(Giles' apartment.)

GILES: What's intriguing me is that there are any number of demons with the ability to mimic a simple form, but, uh ... this sounds like more than that.

SuaveXANDER: Hold up. Do we really have to figure out what it is? Let's just go kill it.

RILEY: Yeah. When the imposter's killed, the body'll probably turn back into whatever it really is, and then we'll know.

BUFFY: Toth!

(They all look at her.)

BUFFY: The demon with the creepy stick thing.

SuaveXANDER: (thoughtfully) Toth.

BUFFY: It's gotta be! He hit Xander with that blast, and somehow it allowed him to take Xander's form. Couldn't that be what the creepy stick thing did?

GILES: Yes ... I suppose, yes, yes, it makes sense. A shape-shifting device.

SuaveXANDER: It does make sense. It must be Toth.

(...)

BUFFY: I was gonna look for Toth anyway. Guess now I start ... looking for you.

SuaveXANDER: Should I go with you? I ... told Anya to meet me at my new place. I'd feel a whole lot better knowing she's safe from this creep.

BUFFY: Go be with her. I, I mean, if you were out there looking for the double too ... (looks at Riley, then back at SuaveXander) let's just say that I wouldn't wanna run into you and kill the wrong one.

SuaveXANDER: Good thinking. When you kill this thing, you better make sure you got the one's who's actually-

(...)

(Giles is in the background looking at books while Buffy & Riley mobilize)

RILEY: So you're thinking we split up?

BUFFY: Yeah, you check the places where he might try and go and blend in as Xander. I'll check the places where Toth might hang out.

(The door bursts open and Willow enters.)

GILES: I swear, this time I *know* I had that locked.

WILLOW: Buffy, Toth looks like Xander.

RILEY: We already know. We're on our way.

BUFFY: Wait a second, how did you know about this?

WILLOW: He came to me. I-I mean Xander did. And he's in terrible shape, we need to help him.

RILEY: He came to us too.

WILLOW: No. We each had a Xander. I mean ... you didn't have a Xander, you had a, a demon in a Xander suit.

BUFFY: What makes you so sure that yours is the right one?

WILLOW: He knew stuff! He, he did the Snoopy dance. Buffy, it was Xander, and he needs us.

GILES: (in background) Oh, dear lord.

(everyone ingores him)

RILEY: Buffy, our Xander, did he seem a little-

BUFFY: He seemed kind of forceful and confident.

WILLOW: That's not Xander.

GILES: I said, "Oh, dear lord."

BUFFY: You always say that.

GILES: Well, it's always important! Neither Xander is a demon.

WILLOW: Um ... is one of them a robot?

GILES: What? No. Um, uh, the rod device, it's called a ferula-gemina. It splits one person in half, distilling personality traits into two separate bodies. As near as I can tell, Toth was attempting to split the slayer into two different entities.

BUFFY: Two Buffys?

GILES: Yes. One with all the qualities inherent in Buffy Summers, and the other one with everything that belongs to the slayer alone ... the, uh, the-the strength, the, uh, speed, the heritage. And when it hit Xander, I think it separated him into his strongest points and his (grimaces) weakest.

RILEY: But which one's the real one?

GILES: They're both real. They're both Xander. Neither one of them is evil. There's nothing in either of them that our Xander doesn't already possess.

RILEY: I still don't get the original plan. I mean, why do it? The slayer half would be like slayer concentrate, pretty unkillable.

GILES: But the two halves can't exist without each other. Kill the weaker Buffy half, and the slayer half dies.

BUFFY: So the same goes for the Xanders. We lose one, we lose them both.

written by: Jane Espenson; Transcribed by Joan the English Chick (pisces@englishchick.com).. Full transcript at:
http://www.studiesinwords.de/81thereplacement.html