While the rabbit and hare are the symbol of speed, that isn't the only thing associated with them. In many folktales around the world, the rabbit and hare are known for being clever tricksters. The root of modern rabbit stories can mostly like be traced to Africa. In Africa, the hare is the quintessential trickster, rivaled only by Anansi the Spider. These stories were brought over to America where they intermingled with Native American rabbit stories and eventually developed into Br'er Rabbit. The Br'er Rabbit stories were the inspiration for the rascally rabbits that have appeared in cartoons and movies since then.
As such, this year's Zodiac competition would test not just the quickness of feet, but the quickness of wits. The way this was set up was something like a game show where the competitors would have to perform challenges for three judges. And since the fox is traditionally the most common foe for the rabbit to match wits with, the three judges for this will be Robert Kenward, Steven Blair, and Juliet Renard-Argenté.
The way this contest worked is that each of the three judges will present the contestant a challenge, most often tasking them with catching, stealing from, or otherwise fooling a particular animal or being. It is assumed that the animals would have human intelligence but more gullible than average. The contestants didn't have to necessarily perform the tasks, just describe how they would accomplish that. Their answers would be judged on cleverness, creativity, resourcefulness, and realism. After all, they couldn't just wave a magic wand or anything fantastical like that.
This contest proved to be quite a challenge for plenty of the competitors. Some people aren't really accustomed to doing real lateral thinking, even with trickery in mind. Some contestants hadn't prepared for this, assuming the challenges were going to be more physical than mental. However, those who had some idea of what to expect were better prepared. The answers didn't have to completely original, they just needed to be presented in an interesting way.
For instance, Jessica was presented this challenged by Steven: "You are walking through a mountain pass when suddenly you are confronted by a giant with eight arms. The giant is very interested in eating you. Your challenge is to escape from or convince the giant not to eat you."
Jessica had to think a while about this. Of course, as a rabbit, she might be able to outrun the giant, but the giant might be able to keep up with her and it can certainly throw heavy objects at her. There ought to be something she could use his eight arms against him. Eventually, Jessica though up a solution. "I tell the giant that he must be very strong for having eight big arms. But I claim that my own two arms are stronger still. The giant wants to prove himself the stronger. I challenge him that if he can hold more in his eight arms then I can with just two, he can eat me. He agrees and immediately starts picking up as many big boulders, trees, and anything else he can carry. I wait until his arms are absolutely full, then I take off. The giant will be carrying too much to just drop everything and chase me and I'll be long gone before he drops his burden."
Of course, that was one of the more fantastical problems. Not every hypothetical opponent is a monster like that. Some are simply animals, even if they have human intellect. One such example was the challenge Miss Juliet gave Shyra, "Your task is to take at least half of a lion's mane. This lion is particularly hungry and not likely to let you get away."
Of course, Shyra had seen her fair share of cartoons and it wasn't too hard for her to think of a solution. "Before the lion tries to eat me, I compliment him. I tell him such ferocity and strength shows why he is the king of beasts. It's only too bad he doesn't have the kingly look. When he asks what I mean, I reluctantly tell him his mane is no longer considerable fashionable. Wild and unruly hair is so passe these days. The lionesses these days prefer a trimmed mane. The vain, egotistical lion will demand I trim his mane this instance. Fortunately, I have scissors for this occasion. I keep the lion busy with small talk to distract him from how much mane I'm cutting off. Once I have as much hair as I need, I tell him I need to get some hair spray and he needs to hold still until I get back. I'll probably be long gone before he realizes I'm not getting hair spray."
The tasks varied from person to person and so did the answers for them. Not everyone could come up with good solutions. Some solutions were little better than 'look behind you and run' or 'hit them with a mallet'. Some contestants like poor Hunni Bunni were unable to give any answer for a task. In any case, this second stage certainly stood to shake up the standings. Some who did well in the race were pushed back while those who had trouble with the race (most notably Shyra) were able to advance enough to make up for it. But there were still plenty who did well with testing both their legs and their brains. However, there are still at least one more competition for the males and females before the Zodiac Mountain finale.