Splatoon Manga: NightRoad

Chapter 20: Venturing

⭐️Chapter 20: Venturing

It was the beast from his nightmares.

Big and shadowy, it looked like a fangtooth with glowing red eyes.

"Uh...Goggles?" Rider mumbled.

"Yeah?"

"I think we have to run again..." 

Rider didn't drop eye contact with the shadowy beast.

"Huh? Why is tha-"

Goggles turned around.

"Aaaaaat....."

"I think we have to. I recognize this thing."

"How? Is it a monster from your nightmares?" Goggles turned to Rider.

"Yup." Rider could feel the sweat coming down his forehead. Any second now...

Rider grabbed Goggles's hand.

"You ready? We're gonna run whenever it goes for it."

"Yeah." Goggles nodded.

The monster slowly approached them. They were ready to bolt at any moment. Their heartbeats quickened, along with their breath. They slowly backed up as it approached.

The monster then shot towards them. Immediately, they took off.

"WHY IS IT AFTER US?!" Goggles yelled.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Rider yelled back.

"MAYBE IT'S AFTER YOU ONLY?"

"Great..." Rider grumbled, inaudible to Goggles. "FIND A PLACE TO HIDE!" He yelled.

All there were were just trees...and more trees...no caves, no holes, nothing to hide in. It was upsetting. They should've been paying more attention on their regular walk...they probably passed one...or two...

"ALL I SEE ARE TREES!" Goggles yelled back.

"WELL KEEP RUNNING THEN!" Rider was still running.

"I'M...TRYing..." Goggles began to give out.

"IT'S GAINING ON US!" Rider yelled, looking back at it.

"Don't...think...I can...keep up...much...longer..." Goggles said, in between breaths.

He began to slow down, but still kept running.

"You have to try!" Rider yelled back at him.

Indeed, the two were running out of breath. Rider wasn't ready to turn around and raise his dynamo. The creature would ram into him within seconds, and it'd all be over. In the meantime though, Rider was desperately looking for a way out of this mess. He looked up, and spotted something. A big rock, leaning against a tall tree.

"I SEE A TREE UP AHEAD THAT WE COULD CLIMB! JUST HANG IN THERE!" Rider yelled.

"Escape route? Okay, I'll try-" Goggles replied, increasing his speed a little more to catch up.

Fortunately, the two were able to make it. They leapt onto the rock and climbed up the tree. The shadow monster couldn't climb, and couldn't follow them. It sat at the bottom of the tree, scratching at it and growling. The two sat down on some high up branches, holding onto the trunk for safety.

"Haha! Success!" Goggles said in between breaths, "TAKE THAT!"

Rider sighed, finally glad that they could catch their breath. 

"Finally, out of this mess."

The two caught their breath some, with the shadow creature still growling at them, even jumping to try and swat at them.

Rider and Goggles smiled at eachother, knowing they were safe.

That was, until the monster began to swing at the tree.

Oh.

It was going to knock the tree down.

Rider looked at the other side of the tree.

...Into a nearby river.

Rider and Goggles looked at eachother in fear, before scrambling to get off the tree, running around the tree and away again. Rider just wished the two could get a break. He groaned loudly. Little did the two inklings know however, that they were getting closer and closer to where Pitch was. Not that Pitch had anything to do with the monster, of course.

-----

Meanwhile, Gloves and Flip were practically collecting rocks, chucking them everywhere and picking them up. They had sprung several traps, but all of them seemed to have a common theme of catching something big. Pits, cords/snares, beartraps, etc. They later found a big, flat rock in the sun. After testing it for traps as well, the two ran over and sat down on it.

"You sensing a theme with these traps?" Gloves said, catching his breath from the stress that was chucking rocks into random locations to test for traps.

"Yeah, and it's made me question is we should actually be doing this. What if there's something dangerous around here that NEEDS to be trapped? What if we're doing bad by activating all these traps?" Flip replied.

"Yeah...but...how else are we supposed to get through?

I mean. They hadn't SEEN any alternate paths through or around here.

"I know, I know..." Flip groaned.

Gloves looked up at the sky.

"Hey look, those are some pretty big birds" Gloves pointed up, where four giant figures flew overhead. "Maybe they know the way out?"

"Stay focused, Gloves" Flip said, not looking and just...tiredly.

"Wh-it was just a suggestion!" Gloves said, looking back down at Flip.

"I know, but not all the animals are willing to help us. For all we know, they could be flying way further than we need, or just might land somewhere else! You have to think logically, Gloves."

"Well, we've gotten away with some pretty stupid stuff before..." Gloves grumbled.

"Yes, but that time is not now. We need to hurry, remember."

She said, as she sat there taking a break and not hurrying.

"I know, but can't they give us a break? We've had enough to deal with already."

"If only there was an alternate route through these traps..." Flip sighed.

"Wait! Do you hear that?"

Gloves and Flip quieted down.

...

It was humming.

No traps going off.

The two scrambled to see what this could possibly be.

All they saw was a dark figure walking through the forest, unbothered by any traps. Gloves and Flip looked at eachother, before slowly getting off the rock and behind a tree. They couldn't see the person, but they saw them headed down a pathway with trees on the sides. They wouldn't have been able to see them because there were several bushes in their way that prevented them from reaching this path properly. But now that they had gotten through the bushes via the rock, they were now able to access this (hopefully) trapless path. Gloves and Flip exchanged glances.

Well.

It WAS better than the traps...

And so the stalking-er, following began.

-----

The flying figures landed inside the forest.

"Split up and find the others." Noir commanded.

Indeed, the group did as told.

"We'll get our revenge soon enough..."