Splatoon Manga: NightRoad

Chapter 32: Progress

⭐️Chapter 32: Progress

Rider couldn't believe this. He had been separated.

NOW WHAT?!

He couldn't just turn back around and head the other way. He had to wait until he landed. He waited in silence as the waters kept carrying him.

And waited...

And waited...

He tried to play games to pass the time. He couldn't. He missed the rest of the squidbeak too much. Sure it was annoying when they dragged him into the game, but without them, the world just seemed...empty. Quiet. Strange.
But no, he shouldn't be stressed now. He needed to focus. And he tried to. But all he could think about was Goggles worrying about him. And he too worried about getting back at all. He gently lied his head down by the front of the boat. He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing.

Slowly, he drifted off to sleep.

Eventually, his boat part hit something. This shook him awake. He raised his head a bit, and looked at what the boat piece had hit.
A piece of...black rock or something?

Curious.

Rider looked around, and saw more of the stuff around him too. He saw land, and slowly woke up, careful to watch his head. He checked the surroundings for anything dangerous nearby, but saw nothing. He then got out of the boat. Slowly and carefully, to make sure he didn't fall into the water.

He looked up.

There was a huge, long wall of the black rock stuff...
What the heck was it? He went up to it, and touched it. Felt like rock. He sniffed it. Smelled like dirt, that didn't help. What was this thing? Was there a way up? He backed up to get a closer look at the wall.

No, wait.

This wasn't a wall.

This was the abandoned highway.

-----

Mountain, huh...

Emperor was in disbelief. The voice wanted him to climb up this? To get out of the forest? Well I mean yes it was indeed out of the forest some, but more questions were raised. Was there anything dangerous up here? What if he fell? Would he even make it in time?

"Trust me, you will." Was all he got for a response.

Emperor sighed, and began to climb the mountain.
He figured that if he got to the top, he could at least see where he was. All it was was rocks. At least he got a break from seeing trees, but he knew he would soon grow bored of seeing rocks as well. Nonetheless, he kept at it. Soon he could get this over with. His feet hurt so much, not even from the boots, but just...walking in general.

He began to wonder about random topics, simply to amuse him. The voice had no say in the matter. Emperor wondered what Prince was-nonono, that would only bring him stress. Hm. Emperor wondered who the creator of the map was. Surely if a map had been made, then the squidbeak weren't the first people to explore the place? How long had this forest stayed like this? Why hadn't they run into dry, rocky plains, or cool, misty valleys? It intrigued him.

He wondered if there was any historical significance to the forest. Other than the shadowlings living here, what else had happened? Had any major fights broken out? Why was Inkopolis built near HERE of all places? Did someone say something about a maze on the map? Or a highway? Why were those there? Had humans left those things behind or were they built by something else? These thoughts sure kept him distracted.

But soon enough, he began to tire again. It was a common thing now, to do so. He began munching on some more blueberries to keep him going, but even those didn't help, despite the sweet, 5 seconds of distraction each berry provided. He put them away for later and continued on. He looked up. Was he making progress on a mountain? He couldn't tell. Whenever he looked up, all he saw was more mountain. He couldn't see the top and that frustrated him.
He couldn't take it much longer. He needed to know.

"Oh cod, how far am I now?" Emperor groaned.

He waited for the response, as he always did, and soon enough he got it.

"You're only halfway" the voice responded.

Half...

Way...

Emperor scream groaned so loudly that it might as well have counted as the "I found the way out" signal.

-----

Goggles meanwhile, had fortunately safely floated to the banks of the river, and had made it out unharmed. Problem was, he didn't know were he was. He could try to find Rider, who was in a completely different direction, but...he still couldn't find a way to cross the water. He needed to look for a shelter. Or help. The sky was darkening, and he didn't want to be out here at night. The other shadowlings could possibly find him, or something else living in these woods might.
He carefully climbed out of the boat, making sure he didn't contact the water. He then crouched down and looked at the river, in case there was anything there that could help him. All he saw were rocks, mosses, roots, and his broken boat half. Nothing. Not even tiny fishies to help him. He frowned, but stood up, and looked for a way out.

Sure enough, there was a small sand hill. He began to climb up said hill, the one that lead down to the riverbank. He looked around for any signs of life, any caves, or trees he could sleep in. He saw no paths from where he was, unfortunately. No clear ones anyway, there were probably some hidden ones he didn't know about. He sighed, and continued forward. Same old forest. Who knew that something so interesting could get boring this quickly? The sights and scents were the same, and remained similar to the sights and scents from the entrance of the forest, just trees and dirt. The taste of raspberries had faded away on him already. The heat had lessened some, but he had taken off his Eggplant coat anyway.

All he heard was voices...

Wait...

Voices?!

Why did one sound so familiar...?

Was...

Was that Prince's voice?!