Dawn is Attacked
Early the following morning, Dawn was in the kitchen making breakfast for Buffy, Willow and herself, which meant she was making toast, the only food she had ever learned to prepare. She was proud of her toast making skills. After a while, Willow came down to fill a pitcher with water. Seeing Dawn and the pile of toast, Willow told Dawn that Buffy was still much too battered to take any solid food, and thankfully Buffy was still asleep.
A short while later, Dawn was on her way to school, cutting across the small park on Hansen Road as was her wont. Hoodoo was waiting in the bushes. When Dawn came into range, he blasted her with his rod. Instantly, there were two Dawns where previously there had only been one. He rushed out at her with a sword, intending to kill the weakest Dawn, thereby ending Dawn's life. Of course this was just practice, a dry run to make sure everything was functioning as it should for when the real test came when he took on Buffy herself. As he approached Dawn, he was unable to tell which was the weak Dawn and which was the strong Dawn. He really should be able to instantly spot the difference, thought Hoodoo to himself. That was part of the way that the spell worked!
Suddenly, the two Dawns leapt into action. They both pulled stakes out of their handbags and began to circle around him. Hoodoo became cautious; these were two ordinary girls, not slayers or warriors, he thought to himself. They shouldn't be too hard to kill, but it would be best to plan his attack. One Dawn was in front of him now, and one was behind him. He shifted around and looked to his left to see where a Dawn was, and then he looked to the right and saw two Dawns! Looking left again, he saw a new Dawn popping into existence! Again looking right, he saw four Dawns approaching him. This was beginning to get worrisome for Hoodoo, and he thought retreat might be his best option. But it was too late: he found himself surrounded by a hoard of determined Dawns, each wielding a stake.
Thirty-two Dawns looked upon the hardly recognizable remains of Hoodoo, and contemplated the situation. When she had taken a hit from the rod of this demon, she had immediately spilt into two, but perhaps not so much split as multiplied into two Dawns, with her Dawn consciousness present in the both of them, so she could act through each of them in the same way that she could previously move both of her arms at the same time. Further, it unleashed some deep power in her that made her understand how the replication process occurred, and to be able to replicate herself. Later on, Willow would explain how it was that her being the Key, and the particular magics of the demon Hoodoo had caused all of this to come about.
Early the following morning, Dawn was in the kitchen making breakfast for Buffy, Willow and herself, which meant she was making toast, the only food she had ever learned to prepare. She was proud of her toast making skills. After a while, Willow came down to fill a pitcher with water. Seeing Dawn and the pile of toast, Willow told Dawn that Buffy was still much too battered to take any solid food, and thankfully Buffy was still asleep.
A short while later, Dawn was on her way to school, cutting across the small park on Hansen Road as was her wont. Hoodoo was waiting in the bushes. When Dawn came into range, he blasted her with his rod. Instantly, there were two Dawns where previously there had only been one. He rushed out at her with a sword, intending to kill the weakest Dawn, thereby ending Dawn's life. Of course this was just practice, a dry run to make sure everything was functioning as it should for when the real test came when he took on Buffy herself. As he approached Dawn, he was unable to tell which was the weak Dawn and which was the strong Dawn. He really should be able to instantly spot the difference, thought Hoodoo to himself. That was part of the way that the spell worked!
Suddenly, the two Dawns leapt into action. They both pulled stakes out of their handbags and began to circle around him. Hoodoo became cautious; these were two ordinary girls, not slayers or warriors, he thought to himself. They shouldn't be too hard to kill, but it would be best to plan his attack. One Dawn was in front of him now, and one was behind him. He shifted around and looked to his left to see where a Dawn was, and then he looked to the right and saw two Dawns! Looking left again, he saw a new Dawn popping into existence! Again looking right, he saw four Dawns approaching him. This was beginning to get worrisome for Hoodoo, and he thought retreat might be his best option. But it was too late: he found himself surrounded by a hoard of determined Dawns, each wielding a stake.
Thirty-two Dawns looked upon the hardly recognizable remains of Hoodoo, and contemplated the situation. When she had taken a hit from the rod of this demon, she had immediately spilt into two, but perhaps not so much split as multiplied into two Dawns, with her Dawn consciousness present in the both of them, so she could act through each of them in the same way that she could previously move both of her arms at the same time. Further, it unleashed some deep power in her that made her understand how the replication process occurred, and to be able to replicate herself. Later on, Willow would explain how it was that her being the Key, and the particular magics of the demon Hoodoo had caused all of this to come about.