A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome to the latest installment of my JungleVerse that I have going on, in case if any of you have no clue what the "JungleVerse" is; it is a mini-universe that started in 2021 with my story The Jungle Book: The Story Re-Told, which to date, is one of my most successful stories in terms of views and number of reviews. I also wanted to let any new readers know that I highly suggest them go back and read that story if you want any details for the next installment, for readers who have previously liked and read through my Jungle Book story
Like The Jungle Book: The Story Re-Told, this story will be a huge blend between all of the media of Tarzan, from the actual book, to the old movies, to the Disney movies. Although I will say it relies heavily on the Disney media due to the real book series taking a sci-fi turn.
Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this new installment to the three part series!- KaijuCrazy02
(Tarzan: The Story Re-Told)
While Mowgli journeyed through the jungles of India and had several trials and tribulations, little did he and his animal friends know that there existed a wild man similar to him many miles away in a different country...
The Congo-Arab proxy war had just came to a close during this time, which posed a threat to the home of the animals of the Congo.
While the Belgians are siding with the Congo free state, one tribe of people want them out, desiring to keep the chaos at bay and keeping the conflict away from their homes, but not only this tribe wants them out, so too do the animals.
The animals and this certain tribe rely on one man, the unsung hero, Tarzan...
(Prologue: 1895)
Percy Isaacs approached a man clad in military uniform, he had been informed of the Congo free state victory during his travels to this location.
"You, it has been requested of me to come here. Heard you're dealing with a rumored wild man." The Englishman spoke to the Belgian troop that stood before him, the man nodded towards Percy's words.
"All that we were doing was try to help them, but now they turn their backs on us...damned traitors..." The Belgian soldier grumbled with a roll of his eyes, holding his rifle tightly in his arms.
"My apologies, sir-" Percy began before extending his gloved arm out for a handshake.
"Percy Isaacs of the British Raj, and you?"
"Jacob Dupont." The Belgian troop revealed his name as he shook the hand of his newfound ally who came from a few countries away just to give them help.
"It's my honor to give aid, Mr. Dupont. Tell me about the threat that has been consistently harassing your men, I'll be needing some ideas..."
"Should be plural, there are more threats than just one. Tribal savages, wild animals, Tarzan."
"Hold on, what is Tarzan?"
"Tarzan is the wild man that you've been hearing the rumors about, we captured one of the tribal people that came running out of the jungle and he repeatedly told us about him. He's a white man with abnormal strength and power, his will is of iron, and he can reportedly tame and control any animal that dares oppose him." Dupont revealed, giving Isaacs all of the information that he could possibly need.
Suddenly, a loud yell came from within the jungle, bouncing off the trees and reverberating back towards the small Belgian camp. That yell could only belong to one man...
"Abnormal strength and power, huh? Well, we'll see about that." Isaacs stated with a grin spreading across his lips.
(Chapter 1: The Ape Man)
Jane Porter was the daughter of Archimedes Q. Porter, who was a professor at Harvard, Jane traveled with him across the seas. When the Arab-Congo proxy war was coming to a head, she had been sent to the Congo to serve as a nurse for Congolese fighters and Belgian soldiers who were giving aid against the Arabs.
Now that the war was over, it gave her a chance to explore the land. Jane loved to be out in nature, she would often relax against a tree and sketch her surroundings. Due to being in the Congo, it gave her a chance to jot down so many notes and draw so many wonderful pictures of what she was witnessing around her.
Right now, she happened to be riding in a boat, sketching what she was looking at. A Belgian soldier was rowing it, guiding it down the stream. Covering the gently flowing river was a canopy of trees that seemingly formed a tunnel, occasional vines dangled down from the trees and nearly touched the water. Sometimes there would be tropical flowers blooming from some of the trees, there was also the squawking of birds in the trees.
Jane was so used to her life in America, the woman had grown accustomed to the sights, smells, and sounds of the country to such an extent, that everything here seemed alien to her in all the good ways.
Little did she know that she was about to meet one of the creatures too...
Suddenly, the boat violently rocked from side to side. The Belgian trooper looked around with an alarmed expression on his face, Jane had dropped her journal into the boat and seemed to be afraid as she gasped and looked around before facing the trooper for answers.
"What was that, Thomas?" She asked with a worried look in her eyes, the Belgian trooper stopped rowing and stood up with his rifle in his arms.
"I don't know, but be wary for any unexpected thi-" Thomas' voice was cut off when a reptilian head struck from the water and smashed against the side of the boat, letting out a guttural hiss! The boat began to tip over on one side, causing Jane to latch hold of the sides of the canoe and to hold her journal shut between her feet. Thomas would go falling over the side, splashing into the river.
"Thomas!" Jane called out as the canoe straightened itself out again, but she didn't want to leave Thomas there.
Her worried cries caught the attention of another man who had been what some people would consider: Stalking.
Jane watched as Thomas rose up from the waters, his uniform soaked and his weapon gleaming with water all over it. The mouth of the crocodile rose up from the water as well, clamping down hard on the arm of the Belgian troop, causing him to let out a scream of agony!
Jane squealed in terror as she was tossed the rifle by Thomas, she was just barely able to catch it, nearly dropping it into the waters.
"FIRE WH-"Thomas' words were cut off again as he was dragged under the water, moments later he was seen rising up, going for a spin as the crocodile went for the brutal "death roll" attack, their bodies were seen disappearing under the surface of the murky waters again, but when they came back up, blood was seen clouding up under the surface...
"THOMAS!" Jane cried out as she noticed that his arm had been torn from his body, he was still screaming and coughing as the water was rushing into his mouth.
It didn't take long for the two of them to be completely gone, but Jane was still panicking. She knew that Thomas threw her the gun for her to use, so she took aim and fired where she saw the crocodile.
It seemed to have the opposite effect of what Thomas desired...
The crocodile's head was seen peeking over the surface in the distance, slowly approaching the canoe again with a bloodsoaked mouth.
Jane began to panic again, hyperventilating as she tried her best to row the boat backward in a desperate attempt to escape the predator.
"Ungawa!" A male voice was heard calling from above, Jane looked up to see the trees shaking around as if something was moving within them.
"Help!" She cried out, the limbs of the trees were heard snapping and cracking again. The crocodile was only getting closer and closer to the canoe as Jane continued to panic.
Then came that yell again, the yell that was heard from within the jungle many nights in a row, the yell that was heard before chaos broke out at the Belgian camp as troops rushed towards the trees to find this "Tarzan" that the captured natives spoke of.
Seconds after the yell, a flash of brown zipped down to Jane and landed in the water right next to the canoe as the crocodile went to tip it over. The impact of the falling body was enough to rock the boat enough for it to tip over and send Jane going into the water, as well as her journal.
When she went beneath the raging water, she expected to see black within moments, but death never came for her. Her fight or flight instincts had kicked in, and when she turned around to look behind her, the crocodile was seen coming for her, the mouth of the reptilian beast opening wide to take a large chomp out of her!
Before the jaws could lock around her legs, that man burst into view, ramming into the side of the predator, shoving it away from Jane. She took this as an opportunity to get away, swimming towards the river bank and crawling out by making use of a tree root that stuck out from a hill, using it to rappel to the top of the hill.
When Jane turned around, she noticed the tail of the crocodile slapping from the water and then its head rising from the surface. The jaws of the monstrous predator were being held slightly open by that man, he was musclebound and had an unkempt beard with long, wiry, shoulder-length hair. His hair of his was also unkempt and dirty, even forming into dreads here and there due to neglect.
The man growled as he strained to keep the mouth of the crocodile open and from shutting on his head, baring his teeth as he pushed the reptile back to a safe distance. Jane was in awe of this man, it had to be Tarzan, it had to be!
The croc was relentless as it came for the wild man again, jaws opening up, it surged forward to go for a bite, but at uncanny speed, the man evaded it while being chest-deep in water! As soon as the predator missed the attempted attack, the feral man wrapped his muscular arms around the jaws of the crocodile to hold the mouth shut.
The crocodile, in an attempt to shake him off, began to spin back into the "death roll," but the man held on tight and wasn't released, it still required him effort to keep a good grip on the predator as his face was seen straining up yet again, eyes squinted shut and teeth bared as he let out a determined growl.
The bodies of the man and beast vanished beneath the water, and when they emerged again, it appeared that he was riding the crocodile like a horse, unsheathing a knife that was attached to a necklace of his as the beast went into the water again.
Then they came back up, and the wild man took two downward strikes into the top of the croc's head, shouting with exertion as he rammed the blade down twice in a row as hard as he possibly could before the two of them went beneath the water again.
When the two of them showed up again, the man had been thrown off and the croc was swimming towards him at an alarming speed. He rose the knife over his head again and with a shout of grit, he struck the knife down to the spot where he had been attacking, right when the crocodile slammed into him, forcing him beneath the water!
They stayed under the water for what seemed like forever, but eventually, a decent amount of blood began to cloud under the surface. Jane began to grow worried that this man had met the same fate as Thomas did, but she was proven wrong as the man rose from the waters, dragging the dead crocodile by the tail onto the riverbank.
"Weak spot, head!" The man called out, his voice was deep and brawny, this was a man that had no fear at all.
"Wh-who are you!?" Jane asked loudly from across the river, admiring the physique of the man. His legs appeared to be just as strong as his upper body, the only clothing on his body was in the form of a loincloth and a necklace with a knife attached to it, which he had sheathed after defeating the crocodile.
"I am Tarzan, of the apes!" The man responded, confirming Jane's suspicions. She watched as he marched into the jungle, dragging the carcass of the crocodile along with him, leaving a thin trail of blood from where he had slain it, a bloody hole at the top of the head.
Even though Jane knew it had been this man whom she once considered a mere legend, she was still speechless, he was able to wrestle a large crocodile all by himself and win, such is a thing hardly anyone could do against a hungry beast.
Seconds later after Tarzan vanished into the shrubbery, Jane heard the loud rustling of limbs and leaves behind her, causing her to spin around quickly to see if it was another potential predator within the Congo jungle. It was a relief to see that it was only more Belgian troops, Jacob Dupont being one of them.
"Mrs. Porter, we heard you screaming around in here? What happened?" Dupont asked with a look of concern, the other three soldiers looking around intensely while clutching their weapons tightly.
"I was sightseeing with Thomas, but a crocodile attacked our canoe, and..." Jane couldn't finish her sentence when she looked over her shoulder to make sure Tarzan wasn't there anymore.
"Thomas didn't make it...but a man came and saved me, a man swung down from the vines and wrestled the crocodile into submission, it was insane!" She explained, the Belgian soldiers looked amongst themselves and instantly knew who she was talking about.
"Tarzan..." Jacob Dupont grumbled, another failed attempt at capturing this feral man that the tribal people described.
"We're going to eventually find that savage, he's overdue for a good talking to." He continued, Jane looked bewildered at what he was saying.
"Why!?" She asked loudly with a gasp. "Why would you need to capture him? He saved my life!?"
"Because he and his allies have caused harm to us, he may have probably saved your skin because he feels compassion for a woman, something I'm surprised a man like himself has. I didn't know wild people like him could have such manners." Jacob replied sternly.
"You're speaking badly of the people you were brought here to help." Jane stated angrily as she followed after Dupont as the troops began to march back to their camps.
"I'm not talking about them, Jane. I'm talking about this one tribe that comes from this damn jungle that has tried to slaughter all of us in recent weeks with no reason. We come all the way from Belgium to help and this is how we get repaid!?"
"Okay, maybe some of the tribal people here don't understand that. Maybe they..." Jane couldn't finish her sentence when Jacob turned around and got into her face, ramming his pointer finger between her eyes.
"Finally you speak words of damn sense..." He growled through his clenched teeth, getting right into her face before turning around, storming back to the camp without a care in the world.
Jane sighed, there was no winning an argument against Dupont, it was his way or the highway, and if one even dared to think differently, he would snap on them, sometimes getting into altercations with his own men. Alas, she knew that she couldn't stay out here in the jungle, there were far too many creatures to go against, and she feared that if too many attacked at one time, it would take more than just Tarzan to save the day.
(That night)
While the Belgian troops told their stories at the campfires, Jane decided to keep to herself and begin a new journal. She relaxed, lying peacefully on her bunk as she jotted down what had gone down earlier day, detailing the crocodile encounter, and how Tarzan saved her life.
Using writing utensils and a mixture of colors, she would sketch what she remembered Tarzan to look like while he wrestled against the reptile in the water after saving her. Becoming grateful for Tarzan instead of vilifying him like her allies do, believing him and the tribe she believed him to live with are misunderstood individuals who were kept in the dark about the proxy war that had been raging on in their backyard for the past few years.
She had tried again to explain her thoughts to Jacob Dupont, but there was once more, no changing his mind. His heart was hardened at his belief that Tarzan was a savage human that needed to be either put down or questioned heavily on what he was doing to them.
Speaking of their leader, it didn't take long for Jane to start hearing Jacob's voice from nearby, speaking of his plans moving forward in regards to Tarzan and the tribe that has been repeatedly coming from the jungle to attack them. She slid her bunk close to the exit point of her tent and listened carefully to what he had to say.
"Jane has been complaining about that man all day long, telling how he is misunderstood. I see it differently, all of the tribes we've met were friendly to us and practically begged us for our help. If King Leopold didn't see to it that we give aid, they would have all been enslaved..." Jacob was heard grumbling by the campfire amongst the indistinctive chatter of the other troops.
"Got any other ideas? Let's just say that if what you currently have planned fails, we will need something we can fall back on." A troop was heard asking, concerned about Dupont's methods of tracking and capturing Tarzan.
"I do." The voice of Percy Isaacs was heard announcing as he took a seat by the campfire.
"We'll allow Jacob to exact his plan onto Tarzan and his tribe, if it fails, we will use the tribes that have become aligned with us to track them down. They have more knowledge of the land than we do, they could move in and lure Tarzan out by a method of my choosing. Once he is in the spotlight, we'll all fall upon him, let's see how he handles gunfire..." Percy spoke, and the way Jane could hear the soldiers snickering and agreeing with his words without question like the yes-men they were, she knew that they liked his ideas.
I've seen what Tarzan can do, and you'll regret the thought of hunting him down Jane thought to herself as she added some final touches to her sketch of the ape-man.