In the mean time, back at the park: "You really should try to be nicer to her, Ranma." "If I did that, she'd get suspicious on me and call me a pervert." Ranma-chan said back "Believe me it's not easy." "You're exaggerating." Terry implied "Akane's a sweet girl, I'm sure she'd respond correctly if you're nice to her. It won't hurt to try." "Terry, do you have any idea what's it like to be me?" Ranma-chan asked "Do you think it's easy to deal with three fiancees and only God knows how many rivals. On top of that, I also have my share of pressure from both sides of the battlefield, if people don't want me to marry Akane, they want me to marry someone else." "That's still not an excuse to be mean to her." he went on "After all, you're nice to Ukyou and Shampoo, aren't you? What's wrong with Akane?" "I don't know," she confessed "although she looks cute when she smiles, sometimes I think she's not very willing to be nice either." "Let me guess..." Terry brought out "If you're nice to her, you'll have half of Nerima at your throat, right?" "Yeah, that too." "Ever thought of a way to fix the mess your life has become?" he asked. "Not really," she answered "but I'm open for suggestions." "Ever thought of choosing a fiancee?" "That's the problem." Ranma-chan explained "If I choose one, the other two might not take it too well. I really wouldn't like to hurt anyone." "Well it really looks like you don't have a choice." Terry pointed out "You *can't* put the three of them in a blender and wind up with the perfect bride, you know?" Just in the middle of that conversation, both of them noticed several figures approaching them. It was the entire Furinkan hockey team, they made a grand total of twenty. Ranma suddenly had a certain feeling, a feeling he became very familiar with: TROUBLE. Terry also noticed that the visitors intentions didn't look too friendly. If that wasn't the case, he really didn't knew why did all of them had their hockey gear on. "What did you do this time, Ranma?" Terry asked her. "Hey! Don't look at me!" Ranma-chan replied "I don't know what their problem is." "If they get us on the ground, we're dead." "Looks like it's time to see if all our training paid up." Ranma-chan declared as she stood up. Terry did the same thing afterwards. "Do you really think it was necessary to throw the entire Hockey team at them?" Akane asked Nabiki as they were both hidden behind a bush. "Don't worry, Akane." Nabiki reassured "Believe me, it's more fun to see than to do." "Where did you came up with the idea to tell the whole team that Ranma and Terry were planing on dating all of their girlfriends behind their back?" she questioned "I really don't have anything against Terry, you know?" "Stop worrying already." Nabiki repeated "Besides this is to help them train both also. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go and set up a few bets." *** A couple of days after that little event, at the Tendou household, Terry and Ranma-chan are being measured for their costumes. Both of them are standing with their arms extended to their sides. Kasumi and other girls belonging to Furinkan's fashion club are helping out. Nabiki and Akane are also there just watching. The design of the uniform for the match that Terry would use consisted of black pants with an elegant white shirt, he'd also be wearing a black vest made out of fine leather and a black tie to make the match, the skating shoes look like patent leather shoes. Terry insisted in using his black fighting gloves in spite the contrast it made with the rest of the attire. In a way, it's a good thing that Azusa took his cap, otherwise, he'd probably insist in wearing that as well and therefore braking the harmony of his costume. Ranma's uniform is very similar to the one of her partner. She was wearing the same quind shirt and vest Terry was. Instead of black pants, she wore a black mini-skirt made out of the same fabric of her jacket. She also had a black bow tie closing the collar of her shirt. Instead of skating shoes, she used skating black boots that reach her knees. Taking the idea out of Terry, Ranma decided to use the same type of gloves. Both of them look too well dressed to go on a fight, but the uniform looks pretty cool though. "How am I suppose to fight with this thing on?" Terry asked to no one in particular as he loosen his tie "I can hardly breath." "Stop whining already." Nabiki declared "It's not the end of the world." "You actually look great dressed like that." Akane brought out "Maybe you should wear a suit more often. It looks good on you." "It looks like I'm going to the opera instead of a fight." Terry made clear. "Believe me, you got off lucky. At least you don't have to dress up as a girl." Ranma-chan complained while holding down her skirt "Damn it! Does this skirt has to be so short!" "It's your fault for accepting the match, Ranma." Akane pointed out "Now you'll have to deal with the consequences." "How do you feel the waist, Terry?" asked one of the girls from the fashion club. "I need more space to move." he responded as he tried to move from side to side "The shoulders from the shirt are too tight also." "Everything will be fixed, guys." Nabiki stated "Your clothes will be ready for the day of the match." "How did you managed in getting all this stuff?" Ranma-chan asked. "I made a deal with the school's fashion club." she explained. "Why do I get the feeling that Terry and I will be a part in this little deal of yours." she interrupted. "That's just a minor arrangement." Nabiki went on "You can't expect to have such good uniforms for free, now can you?" "So what exactly do we have to do?" Terry asked. "Actually this will help the club and you as well." Nabiki explained "You two will make perfect models for these suits. You can have the ensemble for the day of the match if you're willing to model for the benefit of the club. Just a couple of pictures taken by yours truly, nothing more." "You're getting paid for this aren't you?" Ranma-chan declared. "Naturally." "As soon as I'm getting my cap back, I'm changing clothes." Terry declared as he tried to move inside his clothes. "Don't you think you're making a bug fuss over a baseball cap?" Ranma-chan asked. "Hey I feel naked without it, okay." he said "It's like a part of me. Try to think of it as your pigtail, or Ryouga's bandanna." "I can't argue that." "Well, we're done now." Kasumi told them "Let's see how the suits look." Terry and Ranma-chan stood next to each other as they were analyzed by the other spectators. The combination of colors was excelent and the designs, one of the best the fashion club had come by so far. Even the fighting gloves they were using managed in keeping a certain harmony. "You guys really look like a couple." Nabiki brought out "I'm really going to take some good pictures." "Don't get any funny ideas Nabiki." Ranma-chan pointed out. "That's right." Terry added "We're not posing in any kind of compromising position." "You guys are no fun at all." *** The day of the match finally came. Both Terry and Ranma-chan were waiting outside of the rink as they waited to be introduced, both of them wearing their uniform naturally. At this moment, Mikado and Azusa were making their entrance as all the students from Kolkhoz high were cheering at their champions. "Those two really know how to skate." Terry remarked "This might be harder than I thought." "You're not worried, are you?" "Not at all." he replied "After all, I think we'd had plenty of training with all those hockey teams that been chasing after us. Ranma... are you sure you didn't do anything to upset those guys." "Hey, I already told you it wasn't me!" Ranma-chan made clear "It's not because I'm most of the time in trouble that you have to think I'm responsible for it. After all, they were after you too, weren't they? Maybe you're the one who did something without noticing." "It's strange though." Terry noticed "Almost every school's hockey team in Nerima is after us for no reason." "Well there's no point in worrying about that now." Ranma-chan declared "Looks like it's our turn now." "Let's try to make this nice and clean." Terry pointed out "Nabiki might charge us the costumes if they get messed up." Both couples were now in the rink, ready to start after the announcer made a short introduction of each team. Mikado was looking as confident as ever. He then took his partner's hand and the two of them dashed towards their opponents. Terry and Ranma-chan immediately split up to get a better chance to face the problem. The Golden pair didn't gave them a chance to get together again. Both of them began to spin in circles between the two of them as each one took turns in hitting a different opponent. [They're fast.] Terry thought [I'll have to put some distance.] Terry pushed himself backwards a couple of feet and then moved towards his right side. Ranma-chan did the same thing. Now they were both at a good distance from their opponents. As if they could read each other's thoughts, the two of them dashed towards their opponents and towards each other as well. Mikado and Azusa immediately stopped spinning as they even took the time to do that with a fancy pose. Not wasting any time, Terry jumped and Ranma-chan slid trying to sweep her opponents of their feet. "CRACK SHOT!" Terry shouted. Mikado and Azusa separated to avoid the kick and the sweep. Before Terry's foot had touched the ground, Ranma-chan had already slid underneath him therefore avoiding to hit each other. Now Terry and Ranma-chan had them apart. "You take Azusa!" Terry spoke "I'll take Mikado!" "*I* want to be the one to take care of that pervert!" Ranma-chan replied. "Azusa's faster than Mikado and you're faster than me." he simply explained "You've got more chances than me in taking care of her! Go!" Ranma-chan decided to do as she was told, she really didn't like hitting girls. But Terry was right. Besides, if she went after Mikado she'd be trying to get him off of her more than fighting him. The fight between the boys and the girls started. "Now it's time to see who rules on the ice!" Mikado declared. Terry began delivering several blows. The down thing of all of this was that Terry wasn't as fast while skating than he was when standing on a more steady surface. Even after the training he took, his skills in skatting still couldn't be compared with Mikado's years of experience in this sport. Mikado moved backwards while still looking at his opponent as he dodged the blows. He moved with great ease, he didn't even had to turn around and see which way he was going. It seemed like he knew the rink like the back of his hand. Still, that didn't meant he was being careless. He really didn't want to find out how much damage could Terry's punches do and that's why he payed a lot of attention to his adversary. "Looks like I didn't had to worry at all." Mikado brought out "You're obviously not a worthy match for me." "Don't get too cocky, kid." Terry said "This is just the begining." Meanwhile, Ranma-chan was taking on Azusa. It looked like they were racing most of the time. Ocationaly they'd stop and exchange a few blows then started moving again at great speed. Ranma noticed that her opponent was faster since the last time they fought for the Charlotte Cup. It was obvious that the Golden pair had been training since they're last encounter. Looks like Terry was right. This wasn't going to be as easy as they thought. So far, none of the participants managed in conecting a descent punch or kick. After a small break, both pairs gathered once again. "They're better than the last time I fought them." Ranma-chan informed. "Great, that'll make things more interesting." Terry pointed out. "You really have a unique way for taking bad news Terry, did you know that?" Mikado and Azusa joined hands once they were together. Both saw in satisfaction that they managed in surprising their opponents with their new speed. But that wasn't all of what they'd acomplished after their special training. Mikado noticed that the mood was perfect for giving a short introduction to his adversaries of what he was going to do next (What good is it if you trained and learned new moves if you can't show it off?). "Surprised??" he questioned amuzed "We, the Golden pair, have increased our knowledge in martial arts figure skating. What you just saw is nothing more than a small demonstration of what we're able to do. Now, get ready to see the fruit of our training!" "Why is he telling us all of that?" Terry asked Ranma-chan "Is this guy actually going to tell us what he's about to do?" "I think he wants to impress us." she explained. "Is it working?" "Not really." "For the past year we've been traveling around the world searching for new techniques in martial arts figure skating." Mikado continued "Now we've master every dance in the world and even addapted it in figure skating!" "Get ready to see the new Golden pair attack!" Azusa went on. "The international dance ice skating attack!!!!!" claimed both of them (at the background we see several flags, each one representing a diferent country. The are also fireworks being shot to enhance the statement that the Golden pair just made) "Couldn't they thought of a shorter name?" Terry asked. "Just let them be." After that breif explenation, the Golden pair put a hand on each other's waist and advanced towards their opponents while delivering several axe kicks. Terry and Ranma-chan began to avoid the blows which seemed to be faster than the last time they fought. "CAN CAN KICKS OF DEATH!!!" Mikado and Azusa stated simultaneously during their attack. "They really should've tried harder in making up a descent name for their moves." Terry brought out as he avoided one Mikado's kicks. Ranma-chan saw that Terry was having troubles as both of their opponents attacked him at the same time. A glowing yellow ki sphere began to form between her hands. "MOKUO TAKABISHA!" she yelled as she released the blast. The Golden pair noticed the blast and retreated to avoid it. The Mokuo Takabisha cut the route between them and Terry as it gave this last one a better chance to get a few yards back to analyse the situation. The two opponents were looking surprised by such technique, but were far away from being intimidated. Terry slid next to his partner. "Looks like it's time to bring on the heavy artilery." he declared as he was about to punch the ice underneath him "POWER..." "STOP!! " shouted Ranma-chan. "What? What is it?" Terry asked as he held back his blow. "The rink is built on top of a swiming pool!" she explained "If you hit the ice you'll break it and there'll be nothing more than water underneath!" "Which meens..." "Which meens no Power wave or Power Guyser." Ranma interrupted. "Why didn't you tell me that earlier??" "I... er... kinda forgot about that." she said while scratching the back of her head in shame "But that just might make it more interesting." she joked "Just like you said earlier." "Don't start Ranma." Terry told his partner. The Golden Pair took the offensive once again applying some of their latest tricks. This time, Mikado went towards Ranma-chan while Azusa took on Terry. Mikado began to adopt a Capoeira style while facing Ranma-chan. His moves began to be unorthodox and no less unpredictable. Still, Ranma-chan managed in blocking every blow. Azusa did a squad and crossed her arms in front of her chest, she then began to deliver several vicious kicks in a Polka dancing style which were aiming at Terry’s knees. "KNEE BUSTER POLKA ATTACK!!" she stated as she kicked repeatedly. [They really should think of a better name for their moves.] Terry thought while dodging. In the meantime, between the public... "Place your bets right here everyone!!" Nabiki said to the crowd "This is your last chance to make some bucks! Who’s going to win? The Golden Pair or the Furinkan team?" "I thought you only wanted to come here to watch them fight, Nabiki." Akane pointed out. "I can’t let an opportunity like this go to waist." she said. Terry began to hop around as tried to protect his knees from Azusa’s kicks. He then tried to jump over her, but Azusa anticipated his move and caught his ankles with her hands as Terry jumped over her. She then sent him face first against the ice. In the meantime, on the other side of the rink, Mikado managed in taking a hold on Ranma-chan and after performing a complex grappling maneuver, he sent her sliding over the ice to join her partner. Mikado then immediately went to Azusa and grabbed her ankles. "Forgive me my love..." Mikado told Ranma-chan "This is for our future." Mikado then summoned all the strength he had and raised Azusa over his head along with the Furinkan couple. Ranma-chan noticed at that time that Terry was holding her wrists. Before she could tell Terry to let go, Mikado already started spinning and therefore giving shape to the *Good-bye whirl*. "Terry, let go of my hands!!!" she told him "They’re doing the *Good-bye whirl*!!" but Terry still held her with a firm grasp. The current began to take strength and both contestants from Furinkan began to feel the air pressure hitting their side. Terry however, still held on to his partner. "If you let go of the girl, I’ll stop spinning!" Mikado announced. "You herd him!!" Ranma-chan yelled "Let go of me already!!!" Instead of letting her go, Terry began to pull Ranma-chan towards him. Once he managed in grabbing her, he bent his knees to be now in a vertical position. After that, he told Ranma to move behind him and hold on to his back. Ranma-chan followed the indications and wrapped her legs around Terry’s waist once she got behind him. "Now what do we do??" she asked. "Ranma!! Do you think you can do the Hiryu Shoten Ha??" Terry said. "I get the idea!" she responded once Terry’s idea touched her mind. "Okay then!!!" Terry stated "At the count of three!! One... Two... THREE!!!" "HIRYU SHOTEN HA!!!" "HADO SEN PUU KYAKU!!!" Terry’s and Ranma’s combined attack began to produce a strong wind current that opposed the one created by the *Good-bye Whirl*. In a matter of seconds, the Golden Pair was caught in their own game. Now it was them the ones who were trapped. Mikado’s feet weren’t even touching the ice anymore. All the spectators felt how the wind pushed them back. Terry swung his leg to get rid of Azusa and threw her along with her partner out of the tornado. Both members of the Golden Pair were to disorientated to try to fall on their feet afterwards. They both crashed against one of the rink’s walls and fell on the ice unconscious. Terry and Ranma-chan then finally dissipated their attack. Both fell on the ground rather dizzy and sat down afterwards as they waited for their eyes to stop spinning. "Did... we... win???" Terry asked eyes closed while holding his head with both hands. Ranma took a look around once her head felt better. On a corner of the rink, she saw both Mikado and Azusa unconscious over the ice. "I think we did..." she said, she then laid down to recover. The announcement was made, Furinkan team had won the encounter. Between the spectators many were heard complaining over the result of the match. This was either for seeing the school champions defeated for a second time but mostly because many students lost a considerable amounth of money on the bets Nabiki arranged. "It’s all in a day’s work." Nabiki stated as she put the money away. "I don’t suppose you told Ranma or Terry that you were making a profit thanks to them." Akane pointed out while glaring at her sister. "I wouldn’t want them to feel corrupted for fighting over money." Nabiki explained "Their pride as fighters wouldn’t allow that." "Yeah, right!" Akane declared "This isn’t the first time you’ve done this, you know?" "Tell you what, sis." Nabiki began "Let’s keep this between us. Fifty-fifty. But let’s keep the guys out of this. I really don’t feel like explaining today." "You’re bribing your own sister?!?!" "You don’t have to think of it that way." she went on "Besides, now you can buy thoses shoes you saw at the mall the other day." A couple of minutes later, inside a locker room, Terry and Ranma-chan were sitting down on a bench as they regained their strength from the match. Ranma-chan then stood up and took out of her bag her casual clothes. She began to change then after. "Er... Ranma, could you do that somewhere else?" Terry asked of her "You might be a guy but you’re still very distracting." "I just can’t stand this get up any longer." she explained. At that precise moment, Nabiki and Akane opened the door and stepped inside. They both saw how Ranma, in female form, was "striping" in front of Terry. No need to say what both of them made out of that little picture. "I really don’t wanna know what’s going on in here." Akane spoke. "I never knew both of you were this close." Nabiki said "Maybe you should stop seeing each other so often before you get to like it." "Hey!!! What are you getting at!!!" Ranma implied rather offended that someone put in doubt her... er... his manhood. "This isn’t what it looks like!!" Terry added quite offended himself. "Like I said before," Akane declared, enjoying the joke "I really don’t wanna know." "Hey, maybe it’s not too late to convince you two in posing for those 'compromising' pictures I told you last day." Nabiki went on "You do make a fine couple after all." "Cut it out already!" Terry stated "There’s no way I’m getting hitched to a tomboy!" Everyone stared at him in surprise after he said that, Terry was looking even more surprised at himself. He couldn’t believe that those words actually came out of his mouth. "I can’t believe I actually said that." he whispered. "Maybe you real should spend less time with Ranma." Akane pointed out "I think he’s beginning to be a bad influence on you." "Very funny!" Ranma commented "What brings you here, anyway?" "We only wanted to congratulate you. And give you this." Nabiki said as she showed Terry’s baseball cap and threw it to him "Here you go, Terry. I already took care of all the ribbons Azusa put all over it." "Thanks." Terry responded as he caught it. "Well," Ranma-chan began "looks like everything turned out all right. You’ve got your cap back and I got Mikado off my back. And now, if you’ll excuse me..." as she took her clothes "I’m going to get myself some hot water and get out of this outfit." Ranma left to change while Akane began to look for some hot water. Nabiki and Terry were left alone in the dressing room. "Hey, Nabiki." Terry said. "Yes?" "Can I ask you a favor?" he asked. "What is it?" "I’d like to hold on to these clothes for a little bit longer." he responded "Do you think it’ll be okay with the fashion club?" "I thought you hated the outfit." "Yeah well, it’s not so bad after all." he stated "I like you to keep this for a while too." as he threw her his cap. "I’m afraid I don’t follow your logic." Nabiki spoke as she grabbed the cap "First the clothes you hated and now the cap you love. I thought you wanted to put it right on after the match. After all, you went through all this mess to get it back." "You can give it to me tomorrow when I bring back the outfit." Terry explained "Consider it as a security that you’ll get the uniform back." "What’s this all about Terry?" she asked. "I need the clothes to win a bet." he said. "I can understand that." Moments later, Terry is walking down the street of Nerima still wearing the get up he used for the match. Along the way he took off his fighting gloves and placed them in his rear pocket. It was already dusk, the fight did started at a reasonably late hour. Which meant that Ucchan’s wasn’t very crowded at the moment. Once he reached his destination, Terry peeped inside the store before entering. Ukyou was probably at the back of the store doing dishes; after all, this was the slow part of the day, there wasn’t anyone in the store right now. He stepped inside Ucchan’s and approached the counter. "... Hello?... Ukyou?" he said out loud. "Just a minute!" she said from kitchen "Be right there!" Terry began to wait with both of his hands held together behind his back. He really wanted to see Ukyou’s face when she would see him dressed like this. He began to hear foot steps coming from behind the wall. This was going to be fun. "I was getting bored being alone." Ukyou began as she stepped out of the kitchen "So, how was you day Ter............................???????" Ukyou made big round eyes as she saw how was Terry dressed. Terry on the other hand was acting as cool as always, enjoying Ukyou’s face expression. "What?" Terry asked innocently. Ukyou blinked several times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. After taking a closer look at her friend she came to the conclusion that either she was teleported into the Twilight Zone *or* that Terry was actually dressing up elegantly. She managed to speak afterwards. "There’s something different in you. But I can’t get my finger on it." she joked "I don’t know, maybe it’s the hair. Did you get a cut recently?" Terry only smiled to what she said. Ukyou then began to examine him. "So what do you think?" he asked as he extended his arms to his sides. "Very good." she said. "Looks like I win the bet." he stated. "The bet?" Ukyou asked "You don’t mean all that stuff we talked about two weeks ago? You weren’t taking me seriously, were you?" "Well you tell me." Terry replied "How serious do I look? You’re not backing out on this one." Ukyou wasn’t too sure what to say, she still hadn’t recover from the shock after seeing Terry dressed that way, after all, she wasn’t expecting him dressing up in something that wasn’t his casual clothes. She never thought that he’d take the "bet" seriously either. "Wait, why don’t you stand back a little," she said "I’d like to see you from head to toes." Terry smiled a little nervously at this. "Er... wouldn’t you like me to pose right here instead?" he asked. Ukyou stared at him a little doubtfully, Terry was hiding something. "I insist." she said. Terry pulled a short sigh and stepped a couple of feet backwards. Once he did that, Ukyou inspected him again. She then noticed a flaw in the outfit, Terry was using his red sneakers which didn’t go along in the least with the rest of the costume. This had an explanation; the shoes Terry used for the match, which formed part of the outfit, were in fact skating shoes and therefore couldn’t be used on the streets. Having nothing else to wear at the moment but his sneakers, Terry only hoped he could get away with it without Ukyou noticing. Ukyou saw a grimace in Terry’s face as he looked like a little boy caught with his hands inside a cookie jar. "Not quite adequate with the rest of the costume if you ask me." Ukyou declared pointing at Terry’s feet "Shame on you for trying to trick me." "So I didn’t win?" "No." "Awwww..." End of chapter 7. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- See you in chapter 8...