightly with both arms, one hand still clutching on to my fishing-rod.

'' CHEE-HOO!''

Maui's shout rang in my ears, and I lifted the oar and gripped the sides of the canoe with my thighs as my side of the boat was lifted into the air by the force of the demigod's jump-and-land motion.

Our boat swept the waves on one side and the other in the air as we made the turn...

Maui then jumped to the starboard side of the boat to steady us before the boat capsized, and as soon as both sides of the boat firmly hit the water I jammed the oar back into the water.

I glared up at small Kakamora jumping around on the towering ship approaching us with high speed. I could hear Moana gasp worriedly at the sight of the chattering Kakamora preparing to jump aboard our small boat.

I was worried, too, but I was determined to find us an opening to slip through at the last second.

And then I saw it, on the right side where there was an arch to the stern of the massive ship that we could use to our advantage. But it would require Maui to once again mind the turning and prevent us from capsizing.

And Moana to 'mind the little coconuts'.

'' Moana, the Kakamora will try to jump on board. Please, use the fishing rod to hamper those annoying little coconut pirates,'' I called out to the girl who stood at the stern with a now determined expression on her face as she prepared to ward off our attackers.

'' And Maui, lean towards the starboard-side when I give you the signal,'' I added as we approached the mother-boat at top speed.

The waves crashed against the sides of the boat as we sailed ever closer to our enemies...

'' I'M TURNING'' I exclaimed, jumping up from my crouch and leaning towards the port-side of our canoe.

Maui adjusted his own weight to make the turn easier, and the boat was quick to dart to a position parallel to the Kakamora ship.

For a moment I wondered why the Kakamora weren't attacking us yet until I was struck by the realization that they may have been caught off guard by our sudden turn into their path.

But this moment of confusion from out enemies was short-lived.

The small creatures managed to reorganize their group and began to jump on board. But Moana was instantly in the position to defend our boat.

'' HA!''

POW, POW,POW

The sound of her using my fishing-rod to strike out at the Kakamora was like the bowling ball striking the pins.

It brought up a rather amusing image in my head, but I needed to keep my eyes fixated on the opening we were going to use as an escape route. And to trust Maui and Moana to defend me from the enemy.

'' Lean PORT-SIDE, Maui, NOW!'' I shouted when I saw that the two smaller boats were fast approaching us.

Our boat swept the surface, the outrigger in the air as Maui used the long rope to keep the boat from capsizing to one side.

I determinately leaned to the right, keeping to my feet even as the strain in my arm and my injured thigh increased as the seconds ticked by.

I couldn't falter to strain, not now anyway!

Swish, swish, swish

Thunk, thunk, thunk

I flinched as a half dozen darts flew past me and smacked onto the mast.

Swish

Thunk

One single dart had to have smacked onto the end of the boat somewhere behind me.

''A really close call,'' I thought, my expression gritting into a fierce look as we kept to the position until the end of our boat was home-free, and I could relax slightly.

As Maui jumped in front of me in a crouch, breathing in another deep breath before releasing it in a gusty wind, I quickly adjusted the sails to take the strong wind

Said wind ricocheted our boat forward and we were swept over a large incoming wave that launched us into the air for a short moment before we landed back down on the ocean surface.

The impact jarred my injured leg and I could barely hold back a yelp of agony. I sucked in a sharp breath when I felt something warm and sticky dripping down my leg despite the makeshift tourniquet. My leg must have been bleeding again.

CRUNCH HHHH

My spirits were raised by the satisfying sound of the two smaller boats being run over by the mothership. And even more so, at the high pitched yelps from the Kakamora pirates evacuating their boats for the ocean to avoid getting potentially crushed by the bigger boat.

For a while, I was still smirking like crazy and kept to my position, but after a while, my adrenaline began to run out. I was becoming light-headed, dizzy and I could barely focus on Moana's excitable shouts.

'' We made it out! We made it out! We made it out!''

She was jumping around on the boat deck holding her odd pet rooster, Heihei, in her arms.

'' Well, I'm glad you turned out to be of some help after all, Curly. Though I must question the sanity of your Village Chief when I find myself looking down at a child that doesn't know a thing about Wayfinding,'' Maui commented as he began picking up the darts scattered around the boat before chucking them into the ocean.

'' The Village Chief of Motunui is Tui! And I am the daughter of the chief! Don't you dare insult my father, or my people, when it wasn't them who chose me to sail across the ocean to find you!'' Moana exclaimed, looking furious.

'' Oh, really? Then what sort of bone-headed...?'' Maui retorted.

'' If you finish that sentence I'll shove this dart up where the 'sun doesn't shine', on you!'' I snapped out between clenched teeth, having reached over the side of the boat to yank the red feathered weapon off the wood.

Moana hid a laugh behind her hand as I brandished the dart at Maui who drew me a disgruntled glance.

'' At least try to be grateful for the fact that she actually came looking for you on that godforsaken piece of land,'' I added and stumbled slightly on my feet.

I would have fallen back into the ocean if it weren't for the 'blob of water' (that had been so helpful with Moana) gently shoving me forwards until I landed on my knees against the floor of the canoe.

The wood felt wet underneath me, but as I moved I felt the stickiness there, too, and I knew without looking that it was more than just seawater sprayed onto the deck.

'' I- I think you'll have to take over the steering, Maui,'' I gasped out as the familiar pain lanced over the rather deep cut on the side of my thigh.

Then, suddenly, my vision began to turn blurry around the corners and I felt like I would pass out.

I began to slowly slip over the edge of the canoe...

''Maija!''

I heard Maui calling my name before I could feel myself being pulled back up from slumping over the side of the boat. I groaned slightly at the pain and the dizziness as I was being cradled in the arms of my friend.

Warm hands reach out to unwound the tourniquet from around my calf, and I tried to focus my eyes when I heard the sharp gasp as the wound was revealed.

I felt slightly numb and detached, but I could still feel the teenager applying firm pressure to the bleeding wound.

For a moment I could focus my eyesight on the shocked, worried, guilty expression on Moana's face.

But really, I held no grievances towards her forgetting that I'd been injured when the Kakamora had come to steal the heart of Te Fiti from us. But as much as I wanted to assure her of that, I could no longer summon any energy to speak out.

The darkness began to creep further than the edges of my irises until my vision was totally blackened and the unconsciousness called out to me. Then the black void eventually took me to where I could see and hear no more.

End of Chapter 4

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Author Notes:

Constructive criticism is always welcomed by me, the Author.