(A/N: You asked for it, you got it! Here's a long-awaited long chapter for you all, where Eboni and Juveda say their first words of the event. Also, this site has gotten all funny with how it reacts to line breaks recently, so I hope they come out well-placed and that you are all able to follow the flow of this chapter easily. If not, let me know!)

Bilauri looked on down the track.

"I don't like the looks of Elvis and Nala there," she said.

"Trust me," Simba replied, "you're not the only one."

Bilauri rolled her eyes. "I meant strategy-wise Simba. Those two are both good hunters. If we're going to get any of this new prey, we're going to have to get it fast."

"Oh, okay. I didn't think Elvis was that good."

"He got third last year," Bilauri replied. "Quite exceptional really, for a rookie. Put him up among the top 30 greatest Siku Choka competitors of all time." Bilauri smiled. "Makes it sound quite easy, huh?"

"Who else here is in the top 30?"

"Guvu, Tumaini, Winda, Shemshi…yeah, and Elvis, that's it. Wouldn't be surprised if Eboni could get her name up there either."

"Huh," Simba replied, "didn't know Shemshi was that good. He's been asleep the whole time."

Bilauri laughed. "Yeah, that's probably why he's up there, though."

Simba frowned. "What about Shairi? Surely she should be up in the top 30."

"Not anymore," said Bilauri. "I guess Elvis knocked her out." Bilauri lowered her voice and crouched down. "Anyhow, time to start rewriting the history books. The prey is almost here."

"Which one's Simba going to go for?" asked Timon, watching the prey creep towards Bilauri and Simba.

"Where's Kiara? Where's Kiara? There she is!" exclaimed Sarafina, lifting her paws away from her eyes.

Kiara began laughing.

"Sarafina?"

"Yes Timon?" replied the lioness, now that he had finally caught her attention.

"Which one's Simba going to go for?"

"Hmm," said Sarafina, standing up to get a better look down the straight. The corners of her mouth twitched upwards into a smile. "I think he's learned his lesson," she replied. "He's going to go for the zebra."

"Told ya," Pumbaa interjected, elbowing Timon, "now hand over that bug."

"Hang on, he hasn't gone for the zebra yet."

Suddenly however, their conversation was cut off as Sarafina began laughing.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "This is delightful!"

"What?" asked Timon and Pumbaa in unison.

"Well if Simba goes for the zebra…look who's going to be first in ambush…"

Bilauri took off after the antelope. Simba took off after the zebra. The buffalo began running too, hoping to get away from them all.

Bilauri had timed her attack well and wasted no time in killing the antelope. However, Simba was a couple of strides back from the zebra and he was now approaching the turn. The other lions that had been waiting in ambush moved out.

Now, running right alongside Simba, was none other than a young lioness which the lion king called his mate: Nala.

Nala jumped up on the zebra's back first, but the fight wasn't over. The zebra was struggling to keep up its speed now that it had a fully-grown lioness on its back. Its rear legs began collapsing and its back was now arched in the perfect ramp-shape for Simba to jump onto. So, that's what he did.

However, now that Simba was on the zebra's back, he had another problem to deal with.

Shove.

Problem solved.

Nala rolled to a heap on the ground while Simba brought his focus to the back of the zebra's neck. Nala had not been able to get a bite this time, and so this zebra was all for Simba's taking. Simba bit down hard on the zebra's neck and soon had it lying down dead on the ground.

Now, Simba had ten points. He also had a fairly disgruntled lioness standing above him.

"Think you're playing a bit rough?" Nala asked.

"Oh yeah?" Simba replied, standing up. "You would've done the same to me."

Nala cocked her head. "True," she agreed, "but fact is that you've done it twice to me now. I'm getting a bit tired of rolling around in the mud."

"Maybe you should try and work on your balance then," Simba replied.

Nala's lips were tightly pursed. Truth was, Simba was right. However, truth also was, as far as Nala was concerned, that she was getting quite tired of 'rolling around in the mud.' She'd had a rough Siku Choka so far and yet she didn't have a lot of points to show for it.

"How many points you got?" she asked.

"Thirty-four," Simba replied. "You?"

"Thirty-three."

Simba chuckled out of delight, but Nala's stern gaze soon brought a halt to his amusement.

Simba stuttered for a minute, looking for the right words to say. "L—look Nala, I know this whole hunting and Siku Choka thing has always been your thing and not mine, but…well…you said it yourself. If I'm going to play, I've got to play to win."

"I know," Nala replied, "I just didn't expect you to be so good at it."

Simba opened his mouth to respond, but then he finally caught on to what Nala was getting at. He smirked.

"What you saying, Nal'?" he asked. "You are getting upset? That I'm kicking your butt in your own game?"

Nala shook her head and laughed. Simba had a hunch that the laugh was just to cover up her true emotions.

"It's still early in the game," Nala replied. "Let's wait until night, then the true Siku Choka stars will shine."

The game was quieting down. Night would soon be here and the lions, with their exceptional night-vision, would be at an advantage. Also, as it got cooler the ground could get softer. The preys' hooves would slip more, but the lions' claws would provide them with extra traction and better opportunities for bringing the prey down. And finally, they would be able to do all this hard work in cooler temperatures, rather than having to break sweat each chase in the heat of the day.

Guvu, Lenny and Eboni had all gotten an extra set of ten points for bringing prey down. Now, they, along with every other competitor still left awake, were trotting away around the circuit, looking for their prides on the hillsides so that they could fall asleep in front of them.

Simba and Nala found their pride easily. They were sitting on the hillside at the mid-point down the frontstretch, just as they always were.

"Hi Mom," called Nala, "how's Kiara doing?"

"She's fine," Sarafina replied, making her way on down the hill a bit so she didn't have to shout to speak to her. "Don't worry about her," she added, "we're all much more concerned about you two."

"Don't be," Nala said, "trust me, the only one I have to fear out there is Simba."

Simba chuckled. Sarafina didn't.

"You don't know that," Sarafina replied. "You're already down to 13 out there, you never know how rough it could be."

"With all due respect Sarafina, Linda and Tumaini are both still alive," Simba reasoned.

"So?" Sarafina snapped. "That's great to hear but you can't read into that at all. Each time a lion walks away from a hunting accident is nothing short of a miracle. Those two had a lot of luck on their sides. You might not."

Simba shrugged. "Still, everyone out there so far is being sensible. No second Wamariri."

"Nope," Nala agreed, letting out a yawn. She lied down. "Good grief, I'm tired. Come on pillow, time to get some rest," she said, beckoning Simba to lie down with her.

Sarafina smiled as she watched her daughter and her son-in-law curl up together. "Glad to see that you two still get on okay. I've seen you both out there with Elvis and Bilauri."

"And Shairi," added Nala, "and Peponi."

"Actually Nal', I haven't talked with Peponi yet, so you can't call me out on that one. Also, Bilauri's annoying. She talks a lot."

Nala opened her eyes and fixed her stare on Simba. "And Shairi?" she asked.

Simba shrugged. "I said I owe her one, we'll have to see where that goes."

Nala sighed. "Don't be Cruel to me, Simba," she said, "I wouldn't want you to be lonesome tomorrow night."

Many of the spectators began to lie down so they could get some shut-eye. Every single competitor on track was now asleep. The antelope, zebra and buffalo on course were free to pace the track at their own speed.

Several competitors had been asleep for a long portion of the event already. Shemshi had only scored one point so far, as he had completed a lap early and then fallen asleep in front of his home pride on the backstretch. Juveda had also scored an impressive 22 points early on in the going before taking a prolonged catnap. She was actually outscoring Shairi who, despite being awake during the early part of the event, had yet to catch anything since she brought down the first antelope. She had a mere 14 points.

Each lion was asleep in front of their home pride. That way, their families would be there to wake them if the action started to pick up again. Everyone knew, however, that it would be unlikely to pick up before nightfall.

The only competitor who didn't have her pride there to watch her was Juveda. She was asleep on the frontstretch and had nothing or nobody around to tell her when to wake. Only a sixth sense would be able to tell her when the time was right.

Juveda shuddered.

A gust of wind had just blown, and it had felt colder than normal. Juveda opened her eyes and gave a peek out to the horizon. Two seconds later, and the lioness was standing on all four feet, awake and alert as ever.

It was time to play. Juveda began to run. The buffalo and zebra were far away. But, for now, there was nobody around to challenge her.

"Why's Juveda running?" asked Juliette, one of the lionesses from the Nyaziland Pride.

"Because she's an idiot," replied a young male by the name of Poa. "Why would you want to waste so much energy now? She's going to have to run around the whole track if she wants 30 points."

"Exactly," replied Juliette, "there must be more to it than that."

Juliette looked around, trying to find anything that would explain why Juveda had decided to hunt this early.

Finally, she caught it.

"Oh no," she commented, "quick, tell Shemshi to wake up!"

"Why?" asked Poa.

"Because…well…just look over there."

Poa looked. His eyes grew. Juliette was right. It was time to wake Shemshi up.

Juveda, Shemshi, Shairi and Winda were now all awake. The crowd began to stir, wondering why the sudden change in strategy had occurred.

"Surely you could explain it to us, right Sarafina?" asked Timon.

Sarafina shook her head 'no.'

"Well someone around here's got to be able to."

"Ten o'clock!" exclaimed a new voice, this one belonging to an ancient shaman who lived in the Prideland savannah.

Sarafina smiled. "Good evening Rafiki," she said. "And I think its gone ten o'clock, by the way."

"How so?" asked Timon. "It's still daylight."

"Yes, but ten o'clock around here is actually four o'clock. It's…don't mind…it's probably just going to confuse you."

Rafiki chuckled. "I wasn't talking about the time, Sarafina," he replied. "I was talking about de sky! Ten o'clock."

Sarafina frowned. "How do you mean?"

"Look in front of you."

Sarafina did so.

"That's twelve o'clock. Behind you is six o'clock, left of you is nine and right of you is three."

"So…" said Sarafina, thinking, "…you want me to look that wa…oh…oh my…"

Sarafina now understood it all. It was hard to see, but it was there. A black cloud was sitting right on the horizon. It hadn't been there before, so it was evidently making its way towards them, having just passed over the crest of the horizon. What's more, there was probably more behind it. Night rains usually went on for extended periods in this part of the world.

"Yeah…we're gonna have to wake them," said Sarafina.

"Why?" asked Timon.

"When it starts raining it's going to be hard to score points, so they're going to need to try and score as many points as possible now."

"Oh, alright. "HEY SIMBA! NALA! THERE'S A BIG, BLACK RAINCLOUD ON THE HORIZON, YOU BOTH MIGHT WANT TO GET UP!" bellowed Timon down the hill.

Sarafina covered her face with her paw. She groaned.

"Way to go, Timon," she commented, listening as all the spectators around them began chattering, "you just told every other competitor what was going on too."

Every competitor was now awakening as news spread that there was a giant raincloud coming from the 'ten o'clock' horizon.

"So why's this such a big deal?" asked Simba.

"Well it's completely changed everyone's strategy," Nala explained. "All of a sudden, nighttime has turned from the best time to hunt and into the worst time to hunt."

"How will it be the worst? The weather's still going to be cool, isn't it? And our vision is still better than theirs. We probably will have better traction than them too, those herbivores are going to be slipping everywhere on those hooves."

"Yes, yes and yes," replied Nala. "We're still going to be hunting at night. If you don't, you're going to lose out on a lot of points. However, a mud circuit coated in rain drops? Welcome to the slushy running of the Siku Choka slid 'n' slide."

Simba smirked. "Well," he reasoned, "at least I don't have balance issues."

Nala growled.

"Let me guess," he continued, "you hate hunting in the rain?"

"Guilty," Nala replied. "I'm terrible at it. Some lions aren't, Juni almost won Siku Choka 19 because it began raining with two hours to go. She just ran out of time, though."

"Oh," Simba replied. He frowned. "Hang on, I thought it had only rained in Siku Chokas 4, 14 and 22?"

Nala was surprised. "How did you know that?" she asked.

"You and Bilauri brought it up in your argument earlier. It was Bilauri who said it."

Nala was beaming. "Oh, I am going to totally rub that in her face later. She was wrong!" Nala exclaimed. She began laughing. "Yes, yes, it rained in Siku Choka 19 too."

Shemshi caught the zebra on the backstretch while Juveda brought down the buffalo. New prey was released. Simba and Nala were not too far away from the prey-release point. They both crouched down.

"Good luck," muttered Nala.

"You too," replied Simba.

The zebra could see Eboni. He knew she was there, but that didn't bother Eboni at all. She knew how this game was played. It was a challenge: she had to crouch down and be ready to strike, yet at the same time relax her nerves and break eye contact from the zebra, tricking it into believing she wasn't interested in him.

The zebra began to move on by the coffee-colored lioness, and Eboni made her move. The zebra barely had time to react, and thus the chase was short lived.

Perfect!

This was exactly what Eboni had wanted. She perked her ears up, but otherwise lied motionlessly over her recent kill.

She heard a footstep. The buffalo was to the left of her. Eboni leapt up and was soon right on the buffalo's tail. She was on the creature's back by the time she made her way by Simba and Nala, but had the buffalo down before she made it to Elvis. Eboni was twenty points richer, and she was still lined up early in ambush. Things were looking good for this lioness.

Meanwhile, Bilauri had caught the antelope and three new pieces of prey were released. They all ran on by Bilauri before she could spring a second attack. The prey was now on their way towards the two nyimbi.

"We've got a lot of track to ourselves, Simba," Nala said hurriedly. "Quick, let's not fight over the same piece of prey. Which one are you going to go for?"

"Zebra."

"Antelope."

No sooner had the words left their mouths, and they were off.

Eboni soon joined in the chase. She decided to challenge Simba for the zebra.

Elvis, therefore, was virtually left unchallenged when he ran out from his ambushing post and brought the buffalo down for ten points.

A new buffalo was released right as Shemshi came running down the straight. He gave chase.

Meanwhile, Eboni was pulling in front of Simba and was ready to make her move on the zebra. As she pounced, Simba attacked from the back, hoping he could throw the zebra off balance and rob Eboni of ten points.

It worked partially. Eboni was caught off-guard and off-balance, and she rolled over into a heap on the dirt. Unfortunately for Simba, the zebra had been able to escape from its ordeal, and it was now running off farther on down the straight, soon to have its life cut short by Tonka.

"Sorry about that, Eboni," Simba apologized. "I was just trying to get ten points."

Eboni stood up. "You have nothing to apologize for," she replied. "I would've done the same thing."

"Ah, well…good. Glad you're not mad."

"Oh, I'm pissed," replied Eboni, glaring at Simba, "but still, that's just how this game goes."

Nala, meanwhile, needed a bit of luck in order to kill this antelope. She was starting to tire out, and the opportunity of ten more points was beginning to fade away.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Nala attacked the antelope's rear leg, just enough to wound it and cause it to run with a bit of a limp. Now the antelope was slower. Nala slowed herself up too and got back into rhythm. Then, she attacked again, this time for the kill. Ten points went to Nala.

Three new pieces of prey were released, and the games started again.

Shairi, Juveda and Lenny went after the zebra while Winda went after the antelope. They were all a bit worn out already as they had just finished running around the track after being woken by their prides and told about the rain. The buffalo had no one in pursuit and so Shemshi ran out from ambush and made quick work of him. The Nyaziland lion had learned a lot during his four previous times in this event.

Juveda had just come out from a longer run than Shairi, and so was not able to match her pace just now. The Lionrock sister got her first set of ten since the one she had opened the game with. Meanwhile, her sister was losing ground on the antelope. Knowing that any further pursuit would be in vain, Winda gave up on her chase on the antelope, and Eboni ambushed it farther on down the straight.

Three new pieces of prey were released, and the games started again again.

"Now this is more like it!" exclaimed Timon.

"Agreed," replied Sarafina, just as enthused "this is what the game is all about! Ambush, ambush, ambush, kill, kill, kill, release, release, release. Eventually they'll all be ambushing so far down the straight that they will all chase the prey around the whole track. Ha, ha! This is great!"

Peponi was finishing up her lap-long run. She was coming out of the final turn and would soon be in pursuit of the prey. The first piece of prey walking on down the straight was the buffalo. Bilauri was the first competitor lined up in ambush.

Bilauri gulped. She knew what she had to do. If she waited for the other two pieces of prey, she would have to fight over them with Peponi. The best strategic call for her was to go for the buffalo, no matter how frightening that might be.

Bilauri went after the buffalo and was quickly on its hind heels. However, this buffalo was a bit larger than average. Bilauri was struggling to find a safe angle to attack it from. She checked over at the side of the track. She could tell that she was closing in on the others in ambush. She was using up too much track. It was now or never. Bilauri swallowed down her fears and pounced onto the buffalo's back.

Bilauri weight was enough to cause the buffalo to slow down, but not enough to bring him down. Shemshi ran out from ambush and leapt up from the buffalo's side, homing in on an attack on the neck. Juveda joined in the group and ran around the side of the buffalo, attacking him from the other side of the neck. Eventually, the overweight creature came down to the ground and the track workers ran out onto the circuit. Bilauri, Shemshi and Juveda ran back out to the outside of the track, preparing themselves in ambush for the next piece of prey.

As they looked back over across the track, they saw one of the track workers, a meerkat, pointing across the track at Shemshi. The meerkat then held up ten fingers, informing Shemshi that he had been the one who had scored the ten points. Shemshi fist pumped the air, and the meerkat ran back into the infield.

Meanwhile, Peponi's chase was coming to a finish, and the antelope was the one that paid the price. The zebra was still up for grabs for the ambushers. Lenny was the first one lined up. Everyone knew that there was a good chance that Lenny would mistime his attack and cause the zebra to run off, even if he did have 45 points already.

Amazingly, there were only three competitors still left in the game that had more points than Lenny: Eboni with 86 points, Elvis with 64 points and Bilauri with 55 points.

For now, those three would stay in front of Lenny who, indeed, mistimed his attack and caused the zebra to run off. Shairi and Elvis were the first two to run out for it but the chase was short-lived. Shairi took the ten and they both lined back up in ambush, although they had now used up a lot of valuable track.

Farther on down the straight, Nala swished her tail impatiently. This wasn't quite going to plan for her. She had used up an excessive amount of track during her chase with the antelope earlier and, consequently, had been the last lion lined up in ambush ever since. She couldn't run around a lap as that would kill too much time and, with the black rainclouds creeping ever closer, there wasn't a whole lot of time left.

What Nala needed right now, was a chase.

Finally, one broke out. Peponi had gotten a sluggish start when she had begun chasing the antelope. Still, speed was her strong point, and so she knew she would have a good chance to catch back up.

The buffalo had been pacing the circuit in front of the antelope, and so when he heard the chase coming from behind him, he broke out into a run too.

Winda was the first in ambush. She ran out from her post and tried to attack the antelope. However, she could tell that she was coming in from the wrong angle, and so instead she just backed off and gave chase too. Wounding a piece of prey was never a smart idea. Causing the prey to be in pain or run with a limp could cause the animal to do anything: swerve, buck, fight back. If it wasn't wounded, it would just run, and that's how the Siku Choka organizers and competitors wanted it.

Shemshi, Elvis and Guvu all ran out to try and get the buffalo down. The poor creature didn't stand much of a chance against three fully-grown males, and it was the two-time champion, Guvu, that got the points.

Peponi and Winda were still chasing the antelope, but nobody seemed interested in joining them. That's when Nala broke out, and she was able to time it beautifully. She was right on the antelope's hind heels, with Peponi and Winda a full body length behind her. They were running through the turn now, and so Nala held off on her attack. It was hard enough to bring a prey down in a straight line, never mind a corner. When the track straightened back out again, Nala finally made her move. It was no contest; ten points went to Nala.

"Idiots," sneered Bilauri, "don't they understand that if they hadn't chased that antelope, they'd still be lined up in ambush?" she asked aloud, looking over at the competitor next to her for a response.

The other lioness wasn't sure if Bilauri actually wanted her to respond, but, assuming she had, she just went ahead and told Bilauri her true feelings.

"Has anyone told you how bloody annoying you really are?" Juveda replied. "I mean, I'm just standing here trying to get some points in this bloody game and here you come up, thinking you're all smart-ass and mighty, and you try to look for me for reassurance on how to play a game that you think you're more knowledgeable at. It's quite ridiculous really. I mean if I thought I knew everything there was to know about dry grass, then why would I go about and make snide remarks about dry grass to someone else unless I wanted to learn something? Unless I really don't know a bloody thing about dry grass. Or perhaps I'm just so pathetic that I like going around boasting to everyone that I do. So please, shut up. I'm trying to play this game too and I've already got enough bloody distractions without you yapping away next to me."

Bilauri blinked. She took her gaze away from Juveda.

"O—okay…" she replied.

"Now I didn't ask for a bloody response," added Juveda, "so please, just pipe it down and we can get back to this game, huh? Ah, to hell with it. You've probably never listened to a bloody soul in your life, why the hell would you start with me, now?"

Bilauri opened her mouth to respond again, but then realized that that would probably be a very bad idea. In fact, talking to Juveda again ever seemed like a very bad idea right now. So, she took Juveda's advice and closed her mouth. The new prey would soon be on its way.

Before the new zebra could be Bilauri's or Juveda's, it would have to get by Lenny. Easier done than said, unfortunately for Lenny. He lined back up in ambush, while Bilauri remained on the sidelines as Juveda ran out and scored ten points for the zebra.

Juveda ran back towards the outside of the track and then gave a look down the track.

The field had now used up too much track. With Guvu getting the buffalo, Nala getting the antelope and herself getting the zebra, three new pieces of prey had just been released, yet they were far away from Lenny who was the first lion lined up in ambush. Nala, Peponi and Winda, who were all still running on the backstretch, would probably get to the new prey first.

However, the thing that would probably beat them all, was that big black raincloud.

(A/N: Woo! Lots of action! Surely I gave y'all something to comment on? And don't call me Shirley. Hope you enjoyed!)