Title: Stranger Things…

Author: Collaboration fic between Kasa no Miko and FalconIce

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 8 is not ours and will never be and if you sue us, you won't get anything but cute and cuddly dust bunnies…^.^v

Warnings: An oddball sense of humor and plot holes! Spot them and win a prize!!! * sweatdrop*

Pairings: OCxOC and OCxOC

Rating: PG-13 For the violence and the implications, I guess?

Note: It's our first collaboration so it's a bit weord and we had fun with self inserts no da!

Archive: http://www.geocities.com/twilight_wings and http://www.geocities.com/shards_of_dewprism

Feedback: Is our livelihood, our food and our God! REVIEWS!!!!



CHAPTER I- Enter...Instructor D, by Kasa no Miko



"Instructor D! Instructor D!"



Zell Dincht jumped up from his seat on the bench. "What? What?" he demanded, expecting to hear that Balamb Garden was in another crisis situation. Six months of peace and quiet after Ultimecia's death, and Zell was already wishing she would come back from the dead, just to see some action again.



One of his three junior students, Ethan, said confidentially, "Sir Squall's coming this way. Wouldn't want him to catch you sleeping on the job."



Zell looked up and indeed saw Squall heading in their direction. "Hey Squall," he greeted as Squall came within hearing range.



Squall looked at the junior students first, then gave Zell a languid glance. Emotionlessly, he muttered something that passed for a "hi", then strode towards the library.



"What a stiff," Jared, another of Zell's students, smirked.



"Hey," Zell said, plopping back onto the bench. "Much as I want to admit that he's a stiff sometimes, he's still my friend, and I'm not gonna let you get away with calling him that."



"But if he's your friend, why doesn't he treat you like one?" Keisha, Zell's usually quiet student, pointed out innocently.



Zell looked at her, his blond eyebrows furrowing in contemplation. Finally he said, "Let's go get some hotdogs, okay?"



All three eleven-year-olds nodded in agreement.



**********



"We're lucky we managed to snag some hotdogs," Keisha commented as the four of them sat down on an unoccupied table.



"Yeah," Ethan agreed. "If Zell didn't threaten to booya the cafeteria lady, she wouldn't be making some hotdogs exclusively for us." He cast an admiring glance at his lively instructor.



Zell shrugged his shoulders modestly and glanced around the cafeteria for any of his friends.



Sure enough, Irvine and Selphie were on a table near them, deep in conservation.



"Hey Irvine, Selphie!" he called. The duo glanced up. "Over here."



They somewhat hesitantly stood up and walked towards Zell's table.



"Hi, Zell," Selphie chirped in her usual cheery voice. "Awww...you're with the kids today. How sweet."



"Yeah, Zell," Irvine put in, tipping his hat stylishly. "Always knew you were great with 'em."



"Hey, you wanna come with me to Balamb City tonight," Zell asked. "We could catch a movie, and maybe afterwards, we could hang out at my place and play video games or something. What do you say?"



Selphie slowly shook her head. "Nah," she replied. "Irvine and I are really busy tonight. Right, Irvine?" She surreptitiously elbowed Irvine in the ribs.



"Uh...yeah," Irvine added. "Sorry, Zell. Maybe next time." They both hurried away.



"Instructor D! Instructor D!" Ethan was calling.



"It's Zell," Zell corrected in an irritated tone. "Zell Dincht."



Ethan gestured towards the two empty seats beside him. "They snuck out," he said in a concerned voice. "Both of them."



**********



"Are you sure they went here?" Zell asked Ethan as they both rushed past the entrance of the Training Center.



Ethan nodded his head vigorously. "I heard them whispering to each other while you were still speaking with Mr. Kinneas and Ms. Tilmett."



"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Zell demanded.



"Mommy said to never interrupt adults while they're talking," the kid said matter-of-factly.



Zell slapped his forehead. "Jeez, we're not even adults yet!" he said in an exasperated tone.



Ethan shrugged in reply.



They soon reached the threshold between the hallway and the training grounds. "Wait for us here," Zell instructed Ethan.



Reaching into his pockets, he pulled out his Ehrgeiz gloves. He chastised himself for not junctioning any magic or GFs this morning. He would just have to rely on his own strength for the time being.



"Jared! Keisha!" he yelled as he traveled down the path. "Answer me!"



"Instructor D! Over here!" a small voice that could only belong to Keisha called from the distance.



Zell sprinted towards the voice and soon came to a clearing where Jared and Keisha were standing cluelessly.



"Instructor D!" Keisha cried out happily. "I'm so glad to see you!"



Dizzy with relief at having found them unharmed, Zell tried his best to put on a stern expression and admonished, "You crazy squirts, what were you doing here anyway? You know it's against the rules for junior students to come here unaccompanied."



"Instructor Trepe told us about the secret place here," Jared replied.



Zell placed his hands on his hips and frowned, looking comical at the same time. "Then why didn't you wait for me? You know you guys can't fight."



"Jared said he could beat up a T-Rexaur anytime," Keisha answered ruefully.



A loud bestial roar pierced the atmosphere around them. Zell pulled Keisha and Jared closer to him and said softly, "Run to the exit as fast as you can. NOW!"



Just as the children sped towards the exit, a gigantic T-Rexaur emerged from the grove of trees at Zell's right. Zell rolled to the ground just in time to escape the reptile's initial lunge.



The children were a little ways ahead of him now, and Zell sprinted after them before the T-Rexaur could give chase. "Faster!" he urged them. "Faster!"



Behind them, on its two large feet, the T-Rexaur was bounding towards them quickly closing in on the few meters between its mouth and Zell's head.



Escape was futile, Zell realized, and he stopped, whirled around and drove his fist into the monster's belly. The creature roared in annoyance rather then in pain, and it stopped and swung its long tail towards Zell, knocking him roughly to the ground.



Zell immediately rolled to his feet, cursing himself once again for having begun the day unprepared. He dodged another of the T- Rexaur's toothy lunges and landed a right hook on the reptile's cranium. It howled in pain and retaliated with a snap at Zell's left arm, tearing away both some fabric and flesh.



Zell let out a pained cry and kicked at T-Rexaur's leg so hard he could hear the crunching sound of breaking bones beneath its thick hide. The T-Rexaur roared and stepped back, evidently limping now on its fractured leg.



Suddenly, the beast lunged towards Zell, catching him off- guard. Its teeth clamped on his injured arm and raised him from the ground, swinging him around to spite him.



The sickening sound of a dislocating shoulder resounded in Zell's ears. His wounds were bleeding freely now, blood gushing out of the T-Rexaur's mouth like a fountain of crimson liquid. As he fought to stay conscious, somewhere in his mind, he sensed that energy was building quickly inside of him. He suddenly found himself bursting with vigor, his fist golden with luminescence.



With a loud war cry, Zell punched the T-Rexaur's jaw with renewed strength. In pain, the beast released him, clumsily dropping him onto the ground.



Zell abruptly stood up and rushed towards the creature, missing it by a few inches as he breezed by. He raced around the circumference of the world and returned to where the T-Rexaur was, driving his fist into it with a force so powerful, the area around him exploded with energy. When the air settled down, he collapsed onto the ground with exhaustion.



But the T-Rexaur had somehow survived the blow. Summoning the last of its dying strength, it raised its foot over its inert opponent.



On the verge of unconsciousness, Zell saw Squall materialize out of nowhere and cast a Blizzaga on the monster, killing it instantly. And just before he slipped into a state of suspended animation, he saw two strangers rushing towards him with concerned expressions.