"This is all so cool!" Codey Lightfoot said with amazement as he and Roger made their way among the various booths at SAMAS.
While Codey was still human, and was happy to remain human, that didn't mean he didn't like all the martial arts displays that had been set up for the event. It was all up his alley and suited his various fandoms regarding martial arts movies and media. Especially since so many martial arts experts ended up coming to Animalia to teach their respective schools and styles, ranging from Chinese Kung Fu to Japanese Karate and Kendo. In some ways, Animalia gave him a peak at heaven in a way that didn't necessarily relate to the Animalians themselves. It was something that allowed him and Roger to get enrolled in some Karate classes after the Shikamatsu settled into Animalia about two years ago.
"Yeah..." Roger agreed, "all the various schools and their masters showing various techniques and skills. I liked some of the ways they've set things up for the Five Elements to show off some of their unique skills and how Animalians can adapt various styles to their bodies."
Codey nodded as he looked around. To him, there was nothing that was individually interesting. All of it was interesting to him, and he was very eager to get a good look at all of it. Many things that were demonstrated, be it armed or unarmed combat reminded him of some of his favorite movies and the better written episodes of the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, and he was glad that his former pet and adopted brother shared some of his interests.
"Do you think any will be part of the UFC-A fights?" Codey asked, "Find out which style is the best?"
"There might be some may want to compete," Roger answered as they walked along, "but remember a lot of our classes have made it pretty clear that a true martial artist doesn't purposely go looking for a fight unless it's absolutely necessary."
"A good reminder, young Lightfoot, Roger," came a male voice to their side.
They both turned to see largely white Rabbit Animalian in a white training gi with black fur on his arms and legs. They both soon bowed, as they recognized Mr. Shikamatsu, who was the head of the martial arts school where they had their Karate lessons. Mr. Shikamatsu was for the moment standing quietly by a small table near a large mat and drinking from a large water bottle. As they approached, they found that there were various recruitment flyers on it.
"While martial arts can be used for combat, and armies will often employ various aspects of various styles," Mr. Shikamatsu said slowly, the most important thing to learn from it is your mind... your self discipline and your ability focus. Which in turn improves your skill and ability."
"Just out of curiosity," Codey commented, "Do you ever get curious on how your skills would fare against someone with a different style? Have like a sparing session, that sort of thing?"
"There is always room for curiosity," Mr. Shikamatsu smiled, "and at times, I'm more than willing to offer a sparing session as a test. But, it must be one that truly tests skill and is not set up for someone's attempted game of trying to prove one form is superior to another... which ultimately defeats the very purpose that martial arts has been founded for."
Codey nodded, accepting the instructor's reasoning, though he was still taking a lot of things in. Including Michiko and Yumi demonstrating how to split boards in a way that would not bruise their bodies underneath their fur, or leave splinters in their fur. The two weren't quite as good as Mr. Shikamatsu, but they were ahead of most of the other students that Mr. Shikamatsu had. It left Codey with some degree of jealousy as that his daughter by birth and adopted daughter, after the Animalia outbreak, were so much better than him. So much more graceful, and no matter how hard he practiced, Codey knew he'd never be as good. Of course there were also times where Codey seemed interested in the two younger members of the Shikamatsu family for other reasons, though for the most part all interactions had been more professional than anything else.
"Are you recruiting more students?" Roger asked, ignoring his brother's awe at their Martial Arts instructors daughters and focusing more on the flyers.
"I would hope to have more," Mr. Shikamatsu answered, "and the school has done well enough that some of the younger ones who haven't signed up for lessons before are free to do so now. And with an event as big as SAMAS, there is the potential that some people might be willing to travel for quite a way for lessons. In fact, while we still lived in Hawaii before the outbreak the benefits that Animalia has offered to save my wife, we often had people from all over the island we were on come for lessons."
"So... SAMAS means great advertising for your school," Codey commented as he looked down the pile of registration cards and flyers.
"From a business standpoint, yes," Mr. Shikamatsu answered, "Though... I have had to keep an eye out for young men who come here seeking nothing more than to see my daughters in the nude."
Codey gulped, but nodded. Roger nodded as well. While Animalia generally tended to have looser regulations with regard to sexuality than much of the rest of the country, that didn't necessarily mean that Animalia was a place where uncontrolled lust was openly tolerated. The edict against public mating and nudity outside of designated areas was general proof of that. Not that this stopped some people from coming into Lyre or Animalia with interests and ideas that were rather creepy. That could be something that would interfere with some aspects of Animalia's culture, but so far it hadn't changed much.
In fact their had been a story from earlier in the summer in which the Parasaurolophus Dinotopian was approached by some guy that had been "into" her and decided to take advantage of the fact that the Claw Coliseum's locker rooms were unisex and tried to approach her in a way she was uncomfortable with. From what Codey remembered the man put some rather sleazy pick up lines on her in the shower and stated quite frankly that she "wanted" it since there were other male Animalians there. A few came to her defense, as did one of the human members of the gym, but the guy pushed harder, only to earn a hard slap for his trouble. While Candace didn't seriously harm the man, the blow did leave the side of his face rather red and he sued for assault and "temptation." The charges lasted as long as it took the Animalia PD to review the security footage to see and hear that Candace had said, "NO" several times without the man's advances being slowed.
The biggest thing that Codey and Roger both expected as result of that incident, was that when school started in the fall, the first thing wouldn't be classes but a big meeting in the gym in which the WSA administrators would lay out in plain language what was and was not tolerated in the school bathrooms and showers, and that they had taken measures to make sure that any attempted rape or sexual abuse would be caught and recorded. In theory, it'd mean that any attempt would be caught by the school's security officers before any physical assault was tried, and even if not, there would be no way the aggressor would be able to claim that the action was consensual. The biggest thing would more than likely be the fact that many human students would have to adjust to certain aspects of Animalian culture, while Animalians would have to remember to stay in control of themselves, which in Animalia hadn't been real problem, so far. Roger could accept all of that, though, he'd also found that thoughts of Jessica was often frequently inspiring certain urges. She was beautiful when they first met, and was steadily growing up into a very attractive young woman, and that was likely triggering some of her own father's protective instincts, just as Mr. Shikamatsu likely felt with regard to his daughters.
"I'm sure they can hold off jerks," Codey commented, with one glance going over to Michiko and Yumi again, "they're your best students."
"That they are," Mr. Shikamatsu said with pride in his voice, "but both you and your adopted brother are doing well and growing as students. Don't sell yourselves too short."
"Thanks," Codey actually beamed at that, "I'd hope to do very well... and make heroic action movies. The good guy faces off against the bad guy and so on."
"The general plot of most martial arts movies," Mr. Shikamatsu chuckled.