p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; line-height: 27.1499px;"Author's note: None of the characters are mine. The rights belong to Rudyard Kipling, Disney, and 20th Century Fox. /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; line-height: 27.1499px;"span style="font-size: 13.5749px; line-height: 27.1499px;"Many times had the rains come and gone, but in all those years, there had never been such a creature to have gone through the jungle as the Predator. He vaguely resembled a man, that creature that all creatures of the jungle had known to fear. However, this was no man, nor did he look completely like one./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; line-height: 27.1499px;" The Predator was quite a tall beast, about 7 feet tall, with muscles that hugged his body tightly. He wore armor that covered his shoulders, right breast, and legs. On one of his shoulders was something that looked like the cannons that man had a strong affection towards, but this one looked too advanced to have been a man's. Both wrists had gauntlets, his left bearing beautiful, serrated blades sharper than the claws of any tiger in the jungle, while his right one, though not active, was equipped with a map that floated from his wrist and harbored a bomb which could've destroyed much of the jungle if he so desired./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;"Lastly, his face was hidden by a metal mask, made of a silver metal that glimmered when it was touched by the sun's light. The mask allowed him to see things in ways that only some of the jungle's deadliest inhabitants could. He could see the heat of its prey, much like the python. In the heat of the night, it could see as well as it could in the day, just as the panthers and tigers could. The only part of his head not obstructed by its mask was the back, which was adorned with black locks, some of which wore golden rings./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;"The creature came from away, he was not of the lands or the waters of the jungle. In fact, he was not of the jungle at all. This hunter come from the stars, the stars that grace the skies of the night. He came to the jungle for only one reason: To hunt the men which lived in the man-village close to the jungle. He was to draw them from their homes and into the jungles, where he would slowly hunt them all for sport, just as man hunted the creatures of the jungle only to satisfy the savageness of their hearts./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;"The Predator moved made his way to the man-village, moving as swiftly through the trees as the Bandar-Log did. He moved through the jungle almost as if he was a creature of the jungle who had lived there for all his life. Finally, the hunter stopped to scout the jungle. He looked about from left to right until he finally saw the man-village. It was a small village, in a valley surrounded by the mountains that gradually became less green as they rose, where the laws of the jungle slowly vanished as the mountains grew. Then, the Predator spied something that caught him by surprise./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;"It was a man-cub, a creature that even the foreign Predator knew had no right to live in. Yet, here was. He couldn't have been much older than ten, with shaggy, unkempt black hair. He wore no clothes, save for his red loincloth. He had some scars and bruises on his back, which showed of his many years of living in the jungle. With him was a panther, whose coat was as black the night sky. Not too far behind them was a bear, who had brown fur that was tipped with a silvery grey that showed of his age. These creature walked with the man-cub not as predators that hunted man as they do when they are forced to, but as friends who had known each other for as long as time had known./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;"This struck the Predator with much curiosity. These creatures, in their own rights, were some of the most deadly creatures of the jungle. Yet, they walked side by side with this man-cub, who had no fear of them at all. In fact, they were talking to each other. "How could this be?" the Predator thought to himself. The three of them were different creatures, as different as the night is to the day. However, they spoke to each other in one tongue, that of the jungle's./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;""Bagheera, how is it that the elephants of old created the jungle?" asked the boy. "Mowgli, you have heard the tale many times before. Do you truly need to know once again how it came to be?" the panther replied. "Bagheera, if the boy wishes to hear the tales once more, it is what he truly wants. Is not strange for the all of the young creatures of the jungle to hear of its oldest tales?" the bear chimed in. The panther, Bagheera, sighed in defeated and answered "Very well, man-cub. Before the times when all of the creatures of the jungle came into this world, the elephants were the first to have been given life's breathe. They were first to walk upon the world and saw that it was barren and plain. They saw in their minds what the land could be, and wanted it to be so. So, the elephants created the rivers by their tusks, digging in the ground to create their long and winding forms. Then the lakes and the seas were created by the tracks they had left in the ground, filling them with the water that had come from their trunks."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;""Then it was hills and the mountains!" Mowgli replied in an excited manner. "Yes, it was the hills and the mountains. Tell the man-cub how it became so." The bear, Baloo, encouraged the panther. "Indeed, it was the hills and mountains that came to be shortly after. They grabbed the soil with their trunks and brought the packed dirt together. Over time, the piles of dirt became quite larger until they became as tall as they are today." Mowgli then said "And then it was the creatures and the trees of the land! Tell how that came about!" Bagheera shook his head and answered "Perhaps when we return you to the wolf pack, I will tell you how it was so. We mustn't waste time. The moon will soon be in the sky and will be late."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;"The panther spoke the truth. The Predator looked over to the sky and saw that the sun was setting. He himself was not to waste time if he was to begin his hunt. However, the words he had heard made him think many things. How is it that the boy the boy was able to talk the creatures just as men talked amongst themselves? How had he lived so long in the jungle and survive? Where did the tales come from?/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;"He knew not how to explain the other two, for it was the first question that remained in his mind most prominently. After many moments, as he bounded from tree to tree, nearing the man-village, he decided that maybe not all creatures were as different as they seem. Perhaps all things that lived were either predator or prey, and that this is what brings all living things together. He decided to leave at that. He then cleared his mind so that he could focus on one thing: The hunt that was soon to start./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; line-height: 27.1499px;"span style="font-size: 13.5749px; line-height: 27.1499px;"Many times had the rains come and gone, but in all those years, there had never been such a creature to have gone through the jungle as the Predator. He vaguely resembled a man, that creature that all creatures of the jungle had known to fear. However, this was no man, nor did he look completely like one./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; line-height: 27.1499px;" The Predator was quite a tall beast, about 7 feet tall, with muscles that hugged his body tightly. He wore armor that covered his shoulders, right breast, and legs. On one of his shoulders was something that looked like the cannons that man had a strong affection towards, but this one looked too advanced to have been a man's. Both wrists had gauntlets, his left bearing beautiful, serrated blades sharper than the claws of any tiger in the jungle, while his right one, though not active, was equipped with a map that floated from his wrist and harbored a bomb which could've destroyed much of the jungle if he so desired./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;"Lastly, his face was hidden by a metal mask, made of a silver metal that glimmered when it was touched by the sun's light. The mask allowed him to see things in ways that only some of the jungle's deadliest inhabitants could. He could see the heat of its prey, much like the python. In the heat of the night, it could see as well as it could in the day, just as the panthers and tigers could. The only part of his head not obstructed by its mask was the back, which was adorned with black locks, some of which wore golden rings./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;"The creature came from away, he was not of the lands or the waters of the jungle. In fact, he was not of the jungle at all. This hunter come from the stars, the stars that grace the skies of the night. He came to the jungle for only one reason: To hunt the men which lived in the man-village close to the jungle. He was to draw them from their homes and into the jungles, where he would slowly hunt them all for sport, just as man hunted the creatures of the jungle only to satisfy the savageness of their hearts./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;"The Predator moved made his way to the man-village, moving as swiftly through the trees as the Bandar-Log did. He moved through the jungle almost as if he was a creature of the jungle who had lived there for all his life. Finally, the hunter stopped to scout the jungle. He looked about from left to right until he finally saw the man-village. It was a small village, in a valley surrounded by the mountains that gradually became less green as they rose, where the laws of the jungle slowly vanished as the mountains grew. Then, the Predator spied something that caught him by surprise./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;"It was a man-cub, a creature that even the foreign Predator knew had no right to live in. Yet, here was. He couldn't have been much older than ten, with shaggy, unkempt black hair. He wore no clothes, save for his red loincloth. He had some scars and bruises on his back, which showed of his many years of living in the jungle. With him was a panther, whose coat was as black the night sky. Not too far behind them was a bear, who had brown fur that was tipped with a silvery grey that showed of his age. These creature walked with the man-cub not as predators that hunted man as they do when they are forced to, but as friends who had known each other for as long as time had known./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;"This struck the Predator with much curiosity. These creatures, in their own rights, were some of the most deadly creatures of the jungle. Yet, they walked side by side with this man-cub, who had no fear of them at all. In fact, they were talking to each other. "How could this be?" the Predator thought to himself. The three of them were different creatures, as different as the night is to the day. However, they spoke to each other in one tongue, that of the jungle's./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;""Bagheera, how is it that the elephants of old created the jungle?" asked the boy. "Mowgli, you have heard the tale many times before. Do you truly need to know once again how it came to be?" the panther replied. "Bagheera, if the boy wishes to hear the tales once more, it is what he truly wants. Is not strange for the all of the young creatures of the jungle to hear of its oldest tales?" the bear chimed in. The panther, Bagheera, sighed in defeated and answered "Very well, man-cub. Before the times when all of the creatures of the jungle came into this world, the elephants were the first to have been given life's breathe. They were first to walk upon the world and saw that it was barren and plain. They saw in their minds what the land could be, and wanted it to be so. So, the elephants created the rivers by their tusks, digging in the ground to create their long and winding forms. Then the lakes and the seas were created by the tracks they had left in the ground, filling them with the water that had come from their trunks."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;""Then it was hills and the mountains!" Mowgli replied in an excited manner. "Yes, it was the hills and the mountains. Tell the man-cub how it became so." The bear, Baloo, encouraged the panther. "Indeed, it was the hills and mountains that came to be shortly after. They grabbed the soil with their trunks and brought the packed dirt together. Over time, the piles of dirt became quite larger until they became as tall as they are today." Mowgli then said "And then it was the creatures and the trees of the land! Tell how that came about!" Bagheera shook his head and answered "Perhaps when we return you to the wolf pack, I will tell you how it was so. We mustn't waste time. The moon will soon be in the sky and will be late."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;"The panther spoke the truth. The Predator looked over to the sky and saw that the sun was setting. He himself was not to waste time if he was to begin his hunt. However, the words he had heard made him think many things. How is it that the boy the boy was able to talk the creatures just as men talked amongst themselves? How had he lived so long in the jungle and survive? Where did the tales come from?/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.5749px; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 27.1499px;"He knew not how to explain the other two, for it was the first question that remained in his mind most prominently. After many moments, as he bounded from tree to tree, nearing the man-village, he decided that maybe not all creatures were as different as they seem. Perhaps all things that lived were either predator or prey, and that this is what brings all living things together. He decided to leave at that. He then cleared his mind so that he could focus on one thing: The hunt that was soon to start./p