The Savannah Book
Chapter 10
As the family woke up the next morning, the pride came to discover that the change in Mowgli's eyes appeared to be permanent, but they weren't 100% sure. Sarabi had spoken to Mufasa about Mowgli's dreams and about the impending threat bagherra had warned them about. Mufasa, just like Sarabi was not pleased with the situation they now faced. Sheer Khan was on his way, and the only way to insure their son's saftey was to take him back to his own kind. But they were not sure how well the humans would take it to see a human boy with the eyes of a lion in their presence. For all they knew, Mowgli could be a freak of nature to the humans and they might shoot him on sight, or they might keep him locked up like lions and other animals were, just for the use of entertainment. Sarabi could only hope that her son would be willingly accepted into the man village.
Sarabi then took the time to pull her son aside to have a talk with her and Mufasa. "Mowgli, there is something we need to talk to you about,"Sarabi said.
"What is it Mom?" Mowgli asked.
"Well, this is hard to talk about but... you have to go away for a while," Mufasa said.
"W-what, why, what did I do?" Mowgli asked.
Sarabi calmed him down and replied, "You haven't done anything dear. Now we know this may be hard to understand, but we have to take you to a man villiage where you will be safe honey."
"But, why am I not safe here?" Mowgli asked.
"Because your uncle and Sheer Khan are coming, and if Sheer Khan knows your here, he will come for you," Mufasa said.
"But, why will he come for me? I didn't do anything," Mowgli stated.
"We know dear, but it's what other men did that he doesn't like man at all. He knows your little, and need protection, and that's why he wants to come for you," Sarabi said.
"But I wanna stay here Mom. I don't want to leave you," Mowgli said.
Sarabi nuzzled him, "I know, I know, shhhh."
It took a little convincing, but finally Mowgli caved and agreed to respect the wishes of his parents. But he was scared. He knew nothing of man, and wanted to stay away from them. Sarabi soon gathered the rest of their cubs and told them about what was to happen. They were all torn up that their brother was leaving, hopefully he would come back. The next day Sarabi, left her cubs in the care of Mara, another good friend of hers, while Mowgli was on Sarabi's back and they prepared to leave with Sarafina. Mara gave him a nuzzle and told him to be careful on the trip, though she knew that was something that might be a little far fetched. Sarabi then nuzzled Mufasa, who also told her to be careful. He would have come with, but knowing that the Pridelands needed his leadership, he couldn't just leave. Soon Sarabi and Sarafina made their way down Pride Rock and out into the Pridelands towards the direction of the Man village. It would be a long travel. Sarabi and Sarafina felt like they were being watched and followed for a moment, but then shook it off as nothing more then one of the inhabitants of the Pridelands curious about their little escapade.
Unknown to them, they had a right to be suspicious in the first place. A young Wild Dog named Kurdy had been watching them. He was Sheer Khan's lackey, and his source of information. Kind of like a majordomo if you will. He had traveled ahead of his master to investigate the prides activities, to let him know of what was happening. Now he was heading back to meet up with Sheer Khan and Scar.
As the two pride sisters and Mowgli pressed on, they started to hit low-dense jungle, similar to Kaa's, which was an obstacle to get though in order to reach the Man villiage, thankfully, sarabi and Sarafina had been through the entire Jungle, and knew where to go even if they made a wrong turn and had to take a longer time to get to the Man Village. As they pressed deeper into the jungle, they then heard noises. they figured it was the monkeys again, and pressed on.
They were right in their assumption, but unknown to them, the monkeys had actually been looking for Mowgli. When chance came. They swooped and grabbed Mowgli, carrying him him off through the trees. "Mom! Auntie Sarafina!" He screamed in desperation.
Sarabi and Sarafina charged after him, knowing full well, that King Louie was behind this, probably just for curiosity. Mowgli watched as he was dragged farther and farther away from them. A little while later, Mowgli saw what he thinks his mom called the ancient ruins, which to him looked like a bunch of stones piled on one another. The monkeys then swung down and placed him on the ground.
"King Louie, we brought the man cub like you asked," one of them said.
"Excellent work boys, go and have yourselves some bananas," Louie said.
They soon took off to have their reward. "So your the man cub. Craaazy," Louie said.
"I'm not as crazy as you are," Mowlgi said as he brushed the dust off himself.
"Now cool it boy. Unwind yourself," King Louie said as he did something similar to making a beat with his voice, then continued, "Now come on. Let's shake cousin."
"What do you want me for?" Mowgli asked, a little nervous.
"Word has already reached my royal ear, that you want to stay in the Pridelands," He said.
"Yes but m-," Mowgli was cut off.
"Well then old King Louie... Babadoobaaaay babado, that's me, can fix it for you. And I wanna tell you something," Louie says.
At this point King Louie breaks into song as he starts:
Now I'm the king of the swingers
Oh, the jungle VIP
I've reached the top and had to stop
And that's what botherin' me
I wanna be a man, mancub
And stroll right into town
And be just like the other men
I'm tired of monkeyin' around!
Oh, oobee doo
I wanna be like you
I wanna walk like you
Talk like you, too
You'll see it's true
An ape like me
Can learn to be human too
"Gee cousin Louie, you're doing real good," Mowgli said as he got into the beat.
"Now here's your part of the deal, cuz... lay the secret on me of man's red fire," King Louie requests.
"But I don't know how to make fire," Mowgli answers.
Now don't try to kid me, mancub
I made a deal with you
What I desire is man's red fire
To make my dream come true
At this point Sarabi and Sarafina had met up with Baloo who had been eating honey when he heard the commotion and followed the sound.
Now give me the secret, mancub
Cmon clue me what to do
Give me the power of man's red flower
So I can be like you
"Fire so that's what that's scoundrel's after," Sarabi said.
"I'll tear him limb from limb. I'll beat him, I'll... I'll... Mmmm, well man what a beat," Baloo said.
"Will you stop that silly beat nonsense and focus?" Sarafina requested in seriousness.
"This will take brains not brawn," Sarabi said.
"You better believe it and I am loaded with both," Baloo said.
"Will you listen?" Sarabi snapped.
"Now while you create a disturbance, we'll rescue Mowgli. Got that?" Sarabi asked.
"I'm gone your highness, solid gone," Baloo replied, already wandering off to the beat.
"Not yet Baloo!" Sarafina bellowed.
She and Sarabi made a dash for cover as they noticed King Louie and his monkey's dancing towards them.
Sarabi just about got Mowgli's attention when a door opened and knocked her senses around as she and Sarafina heard, "Hey King Louie. Look who we found roaming in the jungle."
The beats stopped and everybody looked towards the party of monkeys that had just arrived. "Well, well, well. To what do I owe the pleasure of a visit from the esteemed prince of the Pridelands and his girlfriend?"
Sarafina and Sarabi's eyes went wide. What were Simba and Nala doing here? Then it hit them. Mara wasn't nearly as experienced as they were with Simba and Nala, and they must have managed to slip away while she wasn't looking. Mufasa couldn't blame her either, since he knew it was bound to happen as well. They were just surprised the two had gotten so far without being detected and turned around.
Simba had an expression. "I came here looking for my brother, Mowgli. Now let him go," Simba said.
"Hahaha, that's a good one. Everybody, the Prince of the Pridelands thinks this man cub is his brother," King Louie said in a joking tone.
All the monkeys started laughing. They knew that Mowgli was from the pride, but they liked to mock them when the King and Queen of the Pridelands weren't around. "Oh Simba, you know it's not polite to trespass, but we should have a party, in honor of your arrival," King Louie said, as he held Simba by his tail.
Mowgli knew that no lion ever liked to be handled like that, and yelled, "Leave my brother alone!"
As he jumped forward, he struck the kings arm. At this point, the orangutan went nuts and started howling,as blood was now showing where mowgli scratched him. Sarabi, Sarafina, and Baloo, who had gotten out of the beat a while back and had been listening intently, all now knew it was time to act, for he knew how the monkeys acted when their king was struck. In a surprise leap from up above, they surprised everyone and made quick work to rescue the cubs. King Louie not wanting to lose his chance at gaining the secret to man's fire, had his minions attempt to get mowgli back, but it all ended in him holding onto a slab of a destroyed part of the ruins after getting a tickle attack from Baloo. The groups soon made it safely away from the ruins and Sarabi and Sarafina looked at Simba and Nala with stern looks. "What were you two thinking?" Sarafina asked with seriousness and worry in her voice.
"We were worried mom. We wanted to make sure Mowgli was okay. We just couldn't stay at home," Nala said.
"Yeah, and Mowgli and I have never gone anywhere without each other, and I wasn't gonna let that start now," Simba said.
Sarabi sighed, "You realize you put yourselves in danger without one of the pride sisters to look after you?"
"Especially with that stunt you pulled back there," Sarafina added.
Simba and Nala didn't say anything, but merely hung their heads. "Well, I guess we'll have to bring you with us. We can't just have you go back to Pride rock alone, and I can't go through the jungle with Mowgli by myself, so you're coming with us. But there will be punishment when we get home young ones," Sarabi said.
Simba and Nala nodded, but cracked light smiles that their mother's allowed them to come. "Now something I want to know is, how did you cause the kind of injury you did to King Louie dear?" Sarabi continued.
"I don't know," Mowgli said as he shrugged and lifted his hands.
Sarabi then saw something on his fingers and said, "Mowgli hold out your hand dear."
He did as she said and was just as surprised as she was. his nails had been replaced with lion claws. Everyone was puzzled. Sarabi and Sarafina knew that it was another gift from the ancestors, but they didn't know why. What were they planning? The group now pressed on as Baloo went back to let the king know his sons and Nala were safe. The Man Village was still a couple days travel, but there were other challenges yet to come. The Ancestors were glad they had given their gift then they did, and now they waited as the family neared the next challenge.
End of Chapter 10. Sorry It's been so long since I updated this one, but as you know, my mind hit a brick wall for a while. I finally felt relaxed and ideas started popping back. So here it is. So, Mowgli got to meet King Louie, and things went nuts. What will happen now that Mowgli has claws from the ancestors? What adventures still await them? Only time will tell. I took a few suggestions from those who commented, and used it in the story. Yes some scenes were similar to the Jungle Book Movie. I do not own Jungle Book. All scenes from the movie belong to Disney, as do characters, aside from OCs. Please leave me a positive comment and constructive criticism to let me know what you think. Stay tuned for future chapters.