Returning to school was one of the things that was to be expected in late August for Fred Stairs, and in some ways WSA was a bit better off than some of the other schools and places he'd seen reports on in other places. Covid was around, but with the Animalians being more thoroughly vaccinated and having a naturally higher resistance level, the worries for half of Lyre/Animalia's population was lower. At the same time, both towns had also seemed to set more stringent requirements over things like vaccines, social distancing and so on. It was something that was in contrast to other areas where the virus was surging, with Florida getting hit hard by it according to the news. In this, that was a bit of a relief to Fred, particularly as he thought back to the events from the IAC that he helped cover in July.
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"This is necessary?" Fred asked to Dino City's Mayor, William Tarr, as the Dino Dome was opened for the specific IAC events that were to be held there, and much of which related to all Prehistoric Animalians. Beside him and taped to the glass of the door was a sign that read: Due to Covid Concerns, masks are STRONGLY suggested for all guests not vaccinated.
"It's about the best we can do, particularly given that Covid is still surging here in the state," William Tarr answered and looked over to his wife Candace and patted her hand, "the governor has made a whole bunch of pronouncements on requirements which people have then taken advantage of... and that has only allowed things to spread. Glen Rose hasn't been too bad, and thus we haven't had too much trouble here... but with what is expected to come in for the IAC... we're trying to do what we can."
Fred thought he heard some bitterness in William Tarr's voice, in that he was disappointed in something, but he decided not to press the issue. He was there more to cover the sporting events for the IAC and he didn't want to get involved in Texas state politics. Fred nodded and then looked over to his partner for these events in Eliza Doolittle. They then made their way in.
"So, what do we start with?" Eliza asked.
"Dino City is pretty new... so it's not likely there are going to be that many events here," Fred answered, "from the action lists... the biggest thing will be their version of the Hunter Games... the whole "capture the flag" thing that would be more of a stylized presentation of how Animalians would "hunt" each other if their edicts didn't forbid that. But I think they do have some other smaller events that would be more "real" than that. The biggest thing WE will have to cover is our half of the strength comparison between Humans and Animalians."
"And Luke and Andrew agreed to do that?" Eliza asked.
"We did indeed," came a new voice making the two Humans turn to see the two male Sauropod Dinotopians standing side by side.
Both were towering, and were the reason why the buildings in Dino City were built to the vertical scale that they were, though between the two Andrew was clearly the taller of the two. Though some of that was that Brachiosaurus was already a tall animal from the fossil record while Diplodocus was more long than tall. Both could also note that difference as Luke's long tail easily swayed out well behind him while Andrew's tail was shorter than Luke's. Standing beside them was Mr. M, who had seemed to be the head athletic and physical trainer at Dino City's gym, and while Carcharodontosaurus was one of the largest Theropods in the fossil record, even bigger than Tyrannosaurus, Mr. M was still shorter and smaller than the two Sauropod Dinotopians.
"Well... that's good, and pleased to meet you," Eliza said slowly, "and who is this?"
"You can call me Mister M," M gave a small smile and leaned down to shake Eliza's hand politely. He noted her amazement at how her hand was dwarfed by his, but retained a fairly friendly composure as he continued, "I run the gym here and will be helping with some of the spotting and safety work for the comparison."
"I've heard you have some hi-tech stuff here for that," Fred commented.
"When dealing with the largest Dinotopians, like Luke and Andrew, here," Mr. M answered, "yes... and we need it. I can just get into the lower range that the system provides for... but I've also done a lot of professional weight-lifting before becoming a Dinotopian."
Fred and Eliza followed from one gym room to another to specialized room. While many of the other benches were strong enough to support a Dinotopian's weight but not impossible for someone Human sized to climb on to, this bench was even higher and was something that only the larger Dinotopians could get onto. The bench was then flanked by two vertical bars that rose up into the ceiling. Fred looked up to see that there was horizontal bar between the two vertical bars and Fred also noted that there was also a sort of large red button with a sort of "bolt" between a vertical line in that bar. At the ceiling there looked like two sets of circular rings that the vertical bars went into and Fred could only describe them as the bottom of a hydraulic press.
"That looks like a hydraulic press," Fred spoke as Eliza began setting up their camera.
"Actually, it is," Mr. M explained, "when the facility was built, it was expecting that large Dinotopians would exceed even large Animalians in strength and thus a hydraulic press was installed so that Dinotopians wouldn't have to be upsizing bars continually. For safety purposes special safety measure was built into the bar. Do you see the red button?"
"Yes," Fred answered.
"That red button is a pressure button," Mr. M then continued, "the lifter may press in and slide the button to the Left and the bar will actually split in half. Thus as an extra safety measure, should anyone be overwhelmed by the weight, they can hit that button and saved by it. The weights would then come down and would miss the bench and the Dinotopian doing the lifting."
"That sounds like there could still be some accidents," Eliza commented, "particularly if someone not experienced activates it."
"That's kept in check by another system on the wall there behind you," Mr. M pointed to the wall that was just behind Eliza and Fred. They looked to see that it was a computerized panel that included various numbers, and Mr. M then continued. "That panel controls the hydraulics and requires a command code that only I know. In this, the worst someone could do is operate the safety button which would remove the horizontal bar, which can be replaced if it is lost. Thus any Dinotopian wishing to work out with this press would need to set an appointment with me so that I can run the system and spot them as they go through their workout."
"That seems quite effective," Fred commented, "though we may need to redo that when we start the filming and getting in contact with Harvey Mainz and Susie Pringle on Mieni Atoll where they'll be covering that main comparison."
"I can," Mr. M nodded, "in the meantime... shall we get started?"
Fred nodded and they eventually filmed their segment kept things live for the contact with Harvey and Susie on Mieni. This included weighing Luke and Andrew, filming the explanation of the safety measures and then going through some of the test weights while waiting for the call and following the livestream of the main test on Mieni. From there they moved back to the main bench and continued to go through the lifts, with Mr. M providing the extra work needed to be ready for it. They then went over the extra numbers until Luke and Andrew eventually maxed out and then closed their coverage, thanking both Luke and Andrew and Mr. M for their help.
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They also got some shots of the Hunter Games in Dino City, which was largely held in the main arena of the Dino Dome with set pieces that were designed to resemble the ancient flora of the Mesozoic Era. The general point of the even was for the "predator" catch a flag that was to represent a potential "lethal wound," though no true attacks were to be launched. Theropod Dinotopians would have their claws encased in specialized plastic and foam gloves for both hands and feet and were to wear a heavy duty sort of muzzle to assure that there would be no biting. Herbivorous Dinotopians with known natural weapons would also have them either having points covered in a rubber like foam, so that something like a horn or a tail spike wouldn't sink into anything soft. The point in each round was for the "prey" to land a strike that would in theory be "lethal," pin the attacker, or manage to avoid having their flag taken for a certain period of time.
The highlight match was a tag team one, which had Rex and Tyra take on Trenton and Sherry. It was something that would actually make for every dinosaur fan's dream to see Tyrannosaurus Rex fight Triceratops, even if Tyra as a Syntixisaurus Rex Dinotopian was technically a Tyrannosaurus sub-species. It was set up with Trenton and Sherry walking along a central path and maneuvering around some of the fake trees that were set up as part of the natural setting, and Fred and Eliza filmed all of this from a press box further up where they had a bird's eye view of the whole arena. They could see the red flags attacked to a collar around Trenton and Sherry's necks. The flag was long enough to be seen but the actual latch that held it there was closer to the collar and was protected by the frill that made the back of the Ceratopsian Dinotopian's head. Stalking behind them were Rex and Tyra, who periodically paused when Trenton or Sherry appeared to be looking in their direction.
Eventually, Tyra rushed forward, aiming at Sherry and moving grab at the flag from behind, or at least serve to spook both into a sort of panic that could let Rex outflank the other. It would then allow Tyra or Rex to get the flag one of the two while the other moved off. However, Sherry caught the movement at the last moment and turned her head quickly, and in a way that had both eye horns pointed right at Tyra while pulling her body into a crouch. Tyra managed to get a grip on those horns and that served to help her push Sherry back, but the main "attack" was essentially thwarted as Sherry kept Tyra in front of her. Trenton then moved to land a "blow" to Tyra's flank that would end the engagement, only to see Rex charging at him, though intended more originally as the sort of spooking thing to get Sherry and Trenton to split up.
Rex managed to land a shoulder charge into Trenton that knocked the male Triceratops Dinotopian back and rolling onto the ground. There was a bit of a thud as he hit the heavy matts that the floor was covered with for these events, but the matts were padded enough that Trenton wasn't hurt by this, even has his momentum made him roll on the ground. Off guard by that, Trenton rolled onto his back which gave Rex the chance to reach in and grab the latch that held the flag down. Trenton almost instinctively lifted his head and used his frill to pin Rex's hand down, but it was still free enough to open the latch and remove the flag. The announcer for the match then announced Rex's win over Trenton and then shortly followed by Sherry being announced the winner over Tyra. For at the same time, while Tyra held Sherry's horns in her hands, Sherry managed to land one kick to Tyra's side and then deliberately fell back. Tyra then fell forward and landed face down on the matt with her tail laying across Sherry's lower jaw.
The blow wasn't lethal or even painful, but it fit within the representative efforts that the Hunter Games were to show. Actual combat was not part of the Hunter games and thus it was more an effort to represent potential damage. Thus Rex grabbing the flag from Trenton represented the result of an actual Tyrannosaurus managing to get its jaws into the neck of a Triceratops during a hunt while Sherry's kick was more representative of what a Triceratops' horn could do to a Tyrannosaurus if a blow landed. That then left Rex facing Sherry. Rex made a few slow steps to either side, and noted that Sherry's police training kept her focused on Rex's movement and thus kept her horns pointed at him. With that, Rex lowered his head and stepped back and marked the event as a draw with each getting one "kill" and both survivors then holding on.
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The last event they covered was an actual boxing match with Brent Horne and Mario Domini both being present to serve as the referees for the event. The thing that became the oddity of the match was actually in who the fighters were. There were some Dinotopians that had interest in these combat sports, but Brent and Mario had both agreed that matches were intended to make things fairer by avoiding size mismatches and making sure that the match wasn't one that pitted an armored Dinosaur against one that didn't have the ability to deal with that armor. That then made assembling matches difficult, and had often left a lot of things open for the moment to the Hunter Games, which weren't actual combat sports. But this match up seemed to fit that and fit with some of the other things that had gone on in Dino City of late.
In one corner came Patrick Diamond, the Tyrannotitan Dinotopian who'd initially built his wealth in the diamond trade and earned fame by roaring at a "hippie" that had protested about him supposedly using "blood diamonds" which Patrick Diamond firmly denied. To a degree, he was getting back into the management of it since his conversion, but there were various other competitions that Patrick had also been training for, and that made the match up all the more interesting. The other was a male Stegosaurus Dinotopian, who turned out to be the hippie that Patrick Diamond had roared at in irritation during one of their first run ins. The male had taken on the name "Spike" and had been working to try and impress Rachel Stega, though there were no reports on how successful that had gone. Fred and Eliza had only managed to get an answer that he'd gotten some advice from Norrie Simus at her shop in Dino City once.
Fred and Eliza both described the match as one man's adventure for a new hobby clashing with another man's drive to win the attention of one that caught his eye before conversion. Whether or not it actually worked for "Spike" was up in the air, but that hadn't changed the nature of the match, which was then described as being rather even. Statistics from the two animals from the fossil record were given, with Tyrannotitan being between 37 and 43 feet long and weighing as much as 7.7 tons while Stegosaurus was only around 29.5 feet long, it could also reach weights of around 7.7 tons. The individual's stat's and measurements were then given, and while Patrick enjoyed advantages in height and reach, their weights were actually comparable which gave an indication that Spike might be able to endure more "punishment" than Patrick could.
The match had many of the same safety features from the Hunter Games in Dino City, with Patrick's muzzle secured and his toe claws covered in specialized padded "shoes" that were intended to prevent him from drawing any blood with them. Their hands were in boxing gloves and large specialized rubber squares were fastened to the end of Spike's thagomizers and held on to a different device fixed to the bottom on his tail to make sure that the rubber squares wouldn't fall off or get flung off. And from there the match went on... Though, neither necessarily would have had great form so far as professional boxing would be concerned, which would only add to the assumption that much of the match was more about Spike proving he could be brave against the one that roared at him and thus impress Rachel Stega while Patrick was largely just trying something new.
The pair also had noticeably different styles in which Patrick tried to dodge and weave to aim shots to try and knock Spike out, while Spike tried to get in close and deliver a lot of body blows. Both landed their fair share of blows, but Spike seemed more capable of taking the blows that landed on him while as they moved through a few rounds, the more exhausted Patrick became trying to outmaneuver Spike. The two lasted five rounds, but by the fourth round it was becoming more and more clear that Patrick was slowing and struggling to catch his breath. It was in the fifth round where the match was called on that technicality, even though Spike was never able to knock Patrick out.
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"And it all made for interesting coverage," Fred thought to himself, "Hopefully... it all helps and sets up the next IAC in 2023 fairly well."
And with that he went about his morning as classes at WSA resumed.