The Jungle Book: The Story Re-told

by KaijuCrazy02

Join Mowgli in his journey to survive in the depths of the Indian jungles in this re-telling of the Jungle Book, although he is joined by his closest allies of Baloo and Bagheera, survival isn't a guarantee for him...Many threats come his way such as a menacing tiger known as Shere Khan, and a gigantic python named Kaa, but those are just two out of many threats. Will he survive?

30. An imposter among us, it must be done

(Chapter 30: An imposter among us, it must be done)

Morning had came after a good night's rest after a brutish but brief encounter with Neo and his dhole squad. They all arrived back at the fortress with a seemingly irate Toomai pacing back and forth, fearing for the lives of his new friends that he now called his brothers and sisters.

"Mowgli, you've been missing for an entire night. The rest of us were worried sick about you!" The human shouted, his voice was mixed with relief but anger.

"Relax, my friend. Everything is alright, we had an encounter with a dhole bunch at the cave. The good news is, we sent them back from where they came." Mowgli replied, patting Toomai on the shoulder with a hearty chuckle.

"You look pretty scarred up..." Toomai sighed.

"Ah, such are only physical scars. My thoughts have never been touched before." Mowgli reassured his friend.

"Yeah right..." Toomai chuckled before heading off to do guard duties of protecting the fort, always on the lookout for any new arrivals or potential enemies coming from anywhere surrounding the fort.

A few hours later, Toomai spotted a large gathering of wolves approaching the gate. He stood up, leaning over the side with his eyes slightly squinted shut so he could try and see who these wolves were.

"We got company, at the gate!" Toomai called out, a batch of wolves approached the gate along with Bagheera and Baloo, Kaa was currently resting in the shade. Mowgli approached too, spear in hand.

"Open it, and see welcomed newcomers into our ranks." Mowgli spoke, his voice loud and proud like thunder, but he wasn't screaming.

Toomai slowly opened up the gate to reveal the wolves, they began to all pour in to the fortress. A smile on the face of their leader as he recognized Mowgli from the night before.

In the midst of all the grey and dark colored coats of these wolves, Bagheera noticed something odd. There were occasional flashes of a reddish brown coloring, the fur color of a red dog...

"Dholes!" The panther called out, Mowgli instantly held out his spear in a fighting stance, growling viciously. Baloo stood up on his haunches, letting out a mighty roar as Kaa started to slither out of the shade to see what was happening!

The dholes charged out from the crowd of wolves, rushing towards Mowgli's assembled wolves that were guarding and protecting the fortress. Chaos ensued, with mostly dholes falling, but more numbers entered in. Baloo was able to swat a few away as they jumped towards him, and Mowgli gave a good spear thrust into another as the pressure started to get put on our heroes!

Suddenly, a Himalayan wolf emerged as Bagheera began to get piled on, barreling through the dholes, killing several of them as he began to fight viciously. Tearing through them one by one with his jaws and swatting paws that had extra strength behind him.

Mowgli wasn't so keen to trust a Himalayan wolf, especially since the only one's he has ever encountered were those being against him. Kaa coiled herself up, letting out a cold hiss that sent fear into the hearts of the remaining dholes, who were now backing up towards the opened gate.

"Leave us, fiends!" The Himalayan wolf barked as loud as he could, trying to drive those dholes away. Baring his teeth, his fur on his body becoming quite bushy now. The dholes continued to back up, cowering in fear of Kaa mostly, but this Himalayan wolf had a demanding tone to his voice that also intimidated them.

One by one, each dhole eventually left the fortress, all of the casualties taking in that very brief skirmish were dholes. One of Mowgli's wolves got scratched up, Bagheera got bit in some places, but those were only minor injuries.

"You, who are you?" Mowgli asked as he approached the Himalayan wolf, gripping his spear tightly in case if this one was to be an enemy.

"An outcast, I was betrayed by my own kind, and sent here." The Himalayan wolf spoke, he sounded tired, weak, and weary from constant fighting. His voice was strained as if he had been yelling for some time.

"Your own kind turned against you, and sent you here with these dholes?" Mowgli asked, not putting his trust into a kind of animal that he had considered an enemy for a while at that point.

"Yes, on my journey here, I heard your name spoken among them. These people of the jungle and of this country, they deem you as some kind of god amongst them. I took solace in the fact that I was coming to this fortress, so high and mighty." The wolf continued.

"You wish to stay?" Mowgli asked, the wolf nodded his head.

"As long as you don't turn against us, you may stay." Mowgli replied as he headed to his living quarters to get some purple chalky material, deciding to paint the Himalayan wolf's face a purple design like the rest of the dholes on his side.

(Meanwhile...)

A decent ways away from the fortress, rested Bhediya Khan and his legions. They had been traveling for some time, and were itching to get their claws on Mowgli and his massive army of wolves, dholes, and everything in between at this point.

The dire wolf was napping at a hill in which overlooked his legions, similar to Council Rock back at the Seeonee Hills jungle. He then heard the squawking of a vulture overhead, Bhediya groaned as he looked up to see the scavenger going in for a landing at his front. The dire wolf stretched out legs, letting out a yawn. In much need of a nap, he wished to sleep, but this vulture may have been coming with news, so he stayed awake.

"Sire, I've come across a cave filled with a decent amount of wolves. Seems like it would hold a lot of your legions, great Bhediya." Cain spoke, Bhediya stood up, the corner of his eye caught notice of his son, Neo, returning to them with a few dholes coming with him.

"Great, anything else worthy of speaking of?" Bhediya grumbled.

"Yes, there is a fortress not too far away from that cave, I flew over it the other day. I have never seen elephants this far away from the jungle, and wolves walking amongst them peacefully." Cain spoke, the words of elephants walking with wolves peacefully immediately rang a bell with Bhediya.

"I have never heard of elephants walking so far from the jungle before, not to mention the wolves walking with them. This could be the location of sworn enemy..." The dire replied with a growing grin spreading across his face.

Neo approached his father, looking tired and beaten down as well as a few other wolves, although he had been defeated by Mowgli. He lived with information that he was alive, and this would all but confirm Bhediya's theory.

"Father, I was attacked at a cave not too far from here. It's Mowgli, he's here." Neo said, Bhediya chuckled at this revelation deviously.

"Excellent, I've already sent out Maximus to infiltrate the fortress..." The dire wolf spoke, Neo was surprised at this, and so was Cain.

"How so? How do you have knowledge of this fortress before I told you?" Cain asked.

"When Nirmam Yoddha was still alive, he carried info of this fortress to me. I have had knowledge of this fortress for quite some time, and I sensed that Mowgli was taking shelter at this fortress. It sits upon a high hill, and has great defenses. We have them on the run, I knew that Mowgli would go hunting for the high ground." Bhediya replied, a sinister grin came to Neo's face upon hearing his foster father's knowledge of the fort...

(Later that evening)

Mowgli's pack was having an evening meal as the sun began to set, it was a good day of hunting, but once again, not everyone would be fed thanks to the scarce game that the desert had to offer.

The Himalayan wolf woke up, this Himalayan wolf was Maximus. He didn't reveal his name nor his true intentions to Mowgli, he too remembered this exact fortress as he had stayed here with Nirmam many years ago.

The order given to Maximus was to bring Mowgli's pack into conflict with each other, and to divide them. It was a simple divide and conquer strategy, and Bhediya knew it would work. That strategy always works under the right hands.

Maximus could smell the game that was being feasted upon by the pack, he left his private living quarters to see Baloo eating a bunch of lizards, scooping several of them into his mouth. Everyone was occupied and engrossed on eating their meals to notice Maximus strolling towards the dholes.

Maximus entered the group of dholes, hiding amongst them as he began to speak to the folk that was once his allies.

"How do any of you feel about this situation. We're with Mowgli, the supposed legend of the jungle, yet we feast on mere lizards..." Maximus groaned.

"It is what it is, back in the Dekkan we could only feast on lizards anyway. We're fine." A dhole said, satisfied with what he was eating for the evening meal.

"I think we deserve better, the wolves and others look at Mowgli as if he stands a god among us all. Having such knowledge and power to rival even the mighty Tha himself. Yet we are like mere scavengers, searching for scraps, and if we get anything filling, we only get lizards. When we were with Bhediya, we received game such as deer, and others that were bigger than mere lizards." Another dhole growled, this brought a smile to the face of Maximus.

"Do you think the leadership could be better?" He asked the dhole that spoke against Mowgli.

"Yes, way better." The dhole replied, Maximus felt that it was time to reveal who he really stood with, and where he really came from.

"I come with news-" Maximus began before licking his paw to get it good and wet before pawing at his face, removing the purple face paint that Mowgli applied to him way earlier, the dholes looked shocked...

"I stand with you, I come from Bhediya Khan, I am Maximus..."

(Bhediya Khan's location)

"Son, tell me how did this skirmish with Mowgli go?" Bhediya Khan asked Neo, the first thing he noticed is that his son was a bit afraid to answer as there was a pause before he spoke.

"We located Mowgli thanks to Cain, and we began to head towards a fortress that he told us of. As we marched towards the fortress, we come across a cave with several wolves. Mowgli was among them, and we launched an attack on him." Neo explained, trying to sound enthusiastic as possible, but his nervous smile at the end of his sentence gave things away, Bhediya grew suspicious...

"And?" The dire wolf asked, a brow was raised, sensing there was something that the dhole did not want to tell him. The pause between his question, and his son's answer made things more prevalent that something had went wrong.

"Speak up, son...tell me what happened at the cave." Bhediya growled with a harsh, demanding tone.

"We got defeated, and we were forced to retreat..." Neo whimpered, knowing how his foster father would respond to this act.

"You aren't supposed to come back son." Bhediya scolded the dhole.

"I know." Neo replied, whimpering afterwards.

"Why did you?"

"Because, I want to grow up and lead this great empire we have been establishing. So the dhole species may never die out, like yours did."

"I admire that reason, but I want warriors. Victory is to survive, death is the only defeat, there is no surrender."

"I know, but I do not wish to die...not yet."

There was a pause as Bhediya looked down upon his son, the dire wolf pondered if it was a good idea to accept his foster son as a fighter among the ranks.

"I know you wanted to make me proud, but I would have made no difference whether you died or lived to rise as a mighty leader when my day of rest finally came." Bhediya growled before eying down all of the other dholes that were in his entire army.

"I have a task for you to accomplish, son-" Bhediya began as he continued to gaze upon the many dholes that were roaming around, Neo looked concerned.

"What is it?" The dhole asked.

"Go to every single one of your brothers and sisters that have fought so far, or those that are able to fight, and ask them this question: Would you stand with me to the end? Or would you choose to flee and join Mowgli for any reason to either escape this war, or out of fear of dying by my side?" The dire wolf replied.

"All of the legions?" Neo asked, Bhediya said no words as he nodded his head.

Getting to every single dhole would be a chore, but if Neo worked at a great speed, perhaps the deed could be done by the time the moon was highest in the sky.

(Location: Mowgli's Fort)

Maximus was carrying on several conversations with the dholes, and was filled with satisfaction to see many of them lick their paws and wipe away their facial paint. The Himalayan wolf felt like planting the seeds of division would be rather more easy than he initially anticipated.

"Do you all even know why you are here?" Maximus asked.

"No, we went to sleep during the night, and once we woke up, we found ourselves in this fort with Mowgli and the rest." A dhole replied, another one went to add something to that.

"I found myself being called to this place from far away, and Mowgli was our leader for some reason, now I don't trust him. I don't know what lured me here to begin with." Another dhole spoke up.

"The gaze of the serpent, Kaa. She has lead all of you astray from the goal of winning this war, it would seem that the enticing eyes of the deceiving worm has started to waver off of your minds. Your will to follow your old leaders rules is starting to come back." Maximus explained.

"I do remember there being a large snake the night before we lost our way!" A younger dhole said aloud.

"Then you would be correct, allow me to say who all of you really belong to..." Maximus began, getting every dhole's attention for those that sat around him.

"I am Maximus, I'm one of the highest ranking members in the army of the Bhediya Khan. You all serve under him, every male able to fight, and every female who so wishes to fight, all serve under him. When we fight, it is till the death, and we feast upon food much greater than what we received in the Dekkan. The Bhediya Khan rescued us all from that barren wasteland that we once called home, and took us where more game roam, and now we have been roped into war, one that will not end until one leader dies. The tongue of the serpent misguides you all, but now I return purpose towards your thoughts." He continued.

The dholes stood in awe at Maximus, after Nirmam was slain by Mowgli at the crevice, Maximus became second in command. He was their leader when Bhediya wasn't around or anywhere in sight.

"Tell me, who do you all really follow? Those that follow Bhediya Khan, stop picking the bones of your devoured meal, and for those that follow the path of Mowgli. Continue eating as you please..." Maximus requested, and a shocking revelation played out, half of the dholes stopped gnawing on the bones of their game, while the other half continued picking away as they pleased.

Mowgli thought that the entire pack of dholes truly followed him, but it was revealed that only half were truly loyal to him...

"Honestly, I've been following his directions out of my will to live. Given the chance, I would come running back to Bhediya any time." A dhole boldly stated, making Maximus chuckle deviously upon hearing this confession.

(The next morning)

"I've brought to you an estimate of how many has turned against us, father." Neo said before yawning, and stretching out his body and limbs to get the sleepy feeling out of them.

Neo had spent all day long and into the night in his quest to gather how many dholes would rather work against Bhediya Khan or would work with him. The dire wolf felt fine if only five percent would turn and flee, but unfortunately for his case, an abysmal ten percent would work against the dire wolf...one that Bhediya certainly wouldn't mind correcting...

"A small fraction, a few thousand said that they would flee in terror from Mowgli, and would probably join him if we were losing this war." Neo continued, causing Bhediya to laugh cynically.

"What an embarrassment, an utter embarrassment." The dire wolf growled.

"My apologies, father..." Neo whimpered.

"It isn't your fault, son. The utopia I have brought upon your people has made them weak, they have forgotten who they were. Our legions aren't the same legions we had years upon years ago, before your time. We have gotten careless and weak, instead of being alert and strong, and I intend on fixing this issue in a way that will shake the foundations of your species."

"If only we never dropped our guard." Neo replied to his father.

"If only son, if only."

(Location: Mowgli's Fort)

The sun was just starting to rise, most of the wolves hadn't woken up just yet. Maximus had woken up early, glaring at the sleeping wolves with a grin on his face. A batch of dholes marched up behind the Himalayan wolf. These dholes were more than ready to strike down Mowgli, or at least begin the division of his pack and army.

"He has a brother, a wolf whose coat is of a dark gray color. We strike him down, and enrage Mowgli to make moves against us." Maximus said quietly before bounding towards the living quarters of Mowgli and his big guns, this would be a risky move, as Mowgli, Toomai, Bagheera, Baloo, Kaa, and Chupake were all sleeping in the same general area as Gray Brother.

"We move quick, I will slip away when commotion becomes aware." Maximus instructed as they all entered the small room where Gray Brother was sleeping, they all descended upon him!

The dholes piled on top of the larger wolf with Maximus joining in, they clawed, bit, and struck him repeatedly in various parts of the body over and over again. Lacerations and gruesome wounds were inflicted on Gray Brother as he desperately tried to fight back, the wolf managed to throw some dholes off but was just pounced on seconds afterwards.

Mowgli was woken up by Chupake and Toomai, who were the closest ones sleeping to the chamber of Gray Brother, and the three rushed towards it. Maximus could hear shouting from outside of the chamber in the courtyard, and grinned, slipping underneath a crack in the wall as the dholes continued to maul Gray Brother as he struggled helplessly!

Once Mowgli entered the chamber with the other two, he was shocked at the sight of his wolf brother being ruthlessly attacked. This sparked a great rage in his heart, and with his spear, he stabbed it right through a dhole as Chupake and Toomai rushed in to give aid. The dholes were quickly defeated, and only two were allowed to live.

"Traitors!" Mowgli screamed at the top of his lungs, pointing his spear between the eyes of one of the cowering red dogs, noticing that their purple facial paint had been chipped off or removed.

"Do you stand with me, or do you stand against me?" The man asked between gritted teeth, his eyes twitched, and a vein had popped up on his forehead, his face had grown into a shade of red due to how infuriated he was.

"We stand against you, perhaps you should save your words for your dying brother..." A dhole boldly chuckled only to have his skull and brain punctured by Mowgli's spear.

"What should we do for this one?" Chupake asked, having the one dhole in his teeth.

"Kill him." Mowgli said before dropping his spear to comfort Gray Brother, and Chupake did as was commanded, biting down hard on the dhole's neck, and killing it instantly.

"Brother, are you alright?" Mowgli asked, worried for the state of the wolf he had called his brother for several years at that point in time.

"D-does it l-lo-look l-like it?" Gray Brother struggled to ask as he weakly licked his injured paw that was un-naturally bent, having his frontal leg being broken during the attack.

Gray Brother had sustained a deep gash on his side, a broken frontal limb, several bloody claw marks all over his body, an eye had been gouged out, a chunk of his ear had been clipped away. Had these wounds been any worse, they would have been fatal...

"Well, it doesn't. What may I do to assist you, brother?" Mowgli asked, looking around frantically to try and find something to give him aid.

"Water, a-and a m-morning meal w-would s-s-s-suffice..." Gray Brother growled in agony.

"Okay, I'll do my best. I won't let you down." Mowgli replied as he stood up, looking over at Chupake and then gazing back down at Gray Brother.

"Chupake, do your best to tend to his wounds, Toomai, follow me so we can wake everyone up." Mowgli ordered, Chupake nodded his head and loomed over Gray Brother as Toomai followed the leader of the pack out of the chamber.

"What in the world was that all about?" Toomai asked, shocked at what he came across moments ago.

"We've been betrayed, and Tha knows how many more are scheming against us." Mowgli growled.

"Should we banish the dholes?" Toomai questioned, a concerned look on his face.

"I don't know, all of the dholes we have received over the course of this war has been a bulk of my army, I would go as far as saying that they make up on half of it. It would be foolish to get rid of them all." Mowgli replied as he began to enter a tower, walking up the staircase with Toomai following behind.

"We need to get to the bottom of this, and quick." Toomai suggested.

"I agree, and I am keen to believe that we may have an imposter among us..." Mowgli replied as they eventually reached the top of the tower, overlooking most of the fortress.

"What do you suggest that we do?" Toomai asked.

"Look out for suspicious activity as we take up daily tasks, I'm afraid we'll be needing to keep a close eye on the dholes." Mowgli replied, there was silence for a moment before Toomai let out a cynical laugh.

"I remember when we received news of this fortress, we all thought of it to be a grand utopia, the turning point of our war. In reality, since the day we've gotten here, it has been a consistent struggle for food, squabbles amongst our own allies, and now we almost lost a close one. I am starting to believe we really didn't think this through." Toomai chuckled, Mowgli let out a howl into the morning sky to awaken the pack before turning around to respond to him.

"My brother, human brother, Ranbir, always told me that the hardest of times create the strongest of men. The strongest of men go down in history being remembered, either as a hero or a villain, or a legend in any way possible. Once the day of passing comes, you will cross over into the next life, and look down as everyone cheers your name in remembrance-" Mowgli began with a smile, patting Toomai on the shoulder.

"This war wasn't going to be painless, but as the leader of the Seeonee Hills, I will do whatever it takes to uphold the law of the jungle. I have made mistakes, we have lost many good friends in the process, but we've triumphed over the worst. You and I, Bagheera and Baloo, Kaa and Chupake, we are all still here. Before I met you, I defeated a sworn enemy of the jungle...It was a tiger known as Shere Khan, I did not defeat him in a days time nor a weeks time. I couldn't even defeat him in the span of five seasons, it took me to go through childhood, my adolescent seasons, and finally my beginning ages as a matured adult to finally put down the striped tyrant. Eighteen seasons total is what it took me to conquer a threat to the jungle, I would expect the same for these red dogs." Mowgli finished.

"You mean it would take eighteen years or more to defeat Bhediya Khan and his vast legions of dholes? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but our animal friends aren't getting any younger, the bear is slowing down when he runs, the panther has lost a spring in his step, the serpen-" Toomai's sentence was cut off by Mowgli.

"Kaa is an ancient being, far older than any of our pack combined, but she has the energy and voice of a young woman, she ages differently. Chupake is also seemingly young too." Mowgli replied.

"Kaa and Chupake won't be enough, the serpent may have a seductive gaze, and coils of iron, and the leopard may have the speed of lightning itself, but it won't be enough. We need things that contain loads of power, great in size." Toomai warned, a smug grin grew to Mowgli's face.

"We have your elephants."

Toomai went to speak, but he had no other response, there was no determination that could match Mowgli's will power.

(Meanwhile...)

Neo awoke with the scent of blood traveling up his nostrils, he noticed that Bhediya Khan had offered him a buck of an Indian antelope, just big enough for both of them to share a meal with.

"I give thanks to you, father." The dhole said as he began to bite away at the flesh as his father done the same.

"No thanks needed, future leaders need their strength you know?" The dire wolf spoke with a smile.

"It seems you've forgiven me." Neo replied with a growing grin.

"I have, but you are my son, and the other dholes aren't you. I remember what you told me yesterday, about how many would go against us..." Bhediya said as he stripped a chunk of meat from the thigh of the carcass.

"It is a shame that we have so many weak minded ones that call themselves troops in our ranks, father." Neo said, wanting to get more close with his foster father by any means necessary.

"I have never felt so disgusted in a long time, I have lead the dhole kind to greater heights that they wish they could achieve. I've traveled across mountains and entire continents, I've felt the pain of losing my whole species, and I have done my duty to uphold my promise. Back when my species was around, there was never a thing known as betrayal, if one even thought about it, they would be cast out into the unknown. My family was unforgiving towards traitors..." Bhediya said, glaring over at his son.

"Times were different then, father." Neo said.

"They were to you, or any other dhole that wasn't born during the age of my kind. However, I'm the last one standing for all I know, and the times have never changed for me. I have sworn to stay true to my family's code, and to the code of my species. My wits and will have kept me alive after all these years, or perhaps it is come kind of divine intervention from whatever created us, all of us." Bhediya answered.

"Whatever created us all certainly favors you." Neo said with a gentle smile, this brought a grin to Bhediya's face.

"That's the thing son, I've fought in so many battles that my own blood forever stained my coat a crimson red. I have fought entire packs of wolves, been nearly drowned by floods, suffered through deadly cold, mauled by bears, constricted by big snakes, fought to the death against other remnant species that crossed over into these lands, I've suffered a lot mentally and physically. I have fought tooth and nail to save my skin, and to protect the ones that I lead-" The dire wolf began, Neo looked down and sighed, thinking about all that his foster father has been through.

"All my life once I crossed over into this land, is violence and fighting, I have never once obtained long lasting peace for a single season. Every season, something else comes up. This continent has been a burden on me, it is why I joined the dholes as their Bhediya Khan, so I could surround myself with powerful allies, and great numbers, so our power can be so unmatched that I can finally have peace. All of my time as their supreme leader, none has ever turned against me or thought of turning against me...
I brought them out of the Dekkan, into better environments where game was much more plentiful and larger than the lizards we feasted on for some time, I introduced them to beautiful new environments, and gave them a chance to know how life worked in the snowy, colder peaks. During that time we gotten stronger, bolder, and we began to think nothing could stop us, we were all so happy and confident that..." Bhediya was starting to speak, but Neo interrupted silently.

"And then we started a war with Mowgli..." The dhole said, Bhediya sighed.

"I, nor we started anything. I came into the Seeonee Hills looking for that long lasting peace, it would be where I could finally rest and ascend into the afterlife with my ancestors. Mowgli was the one who began to grow an army out of malicious intent, he is the one wanting to destroy me, I only wanted peace, I only resorted to violence when I thought it was either right or when we had no choice. He fights to defend a certain 'jungle law,' but when I first arrived in these lands many seasons ago, no such law existed, and life was perfectly fine then...No law was needed, and due to Mowgli's influence over the jungle and the many animals that live here, some of our dholes have became afraid that something has finally rivaled our power." Bhediya said, Neo wanted to add something to that.

"I always wanted a peaceful resolution, but according to the jungle law, the ones that break it must die. This war will not end until either you or Mowgli falls from this world in conflict or is killed by something else..." Neo said with a sorrowful voice in which was filled with regret.

"I wanted peace too, but Mowgli has made things personal. He made things personal when he killed Nirmam Yoddha, a pup I raised into a great warrior, he made things personal when he slain Conan and Bruno, and he made things personal when he destroyed innocent pups and mothers. I've tried to do my best to ignore him, but he is so determined to take us out, that I will now find joy in killing him, because he is such an annoying pest...
I've come to terms with the fact that my life will not end peacefully, my only goal left is to take out Mowgli, and then my soul can move on into the afterlife. It is unfortunate, but I will not lose this war, I refuse to have my pride broken. The only way we can win is with brave, fearless dholes-" Bhediya began, before letting out a vicious bark!

"I have fought for my life for these dholes, and now they turn their backs on me due to fear of their enemy. After all I have done and given them, and they now want to abandon me and betray me. I made a mistake, a crucial mistake when I gave them overconfident minds that we would never be defeated. I will not regret solving this problem either, and I will do it with authority..." Bhediya finished, promising that he would fix the issues that are now plaguing his ranks...

"What time do you wish to resolve things?" Neo asked.

"This evening, when the moon is starting to rise. I will give lesson greatly needed to those who have no faith in anything I'm about..."

(That evening)

"I have brought you dholes, and you wolves to come together for a special hunt for this evening. Game is scarce, and there is hardly anything bigger than the lizards or insects we see crawling at our feet. If you find an antelope or a herd of antelopes, take them down and bring them back. We will need our strength." Mowgli announced before letting out a howl into the beautiful evening sky.

The large group of dholes and wolves rushed to the outside of the fort through the large opened gate, Maximus being among them...

"Good hunting!" Baloo called out.

"Good hunting all!" Kaa cheered on as she was coiled around a column, resting in the shade.

"Are you certain about this?" Toomai asked Mowgli as he looked over at him with a worried expression.

"I need to strengthen their bond somehow, we can't have ourselves turning against each other in times of war..." Mowgli explained as they watched the group of dholes and wolves vanish beyond the hill, and out of their sight.

It took them a bit, but eventually the hunters found a decent sized herd filled with antelope, some of the dholes and wolves were already starting to salivate at the sight of them, finally, some red meat instead of small scaled meat in which they had been feasting on for the amount of days they were in this desert.

The dholes and wolves were remaining low in the brush, stalking the antelope as they grazed on whatever the dry grounds of this desert area had to offer for them, a watering hole was somewhere nearby, which had attracted them here.

"On my go, we charge." A wolf spoke, Maximus glared over at him, but a grin was soon to spread across his face, the plan was about to be set in motion yet again. The Himalayan wolf whispered to a dhole in which was next to him about the next step in the big plan to divide Mowgli's pack...

"Three...two...one..." The wolf from before spoke, and once he reached the count of one, he let out a loud howl into the evening sky, the antelope looked up and around to see what was going on, and they noticed several wild dogs rushing towards them, wolves and dholes alike!

The small herd began to dart away, but the hunters were quick, they gained ground on the antelopes within seconds, but the antelopes ran faster as the wolves and dholes got closer.

"This strategy of following behind them isn't going to work!" A wolf shouted out.

"Pincer movement, trap them!" Maximus advised, and the wolves went to one side while the dholes went to the other side of the herd, closing in on them slowly but surely.

This is when Maximus began the next phase of his plan, instead of slowly arching towards the antelopes, he darted in a straight line across the herd, shifting in between the herbivores until he reached the side where the wolves were located, so did the dholes as they followed him, some took a moment to take down some antelope.

As a wolf lunged for an antelope, he was hit in the side by Maximus, tackled to the ground!

"What is wrong with you!?" The wolf shouted, and as he tried to move, he was killed when Maximus bit down on his throat...

The wolves were in shock, but then the dholes descended on them, and a massive fight began!

The way Mowgli had set up this hunt is that there would be more dholes than wolves, the dholes would put pressure on the antelopes while the wolves moved in for the kill.

Maximus was tackled to his side by one of the wolves, and he began to scratch into the body with his claws, repeatedly striking his enemy with his paws as hard as he could. A few dholes moved in, saving their leader, and killing the wolf.

Now the wolves were doing a good job at taking out the dholes, but pressure was still being put on them regardless, as they had to fight for their lives. Maximus watched as a wolf was able to swat away two dholes, and then bite down on one's neck, but was then tackled from the side and piled onto.

The infighting eventually met an end once it reached a small cliff, the drop would be enough to knock one out, but not kill. The wolves were starting to dwindle in numbers as the dholes began to pick them apart one by one, for every wolf slain, three dholes were already downed.

"Traitor!" A wolf cried out as he rushed at Maximus, rising up to his hind legs as well as the Himalayan wolf, they slammed their paws into each other's chests, and tried to bite into each other's faces, but none were successful. Maximus eventually got hold of the neck of his enemy, and jerked his whole body to the side, accidentally hurling both of them off the cliffside, having them fall fifteen feet to the rocky ground with a thud. The land snapped the neck of Maximus's enemy, killing him, but Maximus was knocked out by the fall.

The wolves had noticed that Maximus was the supposed leader, and they all ditched fighting the dholes to go and attack the knocked out Himalayan wolf.

"Protect the leader!" The dholes cried in unison as they gave chase to their enemies, and they slid down a slope to meet the wolves right when they began to pile on Maximus, colliding into them like a wave, knocking them off of their leader!

The wolves made a defiant last stand, but were finished off by the dhole swarm, most of them were killed, but some were only knocked out. Only a few dholes remained standing, and they equally agreed to leave the area, and to abandon the fortress, knowing they served their part...

(A few hours later...)

Maximus woke up in Mowgli's tent, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs of being still slightly stunned from the fall.

"You're awake, good." Mowgli was heard saying as the Himalayan wolf turned his head to face him.

"What happened?" He asked the man.

"You tell me, I arrived with Toomai on elephant-back, we found several dead bodies of both dholes and wolves alike all scattered around. We checked for pulses of every body, and only very few had one." Mowgli replied.

"We was hunting, and another pack attacked. Wolves from an unknown location, the dholes and the wolves from our side had to fight together in order to fend them off, and that is all I remember before blacking out." Maximus explained.

"Such a shame, did you at least find any game before this unfolded?" Mowgli asked.

"A herd of antelope, a decent sized herd at that. We almost had them, Mowgli...I'm sorry." Maximus spoke softly, Mowgli grinned and petted the Himalayan wolf on the head.

"No apology needed, do you have any idea as to why the antelopes were there?" Mowgli questioned.

"I've received word that there is a watering hole nearby, it must be what drawn them here. Those antelopes could still be close." Maximus answered.

"Good, I'll see what me and the others can do." Mowgli responded as he slid a wooden bowl of water towards the Himalayan wolf, the sluggish wolf accepted the drink and began to lap up the cool liquid contained within.

(Meanwhile...)

Bhediya Khan was sitting underneath a ridge, in a shady spot where he could peacefully enter a stage of pseudo-sleep. Having a feeling that he was about to enter some of the final stages of the war between Mowgli, for his legions weren't that far away from the fortress.

He awoke in the dream, finding himself back in the Dekkan Plateaus with several dholes all around him:

The dholes were gazing up at their mighty leader, who was sitting with the Himalayan wolves that had met the red dogs after several months of traveling to the plateaus for a place to live. The dholes also viewed the Himalayan wolves as lesser leaders, but when the dire wolf wasn't around, they would be equally as alpha as the Bhediya Khan was.

"Today is the day that we as a united group, a united army, a united unit, march towards the North. For so long, the only game you feasted on is the small snakes, and the small lizards that crawl at our feet. Your kind dominates this area, the plateaus. I shall bring something more of worth, we have purchase to the snowy mountains to the North from where I and my heirs came from. The vast jungles of the central part of this continent, they hold more game, bigger game that all of you are worthy of." Bhediya announced, the dholes let out their high pitched howls into the morning sky.

"All of these years, and we have only eaten the smallest of things, journeyed to places not far away, but now we become something much more. We become an empire, our kind will spread all throughout this continent from the snowy peaks to the deserts, to the dense jungles. This is your moment to achieve glory!" The dire wolf continued, having the dholes turn towards the North to face the direction of the mountains that was far ahead, they were so far ahead that they weren't able to be seen.

"All will go to plan if we stay the course, we will march through the desert, and take shelter if we so need to anywhere we can find one. We will journey through the jungle, and march up into the colder climate, and eventually to the snowy peaks. Expect conflict with predators, but these conflicts will make us stronger!" Bhediya continued to rally his massive army and foster family up.

It is then that the dream began to shift in the direction where Bhediya needed it, what he needed to hear from this stage of meditation.

"We will face off against the human, Mowgli. We will fight his friends in open battle many times over, and we will triumph over the man each time. All has been going according to plan, and everything will go according to plans-" Bhediya began, this is something that he never said in his actual speech at the Dekkan Plateaus several years ago.

"We move on Mowgli's fortress, only after we punish those that are unfaithful to our cause. Unfaithful to our war, unfaithful to another step towards glory!" Bhediya thundered, and the dholes began to turn on each other with the so called 'unfaithful' ones being forced into a separate group, it was only consisted of those who were in the fighting force and those able to fight, the mothers, yearlings, or pups were exempt from the punishment trials...

It was then that Bhediya awoken from his session of pseudo-sleep, Neo was standing next to him, making sure his foster father was doing alright.

"How did it go?" Neo asked with a gentle smile, Bhediya wasn't smiling, he had a serious look displayed on his face.

"It is time, my son. We must prepare for the war against Mowgli to continue, but first we must punish the unfaithful." Bhediya stated, his voice loud and proud.

"How are we to punish them?" Neo asked.

"We kill them, we kill all of the ones that even dared turn their backs to us. Threatened to leave if things went wrong for even one time..." The dire wolf said, staring his son dead in the eyes.

"There must be another way, the solution isn't to just kill them, you've fed them for years, helped mothers raised them, and was worshipped as a god among us all. Now you strike them down, for what reason? Because they are unworthy?" Neo protested.

"Killing them is the most generous thing I can bring to those who are cowards, if these dogs were with my pack during my time, my father would have torn them to shreds, starved them, and slowly killed them over a drawn out period of time, I would have them quickly exterminated all together at one time." Bhediya replied with authority, his voice as stern as can be.

"It isn't right, the old way isn't right, your father wasn't righ-" Neo was immediately interrupted by the dire wolf once he mentioned Bhediya's father.

"Don't make mention of my father with negative intentions, son...I will not say that again!" The dire wolf began. "The old way is the only way I know, and I will honor it to my grave. I want warriors, I want ones who are willing to go to death in a fight, I refuse to have snakes in the grass within our ranks."

"This can't be done." Neo said, whimpering.

"It must be done." Bhediya said, and that was all to be said from that point on. No more arguing, the killing of a good few thousand troops that chose to leave the ranks if they had a chance, would be put to death...

(Location: Mowgli's fortress, desert)

Mowgli and the big guns had been desperately searching for the antelopes and the watering hole, they had searched for a good few hours, the only thing they could find is lizards and bugs.

Once they eventually arrived to the watering hole, no antelopes were in sight. Mowgli had enough of this, he felt that he made a mistake coming to the fortress, as great as it was as a means of shelter or a defensive location, a huge downside was the lack of game size for food. After eating bucks, deer, and bigger game for years upon years, the only thing this desert had to offer was lizards and bugs, a herd of antelope from time to time.

The near death experience that Gray Brother had earlier that day was still fresh in Mowgli's mind, he was constantly worrying for the wolf he had called a brother for so long. For him to be a wolf, he was getting up there in age, and he was starting to slow down, and for him to get attacked like he did, Mowgli was still fired up.

"How big is this desert!?" Mowgli howled to the sky, rearing his head back before placing his rough hands in his long, shoulder length hair. So frustrated that he was on the verge of tears, Baloo was heavily panting as he lapped up some water from the watering hole, sticking his head into the water to see if he could find any fish.

"Seems like that bird friend of yours isn't too much of a tracker." Chupake spoke as he saw Chil the kite land on a tree branch nearby.

"Well it was because all of you were too slow!" Chil fired back.

"Everyone silence!" Mowgli commanded at the top of his lungs, getting everyone that went with him to fall silent. He didn't want the big guns of his army to now go at each other's throats, especially since they had known each other for a decent amount of time. Chupake went from an enemy, to an untrustworthy ally, to a trustworthy ally, to now a full fledged friend similar to Baloo or Bagheera, or maybe even Kaa.

"You must understand, this war has taken a toll on our minds." Kaa tried to explain to her closest friend, other than Ranjan, but Mowgli was still confident in winning. He was still wanting to end the life of Bhediya Khan.

"I warned all of you that this would be bound to happen, before the war even began, our minds would be damaged. It's warfare!" Mowgli shouted, coming off as aggressive, Kaa coiled herself up in the defensive posture, assuming that Mowgli would attack.

"It's warfare, but we've already done enough damage. We've taken out Nirmam, Conan, Bruno, and those remnant creatures from times of old. I think we have won enough battles for us to back out, I think they know that we are a great threat, and that they will leave." Bagheera tried to tell Mowgli, but the man wasn't listening.

"This war won't end, as unfortunate as it seems, until one of us dies between me or Bhediya Khan. He's a danger to the jungle, and I will do whatever it takes to destroy him." Mowgli replied towards Bagheera, trying to hold back his rage because he always viewed Bagheera as one who would always understand him.

"What says that you must go till we all die to take out Bhediya, when did you become so focused on killing someone, from the stories you told me about Shere Khan and the way he acted towards life in the jungle, it seems like you are slowly becoming that of which you hated. Your actions are mirroring Shere Khan!" Chupake shouted.

"You don't know my heart-" Mowgli began with a growl...

"The law states that one of us must die, and I've lived in the jungle long enough to do my best to uphold the laws that I've been taught since I was a young child to the adult I stand today. The same laws that were drilled in my brain for seasons upon seasons, and I will follow the law no matter what happens. No matter what costs." He finished.

"We've stepped into unknown territory that we have no clue about, I only saw this place in a vision. I didn't see the wildlife, I didn't see the game this land would give us for food. I think it would be wise, if we head back to the Seeonee Hills. Into familiar territory, where we shall stand a greater chance against the enemy." Kaa tried to suggest to Mowgli.

"If we make that decision, we put the lives of innocent mothers and pups into jeopardy, including the jungle itself. I refuse to bring sworn enemy into our home, so that our home has a chance of being destroyed in events that follow." Mowgli replied.

"Mowgli, think about it. If we continue to move further South, and into more and more deserts. Our chances of winning will become increasingly slimmer, if we take them to our domain, we have knowledge of the land, and we can use that against them. More dholes live in the Dekkan, and under Bhediya's leadership, all of them can attack us and take us out. We can easily take them out in our home." Kaa tried to explain the reasoning behind her idea.

"Good brother, I think it is becoming reasonable for us to take our separate ways in this war." Bagheera spoke out, Mowgli turned around to face the panther with his eyes wide and mouth agape.

"You would leave me? Abandon this war when you're such an important part in it?" Mowgli asked, sounding defeated.

"Yes, but not alone. I would still fight, but I fight in my own way. I'll take a handful of your wolves and dholes, and you can still move on with your army. If we break up and take them on in separate times and in separate locations, we have all fought as one, and perhaps if we break up into separate armies, perhaps we can conquer." Bagheera replied.

"So you would do a divide and conquer strategy?" Mowgli asked, just trying to know for sure.

"Yeah, and because I see this war from this front going nowhere." Bagheera added on, Mowgli chuckled at this, the panther made it sound comical as well, and playful, to try and lighten the mood.

"Let's get back to the fortress, from there, we will begin to make decisions, and try to plan ahead." Mowgli said with a smile, starting to somewhat calm down.

(Three hours later)

As Mowgli spoke with dholes and wolves alike, including Kaa, Chupake, and Baloo. Bagheera snuck into the chamber that Gray Brother was being held in for shelter until his wounds healed up.

The aging wolf tensed up when he heard some footsteps entering the room, he calmed down once he saw that it was Bagheera. Letting out a sigh of relief, the panther had some words for the wolf.

"What are you doing?" Gray Brother asked weakly.

"I'm here to discuss leaving this war. You're hurting, in pain. What if you and I both leave, and fight the war on a different front?" Bagheera explained why he was there, asking if the wolf wanted to leave the war and head to a different front.

"I'm hurting, but I wish to continue fighting when I get up from healing." Gray Brother explained.

"I agree, we are on a dangerous path by heading into the desert towards the Dekkan slowly and surely. There will be even more dholes, and less game for us to energize ourselves with, if we head back to the jungle, where we are more dominant, we stand much more of a chance if we head further North." Bagheera answered.

"I stand with the same opinion, Bagheera." Gray Brother replied.

(Meanwhile...)

"Son, it's time. Start rallying up the unfaithful. I plan on teaching a lesson much needed very soon." Bhediya Khan spoke, feeling that it was about that time to start prepping for the massacre in which was about to unfold.

Neo sighed, looking up at the dire wolf with a look of worry. He didn't want to see so many lives lost, and he had tried desperately to change his foster father's mind, but he couldn't.

"It doesn't have to be this way, father..." Neo whimpered, Bhediya looked to the ground and sighed.

In his heart, Bhediya knew this was wrong. However, he swore to honor the old ways of his old life back in the continent of Northern America during the time when all of the ancient species were still alive, and when his family was still around. He didn't want to abandon the old ways of life that he had loved and cherished so much as a pup, then a yearling, and finally a young adult dire wolf.

Bhediya especially didn't want to take the life of these troops who he had fed, some he raised, warriors who went with him for so long without losing a single battle up until the war with Mowgli. He felt like he was betraying the troops he loved so much, but in warfare, only the strong make it, or so the dire wolf believed.

"It has to be done, son. As unfortunate as it is, if we are wanting to win a war like this, we only need the strong." The dire wolf replied, giving his son a nod.

Neo was filled with regret as he walked down the hill, and he began to round up all of those who were deemed as unfaithful. He didn't tell them what Bhediya was going to do, he lied to them, because he didn't have the guts to tell them the tragic truth that would be awaiting them...

(Location: Mowgli's Fortress)

Mowgli was sitting alone in his chamber, head buried in his hands after a day's worth of being frustrated. He didn't want to break up his army into separate groups, he felt like that would be a mistake if Bhediya Khan's masses are marching towards the fortress sooner or later. Several thoughts danced through his head, not knowing exactly what to do, all roads in his mind was leading towards defeat.

"We have to leave, we have to leave." Mowgli consistently mumbled to himself, coming to conclusions, and then leaving the conclusion behind when he viewed it as negative.

"Are you alright, young man?" A feminine voice asked, sounding concerned. Mowgli looked up to see the tigress standing in the doorway, Sundar Ek.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just at a fork in the proverbial road..." Mowgli sighed as the tigress took a seat next to him, he was still uncomfortable somewhat with Sundar, he remembered Shere Khan, and the only feelings he related to tigers were that they were evil, ferocious creatures.

"I overheard several of your folk wanting to leave this fortress, and return to your home of the Seeonee Hills. I have the same feelings as them." Sundar told Mowgli, an understanding smile came to his face.

"I just don't know what to do, I chose to come here due to the heavily fortified walls that would protect us from larger numbers of Bhediya's legions. Conan and Bruno were just the beginning, Nirmam was just the beginning, and he brought my army to our knees. We would have truly perished if it weren't for Toomai and his elephants." Mowgli replied.

"From what I hear, you did just fine against Conan and Bruno without great defenses all around you. You still have the elephants, you still have the snake, the bear, the panther, and you still have the leopard." The tigress said, trying to reassure Mowgli that all would go well.

"You're right, but Bhediya Khan is a whole different animal. Literally-" Mowgli chuckled along with the tigress.

"They always seemed to be one step ahead of us, especially Nirmam. Nirmam was a major threat to us at one point, I can only imagine what Bhediya could do with his level of intellect, which is why I am trying to be as careful as possible with every decision. It is why I fear returning to the jungle, I fear that I will bring him with us, and the bloody battles that will ensue destroy it. A home I have lived and thrived in for eighteen seasons." He finished.

"Perhaps we can return to the jungle, and block the legions from entering it somehow. The jungle did a similar tactic with my father many years ago." Sundar explained.

"How so?" Mowgli asked.

"My mother and father took me in the jungle when I was but a cub, he once lived in the jungle and was close friends with your panther ally. Including the bear, and the serpent. He was a great father, a very loving, caring father, he loved the jungle as much as you do. He never wanted to see the jungle get destroyed by any means, be it nature or by man-" The tigress began, Mowgli listened in to her story, but there was something about it that was off-putting.

"Unfortunately, my father began to see the destructive nature that man could be. He despised man ever since he was a cub, he witnessed the panther's mother get taken away from him, he witnessed the panther get locked in a cage made by man. Captured by a hunter from a location that he called the man-village, he finally lost it when he seen an elephant get slain by the same hunter, several years later. He vilified man, and wanted to destroy the man-village. He used his level of intelligence to try and decimate the village, and was shot at multiple times..." She continued, and Mowgli's eyes began to widen, the description of Sundar's father sounding eerily familiar to him...

"Once he began his campaign to destroy the man-village, and to wipe out man from the jungle, he came to me, and told me and my mother to leave the jungle. At first we ignored him, but then the humans began to target us. Any tiger they witnessed, would be killed, but they never killed my father. One of those slain tigers was my mother, and my father forced me out of the jungle, to this very fortress, and he told me that he would destroy man once and for all by any means necessary. I haven't seen him since." Sundar finished, Mowgli then shakily asked her:

"What was his name?"

"Lungri..." Sundar answered.

"The lame one? That was his name?" Mowgli questioned, sounding confused.

"My father was an irritable, arrogant beast. His pride was his greatest asset, and he always wanted more attention than his brothers and sisters when he was a cub. His brothers and sisters called him Lungri, due to his lame nature. Once his campaign against the humans began, his name changed..."

Mowgli had one more question to ask:

"What was he called afterwards?" The answer would shake him to his very core.

"Shere Khan."

Mowgli fell completely silent, this tigress he had somewhat befriended, was the daughter of the villainous Shere Khan...and he was responsible for killing her father. He silently prayed in his mind that she didn't know of his fate.

"What's wrong, Mowgli?" Sundar asked, gently placing her paw on his shoulder with a look of worry in her eyes.

"Nothing... it's nothing." Mowgli said softly.

Unfortunately, Sundar did know of her father's fate.

"It's okay, dear, I forgive you." The tigress said, nudging her head into Mowgli's. The man started to tear up, weeping silently. He felt like a monster for what he done to Sundar's father. Now that he knew of his backstory, and what he witnessed to turn to a more villainous side.

"I'm sorry..." Mowgli softly wept as he leaned on Sundar, embracing her gently, to which she did the same.

"I knew it would happen, considering the jungle law and how it works. Lungri told me of his plans, and I knew how they went against the jungle law. I was aware of the jungle law, my father even taught me it. The one who breaks the law must die, and unfortunately, it just had to be my father who went against the jungle law in order to try and take out man." Sundar said softly, embracing Mowgli to comfort him.

Meanwhile, trouble was starting to brew once again within the fortress as Maximus was leading a smaller batch of dholes towards the chamber of Gray Brother. The wolf brother of Mowgli was already in a weakened state after being viciously attacked by them not too long ago.

Maximus and the dholes snuck in through a crack in the wall, each one filing into the fortress one by one.

Gray Brother wasn't being guarded, Bagheera, Chupake, Baloo, and Kaa were discussing matters on leaving this fortress, and a way to take on Bhediya Khan's legions throughout the rest of the war.

"Are you alright, wolf?" Maximus asked, getting Gray Brother's attention.

"Yeah, still healing from my wounds." Gray Brother replied, not facing who was speaking to him.

"Such is unfortunate..." Maximus said in response.

"Indeed it is, had I been a bit younger, I would have survived that encounter with those traitors. Still don't know their names..." Gray Brother replied, slowly getting up to all fours as he stretched his body out. Maximus grinned...

"Are you certain, aging one? My teeth are still stained with your blood..."

Gray Brother's ears perked backwards, immediately turning around just to get pounced on by Maximus! The wolf was latched by the neck, and driven into the wall as he clawed into the sides of Maximus as hard and quick as he could, even managing to get a slash across his snout! Nevertheless, he was knocked out after getting brutally slammed into the wall...

"It's time." Maximus spoke as he slowly turned around to face a few dholes, but then he attacked them!

Maximus wasn't turning a new leaf, he was killing the dholes to make it look like he was trying to protect Gray Brother from them...

"Your sacrifices will not be in vain..." Maximus spoke after he finished killing the red dogs, proceeding to drag Gray Brother out to the courtyard while letting out a howl of anguish to get everyone's attention. Toomai watched from the tower.

"Our Gray Brother has been knocked out, and I haven't been able to bring him back to reality!" Maximus wailed out, getting the attention of the wolves and dholes of Mowgli's army. The big guns of the army looked shocked as well!

"I was tending to his wounds, until we were attacked by traitors! Dholes, who claimed that they were the ones responsible for his attack earlier on! They were the ones responsible for his near death wounds!" Maximus continued, every dhole began to look at each other awkwardly.

"That's not even the worst of it, they spoke of betraying Mowgli, and that half of them aren't really with him. They would gladly turn against him, and kill him when given the chance to!" Maximus howled, all of the wolves and the big guns turned towards the dholes...

"How far have we come, just to get betrayed like this!? How could our leader, Mowgli, let these fiends into his army!?" Maximus continued, the wolves began to advance towards the dholes, ready to fight...

Toomai began to get unnerved, and he raced down the tower, trying to get to Mowgli's chamber to warn him of what was going on. He feared that it would be getting worse than it was at the moment, and his suspicions would be correct...

"I will not fight for an army that consists of traitors, and those who wish to end our lives. I say we end their life! End the lives of every mother, child, fighting dog, and yearling that dares go against Mowgli! Only the loyal should live! WHOSE WITH ME!?" Maximus barked at the top of his lungs, and this made Toomai sprint even faster towards Mowgli's chamber as he heard the wolves began to rush upon the dholes.

"I hope I can get a chance to say sorry to Shere Khan at some point, I didn't know his intentions. Given that I was a child throughout most of his time in the jungle, I wasn't so keen on reasoning then, and it carried over when I fought him at his end..." Mowgli said to Sundar, they were having a conversation about pseudo-sleep.

"You will, I can teach you about pseudo-sleep." Sundar said cheerfully, but it was then that Toomai burst into the room with urgent news.

"Mowgli, it's the dholes. They're turning on us..."

When Mowgli, Sundar, and Toomai emerged, they witnessed a horrific sight.

Pups, mothers, yearlings, and even the ones that could fight were all being ruthlessly slaughtered by the wolves, the big guns of the army were staying back and watching in disbelief.

No matter how much Mowgli begged for the wolves and dholes to stop the infighting, they didn't listen, and the massacre continued with no end in sight for several minutes. Blood started to cake the grounds of the fortress, filling up the cracks between the stone bricks and mortar. Dead bodies began to pile up everywhere as Mowgli was growing more and more furious.

Mowgli noticed two wolves assaulting a pup, making it cower against the wall before they jumped on it, killing it. This was the final straw, an innocent pup that was afraid of what was happening was just robbed of life. He wouldn't stand for it anymore, he took up a spear, and hurled it at the wolves! The spear went right through both of them, impaling them into the wall, killing them both, and that is when the massacre stopped.

"ENOUGH!" Mowgli roared, his voice echoing across the fortress like thunder. The fortress had fell into a dead silence for his voice to echo the way it did.

"I have had enough of the infighting and quarrels amongst our own, how many times am I going to have to send both dhole and wolf out to hunt together!? How many activities will I have to hold for wounded pride or severed ties to get linked back together!? We are fighting a war against a cruel enemy that wishes to see all of us wiped from the face of this mortal world, and yet we still hate each other!? If you thought we are marching a path towards defeat by not having enough food to fill our stomachs, this will certainly be our doom if we cannot make amends with each other!" He continued, admonishing the entire pack.

Mowgli turned his head to face Bagheera, Baloo, Kaa, and Chupake, and they all looked like they weren't too happy with Mowgli. Maximus walked up to the man with a few words as well.

"Mowgli, I was looking over your Gray Brother, and we were attacked by several dholes. He's unconscious, and I cannot wake him up, I'm badly cut up in places on my body. I'm not going to sit back, and watch the dholes pick us all apar-" His sentence was cut off by Mowgli.

"I'm not going to watch as you slaughter innocent mothers, pups, fathers, elders, and ones that choose not to fight just because all of you are getting angry. Those deaths are uncalled for!" Mowgli scolded the Himalayan wolf.

"Well it has become apparent that these dholes have no faith in anything you're about, a little bit more than half of them said that they would turn on you any chance they got. I overheard conversations, and they blatantly told me when they attacked Gray Brother and me!" Maximus fired back, and this got Mowgli to quiet down.

"You should seek a way to separate those who wish to kill us all, from the ones that wish to not be bothered..." Maximus continued before walking away, Mowgli turned his attention to the big guns that were still glaring at him, they still weren't too happy with how Mowgli wasn't there to stop the situation before it could start, and he had to be punished.

Mowgli received "love-taps" from Baloo, Bagheera, and Chupake. While these were called love-taps, they hurt, and if one hit him too hard, they could seriously injure or even kill their Mowgli, especially Baloo who had massive paws and deadly claws, arguably the strongest of all of the larger allies of Mowgli.

Now Mowgli found himself in a dark and cold room, thankfully he had some light due to the fading sun shining in through a crack in the ceiling. He had been thrown in there by Baloo, and had a rough landing. He rubbed the small of his back before getting up, his brown body was bruised up in several locations, and scarred up some here and there. Each bruise and scar stung him badly, causing him to frequently rub them to try and ease the pain away.

"For them to be getting older, they certainly have their strength still..." Mowgli grumbled, turning around to see that he had been dropped down into this chamber, which means he would have to find a way to climb out.

"You know we age differently, right?" A feminine voice asked from above, this startled Mowgli, causing him to turn around within an instant to investigate the voice, and who it belonged to.

His eyes darted here and there until he noticed a particular pattern on the back of a thick, long serpent slowly slithering into view with the sunlight. It was Kaa, thankfully not an enemy.

"Oh, it's you, Kaa. Thank Tha, I thought you were something else!" Mowgli said aloud with a sigh of relief, this caused the python to snicker.

"Well, I thought it would be obvious given you've known me for so many years. Who else would be here in this dark, cold, isolated room?" Kaa replied, slithering towards Mowgli now.

"Heh, yeah you're right..." Mowgli said with a hint of nervous laughter in his voice.

"Sweet man-cub, well you aren't really a cub anymore, so you're a man...you sound like you fear me now-" The snake began, Mowgli saw glimpses of her moving around within the darkness, using the faint light of the sunset to see where she was moving.

"Well, considering I have been given love taps from everyone except you. I fear what is to come...I've already taken enough damage as it is. O' Kaa the beautiful..." Mowgli replied, he began to back up slowly, but felt something cold and smooth press against his back, the sensation rubbed against him as he felt what it was, it was one of her coils, this caused him to look back up to face his front.

The serpent's face entered the fading light, closing in on Mowgli's face with a devious grin.

"You would be wise to fear me..." She began before circling around Mowgli some more, chuckling to herself.

"The mighty legend of the jungle, fears the crawling snake. What a shame, to think this is the ruler that is warring against the Bhediya Khan and his vast armies." Kaa taunted, Mowgli chuckled as well.

"Look, I know that I haven't been doing so well lately with the way I've handled things. I made a mistake letting all of those dholes in, foolish of me. Right?" Mowgli said, trying to apologize to Kaa, but a simple explanation wasn't enough.

"Certainly, very foolish...I'm here to make sure those mistakes don't happen again." Kaa replied, Mowgli felt the soft and smooth coils begin to wrap around his body, this time at a much more fast and hard rate.

Knowing the power that the python had in her coils, he tried to push them off of his body, but each time he tried, she only squeezed him tighter, this eventually made him rear his head back to let out a sharp cry of pain!

"Good hunting, good hunting all!" Toomai was heard exclaiming to the batch of wolves that were sent out to fetch the evening meal, at this point, they started to get careless, and this made Mowgli think that he was being stripped of his power...

Now that Mowgli realized what was probably going on, he fought harder to try and escape the powerful coils of the massive python, grabbing the end of her tail, and trying to unwind them, but it wasn't working as she only slapped it around his neck similar to a whip, the impact it made choked him out, making him let out a gag and a cough. He was trapped, powerless, and was more than likely being stripped of his power, and there was nothing he could do about it. That made these punishments by the larger allies more humiliating, and Kaa just had to rub salt on this mental wound.

"I think you'll be missssing, the evening hunt..." Kaa hissed before letting out a laugh, she then noticed Mowgli trying to break free, grabbing the tip of her tail that was wrapped around his throat, and trying to remove it, but Kaa simply squeezed his body tightly, forcing another yell of pain to come out of Mowgli's mouth.

"Sssilly man, you ssstill don't underssstand how much ssstronger I am over you...You ssstill have much to learn..." Kaa said softly as she continued to squeeze Mowgli some more in her deadly hug, grinding her thick body into his smaller one, although he had a toned body as an adult, his strength still couldn't compare to the great python's!

Kaa simply watched, being entertained at the fact that Mowgli was struggling, hell, it even made her laugh some before she responded to his cries of pain.

"I don't want to hurt you, Mowgli...it's just that you don't leave me a choice." Kaa replied before squeezing Mowgli again, forcing another yell to come out of his mouth, one that turned into a wheeze, a gasp for air.

"I-it's n-nothing..." Mowgli coughed as he tried to remove the coils, but again, his strength was fading rapidly.

Kaa moved her head in close to Mowgli's getting at eye level, the end of her nose pressed against the man's nose.

"Look at me..." Kaa said before activating her hypnotic flashes, Mowgli tried desperately to fight off the enticing feeling of relaxation, it was so euphoric as his eyes were fed the hypnotic glare. His will power was incredibly high, but even at that, her hypnosis seemed stronger.

Kaa noticed that the pupils of Mowgli's eyes had shrank to pin-point dots, a sign that it was working on his mind. He had become seemingly submissive, and his will was weakened due to her crushing hold.

"Sssay that you'll fix thisss..." Kaa commanded, Mowgli groaned as he tried to form some words.

"I'll, I- f-fix wh-what?" Mowgli moaned as he become increasingly relaxed by her coils and hypnosis.

"Sssay that you will sssolve all of the damage that hasss been done..." Kaa commanded before tightening her coils just a bit more, Mowgli couldn't breathe, he was running out of air, he could hear the blood rushing in his head, a dizzying feeling washed over him.

"Y-yes...I'll fix this..." Mowgli whimpered before blacking out, being knocked out by a combination of her hypnosis and squeeze. Kaa dropped Mowgli, allowing his body to crash down to the stone floor.

(An hour later)

After a solid hour following his punishments at the hands of Bagheera, Baloo, Chupake, and Kaa. He found himself sitting in the very same room with all of them to discuss what he plans on doing going forward.

They all had smug grins on their faces, almost as if they knew that their punishments had worked on Mowgli. He no longer appeared to be so confident, he looked as if he had been humbled by them, and they knew it for a fact.

Mowgli felt humiliated, defeated, and his will was weakened from the punishments' he had received, and after a minute of silence, he finally spoke. He looked to the floor, instead of looking at his friends.

"Remember, what I told you?" Kaa asked with a playful giggle.

"Yes, it is painfully evident that we have traitors among us. One of the wolves told me that there were several of them that would turn their backs on me if they ever received an opportunity to do so..." Mowgli said softly.

"I aim to fix the damage that has been done to our army." Mowgli continued when Kaa let out a teasing hiss towards him.

"Good, now let's go address this situation to everyone." Baloo said, the large allies followed Mowgli out of the chamber and they climbed up the tower to stand with him as he would go on to make the announcement.

Mowgli sighed before rearing his head back, unleashing a loud howl into the sunset sky that got everyone's attention. The blood and remains of the dead after the massacre that took place in the fortress was still being cleaned up.

"After the events of today, I no longer wish to see innocent life taken. Pups, mothers, the defenseless was destroyed and robbed of living their life to the fullest due to an unnecessary act of senseless violence. I will not have this happen again!" Mowgli started, pure rage in his eyes.

"It has been made apparent that several dholes secretly stand against me, well...for those of you that wish to stay, stay, for those that wish to turn against me, leave! Go to the Bhediya Khan, and join him. There stands no place for you here!" He continued.

The dholes that didn't stand with Mowgli all had cold grins on their faces, they knew exactly what to do when they left...

"Good riddance!" Mowgli screamed as the traitors all filed out of the fortress through the open gate, Maximus watched on in satisfaction as his plans were working absolutely perfectly, now Mowgli's army was significantly less in numbers which is exactly what he wanted to do.

(Meanwhile...)

It was around that time, the moon was beginning to rise where Bhediya and his legions stood. His son stood at his side, all of the unfaithful dholes were standing on one side of the field while all of the faithful ones stood on the other, the faithful greatly outnumbered the unfaithful, but even so, the small amount was to be killed.

"I have you all here in separate groups to prepare you all for discipline, such discipline that you will take to your graves...Word was given that a few of you fled from the most recent skirmish with Mowgli at a cave filled with wolves, and I have evidence given to me due to the fact that my son, still stands alive-" Bhediya Khan began, all eyes were on him and his son.

"Many seasons ago when my species was still around, when my father was still alive, we treated our pack like warriors from the young to the matured adult. When you fought against your enemies, you fought till the death. When you hunted your prey, you never gave up even when the odds were stacked against you. Betrayal is punishable by death if one goes against the code of the pack or against their own parents or siblings. My parents and family died before I crossed the land bridge to this very continent, and I swore to them that before my dying day, I will keep the old standards alive, I will follow my father's rules, and that I will be a great leader of a great pack just like my father was to my old one before I became your leader, the Bhediya Khan." The dire wolf continued before starting a speech...

(long speech incoming...)

"When I became leader, I had a few wolves at my side from the snowy peaks far to the North of us. Before that time, I was alone to fend for myself. No mate, no pups, no allies or friends. Everyone I knew was too far away to communicate with, I was all alone. My coat was a dark grey at one point in time, but as you all see, it is now a crimson red...

It is a crimson red because the way I lived my life, I fought never before seen creatures. I struggled to take down unknown larger prey, I had to fight tooth and claw for everything I wanted, and everything I needed. I had to fight against nature herself, and I nearly died several times in battle against other creatures, and battles against the floods that were brought by the rains, or the great winds during powerful storms, that plucked the large trees from the ground itself.

I lost so much blood, I received so many wounds, so many scars throughout my life until now, that my own blood permanently stained my dark grey coat red. It has been like this ever since. My will, my determination, my soul kept me alive!

I fought and bled, and suffered life threatening injuries because of the goals I had made up in my mind. I had yet to lead a pack with the old code of my entire species, when I gathered up my small group of wolves, I traveled South from the cold mountains into uncharted territory where I fought and I bled some more, and I suffered through starvation until we reached your home of the Dekkan Plateaus!

You crowned me as the Bhediya Khan, I offered to take your kind across this continent to pursue further glories. You thrive already enough with the small food you eat such as lizards and snakes, and insects, I saw much more potential. I expanded your kind across India, from the Dekkan, to the jungles, to the cold snowy peaked mountains to the great hills, to the flat fields, to the deserts, and to the lakes and rivers, we lived in ancient temples, and advantageous spots where we knew that nothing could touch us. I would have even climbed over the snowy mountains and entered a whole other country, if you all hadn't cowered in fear!
So when I finally take us all down to the Seeonee Hills so we can settle down, one man gets in our way, a man and his army of wolves, and bears, and panthers, and a serpent...Mowgli...The so called Legend of the Jungle…

He initiated a war with us, when we never lost a battle when we had to fight for new grounds, he was bold to start a war. As we are closing in on him now as we speak during this very moment, some of you made the absolutely foolish choice to retreat, and betray the old code that we have lived by for so long!

I fought for my life to lead this pack for many seasons, I bled for it, I suffered for it, and I suffered with all of you through the most harsh of times. All of that...just to have a good amount decide to turn on me when they have the chance!?

I fed all of you game that you could never dream of devouring, I expanded your whole species across this whole continent, we lived in the most beautiful of places, and when times start getting tough, you all foolishly run when we practiced and lived by the old code of my species...
It has become apparent that some of us have gotten careless in our lavish times together, when no one could match our strength, our bravery has declined, our masculine traits have been washed away. I made a mistake in not making your lives difficult, and I made a mistake when I let all of you grow soft. It is why you are divided today in separate groups, my father would call these groups the faithful, and the unfaithful. Since the unfaithful have broken the code, they shall be put to death!" The speech was concluded...

Bhediya Khan was no longer playing around, it was time for the executions...

"For those that somehow live through the executions, your live will be made into a living nightmare. You will dread waking up the next morning, and you shall walk through your life in fear until you all gather enough courage to finally become warriors like all of us should be." The dire wolf continued...

"For all of you, never forget the lesson learned from this moment forward. Never break the code of the pack again, or else we will cross over the snow peaked mountains into unknown territory!" Bhediya finally finished before rearing his head up to face the rising moon, letting out a loud low pitched howl!

The dholes labeled as faithful rushed upon the ones labeled as unfaithful, and complying with their leader, the unfaithful ones didn't resist. Bhediya Khan watched on with satisfaction as his foster son watched on in horror as all of the unfaithful dholes were slaughtered, Neo couldn't handle the sight of watching so much blood spill all at once, let alone his own kind.

The great massacre went on and on as the field grew thick with the dead and the blood of many, one by one, the dholes listed as 'unfaithful' were wiped out, leaving only the strongest of warriors behind, once it concluded, Bhediya Khan let out a loud howl into the night, and the faithful dholes followed him with their howls as well in respect to their leader, Neo didn't howl. He didn't stand for what was done, and once his foster father was finished with his howling, he slowly looked up to him with a look of fear and sorrow in his eyes.

"Was it worth it, father?" The dhole asked, Bhediya Khan's face didn't move into a smile nor a frown, just a cold stare at the many dead red dogs that littered the field at the bottom of the hill he sat upon.

"It will be worth it..."

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A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry for the late upload of the newest chapter, it is by far, the longest chapter I have ever written in a story on this site. So I hope many of you liked it or something XD...
My writer's block spell, like I previously stated with my last author's note, is slowly but surely coming to an end. I'm looking and planning ahead what will happen on later chapters so I won't get stuck without an idea of what to write. I'm actually looking forward to writing the next arc! I already have so many ideas for the next one, but it will be the shortest one out of all three arcs in this story!
Speaking of story arcs, this arc here is just a few chapters away from the final battle, so this writer's block stuff won't curse me for not too much longer :) !
With that being said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, if you are new to this story, feel free to leave a follow or favorite, and perhaps even leave a review, it really helps me grow and become a better author on this site! Stay tuned for the next chapters though, things are going to take a turn for the worst for our heroes, prepare yourself for some angst and raw emotions...