A steaming cup of tea in front of him, Rupert Giles, former Watcher to the Slayer, reflects on his life. He’s at his estate in Bath, England, and outside there is an army of Slayers, all training, sparring, exercising. He finds it quite bewildering. Once there were hundreds of Watchers and only one Slayer. Now he’s the only Watcher and there’s hundreds of girls. He gets up, strides to a balcony and looks down into the courtyard of the old house. He stops the girls with a single command: “Enough. I see some superior fighting out there, technique and power that might just give Buffy Summers herself a run for her money. Impressive force.”

They all look up at him. “It is, of course, useless.” He concludes. They’re not working together. They’re working separately and a result, they’re getting in each other’s way.

In Scotland, in her own eclectic manner, Buffy Summers herself tells a similar group of Slayers the same. She explains that together, they’re stronger and challenges three, Leah, Rowena and Satsu, to come and ‘kick her ass.’ They race towards her obligingly and she easily takes them all down. She praises them: three very valid forms of attack, but all useless because it wasn’t coordinated: they’re vampire food. And Satsu’s really good hair is giving her ideas for a new look. She continues the lesson…

…which is a similar lesson to the one being taught in Italy by former Sunnydale resident Andrew Wells. Except he’s talking about Lando Calrissian and Star Wars and has more than likely missed the actual question asked of him? Which was about weapons, a pink-haired Slayer named Simone says. Why don’t they use guns? Andrew tells her in no uncertain terms: “No Slayer carries a gun. Ever. End of talk. Good talk.”

In Scotland, a loch has become an impromptu bathtub for Dawn, since she’s too big for anywhere else. She insists Buffy hates her, but Xander, with his back to the giant Dawn, tells her that she’s wrong – they’re sisters – fighting is what they’re supposed to do. It’s only because Buffy would rather her be living a normal collegy life-style that’s she’s channelling big sis vibes. She tells him that he doesn’t have a sister, so he wouldn’t understand, but he refutes this: “Have you seen how many girls I live with? I got all my sistas with me!” he retorts. Dawn looks glum at the mention of the Slayers – yeah, Buffy and her new Slaying sisters. Xander looks at her and quietly asks if she got herself transformed into a giant on purpose. His answer is a splash from Dawn – which soaks him from head to toe. “You know,” he says, wringing out his wet sweater, “I only have two of these outfits.”

At the base camp in the edge of the Sunnydale crater, General Voll and his aide are once again discussing the plan .If we have their location, we can nuke her and her Slayers out of orbit, the General enthuses, but his aide tells him that that would be illegal and extremely noticeable. The General questions the suit’s wish to get the job done, but his aide counters that they’ll win this with magic – with Amy Madison’s help. The General has little faith in the plan, and heads to his office, cursing the aide for his short-sightedness. He has no idea what’s at stake here, the General thinks, as he changes his uniform. On his chest, carved into his flesh, is the same symbol Buffy found in the ruined church. A beautiful sunset.

In the castle, Buffy and Xander are talking about Dawn. Buffy is stunned: you think she became a giant so she could get my attention? Xander says no, but that he clearly touched a nerve. She has a point, he thinks: Buffy gave her power to several thousand other girls and moved in with them. And none of them are called Dawn. Maybe it was all subconscious because she felt lonely. Buffy starts to feel guilty, but he’s not having any Slayer guilt; he’s heard it all before.

Then Buffy asks him if he’s coming to bed.

Xander says that it’s not a good idea. Buffy says she won’t hurt him this time and kisses him. His head promptly falls off, Xander remarking that the lint on the floor tastes Scottish. Buffy is suddenly blown backward through the castle window and finds herself falling: she’s asleep and dreaming, or rather nightmaring. She falls through a blood-red void, a demon grabbing hold of her. He tells her to scream and proceeds to burn the Slayer.

In reality, in Buffy’s room, where she’s tied and unconscious, Amy stands over her former classmate, blade ready to plunge into Buffy’s heart.

She’s interrupted by Xander and a group of Slayers, armed and ready to fight, pyjamas or not. Amy plunges her blade towards Buffy’s chest. She gets an arrow, courtesy of Xander’s crossbow, embedded in her shoulder. He reaches over to the knife and tells Amy it’s pathetic: the knife has been bent completely out of shape, by a magical field that protects the sleeping Slayer. Xander grins at Amy: “You really think we let Buffy sleep without mystical protection? This isn’t open-wand night in Sunnydale, sweet-cheeks. You’re dealing with pros.”

Amy cackles. And you didn’t notice that she’s still asleep? Amy has another spell cast on Buffy: a deep sleep that can only be broken by the kiss of a true love.

On the battlements, Renee is being teased by another girl about her sudden ‘nerdism’ – are you trying to impress Xander Harris? Before Renee can answer, they hear something, something that sounds like clawing. Looking over the side of the battlement, they look down, and see an army of highlanders, zombified, and climbing the walls of their base.

Xander questions Amy on the specifics of the spell. Only someone who loves Buffy can wake her – and not sisterly love, or friend love – proper, passionate love. She taunts Xander: would he like to give it a whirl? By now, the zombie horde have breached the castle and the Slayers are struggling to hold them back, their sheer numbers overwhelming them.

Inside her dream space, Buffy is in pain and wants it to stop. A man in a long black coat approaches her, but she can’t see his face. He reaches his hand out to Buffy and says that he has much to show her, in an English accent. And he calls her ‘love’.

Satsu screams over comms at Xander: “Kill the head is not working – they’re not even slowing down!” Xander is at the monitors, watching Slayers die, unsure what he can do next. Amy looks out of the window, admiring her chaotic handiwork. “All that time underground,” she says, “with nothing to do but get stronger. A hundred Slayers and there’s not one person here who can take me on.” She grins.

Suddenly a voice comes out of nowhere. “As a friend of mine once said – I’d like to test that theory.”

Willow Rosenberg has entered the fray – and, hovering above the castle, magic glow surrounding her, she’s not thrilled to see her old friend Amy…