They'd wasted no time in making the distance from the beach back to the fork in the path, taking a stand next to the sign that gave off directions to the four major landmarks of the area. They stood there, for a moment, looking at the towering peak of Genbu Mountain. They hesitated going up there right away, remembering what had happened a few hours ago, when they'd tried to scale the place. It had not ended well. They ended up injured and practically limping back to the Crystal at the back of the beach. They had their butts handed them, to be simple.

This time would be different, or so they hoped. They did a lot of training and they definitely felt a good bit stronger. Were they, though? Sei had definitely been able to master a new technique, and the other two felt like they were stronger, but the only way to find out for sure was to scale the mountain and see for themselves. They had already wasted a few hours with their training and, with the disappearances possibly happening at any time, they needed to get up to the top of that peak as soon as possible, so they could find out more about the mystery they were trying to solve.

The three nervously walked past the sign, up the set of rock steps, and made it back into the base of the mountain, not sure if they were ready to take on what lied ahead for them. Walking around the first path of the mountain, they saw a surprisingly small amount of monsters. They climbed up a rope on a nearby cliff-like wall, getting up to the next level. The path looked fairly clear, not splitting off too many times, leading up to a cave entrance. They follow this path for a little ways and then stopped as soon as they heard some loud calls from the sky above them.

Looking up, they saw a group of Dire Eagles, at least four of them, diving down towards them. The three thought to reach for their weapons, but looked at the cave beyond. Quickly making a decision, Hitoshi sprinted off for the cave entrance. He was hoping that, were they to get to the cave in time, the eagles would stop their pursuit. He had still be relatively worn out from training, and remembered, all too well, the wounds those monsters had given him a few hours before. The other two, not wanting him off by himself, followed closely behind.

This tactic wasn't a very smart one, if the eagles didn't stop their pursuit at the cave. Nonetheless, they kept on this path until they managed to get inside the cave. Thankfully, the three of them were able to run quite quickly, easily making it into the cave before the eagles could reach the ground of the mountain, where they were. A few moments passed after they entered the dark, depths of this cave, slowly wandering around the walls. They made it around a curved path and came to an opening, leading back into the mountain area.

Content with their technique, they continued along the next area of the path, seeing the next cave up the mountain, heading straight to it. They had seen many boxes along the way, but as soon as they'd stopped to open one, the same call from the sky appeared again. The same group of eagles had flown, higher up the mountain and were still tailing them. Making use of their past tactic, they abandoned the box, ran up the path, and went into the next cave, which was a little more extensive on the inside. Carefully making it around the curvy mountain walls and across a small bridge, they came to another opening, leading back outside.

Finding the next area to be eagle-free, they decided to stop taking detours, making their way up the mountain as quickly as possible. They passed through gaves, climbed up ropes, and even found some ladders to climb up. Quite a few minutes went by before they finally reached the top, or at least, what they thought was the top. Coming up and nearly wearing themselves out, they saw that the mountain had 2 spires on it. One was directly in front of them and one was across a bridge. Looking at them both, they tried to decide which way to go. Coming up to the fork, they noticed yet another Crystal, just like the one they'd seen at the Beach.

After letting their energy replenish, they decided to take the path that lead to the spire directly in front of them. It was the closest and, were they to run into trouble, they could always just run down the path and fight monsters off around the protective aura of the Crystal. Casually making their way up the path, they finally came to the top of the spire, seeing a platform on top. It looked like they were about to find out if this lady was on top of the mountain, like Old Man Houjo had led on. As they came up to the top of the stone steps, however, they were greeted with something that was very un-lady-like.

The flapping of wings could be heard all around them as they, literally, froze in place. Directly in front of them, almost as if it were guarding the top of the mountain was a gigantic Dire Eagle. This thing looked like it must have been the mother of the pack, being at least 3 times as large as the ones they'd been fleeing from on their way up the mountain. It roared at them, making them clench their weapons. Their plight wasn't over yet, though. They had more company coming, than just the one, giant eagle. They heard flapping from behind them and almost didn't want to turn.

Whipping their heads around and huddling themselves tightly together, they saw that they were now completely surrounded. The 4 Dire Eagles that had been chasing them up the mountain were directly behind them, sandwiching them in position, trapping them. They tightly clenched their weapons, realizing now that they couldn't just run to a cave. They had to right, and were definitely in for a rough fight, at that. It was the three of them against the mother eagle and the 4 others. They were outnumbered, and their training was about to be tested...