(A/N: Sorry this chapter gets a little repetative towards the end. However, it should be a quick read and I do try to space it up a little bit, but even if that fails I can safely say that after this chapter, the action should finally start to pick up. Enjoy!)
"Shh, shh, shh," whispered Simba to his mate, running his paw along her back. Nala was off-duty, lying on the ground just behind one of the hills, sobbing.
"I'm so sorry Simba," she managed to get out; "I can't believe it! I can't believe how blind I was!"
"Aw, now come on Nala. Your mom's happy; she's been practicing very hard the last few days. She probably wouldn't have had time to deal with anything else, anyways."
"But this week was meant to be all about her!" exclaimed Nala. "I feel so bad for not having noticed this . . . I never even talked to her. I was so caught up in preparing for this event that I never, ever got to talk to her."
"Well you did a fine job getting everything set up," replied Simba, "I'm sure she's proud of you for that."
Nala shook her head. "What if something happens to her?" she asked, looking up at her mate seriously.
Simba's comforting smile fell. "Is the Siku Choka really that dangerous?" he asked.
"YES!" replied Nala, taken aback that he could have even thought otherwise. "Simba, two out of the five competitors that enter never make it out alive, and usually the ones that do are the experienced ones. Mom's a rookie!"
Simba could finally see what his mate was going through. "Well, look, Nala, she'll be okay," he said, trying to reassure her. "She's a great huntress and I'm sure she's more than prepared. But I can tell you one thing with certainty Nala," he said, with a more serious shade of tone, "you're less use to her out here sobbing than what you would be if you were in that crowd, cheering."
Nala got the gist of what he was saying, and sniffed.
"Come on Nala, get up. They're about to do the competitor introductions," stated Simba. Nala knew he was right. She brushed off the last few tears with her arm, and then stood back up on her feet, making sure to nuzzle her mate once she had done so. "Let's go," said Simba.
"Excuse me sir," said Timon, walking up to a standing Rhino next to the hillside, "would you care for some rainberries? Seedless or not?"
The rhino glared at him and then snorted at him through his nostrils.
Timon laughed lightly, while slowly taking a step back with the tortoise shell full of rainberries in his hand. "Or . . . maybe not," he said nervously, "have a good day, sir."
The rhino took a step forward, and then said, in a very angry voice: "I'm a woman."
"Oh," said Timon, "well then," he said, holding the tortoise shell back in front of him. "Would Madam care for some rainberries?" he asked, faking a huge smile.
The rhino snorted at him again, which made Timon scream and run off, letting a couple of the rainberries fall off the sides of the tortoise shell as he did so.
"Does it work properly?" asked Kanafa the cheetah, looking down at the huge leaf that had been wrapped up to form the shape of a loudspeaker.
"Should do," replied Bwana Zungumza. "If not, I'm sure we've got some spare time to fix up a new one."
That sounded good enough for Kanafa. He reached down to pick it up.
The couple was standing in the infield, just to the side of the sixteen scorekeepers who were all waking up. Standing behind them were the sixteen lions and lionesses, all lined up in alphabetical order; ready to be introduced. Most of the infield however, was filled with antelope, zebra, and buffalo. All of which were spaced quite far away from the competitors. They did have a one and half mile perimeter to contain them all.
Each of the four hills surrounding the track were now crowded with lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, ostriches, meerkats, warthogs, and jackals. Between each hill in the corners stood the hippos, elephants, and giraffes that had come out to watch. The common prey, of which would be chased during the event, typically did not show up to watch the event, which to most was understandable.
"How is everybody feeling today?" asked Kanafa, as his voice boomed through the loudspeaker and echoed off of the atmosphere around them. The crowd cheered and Bwana Zungumza gave him the thumbs up.
"Alright, I know you're all tired: probably travelled some distance to get here. Good news for you that this event starts in the day, most of the action will take place at night, now that's when you've really got to be awake," he advised. He had found himself in quite a comfortable position now: holding the loudspeaker with one of his paw while he used the other three to support him while sitting down. "Alright, well are you all ready to meet our competitors?" he asked. Once again, another loud cheer erupted from the crowd. "Well then . . . here . . . we go!"
Nala had returned to her normal self now. Once again, she had become quite excited about the event. She knew this meant a lot to her mom, and she was going to do her best to root her on for it. The fact of the matter was, of course, Nala knew that she wasn't even going to have to try to be excited. Sitting next to her was Simba, while the rest of the pride sat a little ways behind them. In fact, Simba and Nala were sitting quite far forward; they knew that they still had different jobs to do before the event actually started.
"Here are your sixteen contestants for the twenty-fifth running of the Siku Choka!" bellowed Kanafa. Simba, Nala, the rest of the pride, and the rest of the entire audience, were all cheering. "From the Savannahland Pride, competing in her first Siku Choka – give it up for Anzi!" Out of good sportsmanship, most of the crowd cheered. A rookie walking into an event like this had to be very brave, and the crowd let her know that they respected that fact: none more than the Savannahland Pride did of course.
Anzi, herself, paraded out from the infield, walked a little ways down the front stretch while gesturing to and acknowledging some of her closest friends and family, and then returned to the back of the line in the infield: just like the other fifteen would.
"And now, king of the Majani Pride, competing in his second consecutive Siku Choka – let's give it up folks for Bahati!" Most of the crowd just applauded for this lion; although his Pride from the backstretch was letting out quite a reception.
"All the way from the Serengeti Border Pride, competing in her third overall Siku Choka – ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it for Ema!" Most of the crowd had got tired of cheering by now, but they all still let out a welcoming round of applause. Not a lot of her pride had made the trip, but there was still some hollering going on from the hill far over on the right.
"From the Grasslands Pride, competing in only his third Siku Choka but with back-to-back two consecutive victories . . ." the crowd was already beginning to cheer, ". . . your reigning Siku Choka champion: ladies and gentlemen: Guvu!" Simba and Nala both sat up, clapping and cheering as the famed lion made his way across the dirt track. They were not the only ones. Guvu was getting by far, the best reception yet.
It took a while for all the cheers to die down, but Kanafa didn't wait, he went to the fifth one as if nothing different had happened.
"From the Majibuluu Pride, competing in her seventh consecutive Siku Choka . . ." Nala got onto all fours, ready to holler, ". . . and two-time champion of the Siku Choka, let's hear it for Juni!" Nala did as Kanafa commanded, as did the rest of the Majibuluu pride, just to the right of Nala. Simba watched on in amusement, glad that his mate was back to normal.
"Here from the Majani Pride, competing in his first Siku Choka, let's give it up folks, for Lenny!" Almost all of the creatures let out a respectful round of applause for this lion . . . who actually looked kinda weak. Still, who were they to pass judgment? The Majani Pride on the backstretch let him hear them.
"King of the Kimaland Pride and competing in his second overall Siku Choka, let's hear it for Maneno!" The crowd had tired itself out by now, but the Kimaland Pride was clearly heard by most of the audience as they cheered on their king from halfway down the front stretch.
"Also from the Kimaland Pride, competing in her third overall Siku Choka and winner of the twenty-second running, give it up for Nakshi!" Quite a few audience members cheered this time: obviously ones who had witnessed and admired her previous victory.
"King of the Majibuluu Pride, competing in his second overall Siku Choka, let's hear it, folks, for Rakusa!" Simba and Nala just applauded, but then were both completely taken aback with what they heard next. They turned around.
"Go Rakusa! Go Rakusa!" chanted Zazu, moving his wings in horizontal cycles. "Oh, Rakusa's the best, we can forget all the rest . . ." he began singing.
"Zazu," chuckled Nala, "my mom's in this event."
"I know that Madam," replied Zazu, "its fair for us to have our personal favorites though, is it not?"
Nala laughed, happy to see Zazu in such a great mood, as her and Simba returned their focus towards the track.
"As a matter of fact . . ." began Simba.
"From right here in the Pridelands Pride, competing in her first Siku Choka, let's hear it for your nyimbas ladies and gentlemen: Sarafina!" Nala, Simba, and the rest of the Pridelanders burst out into applause; they all got to their feet. Sarafina turned her head to look up the field, and blushed. She hadn't been put off that nobody had cared to know about her secret during the past several days, but it was great for her to finally be recognized and appreciated for it. But this was what she had always wanted to do, even if there had been no one there to root her on. The fact that she had her pride, as well as a member of her family out there too, all to root her on, just made it even better.
"From the Lionrock Pride, competing in her fourth consecutive Siku Choka, give it up for Shairi!" There were quite a few cheers spread throughout the audience. Obviously this lioness had picked up quite a following over the past four years.
"All the way from the Mimpaka Pride, she's made quite a journey ladies and gentlemen for her first ever Siku Choka, let's hear it for Tumaini!" She got quite the reception as well. Though hardly any of her pride was there, anyone who had travelled that far for her first ever time was worthy of a warm welcome.
However, that was nothing compared to what the next, darker-toned lioness was going to receive.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you may have not seen her in a while but I'm sure you should all remember her . . ."
"Oh goodness, Simba," whispered Nala, "this is her!" The two leaned up to get a better look.
". . . from the Sumbigi Pride, sixteen years old but still as good as ever, this is her eighth appearance in the Siku Choka . . ." Kanafa had to speak ever louder to rise above the cheers, ". . . and she has won this event four times, the most ever . . . please, give a huge welcome to Uku!" The crowd was way ahead of him. Even over in the Majibuluu Pride, those that were left could probably have heard the cheers coming from the oval: although they were bouncing off and echoing off of the hills a lot, which probably was exaggerating the noise. Still, Uku was getting, by far, the biggest welcome yet.
Now normally, one would feel sorry for the next competitor to be introduced after a welcome like that for the previous one, but not in this case . . .
"From the Kusini Pride," said Kanafa, trying to give her a fair welcome, with just as much enthusiasm as the others had received, "competing in her fifth consecutive Siku Choka, please put your paws together, for Wamariri." The crowd did, even though they'd much rather have booed her, they had to show some form of respect. Wamariri didn't acknowledge any of the audience members; she just kept her eyes fixed on the ground.
Kanafa continued, in a much lighter tone now: "From the Lionrock Pride, competing in her second consecutive Siku Choka, give it up for Winda!" The crowd all returned to applauding normally now. Some of them felt bad for Wamariri, but then they needn't look back further than the last time they had came to watch a Siku Choka to remember why they weren't applauding her. Winda was getting a fair amount too. Shairi was popular, and Winda was her younger sister. The fans were sharing the love.
"And last, but definitely not least, from the Mimto Pride, competing in her first Siku Choka, let's hear it one more time folks, for Zoea!" The crowd let out quite a mighty applause, not only for this rookie, but for all sixteen competitors as a whole. "And that," continued Kanafa, "concludes the competitor introductions for this twenty-fifth running of the Siku Choka!" The crowd just cheered even more.
Kanafa set the loudspeaker down, and then felt a hammering pat on the back come from behind him.
"Good job my friend," said Bwana Zungumza.
Kanafa turned around to face him. "I think I've lost my voice," he wheezed.
Zungumza laughed. "You'll be fine," he said.