(Chapter 46: The hunt)
"RANJAN!" Mowgli called out, reaching out his hands as he watched as his younger brother continued to fall through several feet within the air. As he grew closer to hitting the water, he tucked his knees in, taking a deep breath before he hit the water with a splash!
"Ranj-" Mowgli went to call out until he saw his brother's head emerge from the water, starting to swim through the river that was at the bottom of the waterfall.
I can't go deep into the jungle, but I need to stop him. Mowgli thought to himself, curling his hand into a fist.
Eventually, Ranjan would leave the river, and traverse into the jungle some more as his older brother watched on helplessly from the top of the waterfall. Mowgli was totally bewildered of what he would tell his mother, and how he would get him back. He knew he would have to go into the jungle to try and find him.
It was around a total hour of exploration before Ranjan would see any animals, he ran past a river where a smaller waterfall was located. On the waterfall was Baloo, standing idle as he was waiting for wish to fall or jump from the water so that he would catch them in his mouth. He wasn't one to chase any deer to eat them, he much preferred fish, or honey, those were his favorite things to eat, he also liked to eat honeycombs and other fruits that hung from the trees.
Baloo looked into the jungle to see a brown blur zip through the brush, his ears twitched, and the hairs on his body stood up as his senses told him that somebody new had entered the jungle. The brown bear stood up on his haunches to try and get a better view of this newcomer, but as soon as he came, he vanished into the jungle some more.
"Weird." The bear muttered to himself before looking down at the water, still waiting for fish to swim by or emerge from the running water.
That must have been Baloo that Mowgli talks about... Ranjan thought to himself as he managed to catch a glimpse of the bear as he rushed through the brush, as he continued to run, he would hear the loud roar of a tigress, causing him to duck down to hide himself!
Ranjan didn't want to be tonight's main dish for a striped beast, and he peeped through the tall grass to gaze into a clearing. He would go on to witness Sundar Ek, the tigress, pouncing on a sambhar buck from behind. Taking the prey to the ground swiftly with her superior power, using her claws to inflict damage as she done so. The sharp extended claws cutting into the sides of the herbivore as it collapsed!
Incredible... Ranjan thought to himself as he watched Sundar sink her teeth into the neck of her prey, biting down hard to kill it quickly. The sambhar buck initially struggled, but it was silenced once the jaws crushed it's jugular...
"Now to bring the prize back to Silver." Sundar said to herself as she began to drag the carcass of her prey along the jungle floor, and eventually out of sight. A bloody path being created as she done so, Ranjan waited in the brush for a few more minutes before finally moving through the jungle some more.
Onyx, the son of Silver, ran alongside his close friends. They had been rushing through the jungle, trying to pick up the scent of any prey they could find, but they had no luck at all. However, one of the wolves had an idea to solve that problem!
"Onyx, there is a clearing not too far from here. On my daily strolls, I often see some large game grazing." Jet, one of Onyx's close friends advised.
"We cannot go into the elephant clearing, such are the only animals we never hunt." Onyx replied.
"This is a different clearing, my friend. We will have excellent luck, that I can promise you." Jet responded, darting forward as he started to run faster, and got ahead of the wolves.
"Follow me!" The black wolf called out, urging Onyx and the others to come with him towards the location of this clearing. Ranjan had witnessed them rushing through the jungle as he traveled as well.
"I've got to follow them!" He said, giddy with excitement as he climbed the trees using the vines. What Mowgli had taught him to do!
The younger brother of Mowgli would swing from vine to vine, and jump from tree limb to tree limb, flinging himself to others if he had to. His eyes following the movements of the wolves, trying as best as he could to stay close to the carnivores.
I told him that I shall have my first buck, judging by what those wolves were saying, I could kill more than a buck...Ranjan thought to himself, thinking that there was something even more large than a regular chital buck that they usually eat in terms of meat, and sometimes a thick sambhar cut would do.
Not too much further away was a denser patch of jungle, a lone nilgai was grazing on the tall grass and thick bushes, enjoying a meal while it's predator waited nearby, lying in wait for it to come to her.
The great python, Kaa, had been practicing her hypnosis even further. Wanting it to become more and more powerful, now she had it to the point where she could cast visions of her into the eyes of her unsuspecting prey. She could talk in their heads now, and lure them to her.
While the nilgai was grazing, a vision of thick, smooth scales flashed before it's eyes as it lowered it's head to feast on the tall grass some more. The coils began to move in several patterns like a dance, figure eights, and spirals. Differentiating colors warped here and there, from yellow, to purple, to green, to blue. The colors changing in a melting fashion.
The nilgai was captivated, standing still as it simply admired the vision that was flashing in it's eyes. Not making a sound, not moving a muscle. It was then that Kaa decided to speak...
"My my, what a beautiful creature you are..." The serpent said seductively, her tone of voice lowering to sway her prey to becoming comfortable with her.
"Come to me, and I'll make sure to pamper you with the greatest amount of affection you'll ever feel in your entire life. I'm certain that it will all be worth it..." The snake cooed before ending the first stage of her hunt.
The vision of the nilgai returned to normal, and it raised it's head up to try and detect any predator. It felt like it had been out of it's mind for a brief moment or two, causing it to become confused.
"What just happened?" The herbivore asked himself before approaching a bush to graze on it, chomping away at the green leaves.
"Over here..." Kaa called out softly, the nilgai glanced around once it heard the voice. It was so beautiful, captivating, and seductive...It soothed him, and made him want to locate the source of the voice, to meet with whoever, or whatever was speaking to him in such a hypnotic way...
The nilgai began to wander to the origin of the voice, the dead leaves along the tree floor crunching under his hooves. The leaves were colored from shades of brown, from light brown to almost black, perfect for hiding Kaa's body within the jungle floor. The dead leaves suddenly, stopped when he felt his hooves touch something softer, but thicker.
"Wait a minu-" the nilgai went to speak, becoming suspicious of what was happening, but it was too late as Kaa snagged her jaws on the throat of the herbivore, jerking him onto the ground into her waiting coils, instantly looping, and throwing them around his body into a snug grip.
"How about you ssstay with me for a while...?" Kaa asked seductively as she began to squeeze down with her coils, the nilgai desperately thrashing and bellowing out for help, but none came.
"No, I-I don't want to!" The nilgai screamed in horror, struggling to speak as the tip of her tail started to choke around his neck. With each passing second, her mighty coils tightened ever further like a vice.
"I could ussse some company..." Kaa cooed as she lowered her head down to be at eye level with her struggling victim, her coils tightening more and more, causing the nilgai to groan in agony.
The nilgai continued to thrash, helplessly kicking his legs, which didn't help the situation whatsoever...
"If only you had sssome armsss, perhaps you could hug me back..." Kaa said softly as a smug grin grew on her serpentine face, giving the nilgai a monstrous squeeze that caused her prey to gasp for air as it was forcefully squeezed out of him, his eyes bulging from their sockets due to the sheer pressure her powerful body was putting on him, making the serpent giggle deviously.
"You won't be blesssed with a peaceful passsing, you poor thing...for I have to take you to SSSilver, to get a good reward..." Kaa said softly as she began to see the life fading from the eyes of the herbivore, it didn't take too much longer for her mighty coils to finally squeeze her victim to death.
With the nilgai dead, the python kept him in her coils as she started to drag him along the jungle floor, slithering back towards the den where Silver was waiting for her, and the others that were still hunting for their prey.
(Location: Seeonee Hills Den)
"Are you certain that you want to do this?" Gray Brother asked Silver, watching his son gaze into the jungle below him.
"Yes, I stand no chance against Long Fang. Plus, I cannot think of any way to stop him if he gets past the defenses to the North." Silver replied, keeping his eyes fixated on the jungle instead of his father.
"Son, have you already forgotten our conversation?" Gray Brother questioned with a raised brow.
"No, I understand that I cannot doubt myself. However, his strength is his specialty. I may be able to run circles around him, and dart to and fro about the place, but Long Fang may have one good strike to take me down, at worst, killing me." Silver replied with a look of concern, turning his head to face his elderly father.
"Have no fear son, we are in good hands." Gray Brother replied softly, a calm, gentle smile on his face.
"I hope your right, for the sake of the jungle." Silver said right when Sundar made an appearance, having slain a sambhar buck, dragging it along the ground with her mouth still locked around the neck of the carcass.
"Sundar, well done!" Silver exclaimed proudly, a few wolves had already returned with a smaller chital buck, which meant that Sundar was currently in the lead for the leader of the Seeonee Hills given emergency powers.
"Gratitude, Silver." The tigress replied with a nod of her head, acknowledging her current leader's respect.
"A very impressive kill, you certainly have the lead." Gray Brother said with a proud smile.
"I thank you, Gray." Sundar responded.
A few more wolves arrived, all with smaller animals compared to the sambhar that Sundar managed to capture. Kaa would eventually slither up to the den with the carcass of the nilgai in her coils, after close judgement, it was revealed that the sambhar was bigger than the slain nilgai.
"Ugh, ssso clossse..." Kaa hissed under her breath in annoyance, wanting to have the jungle all under her power. Although she was part of the heroes defending the jungle now, she still had that desire to dominate, an anti-hero of sorts, but not too much of one.
"Better luck next time, my friend." Sundar said, a look of satisfaction on her face, she was winning it. She would be the ruler of the jungle via emergency powers, her father must be very proud of her so far...
(Location: Jungle)
"Look Onyx, tracks." Jet said, lowering his head down towards a rather large hoof print, it certainly didn't belong to any deer. Onyx approached the set of tracks to examine them further.
"Fresh ones too, let's follow them to see where they lead. It should take us to our prey..." Onyx replied.
Ranjan had followed the wolves all the way here by swinging from vine to vine, and jumping from tree limb to tree limb, swinging from them if he had to do so. He held the spear tight in his left hand, staring down at the wolves as they entered a clearing.
The man climbed down the tree he was currently hanging from, and landed on his feet when he jumped from halfway up. Landing in a patch of dead leaves, he followed the tracks of the gaur that the wolves were following, making sure he broke off the path into the brush to remain hidden. Ranjan would follow the wolves closely, keeping his body hidden within the trees, and the bushes to make sure they couldn't see him.
Eventually, the wolves, and Ranjan came out into a clearing. There was a large bull gaur standing at the far end of the clearing, the tall grass would make it perfect for the wolves, and the human to hide themselves as they approached their prey.
This is my hunt, my opportunity... Ranjan thought to himself as he got on all fours, starting to crawl as fast as he could through the underbrush just like the wolves who walked on all fours.
Minutes seemed like days, but Ranjan, and the wolves would eventually get close enough to the herbivore. Ranjan was around fifteen yards away while the wolves were ten yards away.
"Now." Onyx said to the wolves, and all of them darted from the brush, barking. Onyx led the charge with a howl, the bull gaur turned around, letting out a snort in defiance as the predators rushed upon him!
Jet threw himself at the bull's face, but the bulky beast simply knocked him away with authority, swinging his head into him at full force, his horns smacking into the wolf's ribs, forcing a yelp of pain from his jaws.
"Jet!" Onyx called out as he saw his close friend flying through the air, hitting the ground hard, his eyes darted back towards the gaur now, and narrowed in anger.
"Now you've made it personal big guy..." Onyx growled coldly before barking viciously, the bull attempted to stomp upon him, but the wolf swiftly dodged it. The gaur then rushed forth, attempting to ram it's horns into him!
Onyx was caught between the horns, but thankfully wasn't gored. He began to claw into the top of the bull's head, and it wasn't going to be easy getting into his flesh from where he was attacking, for it was the part of it's head between the horns, which made his flesh extremely solid like a rock.
The other wolves attacked from all sides, two of them rammed into the bull's side but the large herbivore was like a tank, and it wouldn't be going down that easily. Another wolf attacked the bovine from behind, trying to climb onto it's back, but it was swiftly kicked off, the leg strength of the bull damaging the wolf severely!
The gaur was then focusing on Onyx, who was starting to climb on the bull's head now, the herbivore wasn't going to let that slide, and it jerked it's head up to send the wolf into the air before suddenly striking upwards again to knock Onyx away with it's horns.
"Argh, bulls dung!" Onyx barked in pain as he went crashing back down into the brush, he slowly climbed back to his feet to see that his wolf allies were finally able to do some work on their prey, biting down on the hind legs once it lifted them to try and kick one of them away, it tripped, collapsing onto it's gut with a roar of defiance!
Onyx smirked as he saw that the bull was down, and thrashing wildly, now was his chance to move in for the kill, he started to rush upon it as well as Jet who came in from the side, but before they could jump, a spear suddenly pierced through the neck of the bull!
Onyx, and Jet suddenly stopped in their tracks once they saw the weapon lodge into their prey. The other wolves looked confused, and they immediately thought that Mowgli had returned to the jungle!
"Mowgli!" Onyx cried out, sounding joyful that the legend of the jungle was seemingly back home, only to look shocked when they noticed that the man looked nothing like Mowgli at all. He wasn't as muscular as him, and he was also shorter.
"Wait, who are you?" Jet asked, baring his teeth aggressively as he prepared to defend what was supposed to be their kill.
"I am Mowgli!" Ranjan lied, his voice sounded nothing like him. It was slightly higher in pitch than Mowgli's slightly deep voice. Onyx, and Jet were told of the stories of Mowgli, but they had never seen him in person.
"What are you doing stealing our kill, Mowgli?" Onyx asked, calming down some, urging his wolves to do the same as he looked back at them.
"I'm coming home, where I belong." Ranjan replied, seeing that his lie had worked.
"You do realize that we're having this hunt to declare emergency powers?" Onyx asked, Ranjan's eyes widened.
"Emergency powers for what?" He asked, sounding bewildered at what was going on.
"A threat is being rumored to menace the Seeonee Hills soon, and our current leader is fearful that he is too weak to stop him. Whoever gets the largest kill gets to rule the jungle until that threat is stopped." Onyx explained, Ranjan's jaw dropped at this revelation, he was just coming back to the jungle just to have fun, and he ends up running right into trouble, just as his mother had feared.
"What threat? I've thought we've taken care of them all?!" Ranjan exclaimed.
"He goes by the name of Long Fang, Gray Brother has saw in a vision that he will return to attack the jungle with no remorse. Dispatch has been sent to the animals that protect the barriers of these hills to stop him if they see him." Onyx said, Ranjan placed his head into his hands from shock. There was no way he could deal with a threat as well as Mowgli could, but he was certainly going to try his hardest if it was up to him.
"I must gather my weapons soon, I will return." Ranjan replied as he kneeled down next to the bull, and began to skin the beast as he was taught to by Ranbir. The wolves all nodded their heads before returning to the Seeonee Hills Den.
(Location: Seeonee Hills Den)
Some time had elapsed ever since the wolves and Ranjan had met, the others were discussing what would happen, and any updates on the situation with Long Fang. Baloo had returned to the den with a lone fish in his jaws, obviously not caring too much about the trials.
"Gray!" Onyx was heard calling out, the animals all looked towards where his voice was coming from.
"Any luck, my son?" Silver asked, however, he then noticed than none of the wolves had returned with a kill.
"What is the meaning of this?! How come you return with nothing?!" Silver barked, furious at what he was seeing, the others were shocked.
"Some man stole it from us!" Jet growled, taking up for his best friend.
"A man?!" Silver asked aggressively, his voice becoming even more confused than it already was.
"Is it Mowgli?" Sundar Ek asked, her voice sounding somewhat excited for a potential return.
"He said his name was Mowgli, but I wouldn't be too sure." Onyx replied, sounding unsure if the man he discovered in the clearing was really the legend of the jungle, or not.
"How did he look?" Gray Brother asked with a raised brow.
"His legs were short, but fairly muscular. His body was very slightly muscular as if he had just started training his strength, his hair was short, not even going over his ears, and he had just a little bit of facial hair." Onyx gave an explanation.
"Sssounds nothing like him..." Kaa said, she had seen Mowgli countless amounts of times, he had longer legs, longer facial hair, and the hair on his head flowed far over his ears, and down on his shoulders. His body was also more muscular, looking like he had been training for years.
"Well if it isn't Mowgli, he is not part of our pack!" Silver barked with authority.
"Well he stole our kill, when I went for fatal blow, spear pierced throat of our prey." Onyx sighed, Silver growled with rage.
"What was your prey?" Gray Brother asked, wondering what kill that the man had stolen.
"A gaur, a bull." Onyx replied.
"So that means you would have slain the biggest piece of game around, and that man stole it from you..." Silver growled, baring his teeth.
"Kaa, I want you to find that man. Where ever he may be, Onyx, Jet, I want you two to help her locate him by picking up his scent, if he dragged the bull off somewhere, he shouldn't get far!" Silver boomed.
"On it!" Kaa called out, slithering down the side of the large hill in which the den was situated on, the two wolves following close behind her.
"Lead the way, take me to where he wasss lassst ssseen!" Kaa said aloud to Onyx, and Jet.
"Surely!" Onyx replied, picking up his speed with Jet coming in behind him. The two wolves starting to lead the gigantic python to where Ranjan was last seen with the gaur.
(Meanwhile)
(Location: Mowgli's Village)
"HE DID WHAT?!" Messua screamed at the top of her lungs right in front of Mowgli, her own son trembling at her fury.
"Ranjan slipped away from my sight." Mowgli replied, sitting at the table was Ranbir, who rubbed his face into the palm of his hand.
"You should of known he would do that, brother." The oldest of the three brothers said to Mowgli with a sigh, the legend of the jungle placed his hands on his hips as he looked to the ground.
"Oh no, he could get eaten out there! He could get killed by a tiger, a panther, anything!" Messua continued, pacing around the hut before darting out into the village.
"Mother, please calm yoursel-" Mowgli couldn't finish his sentence when his mother ran out into the street...
"HAVE ANY OF YOU SEEN MY SON RANJAN?!" The woman asked loudly, everyone looked at her like she was crazy, but a few came to her aid, such as Shanti.
"Oh boy..." Mowgli said to himself, looking up at the morning sky, it was going to be a long day if he didn't get his younger brother back to him in time...
"Look mother, I'll go find him, I know this jungle like the back of my hand." He explained to his mother.
"No, I'm not risking another one of my baby boys getting hurt!" She screamed, pulling him into a Kaa styled hug!
"Look, I didn't want this to happen. I'm not wanting him to get hurt either, but if you want him returned to you as soon as possible, I believe it would be wise for me to search for him. He's most likely headed in the direction of the pack den, I've taken him there before, although it's been a while." Mowgli said, holding the sides of Messua's head gently.
"You promise?" His mother asked, her voice sounding shaky as if she was about to burst into tears.
"Yes, I promise. He shouldn't be too far." Mowgli reassured his mother, kissing her forehead before darting into the jungle as fast as he could, heading in the direction of the Seeonee Hills Den.
(An hour later)
"This is where he last was." Onyx said to Kaa, the large serpent, and the two wolves finally coming across the exact spot where the gaur had been slain.
"Seems like whoever this man is knows how to make precise cuts." Kaa replied, examining the environment, seeing that the man responsible for the gaur's death had taken some cuts off of the body, leaving it behind.
"I heard Mowgli used to cut meat out of game." Jet said, looking over at the python for confirmation.
"You're right, but I'm certain that any man could make a cut like that with proper advice. You don't see any man-cubs trying to slice meat up." The snake agreed, but she believed that any adult man knew where to cut on the body for their desires.
"There must be some way we can find him..." Jet snarled, looking all around to see if there was any signs of tracks.
"Look, blood markings. They must have dripped from the man as he carried the cuts of meat into the jungle, if we follow them, we can perhaps find him." Kaa explained, her tongue flickering down towards a splatter of blood that was on the brush.
"Good thinking." Onyx complimented, the three of them began to follow the patches of blood over into jungle that was more dense than before.
Following the trail, they would eventually end up by a creek. They noticed a bag sitting at the bottom of a nearby tree, the three of them looked up to see a man sleeping on a thick limb that supported his weight, he was sleeping.
"That's the man." Onyx said, Jet nodded his head, Kaa examined him, she had never seen him before...
Although Kaa had a strong bond with Ranjan, when she first met him, he was a bit chubby, now he had lost the excess weight, and had a pretty toned physique, but wasn't close to Mowgli or Ranbir.
"Can't say I've ever seen him before, hmmm..." The serpent replied to the wolves.
"What should we do with him?" Onyx asked, Kaa was technically his superior in this case.
"Kill him, and leave him for the scavengers to pick his bones." Jet said, still angry with Ranjan for having stolen their kill.
"No, we'll keep him alive, but no bad deed can go unpunished. I'll teach him right from wrong, and once he submits to the pack, we'll bring him to the den for further questioning." Kaa said, looking over at the wolves.
"Hmph..fair." Jet growled, annoyed that the python wouldn't just squeeze him to death, or let him and Onyx butcher him.
"You two go to the foot of the tree, if he manages to escape, chase him down for as much as you can." Kaa explained before starting to slither up the tree, coiling her long, thick body around it as she scaled the massive shrub to reach the sleeping man.
Onyx, and Jet watched from far below as Kaa scaled up the tree, moving slowly as she didn't want to disturb Ranjan. She wanted to ensnare him without him waking up, and then squeeze him into submission so they would bring him to the den without him putting up a fight.
The great serpent slithered above him on a branch that was directly above him a good few feet, the snake slowly lowered her body down from the tree, and began to slither down his toned body.
Kaa could feel his soft flesh, but knew there was some solid hard muscle underneath, he was strong, but certainly not as strong as her, and that made her snicker softly as she now began to work her way around his waist, looping one coil around him as she continued to encircle him more and more, her body slowly moving down from the branch above him.
As Ranjan slept, he could feel something cool to the touch start to wrap around his torso. It was cool to the touch, but also soft and smooth, but over time, he started to feel it tighten some...
Eventually, Kaa had one coil looped around his head too, making sure he had nowhere to go once he was completely wrapped from his head down to his waist. The serpent maneuvered her head slightly above his, and off to the side to watch him when he wakes him. The python slowly began to add on pressure over time, her soft and smooth body grinding tightly into his harder body.
Eventually the pressure was too much, and he let out a scream while his face strained up from the pain her coils were dishing out on him. He tried to move his arms, but they were pinned to his sides. His eyes squinted shut, and his teeth were clenched as she doubled down on her squeeze. Her coils were seen shutting tighter around his body, making him groan in agony between his teeth.
Kaa lowered her head down to his face, and flickered her forked tongue in and out of her mouth at his eyes to taunt him. With his arms being pinned, Ranjan frantically started to kick around his legs, hoping he could try and worm his way out of the vise grip of the mighty python that had him coiled up, but there was nothing he could do against her superior strength!
The face of the serpent shifted into that of a smile as she playfully laughed, knowing he was hopeless if he wanted to even try, and escape her grip. Watching him helplessly struggle within her coils as they only tightened up further, and further. Her squeeze had sapped the strength from him, and although she felt his knees connecting with her thick body, they had little to no impact.
"Your knees cannot harm me, silly man!" Kaa laughed as she only squeezed him even tighter than ever before, not even putting any effort in to it, just toying with her prey.
"Shut up!" Ranjan cried out, he could tell by her seductive, entrancing voice, that it was none other than Kaa who was constricting him, but he didn't have the power to speak her name.
"How about I shut you up, by squeezing you at fifty percent of my full power?" Kaa warned, sounding playfully offended, continuing to taunt him. She eased up her squeeze some to give him relief only to tighten down again to remind him that he was her prisoner for now.
"Tell me, what are you doing disturbing the jungle with your presence?" The python now asked, stopping her squeeze momentarily as she looked deeply into his eyes that were still squinted shut from discomfort, and from the pain.
Ranjan wasn't about to give in so easily, and he continued to struggle while Kaa just watched on, amused at how he still thought he could escape, hell, it even made her chuckle some.
"Well, sssay sssomething..." She warned, preparing to squeeze down at fifty percent of her full power, which still wouldn't take that much effort to do.
"M-make me..." Ranjan groaned through his clenched teeth.
"Oh, wish granted my friend!" Kaa exclaimed before breaking out into wicked laughter, squeezing him at fifty percent of her maximum strength. Her coils were seen pressing even deeper into his body! The scream that Ranjan let out reverberated throughout the entire jungle practically as his face turned red from the pain, and from how loud he was screaming!
"I warned you, I have decided that I want to take you back to the pack alive, but if you continue to defy me, I will not hesitate in squeezing you into oblivion." Kaa warned harshly.
"I will squeeze, all of the air from you..." Kaa continued as she started to lower her head down to meet his eyes as he continued to wail in unfathomable amounts of pain, she even noticed a tear rolling down Ranjan's cheek because he was in so much pain.
"S-STOP!" Ranjan screamed at the top of his lungs, and only then did the reticulated python halt her constriction once again.
"Jussst give in to me, there isss nothing you can do..." Kaa hissed, her forked tongue tasting his flesh.
Ranjan's eyes were only slightly opened, his face a shade of red from losing so much oxygen, and he was only now starting to regain it as his eyes screamed a look of mercy in them, and terror at her superior strength, his will to fight back had been shattered.
"Give up?" The serpent asked, noticing that his arms popped out from her coils, and she discovered that Ranjan was still trying to escape by desperately shoving down on them in hopes of escaping.
"N-no..." Ranjan groaned in defiance, Kaa was admittedly impressed at his hesitance to give in to her strength, and to surrender. However, she wasn't going to show the man any mercy as she squeezed down tight once more, the pain, as well as the lack of air, made the man pass out. Kaa snickered as she seen his eyes roll back into his head as his face turned red, and his limbs falling down.
"That's right...ressst in my coilsss." Kaa hissed as she lowered her head over Ranjan's relaxing her squeeze now that he blacked out.
The serpent unhinged her jaws, slowly opening up her mouth wide as she started to lower her head down. Her jaws engulfing the head of her soon to be prey, she felt the top of his head enter into her mouth...
"Hey, don't you remember what you said about not killing him?!" Onyx called out to Kaa from down below, in the midst of constricting Ranjan, she had become engrossed on devouring him, that she had forgotten about what she had told the wolves.
"Ugh, how riveting, I was looking forward to having this handsome meal..." Kaa groaned in annoyance as she began to slither back down the tree, still having Ranjan in her coils as she made her way down the tree.
The three members of the Seeonee Hills pack made their way back to the den, Ranjan still alive but unconscious.
"Father, we bring you the man responsible for stealing our prey." Onyx said, nudging the head of Ranjan who was sleeping within the serpent's coils.
"So this is the fool that dares to steal our kill in a time of crisis?" Silver growled, turning around to properly examine Ranjan.
"Yes, robbed Onyx of glory..." Jet growled, baring his teeth at the unconscious man.
"I'll kill this man myself..." Silver growled, baring his teeth before rushing towards the downed Ranjan, Kaa released the man from her mighty coils. However, before Silver could latch his jaws around the neck of the man, Gray Brother suddenly stopped him.
"HALT!" The old wolf barked, stopping his son from continuing his attack.
"He's stopping an emergency situation in a time of crisis, he's too dangerous to be kept alive!" Silver barked in protest, eyes wide in shock.
"This man, this is the one whom I've seen in my visions." Gray Brother said, the entire pack fell silent upon those words...
A/N: Hi everyone, I must apologize for the long wait for a new chapter. I've been heavily busy with personal life, I recently graduated, so I had to be involved with some stuff. As for a writer's block, there is no more writer's block whatsoever, the reason I got this chapter out so late is because I am currently writing some stuff on Archive of Our Own (ao3 for short,) my username is Calebshane_121902 if anyone wants to know! I plan on importing some stories from this site into works on that one.
With that stuff out of the way, I have decided to give some hypothetical voice actors for the villains of this story, since I've got all of the hypothetical VA's out of the way for the heroes:
Voice of Shere Khan: Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange, MCU, and Shere Khan, Mowgli:2018)
Voice of Tabaqui: Brian Drummond (Vegeta, Ocean Dub Dragon Ball Z)
Voice of King Louie: Christopher Walken (King Louie, Jungle Book 2016)
Voice of Nirmam Yoddha: Jason Spisak (Deag Ranak, Doom Eternal)
Voice of Maximus: Piotr Michael (Dark Lord, Doom Eternal)
Voice of Yupanqui 'Bhediya Khan': Idris Elba (Shere Khan, Jungle Book 2016)
Voice of Neo: Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Ebony Maw, MCU)