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“Oh, hello, dear,” said Nurse Shizuka brightly as Makoto approached the nurses’ station on Rei’s floor of the hospital. “How are you? I don’t think I’ve seen you in a while. That might be down to me being shuffled from department to department due to the energy sickness crisis, though.”

Makoto knew the nurse wasn’t admonishing her, so answered truthfully, “I’m good, thanks. You’re right, it has been a week or so since I visited. Work’s been crazy. Sounds like it’s been no better here, huh?”

“You can say that again,” said Shizuka, sighing dramatically. “We just can’t keep up! Last week we had to clear out all non-critical wards to make room for all the incoming, unconscious patients. We treat them as quickly as possible and send them home as soon as they regain consciousness, but there are more new cases every day. Yesterday, we had to redirect incoming ambulances to other hospitals!”

“That’s terrible,” Makoto said. “What about this ward? Rei isn’t at risk of being moved, is she?”

“Oh, no. There was talk of that, but Dr. Mizuno put a stop to it, and a good thing, too! These patients need special care,” said Shizuka.

Makoto smiled weakly. She knew full well that Ami didn’t visit Rei, but it seemed she still cared in her own way, however indirectly.

“Dr. Mizuno was the one who came up with the treatment protocol for energy sickness, you know. It sped up the recovery process by a whole day. If it weren’t for her, we’d be completely swamped! She’s not the most social, but we’re certainly lucky to have her on staff, and so is Miss Hino. Have the two of you met?”

“We’ve crossed paths,” Makoto responded evasively. “How is Rei anyw—”

As if in answer to her question, a girl’s screams began to rend the air.

“Oh, dear,” said Nurse Shizuka before using the telephone to page a doctor, then hurrying off in the direction of the commotion.

“Is that Rei?” Makoto questioned as the girl’s shrieks escalated.

“Sound like she’s having one of her episodes,” said Shizuka as another nurse followed her to Rei’s room. As they entered, she pushed the door closed and gestured for Makoto to wait in the corridor beyond the long-windowed wall.

It had been a long time since Makoto had seen Rei having one of her fits. The usually non-responsive girl seemed more agitated than she had ever seen her, though. Makoto folded her arms tightly around her chest and covered her mouth with one hand, finding it difficult to see her old friend in such a state.

Rei’s face was contorted with a mixture of fear and rage, and the nurses had to hold her down as she fought and kicked with all her might. The soft restraints that bound her wrists would surely have broken otherwise.

With her free arm, Nurse Shizuka injected a needle into Rei’s intravenous tube. They continued to hold Rei for a few minutes before Makoto heard the second nurse exclaim, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Shizuka replied with panic in her voice as Rei continued to thrash beneath her.

“Was it the correct dosage?”

“Of course! Here, see for yourself,” said Shizuka as she passed her colleague the used syringe. “It’s the same we always use.”

“What’s wrong?” Makoto asked, but the nurses ignored her.

“What in blazes is going on here?” demanded a bespectacled older man in a long, white coat, who had entered Rei’s room in response to her screaming. “She’s disturbing the other patients! Why haven’t you administered her sedative?”

“We have, Doctor Miyamoto,” Shizuka insisted, “but she’s not responding for some reason!”

“That’s not possible! You must have administered the wrong dosage,” the doctor snapped as he came around to Rei’s bedside and analyzed her vitals.

Makoto watched as the doctor gave Rei a second injection while admonishing the nurses. However, a couple of minutes later, the doctor began shaking his head and checking Rei’s IV site. She couldn’t understand it. Their sedatives were not working on Rei, who continued to wail and thrash as violently as ever.

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On the doctor’s orders, the nurses began applying hard restraints to Rei’s wrists and ankles while he held her down. Once she was secured, they stepped away, panting from the exertion, and looking from Rei to each other with fear in their eyes.

Nurse Shizuka left the room abruptly, but Makoto intercepted her. “Shizuka, what’s wrong with her?” she asked.

“We don’t know! She’s been given enough sedatives to bring down an elephant. It doesn’t make any sense. The doctor’s asked me to call Dr. Mizuno.”

As Shizuka jogged up the corridor to the nurses’ station and picked up the phone, Makoto turned back to Rei. She felt powerless, which wasn’t a new feeling, but there was something different about this. Watching Rei writhing and moaning was disturbing, and not just because her old friend was ill. There was something about the way Rei occasionally made eye contact with her as if trying to tell her something. Something was wrong. Makoto could feel it in her bones.

Unexpectedly, the lights inside the room and in the corridor began to flicker ominously. Then, the entire floor was plunged into darkness, and other patients on Rei’s floor began to exhibit sounds of distress. A couple of seconds later, the dimmed emergency lighting came on, shining with all the brightness of a child’s nightlight.

Suddenly, the doctor exited Rei’s room with the second nurse at his heels, leaving Rei to her fit. “The backup generator has kicked in. Looks like we’ve got a power cut. I want all these patients checked over. Record their vitals and note how much battery power their monitors have,” he ordered.

“W-what about Rei?” Makoto yelled after them, but they seemed only too happy for an excuse to escape Rei’s prolonged outburst. Looking back at the bedridden girl, she noticed once again that Rei was establishing eye contact with her, which never happened during her visits. Makoto entered the room, dropped her purse on the table at the end of Rei’s bed, and approached the struggling girl. She placed her hands on Rei’s shoulders, and pleaded, “What is it, Rei? Is something wrong? What are you trying to tell me?”

At once, Rei fell silent and lurched forward, lifting her back as far off the bed as her restraints would allow and extending her neck toward Makoto. Her terror-filled violet eyes stared directly into Makoto’s green ones as if desperately trying to convey a message. However, the moment passed, and Rei resumed her uproar.

Suddenly, a deafening crash reverberated through the walls. Makoto returned to the corridor, where a flash in the direction of the nurses’ station caught her attention. It was followed by a brief yelp. Fear filled Makoto’s body. She had just taken a step forward, when Nurse Shizuka appeared in her line of sight, running toward her. There was another flash, and Shizuka was hit by some sort of green energy ray. The nurse let out a scream before falling to the floor.

Makoto was frozen in shock, but as a looming dark figure rounded the corner of the distant corridor, she found her feet. Darting into Rei’s room and closing the door behind her, she had to wonder, was this it? Was this what triggered Rei’s episode? Had Rei somehow sensed the approaching danger?

As Rei’s eyes met hers once more, Makoto knew it was true. The former shrine maiden’s psychic abilities were reacting to the threat. Rei was still in there somewhere. But what did that matter now? In fact, it was a bad thing. If the enemy was looking for human energy, they would almost certainly discover that Rei’s, like hers, was purer than most. They might try to take Rei like Maladoll had tried to take her.

Makoto was the only thing standing between them and her defenseless friend. With this realization washing over her, she moved to Rei’s side and clamped her hands over the struggling girl’s mouth to prevent her from crying out any further. “Please, Rei, they’ll hear you! You’ve got to be quiet!” she whispered.

Beyond the windowed wall, more flashes momentarily lit up the dim corridor. “Ha! These are all easy pickings. They’re not even trying to run. Some of them are even tied down!” a strange robotic kind of voice called out.

“Good, that means we can finish up here quickly and move on to the next floor,” a deeper voice responded.

Makoto’s heart sank. There were two of them, maybe more. As she continued her efforts to silence Rei, she knew it was no use. Whoever the enemies were, they were checking patient rooms one by one. Even if they were to pass by Rei’s, they would see the pair of them through the large window. There was nowhere for Makoto to hide, and Rei couldn’t hide.

There was nothing for it. She would have to fight. Resigned to what was coming, Makoto removed her hands from Rei, who immediately resumed her screams. She stood tall, took a deep breath to calm herself, and adopted a fighting stance.

“Well, well. What do we have here?” spoke the machine-like voice from before as the door to Rei’s room creaked open.

As the monster stepped out of the shadowy corridor and into the room, Makoto got a good look at it. It was surely a Youma, apparently brought to life from ancient, yellowing computer equipment. Its head was a bulky PC monitor, displaying a pixelated face across its cracked, ancient screen. Its torso was a modem, and its limbs were comprised of keyboards, all held together by a mass of wires and cables.

“Leave us alone or you’re gonna find out!” Makoto warned, adjusting her strong stance in a threatening manner.

Her thoughts briefly flashed to the Crystal Change Rod in her purse. Her electrical powers should work wonders against an enemy like this, but was she prepared to use them? Just because she had started carrying her Crystal around with her, didn’t mean she was ready to transform. She wasn’t sure she could even bring herself to attack, but she had to. She had to protect Rei.

The monster’s digital face changed to a smile, then it began to laugh in its digital voice. Makoto took her chance. Thinking back on her training, she drew breath, summoned all her courage, and lunged. Seeing as the Youma didn’t have any soft targets, she spun and kicked out with all her strength using the flat of her foot, launching it back into the corridor. The monster stumbled from the force of the impact and fell back against the opposite wall, its pixelated eyes turning to crosses.

Surging with adrenaline, Makoto made a beeline for her purse. She rummaged inside it frantically and withdrew her crystal, but hesitated. In her desire to protect Rei, she had found the will to fight, but could she do it? Could she become Sailor Jupiter once again? Makoto swore loudly as the memory of what occurred the last time she transformed began to surface in her mind. Her hands shook, and her breathing became ragged.

No. She had to. For Rei! Screwing up her eyes and thrusting her rod-filled hand into the air with all the courage she could muster, Makoto cried out the hitherto forgotten magic words.