As Yekini enters the Arene Nationale de Lutte the crowd erupts into cheers. Although the young man has only been wrestling for 5 years he has created a name for himself that has him celebrated all throughout the N.O.A. Senegalese wrestling is the most popular sport in the N.O.A games. Mainly due to the great sense of tradition, and entertainment gained from the big throws and intense matches.
Yekini collects some dirt into his hands and rubs them together. He takes a deep breath in as he listens to the crowd scream his name. A man runs over to Yekini and hands him a microphone. Yekini rips his shirt off revealing his big ripped physique. Standing at seven feet tall and weighing up to 300lbs, Yekini can intimate just from the sight of him alone. He begins to perform his bàkk for the crowd. Everyone chants along with him. The sound is deafening being heard by people miles away. Yekini is not only known for his great strength and power in matches but for his bàkk performances hyping the crowd to unmeasurable degrees. The ground begins to shake violently as the nearly 30,000 people in attendance dance and chant along with Yekini. His match won't take place till hours from now but the spectacle of getting prepared for battle has already begun.
He rallies and hypes up the crowd for about another 10 or so minutes before it's time for the preliminary matches to take place. Yekini, being the champion of Senegalese wrestling waits till the main event to defend his title and secure his place to go compete to see the king Mansa Musa.
Ten matches will take place with Yekini making sure to hype up the crowd in-between matches increasing the tension and anticipation for his match. As the sunsets and the last match is taking place Yekini dances up and down the sideline taunting his opponent and rallying the crowd. The match comes to an end as one wrestler is finally able to trip and put his opponent on their back. The crowd explodes into cheers.
Yekini stands on the side and pours a liquid all over himself as his marabouts chants an African prayer. Him and his entourage then begin to rub dirt and sand all over his body and face. Once his mystical bath is over, Yekini heads to the ring. Roaring and screaming loudly and beating on his chest like a gorilla, Yekini dances towards the ring as his entourage chants his bàkk behind him. His opponent dances around the ring as he awaits Yekini. Both fighters putting themselves in their fighter spirit. As Yekini steps on the sands and the two fighters face off in the center of the arena, the crowd drops silent. The referee does the ceremonial reading of the rules and the wrestlers shake hands. They first start off by testing each other's speed and agility by grabbing at each other's wrists. Yekini gets the upper hand when he is able to grab hold of his opponent's wrist getting a tight hold. His opponent looks shook for a second but immediately responds by hitting him with a heavy punch to the jaw. Yekini stumbles backwards for a second. His opponent charges into him hoping to knock him off balance quickly and on to his back for the win. Yekini however regains himself quickly and catches his opponent's momentum. The two hulking wrestlers lunge into a violent embrace.
The sea of spectators go insane. Shaking the Stadium and cheering frantically as the wrestlers trade blows to the head and grope for the backs of each other's knees. They lock arms, twisting and pirouetting in the sand. Yekini finally grabs the back of his opponent's neck with one hand and with the other hand he delivers a bone rattling uppercut to the jaw. His opponent goes limp for a second. Yekini takes this opportunity and swings his opponent towards the heavens. The volume of the crowd reaches a crescendo as Yekini goes to slam his opponent to the ground. The match ends with a thunderous earth shaking slam as the two men hit the sand. Pandemonium ensues as the match comes a spectacular end. The people in the stands stomp, run around, and cheer for Yekini.
Some men come over and make sure Yekini's opponent is OK. The man stands up a little shakily, but ultimately is ok and goes over to embrace and congratulate Yekini. Yekini returns the embrace and encourages his opponent to come back stronger next time. The crowd is almost uncontrollable at this point. The commentator runs over to Yekini. “What a match!! Truly a battle for the ages!! Tell me Yekini, how did you possibly overcome such a ferocious opponent?”. The commentator asks him. “Well…” Yekini begins still breathing heavily and dotted with perspiration. “I am wrestling, wrestling is me. It's in my blood and soul. My father's father taught him to wrestle and he taught me, and I stand here now honoring them both with my victory.” “So well put by such a great champion. So now with this victory you will go on to compete to meet the man himself Mansa Musa. Tell us Champ. What will you ask the king for if you are the one to win?” The commentator inquires. The crowd goes silent as Yekini begins to answer. He chuckles. “When I win the right to meet the king I shall ask him to help fund businesses owned by true Senegalese people, and hopefully start putting money in the hands of the people that truly need it.” The crowd erupts into cheers again. They can't be contained at this point and rush the arena. They raise Yekini up onto their shoulders and begin parading him through town.
Stan and Dariüse sit in the kitchen of the apartment tryna relax a little after a long day of helping out around town. Stan takes out some weed and begins to roll a blunt. “So what made you quit the games?” Dariüse inquires. Stan takes a second to answer. He thinks about Asrai. “My wife. Asrai.” Stan begins to answer. “She hated the games and everything they stood for. She would always say that the games desensitized people to the dark reality of the world. Instead of motivating the world to be better.” Stan stops for a second to light the blunt. He takes a big inhale of the smoke and lets out some smoke rings. Stan passes the blunt to Dariüse. “She convinced me I could be different. That my mods, skills, and talents didn't have to make me a monster. I could be more than just a killer.” Dariüse takes a hit while listening to Stan. He passes the blunt back to Stan after his hit. “She rented me a small room and made me teach some small kids martial arts. After a month teaching the kids I was so in love I quit the games all together.” Stan takes a hit of the blunt and passes it back. “She saw the good in everything and everyone. She tamed a beast and created a man.” Dariüse takes a hit of the blunt and then asks. “So how did you end up with that big ass gym then?” Stan chuckles. “After I quit the games and people slowly found out who I was and what I was doing, it all kinda just snowballed from there and before you know it I was training kids to be killers.” Dariüse passes the blunt to Stan. As he is taking his hit Dariüse asks. “Do you think she would want you to do this?” Stan takes a long hit. He thinks to himself. Finally he says. “I don't know. But I'll be sure to ask her for you when this is all over.” With that Stan gets up and goes to his room. Leaving Dariüse there to finish the blunt by himself.
