I thought of this fanfic after watching the live-action version of The Jungle Book. This takes place a few weeks after The Jungle Book 2. So...I'm guessing Mowgli and Shanti are 13-14, Ranjan is between 8 and 10 years old.

I do not own The Jungle Book. It belongs to Disney.

In the deep of the Indian jungle, a family of mongoose hang out in the trees. One pair of mongoose, Abhi and his mate of three years, Disha, were enjoying some alone time walking along the bantan trees swishing their tails.

"Oh, Abhi, wht a beautiful evening!" Disha exclaimed happily. She sighed and smiled.

Abhi smiled at his mate. "It's not quite as lovely as you are."

Disha giggled. "Oh, you..." They kissed. They stopped as they saw the volcanic trench.

"Whoa...." Abhi gasped. He started walking towards it. "What do you suppose...?"

"Isn't this where Shere Khan the tiger fell?" Disha asked.

"I think so." Abhi replied. He walked towards the trench.

"Abhi, wait!" Disha held out her hand, then followed her husband. They stopped a few feet from the edge.

"You can really feel the heat from here." Abhi noted.

"Yeah." Disha agreed half-heartedly. "Now can we please get out of here? This place is omnious."

Abhi snorted and smiled at his mate. "Come on, Disha! What's the worst that could happen?"

Abhi walked closer to the edge when a white and orange and black striped paw clung to the surface. The mongoose gasped and backed away. A second paw clung to the surface, then Shere Khan's head popped up growling. Disha screamed in fright. Abhi grabbed her hand and they ran.

"RUN!" Abhi yelled franticly. They sprinted into the jungle. Abhi looked back to see Shere Khan gaining on them. He turned to Disha, still running. "Disha...no matter what...keep running! Don't turn back to any reason. Do you understand me?"

Disha wheezed and gasped for breath. "Yes!"

Abhi caught his breath. "I love you!"

Disha was near tears. "I love you, too!"

Shere Khan tackled Abhi to the ground. Both Disha and Abhi screamed. "Run, Disha, run!" Abhi yelled. Disha ran as fast as she could, trying not to cry. She ran for what seemed like hours before tripping over a tree root. She collapsed on the ground unconscious.

XX

Sunlight woke Disha up the next morning. She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Realization dawned upon her: Shere Khan was back...and he might have killed her mate. She cried until she had no more tears left.

'I have to warn someone.' She thought. She sniffed and got to her feet. 'An animal. Any animal.' She looked around and saw a black panther jumping from a tree branch. She waved her arms. "Hey!"

Bagheera turned to the source of the cry. He saw a female mongoose waving her arms frantically with a harried expression on her face. He jumped down. "What's the matter?"

Disha swallowed and took a few deep breaths. "My-my mate ad I were walking last night, and...Shere Khan! He-he got out of the volcanic trench and...chased us..." She started crying again. "He told me to keep running."

Bagheera looked slightly shocked and horrified. "Are you sure it was Shere Khan?"

"Mmm-hmmm." Disha nodded. She sniffed. "I had to tell someone."

"You did the right thing." Bagheera said comfortingly. "You may want to lay low for a while. Shere Khan probably remember's your face."

"Okay." Disha sighed. "Thanks."

Bagheera jumped up on a low branch and started running along the branches. He was sure the mongoose was telling the truth, but he had to be a hundred and ten percent sure. He ran to the trench where Shere Khan fell and looked below. The tiger head statue was floating in the lava pit, so was what looked like the feet, wings, and head of a vulture. There were also claw marks on the edge and tiger tracks.

Shere Khan was back. And judging by the mongoose's story, he was even more pissed than ever.

Mowgli.

'Dammit!' Bagheera began sprinting towards the man village.

XXX

"All right! Let's get this party started!" The MC monkey yelled out. Everyone cheered wildly and started dancing at the ruins.

Mowgli laughed and Baloo twirled him across the floor. "Hell yeah! This party rocks!" He grabbed onto a monkey head statue against a pillar and pulled and leaned back. The statue leaned back with him. "Whoa!" Mowgli lost his balance, but caught himself. Everyone stopped and stared as the throne opened into a trapdoor.

"What is that?" Mowgli asked. He started walking towards it, slipped on a banana peel, lost his footing and slid towards the trapdoor. Baloo gasped and ran after him. They both tripped and fell into the trapdoor and down a flight of stairs. They yelled out and landed. Mowgli landed on top of Baloo.

Baloo glared up at Mowgli. "What the heck was that?"

"Sorry!" Mowgli threw up his hands in surrender. "I slipped!"

Mowgli started running up the stairs. Baloo sat up. "Forget it, kid. The trapdoor's probably sealed by now."

Mowgli stopped and turned around. "How do you know?"

"Because I've been here before." Baloo stood up. "Long ago when I was about your age."

Mowgli sighed and walked back down the stairs. "Oh. So we're stuck here?"

"Not necessarily." Baloo reassured him. "There's an exit down this way...I think." He pointed straight.

They walked down a narrow ledge. There was a river below them. A few minutes later, they came to a spacious cave with mountains of treasure. Baloo quickened his pace. Mowgli had to jog to keep up with him.

"Baloo!" Mowgli exclaimed, confused. "What's the rush? It's so cool down here!"

"Sure, until you meet Whitehood the giant cobra." Baloo replied. "And believe me when I tell you- you do not want to meet him."

"Okay. I got you." Mowgli replied. He couldn't help but look around as he ran. He almost stumbled over a long black and gold case. "Whoa!" He looked down at the gold casing. The tip of the case has a gold monkey face on it. Mowgli picked it up and looked at it.

"Hey, Mowgli, did you die out there?" Baloo called from the doorway. Mowgli snapped out of it and ran to catch up.

"What's that you're holding?" Asked Baloo.

"I don't know. Some kind of -"

CRASH

Mowgli whipped around and gasped as he saw a giant white cobra come out of one of the piles of gold. "WHO DARES ENTER MY SANCTUM?"

"Eeep." Mowgli squeaked. Baloo grabbed Mowgli and ran to the exit. They came to daylight. Mowgli caught his breath,. "Boy...you weren't kidding about that cobra."

Baloo sighed. "Well, now you know. What's that you got there?"

Mowgli held up the case. He pulled at the end and out came a sword. "What is this?"

"I think you stab things with it." Came a voice behind him.

Mowgli and Baloo turned around and gaped in shock. "King Louie?"

"So you haven't forgotten about me." King Louie replied, looking livid. "Three months. I'm gone three months on sabbatical, and this is what I come home to?"

"Well, we didn't think you were coming back!" Baloo shrugged.

"Well, I am." Louie started walking towards them pointing his index finger at the two. "You have destroyed everything that I've been building for the last twenty-five years. Now I'm taking back what's mine. And if I ever see either of you on my land again..."

Baloo held his paws up in surrender. "Okay, okay, we get it. Geez." He grabbed Mowgli, plopped him on his shoulders. "Hey, come on. You gotta admit, this is one swinging hideout!"

Louie screeched loudly and lunged for Baloo, who yelped and ran off. Louie hissed and snorted after them.

XXX

Bagheera ran to the area where he, Baloo, and sometimes Mowgli, Shanti, and Ranjan live. No one was there. He caught his breath, then saw Shanti walking along. "Shanti!" He exclaimed. He jumped in front of her and put a paw on her shoulder. "Quick! Where's Mowgli?"

Shanti stared at Bagheera slightly taken aback. "I don't know. I've just been looking for him." Bagheera sighed and looked around. :"Bagheera, what's wrong?"

Before Bagheera could reply, Baloo and Mowgli came bursting out of the bushes. "Whoo! We lost him." They both laughed. Bagheera just stared at them.

"So you already know he's returned?" Bagheera asked his friends.

"Oh, yeah." Baloo replied.

"You should've seen the look on his face when he saw us!" Mowgli laughed and shook his head.

Bagheera sighed. "Murderous, I'd imagine."

"Well, not quite." Baloo replied. "I doubt King Louie would have the stomach to kill anyone."

Bagheera shook his head. "Wait, King Louie?"

"Yeah. Isn't that who you're talking about?"

"No! I..." Bagheera sighed. "Baloo, Shere Khan got out of the volcanic trench last night."

Baloo and Mowgli looked at each other, then laughed. "Good one, Baggy!" Bagheera stood there and looked serious and patiently waited for his friends to stop laughing. Then Baloo realized that he was telling the truth.

"...You mean...Shere Khan is back?" Baloo asked. Bagheera nodded.

Shanti gasped and shook her head, freaked out. "Oh, my God..."

"What atre we going to do?" Mowgli asked.

"I think the best course of action is for you and shanti to go back to the village and stay there." Bagheera replied. "At least until he's been dealt with."

"You really think that'll work?" Shanti asked. "He knows where the village is."

Bagheera sighed heavily. "This...doesn't look too good then, does it?"

Baloo, Mowgli, and Shanti shook their heads in agreement.

What were they going to do?

Okay! Hope you guys like it enough to review, 'cause...that's...generally hows I can tell. Lol Anyway, Whitehood, the sword, and King Louie will be important in this story, so stay tuned!

Oh, and the trapdoor and Whitehood were from the TV series Jungle Cubs, which is a prequel to The Jungle Book.