"Nala!" yelled Simba. He had to speak up so she could hear him over the crowd's cheers. "Wake up Nala!" he yelled.
Nala opened her eyes. Her mate was standing up, as was everyone else: she realized that something must have been going on.
Nala stood up alert.
An antelope had just rushed on by them, and now passing in front of them, was a group of determined competitors on the antelope's tail.
There were five of them in all: Bahati, Lenny, Maneno, Juni, and Nakshi.
The crowd was all cheering them on as they ran into the turn. Simba, Nala, and the rest of the Pridelanders joined in with them.
"What do we do while everyone's watching the action?" asked Timon, with an uneaten rainberry in his paw.
"I guess we just watch," replied Pumbaa, shrugging.
"Should we pick someone to cheer for?"
"Is Sarafina in that pack?"
"No."
"Hmm . . ."
Pumbaa began to think as they watched them through the long turn, gaining ever closer on the antelope.
They were beginning to catch up on the buffalo now too.
"I know . . ." said Timon, pointing out the first male lion in line. The lionesses had a bit of an advantage over them. However, before Timon could go on, the group got too crowded together, which actually made the lion fall over and then get trampled on by the lion behind him. The first lion just rolled over. The second lion smashed down onto the ground with a thud, which ended up breaking his neck.
The crowd let out an "ooohhh . . ." before they returned their attention to the three that were still charging, and they began cheering again.
". . . not that one," finished up Timon.
"Hey bud, are you okay?" asked the first lion who had fallen, shaking the body of the other one with his paw.
The lion didn't respond.
Bahati looked up at a concerned pride in the grandstands. "Hey, can someone bring help down here?" he called out. The pride looked like they were taking action, and so Bahati took that as his signal to go.
The pack had raced on by the buffalo. If it had been any lion but his brother, Bahati knew, then that lion would have probably given up against the two lionesses and gone for the buffalo. Unfortunately, Bahati knew that his brother wasn't really that smart.
Bahati left the scene of the accident in pursuit of the buffalo, leaving the dead King Maneno behind.
Nakshi had observed that her king had gone, but she didn't think much of it. It was common for a competitor to trip over and get back up again. Besides, she was trying to get this antelope down before Juni did.
They ran into the second long turn, now approaching the on-track zebra as well. Both Juni and Nakshi were running on the antelope's hindquarters, and they were both determined to bring it down.
Finally, Nakshi took a shot at it, and Juni gave her room, knowing that she'd lost that battle: but not the war. The zebra was only a few paces ahead.
The crowd's cheers echoed all around the hills as Nakshi brought the antelope down to the ground, and then seconds later once again when the zebra came down in Juni's claws. Then suddenly, seconds later, a few cheers rose up from the other side of the track, where Bahati had just struggled but yet successfully brought down the buffalo.
Lenny was left to just run on by them, with nothing.
A flock of birds began to crowd the infield area where the scorekeepers were trying to keep track of the events that had just taken place.
A lot of sticks were being held up in the crowd, as a lot of the audience members had drifted off to sleep in the early going, only to have just woken up now when the hunting was beginning to pick up. The sun wasn't near its setting point, but it wasn't up high any more either. Soon, the air would start to cool down.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" shouted Bwana Zungumza, capturing everyone's attention in the infield as he tried to clear up all the commotion. All the birds and the scorekeepers quieted down. "Okay Kanafa, what do we have?" he asked.
"It looks like Nakshi is leading with twenty-six; Guvu is still in second with twenty-two."
"What about Bahati?"
"What about Lenny?"
"What about Wamariri?"
"Quiet!" yelled Bwana Zungumza, capturing all their attention again.
"Okay," said Kanafa, "I think that's Juni in third with sixteen . . ."
"Guys!" called one of the leopards from off to the side of them. "I think we've got one down for good," he said. He pointed towards the turn where Maneno had fallen.
"Right," said Bwana Zungumza, "I'll take care of that. Kanafa, you help these guys sort out the scores. I'll be back soon."
"Hey Nala."
"Yes Simba?"
"Should we wake your mom up?"
"No. Not yet. Let's let her rest first. We'll wake her when it's closer to nighttime."
"Alright," replied Simba, then something caught his attention in the infield. He glanced towards the end of the track, where Maneno still lay.
"Uh oh," he said. Nala turned to look at her mate. "I think Bwana wants us."
Nala looked over at Bwana Zungumza too. He was waving at them from inside the infield, gesturing for them to go over towards the turn. Nala then saw Maneno too. She gulped. "Yup. I guess we should go."
Lenny came running back down the front stretch, knowing that eventually he should wind up catching one of these things. Rakusa and Winda heard the crowd cheering as he did so, and the pair made their way over towards the outside of the turn . . . waiting.
"I don't really know if I should do this," said Winda. "Shairi told me to wait until night."
"If you don't want to, don't bother," replied Rakusa, not taking his sights away from the prey.
"Oh, I want to," replied Winda, but as she said that, something to her right caught her attention. The Kimaland Pride was close to the track's edge, watching as a couple of volunteers helped drag Maneno's body out of the track. She gulped. "On second thought . . ."
The prey began to run. The antelope pulled away from the zebra which pulled away from the buffalo. Since the previous three kills had occurred simultaneously, the three pieces of prey had all been grouped together.
Not anymore, as the crowd cheered. Lenny crossed the line, logging his seventh lap and point, before he began to home in on the buffalo. Although the buffalo was closest to Lenny though, the antelope was the one that was closest to Rakusa.
Rakusa began to pick up the pace as the antelope charged into the turn. Winda remained in her spot; she didn't want to be in the middle of the turn while all this action was going on. Coming out of the long turn, Bahati was waiting off to the side for his piece of the hunt as well.
The buffalo wasn't much of a match on speed for Lenny, but as he caught up to his hind legs and pounced up onto him, he now found himself on a similar ride as to what Wamariri had been on earlier.
The buffalo scampered his way through the turn, and as he tried to buck him off, Lenny knew he wouldn't be able to hold on, and so he climbed on top of him instead: and just rode him.
Lenny kept trying to bite down on the buffalo's neck, but to no avail. He looked up in front of him and his eyes grew wide. There was Anzi! She was sleeping off to the side, and the buffalo was heading right for her!
Unlike the zebra earlier however, the buffalo had not noticed this other lioness. He was too caught up in trying to get Lenny off of him, that he was completely oblivious to what danger lurked ahead.
Lenny saw it.
The buffalo tripped over the sleeping lioness, and though the rest of his hooves missed her, it still gave her a pretty big jolt, and it knocked him off balance.
Lenny was just along for the ride as he grabbed onto the buffalo's neck, as the beast tried to continue on but was slowly stumbling towards the ground.
Finally, the buffalo crashed down into the dirt, sending a ton of dust in the air.
As soon as the shock was over, Lenny jumped off of the buffalo, not wanting to risk being on a ride like that again. But to his surprise, the buffalo didn't get up. Was it dead?
A huge cheer and applause halfway down the backstretch, from his home pride, the Majani Pride, answered him. Lenny grinned.
Anzi walked up from behind him. "I think you should avoid buffalo from now on," she said.
"Anzi? You're awake?" he asked, turning around to face her.
"Yeah. I only saw the end of it though. Man . . . that was a deep sleep. I should thank Ema."
"I heard she was a hypnotist."
"Really?" asked Anzi, amazed. "You think she . . .? Nah, she couldn't have done. How could've I woken up?"
Lenny closed in on her, and said in a whisper: "I also heard, she is a very poor hypnotist."
"Oh," replied Anzi. "So . . . did anything happen while I was asleep?"
"I think that lion over there died," Lenny said.
Anzi looked over to try and see if she could recognize who it was, but she couldn't. "Hmm . . . that's strange," she said.
"What?"
"It doesn't affect me any."
"That that lion died?"
"Yeah."
"Should it? I mean, you don't know him."
Anzi sighed. "I'm gonna feel guilty now," she said, turning back to face her friend.
"Come on, hunting will get your mind off things. Look, there's an antelope over there . . ."
The crowd cheered as Rakusa brought the antelope down to the ground.
". . . Oh. Well there's a zebra . . ."
The crowd let out another cheer as Bahati brought the zebra down to the ground.
". . . Oh. Well, my brother caught something!" he exclaimed.
Anzi laughed. "Come on, let's walk."
Now it was another group approaching the front stretch. A group full of names: Juni, Nakshi, Wamariri, and Ema. Four of the most determined competitors were now slowly beginning to stalk the prey. A few members of the crowd were beginning to get anxious. They knew that these four competitors meant business, and therefore it was best to keep quiet for them, until one of them finally decided to make their move . . .
"We're awfully sorry about your loss," said Nala.
Maneno's mate sniffed. She kept on looking down at him; nothing retracting her gaze.
Simba and Nala couldn't think of much else to say. At least he'd already had a son, and he was in his adolescent years. He'd do fine. Still, it was a mourning moment for the whole Kimaland Pride.
Simba elbowed Nala. She looked at him. Simba gestured his head back towards their seats. There was no formality involved; they just felt it was respectful to come down when one of the competitors was killed, so they were free to leave whenever they thought it was best.
They began to walk back, but didn't get very far before they were intersected by Timon and Pumbaa.
"Guys," Timon addressed, dragging his feet, "this is really starting to get tiring. Can we take a break?"
"It'll get cooler soon," replied Nala, "they won't want as many then. Tell you what, get one more batch then you can come and sit with us on the hill over there. We'll let you have a long break then."
Timon sighed. "Aye, aye Captain," he said, saluting her back. He jumped back on top of Pumbaa with the tortoise shell, who then trundled off.
"You know, we should really send someone to help them," said Simba.
Nala looked at him. "Well do you want to go?" she asked.
Simba opened his mouth to reply, but then diverted his attention to where the sound of hooves pounding the ground and audience members cheering now surrounded them. The four lionesses were making their move.
Wamariri was the closest to the buffalo's hind legs, but she wasn't going after him: that would be too much of a struggle. Nakshi and Ema were hanging on a bit farther back, but Juni was really far back. She then remembered her pre-race plans. She groaned as she slowed to a halt, annoyed at herself for having forgotten. After she'd brought one down, she had told herself, then she would rest. Oh well, at least she had gotten another lap completed. She walked over to the side to lie down. But wait a minute . . . her pride was on the front stretch. Juni groaned again. She had to do another whole lap to get back to them. What was wrong with her? She couldn't be getting too old for this, surely. Experience was a virtue. Being too old? What a silly idea! Still, she wanted to keep kicking herself all the way down the backstretch as she moved off again. Not that one lap would make a difference, but could it?
Meanwhile, down the backstretch, Wamariri succeeded in bringing the zebra down to the ground. The buffalo and the two lionesses still in pursuit made their way around her as they entered the second long turn. A scorekeeper tallied another ten down for Wamariri.
Ema was proving herself to be able to outrun Nakshi. As her reward for it, she continued on past the buffalo and tried to home in on the antelope. Nakshi knew what that meant for her, and reluctantly went to try and tackle the buffalo.
Her efforts were proving fruitless as hunter and hunted tried to make it through the turn. She kept trying to make her move, knowing that there were only certain positions that would work, but each time that she did so, the opportunity closed. She growled and began to back off. This buffalo wasn't going to be hers . . . yet.
Ema, meanwhile, was receiving a wave of support as she and the antelope made their way out onto the front stretch . . . which the antelope never saw.
The crowd let out a cheer as Ema brought it down.
Nakshi remained on the buffalo's heels until they exited the turn, which is when she realized something that made her relieved. They had just let out another antelope. Nakshi charged on by the buffalo, but then tried to slow down so that the antelope didn't hear her approaching. The crowd tried to keep their cheers low out of respect for her, just as they would have for most of the competitors.
However, the phenomena of having a quiet crowd didn't last too long. Nakshi noticed this as she silently tried to stalk the antelope, and so she glanced over her shoulder to see what was happening.
As she did so, Uku ran right on by her, tackled the antelope, brought it down, and the crowd – erupted.
Nakshi groaned, but then forgot about it and made her way on by her until she could see the zebra: not too far down the track.
She smirked and then began to stalk him instead, but the eruption from the crowd had awoken the competitors who had been sleeping on the front stretch. When thy all checked over their shoulders to see what was happening, the first thing they saw was now a seemingly nonchalant zebra.
Their faces grew.
Sarafina, Shairi, Tumaini, and Guvu all tried to act as if they were still resting, which would not have worked had Nakshi not been so intense on stalking this particular zebra.
Sarafina was the first one that Nakshi passed, and therefore, she was the first one who could get up.
"Look Simba," whispered Nala, pointing down at the track excited. "Mom's going after it."
A few distant cheers were heard on the opposite end of the track, where the audience felt that they were far away enough that it was safe enough for them to cheer.
However, Nakshi still took action: she wasn't going to let this one get away from her.
Sarafina realized this and sprinted off away as well.
Guvu took another one of his dives across the track, but missed. Nakshi was able to run around him. She and Sarafina were now in hot pursuit of the zebra.
The Pridelanders had all got to their feet to watch Sarafina in action. She was a couple of paces behind Nakshi, but Nakshi was beginning to tire out. Already having gained twenty-eight points, she was a firm believer of: get ahead early, and then you'll be able to pace yourself from there.
Unfortunately for Nakshi, her pace now was very slow, and through the long turn, Sarafina was able to run on the outside of her and actually overtake her as the two made their way onto the backstretch.
The Pridelanders all applauded, but they also continued to hold their breath: she hadn't got the real prize yet.
It didn't take her too long though. In a straight line, Sarafina was finally able to gain a lot of speed. The track was much dryer, just as she wanted it, and as the result: the zebra was now much closer to her. Halfway down the backstretch, she finally swung her arm out and caught the zebra on the side. She grasped onto it with her jaw, and then was successfully able to bring it down with a crash onto the ground.
The Pridelanders in the audience went wild. So wild, in fact, that Sarafina could actually hear them as she clamped her teeth down onto the zebra's neck, all the way over on the backstretch. She smiled. This was totally worth it.
Back in the first turn, Shairi had also just captured her first prey of the event. The Lionrock Pride gave her their sounds of approval as well, as did her other fans of which she had picked up over the past three years.
Many members of the audience were now starting to wake up. The action was starting to pick up, and, very soon, the sun would be slowly but surely, be beginning to set.