Watch the match.

With one last countdown and declaration of war, Juaela declares the cavalry battle's beginning.

Breiah moves slow and steady. The pair keeps a methodical distance, guided by the cautious movements of that mysterious witch that first brought you here. She's calculating--Meti squeezing her thighs in tight around her neck as she holds steady. Fortunately for them, while others also assess the situation, their attention tends to not be on them. It's a certain other duo that many keep a watchful eye on, and that's the team who has done nothing but sweep the competition so far.

"I'm getting a little anxious," says Snow quietly to her companion. "Everyone's looking at us. I think we've become their main target already."

RF glances up. "I thought you liked being watched," she says without a hint of coyness in her voice.

"Wh-What? No. I'm the one who likes wa--Hey!" Her tail stands up straight. "Why would you even say something like that right now?"

Farin bolts forwards with impressive speed, though it nearly sends the poor Kiki hurling off the back. She grips on tight, wrapping her legs around to squish against his cheeks. He then comes to a stumbling halt with faint colour in his cheeks, and he glances upwards with a quiet apology.

It seems rather quickly that despite people's attention being on your team, it's Ribi and Stilet that could be the most dangerous opponent. Ribi's swift, strong legs not only bring them around into position much faster than their foes, but Stilet remains on her shoulders with ease. She even lifts herself up slightly in a more mobile perch, and holds a hand out ready for snatching. A deadly centaur--strong legs of a rabbit, arms of an assassin.

"She'll go right for them," William comments beside you.

"Who?" you ask. "Me, I assume."

"If it were Ribi alone, possibly. But no. I don't mean your team."

With Breiah taking her duo ahead more successfully than all but the aforementioned pair, these two teams are the first to near one another around the far side of the marked area. Though just as William said, they go straight for the throat. Ribi leaps deftly with long, graceful strides, and the elf atop leans away to take a terrifying swipe aimed right at Meta's fluttering headband. Time almost seems to slow as they near, and Breiah glares up with a piercing frustration. Quickly, she pulls away, and at the same time so does Meta. Thankfully they're given enough time to barely dodge, but Stilet's fingers graze the fabric. Close! Both pairs turn like a match of jousters, but neither takes a sprint towards the other quite yet.

Ribi's eyes widen. Even Stilet is shocked. While their opposing duo's backs are turned and they're recovering, Lala's own rabbit feet take her bolting right past them, and Snow's fingers snatch up the end of the band. Meti's is removed, and the pair go running off--winded and just as surprised such a maneuver was successful.

"Wow! The first headband has been taken!" the bard nearby announces. "Of course, it is anybody's game until one person has them all. You are not out of the competition if you no longer have your own band. In fact, somebody without one is even more dangerous, because they have nothing to lose!"

Meti gasps. "I apologize."

"It's fine," Breiah mutters. "You heard what she said up there, and she's right."

Snow ties the second band around her forehead slightly above the first. "We did it!"

"Of course we did," RF boasts. "I've been fighting crime through the streets and over rooftops for so long. This is nothing."

In the distance, Kiki bops her large gloved hands up and down atop the half-orc's head. She pulls her legs in tighter, enveloping his face in her thighs. "Go, go, go!"

Muffled by skin, he manages to make out, "Can't... breathe..."

"Oops! Teehee," she says as she loosens up.

He lets out a deep exhale. "All right. Hold on. Someone's coming this way."

The duo in question is Stilet and Ribi, and they are indeed sprinting right at them. As if he were facing a bull, Farin maneuvers out of the way just in time, though his opponent comes to a screeching halt and turns just as quick. Then, they run again. It's strangely forward of them, but the half-orc grits his teeth, worried they're just undervaluing him as a foe. But just as he's about to dodge again, Meti props herself up, and she kicks off her partner's shoulders to glide through the air with ease. Farin's eyes widen as she comes right towards him, narrowly flipping over his head, before she lands on the ground with his headband in her hand.

She ties it up a moment before her partner picks her up, and they take off again.

"... Aah! No!" Farin shouts.

Meanwhile up in the watchtower, the bard cheers. "It looks like they already got one again, folks! Remember, you can touch the ground, just not for long. You can tell that those girls were listening."

Knowing they need to make up for that, Farin hurries over to make an attack on your team. Much like the previous jousting attacks, the two duos run past each other, though both actually make swipes at the other. Kiki narrowly misses, as does Snow, as they turn around to try again. On the second run, Snow's fingers barely touch the edge of the top-most one, though Kiki misses entirely. It doesn't matter, as neither managed to take any at all.

But on the third attempt, things go differently. As they near, Kiki swings her hand. Suddenly, one of her gloves comes flying off, and like a pillow, it impacts against Snow's face to temporarily blind and disorientate her. She then leaps from Farin's shoulders, much like Meti did previously, though unlike her, it doesn't appear so graceful. The cat misses the other cat, and Kiki faceplants into the grass.

However, Farin isn't just a mount. He jumps, and much to their surprise, he takes the headband previously held by Stilet right off Snow's head before grabbing Kiki and helping her up moments before a possible disqualification.

After all that chaos, everyone has managed to end up back at one band each as if nothing had happened.

That doesn't last long, however. Farin and Kiki press their attack and focus in on your team, as they do have another headband to steal. Kiki is short a glove and her face is covered in pieces of grass, but she's more than ready to take more attacking swipes.

"Bunnyfolk and catfolk working so close together?" Kiki questions. "Don't you know anything of our past?"

"More than you," Snow replies with a hint of colour in her face.

"It doesn't really matter. I get it. When things get tough, you gotta take what you can get. We're still gonna whoop your butts."

"Try it," replies RF.

With the other two teams distracted not far away with one another, your team races towards Kiki and Farin just as they do the same. Yet again, time seems to slow. Snow's eyes open wide in fear as she's half a second away from clutching her hand around the opponent's headband, though it snatches shut just as the final drifting fabric tickles her knuckles. And as she does this, Kiki's free hand grabs successfully. That'll be two points on her head, and zero for your team. However, something else occurs. Against all odds, despite seeming very unlikely, Farin's foot catches in the dirt, and when he trips, he brings Kiki along with him. She panics and opens her hand before the headband can be fully removed, and they tumble to the ground.

Snow grabs at her own band as the pair comes to a stumbling halt.

Farin gets up. "Quickly, get back on!" he says.

Kiki lays on the ground, dazed and covered in both dirt and grass. Her gym uniform top has been pulled nearly all the way up. While nothing is out, much of her left breast wobbles free, and there's a tear up the side of her shorts. Her eyes slowly open, and she peers at Farin with a swinging back and forth of her gloved hand. "What happened?"

"You bonked your head, but you gotta get back on before we--"

"And that is time!" Juaela announces. "Team B is officially disqualified. After an unfortunate trip, that is such a sad way to go out. I was watching, and Team D did not even make any sort of attack. I am so sorry, but you did well out there! Please leave the battlefield immediately, however~!"

"Damn," Farin says with a hang of his head.

"Don't feel too bad. That was a great match," Snow says as she pounces down beside Kiki to steal her band. "You made your Demon King proud." She then hurries right back atop the shoulders of her partner and once again proudly tied on a second band around her forehead.

"Really?" he asks bashfully. "I don't even know how I managed to lose my footing there."

Lala speaks up. "That was probably my doing--" she begins to explain, but then her powers suddenly lash back. Rabbit's Foot may gain bursts of supernatural good fortune, but they tend to lash back in other ways in a sort of universe balancing way. As the two stand before him and his disorientated partner, another tear forms down the front of the rabbit's tight white top. It seems Kiki must have grazed her. While her skin remains unharmed, the same can't be said for the fabric of her shirt. The tear grows, and in a mere second, it bursts open.

Farin's eyes widen, but Lala covers up very quickly.

"What is it with your weird ability?!" Snow asks in panic.

Before she can respond, Meti and Breiah come bolting past, and instead of grabbing a headband, the djinn yoinks away the remnants of the shirt. They gallop away, and after tossing the loose material down to the white-haired girl below, said girl ties it around her waist.

Now topless, RF tries to both cover up her breasts as well as keep Snow steady on top. Thankfully, she's an agile cat.

"Uh oh! It looks like there is more than one thing to steal in this competition!" Juaela says with a smile.

With only three teams remaining, Team D is in the lead with two points, while Team A and C both have one. It's anybody's game, though the pair in the lead is also the pair now with the greatest disadvantage.