Guest - is that a thing? I never really considered that.
Tuk Tuk rolled through the sands of Tail when they came up to the end of Kumandra. When they reached it, Raya passed over a cape for each of her friends to wear, as well as a hat to cover them.
"Wow. So many questions." Sisu commented as she looked around at the cave. "First of all," she gestured to herself and the outfit, "why am I wearing this?"
"Well, we don't wanna attract attention," Raya explained as she gestured to the two of them. "And Hiccup stands out enough with his outfits."
"Hey, you try making outfits without cloth or money to buy said cloth." Hiccup dared Raya. "Dragon scales are easy to sew and help me save on money."
"Well, that may be the case when you're from...wherever," Raya said, Hiccup never fully going into his backstory, so she didn't know where he came from. "But here, you'll definitely need to cover up that armor to walk around here."
"Well, you definitely chose the right hat for that," Sisu commented, tipping her hat. She then started to back away towards the entrance of the cave, looking around the place. "So, what makes you think the Tail chief's here?"
But as she was walking backward, she hit some form of a trip wire, which set off one of the stands to fall. Running fast to save her, Raya tackled Sisu before she could be crushed by the falling debris.
"Are you guys okay?" Hiccup asked as he ran over to them.
"We're fine!" Raya assured him as she crawled back up. Then she turned to Sisu, who just got up and fixed her hat. "This place didn't just booby trap itself."
"Well, we got a bit of a problem." Hiccup said, gesturing behind them.
Both of them then saw there were a lot of tripwires both high and low. To the point that it was impossible to walk or crawl through without tripping one.
"This doesn't make any sense," Sisu commented as Raya started to make her way through. "None of this would stop a Druun."
"It's not to stop Druun," Raya said as she made a few steps in. "It's to stop people."
Hiccup watched her make her way through, wondering if he cut the ropes, he could make it through easier. But then he saw it wouldn't be worth the risk in case they all came toppling down. Making his way through, copying some movements from Raya, he made it next to her.
The two then looked to Sisu, who somehow in just three movements, made her way across, and made it beside them. Then as she stopped, her hat fell over her eyes, and when she lifted her head, she saw the amazing look on both of their faces.
"What?" Sisu asks, confused by their faces. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing," Raya assured her with a chuckle. "I'm just not used to seeing dragons."
"And I'm not used to...dragons like this." Hiccup explained the reason for his face. "My dragon is like a puppy if anything."
"Impressed, then?" Sisu asked, now seeing why they were shocked. "Wait till you see my backstroke." She then imitated swimming with her arms while walking back. "I'm wicked when I hit that liquid. I got water skills that kill. I slaughter when I hit the water."
Hiccup's face of amazement was becoming one of annoyance. "You done?"
"Sorry." Sisu apologized to him. "I'm just...really good at swimming, through rhyme. I was trying...I'm a good swimmer. Is what I'm trying to..."
"Come on," Raya said, starting to take the lead. "We need to keep going."
Hiccup then concluded something during this talk. "You're not used to being around people, are you?"
Sisu sighed and nodded in confirmation. "Not really. Not much of a people person."
Hiccup shrugs and nods his head. "Yeah, me neither. Been just me and Toothless for a while."
"Toothless?" Sisu asked as she and Hiccup walked to catch up with Raya. "Who's that? A brother?"
"No, it's what I call my dragon." Hiccup explains to her. "It was due to his retractable teeth."
"Huh, not the first name I would've gone with, but..." Sisu was saying before gasping, causing the two of them to jump. "Oh, no!"
Raya reacted immediately and pulled out her sword, whilst Hiccup jumped back.
"What? What is it?" Raya asked, looking around for any danger.
"We forgot to bring a gift for the Tail chief," Sisu explains to them both, getting a confused look from them.
"A gift?" Hiccup asked, looking at Raya. "Is that a normal thing here?"
"Uh...not really," Raya said as she placed her sword away. "I've never done something like that."
"Yeah, a gift says, 'you can trust me, can I trust you?'" Sisu explains to them.
Hiccup didn't even know what to say to that and rolled his eyes. "I don't even know how to respond to that."
As he started walking, a small bug came flying up and landed on Sisu's face. "Aw." She said as she pulled it off and held it in her claws. "Hey there, little fella." She then let the small beetle go as it raised its backside to her. "Oh, this beetle's got a booty."
"Uh..." Raya started to freak out when she saw what Sisu was holding. "Careful. It's a Toot N Boom."
"Why's it called that?" Hiccup asked, just when the beetle farts.
Raya dragged Sisu away from the gas just as it exploded, and the three of them duck for cover. When they got up, they looked back to where the beetle went off.
"Okay. Your creatures are stranger than mine." Hiccup commented as they got up.
When they looked down the walkway they needed to get to, they saw both sides of the wall. When they started to make their way through, Raya stocked to the middle, Hiccup staying behind her to not upset any of them. Right behind them, Sisu was walking and holding her hat down to not upset the Toot N Booms.
"You have to admit though, these bug booties are kind of cute," Sisu commented on the creatures.
As they finally reached the end of the hallway, they came into a giant clearing with a tree in the center. There must've once been a bridge as there was a giant gap between where they were and the tree. Taking a closer look at the tree, there was a figure sitting in it holding a piece of the dragon gem.
"I'd say we found the Tail Chief," Raya commented, recognizing the attire even in skeleton form.
"Yikes." Hiccup commented as he looked downward. "Looks like she put all these traps in, just never gave herself an exit route."
"See things like this often?" Raya asked, noticing how casually Hiccup was taking this.
"You'd be surprised." Hiccup said, remembering the many people he's seen lost their way. Then he'd find them in the unfortunate situation they die in.
"Well, you gotta admire her commitment," Sisu commented as she looked down at the spiked rocks.
Raya then got an idea and raised her sword to the ceiling. Then she shot it off, getting a shocked look from Hiccup.
"Whoa!" Hiccup cried in amazement.
"Pretty cool, right?" Raya asked him, gesturing to her back. "Grab on."
"You planning to swing with the two of us?" Hiccup clarifies, looking at the distance and the weight she'd be carrying.
"Oh, that's what we're doing," Sisu commented, not understanding herself.
"It'll be fine," Raya assured him. "Just for a quick jump, I'll make it."
"Fine. But if I die, good luck with Toothless." Hiccup warns her.
Then he grabbed onto her shoulders, holding on whilst Sisu grabbed her waist. They then swung over and stuck the landing. Approaching the gem piece, Sisu reached out to touch it when Raya stopped her.
"Sisu. Don't." Raya said as went to pick up a stick.
While she placed the stick in place, Hiccup and Sisu noticed her arms were connected to a rope. Going further back, they saw there was a tarp over the entrance. Seeing that removing the gem might trap them if they do it wrong, they watched Raya take the gem and managed to do it without setting it off.
"Two down, three to go," Raya said as she then handed the gem to Sisu.
Just when Sai touched the gem, her body was engulfed in a blinding light. Now Sisu resembles a young Southeastern Asian woman with long, messy, white-bluish-violet hair. She retained her purple eyes, but now has goofy-looking teeth and wears a blue, long-sleeved robe with a design pattern on it and a white furry collar, along with gray-colored jeans that stop below the knees and soft blue shoes that reveal her ankles.
"I just shape changed!" Sisu cried, looking over her human form. "Into people!"
"Your dragons can do that?" Hiccup asked Raya in shock.
"First I've seen of it," Raya admitted.
"This was sister Pranee's thing," Sisu explained to the two. She then waved her arms around in joy. "Look at my people arms and my people face." She then jumped and looked behind herself to see her backside. "Look how close my butt is to my head."
"I'm good." Hiccup said as he looked anywhere but at her.
"Now you guys don't need to hide me, getting the other pieces is gonna be a breeze," Sisu exclaimed in joy.
"Well, this one was easy," Raya commented, gesturing to the skeleton. "The rest of them are being held by a bunch of no-good binturis."
"Binturi?" A voice called out, getting their attention as they looked up and saw Namaari on her cat above the cave. "That's not a very nice way to describe an old friend."
Then she and her men came down and blocked off their only exit and dismounted her cat. Raya's face turned to anger when she noticed the woman and Hiccup could tell they have a history.
"Namarri." Raya snarled.
"What's drippin', dep la?" Namarri asks as she saw Hiccup and Sisu. "Oh, I see you've finally made some new friends." She then scratched her cat's head. "And here I was worried you'd end up a cat lady like me."
"Something tells me you're not besties." Sisu took a guess.
"Yeah, I'm getting the same feeling." Hiccup agreed, reaching for his sword. "Should we be worried?"
"Not yet," Raya said, keeping her eyes on Namarri.
"Stealing Dragon Gem pieces, are we?" Namarri asks her. "Why?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe trying to fix the world that you broke!" Raya reminded her of what she did six years ago.
Namaari sighed, seeming she didn't care that much. "I gotta admit, Raya, until a few months ago, I wasn't sure you were alive. But then, someone stole Fang's dragon scroll."
"Oh, is that why you're chasing me?" Raya asked, tossing the scroll over to Namaari, no longer needing it now she has Sisu. Namaari didn't even flinch as she caught it. "And here I thought it was because you missed me."
Namarri then opened the scroll and looked at the picture of Sisu stopping the Druun. "Are you really looking for Sisu? What are you, twelve?"
"Yeah, I actually was looking for Sisu," Raya confessed as she gestured to Sisu, pulling her closer. "And guess what? I found her."
Namarri looked unconvinced at the statement, looking at Sisu and Raya like they were nuts. Honestly, even Hiccup had to admit they did look a little crazy by the statement. And Sisu in her human form didn't exactly help. But he saw it was best that she didn't know Sisu was here.
"Say hi, Sisu," Raya said as she looked at Sisu.
"Hi." Sisu greeted Namarri in a friendly manner. "It's very nice to meet you. And I love your hair and your...cats' hair."
"Take them," Namarri said, already sick of them.
Raya then acted just as Hiccup went to draw Inferno. When she reacted, she smacked the stick she placed on the Tail Chief. The mechanisms then went off, causing a sheet to move and sand to begin filling the cave. As the sand fell, it landed on top of Namarri and her soldiers l giving them an exit.
Working fast, Raya then grabbed Hiccup, before shooting her sword and swinging. While they were going, Hiccup grabbed Sisu and the three of them made it across.
"Run!" Raya cried as she and Hiccup run for the exit, quickly filling with sand.
But then they noticed someone missing and noticed Sisu still attempting to run on all four legs. Working fast, Raya and Hiccup slid down the sand and grabbed her by the arms.
"Sisu, use two legs!" Hiccup cried as they carried her up.
"Right!" Sisu realized as they barely made it out.
The three of them run down the sand and make it back to the hall with all the Toot N Boom's, wondering what they can do. Looking over to the entrance, Namarri's cat was crawling out of the sand, followed by Namarri crawling out of it.
"Go!" Raya cried out to them, as Hiccup pushed Sisu forward, careful not to touch the bugs.
As soon as they were in the clear, Raya ran through the tunnel and raised her hands. This then caused all of the Booms to go off and literally go off, keeping Namarri back. Running through the ropes, Hiccup decided to finally cut through the chase, quite literally as he cuts through the ropes. Once they make it outside, they saw Tuk Tuk looking worried.
Raya was the first to climb on Tuk Tuk's back, followed by Sisu, with help of Hiccup. He was then the last to climb onto him while Raya got her to turn around. They started to make their escape as they made their way down the mountain, followed by Namarri and her guards and cats.
"Who was that girl?" Sisu asked.
"That's Namarri. She's the backstabbing binturi who broke the world." Raya explained to them, focusing on getting them out of the cavern.
Once they got out into the open, there was an explosion that got them to jump and see someone chasing after them. Looking up in the air, they saw that it was Krogan and his Singetail coming after them.
"And who's that?" Sisu asks.
"Krogan." Hiccup snarled, recognizing him anywhere.
"Who?" Raya asked, trying to avoid the fire blast from the Singetail coming at them.
"Long story short, he's the reason I was in the river." Hiccup explained to Raya quickly. "We just need to go faster."
"It's not like Tuk Tuk can go any faster!" Raya cried in anger as she tried to avoid Krogan's attacks.
But Hiccup saw one of his attacks was coming down and was going to hit them. "Incoming!"
But before it could hit them, a plasma blast hits the fireball, stopping it from hurting them. Seeing a familiar figure running after them, Hiccup cheered to see his dragon. Toothless was chasing after Tuk Tuk, seeing Hiccup while also sending a blast at the Singetail's underbelly. That was the only weak spot on the dragon, and Toothless knew it.
When he shot it from the sky, Krogan and the Singetail started to fall and crash into the sands. With him out of the way, Namarri and her cat army. Raya noticed a boat in the water near the shore that could be their escape.
"What do cats and Druun have in common?" Raya asks her friends.
"They have no souls?" Sisu took a guess.
Raya thought and saw that she kinda did have a point. "And they both hate water."
With that, Raya turned Tuk Tuk to dive into the water, followed by Toothless leaping and gliding towards the boat with them. As they climbed up the boat, followed by Tuk Tuk, they started looking around for the captain.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" Raya called out.
As they started to look around for anyone, a chair was kicked and caused Hiccup to take a seat whilst the same happened to the others. Tuk Tuk and Toothless were then met with a bowl of food put in front of them, wondering who did that.
Then the person unveiled themselves, revealing to be just some young kid wearing a sleeveless shirt and green dirty shorts. "Welcome to the world-famous Shrimp-orium." He said with a dance and a spin around. "My name is Boun. I'll be your server today. Would you like to hear our daily specials?"
"Maybe later." Hiccup stated, standing back up. "Right now, we need to speak to the Captain."
"One moment," Boun said as he then jumped up one of the steps. Not even changing anything, he just turned back to them. "What's up, my new customers? I'm Captain Boun, the owner, chef, and chief financial officer of the Shrimp-orium." Taking a look down the trail, Krogan was coming down from the rock formation, and Namarri was coming down with her cats. "How can I help you?"
"Well, I'm Sisu, and..." Sisu tried to start some small talk, but both Hiccup and Raya knew they needed to go.
"We need to get out of here!" Hiccup interrupted her.
"And we need to get to Talon now," Raya added on.
"I'm sorry. But the Shrimp-orium is not a water taxi." Boun informed them.
Raya then held out a handful of coins to him from her bag. That immediately changed his attitude toward the three of them.
"Toi, that's a lot of jade!" Boun said and reached for it.
Raya however pulled it back and held out half. "Half now, rest of it when we get to Talon. Deal?"
Boun seems to agree as he takes the half that she offers. "Clasp onto your congee. Today's special is...to go."
Working faster than they could even fathom, he packed the food back up, unwrapped the rope from the dock, and then grabbed a stick to push off the shore. The only thing was that the ship became incredibly slow due to the fact it was only him.
"Uh...Captain Boun? Any chance this goes any faster?" Raya asked, getting worried.
Noticing the cats chasing them, Boun looked at the three of them. "Whoa! You never said Fang was chasing you! This is gonna cost you extra!"
"Don't worry. I got it." Sisu said as she leaped into the water.
"What is she doing?" Boun asks.
Raya then covered his eyes so he didn't see Sisu turning into her dragon form. Once she made it underneath the boat, she grabbed onto it and used her tail to push them far from shore. Raya and Hiccup were pushed aside by the force of her swimming.
"What's happening?" Boun asked them.
"Our friend is a really strong swimmer." Raya covered for Sisu.
Hiccup got back up and eyed Krogan as he reached the edge and eyed Hiccup in return. Raya was also eyeing Namarri as they got further away.
"Bye-bye, binturi." Raya declared with a smile.
"This isn't over, Hiccup Haddock!" Krogan cried out to the man as he escaped with Raya. "I will follow you to the ends of the world!"
Hiccup rolled his eyes and marched back to Toothless, looking him over. "Hey, bud. You had me worried."
Then he looked down and noticed that his tail was damaged due to the blast from the Singetail. Not to mention the damage he had due to the falling and crashing, and a lot of the parts weren't meant to be in the heat or sand. There was no chance of him flying anywhere anytime soon.
"Looks like we won't be flying anywhere for a while, buddy." Hiccup sighed and scratched his chin. He then looked over to Raya, seeing she was eyeing Toothless. "Raya, meet Toothless."
"So, this is your...dragon?" Raya asked, making sure Boun didn't overhear that last statement. "Not what I expected."
"Seems he lost his tail in the crash. We'll need to get it fixed if we plan on flying anytime soon." Hiccup said with a sigh as Raya petted Toothless' head. "Think there's a chance of getting some parts where we're heading?"
"I wouldn't exactly count on it," Raya warned him. She sighed as she placed her bag down on the table, wondering what their next move was. Boun seemed to have made his way into the kitchen on the front of the ship and out of the way. "Talon isn't exactly the friendliest of places."
"I'm used to unfriendly welcomes." Hiccup assured her.
While they were talking, Toothless was sniffing the boards, smelling something that he never had before. While going towards the smell, he ended up at Raya's bag and sniffed it. Biting it open, Hiccup was shocked when he saw what he was doing.
"Toothless!" Hiccup called, causing Raya to turn and see he was going through her bag.
"Hey!" Raya called out when Toothless revealed he was holding a piece of the dragon gem.
Before they could stop him, there was a giant flash of light that blinded them as they shielded their eyes. When the light dimmed, it seemed Boun didn't even notice it due to the sun, and they saw something that shocked both of them to what they were seeing.
"Toothless?" Hiccup asked in shock.