Splatoon Manga - Canon Lightroad

Heavenly Melody

⭐Chapter 21: Heavenly Melody

The squidbeak had begun searching for Rider. Vintage especially had led the way as they did so. The thing was, most of their fights took about the same length. When Rider didn't show up 30 minutes after that time had passed, the group got worried. He theoretically should've shown up before or after Goggles, but none of that happened.

Goggles needed to rest, but he'd insisted on going after explaining what happened with him and Lobelia. After checking out his wounds, the group was surprised to find them healed, though they didn't question it and let Goggles come with. Everyone was doing their best to look, but had no way of knowing where Rider could be. The Luminous 7's lair could be anywhere, and there was no way they could scan this ENTIRE city within a day and a few hours. The citizens of Nexus Laser were no help either. It was only 10 minutes later before the squidbeak heard something.

"I've received word of where Rider is," the female voice said through everyone's headsets. "He's by Nexus Laser's Nuclear Power plant, but he's gone through a hole to reach a set of warehouses in the back. The Luminous 7 are back there."

The squidbeak nodded, and easily found a map by one of the many newsstands in Nexus Laser. They then began making their way over, noticing how the sky was starting to darken. They had no vehicles, and Vintage had begun inking the streets to swim across.  The others followed him, and it took about 20 minutes until they reached the set of warehouses. They paused to catch a breather before entering.

"Rider's in the one with the neon lights on it," the girl said.

"Where's the mystery boy? Is he here too?" Goggles asked.

"He'll be watching you," the girl replied.

"Oh...okay."

"Now, are we able to stealth mode this thing or...?" Skull asked.

The squidbeak, like Rider, could not find any open spots to attack from, so they were left with the main door.

"Unfortunately not..." Hachi muttered. "My visor isn't picking up on anything either."

"Well, through the front door it is, then!" Gloves said.

And so the squidbeak opened the unlocked doors and slid into the halls. So far, so good. No sign of the Luminous 7 anywhere.

"Why the heck would criminals leave their front door open? Stupid of them, huh?" Vintage asked.

"Well it could be a trap. Let's keep our guard up," Nana said.

The squidbeak made their way over to the more open halls, and Hachi looked through his visor.

"There's a trail here! It's very faint, but I think we should follow it!" he said.

The group nodded and followed Hachi as he led them through the halls. They made sure to listen for any footsteps as they walked, eventually nearing a large door. Hachi said the tracks kept going through here, so the squidbeak pushed open the doors and walked in. As the squidbeak kept going in further, they immediately spotted two purple figures on  a higher up platform. Upon closer inspection, they could see who it was, without a doubt.

"Rider?!" Goggles exclaimed.

But...something was different about him. As he stared at the squidbeak, they saw his eyes were now black with purple instead of his usual white with green. Something was very, very wrong.