(A/N: IT'S ALMOST OVVEEEERRR! So things in my life have finally turned around for the best again, and I'm finally able to find some time to get stuff like this story done and also find other entertaining hobbies on and off the Internet. Believe it or not, I have only just discovered Feral Heart, and so I have been enjoying time playing that recently. Name's Machungwa63 on there too for anyone who's interested, and, funnily enough, the character I usually play as is Shemshi. I've also created Lenny, Shairi and Tumaini on there, but don't use them too often as I feel awkward being a male playing as a female character, and as far as Lenny goes...yeah...I don't want to be laughed at XD. Ah well, on to the story!)
The buffalo on track was now making its way by Bilauri. The lioness refused to give chase, knowing that an antelope and a zebra would soon be on her way.
Shairi and Shemshi were lined up next.
"You going to go for this?" Shairi asked.
The sides of Shemshi's mouth twitched.
"Why'd you ask?" he asked back.
"Because you were right about Simba…and now I need a teammate. If you go for it, I won't."
"Glad to hear Team Shemshi finally won you over. Alright, I'll go for it," stated the lion, getting himself into running position. "Oh, by the way Shairi, I know you're here to win and all…but…take care of yourself."
"Why'd you say that?" Shairi asked back.
"Well…if we both survive I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date sometime…so, you know, might be something look forward to."
Shairi opened her mouth to respond, but Shemshi had already broken out into a run. Shairi watched him as he took off, finally feeling an incredible wave or relief and delight pass over her. An instant later, however, and she was shaking her head, attempting to snap out of it.
"What am I doing?" she said to herself. "Alright, Shemshi fancies you too…you've got to forget about it Shairi. Finish this game first. You've only got about an hour left…just finish this game, win this game, then worry about what happens after."
On cue, Bilauri moved out in an attempt to hunt the antelope. Shairi left her ambushing post too, glad to get back into the action. She needed to beat Bilauri to this antelope.
"We've got to stop Shemshi from getting that buffalo," Nala commented, "he has too many points."
Simba watched as the hunter and the hunted came running closer to them.
"Get ready," Nala added, "you're not in pouncing position!"
"Oh…I'm going after this?" asked Simba, surprised.
Nala rolled her eyes. "Of course you are."
"What makes you say that? It's a big buffalo."
"Aha," Nala agreed, moving her leg up next to Simba's, "and…you're leg is about twice as thick as mine, twice as strong as mine and half as likely to get injured if you fall. Go for the buffalo, Simba…now!" exclaimed Nala, right as the buffalo passed on by them. Simba skipped out on the idea of crouching, and instead just broke out into a run. Using all the energy he could, he began to close in on Shemshi.
Unfortunately for Simba, he was already too late. Shemshi jumped up on the buffalo's back and bit down on his neck. Simba began to slow up, seeing that the fight was over. Suddenly, however, Shemshi lost his footing on the buffalo and began to slip off. Simba's eyes lit up in delight; this buffalo could still be his! The Prideland king put on an extra sprint and charged Shemshi and the buffalo down, arriving on scene right at the point when Shemshi came crashing down to the ground. Simba pounced into the air and made his move, finishing off what Shemshi had started.
Nala beamed with delight as she watched her mate take the spoils. A Prideland victory was beginning to seem in sight.
Meanwhile, Shairi had been able to make no ground whatsoever on Bilauri. The Ngorongoro lioness easily took the antelope down, moving her ten points closer to being back in contention.
ROAR!
The competitors were briefly distracted by a sudden call coming from the infield. The crowd began to cheer as they realized what it meant.
ROAR!
"Two roars," Nala muttered to herself, "one hour left."
First place is Nala with 336 points,
Second place is Eboni, with 335 points but injured,
Third place is Simba…how'd he get that much? 327 points,
Fourth place is Shemshi, but only 15 points out with 321 points,
A BIG gap down to Bilauri in fifth, 296 points,
Shairi is right behind her in sixth with 295 points,
Then it's Elvis with 286 points in seventh,
And Lenny is far behind with 244 in eighth.
Zazu tried to make sense of all of those numbers as he looked down at the scoring board in the infield, trying to work out which ones held any significance to the Pridelands team.
"I'm surprised Simba is that high," he noted to himself, "perhaps Nala is helping him too much…she could be leading by ten or twenty points by now if she wasn't helping him out…
"But then that would make her a bigger target, especially for someone like Elvis, who may go as far as to try and hurt her now that he's got so many points to catch up.
"Shemshi is hurting himself by helping Shairi…she's too far out.
"And Eboni isn't out of the woods yet…until Nala takes another piece of prey down, Eboni could wake up, get a kill, and be back in the lead within a minute."
Content that he had now gotten a good grasp of what was going on, Zazu took back off into the sky and went to report his findings to Sarafina and Tumaini.
Nala broke ranks and began to hunt down the zebra on track, with Lenny joining her in the chase.
Nala was slightly frustrated by this…it was obvious that Lenny wasn't going to win considering he was almost 100 points down. Why couldn't he just let the point's leaders have their own battle? However, she couldn't blame him but too much. If she'd been in his position right now, she'd be doing the same thing.
Sure is frustrating though.
To her own and the crowd's surprised, thanks to his pent up and exuberant energy, Lenny was actually able to outrun Nala and get on the zebra's heels first. Before she knew it, Nala was denied of ten points as Lenny jumped up onto the zebra and made his kill.
Nala made her way over to the sidelines, slightly shocked, while the ecstatic crowd behind her congratulated Lenny on his hunt. Seeing at how pleased they all were, Nala couldn't help but let the sides of her mouth twitch a little.
"Well, good for him," she commented to herself. "Savor it Lenny, cos I'm not going to let you beat me again," she joked, although she hoped it would turn out to be true.
It took Zazu some time to find the Pridelands pride again, as he couldn't seem to see Sarafina. However, once he caught an eye on Timon, Pumbaa, Rafiki, Tumaini, Kiara and the others, he flew down to the ground and prepped himself up to deliver the report.
"Nala is leading Eboni, Simba and Shemshi all in a closely-knit pack of fifteen points. The rest are too far back to be of concern to us, which worries me that perhaps Nala should stop helping Simba and worry more about beating Eboni and Shemshi…although Shemshi is hurting himself by helping out Shairi."
"It's only stupid lions that hurt themselves by helping others," Tumaini reasoned, "most often, helping just means that they don't waste energy going after the same piece of prey, not that they give up pieces of prey and give them to their teammate. Thanks for the report though."
"Very well. What's Rafiki doing?" asked Zazu, looking back at the mandrill who was laying some sticks and coconut shells out on the ground.
"He said he's getting ready for the final hour…"
"Tweezers, check. Painkillers, check. Bandages, check," Rafiki murmured to himself.
"Oh…well…eh…with that being the case," continued Zazu, "where's Sarafina?"
"I don't know," Tumaini answered. "She said she went off to see someone."
Before Zazu could ask who, Tumaini got back up onto her feet. "The buffalo and antelope are up with the competitors. This could get exciting," she noted.
Zazu turned around too and joined the group in watching the rest of the game.
"…embalming fluid, check…"
Go for the buffalo, do not go for the antelope, go for the buffalo, do NOT go for the antelope, go for the…go for the…
Elvis went for the antelope.
Shairi swatted the ground in frustration. "Darn you, Elvis!"
Now that the Dixieland lion was hunting the antelope, the much flimsier Shairi was going to have to try and hunt the buffalo on her own.
Shairi crouched down.
"Never mind…I can do this…"
Right at the time Elvis ran by on the antelope's hind heels, Shairi made her move out to hunt the buffalo. Her hopes were that no one else would join in on the hunt.
Bilauri was the first lion they all ran by, and she showed no signs of interest in joining them. Shemshi passed up the opportunity too, knowing he didn't want to hurt his teammate's chances. As the chases continued on farther down the straight, Elvis and Shairi were both getting set into attack positions, making Simba give up the ordeal as well. Nala, however, determined to pull out a lead on Eboni while she was knocked out, didn't. She sprung out from her ambushing post but, to Shairi's delight and Simba's dismay, decided to join in on Elvis's hunt of the antelope.
"Don't get hurt, Nala."
Unfortunately for the Prideland Queen, Elvis was already too far into the attack process, and by the time she'd caught him the lion was all set to make his move. He did so, and brought the antelope down for ten points.
Nala gave a quick glance over her shoulder to see if the buffalo was still for the taking.
It wasn't; Shairi had already taken it down.
Now last in ambush and far, far away from the prey-release point, Nala decided to break out into a run and log another lap. Elvis soon joined.
Sarafina barged her way through the hill outside of turn four, trying to force her way through to the center soon enough so she turn around and watch the game again.
Finally, she was able to slip her way past the last couple of onlookers and get a glimpse at the injured ex-competitor.
"Juveda…" she called, attempting to get the lioness's attention.
It didn't work, however, there were too many other interested spectators trying to get a word in with her.
"Wow, look at that scar she has on her neck, Momma!"
"Don't bloody point at me," Juveda snarled at the lion cub. "I'm trying to watch this game, alright? Buzz off."
"Now I see why the others didn't want to work with her," a male leopard commented to his friend.
"I heard that!"
"Juveda…"
"Did you really think you could win it? You were playing terrible out there."
"Get lost!"
"What about Peponi?"
That question got a snarl from Juveda.
"JUVEDA!"
"WHAT?"
"I wanted to say thank you," commented Sarafina.
The crowd all turned around with puzzled looks on their faces. Their expressions grew even more perplexed when they saw who it was.
"Dad," commented a young cheetah cub, "it's Sarafina…she won Siku Choka 25!"
"Shh…I know son…"
The crowd around Juveda grew silent. Even Juveda had her lips pursed to let Sarafina speak.
"Look…we know…you didn't kill Peponi, Elvis did…just like he did with Tonka and Guvu, and if you hadn't told us we would've never known, but…that's not what I'm thanking you for. I just wanted to say that I know it's very tough to be a competitor when you're not a social being…I'm the same way, I don't really like talking to strangers.
"But…you were willing to risk your life, everything, for our entertainment, despite all the hate that you got for being the anti-social lion you are, and there's nothing wrong with that. So…well…thanks. It was fun to watch, and I'm glad you're okay."
With her speech out of the way, Sarafina turned around and made her way back out through the crowd. Even Juveda was a little lost for words; she hadn't expected her to be thanked for that. Just before Sarafina's tail tuft brushed on by the last couple of spectators though, she perked her voice up.
"Hey, Sarafina," she called.
The Siku Choka champion heard her. She stopped walking and turned around, setting her eyes back on Juveda. Then, something none of them had ever witnessed happened: Juveda smiled.
"That's the first time someone's ever really understood me…thank you," she said, in a voice much gentler than normal.
Sarafina smiled back. She shrugged it off.
"No problem really…it's the least I can do consideri…"
"Considering your daughter wouldn't be alive if I wasn't smart enough to see through Elvis's looks. Yeah…I know. Now you go tell you're bloody daughter something, Sarafina," Juveda added, her face falling. The lioness got up onto all fours and took a step towards Sarafina.
"You make sure to tell your daughter to watch her back and watch that bloody lion…because unless that twat ends up with a broken neck and a lip curled up above his mane, there's only one thing that's going to satisfy me now at this game…and that's to watch Nala win, cos she's the only one out there…the only one…that I really felt I deserved to lose to."
Now it was Sarafina's turn to be at a loss for words. She stuttered for a bit, but was finally able to mutter a response:
"Okay…I'll tell her."
Bilauri and Lenny were now both in a chase for the zebra, both knowing that they needed the points if they ever wanted a chance of winning Siku Choka 27. Bilauri had the lead, the pace, and the determination, but stepped on a sharp rock entering the first turn, causing her to stumble a little bit.
Lenny continued running, and was able to pass Bilauri on the outside. However, now that they had cleared the rest of the competitors, Lenny thought it best to wait until the circuit opened up again before he made his move.
Meanwhile, farther on down the straight, Elvis had stopped on the sidelines, waiting for the chase to come towards him.
Bilauri had now pulled back up alongside Lenny, and now had just as good a chance as the Majani lion on getting this piece of prey. However, as they came out of the turn, Bilauri caught a glimpse of the crouched-down Elvis. Instantly, she fell off the pace and let Lenny run away with the prey. She did not want to get in a mess with Elvis…even this late in the game.
Now without pressure, Lenny decided to make his move before Bilauri caught up again, and thus took the zebra down for ten points before he ever got alongside with Elvis.
That doesn't matter, Lenny told himself, Elvis is my teammate…he won't mind that I got these points, and he didn't.
Contrary to what Lenny thought, however, Elvis was glaring hard at him, thinking of how he could best dispose of this inconvenience.
An antelope and a buffalo were now making their way on by Simba and Shemshi, who were both set in ambush, ready to pounce.
"You're not going to just let me take this one?" Simba asked. "I mean, I did help you get hooked up with Shairi."
"I'll thank you after the game," Shemshi replied.
"But…Shairi's next in ambush. She's just going to go for whichever one you don't…so wouldn't you want to go for the buffalo so that she goes for the antelope?"
"I may be Shairi's teammate, Simba," Shemshi reasoned, "but that doesn't mean I'm going to hurt my own chances just to help her."
With that, Shemshi moved out and began hunting the antelope. Grudgingly, Simba knew that meant he would have to go after the buffalo.
Meanwhile, Shairi was rolling her eyes from the outside of the track.
"Some friend," she muttered under her breath, knowing this meant she would have to go for the buffalo too.
Shairi left her ambushing post and joined Simba in pursuit of the buffalo, while Shemshi took an easy ten points by taking the antelope down unchallenged.
Simultaneously, Simba and Shairi both snarled, forcing the buffalo to run faster. They both pounced.
Rule number two, they both thought, dig into the buffalo's side with just one set of claws.
Simba and Shairi both dug into the buffalo's side with just one set of claws.
The buffalo stopped running. He was in a lot of pain, thanks to a set of claws embedded in his left side and a set on his right side.
Shairi and Simba exchanged glances.
"You didn't dig in too, did you?" asked Shairi, horrified.
Both the lions gasped and turned to the side, jumping off the buffalo right before he began bucking.
Now content that the weight had been lifted off of him, the buffalo took off into a run again, but not before Shemshi had came running out from behind and taking the buffalo down for another set of ten points…putting him in the lead.
Nala was slightly appalled as she trotted her way to the outside of the circuit to a chorus of boos. The fans were upset that she was letting the three pieces of prey walk on down the frontstretch unchallenged.
They're too far away, she told herself. I'd use up a lot of track if I went and hunted them. Let someone who's determined to get points take them down…right now, if I let them get away then nobody gets points, which is good for me as it keeps me in the lead.
The crowd didn't seem to approve of her conservative strategy, however. They wanted to see some kills.
Nala felt a little uneasy as she walked up to her ambushing post. It wasn't common for her to be booed, and she was having a hard time attempting to drown out all the negative remarks from the crowd. Finally, she broke.
"Hey, it's called strategy, alright?" she called up to them.
"Nala, Shemshi just got twenty points. He's in the lead now. You need to hunt!" shouted a spectator back down.
"I've got plenty of time to score another kill," Nala retorted. "Someone will get that prey, and when they do, I'll be at the prey-release point, waiting."
In the meantime, the rest of the competitors were logging a lap around the track. Since they all had a good idea of what Nala's plan was on the frontstretch, none of them had any intentions of going after the new prey. They all wanted that first post next to the prey-release point.
All, that was, except one.
Elvis had slowed down during his run to let Simba by him. Now, the duo was approaching the third turn, with Elvis running inside of Simba.
Once he was alongside, he exchanged glances with the Prideland king.
Elvis smirked.
He elbowed Simba, forcing him to the outside of the track. As expected, Simba pushed back, pushing Elvis over to the inside of the track.
Elvis's plan had worked.
Elvis pretended to lose his footing, and 'accidentally' stumbled into a herd of buffalo in the infield.
The herd spooked, and ran out onto the circuit, amid a lot of yelling from the infield track workers and a lot of cheering from the crowds on the hills.
"Well Ah'm sorry about that folk," Elvis uttered to the flabbergasted track workers, "lost my footing in a battle with Simba there. Gonna go hunt now."
With that, the Dixieland king took off into the fray.
"This cannot be happening," moaned Sarafina, her head buried inside her arms.
On contrary, Tumaini was up on all fours, alert and trying really, really hard not to smile.
I must not smile, lives are at stake here…gaah, but this is so awesome! Hold it together Tumaini…I must not smile, lives are at stake here…
Most of the rest of the spectators were with Tumaini, however. Watching every competitor charge after a stampeding herd of buffalo was much more exciting than seeing Nala playing her waiting game on the sidelines.
Now, they knew, as well as Nala did, that everything had changed.
The Prideland Queen had her ears pressed back in fear, watching as the stampeding herd of buffalo came charging towards her.
Eboni was still unconscious, and Shemshi was too far back to do anything about the new prey. This was the perfect points opportunity for her, which, if played correctly, could win her the game!
But at what risk?
Well, she didn't have time to think about that now. The stampede was upon her, and it was time to make her move.
Nala ran deep into the herd of forty buffalo, along with Bilauri, Lenny, Elvis, Shairi and Simba.
She looked to her left. Bilauri was already on top of a small buffalo next to her side. The Ngorongoro lioness was already in the process of making the kill, and, as the buffalo fell down to the ground, she had already leapt off and was running over towards her next target.
I need to get in on this…before it's too late, thought Nala.
She glanced around her. Large buffalos were flanking her in on both sides, but she was struggling to find one small enough that would be safe enough to tackle down in such a huge mess. However, she hadn't become a great huntress without great eyesight. It had taken her a few seconds, but, finally, she had found a buffalo worth fighting not too far in front of her.
Nala put on an extra sprint and began charging her target down, while thunderous hooves and clumps of mud were flying all around her. Right before she caught up with the buffalo, she began to see a lion's muzzle pull up alongside her, but it disappeared as quick as it had came.
Nala pounced.
She landed lopsided on the buffalo's back, but was able to grab a firm hold of the creature's nape. Confident that she had obtained an extra set of ten points, Nala gave a quick glance upwards, trying to get an idea of where she was on the track and in the pack.
Then, for a brief moment of time, Nala felt her muscles relieve their tension…
Wow…
Being up this high, Nala was able to get an amazing view of what was going on. Tens of thousands of fans were standing and cheering all around them, watching as a giant pack of buffalo were thundering on down the frontstretch, admiring the competitors as they had ran into that pack, committing virtual suicide in doing so, all so that they could say that they had won the Siku Choka. As Nala caught that glimpse of all their awestruck faces, she begun to wish that she wasn't in the game at all and, in fact, was in the stands, cheering them on. It was at that moment, that she glanced sideways, getting a look at the spectators that were closest to her: her pride.
Sarafina, with her eyes buried behind her arms; Pumbaa, with his mouth hanging agape; Timon, with a worm in his mouth; Zazu, with his eyes peeking out from his upheld wings; Rafiki, with his medicines and bandages that he was getting set up; and Kiara…
…Kiara…
A buffalo came running over from the right side, attempting to dodge a small left-over puddle from last night. Consequently, he knocked into the buffalo that Nala was lying lopsided on top of. With her softened muscles, Nala felt the nape of the buffalo slide out from under her teeth. She began to slide down towards the ground.
Her eyes were closed by the time she hit it though as, right as she was floating through the middle of the air, another buffalo came and ran into her, twisting her neck sideways and knocking the lioness out. Nala body flew another ten feet, before it finally piled down into a heap on the ground, and got hit by two more buffalo, before finally coming to a motionless rest.
(A/N: Next chapter, we find out how much damage was done during the buffalo stampede, and the game reaches it's final moments. Reviews appreciated!)