The IAC was generating a lot of interest from the rest of the world, but it wasn't just the games that was generating interest.
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In Vilcabamba, there was a sighting of strange footprints that didn't match either animal or Animalian. While many experts were stumped about the footprints, one person had a surprising report that might put it into the same category of the Mokele-mbembe in Africa and the Yeti in the Himalayas.
"A fisherman went to a virgin lake, the fishing there went very well and he left a boat there. When he came back to fish again, he found the boat smashed to pieces. He also saw a very big monster in the area, and described it as having the body of a huge snake, the head of a dinosaur, the tongue of a dragon, and long white hair like an old woman. They call it, El Jichi (pronounced hee-chee)."
There was some who dismissed the footprints as a publicity stunt, but there were enough to counter such claims enough that it was filed as an 'unknown'.
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Beacon, Allura, and Xena, upon arrival at Skull Island, generated a lot of interest and confusion about what they were, but after some (non-adult) demonstrations, they were able to identify them.
After Allura showed her esca to a girl who was confused about her, she finally recognized hir.
"Ohmigosh, shi's an angler fish!" she exclaimed.
"Ceratias holboelli. That was my favorite fish as a boy. Look at those teeth!" said her father, as Allura indulged the girl's father by grinning in such a way as to show off hir teeth.
After introducing them to Xena, and explaining to them what species she was, they were able to look at some of the aquatic fossils that were on display (mostly as replicas).
"I can only guess that this fish ate too much too quickly." said Beacon upon seeing the fish-within-a-fish fossil.
"More likely the prey animal still struggled after being swallowed, to the point where it fatally ruptured one of it's predator's organs." said the father.
"It seemed you would like this kind of stuff." said his daughter, "Perhaps you should have been a deep sea explorer."
"Oh no," said the father, "That was a boyhood thing, I'm an adult now."
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From New Zerzura was the coverage of the Ahmose II exhibit and what was found in his tomb. Besides what was usually found in a pharaoh's tomb, what made the Ahmose II's tomb interesting was that he was also buried with his war chariot and weapons. While most of them were locked behind special cases, they were intact enough to create fully functional replicas.
Because of this there was a demonstration, similar to the one in Heiya Island, of both the war chariot and the weapon replicas that were inspired by the weapons that were buried with Ahmose II. The reconstruction of the war chariot showed that it was surprisingly advanced for a bronze-age chariot. Some seemed to think that it had been captured by Ahmose I during his campaign and repurposed for his use, but there wasn't enough evidence to support that. What was supported was the fact that the base was stable and strong enough for both a driver and a bowman.
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Probably the most controversial of the Martial Arts that were shown on Heiya Island were the Maori Martial arts. Part of it was that there was almost no metal used in the weapons they used, while another part was that there wasn't, seemingly, any discipline displayed by any of its practitioners. But the demonstration of the nephrite jade (or greenstone) mere against a Japanese tanto helped lend weight to the relatively new saying: "The strongest weapon is not made of steel.". The task was to smash through as many as five bricks held in a special wooden stand in one blow. The Japanese tanto only made it through one, while the greenstone mere went through three. Joshua said that such a blow to the ribcage would cause a flail chest, and even interior deep trauma that would only result in swift, rapid death.
"Swift, rapid death boys." said the practitioner toward the martial artists representing the Shaolin Monks, "Take note."
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Before leaving, Sarah and Malice were able to get a behind-the-scenes look at the very first spy movie staring Perry Perry which was taking place at Northland at the time. These were mainly Animalian adaptations of the James Bond movies, while also balancing movie "magic" with real facts about spying from history.
"When we think about spies," said one historian during a brainstorming session which Sarah and Malice were covering the making, "We think about the sharply-dressed, pistol-wielding, smooth talkers; we don't picture pigeons. But as it turns out, we probably should."
"Really? Why?" asked Malice, having never heard of this before.
"Because as far back as the Roman Empire in Europe, pigeons were used to transport messages between military leaders. During WWI, secret agents moved behind enemy lines with pigeons that had special cameras strapped to them. When they were released, and after a time delay, the pigeons would snap pictures of enemy bases, which was considered an important strategic advantage at the time."
Another person, who had had some experience with James Bond movies also brought up an important part of said movies.
"Remember that it's only stupid if it doesn't work; if it does, then it's hilarious." he said.
"Oh that reminds me of something." said Sarah, "I remembered this one time I was at grandma Edna's house and found an old James Bond movie on VHS titled You Only Live Twice, and one of the gadgets in the movie were cigarette rocket darts."
"I remember those." said the James Bond expert.
"But maybe for the Perry movie, such thing could contain a lethal dose of liquid nicotine instead of... what they were originally made of." continued Sarah.
"Oh I get it now." said the expert, "Back when James Bond used to smoke, he could get enemies to unwittingly light him up, and 'light them up' in return." at that everyone at the brainstorming session started laughing. After everyone calmed down one person said.
"We're all so fun loving, one of us must have some friends outside of work."