Puyo Puyo in Space

Puyo Puyo in Space (Chapter 21): Two Dads

"Absolutely not."
"But Dad!"
"Nope. I don't want to hear it," Ringo's dad said. "I didn't like you hanging around those kids in the first place. There's no way I'm letting you fly off into space with them."
"Dad!" Ringo shouted. "You didn't even let me finish!"
"Yeah, because I already have my answer! No."
"The universe is falling apart as we speak!"
"That's just something they made up so they could kidnap you."
Ringo was taken aback. "Wh-what?! No! This is real, Dad!"
"You're not going to outer-space!" Ringo's dad shouted. "Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy?" He pointed over to his wife. "Honey? Do I sound crazy?"
"No...dear," she said. "But maybe we should listen to Ringo. I mean, at least let her explain why she wants to go to space."
"I shouldn't have to!"
The mother glared at the father. He calmed down a little bit.
"Ok, explain all you want," the dad grumbled.
"Thank you," Ringo sighed. "So...there are different dimensions. But you already knew that because of the incident a little while ago. Problem is, the dimension that we're in...is gonna explode."
Ringo's dad started muttering under his breath, "Now that is some bullsh-"
"Honey!" the mother whispered, elbowing the father.
"But this isn't all gobbledegook, I swear! There was this really weird, magical old guy. He teleported in and explained everything. It all makes sense!"
Ringo's father stared at her. He wasn't buying any of this. The mother wasn't either, but at least she was being nice about it. The dad stood up and started to walk away without saying anything. The mother looked at Ringo sympathetically.
The father didn't even make it out of the room before a blinding flash of light appeared.
"Listen to your daughter."
The dad looked back to see a (Oh boy) really weird, magical old guy.
"I didn't want to bust into your home like this, but she's telling the truth," Ex said.
"Wha-what on earth?!" Ringo's dad yelled. "Get out of my house! This isn't real!"
Ringo and her mom just stood there. Ringo's mom was too stunned to speak and Ringo was just happy Ex came through for her.
"I'm not going to leave until you allow Ringo to go on the mission," Ex said firmly.
"Who do you think you are?" asked Ringo's dad.
Ex rolled his eyes. "I'm the keeper of dimensions. Who the heck are you?"
"Keeper of dimens- That's not even a real thing!"
Ex was tired of his nonsense. He grabbed onto his arm arm zapped away.
Ringo's mother jumped up from her chair. "What?! Where did he just take him?!"
"I wouldn't worry about it," Ringo said. "Ex likes to make a point, so he's probably just taking him somewhere to prove him wrong."
Ringo's mother sighed. "I just don't know what to think about all this."
"It's a lot," Ringo said. "So...are you ok with me going on the mission?"
"That's hard to decide," Ringo's mother said. "Selfishly, I really want you to stay home. It's really dangerous out there in space. But for the greater good, I should probably let you go."
"The truth is..." Ringo started. "Even if you and Dad don't let me go, I'll probably go anyway. The universe is just too much to lose."
"I understand that," Ringo's mother said. She paused for a few seconds. "I'm ok with letting you go."
Ringo's eyes widened. "Really?!"
"Yes. It's the only option, right?"
"Yeah it is. But just...wow! Thank you so much!"
"The trouble is your father. He's much harder to convince."
"Oh, I'm sure Ex will get him on board."

...

Ex and Ringo's father appeared from another blinding flash of light.
"What the heck is this place?" Ringo's dad asked, looking around.
"Well, Ringo's dad..." Ex started. "Actually, I don't want to keep calling you that. What's your name?"
"Ryland."
"Oh that's a nice name," Ex said. "I'm not here to hurt you Ryland. Actually, I completely understand your hesitance to let Ringo go on this trip. I used to have a daughter too. I was so overprotective of her, but I had to learn to kind of...let go. With the job I have, I couldn't be around her all the time, so I had to let her go. To a new home."
Ryland didn't say anything in response to that. He just kept looking around. He couldn't see much; all the lights were off. Did this place even have lights? He had no idea.
Ex noticed that Ryland was looking around. "Ah, sorry." He flicked a switch and the lights came on. It was a pretty basic room. It looked like your standard office, shelves with various things on them, a desk, some chairs.
"This is my office, er...part of it," Ex said. "This is where I do the boring work. I spend most of time in the room next door."
"Why did you take me here?" Ryland asked.
"I wanted to show you something," Ex responded. "Now follow me."
Ex opened a door at the end of the room and walked through. When Ryland walked through the door, he was met with an extremely long hallway. It looked to be a couple hundred feet long.
"So, why won't you let Ringo go?" Ex asked.
"I don't think it's ridiculous to not want your daughter to go to space," Ryland said.
"But what is it specifically? Do you think she'll get hurt? Do you not like the crew she's hanging out with?"
"Both!"
"Okay, hold on," Ex said. "Can you calm down? You're a bit frantic."
"Sorry, sorry," Ryland said. Ex was surprised how fast he calmed down. He seemed like a bit of a hot head. "I just want my daughter to be safe, and these past few days have been so weird. This dimension...stuff is probably true, but I don't want anything to happen to her." He sighed. "I probably sound dumb right now."
"No, not dumb at all."
Ryland buried his face in his hands. "Ringo's probably really mad at me right now."
"Maybe," Ex said. "Ringo doesn't seem like that kind of person, though."
"True," Ryland said.
"You've raised a good girl," Ex said.
"Thanks," Ryland muttered. He didn't feel like a good dad.
Ex and Ryland made it to the end of the hallway. The only thing there was a singular door.
Ex pulled open the door. "After you."
Ryland walked through the door and his jaw instantly dropped.
Ex snickered. It was fun to see people's reaction to this room.
"What is...all this?" Ryland asked.
"This is how I used to monitor the dimensions."
"This is crazy!"
"I know."
The room was filled with different pictures, thousands of them. They weren't screens, but they showed pictures. The pictures surrounded the room completely; there was no semblance of walls, other than the door.
"I always thought that the multiverse was a myth," Ryland said.
"Most people think that," Ex said.
"Wait, you said you used to use this room to monitor dimensions. Why don't you use it anymore?"
"I outgrew it," Ex said. "Spending so many years in here altered my mind. A lot. Did you ever have to take Spanish in school?"
Ryland was confused why he was asking this question. "Yeah, I did. Why do you ask?"
"Well, it's kinda like learning a new language," Ex said. "When you learn a new language, you have to reference things to speak it, whether it be a dictionary, or flashcards or something. This is similar to that. When i first started this job, this room was the only way I could monitor dimensions. But over time, I needed the room less and less, and now, I don't really use it at all."
"That's very interesting," Ryland said. "How did you end up with a job like this anyway?"
"It's complicated, but I'll try to explain it to you," Ex said. "There are multiple versions of people. There are thousands and thousands of you," Ex said pointing to Ryland.
Ryland shook his head. "That is insane."
"Yeah, I know. Everyone who has ever lived, and everyone who will ever live, will have alternate selves. Except me. My family is...odd. The dimension I was born in was the only dimension where I ever lived. No matter what decisions I made, or what I did, I always stayed in one universe. When my parents told me about all that, it didn't seem like that big of a deal...until I died of course."
"You're dead?!" shouted Ryland in shock.
"No, I'm not dead. But I did die."
"So you know what happens after death!" Ryland shouted. "That's like...one of the biggest mysteries ever!"
"Yup, people are really eager to know what happens after death. I know. Of course, I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"Trust me, you don't want to know."
"Rrgh! I obviously do want to know!" Ryland said in frustration.
"Well you can't know," Ex said. "When I died, instead of the...normal thing happening, I was greeted by my father. It was shocking; by the time I died, my father had been dead for decades! That's when he showed me this room and gave me my instructions. After that, he went to go die, the normal way."
"How long have you been doing this?"
"With all the time jumping and dimension shifting I do, It's nearly impossible to say."
"I thought you were going to say something like that," Ryland said. "You're probably not going to tell me, but I feel like I need to try asking this one more time: Where are we?"
"Y'know outer space?"
"Yeah." Ryland was surprised he was getting an answer.
"Technically, you could get here from outer space, it's just very unlikely to happen. We're farther out than outer space. We're in...outer outer space, I guess. It doesn't really have a name. The main things our ancestors tell us, are to guard the dimensions. They aren't very fun. I guess I could name it, but I'll keep the tradition of not naming it alive."
"Oh..." Ryland said. That didn't really tell him anything about this place. Oh well.
"Y'see how I have this alert panel over here?" Ex said, pointing to a small picture.
"Yeah, I see it."
"That tells me if something goes wrong. It doesn't go off very often. Dimensions are very good at keeping themselves stable."
"But there's one notice in the box."
"Yeah, I know. That's about your dimension, and it's not good. Y'know what Ringo was talking about earlier, dimensions collapsing and all that? She was telling the truth."
Ryland looked into the picture and read the notice. It was in a different language. "I can't read this."
"Trust me, it's not good," Ex said. He walked over and patted Ryland on the back. "I hope our little talk made you reconsider your decision."
"It certainly has."
"You're a good guy, Ryland. Remember that." Ex snapped his fingers and Ryland vanished.

...

Yet another blinding flash of light appeared in Ringo's living room.
"Ryland!" the mother shouted. "Are you ok?"
"Oh yeah, I'm fine," Ryland responded.
"Where did that man take you?" the mother asked.
"I'll tell you later," Ryland said. He looked over at Ringo, pointed at her, and smiled. "You're going to space."