(A/N: You know, it's been a while since I've gotten any reviews to this or any story. I hate asking for them but I do like seeing/reading them, so I would just like to mention that I really do appreciate if you all review this or any chapter. That being said...I am aware that this chapter will seem like a giant middle finger to everyone that has reviewed in the past. Usually my favorite question to ask is, "Who is Your Favorite Competitor Besides Sarafina/Simba/Nala?" There seems to be one answer that appears more often than the others, so I just want to reassure you all that while bad things happen to that character during this chapter, you haven't seen the last of them.)


Seventy-three!

Tumaini was doing well at keeping tabs on her score. It was a number to be proud of too, she was leading by 39 points over Eboni, who was in second.

However, she wasn't doing well at keeping tabs on the track. She stood up from her kill.

"Tumaini, look out!" shouted Guvu from further on down the straight.

Tumaini whirled around to see what the threat was, but it was too late. A buffalo ran right into her. His front legs tossed her up in the air then his rear legs shoved her back down into the dust. Tonka, the lion that had been chasing the buffalo, jumped over the commotion and landed on top of the fallen buffalo. He attacked the back of the buffalo's neck, killing the creature. He then checked back over his shoulder, praying that the buffalo's death had been the only one.

It was hard to tell from Tonka's standpoint if Tumaini was okay. She had been knocked down onto the ground but, as for how she was, Tonka had no idea. Instead, a leopard working in the infield ran up to her.

"Are you okay Ma'am?" asked the leopard, standing over her.

"I'm alive," croaked the lioness. "How do I look?" she asked.

"You've got a nasty gash under your nose and a flesh wound on your rear leg," replied the leopard.

Tumaini rolled over.

"Other side?" she asked.

The leopard shook his head. "Doesn't look too bad. Just badly scraped is all."

"Then I'm good," replied the lioness. "Leave me here please, sir."

"Yes, Ma'am. But…um…you might want to move yourself towards the outside of the track if possible," added the leopard as an afterthought, "it looks like there's about to be a chase."


Shairi, Peponi, Lenny and Winda were all conflicted.

They had all just completed a lap, and now they were all lined up in ambush, waiting for the new zebra and buffalo. However, Tumaini did not seem to be in a hurry to get up from her incident. Currently, if they were to begin a charge for the zebra and the buffalo, Tumaini would run a serious risk of being clipped by one of them. These herbivores didn't really do a lot of thinking when it came down to running for their lives. Instead, they just ran, and hoped that they could outpace the lions…wherever that may lead them.

"This is silly!" Winda exclaimed. "Who's to say this isn't one of Tumaini's stupid tactics? She's just lying there in the middle of the track to stop us from chasing."

Shairi chuckled. "You know, you're probably right."

"So we should go?" asked Peponi.

"Heck no," Shairi replied. "Or at least, I'm not going to risk it. If she seriously is hurt then risking another injury onto her…I mean, it's not even bad sportsmanship, it's just plain inhumane. We have to wait until she picks herself up."

"Well why don't we just follow the prey?" asked Lenny. "We wait until they've walked on by Tumaini's body and then we chase."

"You could," Shairi agreed, "but then you'd be away from the prey-release point."

Suddenly, a cheer was heard echoing off the hills towards the other side of the track. Bilauri, Nala, Eboni and Elvis were all chasing after the antelope, exiting the final turn. They were now running on the final stretch.

Shairi did a double-take.

"They don't know about Tumaini," she realized. "Hey, wait, someone tell those guys to stop!" she shouted across the track at the infield track workers.

The track workers saw the same hazard that Shairi did, and they began shouting at the antelope-chasers.

What's going on? Nala asked herself, looking over at the track workers.

"Stop!"

"Slow down!"

"There's a lion on the track!"

The track workers had distracted Nala enough. She'd already lost this chase, anyways. She slowed down. So did Bilauri, so did Eboni.

Elvis didn't.

Elvis was still in hot pursuit of the antelope and, now that they had came this far, the zebra and the buffalo could sense a threat from behind too. They both took off into a chase. Whether Elvis was so focused that he just simply couldn't see the track workers, or whether he was just ignoring them, it didn't really matter. What mattered now, as far as the audience was concerned, was would any of the prey clip Tumaini again?

The antelope and buffalo ran on by without incident, but the zebra's front hoof slammed into the side of Tumaini's head and sent her rolling again. Elvis leapt over her body, but still had his eyes fixed on the zebra. The herbivore had now fallen, and Elvis could go on in for the kill. It was an easy ten points as Elvis landed on top of zebra and delivered the fatal bite to the neck.

Elvis had made his kill right alongside where Tonka was standing. Tonka stormed over towards the lion and cuffed him in the head.

"What the hell do you think you were doing, man?" Tonka asked, "did you not hear all the workers telling you she was there?"

Meanwhile, the leopard had made his way back out onto the track to visit Tumaini.

"Ma'am, that zebra hoof got your pretty good in the head. Do you…"

"I KNOW IT GOT ME PRETTY GOOD IN THE DAMN HEAD!" bellowed Tumaini, pressing her paw up against the wound. She took her paw off and held it in front of her eyes. It was covered in blood. "Damn!" she exclaimed, clenching her eyes. Tears began to spill out. "Oh gods!" she exclaimed. The pain.

"Ma'am, are you…"

"Don't talk to me," Tumaini snapped. "No, I'm not okay, but you guys make up such these stupid rules! I—I can't decide now! If I say I'm not okay but I live, then I'll never regret it. If I say I'm okay and I…and I…" Tumaini couldn't bring herself to say it. She held her paw back up to her head. She was bleeding badly. As stubborn as Tumaini was, she knew her limits. She was beginning to have difficulty forming words. She was beginning to forget what had happened to her earlier in this game. She needed a doctor.

"I—I…" she stammered. She moved her blood-covered paw back in front of her eyes. She sighed. "I don't know what to say," she said.

The leopard looked on at her, his heart beating rapidly. The last thing he wanted to do was let this stubborn lioness die on the track. He would never forgive himself if she could have been saved. "Ma'am, if you are unable to give me with a definite answer, I am going to have to presume that you a too unfit to respond."

Tumaini couldn't believe what was happening. She felt herself growing tired and weak. She wanted to tell the leopard to go away, that she was fine, that she didn't need a doctor. Yet, deep in her heart, she knew that wasn't true. Tumaini closed her eyes and began to cry again. She pressed her paw back up against her head and lied back down on the ground. She would never admit that she needed a doctor. Yet, she knew, she wouldn't have to.

The leopard watched Tumaini, just waiting for her to utter the words "I'm okay," to him. They didn't come. Tumaini was as silent as she could be, besides a sniff or two there and a squeak whenever the pain increased.

She wasn't going to say it. She wasn't going to say anything.

"Leo!" called the leopard, looking back over towards the infield at a lion that he had been working with. "Come help me out here, we need to get her off the track and to a doctor!"

The lion came over to help him. They picked up Tumaini and began dragging her away on their backs. Tumaini was conscious throughout the whole thing, but she was losing it. She was too humble to admit that she was in pain, but yet too smart to put up any resistance.

Tumaini's body was carried away from the track, and the field was now down to thirteen.


Sarafina sighed.

"Well…" said Timon, trying to think of a way to lighten up the situation, "…one less for Simba and Nala to try and beat."

Sarafina had known that Timon was going to say something like that. She was happy that he was trying to cheer them up, but it wasn't working.

"True," she admitted, "but it is a shame. She's such a great sport and, well…I just hope she's going to be okay."

"Look on the other bright side," added Pumbaa, "the track's clear now and Nala is lined up in ambush."

Sarafina allowed the sides of her mouth to twitch. It was true that this had helped Bilauri, Nala and Eboni. Though they had been unable to get the ten points for killing the antelope, they were now lined up in ambush for the new zebra and, thanks to Guvu killing the buffalo that had been able to run on by Tumaini, a new buffalo.

However, Nala had a lot of competition.

Shairi, Winda, Lenny, Peponi, Eboni and Bilauri were all lined up alongside with her. If they used up too much track in chasing the zebra and buffalo, Tonka, Elvis and Guvu were all waiting for them farther on down the straight. Simba, meanwhile, was still trotting his way around the track to try and complete another lap.

The zebra and buffalo began to walk on by. Shairi made the first move.

The rest joined in and Winda and Peponi went up front. Winda knew that she would have too many challengers for the zebra, so she targeted the buffalo instead. Eboni ran up alongside her, also breathing onto the buffalo's heels.

Shairi was right behind Peponi but Peponi knowing that, once again, she was at risk of losing out to a Lionrock sister, put on an extra sprint. She was determined not to lose out this time. Peponi jumped up onto the back of the zebra, found the perfect attack point, and clamped her jaw down on the back of the zebra's neck.

Lenny, Shairi and Bilauri, who had also gone after the zebra, quickly slowed to a stop and made their way back to the outside of the track to lie in ambush again. They wanted to waste as little track as possible.

Meanwhile, Nala, Winda and Eboni were still chasing after the buffalo. Nala was lagging behind a bit and, when Winda and Eboni simultaneously jumped up onto the buffalo's back and began working to bring it down, she knew she was out ten points.

Nala slowed and began to make her way towards the outside of the track also. Coincidentally, the place that she had determined to be the closest ambushing spot was already occupied, so she just stood next to its occupant.

Nala smiled. "Good evening," she greeted.

"Well how you doing there, young Ma'am?" came the reply from the Elvis-like voice.

Nala giggled. "Oh, such a deep voice," she said. "Let's just say I'm playing this game called the Siku Choka. And I'm playing it 'My Way.'"

"Uh-huh," replied the lion, "and how's that working out for you?"

"Thirty-three," Nala replied. "And you?" she asked.

"Well let's not read too much into the points," replied Elvis. "I've got 44 but I'm, uh, I'm not doing too well. Just made a mistake that caused that poor lioness back there to be taken to the infield. I hope that she's blessed and she comes out of it okay."

Nala sighed. "True that," she replied. "Don't take it too hard," she added, "it's the Siku Choka, these things happen."

"Well you see there Ma'am, the difference is that my accident was preventable. I heard the track workers shouting something but I, uh, just didn't think it was at me."

Nala shrugged. "Not a whole lot you can do about it now," she reasoned. "Just learn from it and move on." Anxious to change the subject, Nala recalled a conversation that had taken place earlier. "So, word is that you were making up rumors about Simba and my relationship?" she asked in a friendly tone.

"Well I don't know how true those rumors were," Elvis replied, "but I must confess that I, uh, did mention that I found it surprising that two lions so closely involved with each other would be risking their lives in the same game."

Nala rolled her eyes. "Trust me," she replied, "if it were up to me, there would just be one of us. I never thought Simba would be foolish enough to sign up for this."

"Uh-huh, now you see that you're cooling yourself a fool there now Ma'am."

"Yeah," Nala admitted. Her eyes sparkled and she looked up at Elvis. "I guess you could say that Now and Then, There's a Fool Such as I."


Peponi had scored ten points for the zebra while Eboni had beat Winda to the buffalo. Simba was now running as he made his way out of the final turn. The new zebra and buffalo had just been released and he knew that an easy ten points were ready for the taking. He began to slow down so that the prey couldn't hear him.

Sarafina watched from the stands. "Don't go after the buffalo," she said, hoping it would get to him but knowing it wouldn't. "You have nothing to prove, just take the zebra. It's an easy ten points."

Meanwhile, Elvis heard Nala begin to mutter under her breath. "Don't do it, Simba," she said aloud, hoping it would get to him but knowing it wouldn't. "You don't have to prove anything, just go for the zebra. That's the easy ten points."

Simba began to chase after the buffalo.

The sluggish speed of the buffalo meant that he was able to catch it easily. He leapt up onto its back and was able to avoid the hooves and the ground this time. He landed on the buffalo's back, but he didn't have a very tight grasp on it. He began to slide back. Not wanting to accept defeat, Simba reached out one of his front paws and took a swing at the buffalo, hoping that it would accomplish something.

It accomplished nothing.

Simba continued to slide back until, eventually, he lost grip on the buffalo and fell into a heap on the ground. Shairi, Lenny and Tonka took off in chase of the prey while Bilauri remained in ambush and just shook her head.

"Why did you go for the buffalo?" she asked. "The Siku Choka's not about proving anything. You should've just gone for the zebra. That was the easy ten points."

Simba, with his face still buried down in the dirt, just let out a loud groan.


Three new pieces of prey were released as Winda had got the antelope down, Lenny, to everyone's surprise, had beaten Shairi to the zebra, and Tonka had gotten the buffalo. However, the three new pieces of prey were going to be alive for a long time. Each competitor that was still awake was playing the ambushing strategy, yet they were all far away from the point at which the prey was released. Some of the competitors looked over towards the horizon. It wouldn't be too much longer before the sun set and the game would go into night. That's when most of the points would be made. Tonka, Shairi and Winda all began to run around the track, knowing that now would probably be a good time to find their pride in the stands and fall asleep in front of them. Meanwhile, the rest of the competitors were gathering their breath, waiting for the new prey.

"You know the sad thing about this," said Timon to Pumbaa, "is that Tumaini is still leading."


(A/N: So Tumaini is out, but Elvis and Nala have finally met! Please leave reviews on what you think of each of the characters, how the story's progressing, etc., etc. I sincerely enjoy reading them.)