Somehow, his own kindness had always led to Jomei doing the things he hated for the sake of others. A cave was by far the worst place he could’ve chosen to spend his weekend; spelunking and mining of course. Our story begins with a single ray of light shining in the dark; like many of Jomei’s tales these days. A lantern made soft squeaks as it dangled in one hand, while five others gripped the narrow cave passage with flat palms. Brief swings of the lantern revealed poor Jomei’s face in a cold sweat, anxiously panicking in these tight, confined spaces. He was also given an ear piece with a microphone for radio communication, but he lost any signals from the village after the first hour of climbing. Nothing but dead air could be heard for so long, he just cut it off. After the grave cave-in, the Research and Development crew elected Jomei to investigate the state of the mine, and he slipped through the cracks like a spider into nooks and crannies. Majority of the mine remained intact since the clean up of the last came in, but that wasn’t the reason why the mine was being placed off-limits. Deep beneath the furthest reaches of the Cave of Wonders, extra potent deposits of chakra conducting minerals were being found with unmatched success. Now, by the time you read this, you have probably set eyes on the artificial sky that glows over Arcadia. Well, those stones actually conduct the chakra that is just kind of dormant within nature. It’s not a naturally occurring thing around the world mind you, it’s something that’s only been discovered here in Maruishi. For months now, the R&D team have been collecting samples of these various ores, attempting to discover the greatest potential these stones could offer. The boring stuff. All you need to know is that not every pebble of chakra-conducting ore is worth it’s weight… and range in quality based their ability to conduct chakra before the stones rupture. One of the senior Scientists believe there may be a link between the crater that created Arcadia, and the chakra conducting minerals, but much more research was required.
“Enough science for a minute, please” Jomei whispered alone, speaking aloud just to hear the sound of a human voice and snap back to reality. Reality was burrowing miles underground into a dank underworld in the name of science. The vertical descent was the hard part and took an hour or so of effort just for Jomei to venture down to the massive chasm where the mining began. When he slipped through the crack, he first felt a breeze pass over him, and let out a gasp for more humid cave air rising from below. Jomei dropped into the chasm eagerly, resulting in a rough landing. His lantern fell to the side- extinguished and simmering. Jomei fumbled about, trying to save his flame but quickly realized that the tunnel was perfectly illuminated by countless common chakra ores. Bright green crystalline growths lined the wide tunnel walls, and even more grew from the ceiling to the ground to make columns mighty enough to hold the caves stable for eons.
“This is incredible!” Jomei shouted into the dark with a racing heart pumping in his chest. “No one is ever going to believe me.” Never was he so eager to use his camera before. These pictures would be even better than the photos he snapped of Koyoko Ryujin at the sauna... they’d probably sell for more, too. Jomei spent his merry time web-slinging himself through the airy chasm, exploring the vast nooks and crannies that spread throughout the mountain basin like the veins under Arcadia’s skin. He took wild, sloppy photos with his camera each time he came to a stop along a cavern wall, firing his camera flash into the dark time and time again. The glow of the cave walls did wonders for his exposure in most of his photos. Out of the hundreds of pictures he snapped, only a dozen were worthy of his survey. His photos revealed the unstable conditions created by the cave in: broken earth that eliminating most horizontal surfaces in the chasm. Another new feature since the cave-in was fresh water running in a stream to another outlet. Before leaving the cave, Jomei made sure to fill his emptied canteen with a sample of the cave’s water, and he began his ascent from there.
Before he could fathom the force that hit him, Jomei found himself barreling through an unforgiving space, and fired wild webbing in order to gain control before slamming into the jagged walls. The lad he was, Jomei clung behind a stalagmite and watched as chakra from the glowing stone began to take a visible blue form, tinted slightly green by the saturated glow of the cave. At first it seemed like gas, but quickly became humanoid in shape, and celestial in design. Unable to believe his own eyes, Jomei snagged the camera out of his pouch once more, and used his zoom lens to get a closer look at the being, best described as an astral being. In his studies Jomei had heard of spirits communicating through electromagnetic frequencies, but they never mentioned anything like this... and that was just speculation, nothing proven through controlled studies. In his hesitation and whole-wittedness, Jomei stayed put until he better understood just how much danger he was in.
The humanoid lightform began to hover forth through the cave, pulsating with energy that split off as lightning bolts. Chakra ore was conducting the astral being, but it seemed unphased. It had begun actively searching for Jomei; peaking around corners and waving a hand to cast the will of a thunder god into the dark. The sound of crackling thunder reverberated through the hollow grounds, further striking fear into the heart of the Arach-ninja, who now regretted this adventure more than ever. “Ohhh I’m gonna die here… I’m gonna die here” Jomei was whispering to himself, making it a mantra as he clung to the crystal spire for life. It was then that the astral being’s head snapped spun towards Jomei, and the creature emitted an ear-piercing static frequency with sonic force… “Argh” the mere mortal grunted as the force shattered his covered, and pushed back with thrice the force he first experienced moments ago.The attack may have hurt more than before, but Jomei refused to play frisbee for this thing again. “I’m a bigger fan of hide and seek! Can we go back to that?” He taunted and fled, using the elevation drop to his advantage and dipping behind a spire risen from the black sea floor below. But the energy being followed Jomei on pursuit and wouldn’t let him slip away like before, and hurriedly fired another heavenly bolt. The spire’s side was split apart and in the wake of the blow Jomei was spat out into the open. His mouth opened wide to scream and the life flashed before his eyes as the being of thunder drove itself through him- but to no avail. Upon impact with the astral being, Jomei burst into a plume of smoke and stone body double crumbled. A string with several rectangular paper tags flutter long enough for the being to recognize that there would be a rivaling explosion.
Standing square on the smoldering stone spire was Jomei, who stood confidently with two arms crossed, to resting in fists against his hips, and the last two holding thumbs up, which he quickly changed to thumbs down. Did he harm the creature? Could he kill it? “Guardian of the chakra ores” he shouted into the cloud of smoke, “know my name… Matsui Jomei, the Supaida-man!” In that instance, the mighty green glow shined through the smoke, and flung another vengeful bolt: an endless one made to chase the arach-ninja. “Dammit” he screamed several times as the flight instinct took hold, and Jomei web-slung wildly to avoid the astral being’s wrath. Lightning whipped at his arse, singing his coat and burning the fur rims, and causing Jomei to yelp. Every web he shot tested the limits of his accuracy and the power of his spinnerets. He wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever… “Wait, that’s it” he thought in a moment of recognition. One of Jomei’s many arms fired a web back in the direction of his foe, and Jomei turned to face the being with a new plan.
The airspace between Jomei and The Being closed in the blink of an eye. The ninja was virtually suspended in place in comparison to the sheer speed and control of the the being flying towards him like a bullet. Jomei held out all six arms, pointing open palms at his foe as they came together for a special technique. “Spider Web Unrolling ” was the name he’d chosen for his first high-speed, web weaving jutsu that resulted in a net of high-tensile webbing wrapping around the astral being. As expected, the trap did little besides burn and tear, but it provided just enough exposure for Jomei to meet the chakra constructed man with a lethal “Spider Sting!” Jomei drove himself feet first into the green man with a Spider Sting: better known as a Hachiashi Sling Kick. The spider-ninja drove himself straight through the construct with a lucky strike at full force. As they collided, Jomei could feel the weight of the constructed man’s body collide with the soles of his feet, before the unimaginable electrocution that followed. He could feel the unreal creature’s body break beneath his weight, before shattering into a billion fragments, and then to nothing. With his own webbing clinging around his body, Jomei was compelled to go nowhere but down, and witnessed his descent into legend. The rush of energy Jomei felt as the construct dispersed contained a shock bright enough to zap the spider, but it was the flat crash onto the mineral-rich still water that knocked him out… The last thing Jomei witness was the wash of murky water over his sight, and that gross green glow. Everybody dies in the end.
“So did I get ‘em?”
Jomei snapped to full attention, and found himself wading in a large body of water with the sun shining brightly overhead. The bright-orange color of his life-jacket revealed itself from beneath his singed overcoat. Somehow, the young ninja had floated from within the mine, through the underground rivers and springs, and out to the Great Lakes of the low lands, in a matter of hopefully just hours. He was now somewhere near the center of the lake. Conditions were foggy, but Jomei knew how to get their attention. His tired hands dug underneath the life jacket, and his hand pulled out that familiar green glow… He escaped with a fragment of the illustrious chakra gem, and held it overhead. Even through the fog, the gem shined like a beacon, alerting two fishermen on a boat nearby. They dipped their oars and rushed to meet the junior ninja as he waded in place, nearly dead. His life was saved by the green glow.
Mission accomplished.