Walking along the mountain's trail was easy and simple, except for the occasional loose rock. Nobody in the group fell too far, the person behind or in front; or both; caught the falling member quickly and helped them back to their feet. Continuing on their way up, they pass underneath the falling water coming from the cave high above them.
"Come on, everyone," encouraged Johza, "We're halfway towards the cave."
"Hey!" shouted Ryoga.
"What is it?" wondered the Captain, looking back.
"Take a look at the trees," replied the lost boy, pointing at the objects of interest.
Everyone turned their heads to the right and glanced at the tree tops below. The tone in the Captain's voice went from optimistic to one of fear.
"Everyone, grab hold of the mountain and hang on tight!" he said, embracing the earth at his feet.
Not really understanding what he meant, the others continued to look at the trees, only Ryoga followed the Captain's orders.
The tops of the trees swayed softly with the gentle breeze. And the leaves upon the trees spun back and forth, forcing the underside of the leaves up towards the sky. But the swaying quickly became thrashing, as the winds started picking up. With no trees around to act as a buffer against the fast-moving air, there was nothing to slow it down as it made it's way up the side of the mountain.
In a instant they understood what the problem was and quickly reacted accordingly by laying down and pressing themselves flat against the mountain. The rushing air whipped against their bare skin as it threatened to lift anything caught unaware. Even though their hands started to hurt, the group held on with clenched teeth.
"It'll be over soon," said Johza, hoping to sound encouraging.
Then, as quickly as it came, the gusting air died down.
Picking themselves off the ground and dusting each other off, the band of men assessed the situation.
"Anybody get hurt or lose anything?" asked Ranma.
"No, I don't think so," replied Soun.
"Uh-uh," answered Ryoga.
Kuno and Genma shook their heads as if saying no as well.
"Good, because we're going to need to pick up the pace a little," said the Captain, "Gusting winds like that isn't a good sign. We've got to reach that cave quickly or things are going to get messy."
Not wanting to argue the point, everyone grabbed their packs and continued on up the mountain trail. Every so often a gust of air would reach them, although not at the same strength as the first one, but strong enough to have them press against the side of the mountain instead of laying on the ground.
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Darkness came before they reached the cave; like Captain Johza had predicted; however it wasn't in the form of which his original prediction was based on. Gray clouds were rolling in and thunder could be heard off in the distance along with the brief flashes of lightning that accompanied them. A thunderstorm was approaching fast and the heavy rain would make the mountain trail very dangerous. The traveling group of men went inside the cave before the rain clouds had a chance to really open up and everyone was slightly wet.
Untying themselves Soun, Ryoga and Kuno started setting up for the night. Captain Johza removed the torches he brought along and got them lit before anyone had really done anything. The torches gave off enough light for everyone to be able to see and they finished setting up for the night rather quickly. With a roaring flame set up in the middle of the campsite, the torches weren't needed anymore.
But instead of putting them out, Captain Johza handed one of them to Ryoga and he held on to the other.
"What's up?" wondered the lost boy.
"I think we should go explore this cave and find the potion before we do anything else," replied the Captain.
"Good idea, that way we won't have to waste time doing it in the morning," agreed Soun.
"Alright then. I'll lead the way, everyone else will stay behind me and Ryoga can bring up the rear; since he's holding the other torch," said Johza, walking towards the darkness.
The others followed him, leaving the campsite deserted.
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"If this is the cave from the legend," wondered Kuno, "Then where is the Phoenix Tears potion?"
"I have no idea if this is the right cave or not. It was the only one we saw before we began climbing," answered Captain Johza, holding the torch above his head.
The orange glow from the torches bounced off the walls and ceiling of the cave, giving them an eerie presence. Stalagmites and stalactites were in plentiful supply, making the cave appear as if it was a giant gaping mouth with dozens of razor-sharp teeth ready to swallow anyone or anything that might wander inside.
"It is," replied Ranma, convinced.
"What makes you say that?" asked Genma, looking at his son.
"I don't know why, but ever since we got here, I've felt a weird kind of energy coming from this cave," said the boy.
"Now that you mention it, I felt it too," agreed Ryoga.
"Then I guess you two are the only ones," replied Johza, looking back.
Turning his gaze forward, the Captain says, "Come on, let's keep going. If this is the right cave, then we're bound to find the potion."
Walking deeper into the darkness, the light from the torches began to shorten; making everyone feel as if they were moving around inside a bubble. Visibility was very limited. Each member of the group could barely see the person in front of them as they continued to go even farther into the cave.
Suddenly, Ranma bumps into Captain Johza, who had stopped walking.
"Why did you stop?" asked the boy.
The Captain replied, "Listen."
Taking a few moments, the boy realizes what it was that Johza heard and responds, "Running water."
"Right. The snow caps above us must be melting through the cracks in the mountain and the water collects and comes out here. This must be where the water from the lake comes from," explained the Captain.
"But look over here," answers Ranma, walking a little more, using what little light they had to glance down. He says, "The falling water goes off in two different directions."
"Would you look at that, your right it does," replied Johza, "Then this stream of water must go somewhere."
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Following the second trail of water, the band of men go further still. The fire from the torches began to glow brighter and were giving off a slowly growing area of light making it easier to see. Soon they came upon an eerie white glow coming from around a corner. Going around the corner the group discovered what made the white light.
Glittering like stars in the night sky were many rocks made of an incandescent material that gave them their radiant glow. Amazed at the sight before them , everyone scrambled forward to collect the rocks, kicking around the smaller stones and reaching for the bigger ones. Taking a couple more steps, Ranma finds their close walking quarters opening up into a large cavern in which an underground lake sat at the bottom. Inside the lake was a light penetrating out with the same white glow as the other rocks.
Looking up gave the boy a view of the half moon through a hole on the side of the mountain. He notices it had stopped raining.
"This must be were these rocks get their glowing light from," he said, pointing up, "The sunlight or moonlight probably shines through this hole, hits the large boulder inside the lake, then when the boulder glows bright enough, the other rocks absorb the light from it."
"Amazing," agreed the Captain.
"I'm glad you like it," replied a female voice.
Startled by the sound of a woman's voice, Genma and Soun drop all the stones they were holding onto. Looking around for the source of the voice, everyone's gaze stopped at a small ripple on the lake's surface. Slowly, a very small figure rose from the center of the rippling waves.
Standing only six inches high, she appeared to be a tiny person.
She spoke, but her voice didn't match her size, "Hello."
The bewildered boy returned her greeting, "Hello."
In a blink of an eye, she lifted herself off the surface of the lake with a pair of nearly transparent wings. Flying over to Ranma, her body was glowing with the same white light as the boulder inside the lake. Backing up, he watched as she landed next to him.
"Who and what are you?" he asked with a shaky voice, looking down at her.
"Oops," she replied, giggling, "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kiara and I am a magical creature called a sprite."
"Okay, and what are you doing here?" wondered the teen.
She responds, "I'm here because I am the guardian that protects the Cave of Tears."
When she finished her introduction, Kuno doesn't even try to hold back a laugh, saying, "Surely you're joking. You can't possibly be the 'Great Beast' we've been hearing about."
Floating over to the skeptical teenager, she gives him a stern look in the eye.
"I'm a lot stronger than I look," she tells him.
Turning around with a "Hmph," Kiara slowly floated away.
"Yeah, right," he scoffed, still unconvinced.
Swiftly, she flew at him at full speed, hitting him in the stomach and knocking the wind out of his lungs. Doubled over with pain, Kuno couldn't react in time and get knocked backwards onto his rear, thanks to a Double-fisted Uppercut from the sprite. Whimpering softly, the ashamed older boy crawls away into a hidden corner.
"Back to business," she says, returning to Ranma's side.
"We've come for-" started the boy.
She finishes his sentence, "The Phoenix Tears potion, I know."
"But how did you know?" wondered the Captain.
"I've been following you," she answered.
"Since when?" asked Ryoga.
"Since you gentlemen first entered the forest," she replied.
"You saw us go into the forest? From way up here?" said Ranma.
"No," started Kiara, "Well, not really anyway."
When her reply was met with five confused looks, she began to explain, "What I mean is, that I have an ability to be able to feel someone's presence without actually having to see them coming. And let me tell you, when I feel six different people appear in the forest from absolutely nowhere in less than one week, it gets my attention."
"Six?" asked Genma, "You mean our group?"
"No, I don't. The first person I felt was alone and it was a feminine type of presence to boot. I really didn't pay anymore attention than that. Then a few days later, it was a large group that appeared and their presence felt masculine to me. Of course as always, when a person leaves the forest their presences fades with them. A few more days pass and I could feel the same large group as earlier; with an extra person as well; their presence gradually getting stronger the closer they got to the outskirts of the forest. At that point, I realized what was happening, so I decided to see things with my own eyes," she elaborated.
"And what was it you realized?" asked Captain Johza.
She says, "That your group of people was in search of the Phoenix Tears potion, just like the last group."
"How long ago did the last group try to find the potion?" wondered Soun.
"About five hundred years ago, give or take a year or two," she replied.
"Five hundred years?! You're telling us that you've been alive for over five hundred years?" exclaimed Ranma, flabbergasted at this little creature before him.
"Actually, I'm over a thousand years old," she corrected him.
Stunned silent by her answer, he tries to change the subject, "My guess is that they weren't able to find the potion."
"You are correct," she told him, "They didn't even reach the mountain. My traps frightened them so much, they started killing each other."
"Traps?" wondered Ryoga.
"Yes, traps. I set my traps up all around the forest to prevent anyone from reaching this cave," answered Kiara.
"What kind of traps?" asked the Captain.
"Well," she started, "The ones I use aren't your conventional traps like a hidden hole in the ground or an outstretched rope hanging from a tree, ready to grab hold of someone's foot. No, my traps affect a person's mental and psychological well being, or in other words, they instill fear and doubt in their victim's mind. The effectiveness of the traps range from the person being so scared they run away to what happened five hundred years ago..."
"They started killing each other," said Soun.
"Yes, but one trap alone is very rarely that effective. One member of that group had triggered three of my traps, one right after another, causing that person to go into a violent rage," answered Kiara, teary-eyed, "I vowed never to let anyone trigger that many traps in a row ever again. Your friend over there was very close to doing it, but I stopped him."
When he heard this, Kuno said, "Are you saying that it was you that stopped me from cutting the log the other night?"
"Yes. Almost everything that happened to your group after entering the forest was my fault," replied the sprite.
"You thought the best way to stop me from cutting that log was to push me down a hill!" snapped the older teenager, emerging from his hidden corner and lunging at Kiara before she could react.
Kuno reached down for her, but his hand and arm was being held down by Ranma's foot.
"What do you think you're trying to do?" wondered the younger of the two boys.
"Release me, I wish to exact my revenge," grunted the older boy, trying to pull his arm free.
"I won't until you calm down," replied Ranma.
By this time, Kiara floated away undetected, thanks to everyone's attention being focused on Kuno.
"I wanted to ask you if we could-" started the boy, before realizing she was gone.
"Where did she go?" asked Ryoga.
"I don't know," answered Ranma, releasing Kuno and getting on his hands and knees. The others follow suit and begin searching the cavern for Kiara.
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Using the light coming from the incandescent rocks, it wasn't long before Ranma had found her. She had hidden herself in a small crevice located on the other side of the lake. It was so small a hole, a child wouldn't have been able to fit inside. He was able to find her by intensively following the sound of her sobbing. When he found her, she was crying heavily.
He spoke softly, asking, "What's wrong?"
She wouldn't answer him.
He tried a different question, "Are you scared that Kuno is going to hurt you?"
"No," she said, lifting her head up, "It's not that."
"Then what is it?" wondered the boy.
"It's just that (sniff) I didn't mean to push him down a hill, I was only doing my job," she cried, putting her face back in her hands.
Looking over his shoulder, Ranma could see that everyone else was still searching for her.
Returning his attention to Kiara, he tells her, "I understand that you were trying to do everything you could in order to protect what has been entrusted to you. And if I was in you position, I'd have probably done the same thing."
She gave him a smile and a little laugh to go along.
"So, why don't you come out of that hole and let us get on with the entire reason we're in this cave?" he asked, backing away.
She nodded and floated out of her hiding spot.
"There's the little bug," snapped Kuno, advancing towards her.
Ranma steps in front of Kiara to protect her, saying, "Stop this at once. We came here for the potion, not to torture a magical creature."
"That's where you're wrong, Saotome. Remember, we were sent here to kill 'The Great Beast' that protected the potion and that is just what I'm going to do," replied the enraged teen, drawing his kendo sword.
"You can't blame her for what she did, she was only doing her job," shouted the younger boy, standing firmly in his spot.
"Watch me," answered Kuno.
Quick as a flash, Captain Johza seized the opportunity and halted the older teen's fury by flattening him with a full body tackle. The Captain remained on top of the older boy, not letting him back to his feet.
"Calm down," he suggested to the upperclassman.
"I will not," yelled the angry teenager, adding, "Not until that wretched insect pays for the injustice that has been thrust upon my being."
Unable to stand up under Captain Johza's weight advantage, the self-proclaimed kendo master continued to struggle. It became obvious he wasn't going to give up without a fight.
"Get off of me this instant!" shouted Kuno.
"I don't think so," said the Captain, unamused.
Turning his attention over to the younger of the two teens, he says, "Go ahead, kid. I've got things under control here."
Giving Johza a nod, Ranma turns and faces Kiara.
Taking a deep breath, he opens his mouth to talk, only to have her ask the question before he could, "You want the Phoenix Tears potion, am I right?"
"Yes, please," he replies.
Looking down at the floor of the cavern, she answers, "I'm sorry, but I can't give you the potion?"