P.o.D: F.N: -26- Unexpected Events (Part One)

Chapter 26: Unexpected Events (Part One)
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Confusion ran across Ranma's face.

The boy cleaned out his ears and asked, "Could you repeat that? It sounded as if you said you couldn't give us the Phoenix Tears potion."

"I did say that," replied Kiara, floating in mid-air.

Everyone stood in silence for a few moments, even Kuno had stopped struggling to get up.

"But why not?" wondered Soun.

"Because I'm not allowed to give away the potion. It's my job," answered the sprite.

"You mean to tell us that after everything we had to do to get here: hiking through the forest, climbing the mountain and going inside this cave, we still weren't able to get a hold of the one thing we were sent here to get," said Genma, he counted them off with his fingers as he was getting frustrated.

"Now hold on for one minute," shouted Kiara, stopping the old man cold. She adds, "I said that I couldn't give you the Phoenix Tears potion. It has to be earned by someone worthy enough. Someone who has proven to me beyond the shadow of a doubt that their heart is true and that they deserve to receive the Phoenix Tears potion."

"Well then, how do we prove ourselves?" wondered Ryoga.

"One of you gentlemen has already proven themselves worthy," she responded.

"Who?" asked Genma.

"That person will realize it, sooner or later. Until then, I'll be waiting," she replied.

The band of men stood around for a minute or two in silence, glancing back and forth from one to another and each of them replying to the unspoken question with a shoulder shrug. The only member of the group that didn't glance around was Ranma. Instead he had a blank look on his face while he stared off into the distance.

'Why does that sound familiar?' he asked himself, trying to remember the events that took place the last few days.

When the memory hit him, his expressionless face lit up with understanding.

He said, "Kiara, you mean me, right? I'm the one you're talking about?"

She giggled, "Took you long enough. Yes, I am talking about you."

"But how? When? Why?" wondered the others, talking all at once.

Ranma explained, "Remember when we stopped near the waterfall for the night?"

When the others nodded he continued, "Well, that night I was awoken by something. I got up to follow this white light I saw moving among the trees. It light led me to a clearing surrounded by a thick fog. Standing in front of me right next to the light was a silhouette that sort of looked and sounded like Akane. I tried to walk towards the shadowy figure, but my legs wouldn't move. After trying to move for the second time, I broke down and fell to my knees. I started having doubts about myself and this mission. But, then I remembered the promises I had made to Akane's family and to my mother and they gave me the strength to remove the doubts from my mind. I got back upon my feet and looked back at the silhouette and it was disappearing. I also heard a different voice; Kiara's voice now that I think about it; tell me-"

"That's all I wanted to hear you say. I'll be waiting for you," finished the sprite, smiling.

"Thank you. When I returned to camp it was already morning. After breakfast everyone went to clean themselves with the water from the falls, while I stayed behind. What I didn't tell you was I went up to the cliff to see if I could find the spot where I had stopped. The place where I fell to my knees was three feet from the edge of the cliff. So, if I had been able to move, I would've died," concluded Ranma.

After hearing his story, the others were speechless, only Ryoga could muster up something to say, "Man, I'm glad it wasn't me instead of you."

"Gee, thanks, I guess," replied his friend.

"But, I knew you wouldn't, I could feel it in my heart," said Kiara.

"What do you mean you 'could feel it in my heart'?" asked the boy.

"Just that," replied the sprite, "That is another one of my special abilities, being able to read what is inside someone's heart. I can feel right now that your one friend still doesn't believe that I can do all this."

Everyone turned their gaze towards Kuno.

"What?" he wondered.

They looked back at Kiara and she continued, "After following your group the entire day, I could feel that one of you gentlemen had recently lost a loved one and I needed to find out which one. When dealing with a large group such as yourselves, I'm not able to single out one person's feelings, like a little while ago. I only knew it was him because of the way he acted earlier. So, since I had to decide between the six of you, I chose to work with the two youngest members of your group. Picking between the two youngest, I chose the one that didn't spring my bear trap."

Ryoga hung his head, saying, "So the bear wasn't real? I feel like a complete idiot for falling for it."

"You couldn't help yourself. I try to make all my illusion traps very life-like," said Kiara, giving him a comforting tone.

"As you were saying," Soun reminded her.

"Oh, right... Well, that night I lured you away and I headed towards the cliff for a reason. I thought that if I put your life in danger, your body's natural defenses would kick in and stop you from moving any closer. When you went to your knees, I held my breath. After I heard you say that you wanted to go home, I figured I had picked the wrong person and started to complete the illusion, but then you changed your attitude for the better and started to stand up. I was relieved to discover that you were the one who would prove himself worthy of the Phoenix Tears potion," finished the sprite.

Kiara turned and began to float away with the group right behind her.

Sonn she stopped and turned back around, she told them, "Wait here and I'll get the potion."

In one fell swoop she dove down into the lake. Everybody watched the water and waited for her to come back up. Before long her tiny head resurfaced with the rest of her body to follow. Kiara returned and she landed on Ranma's open palm.

She placed the potion in his hand and told him, "You must protect this with your life," and then she quietly whispered to him, "I fear someone in your group isn't telling you the truth and may try to take the potion for greedy purposes. I believe one member in this group has deceit in his heart, but I don't know who it is."

"Do you think you might be a little overreacting?" asked the boy.

She scoffed at the suggestion and said, "I never overreact, I'm just telling you what it is I feel. It's your choice if you heed my warning or not, but don't say I didn't warn you."

The boy opened his hand and took a gaze at the Phoenix Tears potion. In his hand was a small bottle containing a glowing white liquid. He examined it close, it radiated a light like that of the large boulder at the bottom of the cave's lake. The contents swirled around like ethereal wisps forced to take the shape of the bottle's insides. He could feel a magical aura pulsating in his hand as he held it.

"The contents inside are to be given to one and only one person," stated Kiara, "The potion will not work if the recipient isn't given the full contents of the bottle."

Ranma noticed the bottle had a long leather-like strap connected to it. The strap was long enough for him to put the bottle around his neck for protection. The boy made an inner determination to protect the bottle at all costs, it was the one chance he had at bringing Akane back and he wasn't about to mess it up.

"We've got the potion, so let's head back to the castle," suggested Captain Johza, turning to leave.

"Wait!" shouted Kiara, floating up to eye level, "I wish to escort you out to the mouth of the Cave of Tears, so you gentlemen don't get lost in the passageways to the outside. You were lucky in finding the hidden lake coming in, but going out is a different matter."

The Captain allowed the little sprite to lead them out of the dark tunnels, her glowing body keep the pressing darkness from closing around them as if it had been tamed by her presence. When they reached the campsite they had setup at the mouth of the cave, Kiara started heading back into the shadows, to where her cavern waited.

She told them, "Now I must head back. You don't have to worry about anymore of my traps for they are out of commission and will do you no harm. Good luck with the rest of your journey and remember what I said." The last part was directed solely at Ranma.

"We still have a few hours until sunrise, so I suggest we try to get some sleep in the meantime," said the Captain, kneeling down and using his torch to re-ignite the camp's flame.

The others nodded and headed towards their individual sleeping bags. They didn't bring anything to eat so they already knew they'd skip dinner, besides from the weary looks they had on their faces they were quite ready to drift off to sleep.

Ranma laid down, took the bottle around his neck and tucked it underneath his shirt. He could feel it against his body as he lay there, a slight coolness to the center of chest. It didn't take long for slumber to reach him as his lingering thoughts were of once again Akane and her coming back to life.

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When Ranma awoke, he immediately grabbed for the bottle around his neck and gave a sigh of relief when he felt it within his grasp, knowing it was still there. Everyone else was waking up at around the same time, the only one of them already awake was Captain Johza, who was sitting next to Ranma's head.

"About time you guys get up," he said, adding, "I hope you slept well."

"Yeah, I guess so. How about you?" asked the boy.

"Nah. Couldn't sleep a wink," replied the Captain.

Ranma looked over and saw all the Captain's things were packed up and ready to go.

"I'll give you guys some time to pack up," said Johza as he stood.

He walked by the campfire to the mouth of the cave and started splashing his face with whatever amount of water he could get from the small stream coming from inside the mountain. Soon enough everyone was packed again and they begin their trek back to the castle.

Going down the mountain was easier than going up. The wind that had picked up during the hike up the trail had died down considerably and the band of men didn't mind the change in the weather. They reached the campsite at the bottom of the mountain with a few hours of sunlight left, but Johza told them that they shouldn't go any further, saying it would be easier just to use the old campsite than to make a new one.

So they all set up camp, while Johza went fishing with Ryoga. After the two men that went fishing returned they joined the others to eat what they had caught. When it was time for bed, the entire group decided it was best to not have anyone stand watch, so there wouldn't be an incident like last time. Luckily for them nothing out of the ordinary happened before the sun came up.

And once again, when Ranma awoke he found Captain Johza sitting near him, stoking the fire. The group's morning routine of cleaning up the campsite wasn't interrupted by anything unforeseen. As they continued the hike back towards the castle, time seemed to fly by and they had reached the waterfall before sundown. Johza thought it would be best if they used the old campsite once more and the others agreed. By this time everyone was tired of eating fish, but they knew this was going to be the last night of doing it.

The entire group didn't feel like they had gotten much sleep when Captain Johza woke them up and said, "Come on, get up. I want to get an early start on the day. That way when we reach the castle it will be close to dinner time."

With the mentioning of food, other than fish, Genma got up very easily. It wasn't long before the campsite was cleaned up and deserted once more and the band of travelers were on their way. By lunchtime, they had reached the outskirts of the forest. At that time, Johza suggested they stop for a few minutes to rest up and no one objected to that thought. He then asked Ranma to follow him.

"What is it?" asked the boy, stopping near the river.

"I wanted to talk privately with you," replied Johza.

"Okay. So, what's up?" repeated the teen, sounding confused.

"Come here, I'll talk to you while I freshen up," said Johza, wading into the river.

Ranma began to feel awkward right about now, but shook it off and followed the Captain into the water.

"You've still got the bottle, right?" asked the man when the water got up to his waist.

"Yeah, right here," answered Ranma, showing the Captain the bottle hanging from his neck.

"Good. Don't want you to lose that," said Johza, splashing his face with cold water.

"Why did you bring me over here to talk?" asked the boy, putting the potion back under his shirt.

"I wanted to get you alone to ask you if you're glad this is almost over with?" answered the Captain.

"Well, yeah I am," replied the teen, looking over at the others.

"I guess we should get back now," suggested the boy, turning around to go back.

The teenager was unprepared when Johza shouted, "Same-Ken!" hitting the boy with a fierce Shark Fist attack to the back, planting Ranma face first into the water.

"What was that for?!" wondered the confused boy, rolling over.

"I'll be taking that bottle now. Nothing personal, just following orders," replied Johza, standing in a battle stance.