Act 17 Secret - Sailor Jupiter

Petz, the oldest Spectre Sister, spreads a virus across Tokyo that saps Makoto's strength and produces a cunning duplicate of her. The illness sets the stage for Sailor Jupiter's confrontation with the enemy. Naoko Takeuchi wrote and illustrated the chapter, the fourth of the Black Moon arc.

While Usagi grieves for two abducted friends, Chibiusa tries to console her. The three guardians still free reason that the Black Moon's real target may be Chibiusa herself and resolve to shield her. A gathering storm has them fearing an opening for the enemy, and when Mamoru locates Chibiusa, a bolt of lightning triggers her memory of a crystal city consumed by an explosion, a vision Mamoru shares.

The clan dispatches Petz to swap Tokyo's citizens for Droids. Makoto falls victim to the sickness sweeping the city. Asanuma, a classmate of Mamoru, walks the weakening Makoto home before she collapses, confiding that strange things keep happening, including overhearing Luna speak to Usagi. Makoto admits she is a guardian locked in battle with a fearsome power, and Asanuma vows to keep her secret out of respect. After he leaves, a UFO appears at her window and she faints from fatigue. Petz then arrives with a swarm of androids and admits the Black Moon engineered the epidemic.

The Droids move to replace the populace, and Makoto's copy attacks her, prompting her to alert Usagi. The guardians transform, and Jupiter easily overwhelms and destroys the double, drawing Petz out. Their powers clash after Petz amplifies herself with the Dark Crystal, and Petz wins, imprisoning Jupiter in a cage of air and wind. Across town, Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus battle the other duplicates, and Moon rushes over to destroy Petz with Moon Princess Halation. Rubeus nonetheless carries Jupiter off in the same craft that claimed Mercury and Mars.

The installment advances the Black Moon's systematic capture of the inner guardians, adding Jupiter to the prisoners already taken. Rubeus uses the same saucer employed to abduct Mercury and Mars, underscoring the clan's repeating pattern.