A/N: And here, we have a long-awaited 2nd chapter for the story, "Raya and the Last Dragons". As you know, this is where their adventure continued after 6 long years. And there may be a few surprises in this chapter, just so you know. Other than that, enjoy. :)
Disney's Raya and the Last Dragons
Chapter 2: "Sisu Found; Retrieving the Tail Gem"
6 years later, at the deserts of Tail, the two passengers were now traveling across it with Banja seeing something suspicious before drawing his sword only to notice it was the humans turned to stone, prompting him to put the sword back before they continued onward. Eventually though, they then had to stop at a sort of hill with Raya tapping what is now revealed to be Tuk-Tuk, who then unrolled out of his ball form and stood still, before the two then lowered their masks and saw a sort of gorge up ahead and Banja checked the map with each spot checked with all but one remaining as while the other spots were X'd out, one is circled.
"Please let this be it.", Banja sighed.
And then all of a sudden, Tuk-Tuk started moving again, mainly because there was a little gecko that Tuk-Tuk wanted to see as he spun around.
"Whoa! What are you doing, you big fur bug? Hey, buddy, focus. Eyes forward, Tuk Tuk.", Raya spoke before the gecko then jumped off with Tuk-Tuk getting back in place afterwards.
"Good boy. You're so easily distracted.", Raya spoke.
And then all of a sudden, one of the druun jumped upon the trio, causing them to fall down the hill. Before it could come any closer, though, Raya managed to grab the bag and got out the gem piece, holding it back with its glow as her face turned into that of a dragon briefly before the druun went away with her face returning to normal at the same time.
"That was too close.", Banja spoke as Raya turned to see him and Tuk-Tuk, now on his back trying to get up with Banja then pushing him back up onto the ground, albeit with some difficulty.
"You're getting a little too big for this. You know that?", Banja asked before Tuk-Tuk grumbled in response.
Later, the trio continued to the gorge and noticed a line wrecked ship in view.
"Six years of searching for this? We've looked all over Kumandra all this time for answers on how to save the world only to end up at a literal shipwreck.", Banja spoke as he and Raya then got off Tuk-Tuk and noticed a small river of water.
"That's not a bad sign, is it?", Raya asked before walking forward with Tuk-Tuk following them, at least, until the two went stopped and checked to see what was inside before going in, leaving the poor creature to wait outside as he couldn't quite fit through the boards that were in the way.
As for Raya and Banja, they followed the river all the way to a hole on the wall before then setting up a shrine for Sisu with Banja placing a couple of lanterns along with a pink flower and an assortment of food with Banja holding the necklace.
"Sisudatu… Um… I don't know if you're listening.
Raya and I've searched every river to find you, and now we're here at the very last one. Look, there's not a lot of us left, and we really… We really need your help. If I can be honest, I really need your help. We both made a mistake.
We trusted someone we shouldn't have, and… now the world's broken.", Banja spoke before breathing deeply and crying softly.
"Sisudatu… we just really, really want my ba back. Please.", Banja cried with tears streaming down before he calmed down with an exhale and then placed the necklace on top of the chalice of water.
"Okay… Here goes everything.", Banja spoke before chanting while pouring some more water into the chalice.
"Suvaa de draa sim. Mandra de draa lim. Bavaa de draa Tomben.", Banja chanted before the last drop dropped into the chalice.
At first, nothing happened, but a moment afterward, the river started to change direction and started rising up from the river as bubbles. Raya was the first to notice, other than Tuk-Tuk, who was drinking the water from the small river, before then exclaiming.
"What the heck? Uh, Banja...", Raya spoke.
"What is it, Raya?", Banja asked as he turned right before noticing what she and Tuk-Tuk saw.
Then, in half a minute less than no time, the water bubbles started to gather in one place, even prompting poor Tuk-Tuk to hide in his shell as the water bubbles gathered inside a big water bubble before suddenly, the water bubbles turned into a dragon with mist not only escaping from it, but also briefly turning Raya's face into that of a dragon's again.
"Oh, my… Where am I? Pengu? Amba? Pranee? Are you here?", Sisu asked, looking around.
"Oh, Mighty Sisu.", Banja spoke, forming a big circle with his hands with Raya doing the same thing.
"Who said that?", Sisu puzzled before she turned around, her tail inadvertently hitting both Raya and Banja to the ground
"Hello? Hello?", Sisu puzzled before she heard muffled groaning and turned to notice the two, one of them groaning in muffled while Raya couldn't help but giggle.
"Oh, be quiet, you. Don't forget she knocked you down too.", Banja responded before noticing her dragon face and realizing something had to be done.
"Raya.", Banja whispered before pointing to his face.
"Oh. Right.", Raya responded before she concentrated, morphing her face back into a normal one just as Sisu went over to the two and picked them up.
"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. Not too bad. Just a little dusty. Let me get that for ya.", Sisu assured as she picked them up and brushed the dust off the two.
"Sisu? You are Sisu?", Raya asked in surprise.
"And you're...", Sisu began before quickly thinking to herself.
"Hold on a sec. They might not even know I'm their mother. And if they do, they could be totally mad at me for leaving them. Come on, Sisu. Think of something that won't give you away too soon, something that shows you don't know them yet...", Sisu thought before finishing out loud.
"...people. What's your name?", Sisu asked before thinking to herself again.
"Nailed it.", Sisu thought.
"Raya. I'm Raya.", Raya responded.
"And I'm Banja, her brother.", Banja added.
"And you're not made of stone, which means… It worked! We did it! You hear that, Pengu? It worked! I didn't mess it up!", Sisu shouted excitedly before noticing something in the ground.
"Is that food? I was so focused on saving the world, I forgot to have breakfast today.", Sisu spoke as she then dropped Raya and Banja to the ground and picked up the bag.
"Today? When exactly do you think today is?", Banja puzzled as Sisu then picked up a sort of long, orange stick.
"Tuesday.", Sisu responded before taking a bite of it only to immediately get disgusted as she made a face before then speaking up.
"I mean… Mmm. What is this delightful culinary treat?", Sisu asked.
"It's jackfruit jerky. I dried it myself.", Raya responded.
"Well, compliments to the chef. Wanna finish this, Skippy?", Sisu asked, offering it to Tuk-Tuk, who had to refuse.
"We would've gone for something much better than that, but with the world being broken and all, we don't have a lot of options.", Banja responded.
"Yeah, Sisu. Speaking of which, there are a few things we need to catch you up on.", Raya added.
"Oh, yeah?", Sisu asked.
"Yeah, but you're not gonna like it.", Banja responded.
Sure enough, after telling Sisu what happened so far, the dragon lost it.
"YOU BROKE IT?!", Sisu shouted, causing Tuk-Tuk to roll down onto the ground on his back and whine.
"Well, technically, they broke it trying to take the gem for themselves. That was what we were trying to prevent.", Banja responded.
"Same thing! Oh, oh. Oh, my. This is bad. This is bad. I've been asleep for 500 years, you brought back the Druun, and not all of my brothers and sisters came back while only one did. Why didn't they all come back?", Sisu asked.
"I wish I knew.", Banja responded.
"Also, you broke the gem!", Sisu exclaimed.
"But we still have a big chunk of it, though.", Raya assured.
"Is that supposed to make me feel better? If you lost a puppy, and I said… 'Well, we still have a big chunk of it!', would that make you feel better?", Sisu retorted.
"Yeah, good point.", Banja responded.
"Can't you just make another one?", Raya asked.
"No, I can't just 'make another one.'", Sisu responded.
"But you're a dragon.", Raya responded.
"I'm gonna be real with you, all right? I'm not, like, the best dragon, ya know?", Sisu admitted.
"But you saved the world.", Banja responded.
"I did do that. That's true. But have you ever done like a group project, but there's, like, that one kid who didn't pitch in as much, but still ended up with the same grade? Yeah, I wasn't the one who actually made the gem. I just turned it in.", Sisu explained while holding the gem fragment from Heart just before she inadvertently started glowing with Raya having a similar reaction to the gem fragment, although Banja was more focused on Sisu as was Raya.
"Whoa. Uh… You're glowing.", Banja spoke.
"Oh, thank you. I use aloe and river slime to maintain my…", Sisu began just as Raya noticed Sisu glowing with her own glow fading.
"No, no. Look!", Raya shouted before Sisu noticed herself glowing.
"Oh! This is my little sister Amba's magic. I got the glow!", Sisu spoke excitedly.
"Your little sister's magic?", Banja puzzled.
"Yeah, every dragon has a unique magic.", Sisu responded.
"Okay, what's yours?", Raya asked.
"I'm a really strong swimmer.", Sisu responded.
"Wait, wait, wait, you touched this gem piece and it gave you powers. You know what this means, right?", Banja realized.
"I no longer need a night light?", Sisu guessed.
"What? No! Maybe, I don't know. But it also means, you're still connected to the gem's magic, and that means you can still use it to save the world.", Banja responded.
"Yeah. If we can get all the other gem pieces…", Raya realized as well.
"I can reassemble it…", Sisu spoke.
"you can reassemble it…", Raya spoke at the same time.
"…and boom the Druun away!", both shouted in unison.
"And bring our ba back?", Raya asked.
"And bring all of Kumandra back.", Sisu assured only for Banja to scoff in retorsion.
"Kumandra is nothing but a fairy tale.", Banja scoffed, surprising Sisu a bit.
But little did either of them know that Raya noticed a Shadow-like dragon with Banja, making her gasp.
"I'm glad you can see me. I was beginning to think I'd been forgotten. Fly back to your mother and tell her...the real dragon is coming home.", the dark dragon spoke to Raya, not exactly knowing that Sisu spotted him, but only briefly, like a glimpse before Banja spoke up.
"You okay, Raya?", Banja asked.
"Yeah, you alright, kid? Because you don't seem like the type of person to flip out like that.", Sisu added.
"You even look like you've seen a ghost.", Banja added.
"I have. But not exactly. Maybe? I don't know. Point is, I saw something. Like some kind of shadow-like dragon.", Raya responded, making Sisu gasp a little, bit not enough to be heard.
"There's no one here but us, Raya.", Banja assured.
"Really? You sure?", Raya asked as Sisu looked in worry.
Meanwhile, outside, 5 cats from Fang were racing across the desert, passing by a sort it golden item before one went back with the owner getting off and examining it. The strangest thing about its owner is she had dragon talons instead of hands as she picked it up before looking out toward the hill. This owner was none other than...
"Princess Namaari, the Tail lands are infested with Druun. Benja's children are as good as stone out here. Retrieving some useless dragon scroll isn't worth the risk.", one of Nemaari's men scoffed before Nemaari gave an inhuman, beastly growl as her eyes then gave off a slit-like appearance while she then grabbed the man by the neck and tipped him into the ground, even scratching him in the process, the man exclaiming in reaction before giving a low growl as her eyes then went back to normal just as quickly.
"Anyone else wanna question why we're out here?", Nemaari asked before the big cats whimpered at the sight and then, after a moment, took off with all five continuing their course toward the shipwreck, not knowing that Raya, Banja, and Sisu were far ahead of them.
Meanwhile, Raya spoke up next to Sisu.
"Okay, so here's the sitch. After the gem broke, each piece was taken by one of the chiefs of the five lands, Fang, Heart, Spine, Talon, and Tail. Where we are now.", Raya stated as they stopped at a sort of mountain range.
"Wow. So many questions. First one, why am I wearing this?", Sisu asked.
"Well, we don't want to attract attention.", Banja responded.
"Oh, you definitely chose the right hat for that. So, what makes you think the Tail chief's here?", Sisu asked before inadvertently tripping a rope behind her, causing a rock to chip away, prompting a column to lean toward her only for Raya and Banja to push Sisu out of the way.
"Because this place didn't just booby trap itself.", Raya responded as she, Sisu, and Banja turned to notice several traps like it as well.
"This doesn't make sense. None of this would stop a Druun.", Sisu puzzled.
"It's not meant to stop Druun. It's only meant to stop people.", Banja responded before he went through the booby traps first and got through successfully before motioning Raya to go next with the same amount of success.
But when Sisu came next, she got through them very quickly, leaving the two in slight awe.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?", Sisu asked in puzzlement before Banja nervously chuckled.
"Nothing. I'm just not used to seeing dragons.", Raya responded.
"Impressed, huh? Wait until you see my backstroke. I'm wicked when I hit that liquid. I got water skills that kill. I slaughter when I hit the water. I'm, like, really good at swimming, through rhyme. I was trying to make that… That I'm really good at swim… I'm a good swimmer, is basically what I'm…", Sisu spoke.
"Okay, I get it. But we need to keep going.", Banja spoke before the trio went forward.
Eventually, the trio then continued further until Sisu suddenly gasped.
"Oh, no!", Sisu gasped.
"What? What is it?", Raya puzzled, drawing her weapon with Banja doing the same thing.
"Are we under attack?", Banja asked.
"We forgot to bring a gift for the Tail chief.", Sisu responded.
"What?", Banja puzzled, lowering his weapon.
"I'm sorry. A gift?", Raya puzzled.
"Yeah. A gift says, 'You can trust me, can I trust you?'", Sisu responded.
"Seriously? How could you even think about getting gifts for them at a time like this?!", Banja exclaimed just before a bug appeared and landed on Sisu's nose with Sisu then grabbing the big gently.
"Aw. Hey there, little fella.", Sisu greeted before the bug turned around and lifted its wings.
"This beetle's got a booty.", Sisu laughed.
"Careful! That's a Toot N Boom.", Banja urged.
"Why is it called a…?", Sisu puzzled before the bug gave off a toot, letting loose a small, glittery cloud of green smoke.
"Duck!", Raya shouted as she and Banja then pushed Sisu away from the explosion, small as it was.
"That is why.", Banja responded.
"Got it. Noted. Makes sense.", Sisu agreed before she and the others noticed several more on each side of the walls in a narrow space ahead.
"Toot N Booms. Why did it have to be Toot N Booms?", Banja sighed before he and the others cautiously went across the wall.
"You have to admit though, these bug booties are kind of cute.", Sisu commented.
Then, the trio came across a broken bridge to the tree where a sort of skeleton with the gem piece on its hands.
"What happened?", Banja puzzled.
"I'd say we found the Tail chief.", Raya responded.
"What happened to her?", Sisu asked.
"From the looks of it, she was hoarding the gem and became a victim of her own traps.", Raya guessed.
"Well, you gotta admire her commitment.", Sisu commented.
"Not if it gets you killed like it did her. All I'm saying.", Banja responded before then raised his weapon and fired it at the ceiling.
"Okay. Hold on.", Banja urged before Raya and Sisu held on.
But when Banja then jumped off, he and the others suddenly stopped halfway with Sisu's bottom half still stuck on part of the broken bridge.
"Oh, we were doing a jumpy thing! So sorry. My bad.", Sisu apologized as Banja grunted.
"I get it now. I'm with it.", Sisu assured before then jumping with Banja's weapon then falling off along with the trio, who thankfully landed right where they need to be with Sisu getting up and reaching for the gem piece.
"Sisu…, don't.", Raya spoke.
"I got this.", Banja assured before he then broke the stick in half and made sure to place it on the arms so that it wouldn't move when the gem was removed, as noticed by Sisu as her body was then rigged to make sure no one can escape should they move even an inch of her.
Then, Banja made sure to remove the gem fragment safely and sighed in relief.
"Two down, three to go.", Banja grinned as he then placed the fragment into Sisu's hands, causing it to glow brightly with Sisu then suddenly changing as she shrank down a little while Raya felt something odd growing from behind her with both exclaiming a bit.
"I just shapechanged! Into people!", Sisu spoke in elated surprise.
"Dragons can do that?", Banja puzzled.
"This was my sister Pranee's thing. Look at my people arms and my people face. Look how close my butt is to my head.", Sisu grinned as she examined herself before Raya noticed her own dragon tail that grew in along with her dragon face, making her gasp in shock before trying to make it shrink while her face morphed back to normal.
"Now that you don't have to hide me, getting the rest of the gems is gonna be a breeze.", Sisu grinned.
"Yeah, well, this one was easy, but, unfortunately, the rest of them are being held by a bunch of no-good binturis, Nemaari being the worst one of all.", Banja responded before a voice called out in response.
"Binturi? That's not a very nice way to describe an old friend.", Nemaari smirked.
"We were never friends, Nemaari. You made that clear when you stabbed us in the back and twisted the blade by breaking the gem and the world along with it!", Banja shouted angrily.
"Okay, there's no way that could be Banja, right? I raised him to be kind to others, not angry at them.", Sisu thought just before Raya noticed Nemaari as well and grew worried, mainly because of the talons Nemaari now has.
"Nemaari.", Raya spoke in slight surprise and worry.
"What's drippin', dep la? Oh, I see you've finally made a new friend. And here I was worried you were gonna end up becoming a cat lady like me.", Nemaari smirked.
"As far as I'm concerned, you're even worse than a cat person, Binturi.", Banja hissed angrily.
"Something tells me you're not besties.", Sisu guessed.
"Stealing Dragon Gem pieces, are we? Why?", Nemaari asked.
"You know very well why! To fix the world that you tore apart! I haven't forgotten what you did all those years ago, nor will I ever forgive you!", Banja shouted angrily.
"Hmm. I gotta admit, Banja, until a few months ago, I thought you and your sister were stone.
But then, someone stole Fang's dragon scroll.", Nemaari responded.
"Oh, is that why you're chasing us? And here, I thought it was because you missed us. Well, if you want it that bad, then here. We don't need it anymore.", Raya smirked, tossing the scroll back to Nemaari, who opened it.
"Are you really looking for Sisu? What are you two, 12?", Nemaari laughed.
"As if you'd ever understand, Binturi!", Banja hissed angrily, making Nemaari growl fiercely like a beast.
"Whoa! Easy there, Banja. Yeah, he's been sore about you ever since what happened 6 years ago, but hey. Who can blame him? Anyway, yeah. We actually were looking for Sisu. Oh, and guess what? We found her. Say hi, Sisu.", Raya smirked.
"Hi! It's very nice to meet you, and I love your hair and your cats' hair.", Sisu greeted a bit nervously.
"Not like that...", Banja sighed.
"Take them.", Nemaari ordered before Raya then cut the rope, setting off a trap that allowed sand that was held by the tarp to fall on top of the Nemaari and her men with Raya then using her weapon to swing Banja and Sisu back to the other side.
"Run!", Raya urged before the trio ran with the two turning back to notice Sisu running in four legs.
"Not like that! Two legs!", Banja urged.
"Right!", Sisu agreed before they made it past the sand and got back to the wall full of Toot N Booms before noticing Nemaari and the others headed after them, leaving the others no choice but to keep them busy as while Raya and Sisu went ahead, Banja then spread his arms wide and ran, causing the bugs to fly out and set off colorful explosions, delaying Nemaari, who just noticed that she grew a tail during the explosions and grew frightened for a moment before focusing back on the task at hand, long enough for Raya, Banja, and Sisu to catch up to Tuk-Tuk.
"Tuk-Tuk! Roll!", Raya urged before Tuk-Tuk then rolled off the ledge and fell down before landing and rolling again as Nemaari and her men followed them in pursuit before Tuk-Tuk went up toward another hill.
"Jump!", Raya urged before she, Banja, and Sisu jumped up above a small bridge and landed back on Tuk-Tuk.
"Who was that girl?", Sisu asked.
"That's Namaari. Or as Banja called her, the backstabbing binturi that broke the world.", Raya replied before the pursuit continued until Raya turned right and the trio saw the cats up ahead as well as a river on their left.
"Wow, those cats are really fast, huh?", Sisu asked as Raya got an idea.
"What do cats and Druun have in common?", Raya asked.
"Um… They have no souls?", Sisu guessed.
"And they both hate water.", Raya stated.
"Oh.", Sisu understood.
"Hold on!", Raya urged before they sped onward toward the water and splashed there, annoying Nemaari before she and the others went to look for another way there just as the trio got on-board a ship.
"Hello? Is anybody here?", Raya asked before suddenly, she, Banja, and Sisu were quickly seated near a table by a quite young boy.
"Welcome to the world-famous Shrimp-orium. My name is Buon. I'll be your server today. Would you like to hear our daily specials?", Buon asked.
"Yes, please!", Sisu responded gleefully.
"We got shrimp, we got congee. We got a shrimp congee that won't quit.", Buon stated before Banja spoke up.
"Normally, I'd love to eat here, but we don't have time for this! Where is the captain?", Banja asked urgently.
"Let me go get him.", Buon responded before he got up and then turned around.
"What's up, my new customers? I'm Captain Buon, the owner, chef, and chief financial officer of the Shrimp-orium. How can I help you?", Buon asked.
"No. You are the captain of this boat?", Banja asked in surprise, if not shock, while Raya noticed the incoming men form Fang.
"Well, I'm Sisu and…", Sisu began.
"And we need to get to Talon now.", Raya interrupted.
"I'm sorry. The Shrimp-orium is not a water taxi.", Buon refused.
"Will this be enough?", Banja asked, presenting jade coins.
"Toi, that's a lot of jade!", Buon spoke in surprise before trying to take them only for Banja to move them away.
"Ah-ah-ah. Half now, half when we arrive in Talon. Deal?", Banja asked before Buon then took half.
"Clasp onto your congee. Today's special is to go.", Buon smirked before he then moved a dish away from Tuk-Tuk, removing the rope from the wood of the dock and then got out a stick to push the boat along, but not at a very fast pace.
"Uh, Captain Buon? Does this thing go any faster?", Raya asked before Buon noticed several cats from Fang charging in after them with a snarl.
"Whoa! You didn't tell me Fang was after you! This is gonna cost you extra!", Buon exclaimed.
"Don't worry, I got it.", Sisu assured as she then jumped into the water.
"What is she doing?", Buon puzzled before Banja covered his eyes.
Meanwhile, Sisu morphed into a dragon and then got to the bottom of the boat and started shaking her own tail like an engine before the boat sped off across the water, much to Buon's surprise.
"What is happening?", Buon puzzled.
"My friend's a really strong swimmer.", Raya responded as Sisu happily swam underwater before Raya then smirked to Nemaari and spoke.
"Bye-bye, binturi.", Raya smirked, leaving the seemingly indifferent Nemaari behind.
"Princess Nemaari, if they're after gem pieces, their next stop would be Talon.", one of the female soldiers guessed.
"We're not following them to Talon. We're going back to Fang. I need to speak with Chief Virana.", Nemaari spoke before she then turned back around and headed out with the others following her.
A/N: So, what do you think? Quynh still exists, but so far, only in the spirit realm seen only by dragon eyes, with Raya's own eyes getting progressively clearer with each new change. But that's not all. The more gem fragments Raya and the others find, the more dragon-like she becomes. And I think you may know now what happens when all the pieces are brought back together to reforge the Dragon Gem. Pretty cool, right? Well, gotta get ready for my schedule starting tomorrow. Maybe you all might know what story comes out that day. :)