Chapter 10: Tsunami Swimming
It was the tenth day of the Animalympics and with the winter portion of the games complete, it was back to the summery section of the games with swimming. Dimitri loved this event he was an expert scuba diver, even having his own TV series "Disco Diver" which chronicles his adventures. For the Cooper Gang and everyone in the audience the fan favorite was the Californian surfer otter, Dean Wilson, who won a gold in the 100 meter freestyle and in this event, he was looking forward to winning another gold.
In the lanes were a few old timers such as the Dean himself, the Asian orca Ono Nono, who got silver in the previous Animalympic games when Dean won the race using an unorthodox method that would have taken him out, but instead used it to his own advantage; the Eurasion manta ray Yuri Wedgenikov, and Joseph Calamari of Europe. The last two had a rivalry in water polo with Eurasia coming out on top, despite Europe's best efforts. There were two newcomers: the Antartican penguin Chilly Hands and the South American Caiman Julio Scales. Just before the event started, the dolphin Mark Spritz came forward to interview Dean Wilson.
"Dean Wilson, the superstar of the pool, it's an honor to see you here again, with another chance of scoring more gold, have you been improving yourself even with all the high life back in the West?" he asked holding up the microphone.
"Hey man, I might be the type who's high on life, but I know how to keep up ma trainen' even with all the surf 'n' tranquility"
"For real?"
"Fer sure!"
It was the start of the event, the 100 meter freestyle, and the competitors were all gearing to give it their all and get the gold. In the far corner of the pool was the huge Ono Nono, growling in utter disgust how he lost to a puny otter, rage was building up in the large orca, for he felt because of his huge girth, rather than technique, he should be the winner. The competitors all took their mark, but just a few seconds before the bird could be called to start, Wedgnikov got antsy and bolted into the pool, which triggered a special kind of alarm, meaning false start, but Wedgenikov just kept on swimming. It took some special staff members to get him to stop, and they were successful. He was allowed to swim again, provided he wouldn't make the same mistake twice, but from afar, Ono was getting more and more frustrated with one goal on his mind: win the gold at any cost. After taking their marks, the bird squawked the start of the race, and all swimmers bolted into the pool, Ono took an early lead with Dean right behind him, followed by Julio and Joseph. Dean's technique was spot on as he paddled his way from the front to the end of the pool, just before any competitor made it to the wall, Ono decided to swing his mighty tail, creating a huge wave, which Dean, Julio, and Joseph managed to dodge without knowing it by doing flip turns underwater, though Wedgenikov and Chilly weren't so lucky as they were flown out of the pool and some audience members were doused as well. When it was Ono's turn to turnaround he hoisted himself out of the water and then splashed down, creating an even bigger wave, heading straight for Dean's lane. At first Dean struggled up the wave, and then decided to use his tail like a surfboard, which gave him an edge over Ono. Julio in the adjacent lane was only hit with the mild effects of the wave, but recovered quickly. The boost gave Dean the edge to touch the edge of the wall giving him a first place, while Julio came up right behind to secure a second place. Ono completely lost it, splashing waves all over the pool arena, security had to beckoned, but none of them could even stop him. Carmelita and Dimitri came forward with shock pistol and speargun loaded with shock bolts, both fired their shots at the orca until he was subdued in the water. It took a team of security personnel to pull the orca out and take him into custody, he was instantly disqualified for foul play. But the mood immediately cheered up when Brenda Springer, Mark Spritz, plus Dimitri himself came to meet Dean.
"You just scored another gold Dean! How does it feel?" asked Mark with enthusiasm.
"Hey man, no wave can topple ma chances of gettin' the gold, he could try an' try but there's no stoppin me! Dean replied with equal gusto.
"Smooth moves bro! You'd do great on my show of H20 Disco Diver. Care to make an appearance and shuck the jives?" asked Dimitri.
"Fer sure!"
"Julio you just withstood one of the mightiest waves the pool could grace how does it feel to earn silver?" asked Brenda Springer holding up the microphone.
"Senorita, eet was easy following the pawpreents of Dean Weelson, I may not have gotten the gold, but silver's alright by me!" Julio responded with joy.
Later that day, a lot of athletes and spectators headed over to the hotspot, Noah's Ark Disco for a nice boogie down. (Graham Gouldman's "Go for It" plays). The Cooper Gang especially Carmelita were having a blast. Dimitri, Dean, Julio, and Bolt Jenkins were really setting the floor on fire with some outrageous disco dances that would make John Travolta green with eny.