Chapter 9 (RIKU): The Bare Necessities

Chapter 9 (Riku): The Bare Necessities

        As Mowgli tried his hardest to distance himself from Bagheera, the panther relied more on Riku to keep an eye on Mowgli.  Riku looked at it as if he were babysitting the little boy, but as of the moment, the boy was both too obsessed with Jungle life and trusting of Riku to not run off from him.  So, unlike when Bagheera was trying to escort the boy to the Man Village, Mowgli actually allowed Riku to walk close to and even protect him from the various Unversed that still loomed deep in the Jungle.  

        As the group reached a clearing, they stopped to survey the scenery.  Riku turned to Bagheera to explain the clearing.  "Why does it look like the trees have been cut down?"

        A loud, bombastic trumpeting noise gave Riku his answer.  From down the path, a parade of elephants marched onto the scene, shouting and marching as though they were in a military training ground.  Bagheera sighed.  "Oh great" the panther answered sarcastically.  "The Jungle Patrol!"

        As the elephants marched closer and closer, the ground around the group began to shake wickedly.  Riku had just as hard a time trying to maintain his stance as Bagheera and Mowgli did.  The lead elephant, carrying a bamboo stick in his trunk, noticed the small group, particularly the two humans, and stopped himself and the rest of the group.  "COMPANY, HALT!"  The rest of the herd stopped itself as the elephant examined the group.  "Why are these man-cubs in my jungle, Bagheera?"

        "It's not your jungle!" Mowgli argued.  Before Mowgli could further argue, Riku grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back.  

        "Hold it, Hathi" Bagheera answered.  "I can explain everything."

        Hathi looked at Bagheera bitterly.  "Colonel Hathi, if you please sir."

        Bagheera rolled his eyes.  "Yes, I apologize.  You see, Colonel Hathi, I am taking these man-cubs to the Man Village."

        "To stay?"

        "You have the word of Bagheera" the panther replied, bowing before the elephant.  

        Hathi snorted his trunk and turned towards the rest of the group.  "Let's get along then.  ABOUT FACE!  FORWARD, MARCH!"  With that, the entire herd of elephants marched off into the distance once more, trumpeting and shouting as they did.  

        Mowgli grunted.  "What a blowhard!"

        Riku shook his head.  "For once, I agree with you."

        "It doesn't matter what you agree about" Bagheera answered.  "You two are endangering the lives of everyone in the Jungle.  We need to get you two out of here."  Bagheera began nudging Mowgli down the path, but Mowgli grabbed ahold of a nearby tree branch.  "Let's go, Mowgli!"

        "I'm staying here in the Jungle!" Mowgli argued.  

      Bagheera grabbed ahold of Mowgli's loin cloth with his teeth and tried to drag Mowgli down the path, but lost his grip and slid into a nearby pond.  Enraged, the panther leapt back onto the path and huffed bitterly.  "I've had it, Mowgli!  If you want to be on your own, then you are on your own!  Alone!"  With that, Bagheera bounded off down the path.  

      "Fine!" Mowgli shouted.  "Don't worry about me!  Riku and I can live off in the jungle!  Let's go, Riku!"  Before Riku could argue, Mowgli had grabbed his hand and was once more dragging him down the path.  

        As Riku and Mowgli neared a river path, Mowgli studied the path of the river.  "I've always wanted to ride this."  Mowgli leaned over and looked over the river.  "Come on, Riku!  Let's go!"

        Riku shook his head.  "I don't know, Mowgli.  Do you even know where it let's up?"

        Mowgli laughed.  "Nope!  But that's half the fun!"  He grabbed Riku's arm and the two leapt off of the ledge and dove into the water.  

Minigame: River Rapids

Follow Mowgli down the river path!

Get Bonus: 

Riku: +5 HP

        The two arrived at the end, where the rapids turned into a waterfall.  Mowgli, who was moving much faster than Riku was, slung himself over the falls and into a nearby tree.  Riku, however, plunged deep into the water.  Riku caught onto a nearby branch and tried to climb back onto shore.  As he did, he noticed Mowgli was throwing punches at a huge bear.  The bear shook his head.  

        "Pitiful" he answered, with very little subtlety.  He plucked Mowgli up in the air and laughed.  "Hey, kid.  You need help, and Ol' Baloo is gonna learn you to fight like a bear."  Baloo looked over to Riku.  "Your friend can tag along, too."  

        Riku continued drying himself off from his river ride.  "You go ahead without me, Mowgli.  I still need to dry off."

        Mowgli and Baloo began circiling each other.  "Let's go.  Get real loose and start to weave.  Weave a little.  Now move!  That's it!"  Mowgli tried leaping up to Baloo's height, but failed to reach higher than the bear's stomach.  "Now, give me a big bear growl!"  

      Mowgli growled slightly, but was sure he was no bear.  Baloo shook his head.  "Oh boy.  I got work to do with you!  I'm talking about like a big bear!"  Baloo roared viciously, causing Mowgli to tumble onto his back. 

      "WHOA!" Mowgli shouted, ecstatically.  "RAR!" he tried duplicating. 

      "Keep on your toes, kid!" Baloo shouted.  

      Riku laughed as Baloo and Mowgli tussled and wrestled each other.  Finally, Mowgli hopped onto Baloo's back and began tickling his rib cage.  "No.  No no.  We don't tickle here in the jungle!  Ha ha!  NO!  I can't stand it!"  Baloo and Mowgli laughed and rolled onto the ground.  "Hey.  You know something?  You're alright, kid.  What do they call you?"

        "Mowgli" called Bagheera from a nearby tree limb.  "And he's going back to the Man Village, right now."

        "Man village?" Baloo asked, almost offended by such an idea.  "They'll ruin him!  They'll make a man out of him!"  

        "Oh Baloo!" Mowgli called, burying himself into the bear's fur.  "I wanna stay here with you."

        "Certainly you do!" Baloo answered the boy's call, patting him on the head.

        "Oh" Bagheera laughed.  "And just how do you think he'll survive?" 

        "He's with me, ain't he?  And I'll learn him all I know."

        "Well, that shouldn't take too long."  

        Baloo looked to Mowgli.  "Now, it's like this, little britches.  All you gotta do is look for the bare necessities.  And with good ol' Papa Bear, I'll show you all ya need.  Come on, I'm bushed.  Let's go eat."  The bear scooped up Mowgli and put the boy on his shoulders.  "Do ya like ants?"

        "You eat ants?" Mowgli asked, half excited, half disgusted.  

        "You better believe it" Baloo laughed.  "And you are gonna love the way they tickle."  

        As Baloo and Mowgli disappeared around the bend, Bagheera leapt down and prepared to follow them.  But Riku stopped him.  "Come on, Bagheera.  It looks like Baloo can take care of him."

        "Baloo is nothing but a shiftless, jungle bum!" the panther groaned.  "Mowgli will be in mortal danger in no time!  I better go and make sure nothing too bad happens to them."  

          Riku and Bagheera followed Baloo and Mowgli, only to find a group of Unversed surrounding the band.  "Unversed!" Riku shouted, leaping into the middle of the group.  

        

Team up with Baloo to Defeat All of the Unversed

        As Riku and Baloo took down the last of the Unversed, Baloo and Mowgli simply returned to their fun and frolicking.  Bagheera sighed.  "I guess I'll never get those two apart."

        "Sometimes" Riku laughed, "the best friendships are the ones that are not meant to be broken."  Riku looked on as Baloo and Mowgli played and tussled with each other.  In many ways, the way these two played and simply enjoyed each other, reminded Riku very much of his friendship with Sora.  The sheer ease and joy they got out of life made Riku reminisce of the days he and Sora would play pirates, race across the beaches and compete for Kairi's adoration.  "Trust me, Bagheera, I speak from experience."