A/N: Hey everyone, once again, apologies for the few day wait for another chapter. Writer's block is really kicking my butt, my initial goal was to get a chapter published every day, but as you all can tell at the moment, such is not the case. I'm also taking lots of time planning how each chapter will go, and which directions the story will take. So please bear with me, I will get many more chapters soon, for now though, enjoy the latest chapter in this story :)- KaijuCrazy02
(Chapter 22: The rallying of the remnant species)
The raid on the Cold Lairs was finally, and thankfully over. The final death toll was fifty dead wolves, and one hundred dead dholes, mothers and cubs included.
They all left the carcasses their for the scavengers to pick, the entire abandoned city was destroyed, the palace had fallen, several other buildings had fallen as well.
Several hours had passed, it was evening time now, and Nirmam's legions, as well as Bhediya Khan, was traveling through the jungle in search of a place to take shelter.
"Mowgli makes fool of us yet again..." The dire wolf growled, extremely agitated on how the man defeated them again with his own army that was drastically smaller than the legions of dholes.
"Relax, when we find better position, we will kill them all." Nirmam said, trying to reassure his higher up.
"You said that when we found the city, and now look what happened. We've lost hundreds of our dholes because I trusted in your second in command leadership..." Bhediya continued, starting to lose his trust with the Himalayan wolf.
"I've never failed you up until this season. I will not fail you aga-" Nirmam's sentence was cut off by the large wolf.
"You've failed me this season more than once already, and you will fail me again! I want no more words out of your mouth!" The dire wolf boomed, turning around to get right in the smaller wolf's face.
They all remained silent for the rest of the trip until they reached a cave out within a thick patch of jungle not too far away from the Cold Lairs, a cave within a mountain outside of the Seeonee Hills, the pack successfully driving them away as Mowgli had intended as one of his goals of the Cold Lair raid.
As they all laid down to rest, Nirmam was still awake, as well as all of the dholes in which were guarding the sleeping Bhediya Khan.
"I would not let them escape so easily, I will reward you with elephant carcass if you can bring me Mowgli..." Nirmam said, being the obedient red dogs that they were, they listened to Nirmam. The rest of the entire army of red dogs was resting in a nearby gorge, and several more were resting in various parts on the mountain.
"Follow their scent, man has a stench unlike any other. Trace it to where they take shelter, and we will see our legions towards that location, to prove Bhediya wrong, that I shall not fail him again." The Himalayan wolf continued, the one hundred dholes that surrounded Bhediya were sent to take out Mowgli...
(Location: Teddy's House)
All had safely returned to the house of Teddy, the englishman was surprised to see yet another large animal on Mowgli's team, Chupake.
"Let me guess, you convinced this to join you too?" Teddy asked, Mowgli chuckled as Kaa slithered in behind him.
"No, I forced him to." She said, her voice filled with arrogance.
Chupake looked up, a tired, pained expression being displayed upon his face.
"It's true..." He wheezed.
"I see." Teddy said, Mowgli walked up to him, patting him on the shoulder.
"Our victory calls for celebration, perhaps we can share drink of wine?" Mowgli asked to Teddy as Shanti entered the room.
"What of your pack? Can they drink wine too?" Teddy asked with a laugh.
"I don't know actually, I wouldn't want to find out though..." Mowgli said, scratching the back of his head while letting out a nervous laugh.
"Who cares, they may celebrate however they feel. Let us three drink the wine, and get drunk from sun up to sun down!" Teddy exclaimed with a hearty chuckle.
"Now I wouldn't get drunk now, we still have to keep close eye on the red dogs. We have yet to gather more wolves to increase our numbers, for they still have us by that margin." Mowgli answered.
The three of them sat at the round table, Teddy had made them all some beef valentine, and brownies for desert while they drank wine. As they had their supper, they all spoke of their stories until each one's belly was filled with food.
"I go to break words with pack." Mowgli said after finishing off his meal.
He strolled outside, raising up his arms.
"Wolves! Tomorrow brings us great celebration, I would have a great morning hunt in celebration, then we shall proceed to find new recruits of wolves from across the jungle. For now though, rest well, know that all that you that are alive served great purpose in liberating Leela from the Cold Lairs." Mowgli announced.
Within a matter of minutes, all of the animals were returning to their resting locations. As Kaa began to slither down into the basement, she called to Mowgli, and so he followed her down.
"Mowgli, what you ordered me to do, earlier today...it was cruel, sweet one." The serpent said softly, as if she regretted killing several mothers and cubs earlier during the Cold Lairs raid.
"We must do such things to prevent further revenge from them in the future, what if one of them grows up to want us all dead, and comes back with an army twice as big?" Mowgli sighed, he didn't want to do it, but he felt as if he had no other choice.
"I wish this raid never happened, Mowgli. We could have prevented so many lives from being lost." Kaa said, her voice sounding sad.
"I wish it didn't happen either, had Phao not have gone through dewanee prior to the raid, none of our wolves would have been held captive. If you want to put the blame on someone, put it on him." Mowgli replied.
"Sweetie...don't put the blame on someone else. Isn't that one of the many lessons that Baloo taught you?" The snake asked as she formed her coils into a chair like formation, Mowgli sat back on them, resting comfortably within them.
"Yeah, he taught me such things. Many seasons ago when I was mere cub, but I want to protect this pack as much as I possibly can. To make sure that nothing wants to destroy us, me, you, Bagheera, or Baloo." Mowgli sighed.
"Buddy, there will come a time in the future, where Baloo, Bagheera, and even me, we won't be on this planet no more. Things slowly wither away, and pass on from this world, such is the cycle of life. By the time this war will be over, there will be no use in protecting us anymore. We don't even know if the Seeonee Hills would even be a thing. We don't know if man will truly take over..." Kaa explained, trying to reassure her human friend.
"Please don't say that..." Mowgli pleaded, not wanting to hear Kaa talk about life expectancies at the moment's notice while they still had their lives after the Cold Lairs raid.
"Well, it's true. Nothing lasts forever." The snake went on, the man sighed.
"What if we would have left those cubs alive, Kaa? What would happen if they grew up, and took over the jungle with superior number again, potentially higher than the legions commanded by Nirmam and Bhediya?" Mowgli asked.
"We would let them overtake the jungle, and we found seek a better place. If they take over the Seeonee Hills, we would be able to slip away in secrecy, and head North or West, or maybe even East if you do desired." Kaa replied, this made Mowgli let out a cynical laugh.
"We can't let them...did you see what they did to my future mother in law? Those savage dogs killed her, Leela told me on the way back here that she witnessed Phaona get tortured to death!" Mowgli exclaimed, his lips quivering, his eyes welling up with tears. Kaa didn't want to argue, so she changed the subject, but then Mowgli spoke again.
"I said on that night, that we would have no more mercy. If they aren't going to play it soft with us, if they reject my offerings of peace, if they make things personal, we make it personal for them as well." Mowgli added on, but then there was a long pause afterwards, where Kaa finally changed up the subject.
"Your future mother in law? What do ya want to do? Marry that girl, Shanti?" The snake asked, turning around to face Mowgli with a sly grin on her face.
"Well...I...heh..." Mowgli chuckled nervously, blushing.
"Your face is getting red!" The snake taunted in a sing-song styled voice.
"Heh...shut it..." Mowgli giggled, Kaa got in closer now.
"What are ya gonna do? Gonna walk her down the path, and give her a nice good kiss on the lips?" The snake asked, continuing to tease her close human friend.
"Look, I can't help how I feel. I've lived close to her almost all of my teen life, we've developed a close bond as friends, but now I see her more than a friend. She is the light at the end of the tunnel, the stars on a dark night, my light of hope. She keeps me happy when times get rough, and I..." Mowgli began, struggling to finish, Kaa's serpentine face shifted into a cute smile.
"Awwh...and?" She asked, egging Mowgli on to finish his sentence.
"I-I love her with all of my heart..." Mowgli said, his voice soft, and warm.
"How adorable...You two are cute together!" The serpent explained before nudging her flat head into Mowgli's face.
"Thanks..." Mowgli continued.
(The next morning)
(Location: The mountain cave)
When Bhediya woke up, the first thing he noticed was all of his guard dholes were mysteriously gone. He looked around, wondering where they all had went. Having a strange feeling that he would know who was the cause of this...
The dire wolf stretched out his legs, letting out a yawn as he got rid of the sleepy feeling out of his body before heading towards the light at the end of the cave, exiting through the mouth of it to look around the area from the high elevation from one hundred feet in the air, he noticed that all of the dholes were sleeping on the giant pass in which would lead up to the cave, but Nirmam was nowhere to be found.
The Himalayan wolf was hunting for breakfast, staying low in the brush as he had his eyes set on a deer in which was close by, he licked his chops. Nirmam anticipated when the deer would lower the head back down to graze, and right when he was about to make a move, Bhediya Khan's voice filled the air!
"NIRMAM!" He roared with pure rage, and instantly, the Himalayan wolf knew that he was in trouble.
He would meet the dire wolf back inside of the cave, they would be having a talk, no other dhole would get involved.
"You foolishly send only a hundred red dogs towards Mowgli, and his allies. They don't even know where they live, are you insane!?" The dire wolf barked, pacing around within the cave.
"I'm tired of them making us look like weakened fools, you seen what he ordered that python to do, it murdered several of our young, and several of our mothers, I will not let this stand. I will have that man flayed alive, and his skinned carcass brought to us to feast on!" Nirmam fired back. Bhediya answered his talking back with a brutal slap across the face!
"You must not let emotions overcome you!" The dire wolf shouted, the single slap taking the Himalayan wolf off of his feet.
"Our mothers and cubs were innocent, he took their lives in FEAR!" Nirmam barked.
"That man, and his allies have taken out several of our dholes, it has gone well into the hundreds, and now you send one hundred more after him. You send my guards to his territory!?" Bhediya growled, baring his scary looking teeth.
"Some will die, but it will serve as message to them that they have only pissed us off!" Nirmam fired back, receiving another harsh smack across the face, again being knocked to the ground.
"Some will die? You mean ALL will die, at the hands of Mowgli!" Bhediya barked, Nirmam went to speak but the dire wolf raised his voice again.
"This is the last time you've went against my trust, if I can't trust you to make another mistake, then you don't deserve to go with me in the war. Prove yourself worthy, if you can take out Mowgli with only ONE legion, then I will be satisfied..." The dire wolf continued, kicking out Nirmam.
"I will accept this, but you must accept my terms as well. I will take my leave, and go away from these grounds with one legion...but I will take the mercenaries you sent the vultures out for..." Nirmam growled, Bhediya's eyes went wide...
(Location: Hills of Stone)
Charon landed on a stone brick road, moss growing through the cracks as he looked around for this supposed "Long Fang."
There was no signs of any creatures, but the vulture caught the scent of iron, the smell of fresh blood nearby. He took to the air to continue his search, flying over the jungle nearby, where the scent grew even stronger.
The vulture lowered altitude, dropping beneath the canopy of the leaves high among the trees, perching on a thick branch to stare down towards the ground, and to examine his surroundings.
There was a small cave nearby, it potentially went into a mountain due to the Hills of Stone being nearby, could it potentially be hollowed out? Who knows?
There was a sambhur buck standing at the bottom of the tree looking up at Charon with a confused look.
"Can I help you?" The deer asked.
"No, I'm looking for someone else..." The vulture replied.
"I'm having trouble looking for my mate, I just found her!" The buck exclaimed, Charon cackled at this.
"Sorry, but I can't help you there!" The vulture laughed.
"This is ridiculous..." The buck groaned in annoyance, Charon then seen exactly who he was looking for, sneaking up behind the buck.
"Perhaps the fella behind you, perhaps he can help..."
The buck was confused as it turned around, only to have his neck pierced by the massive seven inch fangs of the sabre toothed cat in which had lunged on him, killing him instantly!
"So, I take it that you're Long Fang?" Charon asked, the smilodon looked up, snarling at the vulture before letting out a vicious roar!
"Yes...What for?" He asked, his voice charming, but menacing at the same time.
"I've brought you an offer, I'm recruiting you." The vulture replied...
(Location: Mongolia)
Ash had ventured far, and wide to find Kaiser, the Andrewsarchus...
He had been flying non-stop for hours, and was growing tired of it. The vulture flew over miles upon miles of flat land for countless hours, just to find nothing.
Finally though, his eyes caught notice of large hills, and snow capped mountains in the distance. His eyes widened in relief as he also let out a sigh, having a strong feeling that he had found what he had been looking for.
It took him around fifteen minutes to finally reach the mountains, his watchful eyes scanning the environment. There wasn't many places to live, that was until he noticed a cave close to the top of one of the mountains.
This had to be where Kaiser took shelter at, Ash hadn't seen any other creature for miles!
To be safe, the vulture landed on top of the mouth of the cave before speaking out to try and get the attention of the andrewsarchus.
"Kaiser, are you here!?" Ash called out, a raspy voice replied.
"You know me?" The voice asked, it was menacing, but it had a raspy growl to it.
"I've been sent here by one Bhediya Khan, do you know him?" Ash responded with a question, and out came the remnant creature.
"Don't kid yourself, he should have perished many years ago!" Kaiser growled.
"He didn't, he found his way into a brand new continent." Ash answered.
"He went high into the snow tipped peaks, he walked amongst the tallest mountain (Everest,) and was in severe cold climates. There is no way he could have lived through such treacherous paths." The andrewsarchus said, not believing what the vulture was telling him.
"He met a wolf, whose kind lives in those climates, his name is Nirmam Yoddha. The two have been working together for years upon years now, and have found their way into the continent of India. They need your help in taking out a being called Mowgli." Ash explained.
"Mowgli? What's a Mowgli?" Kaiser asked.
"He is a man, who has the jungle on his side. Snakes, bears, panthers, and the wolves stand with him. Things that should have devoured him a long time ago." Ash answered.
"Bhediya, a battle hardened thing such as him, has trouble with a man? Heh, I never thought I would hear such words. If you can find me a good meal, or take me to one, I will join you, deal?" Kaiser said, offering Ash a deal.
"Deal." The vulture replied.
(Location: Hindu Kush Mountains)
Cain was flying over the flat lands between the mountains, where the grass was green, instead of snow.
He had seen large patches of blood, several bones, dozens of carcasses, some of them had chunks bitten out of them, others were rotting away with maggots helping with the decomposing process.
There had to be something brutal, vicious, and cold within these mountains. Something monstrous...
The vulture followed the trail of blood all the way up a path in which would lead to a cave near the top of a snow covered mountain. There was a cliff in which overlooked the massive drop down into the valleys from the top of this snow capped mountain. The snow on this cliff was thick with blood, blood dripping down over the side and falling all the way down until it hit the bottom.
There was freshly eaten carcasses that were slowly freezing away thanks to the cold temperatures, bones had frozen solid. Other carcasses that still had not been eaten all the way had become mummified.
The mouth of the cave looked sinister too, there was rock formations on the sides of the mouth, and on the top and bottom which made it look like an actual mouth with sharp teeth, not to mention the icicles hanging between the rocks that looked like smaller fangs.
Cain was shivering due to the cold, but he could also hear something breathing within the cave right next to him, something sleeping. Due to him being a vulture, the sight of all the carcasses, and blood made his mouth water, but there was so much of it that he actually feared what would be coming out of the cave...
"Danaba...Baluka...y-you are summoned by Bhediya Khan..." The vulture said as he shivered, he heard a deep guttural growling before footsteps were heard. This caused Cain to back up some, getting closer, and closer to the cliffside.
Suddenly, there was a massive thundering roar in which came from the cave as a gigantic bear charged out, Cain took to the air, hovering over the cliff so the bear wouldn't make the dumb decision to fall off the side.
The bear was huge, it had to tower of Baloo, or any bear in India, this was a cave bear. This beast was mute, he never spoke one time in his life, even when he was a cub, he never spoke, his mother had called him "the curse."
The bear's mouth was drooping down on one side, his fang like teeth exposed, his eyes were filled with malice, and had a piercing glare to them wherever he looked. His claws were long, and sharp, and if he stood on his hind legs, he would tower over anything.
"Calm down, I know that you may not like tresspassers, but you are needed!" Cain cried out, the bear continued to roar viciously.
"Y-you've got quite the bloodlust, what if I told you that you had a chance to kill what drove you out of India!?" The vulture shouted, trying to strike a deal with the mute bear.
This is when the ancient bear calmed down some, his roars became low warning growls.
"Come with me, down from these mountains, and you shall receive what you wanted for so long...man flesh..." Cain said, the bear nodded his head, the deal was made...