Splatoon Manga: NightRoad

Chapter 33: Hedge

⭐️Chapter 33: Hedge

Hachi was still stuck in the maze. He needed to find a way out, and soon. If he didn't, he'd be stuck in here until...well. Who knows how long. He kind of regretted his decisions now. He thought he could make it out of the place with ease after finding some kind of treasure, but no...

Should he throw his ink rain? Would anyone see it? Could he yell? No, who knows what that would attract, or where everyone else even WAS. Man, the yelling idea was a bad one, but not even for the reason Hachi had initially thought. He grumbled to himself and kicked a pebble as he took another turn. He saw the same rock he had seen about four other times. He growled in frustration. He was getting nowhere!

He didn't know what to do. He was so lost. He just wanted out now. He didn't care about anything anymore, he just wanted another person to talk to. He wanted to be back with his friends. He wanted to fight with them together and get out of this mess that they had made. He kept taking all the turns he could take within the maze, grumbling about his problems, his frustrations, and how this maze was a waste of his time.
Oi, what time was it?

He looked up.

Carp, the sky had darkened already. He needed a place to sleep. There were no sticks within the maze that would make good shelter. He couldn't properly sleep in the bush-walls either. No big rocks to make shelter, no nothing. He kept trying to take turns that he thought would take him to the center. Cod, how he hated the fact he couldn't just ink the walls and climb up.

Hey wait.

He hadn't even tried inking the walls yet.

And so he did.

He aimed his blaster at the plants and shot. It made a regular blaster shot noise, and wasn't as loud as he thought it was. He covered a side of the bushes fairly well. He then jumped in, expecting to hit a twig or a bunch of leaves as a whole. He was surprised when he actually managed to gain some traction, but the leaves kept shifting under his weight, and before he knew it, he was through the wall and on the other side.
Well.
That was unexpected.

It made a few things easier for him though.

He spent the rest of the next few minutes just,, making marks on the walls and jumping through them. It was so fun, yet weird. He would have a small amount of fun trying to climb the walls anyway, only to fail, drop down, and pass through the walls. He saw new stone scriptures that had 7 symbols etched onto them. He saw strange black stones in the dirt. He got to access new paths. And yet, he still wondered when he would get out. He hoped that a maze such as this wouldn't be the end for him.

Because.
A hero of wisdom just...vanishing into a maze? Sounds kinda cliche but at the same time, it was kinda stupid.

He decided to jump through one more wall, since this was getting tiring. He did it, and walked down it. It surprisingly had no other paths connected to it, for quite a while. Maybe this was a hint to something? Should he be careful? Hachi wasn't sure.  He took a turn, and his eyes widened.

Not only had he found the room in the center of the maze that contained the map...

But he had also found Negro asleep in the corners of the room as well.

-----

Nana was walking back from her fight with Kuro, back to the entrance of the paths. Hoo boy, she needed a break from that event. That was way too stressful, and she also needed something to eat. She looked for berries as she walked back to the paths. She saw many familiar things on her way back, such as a big mossy rock she and Hachi had passed earlier, and two vines that tangled in such a way that they couldn't be separated.

The vines reminded her of Hachi. She missed him. She wanted to be with him. She could've gone back to the maze to rescue him, but...she herself didn't want to get lost either. Besides, maybe she could come back for him when the squidbeak got back together? No, that didn't sound right...

Whatever the case was, she would be sure to get back to him eventually. She looked around her as she walked. It was getting darker and harder to see, she wasn't sure if she had brought a flashlight or not. She had her phone, but...she didn't want to use up the battery on it. Then again, there were probably forest creatures here that preyed on things like herself.

She sped up her pace. The last thing she wanted was to be eaten by a forest monster. She made sure to watch for rocks or roots as she walked quickly back down the path. Dang, more exercise after a battle...this was TIRING! Nonetheless, she soon had reached the beginning of the four paths, without any troubles. Finally! She was ready to go down another path, but she had to pick wisely. If she didn't choose a good one, she could just end up being lost for the rest of time.

She went down the second path, since she had went down the first path (I guess numerical order makes sense to her). She saw how this path was less thorny and viney than the other path. It was awkward, walking alone after you fought someone, fearing you might be eaten by forest creatures in the night when you were by yourself. You had all these thoughts, and yet not enough time to think about them due to your current situation. In the meantime though, she would need food, even if you could go a few days without. Upon reaching the open area Prince and Ebony had met in earlier, she looked up.

It was nighttime now.