Chapter 6 Colonel Hathi's March

An early morning mist hung over the jungle as Bagheera, Mowgli, and Clarissa were still fast asleep.

But suddenly, the ground started shaking rhythmically from the stomping nearby, as a herd of elephants marched before Mowgli and Clarissa woke up with yawns. The elephants then began to march in a single file line and began to sing while doing so.

Hup, two, three, four,

Keep it up, two, three, four,

Hup, two, three, four,

Keep it up, two three, four,

Hup, two three, four,

As the elephants marched and sang by, all the noise had woken up Mowgli and Clarissa and the two looked at the sight with amazement and confusion.

"Is that…" Clarissa began.

"A parade?" Mowgli asked with amazement.

"I don't know, it doesn't really look like a parade to me," Clarissa said while watching the elephants march by.

"Oh, no" Bagheera said while waking up to the loud marching. "The Dawn Patrol again" He groaned while covering his ears.

"Who's the Dawn Patrol and why are these elephants being so loud? They could be a little more quiet, you know!" Clarissa complained while covering her ears.

However, Mowgli wasn't being annoyed like Clarissa and Bagheera were, so he grabbed a vine to swing down to the ground to get a better look.

"Mowgli, where are you going? Wait up!" Clarissa begged as she jumped off to the ground to follow Mowgli closely from behind.

"Company…sound off!" The leader of the elephant Dawn Patrol shouted before he and the other elephants began to sing.

Oh, the aim of our patrol,

Is a question rather droll,

For to march and drill over field and hill,

The elephants used their trunks to trumpet.

Elephant Colonel: Is a military goal,

Other Elephants: Is a military goal!

The other elephants continued to sing while marching past Mowgli and Clarissa, who both watched in awe.

With a hup, two, three, four,

Dress it up, two three four,

By the ranks of single file,

Over every jungle mile,

Oh, we stamp and crush,

Through the underbrush,

Just then, a small baby elephant came walking behind the larger elephants and gave a small trumpet out of his trunk.

Baby Elephant: In the military style

Other Elephants: In the military style!

Mowgli and Clarissa then walked over to the baby elephant.

"Hello, what are you doing?" Mowgli asked loudly as the baby elephant shushed him.

"Drilling," He responded while continuing to march.

"What's drilling? Can we do it?" Clarissa asked.

"Can I do it too?" Mowgli asked with a whisper.

"Sure, just do what I do, but don't talk in rank, it's against regulations," The little elephant assured the two before Mowgli and Clarissa walked after him in the rear of the file on all fours.

"To the rear…March!" The elephant leader shouted as the little elephant turned around along with the bigger ones, only for him to collide with Mowgli and Clarissa!

"The other way, turn around" The little elephant urged before both Mowgli and Clarissa turned around and continued as normal.

Hup, two, three, four,

Keep it up, two, three, four,

Mowgli and Clarissa unknowingly led his line.

"To the rear…Ho! Company…Halt!" The leader shouted as the baby elephant and the bigger ones turned around, although Mowgli and Clarissa were a bit late on the uptake and had to catch up quickly.

Mowgli ran first and Clarissa caught up, which caused Mowgli to collide with the baby elephant as Clarissa began to giggle.

"That means stop," The baby elephant explained to Mowgli, who didn't know what halt meant.

"Nice move, Mowgli" Clarissa giggled while helping her brother up.

"Haha, very funny" Mowgli retorted.

"Company…left face!" The leader of the elephants ordered before the elephants faced left.

"March, march, march, my feet are killing me," The elephant leader's wife complained.

"I'm putting in a transfer to another herd," One of the other elephants whispered to another.

"Silence in the ranks!" The leader shouted. He walked around the rank until he was behind it. "Dress up that line," The leader demanded before all but one elephant raised their rears.

The one that didn't raise up their rear was the elephant leader's wife, in which he smacked in the bottom of with a small whack from his staff in the trunk. "Pull it in, Winifred," The leader spoke to his wife, who's name was Winifred, before walking back to the front of the rank.

"Inspection…arms!" The leader shouted before all the elephants stuck their trunks out with Mowgli and Clarissa standing up straight.

"Stick your noses out," The little elephant whispered to Mowgli and Clarissa before the two raised their faces.

"Like this?" Mowgli asked as the baby elephant nodded in response.

"That's right," The little one said as Clarissa laughed to herself a bit.

"This is silly," She said as the elephant leader checked the trunk of the second elephant standing next to Winifred.

"Tsk-tsk-tsk. A dusty muzzle soldier, remember in battle that trunk can save your life. Take good care of it, my man." The leader advised, tapping his staff on the elephant's trunk.

"Yes, sir," The second elephant responded.

"Very good, carry on," The leader responded before looking over to the third elephant, who was crewing on some grass.

"Ahem, hmm. Let's have a little more spit and polish on those bayonets," The leader responded, tapping his staff on one of the elephant's tusks.

"Yes, sir!" The third elephant responded.

"Esprit de Corpis! That's the way I earned my commission on the Maharaja's pachyderm brigade, back in 88, I was, eh…or was it…?" The leader began.

"Here it comes, the 'Victoria-cross' bit again," Winifrid sighed to the second elephant next to her.

"It was then I received the Victoria-Cross for bravery above and beyond the call of duty, ha-ha! Those were the days, discipline was the things, builds character and all that sort of thing, you know?" The leader said before a loud snap of a small bamboo stick sounded as the elephant leaned on it, interrupting his speech before standing back up and noticing the damage.

"Oh…where was I? Oh, yes, interpretation." The leader spoke before looking at the forth elephant.

"Well, very good," The leader said before looking at the fifth elephant, who gave out a wide smile.

"Wipe off that silly grin, soldier, this is the army" The leader spoke before the elephant frowned.

He then turned to the sixth elephant, who had a fly buzzing above its head as the leader swatted it away with his broken stick.

"Ahem, eyes front," The leader spoke before the sixth elephant opened his eyes with the leader now checking the seventh elephant, whose hair on his head was longer than needed to be.

"Tsk-tsk-tsk. Lieutenant, that haircut is not regulation. Rather on the gaudy side, don't you think?" The leader asked as he messed with the hair with his stick before cutting it short using the bamboo stick. "

There, that's better," The leader spoke before then looking forward to another direction.

"And as for you…" The leader tried to say before looking down to see the little elephant, who was his own son. "Oh, there you are, heh-heh-heh, let's keep these heels together, shall we, son?" The leader asked as his son looked down to see his heels before looking back up.

"Okay, pop…Sir!" The little elephant said as he did what was advised.

"That's better," The leader spoke before turning to Mowgli and Clarissa. "Well, new recruits eh? They go well together, ha-ha-ha…I say, what happened to your trunks?"

The leader pushed Mowgli's face with his stick, making him annoyed.

"Hey, stop that!" Mowgli shouted with disrespect.

"Mowgli!" Clarissa scolded before the leader reeled back in with shock and disbelief.

"What?! A man-cub! And a female along with him, this is treason!" The leader shouted as Clarissa crossed her arms and gave him a look.

"That's woman-cub to you mister!" She said with rudeness.

"Excuse me, young lady, but who's the boss around here? And I shall have noe man-cubs in my jungle!" The leader sputtered as he grabbed Mowgli with his trunk, shook him around, and sat him back down next to an angry Clarissa.

"Your jungle?" She asked with her hands on her hips.

"It's not your jungle" Mowgli retorted before Bagheera quickly arrived near the area.

"Hold it, hold it! I can explain, Hathi!" Bagheera assured the elephant leader, who was known as Colonel Hathi.

"Colonel Hathi, if you please, sir." Hathi rudely corrected.

"Oh, yes, yes, Colonel Hathi. The man-cubs are with me, I'm taking them back to the man village," Bagheera assured the elephant leader.

"To stay?" Hathi asked.

"You have the word of Bagheera." The panther responded.

"Good and remember, an elephant never forgets." Hathi said before Mowgli and Clarissa glared at him while crossing their arms.

"Humph! I don't know what the army's coming to these days, these young whippersnappers, who do they think they are?" Hathi muttered to himself as all the other elephants were all about to doze off.

"Ahem, let's get on with it, right face! Forward…march!" Hathi ordered as the elephants woke up and began to turn to the right, where they marched too closely and then began to march forward.

"Dear, haven't you forgotten something?" Winifred asked her husband, who didn't believe he forgot anything.

"Nonsense, Winifred, old girl. An elephant never forgets." Hathi repsoned while continuing to walk forward.

"Well, you just forgot our son," Winifred responded, making Hathi blanch as he noticed his son, Hathi Jr, playing with Mowgli and Clarissa.

"Uh, s…Son?! Son! Oh yes, quite right, to the rear…march!" Hathi shouted as he turned around with the other elephants behind him, as they all began to march the same way they did in the previous direction.

"When I grow up, I wanna be a colonel, just like my…" Hathi Jr said to Mowgli and Clarissa before his father rudely interrupted and picked him up with his trunk.

"If I told you once, I've told you a thousand times…" Hathi began before Hathi Jr noticed the other elephants marching right into Hathi's rear!

"Pop! Look out!" Hathi Jr shouted before a spectacular crash of the elephants took place, pushing Hathi with his legs, sliding against the ground as the elephants crashed into him before the last elephant bumped their trunk on another elephant's rear, practically bending it.

"Gee, pop, you forgot to say stop," Hathi Jr remarked before both Mowgli and Clarissa burst out into laughter.

"Ha-ha! Serves you right, you rude old elephant!" Clarissa laughed as Mowgli began to laugh even more.

"He said an elephant never forgets!" He laughed before he and Clarissa turned back to Bagheera, who was just as stern and disappointed as last night.

"It's not funny. Now, let's get out of here, quick, before something else happens." Bagheera urged as he began to run through the forest with Mowgli and Clarissa following from behind him.

Sorry it took my a bit to upload this chapter (I was kind of busy and am also planning on starting my Casper story this week), but stay tuned since some more great scenes are to come. Please Review!