Akira

!SOUND EFFECTS! "THOUGHTS"

Chapter One

"Huff!"

With a great deal of effort, making his large, well defined muscles bulge within his skin, Akira Ugoyama pushed the 34 ton World War Two era Sherman tank forward several feet, winning the strength contest for his team.

Akira Ugoyama stood at five feet ten inches tall weighing 175 pounds, being built like a bodybuilder. His long, bright green hair and eyes helped to make him an Adonis along with his well-defined muscular physique.

"It's amazing how he was able to do that. We've won!" Daniel Jones, the captain of the Oregon State University's power team, said to his second-in-command, Wayne Smith.

Daniel Jones was tall, slender yet muscular, Caucasian young man with a long nose, prominent forehead, and medium cut, red hair. He wasn't a handsome man as his face resembled a vulture. However, despite his lack of mass he was very strong with impressive pound for pound strength.

"It's a great victory, Danny," Wayne replied.

Wayne Smith's short cropped, light brown hair, horn rimmed glasses, short, broad shouldered, powerful physique made him look like a body building nerd which in fact he was.

"It's a miracle Akira was able to move something so heavy. After our lackluster showing in the beginning of the contest, Akira was our last hope," Wayne explained.

"I'm surprised a Japanese guy would be so strong. Most Asians get the best grades while people think of them as being geeky and puny. Come to think it, Akira's actually more muscularly defined than a guy on the cover of a workout magazine. Sheesh, he looks like a Japanese version of Conan the Barbarian. He's practically super humanly strong. And on top of that he's a kung fu expert."

"He seems super human because when he was ten years old your uncle injected him with an irradiated, untested strength enhancement serum from an unknown source. Akira was in the hospital for a week; he barely survived it. And he does karate, Danny. Chinese do kung fu. Japanese do karate," Wayne explained matter of factually.

"All right, already!" Danny exclaimed glaring at Wayne.

"Why did your uncle inject Akira with a gamma radiated serum?" Wayne asked.

"My uncle had a good chance of making the Olympic weight lifting team, so he went on the street and bought what he believed was a substance that would guarantee his chance of victory. But he was still cautious and since he needed a way to test it he decided to test it out on someone. And when my uncle noticed Akira playing in his backyard, he grabbed him and used him as a guinea pig, injecting him in anticipation of injecting himself. When he saw Akira get horribly sick and go into convulsions he took off running, thinking the issue was over."

"Was it over, Danny?"

"No. The Ugoyama's had video surveillance in front of their property. As soon as they made copies of the tape and sent one to the D.A., the police confronted my uncle who quickly denied anything having to do with Akira's newly acquired illness. But when our family lawyer saw the video tape of the whole event he talked the D.A. and my family into taking a deal where my uncle turned state's evidence against the maker of the failed performance enhancement supplement with which he injected Akira. After the D.A used my uncle in a sting operation which sent the organized crime group who had cooked up those untested supplements, the D.A. gave my uncle immunity."

"Is that why you allowed Ugoyama into our fraternity even though your family ended up paying a lot of money to Akira's family, settling out of court in lieu of being sued?"

"Yes. My grandfather had to promise that in addition to paying out all that money we would allow Akira in the fraternity and pull strings to make sure he was able to enter this university. Those people drove a hard bargain even going so far as preparing to say that my uncle picking that Japanese child had something to do with racism. Well it's over now. My family has paid its debt."

"At least, Akira brought us the victory. So things weren't too bad."

"That's right. We were fortunate. That serum must have worked somehow. The way things are going, we're no longer going to be the laughing stock we used to be. I guess Asians can be strong as well as do martial arts. As it is, Akira is the only Asian American on the power lifting team."

"Sounds like another myth got shot to pieces, Danny. Besides, Akira's getting a B average. He's not a genius, but he's still graduating this year. Don't forget that he got his high school G.E.D. when he was only sixteen so in some ways he's smart and in some ways he's not so smart."

"He's not that bright at all. I don't care how young he is. I heard he lost in his last martial arts tournament anyway. So his karate isn't all that good either. I guess the steroids he got from my uncle can't help as far as martial arts tournaments go. Besides, he doesn't even have his driving license so he can't drive."

"Actually, he does have his driving license. It's just that he can travel faster by jumping and running," Wayne answered.

"So I was wrong. Akira is a whole lot better looking than a Japanese guy has a right to be. Come to think of it, he's a lot better looking than most people of any race, green hair and all. You don't get his body by training in martial arts. And here I thought Japanese were supposed to be short."

"That's very stereotypical, Danny," Wayne replied.

"So what?!"

"By the way, what happened to your uncle?" Wayne asked.

"He died a couple years ago."

"He died? How'd it happen?"

"When he saw how well Ugoyama had recovered and thrived from having been injected with that illegal substance, my uncle decided to take the serum himself. We found out later that my uncle had stashed some of the serum away. He died within a week after taking it."

"I'm sorry to hear that. But it seems to have worked pretty well for Akira. That's why he's so muscular now. I guess that which doesn't kill you can only make you stronger. Heh, heh." Wayne stopped short when he noticed Danny glaring at him.

"All right, already! It's a good thing Akira's graduating. It's bad enough his strength and good looks put everybody else to shame, but now even some of the girls I've been trying to get find him more attractive than me," Danny responded.

"All right, Danny. I'll go and congratulate him."

"We did it!" Akira said as Wayne approached him.

"That's true, we did. Or better you did it. I'm glad you helped us win, Akira."

"I'm happy to see we've done so well, but if I didn't know better I'd think Danny still hated me for what happened to his uncle."

"It's not just that. Danny and some of the other guys on the team are just jealous of you," Danny answered.

"Oh, well, there's nothing I can do about that. At any rate, this will be my last year of college," Akira explained.

"It's been nice having you on the team and in the fraternity, Akira," Wayne said, offering his hand which Akira took and shook.

"It's been great working with you, too, Wayne."

XXX

After his graduation ceremony, Akira Ugoyama had dinner with his family in their home in Seattle, Oregon. His family had acquired a great amount of wealth over the years, living in a large mansion which included a huge gym, dojo and other training facilities. In addition to the hugely successful martial arts training center, the Ugoyama family had built up a profitable Japanese and Chinese food business including a restaurant chain and a frozen and canned food enterprise.

One of the reasons the Ugoyamas were so wealthy was because during World War Two when the U.S. government had many Japanese interred in concentration camps and had their businesses taken from them, some family friends bought their family farm and wholesale food business while Akira's family was interred; the family friends did a good job, increasing revenue to three times what it had been before the war. They had made so much money they walked away very wealthy before selling the business back to the Ugoyama family for the small price they had bought it for in the first place, when they had returned from being interned.

In addition to that, Akira's great-grandfather, Jiro Ugoyama, and some of the men in his platoon(part of the 442nd regiment) found some gold, silver and diamonds in an abandoned German stronghold they had overrun near the end of World War Two. Jiro and his men divided the loot and pocketed it away without anyone else knowing about it.

When Akira's great-grandfather returned from the war, he and his family returned to live in Oregon and opened their own restaurant. They did so well that things snowballed from there. In time they became one of the wealthiest families in the state.

"So Akira, what are you planning to do now that you've graduated college?" his grandfather, Han Ugoyama, asked him during dinner. His grandfather was strong, tall, and fit for his age, having long, graying hair with a mustache and beard. The large dining room with beautiful china and silver utensils had a large rectangular table in the center and was able to seat as many as twenty people. At the time it seated fourteen members of the Ugoyama clan.

"I don't know exactly. I was thinking of..."

"I have a better idea. I know you've trained in several martial arts in addition to our family's shorin kempo karate and aikido. Our family put you and your sister, Daria, and some of your cousins through a lot of brutal training. You've gone through gung fu(the ability to take a beating and keep going), iron skin/body(the ability to withstand killing attacks), tai chi and speed hitting(the ability to hit a target countless times within seconds)."

"I believe you excelled in these techniques because of the time you recovered from those botched chemicals that spoiled rich kid, Jones, injected you with. I remember telling you 'that which doesn't kill you can only make you stronger.' You recovered from being deathly ill, grew up and thrived, proving me to be correct."

While Akira was in that hospital bed, his grandfather had taken the opportunity to train him mentally in mind over matter. This also helped Akira to recover faster.

"Yes, Grandfather," Akira answered respectively.

"You've also trained in American boxing, Thai kickboxing, Greco-Roman wrestling, Brazillian jiu jitsu, wing chun kung fu, street fighting techniques, tae kwon do, hwang do, and several styles of commando training, Korean commando training being the most prominent. Then there's the Chinese acrobatics, breakfall and contortionism. You've done a great deal of strength and speed training as well. I am very proud of your accomplishments. You've trained harder than anyone else in the family even getting into college early and graduating. Only your sister, Daria, has come close to you in martial arts ability."

"Wait a minute, Grandfather!" Akira's cousin, John Ugoyama, interjected. "I was the one who won the last tournament, so I'm the best! Akira lost to some Italian guy from New York despite all the time Akira spent in those weird journeys into torture which you called training. Fat lot of good all that did him."

"There's a huge difference between a tournament and real life. You've concentrated your training on winning these tournaments which are so far from real life it's laughable. You wouldn't survive a month in the place to which I'm sending Akira. The man who beat Akira in that tournament used deception and moved in such a way as to fool the judges into thinking he had hit Akira when he hadn't. He would not have survived a real fight with Akira."

"No way!" John protested.

"Akira's ability to win in a tournament is not as effective as yours is, John, but he's a lot more effective than you would be on the street and in real life. All of the soft and hard techniques Akira has learned will enable him to survive and thrive. I'm not sending him to fight in a tournament."

"Where are you sending me, Grandfather?" Akira asked.

"There's a place in Tokyo, Japan, called Nerima. The martial artists in that area are some of the best in the world. There's an old friend of mine named Soun Tendo to whom I've recently been talking. A long time ago in Japan, I trained with him. He owes me a lot of money because when his wife died he quit teaching and he somehow found out my phone number and begged me for money, crying like a baby. He promised me anything so I gave him the money."

"Why would you give money to a pathetic loser like that?" John Ugoyama asked incredulously.

"The reason I did that is because despite that the fact he cries at the drop of a hat, Soun Tendo's a great martial artist. In fact he's even better than you are, John. One of the reasons I'm sending Akira out there is to learn his style which is called Anything Goes. Soun has a friend who's staying with him that has put his son through such brutal training that the brutal training Akira has gone through would seem tame by comparison."

"You want me to go there to endure training that's more brutal than anything I've ever gone through? It sounds like those people are crazy," Akira responded, wondering if he actually would survive the training he would endure.

"Yes. You could say that. It's usually the crazy martial artists that are the best. Some people think you're a little crazy because of your training and your abilities. But for all that you're still a somewhat of a trained pony while Genma's son, Ranma, is a wild horse. He has a lot of issues in his life so try not to get too wrapped up in all his problems. I want you to learn from these people. But watch your back."

"Wait a minute. I read the letter you got from Mr. Tendo, Grandfather. I want to go there, too. I've talked to one of his daughters, Nabiki Tendo, through email; she told me a lot about what goes on there for a huge fee. I should accompany Akira there. Akira isn't too bright anyway," his fraternal twin sister, Daria interjected.

"Hey! I've graduated college. I'm very intelligent," Akira said in defense of himself as everyone at the large dinner table looked askance.

"You're fairly smart on paper. You've learned speed reading, photographic memory, lightning calculator skills and how to do school work, homework and take tests quickly and efficiently because our family had experts train us all in these talents. If not for that you wouldn't have been able to have graduated high school."

Akira shot a glare at his sister who was five foot six inches tall with light brown hair and glasses, looking a lot like Daria from the MTV cartoon of the same name. His sister, Daria, was a big fan of her namesake, often dressing like and imitating her.

"That's just not true. I'm learned a lot of martial arts techniques and learned them quickly. An idiot couldn't do that! I can..."

"I have news for you, brother. Ranma's not even as smart as you are and he learns martial arts styles and techniques faster than you ever could. Unlike you he never learned how to do school work and things like that. He only knows martial arts and he's a lot better than you," Daria answered.

"Fine. I'll learn from him then."

"That's the whole point of you going there. Your passport, airplane, money and everything you'll need has been taken care of. So you'll leave next week," the patriarch ordered.

"Yes, Grandfather," Akira answered.

"I should go there, too," Daria interjected again. "I'd also like to increase my abilities as well. I can learn a lot from Mr. Tendo's daughter, Akane. She takes on dozens of guys at once on a daily basis. I didn't believe it at first but I taped her fights from our family satellite. She's impressive."

"You seem to know a lot about all this," Akira commented.

"Unlike you I have natural intelligence, cunning and wit. Ever since I got information from Nabiki Tendo I've done my own investigating. I've written everything down. I'll share it with you if you let me come along."

"Daria, you should not have gone through my mail," the Ugoyama patriarch admonished. "But I'll forgive you. Give Akira all the information you've gathered. It will be helpful for him to know what's going on there."

"No way! I should get to go, too!"

"I'll need to train you in some brutal techniques that will enable you to survive there. You can show up there later," Akira's grandfather said in such a way that meant the discussion was over.

From her interdimensional hideaway, an old woman who resembled Ranma's female form, Ranko Saotome, watched the events taking place with interest.

"So this guy's into martial arts. I'll have to track that guy down and see how he deals with my doppelganger, Ranma Saotome. Things are actually looking up for me. Now all I need to do is keep training myself and get back to making a machine that will get me over there or vice versa. I'll also have to see about fixing Ranma's curse and taking it in for myself, making myself a young woman again."

XXX

!RING!RING! "Hello? Yes, my father's here. I'll go get him. Dad, it's for you," Kasumi called out as she heard Ranma and Akane fighting. !CRASH!

"Hello?"

"Hello, Soun. You remember me don't you?" Han Ugoyama asked over the phone.

"H-han? Well, it's been a long time. How have you been?"

"You can dispense with the pleasantries, Soun. Where's all the money you owe me?" Han asked quickly getting to the point.

"Um, well. I'm sorry, but I don't have it. You know how I have a friend and his son living here with me, and how they're eating me out of house and home. I just can't afford to pay you right now," Soun sobbed.

"Here we go again." "Genma Saotome's still living there, isn't he?"

"Why, yes. How did you know it was him?"

"He's the only friend you have. Are you guys still trying to merge your schools?"

"Yes, Ranma and Akane are engaged to be married. They're a very happy couple," Soun answered nervously. !CRASH!

"Baka!"

"Un-cute Tomboy!"

"Yes, I can hear how happy those two sound over the phone. I remember how skilled you and Genma were even if you were inept at most other things. So I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse. I'm going to send my twenty year old grandson over there to learn Anything Goes from you guys. I'll send his sister over there at a later date to learn your style as well. If you agree to my terms you would have paid your debt to me. So do we have a deal?"

Soun thought for a moment. "All right. We have a deal!"

"I'll send my grandson over there next week. His name's Akira Ugoyama. He's tall with long green hair and eyes with a great deal of muscles. He normally dresses in a red shirt and blue jeans. Is the Tendo compound in the same place it was the last time you called?"

"Yes, yes. We're still here. But does Akira have the ability to handle learning an art like Anything Goes? The training can be very brutal."

"Akira can handle it. I've seen to it he's had a great deal of training that has made him resistant to a lot of attacks. America is a violent place. There are guns and knives everywhere but he can handle such things. My grandson has been shot and knifed before and endured without any serious injuries. I'll be expecting good results. Now, goodbye," Akira's grandfather said as he hung up the phone.

"Who was that Tendo? You were on the phone for a long time."

"I'll tell you, Saotome but I want to tell everyone at once. Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane and you too, Ranma! I have news for you all!"

Once everyone was gathered together, Soun explained what the previous phone call was all about, surprising everybody there except for Nabiki.

"An American?" Ranmachan asked out loud. "Most of the martial artists in America are a joke."

"I know his grandfather, Ranma; he's a great martial artist. When he gets here I hope you'll all treat him decently," Soun answered soberly.

"Sure, no problem. I could use another sparring partner. It's a good thing he can take a beating; he'll need that ability around here," Ranma-chan said out loud.

"How old is he, Father?" Kasumi asked curiously.

"He's twenty years old. He's already graduated college so he's fairly intelligent."

"Twenty? Hmmm. He's about my age," Kasumi thought to herself.

"He's not that intelligent, Dad," Nabiki interjected. "His twin sister told me he's not that smart. Apart from the fact he knows how to do homework and do well on tests, he's about as thick headed as Ranma."

"Hey!" Ranma-chan yelled.

"Anyway," Nabiki said, ignoring Ranma. "Do we really need another mouth to feed, as much as two more mouths to feed when his sister arrives? We're strapped for cash with these freeloaders as it is," the mercenary girl said, regarding Ranma and his father.

"Now, Nabiki, you know I owe the Ugoyamas. They were the ones who gave me all that money when your mother died. That was why I had you find their phone number for me."

"All right, Dad. I guess we'll survive." "If this guy's the good looking idiot Daria says he is, I might be able to sell some pictures of him to the girls at school."

XXX

While Akira was on the plane to Japan and reading through the information Daria had gathered on Ranma and the Tendos, he figured the martial artists of Nerima were crazy. However, their craziness was what made them so good. Akira wouldn't be able to survive there unless he was at least a little crazy. He just knew being there would increase his abilities.

Fortunately, Akira's grandfather allowed him to leave a little earlier to do some sightseeing. His first stop was a place called Maisson Ikkoku. He had called a guy named Yusaku Godai who lived there and told him he could stay in his apartment with him for a little bit of money. It was a good deal but the people in that apartment were some of the craziest people he had ever seen.

XXX

"What's this?" Akira thought as he grabbed an old copy of the comic book, Marvel Age. The comic book had torn pages in it, but there was still enough of it left so that the center which was Fred Hembeck's page was legible.

"This is Fred Hembeck, here. On our show today we're having Emma Frost, the White Queen, and Selene, the Black Queen from the Hellfire Club." Fred Hembeck is wearing a suit and tie and is sitting behind a desk. The scenery is similar to the Tonight Show. As Selene and Emma sit down in the guest seats Fred notices that each of them wearing skimpy clothing that's a cross between sexy dominatrix and something out of the 19th century.

"What are you staring at?" the women ask as Fred Hembeck practically drools all over himself ogling them.

"Oh, nothing. I'm a married man but you two are hardly wearing anything."

"We can wear anything we want! We're strong women!" the two exclaim with confidence.

"Okay! Now we have one more guest, Shanna the Jungle Queen!" Fred announces.

Shanna arrives wearing an even more revealing, skimpy leopard skin outfit.

"I can see you're a strong woman. A very, very strong woman," Fred says.

"That was a good one. I'll have to remember that," Akira thought to himself, laughing his head off as everyone on the plane stared at the crazy American.

As soon as the plane landed, Akira made his way off of it and through the airport without any problems. Then he took a taxi towards the apartment, Maisson Ikkoku.

In an alternate universe, an old woman who resembled Ranma's female form, Ranko Saotome, watched the events on her large screen viewing monitor.

"Hmm. This looks very interesting. I hope I can talk the Ranma of that universe into transferring his Jusenkyo cursed form over to me. This will give me back my youth, vigor, and strength."

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope you liked this fanfic. Tell me what you think of it.