Moana in a Kakamora Caper

It was early one February morning when I lost the most precious thing in the world to me.

It had been more than a month since our first annual New Year's party in the Room She Lives In, and since then I'd been doing a lot without ever having to leave the house. I had gotten to know each of the dolls better, which earned me an honorary spot on She's dresser. I slept there now, too, along with Anna, Elsa, and Loki. It was a nice life, and it seemed like nothing could go wrong.

Until that day. Since I'd gotten to bed early the night before, I rose with the dawn. The sky had been mostly still it's dark gray-blue color, the kind Steve likes, but some pink and yellow colors like reminded me of hibiscus flowers were beginning to take over the horizon. 

I groaned happily and stretched my full body out, then folded my arms behind my head. I'd had such a good and peaceful rest last night. No dreams, no stirrings. I felt totally and completely rested, and with sleep like that, you could only expect the day to get better. So you can imagine my utter surprise when I reached for my necklace on instinct- the one Gramma Tala had given my movie counterpart- to find my neck cold and bare without it. Immediately, I reached over and flipped the lightswitch on. Since She had spent the night at a friend's house, I had no fear of doing so. Then I decided to wake Anna, leaning into her legs and shaking her arms.

"Anna! Anna! My necklace is gone! I can't find it anywhere!"
"Now now, Moana." Anna mumbled, her voice groggy as she rolled over farther to try and avoid me.
"But it's important! I can't lose something like that, it's basically the whole reason my movie even happened!" My breath came out in small spurts, similar to how a human's pulse would quicken with their nervousness. I can't lose my necklace. I can't.
"Why don't you check with Loki? He's an early riser. I'm sure he's up at this hour. And speaking of hour-" Elsa felt around blindly for her alarm clock. "What time is it?"
"Time for action, that's what!" My cry was met with a chorus of hushes.
"Sorry, everyone," I apologized, picking up my oar with one hand and slinging a sleepy HeiHei under my arm with the under. Pua was already following my heels closely. "Thanks for the tip, Elsa. I'm off to go find Loki, but I'll be back."

I don't think anyone heard me say "maybe" in return as I leaped from the dresser and into the great unknown which lied behind She's bedroom door. There had to be something else, something darker, behind this missing necklace. I wouldn't just lose it like that.
Even though She was gone, I'll still have to be careful since humans still roamed the house. I'd peek around every corner before turning, using my oar as a sort of spear for protection. My first step was to find Loki, and I had a decent guess that he'd be downstairs. Luckily, I wasn't wrong. I found him doing his morning rounds with a walk around the living room. He was small enough so that humans might ignore him upon close glance, but just to be safe, he kept close to the couch.

I charged him, oar raised, my feet silent on the hardwood floors.
Loki's eyebrows raised in my direction. "Moana! You're an early riser, too, huh?"
"Most of the time," I replied. "But today I'm up because I need your help. "My necklace..." I gestured to my empty throat. "Is missing. I could have sworn I had it on last night, and now this morning I discovered it gone."
"Hmm, that's right. You do wear it all the time."
"Yes, but now I don't know where it could be."
I was going to let Loki think about it for a minute, but then he snapped his fingers.
"Have you ever been to the basement, Moana?"

I blinked. I remember exploring most of the house my first days here, either because of curiosity, boredom, or feeling like an outsider with the rest of She's dolls. I went everywhere: all the bedrooms, bathrooms, rooms with tables and rooms with rugs. But I didn't think I went any lower than the ground floor in She's house.

"No..." I said hesitantly. I didn't like the way Loki had said the word "basement".

"Ah! Then it's time you go down there. And not dropping any hints, but it might be a good place to check for your necklace."

Loki stared up at me with eyes I couldn't read. What did he mean, "not dropping any hints"? I wasn't sure to be frustrated with him or scared, but when he lead the way to a dark, carpeted stairwell not too far from the couch, I didn't argue. My necklace could be down there, and though I wasn't sure how it would end up there, I needed to get it back.

"Here we are," Loki announced once we arrived. "The basement."

With one hand, I planted the end of my oar on the top of the stairwell like a victory flag, and with the other, I squeezed my hair into a ponytail that fell apart immediately. Pua oinked worriedly in aversion, but HeiHei was far too much of a coconut-brain to care that he was staring down into an abyss that looked farther down than even the Realm of Monsters. It least there was a lovely yellow wall and flower stickers at the bottom, but even that cheeriness couldn't offset my dread.

"That's the basement?" I asked, but of course it was. I trusted Loki, even if I knew he wasn't giving me the full story.

"Yep," said Loki, then turned around and left before I could ask anything more of him. "Good luck."

I watched him leave, and it was pretty clear he wasn't coming back to help. Sighing, I turned to my animal friends. "Alright. Come on, guys."

We started down the stairs, one step at a time, and it wasn't just the length of my legs holding me back from going further. "Ikaika, Ikaika." I chanted to myself, hoping the native words would give me courage.

Unfortunately, my encouragement did not work the same on Pua and HeiHei. As soon as we hit flat ground, they squealed and crowed in alarm and turned away from me, heading back up the stairs as quick as they could.
"Guys, come on! My necklace!" I hissed, but no amount of convincing could bring them back to my side.

I breathed outwards angrily to hide my fear, and held my oar, sharp end outwards. Treading slowly, my brown eyes darted this way and that, bracing for any predator that might appear, even though I knew it was only a basement, and the only dolls I knew to exist lived upstairs.

Or maybe not. I hear the stamp of tiny feet running somewhere near me. I cry out in surprise and point my oar in its direction, which was right in the shadow of the leg of a wooden chair. Since it was so dark, I could only tell that the thing had a tiny body and a round head, and eyes that flashed both black and white back at me.
"Kakamora?" I whispered, even though I knew such a thing had to be near impossible. My boxed set hadn't come with any other dolls but me, Pua, and HeiHei. Unless She had somehow gotten a kakamora figurine without my knowledge."Hello?" I called out warily, but my oar never fell an inch from the air.
Apparently that had been the right thing to say. The kakamora, tiny as it was, had been hiding something behind its back the whole time. At my greeting, they pulled it out and threw it towards me. I landed some distance away, yet enough in the light so that I could see what it was.

"My necklace!" I yelped. I had to hold back on my instinct to run forward and grab it away. I was sure the kakamora had something else in store for me. The kakamora had to express itself solely through blinks and movements from its dark little eyes. Sensing my panic, the corners of its lower lids raised upwards in a smile.
"Listen- I've got something you want," I promised, my voice shaking with determination. "Something far more valuable than a stupid necklace." I had heard my lying words, but as soon as I said them, I straightened myself up. What was I doing, being so afraid? I am Moana of Motunui! Kakamora were nothing to me. And just one would be no trouble at all.
"You know what? Nevermind. Just hand it over." I growled, showing it I meant business by stepping forward ever so slightly.
The kakamora didn't respond very well to that. They suddenly rushed forward, and while I braced myself to practice my batting skills with this coconut creature, it actually scaled a tall, green-blue glass of water I hadn't seen in the room earlier. It climbed to the top and stood on the rim, and then temptingly shook it over the surface of the water.
"No!" I screamed, dropping my oar and running forward, not caring what it kakamora did to me now. It only had time to squint its beady eyes in amusement before dropping my necklace into the water and backing away, back into the shadows.

"No!" I gasped again. I was now standing over the glass, staring down into the cylindrical pit where my necklace had fallen. I watched it tumble down until it hit the bottom, which was too far for my arms to reach. And even if they could, I can't get wet. The ocean may have chosen me, but I couldn't chose the ocean. One drop of the water could do so much as to wreck my voice box forever. Somehow the kakamora must have known that, or else the water wouldn't be down there.

Everything seemed beyond hope until I retraced my thoughts. I reminded myself that Elsa had ice powers, even though she was still a doll. Then maybe... the ocean had still chosen me, hadn't it? Even if I couldn't fully embrace it? I bent a hand over the water and squeezed my eyes shut, begging for the ocean to help me retrieve my most precious gift.
"Please, ocean. Please, please please..."
With my eyes still closed, I envisioned a force rising up from the depths and carrying the necklace right back up to the air, sort of like reversing time. I concentrated until my nose scrunched up in focus, and then by some miracle I heard a "sploosh"-ing sound. My eyes opened in alarm to see the necklace sitting right on the top.

"Ha!" I exclaimed, snatching it up without so much as skimming the water with my fingers and putting it back around my neck, which seemed warmer with the accessory's return. I hadn't even known that was going to work, and yet it did. My hope rose and sank at the same time, with the knowledge that I had the ability to communicate with water, but without the chance to ever get close to it. I held the pendant with desire and despair.

"Hey, no fair!" said the commanding, yet at the moment, slightly whiny growl of a voice I know.

"Magneto?" I called, bewildered as the little key-chain at last let the light fall on him. He wasn't a kakamora at all, just a trickster.
"I didn't realize you had water powers." he huffs, crossing his arms.
"To be honest, I didn't think I did, either," I replied, protectively clutching the locket which was now safe around my neck. It couldn't have been me that had a command over the water. Dolls can't get wet, especially singing dolls, since they have to protect their batteries. It must have just been some lucky coincidence that my necklace was able to float to the top after sinking so far. Having influence over the tides didn't make any sense, but what made even less sense was why Magneto had stolen my prized possession at all. "What made you think that taking and hiding my necklace was a good idea?" I accused, my tone shifting to outraged. I pointed my oar at him again as a threat.

Magneto sighed. "I was there when you rescued Elphaba from the tree on Christmas Day. And then I saw how everyone called you a hero. I knew that it doesn't take one act of heroism to gain that title for the rest of your days. So I stole your necklace while you were sleeping, because I knew you were so fond of it, then came down to the basement. If you were a true hero, you would do anything to have it again. And you did. The final test was to see if you'd risk yourself for something you love. And you did. But it might be cheating if you have control over water."

"But why did you do this to me? Didn't you see how worried I was?"

"Yes, but that fear triggered courage, didn't it? I guess..." From behind his forever-on helmet, I saw Magneto raise an eyebrow. "I guess I wanted to see how far you'll go."

I beamed in reference to my song, but that still didn't make things any better.

"Well, I got it back. So there. Ha ha."

"What is so special about that necklace, anyways?" Magneto asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know. Why did you decide to get at me and not anyone else?"

"Touché."

I smoothed back a lock of my hair. "If that's all you want from me, then I should be heading back. She will probably be waking up soon," I looked up at the tiny square of a window on the wall, the only light source in the whole basement, and tired to measure the sun's distance from the horizon with my hand. "But first I need to find Pua and HeiHei."

"You mean these little guys?" said a voice that was not Magneto's.

I turned around and saw Loki, with Pua and HeiHei tagging along right behind him. When they saw me, they ran forward, and I scooped them up in my arms.

"I guess I have an affiliation for animals." said Loki with a shrug.

"Were you a part of this plan, too?" I asked.

"I'll admit I knew some of it. I knew that Magneto wanted to test your heroic capabilities, but I wasn't sure how he would do it," Loki scowled his best friend's way. "I hope that it was nothing too bad."

"Oh, please," I rolled my eyes. "It was basically a morning workout," I picked Magneto up by his key-chain clasp and fastened him onto the handle part of my paddle in one fluid motion.

The key-chain groaned, and although Loki's face still remained suspicious, he couldn't help but shake his head and laugh.

"Ready to go back up?"

"Yes, I think we're done here." Loki nodded. He lead the way up to make sure the path back to the Room She Lives In was safe and human-free, and I made sure to jostle Magneto around a little in joking punishment along the way.

"I may not enjoy this, but it sure beats taking the stairs myself." Magneto decided.

In the end, kakamora, thief, or not, I was starting to see that Magneto could have the possibility of becoming a very good friend of mine.

And, of course, I was very happy to have my necklace back.

Ioihi makamaka,

Moana of Motunui