Welcome back readers! I would thank everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed my story. I really appreciate it. Ok everyone, this chapter is going to be a little more dramatic than the last chapters. This is the part where we would have to decide Mowgli's fate once and for all. So here we go!
I own absolutely nothing!
Chapter 7: Making tough choices
Night time has fallen in the jungle and the gang had settled down by a large tree beside a lake, far away from the remains of the ancient ruins.
Sora had fallen asleep at the base of the tree and Kairi was asleep as well using Sora's back as a pillow which he didn't mind. Mowgli was only a few feet away, sleeping on broad leaves of a shrub near a tree.
Bagheera and Baloo were still up, watching over Mowgli and the wolf duo. While they were up Bagheera was lecturing Baloo about everything that has happened since he showed up.
"And furthermore Baloo. Mowgli seems to have man's ability to get into trouble, and your influence hasn't been exactly—"Bagheera lectured but Baloo interrupted him.
"Shhh! Keep it down, you're gonna wake little buddy. And you'll wake Sora and Kairi too. They've had a big day, it was a real sockaroo. You know it ain't easy learning to be like me." Baloo said smiling a bit.
Bagheera had a stern look on his face. "Pah! A disgraceful performance. Associating with those undesirable, scatterbrained apes. Huh. I hope Mowgli learned something from that experience."
It's as if in answer to Bagheera's comments, Mowgli mumbled in his sleep. "Scooby-dooby, dooby-doo..." he mumbled happily.
"Ha, ha. That's my boy." Baloo said happily.
Bagheera walked away and huffed. "Oh, nonsense."
Baloo took a moment and covered Mowgli's body with some of the leaves in the shrub. He then tore one of the leaves and covered Sora and Kairi as well. He sighed and shook his head.
'Mowgli would definitely be a great cub to me. And Sora and Kairi do make a cute couple.' Baloo thought to himself happily.
"Baloo." Bagheera called out to Baloo. "Come over here. I'd like to have a word with you."
Baloo walked over to Bagheera. "A word? You gonna talk some more?" He said sounding a little annoyed. He let out a yawn before talking again. "All right, what's up Bagheera?"
Bagheera began. "Baloo, the man-cub must go back to the man-village. The jungle is not the place for him."
Baloo was eating berries from the tree over him and looked more laid back. "I grew up in the jungle. Take a look at me."
"Yes, just look at yourself. Look at that eye." Bagheera said.
Baloo looked at the lake in front of him and saw in his reflection the swollen eye he had after their encounter with Louie. He smiled at the sight. "Yeah, its beautiful ain't it?
"Frankly, you're a disreputable sight." Bagheera scoffed at Baloo.
Baloo had a stern look on his face too. "Well you don't look exactly like a basket of fruit yourself." He retorted.
Bagheera looked at his reflection and saw that he had a swollen eye too. "D'oh!" Bagheera scoffed.
Bagheera decided to change the subject a bit. "Baloo, you can't adopt Mowgli as your son."
"Why not?" Baloo asked.
"How can I put it?" Bagheera asked himself before speaking to Baloo again. "Baloo, birds of a feather should flock together."
Baloo only shrugged. "Ok, what else?" Bagheera asked himself again before speaking again. "Look at Sora and Kairi and tell me what do you see."
Baloo looked at the sleeping duo. "Ha ha. Yeah I see it. They are quite cute when they are asleep huh?" He said with a smile on his face.
Bagheera scoffed. "Baloo don't you get it? They are both wolves. The way they bond together, they could be married one day and have cubs of their own."
"Yeah so?" Baloo asked still not getting the message.
"So, they are the same species." Bagheera said. "What will happen when it is time for Mowgli to choose a mate? You wouldn't marry a panther, would you?"
"I don't know." Baloo said before letting out a chuckle. "Ha ha, come to think of it, no panther ever asked me."
Bagheera shook it off. "Baloo, you've got to be serious about this."
"Oh, stop worryin' Baggy, stop worryin', I'll take care of him." Baloo cut him off before scratching his back against the tree.
"Yes, like you did when the monkeys kidnapped him, huh?" Bagheera asked.
"Can a guy make one mistake?" Baloo asked.
"Not in the jungle!" Bagheera retorted. "And another thing, sooner or later, Mowgli will meet Shere Khan."
Baloo had a distressed look on his face and stopped scratching. "The tiger? What's he got against the kid?"
"He hates man with a vengeance, you know that. Because he fears man's gun and man's fire." Bagheera elaborated.
"But little Mowgli don't have those things." Baloo protested.
"Shere Khan won't wait until he does. He'll get Mowgli while he's young and helpless. Just one swipe—"Bagheera said swiping his paw to make a demonstration.
"Woah!" Baloo cut him off stepping back. Bagheera finally made his point and Baloo finally got the message. "Well… Well what are we gonna do?"
"We'll do what's best for the boy." Bagheera said.
"You better believe it, you name it now I'll do it." Baloo said agreeing with Bagheera.
"Good. Then make Mowgli go to the man-village." Bagheera requested.
"Are you out of your mind?!" Baloo asked angrily. "I promised him he could stay here in the jungle with me!"
"That's just the point. As long as he remains with you, he's in danger." Bagheera elaborated to Baloo. "So it's up to you."
"Why me?!" Baloo asked in exasperation.
"Be-because he won't listen to me." Bagheera said.
Baloo was desperate. He made one more heartfelt plea to Bagheera. "But I love that kid. I love him like he was my own cub."
"Then think of what's best for Mowgli and not yourself." Bagheera said harshly.
"Well, can't I... Well can I wait until morning?" Baloo asked nervously.
"It's morning now." Bagheera said. The sun was already beginning to rise and daytime was already beginning.
Sora and Kairi began to wake up after feeling the warmth of the sun on their fur. Sora and Kairi opened their eyes and saw Bagheera and Baloo together. "Good morning Bagheera, Good Morning Baloo." Sora said yawning.
Kairi yawned next. Then Sora and Kairi had looks of concern on their faces." Is there something wrong?" Kairi asked.
Bagheera walked up to them. "Baloo and I were talking last night. And we agreed that Mowgli must go back to the man village."
"What?!" The duo asked in unison.
"But… But Kairi and I promised him that he'd stay here with us." Sora said feeling hurt by the news.
"Mowgli would hate us if we tell him, especially since we had a lot of fun with him and Baloo yesterday." Kairi said sadly. "We also agreed to stay by his side even if Shere Khan finds us.
"I'm sorry. But I told Baloo last night that we need to do what's best for him and not for ourselves." Bagheera said. "Even if we protect him ourselves we would surely be outmatched by Shere Khan. Don't you remember what Akela told you?"
Sora and Kairi let out a sad sigh. They knew Bagheera had a point, and they had to make a hard decision. They did say that they would protect Mowgli even with Shere Khan in the jungle, but now in a situation like this they had no other choice.
The duo thought for a few moments and made a very hard decision. "Your right Bagheera. We'll go with Baloo to take Mowgli to where he belongs." Sora said.
"Good." Bagheera said.
Mowgli made a sigh in his sleep and everyone saw him. "Go on." Bagheera said directing the trio to Mowgli.
Sora, Kairi and Baloo nervously and sadly walked to Mowgli and began to wake him up. "Mowgli? Mowgli? Uh, it's time to get up." Baloo said.
"Wake up Mowgli." Sora and Kairi said.
Mowgli woke up and stretched his arms. "Oh. Hi Baloo. Hi Sora. Hi Kairi."
"Hi." The trio said.
"Hey, rub that sleep out of your eyes. You, me, Sora and Kairi eh, we've got a long walk ahead of us." Baloo said.
"Swell! We'll have lots of fun together." Mowgli said excitedly clinging to Baloo's arm.
Baloo still looked nervous. "Sure. Yeah. Yeah, uh... Let's hit the trail, kid. See you around, eh, Bagheera." Baloo said and began to walk into the jungle, with Mowgli, Sora and Kairi trailing behind.
"Well, good-bye Bagheera. Me, Baloo, Sora and Kairi, we've got things to do." Mowgli said bidding farewell to Bagheera.
"Good-bye man-cub. And good luck." Bagheera bided farewell to Mowgli.
"We'll take it from here Bagheera." Sora said to the panther.
"Thank you and goodbye." Kairi said.
"Take care of yourselves you two." Bagheera said and everyone parted ways.
Everyone was in the jungle and Mowgli spoke up. "Come on, guys. All we've got to do is..."
Mowgli began to sing and dance. "Look for the bare necessities. Some good old bare necessities. Forget about your worries and your strife. I mean the bare necessities, that's why a bear can rest at ease. With just the bare necessities of life."
Mowgli bumped a banana tree and two bananas fell. Mowgli caught them and passed one to Baloo who sadly took it. Sora and Kairi had sad looks too, the song reminded them so much of the very fun time they had together, now it's all coming to an end.
"Yeah! I'll live here in the jungle all my life! Yeah man!" Mowgli finished singing and peeled the banana. "I like being a bear. Where are we going, guys?"
"Well Mowgli. It's a... Um, well it's sort of new and—"Sora tried to explain but Mowgli cut him off.
"Oh, I don't care, as long as I'm with you three." Mowgli said.
Baloo nervously began to talk to him. "Mowgli, look buddy, there's something we've got to tell you."
Mowgli was chasing a butterfly. "Tell me what guys?" He asked.
"Gee whiz. How did old Baggy put it? Ah, Mowgli? Hah, you wouldn't marry a panther, would you?" Baloo tried to explain and tried to sound a little funny.
"Heh-heh. I don't even know what you're talking about." Mowgli said laughing while climbing a tree branch to catch the butterfly.
"Mowgli listen to us." Kairi said. "Don't you realize that you're a human?"
"I'm not anymore. I'm a bear like Baloo." Mowgli said climbing down from a rock and was doing some bear fighting but Baloo wasn't doing it with him.
"Mowgli please. Can you listen to us?" Sora asked in a distressed tone.
Mowgli began punching Baloo in the stomach. "Come on, come on guys."
Mowgli continued playing around and Baloo was trying to stop him. "Now Mowgli, stop it now, now hold still. We wanna tell you something, now listen to us." Baloo grabbed on to Mowgli's hands.
"What's the matter, old papa bear?" Mowgli asked.
"Look Mowgli, We've been trying to tell you, we've been trying all morning to tell you, we've got to take you back to the man-village!" Baloo said.
Mowgli backed away and had a shocked look on his face. "The man-village?!"
"Now look Mowgli, we can explain..." Sora said but Mowgli cut him off.
"But you said we were partners." Mowgli said to Baloo. He then looked at Sora and Kairi. "I thought we were best friends. You said I can stay here with you." He said backing away from everyone.
"Mowgli please listen to us." Kairi said diplomatically but she was cut off by Mowgli.
"You lied to me! You all lied!" Mowgli exclaimed.
"Mowgli!" Sora, Kairi and Baloo exclaimed.
"You're just like-like old Bagheera!" Mowgli exclaimed comparing everyone to Bagheera.
Everyone had surprised looks on their faces. They couldn't believe that Mowgli would compare everyone to Bagheera. "Now just a minute, that's going too far!" Baloo exclaimed.
Mowgli then ran away from everyone. "Hey, Mowgli, where are you going? Wait a minute! Stop! Wait!"
"Mowgli wait! Wait!" Sora and Kairi exclaimed in unison feeling very worried about Mowgli.
"Mowgli! Listen to ol' Baloo!" Baloo exclaimed.
"Mowgli!" Sora exclaimed.
"Mowgli! No!" Kairi exclaimed. "Come back!"
"Mowgli!" Baloo exclaimed.
Bagheera heard everyone calling Mowgli and rushed to the scene. "Now what's happened?!" He asked in exasperation.
"You're not going to believe me, Bagheera, but look, now I used the same words you did, and he ran out on me!" Baloo said in desperation.
"We tried to explain everything to him but he ran away from us!" Sora said in a worried tone.
"Well, don't just stand there guys. Let's separate!" Bagheera suggested. "We've got to find him!" Bagheera ran away.
"Come on Kairi! We got to find Mowgli!" Sora exclaimed. He and Kairi separated from Bagheera and Baloo.
Baloo was very worried about Mowgli as he was looking for him. "Oh, if anything happens to that little guy, I'll never forgive myself. I've got to find him. Mowgli? Mowgli?"
Meanwhile, Sora and Kairi were looking for Mowgli. "Mowgli!" Sora shouted.
"Mowgli!" Kairi shouted.
They continued to shout but they stopped to take a break and rest on the ground. While they were resting Sora saw that Kairi looked very sad and was leaking tears from her eyes.
"Are you ok Kairi?" He asked concerned about her.
"No Sora. I'm not ok." Kairi said letting out a few sobs. "Mowgli is gone, and I feel it's all our fault."
Sora nuzzled Kairi trying to comfort her. "No Kairi, it's not our fault. Mowgli didn't understand what we were trying to tell him."
"But we did say that we can stay in the jungle with him. I feel like we really did lie to him." Kairi said and she started crying again.
Sora's heart broke at seeing Kairi cry, he never wanted to see her like this. He started to calm her down again.
"I know Kairi. We did say that he can stay in the jungle with him and that was wrong for us to say that. But we did say before that we needed to do this for Mowgli's sake." Sora said comforting Kairi.
Kairi stopped sobbing but she is still worried and sad.
"We told Mowgli that we are his best friends and we needed to bring him to the man-village for his safety. That's what real friends do and that is what we needed to tell him." Sora said.
"We agreed that we needed to respect Mowgli for what he is and what he wants and we need to show him that we are real good friends to him. We will convince him that once we find him." Sora added.
Kairi calmed down a little bit, but she was still worried. "But Sora, where are we going to find him? He could be anywhere now. What if Shere Khan finds him? It will be too late for us."
"I know how you feel. But do not worry, we will find him. And if Shere Khan does find us we need to fight him and protect Mowgli like we agreed to do two nights ago." Sora said.
Kairi completely calmed down and let out a smile. "Your right Sora. We certainly need to show Mowgli we are great friends who he can trust the most."
"That's right." Sora smiled at her. "Now come on, we got to find Mowgli."
"Right. We should also look for help while we are at it." Kairi said agreeing to Sora.
"Agreed." Sora said.
The Destiny Islands duo began to walk through the jungle again looking for Mowgli before Shere Khan does first.
And another chapter done! I hoped you guys liked the dramatic turn of events that has happened. To clarify any confusions, Sora and Kairi did have a good time with Mowgli and Baloo but that still had their goal of bringing him to the man-village to be safe from Shere Khan. So this would say that Sora and Kairi did lie to Mowgli. So now he's somewhere in the jungle and our heroes have to find him before Shere Khan does. So stay tuned for more!