You fools! You thought Wings of fire was the only series I wrote fanfictions for? Well I have proven you wrong! Not that anyone thought that, XD. I've been pretty burnt out of Wings of fire for awhile now (I'll leave my thoughts on the last two books up to your imaginations based on what I just said) So I'm trying something new.
Back to it! So I really like Ringo and the Dark prince so I figured, why not write a story about them? Just a quick little friendship story of Ringo helping the lord of the underworld with his Arle situation.
Ringo tapped her pencil on the piece of paper in front of her. What did she want to tell him exactly? "A lot…but no way to send it." Everytime she wanted to try she remembered that he lived in a whole other dimension. Sure, she COULD ask Ecolo, but she didn't want to give him ANY leverage over her. "Ugh! What DO I want to tell him?" She expressed her anger by kicking the leg of her desk. She thought she was going to forget him like everyone else, yet she didn't. "To be fair, I shouldn't remember Ecolo but I do." She grimaced. She couldn't talk to Ris or Mags about it as neither would remember either. It had gotten boring to have to explain the whole adventure that they didn't even remember each time she wanted to talk about the Tetris king.
She leaned back, her feet on the desk and only two legs of the chair touching the floor. She looked up at the ceiling and figured a walk could help her. She got up and let her chair fall over, rushing out but not before grabbing her apple. The town was bustling with dozens of people on either side, some entering Maguro's family shop and some going to an antique store. Ringo wished she had some cash to spend but now wasn't the time for that.
It was a nice, breezy day. No sense of danger or worry plagued her…which meant something bad was GOING to happen. At least she THOUGHT that was the case. It always was anyway. She found herself on the outskirts of town, sitting by a tree on a hill. This was where she would take her telescope in hopes of seeing the Tetra, though she knew that wasn't possible. He wasn't in another galaxy, but another dimension. "He probably doesn't even remember me, like how everyone else doesn't remember him…"
"You! Apple girl, with me, now!" A strangely familiar voice called out to her. A pure black void appeared in front of her, moving quickly until it consumed her. She was unable to even let out a squeak before she found herself falling through a dark abyss. As she fell, she began seeing temple-like walls with puyo's on them, watching her fall until she landed. She half expected to see nothing after falling from that height but it felt like waking up from a long nap.
"Well? Are you going to stay on the floor or are you going to help me?" Why did he sound so familiar? "Good grief." Ringo looked up to see a long, green haired figure with a dark robe. He tapped his foot impatiently in front of her before getting bored. He slammed his foot down hard on the ground, forcing Ringo into the air and standing in front of him. "What is your name again?"
"Dark prince? What do you want?" She asked, trying to hide her fear from being confronted by the ruler of the puyo underworld.
"I asked first." He said childishly.
"R-Ringo."
It looked as if something clicked in his head. "Ah yes. You're the one that blob of wasted stardust keeps talking about. Well, I need assistance and you are the vessel I have chosen to help me. Sound fun?"
"Not really. Though I feel like he won't take no for an answer." Ringo took a step back from the not so enthusiastic puyo god. "Um, what exactly am I helping you with? I mean, aren't you all powerful?"
He scoffed, waving as if a fly was near. "No! Why does everyone think that? I only have so much power. Besides, I don't WANT to use my powers for every issue. It gets boring." He said, his face twisted in annoyance. "What I need help with is making Arle like me. You're her friend so I figured you would be my best bet."
Great, now she couldn't even agree. "Wait, Arle has already told you a hundred times she won't do it. Why would I help you?"
"Not like that!" He said, switching from annoyed to worried. "I just mean make me more amicable to her! So she doesn't threaten to cut my head off every time she sees me!" He said.
Well that wasn't what she was expecting. "Why didn't you ask Amitie? She's as much Arle's friend as me and makes friends way faster." Really, she just wanted the prince to bother someone else. "Sorry Amitie, I'll buy a candy pack from Lemres or something for you."
But the Prince's growling let her know he was sticking with his pick. "I'd sooner chop my OWN head off then endure a conversation with her. No, you are much easier to talk to."
Ringo nodded, feeling bad for not defending the magic student. "Ok…why should I help you though? Haven't you done a lot of bad stuff? I mean, you HAVE helped out with Ex and Squares but…"
"NO! I am a GREAT person now! I've changed but Arle hasn't seen it! I want YOU to help her see it by changing ME!" He blurted out which made Ringo wince back. "What is it you humans call it? Manners? Teach me how to do stuff like that so I can get her attention in a better light!"
"Well first, teleporting people to your house is not a good way to get them to like you." She said, rather annoyed herself. Though the throne room did look pretty nice. He definitely didn't LOOK like he was great.
Dark prince gave an embarrassed grunt, turning away to look at the wall. "Ah, yes…that may not leave a good impression. I'll remember that. What else?"
"Oh, uh. Let me think. You probably shouldn't start off your conversation with her about how pretty she is?" Ringo said while the prince looked back to her.
He seemed confused, a strange look that Ringo had never seen before on him. "But that should be a compliment! Isn't it? Wouldn't you like being praised for beauty? Not that you can even compare to Arle. If anything you're like a speck of dust compared to a well refined statue." He said, lost in thought about Arle.
Ringo tried to squash the urge to punch the prince in his stupid face. "Yes, well, it isn't actually very flattering when it's said over and over. It actually gets very annoying and worrying." She said this while pointing to the prince. "Do you like it when Rulue talks about how beautiful and amazing you are?"
The dark prince shook his head, groaning at the thought of the fighting queen. "She is a massive pain. I'd rather NOT have her in my head."
"But it's annoying. Right? Well that's what you are doing to Arle." Ringo countered.
"But I'm not like that at all! I actually talk about stuff she is! Not what she isn't!" He complained, already hating the idea.
Ringo shook her head, wondering how to get this through to him. "Do you want her to be nicer to you or not? Clearly this isn't working, is it?" She questioned, making the Prince gaze down in thought. Thinking she was onto something, Ringo continued. "Think about it, if you aren't constantly talking about her like that, she might actually start a conversation!" Did she think that would actually work? Not really. Did she think it would get the Prince off her back? Oh yeah.
The ruler of the underworld didn't say anything for a second. He simply stared at Ringo, trying to think of a response but couldn't. WAS that what he had been doing? He thought he was always way better about it, not going into graphic detail or bringing up touchy subjects but…Maybe Ringo was right. Ugh, a human being right that wasn't Arle. "Ok…So don't teleport her or go on about her beauty…That last one will be tough. What else?"
Ringo noticed he seemed more invested now. He actually was looking at her as if he wanted to learn. She tried to think of something else but was struggling. "How about this? Don't put her friends down to bring yourself up. Arle doesn't like it when people are rude. So if you see her talking friendly with someone else, don't interrupt. Let them finish. Also don't bash other people. Arle doesn't like that either."
The prince seemed to be taking mental notes during this, his face matching Ringo's during an intense lesson. "I see. So calling you a speck of dirt may not have been the nicest thing to say?" He questioned though he didn't look sorry.
"Could have used better words, sure."
"How about she is a glorious twelve chain of well designed puyo's leading into a perfect clear while you're a three chain sloppily thrown together?" He asked, smiling at her, waiting for her response to his glorious rewrite.
RIngo didn't expect much better. "Sure…that works. I think that should be it? Be nice, don't be pushy and don't force people into places they don't want to be in. Sounds easy to remember?"
He nodded, making a notebook appear out of thin air. "I see. Well I'll tell you how things go and if we need another session. Toodles!"
"Wait, what?!" She did NOT want another session but she couldn't even decline before she was sucked back under the tree. "Ugh, Arle, I love you, but PLEASE DON'T SEND YOUR LOVER TO ASK ME FOR ADVICE!" She shouted into the sky, not realizing how late it was. "Geez, does time go faster in the underworld?" She questioned, standing up and heading home.
(A few days later)
Ringo held the camera as Maguro whacked the puyo shaped ball. "123, 124, 125, 1-ACK!" He blurted out as he fell over. "Ris! Why do you gotta keep your stuff lying out?" He asked, standing up as Ringo turned off the camera.
The bear masked boy grunted, picking up his stuff. "It's an experiment! I've been trying to set it up and guess I forgot to put it back." He said, helping Maguro up.
"I think we can call it for today. Besides, we have that school dinner to go to. Let's move it!" Ringo said, punching Maguro's shoulder lightly, saying it was a job well done.
The trio cleaned up the science room and the younger kids waved goodbye to Ris as they parted ways. "Hey Ringo?" Maguro asked as he paddled the puyo. "You didn't seem completely there today. Something on your mind?" He asked through his hair covering his eyes. She could still see them piercing through her.
"No, just had a weird dream a few days ago." She lied. Though, she didn't feel too bad about it since Maguro probably wouldn't even know how to respond if he learned the truth.
Maguro nodded, giggling to himself. "I had one where I was riding a giant fish over a spaceship while holding golf clubs. Weird, huh?" He asked. "It felt familiar for some reason. The spaceship I mean, not the fish."
Ringo snickered. "I figured." She was tempted to tell Tee about Ess. Explain how the two had met and the lasting impression they had on each other. But it didn't matter, did it? He would forget the next day just like always. The urge to talk about her deepest desires was strong but her knowledge of the result from it was stronger. Besides, Maguro was her best friend. She didn't want to bother him again about this as he would be unsure what to say.
They broke apart at Maguro's house. They fistbumped before parting ways, leaving Ringo alone. "I wonder if Tee would find it funny or scary that Maguro dreamed about the Tetra?" She thought to herself. Before she could enter her house, a stray cat with what looked like green hair dye on its head? "Hey, who are you?"
It turned, hitting her leg with his tail before walking towards an alleyway. Ringo followed cautiously, wondering why this cat was acting weird before they faced a stone wall at the back. The cat meowed and tiled his head, slowly growing in size and…was it standing on two legs?
"Ahhh!" Ringo shouted, spread out against the wall behind her in fear. The cat finished its transformation and revealed himself. "DARK PRINCE YOU JERK!" She shouted, making him wince. "Don't DO THAT!" She yelled.
"Sorry! But you said not to transport you to my house so I decided to ask!" He said, raising his hands in defense.
She calmed herself but was still red with anger. "Next time, send an Email!"
"But people don't respond to e=Emails!" He whined. "I sent that Lemres fellow about a hundred asking about candy and he hasn't answered!"
Ringo did not have time for this. "Look, I'd LOVE to help you!" She said, her voice full of condensation. "But I have somewhere very important to be today, can we reschedule?"
He nodded, snapping his fingers. "Of course! Your school dinner has been moved back to tomorrow. Everyone knows and won't question it. Now can we go?"
"WHAT?!"
He looked like she had just asked why she lived on a marble. "I just changed the whole world order, you know? No big deal. Now let's go!" He said excitedly, opening a portal for her to jump through.
"You said you don't like using your powers to fix your problems!"
He shrugged, his eyes turning to look at the sky. "This doesn't count."
Ringo sighed, wishing she could do a gesture that would change the rating of this story. She walked through the portal and Dark prince followed right after, clapping his hands like a child who just got a piece of candy. "Guess what?" Before Ringo could answer, the prince had already started talking. "She didn't run me off this time! I mean she did the first time, but the second? Not at all! She only got bored when I brought up ruling the underworld. We actually had a decent conversation!"
"That's great, Dark prince. I'm super happy for you." She found her frustration slowly fading as she saw how happy he actually was. It was weird, helping the ruler of the underworld but seeing someone so happy based on your actions was strangely uplifting…Though she was still super frusterated at the whole cat thing. "So she wasn't super annoyed with you?"
"Nope! Though she did ask me why I changed and when I said a secret someone gave me some advice, she got super curious. I haven't told her that it's you because I figured that would be weird, would it be weird?"
Ringo nodded, not wanting Arle to know that she was helping the Dark prince. "Please don't tell her. I really don't need her knowing this." She grunted. Truthfully, she would rather not know she was talking to the Dark prince either. "Alright, so is that all you wanted to tell me?"
He shook his head, taking out a piece of paper. "Nope. I want to write her a poem but don't know how."
"...That's a little too soon, dude." Ringo said bluntly. "You just got on her decent side. This could bring you back to square negative one." He really was difficult.
Dark prince tilted his head. "Really? But people love poems…"
"It falls under what we talked about last time. Giving someone a love poem is only after you actually start the relationship." She tried to sound reassuring and was happy he at least had the foresight to ask someone first.
He nodded, summoning the notebook and writing in something else. "I see…so I'm guessing hiring a music band is off limits too?"
Ringo wanted to slap him. "No displays of affection. Ok?" Ringo thought he would argue about this but he seemed to begrudgingly agree. He wrote down something else and closed the book.
"Ok, your style seems to be working so I might as well keep listening. Alright, I won't do that. This is harder than you think, you know?"
"I can assume so." She sighed. "So, can I go back to my world now?" Ringo really wanted to have some of that pasta!
He rolled his eyes and snapped his finger, placing Ringo back in the alleyway where her dad saw her. "RINGO! Where have you BEEN?!" "Great."
(A few days later)
"Hey Tee! So um, how are you? I'm great! You know, just been helping the Dark prince get better around Arle. It's pretty weird but…I don't know, everytime we talk about it you keep popping into my head. I don't think you even remember me but I haven't forgotten about you! In fact…" Ringo showed the camera her telescope. "I named it S. ! Sound familiar? Well now I can watch the stars with even better vision! All I need is a dimensional view to see you and the crew!" She turned the camera to her school work. "Schools going well. I've finally caught up in social studies while helping Maguro with science. He had a weird dream involving a spaceship and a golf set. You should ask Ess if she had a dream about fish!" She sat down and sighed. "I…I really miss you, Tee…I know it's stupid but you showed me a new way to battle and we saved the dimensions, twice! I know we forgot the first time but I just can't now. Everyone else has and I just, really want to know if someone else hasn't forgotten…preferably someone that isn't Ecolo." She laughed at this. "I think that's all for now. Report over." She turned off the video.
She took a deep breath, stopping herself from letting a tear out. This was the fourth video she made and she still hated it. It wasn't bad, it just didn't get what she wanted to send across to Tee. Though he still won't see it. She turned her head after hearing a light knocking on her window. She grinned as her purple haired friend smiled through the window, waiting for her to let him in.
"Geez Maguro, why didn't you just knock on my front door?" She joked, raising the window.
"Well, since you're still grounded, I figured you weren't allowed to have friends over." He said happily, laying on her bed. "So, what have you been up to?"
She shrugged, swiviling her chair to face him. "Just making videos. How has the science club been?"
Maguro groaned at this, resting his head on her puyo pillow. "Boring. Ris talks nonstop about how he is going to find love through science. I just sat on my phone. Why did you have to stay in an alleyway for like, six hours?"
She resisted the urge to facepalm. "I was chasing a cat. Then I got distracted." Maguro knew that she wasn't changing her answer so he always just dropped it. "Now, you have to tell me. How did the dinner go?"
He laughed. "The sports kids messed up their section of the speech and somehow got the fire safety triggered. We were all drenched!"
She laughed at this, grinning from ear to ear. "Yeah. Well it's getting late. I really need some sleep. See ya tomorrow?"
"Yep. See ya at school!" He climbed down the window, out into the grass and ran off, leaving her alone except for a small bird that flew into her room.
"Hey prince. What do you need this time?" She asked, closing the window and sitting on her bed.
"How did you know it was me?"
Ringo chuckled. "Pigeons aren't usually green. Also, I'd rather we not talk here. My parents may not like me chatting with a God of the underworld."
"Fair. Come on." He opened the portal and Ringo walked through it. When she entered the throne room, the bird followed, changing back into the Dark prince. He looked pretty happy with himself but not as excited as last time. "Well, I'm assuming you have a guess as to why I am here but it's actually different."
She put a finger to her chin, trying to think. "So it's not Arle related?"
"Oh it is, just not in that way…sort of. She challenged me to Tetris. She seems to remember the game but wants to know how to play it. I actually don't remember that well and if Ecolo was telling the truth, you remember things most people forget. Can you help me?"
She sat there, stunned. Yeah, she DID remember Tetris. She would often find herself messing with some tetrimino's to make a T spin. She wasn't sure why, though. "Yeah? You don't remember?"
He scoffed at this, crossing his arms. "I REMEMBER them, just not how to play it. Can you help me? You hung out with that king boy a lot."
She felt her face heat up at the mention of T but shook her head to clear it away. "Yeah, sure. I can help. Ready to battle?" She asked strangely, getting pumped at the idea.
The Dark prince nodded, raising a hand as if about to fire off a blast of fire. "Yes! Prepare yourself for my power!"
The pieces started falling quickly. A J, L, T, I, T, the order was random and before she knew it, she had built up a tower with a drop in the middle for the long blocks. She set up a couple of T spins, sending a barrage of garbage over and before she could even fire off a Tetris, the battle was over. Ringo looked up to see the Prince groaning up into the air, his hands ruffling his hair in frustration.
"How am I supposed to teach her when I can't even see what you're doing?!" He blurted out. "And what was that weird thing you kept doing with the purple blocks? That wasn't a Tetris!"
Ringo giggled nervously. "Guess I got carried away, sorry…Let's try again. I'll go slower this time." She said and they got back into position, the prince losing the confidence he had before. Ringo showed him how to start a match with a clean board, forming a well for the I blocks to fall into. "If you place some pieces like this…" She positioned a block over a T shape. "You can do that little spin you saw me do. See? Easy!"
The Dark prince slowly got the hang of it, building a decent tower before ending it with a Tetris. He struggled with the T spin setups and gave up, not caring to try them anymore. They played a few more matches and once he got into the groove of things, Ringo realized how fast the prince actually was. He had her on the ropes for most of the matches and even took a few games, not what she was expecting. "Well, I think I've got the hang of it now! Well I'll see you next time I need assistance. Thank you apple girl." He said, shaking her hand.
She hadn't realized how big her smile had gotten. Playing Tetris was a nice change of pace and fighting against the ruler of the underworld got her to stop thinking about the other dimension. "I'm not a bad teacher." She thought pretty highly of her skills. Arle may not remember the other dimension, but if she remembered the game, then Ringo could challenge her sometime! Somehow this turned out better than she thought. "Yeah, guess it's pretty late for me. Good luck with Arle." She waved as the portal opened up. She went through only to see the sun rising. She hadn't gotten any sleep.
(A few days later)
"What are you drawing, Ringo?" Risukuma asked. The student watched over Ringo's shoulder as she drew a purple disk of some kind along with some weirdly shaped puzzle pieces. She wasn't the greatest artist, but she was far from bad. She had let her pencil draw the shapes without really thinking.
"Oh, nothing. Just whatever pops into my head." That wasn't a total lie.
Ris seemed fine with the answer and turned back to his concoctions. Once and for all, he was going to figure out love! As long as he didn't blow up the science room. The lack of Maguro made things way more boring. The desks had been pushed to the side of the class to make room for Ris's setup while Ringo simply watched, only assisting when needed.
"Alright, let's see what happens!" And it blew up. The room was covered in green, sticky goo along with the two students inside. "I uh…that was supposed to go better."
"You think?" Ringo asked, shaking her hands to remove the green substance. Usually she liked green but she found it clashed horribly with her school shirt. "Next time, bring a hazmat suit." She groaned.
Ris nodded and sighed, giving up on his recent attempt. "Well, I'm going to hit the showers. I'm guessing you are going home?"
"Nope. Just going to walk around town. I told them I was doing it so I shouldn't get in trouble this time." She said. Ringo had been expecting the Prince to show up at any time as it had been awhile since their last meeting. She had finally started taking precautions in case the Dark prince wanted to have a chat. "Though I wouldn't mind another Tetris match." She had lost to Ris at Puyo puyo that morning and she really wanted to have a win for the day.
"You really want to walk around covered in that?" He asked, pointing the sticky stuff on her uniform and hair.
She shrugged, It could be a lot worse. She made her way out of the school and towards the bottom half of town. Huh, the Prince usually showed up by now.
Speak of the devil. A young dog made his way towards the student, barking like crazy and darting into the alleyway. Ringo shook her head and followed, trailing the dog and seeing the portal. She didn't waste any time and jumped in. The throne looked a little different. There was a Tetris statue alongside the Puyo puyo statue which was a nice touch. "Your disguises are getting better. No green at all!"
The dog transformed back into the Dark prince who grinned wickedly. "Tetris isn't the only thing I've been practicing. Though I couldn't stop my ears from turning yellow." He muttered the last part. "Anyway, let's get straight to the point. This is actually not me asking you for a favor but me delivering one for Arle. She wants to set up a lunch with you and the ai-Amitie." Ringo noted that he was trying not to insult Arle's friends. "So, would you be available at this time, in two days? I can take you there and get you back. Arle said it would make her very happy."
Ringo smiled as she nodded. "I would like that a lot too! Thanks Princy. Luckily, that's a weekend. So you aren't asking me for anything yourself?" She questioned.
"...What animal would you like me to turn into next time? I'm running out of ideas." He admitted, pulling up a poster with a list of all the animals he had transformed into the past year.
Ringo looked at what wasn't on the list. "How about a snake? That would be interesting."
The Prince shrugged. "I guess. But one more thing, I think I've gotten better at Tetris. Want to try and best me?" He said, chuckling evilly.
Ringo ignored that and nodded, pumping her fists up. "Let's do it, it's battle time!" She shouted in the alleyway and the two went at it. It only took two games for Ringo to realize she had no chance. She could keep up but the Prince was just too fast. "Geez, no wonder you're a final boss." She joked.
He snickered at her defeat and opened up another portal. "Yes, well I have to stay skilled to keep up with those new guys don't I? Now I shall see you again in two days. See ya then." He said, waving goodbye. As he disappeared, the green goo vanished from Ringo, making her smile. For once, she actually had time to do stuff.
(Two days later)
Ringo kicked a can at the alleyway, scaring some nearby mice as it smashed into the wall. "Was it this time? Am I an hour early?" She honestly couldn't remember but she set aside the whole day for it. A loud hissing sound from the trash barrels let her know she was correct. "I am impresssssed by your punctuality." A giant snake, about the size of a rain filter, slithered out of the barrel and next to Ringo, staying at eye level.
Ringo took out a piece of chocolate she had got from the candy store. "Thanks. Better to be early than to be late."
The snake took the chocolate, wrapper and all, and devoured it in one bite. He hissed out a thank you before curling on the floor in a circle, creating a black void in the space. "Thankssss. Now jump in. Don't want to keep the lady waiting."
Ringo snickered and did as she was told, jumping into the void and falling onto a yellowish road leading to a table on a hill. The Prince was not in sight and she figured he stayed behind. Ringo ran up the hill to see Amitie and Arle chowing down on some mini sandwiches that looked like Arle's recipe.
"Rimpho!" Amitie tried to say through a mouth full of food. "Comf sit!"
Ringo chuckled before taking her seat. There seemed to be a limitless supply of food as when one was taken, it would be replaced. "Arle's magic. Lucky." Ringo thought as she grabbed a ham and cheese sandwich. "Hey you two! It's great to see you again! Especially when we aren't under threat of world annihilation."
Amitie finished her food this time. "Yeah! I've seen Arle around but not you! How's it been? Is school fun? I really want to try out your version of school! You make math sound like so much fun!" Ringo decided not to spoil her fantasy with the harsh reality that not many saw the subject that way.
Arle kicked her feet on the legs of her chair, drinking whatever weird, purple juice she had. "Yeah Ringo! What's it been like in the non-magic world?"
"Same old same old. What about you two?" Ringo asked.
Amitie looked up to the clouds, thinking deeply. "Well, Sig and Raffina entered a raffle. Whoever wins gets to have a year's supply of Lemres's candy. I got chased by a strange skeleton and that's about it." Though it sounded chaotic, Amitie seemed to see it as boring.
"Aside from the Dark prince acting weirder than usual? Nothing. Witch baked me a good potion though. It made everything taste like oranges."
"How has he been acting strange?" Ringo asked, feeling a rock fall down her throat and into her stomach.
Arle leaned back, twirling her fingers. "He's just been acting differently. He hasn't sought me out, been annoying and when I asked him to do something to help me, he didn't seem to mind. He also didn't ask for anything in return. I don't know, it's just weird but oddly calming. I hope he stays this way."
Well that was a relief. So the Prince wasn't lying to Ringo about Arle's thoughts on him. "Well that's good, isn't it?"
Arle nodded. "Yep! You guys have no idea how nice it is to have a guy like that off your back!"
"Yeah, if only." Ringo could only think of a dumb blob of annoyance. Though Ecolo did have his nice side. "So you two have been having fun?"
They nodded and Amitie checked where the sun was before yelping out in surprise. "Eeck! I have to make it back to school before lunch is over! Thanks for the great time Arle and great to see you again Ringo!" She said, giving both of them a hug and running off. Ringo and Arle laughed before shaking hands.
"I should probably go too. It's been awhile since I got here. Time sure does fly by." Ringo said. She headed back down the hill and stared at a dark void portal. She rolled her eyes. "You could say hi." She said, laughing to herself as she walked through. She entered her room, deciding to try and make a video for Tee again to pass the time…except the tape wasn't there. Scratch that, NOTHING was there! All of the tapes, letters and doodles…all of it gone. No trace of it left. "I just misplaced them." She tried to reassure herself but she knew it was a lie. It was right there and now it was gone. All of her effort, wasted. She felt her body clench up, doing her best not to cry until she turned to slam her head on the bed, wanting to wish it was all a bad dream. Was it Ecolo? No, he wouldn't. Maybe she never made them at all…the universe could be trying to keep the worlds in balance by removing everything she made for the one person seh truly wanted to see. It didn't matter. None of it did anymore. She was finally ready to give up. She stopped herself when she saw a strange set of items on her bed. Letters, tapes, drawings but none of it in her handwriting.
She picked up the closest letter, addressed to her. It had a T block as the seal. She carefully opened it, not wanting to harm the letter inside in any way. She held it like a precious heirloom before reading it.
"To-Ringo Ando
From-Tee…Um, I don't have a last name but I hope that doesn't matter
Ringo! Um, how's it going? Geez I feel stupid writing this…Ok, so you know how we aren't supposed to remember eachother mentally? Well I can't do that. I mean, I didn't TRY to forget you but everyone else, even O, has forgotten both adventures but I can still see them so clearly in my head. This is only my first attempt at writing this and even if I could send it to you I wouldn't dare. It's so cheesy already and I haven't even gotten to the fun stuff yet. I'll try again in a different letter."
He didn't forget. This was Tee writing, and he wrote exactly how he spoke. She could practically HEAR his captain of a spaceship voice. She grabbed a tape and quickly shoved it into her TV, staring at it with intensity. The video was short and only consisted of Tee trying to set up a puyo chain, seeming to favor the red Puyo's for an odd reason. He made a nice eight chain before the video ran out of footage. She ran through some cute drawings of Puyo's and apples together, more letters detailing reports for the day and tapes that she assumed were parts of the ship.
"Hey Ringo, Ess said she had a strange dream about hosting a pageant with a fish! That could only remind me of Maguro and I just wanted to write this before I forgot! DId Maguro dream about Ess by any chance? That would be hilarious!"
They were all goofy and heartfelt, making Ringo feel the small hole she never noticed in her stomach begin to fill. It wasn't like seeing him in person, but he hadn't forgotten about her, and that was all that mattered.
"So? Did Arle say anything about my wonderful change in-HEY wha-?" Ringo had already leaped from her bed and clung to the ruler of the Puyo underworld. She wrapped her arms around him and felt her tears run down her cheek onto his dark green cloak. He didn't seem to mention it nervously patted her shoulder, clearly not knowing what to do about the girl bawling her eyes out in front of him. "Um, there there? Did something happen?" He didn't sound entirely concerned, more so just confused.
She pulled away and wiped the tears from her eyes, pointing to the stuff from Tee on her bed. "Y-you sent these here? And sent my stuff to him?" She muttered through heated breath.
The Dark prince shrugged. "Yeah? Arle said something about how it's good to return favors so I figured I owed you a couple. I didn't think you'd take it this way though. Wait, you ARE crying because you're happy, right?" He asked for clarification.
Ringo burst out laughing at this, sitting back down on the bed and holding a (Rather poorly drawn if she was being honest) picture of her and Tee. "Yeah, I am. Thank you, Dark prince. Thank you so much." She said, smiling up at him.
"Yes, well…I can't exactly cross dimensions like that very often so this is a rare occasion." He muttered but he couldn't hide his satisfied smile. "Um, well I'll leave you to that boys stuff. I expect he's probably reading some of yours. We can talk some other time." He said before taking his leave.
Ringo rubbed some tears from her eyes as she sat back to watch Tee's videos. She found herself pondering on the Prince's words. She remembered the first time he called her down and dreading it but now? As long as she had an idea of when he was going to show up, he wasn't that bad. He was no Maguro, Amitie, Arle and definitely not Tee, but he was someone she wouldn't mind calling a friend.