Chapter Twenty-One
At the sound of the bell, both teams came at each other. Mikado and Azusa moved with the grace of experts while Ranma and Akane moved more like people on a mission. Both descriptions were possibly the most accurate ones possible given the situation.
It was only then as they headed towards each other that Akane realized something she had previously overlooked. 'Oh crap! I spent all this time just teaching Ranma how to skate and how to do this one thing I'm sure will work against them. We didn't spend any real time training in fighting on skates if that doesn't work, while they have experience and coordinated attacks for it.'
Pushing the thought aside she looked on firmly. 'We'll have to stick with the plan and improvise when we have to. Ranma won last time with even less training and a partner who attacked him as much as the enemy. We can do this.' She told herself.
Ranma went for the first move, hoping to end this fight quickly. Azusa easily dodged him but he wasn't her target in the first place. Mikado, more surefooted on the ice, was able to avoid it too and used the provided opening to get closer to Akane. He took the unwilling girl into his arm as if to hold her to him in a way Kuno would have liked to mimic.
"May I say you're looking very lovely today. Akane Tendo was it?" Mikado told the disgusted girl. He had no interaction with her before this match this time, but apparently that wasn't going to stop him from trying the same thing he did in her dream when they did first meet.
"I'm taken." Akane bluntly told him.
"That matters not." He replied, moving closer.
Girls in the crowd were shrieking at the implication that Mikado was going to kiss her instead of them.
"Whoa, Sanzenin has wasted no time in getting to use his infamous kiss attack." The announcer told everyone, as if such a thing was really a tactic.
Mikado probably would have succeeded in his plot to some degree had it not been for Ranma putting his skates by the tuxedoed boy's head. Apparently Mikado had overlooked the fact that Ranma and Akane had never once stopped holding hands, giving Ranma the perfect chance to get behind him. And in this case, perched on him.
"Oh no you don't." Ranma declared, using his feet to grip Mikado and pull his head away.
Azusa chose then to assist her partner with a kick strike to Ranma from above. "Ranma!" Akane warned, seeing it coming. Ranma looked, and a second later got a face full of knee. Better that than ice skates at least. The impact pushed him back and forced him to escape Akane's hold, making him crash into the ice some distance away from her. Asuza jumped off him right away and Akane gasped.
"He's such a nuisance." Mikado criticized before going back to his so-called attack. He dipped her, as if trying to say this was an act of romance as well.
'Romance my ass! This guy's no different than those gropers on trains you heard about.' Akane thought, getting angry. "So are you!" She gripped his fancy shirt and used his surprise to throw him over herself in a move not unlike judo, though she had to use one of her legs for extra force. She collapsed on her back in the process but at least he was away from her.
Mikado landed safety to the delight of his fans and Azusa came up to his side. In tandem they went back to their opponents while Mikado combed his hair. "Imagine, refusing my kiss like that. No one's ever done that before. She must be very shy." Azusa skated around to his other side and he pocketed the comb before holding her in position for their next move.
"Maybe you just make her sick." Azusa suggested, sounding a bit more ditzy than she probably intended to.
Ranma was having a hard time moving on the ice so Akane went to his side and held his hand to give him more stability while they skated together. "You can do this Ranma. Just hang in there."
"Now Akane, brace yourself. I will have my kiss." Mikado proclaimed while starting to spin Azusa in the air, somehow managing to keep heading towards the Furinkan students while spinning himself. Obviously Mikado really was some kind of skating expert.
"I think this is their best move I warned you about." Akane warned Ranma, having already told him about the Couple Cleaver.
"Try our plan for it?" Ranma asked.
Akane nodded. "Yeah, just try to be careful."
The two then went at them side by side, fierce looks in their eyes, when suddenly Ranma hoisted Akane up on his shoulders. But she didn't grab ahold of him, because as planned Ranma threw her up and over the duo, who didn't seem to notice at all. With Akane in position, Ranma rushed forward bending low for better streamlining and landed a good solid fist to Mikado's defenseless abdomen.
The sudden impact completely faltered Mikado and made him release Azusa who thanks to lots of practice avoided crashing into a wall.
Ranma used his momentum to go for Akane and caught her on his back. "Good job Ranma." She told him, briefly looking back to see Mikado on his knees. "Phase one complete."
"Problem is I can't stop at this speed." Ranma told her, reminding her that they were still going right into a wall themselves. And while Ranma had practiced stopping, doing so at this speed was not part of that.
"Turn." Akane told him, knowing him going right into the wall was going to hurt him just like it had in her dream.
Ranma did a sharp left turn before he reached the wall, a turn that was very close to too sharp. Akane swiftly moved off him to keep him from falling over and held him to help reduce momentum until he finally could stop.
"You can still continue right?"
Ranma nodded. "I'm not done yet."
Mikado meanwhile was trying to cover his grimace. "Mickey, does it hurt here?" She asked, repeatedly poking his injured area. When he didn't respond, she started lightly punching it instead. "Here? Here?" Mikado couldn't speak, but his face spoke volumes of the pain he was feeling, especially as she picked up the pace, looking as innocent as someone a third her age.
"Yes... it hurts." He finally admitted, hoping she'd stop. But she must not have heard him, adding in a few more punches for good measure. "I told you it hurts! Stop hitting me there you silly wench!"
Azusa cried and looked like she was trying to shield herself from a bully. "Ah, but Azusa was only worried."
Seeing no good way to do anything else, Mikado stood up and looked at his opponents. "It is rare that I am ever brought to my knees. You will regret it."
"You pull that junk with Akane again and I'm going to do more than bring you to your knees." Ranma countered.
"Oh really? Such as...?" Mikado taunted.
"Such as putting your lady-killing butt straight into a coffin." Ranma answered swiftly. "Got that? Akane is my fiancee. Touch her and I'll kill you."
'Ranma...' Akane thought, smiling warmly. 'Just like last time, this is the first time you ever actually called me that. And you didn't even need me to tell you. Thank you.'
In the stands Shampoo felt a pang of jealousy but ignored it.
Mikado smirked in an almost scoffing manner. "Fiancees aren't forever." He chuckled.
"How would you know? Were you ever engaged?" Akane asked.
"I'm a man who's too good to be tethered down like that in my prime." He said, then cracked his knuckles a bit while Azusa behind him was making faces at the loving couple. "I, Mikado Sanzenin, take this as a personal challenge to break your ties." He chuckled a little more and louder.
Akane grinned. "Better men than you have tried Sanzenin. Me and Ranma, we have a bond that can only be described as destined."
"Then we shall put that to the test. And we have exactly the sort of thing to do that with." Mikado stated. "We, the world famous Golden Pair, have another name." He provided some support to Azusa as she jumped on his shoulders, somehow balancing on just her hands.
"The Anti-Matchmakers." They said together.
'That's what I'm counting on.' Akane thought, glancing at Ranma then the two nodded together. "When they move, time for phase two."
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment we've all been waiting for." The announcer said into the microphone. "The Golden Pair's ultimate technique, the Couple Cleaver."
As if cued to act, Mikado went in for the duo. "There's not a single couple we've ever faced on the ice-"
"-That's stayed together after we've split them up." Azusa finished, as if they were used to saying that this way.
Ranma and Akane looked ready to brace themselves for this, but then to everyone's surprise they separated and started skating around the rink in different directions.
"What the...?" Mikado asked, having never seen a couple split up before he did this maneuver. He turned around when they reunited on the opposite side of the rink and went right for them, but Ranma and Akane never stopped, just kept skating in circles around the rink. Every time it looked like they could be close enough to do something they separated again, forcing Mikado to go back and forth over the ice.
"Everyone, I can't begin to describe what I'm seeing." The announcer admitted, truly surprised that so far Mikado and Azusa had yet to capture their opponents.
Akane spared the Golden Pair a victorious smirk. 'That's the weakness of your ultimate technique, it only works if you can get two people at once. You're so used to fighting duos, you've both forgotten what it's like fighting someone alone.' She and Ranma then sped up, preventing Mikado from being able to capture them since he was clearly trying to get them both when they were right next to each other.
Azusa's arms were starting to cramp up from supporting her entire weight while Mikado practically made rings himself in the ice. "Widdle Azusa is all worn out." She warned before dropping off him and collapsing on the ice. Mikado himself was feeling a little lightheaded from the quick-paced circling and had to stop himself.
"Unbelievable! Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo actually foiled the Couple Cleaver before it even happened!" The announcer said like it was the most incredible thing he had ever seen.
The aforementioned pair came to a stop next to each other and high-fived. "Phase two complete." Akane said. "Now this is where things get tricky."
"Tell me, how did you stop us?" Mikado asked as Azusa struggled back to her feet, her arms not wanting to cooperate with her.
"Sorry, but I'm not some anime character that reveals how he does what he does as he's doing it just so the audience can understand it." Ranma stated. "You didn't seriously think that no opponent you ever faced would figure out a counter to your tricks did you?"
Akane nodded. "Fame comes with a price buster. The more famous you are, the more people know what you're capable of and can learn to get around it." 'My dream helped too, but I'm not about to admit that in front of everyone.'
Mikado looked unimpressed. "Apparently I underestimated the two of you. You're a greater challenge than anticipated. But even so, this match is not over until I extract a kiss from Akane Tendo's lips."
"Not on my watch pal." Ranma threatened.
"Let's try this again." Mikado told Azusa, putting her back in place for the Couple Cleaver set-up, and went for the duo.
Ranma and Akane once again split up but this time didn't skate around the rink. Instead they went to opposite sides and stood there, as if forcing Mikado to go for just one of them. Which he couldn't do since the move he had in mind wouldn't work on just one victim.
'I have no choice but to try something else until we can catch them together.' He told himself, going for Akane first.
'I had a feeling he'd come for me.' She thought before readying her fist. But rather than go for him, Akane punched down on the ice as hard as she could, cracking it.
'What is she doing?' Both Shampoo and Nabiki, along with many in the audience, asked themselves.
The cracks spread out rather loudly and the whole arena became uneven with broken chunks of ice, with some splashes of water coming out of the cracks. It seemed only the announcer knew what Akane was going for. "Ladies and gentlemen, what a startling turn of events. Akane Tendo just attacked not the Golden Pair but the ice itself. I've never seen anything like that in any martial arts ice skating. And to make matters worse, this particular rink was made by freezing a pool solid, so stability is now no longer an option for any contestant."
Ranma backed against the wall. 'Akane, why did you do this? Cold water still turns me into a girl, and until I dry off I can't go back to being a boy.'
Shampoo grabbed the ends of her cheongsam in dread, well aware of the problem Ranma was in right now. But sadly there was nothing she could do about it.
Fortunately, it seems she didn't have to. Mikado lost his balance when the ice shifted and Azusa fell on him, causing him to hit his head on some ice and fall into the water. When it looked like he wasn't surfacing, paramedics rushed in and pulled him out of the water, putting him on a stretcher.
"Could this be it folks? Is Mikado Sanzenin out of the match?" The announcer asked to make this more dramatic.
A pink blanket with a duckling was put over him to keep him warm and Azusa took an immediate liking to it. "What a cute blanket." She took it off him and nuzzled it happily, annoying her partner.
"You give that back to me. I need that." He said, taking it back from her to keep warm.
The ditzy girl grabbed a large chunk of ice, holding it over her head. "You give Azusa back her widdle Marteen now!" She clobbered him with the ice, making him drop the blanket which she was more than happy to snatch up and cuddle.
One of the paramedics looked over Mikado, twitching on the now-damaged stretcher. "Hmmm... what do you think?"
"I'd say he's a goner." A second one replied.
A bell was rung, ending the match. "That's it ladies and gentlemen. That's all she wrote. Kohkolz High's Golden Pair has forfeited the match to Furinkan High." The announcer declared, crying like Soun on a normal day.
"Good, let's get out of here." Akane said, jumping from ice chunk to ice chunk to get to Ranma. Right behind her there was a sudden burst of water straight up like a geyser, only it quickly turned to solid ice. "What the heck?" She asked, turning and looking at it.
Unknown to her, the freezing process used to create the ice had done some damage to the pool maintenance system, causing some of the still liquid water to build up some pressure. When she broke the ice, she had provided a small way for it to vent, and now the water's need to escape the pressure was stronger than the pipe's ability to contain it.
More freezing geysers shot up in front of her, preventing her from getting to Ranma right away. One such geyser was under him and made the ice float he was on go up and break thru the roof. 'This wasn't supposed to happen.' Akane thought, before a geyser made her and the float she was on do the same.
The water streams froze outside at unsupportive angles. "Ranma!" She called out.
"Akane, hold still!" He advised.
She rolled her eyes. "Where else would I go?" As if to answer her, both ice pillars broke them, forcing them to fall outside the building.
Ranma used a small chunk of ice to jump to Akane and catch her. "I gotcha."
"Now what?" She asked, not prepared for this at all.
Ranma landed on a flat stretch of stone splitting a stair path going downhill. His skates enabled him to essentially skate down the stone not unlike the skateboarders he had seen. A lot of sparks were created and there was no room to pivot or stop. All Ranma could do was wait until they got to the bottom. And just before they got there, he jumped, allowing for a safe landing for them both.
Ranma put down Akane and panted a bit. "That was a heck of a match."
Akane laughed a bit in good spirits. "I can honestly say I didn't see that ending coming."
"At least you still have your scarf." Ranma told her.
Akane nodded. "And now Shampoo doesn't have to worry about someone else taking her away from you."
"Can I take these skates off now?" He asked. Akane nodded and bent down to do the same. They saw the blades on Ranma's skates were worn down quite a bit from his trip down the stairs. "I'm not going to have to pay for these am I?"
"They belong to this school, let them deal with it." Akane advised.
That night, Ranma and Akane were having dinner at the Fox Cafe, with Shampoo happily hugging Ranma most of the time she wasn't helping her great-grandmother make the celebratory dinner. An Amazonian custom apparently was commemorating a particularly important battle with a feast, hence the prize Shampoo would have gotten in Akane's dream if girl-type Ranma hadn't shown up. And as far as Cologne was concerned, today's match was no less important.
"As matriarch of the Joketsuzoku, I declare the interloper's actions to be null and void by reason of Shampoo's proper betrothed defeating him in combat. Ranma Saotome is once again the only man who has any claim on Shampoo." Cologne had told them after the match, making it official.
Akane's family and Genma were there too, mostly to partake in the free food. Nabiki on the other hand was reveling in the winnings of her betting pools. 'This time Akane's little prediction came true without interference. There's more yen here than I can count.' The reason she won so much was because not only had she made the odds heavily in the Golden Pair's favor, not unrealistically of course but quite appealing to betters, but one of the bets was regarding whether or not the Couple Cleaver would work at all on Ranma and Akane. Those that knew the maneuver were all too eager to bet that it would in fact work, like it has always done.
But Akane already knew how to avoid it, and even if she and Ranma were caught, she knew Ranma would never let her go flying off like they intended. So Akane assured her it was a sucker's bet.
The overflowing wallet Nabiki sported was proof of that.
"Son, congratulations on winning the match, but don't think this means that you're going to marry Shampoo instead of Akane." Soun told Ranma.
"Can't you just let me enjoy my victory Mr. Tendo without attaching strings to it?" Ranma complained, making Akane giggle.
"So tell me Akane, what's going to happen next?" Nabiki asked.
Akane shrugged. "I don't know. This is the point where Shampoo was supposed to appear, but as you can tell she already has. After that.." She paused to think about it. "I'm not quite certain. Some parts of the vision were more memorable than others. If I had to say anything, I'd say up next would be a tea ceremony guy looking to replace his arranged bride with either me or girl-type Ranma. Until he finds out the real bride was one he did approve of."
"Man your romantic life can not get a break can it?"
The younger Tendo shook her head. "Nope, it can't. But at least it's never boring."
"Ever wonder how the changes you've already caused will affect things?" Nabiki pondered. "Change too much and your vision will become basically obsolete."
"Yeah I think about it all the time. Only thing I can do is take things as they comes and trust what foresight I do have."
There was a knock at the door, making some people look that way. There was a sign on the door saying 'Closed for private party' so they weren't expecting any customers.
"Shampoo see who that is." Cologne requested.
Shampoo nodded, and after making sure she was in full human form opened the door. "So sorry, we no open no..." She trailed off when she saw who it was. "Aiyah, come in."
"Thanks Sugar."
Shampoo stepped aside and in stepped three people. Of the three only one was recognizable to them, but Akane was able to recognize all three of them.
'What are they doing here? This is too soon for either.' She asked herself. 'This will really change things to come.'
"Hello Haruna, good to see you again." Kasumi greeted Ranma's cousin, the one person of the trio she recognized.
"Nodoka?" Genma asked, beginning to sweat profusely.
"Hello Genma. Haruna was kind enough to tell me you were back in town, and I ensured you weren't informed ahead of time so you couldn't take Ranma and ditch me before I got here." The older woman, Nodoka Saotome, said to her husband, then looked to Ranma. "Ranma, it's me, your mother. I'm so glad to finally see you in person again."
"Mom?" Ranma asked, having a hard time believing this.
"Yes son, and before you ask anything, I should warn you this is going to be a very long discussion."
"That's a pretty big understatement." Akane said, looking at the final member of the trio. "Isn't it, Ukyo?"
"You must be Akane, I heard a lot about you." The okonomiyaki chef greeted. "Hi Ranchan, long time no see, and yes I'm all girl."
"I can see that." He said, looking at his childhood friend who chose not to wear her shopkeeper outfit right now, but a blue tank top and denim shorts. In that there could be no doubt of her gender.
"Let's get comfortable first." Nodoka suggested. "We've got a lot to say tonight."