(A/N: Long wait. Short chapter. No excuses. Sorry. Hopefully posting this chapter will motivate me to finish this story off. Fingers crossed!)
Bilauri watched thoughtfully as the next zebra made its way on down the track. It was no secret that she was behind in points, but so were the two lions next to her: Shairi and Lenny.
Bilauri checked over her shoulder. Eboni was the next lion lined up in ambush, and she was far away. The Ngorongoro lioness knew what she had to do.
"Guys," she called, getting the attention of Lenny and Shairi, "we're going to have to work together on this."
Neither of the other two argued, but they were a bit confused.
"How do you mean?" Shairi asked back.
"Well we're all behind in points. Eboni's next and she's…well…leading. So we've got to keep all this prey back here and kill as many as possible so that we can catch up and Eboni can't get any."
Shairi and Lenny both returned a smile. They liked that idea.
"BEHOLD!" exclaimed Timon, standing at the top of one of the rolling hills, "a new sport that all of the ecosystem can enjoy!" he continued, getting nothing more than a couple of bemused glances from the spectators sitting in front of him. Timon hesitated slightly, but then continued as if nothing was wrong. "I call it," he stated, "the Siku Buga!"
A distant cry from a buzzard echoed across the hills as Timon pointed down at the ground where an oval ring of bugs was walking their way counterclockwise in a circuit.
"I don't think they're that interested, Timon," Pumbaa told his friend.
"That's cos the game hasn't started yet, Pumbaa. Look, stand right here, see? And when I give the signal, we'll start chasing these bugs around in circles until they're all gone. Whoever eats the most, wins! Alright?"
"Meerkat, that game has no danger," Tumaini called over her shoulder. "Look, I'm only trying to help you guys out. Unless you both want to look like fools, you may want to give this in now."
"No danger? Pah!" Timon exclaimed. "Must I inform you, Tumaini, that though you may think there's no danger, the truth is that most of these bugs are army ants, who will all try and eat us up as soon as we begin. Ready Pumbaa?"
"No."
"Three…two…one…go!"
Pumbaa was still hesitant, and so it was only Timon who leapt into the giant circle of insects. Finally, he had gotten the interest of some of the spectators.
"See Pumbaa, didn't I tell you, this sport truly has potent…OW! Hey, that army ant just bit me! OW! Hey, so did that one. And that—wait…oh no…this isn't good. OW! OW! OUCH! GAAAAH!" Timon exclaimed, getting swarmed over by black army ants.
Tumaini finally smiled.
"Actually, he's right," she corrected herself. "That sport may have potential."
Shairi, being the victor of four rounds of rock, paper, scissors with Bilauri and Lenny, was crouched down and ready to pounce after the first zebra. The next piece of prey would be a buffalo. Being that Lenny had been the runner up in their game, the 'team' had assigned him the task of bringing that down, despite the fact that none of them expected him to be able to do it.
The zebra passed on by and Shairi went for it. As luck would have it, the zebra stumbled in a small puddle that was still present from the night's rains. Shairi took advantage and quickly brought the zebra down. She was ten points closer to Eboni.
"Okay Lenny, you're next," Bilauri stated.
Lenny gulped.
"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Bilauri asked him. "I can take it if you want."
"N—no, it's fine," Lenny replied. "I've played this game for too long now. I should be able to take buffalo down. Especially if I want to win."
Bilauri was a bit perplexed by this.
I never thought Lenny was a lion who wanted to win, she told herself, I thought he was just here for fun…
As soon as the thought had come to her, however, it disappeared. She shrugged.
"Suit yourself," she stated.
The buffalo passed on by, and Lenny went for it.
The Majani Pride lion, however, had not started off with the luck that Shairi had had. He had mistimed his attack and the buffalo was beginning to accelerate away from him.
Farther on up the straight, Shairi did a double-take. If she let the buffalo pass on by, they may risk handing ten points over to Eboni. Wasn't it in the team's best interest if she took the buffalo down and prevented Eboni from extending her lead?
Shairi thought so. And so, as it came her way, she made her move out of ambush and took the buffalo down for a set of ten points. A disgruntled Lenny trotted his way over towards the side and lined up in ambush.
"Sorry Lenny," Shairi apologized. "It didn't look like you were going to get it though, so I figured I'd might as well take it down. It would save us from giving Eboni more points."
"That's alright," Lenny replied, although he didn't sound too happy about it. "Mind if you go for the buffalo next time though, it seems you're better at them?"
Shairi nodded in acknowledgment. "Sounds good," she replied.
A zebra was now on its way down the straight. Bilauri was the first lioness lined up in ambush.
Shemshi was farther on down the straight, lined up next to Simba in ambush. The Nyaziland lion began to drum his toes on the hard mud.
"Hmm…" he hummed, thinking.
Simba overheard him. "What?" he asked back.
"They're working together," he stated, "they're trying to keep the prey away from Eboni, and they're doing a good job of it. It would be in our best interest to run around a lap and line up at the prey-release point."
Simba didn't need telling twice. He began to move off.
"NO!" Shemshi exclaimed.
Simba stopped running and looked back.
"What?" he asked.
"Well…do you really want to stop them from scoring points?" he asked. "I mean, all three of them are far behind anyways…and I know Shairi's your teammate."
"Well…" Simba thought, hesitating for a second, "…see…she probably won't be for much longer. Nala and I are going to start working together soon."
Simba saw the sides of Shemshi's mouth twitch. He chuckled.
"What?" Shemshi asked, perplexed.
"I think I know why you want me to help her though," he explained. "As soon as I give her up, you're just going to take her as your teammate."
"I'm sure a lot of lions are," Shemshi reasoned, "she's a good player."
"Yeah, but your chances are pretty good," Simba replied, beginning to walk off. Shemshi didn't stop him. He knew he wasn't going to be able to. "After all," Simba added, "she fancies you."
Simba was the sole lion making a move on the Siku Choka field. The rest of the lions remained in ambush while the three pieces of prey slowly crept their ways onwards down the frontstretch towards their doom.
What the game was lacking as far as activity however, was being compensated for in the infield, as many shamans and medically-minded animals made their way around Juveda, trying their best to heel the injured lioness.
"Did she ask you to remove her from the track?" a jackal asked, inquisitively.
"No," confessed the cheetah, "but she was not comprehendible anymore, so we removed her."
"She's suffered from a lot of blood loss," stated a hippo. A small crowd gathered around him, curious as to the current state of the situation. "We've stopped it from bleeding, we just need to give her another check over to see if she's suffering from injuries elsewhere, and hope that a rest will help her recover."
"Where are you going?" asked Nala to her mate, as Simba trotted her way over towards her.
"Bilauri, Shairi and Lenny are all behind, so they're working as a team. We need to get around the circuit and line up at the prey-release point if we want to get anymore points anytime soon."
The sides of Nala's mouth twitched.
"So team Nala finally won you over, huh?"
"Well you've lost Lenny from your team…so I figured it was just you and Elvis now."
Nala bit her lip and broke her glance away from her mate.
"Yeah…about that…I told him our partnership was over."
Simba sighed.
"Yeah, I know," Nala acknowledged. "I'm screwed."
"Does he know you're onto him?"
"Yup."
"Then yes…I am screwed."
"You mean me."
Simba smiled back. "Don't worry Nal', Elvis will have to go through me before he could ever get to you."
"It's too late to be doing me too many favors, hun. Do you even know how much time we have left?"
Suddenly, a loud roar was delivered by one of the upper-tier track workers, standing on a podium in the infield.
Simba knew exactly how much time there was left.
"Two hours," he replied.