(A/N: ARE YOU READY to find out who wins the 25th running of THE SIKU CHOKA? If not, then why the heck are you still reading? Well, for those of you that are...here we go!)
As Pumbaa had predicted, Nakshi got the zebra. She ran back towards the outside of the track and lined up in ambush behind Lenny.
"You still want me to help you?" asked Lenny.
"Please," replied Nakshi, "I don't know why you want to help me, but I sure appreciate it. I still think I can win."
"Do you want to know why I want to help you, Nakshi?"
"Sure. Why not?"
"Because we share something in common."
Nakshi raised her eyebrows. "Really? What's that?"
"We both love Bahati very much."
Nakshi shook her head, but couldn't help but blush a little bit. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said.
"Ah, well you'll learn in time. I'm sure I'll be seeing you a lot more oft…"
"Oh! Look! A buffalo is on its way!" exclaimed Nakshi rather loudly, obviously trying to distract Lenny from the conversation.
"He's still half a mile away," observed Lenny.
"Well…you know…he'll be here before we even know it. We should probably stop talking and get ready."
"Agreed," replied Lenny. "Box and bundle."
Nakshi nodded. "Good luck to you too."
Anzi came running out of the final turn. Three seconds passed, and Sarafina came too. The newly released zebra was the first piece of prey up. Sarafina slowed down.
I should probably wait in ambush for any newly released prey she thought to herself. The line's not too far away. I'll get one point before this event is done.
"How's that stick looking?" asked Nala.
Simba looked down at the piece of wood. "Like a stick."
Nala rolled her eyes. "I meant the shadow, Simba."
"About half what it was before. Pumbaa, are your calculations still the same?"
"Rakusa crosses the line, Bwana roars," replied the warthog.
The Pridelanders looked over towards the turn.
"He's almost on the front straight now," stated Simba. "Zazu – scores?"
"Eh…Guvu has 289, Winda has 288…I think, Sarafina 278 and Tumaini 266."
The Pridelanders all looked over towards the right.
"Tumaini's the last in ambush," stated Nala. "I think that makes it a three-way fight now."
Lenny and Nakshi made their move. It was time to box and bundle. Lenny ran out in front of the buffalo and began to slow down. He kept checking over his shoulder and copying the buffalo's moves as he tried to dodge to the left or right. Eventually, Lenny heard the buffalo whine. Now, it was Lenny's time to hot tail it out of there. He'd done his part. If he waited any longer, he would just risk getting hurt. About fifteen seconds later, and the buffalo finally stumbled. His fate was an extra ten points to Nakshi.
The lioness looked up from her kill and checked back over her shoulder.
"Oh no," she groaned, "we used up too much track!"
"You mean cos we're now behind Guvu and Winda in ambush?"
"That…and the fact that it will take forever for the prey to walk down this far."
Nakshi sighed.
"Still," said Lenny, trying to reassure her, "fifth place…I mean, that's still good."
Nakshi shook her head. "I'm not giving up yet," she replied.
A new buffalo made its way out onto the circuit. However, Sarafina remained still. Further on down the straight, Anzi was riding a zebra's back.
"Come on Anzi, get it girl," she muttered quietly.
Sure enough, the lioness was able to bring the zebra down to the ground. A new one was released, and Sarafina charged.
"Woo!" cheered Simba. "Ten more points!"
"Ha ha! Well done Mom!" exclaimed Nala, next to him. "288!"
Guvu gulped. He knew speed wasn't his strong point, but right now that didn't matter. He was in trouble. But here was an opportunity…an antelope. Very light, very agile, very quick. Guvu needed to time his move perfectly if he wanted it.
The two-time champion waited until the antelope had made his way on by. Then, once it had lured itself into a false sense of security, Guvu ran. The antelope heard him though, and ran off. Guvu tried to give chase, but he hadn't been too far away from Winda.
The young lioness darted out from her ambushing spot and took the antelope down. There was now a new leader in the Siku Choka.
"Your Mom's already lined back up in ambush for the next zebra, Nala."
"You know, I have a word for this."
"I think I know it."
"There's just one small problem," commented Timon. He pointed towards the far left hand side of the track. "Rakusa's now on the front stretch."
Indeed, the limping lion was on his way.
"This is it," said Simba, grabbing a hold of Nala's paw. They interlocked toes. "This is what it all comes down to."
"Good luck Mom," whispered Nala to herself.
Winda was leading with 298 points. Guvu had 289. One piece of prey, and the victory was his. However, Sarafina had 288. Once she crossed the line, she would have 289. If she got a piece of prey, she would also have 299. If she and Guvu both had 299, it would become a race between the two of them, to see who could get furthest around the track.
Then, something of a miracle happened for Guvu. Anzi, the only competitor besides Sarafina between him and where the prey was let out, let a buffalo go on by. Not too surprising, given that Anzi was not the strongest competitor, and, also, given that since she wasn't going to win anyways, why risk her life on a buffalo?
However, Sarafina took no chances with the zebra. She ran, pounced, tackled, bit, and brought it down to the ground. Once it was there, she kept on biting and biting. She had seen pieces of prey get up from attacks before, and she did not want to risk that here.
"Ma'am, ten points have already been added to your tally, come on now, we need to clear this carcass from the track," said one of the infield workers.
Sarafina got the hint, and made her way back towards the outside of the track.
"Where's Tumaini gone?" asked Simba aloud.
"She's running," replied Nala. "It's all she can do now. I doubt she'll make it back around in time…but we'll see."
The buffalo was now alongside Guvu. This time, the lion felt a lot more comfortable with what he was doing. The challenge was trying to make this kill take up as little track as possible. If he couldn't kill it right away, he would have to line up in ambush behind Winda.
As Guvu jumped up onto the buffalo's back, he caught a glimpse of the sandy-colored lioness lying on the outside of the track.
Oh well, thought Guvu, let's just make sure I get these ten points.
He did.
Unfortunately for Guvu, it turned out that he had used up way too much track. Nakshi and Lenny were now lined up in front of him also. However, he was in the lead…but only by one point.
The question on everyone's mind now was, now with Guvu several lions back in ambush, would Sarafina risk going for the antelope…or would she wait until the zebra?
Sarafina had already made up her own answer to that: both.
The antelope wandered on by her, and Sarafina gave chase. However, it had gotten too good a start on her. Whatever the result had been with the antelope, Sarafina had known one thing: she needed to line back up in ambush in front of Anzi.
It turned out to be an easy thing to do…given that Anzi went off after the antelope.
Sarafina returned to the outside of the track, and waited for the zebra.
Rakusa walked on by the point at which the prey was released.
"The prey don't walk quick enough to walk on by him," stated Simba. He looked over towards the backstretch. "And Tumaini's nowhere in sight. Do you know what this means, Nala?"
Nala nodded. "These three pieces of prey…are the only set left."
Anzi was determined to make the final antelope hers. However, she knew she had to keep an eye out for the other competitors lined up in ambush.
As she ran, she caught sight of the first competitor to match that description…Winda.
When the moment was right, Winda darted across the track. In all her inexperience, however, she'd mistimed her attack.
The antelope jumped over her. So did Anzi. When Anzi landed, her paw clipped the antelope's back leg. The creature stumbled, and Anzi took advantage. The antelope…was hers.
There was still one zebra and one buffalo left. Each competitor could measure the time just by looking at their own shadow. They knew that this was it. Fortunately for Winda, there was no one else lined up in ambush between her and the prey, except for Sarafina.
She may still have a chance…
"Nala," said Simba.
"Yes?"
"When your mom goes for that zebra…the buffalo…it has no heat from behind."
Nala gulped. "So the zebra's it," she replied.
"It would appear so."
The zebra made its way on by Sarafina. The lioness took off into a run. She could pounce now, but she would risk missing. Thus, she kept chase. She had all the way, up until where Winda was, to bring the zebra down.
Sarafina couldn't wait until the moment was right, she had to wait until the moment was perfect.
Simba gasped. "Guvu's running!"
"Oh no," groaned Nala, "he worked it out. Mom hasn't got a hope of beating him in a foot race now."
"She must get the zebra!"
"But Winda's going to try and ambush it!"
"And if neither of them get it…Guvu wins."
Rakusa was now less than one hundred yards away from the finishing line. Time was running out.
Two rhinos were standing in the audience right in front of where Winda was located. Sarafina used them as her reference. At the very, very latest, she needed to have made her move by the time she saw the rhinos out of the corner of her eye.
Right now, Sarafina's brain was working like a computer. Every instant, she was recalculating the odds of her succeeding in taking the zebra down at that particular point and time. The odds were always good, but they were never perfect.
Screw this, thought Sarafina, it's never going to be perfect – I've just got to go!
She jumped…
…
…she landed. She was on the zebra's back. She checked the periphery of her vision. No rhinos. That meant she had gone by Winda.
Where Winda was exactly, Sarafina didn't know. She didn't care.
The significance of getting just one piece of prey down had never meant so much since the time when Sarafina had spotted a zebra wandering the Pridelands late under Scar's reign.
Sarafina opened her jaw, and a roar occurred.
Not hers…Bwana Zungumza's.
The game's not over until he finishes his third roar.
Sarafina bit down on the zebra's neck. The creature stumbled. Suddenly, however, a new face appeared…
Winda's.
The second lioness had joined in with Sarafina. They both had their jaws clamped down on the zebra's neck.
Bwana Zungumza's roar echoed off of the hills a second time.
Both of their hearts were pounding out of their chest.
The zebra had now stopped running; he was stumbling. The game was over for him. Winda released her grasp. Sarafina hesitated, but then did too.
ROAR!
Now the game was over for all of them.
A wave of officials rushed out onto the track.
"Check the damage on the zebra's neck! Sarafina bit higher – see which bite punctured the veins!"
Sarafina smiled. "We did it," she said to Winda. "We survived!"
Winda smiled, but she had tears in her eyes. Her smile disappeared as she replied "I just wish my sister was here to see this…"
Sarafina didn't know how to respond, but she gave it a shot. "Look, Winda…your sister…wait…w—what happened to your jaw?"
"Is it pouring blood again?" asked a cheetah, one of the officials that was passing by, "she got kicked in the face by an antelope not too long ago. It'll soon heel."
"No," replied Winda, fatly and firmly, "it's not from that."
Sarafina frowned. "Then what's it from?" she asked.
"Hey," said one of the officials, "can you get Kanafa over here, we can only find one bite on this carcass."
Sarafina looked from Winda, towards the official, then again to Winda.
"I missed," said Winda.
"Y—you what?" asked Sarafina.
"I missed – but I was so determined – I bit down on my jaw."
Sarafina couldn't believe her ears.
"Congratulations, Sarafina," said Winda, finally starting to smile a bit, "you won the Siku Choka."
Before this funny thing called reality could even begin to soak in to Sarafina, the area suddenly became flooded with spectators. The first of which, was Queen Nyimbo.
"Oh – my Winda!" exclaimed the lioness's mother, hugging her daughter in a tight embrace. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
"Did you win?" asked Shatik, walking up alongside Nyimbo.
Winda removed herself from her mother's embrace and shook her head 'no.'
"Mom, Uncle Shatik – this is Sarafina…your Siku Choka champion."
"Wow!" exclaimed Shatik, "please allow me to be the first to congratulate you, Sarafina," the lion said, holding his paw out to be shook.
Sarafina was still standing perfectly still, however, just staring off into space.
"Um…Sarafina?"
Shatik's call finally caught the lioness's attention.
"Huh?"
"I—I would like to congratulate you on your victory."
Sarafina looked down at Shatik's held-out paw. She held her own out, holding onto Shatik's briefly. Shatik gave one short, firm shake, and then let go. Sarafina slowly let her paw drop down to the ground.
"I won the Siku Choka," she muttered to herself.
A second passed.
Then, quicker than the morning sun could bring the African savannah to life, Sarafina's face lit up.
"I—I won the Siku Choka…" she said slowly.
She now finally regained focus.
"I WON THE SIKU CHOKA!" she exclaimed.
"You did?" asked a lion next to her.
Sarafina whirled around.
"Simba!"
"Oh – congratulations Sarafina!" Simba said, as he reached his paw out and pulled his mother-in-law tight.
"She won the Siku Choka…" muttered Nala, as she stared off into space.
"Winda," address Nyimbo, "why are you crying?"
Winda sniffed. "Cos I'm happy," she replied. "It's really hard to explain to you, Mom." She then shook her head and let more tears pour out. "I just wish Shairi was here…" she added, as she fell back into her mother's shoulder.
"I know," replied Nyimbo, "I do too."
"Hey…um…Winda…"
Winda regained her composure and turned around to face the lioness who had called her.
"Um…yes…Sarafina?"
"Hey…I just wanted to let you know, you are more than welcome to come and eat some of these carcasses. I can't handle them all by myself."
Winda chuckled. "I must admit…I do have a craving for zebra. And right here's a great place to get one…you can't buy them in stores."
Sarafina smiled back. "Shame that, isn't it?"
"Yeah," replied Winda. "It would take the cashiers forever to find the barcode, though."
Sarafina laughed. "You make that one up yourself?" she asked.
"No," replied Winda, "Shairi did. I always stole her jokes. And her perfume. And her food. But then…she did it to me too."
"Well just come over when you're ready, okay?"
"Alright, I might be a minute."
"Don't worry," replied Sarafina. "So will I."
Winda frowned. "Why's that?"
"SHE WON IT! SHE WON IT! Sarafina, my mom, WON IT!" sung Nala in the background.
"I've got to calm my daughter down," replied the champion.
(A/N: So she won it after all. However, there's still a couple of twists left in the plot for those of you who feel bad for those that didn't win. And remember, the life/death situation isn't entirely cleared up until the next chapter. I'd read it - you only have to wait until Monday!)