Splatoon Manga: NightRoad

Chapter 45: Rest

⭐️Chapter 45: Rest

Prince had spotted his brother sleeping on the path and had pointed it out so Rider could stop and the group could pick him up. How convenient he happened to be here! I guess Ebony was right about that alternate path. Ebony held on to Emperor, who was still in humanoid form, as Rider kept driving. He was still asleep, and hadn't stirred since they picked him up.

"Okay, but we're actually gonna need to sleep soon, anyone have any ideas?" Rider asked.

"Well, when my squad slept here, we tied ourselves to the trees in the branches with our powers...not the most comfortable, but probably the safest bet" Ebony said.

"Well...should we do that? We need rest soon, everyone take a vote" Rider said, unsure if he would actually get voted with how tired people were.

"Sure..." Prince yawned.

"I'm down..." Goggles said, as he could barely keep his eyes open.

"Sleepy..." Nana mumbled.

"Okay I guess we're gonna do that then."

And with that, he stopped the motorbike. Everyone got off. It was just another section of the forest similar to all the others, and there was nothing special about it. Tall trees, small trees, bushes, they had all seen it before.

"Is here good?" Rider asked Ebony as the helmet on his head disappeared.

"Sure!"

"So uh. How is this going to work?"

"Uh. I can tie you all to the trees, but the bindings won't go away until I wake up and control them again...I get up at a pretty average time though, so..."

The other cephalopods had reassumed humanoid form, and were about to pick whichever tree they wanted to be in for the night. Not that it mattered, really...

"Wait! So we won't be able to use the re-"

"Goggles, we're literally in the middle of a forest" Rider grumbled.

"You get what I mean!"

"Well, maybe you all should go now then?" Ebony suggested, shrugging.

Rider turned around to his tree, which was a normal, average sized one. Not super large, not super tiny, average.

"Nah I'll be fine-"

Goggles interrupted him.

"Imma go actually-"

And he dashed off.

"Okay. I will warn you, it is uncomfortable at first, but you'll get used to it" Ebony said.

"Eh, I'm sure I've felt worse before" Rider grumbled, climbing up his tree.

"Good to know..." Nana said, already in her tree on a branch.

"Okay..." Prince mumbled, ready to fall asleep.

"Alright. I'll secure you four while Goggles is away, then I'll get him when he comes back."

"Wait, four?" Prince awakened from his tired state a bit, confused and slightly alarmed.

"Your brother" Ebony reminded him.

"Oh, right"

Prince calmed down.
And with that, Ebony carefully tied them to the trees. The group waited as they felt something soft keep them to the trees. Prince looked down. He couldn't see the shadow bindings because it was nighttime, but he tried to touch them anyway. His hands came in contact with something...smooth? He tried poking around it a bit. It kind of felt like gelatin wrapped in plastic, but he couldn't stick his hand into it. Probably had to be more solid for it to tie them.

Prince and the others slowly drifted off to sleep. Ebony got into his tree and made sure they were all safe and secure. Not too tight, but not too loose. When Goggles came back asking where everyone was, Ebony answered his questions and put him into a tree too with the help of his magic. Finally, they could all sleep...

-----

Meanwhile, Flip had managed to run away from the beast, but was now lost. Sure, there was a path ahead of her, but she just...didn't have the energy to continue. She needed a place to sleep, and fast. Before anything else saw her and started chasing after her. Her only source of light at the moment was the moon, and the tree leaves made it hard to see the light.

Suddenly, something in front of her moved. She couldn't tell what it was, as it was too fast, but it continued down the path ahead. Should she follow it? Maybe it was going back to a place, like a home? Well, she didn't have anything better to do, so she followed.

Technically, all she was really doing was continuing down the path but she saw this as a better excuse. She had now lost sight of the thing entirely, oh well. It took a few minutes, but eventually Flip walked into an opening, as she now saw that this path connected to a different path. She had a look around, not that she could see clearly...

"Are you...a squidbeak member too?"

She looked up.

Ebony, who was still awake, was looking down at her.

"Uh-"

"No no, it's okay! We're sleeping in trees so the forest creatures won't get to us, would you like to join us?" he asked, calmly and politely.

Flip wasn't sure about tha-wait did he just say "we?"

"Um. Did you just say 'we'?"

"Yeah, me and Prince and Goggles and Rider and Emperor and Nana!"

Flip looked around, only to see that they were indeed in trees. She didn't exactly trust Ebony, because for all she knew, this could be a trap. Then again, if Rider and Goggles had fallen in...well.

"I dunno if I trust this..." she grumbled.

"Well. Your decision"

Ebony decided not to push it to make it seem even more suspicious, and went back to trying to go to sleep. Flip thought for a moment. Could she trust this shadowling? This was...what, Prince's counterpart, right? He seemed pretty small. She thought back to the fight at the night party. She remembered seeing him just stand there by Prince and Emperor, not doing anything. She was sure that if he was like the others, he would have attacked...right? Well. If this was a trap, it would be up to Hachi and Gloves to save them, and who knew where those two were.

"I can...sleep on the ground" she said.

"Better cover yourself with leaves to camouflage then"

And that's what Flip did. She sat by the roots of Nana's tree since that's where she felt most comfortable. Slowly, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.