(A/N: Hey, I'm back, and I have a new chapter and a request. Instead of reviewing this chapter, although with this and all chapters I ask nicely that you do so (review them, that is) I would like it if you would all participate in my poll which you can find on my profile page. It deals directly with this story. Thanks.)

"Nala," said Simba.

"Yes?" asked Nala.

"Question," said Simba.

"Answer," replied Nala.

"Okay, why if you and your mom respect Juni so much, has she become one of the ones sleeping here on the front stretch? She must be in last now."

Nala grinned. "You wait Simba, Mom and I know Juni. When she wakes up, she wakes up. She won't fall back to sleep for the rest of the event."

"But then again," said Simba, "she's been in the last six Siku Chokas, correct?"

"Correct."

"And she's lost the last three."

Nala glared at her mate, but Simba could tell that she was still being friendly.

"And just who do you want to see win if my mom doesn't, then?" asked Nala.

"Say Rakusa!" whispered Zazu from beside them.

"Eh . . . you've gotta face facts," commented Timon, "Wamariri's going to win it."

"I've always felt bad for Tumaini," stated Pumbaa as he put his input in. "She travelled all the way down here and none of her pride is here to see her. Wouldn't it be a story for her when she gets back to her pride and says that she won it?"

Nala looked back at Simba.

"Well?" she asked.

"Nakshi," said Simba.

Nala frowned. "Why?" she asked.

"Well her king died," said Simba, "so I feel bad for her, but also she won it a couple of years ago, so I guess cheering for her might not turn out to be in vain."

Nala accepted that answer, and was about to return to watching the event, if Simba hadn't had just added something to his first explanation:

"And also, she's attractive."

Nala shot a look at him. Simba was smiling; he'd been expecting that reaction.

"But not as much as you," he added.

Nala let out a humph and then returned to watching the event, but not too much later she replied back:

"Well I guess I can't blame you. Honestly, after Mom or Juni, I wouldn't mind seeing Guvu win it."

Nala looked back at Simba to see his reaction. Simba was smirking.

"Actually," said Simba, "my second favorite is Uku after all I've heard about her. Nakshi's okay but I wouldn't go on a date with her. I just wanted to hear you admit your admiration for Guvu."

Nala growled, but it was all in good spirit.

Finally, she could now return to watching the event.

Rafiki was the easy culprit for Timon and Pumbaa. Who else did those two know that would wake them up by whacking them both on the head with a stick?

"So would you mind explaining why you had to wake us up?" asked Timon as he continued to rub the sore part on the top of his head.

"Well, we've been running low on de rainberries," said Rafiki.

"But everyone's asleep!" exclaimed Timon. "This is boring, everyone's just running or walking! No one's brought down anything for ages, what's with these guys? Nobody wants to watch this, they'd rather get some shut-eye time."

"And the water's cold," added Pumbaa, "who wants to eat cold stuff at night?"

"I'm just asking you nicely," said Rafiki calmly.

"By whacking us on the heads with a stick?" asked Timon sarcastically, still not over his anger from his 'wakeup call.'

"Eh…guys…" Nala began. She was able to get their attention and then she gestured over towards the track.

Bahati, who had been running, was closing up on a group of three lionesses: Anzi, Sarafina, and Uku. An antelope and a buffalo were walking in front of the group. Once the three lionesses realized the opportunity that they would be leaving Bahati if they were not to do anything about it, all three of them took off into a sprint. Not too far from behind Bahati, Tumaini was running too. All five lions were after the antelope and, mainly, the zebra. Sarafina and Anzi, being the fastest runners with the best head start, got to the zebra first. They both set up for the pounce and the kill as they crossed the finish line and both logged another point, but the extra ten went to Anzi as she beat Sarafina to the zebra, and Sarafina was left to stumble around the creature's legs as it fell. She lost her momentum and the other three lions ran on by her in pursuit of the antelope. Sarafina muttered something under her breath and made her way back over to the outside, soon to be joined by a rather proud and extremely excited Anzi. Meanwhile, Tumaini led Uku and Bahati into the turn as she was the first one onto the antelope's legs. She made her attack, and made it successful. Ten points for Tumaini as she brought the antelope down to the ground, and Uku and Bahati trotted on empty-handed.

"Stupid lions woke Rakusa up," commented Zazu. The crowd had been cheering during the five-lion charge, and now it was apparent that Rakusa was stirring, though for now he remained laying down on the front stretch.

"Everyone's going to be up in a minute," Nala reassured him. "Night time, the best time to hunt. You can see a lot better than your prey, the air is cool, and the ground is hard."

Simba yawned. "Also the best time to sleep too."

"Exactly," replied Nala. "But these conditions last into the early morning. Hunt as much as you can at night, then try to use the darkness to your advantage just before the sun rises, then you can sleep up until there's just a couple of hours left, then you take a look at your score, and then you run and kill as much as possible in order to win."

"And what happens if it rains?" asked Simba.

Nala smiled. "If it rains, this, this hill right here, is the best place to be. You do not want to be a competitor in the rain, but you want to be up here. It is great to watch but none of the lions will want to hunt. The problem is, it's the best time to do it because we have so much more traction compared to our preys' hooves, but the mud and the slickness will wear – you – out, and you can't really go to sleep once you've hunted enough because the ground is so uncomfortable, so then you just end up with a bunch of mad, tired lions walking around being forced to hunt."

"Now that sounds more like hunting," was Simba's response.

Nala frowned. "What, 'a bunch of mad, tired lions walking around being forced to hunt,' that sounds more like hunting?"

"No," replied Simba, "that sounds more like life."

"Anyways," interrupted Rafiki. "If de action going to pick up, de lions going to want rainberries."

"And you know this for a fact?" asked Timon. He turned around. "Hey! Lions!" he yelled, gaining the attention of all the Pridelanders and several lions from other prides sitting on the front stretch. "Raise your paw if you would want some rainberries!" he shouted. All their paws went up. Timon's jaw dropped, and he placed his hand to his head. "Oi, oi, oi," he groaned.

"Come on little buddy," addressed Pumbaa, getting up and placing the empty tortoise shell on his back.

"Why did I agree to this?" asked Timon, as he jumped up onto Pumbaa's back and grabbed a hold of the tortoise shell.

"Because the alternate choice was a scorekeeper," replied Nala, "and we figured you wouldn't like that."

"Well I don't like this either."

"Well it's too late now."

"Is there anything even in this for me?" asked Timon.

"Yup," replied Simba, breaking up the argument. "See, if it rains Timon," he began, walking up to him and Pumbaa and taking hold of the tortoise shell, "you can use this as a hat," he ended, turning the tortoise shell over and placing it on top of Timon's head. Problem: it was a little too big for Timon, or it looked it at the least. Nala chuckled.

Timon sighed from beneath the tortoise shell. "Come on Pumbaa, let's get out of here."

The warthog immediately obeyed and, much less reluctantly than Timon, took off into a trot.

Nala was still chuckling when Simba made his way back over to her.

"Something tells me you don't like him," said Simba.

"Something tells me he don't like me."

"You're evil."

"Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth."

"My point exactly."

"We don't like words, do we?"

"Words require energy. Energy require not being awake all night."

Nala smiled. "Aw," she replied, "my big, strong lion getting tired?"

"Nala, not in front of the pride."

Nala chuckled again and licked his cheek. "The morning will be here soon. That will be the best time to sleep," she reassured him.

"I'll be okay once it rains," he replied.

"It's not supposed to rain."

"Wishful thinking."

"What?"

"Wishful thinking."

"Why?"

"You don't want it to rain."

"Why—"

"Because although rain would make this event exciting, it means you'd be forcing yourself to stay outside and watch, even though up above water will be coming down from the sky, and thus, you'll essentially be forcing yourself to get wet and cold."

"True," replied Nala, "but you'll be wet and cold too, so I don't see why you should want it to rain."

"Because it doesn't bother me as much."

Nala shook her head. "Still," she added, "it's not supposed to rain."

"Wishful thinking."

"It's not supposed to rain."

"You need to get better at arguments."

"OW!"

Sarafina glanced over, slightly caught off guard by the sudden outburst. As she'd been walking on the outside of the track, Tumaini had been running by on the inside, but now she seemed to be much slower and extremely angry.

"Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!" Tumaini yelled as she clenched her eyes tight because of the pain.

"Need help?" asked Sarafina.

Tumaini sighed. "I'm fine," she said.

"Then could you clear up your language, please?"

Tumaini glared at her. "I just pulled a muscle while running at night in the Siku Choka. Don't you think I have a right to be upset?"

"I do, that's why I was only asking politely."

"Well…" Tumaini began, but she couldn't think of a good counterargument. She sighed. "Yeah…yeah…you're right," she finished. She began limping her way to the outside of the track to join Sarafina. "Sorry you had to listen to that. Gods I'm in a lot of pain."

"Well I'm sorry to hear that," replied Sarafina, in a kinder tone than before.

"I was about to start hunting too," added Tumaini, still mad about her injury.

"What's your score?" asked Sarafina.

"Sixty-eight. You?"

"Thirty-six."

"Sarafina, right?"

"Yup. Tumaini?"

"Correct."

Since Timon and Pumbaa had left, five pieces of prey had been brought down, so with the points beginning to tally up now, it was a no-brainer to Sarafina why Tumaini was upset.

"Come on," said Sarafina, "let's move." The two began walking, though slowly at first. "You've got a bunch of points already, at least that's a safety cushion."

"I'm not leading though."

Sarafina smiled. "You've set your expectations rather high, haven't you?"

"Course I have. I may be a rookie, Sarafina, but I would not have travelled all the way down here to compete unless I thought I could win it."

"It's a real shame you had to travel that far. None of your pride came with you?"

"Some. A couple of my friends mainly."

"Well that's good," replied Sarafina. She looked back up in front of her to see if they were coming up on anything. Every step they took however, she would repeatedly hear a groan coming out from Tumaini as she applied pressure to her bad leg. "It'll be okay again soon," said Sarafina, in an attempt to reassure the other lioness.

"I know," replied Tumaini, although her voice seemed a lot higher-pitched and crackly than before. Sarafina looked over her and was surprised to find that Tumaini was actually trying extremely hard to hold back tears. "I don't know what you're thinking Sarafina," she said, "but please don't try to reassure me or weaken me. I'm your competitor. I'm just really tired, I'm just really in pain, and I'm just really mad. Just ignore me," she ended, her voice trembling. She sniffed. Obviously Tumaini knew that Sarafina could tell she was on the brink of cracking. Sarafina began to feel uncomfortable. She really didn't know what to think.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked.

Tumaini sniffed. "Do whatever the hell you feel like doing."

Sarafina thought about it for a second, and then smiled. She wanted to do this, and maybe it would even cheer Tumaini up.

"I've seen lions get killed, some dreams get grilled, and corpses stinking up the place."

Tumaini gave her a weird look.

"Never heard it?" asked Sarafina. Tumaini's failure to change her expression was enough of an answer for Sarafina.

"I've had mud stuck in my fur, and injuries I can't cure, and I've broke down when I got second place.

"And although I come here year to year, and all the time I see lions shed a tear,

"There still remains one thing that just ain't clear, and that's why the hell does the crowd always cheer?"

Tumaini chuckled. "Yup. That sounds like the Siku Choka alright."

Sarafina shook her head. "I can't believe you've never heard it. There's a chorus too but you don't want to hear me sing."

"It's better than seeing you go on and score more points than me."

"I think there are other lions rather than me to worry about right now."

"Like Wamariri?"

Sarafina sighed. "Like Wamariri."

Tumaini was slightly puzzled at Sarafina's response, in particular the sighing part. "You don't like her?" she asked.

"Uh…no one does."

"Why?"

"Cos at the end of every Siku Choka she always pushes the line. She will go out of the way and put someone else in certain danger of losing their life in order for her to score points."

"But isn't…"

"Certain danger, Tumaini. She essentially murders them, and then gets away with it because there is and there cannot be any rule against the stuff that she does. Have you never been to a Siku Choka?"

"No I have not. I've just heard stories."

Sarafina nodded in acknowledgment and then gave a slight sign of a smirk. Tumaini caught onto it.

"What?" she asked.

"Your leg."

"It's fine now."

"Exactly."

"And no I'm not going to thank you," added Tumaini.

Sarafina smiled. "I didn't expect you to."

Tumaini looked behind her to make sure no one else was around to hear what she was about to say. No one was. "Please don't think bad things of me, Sarafina," she began. "I just really want this bad, and I know that making friends with the competitors is one of the last things I'm supposed to do."

"Completely understandable," replied Sarafina. Then, she took off into a run.

Now Tumaini realized something wasn't quite right here. She'd lost her focus while she'd been talking. She was focused on talking to Sarafina. It seemed unnatural for her right now to return to the competition. But, hadn't she just been arguing the complete opposite? Her leg felt okay, and so she began to run too.

"The seedless ones are on this side of the shell, the ones with the seeds are on this side," said Timon fairly loudly so that all of the hungry or thirsty lions stood around him and Pumbaa. Zazu flew down next to them.

"Pumbaa," he addressed, "Guvu is leading with 84 points, Sarafina is in ninth with 36 points."

He then turned around to face another curious lion who had asked him for a score a minute ago. "Ma'am, Tumaini is in second with 68."

He then turned around to face another. "Sir, the top five are Guvu, Tumaini, Wamariri, and Anzi and Winda are tied for fourth."

He then turned around to face another. "Ma'am…"

"Aw," commented Nala, looking back at them. "I feel bad for all of them. Pumbaa wanted to know a score so he held the stick up when all the lions were crowded around for rainberries, and so all those lions asked him for scores too."

Suddenly, a loud echo of a cheer was beginning to form around the hills surrounding the Siku Choka. When Simba and Nala looked back, they could instantly see why. Uku, Wamariri, Bahati, Guvu, Sarafina, and Tumaini were all in pursuit of a buffalo. For the five who missed it, a zebra and an antelope were on the front stretch, not too far in front of where the pack was now. The crowd of lions around Timon and Pumbaa broke up to watch the chase. These were among some of the most entertaining moments of the event.

Uku was able to make the first pounce onto the buffalo and then she grabbed a tight hold on it, hoping that eventually it would come down. Instead however, Wamariri took advantage of the slowing of the buffalo and jumped onto the back of its neck, and then she delivered the fatal bite and the buffalo collapsed onto the ground, taking Uku with it. Both the lions were okay, but now they couldn't chase after the two pieces of prey on the front stretch, and only Wamariri had been able to get the ten points for this buffalo. Of course, since it had been brought down, the pack of four lions that remained now had a new buffalo released onto the front stretch that they could chase as well. Realizing an added potential opportunity for another set of ten points, both Uku and Wamariri got up and began running again.

That's Guvu and Bahati in front of me…alright; Guvu's been running for a while now so I should be faster than him. The same goes for Tumaini behind me. I don't know how good Bahati is. Now I really don't want to go after this new buffalo…

Don't think Sarafina, girl; just run.

…okay, okay, thanks for your input, brain. Nobody asked for it. And I am running. Could I run faster? Let's try.

…

Huh, I guess I could run faster. Alright, let's get this zebra. We're closing in on Bahati and Guvu…leave room between yourself and the buffalo…you don't want to startle it. Oh! Guvu got the buffalo. Just me and you now Bahati and…and…I hear footsteps behind me. Tumaini's closing in on me. Damn it. Come on girl, let's just get this zebra, just get this zebra. Come on, you're right on Bahati's hind legs now…you're faster than him. Just get this zebra…get this zebra…we're alongside him…and Tumaini's alongside us too now…that's great. But the zebra's on the inside and Tumaini's on the outside, she's got farther to go. Are we close enough now? No…a little more…a little more…now? No. Now? Not yet…we're in front of Bahati though. Tumaini's going after the antelope! That's great. Alright…now? Yup.

Sarafina made the pounce and was able to shift her weight onto the front of the zebra enough to make it stumble and enough so that she could deliver the final, fatal bite. Bahati, Tumaini, Wamariri, and Uku all ran on by her. She didn't care. Ten points for Sarafina. She looked up to see who else would get the ten points for the antelope. Well…Tumaini's leg must have been better now. Ten points went to her too.

"Now this is more like it," Simba commented, as now five lions were running around the track and two were waiting to ambush some prey.

"Told you," replied Nala.

Zazu flew down next to them. "Your answer is Juni, Timon," he said simply.

"Lowest amount of points?" asked Nala.

"Correct," replied Zazu.

Nala shook her head. "You just wait, Timon. You just wait."

"Ooh, look at that!" exclaimed Zazu excitedly. "Rakusa is the closest to the prey!"

Indeed he was. Unfortunately for Rakusa however, the buffalo let out a cry when it realized he was closing in. This startled the zebra and the antelope which were walking in front of the buffalo, and they both broke out into a run. However, Rakusa ran on by the buffalo, still believing that the antelope or the zebra would be easier pickings. He was right. The trouble with an antelope was catching it, not killing it, but since it had broken out into its run very late compared to the others, catching it turned out to be no problem to Rakusa, and killing it turned out to be easier done than said. Ten points for Rakusa.

"Woo!" exclaimed Zazu, as Rakusa's pride also cheered from behind where the Pridelanders were sitting.

"I can't believe I want Guvu to miss something," Nala said to her mate. Simba chuckled. The zebra and buffalo were still running, and the first lion waiting in ambush on the outside was Guvu. If he missed them, the second was Sarafina.

Nala's prayers went mostly unanswered. Guvu brought down the zebra. Now, Sarafina was left with the buffalo.

"Don't do it, Mom. Don't do it," Nala cautioned, but only she and her mate could hear. Meanwhile, the crowd let out another cheer as Winda brought down the newly released antelope before it had even had a chance to get on the track. "And…she's not going to listen…" ended Nala, as Sarafina began to run out and after the buffalo.

She'd made a good, early run and was able to quickly get on the buffalo's back…but that was the easy part. Sarafina now had to try and bite down on the neck of the buffalo and kill it without finding herself being bucked off. It worked best if it was done quickly. Unfortunately, it did not seem to be going that way. The buffalo began to buck.

"Get off it, Mom. Get off it," commented Nala, a little more anxious now. This time the two were thinking alike. Sarafina jumped off and let the buffalo go. Nala let out a sigh of relief.

Everyone's attention now returned to the front stretch where Winda brought down a zebra. A lot of lions cheered.

"There sure were a lot of Shairi fans here today," Simba commented.

"I'm not surprised," replied Nala. "She finished third last year I think. Second the year before that. I'm sure she taught her sister a few tricks."

Suddenly a load of laughter and cheers and applause emerged from turn towards the right of where the Pridelanders sat. Simba, Nala, and a lot of other lions curiously looked on in an attempt to find out why the sudden outburst had occurred. So far, they'd been unsuccessful. That was until Simba asked: "Is that a buffalo on the ground?"

Sure enough, though it had been a while since Sarafina had been riding on the buffalo's back in an attempt to bring it down, she had obviously bitten through something crucial because the buffalo had barely made it two hundred yards before he had now collapsed onto the ground and died.

Nala smiled. Simba did too.

"Does that count?" he asked.

"Yup," replied Nala merrily.

Nala held up a stick and a random bird from above flew down next to her.

"What is it you would like to know?" asked the bird as it landed.

"How many points behind the leader is Sarafina?" Nala asked.

"Ah, I just answered a similar question to another lion," said the bird, "didn't she just score five seconds ago?"

"Literally," answered Nala.

"Very well…I believe that puts her 52 points behind our current leader Guvu, and she's now in fifth place."

(A/N: The random bird is right! Please remember to review but mainly I ask that you please participate in the poll! Here are the current scores:)

Guvu: 115

Wamariri: 89

Winda: 70

Tumaini: 69

Sarafina: 57

Anzi: 49

Bahati and Rakusa: 48

Uku: 46

Lenny and Nakshi: 29

Ema: 28

Juni: 17