Tiffany and Princess were quite happy to return to Mieni as part of the IAC. The success of the impromptu volleyball games that had been done during Spring Break had gotten a lot of positive feedback Animalia Ambassadoria's PR episodes for Animalia and thus made it quite understandable that things would soon mean that the IAC would expand to include some events specialized for Mieni. The two French Poodle Animalians looked out to see that the beaches along the inner lagoon had been set up to host for the beach volleyball tournament, with four separate courts with a tall wooden referee's chair at the midpoint of each court, and the actual boundaries were marked with nylon ropes. In this it was far more organized than the impromptu match had been.
"Looks like they got everything ready," Tiffany said to Princess.
"And it'll be fun, and lots of people will be there to watch, look at the stands," Princess pointed to the sets of stands that were behind the referee's chairs for each court.
"True," Tiffany commented, "though I think some of that will be the hope that our tops come off during the match."
Princess shook her head at that. That was only a sign that as much as many humans talked about sexuality of any kind being "bad," that didn't change the fact that humans at times seemed to engage in many of the sort of things they also criticized. From how Tiffany's parents had described things after her uplifting and the accident that lead to Tiffany being transformed, the real thing to strive for was not so much the interest in sex but having control over it, in that one could refrain from "doing it" regardless of whether or not they were aroused. Many Animalians seemed handle that quite well.
Tiffany understood the concept fairly well as well. In fact in many ways it was something that she'd manipulated back before the outbreaks occurred. It was a way to keep the boys following her and to demonstrate her ability to come out on top to the other cheerleaders and friends in her click at Lyre High. However, after becoming an Animalian, Tiffany had found that many of the things she'd handled in the past didn't feel the same. It was like she instinctively was looking for love and a mate, rather than simply a toy. Her inability to handle that at first had been part of the problems that had been around her attempted courtship with Simon, but she felt she was doing better thanks to Jamie's help.
"And when does our tournament start?" Princess wondered.
"I think the first event is going to be the super marathon," Tiffany answered, "or Mieni's version of the Triathlon in that one runs through the jungle trails and and then swims between the various islands in the atoll... if the brochure I read on the flight was accurate."
"I'm glad we're not in that," Princess answered, "drying off after a shower or bath is one thing... actually competing at swimming..."
"I think a lot of those parts of the race is more with regard to the Animalians that live on Mieni," Tiffany commented, "Animalia Ambassadoria has reported that most of Mieni's Animalians are based off of animals that either live in the sea full time or at least spend much of their lives in the sea. It should be interesting. Do you want to watch?"
"So long as I'm not the one getting wet," Princess answered.
With that the two turned from the beach area and headed back toward the main hotel area and the airstrip that was the essentially the atoll's "main street." They found another set of stands set up for those watching the race. There were plenty of people there, and this included many of the others that had come for the beach volleyball tournament and several people who had been there already as part of the various cruise ships that had taken Mieni as a tourist attraction. The plane that they had come to Mieni on was moved to a hanger and across from the the stands on the other side of the runway a large white canvas tarp had been stretched up and out to resemble a drive in movie screen. In theory it would allow those in the stands to fully watch the race.
"Well, I don't think we'll miss anything," Princess commented as she looked at the screen as they crossed the runway toward the stands and also noticing a line of competitors on the runway.
The first race was the male's race and included one American Alligator, two uplifted male Dolphins that were from the aquarium area from the Lyre Zoo, Rapier, a River Otter, a Sea Otter, Joe the Pilot Fish, and to may people's surprise's Dallas Fleck. Tiffany remembered seeing the uplifted Dalmatian and his wife on the flight out, but had thought they were there for the volleyball tournament, but it was a bit of a surprise to see him pitted against Animalians that were not only based on animals evolved to swim in the ocean or at least spending long periods of time in water.
"Hope not to miss anything," Tiffany answered her adopted sister, "and I think we have someone to root for."
As they reached the stands, Tiffany pointed to where Dallas Fleck was stretching. Princess soon nodded. They didn't know the name of all the competitors, but Princess did feel quite willing to root for a canine participating in the event. With that Princess nodded and they climbed into the stands and found an open seat. The managed to get seated for a few moments before the screen soon displayed a male sea krait who introduced himself as one of Horizon's representatives who had been tasked to pause in his research and help provide announcement duties with regard to many of the IAC on Mieni. He then explained the race with the race going across the small islands that made up the atoll with path clearly marked and that they would only swim directly between the two islands directly. Some of the tree frogs found to be native to Mieni and had been uplifted would serve as referees to make sure no one left the paths and Susan, Brazen, Tzan, Ran, Gaz, and Gladys would be serving as referees between the islands and also being lifeguards for any emergency.
Tiffany and Princess watched as they then got into listing the competitors and some of the explanation which included some of the origins for the competitors. In this they learned that only Joe and Rapier were actually from Mieni. Most of the rest were from the Lyre Zoo and Aquarium. Only the river otter and Dallas Fleck were either from the wilds that had been the start point for Animalia or from other parts of Lyre. It was enough further for Tiffany and Princess to root for Dallas Fleck and they gave some barking cheers when Dallas was introduced. It then followed with the standard "ready, set, go" and the racers were off.
"Go Dallas!" Tiffany and Princess both cheered as they watched the racers get a start and head off toward the forests on Mieni, with Dallas taking a fairly clear lead.
The uplifted Dalmatian had a good lead, particularly as his longer digitigrade feet enabled a longer and more comfortable stride, and over land he had a clear advantage as all of the uplifted fish had legs and feet that were close to a human's with a more plantigrade foot, and while the two otters could move over land, they also had a more plantigrade foot, as did the Alligator. Once they made it into the jungle the crowd turned to the screen which was now showing where the jungle emerged into the spot between Mieni and the next island in the atoll. When the runners emerged they showed Dallas holding a clear lead over the river otter and with the sea otter in third. Then came the Alligator, and then Rapier, the two dolphins, and then Joe at the rear. Once Joe hit the water the screen then shifted to a shot from the next island. The crowd watched in silence with their eyes on the screen.
During this Tiffany thought she heard something coming over the loudspeakers, which she thought was likely the "life guards" Mieni had in case something happened in the water. For the most part things were quiet, but Tiffany swore she could hear some giggles come over that intercom. At first she thought it was nothing, but an angry shout over the intercom that DID clearly go over the loudspeakers was heard.
"Susan! Quit flirting with the competitors!" came Tzan's voice over the loud speakers.
"He cam up to me, I didn't start anything!" came Susan's response, which lead to some laughter in the stands, though Tiffany also saw a few people and even Animalians palming their faces at the exchange. Apparently the Bottlenose Dolphin that had come from Lyre had spotted Susan and couldn't help himself.
When they emerged at the next island in the Mieni atoll, the screen did show a change in positioning. Rapier had taken a clear lead, followed by the other Dolphin, who was a Common Dolphin, completely different from the Bottlenose. Then came Dallas with Joe, the Alligator, and the two otters close behind, though all closer to Dallas than where they were going into the water. There was then a brief pause before finally the uplifted male Bottlenose Dolphin came out of the water. He paused briefly to fix his swim trunks to try and hide the fact that Susan probably had something he liked before resuming the race.
And that seemed to repeat in a pattern as the race progressed. Dallas did the best on land in the running portions of the race and he often did take the lead or close any gap in front of him during the running portions of the race. In the swimming portion the more aquatic Animalians began to reverse it, and particularly Rapier and the two dolphins. The uplifted Bottlenose Dolphin had fallen to the end thanks to his pause to meet Susan, but he did push himself hard and by the end of the race was starting to get closer to the front. The one thing that Tiffany and Princess noted was that the Alligator and the two otters both seemed to tire as the race went on. It wasn't enough for them to drop out, as it was clear that they were tiring and that they weren't catching up quite as much in the water and were starting fall further back on ground. The Bottlenose, having to push himself harder began to tire during the last swimming portion of the race and even Rapier's lead was starting to narrow to the Common Dolphin and Dallas began to narrow.
"Come on, Dallas!" Tiffany and Princess both cheered as the racers began to approach the finish line.
Rapier was in the lead, but the Common Bottlenose Animalian and Dallas were close behind. Then came Joe, the Bottlenose Dolphin, the two otters, and the Alligator pulling up the rear. They all watched as the race continued, with Dallas rapidly catching, as though he'd really been pacing himself earlier in the race, but then, just about all of them had been pacing themselves when the race began.
"Come on, Dallas!" Tiffany and Princess repeated their cheer.
Their focus remained on the top three and they watched as by this time even Rapier was tiring and in the end it was a photo finish, with it looking like a three way tie to the naked eye. As they put it up on the screen it was shown that the Common Dolphin Animalian managed to edge Dallas by a millimeter with Rapier barely a centimeter behind Dallas. After Rapier came the Bottlenose Dolphin Animalian, the Sea Otter, Joe, the River Otter, and bringing up the rear was the Alligator. Tiffany and Princess frowned a bit, as they had hoped the lone canine in the race would win, but the race had gone fairly and thus they had no real complaints there. And given the nature of the competition, Dallas actually did quite well, all things considered. The two poodles also couldn't help but chuckle at the incident where the Bottlenose Dolphin had apparently stopped racing to interact with one of the life guards. That was funny.
"So, what do you think, a good start to the events?" Tiffany asked.
"Yes," Princess nodded, "and a great ending will be winning the volleyball tournament."
"Right!" Tiffany cheered again.