A/N: I couldn't quite remember if Louie was an orangutan or not, but we'll run with that. Okay, LAST CHAPTER! OMG! It only took me, like, TWO YEARS to finish this fic! But I DID IT! YAY! And I'm a dramatic freak—I think I might've gotten a little too into it this chapter, but hopefully you'll all enjoy it. (Hey, Hurricane Katrina—wiped out Biloxi, Mississippi. I spent quite a bit of my childhood there and my youngest sister was born there and now it's like, non-existent. Weird. Well, glad we don't live there anymore. Craziness.)
Sadira! Hey! I'd like to read your JB chapters if you'd like to email it to me at my email. I've been so busy with school that I usually forget to send out emails unless I get them. One reason I'm glad I wrote this chapter before school—otherwise this probably would've taken another year. Thanks for reading and liking it! I really appreciate it! Hope you like this.
Light Angel2—Thanks! I know it seemed abandoned but I really don't want any unfinished stories on my account so I decided to finish it!
Cathy- Wow, you're still here! Thanks so much for reading this--I really appreciate how faithful you've been. I hope you enjoy this last chapter. And, again, Thank You!
This last chapter is dedicated to the three of you! Enjoy! (And sorry about the lines again)
"Did you hear that?" Mowgli exclaimed as a howl pierced the night.
Louie cocked his head surprised. "Yeah, sounded painful."
"Sounded like Shere Khan," Kaa commented.
Baloo nodded. "Yeah, I thought so, too."
Another howl echoed around them and this one caused all four's eyes to widen.
"Sounded like," Louie began and Baloo finished.
"Bagheera." He looked around worriedly. "Came from that way." Baloo pointed in the direction the two ear-splitting screams had come from. "Come on!" He waved for them to follow and they all took off running; Kaa followed from high above slithering along his tree limbs.
"Wasn't Shanti with him?" Mowgli cried, gasping for breath as they ran ahead at full speed.
Kaa nodded before realizing Mowgli couldn't see him. He called down to him, "There was a girl with him when I spoke with him the other day." He decided to omit how tasty she had looked so as not to anger the boy.
Shanti ran blindly through the jungle, trees racing by her peripheral vision. She had no idea where she was going and her foot begged for relief, but she couldn't stop. Not when Shere Khan was back there. She shivered, hoping Bagheera would be okay; she felt awful for leaving him, but there really wasn't much she could do. She figured she would just be in his way, anyway. Shanti had managed to quiet down Ranjan's cries hoping that would make them a bit more difficult to track, though she doubted it. Her ears pricked at the sound of voices. They were vague and she wasn't sure where they were coming from, but they were coming closer. She squeezed Ranjan tighter, fearful those voices could be bad news.
Mowgli halted when he glimpsed a familiar form. He spun in that direction and shouted, "Shanti!" Baloo skidded to a stop and Louie collided into him as they all spun in that general direction. A wide eyed girl, clinging to a small child, stared at them from her spot, between trees, not too far away. Mowgli began to quickly make his way over there, Baloo and Louie on his trail.
"Mowgli?" she whispered, relief starting to overcome her, but her relief was overridden by her shock at the huge bear lumbering after her friend, who didn't seem to even notice.
"You're okay!" Mowgli exclaimed, thrilled, grinning wildly at her and Ranjan. "And so is he! I'm so relieved."
If she hadn't been so shocked, Shanti might have scolded him for getting them into this mess in the first place, but as it was she simply couldn't find her voice. She nodded mechanically, unable to force her body to do anything else.
Mowgli cocked his head at her and raised an eyebrow, "You are okay, right?"
Baloo bit his lip, glancing around. "Wasn't, uh, Bags supposed to be with you?" Shanti looked at him, confused and he elaborated, "Bagheera?"
At this Shanti's eyes grew wider and she nodded fiercely, hair whipping around her face. "Yes, he is." She pointed in the direction she had come from, babbling, "He's still back there with that tiger—he wanted to eat me!"
Louie looked at her in surprised. "Bagheera? He doesn't eat meat."
"You moron!" Kaa caused them all to jump. "She meant Shere Khan." He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I am still here."
"It's you," Shanti looked up at him. "That snake," she looked over at Mowgli, "we're not supposed to look him in the eyes."
Mowgli nodded. Baloo shook his head. "Come on, we need to," he stopped, uncertain of what they needed exactly. He shook his head again after a moment's thought and continued, "We need to get you kids out of here and someone needs to help Baggy."
Louie backed away, shaking his head. "I'm not going anywhere near Shere Khan," he insisted. "And I'm not sure how to get to their village." He pointed at the three human children. Kaa cleared his throat.
"I know how to get there."
"You're not seriously going to let him lead us back, are you, papa-bear?" Mowgli demanded, frowning at the snake.
Baloo knelt down before him, and placed his big paws on the child's shoulders. "Look, baby-bear, I know you don't want to follow him, but Louie will go with you to make sure he doesn't pull anything, right, Cuz?" he gave Louie a pointed look.
The orangutan automatically forced himself to grin and nodded. "Sure thing!"
Baloo continued, "And I need to go help Bags. You three need to get home. It's been fun," he paused. "Well, it would've been more fun under different circumstances, but it was still great to see you again." He gave Mowgli a hug and pushed him forward. Mowgli glanced back at the large bear, uncertainly, blinking back tears. Baloo waved his hands in a forward motion. "Now, go on!"
Shanti stared at them tearfully. She looked up at Baloo, "Will you find a way to let us know everything's okay? And tell Bagheera I'm sorry?"
Baloo gave her a small smile, "Yeah, we'll find a way to let you know what happened and don't worry. I doubt anything was your fault. Now, shoo!" he waved them off.
"This way," Kaa instructed them, leading them towards the village. They all gave a backwards glance at Baloo, Shanti and Mowgli both waving good bye and Louie sending him a "Hope I see you again—alive" look.
They hadn't gotten too far before Shanti lost her balance and fell. Luckily Mowgli was nearby and easily caught her. He looked at her in surprise. "What?" he began, but trailed off, seeing her foot. "Why didn't you say something?" He demanded, taking Ranjan from her protective grip. "Can you walk?"
She sighed. "A little, but it hurts."
"Here," Louie spoke up. "Give me the baby, Cuz, and she can lean on you." Shanti shot the animal a doubtful look. Louie raised his hands in surrender, "Hey, I promise I won't hurt him."
"He won't hurt him. Don't worry," Mowgli assured her handing Ranjan, who had conveniently fallen asleep in Shanti's arms to Louie. He then threw one of Shanti's arms over his shoulder and helped her walk. It slowed down progress, but, Shanti had to admit, it was a little less painful for her foot. The group trudged through the jungle painfully aware of eerie silence that surrounded them.
More stars decorated Bagheera's vision, making it all but impossible to see in front of him. He wondered if Shanti and the baby had found Baloo and Mowgli yet. Fresh pain across his back warned him not to let his mind wander and he forced his eyes to focus on the black and orange blur that seemed really intent on slicing him to bits.
Shere Khan hissed as another claw found its way through his fur and punctured his skin. This was driving the tiger insane. Stupid bear being unable to lead that mancub into his trap, stupid panther for ruining his backup plan, stupid….Stupid everything! He growled, the pain making his thoughts less clear than what they usually were. He wasn't even sure how far the girl and boy could've gotten by now. What if they had met up with that troublesome bear and mancub? They might be practically at the village already. He doubted he would be able to so easily tempt them back into the jungle. He definitely wouldn't be able to catch them off guard again anytime soon. He growled at Bagheera, anger all to clear in his eyes. "Fine." He glared impetuously at the panther that was blocking his path to his feast. "If I can't have the girl, I'll just settle for you."
Bagheera narrowed his eyes, unsure whether he'd heard right or not. It was kind of hard to make anything out besides the pain trying to immobilize his body. He dodged another blow and attempted a counterattack but didn't succeed.
Shere Khan frowned, gnarling at his new prey. Bagheera jumped to attack, but Shere Khan countered it, hitting him hard in the stomach with as much force as he could muster. Bagheera gasped before unconsciousness pervaded his senses. His body banged into a nearby tree before ungracefully tumbling to the ground with a thump.
Baloo stopped in this tracks horrified. He had found the two fighting jungle cats just in time to see his friend collide into a tree. He snapped back to reality when Shere Khan approached the limp panther.
"Get away," he cried, breaking a nearby tree branch and hurling it at the tiger, being sure that it wouldn't hit his friend. Shere Khan caught sight of it just in time and barely managed to dodge it. Baloo snapped some more branches from the tree and clutched them, hoping they would provide him with some type of defense. Shere Khan glared at the newcomer
"You want to be part of my meal, too?" He snapped, eyeing Baloo with vicious eyes.
Baloo hid his fear quite well, taking a full step forward and frowning at the tiger, wielding two fat branches he had acquired, hoping he looked menacing. Shere Khan raised his eyebrows at the tree branch wielding bear. "What exactly is it that you intend to do with those?" his voice dripped with sarcasm, "Scare away crows? You're doing a lovely scarecrow impersonation."
Baloo harrumphed at him and rolled his eyes. "You know full well what I intend to do with these, Khannie," he spat, unexpectedly hurling one towards the tiger right when he growled the other's name. It wasn't too far of a throw as Baloo's earlier step had proven to fill quite a gap between them and landed nicely on the escaping tiger's hind end. He let out a ripping yelp and fell to the ground. Baloo's eyes widened, shocked. Surely, that wasn't it. His thought proved correct as Shere Khan pushed himself off the ground not even a full second later. He grinned lopsidedly at the bear, but his eyes were full of obvious malice. He began limping forward towards Baloo.
"Nice aim," he murmured, baring his teeth. The moonlight played nicely off his pearly whites making them sparkle in the dark. Dark red blotches stood out against the bright white making the tiger look incredibly intimidating. Baloo shuddered at the sight. He chucked the other branch at the tiger, reaching for another branch that he could hurl when need be.
Shere Khan easily dodged the second branch and let loose a low laugh. "This could prove to be fun," his amused voice frightened Baloo who, in turn, threw the other branch at the tiger. The saying "third time's the charm" must've been true for Baloo since the last branch landed squarely on Shere Khan's head. The branch hit hard and a crack was heard. The tiger screamed in pain before collapsing onto the soft jungle floor. Baloo was slack jawed. That had happened much quicker than he had ever imagined possible. Not that he was complaining; he didn't want to fight Shere Khan any longer than necessary. He began to make his ways towards the two unconscious large cats, but stopped. It suddenly occurred to him that Shere Khan might just be faking his inanimate state. He glanced at the tree branches he had strewn about in his haste to break some so he could throw them at Shere Khan. He cautiously knelt down and gently picked one up. He backed away as far as he could and then leaned forward using his branch to gingerly poke at the prone form of the malevolent tiger. Shere Khan's body was limp and his face showed no signs of him being aware that he was being unkindly jabbed with a tree branch. Satisfied, he dropped his stick and quickly walked over to Bagheera, wincing at the sight of his friend.
"Hey, can you hear me?" he whispered. The panther made no response and Baloo sighed softly. "No, huh?" He glanced over at Shere Khan. The tiger was still frolicking in oblivion. He carefully lifted Bagheera off the ground and began making his way towards Louie's place as quickly as he could manage. He reasoned that there had to be someone there that knew how to attend to his friend's wounds. He hadn't gotten very far when a loud growl caused him to halt in his tracks.
"Going somewhere?" the unmistakable hiss of Shere Khan's voice made Baloo's eye triple in size. He took off at full speed unsure what else to do. With Bagheera draped over his arms he couldn't very well hurl branches at the vile creature again. He doubted Shere Khan would allow him the time to gently set Bagheera back on the earth. He ran desperately hoping Shere Khan's injuries from earlier would make the tiger slower than what he usually was.
Unaware of how long he had been running or if Shere Khan was still on his trail Baloo skidded to a stop when he reached the edge of the ruins he had been at earlier. He looked over them anxious to find a place to hide. He spotted a crevice in a far off corner and dashed towards it. He gently tucked Bagheera away in the corner and moved some rock around so it would be hard to spot the wounded panther. He managed to accomplish this quickly, but sweat matted his fur and he had trouble catching his breath as he kept expecting Shere Khan to suddenly claw away at his back. He looked around wildly, convinced he would see a blur of orange and black racing towards him. When he didn't he began to intently search the ruins, keeping a close distance to Bagheera, hoping to find something that would help him when Shere Khan finally did catch up to him since Baloo knew it would be sooner or later. There was no way Shere Khan wouldn't be able to sniff them out unless his nose had been broken earlier, but that would be expecting too much.
He smiled a small smile when his eyes landed on something his mind deemed useful. He began to make his way over there when the dreaded blur of black and orange materialized before him blocking his way.
Shere Khan glanced over him and smiled maniacally. "What? Did you eat your buddy before I could?"
Baloo looked genuinely taken aback and decided that hit on his noggin must've really knocked loose some screws in Shere Khan's brain. Secretly, he was a bit relieved Shere Khan had followed him rather than trying to catch up with Mowgli and the others. It hadn't occurred to him earlier that Shere Khan might do that he had been so panicked. Now that he had had a little bit of time to collect his thoughts his mind was working out some harebrained plan. Naturally, it wouldn't work very well without its intended victim. He returned Shere Khan's maniacal smile. "Maybe."
It was Shere Khan's turn to be genuinely taken aback. "What?" He sputtered, shocked. "Seriously?" He was still having trouble gathering his thoughts having just escaped the realm of unconsciousness. It hadn't taken him too long to catch up with the bear. Why the bear had come to the ruins was beyond the tiger. Perhaps the bear had forgotten that he had practically lived here. Shere Khan wasn't quite sure and in his current state he was having trouble playing around with the idea. He shook his head and frowned at the bear before going on in a cruel voice, "Don't play with me. I can smell that pathetic wannabe herbivore nearby."
Baloo's eyes widened and he began to slowly make his way towards a rather large crevice. Shere Khan eyed him suspiciously. Baloo positioned himself in front of the empty crevice daring the tiger to try to get past.
"Move," Shere Khan demanded, extending his claws and holding them up so they glittered in the moonlight, trying to make the bear move by intimidation alone.
Baloo shook his head. "No way," he said with an air of finality. Shere Khan frowned.
"We'll see about that," he roared jumping at Baloo. Baloo immediately dove out of the roaring tiger's way. Shere Khan's shocked expression was priceless but, unfortunately, no one was able to behold it. He skidded into the empty crevice. Baloo banged on the run-down wall and bricks tumbled to the ground rapidly filling up the crevice, Shere Khan shouting threats while desperately clawing at them. Baloo gaped at where the crevice had been moments earlier, completely shocked. He really hadn't thought his absurd plan would work out so excellently. He beamed at the new pile of old bricks.
Baloo made his way back to where he had left Bagheera aware of the silence that had enshrouded the ruins. It was almost as if the remains of the previous civilization was aware of the deathtrap it had become. He shivered in the cold night air stopping before the crevice he had hidden Bagheera in. He pushed away the rocks he had hurriedly, but carefully, set there before. Bagheera lifted his head slightly when the moon illuminated Baloo's form. A huge grin graced the bear's lips.
"Heya, Baggy, I see your up and doing well," he spoke to the panther jovially. Bagheera stared at him confused.
"Baloo?" he whispered hoarsely.
Baloo cringed at the sound of his friend's voice. "Hey, no worries. We'll get you fixed right up."
Bagheera looked at him through tired eyes. "What about?" He began but Baloo cut him off.
"They're fine. We found the girl and the baby. They're with Louie and Kaa," he stopped at the incredulous look on the other's face. "Kaa was the only one who knew how to get back to the village," he explained apologetically.
"Shere Khan?"
Baloo grinned happily at him. "He's gone. Don't worry," he assured his friend, helping him to his feet. "Now, let's get you to someone who knows how to fix all that," he indicated the wounds Shere Khan had given him. Bagheera nodded and the two made their way towards Louie's.
Bagheera glanced up at Baloo and cracked a tiny smile. "Baloo, thanks," his voice was still hoarse but there was no mistaken the sincerity in it.
Baloo beamed at him, still grinning madly. "Anytime."
"Here we are!" Kaa proudly announced. Mowgli, Shanti, and Louie stared at the village before them. Mowgli simply couldn't believe it; Kaa had willingly led them to their village without once commented on how delightfully tasteful they looked. If he were being honest with himself, Kaa would have to admit that it astonished him as well.
"Finally!" Shanti cried happily. "We're home." She glanced up at the snake. "Thanks." She nudged Mowgli in the ribs. He sighed.
"Thanks," he reluctantly thanked the beaming snake, too.
"Thanks!" Ranjan echoed, laughing when Louie lifted him over his head. Louie had gotten along wonderfully with the tiny child when he had finally woken up earlier. At first Ranjan had been frightened finding himself no longer in Shanti's arms, but Louie proved to be great fun.
"You're welcome," Kaa responded delighted he had something to hold over their heads if they should meet again.
Louie threw Ranjan up in the air and easily caught him. He laughed along with the child. "Well, Cuz, this is it. Our fork in the road of life," he said dramatically, handing Ranjan over to Mowgli. Shanti disentangled herself so he would be able to hold Ranjan. Louie continued, "Parting is such sweet sorrow. You take the well traveled path and I'll take…"
"Just say goodbye already!" Kaa snapped, irritated.
Louie frowned up at him. "You don't have to hang around."
Kaa glared at him. For some reason, that hadn't occurred to him before. He shook his head. "Fine. Goodbye," with that he slithered off. The others all called out their goodbyes to him.
Finally, Louie turned to face the three humans. "It's been fun. I don't like any teary goodbyes so I'll just be off." He started back into the jungle but Mowgli's worried voice stopped him.
"Louie!" Mowgli paused. "You will let us know about Baloo and Bagheera, right?"
"Definitely, Cuz," Louie said firmly before disappearing into the night.
Shanti tugged at Mowgli. "Come on. I want to go home."
Mowgli couldn't agree more. He would've run to their hut but he stayed with Shanti who hobbled along. A light appeared in the hut and two adults burst out of it, hurrying towards the three children. A tearful reunion took place as stories were swapped, reassurances were made, and an ankle wrapped up.
Mowgli, Shanti, and Ranjan spent nearly two days worrying over their animal friends when they heard no word from the jungle creatures about Baloo or Bagheera. However, mid-afternoon on the second day Shanti went to fill a vase with water by the stream at the edge of the jungle and made a surprising discovery. She called out to Mowgli. He ran to her at the sound of his name with Ranjan toddling along behind him.
"Look at this," she pointed at her discovery. There were coconuts that formed a perfect square.
Mowgli knelt down beside it, a slow smile making its way across his face. A message was there in the ground, framed by the coconuts. It was near enough to the stream to be mud, but not near enough to be washed away. In the mud was four prints; a paw print from a bear, one from a panther, a hand print of an orangutan, and an outline of a snake's body. He laughed as all the worry he had evaporated at once. "They're fine," he told Shanti and Ranjan who stared at him with curious eyes. "They're okay."
Shanti looked at him, "Even Bagheera?"
Mowgli nodded. "Even Bagheera. Baloo—everyone. They're all okay."
Ranjan and Shanti both laughed along with Mowgli, also relieved. Mowgli splashed some water up at Shanti good naturedly. Shanti was too overjoyed to get mad and splashed him back creating a water war. Ranjan joined in and the three's laughter carried over through the jungle gracing the ears of a few certain animals making each one smile and laugh along with the children.
Wow, that was sappy.
I guess this isn't really the tiger's revenge, but over the past two years I have changed it around a bit. Originally it had a different ending, but I like this one better (although I'm still not completely satisfied with it, but I figured this was better than nothing. It'd probably take me another year to come up with an ending I truly liked). Hoped you liked it, though!
Thanks for reading!
