(A/N: FYI, I don't always respond to the reviews I get because I kind of want to make the story speak for itself. If you bring up a good point, I try and find someway in the story to answer it. Anyhow, I'm not going to say that reviews are worth anything, but let's put it this way: I still have not picked a winner. I've narrowed it down to a field of six, and three of them stand out above the others, but your input could always sway me in other directions. Ah well, on with the story...)

Simba and Shairi both quietly crept on by the buffalo. Now, the zebra and the antelope were theirs for the taking. They kept the noise down enough that both pieces wound up being easy pickings: the antelope for Shairi and the zebra for Simba.

But the games had just begun…

Shairi checked over her shoulder.

"Simba, go left!" she shouted back at him.

Simba got back up to his feet from the zebra kill and made a move to the left. The buffalo brushed right on by him. Simba picked up the pace and gave a snarl from behind the buffalo. The buffalo began to run faster, but Simba had already pounced up onto its back. He dug one set of claws into its side and the buffalo shrieked. It was so distracted by the pain that it forgot to put up a resistance. Simba bit down on the neck and soon had the buffalo dead on the ground.

"Nice job," Shairi commented, but she didn't waste too much time congratulating him. The new antelope and zebra were almost here.

The zebra was first and Shairi gave chase, while Simba got back up onto his feet from the buffalo kill and went after the antelope.

The antelope would soon belong to Simba, if all went according to plan.

Problem was, it didn't.

Simba had not hunted many antelope during this event, and so he was taken aback by just how fast it was. He lunged for the prey when it ran on by him, but all he managed to do was clip its leg. The antelope continued, but he was wounded and thus was zigzagging all the way across the track.

"Oops," Simba said aloud.

Shairi looked up from her latest zebra kill and over towards him.

"They—they're not going to think bad things of me for wounding that antelope, are they?" asked Simba.

Shairi shook her head 'no.'

"We try our best to not wound the prey, but every now and then it happens," she reasoned. "I mean, a failed attack is a failed attack. If wounding prey was a big no-no, then they would have thrown Elvis out a long time ago."

It would take the antelope a while before it would get to Eboni and Guvu, who were the only other two lined up in ambush, yet it wasn't guaranteed that either of them would bother going after the antelope. For now, zebra and buffalo would have to do for Shairi and Simba.

The new buffalo and zebra had already made their ways up to where the two lions were. Shairi and Simba were both doing an excellent job of using up as little track as possible during their chases.

"I'll go for the buffalo this time," said Shairi.

The two pieces of prey passed on by them and Simba and Shairi both shot off in hot pursuit. The zebra and Simba ran out in front, and soon came to a slushy halt on the ground as Simba brought the zebra down for ten points. The buffalo had to make a sudden turn so as to not run into the zebra's carcass, and so Shairi saw her opportunity. She jumped up on the buffalo and upset his balance. The buffalo fell down and, now, all Shairi needed to do was bite down on its neck, making her another ten points richer.

"Sorry Shairi. Got a bit scared there. Almost reminded me of your deadly incident," Simba commented, getting up from his zebra kill. "The buffalo you were chasing when you died ran over a zebra carcass. It was a bit stupid of me to bring this zebra down with you right behind."

Shairi waved it off as if it was nothing. "Don't worry about it," she told him.

"Still can't remember what you did wrong?" Simba asked.

"Nope. Come on now, let's focus. The new zebra and buffalo are on their ways."

What Shairi didn't tell Simba, but what Simba could probably easily figure out for himself, was that this was probably the last time that they would get to have control of the track. Nala's team had been running around the track, logging a lap. Now, they were about to run out of the final turn, and soon they would get to line up in front of the prey-release point.

"I'll go for the buffalo this time," Simba told Shairi.

"You sure? I've been doing this for a while, Simba. I can take these things down pretty easily."

"So can I, now that you've taught me how. Trust me, I'll do fine."

"Okay…" replied Shairi, though a bit warily.

The zebra ran by first and Shairi gave chase. It was inevitable that she would succeed, and she used up little track in doing it. Shairi was now up to 161 points; tied with Simba and Elvis.

The buffalo walked by Simba and Simba gave chase. Once again, however, the buffalo would have to turn to run on by the zebra carcass in the middle of the track. This time, the buffalo went right…towards the outside of the track. Simba began to pursue it, but he was just chasing the buffalo closer and closer to the track's edge…

Shairi jumped up from her zebra kill and stood right in front of Simba, roaring loudly at him.

Simba was caught completely off guard. Shairi's actions were so unexpected and sudden, that Simba actually fell down onto the ground as he slid to a halt in the mud.

Simba looked up confused. Shairi took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry Simba, but I had to stop you chasing that buffalo," she stated. She gestured back towards the outside of the track. "You almost chased it into my sister."

Simba followed Shairi's paw. Indeed, not too far from where they were standing, Winda was still lying asleep on the outside of the track. Had Simba continued to chase the buffalo in the direction that they had been going, they almost certainly would have trampled over her.

Simba got back up onto his feet, horrified at what he had almost done.

"Oh gods Shairi, I'm so sorry…I just wasn't thinking clearly…" he apologized.

Shairi held her paw up, signaling Simba to stop. "It's alright. It happened. It's over. Lesson learned. Let's move on," she said. She looked over towards the prey-release point, where the new zebra had just been released. It looked like Nala was right about to take it down.

"We've lost control of the track," Shairi explained. "But thanks for the points, Simba. It did a lot to help us catch up. Come on, I'll take you over to meet my sister. She'll give you another chance. I think you and her should get off on the right foot."

The crowd cheered as Nala brought the zebra down, while Elvis and Lenny lined up in ambush and waited for the next.

"Alright, well you want to have a go at this zebra then?" Elvis asked Lenny, as a new one was released.

"Sure!" Lenny replied, as enthusiastic as ever.

Lenny ran out from ambush and gave chase. He used up a lot of track in doing so, but soon had the zebra down for ten points.

Elvis, Nala and Lenny were playing the traditional game of tic-tac-toe, right now, but it would be unlikely that they would be as successful as what Simba and Shairi's duo had. Shairi and Simba had gotten to play with all three pieces of prey so, when one had run off, they had still had more prey to play with. Also, their team had only consisted of two lions, meaning they didn't have to spread out the points across their team as much. Finally, but most importantly, since they had had so much prey available between them, they had been able to carry out their hunts with such efficiency that they had barely used up any track or energy. Once Elvis was done with his zebra chase, Nala's team was now already halfway towards Simba's team, and each of them had only gained ten points apiece. Soon, Shairi and Simba would have control of the track again.

This time, it was Shairi who shook Winda's shoulder, causing her to wake up.

Winda opened her eyes, but then quickly snapped them back shut.

"Mom, help me!" she called. "That ugly monster is outside my window again."

"For your information, sissy, I just saved your life."

Winda began spitting violently. She reopened her eyes and looked back up at her confused sister.

"Wait…you didn't give me CPR, did you?"

Shairi rolled her eyes. Winda finally caught sight of Simba.

"Why hello again, King Simba," she called. "How's your day going? Still freaking out about Elvis?"

"A bit," Simba replied honestly. "Anyhow, I'd like to apologize again for assuming Shemshi was your boyfriend."

Winda chuckled. "No problem. I find it quite amusing honestly."

For the first time in a while, Winda made herself back up onto her feet.

"So," she said, "who made that one up, anyways? Huh?"

Simba smirked. "You're looking at her," he replied, looking over at Shairi.

"You?"

"I…eh…" Shairi began.

"She was jealous of you," Simba answered for her. "You've been hanging around Shemshi all game, that she was starting to think you two were in love. Truth is though, Shairi has a crush on him."

"Oh, this is precious!" Winda exclaimed. "And Shairi, I was starting to think you were asexual. But don't worry, having a boyfriend isn't so bad. And Shemshi's a good place to start. I don't think he cares too much about physical appearance."

Shairi exchanged glances with Simba.

"This is what I have to live with," she said.

Simba chuckled. "I just find it funny that she's critiquing you on your appearance. You two look virtually identical, to me."

"Key word being virtually," Winda emphasized. "Not completely."

Well, she had a point there. Both of the lionesses, when they weren't half-coated in mud, had golden-yellow fur. Both were of similar build with Shairi being a bit larger, while the top of Winda's head was a bit flatter than that of Shairi's, giving her a more feminine appearance. Also, Winda had a beauty spot on her muzzle, and she had green eyes while Shairi's were blue.

"Sometimes I get jealous of you, Winda," Shairi admitted. "I mean, you have had four more boyfriends than I have. But then I feel bad for you, because you also have four more exes than I do."

"Eh, I get on well with my exes. Having an ex, in my case, is no different from having a lion that's not your boyfriend…which, I guess, for you, is every lion that's ever existed."

"Why did I wake you?"

"Cos you love me."

"If I loved you, I would've left you asleep, so that you could nurse that injured leg of yours."

Winda shook her leg around. "Seems good to me now," she replied. "So, I calculated…I think I have 110 points right now, does that put me down by a lot?"

"Eh…yeah…" Shairi admitted. "…Yeah…th—that's quite a lot…"

Nala was the first member of her team to run out after a zebra. As great of a huntress as Nala was, however, not all of her attacks went to plan. In this one, she started the chase too late, and the zebra ran into the vicinity of Simba, Shairi and Winda.

Winda ran out from ambush and took it down. The crowd let out a roar of approval as they realized that Winda was back in the game.

Nala lined up next to Simba and Shairi in ambush.

Back by the prey-release point, Elvis and Lenny were getting set up for the next hunt.

"Ah'll go for this zebra here, now, Lenny," Elvis proposed.

"Are you sure that's the best idea?" Lenny asked back. "I mean, I'm not any good at hunting buffalo, but yet Eboni and Guvu are about to fight for that buffalo down there. It's probably best for the team if I go for this zebra, and you get the new buffalo when it's released."

"Well, eh, Ah'm not going to argue with you then," Elvis replied, setting back down. "You seem to know what you're doing. Ah'll let you go for that zebra."

The new zebra walked out onto the circuit hesitantly, and was soon being chased by Lenny. His hadn't timed his chase to perfection either. In fact, he wound out running for the zebra all the way up to the point where it was ambushed by Shairi. Lenny lined back up on the outside of the track in defeat.

Now, it was time for Eboni and Guvu to fight over the buffalo again. Eboni was now leading the points, and she was well aware of the fact that Guvu had been playing her cleanly. Eboni respected that and, thus, when Guvu got up onto this buffalo's back first, Eboni knew she would likely be out ten points. Still, she jumped up on the buffalo's back with Guvu and tried as hard as she could, yet she didn't do anything dangerous like try and shove him off. Consequently, however, that meant she missed out on the ten points, as Guvu killed the buffalo and regained the points lead.

A new buffalo and zebra were released. As Lenny had suggested, Elvis went after the buffalo. His attack was much better timed than what Nala's and Lenny's had been. Still, it took him a little while to kill the buffalo, as the prey put up a brave fight. Eventually, however, he had it down on the ground, and he ran back over to the outside of the track to line up in ambush next to Simba and Nala.

"How you doing there, Mister Simba, Sir?" he asked.

"Alright," Simba replied. "I mean, I can't complain. It's not like I'm Juveda, you know? Man, I'd hate to be her."

Elvis and Nala glanced at Simba, both a little perplexed. What was he getting at?

"I mean, even if she didn't kill Peponi, if she was awake she probably knows how she died. That must suck, to be the only lion that knows that. I mean, she must be under a lot of stress, poor thing, with every one demanding to know what happened. Eventually I bet she's going to crack and just give in. That would suck for her, but, it would be good for us, I guess. She does have a lot of points right now."

Lenny had brought down the zebra and a new one was released.

"You want to go for this one Elvis?" Simba asked. "I'll give it to you."

"Eh, yeah…that sounds good to me, sir," Elvis replied, still a bit bewildered by Simba's monologue. Elvis moved on out.

Now, it was just Simba and Nala left in ambush.

"Oh gods…um…geez…how to put this without being too harsh…um…eh…you know what, I'm not even going to bother," Nala said. "Just tell me."

"Well I just set Juveda up," Simba replied. "If Elvis really did kill Peponi, now he fears that Juveda will reveal it all. But don't worry, Juveda's smart. If she ends up being near Elvis, she'll know that he'll try and kill her. She'll be prepared."

"You'd better hope so," Nala snapped back. "But why did you even set her up in the first place?"

"Because," replied Simba, "I've got to try and make you believe me."

Elvis went after the zebra while Shemshi came running out of the final turn and homed in on the buffalo.

He used up a lot of precious track in chasing it, but soon had it down for ten points. He lined back up in ambush next to Shairi and Winda, while Elvis caught the zebra and lined back up in ambush farther on down the straight.

Winda saw that Shairi was standing in between herself and Shemshi, so she moved out her shoulder and pushed Shairi into him.

Shairi glared back at her sister, but she had no time to argue. She had already caught Shemshi's attention.

"How's it going, Shairi?" he asked.

"Oh…fine, fine," replied Shairi, turning back around to face him. "And you?"

"Well I'm doing great. It's my teammates who keep getting injured," he explained. "They're not exactly making it easy for me."

"Well, you're more than welcome to join mine and Simba's team at any time," Shairi proposed. "The only other choice we have is Juveda."

Shemshi laughed. "Ah, you're both screwed then." He shook his head. "What a bitch."

"I can't say I've met her, to be honest," Shairi replied. "I'm sure it will happen eventually."

"Well, all I can say is hear, but don't listen," said Shemshi. "She'll probably insult you. She'll say a lot of things about you that aren't true."

"I'll bear that in mind. Thanks for the tip. Still, if you ever want to be on mine and Simba's team, let me know."

"Certainly," Shemshi replied. He crouched down. "Think I'm going to go for this buffalo here," he explained. "See you later."

"See you," Shairi replied.

Shemshi ran off.

"Mm…coming on a bit strong, aren't we?" asked Winda. "Why didn't you ask him as your teammate earlier?"

"I thought he was in love with you," Shairi replied. "I was trying to stay out of it."

Winda laughed. "How could you think that?" she asked back. "He hangs around with you twice as much as he does with me. I mean, you're more his age, too. I always thought that he and I were good friends while you and him were great friends. I just never knew you had romantic feelings for him."

Shairi was only listening to her sister through one ear. The rest of her focus was on Simba and Nala, who were racing against each other as they chased down the zebra.

"Can we talk about this later?" Shairi asked. "I think we need to be ready in ambush, in case these two miss."

Simba and Nala had competed against each other for zebra twice so far during the event. The first one had gone to Nala, while the second one had gone to Simba. Since both chases had ended with Nala being pushed off by Simba, Nala actually wanted to be the second up on the zebra's back this time. So, she let Simba have the first pounce.

Simba took it, and was quickly making short work of the zebra by clamping his jaw down on its neck. Nala jumped up onto the side of the zebra, which was already slowly making his way downwards towards the ground in a struggle for survival. Nala joined her mate in clamping her jaw down, and soon they both had the zebra down on the ground, dead. They both ran out towards the outside of the track to wait in ambush, still wondering who the zebra-killer had been.

When they arrived at their posts and turned around, they saw the track workers pointing over towards Nala. Nala smirked at Simba while the lion king just shook his head.

"Why didn't you shove me off?" Simba asked.

"Because I knew I would win," Nala replied. "Real Siku Choka players don't have to shove other lions off."

"How many points do you have now?"

"I…ooh…" Nala moaned, looking back on down the track. "We passed the scorekeepers stand during our run there, I actually wanted to check. I wanted to know what the rankings were."

"Well I can tell you that much," Simba replied. "You, Eboni, Shairi, Winda, Bilauri, Juveda."

"I thought Guvu was lea…oh wait, you're just ranking the females based on their looks."

"What more would you expect?"

"I'm just glad you remembered to put me first."

"I would've put Shairi second, but I didn't want to make you mad."

Nala shook her head. "Why are we even talking about this?"

"Because we have to talk about something while we're waiting for that buffalo."

"Well why not let's talk about the buffalo?" Nala asked. "What are we going to do with it?"

"Chase it," Simba replied simply. He looked on down the track towards where they would be running. "We've got seven li…eh…" Simba stopped for a minute. He could have sworn that he'd just seen Juveda stir. Even though she had only had a short nap, there was a lot of activity happening on the track right now, and so Juveda would need to wake soon if she wanted her part of her fair share of points during this game. If she was awake, which, as Simba could now tell, she was, she could certainly be a threat regarding this buffalo. "…eh…yeah, just seven lions lined up in ambush after us," Simba lied. Perhaps it would work to his advantage if he knew about Juveda being awake, and Nala didn't.

"Eboni, Guvu and Elvis might try and join us in the hunt," Nala analyzed, also looking down the track. "Alright, well good luck Simba," she said, setting herself up to hunt the buffalo.

"Good luck," Simba replied.

The buffalo walked on by and the King and Queen of the Pridelands gave chase. They ran on by Shairi, Winda, Lenny, Eboni, Shemshi and Guvu, leaving just Elvis and Juveda left on the sidelines. Simba gave one check over towards the side of the track. He could tell that they were both getting prepared to chase after the buffalo, just in case Simba and Nala failed.

It was at that moment, that Simba realized what he needed to do.

Simba reached his leg out and tripped Nala over. Nala tumbled down into a heap on the ground. Simba began rolling over too, to make it look like a more realistic accident so that Elvis wouldn't be suspicious.

With both lions down on the ground, Elvis and Juveda set themselves up and, as the buffalo passed, they ran out of their ambushing posts.

Nala lifted her head out of the mud and looked over at her mate.

"What happened?" she asked him, not knowing that the incident had been intentional.

"Sorry Nala, I had to make it look like an accident."

"That was on purpose?"

"I have to make you believe me," Simba replied. "Look," he said, signaling over towards where Elvis and Juveda were chasing the buffalo.

Juveda was the first one up on the buffalo's back, with Elvis close behind. They ran into the first of the two long turns, throwing the buffalo's balance askew. Elvis saw his opportunity and growled as he closed in on the buffalo's hind legs. Then…he made his move…

Elvis jumped up onto the buffalo's back and landed right next to Juveda. Juveda was already biting hard down into the buffalo's neck, but she hadn't had a good landing, and a shove would easily upset her balance and cause her to fall off.

However, instead Elvis just bit down hard onto the buffalo's neck, and tried as hard as he could to kill the creature himself. The three creatures crashed into the slushy mud beneath them yards later, with the buffalo dead and the ten points awarded to Juveda.

Elvis tried to congratulate her, but the lioness had already taken off into a run after the antelope, which had been making its way along the backstretch nonchalantly this entire time. Elvis hadn't been able to congratulate Juveda, but he just shrugged his shoulders. He'd have some other time.

Nala glared at her mate, disappointed as she'd known those ten points could have easily been hers.

"Wow, that was a real eye-opener, Simba," she said sarcastically. "A real eye-opener."

"What are the sisters doing?" Sarafina asked Tumaini, as they both continued to watch from the stands.

"Looks like they're stalling the prey," Tumaini replied. "But why…I don't know…"

"I think they're setting up a chase," Sarafina interjected, "yeah…this is a strategy Cheka made famous."

"Cheka?"

"Some old, famous Siku Choka player. From what I've heard, he played a lot like you."

"Ah, so he won a lot then?"

"Afraid not," Sarafina replied. "He got disqualified a lot. He was kind of out here to have fun more so than to win. Had he taken this game more seriously then, yeah, he probably would've won a couple. Got him in the top 30 though."

"Ah, so…you still haven't explained how this is setting up a chase," Tumaini noted.

"Well Shairi and Winda are both fast runners but both could do with a bit of energy right now, so they've walked halfway across the track and are now scaring the zebra, causing it not to want to walk any farther. Once the buffalo and the antelope are released, they'll catch up with the zebra, and then Shairi and Winda will let them all go, starting a chase for all three pieces of prey at the same time. Soon, they'll all be lined back up at the prey-release point."

"So…why do they want to do that?" Tumaini asked.

Sarafina shrugged. "Guess Winda needs points," she replied. "They're going to have to wait for Juveda to…"

"Excuse me," said a lioness, interrupting them. "Hey…eh…sorry, don't mean to intrude, but my cubs would like your autographs, if that's okay?" she asked.

Sarafina and Tumaini both looked over towards where two excited cubs were each carrying a piece of bark in their mouths.

The two Siku Choka champions smiled back. Honestly, considering that you had to go back three years to find a Siku Choka champion other than one of themselves, they were surprised that this hadn't been happening to them more often.

"Certainly," Sarafina replied. The two excited cubs took that as an instant invitation and both went running up towards Sarafina. Sarafina placed her foot in the wet mud, soaking up her paw so that she could sign the bark.

"HEY EVERYBODY!" shouted a nearby flamingo, "SARAFINA AND TUMAINI ARE HANDING OUT PAWPRINTS!"

Seconds later, and a crowd of about a hundred had gathered around the two Champions.

"Oh boy," Sarafina commented to Tumaini, placing her paw on the bark, "this might take a while."

"Sure you don't mind doing this for me, sis?" Winda asked, as she and Shairi continued to pace the track perpendicularly, causing the zebra to cower back.

"Course not," Shairi replied, keeping half an eye on Juveda's antelope chase on the backstretch. Finally, Juveda caught up with the wounded antelope and brought it down for ten points. A new one was released on the front stretch. Soon, it would catch up with the zebra and the buffalo, and Shairi and Winda would let them by for the chase.

Farther back on down the straight, and members of the Ngorongoro Pride were starting to work out what was going on. They began shouting down the hills at their competitor: Bilauri.

Bilauri, however, was having the most wonderful dream.

You know Cheka and Raia and Tunda and Uku…

…Juni and Jino and Tumaini and Guvu…

…but do you recall, the greatest Siku Choka competitor of all…

"Bilauri!"

"Bilauri!"

"Wake up Bilauri!"

"Huh…wha—?"

"Bilauri, they're about to start a chase around the track, and you're lined up in the perfect position for ambush!" explained one of her pridemates, hoping that it would sink into her head.

It did, although it did take a minute. Bilauri got up to her feet and scanned the track, trying to figure out what was going on. Elvis and Juveda had just come running out of the final turn and had lined up with her in ambush. Much farther on down the track, and Shairi and Winda were getting ready to let the prey go, as the antelope had just about caught up.

"When the new prey is released," said one of Bilauri's friends again, "you, Elvis and Juveda are going to have control of the track."

"Why are the sisters doing this?" Bilauri asked aloud. "I mean, I know that speed is Winda's strong point, but it seems that Shairi's giving up a lot of points by doing this."

One of Bilauri's pride members just rolled her eyes. "Because she's Shairi," she reasoned.

"Good point," Bilauri replied.

The antelope was now starting to slow to a halt too, wondering what Shairi and Winda were doing.

"That's all three," Winda stated.

"Great," Shairi replied. She checked over her shoulder. Lenny, Shemshi, Eboni, Guvu, Simba and Nala were all ready to chase as well. "Let them go," she said.