Puyo Puyo in Space

Puyo Puyo in Space (Chapter 18): Meeting Ex

"So, you're probably wondering why I called you here," said Tee.
     "Yes, I am very curious," said Ex.
     "Who on earth is this?!" Ai exclaimed.
     "I called you here because of some inter-dimensional problems," Tee said.
     "So...you're just going to ignore me? Cool," Ai mumbled.
     "Ah, inter-dimensional problems. You've come to the right guy!" Ex said. "What seems to be the problem with your dimension?"
     "That's just the thing, Tee said. "This isn't my dimension."
     "Hold on, hold on," Risukuma interrupted. "You guys can't just keep ignoring us. We need to know what's going on!"
     "Risukuma, that can wait," Tee said.
     "No, no," Ex said. "I don't mind explaining myself. "Everyone, my name is Ex."
     "Great. We know your name. That tells a lot," Jay said sarcastically.
     "Well I've gotta start somewhere!" Ex laughed.
     "Maybe you should start with something else," Ess said. "Like how the heck you just teleported in here without a teleporter."
     "Hush hush, I'll get to that later," Ex said. "My job is to-"
     Ex was interrupted by Arle, running away from a robot, who was screaming: "Bad manners alert. Bad manners alert."
     Ex sighed. "Sorry, let me start over again. I am Ex and I-"
     "Hah, Ex is kinda a funny name," said Maguro.
     "Will you let me talk for five seconds?!" Ex yelled out of frustration. He regained his composure for a moment. "My name is Ex. I am the keeper of dimensions."
"What is a kee-" started Ringo.
"What is a keeper of dimensions, I know, just listen."
"Sorry, my bad," Ringo said.
"I'm the guy who's in charge of all the dimensions; the name is pretty self-explanatory. Now what that entails, is much more complicated. I'm the guy who has to make sure that none of the dimensions ever cross over, or get corrupted, or-"
"Hey! Ess said. "If you're supposed to be keeping the dimensions apart, you're doing a pretty crappy job!"
"Yeah I was...getting to that," Ex said. "Tee and crew, I've got a confession to make. You don't have to tell me about your dimensional problems because...I did all this."
"You did what?" Tee said furiously. It was very rare to see Tee lose his cool like this.
"Now, now. Don't get angry I-"
"No! Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused!?"
"I swear it would all make sense if you would just listen!" Ex pleaded.
"The only thing I want to hear from you is an apology!" Tee said.
"Tee-" Ex said.
Tee stormed out of the rec. room.
"Oh boy," Ex mumbled. "I hate it when he gets like this."
"Do you guys like...know each other?" Ringo asked. "I mean, obviously you guys know each other, but are you guys like...friends?"
"I haven't talked with this one very much, no."
"This one?" Ringo said. "What do you mean this one?"
"Well, being in charge of all the dimension stuff means that I see a lot of alternate versions of you."
"Oh, so all that multi-verse stuff is...true?" Ringo asked.
"In a way...yes," Ex said. "Probably not in the way you're thinking about it...but yes."
"So like, is there a Ringo with purple hair out there somewhere?!" Ringo asked excitedly.
"Well see, that's not really how it works," Ex said. He had to explain this to a lot of people. "You're all the same Ringo, it's just, every time you make a decision, a new universe opens up. Have you ever considered dying your hair purple?"
"Yeah," Ringo said.
"So, yes. There is a dimension where you have purple hair, even though I've never seen it before. Heck, there's probably a dimension where you decided to go blonde."
"God I hope not," Ringo said.
"Anyway, yeah. Even though there's multiple different Ringos, you all still make different decisions. I've seen a lot of versions of you, and you're the only one who does the weird hair spiral thing. How do you even do that?"
"Oh I'm glad you asked!" exclaimed Ringo. "So when I wake up, I take a shower and lather my hair with this-"
"Okay, we don't actually have time to discuss it," Ex said.
"Oh..." Ringo said. One day she'll get to explain it.
Ex looked back at the crowd. The only ones left besides Ringo, were Risukuma, Maguro, and Ai. The rest of the kids had gotten bored and ran off to do something else.
"Hey! We're getting off topic!" said Ringo. "Why'd you do all this stuff?!"
"*Sigh* Unlike you're good friend Tee, can you actually listen to me?"
Ringo calmed down a little bit. "Sure."
"So, again...I caused all of this, just wanna make sure you remember."
"Oh we remember!" Ai said.
"But it's for a good cause. A couple of days ago, I got an alert that I'd never seen before. This whole dimension was on the verge of collapse."
"When you say 'this dimension' do you mean ours or Ringo's?"
"Ringo's,"
"Ah," Ai said, jotting something down.
"When you say 'collapse' what do you mean?" asked Risukuma.
"I really don't know," said Ex. "Like I said, I've never seen this alert before. If I had to guess, I would say that the universe would probably fold in on itself until it wrings itself out like a towel."
The group sat in silence for a moment.
"But why is this happening?" Maguro asked.
"Dude. Do I have to say it again? I've never seen the alert before. I don't know."
"Does you're computer, or whatever you're using, say any information about the warning?" asked Risukuma.
"Yeah. It's not much though; the only thing it shows me is coordinates. If I had to guess, I would say that the coordinates are probably where the problem is happening. And that you guys should probably fly there."
Everyone sat for a moment and took in the information.
"That still doesn't answer one question, though," Risukuma said. "Why did you have to bring us together?"
"I just had a very strong feeling that it would take all of you to stop the threat."
"We aren't...the strongest people," Maguro said. "90% of us are middle schoolers. Why wouldn't you bring together a group of stronger people?"
"I'm not saying that I brought you together because your physically strong. You guys are different, all of you. Some of you have magic powers, some of you have ridiculous intelligences, and so on. I don't think stopping this threat is about beating something up. I think it's about solving a problem."
"Oh," Ai said. "I suppose we should go try and tell Tee all of this."
"Nah, let him calm down first," Ex said. " This stuff is hard enough to understand when you're not seeing red."
"I'm surprised to see Master Tee act like this," Ai said. "I've never seen him so mad."
"Heh, then you're a good crew," Ex said. "I've seen thousands of different Tees, and one thing they all have in common, is a short fuse. This one just seems to mask it with a overly-serious tone. Interesting."
Maguro looked over to Ringo. She looked like she was deep in thought. "Hey Ringo, are you all right?"
"Hmm? Yeah, just...thinking about stuff."
"Okay," Maguro said.
Ringo was definitely thinking about stuff. This new dimensions thing gave her a very strange idea. She would wait until later to try it though.
"Oh guys, I don't know if I should tell you this or not...but whatever," Ex said. "There's more people to come, this isn't it."
"Like, more people from other dimensions?" Maguro asked.
"Yup," Ex said.
"How do you know?" asked Ai.
"Because I'm gonna bring them here."
Maguro, Ringo, Ai, and Risukuma sat in shock.
"Hey! There's a ping pong table! Ooh this dimension has that kind of version. I always liked this kind. Who want to get whipped?" asked Ex, changing the topic at a break-neck pace.
"I'm in!" shouted Maguro.