(A/N: Heads up. This chapter's not the happiest one. At least it's short. The Siku Choka will end - Chapter 24. Chapter 25 will be the post-event. I highly, highly advise reading Chapter 25. The life/death situation will not conclude in Chapter 24. Enjoy!)
Nakshi, Juni and Lenny were now making their way on down the backstretch. The only lions left lying in the turn, were Bahati and Rakusa.
A cheetah that had been working in the infield had just ran over to Kanafa. Now the pair, Kanafa and the other cheetah, came sprinting back. They walked out onto the dirt track beside Bahati.
One of the leopards moved part of his mane to show Kanafa where the lion had been bleeding.
"Is he responsive?" asked Kanafa.
"I don't know," replied the leopard.
"Well haven't you checked?"
"No…I mean…yes…I have checked, but you misunderstood me. It's difficult to tell whether he's responsive or not."
"Bahati," Kanafa addressed, a little irritated at the leopard's lack of clarity in answering his question, "can you hear me?"
The lion replied, but it all came out as a bunch of incoherent strung-together mumbling.
"See," replied the leopard, "he's been getting worse and worse."
"Siku Choka rules that if the competitor is not in a condition to determine his own level of health, and if a lack of action could result in the death of that particular competitor, he or she shall be removed from the track and given medical assistance, thus retiring them from the event," recited Kanafa. He then bent down. "Bahati," he said calmly, "I'm going to reach out for your front paws so I can carry you to the infield. If you resist, we will go away. If you do not, you're out of the game. Okay?"
Bahati groaned and closed his eyes. Kanafa slowly reached for his front paws. He looked back up at Bahati one more time, just in case. However, Bahati was still just lying their peacefully, with his eyes closed. Kanafa grabbed a hold of Bahati's front paws. Still, no movement.
Kanafa looked over to the leopard. "Grab his back paws," he said. The leopard nodded and made his way to the back of Bahati. "And where is that mandrill?" asked Kanafa, "you know…Rafiki?"
"He's over there, sir," replied the leopard.
Kanafa looked over towards the direction in which the leopard had signaled: between the two hills.
Rafiki had his two arms outstretched high into the sky.
From the infield, Bwana Zungumza roared twice. There was now just one hour left.
While Nakshi, Juni and Lenny had been running, Anzi had taken a short adventure of her own. She had ran down the front stretch over towards the scoreboard, where she observed that she only had 148 points, and then ran across the line, pushing her point tally up to 149. She lined up in front of Sarafina, and even in front of Tumaini, just in case. Hopefully, the tensions would soon lesson between Wamariri and Winda, and then all she needed to do was pray for a miracle.
Meanwhile, Rakusa had gotten back up to his feet over in the turn. With his fractured leg, he began to limp around the perimeter of the Siku Choka. No, he would not win the Siku Choka…but he was determined to make it to the finish.
"Zazu, forgive us, we are so embarrassed. We really don't mean to make you all do all this work. It's just Timon…"
"I know, I understand Nala."
"First place. Guvu. 268 points," said the first hornbill.
"Second place. Winda. 256 points," said the next.
"Third place. Tumaini. Also 256 points."
"Fourth place. Sarafina. 237 points."
"Fifth place. Wamariri. 234 points."
"Sixth place but eliminated. Bahati. 219 points."
"Seventh place. Juni. 206 points."
"Eighth place but with a fractured leg. Rakusa. 205 points."
"Ninth place. Nakshi. 188 points."
"Tenth place. Anzi. 149 points."
"Eleventh place. Lenny. 127 points."
And with that, the eleven hornbills flew off.
"Mind if I stay here until the end?" asked Zazu.
"Course not," replied Simba.
"I t'ink I will too," commented Rafiki, arriving on scene.
"Thought you'd be taking care of Bahati, actually," replied Simba.
"I went over to see him," replied Rafiki. "Though Bahati is not in a good condition, he is in a stable one. He will be fine."
"So before the runners make their way onto the front stretch Madam, I guess I must ask if you if either of the Majibuluu pride competitors still has a chance?" asked Zazu to Nala.
Nala shook her head 'no.' "Not unless a miracle happens, and it could. Until then, it's a five-way fight." A giant smile then crossed her face. "And I have no problem with that," she added.
"Cos your mom's in the top five?" asked Simba.
"Yup! Guvu, Winda, Tumaini, Mom and Wamariri. Honestly, now that reality's sunk in a bit, I guess I'm fine with any of them winning…except for Wamariri."
Simba laughed. "Yeah," he replied, "try saying that again in an hour."
Whatever Nala thought, however, every competitor not in that top five, except for Rakusa, was determined to prove her wrong. The first of which that could do anything about it was Nakshi, who was just making her way out of the final turn. She knew she was down by a lot of points, and thus for her, Wamariri and Winda's deadlock could not be tolerated. And, after a few years of experience, she was not very tolerant of Wamariri either. She knew that what she was about to do could probably end up killing her, but that was okay. It needed to be done.
Nakshi ran out of the final turn and ran up on Winda and Wamariri. The other two lionesses turned around to watch her come in, just to see what she was going to do. They both got onto their feet however, as Nakshi did something quite unthinkable. She ran straight on by Winda, and then pounced…
Wamariri was knocked to the ground by the lioness, but she already had her claws out, ready to fight back. Nakshi was not interested in fighting though. She jumped off of Wamariri and checked to see where the prey was.
All three pieces of prey had now made their way out onto the track.
Winda was off…but she had company.
Juni and Lenny had been running with Nakshi, and they were after the prey too. Wamariri got back up on her feet and her fury with Nakshi quickly washed away from her mind. There was a job that needed to be done.
The audience all got to its feet and cheered as the pack of five lions, one zebra, one antelope and one buffalo made its way down the straight.
Winda knew that nobody else would bother going for the antelope. Since she had had an excruciatingly long rest, in which she had been wanting to get back up and run, speed was something that was just coming to her naturally now. The antelope was an easy picking for her, and her reward of ten points moved her up to being just two points behind Guvu.
Two more chases were still on though.
Nakshi was the closest to the zebra, with Lenny right on her hind legs. She had to make her move before it was too late. She pushed her ears back and tried to pick up the sound of Lenny's breathing. He was still far away. Thus, she pushed Lenny out of her mind and began to focus solely on the zebra. Just a few more strides, and she was there. Nakshi jumped up onto the creature's back and bit down on its neck before Lenny could even think about taking it from her. Ten points went to Nakshi, giving her a total score of 198. Still 70 points behind Guvu.
The other chase was the one for the buffalo. As soon as Lenny saw Nakshi pounce on the zebra, he ran across the track and joined in the formerly two-lion chase, which had been between Juni and Wamariri.
Juni was up on the buffalo's back before he could get there though. The buffalo began to slow down and buck. Wamariri had to run around the side of the buffalo to prevent herself from being kicked in the face, but points weren't out of her mind just yet. She jumped up onto the buffalo's back and joined Juni. Juni was hanging on for dear life, though, and Wamariri was still struggling to get a grip on the buffalo. There was only one way in which this buffalo would be hers…
Wamariri moved one arm up to pull herself up further onto the creature, and then swung her other arm out and knocked Juni off balance. The elderly lioness was thrown airborne as she lost hold of the buffalo. Then, as the buffalo took a step forward and gravity pulled Juni back to the ground, the buffalo gave one last buck…kicking Juni right on top of her head. Wamariri reached her jaw out and bit down on the buffalo's neck, and then finally the creature stumbled.
Behind her though, Juni's body was still flying through the air. Lenny grinded to a halt, and was able to stop short just before the spot at which Juni was destined to land. The vibrations through the ground from the impact shook Lenny off of his feet when she landed. Such an impact had not occurred ever since Shairi had been launched into the air earlier.
Shairi had not survived.
Juni didn't either.
"Timon, give me a rainberry," commanded Nala.
"Uh…we don't have one."
"Well get one."
"Why do you want it?"
"I don't know. I'm either going to use it as a stress ball, or throw it at Wamariri."
"She's probably fine, Nala," commented Simba calmly.
"FINE? You think she's fine? Did you not see how hard that buffalo kicked her! Did you not see the blood? I swear, I'm going to kill her…"
"You probably shouldn't hold yourself to that."
"And tear her up and feed her to the birds…"
"Nala," addressed Simba with a hint of seriousness, which, it has to be said, Nala also possessed…
"…no…no…I'll burn her. That's what that scumbag deserves…I'll burn her…"
"Nala," addressed Simba, although a lot calmer this time, as he could now really see just how much tears were in Nala's eyes.
"We have control over these lands! We should have just banned her from these freaking lands!" yelled Nala.
Simba was beginning to get a little nervous; his mate was beginning to cause a scene. "NALA!" he exclaimed, reaching out and grabbing her. He reached out his paw to grab her mouth, to stop her from screaming, but it was unnecessary. As soon as he'd pulled her into his mane, Nala just buried her head into it and began to sob.
Simba's eyes grew wide and his heart sunk. If Nala was really this sad, then Juni must really be dead. Juni was dead. Simba began to rub his mate's back comfortingly, and then he gave one more look around at all the stares he was receiving. But then realized that the situation really wasn't as awkward as what he had first thought. It was evident that virtually all of the other spectators felt Nala's pain.
The lion king sighed. He looked back out at the track.
"Guvu's running," he said quietly. His statement was easily drowned out by the sound of his mate crying though. "I guess his strategy wasn't working," he continued. Suddenly, a loud cheer emerged from the hill on the far right. "Oh, Winda just got the new antelope!" exclaimed Simba. "New leader."
He looked back down at his mate, but Nala still was not paying attention. He looked over at Rafiki, Timon, Pumbaa and Zazu, all of which were shaking their heads solemnly, signaling to Simba that it probably would be a good idea to just let Nala have her moment.
Simba sighed, and then returned his focus towards the game.
"Yeah, I guess that Wamariri is a bit of a scumbag after all, isn't she?" he said.
Sarafina didn't know what to think. It would be bad enough if she hadn't just seen her hero get murdered right in front of her. What's worse, she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't run backwards…she would never forgive herself for throwing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of potentially winning the Siku Choka away. But even then, she was having a difficult time figuring out how to do that. Now, she was the last in ambush. When Guvu had ran, with hindsight, Sarafina should have ran too. So what should she do now? Run…or wait.
Her decision was made once it occurred to her that the sooner she ran, the sooner she could give Wamariri a piece of her mind. Sarafina began to run.
Lenny got a zebra, and ran across the line in doing so. He now had 138 points. Wamariri went for the buffalo. Nakshi joined in the chase. However, Nakshi wasn't really after the buffalo. She had gotten to know Juni over the years, and she wanted Wamariri to know how she felt. As soon as she pulled up alongside her, she spat into her eye. Wamariri snarled, but continued to run. Nakshi dived in for an attack on the lioness, but Wamariri elegantly jumped over her. Nakshi was left to roll over on the floor, covering her coat in mud and dust. The lioness watched as Wamariri ran off into the distance, while Nakshi was left with just a tear in her eye.
Sarafina needed to let any sense of emotion flee from her body. She just needed to do this, and then move on. She could not screw her chances of winning this game up.
"Rakusa," she called, walking up to him slowly. She looked down at the ground, and then back up at him. "How much do you know?" she asked.
"I fractured my leg," replied the lion. "At this rate, I'll only be able to make it around to the line another lap. That's my goal."
Sarafina closed her eyes and began to choke up.
Why do I have to do this?
"W—what's wrong?" asked Rakusa.
Sarafina held an arm out and embraced the lion. "Rakusa, I…Rakusa…J—Juni is dead," she cried, as she wrapped herself ever tighter around him and cried into his mane. "I'm so sorry…" she added, her voice more higher-pitched than ever before.
Rakusa couldn't believe it. He wouldn't. "Are you sure?" he asked back.
Sarafina rotated her head forward and back, trying to give her best impression of a nod. She then unburied her head and sniffed, before removing her arm from Rakusa's mane and wiping the tears from her eyes.
"I'm p—positive," she replied, "th—they carried her away."
She gazed into Rakusa's eyes. He gazed into hers. They could both see utter and complete sorrow and anguish flowing throw both of them.
"No," said Rakusa, shaking his head.
Sarafina bowed her head. So far, she hadn't done too well at this not-showing-emotions thing. "I—I'm so sorry," she said once again. She sniffed. "I…eh…I've got to go."
And with that, she began to move off.
"Sarafina," called Rakusa.
Nala's mother stopped and looked back. "Yes?" she asked.
"Sarafina…Juni…w—why?"
Sarafina closed her eyes. She didn't want to remind herself, nonetheless Rakusa. "Wamariri," she said. And with that, Sarafina turned around, and ran off.
(A/N: Don't worry guys. The depressing part's now over. Chapter 23 will be here to cheer you all up on Tuesday. Happy Independence Day!)