Splatoon Manga: Stardom

Rider III: Battle of the Bands

💫Rider III: Battle of the Bands
(Lyrics follow regular Tidal Rush and Calamari inkantation)

Vertex pulled out what looked like an E-liter, and aimed it at Empress. He fired, and the visor she was wearing flew off. However, so did his hat and...eyebrows? Empress dropped the mic she was using upon contact with the ink, and it rolled away...

"Wait...SKULL?!" Goggles shouted.

Gloves shook his head in disbelief.

"Does that mean..."

"THE SSS ARE ACTUALLY THE S4?!" the squidbeak yelled.

"Heh, sorry for not telling ya, but we've got bigger issues to deal with now!" Fuchsia, or, Aloha said.

"That's right! You've got a queen to take down!" Carnelian said, putting Army's hat on his head. Kitsune nodded, and the squidbeak already knew who he was.

Empress was still recovering from the shot. Her platform remained where it was, but stopped moving around the dome.

"Wh...what happened...?" Empress mumbled.

Marion snarled.
"NOTHING! Keep singing, we've almost gotten our crowd BLOWN AWAY!"

Empress was still fighting the effects. If only there was a way to help her. Rider looked down, and saw the microphone she had used. It was now at his foot. He...he could sing, but...now?! Not like this, he couldn't risk it. What if he messed up a note? What if he made a mistake or forgot a line? What should he do?!

Verse noticed him, and went over.

"What's the matter? Can't sing?"

Rider couldn't reply, not in the state he was in.

"Whenever I don't know what to sing, I always sing the song I know best!"

Rider shook his head. There was...one song, he had remembered off the top of his head. A small parody he had written, for one of the tracks from his agent days. It might work, but...it might not. He had one shot.

He cleared his throat.

"When you're feeling bad, maybe even somewhat sad, and days are long..."

The squidbeak turned to look at him. Was he actually...?

"When your hopes have flown, and you're standing all alone, remember this song..."

Giles and the SSS saw what he was doing, and Giles began to use his power, the ability to change sound waves. The bomb rush faded away in the background...and the tidal rush playing on his phone was brought out. The SSS dug through a bag they had brought and pulled out some armor pieces. They threw them out to the squidbeak and Verse, who caught them and were restored with this boost. They were battle ready.

"Let it out, let it free, the main melody, you mutter to this day...
'Cause you know that we, -'ll set you free, from this disarray..."

Marion leapt forward, and the squidbeak followed as Empress remained on her pedestal. Giles lowered the truck and let Rider on. The truck stayed floating where it was, away from battle, in case Rider needed to help his allies. Marion summoned a crystal blade and went for a slow sweep with it, trying to trip up the squidbeak. Luckily, they were able to back up and retaliate with their weapon fire. They spread out now while they could.