A/N: Well guys and gals that have been reading this story from start to where we are, this is the moment you've all been waiting for. The chapter of the final battle in the Red Dog War and the final chapter of the 'Red Dogs' Arc and the 'Bhediya Khan' Saga. From chapters 15 of when this arc began, the story has been filled with action, emotion, and so much more. I knew it would be a long arc, but not as long as it got to be. I do plan on having a mini filler arc of only two chapters before we get into the third and final arc of this story! Let the battle commence ;)- KaijuCrazy02
(Chapter 40: The wolf that shall break it must die)
(The next morning)
Ranbir was laying on his belly, holding a rifle tightly in his arms. Looking down the scope to see a decent sized sambar deer grazing within the grass, he took some deep breaths as he inched his body forwards some to get closer, making sure not to crack any limbs or make any sudden movements or sounds that would scare his future meal away.
The man slowly moved his finger to the trigger, and right when he aimed for the heart of the grazing animal, a loud howl was heard echoing through the jungle. The deer raised it's head up, and quickly darted away into the jungle. Ranbir would have cussed under his breath, but he was worried on the wolves that were nearby. He hopped up to his feet, and looked around frantically.
"Where are you!" He called out, firing a warning shot into the air to try and scare the canids away.
"Where are you dogs!" Ranbir screamed in defiance, he was arguably the bravest one of the three brothers between him, Mowgli, and Ranjan. Mowgli was not a coward whatsoever, but he wouldn't risk things except when it had to do with the jungle, but Ranbir had a will greater than that of Mowgli's.
Another howl came from right behind him, making Ranbir jump and turn around to see that it was none other than Mowgli.
"Brother! Don't scare me like that!" Ranbir scolded Mowgli as he was seeing that his younger brother was having a hearty laugh.
"Sorry to interrupt your kill, but I have come to you in my all of need." Mowgli replied, placing his hand on his older brother's beefy shoulder.
"Still fighting the red dogs?" Ranbir asked, sounding shocked that the war was still going on!
"Unfortunately, but I've been getting ready for another battle, perhaps it will be the last one." Mowgli responded with a nod of his head.
The two of them entered the village again, with Mowgli entering Ranbir's house to discuss what he needed for the war.
"You've came for a weapon?" Ranbir asked as he opened the front door to what was once Buldeo's house, now belonging to him now that he had been dead for so long.
"Yes." Mowgli replied, Ranbir snickered.
"Well I've got weapons all over the place, bows, knives, guns. I'm armed to the teeth, tell me what you need." Ranbir said playfully as he took a seat at a table, an animal pelt stretched out over it.
"I'm going to need an axe, the blade needs to be the toughest steel you can find." Mowgli replied with his eyes narrowed as he gazed at the animal pelt, it looked as if it belonged to a leopard.
"Sure-" Ranbir began as he stood up, but then he noticed Mowgli's judging stare at the hide on display.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"You've been hunting for sport? You do know that it is against the law...the law of the jungle." Mowgli replied, Ranbir chuckled nervously.
"No, I've killed the things that come to close to the village walls. I don't let their bodies go to waste, I craft clothing with their hides, and use claws and their teeth to craft other things such as knives." He answered.
"Just making sure, it is forbidden to hunt for sport, the animals of the jungle only hunt for meat." Mowgli said as he followed Ranbir downstairs into a basement, where he noticed all of the weapons that his older brother had.
"Most of these weapons have been down here since Buldeo passed on, I've only ever touched his hunting rifle. So they've been collecting dust for quite some time, but I can forge a blade for you." Ranbir explained, Mowgli nodded his head in acceptance.
"Well, if I was to be you. I would go see your other brother, and your woman. They never stop talking about you, they miss you a lot." Ranbir continued, Mowgli smiled as he headed back upstairs, leaving the house to head over to where Divya once lived.
"Shanti?" Mowgli asked once he looked inside the hut, only to find it empty.
"Shanti?" He asked again, only louder as he looked out of the window to see a person collecting water into a pot at the river nearby. He smiled, leaving the hut and heading down the small hill to approach his lover.
Shanti sighed as she finally filled up the pitch, ready to hoist it over her head and return to the village with the pot filled of river water. She never thought she would see Mowgli again, he hadn't been in the village in so long until she noticed a handsome brown man, with toned muscles catching the light from the bright morning sun. Shoulder length black hair, and a small beard...it was Mowgli!
"Mowgli!?" Shanti asked aloud, her voice filled with shock.
"It has been too long, my dear." Mowgli replied, Shanti abandoned the pot as she raced to her boyfriend's arms. Jumping on him and hugging him around the neck as she wrapped her legs around his waist to cling on to him.
"Mowgli!" She cried, tears of joy flowing down her cheeks as she buried her head into his muscular shoulder. He smiled sweetly as he brushed his rough hand through her silky smooth hair.
The two then locked their lips together in a kiss, Shanti placing her feet on the ground. The two embracing each other affectionately as Mowgli held the sides of his lover's head.
"It has been too long for sure, since I've been in your arms." Shanti said, her voice shaky due to the overwhelming amounts of happiness she was going through.
"I can say the same thing, I've longed to return to the woman of my dreams ever since the war began." Mowgli replied, the two engaged in yet another kiss. This time the kiss was only deeper, the couple didn't know they were being watched from a familiar person nearby...
"Get a room you two!" A younger voice taunted, Mowgli and Shanti looked to where it was coming from to see Ranjan leaning into a tree.
"Shut up Ranjan." Mowgli replied with a playful laugh as he and his lover stopped their hugging, approaching him. Mowgli's younger brother smirked as he shook his hand, happy to see him once again.
"Boy am I glad to see you back in town!" Ranjan exclaimed with a sigh of relief.
"How has life been for you, little brother?" Mowgli asked with a smile.
"Well, it's been kind of roUgh." Ranjan said, his voice cracking as he said 'rough.' This got Mowgli and Shanti to laugh, and Ranjan to blush.
"Oh cut it out will you, teenage years is a pain." Ranjan playfully growled.
"Oh, I understand for sure, good brother. Perhaps if you had a woman like mine, your troubles will be satisfied!" Mowgli taunted, Shanti smirked at Ranjan. His younger brother playfully punched his brother in the gut softly.
"I haven't found one yet, but I'll keep trying." Ranjan said softly.
After the encounter with both of his brothers, Mowgli found himself back in his old village home with his foster mother Messua.
She had prepped them all a meal with the exception of Ranbir, who was hard at work, forging Mowgli's new battle axe, which the process of creating said blade would take an hour or two to create.
"It is such a blessing to have you here, the village practically glows and comes to life in your presence, my son!" Messua said aloud, Mowgli giggled playfully and blushed at this.
"No need to compare me to higher beings, mother. However, the kind words are much appreciated." Mowgli replied, taking a sip of water from the wooden cup.
"It's the truth though, bro. The village seems dull when you aren't around, but when you are. Everyone seems happy, and relaxed." Ranjan replied, Shanti smiled at this.
"You already know how I feel about you, my love." Shanti said, her face bright with a smile.
Mowgli couldn't help but crack a toothy grin at all of the respect and love he was being given, it made him feel appreciated and blessed to have the beautiful woman that Shanti was, and have the amazing foster family that he had.
"How is life beyond the village?" Ranjan asked.
"All was good, until we got roped back into war..." Mowgli said, his demeanor now switching to that of a stern soldier, focused on battle.
"How? I thought you won?" Shanti asked, Mowgli smirked.
"My closest friend, and mentor, Bagheera, was slain. The dogs will come for us, and they are coming for us. I hold the suspicion that they will be arriving at some point today." Mowgli replied, the room went dead silent.
"I'm sorry..." Messua said softly.
"It isn't your fault, it is not the fault of anyone in the room except mine. I should have went with him to join him in the fight." Mowgli replied with a sigh trailing the end of his sentence.
"Mowgli, you would have died if you joined him..." Shanti said, reaching over and rubbing down his back to comfort him.
"I know, but at least we would have been together in our final moments as a mentor and pupil." Mowgli said, taking a bite out of the venison that Messua had cooked them.
"That's a very heroic thing to do, brother. However, we would be needing you now more than ever for the village." Ranjan replied, Mowgli looked over at his younger brother and raised an eyebrow out of confusion.
"The British, they are moving into the jungle. Taking over villages so they could plan to build outposts there, words have been spread around that they treat us harshly. They harass the women, and unjustly criticize the men for their everyday tasks when they work so hard to get things done." Messua explained.
"I'm sure that they aren't all that bad..." Mowgli replied, wanting to give these uninvited guests a chance.
"You're most likely correct, but from the people we've seen, we cannot handle but be a bit wary." Ranjan replied.
"We're going to be needing you, if things get bad. You, and Ranbir are our only hope." Shanti added on.
"Hey, what about me!?" Ranjan asked, sounding offended.
"You aren't trained enough like me and Ranbir are, my brother." Mowgli said.
"We aren't trained enough, all of us aren't trained enough. These aren't like the animals in the jungle you face off against, these are men with guns and discipline that have been trained for several years. Who knows what else they might have if things come to blows..." Ranjan warned.
"I don't want things to come to blows, try to make peace with them, and if things start to get out of hand. We should try a peaceful solution at first." Mowgli said, trying to find a way out of this situation with the British.
Now that he was hearing about the British and how they were threatening his village, he started to understand Shere Khan even more on why he despised man. Now he wanted to connect with the tiger he had slain several years ago.
Mowgli and his human family and friends finished their lunch, and Mowgli would head back into the jungle after receiving his brand new battle axe from Ranbir.
(An hour later)
Mowgli arrived at the battlefield, where everyone was located at to prepare for the definitive end of the war. Or so they were hoping, to counter the superior numbers of all of the legions. The man had devised new battle plans that would surprise their enemies, and hopefully destroy them.
They had all massed up close to a raging river, and a large canyon was also close to the river. Nearby was a gorge, where most of the fighting would take place. Mowgli had assembled the help of Hathi's herd to get the boulders from Boulder Field, and line them up on the sides of the gorge.
Various other traps were being created, so that it would increase their chances of defeating the superior numbers in battle.
Sundar Ek observed the battlefield from the top of the gorge, resting in the shade of a tree.
"Nice view!" Mowgli complimented as he approached her from behind, jolting the tiger awake as she was half asleep due to her comfortable position.
"Mowgli, I hope you know I am tired from all the work I've done to help your army!" Sundar growled playfully as Mowgli took a seat beside her.
"Apologies, how has everything come along?" He asked.
"Well, we've received around five hundred new wolves that are willing to fight. There won't be no more searches, we need to rest and conserve our strength for the coming battle." Sundar said, Mowgli nodded his head at the end of his sentence.
"Five hundred is still dwarfed by the size of a single legion, but after how Hathi and Kala Nag did against one, I think we have high chances of success." Mowgli replied.
"I hope these traps of yours work as well." Sundar said softly.
"They will, they won't see them coming." Mowgli responded, having faith and loads of confidence in how he was planning things out. It would all happen in a series of steps, and it would all happen quickly to confuse the dhole legions into scrambling around out of fear.
Sundar couldn't help but notice a rather tense Mowgli staring off into the distance, he could recall a conversation he had with the tigress back at the massive fortress. It was about her father, Shere Khan, and his past before he fell to his villainous hatred for man.
"What's wrong, Mowgli?" She asked, placing a paw on his shoulder gently to try and comfort him.
"I remember, why your father disliked men. I am beginning to see why." Mowgli replied, Sundar's eyes widened in sudden surprise.
"What my father done to try and prevent men threatened the law of the jungle, and now you suddenly forgive him?" She asked.
"Yes, I have heard you mention something called pseudo-sleep. If you could teach me it, I would like to try and contact Shere Khan with it." Mowgli requested, desperately wanting to have a conversation with the tiger he once hated, but grew to respect over time, especially when he heard of his tragic past.
"Sure, all you do is to get nice and relaxed." Sundar explained, preparing to teach Mowgli how to initiate an episode of pseudo-sleep through a step by step process.
Mowgli leaned against the tree, placing his arms behind his head so he wouldn't feel the rough texture of the bark on the back of his head. Stretching his body out with a yawn, his legs started to shake, and his toes wiggled, common for when Mowgli was about to drift off to sleep without the aid of anything.
"Now close your eyes, and just think of my father. Any memory you can conjure up within your thoughts, do it. Try to sleep, when you feel yourself falling and your body jerks, keep thinking of Shere Khan, try to remember every detail." Sundar continued, Mowgli closed his eyes and started to go through each memory he had of her father, unfortunately, each memory was a bad one.
He remembered an intense encounter with the striped menace, one before his journey to stop the tiger began when he was eleven years old. This memory occurred when Mowgli was at the age of eight.
"Deep breath in, and a deep breath out." Sundar continued, sounding like some sort of yoga instructor.
Mowgli did as was told, and took a massive breath in, and he held it for a moment or two before exhaling slowly and calmly.
It took a minute but Mowgli eventually felt a cold sensation take over his head, it felt like he was about to pass out, when your body and head gets a cold feeling washed over it. His body twitched and gyrated for a split second, undergoing a hypnic jerk, and it is when Mowgli thought intensely of this memory in which he had selected out of all the others...
"Deep breath in, deep breath out..." Sundar said softly, to Mowgli her voice had an echo to it, and it progressively got deeper until he was finally within the lucid dreaming state or as the animals call it "pseudo-sleep."
Mowgli found himself running, his feet trampling over soft ground, dead leaves being crushed beneath his rough skin. His arms swatting away the brush that he ran through, his heart pounded like a war drum within his chest. His breathing was rapid as he ran as fast as he could.
He could hear the limbs cracking not too far behind him as Shere Khan was chasing him down after spotting him picking fruit from a tree.
"Leave me be, you striped devil!" Mowgli cried out, his voice was that of a small child. However in his head, he knew that he was at the adult age.
Clutched within his hand was a stick, a simple twig that would easily break into pieces if he hit something hard enough. It was the only thing he had to defend himself against the evil tiger that was bounding after him!
Mowgli noticed that he could suddenly see far ahead, indicating that there would be a steep drop from where he was running too. He leapt to the side and landed in a creek, his feet slamming against some smooth stones. He looked over his shoulder to see Shere Khan bursting through the brush, and preparing to jump down into the creek. He let out a scream as he saw the tiger, and he turned his head to face his front again.
Mowgli let out a defiant cry as he lunged from the ledge, his small body falling a good twenty feet down towards a deep pool of water. During his fall, time seemed to slow down. As he looked around, the environment around him changed from dense jungle to a large field! He also looked towards the stick to see that it was changing ever so slowly as well.
Then boom! Mowgli crashed into the water and sank all the way to the bottom. His feet hit the algae and moss at the bottom of this natural pool, using it to spring up as he began to re-surface. Once he began his rise back to the top, a sudden image flashed in his vision. It was a dead Bagheera, laying within a canyon right where Mowgli would kill him one day, or finish him off.
Finally, Mowgli breached the water, reaching the surface of the natural forming pool only for him to discover that he was no longer within the pool, but in a river close to a large field. This field wasn't just any field, it was the field where he fought Shere Khan for the final time in his childhood. Where the tiger commanded a vast legion of wolves and had the jungle in it's own civil war!
Mowgli climbed out of the water to see Shere Khan marching up the hill, this was the part of the pseudo-sleep episode where he would finally get to communicate with the ghost of a long dead enemy that now forgave him for what he had done.
He noticed that the stick he was carrying was heavier, and when he looked at it, it turned out to be his battle axe. Mowgli then felt his face and noticed that he had a small beard where his once smooth, soft skin was when he was a child. Having morphed into the adult he was now mid-fall.
The fires from the original battle were still glowing, allowing Mowgli to see Shere Khan easily. The tiger let out a ferocious roar, causing Mowgli to prepare for a fight as he wielded his axe, gritting his teeth.
Shere Khan slowly approached Mowgli, his eyes opened wide with a look of surprise in them, his breathing remained calm. The tiger only roared to get the attention of the man.
Mowgli looked at his axe, and assumed that Shere Khan took him for a threat, causing the man to drop the axe. The iron blade piercing the soft ground by the river, he gave a nod of respect to the tiger as he stood still.
The tiger blew air from his nostrils before calming down with a sigh, the air wasn't so tense anymore. Finally, they would be able to have a civilized talk without coming to blows...
"Long have I waited, for a moment to finally speak with you...Mowgli." Shere Khan spoke, his voice sending a chill down the man's spine as he hadn't heard the voice of the striped fiend in ages.
"Are you at peace, now?" Mowgli asked softly, the orange and black cat gave a nod of his head as an answer.
"Yes, it took me a while to see the error in my ways. I've reflected upon my actions, and for all of the times I have brought terror to the jungle, for all of the times that I planted the seeds of mistrust among your wolves. For all of the trouble I caused...I apologize." Shere Khan said, his voice going from a menacing growl to a soft spoken sigh.
"Apology accepted." Mowgli replied with a nod of his head, Shere Khan sighed, his eyes directing themselves to gaze upon the ground. Mowgli approached the tiger slowly, and kneeled down next to him as he gently draped an arm around his neck, a warm smile displayed on his face.
"I've spoken to your daughter, and she has told me of your past. I'm sorry for getting in the way of your campaign, but your actions broke the laws of the jungle. I had to be there to do what must be done." Mowgli said, apologizing for killing Shere Khan right to his face.
"Sweet Sundar speaks the truth of me, and you done the right thing by striking me from the world. I was too blind by my rage that I couldn't see what I was doing wrong." Shere Khan said softly, his voice gentle and calm.
"I've come to deliver a message to you, Khan. You were right when you said that man would bring devastation to the jungle, foreign people are starting to harass my village, and other villages. They're destroying the environment to plant their structures, and driving innocent life away from their homes. What must I do now?" Mowgli asked, wanting advice.
"As I feared, as I saw in my nightmares. If only I hadn't acted the way I did...Mowgli-" Shere Khan began as he slowly looked over at the man with a sad expression displayed on his face.
"Yes?" Mowgli said, ushering the tiger to continue talking.
"I'm afraid that you must face the wrath of man by your own devices, you're currently at war with the mongrel hordes of the Dekkan, but you will face an enemy far greater than that in the future. You will have aid from another wild man, similar to you. Tarzan of the Congo, and he won't be alone either." Shere Khan said, telling Mowgli of the future.
"Do we win?" Mowgli asked, referring to the apparent war against the British that would befall to the jungle.
"My eyes cannot see that far in the future, I can only see it before it begins." Shere Khan replied.
Mowgli's breath became shaky as he fought back the urge to cry, he began to regret killing the tiger. If only he found a way to talk him out of his murderous rampage, maybe the future would seem bright and without doubt.
"I'm sorry, I should have saved you from your ways." Mowgli whimpered as he took in a deep breath, Shere Khan smiled gently as he placed a paw on his newfound ally's shoulder gently.
"You've already saved me, Mowgli-" Shere Khan began, causing Mowgli to embrace him, crying into his shoulder.
"I would have never stopped my rampage, you saved me the day you took my life. So my soul could be at peace when it departed from my raged filled physical body." Shere Khan finished, Mowgli sighed and finished his hug with the tiger.
"You've become so strong, but the time to talk is over. Soon you shall face off against the legions of the Bhediya Khan of the Dekkan Plateaus, Yupanqui...Win this war Mowgli. I'm counting on you." The tiger said as Mowgli sat on his knees.
Shere Khan started to fade away into orange embers, passing into Mowgli's body, resembling embers from a fire. It was then that the man was filled with a sense of bravery that he had never felt before.
"I live in you." Shere Khan said as his body faded away...
It was then that Mowgli awoke from pseudo-sleep all so suddenly, being shaken awake by Sundar herself, who watched over him as he slept.
"What is it?" Mowgli groaned, finding himself groggy after his nap.
He noticed that the sky had turned from a bright sunny day, to a beautiful evening sky. Not a cloud was seen, just a beautiful blue sky fading away into amazing peach and purple colors. The sun glowing a bright red off in the distance as it began to sink down beyond the horizon. The environment was no longer in the sun, all was being cooled down by shade.
"It's the legions, they've arrived with your brother." Sundar warned, her voice mixed with dread, and anger. That was all it took to shake Mowgli awake...
"My brother...?" Mowgli asked with a shocked and bewildered look on his face.
Within a matter of minutes, Mowgli found himself at the top of a hill with Kaa, Baloo, Sundar, and Chupake joining him. There stood, Yupanqui, Bhediya Khan of the Dekkan Plateaus.
The dire wolf was joined by Maximus as well as a few other matured dholes that joined him up the hill to protect him incase if Mowgli and his allies decided to suddenly attack. Gray Brother was laying on the ground behind Bhediya Khan, groaning in agony, Mowgli's eyes were wide when he noticed how they had partially skinned him alive.
"You monsters..." Mowgli growled, the dire wolf was heard snickering at this.
"Take him, and give me my son." Bhediya growled, Baloo rushed over and gently picked up Gray Brother, carrying him away as Kaa slung Neo out of her coils towards the dire wolf.
Mowgli held his shield in one hand, and his newly crafted battle axe in the other. Wearing his primitive clothing that he worn at the Himalayas, he figured that a thick fur coat and fur boots, as well as pants should give him somewhat of an armored body. The quiver was around his back as well, contained within it was several arrows, spears, his bow, and a club. He fought the urge to snap and rush at Bhediya with all of the fury that was bottled up within him.
Bhediya fought the urge to charge at Mowgli as well, there was nothing but hatred between the two of them. Both were hellbent on killing each other for their own reasons, both wanted peace, and both wanted a peaceful solution, but unfortunately for the two leaders of their respective armies, a peaceful solution would never come.
"Surely, you must see your end is nigh." Bhediya said sternly, finally breaking the silence. The air was tense, anything could happen. Mowgli's biggest allies traded looks with Bhediya's trustworthy allies.
"Funny you say that, Yupanqui-" Mowgli began, getting the dire wolf to growl at him in confusion, but also with hatred in the mixture of emotions.
"All of the dholes, and the Himalayan wolves that you have come my way, have said the same thing." Mowgli finished.
"I stand as none of those of which you speak, you have no idea what you are dealing with...how many more allies of yours should die before you finally realize that?" Bhediya said.
There was a moment of silence, and the dire wolf smirked as Mowgli seemed speechless for a second or two.
"It is true that I've lost many good friends, and a mentor of mine. That is all you shall take from my world..." Mowgli growled as he began to pace around, Bhediya's words striking deep in him.
"That's where you're wrong, Mowgli. I will take more than just Bagheera and a handful of wolves, my legions will strip your alliance to bare bones once we are finished with the battle. You would be lucky to even survive, your allies will be lucky to even win." Bhediya snarled, his voice sounding arrogant in tone.
"Do not underestimate me, I shall make that crimson coat of yours slick with freshly spilled blood." Mowgli warned.
"I have learned not to." Bhediya replied, Mowgli smirked.
"You have survived situations that should have killed you without a doubt, but you stand alive, or is it perhaps a ghost I am looking at? Are you just a figment of the mind's imagination? Has your death driven the jungle mad so badly that when they want to see you, they will?" Bhediya growled, Mowgli responded to this by taking out his bow, and loading it up with an arrow.
"I am no ghost." Mowgli said sternly as he fired the arrow, a dhole lunged out in front of Bhediya Khan, the arrow piercing his body and killing him! The dire wolf growled, baring his teeth before speaking.
"You know what? The fact that you are standing here, alive... Your mere existence does nothing but deeply anger me, and I look forward to finally killing you once and for all on the field of battle..." Bhediya said, staring into the eyes of Mowgli from afar.
"You will not kill me, how can you kill me if I live in your head?" Mowgli asked, this caused the dire wolf to become infuriated.
"That's where you're wrong! When I find you, I will bring an end to your mortal life be it by any means!" Bhediya barked furiously, causing Mowgli to chuckle with a smug grin on his face.
"Let's just say you do defeat me and my legions, overcoming the most impossible odds, what will you achieve then? Will it give you peace of mind that I no longer exist, that I am just another species that you have brought to extinction? Will it bring you peace now that the war is over?" The dire wolf asked after taking a deep breath to calm himself down.
"There is no peace in this world, Yupanqui, not any more." Mowgli replied, thinking about how when this war would end, only another will start up against the British who also threatened the jungle just like the dire wolf.
"I cannot believe that I am saying this, but I agree with you." Bhediya Khan replied, thinking of all the battles he has had to get his dark grey coat turn a crimson red. How he struggled and clawed his way to be the leader of the dholes of the Dekkan Plateaus.
"Let us put this war to rest, and end conflict once and for all. May the best legend win..." Mowgli said as he took his allies, marching them back down the hill to regroup with his army. Bhediya nodded his head in respect as Mowgli turned his back to him.
(30 minutes later...)
The moon was starting to rise, and all of the leaders had regrouped with their respective sides. At one end of the gorge stood Mowgli's Alliance, consisting of seven hundred and fifty wolves, a massive python, a brown bear, an Asiatic cheetah, a Bengal tigress, two elephants, two humans. Gray Brother couldn't fight due to the condition he was in.
Three football field lengths away was Bhediya Khan and his four legions that remained, Maximus had taken two of them earlier yesterday. Thousands of dholes ready to destroy Mowgli and his allies, easily dwarfing the amount of numbers that Mowgli had on his side.
"You finally decided to grow a pair and join me." Maximus scoffed, Bhediya rolled his eyes.
"I will not fall to quarrel at such a time, it is nice to have my son by my side, it is all that matters." The dire wolf replied as Neo stood close to his foster father.
"I will have that serpent in my teeth!" Neo barked, shaken up from Kaa's torment of him over the past day.
"Save your strength for the fighting son..." Bhediya warned as he narrowed his eyes to look in the distance at Mowgli's Alliance.
"It has been years since the war first began, since our troubles started with Nirmam Yoddha, an underling of the main threat that we will soon face in battle. We have lost so many. I've lost many friends to these dogs, you've all lost someone close to you as well, let that be the driving force that allows us to win the day-" Mowgli began as he turned around to face his alliance, making sure he got the message across to all of them.
"We stand, dwarfed by superior numbers. Let us show them what upholding the jungle law means to us! Fight with every fiber of your being, fight for your loved ones that are no longer here. Most importantly you fight for the jungle!" Mowgli shouted, concluding his speech, getting the wolves to howl into the evening sky, Kaa to hiss loudly, Baloo to roar, his voice shaking the heavens, Chupake to scream into the coming night, Sundar Ek to claw into the ground while letting out a vicious roar, and the elephants to bellow!
"Let us show them that whoever challenges or threatens the jungle law, shall die by it's enforcers!" Toomai added on, rallying up the small army some more!
Meanwhile across the massive gorge, Neo turned his head to face his foster father.
"Sounds like they are ready to fight, let's teach them a lesson." Neo said, Bhediya smiled before he made his speech to his legions.
"No dhole this day will be blessed with peace, nor shall they ever in life. Know this though, if we can defeat Mowgli and his horde, which I know without any shred of doubt we will, then you shall be granted with a feast unlike any other. Our empire's strength will be unmatched, and we will finally achieve our destination by crossing over the Barrier Mountains to where we shall live out the rest of our days." Bhediya said aloud, not barking it to rally his legions up, it was simply straight to the point.
"Let us see war put to rest, and crush Mowgli and his army of fools once and for all. FORWARD!" Maximus howled, the dholes barked furiously as the first two legions charged towards Mowgli's Alliance. Bhediya's two legions stayed back with Maximus and Neo as they watched what happened intensely.
Mowgli could see the dholes rapidly approaching, and he took in a deep breath as his heart rate began to build up.
"I would get on Kala Nag if I were you, Toomai." Mowgli warned before he took out a spear, hurling it towards the massive amount of dholes that was charging their way.
The pheeal had returned louder than before as the dholes made their way towards our heroes, a spear downing one of them!
Mowgli took out another spear, and once more lobbed it across the gorge. Another spear slain a dhole as they continued their charge, disregarding the lives of the others just for the sake of taking out Mowgli's army.
"Hold your ground and do not move!" Mowgli cried out as he took a third spear out, yet again did he launch it across the field, and two more dholes were downed as it managed to make a shish kebab out of two red dogs!
Toomai began to fire arrows towards the dholes as he sat on top of Kala Nag, Mowgli had given him his bow and arrow as a gift. Downing dhole after dhole from afar with each arrow that was shot at the two legions!
Mowgli and Toomai continued to attack with their long ranged weaponry, the leader would continue until he had only one spear left. He placed his axe into his quiver with his club, Toomai would also eventually run out of arrows as well, and abandoned his bow.
"They grow nearer!" Chupake called out to Mowgli from far to the side.
"Take one hundred wolves, and circle around the battlefield as quickly as possible. Launch a surprise attack from their rear!" Mowgli commanded, the Asiatic cheetah nodded his head and began to head in a gigantic circle with one hundred wolves after shouting "follow me!"
"You'll get rid of a significant amount of wolves!?" Sundar shouted in confusion.
"I'll use superior strategy!" Mowgli called out as the sound of thousands of dholes howling and barking filled up the entire area for miles.
"He's just standing there." Maximus said to his superior, Bhediya looked rather confused as well, but he had a feeling that this would lead to something he wouldn't expect.
"Stand your ground!" Mowgli called out, watching as the dhole legions got closer to his alliance...
"Stand your ground!" Mowgli yelled, twice as louder this time, the dhole legions were even closer now. One hundred yards away, and closing in fast!
"STAND YOUR GROUND!" Mowgli roared right as the ground gave way to the dholes, hundreds upon thousands of dholes falling into an elongated pit trap that stretched from one side of the gorge to the other, the bottom of the pit lined with razor sharp spikes!
Not all dholes of the two charging legions fell into the trap, several thousand more were still alive and well, but were scrambling around out of confusion of what to do next now that an obstacle had suddenly appeared.
"Don't just stand there like buffoons, jump over it!" Bhediya barked, and this is when Mowgli was fast to command the next trap.
"Gajjini, other elephants, go!" Mowgli cried out, suddenly, large boulders appeared on either sides of the gorge near the top as the dholes now tried to leap over the pit trap. Six boulders rolled down the sides of the gorge, crushing several dholes as they rolled around! Gajjini, Hathi Jr. and a large multitude of elephants all shoved them in, three boulders on each side.
Both traps worked to perfection, as the dual legions were cut down even more in numbers, and even more confused as they wanted to retreat! So far, the battle was a dominant performance on Mowgli's side!
"FORWARD!" Mowgli cried out, and the alliance let out a howl of their own as they rushed towards the pit trap. All of them lunging over it so they wouldn't fall in, Mowgli landed by stabbing his spear right through a dholes head!
Kaa landed, her head acting as a battering ram as she sliced a large opening in the dhole legion! She instantly coiled up as she began to use her large tail as a sweeping machine and her head as a battering ram to fight against the mass of red dogs!
Baloo landed and barreled through as much as he could, Sundar done the same as she began to swat at as much red dogs as she could, each successful hit killing!
The tigress looked over, and noticed one of the many wolves was piled on by red dogs, and although he fought for his life, he was brought to an end by managing to strike a few of the red dogs down!
Mowgli took his axe and swung it down towards a dhole, slicing it's head right off with a monstrous blow!
Baloo stood up on his haunches, and clobbered a few dholes that tried to lunge at him, being killed as his massive paws struck them with brutal force that could kill even a man no matter his strength!
A dhole attempted to lunge towards Mowgli but was bashed away by his wooden shield, the man had made it thicker so it wouldn't break on him when he would eventually face off against Bhediya Khan, or so he hoped to.
Kaa lashed out her tail and pulled in a group of dholes into her waiting coils, where the great python would proceed to squeeze the life out of them while defending herself from other red fiends with her head as a battering ram!
Sundar pounced on the back of one dhole, grabbing it by the neck before hurling it into the air with her impressive strength.
Other dholes were launched into the air, gored, or trampled by the two elephants in which had joined the fight of Kala Nag and Hathi.
The two elephants were the real game changers as they had the size, strength, and power to decimate several of those red dogs in one go. They were the armored tanks of the jungle, only the weak, smaller elephants could be taken down whereas the old bulls like Hathi and Kala Nag were practically impossible to bring down, especially during the musth season where their rage was higher than ever, but they would also be un-controllable.
"Get to higher ground, and descend unto them!" Bhediya called out, and several dholes attempted to scale the walls of the gorge so that they would be able to pounce down upon their enemies from above.
"You think that will change anything for the elephants?" Maximus asked.
"I want the man that sits on top of one to be taken out so one elephant will have no idea what to do." Bhediya replied calmly as he continued to observe the great battle up ahead
Unfortunately for the dholes, they would be easy targets as they tried to climb up the walls, and would be easy kills for their enemies.
"Keep moving forward!" Mowgli called out as he rammed his shield through a wall of dholes, allowing some wolves to finish them off.
The man then noticed something in the distance, it was Chupake and several wolves approaching the other two legions from behind! Taking them by surprise, Mowgli smirked at this as he continued to fight his way through the legions, with his allies close behind him as they advanced to put pressure on the dholes some more!
Neo turned around for a moment to see the dholes rushing towards Chupake and his small army, the matured dhole would go on to warn his father of the sudden surprise attack.
"We need to leave or else we will all perish!" Maximus barked towards the dire wolf, however, Bhediya Khan wasn't having none of the retreating nonsense, he had came too far to turn back now.
"No, they want us to leave and never return. We'll show them that they are wrong, if they can surprise us, we can too!" Bhediya shouted in response, thinking of a way to fight back against Mowgli.
The dire wolf noticed an entryway in which would lead to another gorge, only it would be deeper, and bigger than the one they were currently fighting in. An idea popped into his head, one that made him smirk deviously.
"Maximus, take command of the legions to our rear, I will take command of the ones in our front to stop Mowgli-" Bhediya started, glancing towards their front to see that Mowgli and his wolves were only getting closer as time went by.
"For the dholes that are scrambling around, head into the other canyon and circle around to take Mowgli's horde by surprise!" The dire wolf finished, unfortunately for him, Mowgli heard this.
Mowgli noticed that a large mass of dholes began to dart into the entry-point of the canyon, and this brought a grin to his face as he wiped some blood away from his face.
"Elephants, commence with the flood!" Mowgli called out, the elephants that were standing at the top of the gorge would then head to where several logs had been placed.
They had created waterways, digging large, deep paths in the ground from the large river nearby, to the deep canyon at several locations. Logs were placed at the edge to form a dam, once the dholes would inevitably rush into the canyon to try and take rear position of Mowgli's Alliance, they would break the dam so the waters of the river would rush into the canyon at several locations, creating an artificial flood!
The elephants went to right to work as they picked the logs from the dams, and the water from the river began to rush into the canyon with a deafening roar due to how quick the water fell, the dholes that had ventured into the canyon screamed in terror as they saw the water falling into their escape route at a rapid pace. Many of them started to turn back, but were blocked off when one of the large boulders was pushed in the way of where they had came from!
The dholes within the canyon could only scramble around in panic, others resorted to killing each other or themselves out of the fear of drowning.
A wolf cried out to his lover as he noticed a dhole coming up from behind her, he tried to rush towards her, but was stopped when a red dog clamped on his tail. He turned around and fought back with every fiber of his being, but he couldn't stop another gruesome death...
"We cannot afford to have them close in around us all, Kaa, join up with Chupake!" Mowgli ordered as he fought for his life against the dholes that were now closing in from all sides...
Baloo, Sundar, defend from the rear, do not let them surround us!" Mowgli called out, the bear and tigress nodded their heads and immediately turned cheek to help out the army.
Mowgli placed his axe back into his quiver and started using the lone spear he had left to continue fighting, stabbing it through the head of a dhole before knocking another away that tried to jump on him.
"MOWGLI!" A voice called out, the voice was filled with nothing but hatred and rage. The man turned to face where it came from to see none other than Bhediya Khan killing several wolves around him, each wolf falling seconds apart from one another.
"Khan..." Mowgli growled before letting out a war cry, rushing towards the dire wolf at full speed as the wolves distracted the dholes around him so that the two may fight each other, this was it, this was the moment when the war should end!
Bhediya Khan barked like mad as he charged towards Mowgli at full speed, his rival was screaming at the top of his lungs as he held his spear and shield tightly. Ready for another one on one fight with the beastly wolf whose battles had forever stained his fur coat a bloody red.
Once the two were within range, the dire wolf lunged from his spot, aiming for the fatal bite to Mowgli's throat...
It never came as Mowgli defended himself by momentarily dropping his shield, using the spear to block his throat by holding it sideways. It wouldn't do him no good when the teeth of the dire wolf simply cut through the wooden part of the spear, breaking it in half!
Mowgli collapsed as Bhediya Khan ended up a few feet behind him, he quickly scrambled up to his feet, using the end of the spear with the pointed tip as a throwing knife, hurling it towards the dire wolf's eye to try and blind him, but it would only end up lodged in his shoulder.
The dire wolf growled in pain as he bit into the broken end of the spear's upper half, hurling it away after ripping it from his shoulder. Blood oozed out from the small wound as dholes were quick to surround him, guiding him away from Mowgli!
"Coward!" Mowgli called out aggressively before going back to attacking the dholes with the other wolves! He kept his eyes on Bhediya, and followed after him, even if it meant slicing through multiple red dogs.
Meanwhile, Kaa was slithering towards Chupake and his army of wolves to help him out in the battle!
"Kaa, nice to have you, friend!" The Asiatic cheetah called out, Kaa giggled as she rammed her way through dhole after dhole, using her battering ram headbutt to knock them away effortlessly.
"Mowgli sent me here, so I'll give some aid." Kaa said with a smirk as she coiled herself up, her tongue flickering in and out of her mouth as Chupake stood next to her. A massive group of dholes came their way and some wolves approached the two larger allies of Mowgli.
"You know what to do, Kaa." Chupake said, the serpent nodded her head as she used her massive tail to sweep the wall of dholes out from under their legs, then following the attack up with a headbutt to knock them away, the Asiatic cheetah and the wolves rushed upon them all to finish them off!
"We make a good team, Kaa!" The cheetah boasted, the python snickered and she pointed behind him with the tip of her tail as she slithered off to fight other dholes.
"Traitor!" Maximus barked as he made an appearance, marching towards Chupake at full speed!
"I never liked the hospitality anyway..." The Asiatic cheetah growled, Maximus smirked.
"Well, you're either with the empire or against the empire. You chose to side with a foolish man instead of us..." Maximus said as he paced around, the two combatants staring each other down...
"Hah, so there is actually an empire of just a bunch of red dogs? Sounds pretty boring..." Chupake replied, causing the Himalayan wolf to bark viciously before charging the Asiatic cheetah, the two engaging in battle!
Meanwhile, at the top of the gorge, Bhediya was being escorted away to a better position to attack in. Mowgli had vanished from sight, the dire wolf watched as other dholes tried to climb the walls in order to get a better position.
"I need no protection, I am your Bhediya Khan!" The dire wolf barked aggressively.
"Sire, if you die at the paws of anything on that battlefield, the war is over as you have stated." A dhole tried to argue, the heated discussion didn't last long as they heard a loud whimper that faded into silence, they noticed that a dhole had been killed due to an axe blade, and then they all watched as Mowgli climbed to the top of the gorge, covered in the blood of dholes...
"Now this is the law of the jungle, as old and true as the sky..." Mowgli began to recite the jungle law in a menacing way, his voice was silent but aggressive nonetheless.
A few dholes charged Mowgli to try and kill him, but he boldly slammed his wooden shield upon the neck of one of them before killing another red dog that rushed him with his battle axe, the steel blade being slick with blood.
The man would raise the shield off of the pinned dhole's neck before ruthlessly kicking it away, another red dog attempted to lunge at him but was only bashed away by his shield. Mowgli would then slash open the gut of another leaping dhole, disemboweling it before going into a spin and hacking downwards at another dhole that was bashed away from him mere moments ago, killing it as well! The other dhole that he had kicked away came at him from behind, and Mowgli heard him, he spun around again with another downward hack, killing it quickly!
Mowgli turned his head to face Bhediya Khan, casting a hateful scowl towards the dire wolf. The same wolf that had caused him and the jungle so much trouble for a few years as of now, the next verse being directly targeted towards the crimson canid.
"The wolf that keeps it may prosper, while the wolf that breaks it must die..." Mowgli growled as more dholes came his way!
Meanwhile, in the gorge. Chupake was able to throw Maximus to the ground, the Asiatic cheetah attempted to pounce on him, but the lupine just rolled away to avoid his attacks. The spotted cat attempted to lunge at his enemy again only to be struck in the face by a huge slap, Maximus smirked as he backed away to get up only to have Chupake cast him a menacing glare as he too began to recite the law of the jungle.
"Now this is the law of the jungle, as old and true as the sky..." He began before rushing at Maximus!
Meanwhile, close by, Kaa had several dholes coming right her way. She lashed her tail out and roped them into her coils, starting to squeeze them at full force within her deadly hug. As they gasped for air in her coils, she slowly lowered her head and began to recite the jungle law, hearing it come from Chupake from nearby.
"The wolf that keepsss it may prosssper, but the wolf that breaksss it mussst die..." She hissed softly, feeling the life leave the bodies of the doomed red dogs in her coils.
Not too far away, Baloo was barreling through dhole after dhole with his larger body, but they began to surround him. The brown bear fought with all of his might, biting, clawing and swinging away as much as he could while roaring in defiance of his enemies!
Sundar latched her jaws on the throat of a dhole, killing it, before slinging it into a group of more red dogs, knocking them to the ground with ease before letting out a roar.
"We will never let you take our home!" The tigress roared.
Back on top of the gorge, Mowgli dodged to the side as the dholes rushed at him. All of them missing their lunge attack in unison, going to the edge of it. Mowgli recited the next verse as he fought against them as Bhediya Khan watched in awe of what was going on!
"As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the law runneth forward and back..." Mowgli said as he dodged and bashed the dholes away that came at him, Neo rushed towards him and the man kicked him into the group of red dogs, sending them tumbling down the side of the gorge.
"For the strength of the pack is the wolf..." Mowgli said as another dhole rushed towards him, the last one that was part of Bhediya's escort. He lifted his axe above his head and prepared to end it's life.
"The strength of the wolf IS THE PACK!" Mowgli screamed towards the end of his sentence as he delivered the killing blow to the dhole at his front, spilling blood on the ground.
Meanwhile, Sundar was fighting hard against the dholes, everyone getting closer and closer together as the battle seemed like it was drawing to an end!
Dholes began to pile on the tigress and she rolled along the ground to knock several of them off, however, some still remained. A dhole managed to lock his jaws around her neck and bite down hard, causing the tigress to roar in agony before suddenly collapsing to the ground...
"Sundar!" Chupake called out as he rushed at the dhole that brought her down, killing him with a bite to the neck, and hurling him away.
The tigress appeared to be lifeless, she wasn't moving, and she had gone stiff as a board. The beautiful daughter of Shere Khan was seemingly dead, it was as if Tha gave the evil tiger's bloodline a chance, only to have potential glory stripped away due to a mangy dhole...this fact filled Chupake with rage as he let out a roar into the sky.
Things started to look bad now, there was now more dholes than wolves and the tide of the battle began to swing in the enemies favor. The more wolves that fell, the more the dholes had a chance to completely storm and overwhelm the fighting force of Mowgli...
Hathi was struggling to shake off the dholes this time as there was just too many all over him, some were even obscuring his vision as he thrashed and struggled against the wrath of his enemies. He had killed so much, but the numbers game was just too strong for even the ancient elephant to handle. His body crashed into the boulder in which blocked the entry to the secondary gorge, which was now filled to the brim with river water. The boulder rolled into the gorge, sinking to the bottom as Hathi tumbled down the hill into the water, taking the dholes with him! The massive body of the behemoth sinking beneath the waters...
"HATHI!" Baloo roared out a cry of anguish as he struggled to fight against the overwhelming dholes that were simply picking him apart in hit and run tactics, flesh being revealed, fur being removed, blood being drawn.
Meanwhile at the top of the gorge, Mowgli stood a few feet away from his arch nemesis, Bhediya Khan...Both traded the most hateful looks that would shake even a tiger to his core, and the rest of the lords of the jungle, perhaps even the elephants would be intimidated by these glares.
There stood Mowgli, whose thick fur clothing was stained with blood, tattered and torn in some areas. His hair ruffled, wet from blood and sweat amongst other things. His brown skin was stained with blood where skin was revealed, the man was breathing heavily, he had grown exhausted from fighting so hard in this final, desperate effort to end the war, and it showed...
Across from him stood the ancient dire wolf known as Yupanqui, the Bhediya Khan of the Dekkan Plateaus. His once grey coat was coated in dried up blood from several battles eons ago and some recent ones too, his fur had been messed up as well. Parts of his flesh were revealed where fur had never grew back from older battles. There was a reason he had outlived his entire species, it was his will to live, his will to carry on, and his never say die tenacity.
"I longed for this confrontation, Yupanqui." Mowgli said as he took in a deep breath.
"I have longed to see your life end this day." The dire wolf growled, baring his blood stained teeth.
"You won't kill me, Yupanqui. No matter how hard you try, the jungle law states that you must die. It was taught all of those years ago by Tha himself, who made the jungle law. Your destiny is here." Mowgli replied.
"This Tha has picked some of the most weak enforcers, look at your army dying at your feet. Being overwhelmed by my superior numbers even though you had the best strategy, the best power. Your friends have marched to this gorge to die, all because of your foolishness to not simply surrender your life to me-" Bhediya snarled, Mowgli took a look at the battlefield to see that the dire wolf's words were true to the core...he gasped in disbelief, not knowing what to think.
"When you die, and join Bagheera, and all of those that you've failed to protect, when you meet this Tha, tell him that the Bhediya Khan pisses on him and his foolish laws..." The dire wolf finished, this was enough to enrage Mowgli enough to the point at which he rushed at him, dropping his shield, going to perform a jumping hack with his axe down towards the wolf's head, but it missed once it was lodged deep into the tree as Bhediya stepped to the side!
As Mowgli desperately tried to rip his axe out of the tree, Bhediya clamped his jaws around one of his arms and threw him down as the man let out a grunt of pain when he felt the canines of his enemy sink into his arm. He was thrown to the ground, rolling upon hitting the grassy floor of the field, grabbing his shield as he noticed Bhediya coming for him thanks to his peripheral vision...
When the dire wolf lunged towards Mowgli, the man would smash his shield as hard as he could against the face of his sworn enemy, breaking the shield into several pieces from how hard he hit the crimson menace of the jungle. Bhediya's head was jerked to the side, however he would try to rush at Mowgli again to go for a bite, Mowgli rolled to the side and grabbed the jaws of the wolf, forcing them shut as he struggled in his grasp!
Bhediya and Mowgli wrestled around, with the dire wolf ramming the man into the tree, the impact forcing his enemy to release his jaws. When Bhediya went to move, Mowgli slammed his elbow down on top of the dire wolf's head, stunning him as he staggered away.
Mowgli reached an arm up, grabbing a low hanging branch before springing off the tree. Going for a curb stomp to crush Bhediya's skull under his foot, the crimson wolf dodged at the last second, and got to his hind legs where he would try to take Mowgli down!
The legend of the jungle would shift his weight down to anchor himself to the ground, and remain standing as he leaned into the body of the dire wolf. Bhediya took some bites at his skull, and Mowgli lifted up his forearm so his teeth would bite into it instead of his head. Nevertheless, it caused the man some pain as he growled in agony as he felt the bone crunching power of his rival's jaws, to fight back, Mowgli used his free arm and hand to sink a finger into one of the eyes of the massive lupine, which caused Bhediya to let go for but a moment!
Mowgli pulled his club out of his quiver and readied himself with a battle cry as Bhediya stood back up on his hind legs, preparing for the fatal bite to his neck only to have the club rammed right down his throat! The dire wolf choked and clawed at the club, shredding it apart with his claws as Mowgli ripped it out from his throat and bashed him over the head with it, nearly knocking the dire wolf out!
Mowgli himself nearly passed out, falling to a knee as his vision became flashy, and he also became lightheaded at the same time. Feeling faint, his eyes and facial expression had a look of desperation and somewhat fear in them due to him being so exhausted from doing everything in his power to win this battle.
He suddenly had a vision of Shere Khan, roaring proudly. Mowgli's eyes widened, he had a war to win as the once evil tiger had told him within the pseudo-sleep episode he had hours earlier...
Mowgli let out a defiant cry as he cocked his arms back with the club in his hands, Bhediya lunged at him only to get bashed across the face with the club again! A small crack forming due to the impact! A tooth was knocked out of the dire wolf's mouth as everything seemed to now go in slow motion for Mowgli when he was attacking.
Mowgli then had a vision of Divya's death at the hands of Nirmam Yoddha and his dhole gang way earlier on in the second war for the jungle, driving him to hoist the club up again, letting out a scream as he again bashed the club on the top of the dire wolf's head as hard as he could, everything still going in slow motion as the crack was largened due to the hit.
Another vision flashed before Mowgli's eyes, it was Phao and Leela dying. He let out another defiant yell as he raised up his club before bringing it down as hard as he could, the crimson wolf raised his frontal leg up to defend himself as the club smashed into it. The crack in the club was widened out even more to the point where you could see through the hole in it!
Finally, Mowgli had one last vision, it was of Bagheera dying...
The man mustered up all of his strength for one last good swing with the club, screaming as loud as he could as he swung it down upon Bhediya's head, a large cut was created on the dire wolf's head, gushing blood as the club finally broke into several pieces.
Mowgli fell to one knee, utterly exhausted as Bhediya Khan struggled to stand. The dire wolf stumbled around, nearly collapsing himself as he just barely held himself together.
"A-a valiant effort, but it won't be enough to kill me..." Bhediya growled, his speech was slurred, a sign that the last strike from the club had done major damage to him. The impact from the club must have put a hole in his skull, which is why blood was just oozing from a spot on his head that had knotted up. However, even with a hole in his skull, still the dire wolf fought on.
Bhediya lunged at Mowgli, going for a slash with his claws to the man's throat. Mowgli fell aside at the right time, his throat only just getting nicked by the claw of the dire wolf. Mowgli shouted in a surprising amount of pain that took over him, he grasped his throat, thinking his jugular vein had been slashed open. He took a few steps back towards the tree with his eyes wide in shock as he slowly removed his hand from the throat to feel that a bloody mark had been made, but thankfully his throat hadn't been sliced open.
Mowgli let out a sigh of relief as he looked over to see his axe still lodged into the tree, he then noticed Bhediya Khan stumbling back towards the battlefield. The dire wolf must have thought he had won, it was at this point that Mowgli had an idea to finish off the ancient wolf once and for all...
He ripped his axe from out of the tree, and began to scale up the tree, wanting to reach the highest branch possible so he could perform the coup de grace to his rival, and definitively end the war.
Meanwhile, down in the gorge. Kala Nag was trying desperately to shake off the massive amount of dholes that were crawling all over him, some of them were obscuring his vision as he thrashed his body around, Toomai fighting to stay on top of his beloved elephant.
Unfortunately, the mahout didn't see Maximus creeping up on the top of the gorge right next to Kala Nag's back, and the Himalayan wolf jumped towards him. Headbutting him on the ribs, and knocking him off of the elephant!
Toomai scrambled back up, only to receive a slash to the back of his leg, causing him to scream in pain. He hobbled around, kicking the dhole that clawed him away, but was then attacked by Maximus from behind, who slashed into the back of his neck, causing him to stumble forward.
Maximus growled, and charged towards Toomai again. When the Himalayan wolf jumped, he received a vicious slap to the face that knocked him out of the air from the human. Maximus grunted in pain as he rolled on the ground before getting up to see a dhole had clamped his jaws around Toomai's left leg, distracting him.
It was then that Maximus smirked, rushing forward to deliver a swipe to Toomai's throat. The man had managed to block most of the attack, however it did leave a nasty cut that caused the man to spit some blood out of his mouth, had it been any worse, blood would have been pouring out of his neck. The pain brought the elephant handler to his knees as Maximus stood in front of him.
A devious, cocky grin was displayed on the Himalayan wolf's face, knowing that Toomai was finished. The man was helpless, nothing more than a sitting duck. Toomai had a pleading look in his eyes as if he was begging for mercy, but there would be none of that...
When Maximus went to bite down on Toomai's throat, the mahout blocked it with his forearm only to have the wolf simply clamp down into his arm and tear downwards as if he was skinning him. A large flap of skin was flayed from the arm of Toomai, causing the mahout to scream in pain, dropping his guard. This allowed Maximus to latch his jaws around his throat, and with a crushing bite, killed Toomai...
The elephant handler let out a final gasp as the life left him forever, his body slumping over to the ground. Kala Nag wrapped his trunk around the dholes that were covering up his vision, throwing them away only to see the lifeless body of his handler on the ground in a pool of blood.
"T-Toomai...?" Kala Nag asked softly as he approached his dead mahout, gently nudging him with his trunk. The corpse was rolled over, and the old elephant gasped in terror and sorrow when he noticed the gaping wound on the throat of Toomai.
The elephant was overcome with grief, but everything was happening so quickly around him. His watering eyes gazed around, seeing wolf after wolf fall to the dhole legions. Superior strategy was not enough for the superior numbers, what Mowgli's Alliance had feared was coming true. This must be some sort of nightmare, a great cold pressure then ravaged the heart of Kala Nag, and the old elephant collapsed dead next to his handler. Dying of heartbreak...
"Oh no!" Chupake cried out as he saw the large elephant collapse, dread started to seep into the Asiatic cheetah's mind, but he kept fighting, he had to.
Chupake turned around, swinging at a dhole, killing the red dog with a slash to the throat with his claws. He then felt something bite hold of his tail, the spotted feline turned around and slashed his attacker's throat, killing the dhole that was biting down on his tail. The Asiatic cheetah received a scratch to his side, causing him to yelp in pain, and turn to bite down on the other dhole's neck, throwing it into an approaching mass of red dogs. However, with his back turned, he received a bite to his lower leg!
The Asiatic cheetah was getting surrounded from all sides, trapped in the center of a circle. There was no way out as he was then bounced from dhole to dhole, each one of the red dogs taking their own shots at the feline by either clawing or biting at him. Each successful strike causing the cheetah immense pain, eventually bringing him down, but the Asiatic cheetah got into a roll and managed to get back up only to get bitten on the tail once again.
Fear, as well as desperation was the only emotions that were within Chupake's mind now as he started to flail his frontal arms around aimlessly and blindly, wanting to get at least one good hit in on something, but almost all of his attacks missed as the dhole circle was able to dodge or move out of the way of his strikes.
"Lousy traitor!" Neo was heard barking as he rushed through the circle, the eyes of Chupake went wide as his neck was clamped on by the matured dhole, and was then slain when the dhole bit down hard on his throat...
Kala Nag was dead, Toomai was dead, Hathi was nowhere to be seen, Sundar Ek was either dead or barely alive, and now Chupake was dead. Things were taking a critical turn for the worst...
Baloo was brought down by the dholes, and now they began to bite and claw away at him as he fought with all of his might to fight back against his attackers. Kaa shared the same fate as she was piled on by dholes in the midst of squeezing another group of them to death in her coils...
All of Mowgli's allies were now either dead or knocked out, the dholes stopped their onslaught, looking up to view the battle with Mowgli and Bhediya Khan.
"Hey!" Mowgli called out to the dire wolf, and the crimson lupine turned around to face where the noise came from. He looked up to see none other than Mowgli, still alive with his axe in his hands. The branch he stood on was wobbly, and unstable.
"Why won't you just die already!?" Bhediya barked, causing Mowgli to leap off of the branch right when it snapped away from the tree!
Mowgli let out a furious scream as he hoisted the blade of the axe over his head, and time seemed to go in slow motion again as Bhediya jumped into the air to try and catch the man. The two got closer, and closer until...
*SLASH!*
The blade of the axe went deep into the back of the dire wolf, causing a deep gash to open up. A gaping hole in his body as the axe was now lodged into his body, Mowgli fell against the tree after putting all of his power into that one final swing with his axe. A tired smirk spread across his lips as he would hear Bhediya Khan's howls of sheer agony!
Every time Bhediya Khan would move, unbearable pain would shoot through his back, which would make him yelp in agony some more. Mowgli slowly got back into a standing position, and he began to walk away from the dire wolf. Thinking that he would collapse any second now, and fall from the world for good.
The vision of the crimson wolf started to get blurry, and he could feel his body just wanting to give up. The fear of dying caused a massive adrenaline rush through his body, the pain was replaced by numbness, and his agony was replaced by an animalistic rage.
"MOWGLI!" Bhediya roared as he rushed towards the man from behind, the legend of the jungle turned around only to receive a monstrous headbutt to his abdomen that knocked him down with a grunt of pain!
Neo and Maximus looked at each other, and nodded their heads. Having a plan in mind as they rushed to the top of the gorge where Mowgli and Bhediya were now wrestling on the ground.
The Himalayan wolf and the matured dhole crept behind the tree where the large branch was, watching, and waiting for the perfect moment to use their new idea...
Bhediya went for the fatal bite to Mowgli's throat, but the man wisely blocked it with his forearm, he felt the teeth of the dire wolf sink into his meaty arm, forcing a scream of agony to come out of his mouth. The man fought for his life as he now tried to reach for his axe that was still lodged in the back of his enemy, gritting his teeth as he groaned in pain.
"I don't think so!" Bhediya growled furiously before spinning around, and hurling Mowgli all the way into the tree where he would hit it shoulder first. A loud pop was heard, and Mowgli immediately grabbed his left shoulder with a cry of agony, his shoulder had been dislocated from the impact. However, that would be the least of his worries as he noticed Bhediya charging at him!
Mowgli rolled out of the way and clambered back up to his feet only to have Bhediya Khan jump up, slapping him across the face, the hit being hard enough to knock the man down. The dire wolf marched towards him, wanting to crawl on top but Mowgli scooted backwards, defending himself by kicking at the face of his attacker. He managed to get a few hits in before the dire wolf clamped his jaws around Mowgli's left foot, causing the man to scream in agony and fall flat to his back now after propping himself up with his elbows.
This distraction allowed Bhediya Khan to lunge on top of Mowgli, and he would proceed to claw into the man's chest, tearing open his fur clothing that covered his torso, his claws sinking into Mowgli's flesh!
Mowgli was helpless as he tried to back away, and he weakly kicked at Bhediya's underside. The dire wolf was engrossed in tearing into the man, continuing to maul his rival with his claws, raking them into his chest and drawing blood with each cut he made. He would end up clawing Mowgli's chest for a total of five times before ending his ruthless assault by scratching into his face!
"We should do it now." Maximus said to Neo, and the two closest allies of the dire wolf slammed into the log, forcing it to roll down the hill at a rapid pace.
"I told you, I would kill you..." Bhediya growled, his voice shaky as if he was about to pass out. The axe had did loads of damage, and was in actuality, killing him slowly due to blood loss. He opened his mouth, and prepared to finish his enemy off with the fatal bite, but it never came due to him being so weak and tired from his clawing attack.
"Watch out!" Neo called out, and Bhediya jumped out of the way to have the heavy branch land right on top of Mowgli! Crushing the man's chest, causing him to let out a surprised scream of pain that echoed for miles...
The dire wolf smirked as he pounced on the log, forcing it down to crush Mowgli's chest with all of his fleeting strength. The pressure caused Mowgli to let out an elongated scream of agony, his face turning red from how loud he was screaming, veins bulging from his head and neck. Eventually, blood began to spatter from Mowgli's mouth due to his ribs breaking under the pressure of the tree limb.
"Tell Tha, and the rest of your friends that have died this day...that I have forever tarnished the laws..." Bhediya growled as he watched Mowgli's facial expression change from pain, to fear, and then bravery once again.
"N-no ma-matter which side I e-e-end up on...this i-isn-isn't over..." Mowgli growled before his eyes slowly closed, and his arms went limp. All fell silent as Bhediya Khan slowly looked over to his foster son and Maximus.
"You all can leave, it's over now...we've won, it's..."
Bhediya Khan would never be able to finish his sentence, as he collapsed to his side, dead from the axe that was lodged in his back. Using his fleeting energy and strength to go all out one last time against Mowgli.
"Father..." Neo whimpered, Maximus sighed.
The war was over, Bhediya had seemingly slain Mowgli. His army held a decisive victory, and now they all began to march back home to the Dekkan Plateaus. Leaving the body of the dire wolf to lay in the darkness of the night with the rest of the fallen...Mowgli's heart began to slow down, his body slowly giving way to death. About to die...
Or was he dying?