It could still feel the thing holding tight to its tail, could still feel its grip around the fluffy fur that it was whipping to and fro. It curled its lip with annoyance. This wasn't a fight, this was an annoyance! It couldn't show its worth while some thing was clinging to its tail!

With annoyance, Beta tried to swat it off, to smack its tail on the ground in an attempt to dislodge Hunter, but it was so concerned with trying to get it to let go that it might have totally forgot that it needed its tail to balance, especially with it moving around so much. As it went to swing its tail in a heavy arch, at the same time it leaned to the side to look back and see what its efforts would produce, but all it managed to do was throw off its balance, sending the beast tumbling over onto its side, burning with embaressment.

@Hunter

Round: 4/5
Attempt: wack on the ground
Defense: big
Injuries: grabbed tail

Vargas... stared.

Oh boy.

Another lash threw Hunter into the air, but with a tight grip on Ruby-Beta's tail, his squinting eyes watched with alarm, quickly widening as his opponent fell over. He threw his legs forward, throwing his body toward Ruby-Beta, and aimed to land square on the beast's body without.. uh, landing on any of the quills.

Unfortunately, being thrown around by the big fella's tail left him pretty dizzy, and he stumbled as he hit the ground next to Ruby-Beta, grimacing as he suddenly had no grip on his downed opponent and was thrown off-balance himself. No worries though--! He was still in a better position, right?

Hunter eyed his opponent, huffing breaths between his teeth. He brushed some of the dirt from his chest, multi-hued eyes mischievously locking with those monstrous green pits. "Give up yet?" He couldn't help but tease, a toothy grin spreading across his muzzle.
@Ruby-Beta

Round: 4/5
Attempt: Get on top of Ruby-Beta and keep it down! haha oops --
Defense: keep being squirrely
Injuries: grit in face, bruises and scrapes everywhere

Beta quickly regained its footing and whipped around to face Hunter, who had finally let go of its tail. Eyes narrowed with a hint of anger at its teasing. He was acting like this was all a game, like he had nothing to prove, when Beta had everything to prove. It could see Master Vargas in the audience and it knew that it would be judged for how this fight turned out. And if it lost...

No, no it wouldn't think about that. It wouldn't think about the scars across Alpha's face or the threatening words that haunted its every step. The thoughts were so disruptive and beginning to grow louder and louder in its head as it went in for one last attack, but its swipe missed an easy target so it followed it up with a snarl, hopefully to pass its clumsy fail as an intentional miss - a threat display, perhaps? But it was weak and Beta felt shame washing over its body.

@Hunter

Round: 5/5
Attempt: one last punch (but not too hard) threat or something???
Defense: big
Injuries: embarrassed

There was no call for mercy, no giving up yet, and as Hunter stepped back away from the swiping claws of his rival, he knew exactly what he needed to do to get the oversize kitty-cat to give in-- after all, when nothing else failed, tickling was the best way to get his siblings to scream for dad.

Hunter jumped forward, laughing, and stretched out his hands, trying to get in close and tickle at Ruby-Beta's sides-- if he could, he'd knock Ruby-Beta over and get right into the soft, delicate tummy and give them a real tickling. As it turned out though, he was laughing too hard, and he couldn't even get close enough to unleash his wriggling fingers... but it was clear that at this point, Hunter's laughter was going to knock him out well before Ruby-Beta did.

... he wasn't laughing at Ruby-Beta, though it probably seemed like it. Oops.

@Ruby-Beta

Round: 5/5
Attempt: defeat ruby-beta with a POWERFUL tickle attack
Defense: ACTIVATE: CARELESSNESS MODE
Injuries: grit in face, bruises and scrapes everywhere

Character: Ruby-Beta Age: +5 (age cap) Magic Level: +3 (Strategist) ROUND 1 Attempt: +2 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +11 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +18 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +1 oof Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +3 Penalties: -0 Total: 43

Character: Hunter Age: +4 (4 cycles) Magic Level: +1 (Fledgling) ROUND 1 Attempt: +14 Penalties: -0 ROUND 2 Attempt: +16 Penalties: -0 ROUND 3 Attempt: +17 Penalties: -0 ROUND 4 Attempt: +6 Penalties: -0 ROUND 5 Attempt: +3 Penalties: -0 Total: 61

WINNER: Hunter

Pinging @Shengxiao to beep and then tag the judge (Eythan!)