All disclaimers are at the bottom.

Tenchi Fantasy 8.

By: Jim Ohki.

Book one, prologue.

Part one: Enter the Garden.

Inspired by: John M "supreme_guyver" Irish's story Final Tenchi VIII

Let's see if I can get this right . . .

Chapter one: Enrollment.

BOOM!


That was the first thing that Tenchi heard.  `What a way to start my day,' he 
thought.  It was going to be a long day . . .

By noon, everything was somewhat back to normal.  Yeah, Ayeka and Ryoko had 
ended up in Washu's hospital.  That brutal fight had severely injured both 
girls.  But Washu had said that they would both be out by dinner time, so 
everybody was doing what had to be done.  Tenchi was out in the fields, Sasami 
was finishing up lunch, and Mihoshi was sleeping.

Just after lunch, a visitor came to the door. Sasami had answered the door, and 
looked the newcomer up and down.  He was wearing coveralls that seemed to be 
three sizes too big, and what appeared to be a giant leaf for a hat.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Does a Tenchi Masaki, Ayeka Jurai, Ryoko Hakubi, and a Mihoshi Kuramitsu live 
here?" asked the visitor.

"Yes," started Sasami, "Tenchi is out in the fields, Mihoshi is watching TV, 
Ryoko and Ayeka are currently . . . unavailable.  What is this regarding?"

"When everybody is available, please give them this," said the messenger.  He 
then handed Sasami an envelope, sealed with the requested parties names on it, 
with "EYES ONLY" written on the back.  With his task complete, the messenger 
left the Masaki residence.

Sasami put the letter in the sleeve of her kimono, and went about her business 
for the rest of the day.

-==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-

After dinner was over, Sasami gave the letter to Tenchi.  He opened it, read it, 
and looked around at everybody.  They looked back, waiting for him to speak.

Tenchi started talking after reading the letter five times, "'Dear Tenchi 
Masaki, Ayeka Jurai, Ryoko Hakubi, and Mihoshi Kuramitsu.  Word has gotten to us 
about your fighting skills, and we request that you enroll at Balamb Garden.'  
That's just the gist of it, there's also a map.  Well, what do you guys think?"

"Have you ever heard of them, Tenchi?" asked Ayeka.

"Just bits and pieces," he replied, "I have heard that they train mercenaries."

At that word, Ryoko perked up, "Sounds like my kind of place.  Lets go check it 
out."

Everybody rolled their eyes at Ryoko's statement, but decided to go away.  They 
also decided to travel in style, and asked Ryo-Ohki to take them to Balamb 
Garden.  The cabbit agreed, and transformed to her interstellar ship mode.  
Flying at about Mach Twelve, Tenchi and company arrived at the Garden in less 
than an hour.

To avoid any unnecessary attention, Ryoko had Ryo-Ohki set down northeast of 
their destination, and walked in.  They were impressed by just the exterior, and 
walked up to the reception kiosk inside the front gate.

"Welcome to Balamb Garden," said the man in the kiosk, "how may I help you?"

Tenchi pulled out the letter, and handed it over to the man.  After he read it 
and handed it back over, he said, "Straight ahead, main lobby.  Take the 
elevator to the third floor and talk to Headmaster Cid."

Tenchi and the others nodded their heads in thanks, and went inside.  After 
looking at the directory for five minutes, the group entered the elevator.  
Tenchi pushed the button for the third floor, and up they went.  Once on the 
third floor, Tenchi and company went into Cid's office.

"Can I help you?" asked Cid from behind his desk, looking somewhat 
uncomfortable.

"I believe that you sent for us," said Tenchi, placing the letter on the desk.  
He had noticed Cid's discomfort, but decided to leave well enough alone.  Cid 
picked up the letter, read it, twinged, put the letter back down, stifled a 
moan, turned beet red, and then talked.

"If you want in, you have a place here.  Just fill out these forms, and you'll 
be all set.  Now if you'll excuse me," he said, gesturing to the door.

As Tenchi and the women left, they heard Cid say, "Oh yeah, that's it right 
there.  Ah, that feels good . . ."  The group got in the elevator with the extra 
large sweatdrop times three on their heads.  Back on the first floor, the group 
headed for the cafeteria.  Once they got there, Tenchi sat down with the 
paperwork.

"Well now," he started, "this won't take long at all."  Then he handed the girls 
their paperwork, and set to getting his done.  Within ten minutes, Tenchi and 
his followers had all of the paperwork done.  They returned it to Cid's office, 
and he gave them their room keys, and trainees uniforms.  Ayeka didn't like them 
in the least, but Tenchi did so she said she'd wear it.  From there, they went 
to the dorms and set up their rooms.

"That was easy," said Ryoko, "Now I can hone my skills."

As to what skills Ryoko actually has, besides being walking (flying, 
teleporting, etc.) chaos, is a mystery.

And to all, a nice face-vault.

Chapter two: Tenchi meets Squall.

First thing in the morning, the group got their schedule.  A fairly easy one, 
all of them were to take the SeeD field exam that day.  Their written tests had 
been forgone, as the Garden knew of their fighting skills.  So they waited, in 
the second floor classroom.  The instructor had received a call just as Tenchi 
and crew got to the classroom, so they figured that class would start a few 
minutes late.

As they sat chatting away, second row to last, the door opened and in walked a 
man dressed in black, carrying a sword that none of them had seen before.  
Shortly after he sat down in the very back of the classroom, the instructor 
walked in.  After saying her good mornings, she sat down behind her desk.

"I see that we have some new faces in our class today," she began, "would you 
please come forward and introduce yourselves?"

Tenchi and the girls walked to the front of the room, and as the "elected" 
spokesman for the group, Tenchi did the introductions

"Hello," he started, "I'm Tenchi Masaki.  This is Ayeka," he paused, adlibbing, 
"Masaki.  The spiked hair woman is Ryoko," he paused again, not wanting to dig 
himself a bigger hole, "Masaki.  And finally, the blonde is Mihoshi," once again 
he paused, and decided to be fair, "Masaki."

Everybody exchanged waves, and Squall looked up from his desk.  Something didn't 
seem right with those four.  He filed it for future study, and resumed 
slouching. 

"Thank you," said the instructor, "my name is Quistis Trepe.  Please be seated."

Once Tenchi and the other were seated, Quistis told the class of their schedule.  
Just before she finished, she said, "And Seifer, do NOT injure your partner 
while training."  Tenchi heard a load 'THUMP' come from behind him, but decided 
that it would be best to not move.

After class was dismissed, Quistis asked Tenchi, Squall, Ayeka, Ryoko and 
Mihoshi to stay a bit longer.  The group went to the front, and was told that to 
even take the field exam, they had to go to the Fire Cavern first.  She said she 
would meet them all at the front gate when they were ready, and left.  So after 
Quistis left the room, everybody followed.  Squall lolly-gagged long enough that 
Tenchi's group made it to the front gate just after Quistis.  Once Squall 
arrived, Quistis explained what they would be doing.  They all left the Garden, 
and headed to the Fire Cavern.

Tenchi and the girls fell back a little bit, so they could talk.

"Squall isn't very sociable," said Ryoko.

"I know.  And I wonder what type of sword that is," said Tenchi.

Squall had decided to go through the woods east of the Garden, and half way 
through encountered a T-Rexaur.  Quistis was in a panic over it, and even 
suggested running from it.  But Squall would have nothing of it.  Tenchi and the 
others joined in the battle, and imitated what Squall and Quistis did.

The T-Rexaur made one mistake.  It tried a bite attack on Ayeka, and that pissed 
Tenchi off.  The Light Hawk Wings made their first appearance, and as Squall and 
Quistis looked on slack jawed, Tenchi sliced the monster in half with the Light 
Hawk Sword.

"Nice limit break," said Squall.  Quistis nodded her head in approval, while 
Tenchi and Mihoshi were checking on Ayeka.  Ryoko was being herself, not really 
caring what happened to the princess.  Once Ayeka assured everybody that she was 
fine, Tenchi turned to Squall.

"What did you say?" he asked, looking perplexed.

"I said nice limit break," was his reply.

"And what is that?" asked Mihoshi.

So Quistis explained what limit breaks are, that they come when they are needed.  
Everybody nodded their heads, and continued to the cave.  They had been drawing 
magic from all of the monsters that they had encountered on the way, and each 
was ready to go in.

Just outside of the Cavern, Quistis explained some more stuff.  Then they walked 
up to the entrance, guarded by the Garden Faculty.  The lead guard said his bit, 
Squall choose a time limit, Quistis said she was the support instructor, and 
into the cave they went.

It took the group all of five minutes to make it to the center of the cave, and 
Quistis talked some more.  (A.N. There's to much talk, not enough action.)  
After waiting for a few seconds, Ifrit made his appearance, scaring the crap out 
of Tenchi and the girls.

Then the battle began . . .

Meanwhile . . .

Washu and Sasami were bored.  With everybody else in training at the Garden, 
there was nothing to do.  Ryo-Ohki had returned from the trip, but she didn't 
provide enough entertainment.  It was lunch time, and the three ladies sat 
around the table, eating.  Halfway through the meal, Ryo-oh-ki suddenly sat 
straight up, looking as if she was getting a communication from Ryoko.  The 
cabbit fed the message to Washu, who without speaking, grabbed Sasami and Ryo-
Ohki and bolted for the door.

Ryo-Ohki went into her ship mode without a second thought, and transported Washu 
and Sasami aboard.  Once they were on board, she took off for the cavern of 
fire.

Tenchi and crew were getting their asses kicked.  Squall and Quistis weren't 
fairing to well, either.  Ifrit was continuously pounding the fighters with his 
super jump and fire attacks.  Squall kept up with the cure spells, keeping 
everybody from being knocked out, but was running low on the magic.

Tenchi was getting angrier and angrier, but the Light Hawk Wings wouldn't come.  
But then, Ryoko's Limit Break (by Squall's standards) made her appearance . . . 
in the form of Ryo-Ohki.  That's when all hell broke loose . . .

To be continued . . .

I'm stopping there because that is the "cliff-hanger" technique.  That and I 
have to go through the game a couple more times to memorize where EVERYTHING is.  
That's four CD's worth of stuff . . .

Standard Disclaimer: Tenchi and characters from FFVIII are not mine, and this 
story was written at no profit.  I'm still broke, and have no money for anybody 
to take.  Please don't sue me.