Note: This chapter may seem a little slow, but the next one will have TONS of neat stuff in it, I promise! :) Enjoy!

Chapter 3: The Awakening

"Planet Jahrei, you've got to be kidding me!?!" Ryoko choked.

"Sounds like the usual to me," groaned Tenchi, leaning back in his chair.

"That it does," Washu said, "but I guess there are a lot of people angry with Jahrei. This particular one, though, is much different, and much more powerful than what we've encountered before." She shrugged. "I'm working on a device that will allow us to get close this thing to observe it, and yet still get back out alive. All you can do from there is rest and wait to see if Kiyone is revived. I'll get back to you as soon as I can with an update."

"Washu, wai-" Ryoko cut herself off. The transmission had ended.

~

The mists swirled and churned once again as Kiyone seemed to be standing in the middle of no where. She looked around, and then collapsed to her knees. What now? Obviously something was preventing her from leaving this place, whether it be pain and exhaustion or something else, she didn't know. And what of the others, her friends? Did they realize she wasn't there? Did they know something had happened to her? And what happened to Mihoshi?

Suddenly, a beam of light shot around Kiyone, twisting and dancing about, spreading through the shadows.

Kiyone stood up. What was this and where did it come from? Then the light darted away, and was gone.

Staring at the direction the light had disappeared to, Kiyone started running that way, knowing she had no where else to go and no other ideas to try. Then she stopped. Before her stretched three different doors. One of the doors, the one to the right, was brightly colored and lights shot through the cracks. The door to the left was pure black, and looked very heavy. But the one in the middle was different. Instead of a door, it was a gate, and the mist around her seemed to be drawn to it. Its large metal bars were held together tightly to each wall, and it was heavily chained together, a large, round, silver lock at its center.

Kiyone studied each door carefully. Could she open them all, and then pick one? Or did she have only one choice? the door to the left, which she named Door #1, looked the most pleasant, but then she heard something from behind the gate in the middle. Voices, from somewhere far away it seemed, whispering, and some even calling out to Kiyone. Familiar, they were. She walked over to the gate, straining to hear clearly. She recognized one of the voices right away. Tenchi.

~

Tenchi, Ryoko, Ayeka, Sasami, and little Ryo-ohki stood around Kiyone's bed, hoping that she would wake up soon. Kiyone's nurse had said that if they talked to Kiyone, she just might hear them, and just maybe work up her strength to come back to them. With nothing else to try, that is what they did.

"Tenchi, do you really think she can hear us?" asked Sasami, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I think she can," Tenchi replied reassuringly, though he had no way of knowing for sure.

Ayeka leaned forward. "Miss Kiyone, if you can hear me, you must come back to us so you can arrest Ryoko before she-"

"Ayeka, what a lousy thing to say now!" Ryoko snapped as she slapped Ayeka in the arm.

"Well, maybe she just might listen to reason and come back," Ayeka retorted.

"She doesn't listen to you anyway," Ryoko said coolly.

"Why you-"

"Enough!" That was Tenchi. "If you two are going to fight, then just leave, you're no help to us here."

"But Tenchi-" whined Ayeka.

"No buts, leave if you're going to continue." Tenchi turned his angry eyes from them.

"Well I stopped a long time ago," stated Ryoko, glaring at the princess.

Fuming, Ayeka left the room, and the others continued to coax Kiyone from her deep

slumber.

~

Hearing most of what was said, Kiyone couldn't resist a small giggle. If she did die, that was the thing she would miss most, her friends of Earth. Sasami, the fantastic cook and sweet little girl with blue pigtails; Her sister, Ayeka, crown princess, just because she was so funny when she was angry; Ryoko, the wild space pirate, and her carefree nature; Washu, and her crazy inventions; And Tenchi, for his kindness and his friendship, something she would treasure most of all. She would miss all of them, just as she had when they were all split apart, but maybe even more so. So if Kiyone died now, no, she wouldn't think of it. She wouldn't give up so easily. She'd make it back to them, no matter what, even if it cost her her very soul.

Kiyone pulled on the gates, searching for a weak link in the chain that bound it shut. There had to be one. In everything that was anything, there was at least one weak point, on spot that would break. Kiyone tugged at the chain, searching, but there seemed to be no flaws, no weakness.

After many tries, Kiyone fell to the ground, too tired to keep going. She knew she had to, but still.......... it seemed impossible. She sighed and stared at the misty floor. There had to be something she could use. If she were anyone else, like Ayeka, she could just use her Jahreian energy, her magic, to destroy the chains that locked her from the ones she loved. But Kiyone had no such power, no such gift. Though Jahreian she was, she seemed to be left out in the rain while everyone else was all warm inside the house. A brick wall that set her aside. But then, Kiyone realized she wasn't alone in that rain behind the wall. Her partner, Mihoshi, was the same. Kiyone smiled, that was probably the one thing they had in common. She also realized that because of her misfortune, she had been even more determined to best everyone else at something, being the best Galaxy Police Officer at the academy. She had risen to the top of her class, no power used, just brains and her own free will. She had triumphed over her fears, and though misfortune had found its way to her again, she tackled it strongly. This had to be one of those misfortunes. Was she going to let it overcome her? Was she going to let herself die because she had given up?

"NEVER!!!!" Kiyone shouted, her voice ringing triumphantly through the mists. Kiyone Makibi was not finished with life yet!