(A/N: Glad to see that people are still reading this despite Tumaini being out of it. Caution: this chapter starts off rather silly. But, we had Grand Gopher's Glorious Tooth Floss in the first Siku Choka, so why not add some silliness to this one too? Would like more reviews, as always, so, at the end of this chapter: tell me your score! Don't know what I'm talking about? Don't worry...you'll see...
(A/N #2: Saw "Ice Age 4" not too long ago. Give yourself a pat on the back if the saber-tooth tigress, Shira, reminded you of the name "Shairi." Shira is Hebrew for 'poetry,' while Shairi is Swahili for 'poem.' Oh and, by the way FOX, I thought of the name Shairi first.)
"What are you gents playing?"
"Tic-tac-toe, Zazu," Pumbaa replied.
"But you're not in the Siku Choka."
"No, the real tic-tac-toe. You know, noughts and crosses."
"Oh, I see." Zazu looked down at the grids that Timon and Pumbaa had been drawing in the mud. "Who's won the most?"
"Well so far we've played 17 games…and they've all been tied. But maybe the eighteenth will be different."
"Well perhaps Kiara wants to play?" Zazu suggested. "You are supposed to be babysitting her after all."
"Alrighty, bring her over then," said Timon.
Kiara laughed happily as she looked down at the grid. She didn't know how to play, but she drew a zero in the middle.
"Hmm…" said Timon, drawing an x in the corner.
Kiara drew a zero.
Timon drew a cross.
Kiara drew a zero.
"What the –?"
Timon drew another cross.
Kiara drew a zero.
"Howzat—she won!" exclaimed Timon in disbelief.
"Aw, how nice to let the little tot win Timon," Pumbaa commended.
"I—I didn't…"
"Anyhow," Zazu interrupted, "shouldn't we all be watching the game? Tonka and Juveda are lined up in ambush. They're our picks, remember?"
"Yeah, but Simba and Shairi are lined up before them," Timon replied. "They're ruining it for us. If they weren't there, all three pieces would go to Juveda and Tonka."
"Let's distract them!" Pumbaa suggested. "If we can distract Simba and Shairi, then Tonka and Juveda will get all the points!"
"That could work, gents," Zazu agreed. "Timon, do you still have that old hula skirt?"
"No," Timon replied, waving the suggestion off, "besides, we're going to need a much better distraction than that…"
Simba was slowly homing in on the zebra as he stalked it from behind. The crowd was being quiet so as to not distract him. Simba knew that, if he timed it right, this zebra would be his and he could line back up in ambush with Tonka.
He was just about to make his move, when a peach blur flew down in front of him, and began doing a little dance.
"My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard!
"And their like, is better than yours!
"Damn right, it's better than yours!
"I could teach you, but I'd have to charge…"
Simba stopped stalking and his jaw just dropped. Shairi was distracted too, and the buffalo, zebra and antelope all walked away from them.
Nala had been running with Lenny and Elvis out of the final turn when she finally caught sight of what was going on. She stopped dead in her tracks. Elvis did too, but only out of concern for Nala.
"Is everything okay Ma'am?" he asked.
"A dancing, naked Zazu," Nala whispered, "it's an omen…"
Meanwhile, Zazu lifted up his wing and saluted Simba before he flew off.
"Long story sir, I'll have time to explain after the game."
And with that, the featherless bird was gone.
The prey eventually made its way down to Tonka, who, in team spirit, simply ambushed the zebra and then lined back up on the side of the track. The antelope was startled by all the commotion and took off into a run, soon becoming an easy set of ten points for Juveda.
Nala, Lenny and Elvis had all finished running their lap, and they lined up in front of Bilauri and Shemshi in ambush. Meanwhile, Winda was still limping her way around the final turn.
Bilauri sighed. "We don't have control of the track anymore, Shemshi. Seriously, I think we're wasting too much time waiting for Winda."
"She's coming, Bilauri. Seriously, give her a chance. She's not going backwards out there."
Bilauri groaned. "Every second that passes is another chance of mine she's passing up," she moaned.
Shemshi chose not to reply.
Bilauri sighed and looked around, trying to find something to separate her from her frustration.
"I've seen lions get killed, some dreams get grilled, and corpses stinking up the place."
Shemshi joined in.
"I've had mud stuck in my fur, injuries I can't cure, and I've broke down when I got second place."
A couple of audience members joined in.
"And although I come here year to year, and all the time I see lions shed a tear…"
And more…
"There still remains one thing that just ain't clear, and that's why the hell does the crowd always cheer?
"It's the Siku Choka, and if it don't croak ya, there's not anything that will,
"So may that violence be gory, and that victory glory, but as you set yourself up for the kill,
"You've got to understand, that it ain't easy, and if you take one down and survive,
"You'd better thank your lucky stars, that you're still alive, to take another dive…into the Siku Choka!"
By the time they'd finished, the entire crowd had joined in with the song, and Winda had caught up with Bilauri and Shemshi.
"Hey guys, thanks for waiting."
"Ready to hunt?" Bilauri asked back.
Winda smiled back. "It's in my name."
The buffalo had walked far away from the prey-release point now, and it was inevitable that eventually he would pass Juveda and Eboni and a chase would start up between them.
But, before that could happen, the rest of the competitors, bar Guvu and Tonka, were all lined up at the prey-release point, discussing how they should go about getting the antelope and zebra down.
Nala, Lenny and Elvis's team were the first in ambush.
"Lenny," Nala called, "are you up for a run?"
"Sure!"
"Okay, start hunting the zebra," she explained, "but if someone joins in, don't waste time. Try and go for the antelope instead. If the antelope runs on by Tonka, give in and wait for us. Okay?"
"Hunt zebra unless someone else does, hunt antelope until it passes Tonka, got it!"
"You sure?" asked Elvis.
"Yes Elvis, he's got it," Nala reassured him.
"Alright, ah guess you should get going then Lenny."
Lenny did so.
Winda, Shemshi and Bilauri were the next group. Bilauri could tell that the first group had selected Lenny as their pick to chase.
"He might go for either," Bilauri said. She checked back on down the track. "The buffalo will be down soon. Shemshi, you're good at hunting those. Winda, you need to rest for a bit. So I'll go for the prey now. Shemshi, you go for the buffalo when it comes up. Winda, you go for whatever comes after."
Bilauri moved on out and began stalking alongside Lenny.
Winda and Shemshi exchanged glances.
"When did she become team leader?" Winda asked.
Shemshi shrugged. "If she scores us points, I'm fine with it."
Shairi and Simba, who were the next two in ambush, were now separated as Simba had began stalking a zebra earlier until he had been distracted by Zazu's naked dance. However, they had already discussed their plans. So, when Shairi moved on out, Simba knew he would have to wait until the next zebra for his next set of ten.
Meanwhile, the buffalo had finally passed on by Eboni and Juveda.
Juveda had begun her charge sooner than Eboni had, and now she was reaping the benefits. She was first up on the buffalo's back, but it had been an awkward landing. Juveda wasn't entirely balanced on the buffalo's back, but Eboni wasn't exactly in the mood to be sympathetic to her. She had just lost out on the lead of this game to Guvu and, also, it was Juveda.
Eboni jumped up on the buffalo's back too, which caused Juveda to lose even more balance. Eboni bit down while Juveda fell off and got hit by the rear hooves of the buffalo.
"Oooh…" the crowd reacted accordingly.
Eboni was now unchallenged…or so she thought.
The buffalo collapsed down onto the ground, but they were now right alongside Guvu.
Guvu ran over towards the buffalo and grabbed a hold of its neck. He began shaking his head and tearing at it, as did Eboni. Eventually the track workers ran out and pushed them away, as it was evident that the buffalo was now dead.
Guvu walked over to line back up in ambush, while Eboni decided that she'd wasted too much time standing and that now it would be a good time for her to log another lap. Before she started her run though, she saw a track worker signal over to Guvu that he had gotten the ten points.
Eboni groaned, but never even gave a second look back at Juveda. Fortunately, though, the lioness had been able to get back up onto her feet and was now also lined back up in ambush.
Lenny was after the antelope while Bilauri and Shairi were after the zebra. Bilauri and Shairi both pounced at the same time, but it was Bilauri who got the better bite, and so Shairi quickly got back up to her feet and towards the outside of the track, knowing that the ten points were now Bilauri's.
Meanwhile, the antelope had run on by the spot at which Tonka was lined up in ambush, so Lenny gave in the chase.
Nala sighed. "Tough luck, Lenny."
"Ah'm afraid ah was expecting that to happen," Elvis admitted. "That antelope was fast and he didn't really have a lot of room between himself and Tonka from here. Do you really think he's the best we could do for a teammate, Ma'am?"
"Elvis, please drop the Ma'am. I've told you, my name's Nala," said Nala, smiling.
"Ah'm sorry Ma—Nala, but I find it hard to be informal with the queen of these lands."
"Well ah don't think that should be a problem when ah'm speaking with the King of Rock," Nala replied, putting on a southern twang, "and yes," she added, returning to her normal voice, "I do think Lenny is a good pick. He has experience."
"Alright, but ah must say one thing…ah'm not actually the King of Rock. I'm just a lion called Elvis."
Nala lowered her ears. Now that Elvis mentioned it, what she had just said did sound pretty dumb. Jokes pertaining to songs performed by the rock singer Elvis Presley were one thing, but directly attributing personal characteristics of someone else to somebody else based on nothing but the fact that they had the same first name…well, that was a bit different.
"Ahem, yes, ah—I know," Nala replied apologetically. "Sorry."
"It's alright, Ma—Nala. Ah get it all the time."
Nala went for the zebra that had just been released while Shemshi, as Bilauri had suggested, went for the buffalo. Both were successful in their hunts, and so both travelled towards the outside of the track to line back up in ambush.
Nala found herself lined up next to Shairi, who cleared her throat with the intention of starting up a conversation with the Queen.
Nala looked over at her.
"Nala, you don't mind me working with your husband, do you?"
"Of course not," Nala replied. "Should I be?"
"Perhaps," Shairi replied. "I admire him, Nala. I have no romantic feelings for him…but I admire him as a lion. He possesses qualities that I could never have, and it has always been on my bucket list to meet him. Yet, I truly believe he can help me win, and that is why I'm working with him. No other reason. The second I determine that he can't help me win, I will let him go. But until then, I'm probably going to be working closely with him, so I just want to assure you…no, more than that…I promise you, that you have nothing to worry about. I'm just using him as a teammate for the game."
Shairi took a deep breath of relief. Boy, she'd been needing to get that out. She opened her eyes and prayed for the best. Thankfully, and quite surprisingly, she was pleased to see Nala smiling back at her.
"Shairi, I like you too," Nala replied. "I've sat on the hills for several Siku Chokas now. I've rooted for you. I've wanted to see you win. You're a good lion. I trust you." Now, however, Nala put on a slightly more serious expression. "But trust me when I say this. Lay one finger on Simba, and I will rip your beating heart out with my own teeth and claws. They're sharp, you know."
Winda knew it was almost time for her to hunt, but truth was she still wasn't quite ready. She was trying to scratch her rear leg with her claws, in an attempt to take her focus off of her more serious, distracting injury that was in her other rear leg. However, she had run out of time now, as Elvis had started the chase for the zebra and buffalo.
Winda began to move on out too, but she needn't take five steps to realize that she was not up to running right now. Winda hung her head and began to slow to a walk, making her way over towards the rest of her team, feeling defeated.
Elvis got the zebra, robbing Simba of the ten points that he had been anticipating.
Meanwhile, a new antelope had just been released along with a new zebra, as Juveda had killed the former antelope farther on down the straight.
"I thought everyone said Juveda would do bad," Timon said from the stands, "but she's in third!"
"But Nala and Sarafina always said, that it doesn't matter how many points you have at the end of the night," Pumbaa reasoned, "but rather, how much energy you have left."
"Well Juveda slept a lot earlier."
"I've got to agree with Pumbaa here, Timon," a now-feathered Zazu chimed in. "Perhaps she did sleep but she's also been running more than the others have and she seems to be using up more distance in her hunts than the others are. I don't think she can keep it up forever."
"Perhaps," said Timon. "Thanks for distracting the others earlier Zazu. At least that helped her out!"
"I still quite can't believe I did that," Zazu replied. He picked up a large, yellow, seedless grape-looking fruit. "Stupid rainberries," he added, before tossing another one into his mouth.
The buffalo began to walk on by Shemshi and Bilauri. Shemshi took off after it, right at the time that Winda arrived.
Winda shook her head. "I'm sorry Bilauri," she said. "I know I'm not much use of a teammate while I only have three good legs."
Winda walked on by Bilauri and lined up in between her and her sister, Shairi.
"You alright, Winda?" Shairi asked.
"I'll live."
"Hey! Hey! Look! It's her!"
"Oh my goodness, do you think she'll remember us?"
"I bet she does! Remind her!"
"Yes! Yes! Certainly!"
The group of competitors turned around to see what was going on. Two excited aardvarks had been standing directly behind them, far in front of the rest of the spectators.
"Winda! Winda! Do you remember us? You asked us if you were bleeding two years ago and we said 'no!'"
Winda shook her head.
"No, sorry guys. Can't say I do. Thanks for rooting for me though."
"But you must remember us Winda! Remember, it was just before Wamariri got disqualified? You'd been injured and she said you were bleeding, and we said you weren't, and then we asked you for your autograph, and then you…"
Winda was trying to think back…she could remember Wamariri, and these two aardvarks?
"…and then Wamariri said some nasty things about your sister, and so you…"
"Oh, yes, I remember you two now!" Winda exclaimed. "Yes, you were the ones who taught me that Wamariri was a scumbag. Thanks guys! If it hadn't been for you two, Wamariri would still be in the Siku Choka and none of us would probably be alive," Winda added, signaling around at the rest of the competitors.
The two aardvarks were now all smiles from ear to ear.
"Woo hoo! She remembers us!"
"We're your biggest fans, Winda! Go win it for us, girl!"
And with that, the two aardvarks ran back up onto the hills.
"Do you really remember them?" Bilauri asked.
Winda shrugged. "A bit. Most of what I said was just to suck up to them though."
Bilauri snickered.
Shairi found it amusing too, but not quite as much so.
"'And then Wamariri said some nasty things about your sister,'" she recited.
Winda's ears dropped.
"Oh…yeah, yeah…I…eh…I guess I never told you about that, because…well, you knew Wamariri, she was full of crap."
"What she say?" Shairi asked curiously. "Come on Winda, I can take it."
Winda sighed. "She said you weren't any good and you would never win and she wasn't surprised that you were dead, I told her that that didn't matter because you were an awesome sister and she was a douchebag, and if that you really sucked that bad, Shairi, then I would too."
Shairi smiled back. "Thanks sis," she replied.
"Sorry to interrupt this precious family moment," Bilauri interjected, "but we should probably be getting ready for this new zebra and antelope that's about to come by."
"Go ahead," Winda replied, scratching her rear leg one more time. "I'm not up to it right now, I'm afraid."
"Which one's Simba going to go for, Shairi?" Bilauri asked, observing that the lion king was still lined up in ambush before them and would probably ruin her plans.
"I'm not going to tell you."
"I take it that means the zebra."
"Maybe."
"Yup, here he is, he's going for the zebra," Bilauri commented. "Alright, antelope ahoy!"
Shemshi brought the buffalo down, Simba brought the zebra down and Bilauri brought the antelope down all at about the same time. Three new pieces of prey were released but the field had worked its way far on by the prey-release point, and it would soon be time for another run around the field. Eboni and Juveda had already started.
Meanwhile, Bilauri and Simba were making most of their downtime by walking over towards the infield where the track workers were keeping score right next to the trackside.
"Could you give us a rundown?" asked Simba.
"Yes, certainly," said an ostrich, who was watching over all of the scorekeepers.
"Guvu is leading with 207 points,
"Eboni is second with 180,
"Juveda is third with 168,
"Shemshi is fourth with 156,
"Elvis and Nala are tied for fifth with 129,
"Bilauri, you're seventh with 120,
"Winda is eighth with 110,
"Tonka is ninth with 107,
"Simba, you and Shairi are tied for tenth with 89,
"And Lenny is twelfth and last with 88."
"Wow," Simba commented. "I didn't realize how terrible Shairi and I were doing."
"It's still early in the game," Bilauri reassured him. "Shairi usually performs well in the closing hours when she gets into a good rhythm with her team. Besides, you're already beating Amy's record."
"True."
Simba looked back over at Bilauri's score.
"Congrats, Bilauri, you're doing really well," Simba said, patting her on the back.
Bilauri smiled, feeling rather proud of herself. "Yeah, thanks," she replied. "I'm only 31 points ahead of you though, so it's still quite close."
"Bet this is the biggest day of your life, huh? You've been a Siku Choka fan your whole life, and now you're finally in one."
"Yup," Bilauri replied, simply. "Yup, it's…eh…pretty big. Pretty big deal to me."
Simba looked on down the track. The three new pieces of prey were beginning to close in.
"Come on," Simba said, "let's line back up in ambush."
Bilauri agreed, and they made their way back over to the outside of the track.
"So who were you?" Simba asked. "A Guvu fan, Juni, Nakshi?"
"Keke!" Bilauri shouted back. "The greatest competitor you've never heard of. He's hanging on to his top 30 spot by a thread but he was so underrated. Fourth place in his first Siku Choka, second the two years after that. Lost by one point to Nakshi in Siku Choka 22. Injured by Wamariri in Siku Choka 23. Gods, did he hate her. He probably could've won that year if it hadn't been for her."
"Is he still alive?"
"Oh yeah," Bilauri replied, sitting back down as she and Simba had arrived back on the outside of the track. "He's probably watching us right now. He started a family up as soon as he lost Siku Choka 23. He'll always be remembered by us Siku Choka fans and, yet, he knew his chance to win was gone, so why not go out and live a life?" At this, Bilauri also gave a timid smile. "He also, gave me his autograph and kissed my paw as a cub. Oh gods, he was amazing!"
"Indeed," Simba replied. "How come you didn't have a heart attack as soon as you walked in the infield this morning?"
"Oh, I did," Bilauri replied. "But, this is all a dream anyways. It's not actually happening. If it was, I'd be dead."
Simba chuckled. "Well I won't ruin your dream for you then."
The crowd finally began to cheer.
"Uh oh," said Simba.
He and Bilauri looked over. The chase had begun…
"Hello, it's Bilauri here! We figured that, since this story was so long, now would be a good time to take a break and take a quick look back at what has happened. How about this, though. Let's make it more interesting. Let's play some Siku Choka trivia! We'll see how smart you are…
"Alright, ten questions. Get out a pen and paper! Let's start with something easy…hmm?
"Okay. Question one. Two former Siku Choka Champions started Siku Choka 27. Can you name them both?
"I hope that wasn't too hard for you. Let's make question two easier, just to be sure. How about this, which sister is older, Winda or Shairi?
"Now that was too easy. Question three…hmm…which of the following competitors has not been in the lead of Siku Choka 27 at some point during the event. Guvu, Shairi, Eboni or Shemshi?
"That one may have been a bit tricky. Ah well. Question four. Which competitor had to travel the farthest distance to get to the Siku Choka? Hint, she had to walk for six days and stop at random prides overnight. It was either Linda, Tumaini, Eboni or Peponi.
"Question five. Fifteen competitors started Siku Choka 27. How many of them were male?
"Question six. Which of these competitors has not suffered some kind of injury, so far? Elvis, Eboni, Winda or Nala?
"Time for another easy one. Question seven. Which Siku Choka competitor is considered the greatest of all time? Guvu, Tunda, Uku or Amka?
"Question eight. This one's a bit harder. Which of these competitors has never finished in the top 2? Elvis, Guvu, Tumaini or Winda?
"Question nine. Name all three members of one of the three teams right now. You get to choose which team.
"Question ten. And this is my favorite question! What is the first word in Bwana Elekezo's Siku Choka Anthem?
"Don't know? That's alright. Here's a bonus question for you all. What is grammatically incorrect with the phrase 'Siku Choka?'
"Heh, who cares, right? It sounds cool.
"Anyhow, here are the answers.
"Question 1, Guvu and Tumaini. Question 2, Shairi. Question 3, Shemshi. Shairi was the first leader as she got the first piece of prey, then Tumaini, Eboni and Guvu have all led since then. Question 4, Tumaini. Question 5, six. Elvis, Guvu, Lenny, Shemshi, Simba and Tonka. Question 6, Elvis. Eboni bent her paw back when she slipped, Winda has suffered a shoulder wound and has had an antelope fall on her, and Nala was hurt badly early on when she got hurt chasing a zebra. Question 7, Uku, the only competitor to ever win four Siku Chokas. Question 8, Elvis. Question 9, Simba, Shairi and Tonka, or Nala, Elvis and Lenny, or Winda, Shemshi and Bilauri would have been acceptable. Question 10, I've. I've seen lions get killed, some dreams get grilled…blah, blah, blah. And the bonus question, 'choka' is a verb, not an adjective. But 'Siku Choka' just sounds cool. Alright, well thanks for playing! Remember to keep reading and reviewing, and I hope you're all rooting for me!")