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[Black screen. Voiceover from CHIEF BENJA and YOUNG RAYA, a bemused father and his enthusiastic little girl.]
YOUNG RAYA: Ba, Ba, tell it again!
[BENJA CHUCKLES]
BENJA: Alright, alright. Once upon a time, there was a land called Kumandra.
[Music swells as we pan over through the clouds to a stylized tapestry map of Kumandra.]
BENJA: Land of the five dragons, each of them ancient and wise, each one with their own unique magic, to protect the people under their care.
BENJA: Pengu, great dragon of rain. The oldest, he presided over the people of Claw, and under his watery wing their crops flourished into the best food in the world!
[As BENJA describes each of the five lands, the image zooms in on a different section of the map before cutting to stylized depictions of the people, their animals, and their culture. All of it encircled by a large depiction of their dragon.]
BENJA: Pranee, dragon of shifting. From her the people of Fang took their many masks with which they made their great plays.
BENJA: Jagan, dragon of mist. The people of Spine use his mist to lie hidden in the mountains. And with it make themselves mighty hunters!
BENJA: Amba, the youngest, dragon of light. The people of Tail light their lanterns with her guidance and in her honor, turning their floating city into a citadel of light.
BENJA: And last—
RAYA: Sisu!! It's Sisu!!!
BENJA: Yes, yes. The last dragon, the middle one, is the great Sisu. Dragon of the swift. She looked over the people who were family to you, and me, the people of Heart. With her swift winds and swift currents, our people did the most important job. We connected everyone else with boats and trade.
BENJA: Because of us, all the people of Kumandra lived together in peace and harmony. Until the Druun fell like a shadow over the land, turning any living thing it touched into unmoving stone.
[YOUNG RAYA inhales sharply.]
BENJA: Don't be scared. The five dragons came together and pooled their unique magic, even though without their magic protecting them, they too could fall to the Druun and turn to stone. Their sacrifice made the Dragon Gem. It lit up the world with purifying rain, which fell on all the statues who became people once more. All except the dragons. Who remained lost. Gone.
YOUNG RAYA:(heartbroken) No more dragons. No more Sisu.
BENJA: No little one, all that is left of the dragons is the Dragon Gem. Which must be guarded and kept safe, in case the Druun were ever to return, and so it fell to the people of Heart and the Dragon Guardians—
YOUNG RAYA: Like Ba!
BENJA: Yes, like me. And we Dragon Guardians protect the Dragon Gem for all the people, just like Sisu protected us.
[YOUNG RAYA gives a happy sigh.]
YOUNG RAYA: Ba, when I grow up, can I be a Dragon Guardian, like you?
BENJA: Oh little one, I'm sure you will be the greatest Dragon Guardian of them all.
[As he speaks the scene shifts to a dragon patterned sword sheath on the back of a MYSTERIOUS FIGURE riding on the back of a great rolling ball rumbles through a desert wasteland, dotted with human statues and stone plants. Super imposed behind her is the title card, RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON.
Cut to: a lizard quietly suns itself amongst the desert sands. It goes alert as a faint rumbling starts up, then is flung off screen as the MYSTERIOUS FIGURE and her ball ride over it. The lizard wiggles, rights itself, and then skitters away.
Meanwhile, our MYSTERIOUS FIGURE rides on. She is wearing a salakot, goggles, and a scarf wrapped around her mouth which obscures the lower half of her face. She and her ride come to the stop at the top of a bluff. She pulls out a map of a series of tributaries, with a dotted line marking a path through the desert. At the end of the path is a depiction of a temple. The map lowers and reveals in the landscape the exact same temple towering above the horizon built on the top of a great stone cliff jutting out the desert.
Out of nowhere rises a purple cloud of Druun, startling the mount and throwing his rider. MYSTERIOUS FIGURE lands hard to the side of the sand dune. The ball she was riding uncurls and reveals TUK TUK, a giant armored mammal, who skrees as he slides down the dune on his back. He comes to a stop at the base, stuck, unable to turn over, unable to run. The Druun is approaching.
From where she's landed, the MYSTERIOUS FIGURE frantically fumbles with a pouch. A familiar confused lizard skitters in front of the Druun, only to be turned to stone. From where he lays, TUK TUK's cries get more and more frantic. The Druun draws closer. At the last possible second, the MYSTERIOUS FIGURE lunges in between the Druun and TUK TUK, wielding aloft a glowing blue cracked half of a gem. The Druun recoils. It writhes almost angrily, as in outraged at being defied. Then it goes still, and fades into nothing in the desert.
The MYSTERIOUS FIGURE collapses onto her back in relief, panting. She draws off her mask and goggles, which have cracked. As she gulps down air, for the first time we see the face of RAYA. She is a brown skinned woman with two intersecting scars on the left side of her face, and she is gritty from her days of travel through the desert. From where she lays she gives a couple of scritches to a contented TUK TUK. She expends great effort righting TUK TUK. RAYA wheezes in exertion.
RAYA: You're welcome, buddy.
[RAYA examines the petrified lizard]
RAYA: Druun coming out in the day... it's getting stronger.
[RAYA gives a final look around and starts walking.]
RAYA: C'mon buddy! Tuk Tuk! Let's go.
[Cut to RAYA and TUK TUK walking into the shadowed base of the cliff that bears the temple. RAYA gives an impressed whistle as she looks up. TUK TUK collapses in a heap of exhaustion at the bottom of the cliff.
RAYA: Okay, Tuk Tuk, you wait here for me.
[RAYA grabs some climbing equipment from TUK TUK's saddle. She begins to scale the cliff.
Cut to: RAYA pulls herself over the lip of the cliff at the temple entrance. She lies there for a moment to catch her breath, then she stands, sizes up the temple, strikes a torch, and heads inside.
The first room ends in a raised platform, on top of which is a door. The way seems to be empty... until the camera pans right and we see a skeleton impaled on a spike that juts up from the floor. RAYA looks at the floor and moves a rock with her foot. The weight of the rock removed, the pressure plate rises up. After another moment, the spike retracts. RAYA sticks the torch in a crack in the cave wall. From her pouch she takes a spherical banh, rice wrapped in banana leaves. She takes one and opens it, and another she bowls across the floor, holding onto the wrapping string. As the ball rolls across the pressure plates is sets off a series of spikes, which retract after a moment. Raya tugs on the string to bounce the banh ball around the room, watching and counting off pressure plates. She finishes munching on her banh.
RAYA starts moving across the floor. For the first half, she doesn’t touch a single pressure plate. Halfway through, she begins deliberately setting off and dodging spikes, grabbing them to climb hand over hand and avoid sections of floor.
She triggers one final spike and acrobatically flips over it to land on the raised platform with the door. She stalks forward and on.
An iridescent beetle flies forward and lands on RAYA’s hand. She pokes it and its back explodes in a puff.]
RAYA: Boom Beetles.
[RAYA looks down the hall. Camera cuts to looking back at her from the other end of the hall, showing that it is so brimming with beetles, that we can only just make out RAYA’s eye.
RAYA pulls from her pack some jerky chips, she lights them with her torch and starts fanning it with her hat. Time passes. Cut to the beetles are all relaxed and asleep from the smoke. RAYA carefully edges her way through.
RAYA opens the door to the next room a crack. It appears to be empty except for another glowing rock. RAYA pushes the door all the way open.
Unobserved by RAYA, a small trickle of sand begins to flow, triggered by the opening of the door. RAYA carefully takes a weighted pouch and switches the rock for the sack. Upon closer inspection, this is not a piece of the Dragon Gem, but a rock covered with a luminescent paint which comes away and sticks to RAYA’s fingers. There is an audible click. RAYA whirls and see that the stream of sand has built up a pile with enough weight to trigger a mechanism. She dives for the door, but the floor is already crumbling beneath her feet, and she falls into darkness.
Cut to: a familiar lizard, petrified in stone. A hand reaches down and pulls RAYA’s map from where it was buried in the sand, it must have fallen and been covered when she was thrown. We follow the hand up and see it belongs to NAMAARI, a severe looking woman with a severe undercut. She is wearing a pendant shaped like a dragon. Behind her stands her war band, masked warriors riding on giant cats. NAMAARI looks to the horizon and sees the Tail Temple: RAYA has pursuers and they're drawing close.
RAYA groans and picks herself up off the ground. In the darkness, something moves. RAYA starts to get up and look around and something moves again. She freezes and turns around, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever is moving]
RAYA: Hello?
[RAYA’s eyes dart to where her torch has fallen on the ground]
RAYA: Is someone there?
[RAYA draws her sword. Another flash of movement and she rolls and picks up her fallen torch and scrapes it against the rock. It catches alight and she holds it one hand, the other jabs outward with the sword and at the other end... is a dragon. The dragon's expression is wide eyed. Stunned
Raya drops her sword.]
RAYA: A dragon…?
[RAYA moves to look closer at the dragon, who still remains frozen.]
RAYA: Sisu?
[Suddenly, Raya sweeps forward and hugs the dragon.]
RAYA: You're my dragon. My protector, my Sisu.
[Slowly, Sisu goes to return the hug. Before she can close, RAYA springs back and drops to her knees in a bow, holding her hands up in supplication.]
RAYA:(loudly) Oh mighty Sisu, I humbly place myself before you—
SISU: (uncomfortable) Whoa, whoa, kid, slow down, you're going to hurt yourself.
RAYA: Oh— um..
SISU:(gently) Just hold on. What's your name.
RAYA: Raya.
SISU: Nice to meet you Raya, I'm Sisu
RAYA:(excitedly) I know.
SISU: ...Okay. So you're here. And you're a human. Does that mean— did we win? Is it over?
RAYA: You don't know—? Right! Mighty Sisu, humans have lost track of how many years have passed since dragons have walked the earth—
SISU: Yeah, yeah, skip it, let's get to the good part. What happened? Did we beat the Druun? What happened to the other dragons?
RAYA: The Druun was stopped, by the power of the sacrifice of all five— er— the four dragons. But at great cost— All the other dragons... they're gone. I thought they were all gone, until now.
[SISU is devastated]
RAYA: How do you not know this? How are you here are you— did you plan for this? You and the other dragons? Picking the strongest and best of you to remain… so that somebody would be left to protect us when the Druun came back.
[There is a pause. SISU is looking away from RAYA, her face unseen.]
SISU: Got it one! You are a smart kid, hey, are there two dragons in this room? Because you are so wise you could totally be one.
[RAYA is getting excited.]
RAYA: I knew it! I knew you wouldn't abandon us, and now we have the strongest of all the dragons to help us win against the Druun.
SISU: Wait, wait wait, the Druun? You said they were defeated.
RAYA:(gulps) They were— for hundreds of years the Druun were kept clean of this land with the power of the Dragon Gem...
[RAYA reaches into her bag and removes]
RAYA: ...until six years ago when the Dragon Gem was broken.
SISU: No, no how could this have happened? (growls) How could you all have let this happen.
[RAYA stumbles back, as SISU advances, growling.]
SISU: We dragons gave up everything for you we gave you the ultimate gift, the ultimate sacrifice and you broke it? What happened?
RAYA: ...We were betrayed.
[SISU stops in her tracks. RAYA gives an audible sniffle.]
RAYA: I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.
SISU: (under her breath). Oh heck. (at regular volume) No, I'm sorry. That was out of line. And I'm sorry to hear— that's rough kid. That's real rough.
[SISU goes and solemnly picks up the piece of the dragon gem. It glows in her claws.
SISU: ...Pranee?
[POOF. SISU is now a chicken. A very confused chicken.
RAYA bursts out laughing.]
SISU: Okay it's not that funny BA-KAWK.
SISU: Okay, so it’s pretty funny... Pranee’s magic, huh? So this is how she felt. I always wondered.
RAYA: You can... access the magic of the Dragon Gem.
[SISU turns her chicken neck upside down to get a better look at the dragon gem piece, which is glowing brighter under her now chicken claw.]
SISU: Yeah, I guess I can.
RAYA: If you… the greatest of all the dragons… had all the pieces... do you think that you could access the magic that beat back the Druun?
SISU: ...worth a shot.
RAYA: There's a piece of the dragon gem somewhere within this temple. That's what I'm here for.
SISU: Really? Then why didn't you say so. I've been coming back to this hideout for years. There's a passageway that goes up over this way— here.
[RAYA scoops up chicken!SISU and carries her up to the real final champer of the Tail Temple. In the center is a tree. with a skeleton, whose hand is wrapped around the gem piece. RAYA cautiously disables the trap and grabs the gem. She holds it out to Chicken!SISU who reaches out, but before she can touch it—]
NAMAARI: Surprise, Surprise, look who I've caught taking what's not hers.
RAYA turns around and draws her sword.
RAYA:(angrily) Namaari.
NAMAARI: Raya. That doesn't belong to you.
RAYA: The pieces of the Dragon gem belong with a Dragon Guardian. Just like you apparently belong sneaking up behind me, to stab me in the back. While we're replaying history, you going to try and take this from me too?
NAMAARI: Do me a favor. Stop acting like you know me
RAYA: Oh I know exactly who you are. You're a tiny sand grain, that belongs at the bottom of the pile
NAMAARI: Oh really? How do you figure
RAYA: Dunno. Wasn't really a metaphor.
[RAYA cuts the cord to the trap, sand spill out and covers NAMAARI and her war band, trapping them in place. RAYA vaults over and starts running for the exit. Chicken!SISU starts running ahead.
RAYA follows, sweeping her arms out as she goes to trigger all the boom beetles. The walls shake and a bit of rock falls and triggers a pressure plate. A spike shoots out.]
RAYA: Don't step on the pressure plates!
Chicken!SISU flaps her tiny wings. She manages to slow her descent long enough to clear the pressure plates.
RAYA vaults forward, then takes everything in her bag but the dragon gem pieces and scatters them across the floor. The spikes shoot out and stay, blocking all of the Fang soldiers but NAMAARI, who nimbly darts in between.
She meets Raya blade out. They exchange blows, until RAYA steps on a pressure plate that triggers a spike that pins NAMAARI to the wall by her clothes. RAYA replaces her foot with a rock to weigh down the pressure plate, and then keeps running.
RAYA and SISU have made it to the entrance. RAYA, seeing the climbing equipment left by the Fang soldiers quickly sweeps it off the cliff. She prepares to rappel down the last line
RAYA: Come on, hurry! We need to get to the bottom of the cliff face.
SISU turns back into a dragon and climbs like a gecko down the sheer side of the cliff face. She lands on TUK TUK, who squawks under her weight. SISU poofs back into a chicken.]
RAYA: Okay, that works.
RAYA rapidly climbs down. She takes a knife out and cuts the line. Hot on her heels NAMAARI stops half way down the cliff, ending at a line too high to jump to safety. She looks up. RAYA and Chicken!SISU are already riding away.
FANG SOLDIER: We've lost her!
NAMAARI: It doesn't matter. I know where she’s going.
[Image fades into tail, a bustling city of boats and floating platforms on the river. We see RAYA and Chicken!SISU make their way through the crowd, TUK TUK led behind them.]
RAYA: Stay close. You can't trust anybody.
SISU: Right! because...?
RAYA: (continuing) We need a ride out of this city, and we need it cheap. I'm almost out of money. I had to buy all new supplies after literally throwing all of mine out.
[A staff taps RAYA on the shoulder and she whirls, sheathed sword out.
She sees a tall man covered in voluminous robes with scarves wrapped around his face.
He points with his staff/paddle to a sign posted by his boat which reads "Cheap Rides"]
RAYA: Hello... sir... who are you?
[He shakes the stick up and down in the air]
SISU: (whispered) Oh I got this. His name is Paddle.
RAYA:(whispered) I don’t— (regular volume) Uhhh Paddle?
[He slumps over in despair. That is not the right answer.
Out of the corner of her eye, RAYA spots NAMAARI making her way through the crowd.]
RAYA: I can give you all this jade and no more, but only if leave right now and fast.
[He flips open the gate to the boat. They board. The boat man sticks his pole in the water. They move maybe a few inches.
NAMAARI:(calling to her war band) There! It’s the thief!
RAYA: Too slow!
[RAYA dives for the paddle knocks the boatman aside, who collapses in a pile of robes and sticks. The boatman is actually a young boy, CAPTAIN BOUN operating an elaborate series of sticks on stilts to disguise himself as a grown man.]
RAYA: What the—
BOUN: Hey!
[The Fang soldiers are gaining. RAYA refocuses pushing the boat as fast as she can. Chicken!SISU looks nervously at the gaining Fang soldiers. She transforms into a dragon, in full view of the crowd, dives beneath the waves and starts pushing the boat at high speeds.
NAMAARI and RAYA make eye contact. RAYA’s eyes narrow and she angrily turns away. NAMAARI stonily stares after them. One hand goes to her Dragon pendant.]
FANG SOLDIER: Now what?
[NAMAARI turns to one of her war band, not the one who’s spoken.]
NAMAARI: You. You’re going back to Fang. She has a dragon— she has Sisu. That changes things. My mother needs to hear of this. The rest of us will move out. Next they’ll be going to claw.
FANG SOLDIER: Can we even catch them if they’re moving that fast?
NAMAARI: We can if we ride hard. Let’s go.
[NAMAARI gives on last look towards where the boat has disappeared. Then she snaps the reins of her cat.
On the boat, safely out of reach of tail, Sisu's pace pushing the boat slows.
RAYA points her sword at BOUN]
RAYA: Why were you disguised?
SISU: Woah, Raya. He's just a kid.
RAYA: Speak! Why were you lying!
BOUN: I was lying!? You're a thief, like that lady said. You stole my boat! You stole me.
RAYA: I can't steal, I was paying! If anything, I bought you
BOUN: What! You can't just buy a child.
[RAYA squawks in outrage.
SISU boards the boat and loops herself around BOUN. TUK TUK’s eyes nervously ping pong betweent hem]
SISU: Raya. Be chill, beside Paddle's cool
BOUN: And my name's not Paddle! It's Boun. That's Captain Boun to you.
RAYA: That doesn't make any sense!
SISU: Oooh, I get it now. Like a boon to push on a boat.
BOUN: Yes!
RAYA: Well, it still doesn't explain why you were lying.
BOUN: I don't have to tell you anything!
RAYA: Well I don't have to not toss you overboard!
SISU: Raya!
RAYA: Explain. Now.
BOUN: This is my family's boat. I have to look like I can take care of it for them.
RAYA: Why don't they take of it themselves.
BOUN: Because they're gone! My family is, all gone. The boat is all I have left of them. I can't lose it. I can't look like I can't take care of what's mine... because then... people will take it.
(Beat)
SISU: I'm sorry. I'm the— I'm the last of my family too.
BOUN: You are?
SISU: Yeah.
BOUN: It's really hard... being the last one.
SISU: ...It is. Good thing there's two of us! We can start a club. Without Raya
RAYA: No you can't
SISU: What are you talking about! Two's plenty for a club.
RAYA: I'm the last of my people too.
[RAYA turns and goes to the front of the boat.]
SISU: Raya... I didn't know.
RAYA: Yeah, well, there's a lot you don't know.
SISU: ...Why did that lady…
RAYA: Namaari.
SISU: Why did Namaari call you a thief.
[RAYA says nothing]
SISU: I’m not mad. I just— what happened? Did you take something?
RAYA: You don't understand.
SISU: Then explain it to me.
RAYA: I can’t be a thief because they took from us first. They betrayed us, and then they took everything.
RAYA: (sighs) Six years ago, my father, the chief, invited people from all across the land to come together in celebration of the Dragons and the creation of the Dragon Gem. The festival counting down to the feast lasted a week.
[The story cuts to a flashback. We see RAYA as a small child, stiff backed, wearing the uniform of a Dragon Guardian She sees through the courtyard a single girl with her arms wrapped around her knees, by herself. Hiding. RAYA comes over with some food. The lonely girl turns and we see it is NAMAARI, her hair long on both sides and shoulder length. It falls in a curtain that hides her face. She is obviously shy. RAYA offers her the plate and NAMAARI hunches even further in on herself. RAYA sets the plate down and disappears. She comes back with her own plate and stuffs her face, her cheeks bulging like a chipmunk. NAMAARI, surprised, bursts out laughing, and starts to eat her own food. The scene shifts to a series of images. The girls running up and down the length of the festival.
The two of them playfighting in RAYA’s practice room. NAMAARI gets a blow under RAYA’s guard. NAMAARI immediately pulls back and goes a little shy. Raya looks surprise and delighted at her new friend's skill.
The two of them perched on a rooftop together, watching the sun set.
All throughout this montage, RAYA loses the stiff backed posture she had as a Dragon Guardian. NAMAARI starts to lose her shyness.
The two of them stood in front of a large and elaborate tapestry. NAMAARI looking up in naked wonder. RAYA off to the side watching her friend's excited face. She is getting an idea.
Cut to: NAMAARI and RAYA walk down a hallway toward the temple of the Dragon Gem.RAYA is looking confidently forward excited. NAMAARI glances back, aprehensive. The two girls come to stand in the light of the Dragon Gem. RAYA is watching NAMAARI’s face eagerly. NAMAARI looks wonder struck, but also pained.
RAYA, nervously, nudges her shoulder against NAMAARI]
RAYA: Pretty cool right
VIRANA: (Offscreen) Very cool.
[The camera turns and we see NAMAARI’s mother, VIRANA, leader of Fang, flanked by masked Fang guards. NAMAARI, downcast, goes to stand by her mother.
RAYA, weaponless takes a defensive position against the adult armed soldiers.]
RAYA: I am a dragon guardian. Protector of the Dragon Gem. And you will not pass.
[The Fang soldiers quickly overwhelm the lone RAYA, until out of nowhere CHIEF BENJA swoops in. Father and daughter fight the Fang guards until RAYA is taken. VIRANA presses a blade to her throat.]
VIRANA: Choose now. The Dragon Gem, or your daughter's life.
[CHIEF BENJA throws down his sword.]
CHIEF BENJA: It will never work. Once you step foot off this island not only will all of Heart and the Dragon Guardians be after you, but when everyone hears of what you've done, while my guest, they will join us and hunt you down.
VIRANA:(mildly) ...Do you know, I believe you.
[VIRANA barges in on the Chiefs dinner. In the shadows, RAYA is bound and gagged, her face covered with a Fang mask. She watches, helplessly.]
VIRANA: Claw, Spine, Tail. I have stolen the Dragon Gem. Chief Benja has promised to ask you to hunt me down for him. This is my answer:
[A hulking Fang soldier slams a hammer and chisel onto the dragon gem, it breaks into four pieces.
Chief Benja gasps as if struck.]
VIRANA: By taking a piece you pledge to never come after me or Fang. You set sail with us tonight. If you side with Heart, and Chief Benja... you get nothing. The faster you choose me, the bigger you piece.
CHIEF BENJA: This woman has threatened and taken my daughter.
VIRANA: I do not have your daughter, Benja. (to the other chiefs) He is lying.
CHIEF BENJA: Then where is she! Where is my daughter, Fang, what have you done with her.
VIRANA: How should I know. Look at him, he sees what you have to gain and will say anything to stop it. Are you going to let him?
CHIEF BENJA: Monster! Traitor!
VIRANA: Enough, I am the one who has the dragon gem. And you all have a choice. Make it.
[Tail, then Spine, then lastly, Claw reluctantly take up the pieces.]
RAYA: I was thrown, still bound and gagged, on a ship with just enough movement to watch as they burned and fired every one of our Heart ships.
RAYA: and that was the last time I saw my Ba, or my people, alive. Then the Druun came and— they were gone. All was lost.
RAYA: I am a Dragon Guardian. I took Fang’s Dragon Gem back, after they lied and stole and broke the Dragon Gem. And now, I am going to be the one who puts the gem back together, to stop the Druun and bring everyone who has been lost back.
[There is a moment of quiet. SISU reaches down and picks up the Tail piece of the Dragon Gem, as she pushes the boat through the night, she starts to glow.]
BOUN: You look so pretty.
SISU: Yeah? My sister, Amba, used to have this power. She was the prettiest.
(Beat)
SISU: I’m with you, Raya. I’m going to help you make this right.
BOUN: Me too!
SISU: Raya… what happened next? How did you escape from Fang?
RAYA: We’re here. This is Claw.
[Across the water lies the outline of claw. SISU stops glowing and slips onto the boat.]
BOUN: Have you ever been to Claw, Miss Sisu?
SISU: Are you kidding? I used to come here all the time to visit my big brother, Pengu. That was a long time ago, I’m sure it’s changed. But I remember they had good food.
RAYA: I hear the Claw food is the best.
[BOUN’s stomach growls.]
BOUN: I could go for some of that to
[SISU’s much larger stomach growls even louder.]
SISU: Me too!
[The boat docks at Claw. It is a seedy looking place full of dark corners, sharp blades, and desperate people.]
RAYA: Sisu, you’re with me. We will need your powers to steal back the Dragon Gem piece.
SISU: Haha… right...
BOUN: Um…
[BOUN looks around, distinctly uncomfortable and scared of Claw.]
RAYA: …actually I think I can handle this mission on my own. Sisu, take Captain Boun and get some food. We can’t sneak anywhere if we have noisy hungry bellies. Meet me back at the boat.
SISU: Want us to save something for you?
RAYA: ...sure.
[SISU turns into a pangolin and drapes herself around BOUN’s neck. BOUN wraps himself in his adult Boatman disguise. SISU does the voice, and BOUN moves the arms. They find a stall, and food is slopped in front of them.]
SISU: ...this place really has changed. This is disgusting.
BOUN: Yuck. What happened.
[The CLAW STALL VENDOR , and older blind woman, turns towards them. Her hand flashes out and grabs the “wrist” of the boatman disguise.]
CLAW VENDOR: I’d like to see what you can cook with the few crops the Druun doesn’t turn to stone and the few things that can be foraged by the people not too scared to go out. Now eat up. You’re too skinny.
A brief shoving contest breaks out as BOUN and SISU try to make each other eat the disgusting gruel. [Then the VENDOR draws near, and in a panic BOUN dumps his food behind him.
The VENDOR takes the food back.]
CLAW VENDOR: Huh, looks like you liked it. Have some more, then.
[RAYA makes her way, sneaking towards the center of town. She hears a crying child in an alleyway. Disgruntled, she goes to help while muttering angrily under her breath.]
RAYA:(Under her breath) Stupid children, always needing things— Hey, are you okay?
[The child turns and we see NOI, an old woman, disguised as a child. NOI and her monkeys steal RAYA's pack, and with it, the pieces of the Dragon Gem. A dramatic rooftop chase begins. NOI leads RAYA on an acrobatic rooftop chase across the city. RAYA performs a number of extremely acrobatic feats in order to keep pursuit. RAYA turns from vaulting over a rooftop to see NAMAARI and her war band in a plaza. One of the Fang soldiers is slumped over her cat.]
FANG SOLDIER: I don't know if I'd rather sleep or eat, I'm so exhausted.
NAMAARI: Keep sharp! They could be close.
[RAYA slows and stealths over the roof.
The chase continues. At one point, NOI is worried she lost RAYA, checks back over the rooftop. RAYA is fine, and hot in pursuit. During their rooftop chase, NOI's path results in her jumping off a stone statue, which starts to slide. It crashes off the side of the building into the wall built to keep out the Druun. The Druun comes pouring in from the wall, towards a hapless civillian. RAYA draws to a halt, caught between the choice of running after NOI or saving the civillian. NOI is unaware of the danger, she doesn't look back. RAYA leaps from the rooftop and saves the civillian.
The Druun comes spilling out, taking over the district of Claw before the community can start putting up a new fence line. The civilian RAYA saved runs off, and RAYA is left alone. She looks around: NOI is nowhere to be seen.
RAYA let's out a cry of frustration and beats her fist against the ground.
We cut to NOI on a rooftop, she saw everything. Remaining hidden, she speaks.]
NOI: You just let a what is yours and a thief escape, to save someone whose endangering wasn't even your fault.
RAYA: ...It was the right thing to do.
[From off screen, RAYA's pouch drops to the ground. NOI comes out of hiding.]
NOI: Sometimes, when you have nothing, when everything has been taken from you... you stop yourself from caring when other people get hurt. And you keep using that excuse… even when it’s no longer true.
NOI: This is yours. I should not have taken it.
[A Monkey quickly stuffs some food stolen from RAYA into its mouth, sensing that eating it will soon no longer be on the table.
RAYA takes back her bag and the Dragon Gems, but not her food.]
RAYA: You can keep the food. My friends promised they'd pick me up something better.
NOI: ...This is not a gift. This is a favor, and I am going to repay it some day.
RAYA: Actually.... how are you at distractions?
[NOI and her monkeys descend on Namaari, distracting them. RAYA slips behind her and steals the Claw piece of the Dragon Gem.
They meet back on the boat. Pangolin!SISU leaps from BOUN's neck onto RAYA.]
SISU: Raya! I was getting worried.
[SISU sees NOI and grows concerned.]
RAYA: Don't worry. Sisu, Boun, this is...
NOI: I'm Noi.
[SISU gets on the ground. She transforms to mirror the monkeys. They goof off with TUK TUK in the background.]
RAYA: So. How was the food? What’d you guys get me?
[SISU and BOUN cringe.]
SISU: Actually, we were hoping you could give us some of your rations
[RAYA freezes. She doesn’t have anymore food.]
NOI: I believe this is yours.
[NOI hands back the food RAYA gave her.]
RAYA: You don’t have to—
NOI: It's okay, I've got something better.
[BOUN’s stomach growls.]
NOI: … and there’s enough to share.
[SISU is already chowing down.]
SISU: Augh this is amazing, where did you get this?
NOI: Turns out those Fang people have pretty good supplies.
[Cut to: Namaari and her war band.
FANG SOLDIER picks up her empty pack. There’s a hole in the bottom of it.]
FANG SOLDIER: The food’s gone!
NAMAARI: Focus, we cannot afford to miss them!
[In the background]
CLAW LEADER: The Dragon Gem has been stolen!!
[NAMAARI lets out a frustrated growl.
Cut to: The Fang soldier NAMAARI sent back as a messenger arrives back at Fang and reports to VIRANA.]
VIRANA: They escaped?
FANG SOLDIER: When I left them, yes. But even now your daughter pursues the thief and the dragon and the stolen dragon gem pieces—
VIRANA: My daughter is a very capable woman, but I think asking her to face down a dragon... we'll have to bring her some reenforcements..
[Back on the boat, SISU puts her claw on the gem piece. It glows, and water starts to rise around them, propelling them faster. Everyone else in the boat is slumped over, content from their feast. RAYA seats herself next to SISU, at the back of the boat.]
SISU: Good food.
RAYA: Yeah, I haven’t eaten that well in… a long time.
SISU: Last time I had food from Fang, I went to visit my sister Pranee. We saw a new play. But the best food was always in Claw, when I'd go visit my brother Pengu. He was a real workaholic, always had to be dragged away from the fields and his job. He's lucky the food was so good— made it worth it to visit him all the time. Claw it's... it's really changed.
RAYA: You traveled to see your family a lot?
SISU: Well, everyone else was always really busy with their duties and their people. So it was always easiest for me to be the one to move.
RAYA: You weren't busy, too? Protecting Heart?
SISU: Well for one, things were different things were different back then. It was pretty safe, so... Heart didn't really need me.
RAYA: I can't even imagine... I guess everything must seem safer, when you have power.
SISU: Haha... yeah... Have you ever traveled?
RAYA: Only if you count being captured. And going to steal the Fang piece of the Dragon Gem. I hadn't visited any of the other lands until this... You should tell me about Spine. So we can prepare a plan. With all those hunters and warriors, and their skill at ambushes from the mist— this will be the hardest. We're going to need the greatest of your power.
SISU: Haha... right. You were captured.... you never said how that ended. How did you escape.
RAYA: ...I don't know.
[Flashback to RAYA in a cell. The two bodies of her guards slump and fall to the ground. Raya looks up. On the wall, there 's the shadow of a horned figure. The door to RAYA’s cell creaks open. She steps into the hallway, but there's no one there.
Cut to: RAYA leaving Fang, on the outside of the walls of the city. For a brief moment, that same horned shadow is on the wall. When RAYA turns around, again there is no one there.]
SISU: Do you think... do you think it could have been someone from Fang?
RAYA: I don't know. But I don't think so. I don’t think anyone from there— from anywhere— would have much interest in helping me.
SISU: Well that's changed.
[Cut to: Noi and Boun, hanging out on the boat.]
RAYA: ...right. It doesn't matter. We should just focus on our plan of attack.
SISU: ...What ifwe didn't attack?
RAYA: What ?
SISU: What if we just asked them.
[RAYA says nothing]
SISU: Think about it, we're stopping the Druun right? Everyone's lost someone to the Druun, why would Spine say no?! We're helping them!
RAYA: You don't know that! We can't trust them!
SISU: I know, I know you think that, and I know you have every reason to. But think of all the places we've gone. Everywhere we go there's been someone who's wanted to help. If we ask—
RAYA: You want me. To ask the people that helped Fang steal from me. Who helped steal everything from me, and you want me to what— just ask for it back! Why would I do that? Why should I have to, I have the Dragon of Heart on my side, the greatest and strongest—
SISU: I ran away!
SISU: I’m still here because I ran away.
[As SISU speaks, the image flashes back to the meeting of the Dragons. SISU speaks in voiceover.]
SISU: I’m not the bravest, or the strongest, I wasn’t chosen. I’m… a coward. My powers were so weak. The Druun came and I! I was so scared. I didn’t want to be turned to stone. So I ran away. As far as I could. And once I was there… I was too much of a coward to find out what happened to my family. Knowing what happened, knowing that it was because I failed them. So I stayed there.
[End flashback]
RAYA: All this time?
SISU: ...you lose track after the first few hundred years. I was certain that everyone was gone. That my family was gone. That people, were gone.
SISU: And then you came.
RAYA goes to the front of the boat. The light changes as hours pass.
RAYA: We're heading this way
BOUN: That's not where Spine is
RAYA: We're making a detour.
[They arrive at Heart. RAYA sets foot on the island. She wordlessly leads SISU through an empty city, to the temple of the Dragon Gem. As we make our way, we see the dilapidated training room. The dusty corridors. A pond that RAYA used to sleep safely from the Druun. Inside the innermost room of the temple, there are dozens of statues of Heart villagers that RAYA has dragged to safety over the years]
RAYA: They destroyed every Heart ship on their way out. So when the Druun came back... there was nowhere to go. No way off the island. I came back and everyone had been turned to stone. Sisu, I need you to understand. I need to do this. I can't take any chances with this. Because if I fail, then I lose everyone. Forever. I can't trust anyone else with Heart.
RAYA: Except its Dragon. Except you.
SISU: ...but I lied.
RAYA: I know. It doesn't matter. You're here now. And I need to— and I am choosing to trust you. I am choosing to trust that you will hear me when I say what I need. That I need you. I need you to do this, with me.
SISU: Okay. We'll do it your way.
[They head back to the boat. BOUN is decorating one of the statues with flowers, NOI looking on solemnly. They both look sadly at RAYA, mourning her loss. RAYA takes this in, wordlessly.]
RAYA: Come on. We need to get going.
[Cut to: the gang approaches the outer wall of SPINE. Through the mist they can see figures standing on top of the wall.
SISU and RAYA break to go over the wall. They sneak among to figurs only to find.. . theyr're all scarecrows. Confused they open the gate. Everyone stays together, huddled up in the center. Out of the mist comes TONG, hulking chieftain of Spine.
A fight ensues, with RAYA weaving back and forth striking and trading blows as TONG appears and reappears out of the mist
Finally, Raya brigns him down.]
SISU: Raya, careful, there's could be more of them in the mist.
[RAYA pauses. Nothing comes.]
RAYA: There isn't anyone coming. Because there isn't anyone else, they're all gone. You're the last one, aren't you?
TONG: You know nothing!
[But TONG doesn't meet RAYAs eyes.
BEAT. RAYA doesn’t flinch.]
TONG: Spine is a place of mist and snow. In the winter, all our water freezes. When the Druun came, there was nothing to stop them.
RAYA: I know exactly what it is to have everyone you love turn to stone. And I know that because of you, and what you did. But still, you didn’t deserve this.
[RAYA sheathes her sword and her extends her hand to TONG.]
RAYA: Give us the piece of the Dragon Gem, and we will bring Spine back.
[Tong takes her hand.]
RAYA: Where is it?
TONG: I keep all I treasure in one place: safe in the vault, with my people. This way.
[They head into the vault. Tong looks solemn. The vault itself is filled with frozen Spine villagers. A shadow splits from one of the statues and starts approaching. It raises a sword.]
TONG: Raya look out!
[TONG pushes RAYA out of the way and locks blades with the Fang soldier.
Fang soldiers come pouring out from where they're hidden from around the room. They back the main gang into the center, surrounding them. VIRANA steps on the main dais, holding the Spine piece of the Dragon Gem in one hand.]
VIRANA: Oh, Tong, that was a mistake.
[With her other hand Virana is tilting a Spine villager it threatens to fall and shatter. Seeing this, TONG throws down his sword and buckles.]
TONG: No, stop I'll do anything.
[VIRANA pushes the statue, only for it to be caught and righted by NAMAARI. ]
NAMAARI: There's no need for that. We have them. We can put him with the others.
VIRANA: Hm. I suppose it's good to have extras to make an example of if the dragon doesn't cooperate.
RAYA: You haven't caught us yet, Virana.
VIRANA: Oh, give it time. Which I rather think is on my side for this one. I wouldn't waste precious minutes fighting back.
RAYA: Who says it's a waste, we have a dragon on our side.
[SISU looks uncertain at the number of foes, but resolves to fight.]
VIRANA: Are you sure the dragon ought to be here
SISU:(growls) Yes we are. I'm not going anywhere.
VIRANA: She could be fighting back, but in the meantime the ship I sent will arrive at Heart. I've given them orders to smash every Heart statue they can find, starting with your father. Only a dragon that was known for exceptionally swift could hope to get there in time to stop them. I'll offer you the same bargain I did your father, his life for the gem. You know what he chose, all those years ago. Surely you'll repay the favor.
[RAYA points her sword directly at VIRANA, her chin down, her sakalot at an angle, hiding her face.]
RAYA: And how are you certain I've forgive him for making that choice?
[VIRANA is taken aback by this. Warily, she prepares for battle.
Only SISU is close enough to see: RAYA is in tears.]
SISU: I'm coming back.
[Then in a flash SISU is racing across the sky, towards Heart.]
VIRANA: I think I'll be taking all of the Dragon Gem now. And all of you prisoner. When the dragon comes back, I want her to know exactly who it will cost if she refuses to listen.
[SISU is racing across the sky.
Back at FANG, VIRANA and NAMAARI are in the throne room for a conversation.]
NAMAARI: When will we putting the Dragon Gem back together?
VIRANA: Hm, I was thinking we wouldn't.
NAMAARI: What?! But the Druun—
VIRANA: Have already taken out Spine and Heart, both of our closest rival. Imagine, given time, what they could do to Claw and Tail while we wait, safe behind these canals and walls with the only deterrent, The Dragon Gem, and, the only dragon. Once the Druun clears those others out, the world will be mine for the taking, and one day I will hand it all over on a silver platter to you, my daughter.
NAMAARI: But it's wrong.
VIRANA: What is best for Fang can never be wrong. My daughter, I do this for you.
NAMAARI: You're not listening to me. I don't want you to.
VIRANA: I hear you, and I know. I know you, my Namaari, I know you are strong and fierce and righteous.
[VIRANA takes NAMAARI's chin in her hands.]
VIRANA: I know you. Someday, you will want this.
[Tears trek down NAMAARI's face. VIRANA exits.
In a fang prsion cell.]
TONG: Raya, I am sorry.
RAYA: ...You did what you had to do. I would’ve done the same.
[BOUN is huddled in a corner, looking scared.]
RAYA: Sisu is going to come back, and we will get out of here. I’m not failing you, Boun.
BOUN: You can’t fail me. (pause) Not everybody gets taken by the Druun. People get sick... my family got sick. Whatever happens, they're not coming back.
Raya: then— why? Why come all this way. You didn't have to. You're just a kid
Boun:...because I wanted to be a hero. I wanted my family's name to matter.
Raya: Boun, you do matter. How could you think otherwise?
Raya: (resolute) We're getting out of here. And we're getting the Dragon Gem pieces back.
[Across the cell floor RAYA’s sword slides over. On the other side of the door the guard's unconscious bodies hit the ground. A familiar horned shadow glides across the floor. Raya looks up. The masked figure reveals themself. It's NAMAARI.
Flashback to six years ago, the shot of RAYA leaving the on foot outside the walls of Fang. The horned figure standing on the wall, when RAYA looks back this time we cut to the wall. The figure darts behind a parapet, out of sight, and removes her mask revealing her face. It’s NAMAARI. It’s always been Namaari.]
RAYA: It's you.
(Beat)
RAYA: Why? Why save me?
NAMAARI: ...I couldn't betray my family. But still I, still I wanted, to be your friend.
[RAYA takes this in. Straightens. It's not enough, but there's work to do.
Cut To: Sisu is racing to Heart. On the island, the Fang soldiers land and begin to hunt stalk through town. Growling, Sisu launches herself at their leader and pins the individual to the ground. SISU roars in their face and speaks.]
SISU: I am the Dragon of Heart, protector of its people. And you are not welcome here. Now get back on your boat before I tear off your face.
[Terrified, they do so. SISU rushes the boat to a tiny deserted island and dumps out the Fang soldiers there. She roars in the leaders face again]
SISU: Where are they taking them?
FANG SOLDIER (2): Virana said they would be taken to Fang
[She begins to race back towards Fang.
RAYA, BOUN, NOI, TONG, and NAMAARI all make their way to the Fang throne room. It's time for the final battle.]
VIRANA: I suppose I need no longer wonder who to blame for Raya going free all those years ago. Raya, you've been a thorn in Fang's side for too long.
[Epic fight scene. NAMAARI and RAYA team up, they fight together and take VIRANA down. But once she’s on the floor—
The Druun breaks in.]
VIRANA: But the canals— Impossible.
[VIRANA is turned to stone.]
NAMAARI: Raya! What's happening
RAYA: I saw out in the wastes— the Druun's been getting stronger!
NAMAARI: We need to get the Dragon Gem together now!
RAYA: But without Sisu here, will it even work!
[Each of the band gathers up their people's piece of the Dragon Gem. They bring it together. The Dragon Gem seals back together and glows... but only faintly. The Druun barely recedes.]
RAYA: The magic... it's cracked too much. It's not enough.
NAMAARI: If we can just make it to sunrise.
[They rush out of the throne room to get away from the Druun, to a balcony on which they make their last stand.
NOI falls. TONG falls. It's just BOUN, NAMAARI, and RAYA. And the Druun is closing in. BOUN goes to stone, curled at RAYA side. RAYA sits. There's nothing left to do. There’s nowhere to run. She puts the Dragon Gem on her lap and faces the horizon.]
NAMAARI: Raya! I'm sorry.
[RAYA doesn’t look at NAMAARI. She doesn’t speak. She is watching the horizon, for the dawn to come. Worldlessly, she takes NAMAARI’s hand in her own. NAMAARI holds tight to that hand and waits. The horizon is already lightening. The dawn is so close. But not close enough. ]
SISU rushes through the air, heads for the balcony, the highest point of fang. She lands aong clouds of Druun.]
SISU: No, no I can't be too late, not again!
[SISU sees the Dragon Gem in Raya's lap, she picks it up and it glows faintly.]
SISU: The power... it's not enough.
[SISU takes one last look at RAYA. Then she sweeps through the sky, she clutches the gem as runs along the water, circling the island, faster until the water draws up behind her in an inverse tornado. At it's peak, she draws her power out and into the gem... and falls down onto the balcony. Greatly weakened, SISU stumbles back to RAYA and the gang, to lay down and turn to stone with them. All is quiet.
The Dragon Gem glows and then pulses out a great wave of light. Clouds gather and storm above. Rain falls, and where it touches... the people below are turned back from stone. RAYA regains human form and turns to hug SISU.]
RAYA: (whispered) That's my dragon.
[The rest of the team turns back and joins a group hug.
Cut to: Heart. RAYA is wearing one of Tong's bracers, and a distinctive Dragon pin. She has a pitcher of water that she pours over the statue of CHIEF BENJA.]
RAYA: Ba, it's me. It's Raya
BENJA: Raya? No, but you were just here... Oh my girl. You must have been so alone and so strong for such a long time...
[He embraces her.]
RAYA: I was. But you're here now.
[BENJA sees SISU.]
BENJA: Raya, is that a dragon?
RAYA: It's actually our dragon. Ba, this is Sisu.
[BENJA drops into a bow.]
BENJA: Oh mighty Sisu, I am humbled and moved by your presence—
SISU: Oh stop, you're RAYA's dad! You're practically family!
[SISU hugs BENJA. BENJA cautiously hugs back. Behind SISU's back he looks at RAYA, like "Are you seeing this???" RAYA grins back. She looks around and sees the bench in the Dragon Gem courtyard that looks... suspiciously familiar.
RAYA moves forward to pull back the Ivy and reveals... the other dragons.]
RAYA: Sisu, look!
SISU: Oh my...
RAYA: They've been here this whole time. They must have come here to get away from the Druun but with the roof... the rain never reached them.
[They get a pitcher and pour some water on the lead dragon, which turn back from stone]
PENGU: Sisu. You came back.
SISU: Yeah. I was, you know, a little late this time. First time for everything.
[PENGU reaches out a claw and moves the water from the pitcher so it flings out and wets the other dragons. They come back to life and embrace. Then, joyously, together the dragons fly up into the sky.
In Fang, NAMAARI turns from ordering about some soldiers. She sees the dragons in the distance, the light on her face, and she gives a small smile.
In Spine, TONG points out the dragons, standing in the midst of his fellow revived Spine members.
In Claw, the civillian RAYA saved tugs on the shirt and talks animatedly to the CLAW STREET VENDOR. She turns into the light to listen to the news, and the daylight illuminates the faded Dragon decoration on her stall behind her.
In Tail, the dragons dance in the sky. In the water, four paper lanterns of different height float together, like a minimalist representation of BOUN’s family.
Back at Heart, CHIEF BENJA lifts BOUN onto his shoulders. RAYA puts an arm around her father and looks to the sky.
We go to the perspective of SISU, dancing joyously with her siblings across the sky. They go up and up until the camera is blinded by the direct light of the sun. The scene transitions to the end title card.
RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON
THE END.]