Many of Project Phoenix's members found their own way into the IAC in some way shape or form. Karen and Martha were both part of the fashion show. For Bennie and Marina, however, their involvement remained along the lines that the two had served at as life guards and helping those who became cetacean based Animalians adjust. It wasn't that they couldn't compete in the IAC, as the way it had been organized to make sure that pure swimming events didn't pit animals that had evolved for life in the sea against animals that hadn't. Or they could have gone to Mieni to be part of the events held there. But neither Marina nor Bennie felt any real drive to do so. They were content to watch the events.
"I still can't believe Chipper got so excited over the dolphin he met there on Mieni that he actually stopped to say hello during the event," Marina commented in their home as the two worked together to prepare dinner, "I mean... I can understand wanting a mate, as all the other dolphins that were uplifted at the aquarium had mates and that he was alone... but... with a lot of his work, he's been rather focused."
"Maybe that focus was simply his way of coping with not having a mate," Bennie commented, "as it was all he could do... and seeing Susan seemed to shake him out of that."
Marina slowly nodded her head at that. A few sports channels had covered the IAC live or played highlights from the events later. Bennie and Marina had both been on duty for some of the swimming events in Lyre/Animalia, and things had gone well. When they got home, they saw the highlights from Mieni's version of the "triathlon" that included the whole representation of Chipper apparently stopping to say hi to Susan during the event. That soon led to the amused discussion on the event.
"Maybe," Marina commented, "hopefully things work out between them."
Bennie nodded in agreement, "She seemed quite nice when we visited Mieni."
"Yes," Marina agreed.
They continued through their dinner preparations quietly for a few moments. Eventually Marina came up with a question to also ask that didn't relate to dolphins finding someone they were attracted to.
"Do you have anything scheduled for tomorrow?" Marina asked.
"Not specifically," Bennie answered, "but Eugene got tickets to see the heavyweight wrestling championship for many of us that were in our batch of Project Phoenix volunteers. I figured to go along and have fun."
"Do you know who's going?" Marina wondered.
"I think it's just me, Eugene, and Mike," Bennie said slowly, "Simon said he had interest... but the state's police academy is partially running him through some special program that borders on an apprenticeship. Some times he has to drive to the academy for a day or two for classes and other times he's here and is working under someone from the Animalia Police Department or the Lyre Police Department. They keep him rather busy and thus he can't come..."
"And you said he became a wolf, right?" Marina asked.
Bennie nodded.
++++++++++++++++++++++
And the next day, Bennie did arrive at the coliseum and found Mike and Eugene waiting for him.
"Hey, Bennie... ready for some fun?" Mike asked throwing a few pretend punches.
"Hopefully it's a good match," Bennie commented, "Though it's wrestling not boxing or MMA."
Eugene nodded, "Supposedly this match is HIGHLY expected. The two have done quite well and are ranked 1 and 2 respectively."
The three soon nodded and went in, with Eugene paying their tickets. From there, they made their way in took their places in the stands. Bennie was quick to notice a large number of Lion and Tiger Animalians were in the audience, which made some sense as the match played to the "bragging rights" for them. On one end of the matt, Durga's mate, Shiva was going through a series of stretches while his opponent a male African Lion Animalian, called "Brown Mane," going through similar stretches. It was the match that was high anticipated. In a different spot in the crowd, he spotted Abby and Samson seated beside Durga.
"You're a big wrestling fan?" Bennie heard a female voice ask as he, Eugene, and Mike found their seats. The seats had an open back, which allowed for his tail to fit through and he was placed on the edge so that it would be able to rest easily, as unlike other animals like lions and tigers that had very flexible tails, Bennie's tail had fairly limited flexibility. That of course then made it a bit difficult for him to turn around and see who had spoken. Bennie did manage to see a female lioness seated next to a male.
"Classical wrestling?" Bennie chuckled back, "yeah. Though... this is also something a guy's day out for me and some friends from Project Phoenix."
The lioness's amber colored eyes blinked with some recognition, "You were part of Project Phoenix?"
"Yeah," Bennie nodded, "I got my legs back. Mike got full control over his muscles, and Eugene was able to see."
His friends each nodded as Bennie mentioned them. The lioness smiled and nodded to each of them.
"Nice to meet all of you," the lioness smiled, "I'm Brandy... I volunteered with some the later projects in the sense of healing extreme psychological traumas... in my case anxiety." She then gestured to the male lion Animalian beside her. "This is James. He's helped me..."
That line made Bennie chuckle and think of Marina, as she had helped him. He did congratulate Brandy on completing the program and was glad it could be of help. From there they were soon absorbed in watching the match, which proved to be strikingly even. Brown Mane had greater reach, as lions were taller than tigers, which at times did enable him get to a point of leverage faster, though at other times it proved a hindrance as they watched Shiva get inside Brown Mane's attempt. There, Shiva held a slight strength advantage, as while tigers were shorter than lions, tigers were also more heavily muscled than lions. From an evolutionary standpoint it made sense. The lion was predominantly a plains animal that needed long legs to patrol and chase prey over open ground. The tiger was a predominantly forest dweller and needed to be able to maneuver through thick brush, and since tigers didn't have the advantage of a pride to help them, they also needed to be heavily muscled in order to bring down large prey. As the matches went on, it quickly became clear to Bennie that the end winner would be the one who was able best at thinking on his feet during the match. Otherwise, they'd simply keep trading points.
In the end, it proved to be Shiva who managed to come out on top. He lured Brown Mane into over-extending himself and weakening the Lion Animalian's balance. From there, they watched as Shiva got inside Brown Mane's reach and managed the leverage to pin him to the mat. It won the match for Shiva, though it was also a close result with the final score having a one point difference. And as had become quite common with the IAC, the two not only shook hands, but Bennie could hear Brown Mane congratulate Shiva and promise to train hard to make the next IAC a worthy match. And in that, Bennie had fun with his friends and enjoyed meeting another Project Phoenix volunteer.