The next day, Bagheera and Baloo rested in the sun as Mowgli played hide-and-seek with Bahan and the smaller creatures. It was the pygmy hog's turn to find the others, as he searched around saying "okay you guys. Ready or not. Here I come!"

He pulled down some flowers to find the pangolin, who said "for goodness' sake!" before finding the squirrel in the tree top. He went into Baloo's cave and pulled back a curtain to find Mowgli, who said "Bahan's all that's left."

"Okay."

The hog looked in the cave, then the flowers, then the trees. But there was no sign of the tiger cub. Suddenly, something in the bushes caught his eye. He saw a striped pelt in the grass, grabbed it and said "gotcha!"

To his surprise, it was just an orange sack bag of straw with painted black stripes. Suddenly, he was pinned down as Bahan giggled. The hog said "I give up! I give up! You win! Ha ha!"

"What do you guys think?" Mowgli said as he picked up the striped sack. I used powdered rocks to draw striped on this sack. Great little decoy, huh Bahan?"

The cub nodded, as Bagheera said "I'm impressed, Mowgli. One of your best tricks yet. I'm sure Bahan appreciates your camouflage technique, eh?"

"Well, it's like the law says. The strength of the wolf is the pack. So you look out for your family." Mowgli said as Bahan began licking his face. The squirrel said "anymore tricks, mancub?"

"Hm... I do have one idea. Come on, let's get some ingrediants."

Bagheera sat quietly and nodded off as the others began building something. He was quickly woken up by the sound of snapping trees, seeing Bahan pushing a small a tree trunk towards Mowgli, who used a sharp leave to hack the trunk into four equal pieces.

"What are you up to, mancub?" Bagheera asked as the pygmy hog passed Mowgli two thin branches, which Mowgli threaded through a holed log. "It's a new trick I'm building for Bahan." Mowgli answered as he placed a piece of the trunk on either end of the branches.

"I call it a log-racer. You can travel down a hill with it."

"Oh... very um... useful."

Mowgli stepped into the log and pulled Bahan in with him. "You wanna come on too Bagheera?"

"You know, I think I'll give it a miss. Be careful."

"Alright then." Mowgli said, before grabbing a carved pawpaw and pressing it onto Bahan's head for protection. Bagheera scoffed at this as Baloo stood behind the trunk, saying "ready kid?"

"We have liftoff, Baloo!" Mowgli said, before the bear pushed the log to the hill's edge and jumped onto the back of it. All three of them cheered as their log cart raced down the hill at full speed. Bahan squealed with delight, before her helmet flew off and hit Baloo in the face. The bear licked the fruit off of his face, saying "hey, that's some paw-paw head protection, kid! Ha ha ha... aaaahhhh!"

Suddenly, the cart crashed into a rock, shattering the wheels and sending all three of them flying to the ground. Baloo hit his head on a rock, knocking him out as Mowgli and Bahan skidded across the grass on the small remaining fraction of the log. Mowgli looked ahead, seeing a cliff edge. He held Bahan close to his chest before using his grappling vine to latch onto a nearby tree and hoist them off of the branch.

However, as they landed on the ground, Bahan's tail, which had been lodged in a crack on the log, dragged her from Mowgli's grip and closer to the cliff edge. Mowgli held onto the vine for leverage as he leaped to grab Bahan just before she fell from the edge. Bahan started to slip over the edge, covering her eyes with her paws as she saw the log being swept away by the fast-flowing river at the foot of the cliff.

Mowgli grabbed Bahan's tail to keep her from falling off of the cliff, where there stood a fast-flowing river. Bahan's claws stuck into the rock to keep her from falling down, as she turned to Mowgli and screamed for help. "Bahan, hold on! I've got you!" Mowgli said, before noticing Bahan's tail starting to slip from his hands due to the leaking paw-paw fruit.

Bagheera walked down to the lake, before hearing screaming from above him. He gasped as he looked up to see Bahan hanging over the ledge, saying "BAHAN! HOLD ON!"

"No." Mowgli said as Bahan's tail began slipping from his hand. "Must... hold... on... NO!"

Finally, Bahan's tail slipped from his grasp, as the cub plummeted from the cliff. Mowgli shouted "Bahan!" as he looked over the edge to see her heading towards the river. Bagheera shouted "BAHAN!" as he noticed a large wave heading towards them. As Bahan continued to fall, Bagheera stepped back a few paces, before climbing up a nearby rock and leaping into the air.

The panther grabbed the cub in mid-air, shielding her from the wave as they were both carried downstream by it. Mowgli ran to Baloo and said "Baloo, wake up!"

"What happened? I just blacked out for a second. Mowgli, where are you going?"

"Come on! They're heading downstream."

Bagheera shouted "hold tight, Bahan!", the tiger gripping close to him as they headed into the rapids. Bagheera covered the tiger with his paws and arched his back, protecting Bahan from each rock as he crashed against it, groaning in agony at each impact.

As they got out of the rapids, Bagheera sighed, saying "thank goodness." as he began to lose consciousness. Bahan smiled, before growling in fright as she saw the waterfall that lay ahead of them. Bagheera said "I've got a bad feeling about this!" as he wrapped Bahan tight.

Mowgli and Baloo reached the riverbank, shocked to see them. Mowgli grabbed a stick and said "Bagheera, grab this!" as he pointed the branch towards them. Bagheera looked at Bahan and said "Bahan, no matter what happens to me, I want to to remember these words... I..."

"It's now or never, Baggy!" Baloo said as he and the smaller creatures held the branch with Mowgli. Bagheera, knowing he would weigh too much for the branch, picked up Bahan and threw her towards the branch.

Bahan turned as Bagheera headed closer to the waterfall. She squealed as she tried to swim after him, before Mowgli pulled her out of the water and said "no, Bahan! Don't."

They all watch with shock as Bagheera reached the edge of the waterfall. Mowgli said "Bagheera, hold on!"

But the panther took a deep breath, looked at Mowgli and Bahan, smiling warmly as he fell over the edge and into the mist. Bahan wailed as Mowgli held her close, saying "no... it can't be!"

Baloo carried Mowgli and Bahan to the bottom of the waterfall, searching the shallow water for Bagheera. Mowgli threw the remains of the log cart aside as he shouted "BAGHEERA!" as Baloo submerged under the water looking for the panther.

Mowgli turned to see Bahan trying to pull something out of the water, before Baloo grabbed her find and dragged it onto shore. Mowgli lay out Bagheera's unconscious body on the ground, trying to revive him as he said "Bagheera. Bagheera, it's Mowgli. Wake up!"

He began pressing Bagheera's chest to force out the water, saying "come on. Breathe. Breathe!"

Baloo embraced Mowgli as he said "sorry kid... but some things, you just can't change."

Bahan slapped at Bagheera's face to wake him up, but he remained unconscious. She tried biting his ear and shaking his nose, but that didn't work either. The cub began to squeal as she buried herself in the panther's night-like fur. Mowgli said "Bahan... it's not worth it." as the cub nestled in Bagheera's chest, throwing his paw over herself as she pressed against his face. She started to cry as she licked his face to say goodbye, before suddenly...

"He moved!" the pygmy hog said. Bahan realized this, and began licking Bagheera's face as the panther started to respond to Mowgli and Baloo's amazement. Bagheera's eyes finally opened, coming face to face with the tiger cub who smiled as she knocked him over playfully.

Mowgli said "Bagheera! You're alright!" as he also embraced the panther, who said "easy now. I almost drowned you know."

"You sure had us worried Baggy." Baloo laughed, as Bagheera held Bahan in his paws and said "well, I wasn't the only one."

As Bahan tightly embraced Bagheera, the pangolin said "you know, it was really brave of you to rescue a cub that's not even your own."

Bagheera smiled, and said "the strength of the wolf is the pack. You look out for your family."