Rock smiled as he looked over at the shelf that was there in his living room and noted the plaque that leaned up against the back of the shelf commemorating the 2021 IAC from the past summer along with two sets of medals. One was the winning medal for the Body Building Competition in his specific weight class and the other was a second place medal for the comparison among all those that competed. It was a good result on the whole and gave him some confidence about other things moving forward. And thinking back on it, Rock was also glad to have Mable there...
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The competition proved to be a surprising one and Rock never expected to get as far as he did, or at least as well as he did. Of course from what Mable commented to him between rounds, a part of what was helping him was that his muscles weren't at least partially hidden by the fur that most Animalians had. At times, Rock wasn't entirely sure, as most of those that were in his weight class were other Horse and Cattle Animalians and many of them had relatively short fur. It wasn't short enough that one could see the skin underneath, but it wasn't necessarily long enough that the definition of their muscles could really be hidden. With one of the Bear Animalians that was participating that was possible, but with most Horse and Cattle breeds, long fur wasn't part of it. Though he ultimately accepted that being the "Bald Bull" might give him some help, particularly when he'd won the gold medal in his weight class.
He smiled as he came down from the where he'd just been awarded the gold medal for his weight class, he found one figure watching with a confident and even proud smile. That was Buford, who was there with the next weight class down.
"You've done pretty well... this your first time with all of this?" Buford asked him as he got down to the ground level, and before Mable could even approach.
"As an Animalian... yeah," Rock admitted, "though a lot of this is first for me in many ways... as in the first Bull without fur..."
"You look fine," the Bull Shark Animalian answered, "perhaps lacking a bit in confidence... but you've done well enough so far. There's no need to not be confident."
"I've actually felt more confident the more I've participated in all this," Rock commented, "as I've advanced up to the finals here... you?"
"Confidence and pride isn't an issue," Buford smiled again as the announcers called for Buford's weight class to come up onto the stage for their last round of judging, "my part is more to be proud that I've been able to do it clean after becoming an Animalian. Though we can talk more after we get through all the judging..."
With that Buford then went up the steps leaving Rock to join the rest of the crowd. Mable came up to join Rock and even hugged him when she got close. Rock smiled and Hugged Mable back. Her support through the contest was the most important thing for him, particularly as she'd helped him the most as he adapted to being an Animalian. That had been a big part of what had taken them from associates to friends and then to more romantic partners. It had given Rock the confidence to work out and compete in the IAC and the success that he’d gained from that had even helped him get as far as he’d gotten thus far. Thus every smile Mable gave him assured him on the success he’d attained thus far.
“You looked great,” Mable said to him as they then turned to watch Buford and the finalists in their weight class take their paces on the stage and as the judges readied themselves.
"Some of it might just be more practice," Rock answered as watched the next group on stage go with their last set of poses and the judges looked them over.
He also noted something that stood out in a way that was quite obvious and something that was loosely similar to his own, but yet different. That came from the fact that unlike many of the other contestants that Rock had competed against that were mammal based Animalians, Buford was a Shark Animalian. His skin was likely rough and had a sandpaper texture as all Shark Animalians did, but it also wasn't covered in fur or feathers, just as Rock wasn't covered in fur. Rock also noted that from what he'd heard, the Bull Shark Animalian also had some experience with body building and had participated in these contests before, which gave him an advantage over many of those that didn't have that experience. Now, many Animalians had been learning since its founding but many seemed to approach it as a hobby to a degree, and that gave Buford an advantage within his weight class. As Rock watched, it was no surprise that Buford won, though only narrowly.
"See the judges like those that they can see the muscle on," Mable said to Rock as that contestants then rotated out and the next weight class down came up.
"They also like those that have done this before," Rock answered, "I think that the Bull Shark Animalian was doing this professionally BEFORE Animalia."
"Yes... but you're still the odds on favorite to win the overall comparison," Mable assured him, "as while you may not be the biggest Bull Animalian that's been in the contest... you have it where it counts and you're still bigger than the Bull Shark Animalian."
"We'll have to see when they get to comparison between the various weight class winners," Rock answered.
And eventually they did get to that comparison, and it went from various weight classes and compared the winners of each class that qualified among the Animalians based on more modern animals. Anything for larger and prehistoric Animalians was held at Dino City. Rock was still impressed by the number of winners there were, and remained a bit puzzled as to how they would compare those from different weight classes. In some ways he thought it might be a bit of an unfair comparison given that a Bull Animalian, like him, would naturally have more bulk muscle than a Cheetah Animalian or a Rat Animalian because of the nature of how those animals were built. Though the head judge gave the call on that as Rock stood up on the stage again with the other winners from their weight classes.
"This comparison is not so much about who is stronger or the biggest," the head judge spoke, "as each of you proved that in your respective size brackets and trying to apply that comparison here among you would be unfair to the hard work and dedication you all put in to train for the IAC and coming here. Instead this comparison is more on the aesthetics and how well each winner was able to show that strength and definition. These are things that size or species will not matter into the comparison. All have had the ability to do the work and give a good demonstration of their power and muscle definition. And it is THAT that this comparison shows."
That made sense, to a degree, and Rock stood by somewhat nervously as the judge then collected the first medal and listed the official score. The third place winner in this comparison was actually the winner of the lightest weight group and was male Russian Blue Cat Animalian and gave his "thank you" with a fairly heavy midwestern accent. Rock then stood by and watched on quietly watched as the judge then moved on to the second place winner in the overall comparison, and here Rock began to become more and more nervous, as the comparison was not about strength where he'd have an advantage but over things that he wasn't as equal to. Thus the Judge's announcement on the second place score was surprising to him.
"Our second place winner has come as a surprise to many and for various reasons," the head judge spoke as he collected the silver medal and moved to stand before Rock, "and while this may be his first time in the IAC, he's done very well and that's well worth recognizing."
Rock blinked with some surprise and could barely hold it back as his score was announced. It was a surprise, and after a few moments he managed a "thank you" and accepted the medal. Though the surprises didn't end there, as while it turned out that Buford did win the overall comparison, when Buford's score was listed... it was only a few fractions of a point over Rock's. Buford had only just barely won. That was entirely a surprise to Rock and something he couldn't hide as the contest ended and they were all able to come down from the stage.
"Man that was close..." Buford said to him, "you know... I actually expected you to win outright. This may have been your first time at the IAC or your first time in these competitions as an Animalian, but you did extremely well."
"I'm still amazed at how well I've advanced through all these rounds," Rock managed.
"Well, you've done well and you should be confident in that," Buford commented, "and if you keep this up... you could well win the next IAC comparison outright. And if you'd like... I know some friends that could help with tips if you're looking to compete in this as an Animalian more often than just the IAC."
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"And it was all amazing," Rock thought as he looked to the medals that he'd won, "especially with Mable there too. Maybe... maybe she might want to participate too."