An unusual disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is the trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. And Son Turned Daughter was originally written back in 2002 by FanFiction author Tangent, and his characters Megumi, Yasushi and Ayane have, likewise, been borrowed without permission. Please see the first two chapters of this story under his pen name. This story has been written for non-commercial purposes only.

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When Ranma came back, she saw the crowd breaking up and was beginning to wander through the shopping district more. She had to carry her long box tied with the beautifully tied ribbon-and-bow on-end to protect it from the passers-by. She looked for familiar faces, saw a few, (many in school uniforms that weren't Furinkan's) but was really looking for Akane. Before she did, however, she found Nabiki's lesser stakeholders Kikuko and Ryonami comparing their betting books.

"Are those flowers for me?" teased Kikuko.

"Can I have half?" Ryonami also smiled. "There has to be two dozen long-stems in there!"

"At least," Kikuko added.

"You know gambling's illegal in Japan?" Ranma frowned. There had been betting on her fights from a young age. Called "challenges", their wagers were "legal" because they were not being paid in money. (That was what had started this tournament!) As she got older, she noticed more and more those watching sometimes bet money (usually because her old man needed it to buy essentials). But it wasn't until the school's "Battle of the Sexes" that she had seen it firsthand on a scale of this size. Now everybody seemed out to make a profit out of something that had meant to be about personal honor.

"We're under age, minors!" Kikuko remained smiling.

"We wouldn't receive the same sentence as adults," Ryonami remained smiling. (Irritatingly, they were reminding Ranma of their boss and role model, Nabiki.)

"But more importantly, the winners don't win money!"

"It was Nabiki's idea to arrange with the shopkeepers that the "prizes" would be discounts!" Ryonami laughed.

"The larger the "prize", the larger the discount!" Kikuko also laughed.

Ranma had to admit that maybe Nabiki had named her Vulcan Enterprises correctly. Well, at this point, there was little she could do about it. "The quarterfinals are next, right?"

"Right!" Ryonami said, looking at the current matchup list.

Kikuko already had it out, "First match is between Akane and Megumi."

"Hey! The very first preliminary round was for those in Kodachi's group!" Ranma protested.

"We've been mixing up the orders," Ryonami told her. "You must have noticed."

"If you had been paying attention." It sounded like Kikuko was doing a "Nabiki dig" at her.

"It was Nabiki's idea!"

"It confuses the "customers" enough to give us even more of a betting advantage."

"Which means the shopkeepers will have to give out fewer discounts."

"The House must always win!"

"It's a win, win!"

"Except for the bettors," Ranma realized she was still frowning.

"No, no: Customers!" the two chimed in together, laughing.

Ranma walked away with her pretty box. Well, the only ones that would be hurt by it, she guessed, would be people who shouldn't be "customers". And maybe their families.

Wait! Why was she walking away? If Akane was up next, then…. She saw her waving at her from the table they had had their early lunch at. Ranma hurried to her.

"Flowers?" She began to smile, perhaps wishing they were for her.

"My weapons," Ranma told her. "I hadda have some way to carry them. The shopwoman insisted the box be made to look like their normal ones." She sighed in resignation. "I'm advertising for them, now. Hana's Flowers. It was the only way I could get what I needed free." She had gone commercial.

She set the box on its end, out of the way and sat down.

There was a large plate of soba noodles in front of Akane. "I have to carb up for my match! It's coming up, you know!" She was excited. "You can order whatever you want from the restaurant. It's free."

"Free?"

"Shampoo paid for our exclusive rights to this table with one of her gold coins."

"Where is Shampoo?"

"She's with her great-grandma." Akane, her mouth full of noodles, tried not to giggle. "When Cologne found out she rapped Shampoo on the head with her staff and then on the butt as she had her march to the Bathhouse Cafe with her. I think Shampoo won't be pulling many more gold coins out of her cleavage."

Ranma was back to frowning. "Except for the staff, it sounds like what my old man did to me before I could defend myself against him." Was Cologne too powerful to challenge?

"Mmm! This sesame soba is super!" Akane said.

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Shampoo came back after Akane was leaving. "Don't let Disqualify Girl cheat!"

That spoiled Akane's mood. "That's right. Yasushi is one of Megumi's girls." She pulled out her usual large, carpenter's mallet.

"I thought you were gonna see if you could take something else out of your weapons-space," Ranma said.

"This is the first thing that comes out," Akane explained, frowning slightly at it. "It's harder to reach whatever others I have. But I don't even know yet how I can call this one out. I think it's spontaneous, whenever I really feel a real need to call something up. So, I have to hope what I need will come out when I need them."

"Man, I'd hate to hafta have magic as my caddy."

"Wish me luck!"

Both Ranma and Shampoo sent her off with a, "Good luck!" and "Don'tlet Cheater Girls win!"

"You don't look like you're happy wantin' Akane to win," Ranma said.

"Shampoo no happy because Grandmother put Shampoo on allowance," she said glumly. "Now Shampoo can only pull out yen coins."

"Only 500-yen at a time, huh?"

"And tribe treasury no have many yen! Grandmother say is one reason she open restaurant."

"And why isn't she out here? I thought she said she was interested in assessing the martial artists around her."

"Great-grandmother is assessing!" Shampoo looked level and up and down around the area of the fighting ring. After a few moments, she pointed, "There! That…. That no Grandmother!(?)"

Ranma looked to where she had been pointing. She was just in time to see Sasuke jump from behind one of the mirrors and meet himself halfway down. Only one continued to the ground.

"Aya! Split Man know Dark Twin technique!"

"Your grandmom can do the same thing, and be in more than one place at once?!" If giving up mass was the price paid for the technique, that would explain why Cologne was so little and shrivelled up. If she continued doing that, Ranma figured the already shrivelled up old woman might not be around much longer.

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It was a few more minutes before the round began. Megumi and Akane had to trash talk at each other.

And to have their own personal challenges. "When I win, you have to be one of my crew! I'll be the boss!"

"When I win, you have to do what I say, when I say it!" Akane answered back, less confident than she wished to appear.

"You don't want to be my boss?" Yasushi asked.

"I'll boss you around, if that'll make you happy," Akane said.

"It would." There Yasushi was being off-center, again. Just like her talent.

"And Round One of the All-Girls Tournament Quarterfinals should begin soon! The contestants should be getting into the ring - Now!" Ayane announced over the echoing PA system.

"Hey!" Akane cried as soon as she was on the black surface not covered by the thinly padded mat. "Why is the ring made of metal?!"

"Ha! You just noticed!?" Megumi mocked her.

"It's not only a weapon, but a tool of one of the contestants," Yasushi explained.

"Who?! Wait, that's not important now. Can Megumi use it?!" Akane demanded to know.

"She has not claimed it as a weapon before the match," Yasushi said.

"So, anybody who uses a weapon they haven't said they were going to use before the match will be disqualified?"

Akane wondered how Kodachi could allow that rule. Was she so confident of her cheating abilities that she thought she wouldn't be caught?

But she had something more urgent to think about! She knew how ready Yasushi was to disqualify people. She had to rush and say, "My weapons are my hammers!" And she pulled out her mallet.

"Disqualify her!" Megumi told Yasushi. "The match begins as soon as she comes into the ring!"

"Aw, no!" Ayane, Megumi's other girl, was heard to say. "I want to announce! I want to tell everybody Akane lost because she was beaten!"

"You won't be saying it, because I WON'T lose!" Akane told her and the growing audience.

"When Megumi was late getting into the ring the last time, she said matches don't begin until the bell rings," Yasushi said.

"You're not going to disqualify me?" Akane was surprised.

"Megumi says she can beat you. And Ayane wants you to be publicly beaten. And the audience wants to see somebody beaten," Yasushi said.

Sasuke was about to ring the bell, when Megumi hurriedly held up a baseball, "Everybody knows I've been using balls as my weapons!" *Ding! Ding!* Just in time!

The tall "pitcher" threw the ball straight at Akane's head. As it was traveling over 70 mph, 113 km, at a third of the distance of a pitcher from the batter, Akane was barely able to bring her mallet up and shield her face.

Taking the mallet away, she saw the baseball low bounce off the padded mat and disappear!

It reappeared in Megumi's hand. Her pitching arm reared back to shoot the ball at Akane again!

The Furinkan girl's champion hitter was prepared enough this time to bat it straight back at her! And did!

But it was met in mid-air by another ball! Both baseballs laid where they had dropped. Akane guessed this meant she was thinking of using a different kind of ball! She was ready with her large, wooden mallet! She was determined to hit this one back, too!

It was a medicine ball! The impact was a dull thud! And Akane's arms were hurt by hitting something heavy that yielded the wrong way! She could heal herself, but it would take longer than this match!

The medicine ball remained as Megumi reached for yet another kind of ball! What this time? A cannonball?

Akane had to go on the attack! She dropped her mallet, refusing to call for it. She was vulnerable! If she couldn't pull a hammer out in seconds, she would lose! Painfully!

What else could she find besides the large, carpenter's hammer for pounding beams into place?!

Out came a croquet mallet. ... At least, it was different.

Megumi smirked, and tossed croquet balls at her, one after another!

Akane hit them back, imagining her rival as a wicket!

Megumi merely ducked or stepped over her returned balls. To show what she thought of her archrival's skills, she was treating it as a game!

Then everybody discovered that the head of the hammer hadn't been screwed on tightly - It flew off and barely missed Megumi! Many in the crowd who hadn't yet learned it wasn't guaranteed to be safe too close to the action, tried to step further away in the crowd. Then there were the thrill seekers.

"Foul!" Megumi cried.

"A part of a weapon can still be used as a weapon, remember?" Yasushi ruled. "Disqualify Girl" wanted the crowd's show to go on. Or hadn't the time for the cheating come yet?

Akane dropped the croquet handle, more confident that she could find some other kind of hammer. Out came another wooden one. Unlike the standard hammers, this was a solid piece of wood with the head-end as long as the short handle and completely, smoothly round. Was this a...carver's hammer?

Angry at being overruled, the strong girl rolled a bowling ball at Akane. The small, light hammer wasn't going to let her hit that back! But if she used anything else but a hammer, she would lose!

Instead of stepping away, Akane got down on one knee and let the top of the carver's mallet meet the bowling ball! Her sore arms absorbed the impact until it stopped, then shoved it back! She fell face down after putting so much of her energy into it.

Megumi got away from it. But it continued to roll. Ayane screamed as it rolled off the ring where she had just been. "Akane! That's a penalty!"

"Yeah!" Megumi agreed!

While those two were browbeating Yasushi to side with them, Akane knew she had had enough! She had to improvise!

Out came a rubber-head hammer! She dropped it, and reached for her trusty carpenter's mallet - But it was already in her hand! Perfect!

She charged at Megumi, hitting the croquet balls and baseballs along the way at her! She didn't have to worry about hurting the referee because Yasushi was automatically protected by whatever talent she had. But she still had to keep things away from her or risk being disqualified!

Megumi wouldn't let her own balls hit her: She made them disappear back into her weapons-space as soon as she saw them coming at her!

Perfect: She was distracted! Akane dropped her mallet and brought out the rubber hammer - which she then dropped! Her mallet back in her hand, she whacked the rubber hammer with the carpenter's hammer!

It struck Megumi solidly in her soft chest! Screaming in surprise as much as pain, the girl fell back against the ring's ropes.

Akane brought her mallet down towards her shins! Megumi got them high out of the way. While her legs were raised, Akane smacked her buttocks and lifted them up and over the top rope! Again, Ayane had to get out of the way, this time of her falling boss!

"Aaa! -Arr!" Ayane cried. "Akane can't win!"

"Akane wins," Yasushi said. "Remember your promise," she softly said to Akane.

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"The drinks are on me!" Akane told those at their table. "Or, rather, the restaurant."

"You look good, hot and sweaty," Ranma told her.

"I'm hot and…." Akane sniffed herself as she tried to comb her long, damp hair with her fingers. "I should clean up."

"Why? Only get hot and stinky again!" Shampoo dug. "Shampoo no become hot and stinky," she bragged.

"That's right!" Ranma remembered, smacking her own palm. "We have been workin' on turnin' your excess body heat into ki energy! You haven't internalized the technique, yet. Don't try and divide your attention with tryin' to do it now, while you're fightin' today, but we gotta to have you practice more."

"So I won't "look good hot and sweaty"?"

"Aw, I did mean that." Or did she? That sentiment was gone, now.

"I'm still going to the ladies room," Akane said, entering the restaurant.

"Akane slow learner, no?" Shampoo asked.

"She just don't got the same number of years we got at learnin' the different techniques you need to redirect your energies into ki energy!" Ranma defended her friend.

Ranma got up, and, taking her box from the flower shop, headed away.

"Ranma hate Shampoo!"

"No, I don't. Not really," she told the Guizi girl. "Ukyo is in the next match."

"And Ranma want watch friend from child time!"

"I don't wanna watch. Whenever we do fight, I want to be caught off guard if I can. Then she'll get a better chance to hurt me in a fair fight!"

"No since child time have Shampoo have apology fight,"

But Ranma had already leaped for the rooftops!

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Where to run to, though, so that she doesn't accidentally hear what Ukyo's doing through the PA system set up throughout the shopping district?

The school! She would see how Nabiki and Ryoga were doing at keeping the Lord of Nerima from interfering in the tournament and causing trouble.

Her problem would be to find them.

"Little pua'a wanna join big, fat mama in de luau! Be very succulent!"

"Bwee! Bwee! BWEE!" Okay, it wasn't a problem. They were running around on the top floor.

"Spam! Spam!" Nabiki called from the rooftop. Ranma could make out her holding up her thermos of hot water.

Ranma landed beside her on the school rooftop. "Isn't Spam made with pork? That's sick!" And it would be gruesome if the Headmaster did catch Ryoga.

"One, it's so Ryoga associates me with somebody who does not want him to be Spam. That'll help him think of me as his safe haven. And, two, Spam is the favorite of Hawaii. Which, oddly enough, Old Man Kuno hates! It's not traditional. But, then, neither are Hawaiian shirts. They started out as kimonos.."

Ranma frowned, but didn't argue. This was between Ryoga and her. "It doesn't sound like it's going well for Ryoga."

"On the contrary. He has Old Coconut-head so rattled with his appearing, hiding, and disappearing with his cloning technique, he can hardly think of anything else but eating the annoying pig in revenge."

Ranma felt nauseous, but kept it to herself. "Well, I gotta head back. Ukyo's match should be-"

Ryoga as Fang the pig leaped up from the floor below and over the roof's railing.

"Darling!" Nabiki greeted it. "Come here for the cure, and you can pester him as a stranger again."

Suddenly the door to the roof exploded! The shock wave sent the two humans nearer the railing, and Fang against it!

Out from the smoke stepped the Headmaster in his Hawaiian shirt and surfer pants, "*Ha, ha, ha!* Come to de Great Kahuna, little puaʻa! He got de apple fo' de mout - A pineapple!"

He threw it when he saw the little, black pig coming back up. It exploded! Ranma shielded the taller Nabiki as best she could from the shrapnel.

"*Ha, ha, ha!* Principal Headmaster teach de little puaʻa de lesson!"

Through the haze of the smoke, Ranma saw Fang appear on top of the roof of the door behind the man. It leaped down the Headmaster's head, shoulders and ran off with his sunglasses!

"Enuf is enuf is too much!" He cried, and ran after him. And jumped off the roof, too!

"The anti-suicide fence didn't work," Nabiki said, putting her hands over her heart in mock respect. "Too bad, I can't believe he killed himself."

"Me, too," Ranma said. "Are you gonna be okay with him seein' you? You, he knows!" Who in Furinkan didn't know Nabiki.?

"There was a lot of haze, and he was too focused on his tiny enemy to perhaps for me to have registered with his already cracked coconut. But if he does link me, then he does. I promised Ryoga I would be his partner. After all, he's risking his life for me."

Ranma had difficulty taking that in. This was a side of the Tendo sister she didn't think could be there.

Nabiki saw the girl's reaction and frowned. Her reputation was as the Ice Queen was at risk. "Go! We'll be okay, here! Go!"

"O,okay. Good luck, Nabiki. And tell Ryoga that, too, for me."

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Ranma rooftop hopped as fast as she could with her flower box (less attractive now because of the effects of the explosions, though still with the ribbon and bow. -Hey! Nabiki didn't make any comment about the box. She was serious about what she was doing).

Ucchan's match had to be over. She had to challenge her to what she really wanted, a fight between just them two, no holds barred! And this time she would honestly fight back, determined to win. Just not too easily, taking her time. Maybe they could use the ring before it was torn down! But how could she find her in this crowd? There were Furinkan boys in the same kind of plebe outfit as Ukyo wore, but none had their hair as long. Or had a giant spatula strapped to a bandolier.

With her trained senses on the lookout for her, she thought she should be able to find Ucchan. But she couldn't. Maybe Ucchan was still near the fighting ring. She had to do a few one-handed stunts to the sides of the roofs with spectators on them. But the roofs closest to the action were the most crowded.

All but one. Why was it empty?

When Ranma got there, it smelled strongly of a hot spring: rotten eggs brimstone. It couldn't be coming from the roof vent of the Bathhouse Cafe; that was halfway down the block, and the wind was blowing the wrong way.

Then she felt the trace of something disturbing. The martial artist who boasted of not being afraid of anything but could pride herself in her bravery, felt a chill run up her spine.

The fighting ring's bell rang!

"Mariko! Mariko! Fight! Fight! Win!" The epauletted, yellow-and-pink cheerleader did her high kick and knee lift routine straddling a ring's post. All while shaking her pom poms. And there were some in the crowd joining in her cheer, mostly teens Ranma did not recognize, though many of the girls were costumed like hers.

"Puff Girl want fight high!? Shampoo fight high, too!" And the Chinese warrior leaped from the mat towards the brownette, being carried by the force of her throw of one of her solid metal chui maces!

Mariko did a somersault over Shampoo to land gracefully on the mat. "Love's Heads-over-heels Demonstration!"

Shampoo had to catch one of the ropes with the handle-side of her other mace and a foot to stop herself from leaving the ring and losing. She did it easily, having allowed for the possibility of her missing on the first try.

Meanwhile, Mariko threw her pom poms down on the black metal surface the mat did not cover.

To Ranma's surprise, the paper shreds caught on fire! The flames quickly rose towards Shampoo!

Just as the back of her silk fighting uniform was about to be singed, Shampoo unhooked the mace and used her foot to shove herself off the rope, over the flames and backwards towards Mariko, her other mace aiming at the perky cheerleader this time.

Mariko set herself firmly and met the mace with a rubber end of the baton. And as soon as they came together, she let go!? The mace continued down and was stopped only when the baton's other rubber tip was bounced off the mat, which bounced the mace away. This made for an awkward landing for Shampoo. She could have sprained her ankle.

She recovered nicely, though. "Shampoo would use feet against Puff Girl, but rule say Shampoo must use weapons. Shampoo still have weapons!" she declared, going on the attack with them.

From her own weapons-space, Mariko pulled two more batons, already twirling! "Love's a Whirl!"

She used them as shields against the maces! No, more than just shields - Every time a baton knocked against a mace, Shampoo's trained, fluid motions were made more and more awkward! Soon Shampoo's skill level seemed to be reduced to that of a beginner!

Shampoo jumped back, retreating to try another tactic!

And just in time: A blade had come out from the baton's shaft and might have cut into the mace's wooden handle! "Love Cuts to the-" She stopped when she saw it didn't, now.

"Puff Girl too, too tricky!" Shampoo told herself. Ranma knew that this was the moment the warrior would have to think of an improv. But could she?

Shampoo moved and Mariko moved to continue facing the other girl. When Shampoo was where she wanted to be, she let go of one of her maces. It rolled not at her opponent, but off the mat. The long handle made the ball of the chui curve on its long path. Ranma noticed that the metal changed color some as if it were being heated up. It really became hot when it rolled through the dying flames from the burning pom poms.

Meanwhile, seeing that her opponent only had one weapon, now, Mariko launched a barrage of batons at Shampoo. "Overwhelming Love!"

The Chinese warrior was reduced to using her mace to shield herself from them and hit others away!

Ranma gasped with the audience who saw one of the batons boomeranged around Shampoo while she was distracted with the others!

Mariko then had to see how far the red hot mace was curving around towards her!

It was her that was distracted, not Shampoo: The lavender-haired girl ducked! The boomerang baton missed her and headed back at Mariko!

Mariko ducked at the last minute! With the girl still distracted, Shampoo used the mace in her hand to bowl her down! Shampoo then rushed to the hot mace and retrieved it.

She stood over the cheerleader, daring her to countermove!

The cheerleader brought out a pom pom. "This one doesn't burn!" she said, as spikes came out from behind the shredding. "Love Can Hurt!"

"No, but metal become hot!" Shampoo said, bashing at the spikes, blunting and bending them.

Mariko was not as strong as the life-long warrior! Not just Mariko's arms were achingly jolted by the blows! The pom pom weapon was finally knocked from her hands! The mace was coming within inches, centimeters, of her! It interfered with her ability to reach safely into her weapons-space!

Her arm had to go out sideways. She found the closest weapon to her!

"Shampoo wins!" Yasushi announced.

"Mariko-chan can't lose…" But even as she said it, she knew she had lost. In her hand was Shampoo's other mace, the one that had knocked her over.

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It was a while before Ranma gave up looking for Ucchan. She headed back to the reserved table.

Akane and Shampoo were already in the middle of their truced rivalry, "...No secret weapon, Shampoo?"

"Secret weapon remain secret! Shampoo no need. Shampoo beat Puff Girl with chui!"

"Sure…!" Akane mocked. "I don't think you have anything else in your weapons-space."

"Shampoo show Shampoo have more! Shampoo show when Shampoo fight Loud Girl Akane!"

"You'd have to get past me in this tournament," Ranma reminded her as she landed beside them,

"Where WERE you, Ranma?!" Akane's question sounded urgent.

"I was lookin' in on Ryoga and Nabiki. Things are gettin' out of hand at the school."

"Ukyo won!" Akane's announcement seemed as big of a surprise to her as it was to Ranma.

"Sh, she…." That threw her plans for her friend Ucchan out the window. Then she realized, "Kodachi lost? Ucchan beat Kodachi?!"

Akane nodded grimly. "And she fights me next." It sounded like Ranma's other friend might be losing her confidence.

"Man! My two friends fightin' each other!" She was torn. Akane was her best friend. And it was in the here and now. What her and Ucchan had was in the past. But she wanted their friendship to come into the present. It maybe wouldn't happen until the okonomiyaki girl had gotten her deeply felt need to fight out her long-running anger. And most of that seemed directed at Ranma. To get to her in the way that guaranteed to Ukyo her greatest chance for an all-out fight where Ranma would have her own deeply felt need to win, she would have to go through Akane. It would be a no holds barred - hopefully within the rules - all-out battle!

"The ring is a griddle!" Akane reminded herself.

"Is true! Battle platform still hot when Shampoo fight! Shampoo burn if Shampoo touch seasoned, iron skillet part! Also Puff Girl."

"And that's when after it's been turned off!" Akane was worried.

"Aar! I didn't wanna hear how Ukyo fights!" Ranma said, throwing her hands up near her ears.

But she saw the look on Akane's face, and became concerned. She made up her mind. It was Akane she had to root for to win! "Tell me what happened. Maybe we can help you spot her weak point."

Akane nodded. Her eyes became unfocused as she remembered what she had seen and heard.

"Ukyo was on the mat, bragging about how oishī her food was. Kodachi wouldn't let the "tradesman" finish…"

"Tradesman?" Ranma asked.

"She said if the girl wanted to look like a boy, she shouldn't be in a contest only girls are allowed to enter," Akane said.

"Make Pizza Girl too, too angry," Shampoo said. "Have Pizza Girl say, "I'll make you a tradesman when I own you!" Shampoo said in more proper, though male, Japanese. "And I'll wear your clothes and be more feminine than you!"

"And that made Kodachi - WAIT! That's not important!" Akane said. "That doesn't have us get any closer to finding Ukyo's weak point!"

"No.?" Shampoo said. "Shampoo insult Mad Laugh Girl, and now we have tournament. Insult have Mad Laugh Girl make no sense."

"You mean even less sense than usual," Ranma nodded, filing that away for future use. "Go on, Akane."

"Okay. Let me see…. Kodachi had the high ground on a post. She started with her standard weapon, her ribbon. Ukyo tossed her big spatual down, and took out two of her regular sized spatulas and-"

"Did she take them out of her bandolier?" Ranma asked.

"She use Dark Magic!" Shampoo reported.

Ranma nodded. "We know she has weapon-space. We saw it at school. But we saw she didn't know she had it, then. She shouldn't know all that much about how to use it."

"She does know, now!" Akane said, haunted. "Better than I do!"

"What happened?!"

"Pizza Girl treat ribbon like big noodle!" Shampoo told her. Then she had to ask, "Noodles go on Japanese Pizza?"

"All sorts of toppings," Ranma said off-hand while keeping the picture in her head. "And I bet each of them can count as weapons in the tournament. Akane?"

"Right! Uh, Kodachi threw one of her spiked clubs at her. Ukyo swatted it away with her spatulas, but had to toss them away because they were too tangled in the ribbon to maneuver them well. But two more spatulas appeared in her hands and they protected her from more of the spiked clubs.

"Then Kodachi threw a gymnastics ball at Ukyo. The giant spatula was instantly in her hands. When she hit the ball, the ball exploded with powder!"

"Kodachi's neurotoxin poison!" Ranma cried, now worried for Ucchan.

"It exploded and burned!" Akane said, shaken.

"What!?"

"Pizza Girl bring back big spatula from hot, hot metal of ring. Throw on skillet before on purpose! And powder cloud of most things can explode!" Shampoo reminded them.

"Now that I'm gonna remember when I'm around Kodachi!" Ranma said.

"Out of the explosion came Ukyo's own ribbon made out of noodles!" Akane told Ranma.

"Shampoo no eat Pizza noodles! No can chew!"

"They were made with flour and rubber cement, I think she said," Akane said. "The noodles pulled Kodachi off her post. Kodachi used her gymnastics acrobatic skills to flip herself at Ukyo. She had a hoop to capture Ukyo in, and then, then…." Akane became white and shaken. "When Ukyo grabbed the hoop instead, Kodachi released the blades inside the hoop.

"Ukyo held on! Blood came from her hand, but she held on! She took the razor-sharp blade towards Kodachi! It was like she had blood in her eyes!" It was like rewatching a horror movie, the kind Akane hated. "Kodachi was surprised, and stumbled as she retreated! She fell on the searing griddle! She was badly burned! And Ukyo smiled! She was about to toss the slicing hoop at her, and, and…." It was becoming too much for Akane.

"Referee stop fight. Say Pizza Girl win," Shampoo finished the narration.

What had become of Ukyo!? That didn't sound like the Ucchan she knew! And it didn't sound like the Ukyo she had "dated" and gotten a feel for! She sensed her deep rooted honor! Something was WRONG!

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When Ranma approached the ring for her bout, she noticed that the blood stain hadn't been entirely removed from the mat. And she could smell traces of cooking flesh. There was no question, now: When she met Ukyo in the final round, she would have to take the friend she once had absolutely seriously.

When? Didn't she have more faith in Akane?

"The last and final round of the All-Girls Tournament Quarterfinals is between Ranma Saotome of the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts and Azusa Shiratori of the Azusa School of Martial Arts Pair Skating!" Ayane announced through the district's PA speakers.

"To make it absolutely clear, …" Apparently, many of the spectators had been unhappy about not being certain about what were the particular weapons each girl was restricted to. "...each of the contestants will declare what their weapons of choice are!"

There was no question about who would be the first to eagerly speak, "Azusa use her cute, shocking pink rollerblades, her cute cotton-candy pink costume with the yellow tutu and more, and…" she giggled and held up, "permanent ink, marking pens!"

"Marking pens?" Well, at least it didn't seem like she was going to try to cut off her pigtail. Or whack her with one of her small mallets. (With hammers being Akane's weapon of choice, maybe she didn't want to look like a copycat.)

"Ranma Saotome?" Ayane asked, impatiently.

"Right! My weapons are…." As she was looking around for her Hana's Flowers box, she felt a tug on her pants leg. Akane was in her corner, handing it up to her. Ranma gave her a silent "thank you". Opening the box, she lifted out her Hana's Flowers apron.

"Azusa's going to be attacked with flowers!" she said happily, jumping up and down where she stood. On her skates! "Azusa knows all about having flowers thrown at her! Azusa has oodles and lovely oodles of fans!"

"The apron is not my weapon!" Ranma yelled to make it "absolutely clear". "The pockets hold my weapons!" She took some of them out to show everybody. "My weapons are candy!" Cheap dagashiya penny candy.

"Candy!? She's got to be kidding! I've heard of ridiculous martial arts - Yeah! Like martial arts martial arts tea ceremony! Or children's toys! I thought martial arts shogi was the worse! Oh? What about… - but this has gotta be the stupidest soundin' one!" The voices of the crowd merged into each other until they all seemed to be speaking in one dissatisfied voice.

"There's nothing that can't be used as a weapon, if you have the skill!" It was a motto of anything-goes, but even Ranma had her doubts at the moment. She just had to hope her hunch was right and the right moment came for her to use her "secret weapon".

The bell rang! Azua was the first off the mark! Rollerblading at Ranma, she tore off one of the shiny beads from her costume and tossed it! The explosion was small, but it would have been enough to topple somebody unsteady of their skates. But this time, it meant for its flash and small cloud to interfere with Ranma's vision. And before those were gone, more were added!

Ranma knew she had to make her move, and fast. She threw a gumball!

Azusa was in the middle of a kick with her blade-tipped skate! But not knowing what special trick the gumball had hidden inside it, she flinched! She would have tumbled if her skill weren't high enough for her swerve without having to touch the mat the shoulder had come so close to!

"Maybe I won't hafta use my secret weapon," Ranma hoped, unwrapping a gumball and popping it into her mouth. If she could get it wet enough and soft enough, she could use the gunky candy to jamb it up between her wheels! Most of Azusa's threat came from her utter skill with skates. Maybe.

Ranma threw a jawbreaker and watched as Azusa was now spooked by that! This gave Ranma more maneuvering room. She leaped on it with her left, slippered foot. Balancing on it with her arch, she pushed herself off with her right, slippered foot. She now had her own "wheel" (of a sort). She could only travel in short bursts by taking her left foot off and then putting it back on in just the right way. But she could pivot and do quicker "slides" than she could without the "ball bearing".

Azusa was already suspecting that there were no special attacks hidden in the candy. They were ordinary candies! Stable on her skates again, she raced towards the girl who had insulted her by thinking that sweets could defeat a kawaii girl! She wasn't even skilled at using the candy, she guessed, seeing how she couldn't even blow a proper bubble gum bubble (yet).

The skater took her tutu from around her waist, and began using it as a whip! Ranma could hear its crack! She had to make a jawbreak! Off she went on top of it again!

When far enough away, she pivoted on top of it. She scattered lollipops between her and Azusa.

Azusa took the long way around. The griddle part of the ring wasn't hot enough to melt her polyurethane wheels, but it did begin to soften them, she did not roll as swiftly on her left rollerblade. She had to stay off it as much as she could. Ranma's advantage! (And a warning for her to keep her jawbreaker and other candies on the mat! Couldn't jawbreakers explode and disfigure?!)

Ranma used the jawbreaker to keep the lollipops between them, frustrating Azusa! She tore off more of her exploding beads! But Ranma knew she had to stop running - She had to go on the offensive!

Swooping up a handful of lollipops, she held one between each finger. She had striking weapons!

And she blew a perfect bubble gum bubble!

Azusa took off her ribboned scrunchie and tossed it: It squeezed the bubble and stuck to it, making the gum useless!

It became an attack-and-parry battle, with Ranma only getting a few hits on a leg not protected by her boots. Everytime the skate hit a lollipop, more was chipped off! And soon, one by one, they would break, leaving only the sticks!

They could have been easily bent, but Azusa had to be willing to endure the poking. Before she would do that, she first had to insult the Candy Girl with her marking pens!

Now had to be the time for Ranma's secret weapon! With her free hand she pulled a wax lip!

The audience had to groan. How much more stupid could it get!? Ranma was one of the star attractions!? Yeah! As if!

But it threw Azusa for a loss! She remembered what had happened when Ranma had kissed Mikado - She had blown his mind: Really! He was never the same with her again! He no longer would tolerate her. He would no longer let her bash him with whatever she could find! He broke up the Azusa team! And she couldn't find somebody else she could hire to be her skating partner! The best did not want to tolerate her! Now she had nobody but Robespierre...and he was merely her butler.

Ranma had heard the rumors. Now she felt their truth.

The bright red, strawberry lips approached hers! "Eek!" she screamed. Without thinking, she backed away from it!

Ranma stopped her from rolling over the griddle.

But that was only so she could drop a couple of other wax lips behind her. A simple nudge, and the wheels were caught up in the softened and sticky wax candy so close to the griddle.

Azusa's mouth open, Ranma shoved a sourball in. "I have more," Ranma said, bringing out more with one hand. And with the other she placed a wax lip to her cheek, all the while making kissing motions with her own lips.

The ultimate kawaii girl hurried out the ring. (She was kind of cute, Ranma thought.)

"Ranma wins," Yasushi declared.

Through psychological warfare.

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