(Chapter 45: Welcome back to the jungle)

Silver turned his head to see that Winter was lapping water from a nearby spring, and he rushed towards him as quick as he could. Gray Brother watching on with a grin on his face as he could tell that his oldest son is panicking.

"Winter, I need you to head towards the Unforgiving Mountains. Stop by every enforcer you know, Rocky, and other leaders from other wolf tribes, head to the cliffs to the NorthEast, where Kaa dwells, and retrieve Night Shadow. Report his coming to Hathi, and give the message to Mang the bat before the darkest of night. Tell the guardian wolves to protect the Seeonee Hills with their lives, and send other wolves towards them to give them aid. Long Fang must not leave those mountains, Tha knows who he might bring with him from the lands beyond the borders of the North!" Silver barked, Winter nodded his head, and immediately rushed for the North to give warning of the looming threat.

"Son, you're freaking out over nothing. Long Fang does not pose a threat to us at the moment..." Gray Brother sighed with a chuckle at the end of his sentence trailing the sigh of disbelief.

"If he is to return to the Seeonee Hills, and threatens to break the jungle law, then he is a threat that needs to be taken seriously, and with the most amounts of caution. No threat from the North has ever gotten past the snowy peaks!" Silver growled.

"Have you forgotten about the dhole legions, and the dire wolf, the Bhediya Khan?" Gray Brother asked.

"Such threats came before we really began to ramp up the security near the Northern Border, ever since we dispatched hundreds of wolves, and sent Rocky towards their location on patrol, none has ever gotten deep into our territory." Silver answered.

"It is true that no threats have slipped past our Northern defenses, such as Nebuzar the wolverine-" Gray Brother began, and his oldest son immediately spoke.

"Or Nero the fox, but those threats aren't remnant species with the power to outlive their entire kind!" Silver growled.

"He does not pose a threat to us yet, he is of no immediate danger. There will be a man that shall join us soon, a man that will join us once again at the right time to take down Long Fang. At the cost of a few lives..." Gray Brother gave another prophetic warning.

"You will see the number of the dead be joined by the thousands of lives in this jungle if Long Fang kills our defenders...but you're right, we need Mowgli. The jungle needs him, to stop what's coming." Silver said before looking at the ground, and letting out a sigh of relief, but yet disbelief.

"If Mowgli comes back, I'll finally have an excuse of resigning as leader of the pack. I'm getting older, and I'm not getting stronger." He continued, causing Gray Brother to lay back down.

"I heard you sparring nearby, and it sounds like you outclassed some of the defenders themselves. Why do you doubt yourself? You clearly have the speed left in you." Gray Brother said as he let out a yawn.

"I lack the power I used to have, Long Fang has the potential to kill me with one blow, and perhaps one bite even if he doesn't go for my jugular. I am too weak to face him, all of us are!" Silver barked, his voice filled with worry.

"Son, how would the pack feel if their leader was afraid? The one who has been leading the jungle successfully for the past few years, reduced to a frightened pup when real danger arrives. The jungle knows what happens when a menacing threat harms it, we've dealt with it before." Gray Brother chuckled.

"The pack would feel ashamed...but I just don't know what we can do against another one of those old species from a bygone era, you've seen what the others could do. We've lost several important members of the pack to these beasts, we cannot afford to lose anymore!" Silver barked, not finding this situation at all funny.

"Well, I suggest that you do something to prepare your pack, and the enforcers should sharpen their skills somehow. A lifetime ago when Mowgli fought the army of Nirmam Yoddha, one of those cold wolves from the North, he had us do combat trials, and hosted massive hunts to prepare us for a fight." Gray Brother advised his oldest son.

"Well, I don't think combat trials will be needed. I think we need to sharpen our skills, I'll host a big hunt tomorrow morning. Everyone can be involved if they so wish." Silver replied, a smile finally cracking on his face.

"Are you going to inform the pack of the coming of Long Fang?" Gray Brother questioned, Silver thought for a second before giving an answer.

"No, not yet, I can't."

"Why not?"

"The pack has been left in peace for years, we haven't had a single conflict with any enemy of the jungle for years. Ever since the war against Bhediya Khan ended, the jungle has known nothing but prosperity, and happy days. If I told them that another enemy was to harm us, can you imagine how stressed they would get?" Silver explained with a sigh.

"You'll need to at some point." Gray Brother said, Silver looked to the ground with another sigh along with a shake of his head in disbelief.

"I know."

(The next morning)

(Location: Mowgli's Village)

Ranjan, and Mowgli were heading towards a running river that was close to the village. Both held spears in their hands, but they also carried a net and basket with them. This morning's task was learning how to fish, and catch multiple fish at one time.

Now the village didn't have any fishing rods, but they still were able to catch fist just as easily by setting traps, or spearing them with a sharp object. It certainly wasn't hard to find food.

"We're running low on meat supply." Mowgli said to his younger brother, who was now a full fledged adult.

"I thought we had some meat from yesterday, sambhar meat?" Ranjan replied, sounding confused.

"Yeah, but it was the last set of meat. Today we'll be hunting." Mowgli said with a smile.

"Really!? Finally, I get to throw a spear at a dee-" Before Ranjan could say 'deer,' Mowgli quickly stopped him.

"We'll be fishing today!" The older brother said with a taunting tone of voice, Ranjan groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Come on, if I am to survive in the jungle, what good are my hunting skills gonna be if I can't hurl a spear into the heart of a deer?" Ranjan asked, Mowgli grinned at this complaint.

"I'm keeping you out of the jungle, Messua wants to keep her baby boy safe, and I'll stand by her decision." Mowgli said.

"Baby boy? I'm not a child anymore, I can fend for myself!" Ranjan growled.

"Sure you can." Mowgli said sarcastically.

"Trust me, one day I will kill my first buck without you knowing. You won't be laughing then..." Ranjan promised.

"Sure you will, alright, enough bickering back and forth with each other. Now we are at the river." Mowgli said sternly, dropping the net he was carrying to the ground, as well as placing his basket on a rock.

"Watch me brother." Mowgli said as he took the spear, and aimed the tip close to the water. His eyes scanning from left to right as he patiently waited for a fish came close to the surface, he noticed a fish come close to the surface over to his left. He timed it perfectly as he watched the ripples move closer to him, and he pierced the water with the spear!

When Mowgli pulled the spear out, a dead katla fish was on the end of the spear. It's body pierced by the spear, Mowgli pushed the dead fish into the basket, where it would eventually be taken out by the villagers to eat later on during the day.

"Impressive." Ranjan said jokingly.

"Can you do the same?" Mowgli asked, his younger brother nodded his head with a smug grin as he approached the river, which water's were calm, and smooth flowing.

Ranjan did the same as his older brother with ease, he fished for fun as a game when he was younger. Whoever got the biggest fish was the winner, and his experience was able to get him a speared fish just as quickly as his brother.

"Now I want to show you how to catch multiple fish by using a net, and it is not as simple as laying a net in the middle of the river, and just stretching it out from end to end. You may be able to do that since this is such a narrow stream, but if the river was wider, and had a more rough stream, you would need to keep the net nailed down. Now watch what I do to keep the net in the water. This is essential to your survival if you cannot successfully hunt deer or animals." Mowgli said as he picked the net up from the ground.

(Meanwhile...)

(Location: Seeonee Hills Den)

All of the animals and enforcers of the jungle law, with the exception of Mowgli, had been called to the outside of the wolf den. The same wolf den that Mowgli was raised in. Silver sat underneath a tree so he could speak to the animals on what their mission was today, he wanted to tell them that they needed to sharpen their skills for something, but he didn't want to mention that a threat was looming on the horizon.

"I spoke to my father last night about our hunting skills, Gray has stated that they need to be sharpened. I sparred with the greatest defenders we currently have, Kaa, Sundar, Baloo, my son Onyx...and Jestar, all last night, all of them came at me, but I avoided them all with my speed. Something tells me that we have dropped our guard since the war against the dholes came to an end. It seems that we've gotten slower, we've gotten weaker." Silver spoke, gazing at the crowd that stood before him.

"With old age comes slower movements." Baloo grumbled, the larger animals of the jungle aged differently, they would grow old much slower than the wolves. Baloo was starting to get higher up in terms of his age, if he was to be human, he would be in his middle ages.

"Such is what I feared, but that can be corrected with a large scale hunt." Silver replied, Baloo raised a brow.

"A hunt?" Kaa asked, lowering her head down from the tree she was coiled around.

"Precisely, a hunt the whole pack can enjoy. Each of you wolves, and each of our allies can hunt anything they choose. Whoever gets the most notable kill, gets a reward." Silver responded with a nod of his head, this brought a grin to Sundar's face.

"What is the reward?" The tigress asked.

"I don't know yet, I may grant emergency powers to whoever gets the most notable kill. Emergency powers to rule the pack, I fear that I may need to resign soon." Silver sighed. This made the pack uneasy but also made several wolves and others participate, all of them wanting to get a shot of being the leader of a pack for a day.

There was two animals that were the leader of the jungle other than a wolf at some point, those two were Hathi, and another one was a name that the pack didn't want to mention. The 'original sin' of the Seeonee Hills pack, if you will. It was because of that 'original sin,' that they had a hard time selecting Mowgli as part of the pack when he was discovered by Kaa and Bagheera several years in the past.

An event in which emergency powers were granted was extremely rare, but it would provide to be quite the experience for anyone who received it. Emergency powers only last for a limited amount of time until the new leader is chosen. However, that is where many of the animals that attended this meeting were suspicious about.

What was the emergency? Onyx was the first one to speak up about this matter.

"Father, who or what is causing this trouble? I should be the next leader but due to the emergency rule, I cannot be it. What's the problem?" The wolf asked, sounding confused, and a bit upset.

"I would rather not talk about it right now, apologies, but I would keep it a secret until it cannot be one no longer." Silver replied to his son.

"Very well then, but just know that this unknown emergency is going to linger in the back of our minds for the entire hunt." Onyx said, Silver nodded his head, acknowledging his son's concern.

"Fellow wolves, and allies of the jungle. It has come a long way, and it has been a long time since one of you have been granted emergency powers to control the entire Seeonee Hills. Each kill is a kill earned, I wish of you all the best of hunting-" Silver called out, and the members of the pack that chose to hunt prepared to go on their way to commence with the hunt.

Silver then reared his head back, letting out a loud howl into the morning sky that echoed all throughout the jungle! Several wolves darted past him, both male and female, ages ranging from mere yearlings, to adolescents, to the adults. Most of the elders didn't choose to hunt unless they felt brave, and strong enough to do it. Not only did several wolves start to dash away into the dense jungle, but the larger allies did as well!

Kaa's forked tongue flicked in and out of her mouth as she began to slither into the jungle, her long, thick body would vanish into the brush as Sundar Ek rushed past her while roaring furiously, in hunt mode. Baloo bounded his way into the jungle as well, each of the large allies departing from one another! While Jestar the hyena just...laughed at the thought of him becoming a leader for even a day.

(Meanwhile...)

(Location: Outskirts of Mowgli's village)

"Now it may take a while for fish to come, as there are usually not many fish contained within narrow streams such as this, but if it was to ever be a larger stream, then fish would be plentiful." Mowgli explained right when a loud howl was heard bouncing off the trees, now he paid no attention to it, but Ranjan was greatly fascinated, so fascinated that he picked up his older brother's spear before taking off into the jungle unexpectedly.

"Now, we've waited a few minutes. Let's see how many fish this net has caught." Mowgli said as he removed the rock weights that held the net open, pulling it up to reveal that it had snagged a few fish in it, not a lot, but a decent amount to feed a few people.

"Wow, fine amount huh?!" Mowgli asked loudly with a hearty chuckle, he was given no response, and when he turned his head to face the side of him, his younger brother wasn't there.

"Ranjan?" Mowgli muttered before hearing a whooping in the distance, he looked over his shoulder to see his brother rushing through the brush of the jungle as fast as he possibly could. He had stripped down to just a loincloth that Shanti herself had knitted for him in secret.

"Ranjan!" Mowgli screamed, now trying to chase after his brother, but he had already gotten so far ahead.

"I told you that my purpose is being in the jungle like you!" Ranjan screamed in response as he heard his brother's voice bounce off the trees.

"Not yet!" Mowgli cried out as he saw Ranjan dash between the trees.

Ranjan noticed that he was coming up on a pitfall, but he also noticed a vine dangling over it. Taking his brother's advice, and seeing Mowgli swing from vines several times, the younger brother leaped into the air, and grabbed the vine with one hand. Whooping happily as he sailed over the crevice, and landing on the other side on his feet.

I've got to catch up with him before he gets too far...Mowgli thought to himself, he looked up, noticing several thick tree limbs dangling high above the ground. To his left was a large tree with a creeper wrapping around the bottom, slowly scaling up towards the top. The creeping vine only reached the halfway point of the tree, but the rest was thick branches that Mowgli could climb up!

He didn't hesitate, and began to scale the tree as quick as possible. Listening in for his brother's movements in the distance, and his excited whooping. Without any thinking, he leapt into the air, and grabbed hold of a branch, swinging from it into the air as he snagged hold of a vine with his hands, swinging on to another branch, landing on his feet!

Mowgli continued to jump from tree limb to tree limb, landing on his feet each time. With each jump, he could see the dark blur of his younger brother moving far in the distance. No matter how fast Mowgli moved, it seemed that Ranjan moved further and further ahead.

"If you don't stop, mother is going to have a field day of chewing us out!" Mowgli called out desperately, to receive a response that he could barely hear.

"The jungle calls to me, brother. It is MY time!" Ranjan cried out joyfully before letting out another whoop happily, he would eventually have to stop to catch his breath. His body wasn't used to all of this rapid movement! This allowed Mowgli to rapidly catch up, for his older brother was used to swinging from tree to tree like a monkey, navigation amongst the tree tops was no problem for the legend of the jungle!

Ranjan looked over his shoulder to see that Mowgli was gaining up on him, his eyes widened in surprise as he turned around to see a vine that was hanging lower than the tree limb he stood on. He would be taking a gamble by jumping down in hopes of grabbing hold of the vine with one hand, due to clutching a spear in the other one.

You only live once, Ranjan, and this is your only shot at getting the treatment Mowgli got...He thought to himself before leaping off the branch, screaming as he began to fall towards the jungle floor at a rapid pace!

"Ranjan!" Mowgli called out once he landed on the tree limb where Ranjan stood at mere moments ago, he noticed that his younger brother was once again swinging across a great fall with a vine, Mowgli shook his head in disbelief as he witnessed Ranjan land on the ledge far below him, and he continued to run through the jungle.

"You need my guidance!" Mowgli called out as he jumped from the tree limb, falling down towards the vine that was now swinging from side to side. Just barely latching hold of it with both hands, and then swinging to the ledge.

Mowgli once again got close to Ranjan, rapidly closing the distance. There was a waterfall ahead, and the fall would deal major injuries if one didn't know how to take it properly. Mowgli taught Ranjan on how to take great falls into rivers or streams from a waterfall, practicing it on smaller sized ones. You would have to tuck into a cannonball position towards the bottom almost as soon as you hit the water in order to take it.

"I do not need such guidance, you've taught me all I needed to know!" Ranjan screamed before leaping off the edge, his body falling towards the water...

A/N: How about another cliffhanger for y'all? ;)

As you may have noticed, this chapter references Kung Fu Panda a lot already, you should have been able to spot several references as one of the readers pointed out if you check the reviews section of the story!
This new arc is HEAVILY inspired by the events of the first KFP film, so you can basically guess how it will go already. However there are some differences as well so it isn't a complete copy, as I don't want to just use another great film from my childhood as a copied plot.

Regardless of the similarities and differences, I hope you enjoyed this chapter folks. What will Ranjan's fate be next chapter? What adventures await him, how will the jungle accept a new man instead of Mowgli? Find out next chapter... ;)- KaijuCrazy02