I'm sorry. This chapter jumps. Yeah.

"Come on Liz, we're gonna be late!" Jhim said through the apartment door. "What are you doing in there anyway?"

I sighed and played with a strand of my hair. "Just a second man," I called back. "I'm just fixing my hair!"

"What? Just put it up like you always do!" Jhim yelled.

I rolled my eyes and opened the door to a frustrated Jhim. "Dude back off, kay? This may be the last time I ever get to play with my hair and I want it to look good!"

Jhim looked at me like I was a strange form of animal. "When did you turn into a girl?"

I rolled my eyes and walked back into the apartment. "Whatever, I'll be out in a sec."

Jhim leaned against the door and sighed. "You do know that they're gonna win?" he said.

"Yeah but you never know," I said as I French Braided my hair. I sighed and turned around to face Jhim. "They will win right?"

Jhim rolled his eyes. "Liz, nothing before this has gone wrong. Why should it start now?"

"Because the Powers That Be hate me?" I said flatly. I turned to face myself in the mirror again and sighed. It really wasn't horrible hair. Sure, it was bright pink and in small need of a hair cut, but it was the hair I had and I'd learned to love it. And now I might lose it.

After we had left the rink, Akane and Jhim had by way of apology for betting my hair to a psycho offered to buy me a bag of fireworks each to make me feel better. Only after Akane offered to buy a third bag on Ranma's behalf had I agreed. But even now that I had three big bags of colorful explosives in the Twilight Zone, I was feeling very nervous about the match. I took a deep breath and turned around.

"Alright, you ready to go?"

Jhim nodded enthusiastically and practically pushed me down the stairs.

Akane had said that we could get sideline seats since we'd helped them out so much. And when I say we, I mean Jhim. I was just along for the ring side view.

"Hey Rizu! Chimofu!" Akane called as she ran over to us. "I'm so glad you guys could get here!"

"Wouldn't miss it!" Jhim said cheerfully.

Akane nodded happily as we walked over to our seats. "Well we're just about to start here," she said.

"Where's Pigtail?" I asked.

"Over there," Akane said pointing to the entrance to the locker rooms. "He's getting changed right now."

"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" I asked. "The girls costume is always more complicated than the guys you know."

"Yeah, I was about to go do that," Akane said. "I'll see you guys later then!" Jhim and I waved off Akane and sat down.

"Well she seems cheerful," Jhim said.

I nodded, fidgeting in my chair. "I'll be right back," I said as I suddenly started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Jhim asked.

"Don't worry about it," I said as I waved good-bye. I swiftly walked back to the locker rooms and knocked swiftly on the boy's door. "Hope yall are decent," I called as I opened the door, careful not to see anything I wasn't supposed to see.

As I opened the door, a wave of hot air whooshed out catching me by surprise. I walked in to see Ranma and Mikado glaring at each other, both emitting an impressive aura. "Uh, hope I'm not interrupting something," I said.

Both boys turned on me with very different reactions. "So it is you," Mikado spat. "Are you here to apologize in hopes to recall the wager?"

"Yeah right," I said. "I'm here to talk to Pigtail."

"Huh?" Ranma said. I motioned him out of the locker room and before closing the door, I made a face at Mikado. "So what's up Rizu?" he said.

I glared at him. "Listen here man; your pride ain't the only thing riding on this match so if you don't win I reserve first rights to kill you. If you die during the match, I will bring you back to life and I will kill you again. Understand?"

"Relax," Ranma said laughing. "You don't have to worry! Besides I don't think you could kill me even if you wanted to."

I smiled, a few scenarios involving Ranma's death playing in my head. "You'd be surprised," I said. As I walked away I looked over my shoulder at a confused Ranma. "And Pigtail?" I said. "I wasn't joking."

Ranma blinked. "Oh."

Walking back to our seats, I sat down next to Jhim and pulled out a sucker from my purse.

"What was that about?" Jhim asked.

I shrugged. "Just wanted to wish him good luck is all," I said as I unwrapped the sucker (those big expensive ones you only get once a year because you're only really motivated to get it once a year).

Jhim looked at me then shrugged. "Whatever."

Suddenly the band started to play as the Charlotte Cup was brought in. Which just happened to have little Pchan attached by a chain to the large golden cup. Nice.

"Dude," I said to Jhim. "What are the chances of me breaking him out?"

Jhim looked at the chain that connected the struggling pig to the trophy, then at the large lock that connected them. "Can you pick locks?"

"No."

"Well then the chances are none."

"Aw come on!" I said. "A chain saw might work!"

"No it wouldn't," Jhim said flatly. "The chain on the saw would break, lash back, and your face would be split open."

"Gee, don't get too unrealistic on me now," I said dryly as the announcer began to speak. "Can you pick locks?" I said to him.

"Not really," Jhim said. "It's been a while since I've done it."

I sniffed. "Well there goes my plan."

Jhim looked at me sideways as though trying to decide if I was dangerous or not. "What plan?" he asked warily.

"It's not much of a plan now so why should I tell you what it was?" I said.

Jhim was about to respond when Akane and Ranma waked up in their Chinese styled skating costumes.

"Nice yall," I said with a smile. "Nervous?"

Ranma shook his head violently. "No way!" Akane however didn't look as confident. I smiled at her and she smiled back nervously.

"Azusa Shiratori and Mikado Sanzenin making a fantastic entrance!" the announcer said over the loud speaker.

As the 'Golden Skating Pair' glided ina giant roar came from the Kolkhoz High School side, mostly consisting of females. "Eh gad!" I said. "Who are they kidding?"

"Yeah, it's nothing but flash!" Ranma said. "Well, we'll show them flash!" He hoisted Akane onto his shoulder and began to skate out into the rink with a breakneck speed.

Ranma lost control and somehow got bent over backwards while he and Akane spun out of control. "Well it's Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo making an entrance to knock your socks off!"

"Wow," Jhim said in a horrific awe. "I didn't know people could bend that way."

"And the match begins! A match over a pet pig! A no-holds-barred battle to be finished only by a complete knockout!"

With a 'winners strike first' thought in mind, Akane and Ranma decided to charge Azusa and Mikado head on. Akane grabbed Ranma's hands and launched him towards the pair. Azusa jumped over Ranma while Mikado skated under Ranma to take Akane in his arms while she still had hold of Ranma.

"Pig," I muttered as I watched Ranma trying to stop Mikado from kissing Akane.

"Ah Sanzenin! Going straight to his specialty 'kiss' attack!"

While Ranma was busy stopping Mikado, Azusa came from above him and kicked him in the face. Akane threw Mikado off of her and he landed right next to Azusa. Akane picked up a barely conscious Ranma and began to skate towards the charging pair.

Mikado grabbed Azusa and began to twirl her around him in a windmill. Ranma suddenly picked up Akane and freakin threw her over the pair, skated past them and actually landed a hit on Mikado.

"See?" Jhim said. "Everything is going exactly like it's supposed to."

I nodded while I watched Ranma barely catch Akane and because he still couldn't stop on the ice, skate up the oncoming wall and land on his feet with Akane still on his back. "Sure, tell me that now," I said.

"That happened though, you have to admit that," Jhim said.

"Shut up."

Meanwhile Mikado had recovered from Ranma's hit. Lucky for me they were just close enough to hear everything they were saying. "To think that anyone could bring Mikado Sanzenin to his knees."

"What about the girl with Sierra?" Azusa said to Mikado.

"Yeah Mikado," I yelled with a smirk. "What about me? Don't I count?"

Mikado ignored us.

"Next time you pull something like that with Akane," Ranma said threateningly. "I'll do more than bring you to your knees. I'll bring you to your coffin! Got it!"

"What if they cremated Mikado?" Jhim said to me.

"Shh! You're ruining the dramatic tension!"

"Akane is my fiancée!" Ranma yelled. "Lay a lip on her and I'll kill you!"

I was doing a small victory dance in my seat. "Yesyesyesyesyes!" I muttered to myself, barely able to keep in my excitement as I watched a shocked Akane become horribly embarrassed.

"Don't get too excited," Jhim said. "Shampoo's coming too."

Well that killed the happy.

Meanwhile the challenge between Mikado and Ranma was still going on. "Your fiancée huh? Such bonds are fragile."

In this case they are…

"And I will do all in my power to break those bonds!"

Now I'm sure that Mikado would have continued to verbalize 'The Golden Pair's' greatness if I hadn't gotten bored. "Shut up man!" I yelled. "Enough talk, start fighting!"

Mikado glared at me. "Would you be quiet you idiot!" he yelled at me. "I'm trying to verbalize 'The Golden Pair's' greatness!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, now start fighting!" I yelled.

Azusa smiled evilly. "It seems the stupid girl want to get it over with and forefeet Sierra."

I glared at Azusa. "Over my dead body!"

"Calm down Rizu," Jhim said to me, grabbing onto my arm like he was trying to restrain me.

"And it seems to be there's a problem with a nearby spectator," the announcer boomed. "A girl with bright pink hair seems to have lost her mind!"

Okay, that shut me up. I sat back down in my chair and sulked while Mikado sneered.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Mikado said to Ranma who was still glowering. "The Golden Skating Pair are also known by another name," he said while he and Azusa paired up and began to charge. "The Anti-Match Makers!"

"This is it!" the announcer yelled. "Mikado Sanzenin and Azusa Shiratori's ultimate move, the Couple Cleaver!"

Ranma grabbed a dazed Akane and charged forward recklessly towards the oncoming pair. Both Akane and Ranma kicked Mikado right when Azusa jumped over them. Mikado grabbed Ranma's foot and tossed him so that he would break Azusa fall, and Azusa took this opportunity to kiss Ranma on the nose, certainly knocking him off guard.

"What do you think you're doing!" Akane yelled as she skated over towards the Not!couple. While Ranma was recovering from Kiss Shock Azusa grabbed his ankles and brought him down, Ranma catching Akane's hands in the process. Not missing a beat, Mikado picked up the chain of teenagers and began to twirl at a dangerous rate while Azusa stood on his shoulders holding Ranma and Akane on her shoulders.

"Man, that would be confusing to write," Jhim said to me. I nodded conformation.

"This is it!" the announcer said. "The Couple Cleaver! The Good-Bye Whirl! The secret to this attack is trust! Soon the force of the spinning will boggle the mind of the young man. If he betrays his partner and lets her go, he alone will be spared!"

Absent-mindedly I looked over towards the announcer to see that Pchan was still struggling to get free. "Uh Jhim," I said nervously. "Ryoga isn't free yet."

"So?" Jhim said. "He got free on his own before."

"How do you know, you didn't see him break free before," I said nervously. I looked towards the rink to see that Akane and Ranma were still suffering the Couple Cleaver, not leaving Ryoga much time to get free, find hot water, cut the lights, and then make his way to the rink.

"Jhim, I'll need your help," I said. "You said you can pick locks right?"

"I used to be able to," he said. "And besides, I don't have the material to do it. I'd need a hair pin or a paper clip."

I reached into the Twilight Zone and pulled out a pack of paper clips and hairpins.

"Why do you have those things?" Jhim said incredulously.

"Don't question the Twilight Zone," I said. "Anyway, I need you to break Pchan loose. Carry him over to the dressing rooms and I'll meet you there."

"I'm sorry, but how am I supposed to release a pig and carry him away without being noticed?"

I shrugged. "How should I know?"

Jhim rolled his eyes. "Well it is your plan!"

"Just, I don't know, be discreet," I said as I stood up. "I'm gonna go find some hot water."

"Wait a minute!" Jhim called after me but I was already on my way out. I went behind the bleachers where thousands of kids were cheering for their respective sides to see if there were any food vendors around.

Spotting one, I ran over quickly pulling out my wallet. "Excuse me…"

"Rizu!"

I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Kurizu standing behind the counter smiling happily.

"How are you doing?" he asked happily.

"Uh…" I quickly looked around for another vendor or an escape route even although it was a little late for that by now… "I'm fine."

"Is it true that you got your hair bet on this match?" Kurizu asked.

"Yeah…" I heard a crash from the ring, indicating that Azusa had let go of Ranma and Akane. "Listen, do you have any hot water?"

"Sure!" Kurizu said. "How much do you need?"

"Just a cup will do," I said nervously. "How much is that?"

Kurizu waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, this one's on the house. I'm helping out a friend that goes here so it'll be alright," he said as he reached behind him to get a cup. "Are you sure you don't want any hot chocolate or something?"

"I'm sure!" I said hastily. Time was defiantly running out.

"Alright then!" Kurizu said cheerfully. "So how's it going out there?"

"We're losing," I said woefully. Kurizu was taking waaaay too long with that water.

"So I guess that means you're gonna loose your hair?" Kurizu turned off the tap and wiped off the water that had splashed outside the cup. "That's too bad," he said as he handed me the cup. "I thought you looked really pretty with it."

"Uh… thanks," I said nervously. "I'll see you later!"

"Hey Rizu," Kurizu said before I could sufficiently run away. "Do you, uh, wanna do something after the match or something?"

Aw man! Poor boy looked so embarrassed. "Uh, I can't Kurizu," I said. "I've got… stuff to do."

"Maybe another time then?"

"What's this? The pig is gone!" the speakers boomed overhead. It seemed that Jhim had accomplished his job which meant…

"Sorry, I gotta go!" I yelled as I sprinted towards the locker rooms. Which kinda sucked because I had a cup of very hot water in my hands.

I got to the locker rooms to find Jhim waiting impatiently with Pchan squirming in his arms. "Where have you been?" he demanded.

"Sorry," I said. "I got a little detoured." Handing Jhim the cup of hot water, I dug inside my purse until I found exactly what I needed. "Here we are!" I said as I pulled out a set of Ryoga's clothes.

Jhim and Pchan gave me one of the weirdest looks I've ever received. "Why do you have that?" Jhim asked point blank.

"Thought it might come in handy," I said offhandedly. It has absolutely nothing to do with my fangirlness…

Pchan was still looking a bit shocked. "Sorry man, I'll explain later," I said to the small pig. "But right now you need to get out there and help Akane!"

Turning to Jhim I said "I'll go cut the lights, you get Ryoga situated." Jhim nodded conformation and I ran off to the circuit box.

This happened to have a huge switch that was in control of the entire facility. The handle itself was about six inches long attached on both sides by steel to the circuit breaker. The hander of this instrument held power over the entire skating rink. "Dude. That is so cool." However, I wasn't able to savor the moment of cutting off all power as I had a mission. Feeling the cold steel beneath my hand, I pulled down.

The whole place was plunged into such darkness that I couldn't even see my hand in front of me. THAT WAS SO COOL!

It only took a second before I heard the staff coming towards me, yelling something about the circuit breaker. I started to run away, not wanting to get caught when

"OUCH!" That was the problem with being enclosed in total darkness; you can't see a damned thing.

"I heard something over there!" a voice yelled.

"Put the power back on!"

If I didn't get away soon, this wasn't going to end well. Feeling my way along the wall, I still ran into something else, something very fleshy. The object I bumped into grabbed my shoulders a little too tightly for comfort. "I got him!"

Suddenly the lights came back on, practically blinding me. I looked up to see a scary looking gorilla like Kolkhoz Hall Monitor looking back at me. "What? A chick?"

For some reason that I still can't explain to this day, I decided like a complete idiot 'Hey, I can make a break for it!' And being a little more impulsive than healthy, that's exactly what I did.

I slid out from underneath the gorilla and started to run away, adrenaline running through my legs.

"Hey! Get back here!" the other hall monitor yelled at me. I looked over my shoulder and stuck my tongue out at him and continued to run.

Of course, it never occurred to me that the Kolkhoz Hall Monitors could be really fast runners, good at Martial Arts, and dealt with run away trouble makers every day. Jumping up and over me, the gorilla duo landed right in front of me, causing me to skid to a halt.

"Did you really think you could get away?" Gorilla One said.

Gorilla Two laughed at me. "You're up against the champions of Martial Arts Hall Monitoring!"

"Are you kidding me!" I yelled. "What is with this school!"

Gorilla One looked at me quizzically when suddenly he punched his palm in realization. "You're the pink haired delinquent of Furinkan aren't you?"

"Why the hell does everyone think I'm a delinquent!" I yelled. "God, first I'm a rebel and now I'm a delinquent! Where do you get these ideas?"

"Having hair of that obscene color is against the rules!" Gorilla Two yelled at me, pointing an accusing finger in my direction. "Mistress Azusa was right to demand it removed!"

"What do you mean 'Mistress Azusa'?" I asked. "Don't tell me yall are the presidents of the 'Azusa Fan Club'?"

"That is affirmative." Gorilla Two said and Gorilla One nodded agreement.

Have I mentioned that Face Faults are really painful? "I was being sarcastic!"

"Enough!" Gorilla One yelled, drawing a 'oh so scary' badge from his jacket. "I, Hall Monitor Captain of Squadron Six, will make it my duty to rid you of your monstrous hair!"

"Agreed!" Gorilla Two yelled. "Hall Monitor Captain of Squadron Five will do this act for Mistress Azusa!"

Meanwhile I was running away. Who has time to listen to those idiots?

"Stop! I said stop!" Gorilla One yelled after me. Yeah, like I was gonna listen to them.

Suddenly something thin and sharp whizzed over my head, just barely missing the skin of my scalp. "DETENTION SLIP BIRAGE!" Gorilla Two yelled as more things flew over my head.

"What the hell is with this school and sharp objects!" I yelled to no one in particular as I ran behind the bleachers. If I had paused to noticed, I would've seen several kids in the bleachers above turning their attention behind them instead of one the skating match.

"HALL MONTIOR SASH TRIP!" Gorilla One yelled behind me as something wrapped around my ankle. A sharp tug brought me rudely to the ground just in time for me to see a Detention Slip of Doom spin right past where my head would've been.

I fell to the ground thanking the Powers That Be briefly for saving my ass when I saw something bright pink flop right down in front of my face. To be more accurate, it was a clump of something that was bright pink, still tied together in a pretty little braid. It looked sort of attractive lying there on the cold concrete, a sharp contrast to it's surroundings.

An ugly black boot came down on the clump of pink, destroying the image. A harsh laugh rang above my head and I looked up to see Gorilla Two. "Do you see now?" he said roughly as Gorilla One joined him. "You can't win. Justice will always prevail."

And while Gorilla One and Two were laughing at me and I was still on the ground, I was hit with a sudden realization.

That was MY hair on the ground.

And the fuckers had cut it off.

Suddenly things got very, very red.

Slowly I rose from the ground, my eyes kept locked on the hair on the ground. I couldn't believe it. After I went to all that trouble so that Azusa wouldn't get my hair, it was cut off just like that. By a pair of Azusa fanboys. The irony was awesome.

I kicked Gorilla One in the shin as hard as I could.

I barely heard Gorilla Two yell at me as I punched him in the stomach. He doubled over in more surprise than pain. Gorilla One had since recovered and began to charge me. I slipped out of the way and stuck out my foot, sending Gorilla One crashing into Gorilla Two.

It wasn't long before they were up again, peeved that a mere girl had deterred them so. "Crazy bitch!" Gorilla One yelled. "You'll pay for that!"

I sneered and reached into the Twilight Zone. "Isn't it against school rules to use foul language?" I asked as I pulled out a lighter.

"Lighters are prohibited on school grounds!" Gorilla Two stated angrily.

My laugh was hallow as I glared at the primates. "So are explosives." I reached into my bag and pulled out a nice round firework, similar to the one's Happosai would use eventually. Only mine was purple, therefore much cooler.

The two hall monitors' eyes widened in horror as they began to back away quickly.

Too late.

BOOM!

As the smoke cleared and I loaded another firework, I smiled. The shop owner wasn't bragging when he said they were the most powerful fireworks around. "THIS IS FOR MY HAIR YOU BASTARDS!" I yelled as I threw another two fireworks at the mass of smoke.

I couldn't see what was happening anymore, I was just widely throwing fireworks. No wonder Happosai used fireworks, you couldn't get anything better than this! This is what I never got to do in my old world and now, it felt great! And what's best was the bastards deserved it! They mutilated my hair, nearly killed me, they got everything that was coming to them.

As I reached behind me to get another bomb, I felt a hand on my wrist. Turning around I saw Jhim standing behind me, barely seeing him for the smoke. But the look he was giving me was clear. Jhim was pissed.

Before I could even react he was dragging me away from the crowd and into a deserted hallway where he rounded on me angrily.

"What are you thinking!" Jhim raged at me. "We did not get you those fireworks to throw around like common weapons! How can you be so… irresponsible!"

All the anger and adrenaline that had been there a few seconds before was suddenly replaced by shame. "But they were throwing sharp object at me. It was self defense."

"Bull shit! You started it by trying to run away! If you had just done what they said nothing would've happened!"

This was the angriest I'd ever seen Jhim, I felt like my dad was yelling at me. "But… my hair…"

"You scared the hell out of me!" Jhim yelled. "I'm watching the match when I hear about two thugs attacking a pink haired girl. I go back there and you know what you're doing? You're blowing up shit!"

I shuffled my feet. "I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I won't do it again."

Jhim snorted. "Yes you will."

Wow, this really was like talking to my dad. Experience had told me to shut up about now and just agree withwhoever was yelling at me.

"Look Liz,you can't go around blowingstuff up," Jhim said."You're lucky this is an anime or else you would've gotten seriously hurt." He sighed and leaned against a wall, covering hiseyes. "Yousure did make good work out of em. I thought youdidn't fight."

"My dad made me take Tae-Kwon-Do when I was younger. I quit cause I wasn't aggressive enough," I said.

At the last comment Jhim began to laugh. "Says the girl that just blew up some thugs."

"Actually they were champions of Martial Arts Hall Monitoring." Jhim and I looked at each other for a second before bursting out laughing.

"Come on," Jhim said. "We'd better go see Akane."

I nodded and followed him back into the arena. "They won right?"

Jhim nodded. "Yeah, everything happened like it was supposed to. So you don't have to worry about Azusa."

I groaned. "Oh great, that's such good news."

"Oh my god Rizu, what happened to your hair?" Akane said in horror when Jhim and I walked into the girl's locker room.

"Azusa didn't get to it, did she?" Yuka asked anxiously.

I shook my head. "No, she wouldn't do that."

"Well then what happened?" Kotori asked.

I laughed nervously and scratched the back of my head. "Well you see there were these guys…"

"So that was you?" Ranma-chan said from the top of the lockers.Her hairwasstill wetfrom jumping into thewaterto save Akane."I thought I heard something."

"But that doesn't explain how you got your hair cut," Akane said.

I fingered what was left of my hair. Two rather large strands had been left in front while the back had been completely demolished, split ends galore. I sighed. "Think what happened with your hair and you get the gist."

Pchan, who was with Akane, looked a bit ashamed as he looked up to Akane.

"That's too bad," Akane said. "I liked it long."

"Yeah, me too," I said downcast.

Jhim shrugged. "I think it'll look better when you get it trimmed up, don't worry."

I nodded as Ranma hopped down from the lockers. "So I guess this means you won't kill me huh?" she said.

I smiled when suddenly the wall crashed in revealing a pissed purpled hair girl with huge clubs. "Ranma! I kill!"

Did you get any of that? Review and tell me if I screwed up.