Most people do not associate cats with water. But the truth is that cats actually don't like getting wet against their will. Allowing them to get into water, particularly warm baths, on their will actually can make them develop a taste for bathing. But tigers are a completely different case. They actually love to swim and have been seen in the wild jumping into ponds to cool off. And considering this Year of the Tiger fell under the Water sign, it was only natural for the Zodiac competition to incorporate swimming.
Of course, since there are few things, if any, sexier than swimwear, the first part of the Water Tiger Swimsuit/Swimming Competition was going to be on dry land. And give how the Animalian virus changes humans and animals to the ideal sexually-attractive shape, no one was going to look bad in these swimsuits. Still, there had to be some standards, particularly to keep the meatheads in the audience from being too loud when they see the bikinis.
The swimsuit competition was judged by style, poise, and practicality. The style part was pretty self-explanatory, with unique designs getting extra points. Poise was about how gracefully they could move in their swimsuits. They were big cats, so it's expected that they should be able to walk around without looking stupid. But a major part of this was practicality. It was all fine for swimwear to be sexy until it came from actual swimming. The way some swimsuits were designed, they wouldn't even survive getting wet, let alone swimming around. Any wardrobe malfunctions would result in the contestant losing all their points for the swimsuit competition. It wouldn't necessarily disqualify them from winning the whole thing, but it would put them at a serious disadvantage.
Two particular contestants did stand out here. Tuxing hadn't wanted to really want to show off here, making herself look like an easy mark. Liao eventually convinced her that they would just wear one-pieces. Their swimsuits were one-pieces...in that they were one single piece. Liao didn't say they would be covering. The front bared everything between the collarbone and just under their navels, with the exception of the breasts, of course. The backsides had one strip connecting the two left and right sides at about bra level, but otherwise bared everything down to their tails. Tuxing's swimsuit was a bright red, which led to a couple of people calling her the 'Baywatch Bengal'. Liao's was blue, evocative of the sukumizu so commonly seen in anime. She even had her name in Japanese written on a white patch on her left breast.
While the tigers did look sexy and graceful on land, the practicality side had to be tested in a swimming race. Now, some may think the male tigers would have the edge when it came to swimming, Animalian females not appearing to have a hydrodynamic figure. However, they were quite capable of compensating for their extra drag. If Durga wasn't over her newborn cubs, she would shown just how well a tigress can swim, even with large breasts hampering her.
The swimming race did prove to be quite exciting. Especially since some of the newer tigers were overcompensating on their swimwear or exerted themselves a bit too much. There wasn't quite as many wardrobe malfunctions as some people were hoping for, but it would be enough to thin the competition a bit. Tuxing and Liao didn't have to worry about that though. Their swimsuits, while revealing, were more than strong and reliable enough. And while they didn't swim as often, they were among the higher-ranking winners in the end. The two tigresses would be getting a big lead in the overall competition, but it wasn't over yet.