The weekend had been one that had included a good many events for those interested in sports. The NFL had had its conference championship games, and it wouldn't be long before commercials advertising the Eagles/Patriots matchup would appear on television. College basketball was also beginning to move toward March Madness and the assorted hype that went along with it. There was plenty for any sports fan to follow, but that didn't mean there weren't surprises to be had.
"Hey, Jess! Come get a look at this!" Jessica heard her father's voice come out from the living room while she was helping her mother with dinner one evening.
Jessica looked up to her mother who gave a small smile, nodded, and let Jessica go. She set the bowl she'd been mixing things in on the counter and then proceeded to head out toward the Mariana family living room where she found Roger sitting beside her father. He'd come over for dinner, as he often did to have dinner with Jessica, and had actually made friends with her dad. Jessica figured that her dad actually liked him because he gave Mr. Mariana some male company to talk about things with from time to time that were of a more "male" interest than what Jessica and her mother would bring to any discussion.
She found both of them watching the television, though Jessica found herself having to turn her eyes away from Roger's widening shoulders. It wasn't rapid, as in like when he was uplifted, but Jessica could slowly see as his shoulders got a bit wider and his muscles a bit more sculpted and more athletic. It was a sign that her boyfriend was growing up, just as she knew that she was growing up as well. Though, Jessica did manage to shake her head and get her thoughts away from things that related to puberty.
"So, what's going on, dad?" Jessica asked as she came in and leaned over the back of the couch.
"Take a look!" her father said and raised one hand up to point to the computer screen.
Jessica looked up to see that her father and Roger were watching ESPN, likely getting highlights from whatever football game they'd missed earlier that Sunday afternoon, but at the moment the channel wasn't showing football high-lights. In fact the images they showed in the series of clips looked more like one of the larger arenas in the Claw Coliseum in Animalia. There was a lot of strong sturdy padding that marked the floor area. On it, Jessica could see what looked more like a show of strength and skill than actual bout, which made some sense, since it was Dinotopians giving the display.
Animalia had long agreed to accept the existence of various combat sports and to some extent even encouraged them. Much of this had to relate to the fact that many animals had things that they naturally fought over, usually mates or territory, but they were still things that could lead to intraspecies combat. And that sort of thing was often included in just about every nature documentary. Her parents still had some old VHS tapes from when they were little from a show called "Wild America" which included that sort of "combat" in its opening titles with two Bighorn Rams charging one another. That showed that animals could and would fight for things in nature, and while Animalians had made many great jumps with regard to their society and their interaction with people, particularly with those in Lyre, that didn't mean that all those instincts went away.
Thus, since animal instincts didn't just vanish, Animalia had openly supported various leagues for the various combat sports, be it boxing, wrestling, UFC, and so on. It would let males let out any excess aggression and in a way that would be "safe." Fights wouldn't be to the death and medical personnel would be on hand to treat any and all injuries. From what Roger's former owner had figured out there were also skill competitions with regards to martial arts that were grouped in the same category. Those leagues had been fairly successful and like all combat sports was grouped by weight class to insure fairness so as to insure that they weren't pitting a small Animalian like Roger against a massive one like Dean if one was looking at a large mammal or Luke or Andrew if one looked to the new Dinotopians, as they dwarfed the Elephant Animalians easily.
After Heather's attack on Sophie and the revelation that not only Animalians from animals currently extinct but that the Animalia Virus could bring back Dinosaurs, it made sense that many of he programs that were designed to give Animalians a means to let out any and all excess aggression in a way that wouldn't hurt society would be expanded to include the new Dinotopians as well. Of course at the present time, since access to the various dinosaur strains of the Animalia Virus was limited to those willing to test out specific species that Horizon had size concerns with or those who would be joining Animalia via Project Phoenix as well would mean that there weren't going to be a lot of Dinotopians that could actually compete against each other in a meaningful way. After all, Jeremy retained his interests in science and with her reform, Heather was now working for Horizon as part of their advertising department and getting back into art. That sort of thing would likely continue until the start of the summer when Project Mesozoic was officially opened and the specific colony for Dinotopians was opened.
Jessica watched as a Ankylosaurus Animalian swung his club tail and smashed through several cement blocks with it. He missed the last one, but that had more to do with block being beyond the reach of the Dinotopian's tail.
"Yeah... I think the skills challenge many of the Dinotopians was today," Jessica said slowly, "Something to show what those who have volunteered to be part of the "Mesozoic Fight Club" have to offer. And given some of the success that rest of Animalia's UFC fighters have had... some of the unique adaptations and skills the Dinotopians can bring is bound to attract attention."
"They said that these Dinotopians are stronger..." Roger reported.
"I'm sure they are," Jessica chuckled, "Remember that most dinosaurs could be rather big. That's probably why they're stronger... Only a few extinct mammalian megafauna would be able to directly compete with the dinosaurs in terms of size or strength... and even there, it'd be with only some of the dinosaurs... Though you'd probably need to talk to Sophie on which. She's a bit smarter there..."
"Because she wants to be a pterodactyl?" Roger wondered.
Jessica slowly nodded.
"Did you have any hand in planning this? With your friends?" her father wondered curiously.
"No... not really," Jessica answered, "Helping with the farm keeps Abby pretty busy for a good portion of the year and Sarah and Malice have been going gung ho for the Year of the Dog competition... Sophie has had her volunteering with Horizon. While we do get some time to hang out... it isn't all the time, and even if we did... we really couldn't influence what Animalia does officially."
And there was a great deal of truth in that. They had all been close friends before Animalia, and its arrival really didn't change that much between them. They were all still friends and they got along quite well, but there were the various things that at times did pull them apart. Being double dosed brought in very adult desires and responsibilities for Abby, Sarah, and Malice, and Abby in particularly with the Brown family farm. Even if Abby wanted something else for a career, while she was under her father's roof, she'd need to be free to help. Jessica and Sophie didn't really have that, as Jessica wasn't double dosed and Sophie wouldn't become a Dinotopian herself until closer to the start of summer.
Jessica knew that both of them were growing up and that those sorts of things were going to be just as strong as in the others, but for the moment that was a different issue. There might have been some issues had related to the fact that the establishment of WSA had left Sophie behind when Jessica, Abby, Sarah, and Malice all got to go, and after the debate at the hospital after Roland was wounded by Heather, Jessica felt that Sophie's points made a fair amount of sense. In that, Jessica and Roger agreed to transfer back Lyre High as the debate between Lyre and Animalia opened to allow Animalians who were vaccinated and of small enough size to do so before Lyre High was moved to WSA in a unified district for the two towns in the next school year.
It worked well and Jessica thought that Sophie greatly enjoyed having a friend back, and Jessica was pleased with that. Roger was happily able to be with his former owner at school again as well. And while that had made for some happy reunions that was well received, that didn't change many of their other responsibilities. Sophie often went to Horizon after school as part of her volunteering in the part of the lab that Jeremy and Doctor Stein worked out of. Jessica and Roger also had martial arts lessons on some days after school, which all meant that there were at times when none of them had the time to hang out as much as they used to. There were presently plenty cases of irony in relation to that and Jessica knew it.
"It's still pretty neat though," Roger commented as they looked back to the screen.
And there, the Ankylosaur Animalian, Walter, was now standing with an ESPN field reporter.
"So, you've all put on quite a good show of your abilities," the reporter said to Walter, "Do you think they'll translate completely into the world of MMA?"
"I was hoping for it to simply be a show on how strong I am and how tough my bones are," Walter answered with a smile, "as the rules say I can't use my tail club in a match... but it's not like I can remove the tail for the match and then put it back on."
"So all of this was to be a show of strength?" the reporter asked.
"Yes," Walter nodded, "theatrical... but from what I've seen on television before I joined Project Dinotopia through Project Phoenix, it worked. Now, all I'll have to do wait until Project Dinotopia opens to the public and the Mesozoic Fight Club will have actual matches... Males of comparable weight..."
"And females?" the reporter asked.
"They'd have their own matches," Walter answered, "I wouldn't face females in a match. Females would have matches against each other and men would have matches against each other. And all would be arranged based their weight."
"Well... I'd say that you've done a good job of showing your strength," the reporter answered, "what do you have to say to those that may join the Mesozoic Fight Club when Project Dinotopia goes public?"
Walter turned and looked to the camera and then waved. Jessica's father found himself blinking how much taller Walter was than the reporter. Walter's feet weren't digitigrade in the same way that Roger and Jessica's feet were, but while they were pretty close to a normal human's height, Walter practically towered over the reporter.
"Don't be afraid to join up!" Walter said to the camera, "when Dinotopia goes public... join up for the challenge... join up for the fun. Join up for the comradery of those who share the same idea."
Walter then struck a pose that allowed for him to flex his impressive muscles.
"Among other things," Walter gave a smile.