(Chapter 21: Freedom)
"I've received word, that three wolves are going to be executed by the next morning." Teddy explained as Mowgli, including Gray Brother, and Bagheera entered the room.
"Really? How did you come by this?" Mowgli asked.
"A bat was flying around last night, said it a thousand times, I got sick of it, so I shot at him to drive him away from my house. The only animal that lives here with me is Rikki, and of course you got a few birds outside, but I can live with that." Teddy answered.
"Mang the bat... Did he say where?" Bagheera asked.
"Said something about some Cold Lairs, I have no clue where these places are. I don't live in the jungles like all of you do." The man said as he took a seat at a table within the kitchen.
"The Cold Lairs." Mowgli repeated, remembering Leela, Phaona, and the other two wolves.
Suddenly, Phao entered the room looking confused.
"Mowgli, where is my father? Better yet, where is my partner, Leela?" Phao asked, Mowgli sighed.
"I want you to remain calm, they are at the Cold Lairs. When we rescued Shanti, it came at a cost, four wolves were taken hostage. Your father, and your lover being two out of the four." Mowgli said as calm as he could, Phao was silent for a moment.
"You rescue your woman, just to put the lives of my beloved Leela, and my loving father in danger..." Phao growled, all eyes were on him.
"Calm down, Phao. We will get them back." Bagheera tried to reassure him, but it wasn't working.
"I'm starting to question your leadership to the pack, Mowgli..." Phao growled, and Gray Brother stepped in.
"I'm starting to question your loyalty to us, how dare you believe in Shere Khan and his deceiving!?" The wolf barked at Phao.
"Look, I don't want anything in this house ruined, if you all are going to fight, you'd best take it outside!" Teddy screamed.
So all went outside that were within the house, except for Rikki and Teddy of course.
"I was mad, I was out of my mind, everyone says stupid filth when they get angry. How about all of you stop dwelling on something I said when I didn't mean it!?" Phao barked furiously, growing more agitated by the minute.
"There is no denying what you've said, you said that maybe Shere Khan was right, when he attempted to destroy this jungle several times!" Gray Brother retorted.
"How about you forget about the things of the past, and learn something called forgiveness...Mowgli knows how to, clearly you don't." Phao growled before storming off.
"I go to save my people from death, if you stay behind, go ahead!" Phao barked after turning around to face Mowgli, and his allies, several wolves were quick to bunch up with him.
"Can you wait? If we go in there without a game plan in mind, we'll all be put to death!" Mowgli shouted.
"You better make one quick, because I'm getting sick of this!" Phao growled angrily.
(Location: Cold Lairs)
Phaona was dead, having been slowly tortured to death by the red dogs much to their enjoyment.
Leela, was hopeless. Anything of hope she had left was erased, the will to fight had been completely shattered as the only thing that gave her hope was now killed off. The other two wolves were too weak to fight, and there was no point in even trying thanks to superior numbers.
As a matter of fact, it was Leela's turn to be tortured to death. She was laying in the center of the room before Nirmam Yoddha and Bhediya Khan.
Her eyes pleaded for mercy up towards Bhediya Khan, it was the only thing she could do now, was to beg for mercy.
"P-please..." She whimpered.
"Have you already seen enough?" Leela continued.
The pleading look won Bhediya over.
"I have, however, you shall still be put to death. You shall fight against an opponent for sport tomorrow, I'll dispatch squads of my red dogs to find your killer. Phaona is the only wolf we will kill tonight, you should be thankful that I am more merciful than Nirmam..." The dire wolf warned as he let out a triumphant howl into the night.
Leela let out a sigh of relief, but it didn't do much for her hopelessness mentality at the moment.
"A, this should be a much more entertaining day!" Nirmam exclaimed.
These red dogs would do special training in which they would fight each other in a blood sport, similar to gladiator combat. They would sometimes lure in bigger creatures to do battle with the red dogs, they believed in the weak die off and the strong survive, however, most red dogs that lost their fights would be spared so that they may fight another day.
This new edition of the games would involve none of the dholes fighting amongst each other, rather dholes fighting to execute their enemies..
(Location: Teddy's House)
"Where are all of the other wolves going to rest?" Teddy asked Mowgli, gazing out at the massive fighting force of the Seeonee Pack.
"Mind if they sleep within the bushes of your garden? The dholes are probably still hunting us down, it would be too risky to lay out in the open." Mowgli questioned Teddy in return.
Reluctantly, Teddy agreed.
"Will anyone be watching over them?" The englishman asked, Mowgli turned around with a smug grin on his face.
"You can." He said.
"Oh what!?" Teddy shouted, Mowgli chuckled.
"Yeah, you've got the power of the red flower within that gun, all animals fear the red flower, one shot from that gun, and you will drive them all away." Mowgli said with a smile.
"I sure hope it does, you said that they'll be an army..." Teddy said, a slight hint of worry in his voice.
"The dholes are smaller than wolves, lesser in strength, but they have us by number. If one flees, they all flee, their leaders aren't coming after them." Mowgli replied.
"Leaders?" Teddy questioned.
"Yes, their leader is a massive wolf, one of the biggest wolves that I've ever seen in my entire life so far. It was the size of a horse from what I could tell." Mowgli replied.
There was a pause, Teddy was shaking his head in disbelief. He never really ventured out into the jungle unless he hunted for meat products, he ate a mostly plant based diet from the things he grew in his garden. Hearing about a wolf the size of a horse made him wonder just how many things existed within the depths of the jungles of India, and he would be surprised!
"Where are my massive friends going to rest? Such as Bagheera, Baloo, and Kaa." Mowgli asked.
"Bagheera can sleep in the living room, I'll be sleeping upstairs, Baloo can rest in the kitchen, and Kaa can rest in my basement." Teddy responded.
"Good, I'll call them all in, and when morning comes, I would have devised a plan to rescue the wolves that they are keeping hostage." Mowgli replied, patting Teddy on the shoulder.
Mowgli went outside to have a moment to talk with his pack, all of them standing at attention.
"Tomorrow morning when we all awaken from our nightly slumber, we shall travel to the Cold Lairs, and reclaim the wolves that those red dogs have taken from us. We've unfortunately already lost one wolf already, Phaona-" Mowgli began, Phao growled furiously when his father's death was mentioned, he felt that his father's death could have been prevented if Shanti was left at the Cold Lairs, but he didn't want tensions to escalate, so he remained silent.
"You may all rest now, for we must conserve our energy for the raid. Some of us will lose our lives in the process, but your death's will not go unanswered. In the name of the Seeonee Pack, and Tha, the creator of the jungle, the first elephant to ever grace the continent of India, we shall drive the red dogs out of Seeonee Territory!" Mowgli boomed with pride, his voice like rumbling thunder. The pack cheered at the end of his speech, the raid tomorrow would be a brutal one, no doubt...
After all of the wolves went down to rest, Mowgli ushered the rest of his friends that weren't wolves inside of Teddy's house.
"This fine gentleman, Teddy, has reserved spots for all of you to sleep. While all of you sleep, I'll devise my plans to take out the Cold Lairs tomorrow." Mowgli explained to the three of them.
"Bagheera, you rest in the living room. Baloo, you rest in the kitchen...don't eat anything please, and Kaa, you rest down in the basement." Teddy said as he took a sip of coffee.
Bagheera seemed fine with where he slept, Baloo and Kaa took offense to where they were sleeping.
"Don't eat anything?" Baloo asked with the brow over his eye being raised, looking surprised yet offended by this.
"Are ya callin' me fat?" The bear continued, Mowgli laughed, placing a hand on his stomach.
"No, just don't eat anything." Teddy replied.
"Sssleeping in the basssement?" Kaa asked as she looked around.
"I'm the queen of thisss jungle, I should not be below the bottom..." She hissed.
"Oh, the queen huh? Says who?" Mowgli taunted.
"Saysss me!" She snapped before Teddy opened up a latch on the flooring, there was a stairwell heading down into the cellar.
It wasn't used often, but it didn't look decrepit or creepy like many people think basements out to be. It looked fairly fancy, there was a couple marble statues, a window to see the ground outside, cobwebs were scattered around various locations. There was a table, and a map pinned to a board over the table. There was a rusty chest, and there was also a fire pit.
Kaa coiled her massive body up next to the wall, her eyes shifting around the basement to get a good look at her environment.
Everyone would eventually head on to sleep, Teddy looked outside of his home with his shotgun trained on anything that he saw moving, Mowgli had told him the description of the red dogs earlier on, and if he noticed anything similar, or a giant wolf, he would open fire.
Mowgli was resting in the bathroom, his body was laying in the empty tub as he remained calm and collected while thinking of a way to reduce casualties during the Cold Lair raid, it was more than likely guarded from all sides, so he would have to be extremely careful.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi was also upstairs with Teddy, watching over him as he always had when he was a child.
"I don't like that giant snake living in your house, what if she comes in this room, and tries to eat you?" The mongoose asked, worried for his long time ally.
"I've got a shotgun, my friend. I can defend myself against her." Teddy replied.
"Ya know what they say, never trust a snake." Rikki responded.
"Well, if she is on our side, then we've got nothing to worry about." Teddy said, turning around with a calm smile displayed on his face.
"I'm going to go speak to her now, she better not harm you, not any of these animals should harm you." The mongoose replied before darting out of the room with his amazing speed, zipping down into the basement just as the large serpent was about to drift off to sleep.
"You, what are you doing down here? I'm trying to sleep..." Kaa groaned, tucking her head into her massive coils to try to hide her head.
"You better not harm Teddy..." The mongoose chittered aggressively.
"Why should I harm him? Isn't he the one that is supposed to be protecting us from danger?" Kaa asked, rising her head from out of her coils.
"He is, but I've never trusted a snake, not now, not ever." Rikki snarled, Kaa snickered at his defensive side for Teddy.
"Well then, you can trust me..." Kaa said, her voice sounded devious in tone as she slithered towards the mongoose.
"Not so fast!" Rikki shouted as he lunged towards her, but the only thing that the serpent had to do was to slam one of her coils down on top of his back, the superior weight pinning him to the dirty marble flooring of the basement, making a squeak of pain emerge from the mongoose for the first time in a while.
"Did you really think that you could beat me?" The large serpent asked after giggling some as Rikki clawed around underneath her, trying to get out from under one of her coils.
"I've beaten other snakes in the past, don't underestimate me!" Rikki screeched as he began to slowly but surely wiggle out from underneath the large serpent.
"Oh really? What snakes did you defeat in combat, tell me, little rat..." Kaa hissed, shifting her weight down to keep him pinned.
"Cobras, and a giant one too." The mongoose growled.
"Well...You sssee..." Kaa hissed, having evil intentions in her mind when she looped the coil around Rikki's body.
Had the coil been a tad bit bigger, his whole body from head to toe, would be completely cocooned up, only his head and feet were sticking out of this massive coil in which was now pinning his arms at his sides, no point in struggling now.
"My kind doesn't use venom, to kill our prey." Kaa warned as she slowly began to rub her soft, smooth underbelly on Rikki.
"Let me go!" The mongoose screamed, not knowing what was going on as he wiggled around, trying to shoot himself like a torpedo out of the single coil.
"We...SQUEEZE them..." Kaa hissed before snickering, and then suddenly squeezing down that coil tightly, making Rikki groan aloud in agony for a few seconds before relaxing with a grin on her face.
"I-it's nothing..." Rikki groaned, Kaa's eyes appeared to widen, she was astonished, but then they narrowed, an evil smile forming on her serpentine head.
"What is nothing?" Kaa asked, sounding confused, still keeping the coil in which was wrapped around the mongoose relaxed for a moment.
"That...GAH!" Rikki went to speak, but then the python tightened the coil again around his body, making him scream.
"That's what you get when you talk filthy about me, I want you to respect me...I think I should force some out of you..." Kaa sighed, gently rubbing her underbelly around Rikki's body.
"Oh, I respect you..." Rikki groaned, wanting to be freed from the mighty serpent's iron like grasp.
"Oh really?" She asked, leaning her head in to get eye to eye with the mongoose.
"Well look at me, and say something nice..." Kaa said, her voice then shifting into the seductive tone, her hypnotic spirals activating, being unleashed upon the mongoose at full force.
Strangely enough, even with her hypnosis at full power, he wasn't falling under her spell! Kaa was taken aback by this.
"Very impressive...had I been hungry, you might have not had the luxury of my hypnosis, you would have suffered a crushing demise..." Kaa hissed, relaxing her coil around him, but then suddenly tightening up once more.
"I want you to respect me though...I'm not your enemy, little one. Nor do I intend on being one...You will call me beautiful, wise, powerful, from here on out. Am I clear with you?" She asked, making sure she held on to the squeeze to get the point across.
"O-O..." Rikki tried to say okay, but he was struggling to breathe due to the mighty Kaa squeezing him too tightly, and since he didn't answer, she only tightened up her coils some more.
"I sssaid am I clear?" She hissed coldly, seeing that the mongoose was gasping for air, she slightly relaxed her coil.
"Y-yes...beautiful Kaa..." He squeaked, only then did the serpent release him.
"Don't forget it either..." She hissed, her forked tongue flickering out of her mouth. Her larger body greatly dwarfing the mongoose.
Back up to Mowgli, a brilliant plan just came up within his mind, come the morning time, he would be eager to try it out.
Rikki was quick to run back all the way up the stairs to speak with Teddy, sounding as if he was running out of breath.
"You were right, she isn't going to attack us." Rikki gasped, Teddy chuckled.
"That's the first time I've heard you out of breath in a while, something tells me she caught you in her coils." He said, the mongoose nodded his head.
"Indeed she did, I am not as quick as I used to be, Teddy." Rikki explained with a sigh.
"You're still capable of protecting me from cobras in my sleep, you shouldn't be ashamed." Teddy said with a warm smile.
(The next morning)
All of the wolves had awoken thanks to a gunshot being fired into the air by Teddy, Mowgli had finally devised a plan to use in order to take down the Cold Lairs once and for all, and to save their allies before they meet their end.
Mowgli walked into the kitchen to see that Baloo had broken into the cabinets, evident thanks to the drawer being knocked off of the hinges, his mouth was coated in what appeared to be white icing, crumbs were littered all over the floor, he had been eating Teddy's fig newtons. Now he was lapping honey out from a jar.
"What did I tell you about eating!?" Teddy groaned as he walked downstairs.
"Sorry, I couldn't help it." Baloo chuckled.
"I stayed up all night long to protect you, how long have you been eating?" Teddy asked.
"About an hour, Bagheera tried to stop me, but a big bear like me needs to eat." Baloo laughed, the englishman rolled his eyes before digging in the cabinets to find some ingredients to make porridge.
"Baloo's actually doing good, we need to be energized for the morning so we can strike the Cold Lairs more effectively." Mowgli added on, Bagheera strolled into the kitchen as he let out a yawn.
"When do we move for the Cold Lairs?" The panther asked.
"Soon." Mowgli replied as Kaa then slithered up, and out of the basement.
"I'll give announcement to the pack, follow me." Mowgli said, ushering his three large friends to come with him to the outside of the house.
"Wolves! The day has come to liberate your brothers and sisters from the Cold Lairs, I pray that all received well rest during their nightly sleep. So we can get energized enough to rush upon the Cold Lairs more effectively, I would have all of you run into the jungle to hunt what you can, once you are finished, we will meet up again, and then I shall explain my plans. For now, we hunt!" Mowgli cried out.
(Location: Cold Lairs)
Leela, and the other two wolves that remained living were once again trapped within the summerhouse. They awaited food so they could get themselves energized for their upcoming execution fights.
"This is it, today is our final day on this mortal world..." A wolf groaned, Leela was mute, the torturous death that her lover's father went through forever scarred her. She wouldn't be able to speak for a while, the only thing that she could do now was whimper in defeat, and in fear.
Another wolf was looking for a way out, a means of potential escape. He desperately searched for something, only to find nothing. However, he did find a puddle of water that he didn't notice before.
"Hey, guys, there's a puddle of water here, come drink." The wolf said, Leela, and the other wolf approached the large puddle, tilting their heads downwards to drink forth from the watering hole.
The wolf that had found the watering hole first, pushed through the two others, falling in on accident!
There was something strange about this watering hole, it was deeper than he thought, his legs didn't even touch the bottom. Curiosity took over his thoughts, and he dove beneath the water, paddling his way into a gaping hole he noticed within the wall under the water. The wolf entered, and then resurfaced into an air pocket within a secret tunnel. The wolf looked towards the end to see light, this was a way out!
The wolf went back up to where the other wolves were located, as he climbed out of the watering hole, he went to tell his allies that he discovered means of escape.
"Hey, come with me, I've found a-" His sentence was cut off when a slab of meat hit the ground with a thud.
"Eat up, executions start within the coming hours." A dhole grumbled.
The three wolves began to chow down on the thick meat slab that had been given to them, again, it would only slightly fill them up once it was entirely gone.
"I've found a way out." The wolf said, Leela's eyes lit up with confidence now, and hope.
"We need to move." She said.
"No, we can't." Another wolf said sharply.
"Why?" Leela asked.
"They will see us, and they will follow us." The wolf that declined leaving, explained.
"Well it is either that, or suffer death." The other wolf growled, the one who found the watering hole to begin with.
(Four hours later)
(Location: Teddy's House)
As Mowgli was eating with Teddy at the table, Shanti was seen coming out of a bed room from down the hall.
"Mowgli..." She said happily, her lover smiled in response.
"My Shanti, are you okay?" He asked, she quickly ran towards him for a loving embrace filled with tears of joy to finally be standing with Mowgli yet again.
"I-it feels like it was a dream, to be rescued. I thought I would wake up to end up in that hellish location..." She said, her voice breaking as she stared into Mowgli's eyes deeply.
"If it was a dream to have you standing here with me, then I would have it never end." Mowgli replied as he initiated a kiss with Shanti, the two hugging each other affectionately as they deepened the kiss by locking tongues.
"Oh come on guys, I'm trying to eat here!" Teddy exclaimed, Mowgli and Shanti laughed before heading outside.
"It's time, my love, where I liberate the wolves from the Cold Lairs." Mowgli said to Shanti, she replied with a sweet smile, and a nod of her head.
The wolves, and other creatures that Mowgli had in his pack, had all went out to hunt for their respective morning meals, currently staying put within the hills and fields outside of Teddy's house. They all seemed to have digested their food, and all of them were fired up and ready to go to war with the red dogs, once again.
"Wolves!" Mowgli began, getting all of his pack, including Baloo, Bagheera, and Kaa to stand at attention even though they weren't wolves.
"Today is the day, with our bellies full, and energy restored for another day, today is the day that we liberate our wolf brothers and sister from the Cold Lairs!" Mowgli exclaimed, getting the pack to cheer with pride in their hearts, vengeance on their minds.
"Last night, while all of you slept, I devised a plan. When we get there, we will all hide in the bushes, to make it seems that there are less of us. A diversion shall be made, and then all of the weakened walls that serve as the barrier, they shall all tumble to the ground. Then will come the palace, and eventually, the red dogs will be forced to flee. Only then, will we get our beloved friends back!" Mowgli spoke loud, making sure that every wolf heard his speech.
"Let's go!" Baloo roared, rallying up the wolves for the march towards the Cold Lairs. Mowgli turned to Shanti, who planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Promise me that you'll come back." Shanti said, tears already welling up in her eyes, afraid that she might lose Mowgli.
"I've never broken a promise to you, my love." He replied, kissing her forehead before leaving.
(One hour later)
(Location: Cold Lairs)
Leela, and the two other wolves were sitting out in the square surrounded by a large mass of red dogs. Bhediya Khan, and Nirmam Yoddha were watching from the top as they all taunted them.
"So this is it?" A wolf asked himself with a laugh of disbelief.
"You chose to not escape, idiot..." The other wolf groaned, Leela continued to look around all while fearfully whimpering.
"My amazing red dogs! The day has come to witness the executions of three of Mowgli's allies, their willpower shattered after witnessing the brutal end to the only one that gave them hope of escape!" Nirmam exclaimed, the dholes all began to cheer with delight.
"May this forever be reminder of what will happen to Mowgli, when we capture all of his allies eventually. They will not have a peaceful, quick ending to their pathetic lives, only brutal, and unmerciful fates belong to those that stand against us! Against our ways, our laws, and our beliefs!" Bhediya added on, the dholes continued to cheer.
"I would rather die than live a slave to your heinous ways!" One of the wolves shouted, Nirmam bared his teeth with a hateful growl.
"Your wish shall soon be granted..." Bhediya warned, the dire wolf then faced the rest of the large crowd of those who weren't going to fight, as only a handful would be needed to take out the wolves.
"Last night, three dholes went searching for the perfect killing machine in the jungle that they could find. They found this creature!" Bhediya continued, pointing to the rusty gate in which had been opened, an Asiatic cheetah came walking in from the gates, focused on the wolves he would kill, three red dogs marched behind him towards their soon to be victims.
"Introducing, Chupake, the cheetah!" Bhediya cried out, the dholes chanted his name.
Meanwhile, on the outside of the Cold Lairs, Mowgli, and his massive fighting force of the Seeonee Pack were waiting. They had the entire abandoned city surrounded, hiding within the brush to remain out of sight, all keeping low to the ground as possible.
"I've done sssome looking, it ssseemsss that all of them are crowded in the city." Kaa explained, she was the only one that remained above the ground as she slithered from tree to tree.
"Good, we won't be having any unnecessary casualties on the outside of the city then." Mowgli said happily, everyone kept their voices soft and silent, making sure no dholes heard them.
"It sounds like they are about to start, we must move quickly." Baloo warned.
"Alright, Kaa, I want you to go on the side farthest away from the center of the city, so they will not see you coming while they cheer their heads off like creatures under the influence of dewanee. With your strength, I want you to smash open the weakened portions of the walls, one by one until you give the signal." Mowgli explained his plans.
"What sssignal should I give?" The python asked.
"Hiss as loud as you can, and then we will fall upon the city. If any of them attempt to hide within buildings, smash the walls, Kaa, crush them. We need to send a message to these red dogs that we aren't going to go down easily." Mowgli replied.
"Gotcha." Kaa responded.
"You may proceed." Mowgli said, Kaa nodded her flat head, and began to slither towards the Northern end of the city while all of the dholes were within the center of the city.
"Now we wait, I pray to Tha that the wolves can hold out for a little while." Mowgli said softly, taking in a deep breath.
"So how are we all going to rush in?" Bagheera asked.
"Walls should be broken on all sides of the city, the Western wall, Eastern wall, Northern wall, and Southern wall. Not to mention the gate that enters the city, they should all be destroyed. While the dholes spread apart to defend the holes in the walls, we will flood in and overwhelm them while they struggle to defend the holes in the walls. You will come in from the Northern side, Kaa would come in from the Eastern side, I would come in from the Southern side, Baloo would come in from the Western side, all of us will have a huge majority of the pack with us." Mowgli explained the rest of his plan to Bagheera, the others heard him.
"Sounds good, when do we make our move?" Baloo questioned.
"When Kaa gives the signal, we all charge in through the holes that were put in the walls." Mowgli replied.
The serpent was moving at full speed, heading towards the weakest walls at the Northern end, having already put a hole on the Western end in which none of the dholes had yet to notice, all of them were so into the executions in which were about to begin.
"The Western end has fallen. Kaa has yet to return." Mowgli explained.
Meanwhile, back inside of the Cold Lairs, the executions would be starting within seconds as of now.
"These wolves side with our worst enemy, Mowgli. Today they shall be put to death, all eyes on the square now...YOU MAY BEGIN!" Bhediya howled into the skies above, Chupake the Asiatic cheetah rushed towards Leela with a roar.
Leela, although nervous, had no choice but to fight. With a vicious, determined bark, she lunged towards the cheetah and clamped her jaws around it's mouth, thrashing her head around, trying to deal damage.
The three dholes rushed in towards one of the wolves, both red dogs smashing into him, knocking him over while he pawed at them as hard as he could to defend himself, biting at them viciously. The other wolf came in for the rescue, tackling one of the dholes off of him!
Chupake easily threw Leela off as he slung her away, her jaws slipped off, she skidded across the ground before rushing at him again with more angry barks. The cheetah came for her as well, she stood up on her hind legs while baring her teeth while Chupake jumped up, about to tackle her down, Leela's eyes went wide as she was slammed on her back!
She desperately pawed into the Asiatic cheetah's underside, but to no avail as her head was pinned down. Chupake opened his mouth, preparing to go for the fatal bite until the two other wolves rammed into his side to knock him off.
"Thanks!" Leela exclaimed as she got back to her feet quickly, the tail of one of the wolves was then bitten by one of the three dholes, the wolf cried out in pain, but Leela tackled the dhole down, killing it quickly with a bite right when another dhole came in to clamp her jaws around her snout!
"That's one of our executioners down..." Nirmam growled, he wanted to get involved, but Bhediya blocked his way with his paw.
"The wolves will fall to deserved end soon enough, have patience..." The dire wolf grumbled.
Leela sprung for Chupake as he attempted to swipe at her with one of his frontal paws, only to have it caught in her jaws as she clamped down hard. The cheetah growled in pain, and used his other paw to slash into the top of her head multiple times.
The wolf backed away, baring her teeth, growling aggressively as the big cat violently hissed at her as he began to slowly approach her yet again.
"You can only fight me for so long..." The cheetah growled as he got even closer.
"Not while I have the other two alive!" Leela barked as she then rushed towards him!
The Northern wall was then destroyed by Kaa, who immediately went for the Eastern wall now.
"The Northern wall has fallen, we should begin to head towards our respective walls now. Bagheera, you take a large sum of the wolves up towards the Northern end, Baloo, you take another large sum of wolves towards the Western hole over there." Mowgli said, pointing Baloo towards the large hole put in a weakened portion of the Western wall.
Bagheera, and Baloo both nodded in unison, and they took a large bunch of wolves towards their respective ends, patiently waiting for the signal.
Gray Brother, and Phao would join Mowgli as well as another large gathering of the wolves as they began to rush towards the Southern wall in which wasn't broken down yet. The rest of the wolves would meet Kaa on the Eastern wall.
"I take this one, get the one behind me, brother!" One of the wolves shouted as the two remaining red dogs were circling him now, the other wolf rushed towards one of the dholes, the enemies began to claw at each other with no mercy!
Leela had managed to time Chupake's lunge, and now she was pinning his head on the ground with her paws as much as she could. The cheetah's eyes noticed that one of the executioner dholes was in danger as one of the wolves had it pinned down. The dhole had locked her jaws around the snout of the wolf so he couldn't bite into her neck!
Chupake pressed his frontal paws into the ground as hard as he could, forcing his body upwards, the top of his head striking into the lower jaw of Leela, effectively knocking her off of him.
"Look out!" She cried out as Chupake bolted towards the wolf who had his mouth clamped shut, suddenly the dhole's jaws slipped from his snout, and as soon as the wolf killed that dhole, Chupake killed the wolf!
"No!" Leela cried out, and now there was only two wolves remaining, and two executioners remaining.
As Chupake, and the last remaining dhole of the executioners advanced towards the wolf, Leela sprang into action as she bit down hard on the cheetah's tail as tight as her jaws could let her.
"You're starting to annoy me!" The big cat shouted, trying to turn around to get Leela, but he couldn't, it looked like he was chasing his own tail as he bit at the wolf, and clawed, but nothing worked. This allowed the wolf and the dhole to square off with one another.
"That's two executioners down, only two remain. Are we really going to let these wolves off easily!?" Nirmam barked, again trying to get involved, but he was stopped by Bhediya yet again.
"Chupake shall take both wolves down, have patience." The dire wolf growled.
Kaa decided not to break down the Eastern wall, the gate was already opened up, so she quickly slithered her way towards the Southern wall, the raid was about to begin, but they were all running on borrowed time.
The wolf and the dhole collided, the dhole stood on the hind legs but the superior weight of the wolf brought him down!
The wolf attempted to get a bite in on the red dog's throat, but like before, this dhole bit the snout of the wolf to close it. The wolf began to try and rip his jaws free so he could go for the bite while the dhole defended himself desperately.
Chupake was finally able to pull his tail free, and he instantly went for the other wolf instead of Leela, he wanted her to be the last one standing.
"No you don't!" She cried as she flung herself onto the cheetah's back, trying to get a bite on the back of his neck, but thanks to his constant movement, it made things all the more difficult.
"Get off of me!" Chupake roared, thrashing around before getting into a roll, crushing Leela beneath his back, but he wasn't as heavy as a bear, so the damage wasn't that bad.
Leela once again prevented the cheetah from advancing towards the other wolf, biting onto his back leg hard. Chupake turned around, clawing her into the top of her head with his claws, cutting her open some more. The clawing was enough to get her to let go, and to prevent her from stopping him again, he lunged forward, jaws aiming for her throat, but she blocked with her paws, one of her arms was caught in his jaws, and with a single bite, bones were broken!
Leela howled in agony as she clutched her broken paw, Chupake loomed over her, ready to deliver the killing bite when suddenly a loud hiss filled the air, followed by an explosive boom as the Southern wall fell!
Chaos ensued, Chupake looked around for the source, the entire gathering of dholes within the abandoned city scrambled around to try and figure out what was going on. One of the dholes noticed a panther rushing in from the Northern end of the city, with a large gathering of wolves behind him!
"Intruders!" A dhole cried, Nirmam fought his way through the crowd to see what was going on, when his eyes caught the attention of a large python slithering in through the broken gate, being followed by another massive group of wolves.
"It's Mowgli and his allies!" The Himalayan wolf barked furiously.
"All mothers, cubs, and yearlings, get inside of a building, NOW!" Bhediya howled, it was chaos as several of them were stumbling over each other, trampling each other in the chaos.
"Leela!" Phao cried out as he took out a dhole within seconds, desperately looking for his lover.
"Howl if you hear Phao!" Mowgli called out, seconds later, a feminine sounding howl was heard not too far away.
"Hold on, we're coming!" The man cried out as he cut his way through four dholes with his knife.
The many legions held within the city were quick to form into a circular formation, the dholes on the front lines of the circle were facing at every angle possible to defend against Mowgli's allies as they rushed upon them from all four sides!
The dholes fell one by one in this formation, when one fell, the other behind it would take the place. Baloo, and Kaa were very effective at cutting several of them down. Kaa used her massive tail to sweep several of them out from beneath their feet, and then she struck out her head like a battering ram to knock several others down!
Baloo used his body weight like a battering ram too, smashing into the circle, cutting through them, shaking off any dholes that dared to jump on him.
Nirmam and Bhediya began to work to try and fight back against Mowgli's allies, Nirmam was able to down ten wolves, while Bhediya was able to down fifteen of them within minutes!
The circular formation of the massive legion in which was in the thousands, had broken up. Kaa had used her hypnosis on a large bunch of them to turn against their own kind, and now the dholes were fighting amongst themselves!
Creatures were falling on both sides, wolves from Mowgli's pack were dying, the dholes from Nirmam's legions were dying, Bhediya's legions were sent away from the Cold Lairs the night before to find a larger location to fit every single dhole in.
"Kaa, smash down the walls in which the mothers and cubs are hiding in, I would not see the cubs grow up to attempt revenge!" Mowgli screamed towards the serpent while she was in the middle of constricting a red dog.
"Mowgli, that is cruel!" She protested.
"In war, you have to do cruel things!" Mowgli fired back, Kaa finished squeezing the life out of the red dog she held in her coils, before slithering over to a building, ramming her body into it, making an entire wall crumble and crush a few mothers and their cubs beneath the rubble!
"Bhediya, they are taking out the mothers and cubs now. We're losing several of my legion now, we should retreat!" Nirmam barked as he took out a few more of Mowgli's wolves within seconds.
"Take out the palace!" Baloo roared as he stood up on his haunches, batting away several dholes in which jumped at him.
Kaa slithered towards the palace, knocking away any dhole that attempted to stop her. Most mothers and cubs were taking shelter within the massive palace, and Bhediya wasn't going to let her in that easily.
The dire wolf lunged towards her, she coiled herself up only to be knocked hard onto her back by the wolf. The mighty Kaa was never knocked onto her back in fights, it was a very rare occurrence, only happening once in her entire life, now would mark the second time!
She fought back though, she wrapped a thick coil around Bhediya's body, and began to squeeze down tightly. The dire wolf growled in pain, clawing and pawing at the coil to try and get it off of him, and then Kaa wrapped a smaller coil around his neck and head, squeezing tighter. The pain would cause Bhediya to let out a loud whimper of pain, Kaa smirked.
"Your reign of terror endsss today!" She hissed loudly as she continued to constrict the dire wolf, throwing a couple more coils around his body to make it harder for him to escape now.
"Let go!" Bhediya howled as he desperately thrashed around in her coils, dragging her around as she continued to squeeze tighter and tighter...
Several dholes lunged on Kaa, biting into her over and over, the pain eventually causing her to slowly unwind her coils from the body of the dire wolf.
"One day, I will have you again in my coilsss!" The python hissed angrily as she unwrapped the last two coils from the neck and head of the dire wolf, Bhediya groaned in pain, she had a mean squeeze to her monstrously powerful coils, he hadn't felt that much pain in a while.
Bagheera helped Kaa in taking out all of the dholes in which were fighting her, but then Chupake lunged in from the side to tackle the panther!
The cheetah and panther circled each other, hissing at each other, baring their fangs.
Kaa slithered beside of Bagheera, and now it was two against one.
"You have a choice...ssspotted one, join us, or suffer death!" Kaa warned, her forked tongue flickering in and out of her mouth.
Chupake wasn't backing down, he let out a mean hiss before rushing in towards the serpent and the panther.
The cheetah attempted to fight Bagheera, but the two big cats would end up standing on their hind legs, clawing into each other, Kaa bit into the head of the cheetah before dragging him down onto his back with a thud. Bagheera would swipe Chupake across the face with his paw as hard as he could, effectively stunning the cheetah as Kaa began to loop coils around his body.
Chupake fought back, and with a thrash to the right, he managed to get himself up into a standing position as Kaa started to squeeze down on him tightly, the end of her tail curling around his neck and parts of his head some!
"Urgh..." The cheetah growled in pain, trying to move forward, but the weight of the python slowed him down, including the pain from her constriction. She would eventually cause him so much pain that he let out a yelp of agony, falling over to his side, and now he was in real danger as Kaa squeezed tighter and tighter now.
Kaa doubled down now, and Chupake let out another yelp as he felt her coils grinding into his body, squeezing the air out of him.
"Oh, okay...okay. Stop..." The cheetah moaned in pain, having enough of the constriction that Kaa was giving him, however, she didn't stop squeezing him, only crushing him even more than before.
Chupake couldn't breathe no more, he gasped for air helplessly just to receive nothing, the more he attempted to breathe, the more the serpent squeezed.
"Okay...I'll join, I-I'll j-j-join..." The Asiatic cheetah gasped, and it is then that Kaa uncoiled him.
"Ssservesss you right for not lissstening..." Kaa snickered, Nirmam noticed the cheetah had been defeated by the serpent, and that only made him more frustrated, and desperate to win the fight.
"I would not see more mothers, and innocent cubs die today. RETREAT!" The Himalayan wolf howled out, the mothers and cubs that were hiding within the buildings began to flee into the jungle going Westward. The rest of the fighting dholes did the exact same, they retreated out of the Western hole in the wall, not bothering to fight back, Baloo, Bagheera, and Kaa took some of them out while the majority managed to escape.
"Nirmam, are you insane!?" Bhediya barked aggressively.
"We would all suffer too heavy of losses, this is nothing but a battle, the war is far from over, we need to move!" The Himalayan wolf retorted against the dire wolf, the two reluctantly agreed to leave with the rest while Mowgli's wolves cheered in victory!
"We need to leave before reinforcements potentially come our way!" Mowgli called out, still feeling ready to fight. He noticed Phao acting affectionate towards Leela, both were whimpering.
The wolf in which had discovered the way out died in the massive fight, leaving Leela the only survivor of the four wolf hostages. Mowgli intended to save them all, but in that regard, he failed, which he felt guilty for.
The man noticed Chupake weakly trying to get up after suffering a brutal squeeze from Kaa, he was surrounded by a group of wolves, along with Baloo, Bagheera, and Kaa.
"Who is this?" Mowgli asked.
"My name is Chupake, the stealthy one...I join your army, M-Mowgli..." The Asiatic cheetah growled in a mixture of pain and regret.
"Very well then, we need to sneak our way out without having any more dholes come our way. Does anybody here know of some other way to leave this place? It holds no value to them anymore, several buildings have been destroyed-" Mowgli began as he examined his surroundings, the center of the Cold Lairs was thick with dead wolves and dholes alike.
"Several have died on both sides, but this was only a battle in a continuous war that I look to end as soon as we possibly can. For now though, we return to Teddy's house with pleasures of victory!" Mowgli cried out, the entire pack cheered while Leela cried into Phao's shoulder.
"I know, it's okay. I'll miss him too..." Phao whimpered, a single tear leaving his eye. His father was one of the four wolves that died, with Leela being the survivor.
"An unfortunate loss." Gray Brother said softly, Phao turned his head to face him with a vicious snarl.
"I would rather not talk to you right now..." He growled, Gray Brother sighed.
"I know of a way out, Mowgli." Leela called out.
"You do? Show me please." Mowgli requested.
Leela guided them towards the summerhouse, Kaa lowered many wolves down into the pit, it took a good while to get them all down, Bagheera and Baloo entered in by bounding down from the wall, the bear going into a tumble once he hit the floor.
"This watering hole over here, follow me, Mowgli." Leela said, and Mowgli did as was told.
The two swam beneath the surface, entering a hole in the wall before swimming back up to be within an air-pocket on the other side of the wall.
"Whoa, where are we?" Mowgli asked.
"Must be in some type of water supply the people used, the people that once lived here long ago. Do you see that light at the end?" She asked.
Mowgli looked to the end of the tunnel to see rays of light entering in through the end of the tunnel, it would lead out into the jungle where a river was located.
"A way out, this is exactly what we needed." He said.
"We should get the others, it is big enough to fit the whole pack in...almost." Leela said.
"Yes, let's go get them." Mowgli replied.
With that, the pack managed to liberate Leela, unfortunately, the other hostage wolves all were killed, most of them being executed while the other perished in the battle. All of them cautiously taking the secret tunnel out of the Cold Lairs, going on another long trek back to Teddy's house...
A/N: My apologies AGAIN! Urgh, writer's block has been terrible to me hasn't it? It took me a while to formulate some ideas for this chapter and how the action would work out, but I finally got it done for y'all. I hope you enjoyed the bits of romance, as well as the action in this chapter as well, and once again, Mowgli gains another member to his pack, an OC of mine named Chupake, he is an Asiatic Cheetah!