Duma was tall and slender and in their class, he was the fastest, even faster than Mwana. However given his improvement in his 100 Steps in an Instant technique, Mwana was raring to compete against him. Duma was dressed in cheetah hide around his waist and another hide served as a cape with the head of the cheetah serving as a cap on his own head. Beneath the waist hide, he wore dark green pants which were baggy at the top while being close fitting from the knees down.
His hands and feet were clawed and his teeth were fanged showing that not only had he awakened his bloodline, but it was also some type of feline bloodline. Finally, he had many beaded necklaces around his neck that reached almost to his stomach with green and black alternating beads. Next to Mwana, Cheza and another figure on the opposing team, he was the most sophisticatedly dressed.
In contrast, Tembo wasn't even wearing animal hide, just a simple white loincloth. He looked as 'free' as ever compared to some of his friends who seemed to be attending a fashion show. 'Why is everyone so dressed today? Is there some event I didn't hear about?'
However, these four weren't the only ones here. The opposing team that they would be playing against today was also here.
"You guys sure took your time."
"Scared? You know we will kick your ****"
"Yeah, ****** cowards."
"We don't have all day, let's get on with it already!"
Suddenly a slew of nonsense exploded from the other side as soon as Mwana and his friends arrived. There were four boys on the opposing team with three of them looking extremely similar. The first one had long hair that went all the way to his back, starting straight and ending in curls. His handsome face looked like a fox or trickster and gave everyone the natural urge to punch him. No matter the words coming from his mouth, he maintained a perpetual smile.
The second boy had 'harder' features compared to the first. He only wore a waistcloth with no jewelry. From his face and clothing, he seemed like the stern type. As for the third and youngest one, his looks were extremely shifty like a criminal in hiding. Every part of his body including his neck, ears, nose, eyebrows, hair, arms, waist and legs were adorned with expensive-looking jewelry. All three boys were dressed in blue aqua-marine clothes. The first and third boy clearly lived up to the stereotypes of sons of business men and merchants.
These boys were three of the four sons of the Pweza family and they were all cousins with the same name Jua Maji Maji. As a result, they were nicknamed Maji 1, Maji 2, Maji 3, while the youngest one who was not present was called Maji 4.
There was a lot of bad blood between these cousins and Mwana as they had previously bullied him for a long time when he had to pass by their home on the way to school. The cousins owned as some pretty nasty dogs that they would let loose on Mwana for no reason but their own pleasure.
As for the final team-mate, another boy was standing behind the three cousins. He could be described as 'fat with muscle' just like Tembo. His whole body was wrapped up in thick grayish-black hide that looked like it was from some type of aquatic mammal. One could see faint ripples of energy that looked like waves of water on it.
In terms of height, he was the tallest among everyone here which offset some of his weight making him appear less round compared to Tembo. This tall dark-skinned kid boy was Jua Kiboko, Jua Uchoyo's younger brother. In the morning sun his skin was so dark that it almost appeared indigo, as with most Siribi. In fact, among the Siribi people, his height and skin color could still be considered below average for his age mostly because he and his brother were half Siribi and half Jemedari due to their parents' intermarriage.
While Jemedari people also had dark skin, it still couldn't be compared to Northerners like the Siribi who lived in the desert nations north of the Toro kingdom. As for their height, they weren't even in the same dimension. The Siribi were the second tallest tribe in the Zika world with adults reaching heights of up to 10 feet tall. Even the shortest Siribi would be at least 7 feet tall and taller than almost everyone in Jua village apart from Uchoyo and Kiboko's mother.
"Four vs. Seven? A piece of cake. I wouldn't mind if not for my younger brothers, haish." Maji 1 said with a hypocritical sigh.
He clearly wanted others off Mwana's team but instead pretended it was for his younger cousins. Besides, their two other teammates had yet to arrive yet the Maji cousins still gave Mwana, Cheza and Nyaga trouble for arriving late. However, it was already late and school would start in less than thirty minutes so no one had time to argue.
Jana was left off the team once again and would exchange with Mwanga in the second match as they were the youngest two on their team. In addition to this, Maji's team got to pick one person from Mwana's side to fill their ranks. Maji 1 did not hesitate and picked Duma which was probably to counter Mwana's speed.
"No hard feelings," Duma said while crossing over to the opposing team, after all this was just a game.
Jana was picked as the referee by default since he was not a player. Seeing everyone ready to enjoy the game while he could only watch, he vowed to catch even the slightest mistakes and expel anyone from the fun. As the teams were set up, a small audience of other school kids on their way to school, assembled around them.
Jana as the referee finally whistled.
It was game time!
***New Words***
Maji – Water
Maji Maji – Inspired by the Maji Maji rebellion, an armed rebellion of Islamic and animist Africans against German colonial rule in Tanzania.
Siribi – from African mythology: A tribe of 10 feet tall people with dark skin mostly living the nomadic pastoralist lifestyle.
Pweza – Octopus
Kiboko – Hippo