Elephant and Tiger

Disclaimer: I do not own Far cry 4, its characters or its story.

Warnings: Swearing, mention of violence.

Chapter 5 - Himalayas and Arena

Ajay and Jessica have been in Kyrat for almost three weeks and so far they helped a lot of people. After Bhadra mentioned that Ajay's father was murdered, he wasn't speaking much. Jessica tried to make him feel better by telling him funny stories and jokes, which didn't really help. They liberated outposts and bell towers for the past few days so Ajay could get a hold of things.

While liberating one of the bell towers they met with a Rabi Ray Rana, the man who speaks on Radio Free Kyrat. Jessica opened the door to his little studio and saw a guy with a yellow shirt and sunglasses. Ajay closed the door behind them, so none of the wolves outside could get inside. "This is Rabi Ray Rana, and you're listening to Radio Free Kyrat. Let's hear some tunes." He presses a button to play some music and then he stands up. "OMG Ajay Ghale and Jessica Brown. I would like to shake your hands. I have been keeping an eye on you two. You are doing really good work." He shakes their hands and Jessica speaks up. "So you're the guy on the radio." He nods and points to look around the room. "Yeah. That's me. The voice of Radio Free Kyrat! Rabi Ray Rana. Look you fight with your fists, but I fight with my words. And you know the old saying 'the pen is mightier than the sword. I mean after all I'm like a Rush Limbaugh but with soul and conscience. Besides, the more people I turn away from Pagan, the less people you have to fight." Jessica smiles and nods. "I can't argue with that." Ajay only nods. "Still, there's only much I can do from here. I spread the truth, and I take the liars down a peg, but someone needs to get their hands dirty and come on look at Chotu, I mean Chotu's dirty but it's not like we can mess people up. The only guns we use are water guns and come on man that's why I have this radio show. You have the looks and strength to take down evil. You've been tearing down propaganda posters, which is great, but Pagan's propaganda machine is kicking it up in a response. His men are setting up temporary propaganda centers and those places are churning out the bullshit 24/7, yar." "So what do we do?" Jessica asks and Rabi continues. "You see all this hardware? I built it myself, man. You think Chotu helps? Come on look at the guy. He's got body and mind dyslexia. The dude is practically worthless." Jessica and Ajay look at the box that is moving. ' I guess that Chotu guy is inside' Ajay thinks to himself. "I use this stuff to monitor Royal Army radio channels and I have managed to locate one of these centers." Rabi says and Jessica cuts in. "And you want us to put it out of commission." Rabi Ray nods. "Hearts and minds Jessica. Hearts and minds. We can't have Pagan contaminating the population with all his bullshit." Jessica looks questionably to Rabi Ray. "And this will stop the propaganda?" "No way, not even close but don't worry. I'll track down the new propaganda centers whenever they appear and then I'll relay the details to you two. Meanwhile, you should go do what you do best. Go fuck up those members. Take out that first center." He then notices that the song on the radio ended. "Oh shit! I gotta go back. Hey uh, thank you so much for coming. Hey, Chotu make them some chai. Sorry this is not a first class hotel but we do what we can. Are you hot? Should we turn on the AC? Sorry it's really hot in here. It's a hot box man. It feels like Guantanamo Bay up in here. So great meeting you two." He sits back down and starts speaking to the radio. "Hey we are back! You are tuned into Radio Free Kyrat with Rabi Ray Rana. We've had some questions from our loyal listeners. This is coming from uh Janina..." Ajay takes a hold of Jessica's arm and they both leave outside. "That was interesting to say the least." Jessica says. Ajay nods. "Yeah." Jessica is growing worried again. Ajay had not been himself and she is starting to dislike it. "Look Ajay, I hate seeing you like this. For the past week you are distant and I can't stand it. So I think it's time for you to see your parents' house. And don't pretend you don't want to." Ajay sighs and nods. "You are right. The thing is I didn't know how to tell you that I want to go alone."Jessica chuckles. "You just did. It's understandable, to want to go alone. Just be careful." Ajay smiles and hugs her. "You too Jess and thank you." He lets her go, even if he doesn't want to, and goes to the quad bike. Jessica waves at him and he rides to the direction of the north. Jessica moves to another quad bike and once she is on she gets a message from Longinus to meet him in the Sherpa camp. So she heads there, in the opposite direction from Ajay.

Ajay's mission:

After leaving Jessica, Ajay felt guilty. He was the one who wanted her to come with him and now he is going alone to a place where he was born. He should have taken her with him, but he thought that he needed space. Now that he is alone it doesn't feel that way. He now wants to turn back the quad bike and go for Jess. But he knows it's too late for that. After one hour he finally arrives under Ghale homestead. It looks like it's on mountain edge. He parks the quad bike under the stairs and heads up. When he reaches the end of the stairs he sees an old house. It looks like it's barely holding together. He looks around him and thinks to himself that this place probably seen a better days. He goes to the door and opens them. What he sees shocks him. "I'm just saying, if you can disembowel someone, why can't you embowel them?" Asks the man who lies on the left. "Wait what, em- embowel like empower? Right, that's an archaic term. It still means disembowel." Answers the second one. "What, like flammable and inflammable?" "Yep." Just then the man on the left notices Ajay. "Oh shit-."He moves into a meditation pose and the other stands up into one as well. The man who is up puts on the radio and starts speaking. "Welcome, my brother. You've come to a place of peace, where the demons of modern life cannot reach you. You are safe here." The man who was sitting on the floor stands up and goes to Ajay, who is confused. "Our friend! Ohm namah Shivayah! He's come from afar, seeking- seeking answers. We can give him those answers." 'What the hell is this.' Ajay thinks to himself. "For a nominal fee." Says the other man. The man on the left agrees. "Right? Nothing in life is free." "No." "I'm sensing." "We are sensing..." "WE are sensing, you want to know who we are ... right. I am Yogi. And this is Reggie." The man Reggie points to Ajay and says. "But you, stranger, you... you're the son of a legend!" Yogi looks questionably to Reggie. "What?" Reggie continues. "I see a world of danger and a mother with blackened heart! AJAY GHALE! Welcome to Guru Ashram. What are you doing here?" Ajay becomes angry because these two people shouldn't even be here. "This is my parent's house. Why don't you guys get out." "Oh?" "What?" "Why does he want us to get out?" Ajay moves menacingly towards them and they move backwards. "I don't know. Ask him." Says Reggie. "You ask him." "Hey. I'm right here." Ajay frowns and Yogi points to him while looking to Reggie. "Oh, he's right here. Good for him. He knows where he is. Too bad he doesn't know where his friend is." Ajay glares at him at mention of Jessica and starts moving closer, his hand being in a fist. "Okay, welcome! Come in!" Reggie hits Yogi to his arm while saying this. "Yeah after all, tu case es tu casa." Yogi goes to find something while Reggie speaks. "Um... we'll clean up. We'll be... we'll be out momentarily." Yogi pulls out a water pipe. "But first, let's have a little peace pipe while we hash out the details. You're into this sort of thing right?" Ajay shakes his head and says. "You know what I think I'm okay. So what are you guys doing here, anyway." Reggie pushes Yogi out of the way and speaks. "Ah Ajay, we represent the interests of a certain power broker." Yogi nods. "Right, she'd like to press the flesh as it were. A little meet and greet." "You being the meet." Reggie cuts in. There is a moment of silence and Ajay is getting ready for a fight. LWell, we tried the carrot." Yogi informs. "Guess he wants the stick then." And with that Reggie injects something to Ajay's arm. "Hey! What the fuck... What was that..." Last thing he sees are the two faces of the men, but his last thoughts are of Jessica.

Jessica's mission:

She was worried about Ajay. Not that he can't take care of himself, but his mind. It must be hard for him , to return to his house, where he was born. She hoped he was okay. After reaching the destination of the camp Longinus said that he was in, Jessica gets off a quad bike and goes inside the tent. Longinus is sitting on a table. "Jessica, my child. I was just thinking that we should work together, you and me, along with Ajay. But since he isn't here, it's just you and me for now. And now providence has provided the means." He stands up from the table and continues. "''Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle''. That is Psalms. It means: Do what soldiers do best, even if it requires you to come to a godless country like this." He spits on the ground and continues. "As soldiers, we protect our people through our willingness to kill. And what do we need to fulfill our purpose?" Jessica thinks and says the first thing that comes to her mind. "Faith?" Longinus shakes his head. "Guns, Jessica! Guns! Without them, how else will we ''pass through the sea of trouble and calm the surging tide? Help me Jessica, and the Golden Path will receive their guns." "Okay then, I will help." Jessica agrees. "Praise God, and the scales have fallen from the girl's eyes!" He says and puts his hand on Jessica's shoulder. "There was a shipment, leaving over the mountain by helicopter, but it went down. I need you to take this tracker, and recover the shipment before the Army gets it back." He pulls out the tracker for Jessica to see. "The Lord will provide you with transportation. What do you say?" Jessica takes the tracker. "Amen!" "Amen. Now go! Go! Go, Jessica!" Jessica leaves then tent and goes right away to Sherpa, who is already waiting for her. So with him she travels to Himalayas.

The road there was interesting and it was colder and colder the more up she and the Sherpa went. Once on mountain called Arbuda, she pulls out the tracker and a walkie-talkie in the other hand to call Longinus. "Longinus, the tracker you gave me says I'm getting close to whatever it is you need me to get. " "That is excellent news Jessica! But be wary when you reach the crash site. The Royal Army has likely dispatched men to secure the chopper's cargo for themselves. Strike them down if you must, or sneak in like a thief in the night." The call ends and Jessica pulls out her new bow and thinks of a plan. 'I need an oxygen mask first'. She slowly moves to the first camp and tries to find a person to take the mask from. She moves to the tent and finds one person sitting in a chair. She pulls out her knife and kills him. She quickly takes the oxygen mask. 'Now to find the shipment.' Jessica thinks to herself as she kills another person with a bow. After she kills the whole campsite with her bow or knife she finds a snow scooter and rides to the location of the crash. She pulls out the tracker and proceeds to find it. She finds a corpse where the tracker points to. Jessica searches him and finds a small yellow box. "What's this? Where are the guns?" She says to herself and decides to look to another three locations.

To the first one she crosses a lake and finds some men from Pagan's army. They were trying to contact the Headquarters, but they weren't responding. Credit goes to Jessica for that. She dispatches them and pulls out the tracker again. She finds another corpse that the tracker points to. Once she searches it. Nothing. "Fuck... what was in here." Jessica says to herself and moves to another location.

Next location is in a cave with a bear. He notices her quickly. She takes her assault rifle and she shoots him. She would have no time to kill him with the bow. She takes the tracker again and once more it points to a corpse. Jessica searches it and finds a yellow box. "Goddammit. It's empty." So on Jessica goes to the last location.

She moves from the cave so some sort of cliff and finds two snow leopards. Since they didn't see her yet, she takes her bow and aims to the leopard's head. It misses and the leopard notices her. She quickly pulls out her assault rifle and shoots it with second leopard coming her way as well. She kills him next and pulls out the tracker once more. There is one more corpse that the tracker points to. Jessica searches it and finds a small yellow box, but this time it's not empty. "This has got to be it, but if it's not weapons, why did he send me here?" Jessica wonders her thoughts out loud. She moves back to the direction of the camp she came from to return back to Kyrat, with the yellow box.

On the way back however she finds that the Royal Army is after her. She takes them out one by one, but since she misses her arrow, she changes to an assault rifle and kills them that way. 'I need a warm tea after this'. Jessica thinks to herself. She returns back to Sherpa, who takes her back to Kyrat. It's night already and Jessica thinks that Ajay is going to kill her for going to Himalayas alone. But first she has to talk to Longinus.

Once in the camp she thanks Sherpa for his services and goes inside the tent. Longinus is sitting on a table reading a bible. "She returns." Longinus says as he puts the bible away. "One surprisingly small box, as requested." Jessica emphases the word 'surprisingly'. She puts it on the table and continues. "I thought it was going to be a weapons shipment for the Golden Path. That's why I went." Longinus slowly pulls the box to him. "''And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment''." He opens it and quickly closes it while closing his eyes. "They lie to you, you know this. People call it the circle of life, but life is built on a pile of bones. You eat, or you are eaten. Animals call it survival. Humans call it business." Longinus opens the box and Jessica's eyes widen in surprise. "Are those...?" "Business, Jessica ... terrible business. I was saved by a bullet to the head. It killed the old me, the terrible me, one you would have called a warlord. But that bullet, it made a hole in my skull that allowed the light of God to slip in and I was baptized by the waters of Goka Falls." Jessica clears her throat. "So those diamonds?" Longinus takes one of them in hand. "Leviticus 17:11, ''for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul''. These are remnants of my past transgressions. Each diamond is a sin, and my hands have committed many." "And the weapons for the Golden Path?" Jessica asks. Longinus closes the box. "They will have them, and better. Go! Tell Amita and Sabal they will be getting their weapons. And they may also want to know that De Pleur is preparing a large shipment of opium at the old tea factory." Jessica cuts him off asking. "Wait, opium?" Longinus nods. "Another terrible business, Jessica. Now go, and tell them! And when you are finished come see me. For the Lord's works is never done. And don't forget to say 'Hello' to Ajay for me!" Jessica smiles and heads outside the tent. Jessica decides to call to Ajay, if she can join him or if he is on the outpost. However no response. So with no delay she finds a quad bike and heads to Ghale homestead.

When Jessica arrived she saw another quad bike, with which Ajay arrived she assumed. 'Maybe he is spending a night there?' She thought to herself. She went up the stairs and saw the house in horrible state. 'I have a bad feeling about this.' Jessica thought to herself. Suddenly she heard two voices. "Can you move faster ? By the time you are done we will miss the fight!" Jessica moves slowly to the front door and sees a two people standing there. "I'm done. Happy Donald?" "It's Yogi, you idiot." "Who the hell are you two?" Jessica asks, startling the two men. "Oh, ehm. We would like to help you but we are on schedule here." Says the one named Yogi while the other nods. "This house belongs to Ajay Ghale, where is he?" The men are starting to sweat and they try to explain. "Well he was here a while ago. And eh, how to explain." Jessica was growing angry so she decided to do this the hard way. She pulls out her pistol and yells. "Tell me where he is!" They hold their hands in surrender. "We sold him to Noore to the Shanath Arena! Please don't kill us!" "Where is it?" Jessica growls and the two men start to shake. "Just west of here." "This isn't over yet." Jessica says and runs to the quad bike.

Jessica found Shanath with ease. It was crowded and she didn't know how to get it. So she asked one of the people. "Excuse me? How do I get into the Shanath Arena?" The man chuckles. "You want to fight ? Or watch? To the first I can just say, it is a crazy idea. To the second one I don't think there will be a free space anywhere." "Why?" Jessica asks. "Well I heard that they have a special surprise today. No-one wants to miss those." 'Oh shit' Jessica thinks. "Where can I buy a ticket?" The man points to a person who is selling the tickets. "I'm warning you though, people will be assholes today. So don't fall into the arena. Because then you will become a contestant." Jessica nods and thanks to the man and goes to buy a ticket. After going through crowds she finally gets into her place and watches what will happen. Let's say Jessica wasn't ready for what she saw.

When Ajay finally came to his senses, he saw himself tied and held by two women. He also noticed the fact that he was naked. The door began to open and Ajay heard a voice. "People of Kyrat, who do you cheer for? The brave elephants? Or the fierce tigers?" Ajay saw a woman with black hair in front of him. He was dragged by the two women holding a rope that connected to him, to the arena. "Or do you cheer for the terrorists. Son of the terrorist. Mohan Ghale, fugitive of the Golden Path, killer of innocent men, women and children of Kyrat. He abandoned his people to live in the decadence of America but he returns in chains to face judgment." The woman named Noore, goes and takes the rope holding Ajay. "Your judgment, people of Kyrat. AJAY GHALE!" The crowd boos and Jessica on the stands just stares on what she sees. Noore who spoke to the crowd, now speaks to Ajay. "Some people believe you can make a difference here Ajay. This is the moment of truth. Look to your feet when you hit the arena. There will be a blade hidden in the sand. If you do not survive, there is no hope for you or I." They release his restraints and Noore yells. "Welcome to Shanath Arena!" Ajay is thrown in. "Let the betting begin!" Ajay finds a dagger in the sand and quickly takes it. From the other doors soldiers and animals are released so Ajay quickly moves to kill one soldier with a dagger and then takes his rifle. Jessica on the stands watches everything and prays to God for Ajay to live. Ajay survives the first round. "You have spirit. So does my menagerie. Let's see whose spirit flickers and dies first. Shall we?" More soldiers and animals come from the doors and Ajay has a difficult time to dodge everything. Behind Jessica, a man asks her. "Can you move a bit? I can't see." However Jessica is worried about Ajay and isn't even listening to her surroundings. So the man pushes her and since she was surprised, she fell into the arena. "Looks like we have another contestant. Enjoy!" Noore says and Ajay sees somebody falling into the arena and goes to help them up. The person is starting to get up and Ajay sees it's Jessica. "Jess?" She looks up careful not to look at some other parts of his body. "Ajay, behind you!" The wolf tries to bite Ajay but he shoots it. He helps Jessica up and asks. "What are you doing here?!" "No time to explain! We have to survive first." Jessica finds a rifle on the ground, because her own weapons were removed once she bought the ticket. They shoot everything that's against them and they cover each other, as they always do. Once the round is over Noore speaks. "I'm impressed Mr. Ghale, so am I with your companion. I expected you fall much sooner. But, this is Shanath Arena, and we are only warming up. The betting is open for round three!" "So it continues." Ajay says to Jessica. She nods and they get to cover so they can shoot the other teams. Once the round is over Noore speaks again. "Now I know why the Golden Path is putting their faith in you, Mr. Ghale. Let's see if the next round can end their pathetic rebellion." So the round four begins. Not much words are said, because they are focusing on survival and protecting each other. So soon the duo is once again victorious. "The masses have spoken Mr. Ghale. Could this terrorist and his companion be the next great Arena Champions? Place your bets for the penultimate round! Man and beast may have fallen at their feet. But, before they win their freedom, there is one more challenge to face. Let the final round begin!" And with that from the big door a heavy and few other soldiers are released. Ajay and Jessica run to cover and Ajay explains the plan. "Here's the plan. I take all their attention on me and you first kill the heavy then the rest." Ajay hands Jessica his dagger and she nods. Ajay took all their attention on him as he said and Jessica moved behind them. She killed heavy first and then with Ajay finished the rest. Jessica runs to Ajay and hugs him. He returns the hug, while the crowd cheers and Ajay with Jessica put their hand up waving at them. Jessica completely forgot that Ajay is naked so she releases him. They both blush and soon they are lead into a room where Ajay could take his weapons and clothes back. Jessica went for her own weapons and met with Ajay, while Noore was in front of them. "Now that I see your companion closer, I recognize her. Jessica Brown. Now walk with me." She turns around and starts to walk. "You tried to kill us!" Ajay exclaims. Noore turns around to look to Ajay. "And now I'm not." That angers Ajay more so he says. "You know what, fuck you." Jessica notices that the two women pointed rifles at them, so she gets her pistol out and points it at one of them. "Stop. Wait here." The women put their rifles away and Jessica puts her pistol away too. "Just listen, please. Paul has my family. Until I know they're safe. I'm trapped here doing whatever Pagan wants me to do." "What does this have do to with us?" Ajay asks and Jessica feels pity for Noore. "The Golden Path wants Paul dead. I need my family safe. We can help each other." "How?" Ajay asks. "I can get you back into his stronghold. Oh and Ajay, Jessica? Take it easy on Reggie and Yogi. They're being played, just like you two and I." She closes the door and Ajay along with Jessica leave the Arena.

"I must say this was one hell of a day. First I was in Himalayas and then I'm fighting in an Arena!" Jessica says and Ajay looks questionably at her. "You were where?" Jessica explain the story with Longinus and what he said to her. She also don't forgets to mention the weapons for the Golden Path. "Still I'm kinda mad you got to see Himalayas." Jessica chuckles at Ajay. "Believe me it's not that great. The scenery is beautiful but the cold." Ajay smiles and they head to an outpost to a good night sleep.