As luck would have it, the surges of electricity running through the copper plated tunnel never exceeded the point of the occasional hurtful shock. Thus Jack, forced to walk on his legs such as a biped would, and Accel were greatly relieved. The lanterns charged with the electricity arching through the dark musty air through them created some visibility. However, the situation did seem far from the lanterns light, and more into the darkness.
Ayame checked behind her. She was the last in the three-person file line. On their way of several hours, they had passed many hallways melding into this main branch. The lanterns all swung with an imaginary breeze. The air did not stir down here.
"Brrrrr. Accel, are you getting the same feeling as I am?" Ayame asked her loving friend.
"That feeling wouldn't be your toes going numb from all the electricity running through them would it?" Accel replied.
"No. It-s… It-s nothing." Ayame thought better of her ideas.
"Damn Jack. We've been walking for hours. When do we come across that power stone?" Accel asked as he placed his hands behind his neck.
"Jack only follows the scent of the precious shiny! Hehehehe, what a smell. What a smell." Jack laughed as he followed his masked nose into the phantasmal abyss.
"I still think it's strange how you can smell a stone, power stone or not. I've only met one other man who can do that. I think his name was Gunrock or something, he lived in a mine in Dawnbolta." Ayame pondered in audio.
"Dawnbolta, you mean in Spanish Cuba? My, Ayame, you've been everywhere!" Accel was impressed.
"I am comfortable in saying that I've visited the four corners of the Earth! Though it wasn't easy doing it." Ayame boasted.
"Go ahead. Tell the story! It's not like we're doing anything right now…" Accel urged.
"Ha! You mean YOU'RE not doing anything important." Jack snorted.
"Well, alright. It started over a year ago…"
** *
The sky was present. It was a summer sky, filled with white clouds and blue skies. And standing in the way of the warm summer air was an enormous pagoda. Red in color with dark roofing tiles, the pagoda arched out in every direction it could muster to do so. This was the realm of the Daimyo Takarada, lord of this province. The lord of the area was once a strong, large warrior built to withhold any battle, but now he had undergone a change that turned him in to a small, fat, bald man. However, he was still lord and the thousands of peasants at his disposal instantly granted any of his wishes.
It was on this fortunate day that the lord had summoned the Uematsu clan to his household. The Uematsu clan was famous for it's ninja stealth and grace. Any deed, no matter how dark and savage, would be done by a Uematsu. Before the daimyo bowed Mr. Uematsu whom was a tall man with thick dark hair, and Mrs. Uematsu who herself was a fair lady of the traditional Japanese way, white as milk with her dark hair in a bun. There was also Granny Uematsu, who was still short and stout, and finally Ayame Uematsu. As I said before, all of these ninjas bowed before their lord when he walked upon his porch steps.
"Ah the Uematsu's, how are you doing these days? I hope you've been keeping up with your work, yes?" Lord Takarada asked.
Mr. Uematsu didn't raise his head. "Yes, my lord. We have been practicing every day."
"Ah good, good. I have a mission for you. Have you ever heard of the power stone?" The Daimyo questioned.
"Yes sir. It is a stone that grants wishes to any who behold it, is it not?" Mrs. Uematsu answered.
"Ah, very good, very good. Your mission is simple so you shouldn't be able to screw it up, even though your history is flawless. Find a power stone and bring it back to me. If you do, you shall be handsomely rewarded. If you do not…" Here Lord Takarada put a finger to his throat and slowly slid across, making a noise that sounded like the slicing of an apple.
"I understand my liege. We shall take our leave now." Mr. Uematsu exclaimed.
With that, the ninja family exited the royal grounds.
** *
It wasn't long before the family reached a cherry orchard. Deprived of any sentient life forms, the family decided here was the best place tom start formulating their plan.
"Where are we going to get a power stone?" Mrs. Uematsu was puzzled.
"From the ground like all other rocks! You young people have absolutely no brains." Granny scoffed.
"I don't think so. Some sailors in town were talking about it! They said that there was a man carrying it, a western man with only half of a face!" Ayame shouted.
"Shhhh!" The three elders tried to subdue the child.
"Sorry." Ayame whispered.
"Ayame, what were you doing around sailors? I've told you before not to mess with those kind of people! They're not from here." Mrs. Uematsu wagged a finger in front of her daughters' nose.
"She was probably trying to pry more stories out of them like she always does. Harrumph." Granny said with disgust.
"Ayame Uematsu… I feel it would be best if you boarded a ship and searched for the stone! Of all of us, you seem to be able to adapt to western ways the best, and you know more about this half faced man than we do." Mr. Uematsu dug into his pouch and brought forth several coins. "Here, buy a ticket. This is only enough for that. You will be on your own for the rest of the journey."
The other two were stunned.
"F-father…" Ayame stumbled on her words.
"Go now. I have spoken." Mr. Uematsu finished.
Ayame glanced at her family. Taking a firm grip on her new money, she dashed off into the orchard, not to be seen for another year…
** *
The ship was a steam ship, equipped with enormous paddles designed to take her long distances. To many of the people on board it was nothing new, but to Ayame it was a spectacle of man's triumphant skill in engineering. It was stuffed to the gills with people, all wanting to head somewhere new. The ship was charted to sail into San Francisco, a large port in the western United States of America, the finest country in the world. The sailors before had told her that the half faced man had sailed from America. Her guess was that he had returned there.
Ayame leaned against the red salt soaked rail, overlooking the waves of the endless ocean before her. The ocean was so large, so enormous that anything else seemed dwarfed by it. Islands, her country, the ship, and herself. How different it must be to live in a land that isn't surrounded by water that is just as big as the ocean, and is boundless in land as the sea is by water. As she enjoyed her thoughts of discovery, a large suitcase came flying at her.
BONK! It smacked right into the back of her head, momentarily stunning her. She got up, rubbing the back of her head, instantly barking towards the culprit. "HEY! Who do you think you are, throwing luggage like that?! There isn't any room on this boat to stand! Never the less fight!"
The culprit was a young Asian man, more like a boy. He was clad in a tight white shirt, embroidered with a Chinese dragon. He also had loose baggy brown pants and dark shoes, which matched his braided dark hair. The crowd of older, tough looking Chinese men all laughed.
"Are you going to take that from a little girl Wang Tang? Hahahahahaha!"
"Some Agile Dragon, can't even throw a suitcase to it's owner! Hehehehhehehe!"
"Look at Mr. Kung Fu, being scolded by a tiny girl! Bwahahahahahaha!"
Despite all of the laughing and mockery, Wang Tang continued to smile. Ayame grew even more angry.
"I may be tiny, but I could still beat you down! Especially you!" Ayame pointed to the suitcase thrower.
"No need for that little girl. I apologize. I'm sorry for accidentally hitting you. You see, now we don't have to fight!" Wang Tang waved his hand.
"Look at him! He's even refusing to fight the girl! What a fool! Mwahahahaha!" The crowed sneered.
"It's too late for that! You threw it, now you go to pay!" Ayame jumped into her stance.
"I said before I don't want to fight! I might hurt you!" Wang Tang pleaded.
"Enough!" Ayame threw her first kick, aiming it just high enough to send Wang Tang flying backwards into the ring of spectators. This immediately brought a big cheer and a bundle of laughs.
Wang Tang got up and wiped blood from his lip. "Good kick. I can see that you know how to fight, but you still have a lot to learn!"
"Stop smiling and fight!" Ayame roared, sending a couple of ninja chops his way. However he grabbed every one.
"My master told me never to fight if I didn't have to. So let's just forget all of this and start anew." Wang Tang urged.
"Never!" Ayame flipped over the Chinese fighter and sent him sprawling to the floor with a well-aimed kick.
"Hohahaha! Wang Tang is getting beat up by a girl!"
"I wouldn't want to step in their with her!"
Wang Tang stepped up again. "I will not fight. I have to save my strength for the man with only half a face."
Ayame stopped and raised an eyebrow. "What do you want with the half faced man?"
Wang Tang rubbed the back of his neck. "My master has sent me on a quest to gather the power stones and from what I hear, the half faced man has them! But what do you want with them?"
Ayame's impression of the rude boy suddenly changed. He was certainly optimistic, polite, and friendly. She grabbed his arm. "How 'bout we talk of this away from this crowd?"
Wang Tang looked around. "Oh! Top secret eh? I got you!"
** *
Several days had passed since then and the two became good friends. They had laughed together ever since they met, and now stood on the threshold of a new land. For before them was Angel Island, the gate to America. As the ship docked, the thousands on board cheered. Though there was no Statue of Liberty as Ayame had originally hoped for, everyone on board could make out the enormous visage of the in construction Golden Gate Bridge. Such a thing no one had ever beheld before. Through the thick morning fog, it seemed to be a bridge in the sky, a pathway to heaven. Ayame's eyes were full of wonder and awe. This was the first piece of amazement she had seen in the west. Finally, the land of the setting sun…
"So Ayame, which way are you heading?" Wang Tang asked her.
"I don't know… right now, I just want to see that bridge…" Ayame whispered.
California was a land of extremes. Rolling fertile hills filled with tenants gathering juicy grapes for Californian wine, deep woods filled with the largest trees in the world, jagged sea cliffs, freezing with spray, mountain peaks that dwarfed any in Nippon, and long expanses of sweltering desert heat. From San Francisco the two decided to head south, for the closest sea was the Sea of Mexico, a giant inland sea formed by the United State's southern boundary with Florida connecting to a small colony of Spain's called Cuba. From Cuba the land bridge headed west, running through countries such as Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and finally connecting to the Yucatan in Mexico. It was well known that the Spanish had dug several canals in Cuba to connect the Atlantic with the Sea of Mexico. The half faced man supposedly would be there, after trekking across the Great Plains from an attack that several pioneers described. The road was tough and expensive, so Ayame and Wang Tang survived by posing as a traveling circus act. Nevada and New Mexico proved harsh and lonely, mostly desert with tuffs of grassland and an occasional town. Colorado was much different, cold and yet lush. High in the mountains, it reminded Wand Tang of his own home in China. Pine and other coniferous trees covered the mountainsides. And finally they set foot through the western extremes of Texas, dried earth and shifting sands. Great scrub deserts and small wooden towns. Making it to Brownsville on the coast was a long trip, and from there they sailed to the town of Dawnbolta in Spanish Cuba.
Spanish Cuba resembled nothing that Ayame had ever seen before. It was bright and sunny, and filled with a sense of liveliness. Dawnbolta was covered in machinery. It was a festive drilling town, thriving off the copper they dug up and sent away. Need less to say, Ayame and Wang Tang were like fish out of water. Amid the palm trees and Mexican styled buildings, a massive iron tower stood out in the center of town. That was the drilling center, a giant drill that dived into the earth below. That, they guess, would be where the half faced man would be.
Wang Tang and Ayame dashed across the massive steps that led to the building. The shade of the fronds brought pleasure in the hot sun. A line of miners waited on the stairs to get in. The two tiny figures ran up, at least a quarter mile of stair high up the rocky hill, only to wait in line. Looking down one could see the whole town and the sea below. But that didn't bring peace to Ayame's hasty mind.
"Excuse me." She tapped the giant Cuban in front of her. "We're looking for somebody and are in a hurry. Could you let us pass?"
The giant turned around. His muscles stood out everywhere. He had on a way too tiny orange poncho and great big blue pants. Around his head was a blue bandana. His face was very small compared to his body, made through the tiny pencil thin moustache he adorned. "Hahaha! Are you mad little girl? You wait in line to go to work!"
"We were just wondering if we could just scoot inside. We don't work here." Wang Tang expressed.
"Hahaha! What you think, tiny man? You think I, the almighty Gunrock, the best miner in all of Dawnbolta, would let two tiny people in to steal my power stone? Ha! I think not!" The giant bellowed.
The two looked at each other. "Power stone?"
"Aye, Power stone! The gem that can make your wish come true! And it's mine!" Gunrock roared.
"Sir, is the half faced man in there?!" Wang Tang asked.
"Hohoho! They are plenty of ugly people in there. However, you still hafta wait, tiny people!" Gunrock explained.
"Move it buster! We have to get through! We have been ordered by our lords to get those stones!" Ayame shouted.
Gunrock bent down and picked each one of the Asians up, each in one hand. He laughed. "You are a bit bossy for someone your size. You're not going anywhere!"
"Hey could you let us down!" Wang Tang asked.
"If you don't we'll have to beat you down!" Ayame challenged.
"Haha! You wish to challenge me! I've bested every man in the Sea of Mexico and the Carribean! I would squash you like little bugs!" Gunrock boasted.
Ayame managed to squirm out of the giant's grip and fall to the stone stair way. She got into her fighting stance.
** *
"Shhh! We are close!" Jack interrupted Ayame's story.
"It was just getting good." Accel complained.
Indeed a strange light was showing up ahead in the dark copper tunnel…
** *
