The Return of the Puppet King

As the shadows fell away from his body, Daedalus took a quick scan of his surrounding area, noting that they had ended up on a rooftop. As they had teleported, he had prepared his answer for her statement.

"Perhaps I'm more human than you think."

He then took a couple steps forward, into the cool rain. Although his eyes registered and processed the rain, his skin didn't, as he had no nerves, no sense of touch. Looking back towards Xarias, he spoke again.

"So, you're meaning to tell me, that Zodiark is fashioning himself a team of immortals? Then I must see him at once."

Xarias allowed the shadows to completely leave the area, listening to his response.

"Perhaps.. " She says, knocking on his wooden chest. ".. But you only possess the soul of one. You and me are much alike." She says, pointing to a tavern on the far eastern side of the two. "Thats his bar, go in there and speak with him." She states, standing straight with her arms folded.

"There are certainly still some differences, I am far from immortal. And if that's where Zodiark resides, then my visit is definitely long overdue. Wait here for me please, this needs to happen privately."

He then leapt, high and far, his pneumatic systems getting their first real work out for awhile, klunking their way into transmission. Landing outside the bar, Daedalus dropped to a knee, the mechanics of his limbs certainly not correcting his balance as they normally would. Hopefully Zodiark managed to keep a portion of my tools, I am in definite need or repairs. Perhaps even upgrades if the technology has come farther.

Stepping into the bar, he found Akatsuki's leader near a far table, and made his way over.

"Zodiark... my old friend."

"Ah Daedalus, it's been a while." Zodiark didn't rise from his seat, he just motioned for Daedalus to sit down in the seat on the opposite end of the table. As Daedalus walked over to the seat, he waved to the bartender to bring over some drinks. "I hope some sake will be fine, i'm not in the mood for any heavy drinking today."

Daedalus was only mildly amused.

"Zodiark, you know my mechanical system doesn't allow me to drink. Or take in any fluids for that matter. And Yes it's been awhile, your entire organization left me to rot. Which, is a sentence far more literal then you're imagining at the moment. I was trapped underground, in moist rock, for three years."

Sitting down at the table, Daedalus' joints creaked until he was sitting in a comfortable position.

"Now down to business. I've more then a few questions for you. Firstly, I'm in need of repair, as you can probably tell. To do that, I'll need my tools, preferably my old laboratory, but as it's been destroyed, any will do, and any of my spare parts that you may or may not have transfered to your new base. But that can all wait.

Daedalus lowered his voice at this point.

"I've heard tell that you and a few others have achieved immortality. No doubt you understand the consequences, but that is not my concern. Personally, your achievement, whether it be true or not, has inspired me to create my own immortality, and I may need your help, but that's besides the point. My main wonder, as I've always been a man of science and the ninjutsu arts, is how?"

"Ah, a man who knows what to go for." Zodiark took a long sip of his sake than looked across the table at Daedalus. "I guess we should start from the top. It wasn't my fault for leaving you, i had my own leave of absence." He made a slight shrugging movement "As for your repairs, i can't help you, we didn't move out base, we just made a new one here. All of your old tools are still at the previous one." Zodiark again took a sip of sake, this time emptying the small cup and placing it on the table. "As for the immortality, you may have been mislead in that fashion. I in and of myself am not immortal. In time my body will die and disappear. But i have achieved immortality in that i have reached a point where no matter what happens, so long as there are sentient people on this planet, the proof of my existence will never be erased."

Daedalus stood at this point, nodding once and passing Zodiark, patting a hand down on his shoulder.

"Even words cut in stone eventually fade Zodiark, but I assure you, you will outlive even the strongest of immortals. Now, unless there is anything else, I am useless to the Organization unless I can use the peak of my brilliance, which as you know, only ever radiates from my creations. I'll report back within the week for the usual assignment process."

"Well i suggest that you try and raid a town for some tools. A broken down puppet is of no use to me." Zodiark pulled out a piece of paper with info about DeathWave on it from his jacket and threw it to Daedalus. "If you need some help, go talk to him, he is your new partner."

Daedalus nearly missed the slip, his limbs not reacting as fast as he wanted them to.

"A broken down puppet is about as good as a sober leader these days."

The large wooden man then left, moving out the front door again. Using his vocal arrays, he then projected his voice directly towards Xarias.

"Xarias, can you take me to DeathWave? I'll need his help getting supplies."

Xarias looked at the man, and closed her eyes. She knelt down, and began to send out a reconnasence. She sensed Deathwave was near, but sleeping.

"Hes asleep, but if you wish.." She said, appearing next to Daed in an instant, and picking him up by his arm; enveloping into the darkened draconic monstrocity once again. While taking a ride in the darkened cloud, Xarias looked at Daedalus and began to ask him something. "Uhm.. Daedalus.." She says, then thinking it over. "Hmph.. Nevermind. You seem to dislike the fact of me even so much as speaking to you due to my immortality. But.. I guess I cant change that." She states, shrugging and turning to face the head of the dragon.

"The reason I resent the immortals, is simply because life can only be truly understood and appreciated through it's fragility, it's briefness. How can you appreciate something that will never end for you. Nothing you do bears a consequence on whether you live or die. If you can't die, how can you appreciate living?"

Daedalus paused for a moment, then continued on. "But as a puppet master, I strive to achieve something that for you was given. In that same way, as soon as I achieve my own goal, I will know how to appreciate it. The same concept comes into play again. How can you appreciate your immortality, which in itself means to be different then mortal, be unique in our world, if you've never been mortal."

He then fell silent again, awaiting their destination, and whatever other questions that may come his way.

While riding, she listened to him thoroughly. And snapped back at him with a slightly fierce agression.

"The only reason you may think I dont appreciate the fact that im living is because you dont know what me in myself is capable of. Im the first prophecy for a reason. Im the prophecy of Apophis... If I die, the entire world will be covered in darkness. Death will plague the lands and kill all whom live there. I am theoretically trying to save this God-forsaken planet, but the demon who is hiding in the eyes of my soul wants me to do otherwise! He wants me to exterminate and destroy everything to achieve undeathly perfection. He makes me yearn for the blood of humanity to be spilled everywhere.. Every path, every building. I appreciate my life more than you may know." She says, turning away from him. She had a fierce snap to her as she laid her hand against the blackened wall of the dragon figure. "Honestly.. I wish I could die.. I've lived far too long.." She said. Somewhat begging for death itself to smite her. She couldnt cry, for she no longer possessed that emotion.

Daedalus smirked.

"So? You're supposed to be the savior? Are we that forsaken, that we need to fall upon some estranged prophecy, or fall into oblivion. If we are such worms... Why bother? If we need you so much, what's the point in attempting to save us. We are mortal. We will all die eventually, we will all be forgotten. No matter what I do today, none of it will etch my image into the lives of those who will become my ancestors. You've seen this happen with your own eyes. Perhaps it's true, my puppets could live on, and someone else will use their designs to build stronger and better ones. Ones that can do good for the world, perhaps even elongate the lives of others. However, even then, they will eventually forget my name. The ones who then forget my name in turn will be forgotten. What will be left in the end? Life? Certainly not. Nothing, but an interesting and amazing puppet, with no one to look at it."

She was saddened, looking back at him in a sense of disgrace.

"If I had any choice in the matter of my own life, I would have killed and destroyed my soul by now..." She frowns. ".. I dont want to be a savior, I dont want to be a prophecy. Do not hate me for what I am. Do not hate me for what I was created for. Over the millions of years i've noticed one thing and your right about it too. Humans will be exterminated eventually, and in its place a new and improved race will arise. But for now, I want to try and atleast keep harmony for myself more then others. If they want to engage in war against each other let it be, I dont want to interfere.. If I could id tell you to obliterate me right now."

Daedalus turned and grinned again.

"Oh, don't misunderstand me, I don't hate you because your the savior or whatever it is they call you. I just don't think we need your help."

He then turned to gaze on ahead once again, the final word having been his. As far as Daedalus was concerned, the human world did have a problem, it was most certain, if not definitely unavoidable that they would all lose in the end. But if there was a way to fight it, if anyone had to fight it, he would confide in the human race alone.

She looked at him, her eyes themself seem to shake in tears.

"I just hope noone is foolish enough to take my blindfold off before Valkyrie is purified.." She says, arriving at the home of DeathWave. The dragon disappeared and left Daedalus, and Xarias on the balcony of his home. "Well.. Go....." She notions, nodding her head and smiling.

Daedalus nodded, moving awkwardly into the open balcony door. On a bed nearby slept DeathWave, his newest partner. In itself even having a partner was going to be new for Daedalus. Things were going to be interesting.

"DeathWave, Wake Up."

Xarias waited outside, sitting on the balcony while looking at the stars.

"My.. How this world has changed..." She mumbled.

Still sleeping, words funneled from a void and into Akios mind, burning at the annoying sound of it. As if giving orders to him. Orders? That was a ridiculous notion. His eyes opened wide as he peered over at the snow haired man. He blinked as he yawned. He focused on the man, seemed to be a new member of Akatsuki so he gave him a blank look. Standing up wearing nothing but his boxers his scars could be seen. He reached over to his cloak and promptly dressed himself sliding his black gloves on and he stared at the man. "Name." Thats all he would say to the stranger. He was smart enough to know that Zodiark was up to this no doubt. Giving him a partner and all.

"I'm surprised you don't recognize me. Akatsuki's archives are riddled with my portfolio. I am Daedalus, the Puppet King. We, have just become partners. As our first task, we will be retrieving equipment to return my mechanics to full power. We leave now."

Clearly Daedalus was impatient. His rusted out, decrypted body was beginning to drive him mad, so it was quite natural for him to get down to business.

"Xarias will be escorting us, to save on time. She is waiting outside. Do hurry up?"

Turning, Daedalus left. Although he didn't really mean to make such a terrible first impression, he really was in a hurry. Any moment now, one of his support systems could fail, at which point, he may as well be an armoire. Passing through the doors again, he spoke out to Xarias. "He's up, we should be ready to go soon."

Xarias simply nodded, looking back at him - And then back at the clouds.

He analyzed this man, seemed he was a piece of junk thrown together in a scrapyard. He walked outside and peered at Xaria. He bowed to her and looked back at Daed. "Go ahead ill catch up wit you all." He smirked a bit and did a few handsigns. "Don't worry i can sense your smell. Chakra Release: Instant Mole Jutsu" With that he sank into the ground until nothing of him was left and his chakra was absolutely non-tracable.



(Non-Battle Jutsu)
Name: Chakra Release: Instant Mole Jutsu
Rank: b
Element: None
Description: Allows him to basically go underground and warp to another location Instantly.

Xarias once again summoned the shadowy demonic entity of the dragon and picked the two up. They began to travel again. While in the air, she decided to engage in a conversation with him again.

"Daedalus.. I understand you know a um, girl named.. Hybris?" She asked, seeing if his memory unit was up and running.

Daedalus nodded, "More along the lines of knew, she was my apprentice for a short time. You seem to forget, I've been gone for more then just a few years. I have dust in places you couldn't even imagine. But that's why I'm the inventor, not you, heh."

Looking ahead as always, Daedalus' eyebrows furled in thought. His mind began to trace back through it's memories. What had happened to the Kaguya girl. More importantly, what did it mean to the Deity that was Xarias

Xarias laughed lightly.

"Heh.. Yeah.. I know you did.. And trust me, I havent forgotten you.." She said quietly. But then snapping back to her senses and looking at him with shock. "..." She stayed quiet, focusing on Daedalus to see if he registered what she just said.