8. Hunting For Seashockers

"ERET WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?!"

Eret lifted his head groggily and rubbed his eyes to see Moana holding something in front of his face. When his vision cleared, he could see it was a handful of snow.

"I went out to go feed your dragon and found this outside on the grass! It's everywhere!" Moana cried out and thrust the snow into his face. "And it's so cold! So is the air!"

"You've never seen snow? It comes whenever it's cold." Eret said sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"I come from a much warmer climate." Moana explained. "And Maui is refusing to go outside and started a fire in your firepit to keep the house warm."

"Well that was nice of him. Now go throw that snow in your hands out, you'll freeze your fingers off."

Moana did as he asked and wiped her hands on her skirt. After dressing, the two headed downstairs to find Maui warming his hands in front of the firepit with Skull Crusher waiting beside it.

"Does this happen daily? That cold white stuff I mean." The demigod asked.

"Every once in a while, Berk is known for having winter for more than a few months." Eret answered. "Seeing that you two aren't ready for the cold, we'll have to give you an outfit change."

"Really?" Moana asked looking down at her clothes. "Well this was meant for much warmer climates so you are right."

"You'll just need a long sleeved shirt, breeches, cloak or fur hood and some boots." Eret said walking to the door. "And for Maui he'll need that too, I'll go out and ask around if anyone has any spare clothes that fit you all. Help yourselves to some food, I'll be right back, come Skull Crusher."

The two found some fish with salt and made themselves a simple meal of cooked fish. As Moana was picking the mess up from the floor and discarding the entrails, Eret returned with Astrid, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Fishlegs and each were carrying bundles of what must have been clothes.

"Can we use your spare room?" Astrid asked Eret as she and Ruffnut walked over to Moana.

"Sure, just don't make a mess." He replied. "And be sure to return whatever doesn't fit Moana."

The three girls hurried up the stairs to the spare room Eret had and proceeded in examining the clothes.

"I'm thinking maybe blue or light brown for the shirt." Ruffnut said holding up two long sleeved shirts. "And maybe some dark brown leggings."

"I think the dark brown would look better on her." Astrid said motioning for Moana to try it on. "And remove your current shirt while you're at it."

"Do I have to?" Moana asked looking down at her top.

"Well maybe we could put it on top of the other shirt if b you don't want to get ride of it." Ruffnut suggested.

They turned away to let Moana put the new shirt on and place her old one on top of it. Of course it looked a little ridiculous so she removed it and put something else over the shirt. After nodding in agreement, the two girls helped her put the breeches on and proceeded in finding a pair of boots.

"This fits too small." Moana said removing the boots from her feet, and it kinda hurts my feet."

"You may not be used to having any sort of shoes, but these will protect your feet." Astrid said handing her a bigger pair. "Might have trouble looking for a pair to fit Maui."

"I know right? Have you seen the size of his feet?" Ruffnut laughed and helped Moana stand.

"So...how do I look?" Moana asked.

"How do you feel?" Ruffnut asked.

"Well kinda warm." Moana admitted. "Is that a good thing?"

"Of course it is! Now you can go outside, but put on a cloak first." Astrid said handing her a dark blue cloak with the inside lined with soft brown fur.

They walked downstairs to find Maui attempting to pull off a boot from his feet. He wore a pale brown tunic with dark brown pants but still wore his grass skirt over them.

"Told ya there'd be no boots in his size." Tuffnut said as he tried to pull it off. "But noooo! You wouldn't listen!"

"I didn't think his feet would be this big!" Fishlegs protested as the boot came off and sent the male twin rolling. The girls burst out in laughter, catching the boys attention.

"Well at least you found something that fit." Maui said sitting up.

"We'll just have to get you custom fitted boots, might take a few days." Eret said helping him get to his feet.

"Let's hope Snotlout quits hitting on her since most of her is covered up now." Astrid said as they got off the stairs.

"So are we going dragon catching?" Moana asked, hoping not to sound too eager.

"We sure are, figured out what dragon you want?" Fishlegs asked.

"I was thinking of that manta ray dragon."

"Seashocker? But that's a Tidal class, and those tend to be more aggressive!"

"Relax, curly here has handled more aggressive things in her life aside from dragons. She can handle one of those." Maui assured him. "Besides, she's probably already got a plan on how to round one up, right Moana?"

"Uh....yeah! Yeah I do have a plan!" Moana said planting her hands on her hips. "Which you shall see when we go hunting- I mean searching for them!"

"I sure hope you have a plan." Tuffnut muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She really likes staying on that boat, doesn't she?" Snotlout said as the group was flying. Down below in the water, Moana was sailing on her raft with Maui swimming at her side as a shark.

"After yesterday I don't think we should risk her being shaky again." Hiccup said to his cousin. "It's understandable that she'd want to stay out in the water, probably hoping to catch a glimpse of a Seashocker."

"She has guts, I'll tell you that." Eret said flying close. "Not everyone is willing to take on dragons as aggressive as a Tidal class one, especially ones that stay together in a pod."

"Give her a hand will you Eret? I feel like she'll need some help." Hiccup asked, casting Moana a worried look.

"I was already was planning on doing that."

Moana dipped her hand into the water to feel it starting to get cold. God, they were getting close to the icy region where Seashockers dwelt.

"You sure you wanna do this? They have some other dragons back on Berk." Maui asked her as he surfaced to talk. "This won't be like taking on Tamatoa or Kakamora."

"I can do this, besides if I need help I'll let you know." The young chief assured him.

"That's the problem, you don't always ask for help when you need it!" Maui pointed out. "Heck there were times when you didn't even ask the ocean for help and we would almost get killed!"

"You did say the ocean wasn't always gonna help me and that I need to help myself." Moana pointed out.

"And when did I say that?"

"When we were gonna be attacked by Kakamora."

"Shark head..." Maui muttered under his breath.

Within time, Moana caught sight of several dorsal fins sticking out of the water.

"Are those sharks or dolphins?" She asked, tightening the rope on her sail to slow her boat down.

"I'll scout ahead." Maui said diving under the water.

"What's he doing?" Eret called out from above.

"he's scouting ahead to see what that is!" She yelled up to him.

They heard a loud yell from the sea and turned to see Maui jump out of the water and turn into a human before turning into a hawk.

"NOT SHARKS OR DOLPHINS! GIANT MANTA RAYS WITH HEADS FOR EYES!" He yelled when he approached them. "I GOT BIT AND I'M PRETTY SURE I LOST SOME TOES!"

"And you are leading them right to us!" Astrid yelled.

And it was true. The group of dorsal fins were swimming right towards them. From where she stood, Moana could see something that did resemble a manta ray but with two snapping heads where they eyes should have been.

"Seashockers!" She yelled excitedly.

"Cover Moana, I'm going to try and lure one out of it's pod!" Hiccup yelled.

He and Toothless flew out towards the pod and blasted a plasma blast right into the middle of the pod, taking care not to hit any of the dragons but just to startle them.

"Help!" Hiccup turned back to see several Seashockers swimming around the small raft as the dragon riders were attempting to keep them away.

"Moana hold on! Guys get her out of there!" He yelled flying off towards them.

"There was another group nearby, we're invading and threatening their territory!" Fishlegs yelled as he attempted to get close to the raft to get Moana off.

"Moana you have to jump!" Snotlout yelled as Hookfang blasted at another Seashocker.

"Jump to where?!" She yelled frantically as she attempted to hold on to the swaying boat.

"Here! I got you!" Yelled Eret. "I'll catch you, I promise!"

"You have to jump curly! Now!" Maui yelled and smacked another dragon with his wings. "Hurry!"

Moana released the rope she was holding onto and took a running leap off the boat. Everything seemed to slow down as she caught air and reached out towards Eret who made a grab for her hands. Suddenly, a large Seashocker that was a much bigger and a completely different color leapt out of the air and smacked her with full force with it's tail.

"Moana!" She heard someone yell as the wind was knocked out of her. She felt her back hit the water with such force that it knocked whatever air she had out of her and blacked out as the ocean closed over her.

'Idiot...I should have listened...' She thought as she sunk under the waves. Overhead as her vision was dimming, an outline of something glowing came into view. For a moment, Moana thought she was seeing the spirit of her grandmother finally coming for her. 'Grandma...' she thought before her vision went black.