The Zodiac Competition was one that had been a part of Animalia's Chinese New Year celebration for years and like the race was divided into two groups. One was more a pageant for the female Rabbit Animalians, that wouldn't be too different from most standard beauty pageants. The other was a comparable version for the male Rabbit Animalians. It would include various things relate to appearance, talents, and interests and the only major differences between the males and females would be in the specific nature of the attire and everything else that would relate to it.
The big thing was largely to settle on which group went first with these competitions and most of the group was gathered around after the "Tricky Hare" contest while the judge panel that had judged that contest stood aside and let Tuxing and Hercules take over while Miles noted other members of Animalia Ambassadoria providing the camerawork. A lot of this again had to handle what would be the ultimate passing of the crown to the ultimate winner of the Year of the Rabbit competition, and the more rapid progression through it would allow for making things easier on all those involved.
"Okay, you've all done very well with the events thus far," Hercules spoke, "and next will be the set competitions that will be for males and females in their own respective categories."
"Just as with everything else, points for these will be cumulative to what you've already scored, based on your times in the race and the points awarded in the Tricky Hare contest," Tuxing added, "the key is on which one will go first... males or females."
It was at this, where Hercules produced a large coin and held it up for all to see. On one side, Miles could see a rabbit's head with its ears standing erect while on the other side was a tiger, likely representing the transition between the two years.
"For fairness, we will do this by a flip of the coin," Hercules spoke, "females will be heads, the side with the rabbit's head. Males will be tails, the side with the tiger. Whichever side lands face up goes first."
Hercules then flipped the coin, and everyone gathered then watched flipped through the air and then landed on the tiled floor with a click. After that, Hercules looked down to it and announced, "it is tails, males will go first."
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From there, things followed in a fairly predictable fashion. Each male Rabbit Animalian was able to pick out a suit or some other attire to then demonstrate some skill or talent that they thought to be impressive. Points were made on that nothing could be something that would run the risk of exposing "too much," and the demonstrations couldn't require multiple people to take part in the demonstration. It was something that had to be an Indvidual talent or interest, the only way someone else would be allowed if something like turning the lights on or off was needed. Props and other things could be used, but they had to be something required only one person to work with. There was also a rule that the exact same acts couldn't be done. If one contender did one thing, there would have to be some difference in how the next contender did it.
Miles managed to keep a close eye on everything going on with the contest and noted some of those present in the audience watching them. Many were family with or dating the male Rabbit Animalians in the contest, and several of the female Rabbit Animalians in the contest were also watching. He supposed that was where it would make sense for some of that observation, as he noted Morgan Laurens was among them, focused on Ernie, Winston, Edward, and William did their acts. Ernie came out dressed in baseball gear and proceeded to demonstrate a great deal of precession in batting baseballs into buckets set up across the court from him and made Miles glad for the use of the Claw Coliseum's main court for this. Winston showed some wood carvings he'd made, and even showed a time lapsed video that showed him making it. One carving was of a rabbit sitting with its ears alert and the other was of a fox standing with its tail held out behind it. Edward actually jugged bowling pins and managed to do it with five pins before purposely tossing them into a large canvass bag set up nearby before giving a bow. William was the last of the Desert Cottontails to go, and his act was actually to sing. He sang a couple of short songs that he and the others had sung while in camp, though Miles sensed that some of the words were edited for the audience's sake, but he finished with a hymn that essentially asked for peace on Earth. Miles wasn't much of a music critic, but he did like William's performance.
All of that earned some applause, though there were some different acts as well. Mr. Shikamatsu wore a training gi and put on a display of stealth and speed in which a dummy was set up in the center with bells hanging from it. There was a small table with a large foam pad on it. The bells were even rung to demonstrate that they worked. Mr. Shikamatsu then asked for the lights to be dimmed and a timer to be set for a minute. The lights went down, and Miles could only barely make out a blur in the area where Mr. Shikamatsu had been and put the dummy up. After a minute when the lights came back up, and as Miles looked on, he found that all of the bells that had been on the dummy were now on the foam pad, and Miles had barely heard a sound. This was something that amazed him heavily and was something he knew he couldn't do or match. Codey gave a demonstration on his own martial arts skills in breaking a few boards with chops and kicks.
A lot of this left Miles a little bit nervous when his turn finally came up. And it was there for a few reasons. One was that he was younger than pretty much all the other competitors. Nearly everyone else had been adults when they converted, double dosed when they became Animalians, or had grown up before the present time. There was no rule that said he couldn't compete, and he was reasonably fit, but after watching Rockwall bend thin Aluminum bars into the base outline of a rabbit, Miles also knew he wasn't going to match the Flemish Giant Rabbit Animalian's strength or the image that many of the other Rabbit Animalians had. It's where a lot of his "talent" was more in communicating things, reporting on them as factually as possible, and was something that made him want to be like the broadcasters he'd seen on television and from histories on the press.
It was something that hurt him a bit in the Tricky Hare contest, as trying to trick people was never something he'd imagined himself doing. His solutions had been fairly realistic and workable, but they'd also been something that relied more on setting the situation up where his antagonist took himself out rather than purposely misleading him. That was something where he really wasn't so sure on how he was to explain that. He could draw a bit, in the sense of very simple cartoons, like what one would see in a newspaper's comic strips, but even they weren't all that good... and it was the best Miles had. And as he came out with an easel and the large drawing pad that he would demonstrate his "cartooning," Miles could only look up at the gathered crowd. His parents, Miles and Louise were there, and they waved to him as he came out.
Miles carefully set up his equipment and looked to one microphone that was on a stand at the edge of the area and then glanced up to the cameras that were overhead and moving about on guidewires. He then undid the cap on the sharpie that he had to use for the cartooning, knowing that he wouldn't have much room for error. He took one deep breath and began.
"Hello to all," Miles began, "like with one of the earlier presenters, Roger Lightfoot, many of you know me from Animalia Ambassadoria. A show I've been glad to join... to bring news from Animalia's colonies, Animalia, and from the relations between the two groups. It's all been amazing, and I enjoy reporting on it very much. Often because some of it is very good for everyone and shows progress... and sometimes because it may represent the challenges that everyone still faces. I'm afraid I can't do many things super special... like retrieve bells in the dark without making them ring... or bend Aluminum into the shape of a rabbit. But I can do a bit of cartooning and may use that to tell a bit of a story..."
Miles then started to work with a starting sketch that looked like three Humans, two parents and a child and then narrated as he drew, "Like many, I started out Human. Growing up in New York City to a family working for a top-of-the-line fashion designer. Sure, my schools weren't the most exclusive, but, they worked... and I had a happy life."
He moved on to then sketch out the original Animalia Ambassadoria team as they started, while Sophie and Roland were still Human. JC and Pauline were there, but only as mundane Parrots on Sophie's shoulders. "But then came Animalia and Animalia Ambassadoria, and like many... I became a fan. Not because I was glad that Abby, Sarah, and Malice had so many shots in swimsuits when they toured places like Mieni or other exotic places. But because they were able to show how beings not Human could get along so well with those that were Human. And in a time where certain people tried their best to tear everything apart... Animalia Ambassadoria provided news on a place that didn't really seem to have that. And as their program grew, a part of me wanted to share in that... to bring Animalia's news to the world."
He moved on to then showing the original Animalia Ambassadoria team when they stepped down. Each was wearing graduation caps, as were some additional Human characters that represented those that joined after Sophie and Roland became Dinotopians. They were then interacting with Miles and his parents and Joanne, depicted as a Fennec Fox Animalian.
"And then my parents found out that their employer had come... and become an Animalian, while offering to pay for our moving from New York City to Lyre, Nevada," Miles continued, "it was a major move and one I'm glad my parents accepted, as it let me meet my heroes. I'd watched and loved Animalia Ambassadoria for years and shaking hands with the original cast... it was nothing short of amazing, and even if I didn't get the chance to carry on the torch from them, I would have loved just shaking their hands."
The next showed Miles as a Blacktailed Jackrabbit Animalian with a male Macaw Animalian and a female Amazon River Dolphin Animalian. It also showed Miles seated at the main desk for Animalia Ambassadoria' with his cohost by his side at the front desk.
"But an Animalia continued to be welcoming," Miles continued, "I got to join take over from the original team... the team that inspired me on Animalia Ambassadoria. And while a lot of my reporting may be different from theirs... they were still an inspiration, and I can only hope to have provided others with similar inspiration while continuing to bring news from Animalia... and a good Lapine leap to the broadcast."
There were a few claps from the audience, and Miles heard a couple of calls of "nice drawings" from somewhere. He hoped they were honest compliments, as he thought they looked okay, though he also knew that the final scores would only be adjusted after the female Rabbit Animalians had their turn.