Ryouga never really did get a decent chance with Akane. Be it his own fault, Ranma's, or both. Yes, he does get shacked up with Akari at the end of the manga, but some may just say that was Takahashi-samma's way of making it up to him. But, like previously stated, Ryouga never really got a chance at competing with Ranma for Akane's love. But what if he did? This story takes place sometime after all the major characters are present, (Ukyo, Mousse, Shampoo, ect.) but before Akari is introduced.

Disclaimer:

Ranma½ is property of Rumiko Takahashi, and I or anyone else claiming ownership deserves to be thrown into the spring of drowned slug for such blasphemy. I do however, own all of the original characters in this story. Fortunately they are too pathetic to be stolen, not like I would care if they were. It'd be kind of flattering.

One more thing...

"dialogue"

'thoughts'

"any language other than Japanese"

Finally all the boring stuff is out of the way. Now on with the story! Ok lights, sound, theme music, and…
Ryouga Hibiki. The eternal lost boy. Ryouga never did have much of a life between cursing Ranma's very existence, and sulking about Akane not noticing him. Yes, the gods themselves seem to look down on the poor boy. All accept one god. His name was Luck, but preferred to be called Jim. He took pity on the poor lad, and decided to help him out. But the problem was how to go about doing that. The only spark of joy in Ryouga's life seemed to be Akane, but she only saw him as a friend. Maybe if he had a decent chance with her...

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A FIGHTING CHANCE
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CHAPTER 1: Aliens, Amazons, and Students. Oh, my!

The Himalayas were always a peaceful place. And it wasn't just because its citizens were Buddhist monks, although it certainly helped. The mountains just had an aura of serenity that kept the average traveler from causing too much noise. Suddenly, the side of one of the mountains exploded outward, and a bandanna clad head poked itself out of the rubble. Too bad Ryouga Hibiki wasn't your average traveler.

"WHERE THE HELL AM I NOW!" Ryouga screamed into the sky, causing a bunch of snow to fall off an overhead cliff and bury him for his insolence to the serenity of the mountains. After climbing out of the snow, Ryouga tried once more to get his bearings.

However, while all this was going on, Ryouga failed to notice the huge meteor falling towards him. It was odd shaped for a meteor (which don't really have a specific shape, but I'm fairly sure they don't look like a spaceship) and was about twenty meters long. It crashed near where the lost boy was standing, causing him to be thrown off his feet back into the snow drift.

"Why does this stuff always happen to me? I don't see Saotome lost in the mountains, buried in the snow, and kami knows he deserves it…" Ryouga grumbled to himself, and angrily dug himself out of the snow once again, only now noticing what looked like a crashed spaceship several feet away from him. He watched as a hatch opened and what appeared to be a young man crawled out, covered in soot, and coughing. The man only managed to crawl a few feet before collapsing. Ryouga walked over and prodded the man with his umbrella until he stirred.

"Hey, you ok?" Ryouga asked in concern.

"Ugh, that was wild…" the young man mumbled before becoming fully coherent and sitting up, his back resting against the mountainside. After brushing some of the soot off him, the young man looked up at Ryouga. "So, where are we?"

Ryouga studied the strange, meteor born man in front of him. He appeared to about Ryouga's age, with cobalt blue hair, emerald green eyes, and pointy ears. His clothes were still mostly covered in soot, but appeared to be some kind of jacket, a shit and pants. Realizing that he was staring, Ryouga hastily looked away and gave a reply. "Um, I'm not exactly sure. Looks like a mountain range of some kind."

"Yes, I can see that. Anyway, where's your nearest space port? As you can see, my ship is completely busted, and I need a new one to get back home." From the blank look he was getting, the man started to look worried. "You do know what I'm talking about, right? A spaceport?" Ryouga shook his head and the man suddenly started a full Soun Tendo Wail™. "I'M STRANDED ON A PRIMATIVE PLANET! I'M GOING TO DIE AN OLD HERMIT LIVING IN A CAVE, TALKING TO MYSELF!"

Ryouga eyed the cliff above wearily, fearing the noise would cause another small avalanche. "Hey, calm down before ano-" His words were cut off as another pile of snow buried the two young men. As they climbed out, Ryouga glared at the strange man. "See what I mean?"

"Hey, who are you, anyway?" He asked, as if seeing Ryouga for the first time.

"I'm Ryouga. Hibiki Ryouga. You wouldn't happen to know how to get to the Tendo Dojo, would you?"

"The name's Kenji. Kiyomori Kenji. And no, I don't even know what planet I'm on, much less how to get to your dojo. I don't even know what I'm supposed to do now. This has never happened to me before." Kenji looked very worried and scared at this point.

"So you're an alien, huh? Stranger things have happened, I suppose. Well if you don't have a place to stay, you can come with me until we can figure out how to get you home."

Kenji grabbed Ryouga by his shirt and stared into his eyes, full of hope. "Y... you r-realy mean it?"

"Uh, sure…"

Six weeks later…

"So Kasumi is gonna be gone for a week?" Ranma asked, already planning an extended training trip. Yeah, a nice long training trip in the mountains would do him some good. Maybe he'll even work on learning a few new tricks. Yup, that's what he needed to do. Go on a-

"Oh, no you don't, Ranma! You're not going anywhere!" Akane yelled, slamming her hands on the breakfast table that the Tendos and Saotomes were gathered around. "I know what you're thinking, but you're going to stay right here! Honestly, my cooking isn't that terrible!"

"Yeah, and neither is toxic waste, but I bet that's tastier..." Ranma mumbled to himself.

"I heard that!"

Further argument was cut off by a bright light filling the room, followed by two figures appearing a foot over the table. Unfortunately for the figures, that foot was filled only by air, which didn't seem to want to keep them suspended over the table. With a loud crash, the two figures, which happened to be Ryouga and Kenji, fell onto the table, scattering the food everywhere and generally causing a big mess.

Ignoring the situation he was in, Kenji stared at a strange device in his hand. "Is this the place, Ryouga?"

"Yeah, looks like it…"

Only then did the two boys notice everyone staring at them in shock. Ryouga laughed nervously, with a sheepish grin plastered on his face. Kenji simply smiled and waved. Both pushed themselves up into a sitting position, while Ryouga spoke for them. "Hi everyone. Long time, no see. Heh, heh…"

Their reply was to simply continue staring in shock.

Kenji sighed. "Ok, I suppose you all want some sort of explanation. Well, it's like this…"


"Shampoo, Mousse, come here for a minute. We have a guest."

Shampoo entered the restaurant section of the Nekohanten. "Who is it, great grandmother? Is someone from village?" Upon seeing the young girl standing next to Colone, Shampoo frowned. "Lo Chun. Why are you here?"

The Amazon was about Shampoo's age with braided pink hair that went down to her waist. The giant battle axe strapped to her back was menacing, but not nearly as much as the look she had on her face upon seeing Shampoo. "Go away, cat. It is no business of yours." Then upon seeing Mousse, her scowl became a friendly smile.

"It has been a long time, Mou Tsu."

Mousse was clearly surprised, but smiled back.. "Yeah… Good to see you Lo Chun." Strangely, this seemed to make Shampoo even more upset.

Cologne rapped a table with her staff for attention. "This is Japan, speak the language. Now, the village has decided that the quest for son in law is taking too long, and has sent us backup. Also, Lotion will be training under me for a time while she is here."

Lotion bowed deeply to Cologne. "It is an honor, great elder." While bowing, she winked at Shampoo. Shampoo growled, while Mousse decided it would be best to go clean the kitchen for awhile and hastily walked off.

Cologne didn't seem to notice, or simply didn't care. "Yes, yes. Now while you are here, you will also spend some time working at the restaurant. Let me show you what your duties will be…"


"And that's the whole story," Ryouga finished, looking around to see what everyone's reactions would be. Yeah, right. Like they'd believe a word of it. It was very strange, even for them.

"Well, weirder stuff has happened, I guess." Ranma replied. "So you're an alien, huh? Guess that explains why you're hanging around with Ryouga. No human would do something like that." Ranma then lost interest with the whole thing and was about to resume eating when he noticed that all the food was gone. "Hey…"

"Let me guess, two more freeloaders? I suppose you could stay in Ranma's room…" Nabiki began.

"NO WAY AM I LIVING WITH THAT PIG!" Both Ranma and Ryouga shouted, pointing at each other.

"I'm sure we could find our own place to stay at." Kenji interjected quietly, nervously glancing back and forth between Ryouga and Ranma.

"Hey…" Ranma tried again, a little louder than last time.

Akane then remembered something and turned to Kenji. "Kenji, was it? How did you and Ryouga just appear here like that? Can your people teleport?" This caused the alien to laugh. He then held up a little device that kind of looked like a high tech cigarette lighter.

"Oh no. This device can teleport me to wherever I want to go. I just give it the coordinates, and poof! I'm there. Since Ryouga has no idea where anything is, we just kept giving it coordinates until we found the dojo."

"Hey…" Ranma said again, getting more annoyed.

"So Ryouga, what are you going to do now?" Kasumi asked.

"Huh? Um, I really don't know. I was too busy trying to get back to Nerima to consider future plans."

"Well, the new school year is coming up. Why don't you enroll yourselves into Furinken High?" Kasumi pressed.

"I really don't think-" Ryouga started, before his hands were grabbed by Akane.

"Oh, you're enrolling, Ryouga? I'm so glad! I was disappointed when you said you wouldn't be able to, the last time." By this, Akane was referring to the time she tried to tutor Ryouga. She took it personally when he didn't succeed. She felt like a bad sensei, and a bad sensei wouldn't be good for their dojo. Of course, all this was lost on the fanged boy, who was currently mumbling incomprehensible sounds with a big goofy grin on his face.

"HEY!" Ranma shouted, finally losing his patience.

"WHAT?" Ryouga and Akane screamed at him, both annoyed but for different reasons. The lost boy looked ready to rip his arms off for ruining his moment with Akane. Akane was simply annoyed by his shouting.

Ranma pointed at the table, almost in tears. "All the food is ruined! Now what are we going to eat?" It was true. All the food was either on the floor, or smashed by Ryouga and Kenji falling on it. The only thing left standing was the big pot of whatever Akane had decided to make in the kitchen and pretend it was food.

"I suppose I'll have to order out." Nabiki sighed, reaching for the phone. She stopped when Akane slammed her hands onto the table.

"Hey! The food I made is still there. I'm sure I made it right this time. At least try it first!" Nabiki picked up the phone and started to dial a number. Akane sat back down, depressed. Kenji noticed this and wondered why no one wanted to try this girl's cooking. Yes, the food did look a little strange, but he was new to this planet so he expected some strange things. Kenji grabbed a nearby spoon and dipped it into the green mush, scooping out some of the stuff (Akane called it a casserole) and stuck it into his mouth. He then realized Akane, as well as everyone else in the room, was eyeing him to see his reaction. Nabiki stopped ordering food and proceeded to call an ambulance. Kenji just sat there motionless for about five seconds.

"Hey, this is pretty good! You Earthers can sure make some good stuff. Um, why is everyone staring at me?" He asked nervously, scooping out more of the mush from the pot and eating it.

"Can it be? Has my little girl been cured?" Soun dared to wonder, whispering to himself, in fear of causing whatever benevolent diety that had cured his daughter to take back this divine gift.

Ranma and Genma were more skeptical. No way could Akane make decent food. Then again, this new guy liked it. And they were pretty hungry. But everything Akane made could be used as biological weapons. They still had the check from the Japanese Defense Force as proof. An intense battle raged in their minds as logic vied with hunger. Of course, Ranma and Genma never were the most logical of people. They both dived on the pot and started eating voraciously. They immediately regretted it and ran for the bathroom, moaning pitifully.

"Well, at least someone likes it." Akane said, smiling to herself. Ryouga decided now was a good time to try to make the love of his life happy. With a determined look on his face, he grabbed a spoon. What was his life compared to her happiness? He ate a spoonful, and fighting down the instinct to throw it up, and gave her a nervous smile.

"It… it's r-really good… Akane-san…" he managed to get out, before falling unconscious. Nabiki shook her head with an amused smile. The poor fool. Having a thing for her little sister couldn't be very healthy.


"So, that's the one you like? Tendo Akane? She's cute enough, I guess. But why are you so hung up on her?" Kenji asked, sipping on a soda. He had to hand it to these Earthers. They certainly made good grub. He and Ryouga were currently wandering around town (with Kenji making sure the lost boy didn't live up to his name) wondering where they would stay.

Ryouga sighed blissfully. "She was the first girl to ever really care for me. She took me in and adopted me without hesitation when I was in my pig form. There aren't many people that are so kind in this world. That's why I'm in love with her. But it angers me so much that she's wasted on that Saotome. All he does it insult her all day and run off to be with other girls."

"Heh, pretty ironic that your girl fell for your worst enemy. Hey, how about those apartments over there?" the alien pointed at some classy buildings in the distance.

"Way too expensive. Hmm, this is harder than I thought." Ryouga said in frustration. They had to stay in one area if Kenji had any hope of being rescued. Ryouga and a stationary life didn't mix well.

"What's harder than you thought, sugar?" asked a familiar voice from behind them. "and who's your friend?"

"Oh, hi Ukyo. This is Kiyomori Kenji. And it's a long story."

"Well, come to my restaurant, food's on the house. It's been awhile since I've heard a decent story and even longer since I've seen you."


"Why you really here?" Shampoo demanded, glaring at Lotion. The two had been relatively civil to each other all day, but Shampoo couldn't stand it anymore. That girl was up to something, and she knew it. She was here for more reasons than she had explained.

"Shampoo, you should work on your Japanese. It's atrocious." Lotion replied simply, cleaning a table.

"Answer question!" Shampoo yelled, pulling out her bombori from Martial Arts Weapon Space®, or MAWS. Lotion did likewise with her battle axe and the two amazons glared at each other. Surprisingly, Mousse broke up the fight.

"Girls, please don't fight in the restaurant. You know what will happen if we wreck the place. That old crone will have our heads on the ends of pikes. And I'd rather not see either of you hurt…" Mousse added the last part in a whisper. Lotion lowered her weapon first, Shampoo following close after. The later walked away in a huff while Lotion simply glared at her.

"Mousse, I still don't know what you see in her." Lotion said, turning to her friend.

"Why can't we all be friends like when we were kids?" Mousses asked sadly. "We had so much fun together." He knew why, but he couldn't help but ask.

"That girl and I can never be friends again. Not after what happened."


"So you need a decent place to stay for virtually no money." Ukyo stated, amused.

"Yeah, who'd have thought apartments were so expensive." Ryouga moaned and handed out his plate for okonomiyaki #8. Ukyo put another one on his plate and turned back to the grill.

"Well, I suppose I can let you two stay here. But you'll have help work in the restaurant to cover your rent."

"You'd really do that for us?" Ryouga asked with hope in his eyes.

"Sure, why not. And maybe we can come up with another breakup plan. This time we've got three people to work with." Ukyo replied mischievously, pointing at Kenji, who was currently gnawing on his twelfth okonomiyaki.

"We still have to enroll at Furinken, though."

"Oh, you two are going to school? This changes things. We'll have to make sure you and Akane get some alone time together. That'll leave me some opportunities to get with Ranchan." Ukyo said thoughtfully. Inwardly, she was cheering. 'Yes, this will be perfect! And Shampoo doesn't go to school, so she won't be in the way!'


"Shampoo, you are going to school, and that is final!" Cologne demanded.

"Shampoo no want go to school. Shampoo warrior, not bookworm!" the young amazon retorted defiantly.

Cologne decided now was the time to play her trump card. Those three kids may be good warriors, but they were lacking in the way of knowledge. And who knows, maybe Shampoo will learn to speak proper Japanese. "You'll get to see son in law quite often should you attend Furinken High School."

"Okay, maybe not so bad after all."

"Good, you three will be attending starting tomorrow." Cologne smiled. She knew all it would take would be mentioning that Ranma was there and her great granddaughter would go. She had hopped she would go on her own though. Even amazons need an education.


"What's that thing?" Ukyo asked, pointing up at the roof. There looked like some kind of weird television antenna with blinking lights fixed to it.The three of them had spent the day getting Ryouga and Kenji's room ready, as well as cleaning up the place. It was now time for bed, but Ukyo couldn't find Kenji anywhere. Eventually, she had found him outside, staring at the strange device with a thoughtful expression.

"Oh, that just sends a rescue signal to whoever would be happening to cruise through this solar system. You guys are fairly out of the way, so it might take a long time before someone gets the signal and bothers to check it out." the young alien answered, somewhat depressed. Earth wasn't bad. But he missed his home.

"Where is your home, anyway? You never mentioned it." Ukyo was curious about where he came from. It was still surprising to know that aliens existed and looked quite human. Kenji had mentioned that there were thousands of planets with humans living on them.

"Actually, you can see it from here. See those three stars there?" He pointed at the three stars that formed Orion's belt. "The star on the left is my home solar system. It's called Zeltennia. I live on the fourth planet in that system, Zeltennia IV."

"That's pretty cool. I wish I could travel around space like that. Well, it's time for bed, sugar. We've got school in the morning." The two of them walked inside and headed to their separate rooms to sleep. Kenji was staying with Ryouga in one of the storage rooms that they had cleared out a few hours ago. The lost boy was already passed out on his futon. Kenji laid down on his own futon and thought about home. "I hope someone comes soon..."


TO BE CONTINUED

Well, that wraps up chapter 1. What'd you think? Please review so I know if I should stop now and quit while I'm ahead, or finish up the story. I don't know how long until I publish chapter two, but I'm going to start writing it as soon as I finish these author's notes.