Month: July 2024

HANUMAN Vs PREDATOR, PART 3 OF 6

Vikram M R, , , , , , Leave a comment

Chapter 3 – Caves

Artwork by Adarsh Jadhav (with the use of AI)

Disclaimer: The following story is a work of fan fiction. It is purely meant for entertainment purposes and not for any commercial or profit related purposes. I do not own any of the characters mentioned in the story. The Gods and characters from stories of Hindu tradition and not owned by anyone for they are living divinities. The character of the Predator is the one from the Predator movies, distributed by 20th Century Fox. The character of the Predator was created in the film “Predator” (1987) directed by John McTiernan.

Jambavan moved towards a cave network near the clearing where they had encountered the first creature. Garuda stayed airborne and moved towards open ground with lesser tree cover. Hanuman moved back into the tree cover, the arboreal world he was most at home in.

The creatures also split off into smaller groups to go after the three quarries. Some ten followed Garuda on the ground as he flew above. Another ten or so went after Jambavan as he ran and leaped towards the cave network, which they didn’t know about though. The remainder stayed behind and started looking for and tracking Hanuman.

Jambavan entered the cave system and moved to a section that was not facing the entrance he used. Here he lay in wait for this new class of asuras he had not encountered ever before. He remembered a lot about this cave system from his past experiences in life. He had had a great duel lasting several days in this very cave system. The roof of the cave section he had chosen was low, he could just about stand upright and he had to be aware of scraping his scalp in places. It was also very dark, but he had great night vision, far better than most humans.

He did not have to wait long before he scented the first of the auras cautiously enter the cave. He could also hear the faint whirr of the cylinder on its shoulder that fired the fiery astras. His sense of smell and hearing were working to his advantage in this enclosed space.

He felt and smelled the asura move directly towards his position and it seemed to slow down as it reached the turn where he lay in ambush. This surprised him; the creature seemed to be able to follow in the exact path he had taken. It was like it could see his footsteps through the cave. This was uncanny, but useful information.

He crouched down low just as the asura was about to turn the corner. The creature was a full head taller than he was and should have some discomfort in the confined space. But then he sensed more of the asuras in the cave now. They were likely backing up the one in the lead.

Just as the asura turned the corner, he barrel rolled towards the creature and stopped right at its feet. This seemed to momentarily surprise the creature and it could not bring its astra to bear. Without missing a beat Jambavan stood straight up and pushed into the chin of his pursuer. The creature’s head smashed into the roof and cracked the mask. At the same time he snapped one of its extended wrist blades and slashed deep into its abdomen.

The cave wall exploded behind him and threw shards of rock in all directions as an astra from one of the other creatures/asuras behind the leader missed him. He was protected by the lead asura and the ones behind could not get a clear shot at him. He instantly backed away and quickly moved away into the deeper recesses of the cave, making many turns.

He had seen at least five other creatures in the cave in the flash from the astra. He had also seen that the asuras had raised their hand to protect their eyes at the flash. More useful information. He also had the blade from the asura he had just killed. An idea formed as he moved through the cave.

He moved right at a point which formed a T junction. He then ran back into the left tunnel. He then proceeded to run back and forth between the two tunnels. This ought to confuse the asuras if they could indeed follow his footsteps. He then moved back into the tunnel to the right and resumed his ambush.

The creatures came in a slouch, slower than they cared to. They paused at the T junction. Clearly they were confused, and they certainly could follow his footsteps. His observation had paid off. As soon as he felt the asura turn into the tunnel to the left, he did a leaping roll into the left tunnel across the gap between the two. As he landed, he stabbed up with the blade he had in his left hand and impaled the creature through its head even as it was checking the tunnel to the left. The asuras behind the one in the lead only saw a spray of green from the top of its head. By the time, the one behind had moved forward, Jambavan was no longer there.

This hunter stepped forward gingerly, only to have its head clean sliced off. Jambavan had leaped up onto a ledge above the entrance into the tunnel on the left, which was a much larger cavern. There were no footprints for the asura entering the tunnel to follow.

This time, he moved away from the cavern altogether. The three creatures following the two dead ones, were now extremely wary and followed very cautiously. It seemed like they almost did not want to follow.

Jambavan moved towards another exit he knew out of the caves. He now chose to exit and get behind his hunters who would not know that he was out of the caves as they followed slowly. He moved out of the exit and hurried towards the entrance he had taken originally. As he reached this entrance though, he sensed that there were auras there, perhaps guarding it against Hanuman and Garuda, or waiting for their compatriots. They were tense and jittery, which had allowed him to sense their presence. He slowed his movement and observed the entrance from a rocky outcropping.

There were two asuras. He climbed up the outcrop and leaped down close to them. He did not stand up, but stayed low and hacked off the leg of one of the creatures. It went down in a spray of green and a guttural scream. Its compatriot moved back to gain more space, as suited an opponent larger than he was and with greater reach.

At this instant, a fiery astra was fired at him from a stand of trees beyond the cave entrance. He sensed the intent of the asura firing the astra at the instant it had decided to do so and leaped out of the way. The astra blew a large hole in the rock next to the entrance. Clearly, at least one asura with its invisibility intact was hiding and awaiting his sneak attack. The two visible creatures were bait for him.

He did not know if there was more than one asura hiding around. He could sense hostile intent, but not tell the exact number of opponents. There was also the one visible creature to contend with.

He was now done being nice to these asuras. He respected their abilities and saluted them as adversaries. But their incessant use of astras was what had ticked him off. He instantaneously invoked the Brahmadanda. Only someone of his skill and experience could do it as fast as he did. The invocation involved deep spiritual equanimity and he could achieve it while in the middle of close quarters combat. Hardly could any other living being achieve this feat.

Also, he had held off using any offensive astras of his own out of respect for the times they lived in. None knew the use of divine astras in this age and he and his two friends were always watchful to not use any. And if they were forced to, they would stick to the defensive astras that protected and avoid any offensive ones, which could take life. Hanuman and Garuda would never use astras without his go ahead, with his being their elder.

Jambavan had invoked the Brahmadanda, the ultimate defensive astra. It simply swallowed all attacks against him when active. With the defense now active, he rushed the visible asura. It slashed down at him with its extended wrist blade. The blade never reached him. Just as it seemed to make contact with him, the blade disappeared and as the slashing movement ended inches beyond him, it seemed to reappear. The power of the Brahmadanda!

As this happened, multiple astra blasts seemingly struck Jambavan. Only to reveal that he was unharmed. The astras of the auras had all been swallowed by the power of his defensive astra. He proceeded to stab the asura through the heart, his strength tearing through its breastplate and impaling its heart. As the asura collapsed, he sensed no further threat to him. The creatures in hiding in the trees had retreated. The few still in the caves were likely not hunting him anymore or were still searching in the caves. Either way, he had time to check in with Hanuman and Garuda. He released the Brahmadanda and proceeded to find the others.

Next chapter – Sky, on 1st August 2024

HANUMAN Vs PREDATOR, PART 2 of 6

Vikram M R, , , , , , , 2 Comments

Chapter 2 – The Ambush

Artwork by Adarsh Jadhav (with use of AI)

Disclaimer: The following story is a work of fan fiction. It is purely meant for entertainment purposes and not for any commercial or profit related purposes. I do not own any of the characters mentioned in the story. The Gods and characters from stories of Hindu tradition and not owned by anyone for they are living divinities. The character of the Predator is the one from the Predator movies, distributed by 20th Century Fox. The character of the Predator was created in the film “Predator” (1987) directed by John McTiernan.

The three awoke at the same time. The anger and malevolent intent they felt this time around was incredible! As they awoke, they swiftly leapt out of where they lay sleeping. Garuda flew straight up. Hanuman and Jambavan leapt high off the ground. Garuda kept a hover some distance up in the air. Hanuman and Jambavan landed several body lengths from where they had taken off and immediately went into a low crouch. All three were on high alert, all senses primed and probing the surroundings for the threat sensed.

The raised javelins in the hands of the invisible creatures around never left their hands. The moment they had decided to attack, their quarry has disappeared.

The three now had no intention of waiting for the attack. The time for waiting for an enemy to reveal intentions and to try and avoid bloodshed was past. This time, the threats were several and all around. They had to eliminate them to prevent any major harm to themselves.

They had never been threatened in a long time, a very long time, not in this manner. This was a threat that challenged their immortality. They were immortal only because nothing could kill them. This time it was different. These creatures were a threat on a whole different plane, the kind the three had not encountered in more than a thousand years. The kind of malice emanating from the enemies came only with an extraordinary confidence in one’s own abilities to kill adversaries. That meant either supreme physical ability or access to knowledge, yantras and astras (weapons that are discharged, ranged weapons) akin to those in an age long past.

These creatures were all invisible and hence all three of them were uncertain of the exact places to strike. They could only sense and evade attacks. A counter attack was as yet very difficult to execute. Earlier it had been one attacker and they were three. Hence, locating the source had been easy.

Jambavan, the oldest, assumed leadership, and said to Hanuman as they landed, “We do the same thing as earlier, hurl objects in any direction a threat is sensed from, or strike out with your weapons. Try and make them visible. Then kill them. Using any means at our disposal. That’s all we can plan for now. We will have to play things by ear. Let’s split up and assemble from time to time. Convey this to Garuda.” All this was said without looking at each other. When Jambavan had finished saying this, he leapt away from his location.

Hanuman leapt high in the air and spoke out the plan. Garuda, with his superlative hearing, heard the plan as he kept up his aerial survey to locate the creatures.

Hanuman landed and immediately set about executing the plan. Jambavan and Garuda did the same. Jambavan struck tree trunks, hurled stones and small rocks and fallen branches. All this while randomly changing directions without thought and moving with great speed.

Hanuman, did one better, He used his tail as a flail with a mace at one end, while simultaneously doing all that Jambavan did. He also used his other mace to strike tree trunks. Smaller trunks shattered with just one blow and collapsed.

Garuda, dived into the canopy, broke off branches as he flew and hurled them in random directions. At times, he flew close to the ground and struck into trees as well. Or picked up fallen objects to hurl around.

The result was that there was a great whirlwind of flung objects in the night. Birds and animals called out and evacuated the area at the sudden disturbance. The result was a wonderful cacophony and confusion over a large area.

And the desired effect was triggered. As soon as the three started moving there were bursts of light emanating in spurts. Places where the bursts of light seemed to strike exploded and threw up bits of earth, wood and stone all around, adding to the confusion. There were locations where there was a clear shimmering in the air, other locations where creatures were revealed as their invisibility failed. But none of the bright astras fired by the creatures struck the warriors as there was no pattern to their movements and they were moving incredibly fast.

Garuda circled back towards where he had observed the creatures being revealed and struck out with his wings, rearranging his feathers as he did so. He caved in the chest of one in an explosion of luminescent green and crushed the head of another as he smashed it against the trunk of a tree to leave a bright green smear.

Hanuman’s tail snaked out with a mace gripped in its end in a loop. The spike at the end of his mace pierced through the abdomen of one creature and it shimmered into visibility as it died impaled on the mace. He swung his tail to free the mace and as he did so, an astra shot out of the dead creature’s shoulder, from what seemed to be a cylinder. This astra seemed to burn out a leg of another which became visible with a screech of pain. He leaped down right in front of this asura as he pulled his tail and mace back to him. He crushed the head of the creature with his other mace. Its life faded with just one blow.

Jambavan had noticed a shimmer from the corner of his eye as he was leaping through the forest. He picked up a rock as he landed and leaped back towards the shimmer. He landed right next to the shimmer, perhaps a failing of the invisibility these asuras possessed. On landing he swung with the rock in his hand. The creature blocked with the extended blade on its wrist. He could see a cylinder on its shoulder turn toward his head as it did so. He swiveled around the block and kneed the creature in the abdomen and the invisibility failed with sparks as the creature doubled over. He dropped the rock in that instant and snapped the wrist with the blades while he simultaneously crushed the cylinder with his other hand.

The creature screeched as the wrist snapped. He released the wrist and the creature relaxed, with the sudden easing of pressure on its destroyed wrist. As it started to straighten up, he twisted the wrist towards itself and stabbed its own blade into the exposed abdomen. The creature screeched again and went still.

He now snapped off the blade on its wrist and threw it behind him as he dropped down low, with awareness of an imminent threat to himself. A fiery astra shot past where his head had been and slammed into a tree in a shower of flame. But the blade he had thrown buried itself in the head of the creature that had unleashed the astra, right through the tough mask it wore. Jambavan leaped away. He had been in one place for less than 10 kshanas.

There were no more astra blasts anymore. The asuras seemed to have gone quiet in order to reassess and perhaps regroup. All three of them leaped high up and reported in. Each reported the number he had taken down and Garuda added that he had seen 4 other creatures dead by their own astra strikes. By now, Hanuman and Jambavan were almost back on the ground. Hanuman pushed off a tree branch while Jambavan did so against the ground. Garuda stayed aloft, looking about and awaiting the other two in the air again. When they were all airborne again, Jambavan suggested, “Split up and destroy these asuras. Meet again in a few minutes. In the air again”. And he descended again with gravity. The other two did not respond, they didn’t have to. Jambavan was the elder and they would follow without question. And each could work alone, none of them had to watch the other’s back.

Next chapter – Caves, on 18th July 2024