(A/N: Goal for the summer: finish this story! Let's get started!)
Once again, Tumaini was faced with a difficult decision. Right now, Guvu was no longer a threat, and thus there was no need for teamwork. An antelope and a zebra had just been released, and she was the only one lined up in ambush. She could potentially get twenty more points here, and not have to worry about her teammates because they were now who she was competing against. But what if she needed them again later on?
Tumaini pushed that thought to the side. She would cross that bridge when she came to it. Tumaini left her ambushing post, and brought down the newly released zebra. The antelope tried to run on by her, but the lioness then quickly ran back across to the other side of the track and got him down too.
Anzi and Winda had joined Lenny, Bahati, and Nakshi in pursuit of the buffalo.
"I'll box!" said Lenny to his brother as they ran, and then he ran around the side of the buffalo and began to slow it down.
The other four lions were now right in position to attack.
Winda was hesitant to, seeing as how her sister had died after her ride on a buffalo earlier. Thus, Anzi moved her way in front of the lioness and got up on the buffalo's back.
"Go on, it's yours," said Bahati to Nakshi, as the male lion doubted whether he was skilled enough to get the buffalo down while another lioness was on its back. Nakshi joined Anzi on the buffalo. By the time she got up there though, it was already too late. Anzi had clasped her jaw down on the buffalo's neck, and slowly but surely the creature began to stumble his way on down to the ground. Ten points went to Anzi.
"Round two," said Tumaini to herself happily, as three new pieces of prey made their way out onto the track. Nobody else was around her. If she timed it all well, she could get another thirty points right here.
Nakshi got back up onto her feet.
"Nice job," she said to Anzi.
"Thanks," replied Anzi.
Nakshi looked in front of her. Bahati and Lenny had continued to run.
Guess I should catch up with them, Nakshi thought. I'm really getting tired of running though. The lioness checked over her shoulder. Her jaw could've dropped. She forced it not to, however, as she didn't want Anzi to realize what she had just realized.
Anzi didn't. She went running off to complete another lap.
Nakshi made her way to the outside of the track.
Guvu's down and only two other lions are in ambush! Three pieces of prey on the front stretch…I'm bound to get points here!
Tumaini chuckled. Nakshi, you're not going to get points here. Nor are you, Wamariri, she added, referring to the next lioness in ambush.
Tumaini turned her head back to the left. A zebra was cautiously approaching her. Not too far behind it was an antelope. A buffalo brought up the back.
Tumaini crouched down. "It's showtime," she whispered to herself.
"You don't seriously think that she's going to…" began Simba, but then he got to see his question answered for him.
Tumaini ran across the track once the zebra had caught up to her. She quickly brought it down to the ground…but that was the easy ten points.
She perked her ears up and heard the sound of hooves running by on her right side. She whirled around to the side and reached out her front legs. She was able to get a hold of the antelope's flank, but he escaped. However, he was injured. Not being able to run as well on three legs as opposed to four, Tumaini sensed another easy ten points if she just gave chase. She did, and it paid off.
Breathing hard, the lioness got up from her latest kill. She tried to soften her breathing and drown out the sound of the crowd cheering. The buffalo was behind her somewhere, and she just needed to know where. Faintly, she was beginning to hear the sound of another set of hooves, cautiously trying to make their way by the lioness on the far left hand side of the track.
Tumaini grinned. She slowly turned her head leftwards until she met the buffalo's gaze. The buffalo stopped dead in its tracks…and gulped. Knowing it was worthless, the creature didn't even flinch as the lioness ran back across the track and bit down on his neck. Both of the mammals collapsed down to the ground as an echoing roar bounced off the hills surrounding the Siku Choka. Thirty points in one go was quite a feat.
Tumaini checked over her shoulder. Far behind her on the front stretch, three new pieces of prey had been released. They weren't worth waiting for though. Juni, Sarafina and Rakusa were already all making their way out of the final turn.
"Your welcome, team," said Tumaini.
"Rakusa, you're stronger than us. You go after the buffalo," said Juni over her left shoulder. "Sarafina, you go after the zebra," she then said over her right shoulder. She then looked dead in front of her. "I'll take the antelope."
The Pridelanders were all standing up as they watched Sarafina run down the front stretch with the others.
"Which one do you think she's going to go after?" asked Simba.
"I have no idea," replied Nala, "I hope they didn't tell her to go after the zebra. I think Wamariri will ambush that."
Indeed, Wamariri was able to ambush and bring the zebra down before Sarafina got anywhere near. Without thinking twice, Sarafina slowed to a halt and made her way towards the outside of the track: right in front of the Pridelanders.
"You're not staying with the team?" asked Nala, rather surprised.
"No need to!" replied Sarafina merrily, "Guvu's down!"
Nala rolled her eyes. "He won't be that way forever."
"I know," replied Sarafina. "See though, now all ten of us are a team. The more prey we get down, the more we all close in on Guvu. And so I'll do my part by staying here on the front stretch and waiting in ambush."
"Well don't look now," Simba chimed in, "but here comes a zebra."
Further on down the straight, Rakusa was not having much success with bringing the buffalo down and Juni was having trouble just catching the zebra. However, nobody was waiting in ambush, so Juni knew that this was the perfect opportunity for her. She kept running.
"Hey, Bahati, do you think we should…?" but then Lenny stopped, as he realized his brother wasn't anywhere near him. He brought himself to a halt.
"Ow!" exclaimed Winda, as she ran into the back of the lion and tripped over.
"Oops…sorry…guess I didn't see you there."
The lioness groaned as she got back up onto her feet.
"Are you okay?" asked Lenny. "I didn't mean to hurt you…honest."
Winda groaned again before replying. "Yeah…yeah…I'll make do…just…run to the outside or something before you whoa up next time, okay?"
"Got it," replied Lenny, and with that Winda ran off.
"I wouldn't advise standing right on the inside of the track, brother," said Bahati, as he trotted up towards Lenny.
"Neither did she."
"Then I guess you should either go towards the outside of the track or get going. Personally I would recommend the second option."
"But that's what everyone's doing," Lenny pointed out, "that's why I stopped. Look, brother, everyone's running. If anybody misses then there's no one to wait in ambush. Well I'm going to be the first."
"But you're like…a mile away from where the prey gets let out."
"I know," replied Lenny smiling, "but I'm still the first."
The Pridelanders watched and Zazu gasped as Rakusa got tossed off of a buffalo…but then began walking away normally as if nothing has happened.
Sarafina walked back towards the outside of the track after ambushing a zebra.
"This is zebraific," commented Nala to Simba.
Simba frowned. "You seem rather redeterminated."
"As long as that buffalo and antelope can't be caught, Mom gets to ambush zebras, and zebras only, until something else comes along. That's good because zebras are, pretty much, the easiest prey to catch."
Simba nodded in acknowledgement. "That does sound rather zebraific. How many points does she have now, Zazu?"
"Eh…I believe she has 216, sire."
"And Guvu has 268, correct?"
"Yes sire."
Simba raised his eyebrows. "She could still have this then."
Suddenly, Nala rolled one of the sticks that was used to flag the birds down over towards Simba.
"What's this for?" asked Simba.
"It's a stick, it's made of wood," replied Nala.
"Really? I thought it was made of rock."
"You just said my mom might win."
Simba sighed and knocked on the stick a few times.
"Thank you," replied Nala, taking the stick back in her paw and smiling.
"Paranoid," muttered Simba under his breath.
Winda, Bahati and Anzi all came running out onto the front stretch.
They all grumbled.
Only one piece of prey was on the front stretch: a zebra. It was close enough for Sarafina to ambush now that it wasn't worth going after, but at least these three could guard the track entrance. Or mainly, Winda could.
However, Sarafina brought the zebra down before the three lions could get to the track entrance, and the new zebra was released. Winda went for it, but the zebra was already galloping away. Winda and Anzi gave chase, but Bahati gave up. He ran across towards the side of the track and looked over towards where he had left his brother. Even though Lenny was quite far away, Bahati could tell that he was smiling.
"This isn't that zebraific anymore," commented Simba, as Winda and Anzi ran on the hind legs of the zebra. "Is your mom still going to ambush it?" he asked Nala.
"I think she's stupid enough to, yes," replied Nala.
"What are you doing over here?" asked Nakshi, as she made her way towards where Lenny sat on the outside of the track.
"I'm waiting in ambush," replied Lenny.
Nakshi shook her head. How stupid was this guy?
"Lenny. If you ran about another two hundred yards, you'd be right at the track entrance. A piece of prey would have to run about one and a half miles without being brought down right now for you to get it." Nakshi looked down the track, a bit further off into the distance. "What's your brother doing?"
"Same thing."
"Why?" she asked, trying not to laugh.
"Because there's a bunch of prey on the backstretch."
Nakshi frowned but then checked over her shoulder…then her eyes grew wide. An antelope was just making its way out onto the backstretch, still being chased by Juni. Behind them a buffalo was walking peacefully.
"See, if Juni just stopped running for one second she could wait and bring that buffalo down," said Lenny.
Nakshi turned her head back towards Lenny.
Lenny looked down at the ground, and then back up at Nakshi. "Uh…your jaw's hanging, by the way. Just thought I'd let you know."
"Lenny…" began Nakshi in a whisper, "you're brilliant!"
"Well I wouldn't call it that," replied Lenny.
"No, seriously. Here," said Nakshi, walking around the lion. "I'll let you be the first in ambush still. You deserve it."
Lenny shrugged. "Either way, you'll get ten points and so will I…hopefully."
"Yeah…but you get the antelope," replied Nakshi.
Winda and Anzi were nearing the end of their chase with the zebra. Anzi could see that Sarafina was waiting in ambush for it, so she put on an extra burst of speed to make sure that she got it in time. Sarafina ran out of her ambushing spot in an attempt to take the zebra down, but it was too late. Anzi had already got it. Winda and Sarafina both made their way towards the outside of the track.
The new zebra was released onto the circuit, so Bahati gave up on waiting for the antelope and the buffalo and instead he went and charged the zebra down. Ten points for Bahati. He couldn't get up for the new zebra in time though, and so that one ran by him and made its way on down the front stretch, where Sarafina, Anzi, Winda and Wamariri lied in wait for it.
Lenny and Nakshi were still waiting for the antelope.
Simba checked over to see how his mate was feeling about all of this. "You look a little uneasy," he said.
"These guys are wasting way too much time," replied Nala, "they should be getting pieces of prey down like that," Nala emphasized, holding her paw up and snapping two of her toes together every second. Click – click – click – click. "Instead, it's more just like…" click, "and then there's too long a gap before anything else happens. They're never going to beat Guvu at this rate."
"Well everything's in a bad position right now. Maybe, in five minutes, they'll be able to pick it up a bit."
"They'd better," replied Nala. "Crowning a three-time champion here in the Pridelands just doesn't have the same appeal now as it did this time yesterday."
As Juni made her way on down the backstretch, she could now see Lenny and Nakshi lying in ambush. Knowing what it meant for her chances of getting the antelope, she put on an extra sprint, but it wasn't enough. Lenny timed it perfectly and brought down the antelope.
Meanwhile, Tumaini had been pacing herself slowly as she approached the entrance to the track, just in case such an event had occurred. Now that it had, a new antelope was released, and Tumaini gave chase.
Rakusa, after his earlier failed attack on the buffalo, was only just making his way out onto the backstretch. He had been walking for the past couple of minutes, saving his energy to see if he could have another go at the buffalo. Seeing that Nakshi, and now Juni, were waiting in ambush at the far end of the track, he began to give chase.
The front stretch was where the real action was about to take place though, as Sarafina, Winda, Anzi and Wamariri were all ready for the zebra to begin making its way on by. Sarafina was the first in line. When the moment was right, she darted out across the track and caught a hold of the zebra's back leg. The zebra swung around and almost threw Sarafina off. Seeing an opportunity, Anzi ran across the track to join in with all the commotion. She jumped up onto the top of the zebra's back and delivered the fatal bite, just as Sarafina was beginning to regain control. The zebra crashed to the ground and Anzi got the points.
Anzi and Sarafina hurried back onto their feet though, as now a new piece of prey was coming their way. The antelope was being chased down by Tumaini and Bahati. Bahati had less injuries and more energy than Tumaini, but he also had a heavy mane weighing him down. Thus, both lions were virtually even with each other on speed, and the antelope was slightly faster than both of them.
Fortunately for them, Sarafina and Anzi had not gotten back across to the outside of the track in time, and the antelope slowed up before he got any closer to them. Tumaini saw this first, and it was she who was quick enough to realize the opportunity, gain a bit of speed and bring the antelope down. Ten points went to Tumaini.
"It bugs me when there's just a piece of prey standing there with nobody around it," said Timon, "shouldn't there be more action? I mean, the prey is the heart of the whole thing, right?"
"I never thought I'd say this, Timon, but I agree with you," said Nala. "It looks like Lenny is making his way around though, and we have six lions lined up in ambush, so hopefully it should soon get exciting."
"Juni's leaving her post," commented Simba, watching as Juni walked away from Nakshi. "I guess she thinks Rakusa will get the buffalo down before it gets to them."
Nala laughed. "Don't you just love it?"
"What's that?" asked Simba.
"Nakshi's still standing there. What could be a brilliant strategy could turn out to be nothing. And most of the time, you use strategy just to get a mere ten points…but then the next second you could end up having someone like Tumaini who scores fifty points at once purely through luck. I just love the unpredictability."
"Well…you could argue that she made her own luck."
"True," replied Nala, "don't get me wrong, you still have to be good to win. Anyways, let's see who's right. Obviously Nakshi wants Rakusa to miss the buffalo."
"Not going to happen, I'm afraid," said Zazu, holding a piece of Grand Gopher's Glorious Tooth Floss in his claws.
"Nakshi, one Siku Choka victory. Rakusa, zero," retorted Simba.
Suddenly a bunch of cheering surrounded them as Rakusa jumped up onto the back of the buffalo and killed it.
Zazu grinned. "Rakusa, ten Siku Choka points. Nakshi, zero."
The Majibuluu pride was beside itself. Unintentional teamwork. When Rakusa had killed the buffalo, a new one had been released onto the track…right in front of Juni. The lioness had wasted no time in bringing it down.
Meanwhile, Lenny had charged down the antelope and the zebra on the front stretch. The preys were sent off into a run, and the six lions waiting in ambush got ready to pounce.
Winda was first in line. The antelope was closer to her, and so that is the one that she went after. It turned out to be an easy ten points, leaving Lenny just the zebra.
Lenny jumped up onto the creature's back…and was soon joined by Sarafina. Before Sarafina could even think about killing the zebra though, Anzi jumped up onto the zebra and took Sarafina's place, resulting in the nyimbas falling back down onto the floor. Anzi remembered Sarafina's words and didn't worry about Lenny. This time, in respect to the zebra, and not Lenny, she 'just killed him.' Ten points went to Anzi.
"Drat!" Nala exclaimed, annoyed.
"Hey, it's not all that bad," replied Simba, "your mom has a lot of points. Anzi doesn't."
"No, not that," said Nala, "it's Juni."
"Juni? What about her?"
"She tried to ambush the buffalo and failed, and now she just did the same with the antelope. If she misses this new zebra she might as well just give chase."
Simba frowned. "Well if not, she'll still be the first one lined up in ambush."
"Yeah," replied Nala, "but that's no good if she can't catch anything."
Fortunately for Juni, she was able to get the zebra. Before she could get up and give chase on the rest though, Nakshi went running on by her. The antelope and buffalo heard her coming and were sent off into a run.
The buffalo led the pack of three. Winda was the first in ambush…but she still didn't like trying to bring down buffalos. She let it by, and instead went after the antelope. Nakshi had half expected this, and so she wasted no time in going after the buffalo instead and running up on his back heels. She pounced. Once she was up on the buffalo's back though, she was surprised to see that this piece had already been taken. Bahati had been the second lion waiting in ambush, and he had just beaten Nakshi to the buffalo's neck. As all three came crashing down, ten points went to Bahati.
"And that gives me 198," he said, looking up from the kill. "Which means you probably have that amount too."
Nakshi shook her head 'no.' "178," she replied smiling. "Congratulations, though. If I'd caught it, we'd be tied."
Bahati chuckled. "Good thing we're not working as a team anymore, then."
Winda had caught the antelope. Thus, three new pieces of prey had just been released.
Simba watched on from the crowd perplexed.
"Nala…why is Juni standing out in the middle of the circuit?"
"I think…I don't know but I think…she's trying to hold the prey up so that Rakusa can come and join in."
Simba looked on farther down the track. Indeed, Rakusa was the one lion not on the front stretch. But, right now, he was about to run onto it.
"Couldn't Juni just do what Tumaini did earlier, you know, get all three, and then let Rakusa help her with the three new, new pieces?"
Nala laughed. "Simba, what Tumaini did earlier is not common. Juni knows she probably couldn't do it if her life depended on it."
Juni could not hold them all off forever though. Eventually, the zebra made a run for it. Juni whirled around and held her paws out, hoping to grab a hold of it and take it down to the ground. She failed. The zebra ran off but became easy prey for Winda farther on down the straight.
The antelope tried to follow the zebra's lead and run by Juni. Juni heard him coming this time, though, and the antelope saw blackness before it ever saw freedom.
Overall though, Juni's strategy was a success, since before the buffalo could even try and run by her, it was killed and taken to the ground by Juni's king, Rakusa.
Three new pieces of prey were released, and Rakusa, Juni and Winda were still the first three in ambush.
"We've got to try and keep the prey away from Winda," whispered Juni to Rakusa. "She has a lot of points."
"Ten four," replied Rakusa. He crouched down, ready for the new prey. "Good luck," he whispered back to Juni.
(A/N: Sorry every section was short. Hopefully that won't be the case next time. I hope you're as happy as I am to see The Siku Choka back up! Tell me about it in your reviews, please!)