Chapter 14

The darkness soon parted in Mowgli's vision as he woke up from the blow to his head. His hands patted around the floor of his box, the feeling returning back as splinters brushed up against his fingers. Once he remembered where he was, he tried to launch himself against the walls to free himself. But was no use, the box was built too well. Panting hard, Mowgli turned to see the door he once entered through and pressed his sweaty face to the bars. His eyes caught the glimpse of a whole menagerie in boxes along with him. The smell of stale sea salt filled his nose and made him slightly gag.

" No, no. I can't be in here. I gotta get out of here."

" Oh, if you have a splendid idea, spill it, man cub. Because we're dying to hear it, literally and figuratively."

The sound of a slithery voice made Mowgli jolt in surprise. He looked across the way to see a mesh lined box with a pile of coils resting within it pathetically. A small, busted up face peeked its eyes through the center over one coil to look the boy in the eye.

" Kaa, is that you?!"

" Oh, I never thought anyone would be glad to be see me. But, yes, yes. It's me."

" Oh, boy. I thought you were a goner when you fought your mom in that cave."

The python giggled at the flattery from the boy, this time not creepily but genuinely. " Well, I suppose I almost was. Once I finally made it through her and the subsequent rubble, I was snatched by these brutish fellows."

" You know, I never got to say this, but thanks for saving me and my friends that night."

The python looked away in self loathing ness " Oh, does it matter? It's not like it changes what everyone thinks of me; as a slithery sneaky serpent."

" Actually, it did,"

" I-I-I beg your pardon?"

" Everyone heard about what you did afterward. And felt it, I mean a mountain did fall on you. But they really admire how you stood up to your mother and how you were willing to give yourself up for the jungle law."

Kaa's widen eyes shifted to content " Well, I suppose a good deed is its own reward."

" How long have we been here?"

If snakes could shrug, Kaa definitely was doing that right now. " Beats me. Oh, but not literally, I've had enough of that."

Mowgli laughed a little, but quickly stifled it at the sound of oncoming boots marching. Mowgli fell to the back of the box and peeked through a small hole in the wood. Men strained as they tried to set down a massive box with something inside it. Mowgli couldn't tell what it was, but whatever it was, it was angry like hell, roaring and shaking about as much as any animal could be. And yet, something in Mowgli made him feel very worried about this new edition, something that seemed eerily familiar. He could make out the image of William and Buldeo arguing it out nearby.

" Blast it, man! You've delayed our deal for what? A sack of angry bones from a fire pit?"

" If you knew half of what I knew, you'd know that this beast is worth just as much as that man cub. He's the king of his people, a tyrant that strikes in the dark of night."

" He's a liability, one that better not cost us." The two men disputed, their egos clearly needing a wider berth.

" So, man cub, you were saying you needed to get out of here?" Kaa reminded him, snapping him out of this trace.

" Huh? Oh, yeah, well, I don't actually have a full thing yet, but I've got a couple of points. First, how good's your acting?"

While Mowgli and Kaa were planning their escape, his friends weren't too far behind. Rama and Raksha had picked up the scent of their son, which matched up to the trail Rocky was describing as he plundered forward in rhino like fashion. Bagheera was over head, darting through the canopy while asking all the arboreal creatures if they had seen any signs of the army or the man cub nearby. All this left Baloo at the back to confide in his thoughts as he followed along the trail.
" When I get my paws on that guy, I'll throw a right hook right up here. WAMO!" Baloo growled to himself as he practiced a few boxing swings he'd promise to use once they got back Mowgli. " Than, I'll dodge up to the right and give him a little tenderizing. BOP, BOP!"

He reared back a leg of his to simulate his finishing move " And then, for the coupe de gra, I'll-"

Snap, snap

Baloo whipped his head around at the sound of something coming from the creepers.

" Uh, fellas?"

" For the last time, furball, I'm not gonna carry you." Rocky said in a perturbed voice.

" Not talking about that, I'm talking about that!"

Rama turned his head, raiding it to test the air. One whiff and his face turned from concern to fatherly sternest. He paced forward in front of Baloo, standing with head held high and confident.

" Come out, now, son. You've still let to best in tracking your father."

Shamefully, a lone little wolf cub came out from the creepers, ears and tail bashfully held back. Raksha rushed over, rubbing Grey all over.

" Grey, what are you doing here?" she chastised. " You know better than to follow us on a hunt!"

" I-I know. But Mowgli needs all the help he can get, and it his brother!" Grey proclaimed, stamping his small paw definitively.

Bagheera slinked down from the tree he was in, his eyes meeting the sky " And here I thought it was just man cubs that made everything difficult."

" What did you say?!" a small voice called out in enragement as Ranjan leaped out from behind Grey and tackled the panther while pulling at one of his ears.

" What, no, stop that! Why-"

" You take that back! Us kids aren't trouble, not one bit!"

" Rajan, you were supposed to let Grey do the explaining." Shanti called as she too came out and pulled Ranjan off Bagheera.

" Hey, there kiddos! Refreshing as all heck to see ya!" Baloo exclaimed as he scooped them into his arms.

Both wolves just looked down at their embarrassed son. " And you went into the man village behind the packs' back?"

" Like I said, all the help we can get."

Bagheera shook his head " Great. Now we have to go after Mowgli across miles of jungle while still keeping an eye on 3 cubs. Great."

" Don't think you need to go over any of those miles, tabby." Rocky called as he looked out over a cliff. The whole group came over to see an unbelievable sight: a bay full of boats and weird machines with propellers lining a shoreline stuffed with boxes on top of boxes. Troops marched on the outer fringes with military fashion as they each held a bayonet in their right hand. Cannons were strewn about, as was gunpowder and several mountains boxes that contained provisions and a label "TNT".

Baloo gulped at the prospect ahead of them " I think we're gonna need more than the bare necessities for this."