The Other Side
by Goz

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. If I did, I would've made them wear more clothes.

Warning: This is a Sailor Moon fanfic concerning various new Sailor Scouts of my own creation. It also contains liberal mixing of the Japanese version with the dub. Caveat emptor.

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Part 8

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The five-square-foot Vid-Teacher embedded in the wall of the classroom was the pinnacle of teaching technology. It could instantly provide lessons in any subject sanctioned by the Japanese government, including nineteen different languages, over seventeen thousand pieces of international literature, and and four levels of difficulty in any math lesson.

Naturally, Connelly had put a poster of dolphins over it the day she had started work.

Ariane had to admire Connelly's energy. She never stopped moving and talking for a moment during any of the three classes she taught; Algebra, Biology, and Literature. Yet she managed to make sure that everyone understood everything.

Right now, however, Ariane was not paying any attention to the fascinating lecture on "Flowers for Algernon," though she had loved the translation of the book when she had read it in the last few days. Her attention was divided between black thoughts of Andrea and the black car that kept circling the parking lot. It looked kind of familiar... *oh, right.*

Finally, she raised her hand, feeling only slightly foolish. "Yes, do you have a question, Ariane?" Connelly always stopped everything when Ariane or Andrea had something to say - it was kind of embarrassing.

"That car out there that keeps circling - I think I saw it out there during the fire -" she began. Everyone turned toward the window and started whispering. Ariane and Connelly winced identically as the car stopped. *Damn,* thought Ariane. *I should have said for no one to show that we'd noticed them -*

A blond-haired man in a grey suit jumped out of the passengers' side door, and the car sped away. Everyone watched and murmured as he quickly walked straight toward the window. Connelly put her book down, looking very alarmed. Suddenly, he was in front of the window and jumping straight at it. The glass shattered and class screamed and covered their heads. Ariane froze as she ducked her head, feeling a memory of something - like this - tickling the back of her mind.

Ariane looked up sharply and saw that the man had vanished. Standing - well, you could call it standing - by the window was what appeared to be a huge octopus, except that it seemed to have a lot more tentacles, and was purple and dripping green slime, and was *glowing* - *Nope, definitely not an octopus.* Connelly, the idiot, was running towards the paralyzed boy at the desk nearest the creature. It laughed - it had a voice oddly reminiscent of a kettledrum - and whipped a tentacle around the boy. He screamed piercingly, his body glowing green, as Connelly jumped backwards, looking indignant.

The rest of the class was a chaos of screams and overturned desks. But Ariane sat very still at the voice in her mind; the voice from the dream she had forgotten about until now. *By your foot,* it whispered. Ariane looked down and saw a dark blue wand with a green star on it. *Hold it up, and say what I told you.*

Ariane glanced around sharply, but no one was looking at her. All but Connelly - who had apparently given up any dreams of saving the day - and the two girls she was trying to drag away from their desks, had fled. *It's the voice from my dream - and I *remember* that phrase now!* She picked up the wand, held it high in the air, and yelled "Cassiopeia Constellation Power!"

She felt herself rising in the air. She felt her blue jeans and yellow sweatshirt dissolving, and glanced down as the outfit from her dream formed around her. Sea-green skirt, sea-green gloves, navy sandles, brown leotard with a navy bow, and something wrapping around her forehead.

Somewhere very nearby, someone smiled proudly.

*Good,* the voice said, as Ariane was lowered to the ground. *Now say "Cassiopeia Hurricane Rain!"*

Almost instinctively, Ariane gestured toward the monster and yelled "Cassopeia Hurricane Rain!" It felt very natural, as though she'd been doing it all her life.

The monster let out a roar as a blast of dirty aqua water, glowing with a hit it. It produced a glob of green slime, and threw it expertly at her. She dodged to the left, but a bit of it landed on her ankle. It burned. She winced, and somehow didn't need any coaching from the voice to say "Cassiopeia Calling Wind!"

A huge gust of wind swept up the glass on the floor of the room and hit the monster. It roared again, in defeat. A bright light filled the room, and when her eyes were no longer dazzled, Ariane saw that the monster was gone. The room stank, and was bedecked with purple and green globs.

She glanced around and saw that the girls had escaped during the short fight. But she heard footsteps pounding the hallway - Connelly was yelling frustratedly, "*Ariane* -"

*You did a good job,* said the voice in a satisfied tone, possibly unaware of the madwoman. *But it'll happen again, and you'll need to work harder. To change back to yourself, just concentrate hard on a picture of yourself as you usually are. I'll talk to you more later.*