An empty school bus, blowing papers in front of the new Sunnydale High, now completely deserted. At least 30 people in the group march up towards the main doors of the High school. "Welcome to Sunnydale high. There's no running in the halls, no yelling, no gum chewing, apart from that, there's only one rule: if it moves, kill it." Principal Wood gives his "final" tour as they all file into the hallway and Buffy starts to direct them to their right spots. Faith and Spike lead the potentials to the basement (as Xander says "the bathroom is to your right. If you don't have to go to the bathroom, think about what you're about to face. Better to go now.") Robin points Willow and Kennedy to where his office is, right over the seal. Kennedy takes a bag of spell components from Willow and says she'll get set up. Robin then points out three places where the Ubervamps might try to break out of the building. Giles says they'll break up in teams of two, with him and Robin taking the lounge.
Dawn teams up with Xander, and Anya gets paired up with Andrew. "We will defend it with our very lives" says Andrew. "Yes, we will defend it with his very life" add's Anya.
"And don't be afraid to use him as a human shield." Xander suggests to Anya.
Dawn heads off as Buffy starts after her, calling her name. Dawn turns "No... anything you say is gonna sound like goodbye."
Buffy turns back to the remaining three people, Giles, Willow, and Xander. All stand silently in a square. "So, what you guys wanna do tomorrow?" Buffy asks non-chalantly. Xander suggest miniature golf, but Willow and Buffy want to go to the mall. Giles starts the mumbling "we're going to save the world and you're worried about the mall?" as Buffy says she's got a wicked shoe craving. The three head off, jokingly ignoring Giles, as he heads towards his post "the Earth is DEFINITELY doomed."
Walking down the darkened hallway, the three friends remain. Willow breaks off with a smile to her two friends as she heads for the Principal's office. Xander does the same a few steps later, heading down a hallway. Buffy walks on confidently into the lower basement seal area, where all of the SIT's and Faith are gathered, surrounding the unburied seal. "You first, B." Faith says as she hands a knife to Buffy.
Buffy takes the knife and slowly draws it across her palm, tracing a line of red from it. She hands the knife to Faith, who does the same.
All of the SIT's and both Slayers hold out their hands above the seal, squeezing their fists, letting the blood fall on it. The seal activates! It glows brightly, the corners of the pentagram fold up, the center swirls and sinks in, and the seal is now open! Buffy and Faith exchange a look before Buffy starts to head down into the seal's opening.
"They should be in place" says Willow as she sits in the principal's office, which is lit by 8 candles. A few spell components and the scythe lay in front of Willow as Kennedy sits across from her watching. "Magic time..." Willow nerviously laughs "you ready to kill me?" Kennedy mumbles something... couldn't tell what she said (sorry). "Brace yourself" Willow says as she grips the scythe firmly in both hands, still keeping it on the floor.
Spike says he's sorry to be a downer, but his amulet isn't showing any life. Buffy says she's not worried, but Spike says he doesn't feel anything, and complains that he looks like Elizabeth Taylor. Buffy repeats "I'm not worried" but not sounding all that convinced as they lead the group from the seal opening into a cave which opens into an cavern.
Spike looks down and gets a horrified expression on his face, then pulls back from the edge. The SIT's all line up along the cliff's edge, each having some sort of weapon, also staring down in horror. "I'm not worried..." Buffy says, almost panicing. "Really? Cause I'm flashing back to Xander's whole bathroom speech." Amanda asks Buffy for reassurance. Buffy suddenly gets a little brave and shows strength. "I'm not worried. As long as Willow can work her spell before they..." Suddenly the cavern goes quiet as the ubervamps notice their attackers "... see us." The ubervamps on the cavern below instantly start to charge, with hundreds of bodies flying foward.
The Ubies charge, starting to climb up the cliff side, as Buffy looks down and mutters "Willow?"
Willow looks down at the scythe, silently, but nothing is happening yet.
Buffy and group look down as the Ubies advance.
Willow pants "Oh... my... Goddess..." Suddenly the Scythe sings into power, the entire weapon glowing a bright white.
Kennedy suddenly lurches back as if hit by a wave of wind.
Vi, Rona, Amanda, all of the SIT's in turn get hit by this invisible wave of newfound strength.
"Tomorrow, Willow will use the essence of the scythe to change our destiny. Every girl in the world who might be a Slayer, will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power, who can stand up, will stand up. Slayers, every one of us.
Make your choice, are you ready to be strong?"
And around the world, unknown girls are hit with this wave of power:
A young girl stands nerviously at bat in a baseball game...
A teen staggers against a school locker, becoming light-headed...
Another teen lays on the ground of her room, disoriented...
An oriental teen stands at her dinner table and swoons..
A hand from an unseen assailiant comes down for a striking blow, but it is blocked by the hand of a teen girl, who rises up in defiance and strength...
And the first girl seen at bat is hit by the wave of power. She turns her head towards the pitcher and smiles a wicked grin...
The Ubies continue towards the SITs, but now the mood is different. Vi sums it up nicely, grinning evilly "These guys are dust." The Ubervamps attack, jumping over the edge of the cliff and meeting the SIT's, Slayers, and Spike head-on.
Kennedy smiles at the newfound power, but then looks at Willow and sees quite a different sight. "Willow?" She asks as we see Willow lit by a brilliant light, her hair has turned a bright, golden white. She is panting, still out of breath, but she is also smiling as she continues to grasp the scythe. Suddenly the glow fades and Willow returns to normal. "You are a goddess." says Kennedy. "And you're a Slayer." answers Willow picks up the scythe and hands it to Kennedy, telling her to get it to Buffy. Kennedy rushes out as Willow plops over on the floor, muttering "That was nifty!"
Kennedy arrives and calls out to Buffy, tossing the scythe to her. Buffy catches it and instantly stakes an ubervamp, dusting it. Kennedy joins the fray, punching the ubervamp while quipping "I can get used to this!"
Anya and Andrew both hold swords in a school hallway, ready to do battle, but Anya is scared, almost shaking. Andrew tells her to think of happy things... "A lake... candy canes... bunnies." Anya now smiles wickedly. "Bunnies... Floppy, hoppy... bunnies!" A few Bringers charge them...
As Spike punches out another Ubie below in the cavern, he suddenly staggers back. He feels... something, but can't place what. He touches the amulet and it burns his hand. "Buffy! Whatever this thing does, I think its..." He howls in pain.
Buffy attempts to call out some commands, telling the SIT's to try and drive them to the edge of the cliff and keep them there. But she is stopped short when a sword point suddenly sticks out of the side of her stomach. Buffy looks at the point, then staggers forward, a look of shock on her face, then she falls face down on the hard stone floor.
Faith beats up an Ubervamp, then notices the fallen Buffy and rushes to her side. Buffy looks up, a weak, pained expression on her face. She looks Faith in the eye and says "Hold the line" and holds the scythe out for Faith. Faith grabs the scythe and in a fury she instantly offs three ubies.
Upstairs, Dawn and Xander fight off an ubervamp with swords. Xander does most of the attacking, but then Dawn gets an idea and pulls on some rope. A large tarp falls in front of three ubies who approach, but then sunlight shines down and toasts them all. Xander starts a joke about the greenhouse effect, but he's cut short by another ubie who barrels into him.
Bringers continue to attack Andrew and Anya. Andrew is cornered as one of them draws his knife, ready for the kill, but Anya stabs him with her sword, saving Andrew. Then, she herself is stabbed from behind, arching her back in pain. Robin gets stabbed in the gut by one, but Giles finishes him then goes to catch Robin before he falls.
Back in the cavern, things are looking bad. One SIT is strangled. Faith is busy fending off three at once. Rona's in trouble and Faith tosses her the scythe, which allows Rona to fend off her attacker. Buffy looks up from the ground to see the situation getting bad. She is semi-lucid as she sees one of her new Slayers being bitten by an ubervamp, the body falling to the ground right in front of her.
"Ow. Oh no... Mommy... this mortal wound is all... itchy." says Buffy/the First as it slowly comes up to taunt Buffy in her own form, with wound and all. Buffy looks up at her nemisis with pain and a hint of defeat. "You came pretty close to smacking me down. What more do you want?"
"I want you... to get out of my FACE!" Buffy says, her ire now up. Power and anger fill her eyes as she slowly rises up off the ground to her knees, then her feet. Buffy/the First has an "oh crap" look on it's face as Rona sees Buffy rising and tosses her the scythe. Buffy instantly swings it and sends three ubies tumbling over the cliff edge. Faith's three attackers are suddenly thrown up in the air as if she exploded onto the scene! Chow Ann punches and kicks! Vi levels another Ubie! Kennedy finishes off yet another two of hers. Buffy punches one so hard it FLIES out of shot!
Spike punches too, but soon staggers back again, confused and overwealmed. he staggers back to the seal opening... "Oh Bullocks.." he mumbles as a shaft of golden light starts to shine up from his body and head, shooting upwards, through the roof of the principal's office, through the outer roof of the building! Spike calls out to Buffy, who starts to rush towards him, but soon brilliant sunlight starts shining down through the hole, striking the amulet and bright beams of sunlight start streaking out from it's surface, instantly dusting any ubies they hit! Entire ranks of ubervamps are instantly incinerated at the bright spotlight of sun. The very power released starts to shake the cavern walls and the place is collapsing! Faith yells for everyone to get out as the Slayers start heading up, past Spike, out of the seal opening.
Buffy finally gets close to Spike as he looks at her, pain and surprise in his face "I can feel it Buffy... my soul! It's really there... It kinda stings." Buffy sees the remaining Slayers escaping.
The Slayers all run down the hall of the school as it starts to collapse around them. They come across Andrew, who pushes a dead bringer off of him and is picked up by the Slayers.
Now outside, the very ground begins to rumble. Giles helps Robin to safety, but Robin has an idea and tells Giles to get everyone to the Bus. Robin heads for a schoolbus as Giles goes to help.
Almost out of the building, Kennedy helps a still dazed Willow outside as Xander looks around, not wanting to leave, calling out Anya's name. The building collapsing, Dawn rushes in and grabs Xander's hand, pulling him out. Anya's body is seen beneath the rubble.
"Go on then" Spike says as the cavern continues to crumble. The golden shaft of light shines out from the amulet, pinning him to the wall. Buffy tries to argue that he can still get out, but Spike says he's got to stay behind for clean up. Faith calls down to Buffy to get out of there as she herself rushes out of the seal opening. With tears in her eyes Buffy almost begs Spike to come, but Spike says "I mean it, I've gotta do this." Buffy then slowly takes Spike's hand in hers, interlacing their fingers together as flames spring up from their hands. Buffy continues to hold onto him as he looks at her at the verge of disbelief, seeing something in her eyes...
"I love you." Buffy says softly.
"No you don't, but thanks for saying it anyways." Spike responds.
Suddenly the entire cavern shakes and is giving way big time! Spike tells Buffy to go, and as she's leaving out the seal's opening, Spike mumbles "I wanna see how it ends..."
Explosions rock the school as dust is flying everywhere. Faith races just ahead of the dust cloud and into the bus, which instantly takes off.
Dawn looks out the back window of the speeding schoolbus, looking for Buffy.
Buffy runs into a hallway and avoids falling beams. She then heads up a flight of stairs.
Spike laugh to himself, forcing back the pain he's enduring, as the skin on his cheeks starts to melt away. Almost as if getting burned from the inside, he continues laughing until his skin is litterally burned off his skull, then he falls to dust as the amulet falls with him in the collapsing cavern.