'What happened to me…?' Serena wondered as she regained consciousness. 'My head… it's killing me…' She shifted around in the bed. 'Am I dead again…?' A familiar voice came to her ears, and the first thing to come to mind was she was indeed dead.

"King Kai…?" She asked as she sat up, wincing in pain. Someone's hand was placed on her shoulder, indicating she needed to lie down. "King Kai, I can explain… who I am…" Serena muttered, opening her eyes. She was shocked to see Citan there.

"Serena, are you okay?" Citan asked. He smiled when he saw she was responsive. "Thank goodness! I was so worried; you've been out for five days!" He said, heaving a sigh of relief. Serena looked confused.

"I'm… alive?" She asked him. Citan nodded. "I don't remember much of anything after Nisan…" Her memory had gone fuzzy after seeing Goten, or who she thought was Goten. In a rush, the events of the past few days filled her head. The plan to invade Bledavik went underway, she'd gone with Fei to distract some enemy Gears. After they nearly got beat down Serena left Fei to go help Bart, but something had gone wrong. There was a strange enemy, whose Ki was through the roof! Well… through the roof in terms of everyone else on this planet. But Serena had underestimated her strength versus his. His fighting style was very familiar, but Serena had lost before she could place it. Then, just before her memory went black again, he'd come up to her and he'd…

"No!" Serena suddenly yelled, sitting straight up and feeling at her chest. Citan blinked and handed her the heart shaped locket she carried with her and she opened it up. It was gone. She turned an odd shade of green as her heart and head pounded and she began to hyperventilate. "It's… it's not… it isn't… he… th-that man!" She stammered out. Citan ran his hand through her hair, in an effort to calm the teenager down. She was still wounded, and her wounds hadn't healed as quickly as they normally did.

"Serena, please calm yourself. Now, tell me what is wrong. Hm?" Citan said in a very soft, calming tone of voice. It seemed to work, though just slightly. "Is something the matter?"

"Doc…! My crystal, it's gone!" Serena wailed. Luckily there were no other people in the room with her to be disturbed by her loud, annoying cries. "That man took it!" Her mind raced, trying to see if she'd ever seen him before. He was so familiar; it was infuriating that she couldn't recall who he was.

"What man? Can you recall what he looked like?" Citan asked. He had his hunches, only one man could have gotten to her fast enough to take it, but it was best to not jump to assumptions.

"Like Fiore did…" Serena muttered to herself. That had been the only way she had remembered him. He was similar to Fiore. "He was pale, and he had red hair…" She explained. Citan stopped breathing for a few seconds. He was right. It had been him. But what did he want with Serena's crystal?

"At least you are safe and unharmed. Well, relatively unharmed." Citan pointed out. Serena nodded in agreement before standing and stretching. She looked around to see where she was for the first time and blinked. This wasn't the Yggdrasil. "Ah, allow me to explain. You have been arrested." Citan said. Serena's eyes went wide as she stared at him. Arrested!

"What do you mean!" She yelped. She'd never been arrested for anything before. There was only one time she'd ever broken a law, but that had been an emergency! And Pluto had forgiven her for it.

"After the plan to recapture Bledavik went wrong, you and Fei were brought here by Kislev forces to Nortune and placed in their D-Block." Citan explained. Serena then noticed the collar on her neck. "Ah, yes, it would be a good idea to not tinker with that. That is the only thing keeping you in jail. If you leave the vicinity it will explode, killing you." Serena went pale at that. She was trying to not die again, though she often wondered if she had.

"Can't you take it off Doc?" Serena asked with a hopeful look. She knew she could probably survive an explosion that would kill normal people, but she wasn't sure if she could without the Silver Crystal. Her hopes shattered as he shook his head.

"I fear that if I try, I might set it off." Serena groaned and fell back onto the bed in despair. She'd been arrested and was in jail. Things couldn't get any worse. Footsteps came her way.

"Mornin' Doc. Hey, Serena. You okay?" A familiar voice asked. Serena mumbled a 'Hey Fei,' not bothering to look up. "Is something wrong? You look down." He asked his friend. He'd started to classify Serena as a close friend as of recently.

"I was mugged and then thrown in jail. You tell me if something's wrong." She grumbled, pulling a pillow over her face. Fei couldn't help but grin at her attitude. Sure she had valid reason to be upset, but the way she was acting was just funny.

"Be glad you look so frail though," Fei said. The pillow was thrown in his face with some force behind it, knocking the painter back. "Ow! Hey, it was a compliment!" He cried in his defense. Serena sat up with a frown on her face.

"I am NOT frail! I'm stronger than YOU!" She yelled at him. Citan clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Serena, please, do not go about announcing your inhuman strength." He begged. "Your frail appearance has spared you from the 'Baptismal Ceremony' that Fei has had to endure." Slowly he pulled his hand from her face and sighed.

"Baptismal Ceremony?" She asked, blinking. Fei sat next to her.

"Yeah, it's a round of fights with the toughest guys in this place. I made Rank A, sure, but you don't really need to go through with it." Fei said. "They wanted to drag you out there too, but Rico said you probably wouldn't make it past the first man. And besides, it'd be too cruel to put a woman through that." Serena nodded a little.

"Well, at least he's a gentleman." She decided. "Hey, Fei, can we go exploring?" Serena asked. Fei blinked a little before nodding.

"Sure Serena. C'mon." He walked out the door, leaving Citan behind to contemplate how to get both Fei and Serena out of Nortune.

In an effort to do as Citan said about not letting her strength and power be known, Serena was following Fei closely, trying to mimic him in his limited abilities. That meant climbing and jumping, instead of flying. She didn't like it, but she could get used to it again. She didn't want to undergo this 'Baptismal Ceremony' Fei had described. She climbed up to a roof and up another ladder to the highest point of the city, where she was promptly greeted by a rude, old man.

"Hey! You're not allowed up here! Only the operations manager is!" He announced. Serena jumped slightly and looked at him with a frown.

"It's not written down, now is it?" She demanded.

"Well, that's true… I guess you didn't know." The old man stated. Serena nodded a little. "This is the observation tower."

"So what're you observing then?" Serena asked, looking curious.

"You'll see." He said, looking back out. Moments passed before a train zipped by. Serena grinned a little. "I'm the operations manager, but there's no one to manage. It's perfectly automated. I'm only the operations manager on paper." He explained. Serena cocked her head to the side a little.

"Nothing is ever perfect…" She mulled aloud.

"Well, the only weakness is the defection equipment... If it detects a heat source it'll shut the whole thing down to prevent any accidents..." Serena nodded as if she understood. Ami would have loved something this advanced. But Ami was dead now. She would have to accept that fact.

As Serena climbed back down the ladder to the ground below, she wondered what it would be like if she were to head off for the Silver Millennium, to meet the mothers of her best friends. As she wondered what it would be like, she ran headfirst into Fei and someone else that she didn't recognize.

"Hey Fei. Who's your friend?" She asked, looking at the man. He wasn't out of the ordinary… or at least, what SHE considered ordinary. Fei looked at the man – it WAS a man, right? – and sighed.

"His name is Hammer the Supplier. And I told you, I don't want any part of that battling tournament!" Fei said, half to Serena and half to this Hammer character. Blinking, Serena looked at her friend.

"Battling tournament? What's that?" Fei went to speak, but was cut off.

"It's a tournament for Gears! The winner and his mechanics get a free pardon!" Serena could see the energy coming off the man; he was obviously excited and wanted Fei to enter.

"I got contacted by this 'battling committee' and they want me to enter. But I hate Gears." Serena sighed as well. That was a dilemma. She couldn't ask Fei to enter when he hated them. It would be like asking her to sit calmly through a thunderstorm. How could they manage? She tried to think and it wasn't easy. She usually left stuff like this to her friends.

"Hey, Fei? Why don't we go ask Citan?" Serena suggested. "He'll know what to do!" Grabbing him by the arm, Serena hurried off to the medical clinic with Hammer following behind.

"Hey Citan! Where are you?" Serena called as she entered the little room. Fei pulled his arm away and rubbed where she'd gripped him. She might appear delicate, but Serena was by far the most powerful person that Fei had ever met. It seemed she wasn't even aware of her own strength either. His arm was throbbing in pain, but it couldn't have been her strongest grip!

"Ah, welcome back Serena. Welcome back as well, Fei." Citan greeted as he stepped out of the back room. "Have you found a way to escape?"

"Well, sorta… kinda, yeah, but…" Serena began, trying to find the right words to use. "See, Fei found out about this Battling tournament thing, but it's with Gears." She assumed that, since Citan had known Fei longer, he knew what the problem was by now. "And because of that, he won't participate. It's a sure-fire way to escape though, if he were to win. Citan began to ponder his information. It WAS a problem.

"Hm…" Citan began. "Perhaps, there is another way."

"What other way Doc?" Fei asked.

"We can enter Serena." Serena's eyes bulged. "Now, now, before you vocalize your complaint, we can simply state that Fei wishes to enter the tournament, but has suffered a relapse of an old injury. Serena can take his place."

"Uh, Citan? I really hate to break this to you, but uh…" Serena began, scratching behind her ear. "The last piece of machinery I tried to work was an ATM machine, and it blew up." Citan blinked, wondering what an ATM machine was. "If I got into a Gear, I'd probably put a new crater on this planet."

"Serena, we have no other option at our disposal." Citan reminded. "Either you enter the tournament, or we might as well give up." Serena couldn't give up. If she gave up now, before finding Terra, the future was as good as sunk. With a half-hearted sigh, she muttered her approval. This seemed to delight Hammer, who ran out, to register her.

"Maybe you should get some rest before you try piloting a Gear." Fei suggested. Groaning, Serena walked over to a bed and climbed in, falling fast asleep…