AN: WOWEE. I can't believe that there is only one story in this category.

Personally, Tarzan is one of my favorite disney movies, and I just saw the new live-action (more like CGI Action) Jungle Book. So I decided to write this.

The universe is obviously fanon, because I know that Africa and India are on separate continents.

This takes place before both the Tarzan and Jungle Book movies.

It was a particularly violent storm. It had come upon the apes without warning, the rain pelting, the river swelling, the sky shaking with noise and light. They apes had been traveling along a river prior to the storm's arrival. A river provided water and life, but not now. Not during the storm.

The apes huddled together under the trees, watching as the river grew larger and more dangerous, almost as if it were alive.

"MY CHILD! WHERE IS MY CHILD!?" One of the female apes cried out.

A nearby tree splintered under the force of the tropical storm and fell with a crash upon the river. The apes shrieked in fear.

"MY CHILD! THE TREE!"

The once mighty tree was still hanging onto the banks of the river by its roots. It's trunk stretched out perpendicularly across the pregnant river like a great wooden bridge. Lighting flashed, and the apes could see the small wet form of an infant gorilla, hanging on to a tree branch suspended feet above the river's raging surface.

Then there was another shape. It was heroically making it's way across the tree trunk to the infant gorilla. A man.

"Tarzan! Tarzan!" A cry rose up from the apes. Tarzan reached the gorilla and retrieved it from its perilous position. Gently, he placed it on the main trunk of the tree, and with a speed that had deserted it before, the baby gorilla ran across the tree up the bank and back to its mother.

Triumphant, Tarzan began to make his way back across the river as well. But with a great cracking noise, the roots of the tree began to fail in their fight against the river. Tarzan began to move faster, but the roots had already lost the battle and the tree was swept away in the storm.

...

Mowgoli had never seen anything quite like it before.

"It must be a baby elephant." He decided.

Cautiously, he approached the limp form lying on the banks of the river. He had heard quite a bit about Elephants before, but had never seen one up close.

A coughing groaning noise came from the creature. Mowgoli backed away into the jungle, hiding in the brush. It sat up, and preceded to use its hands to clear the tangled hair from his face.

'Hands?' Mowgoli thought. 'Only apes have hands like me. And that's not a monkey.'

Mowgoli felt a pang of fear. The wolf pack was always warning him to stay away from the Man Village. What if this was a man from the Man Village?

The creature righted itself in a funny manner. Although it bore a shocking resemblance to Mowgoli, it seemed to prefer crouching to standing.

It tensed. It knew it was being watched. Rising up on two legs, it looked around defensively. Mowgoli didn't show himself, but he did ask a question.

"What are you?"

The creature started in surprise. It quickly identified the source of Mowgoli's voice.

"I am Tarzan." Tarzan responded.

Tarzan spoke the jungle tongue. That assuaged Mowgoli's fear and he exited the brush, trotting right up to Tarzan.

"I'm Mowgoli! I'm a man cub. I thought you were a man at first, because you have hands like me! But you don't stand like I do you…"

As Mowgoli chattered cheerfully, Tarzan stared at the conundrum in front of him. He had never seen another animal that moved like he could before. And he had never heard of this 'man.'

"Man? What's that?" Tarzan asked, interrupting the boy's stream of chatter.

"You don't know?" The man-cub's eye's widened. "Man has the red-flower. They are bad; they hurt the jungle. But I'm not bad, because even though I'm a man cub I've never even seen the red-flower."

"I don't know of the red-flower either. I've never even heard of man. Where am I?"

"The South Jungle! Where did you think you were? I get lost sometimes, then Bagheera has to find me. He says it's cause I'm a man cub and men-"

"Stop it. I am Tarzan of the apes. Do you know of the great apes?" Tarzan was getting a little annoyed.

Mowgoli stopped for a moment and squinted very hard at Tarzan.

"No, I think I'm pretty sure you're a man. In fact, I'm getting surer every moment. Don't worry, thought, you don't seem too bad."

Tarzan sighed. "I hope not. Do you know what lies upriver of here? I think it's where my family went." Tarzan squatted back down with his knuckles on the forest floor, looking around apprehensively.

"There are more men upriver?!" Mowgoli looked a little awed.

"No, I mean my ape family! I just told you that I haven't seen another man or man-cub before in my life!"

"Oh." Mowgoli looked a bit disappointed. "Sometimes I think I would be interesting to talk to the men. Like you. You're interesting."

"I am?" Tarzan didn't find himself very interesting.

"Yeah, though you're not like the other men I hear about from the wolves."

"Wolves?" Tarzan's questioned.

"Yes, I belong to the wolf pack. Even though I'm not a real wolf."

"The wolf pack of the South Jungle, I think I know where I am now." Tarzan took a few halting steps.

"I could take you to see the wolves! They would know how to get you back to your ape-family!" Mowgoli suggested.

Tarzan pondered the idea.

'Wolves usually have a solid alpha as their leader. But If the Wolves of the South Jungle hate men, and that's what I am…'

"I think I can get back on my own." Tarzan decided.

Mowgoli looked downright heart-broken.

"Will I see you again?" he whimpered.

Reaching out slowly, Mowgoli touched Tarzan's arm, and Tarzan jolted back.

Feeling guilty he supplied as honest an answer as he could,

"Probably not."

Tarzan turned and walked into the jungle, not glancing back until he was out of the boy's sight. The man-cub looked rather upset.

'He'll get over it.' Tarzan thought to himself.

That's when Tarzan realized that he was feeling upset as well. Something instinctive inside of him wanted to stay with the man-cub. Protect him.

Tarzan shook his head side-to-side as if warding away a persistent fly.

'I am not a man.' he berated himself, 'I am Tarzan of the apes.'