Money in the Bank, Ranma Style! II
by rkOujirou

Author's note: This is the second installment of my random brawls inspired by the Money in the Bank Ladder Match that the WWE holds every year at Wrestlemania. It mentions events from the original "Money in the Bank, Ranma Style!", but knowledge of that one isn't necessary to read this. If you'd like to read the first one, you can get to it through my profile. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ is not my idea, it was created by a very talented manga artist named Rumiko Takahashi. Just so you know.

"Boys and girls of Furinkan High, we welcome you to round two! This is a rematch of the brutal, bloody, and bone-bruising competition known as the Anything-Goes Money in the Bank Ladder Match!"

The sea of students crowding the bleachers in the Furinkan High School gymnasium, even larger than it had been for the first match, roared in anticipation as the ring announcer, a brown-haired female student with a ponytail, brought them to their feet. A number of them had skipped out on the first contest only to feel like they'd missed something spectacular after hearing their classmates talk about it. Luckily for them, they were getting another chance to see for themselves what the fuss was all about, and they were plenty eager for things to get started.

It was a different story down in the front row, however, where an aggravated-looking Ranma Saotome, wearing his usual red Chinese shirt, bounced his foot off the gym floor repeatedly as he turned and glared at Nabiki Tendo.

"Hey...tell me one more time why we're havin' another one of these stupid matches?!" the pigtailed martial artist barked at her.

"Why? Because you agreed to it, of course," Nabiki calmly told him.

"I didn't agree to nothin'!" Ranma protested.

Fed up with the complaints of her sister's fiancé, Nabiki pulled out a sheet of paper with Ranma's signature at the bottom of a block of black print. "How many times do I need to show you a copy of the contract? It clearly states an agreement to the same conditions as before for a rematch. It isn't my fault you didn't read the fine print."

"That's messed up and you know it!" Ranma shook, appearing disturbed as he thought back on the nightmare he'd endured thanks to the first match. "You...you got no idea what Kodachi put me through. Sh-she took things from me I ain't ever gettin' back..."

"Really, and you call yourself a man..." the middle Tendo daughter poked fun at him. After a quick look around the gym, she then gave a thumbs up to the announcer, who was standing in the middle of the four-sided ring typically used for rhythmic gymnastics competitions, as a signal to start the event.

"Alright, it's now time to begin!" the announcer declared. "First of all, I would like to point out that, due to outside interference in our first event, Tatewaki Kuno, the boy named Mousse, and that little black piglet have all been barred from the gymnasium. And to everyone else here today, please, don't get involved!"

Ranma took a moment to leer over at Ryouga, who was sitting on the opposite side of Nabiki. "Gee, for some reason I get the feelin' they missed one..."

"You shut up!" Ryouga snapped back at him, looking particularly troubled as he clenched his fists together. "I...I haven't been able to live with myself after what I did last time! I won't ever cost Akane a win like that again! I can't, even if it does mean she has to spend time with you!"

"Now then," the announcer continued, "for those of you who weren't here last time, here are the rules for this match! We have four ladders surrounding the ring and a briefcase suspended from the ceiling that's hanging 12 feet above the mat. Once one of the competitors climbs a ladder and retrieves the briefcase, they will be declared the winner. And again I stress, you MUST climb a ladder to get the briefcase. Removing it in any other way will result in a disqualification. The winner will receive the contents of the briefcase, which is a contract signed by Ranma Saotome stating that he will spend one entire day with the winner and do whatever they ask of him during that time! The contract will be valid for up to one year."

The reaction of the students, the male ones in particular, to the conditions of the contract were much more favorable than last time. Needless to say, everyone was far less envious of Ranma considering who emerged the victor in the first match.

Ranma didn't even want to watch, placing a hand over his face as he peered up at the black, metal briefcase dangling above the ring.

"And now, let's meet our...competitors..." the announcer said, directing everyone's attention toward a very serious-looking Akane. "F-from right here at Furinkan High, she put forth a valiant effort and came close to winning the first match numerous times! Let's hear it for Akane Tendo!"

A rousing applause erupted from the crowd of students, but Akane, wearing her white martial arts gi, didn't acknowledge it in the least. She'd been stewing over not winning the last match, and she was dead set on getting the victory this time. While waiting impatiently to hear the bell ring, she had her eyes focused on a much more relaxed Kodachi in the corner of the ring across from her.

"O-okay, introducing...next..." the announcer continued, again feeling a bit nervous upon seeing the foul look being emitted from the okonomiyaki chef with the giant spatula on her back. "Um...also from right here at Furinkan High, she dominated everyone for a portion of the last match, only to end up the unfortunate victim of some outside interference! Ladies and gentlemen, she is Ukyou Kuonji!"

Despite the cheers she was receiving, Ukyou's reaction, much like that of Akane, was nonexistent. What bothered her about the first match wasn't just the fact that she didn't win, but also that she was taken out of contention by someone that wasn't even a participant. Now, with that issue seemingly resolved by barring Mousse and Kuno from the building, she felt ready to unleash some of her built up frustration and claim that day with Ranma for herself. What the other girls didn't know was that Ukyou had cooked up some additional tricks to get her through today's match.

"And our third compet-WHOA!" the announcer shrieked, feeling legitimately frightened by the fierce aura the Chinese girl in the light blue battle outfit was giving off. "U-uh...s-she laid quite the beating on everyone the first time around, and looked as though she would win the match near the end until Akane got in her way! L-let's hear it for the Amazon warrior, Shampoo!"

Shampoo looked like a caged lion ready to pounce as she leaned back in her corner of the ring with her trademark maces in hand. While there was a lot of blame to be put on her for allowing herself to be distracted in the first match, she chose to focus her anger on Akane, Ukyou, and especially Kodachi instead. She felt that she should've easily won the match, and was embarrassed that she hadn't. This time, she thought, she was going all out to make sure that didn't happen again.

"And finally," the announcer said, directing everyone's attention to the confident and smiling gymnast wearing her black and violet leotard, which drew a resounding chorus of boos from the audience, "she looked to be out of the last match at the end, but took advantage of a huge opportunity and claimed the briefcase to become the first ever Miss Money in the Bank! Representing St. Hebereke School for Girls, she is Kodachi "The Black Rose" Kuno!"

Not even the crowd's negative reaction to her underhanded methods could bring down Kodachi, who waved her arms in the air and posed for the hostile spectators with her bag of gymnastics tools at her feet.

"Ooohohoho! What all of you think of me means nothing! Did I not prove last time that I was the best?!" she taunted the crowd before turning her attention to Ranma. "Just watch, Ranma darling! I shall emerge victorious once again, and we can spend yet another wonderful day together!"

Outside the ring, Ranma felt a shiver run up his spine from just the thought of having to go through that again.

"Hey!" he shouted at the three other girls. "I don't care who wins this, just don't let her win it again! Ya got it?!"

The girls appeared ready to go as they glared around at each other trying to decide what their first moves would be once the bell rang, but the perky announcer wasn't ready to leave the ring quite yet.

"Those are our returning participants, but we're not done!" she excitedly told the students. "In order to spice up the action, this match will have two more entrants to make it a six-woman competition!"

"What?!" the girls in the ring all yelled at her.

The audience seemed a bit confused as they wondered who else would be taking part in the match.

"Are you kiddin' me?!" Ranma shouted, bolting up from his seat. "I ain't got any other fiancées! Who else would wanna get involved in this?!"

Akane, Ukyou, Shampoo, and Kodachi weren't happy at all about this development, and it showed. That didn't stop the announcer from proceeding with her introductions though.

"First, our fifth entrant," she began, pointing toward the gymnasium's entrance. "She's a familiar face from right here at Furinkan High, and one that you may have seen in class. No, not as a classmate, but as a teacher! If you're a delinquent then you'd better watch out, because you'll be on her list! Let's hear it for Miss Hinako Ninomiya!"

With all eyes upon it, the door to the gymnasium burst open and in ran a fired up Miss Hinako, still in her child form. In preparation for the match, she'd changed into one of the school's gym uniforms for girls with the white cotton shirt and red shorts. They looked a little big for her, which was likely to avoid any wardrobe trouble should she drain someone's battle aura and change to her adult form.

"Alright! Let's go! Let's go!" Hinako shouted enthusiastically. She took little time to get to the ring and showed off her agility by hopping up onto the apron and over the top rope.

"You!? What would you possibly wanna spend a day with me for?!" Ranma shouted at his teacher.

"Because you're a well-known delinquent, Mr. Saotome, and it's my job to help you!" Hinako pointed down at him. "When I win this, I'll have a whole day to rid you of that bad behavior! I hope you like studying!"

Ranma cringed at the possibility of having to study at Hinako's pace for an entire day. It was tough to imagine something worse than spending the day with Kodachi, but, for him at least, this may have been just that.

"Aww, this keeps gettin' worse!" he groaned.

"And now, introducing our sixth and final entrant," the announcer continued. "Once again, someone from right here at Furinkan High, but a student this time! She's known for being numerous things, including a martial artist, a delinquent, and even a cross-dresser! Ladies and gentlemen, our final participant in the Anything-Goes Money in the Bank Ladder Match..."

Outside the ring, Ranma jumped as he felt the chill of cold water being dumped on him. After abruptly changing into his girl form, he spun to his left and saw Nabiki holding an empty glass.

"What was that for?!" he snapped at her.

Back in the ring, the announcer directed everyone's attention to the front row of the crowd. "...is none other than Ranma Saotome hims- err, herself!"

While there was a general feeling of shock amongst the girls in the ring, Ranma felt dumbfounded as he stared at Nabiki.

"Me?!" he asked, sounding baffled by the suggestion. "What makes you think I wanna be involved in this?!"

Nabiki innocently threw her hands up in the air. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that if you won, you could tear that contract up into itty bitty pieces?"

His attitude suddenly perking up, Ranma felt embarrassed that he hadn't realized such a simple thing.

"Of course, if you don't want to," Nabiki began to say, "I guess we could just leave you out..."

"No! No, no, no! I'll do it!" Ranma quickly told her.

With his fate now in his own hands, the pigtailed martial artist eagerly slid into the ring and hopped to his feet, readying to take that briefcase for himself.

"Are you kidding?! Ranma is really in this match too?!" Akane asked, sounding none too happy.

"Guess so..." Ukyou calmly answered. Dealing with Shampoo was bad enough, but with Hinako and now Ranma in this match, she knew the odds had gotten much worse for her.

After taking in the reality that she'd be competing against Ranma, Shampoo leaned back in the corner again and shot a stern glance over at her fiancé. "Shampoo love Ranma, but no go easy on you!"

"Good! Now I can teach you a lesson even before I win!" Hinako gloated to her troublesome student.

"Are you all blind?!" Kodachi suddenly shouted, drawing looks from the other girls as she glared angrily at Ranma. "You there! What have you done with my Ranma darling this time, you witch?!"

Ranma couldn't believe that Kodachi still didn't understand his curse. "Are you serious?! How dense are you?!"

"Dense?! How dare you insult me like that?!" the black-haired gymnast hissed.

In the middle of all of them, the announcer waved her hand to get everyone's attention. "Okay, that's everyone! At this time, we'll give all of you a couple minutes to place bets for the match! We have several staff members standing in the bleacher aisles, so go for it!"

While the announcer hopped out of the ring, the students wasted no time heading out to put money down on the match, and it wasn't tough to hear which competitor most of the dough was being placed on.

"Hey, are you sure about this?" the announcer asked as she walked over to Nabiki. "Everyone's going to bet on Ranma, you know."

Nabiki smiled back at her, confident in her decision. "That's what I'm counting on. Weren't you watching last time? Kodachi proved it's not the strongest girl that wins this match, just the one that's in the right place at the right time. If you think of it like that, Ranma's odds of winning aren't much better than those of anyone else."

Her sly classmate had a point, the announcer thought. "I sure hope you're right."

Ready to get down to business, the young woman made her way over to a wooden table outside the ring and took a seat, placing her microphone into a stand to once again give the play-by-play call of the match.

Meanwhile, tension was rising inside the ring as all six of the girls looked around at each other, four of them now having to rethink their strategies to employ once the bell rang. Kodachi, who'd been the only competitor looking relaxed earlier, was now more sour-looking than any of them. The presence of girl-type Ranma had her blood boiling and there wasn't any doubt in her mind who she was going after first. Among the others, Miss Hinako looked particularly sure of herself, and that demeanor was drawing some attention from the other girls.

"What's she up to..." Ranma wondered to himself, happening to notice that Hinako was slowly taking something out of her pocket.

"Okay, it looks like it's time for this contest to begin!" the announcer said into her microphone as the last of the students filtered back to their seats. "Are you ready, Furinkan High School?!"

While a roar rose up from the excited audience, the eyes of Ranma and the other girls in the ring picked up on the fact that Hinako had taken out a fifty-yen coin and stuck it between her fingers.

"It's Akane, Ukyou, Shampoo, Kodachi, Miss Hinako, and Ranma in the battle of a lifetime! Here...we...GO!"

"Ring the bell!" Ranma frantically shouted at her.

*ding!*

With the match officially started, Ranma quickly bailed out of the ring and took cover as a club from Kodachi whizzed by his head, and Akane, Ukyou, and Shampoo did likewise.

"What is this?! Right from the start, everyone has left the ring except Miss Hinako and Kuno!"

"Where do you think you're going?!" Kodachi shrieked, running over to the ropes where Ranma had escaped.

"Happo Fifty-Yen Satsu!"

Immediately feeling something was amiss, Kodachi grasped tightly onto the top rope to hold herself up as she felt herself growing weaker. Panicked, she flipped around and leaned back against the ropes, only to see Hinako growing into her adult form as she drained the aura out of her.

"I don't believe this! What a turn of events! The reigning Miss Money in the Bank, Kodachi Kuno, has been caught in Miss Hinako's aura-draining attack! She may be out of this match right from the get-go!"

"That's one naughty girl taken care of," Hinako gleamed with pleasure.

"Y-...you...!" Kodachi gasped, collapsing to the mat as the last of her aura was sucked away. "H-how...how dare you...!"

The other girls watched the movements of the formidable teacher closely while the severely weakened Black Rose rolled out of the ring to recuperate.

With the early part of the match going in her favor, Hinako confidently smirked down at Ranma while holding up her coin. "Care to try your luck, Mr. Saotome?"

Fighting Hinako head-on was a bad idea in any situation given her abilities and range of attack, Ranma thought, but it was especially bad for him to risk being drained of his energy when he still had the other girls in the match to fend off. What he needed was a distraction so that he could take out Hinako without putting himself at risk.

Then, from out of the corner of his eye, Ranma noticed that Shampoo was quietly sliding into the ring behind Hinako. Unfortunately for her, Hinako noticed Ranma's eye movement and knew something was up.

As Shampoo shot to her feet and bolted toward her to attack, the full-figured teacher quickly spun around and held her hands out in front of her.

"Happo No-Yen Coin Return!!"

Shampoo swung her mace forward to strike down the woman, but a gigantic blast of aura shooting out from Hinako's hands beat her to the punch and sent her flying from the ring.

"Aiyaaaa!!"

As Shampoo's maces fell to the ring mat, students in the crowd dove for cover when the lavender-haired Amazon girl soared toward them and crashed into the bleachers hard enough to shake the entire section on one side of the ring.

"Another devastating move by Miss Hinako! She's taking out opponents one after the other, and doing it with ease!"

Disoriented and in a fair amount of pain, Shampoo slowly slid down onto one of the bleachers and grabbed at her ailing back while trying to catch her breath.

Meanwhile, Hinako had shrunk down to her child form again after releasing all of the aura she'd absorbed from Kodachi earlier and looked especially proud of her work thus far. Ranma was already working to change her attitude though. Springing off the top rope, he tried to grab her from behind, but the nimble Hinako scampered out of the way, leaving Ranma to fall down onto the ring mat empty-handed.

"Nyah nyah! You missed me!" Hinako teased her problematic pupil.

Becoming irritated, Ranma beat his fist against the mat and began chasing her around the ring. "Come 'ere!"

Outside by the announcer's table, Akane was quietly sliding one of the ladders onto the ledge of the ring as she waited for an opportunity to go after either her fiancé or Hinako. She knew she'd blown good chances to win last time, which had led her to think more strategically going into this contest.

Akane may have been paying a little too much attention to what was happening in the ring, though. Without much time to react, she spotted Ukyou flying around the corner ringpost to attack her.

"Trying to sneak up on me?!" Akane growled. Ready for her classmate, she whipped her leg through the air with the side of Ukyou's head as her target.

Not backing down, the okonomiyaki chef ducked as Akane's kick grazed her ribbon. Then, from a crouching position, Ukyou leaped forward and tackled her to the ground.

"Why, you-!" Akane struggled as Ukyou pinned her down.

Trying to keep the youngest Tendo daughter from hitting her, Ukyou finally managed to get her mouth near Akane's ear so that she could whisper to her. "Hey, relax! Listen to me for a second!"

"Why should I?!" Akane asked defiantly.

Neither of them paid much attention as Hinako ran past them with the pigtailed girl not far behind.

"Come back here I said!" Ranma shouted as he flew by them.

Ukyou was continually adjusting her position so that Akane couldn't throw her off of herself. "Just listen, stupid! We're gonna have a lot of trouble here with Ran-chan and Miss Hinako in this match!"

Akane didn't understand what her rival was getting at and chose to keep trying to pry her hands free. "So what?! You want to just give up?!"

"Of course not!" Ukyou snapped at her. "What I'm trying to say is that we should work together!"

"What?!" Akane asked with a confused look.

"A truce! We take out Ranma honey and Hinako first, and then you and me can go at it for that briefcase!" Ukyou proposed. "Whadya say, Akane?"

On the floor by the opposite side of the ring, Ranma had somehow managed to lose sight of the quick Hinako Ninomiya.

"Tch...where'd she go...?" he muttered to himself.

Ranma walked around the ringpost to the adjacent side of the ring, but stopped in his tracks as he spotted Hinako crouching down near the ground with her coin held out in front of her.

"Now you're mine, Mr. Saotome!" the crafty teacher gleamed. "Happo Fifty-Yen Satsu!"

"Crap!" Ranma yelled.

As the attack began sapping his battle aura away, Ranma dove under the ring apron in a move of desperation and hid himself underneath the ring.

"Hey!" Hinako pouted. "Get back here!"

Hinako, who was still in her child form since she couldn't absorb much aura from Ranma, lifted up the ring apron and followed her delinquent student under the ring.

"What's this?! It looks like Saotome and Miss Hinako have taken their exchange underneath the ring! What could be going on down there?!"

With the lack of any action happening elsewhere, the students were squarely focused on watching for either of the two competitors to emerge from under the ring.

Finally, drawing the complete attention of the crowd, the head of a certain pigtailed girl popped out from beneath the ring apron on the opposite side from where she'd entered.

"Gotcha now!" Ranma gloated, grinning deviously as he slid out from under the ring and waited for Hinako to come out.

But Ranma wasn't the only one with ambush plans.

Coming up from behind, Ukyou slammed her giant spatula into the back of her fiancé's head, sending him crashing to the floor. Ranma hazily looked back, trying to figure out what had just happened, when Akane ran up to him and punted him in the gut, knocking the breath out of him.

"Y-...you two...!" he coughed.

Showing no restraint, Ukyou whacked Ranma in the back with her spatula repeatedly. "Come on, Akane!"

The youngest Tendo daughter joined in, stomping the pigtailed girl into the floor and driving her foot into Ranma's ribs and stomach over and over again.

"My GOD! Tendo and Kuonji seem to have formed an alliance, and they are absolutely beating the hell out of Saotome!"

Ranma continued coughing and gasping for breath as Ukyou picked him up from behind and locked his arms while holding him.

"Sorry about this, Ran-chan!" Ukyou apologized.

"It's your own fault for getting involved!" Akane added, rearing back and driving one of her best punches into Ranma's chest.

Completely defenseless, the pigtailed martial artist was treated as a punching bag, taking blow after blow to his face and abdomen from Akane while Ukyou held him up. But, with his cheeks beginning to swell up and his whole body reeling in pain, he made one last attempt to save himself.

Akane threw another sharp punch at Ranma's face, but this time he raised his legs and caught her arm in a grapevine.

"H-hey!" Akane gasped.

Despite his condition, Ranma managed to smirk at his fiancée as he kept hold of her. "Now...it's...my...turn..."

But, not about to let Ranma get any momentum, Ukyou took the upper half of his body that she was holding up and threw him down into the floor. The battered and bruised Saotome let out a cry of pain as the impact caused him to let go of Akane's arm.

While the two girls continued pounding on their target, the small figure of Hinako finally popped out from underneath the ring and spotted the person she'd been chasing.

"There you are, Mr. Saotome!" she pointed at him.

Sharing a quick glance with Akane, Ukyou walked over to Hinako and stopped her from coming any closer. "Don't worry about him, Miss Hinako! Let us take care of it!"

"W-what?" Hinako asked, appearing confused. "No! It's my job to deal with delinquents like this! You girls let me handle him!"

"Oh, but Miss Hinako..." Ukyou began to say. Then, with an idea in mind, she turned to the audience and pointed up near the top row. "Hey, look! Isn't that a cotton candy vendor?!"

The young teacher's eyes lit up as she gazed into the bleachers. "Cotton candy?! Where, where?!"

Sure enough, there was a student vendor selling rolls of cotton candy near the top of one section of the crowd.

Knowing she had her teacher won over, the okonomiyaki chef flipped Hinako a 500-yen coin and winked at her. "It's on me, Miss Hinako! Just leave it to us!"

Unable to resist, Hinako firmly grabbed hold of the money and bolted up the bleachers to get herself a sugary snack.

"Good, that gets her out of the way," Ukyou grinned.

With Ranma still in bad shape on the ground, Akane grabbed the ladder sitting on that side of the ring and pulled it over to him. "Ukyou!"

"Ooh, good idea!" her classmate said, grabbing the other end of it.

After stomping away a short struggle that Ranma put up, the Furinkan girls laid the ladder over his body and looked at each other with evil plans in mind.

"Ready?" Akane asked.

"Always," Ukyou smiled. "One, two-!"

The students gasped as Akane and Ukyou jumped into the air simultaneously and stomped down on the ladder, flattening Ranma between it and the floor.

"This is insane! Ranma Saotome is being physically destroyed by his fiancées! I don't know how much he has left!"

On the other side of the ring, Ryouga had a pleased look on his face as he watched his rival being dismantled. "Serves the jerk right. Akane looks like she can win it this time."

Nabiki had a similar outlook on things. "I had a feeling Ranma wouldn't win as easily as everyone thought. Looks like I was right on the money."

Suddenly hearing the sound of nibbling close by, Akane's older sister glanced to her right and noticed Miss Hinako sitting next to her, slowly eating away at a chunk of cotton candy and looking like she was in ecstasy while doing so.

"You sure seem relaxed for someone who's competing in the match," Nabiki commented.

With a bit of cotton candy stuck on the tip of her nose, Hinako defended her actions. "I'm just taking a little break, that's all! I'll go teach Mr. Saotome a lesson when I finish my yummy sweets!"

"I'm sure," Nabiki replied sarcastically.

While Hinako sat out, Akane and Ukyou set their folded-up ladder on Ranma again and readied for another blow.

"One, two-!"

The students cringed as Ranma was crushed underneath the ladder yet again by the devastating assault of his fiancées.

"Again they stomp him into the floor! I'm no expert, everyone, but I think Ranma Saotome may be finished! Wait, what's this?!"

Convinced that they'd put Ranma out of commission for the time being, Ukyou and Akane shared a satisfied look and bumped their fists together in a congratulatory gesture. But then, catching them completely by surprise, a ladder came crashing down from above and struck them both in their heads, knocking them to the floor.

Inside the ring, Shampoo looked ready to go as she glared down at the girls.

"It looks like the Amazon wrecking ball has recovered, folks! Can she take on the Furinkan alliance by herself?!"

With an animalistic look in her eyes, Shampoo jumped over the top rope with one of her maces in hand and landed squarely on the floor. Trying to shake off the blow from the ladder, Ukyou stood up and wildly swung her spatula at the Chinese girl, but Shampoo leaned back, avoiding it completely, and then moved in and clobbered the okonomiyaki chef in the head with her mace.

Knocked for a loop, Ukyou quickly dropped to the floor, leaving her ally on her own. Akane managed to stand up, but had no time to protect herself before Shampoo blasted her in the chest with her mace. She wasn't finished with her yet though, grabbing her by the hair and yanking her back to her feet.

"This for cost Shampoo day with Ranma last time!" she growled.

Without a hint of remorse, the fierce Amazon girl flung Akane head first right into one of the steel ringposts. The audience members flinched as the sound from the impact echoed throughout the gymnasium and their Furinkan representative collapsed to the floor.

"And just like that, Kuonji and Tendo are down! Has Shampoo won this ma- hey, wait just a moment...!"

Noticing that everyone was looking up into the ring, Shampoo spun around and was surprised to see Kodachi sluggishly pulling herself up a ladder toward the prized briefcase. Evidently, the crafty gymnast had quietly crawled into the ring while everyone else was on the outside and set up the ladder that Akane had slid under the rope earlier before Ukyou got to her.

"Kodachi Kuno is taking advantage of a golden opportunity once again! Can she become a two-time Miss Money in the Bank?!"

Not about to let this match end like the first one, Shampoo took her mace and hurled it at the ladder, snapping one side of the fiberglass contraption completely in half. Kodachi let out a startled shriek as she and the broken ladder fell forward and slammed down into the mat with a loud clanking noise.

Shampoo quickly slid into the ring with the intention of dealing with Kodachi, but the still weakened gymnast rolled out under the bottom rope before she got the chance. Rather than waste her time with the Black Rose, the lavender-haired girl allowed her to escape and kicked the broken ladder out of the ring.

Looking around, a smile then crossed Shampoo's face as she found that she was the only girl standing at the moment. Now was the time to go for the prize. Sliding out of the ring again, she grabbed one of the remaining usable ladders on the floor and flung it over the top rope.

"This may be it! Can Shampoo claim that briefcase hanging above the ring?!"

The confident Amazon girl hurried to set the ladder up in the center of the ring, moving it around a bit to get it positioned right under the briefcase.

"This too easy!" she boasted gleefully.

What Shampoo didn't see, however, was that Akane had gotten back to her feet on the outside. She was far from being in good shape though. Being thrown into the ringpost had opened up a gash on her forehead, and the popular Furinkan student was bleeding profusely as she stumbled over to the ring apron.

"It looks like Akane Tendo is stirring, but...oh my, she is a bloody mess, folks..."

"Akane!" Ryouga yelled, looking horrified as he shot to his feet. "Look at her, she's hurt! I...I need to help her...!"

"Hold it," Nabiki said, shaking her head as Ryouga looked down at her. "Not that I mind, but I don't think Akane would appreciate it. Ever since she agreed to this match, she's been wanting to prove to everyone that she can win it, and I would guess that means winning it on her own. She does have pride, you know."

Ryouga wanted to help, but he knew Nabiki was right. Biting down on his bottom lip, he reluctantly sat back down and waited to see what Akane would do.

By the time Shampoo had the ladder set up, Akane had rolled into the ring behind her. Shampoo was so focused that she didn't even realize she had company as she began scaling the rungs of the ladder toward her goal.

Down on the mat, Akane was rattled, but she wasn't so out of it that she didn't realize what was going on. With her rival only a couple steps from victory, she sprang up and grabbed the bottom of Shampoo's shirt from behind.

"Wha?!" Shampoo yelped, looking down to see what was holding onto her. "Akane-!?"

With a fierce cry, Akane yanked Shampoo off the ladder and threw her down to the mat, much to the delight of the students in the crowd.

"Akane Tendo prevents Shampoo from winning! But in her condition, how long can she keep going?!"

The youngest Tendo daughter wiped the blood covering her face onto the sleeve of her gi and then stumbled over to the ladder as fast as she could. She didn't know how much time she'd bought with her attack on Shampoo, but she knew it probably wasn't much. She needed to hurry.

A determined Akane began scaling the ladder, hearing the support of her fellow Furinkan students echoing throughout the gym, but Shampoo was already back on her feet. Not happy at all, she grabbed Akane by the back of her gi and threw her back down onto the mat just as her rival had done to her.

Not wanting to waste any time with the briefcase so close, Shampoo began climbing the ladder again while Akane shook off the bump she'd taken.

"Shampoo may have too much of a head start this time! Can she do it?!"

The audience was on the edge of their seats as Shampoo reached up and touched the briefcase, feeling around for the latch to release it. But before she could free the case, Akane dove over to the ladder and wrapped one arm around each of Shampoo's legs as she tugged the Chinese girl downward.

Gritting her teeth, Shampoo grabbed hold of the ladder with one hand while still trying to reach for the briefcase latch with the other. Fighting against Akane's strength as best she could, Shampoo stretched her arm as far as it could go trying to get that case, but her rival simply wouldn't relent.

"I'm not letting go!!" Akane shouted up at her.

Changing her position, Akane spun around and got herself between Shampoo and the ladder, grabbing hold of the Amazon girl's hips for better leverage.

"Ah!" Shampoo cried as her hand slipped down one rung of the ladder. It didn't take long for her to see that she was losing out in this battle. She was going to have to deal with Akane for good before she went for that briefcase.

Frustrated, Shampoo drove the point of her elbow down into the top of Akane's head. The blow clearly dazed Akane, forcing her to loosen her grip on Shampoo's hips. With that opportunity presented, Shampoo spun around so that she was behind Akane and wrapped her arm around her rival's throat in an attempt to choke her out.

"Look at this! Shampoo appears to have locked in a sleeper hold on Tendo!"

Akane tried prying Shampoo's arm off her neck, but the blood loss she'd suffered was beginning to have its effect on her. With her pants and now her shirt sleeves stained red with Akane's blood, Shampoo used her free hand to help cinch in the choke hold and wrapped her legs around Akane's waist so that she couldn't shake her off.

The weight of Shampoo's body on her back too much to bear in her weakened state, Akane crumpled to the mat without much of a fight. Even as the audience began chanting Akane's name in hopes that she could break free, there wasn't much she could do. The flow of blood to her brain was being cut off by the choke and she was soon going to be unconscious unless something forced Shampoo to let go of her.

"Is all over for you, Akane! Have nice nap!" Shampoo taunted her.

Then, as the blood began dripping from Akane's face down onto the mat and her eyes began to close, she may have gotten the break she needed. Sneaking up from behind both of them, the sly Kodachi scampered back into the ring and slowly began ascending the ladder that Akane and Shampoo had been fighting on.

"Would you look at this! Kodachi Kuno may not have the strength to fend off the other competitors, but she can still climb a ladder!"

By the time Shampoo realized what was going on, Kodachi was already halfway to the briefcase. She hated to let Akane go, but choking her out wouldn't mean anything if Kodachi ended up winning the match again.

With Kodachi's fingers brushing against the metal briefcase, Shampoo quickly broke her hold on Akane and stood up to deal with the problematic gymnast. The Black Rose of St. Hebereke had just reached the latch to remove the case when Shampoo swung her leg at Kodachi's side of the ladder, snapping clear through it.

"No!!" Kodachi cried out. She tried grasping for the latch, but she'd already fallen out of range. Without any support, Kodachi fell backward and hit the mat hard with the broken ladder falling on top of her.

"I don't believe this! What strength by Shampoo! She'd better be careful though! There's only two ladders left that she hasn't destroyed!"

Trying to get back to safety, Kodachi again maneuvered to get herself out of the ring, but Shampoo wasn't about to let her go again.

"Shampoo have enough of you, sneaky girl!" the annoyed Amazon snarled at her prey.

But as Shampoo tried to walk toward the fallen gymnast, she was surprised to find that she couldn't move her feet. A quick glance down at the mat made her aware that she was standing in some sort of adhesive substance.

"Nng! What this...?!" she fumed as she struggled to free herself.

Tired of messing around with it, Shampoo managed to wriggle out of her shoes and plant her bare feet on a clean part of the mat, but not before Kodachi rolled out of the ring again. Putting the dark-haired gymnast aside for now, the barefoot Shampoo wanted to know where the adhesive substance had come from. She wouldn't have to wait long to figure it out though, as a virtual rope of yakisoba noodles wrapped around her body from behind and successfully bound her.

"Hi there, sugar! Miss me?!" Ukyou growled as she jumped up into the ring.

Doing her best to try to break free of the noodle rope, Shampoo began hopping around to face the okonomiyaki chef, only to be struck square in the face with her over-sized spatula.

"And Ukyou Kuonji is back in the mix! My goodness, we'd almost forgotten about her with everything that happened between the others!"

While Shampoo was down on the mat and dazed from the blow, Ukyou picked up a bucket from the ring apron and stormed over to her again.

"You've had my batter and some noodles, so how about some tempura?!" she yelled, dumping a mess of tempura flakes over her lavender-haired rival.

Shampoo screamed loudly as the tempura flakes mixed with gunpowder began exploding around her. Desperate to escape, she quickly rolled out of the cloud of tempura, coughing and shaking as she emerged into clean air again. Her skin was singed and her clothes were smoking, and, worst of all, she was still bound by Ukyou's yakisoba noodles.

With Shampoo down and out for the moment, the concerned okonomiyaki chef knelt down by her battered ally to check on her condition.

"Jeez...you okay, Akane?" she asked.

Despite nearly being choked unconscious, Akane had managed to will herself off the mat and up to her knees. The blood dripping from the nasty cut on her forehead still wasn't stopping though, and she was growing weaker by the minute. She wasn't about to quit because of her injury though. She was too proud and too stubborn. Come hell or high water, she was going to win this match.

With the crowd starting to applaud her tenacity and get behind her, Akane Tendo finally staggered back to her feet.

"I'm...fine..." she mouthed back at her classmate.

Akane's eyes immediately locked in on the incapacitated Shampoo. Seething with evil intent after the beating she'd taken, she got her legs moving and hurried over to dish out some payback.

Shampoo was having a rough time opening her eyes after the tempura flakes got into them a bit, but she could still pick up on the fact that Akane was heading her way.

"You...you're mine!" the bloodied martial artist snarled at her.

Even a well-timed adrenaline boost couldn't keep Akane on her feet anymore though. As she reached down to grab Shampoo by her hair, the adept Amazon girl tripped her up with her legs and forced her downward, causing Akane to lose her balance and slam her face down into the ring mat.

"Oh! What a move by Shampoo! Akane's given us a great effort, but this match has simply taken too much of a toll on her body, I'm afraid..."

In the front row, Ryouga looked extremely worried as he stood up and took in the sight of his battered love interest.

"Akane!" he shouted at her. "Akane, that's enough! You can't fight them off anymore! Just rest until it's all over!"

Akane was so out of it that she didn't even hear her friend calling out to her. Clearly not in fighting shape, she slowly rolled out of the ring to try to muster up some much needed energy.

"Stupid...you're not fine at all," Ukyou sighed, turning her attention back to Shampoo. "Looks like I'm on my own again."

Down on the mat, Shampoo was trying desperately to break free from her rival's noodle rope, but she just couldn't garner the strength needed to do it.

"You never beat Shampoo like this, spatula girl!" she hissed as Ukyou stood before her with her primary weapon in hand.

The okonomiyaki chef smirked down at her prey, knowing she had her right where she wanted her.

"Sorry, sugar, but there's nothing you ca-oof!"

To everyone's surprise, one of the remaining ladders came flying in from out of nowhere and struck Ukyou in her shoulder with enough force that it knocked her right off her feet and out of the ring through the top and middle ropes.

"Whoa! Kuonji is hit hard with a ladder, but by who?! Hey, I don't believe it...!"

With most of them having money on the line, the students were pleasantly surprised to see a ragged-looking Ranma Saotome crawl into the ring after having taken out Ukyou with a dart-like ladder shot.

"Ranma Saotome is stirring after that brutal beating inflicted upon him earlier! Amazing!"

Seeing that the familiar pigtailed girl was stumbling closer, Shampoo again tried to free herself from the noodle rope to protect herself, but they just wouldn't give.

But then, to the shock of everyone, Shampoo included, Ranma bent down and sliced through the noodles with his hand, effectively freeing his Chinese fiancée.

Shampoo appeared perplexed as she watched the red-haired girl look around the ring.

"Ranma..." she blinked, "why you help Shampoo?"

Spotting something that appealed to him, Ranma walked over to the ladder that Shampoo had broken earlier and picked up the top end of it as he turned to the Amazon girl with a furious look in his eyes.

"It's personal now!" he shouted angrily while still favoring his abdomen. "C'mon! They wanna team up, we'll show 'em a team up!"

With a devious smile, Shampoo gladly picked up the bottom end of the ladder. This was a perfect opportunity to take the Furinkan duo out of the picture, she thought.

Outside the ring, Ukyou grabbed at her aching shoulder as Akane wearily stood up next to her.

"Hang in there, Akane," the shaken chef said to her ally. "We can still do...wha?!"

From above, Ukyou spotted Ranma and Shampoo soaring through the air while holding the busted ladder between them. After flying over the top rope, the pair heaved the ladder down onto Ukyou and Akane before landing safely on their feet, an unexpected move that brought the crowd to its feet even as two of their school's representatives crumpled to the floor.

"Incredible! What a double team move from Saotome and Shampoo! Who would've thought we'd see this?!"

After being struck in the head with the ladder, Akane was barely moving and looked to be out of it. Ukyou, on the other hand, was still trying to get back up, which prompted Shampoo to make sure she wouldn't. An ensuing barrage of vicious kicks to her body left Ukyou with no choice but to cover up and protect herself.

"Wait!" Ranma ordered Shampoo, getting her to back off momentarily. He didn't plan on saving his other fiancée though. Instead, he laid the ladder on top of Ukyou and looked evilly at Shampoo. "Ready?"

The lavender-haired girl nodded eagerly. "One, two-!"

Just as the other girls had done earlier, Ranma and Shampoo jumped up and stomped down on the ladder, crushing Ukyou's torso beneath it as she cried out in pain.

"Oh that can not feel good! It looks like Kuonji just got a taste of her own medicine!"

Audience members looked on with a bit of concern as their classmate squirmed around on the floor trying to deal with the agonizing blow.

Meanwhile, Ranma didn't feel like standing around and admiring his work. He quickly picked up the top of the ladder and looked back at Shampoo.

"Hey, we're goin' to get her too!" he commanded, pointing over at Kodachi, who was leaning against the apron on another side of the ring.

"Shampoo right behind you," she happily replied, picking up her end of the ladder again.

As they made their way over to the dark-haired gymnast, Ranma was quietly plotting his way to win this match.

"This is perfect," he thought to himself. "Once we take Kodachi out, I'll turn around and get Shampoo out of the picture too. Then nobody's gonna stop me from gettin' that stupid briefcase!"

Once the two of them rounded the ringpost, Ranma stayed in front and pointed his end of the ladder at Kodachi.

"Go!" he shouted.

The sound of the pigtailed girl's voice now making her aware of the incoming attack, the Black Rose tried to push herself off the side of the ring and scramble away, but she wasn't in any condition to outrun them with her energy drained. Ranma and Shampoo used the ladder as a battering ram and drove the top of it into the back of Kodachi's head.

With that done, Ranma was ready to put his plan into action. As Kodachi collapsed to the floor, the scheming Saotome let go of the ladder and readied to take out his temporary ally. He wasn't the only one with a plan in mind though.

The audience jumped as their favorite to win spun around only to have his chin jarred by Shampoo's bare heel. Knocked silly by the surprise kick, Ranma's legs wobbled and he soon fell backward to the floor.

"It's a double-cross! You had to know it was coming sooner or later, but what a devastating kick to Saotome! Ladies and gentlemen, Shampoo is the only woman standing!"

Particularly proud of herself, Shampoo bent down over Ranma and playfully stuck her tongue out at him.

"Very sorry, Ranma!" she giggled. "Shampoo promise make up for it when we have day together!"

Ecstatic with her impending victory, the overjoyed Amazon girl rolled into the ring and began setting up the ladder that Ranma had tossed at Ukyou earlier.

"It looks like Shampoo has this match won! Can she do it?!"

With the crowd clamoring for someone to get up and stop her, Shampoo got the ladder positioned directly below the briefcase and began humming to herself as she started to scale the rungs. She was so sure she'd won the match that she didn't even see the small figure enter the ring behind her.

"Happo Fifty-Yen Satsu!!"

Shampoo immediately clutched to the ladder as she felt herself growing weaker.

"It...it's Miss Hinako! I'd completely forgotten about her! She's apparently finished with her mid-match snack, and now she's got Shampoo in a world of trouble!"

In the corner of the ring, Hinako smirked with confidence as she drained the lavender-haired girl's battle aura and grew into her adult form. "It was a mistake to ignore me."

Panicked, Shampoo frantically tried to think of a way to save herself from the same fate as Kodachi. Unfortunately, being stuck on a ladder, she didn't have many options. There was only one thing she could think of.

The audience watched closely as Shampoo hopped off the ladder and drove her feet down into the ring mat as hard as she could. Despite Hinako's attack, Shampoo's remaining strength was enough to punch a small hole right through the mat, which she quickly disappeared into.

"H-hey! You can't escape!" Hinako shouted.

Determined to finish the job, the Furinkan High teacher knelt down and peered through the hole in the ring. But, as she was bent over, Shampoo's arms burst through the ring mat behind her as she punched a second hole in it, much to the shock of the students looking on. Then, with a loud cry, Shampoo grabbed Hinako by her hips and dragged her under the ring through the hole she'd just made.

"Wh-what is going on here!? Hinako is...!"

Unlike Shampoo, Hinako's head was still sticking out through the hole in the mat. And, for good reason, she seemed extremely confused at the moment.

"What...what is this?! I can't move!" Hinako complained. "What did you do?!"

Nobody seemed to have any idea what to make of things, but one person had a reasonable clue. Still recovering from the joint assault of Ranma and Shampoo earlier, Ukyou Kuonji peeked under the ring apron for confirmation. As she thought, Hinako's body was sitting in one of her large cooking pots that she'd stored under there earlier.

"That bimbo," Ukyou growled, "she put Hinako in my batter pot..."

"I don't know what happened, but Miss Hinako can't seem to get out of the ring! Shampoo pulled off an amazing move to save herself! How much did Miss Hinako's attack take out of her though?!"

After about ten seconds without any sign of movement, Shampoo wearily reached up through the hole she'd dove through earlier and grabbed hold of the bottom rung of the ladder. Letting Hinako drain most of her energy was a costly mistake that she was extremely upset about, but she didn't have time to beat herself up over it yet. The match wasn't over, and if she wanted to win then she needed to hurry up and get to the briefcase before any of the others had enough time to recover.

Shampoo used her other hand to grab the next ladder rung and pull her head above the ring mat. Then, before she moved up any further, she spotted something that made her heart jump. The bloodied face of Akane was staring right at her from under the bottom ring rope.

With the students amazed that she was even standing, Akane crawled her way into the ring and grabbed hold of a rung on the other side of the ladder.

"Are you kidding me?! Akane Tendo is still trying to win this match! You can question her judgment, but you certainly can't question her heart, folks!"

The bitter rivals locked eyes as they both slowly pulled themselves up their respective sides of the ladder, feeding off the growing roar of the audience in the background. Neither of them even thought about knocking the other off, instead focusing completely on climbing with their battered bodies. It was if there was an unspoken agreement between them to wait until they reached the top and then fight it out to decide who the best woman was.

And that was exactly what they did.

Shampoo and Akane both raised their heads above the top of the ladder at the same time, their arms shaking from exhaustion.

"You...you no...can win..." Shampoo insisted.

"Just...watch me!" Akane shouted back at her.

The crowd applauded as Akane chopped her hand against Shampoo's chest, making a loud slapping sound echo throughout the gym. The tough Amazon held on though, and returned with a chop of her own against Akane's chest, this one even louder.

"Look at these two go at it! This is incredible! Who's going to outlast the other?!"

The girls traded chop after chop, gritting their teeth to bear the pain as the onlooking students roared with each blow. With every shot, more and more of Akane's blood was spread on Shampoo's shirt. They were in their own little world, focused on nothing but each other. And because of that, neither of them noticed the recovering pigtailed girl sliding her way back into the ring.

"And now Saotome is back in it! What's going to happen here?!"

Still seeing stars from Shampoo's rock hard kick to his chin, Ranma gazed up at his two fiancées duking it out atop the ladder and smiled for the first time since the match started.

The look on Ranma's face immediately caught the attention of Ryouga sitting in the front row.

"He's...he's gonna push them off," Ryouga growled. "That's it! I can't take this anymore!"

"Be my guest," Nabiki told him. Anything that kept Ranma from winning was okay with her right now.

Without anyone stopping him this time, Ryouga jumped up from his seat and into the ring, putting himself between Ranma and the ladder.

"H-hey! Whadya think you're doin'?!" Ranma asked his rival as he shakily got to his feet.

"Stopping you so that Akane can win!" Ryouga told him. "I won't let you take this from her, Ranma!"

Not overly surprised at this latest development, the pigtailed martial artist slowly nodded his head and gestured for Ryouga to come at him. "You think you can stop me?! C'mon and try!"

Ryouga gladly accepted the invitation, swiftly closing in on Ranma and throwing a number of nasty punches his way. Ranma managed to dodge the attacks, still quick in his girl form despite his injuries, and whipped a side kick at Ryouga's head in return. Ranma's kick was much slower and easier to see than normal thanks to the beating he'd taken though. As a result, the much fresher Ryouga caught Ranma's leg and drove his fist into his already battered abdomen, knocking the breath out of him and sending him rolling into the ropes.

"D-dammit..." Ranma coughed.

Up on the ladder, Akane appeared to be fading as Shampoo's blows were taking more and more of a toll on her. One additional chop to her chest made Akane curl up and slink down the ladder enough for her opponent to make her move. Then, with Akane clearly hurting, Shampoo moved her feet up another rung and grabbed onto the briefcase.

Trying desperately to put the pain in the back of her mind, Akane cried out with determination as she pulled herself back up the ladder. Under no circumstance did she want Shampoo to win this match.

While Shampoo was fiddling around for the briefcase's latch, Akane reared back and slugged her in the gut, rocking the lavender-haired girl. It wasn't enough to get her to let go of the case though. Again Akane slammed her fist into her rival, drawing a loud gasp from Shampoo as the pain shot through her body. But still she hung onto the case, not willing to give it up.

Frustrated, Akane grabbed hold of Shampoo's shirt and tried tugging her downward to get her away from the prize. "Let...go...!"

"Shampoo...never...let go...!" she screamed.

Down below, Ranma had been dodging Ryouga's attacks as best he could, but still took some serious damage before finding himself right next to the side of the ladder. He could've pushed it over and taken out Shampoo and Akane right now if he wanted, but then Ryouga would likely beat him senseless. What he needed was a way to stop the girls without doing it himself.

"C'mon, Mr. P! Come get me, ya little pig!" Ranma taunted his rival, luring him in.

Enraged, Ryouga came at him full force to quiet him. "You shut your mouth!"

With Ryouga blinded by anger, Ranma used his opponent's momentum to his advantage and dove out of the way, forcing Ryouga to devote his attention to stopping before he ran into the ladder.

"Whew, that was close..." Ryouga said aloud.

But as he turned around, Ranma was waiting. Pushing himself to his limit, the pigtailed martial artist hit Ryouga with a stunning dropkick that knocked him off his feet. As Ranma fell to the mat, Ryouga flew right into the ladder, drawing the breath from seemingly everyone in the gymnasium as the fiberglass contraption tipped to one side.

Feeling themselves falling over, Shampoo desperately grabbed onto the briefcase with all her might and held on. Akane didn't have any such luck, though. Loosing her grip on Shampoo's shirt, Akane went sailing through the air, over the top rope, and dropped nearly 12 feet before crash landing through the announcer's wooden table outside the ring.

"Oh my god!!"

The entire gymnasium was in shock at what they'd just seen. Even inside the ring, Ryouga, Ranma, and Shampoo, who was dangling from the briefcase suspended above, all froze for a moment as they looked down at the sight of the bloodied Akane laying motionless in the debris of the destroyed table. The announcer had the presence of mind to save her microphone before Akane landed, but her table was in pieces.

"A-Akane!!" Ryouga shouted, hurrying to get out of the ring and check on her. Having been the one that knocked the ladder over, to say he was riddled with guilt was an understatement.

Ranma, meanwhile, was starting to have qualms about what he'd just done as he lay exhausted on the mat.

"Tendo...appears to be unconscious, everyone, but the match must go on! Maybe not for much longer though, because Shampoo is still holding onto that briefcase! All she needs to do is unlatch it and the victory is hers!"

Everyone gathered themselves after the fall they'd just watched and looked up at Shampoo, who was struggling just to keep hold of the case as she hung above the ring. She was exhausted, and thankful that it wasn't her who took a 12-foot fall to the floor, but she still needed to win the match.

Summoning up her remaining strength, Shampoo willed herself to quickly reach up and grab hold of the cord hanging from the ceiling with both hands. That was the easy part. Now she would have to hold herself up long enough with one hand to undo the briefcase latch with the other, and that was a lot to ask in her weakened state.

But, as the cord carrying Shampoo and the briefcase twirled around, the worn out Amazon girl spotted something concerning happening down below. Standing on top of one of the corner ringposts was Ukyou, and she had the last ladder that hadn't been used propped up in the corner in its folded state.

"This is the part where you fall down," Ukyou grinned deviously.

With the eyes of the spectators upon her, Ukyou pushed the ladder forward and hopped onto the top rung. Then, after the ladder had reached its maximum height and began to fall to the mat, she used it to boost herself and jumped toward the briefcase. Soaring through the air above the center of the ring, Ukyou reached out and grabbed hold of Shampoo's waist, yanking her right off the cord.

As the girls were falling back down to earth, the okonomiyaki chef thrust a screaming Shampoo downward and slammed her into the ring mat with such immense force that the mat couldn't withstand it. The ring mat broke and Shampoo fell straight through and down to the floor underneath the ring, leaving a giant hole in the mat almost directly underneath the briefcase and getting the students to jump up and down with elation.

"Good god! I've never seen anything like this in my life! Shampoo just got driven right THROUGH the ring!"

The noise coming from the amazed crowd was deafening. Their school's own Ukyou Kuonji had just delivered an incredible death blow to Shampoo, saving them from losing the money they'd almost all put down on Ranma and giving them something to remember for the rest of their lives.

"Wh-whoa..." a speechless Ranma said as he stared at the fallen Amazon girl's body.

Shampoo, who had one foot still hanging out from the large hole in the ring, looked to be out cold. Ukyou succeeded in taking her out, but she also landed hard on her tailbone and was writhing around the ring trying to shake off the sting from it. With Akane unconscious, Kodachi in poor shape outside the ring, and Hinako unable to escape Ukyou's batter, this left Ranma with the best chance of anyone to win right now.

Not one to pass up the opportunity, Ranma used the ropes to pull his aching body to its feet and stumbled over to the ladder that Ukyou had rode down. The students jumped up and down, urging the pigtailed girl on as she set the ladder up and dragged it over the hole containing Shampoo, making sure the ladder's legs were firmly on the good part of the mat and not in any danger of falling in.

"Mmm...this isn't looking good, is it?" Nabiki told herself. As things were, she was set to lose some money on this financial venture.

Chants of "Ran-ma" echoed throughout the gymnasium as the crowd majority's bet to win placed his foot on the bottom rung of the ladder and began climbing. But before he got any further, a small spatula flew in from the other side of the ladder and cut into his ankle.

"Agh!" Ranma yelped, falling from the ladder and grabbing at the wound.

Everyone watched as Ukyou, seemingly over the pain from the fall she'd just taken, grabbed the giant spatula off her back and dragged herself over to the side of the ladder opposite her fiancé. The lively okonomiyaki chef had taken some ugly shots from Ranma and Shampoo throughout the match, but she was in no worse shape than Ranma was right now. Her fellow students seemed firmly behind the pigtailed girl, but Ukyou didn't care. She wanted this for herself and no one else anyway.

"You and me...just like old times, Ran-chan!" she smirked.

Gritting his teeth, Ranma threw himself up against his side of the ladder and stared down his childhood friend through the rungs. "Yeah, and it's gonna end the same way it always did, Ucchan!"

The audience roared as their two school representatives slowly ascended the ladder, heading for a certain confrontation once they reached the top.

"Here we go, folks! It's come down to Saotome and Kuonji! Who's going to take the briefcase for themselves?!"

Ranma may have been tired, but his eyes were still sharp. On the way up the ladder, he distinctly noticed that Ukyou had reached inside her top and grabbed a handful of something.

Rung after rung the two climbed, building the anticipation of the audience, until finally both of their heads were above the top of the ladder.

"Eat this!" Ukyou yelled, reaching back to throw something at her friend.

The observant Saotome was ready and waiting though. Once Ukyou was about to let go of what she was holding, he reached out and swatted her hand back at her. Ukyou's hand smacked against her face, and the contents, a handful of flour, exploded into her eyes and blinded her.

"Oh! What a counter from Saotome! Kuonji's attack just backfired bigtime!"

As she struggled to recover from the flour, Ukyou slid down the ladder and onto the mat, leaving Ranma a clean path to victory.

"Yeah! It's mine!" the pigtailed girl gloated.

Ranma hurried to climb close enough to unlatch the briefcase, but he wasn't aware that Ukyou had set a trap for him. On the first rung from the top was a layer of cooking oil, and as soon as Ranma laid his foot on it he slipped and fell abdomen first onto the top of the ladder.

"He slipped! And right onto that stomach that Tendo and Kuonji had gone after earlier! That has to hurt!"

Hunched over the ladder, Ranma was shaking from the rush of pain shooting through his body. And, what was worse, Ukyou had managed to at least partially recover her vision. With Ranma hanging over onto her side of the ladder, the opportunistic chef grabbed her large spatula again and swatted the back of her fiancé's head, knocking his throat into the top ladder rung.

Stunned, Ranma fell back onto his side of the ladder and held on for dear life. He didn't have time to waste, he realized, as he saw Ukyou starting to climb up again. He was still close enough to the briefcase that he could grab it before she had the chance to stop him, and that's exactly what he planned to do.

The pigtailed girl let out a loud cry and pulled herself up the ladder, putting the pain in the back of her mind, but she wasn't going to be allowed to take the prize uncontested. From behind, a violet ribbon wrapped around her neck, cutting off her breathing and stopping her right where she was.

Trying to keep hold of the ladder as he looked over his shoulder, Ranma saw that the culprit was none other than Kodachi.

"What?! It looks like Kodachi Kuno has risen from the defeated and snared Saotome! Unbelievable! Can Saotome break free?!"

Kodachi, who was standing on the ring apron and breathing heavily as she leaned over the top rope, shot an icy look at the struggling pigtailed girl.

"I...will not...let you win...!" she declared.

Not willing to give in, Ranma let go of the ladder with one hand and grabbed hold of the ribbon. He knew what Kodachi was enduring after taking Hinako's aura-draining attack, and that worked to his advantage. With one strong tug, Ranma yanked the ribbon out of Kodachi's hands, freeing himself to ascend the ladder again as the Black Rose slid back down the ring apron.

"Saotome has broken free of Kuno, but-!"

While Ranma was dealing with Kodachi, Ukyou managed to climb to the top of the ladder and get above him, and as soon as Ranma was ready to devote his attention back to the briefcase, Ukyou was right there waiting for him. With her spatula raised high in the air, she blasted Ranma directly in the face, jarring his hands loose from the ladder. Helpless and dazed, he fell from the ladder and hit the back of his head as he crashed down into the mat.

"Saotome is down! Saotome is down!"

With the students torn between their financial interests and their personal excitement, Ukyou Kuonji tossed her spatula down from the ladder and climbed within range of the prize. Then, reaching up with both hands, she grabbed hold of the latch and successfully undid it, taking the briefcase down and clutching it to her chest for the victory.

*ding ding ding!*

"She's done it! Ladies and gentlemen, Ukyou Kuonji is your winner!"

Overwhelmed by her win, Ukyou collapsed onto the ladder as the students gave her a rousing ovation. Though most were disappointed that they'd lost the money they bet on Ranma, they had to applaud Ukyou for her amazing efforts.

"Bravo!" Nabiki cheered her on, feeling more relieved than anyone. "I knew I could count on one of them. Looks like I won't be in the red after all."

In the ring, Ranma lay motionless on the mat, appearing to be in shock at the result of the match.

"I...I...lost...?" he said in disbelief.

Still atop the ladder, Ukyou smiled down at him, dangling the metal briefcase next to her with one arm.

"One...one whole day, Ran-chan. Just you and me," she said with a loving wink. "We're gonna have some fun, sugar."

The Furinkan High gymnasium had a chaotic look to it with numerous holes in their ring, a broken table, two girls unconscious, a pair of broken ladders, and Hinako still screaming for someone to get her out of the batter pot, but Ukyou felt like she was in paradise. She'd just garnered a win that she could rub in the faces of the other girls for years to come.

"What a contest we had here today! All of the competitors showed us a lot of heart and determination, but Furinkan's own Ukyou Kuonji came away with an impressive victory in the second Anything-Goes Money in the Bank Ladder Match! Congratulations to our new Miss Money in the Bank!"

Down on the ring mat, Ranma was beside himself, slamming his fist down over and over again in embarrassment.

"You gotta be kiddin' me! How?! How did I lose to a bunch of girls?!"

The End