It was almost a week later when Chang found himself at the vacant lot near Makoto's apartment, waiting for her. And waiting. And _waiting!_

{What in the world is _keeping_ that girl?} Chang wondered. {It must be nearly four- thirty, she's never been later than four o'clock!} His frustration became tinged with worry as he began running through possible causes for Makoto's tardiness. {It couldn't be a normal monster attack; the girls would have called me on the communicator. Could it be a problem at the school?} A moment's thought denied that line of reasoning. {Naah, she'd still have called me. Either she's delinquent and doesn't want to face the music, or there's some reason that she can neither come here nor call me-}

Chang began to sweat as a horrifying thought occurred to him. {What if the Senshi got ambushed too fast to call for help!?! That fits the facts all too well! I'd better call someone to make sure-}

He broke off as he saw Minako jogging past the lot in a - nurse's outfit?!? {Not that I don't like it,} Chang thought, {but what is she doing in that getup?} "Oi, Mina-chan!" Chang yelled, and Minako skidded to a stop.

"Chang! What's up?" she called back.

"I was hoping you could tell me! I was supposed to meet-" he verbally stumbled as he recalled Minako's reaction to finding Chang and Makoto struggling together in this very lot; "-uh, some of the girls here, and nobody's shown up, and nobody's called! Have you heard anything about them, are they OK?"

Minako gave Chang a stare for a few moments, and Chang sweatdropped. {Uh-oh...} he thought. {Does she think it was going to be just Makoto and me again?} Indeed, she had loudly expressed her desire for Chang and Makoto to be chaperoned for any future meetings. Chang had asked around, but none of the other Senshi were available for twice-a-week meetings, and he and Makoto had eventually decided to simply keep it to themselves. Chang had thought, at the time, that it _was_ only training, after all! {Right now, that doesn't seem like such a good line of reasoning...}

Minako finally broke off her glare. "Chang no BAKA! You and your enviable constitution! Don't you know that there's been a flu bug going around?! Half the city's sick, including all the Senshi except you and me!!"

"Nani?!" Chang exclaimed. "Oh, that's just _swell_..." he finished. "I just hope the monsters hold off until the flu bug is over if we're that shorthanded!"

* * * * *

Fifteen minutes later, Chang was standing in the middle of Makoto's living room, panting loudly as Minako put her 'Medical supplies' back in her nurse's bag. {Up until now,} Chang thought, {I've never had much reason to suspect that Mina-chan was just as much of a disaster waiting to happen as Usagi is. Now I have undeniable proof!}

It had been one near-disaster after another. Almost as soon as she had arrived, Minako had gone to Makoto's stereo to put on some music and set the volume too high, nearly blowing herself out of the window (which had cracked.) Chang had forged 'upstream' against the pressure of the sound waves to turn off the noise, and paused to relax for a second.

Minako had promptly knocked Makoto's collection of audio tapes and CD's off their shelves, and only the Amaguriken's speed had let Chang catch them all before they hit the floor. He'd chivvied her away from the electronics, and she'd gone into the kitchen to make some chicken broth for the ill Sailor Jupiter. Fortunately, Chang had accepted Mina's offer to taste-test it before she gave it to Makoto, because the amount of spices were unbelievable. {Seems Akane Tendo has a rival in the unusual cooking department,} he'd thought, but only after cramming four ice cubes into his mouth. They'd melted in a hurry, too... and it had only gotten worse from there.

The fifteen-minute test of Chang's reflexes and endurance had ended just after Minako had nearly fallen on Makoto, who was lying in bed. Chang hadn't caught everything, either -
the TV had been knocked over, a lamp cord was snapped in two, and there was a stain on the wall and ceiling where Minako had tripped while carrying a mug of hot cocoa to her sick friend.

"Ja ne (later), Chang-kun!" Minako cried as she left the apartment, still full of energy. "I'll be going to see Rei and Usagi next, then I'll stop by the Juuban Hospital to get some real medicine to fight this flu bug! Meet me there, huh?"

Chang waved halfheartedly at her as she left, then slowly slumped down to a sitting position. "How does she do that?" he asked the empty air. "(sniffle) Id's a dalent of hers," Makoto replied from her bedroom. "Umm... Chang-sensei, you don't loog so gread," she continued. "You OK?" Chang's only reply was to gasp in air several times, then let it all back out in an enormous sneeze. "uh.. ah ah AH.... _ACHOO!!_"

* * * * *

Most of an hour later, Chang was en route to the Juuban Hospital, hoping to intercept Minako before she arrived and possibly caused more havoc in the one place that (to Chang's mind) was the best hope for actually curing this flu epidemic. Seeing Minako and Chibi-Usa two blocks ahead of him caused a slight change in plans. {Drat!} he thought. {I'd hoped to get the medicine before she arrived and meet her outside. Now I'd better just slip in the back way and try to keep an eye on her so as to prevent any more catastrophes.}

With a plan in mind, Chang trotted to the rear entrance of the hospital. Just as he was about to enter, however, the door swung open, nearly hitting him. The person who had opened the door so suddenly _did_ hit him
- 'talents' first.

"Peasant!" Emeraude cried out. "How dare you interrupt the progress of the consort of Prince De-eep!" Her planned speech was cut rather short as she laid eyes upon a very angry, and all too familiar, face.

"You WITCH!" Chang howled. "This flu is YOUR fault, isn't it?!!"

"I- ah- er- that is-" stammered Emeraude as her usual eloquence deserted her. "I _warned_ you! You shoulda stayed out of my way! HYAAH!" Chang replied as he threw a punch that could break concrete.

Wisely (hey, even _she_ has her good days) Emeraude had teleported at the first motion, flickering into existence again in the middle of the alley, twenty feet off the ground. Sensing the flicker of power behind and above him, Chang performed a no-look jump kick, springing out at her without needing to _see_ her position. Emeraude eeped and vanished again, this time to one corner of a neighbouring rooftop, only to leap into an unsteady hover as Chang bounced off the wall opposite the hospital, off the hospital wall, and up to the roof, leading with a punch that took the cornice off the building. He then forced her to teleport again by digging his fingers into the rooftop (yes, _into:_ the boy can put his finger through stone for the Breaking Point) and spinning a kick at her from a handstand posture.

And so it went for several minutes, Emeraude trying without success to get a few seconds to concentrate on the longer teleport to her ship, and Chang trying with an equal lack of success to land a blow on the frantically evading Nemesite.

Finally, Emeraude got lucky: Chang misjudged the angle coming down from a jump, and instead of landing perched on the lid of a dumpster, he ended up _in_ the dumpster and Emeraude vanished, this time for good, not even taking the time to laugh. Sputtering and shaking off trash, Chang pulled himself out of the dumpster. "Pfeh," he spat, and flipped over the side to land by the hospital's back door, which he opened. In the rear lobby was a Dark Henge, about twelve feet tall and crackling with dark lightning. {I'd shatter it with a Breaking Point, but the lightning would probably zap me first,} he thought. {So how -}

His musings were interrupted by a cry from the front room. "Crescent- _yaah!_"

"Hrrahh! Injector!"

"Kuso! A Droid!" Chang cursed, then thrust his right hand into the air. "Moon Guardian Power, Henshin!"

* * * * *

In the lobby, Sailor Venus was pinned against the wall by nearly a dozen of Injector's giant syringes. "Chibi-usa-chan! Run!" she cried as the Droid bore down on the timelost child. The evil parody of a nurse was just about to grab her when...

"OMACHINASAI!" ("Hold it right there!")

"Lunar!" Venus cried in relief as the silver-haired Guardian appeared, standing on the examination table by the rear door. He threw her a wink and a thumbs-up before continuing his speech.

"You not only cause sickness through the entire city, you harass those whose only care is to help the ill!" {Even if they are walking disasters,} he thought quietly, then continued, "I will not forgive you. In the name of the Moon, I shall destroy you!"

Noticing that Chibi-usa was finally out of harm's way (she'd dashed out the door during Lunar's speech, which was one reason he'd made one in the first place,) the young warrior leaped at the Droid, which dodged. The scene which followed was quite similar to Chang's fight with Emeraude, the difference being that the Droid both took and gave a few hits, though neither combatant could find the time to unleash their magical attacks.

Diving over Injector's punch and landing beside the Droid, Lunar stuck one leg out and spun, sweeping both feet out from under his foe. As she hit the floor with a resounding -THUD-, Lunar thought, **Is it hot in here, or is it just me?** as he wiped the sweat from his face.

Then he coughed, hard. He suddenly went pale under his Moon mask. **Shimatta! (Oh s**t!) I'm not really _immune_ to the plague - I've just been fighting it off, since I'm so much stronger than the average person! But I've been exerting myself, hard - first at Makoto's with Mina-chan, then against Emeraude, and now here! I have to finish this fight fast!** he thought.

Suiting action to thought, he spun around and focused his energy for his strongest attack.

"MOON.... Guardian... halla-(cough)"

To Venus' horror, Lunar's attempt at a Hallation fizzled and the young Guardian collapsed to the ground in a fit of coughing.

* * * * *

Minako wasn't the only one horrified. Chang's body had only failed to do what he told it a few times before this - and all of those were when he'd been paralyzed by his father during training. This was entirely different
- for the first time, his body was in and of itself unable to rise to the call of his will. Desperation so intense Lunar thought he might have a heart attack set in as Injector headed for Sailor Venus, and so his relief was equally intense when a second "Omachinasai!" rang out and Sailor Moon appeared.

Still, Lunar - used to being at least somewhat in control of a battle situation - found the next few minutes an emotional roller-coaster ride the likes of which he'd never had. Relief and glee at the appearance of an apparently healthy Sailor Moon, dropping down to stomach-churning horror at the revelation that she was as sick as he was, when her attack failed; then hope again at the arrival of Tuxedo Kamen, who inspired Sailor Moon to complete her attack and destroy the Droid and the Dark Henge linked to it.

Drained emotionally now as well as physically, Chang reversed his transformation and joined the crowd of ill Senshi congratulating Sailor Moon, then plodded back to his room at the Hikawa Shrine.

* * * * *

The next morning, as he woke up, Chang - still bedridden - realized something awful. {Back at the hospital, all the others were sick except Mina-chan! And now, I'm sick too, which means that Mina-chan will be along shortly to 'nurse' me!}

He began to look around frantically for some means of escape. {I can't move far - maybe I can make it to the storeroom and hide there until she gives up!} A quick test, however, showed Chang that his legs were still rubbery, and he gave up on that idea. {Besides,} he thought resignedly, {with this fever it's too darn _cold_ out of the bedcovers. Maybe I could hide under the bed - naah, that's the first place she'd look. There must be _some_ way I can escape-}

The click of the door latch killed all thoughts of escape. "I'm doomed," Chang moaned aloud as the door opened.

"Maybe if I had blonde hair you would be, sensei," came an unexpected and very welcome reply. "Mako-chan!" Chang yelled in relief. "I - I was expecting-" Makoto smiled at her sensei. "Mina-chan? Yeah, but she got sick this morning, not long after we all got better. Usagi's looking after her, and I decided to come check on you." She cocked her head at him. "But.. if you'd rather I go," she began uncertainly.

"No!" Chang blurted out without thinking. "I mean, I really appreciate this, Mako-ch.. uh, _Makoto._" He smiled up at her from his bed. "So it's 'Nurse Makoto' now?" The two conversed happily as the morning passed them by, a rare moment of peace in the lives of Senshi and their allies.