Moana

Chapter Nine

"This guy has such an ego," Aukai muttered under his breath before speaking more clearly. "As she was saying, we are..."

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Maui interrupted again. "And women. Men and women. Both. All. Not a guy, girl thing. You know, Maui is a hero to all. You guys are doing great."

"What?" Moana asked as she pointed her oar at him. "No! We're here to..."

"Of course," Maui said as he set the boat down. "Of course. Yes, yes, yes. Maui always has time for his fans."

He then grabbed the oar from Moana and picked up Hei-Hei, using the chicken's beak to scratch into the wood.

"When you use a bird to write with...

"It's called tweeting."

After throwing Hei-Hei behind him, a smiling Maui handed Moana her oar again, which was revealed to have a heart scratched in with a fish hook.

"Huh?" Maui asked as Aukai took the oar to inspect it. "I know, not every day you get a chance to meet your hero."

That tore it.

Gripping the oar, Aukai swung it into Maui's stomach as Moana grabbed his ear as he doubled over.

"You are not our hero," Moana growled. "And we're not here so you can sign our oar! We're here 'cause you stole the heart of Te Fiti!"

"And you will board our boat..." Aukai added as he struggled to push Maui toward the canoe as Moana strained to reach for her oar, which was planted in the sand. "And sail across the sea and put it back!"

"Um..." Maui said as he stood upright, dragging Moana with him. He then grabbed both teenagers and placed them in front of him as he continued. "Yeah, it almost sounded like you both don't like me, which is impossible because I got stuck here for 1,000 years trying to get the heart as a gift for you mortals. So you could have the power to create life itself.

"So what I believe you were both trying to say..." Maui continued, "is 'thank you.'"

"'Thank you?'" Moana and Aukai asked simultaneously.

"You're welcome," Maui answered.

"What?" Moana asked. "No, no, no!" Maui just crooked an eyebrow as Moana continued stuttering. "We didn't... we weren't... why would we ever say that?"

"Okay, okay," Maui chuckled before singing.

"I see what's happening

"Yeah."

As he continued, he raised his tooth necklace, revealing a tattoo of him holding the sky. But what happened next caused Moana and Aukai to both gasp.

The tattoo gave them a salute as he winked at them.

"You're face to face with greatness and it's strange

"You don't even know how you feel

"It's adorable!"

Maui threw his necklace away as his tattoo self moved up to his giant bicep.

"Well, it's nice to see that humans never change

"Open your eyes

"Let's begin!"

He spun Moana into Aukai's arms as her hair flew into her face. She fixed it as Maui continued.

"Yes, it's really me

"It's Maui

"Breathe it in

"I know it's a lot