A New Partner - A New Beginning

The rain was pouring around a small, open, and secluded cave around the outskirts of the Blood Mist Village. It had been months since Stylx came out of his underground domain. He reeked of dead... Everything. He had killed hundreds and hundreds over the short months, and decided to come out of his small, hellish surroundings to wash off the horrendous odor and haunting stains. He stood, lifeless, right outside of the cave, letting the harsh rain dribble down his firm, wooden carcass. His joints creaked slowly creaked, while his glass and metal eyes fixated into the darkness of a nearby forest opening. There was a small, hunched over figure on Stylx's back. It was hard to see from afar, and even harder, along with the thick mist and shady attributes that they both presented. The small figure was creaking ever so softly, while its body made small, almost unnoticeable jerks and spasms. It released a melancholy moan from its spacious, open carcass. It was a puppet... A puppet that gave meaning to Stylx... A companion. A friend. A lover. Yet... Even as beautiful as this fact was, if you had fixated on the two, lifeless faces you would see the rain drops, sluggishly working their way down their untouched complexions, right below the eye.




A tear.

Stylx stared straight ahead, into the darkness, unaware of the obvious comment the man had stated. The 'tear' faded in a mere second, as soon as the mysterious man presented himself. The puppet on Stylx's back revealed its deformed face to the man, screamed, and ran into the cave, shoving Stylx a little as it fled. Stylx was so out of balance, he lightly fell to the ground, shattering to pieces on impact. Out of nowhere, a retched barrage of ominous sounds erupted behind the man. It was Stylx, and his sturdy, but old, hand creaked onto the man's shoulder. "You've... ... Scared her... ..." Stylx whispered into his ear. Tiny bits of the earth were cracking up from beneath the ground and rising slowly. The power Stylx was exerting was incredible, especially for his position. He had no fancy curse mark. He had no powerful Clan background. He had no destructive eyes or limbs. It was just a puppet master... A puppet king. "Why... Did you do that?" Now large chunks of the earth were revealing themselves, and chakra started to pour from Stylx's eyes, mouth and limbs. A humming sound started to reveal itself from Stylx's chest cavity. It was his chakra engine warming up. In an instant, Stylx could break the man's shoulder with just a pinch of his fingers... Yet... He was curious why he was here. He wanted not to cause harm... Yet... But he could and would if he had to. "You... You look like a traveler... If so... Move on... But if you have business... Please speak or... Die..." The lifeless tone sent chills down the man's spine.

A whimpering echoed through the cave and the deformed woman puppet came scurrying out and onto Stylx's back. His chakra was now dying down, intrigued by the offer. He had always blatantly killed himself, but with a band of others, well, this could be fun. He slowly walked up to the man and asked, with a haunting tone, "Will there be killing... Will there be... Flesh... Blood... Everywhere... Will there...?" His glassy eye peered into his Sharingan. So intimidating - So lifeless. Two different entities, yet delivering the same ominous feel. In almost an instant the small puppet on his back burst into smoke, along with Stylx.

Almost ten minutes passed when Stylx appeared, in a grey and maroon robe, on top of the rocky cavern, for it jetted out like a small hill. He looked down at the man, 'scanned' him, and said, "Well... Artemis..." The fact that Stylx even knew his name without any background information, gave Artemis a small cringe. "... If its an S ranked Missing Ninja you want..." In a second, Stylx was hundreds of feet in the air, spewing rivers of fire from his palms; A simple weapon stored in his body. The masses of flames burned everything around Artemis. It engulfed the trees, the grass, and the cavern, melting everything almost instantly. The white flames met with the pouring rain, evaporating it instantly and causing a huge outburst of steam. The steam and mist was thick and almost blinded the two, until Stylx appeared in front of Artemis and finished, "Then its an S Ranked Missing Ninja you will get." And faded back into the steam, laughing ominously.

The steam lightly and slowly evaporated as more rain came down; Thus revealing Stylx, again. He had his back turned to Artemis, but slowly turned towards him - A creak so disturbing, it was like nails on a chalkboard. He fixed and brushed off his cloak and body, and headed towards the calm man. Finally reaching him, and peering into his eyes, Stylx "cracked" his own neck and said, with a lifeless tone, "Very much so..." He walked a few feet in front of him in a cocky manner, and stopped, waiting for Artemis's direction. And after that... They would be off.

(Topic closed Xar isnt posting. WE move on to are first task)