Ringo didn't know Austin was involved, but even if he did, he wouldn't find it strange.
Each BGA from the Shattered Stellar Ring possesses an eccentric personality.
Ames is headstrong, Heber is authoritarian, Psyker reeks of nepotism and Austin... well, he's a gossipy neighbor who looks at your house over the fence.
If something big is about to happen and Austin knows about it, he'll show up just to watch it in person.
Sure, he's not stupid and generally stays away from problematic things that could affect him, but aside from that, he really enjoys observing interesting things.
At this point, he and Aesop get along very well, so they quickly become friends, drinking and chatting animatedly.
But soon Ringo arrived, his ship landing on the planet Horizon E11, a technological planet that, ironically, is owned by Manison, used as a processing center and also a great vacation spot.
It wasn't strange for Manison to have a planet on that side of the galaxy, after all, the Shattered Star Ring is technically under the control of the Federation of Light, the universal organization to which Manison is affiliated.
Not only Manison, but most of the BGAs of the Federation of Light possessed planets in the Shattered Star Ring.
But that wasn't the point, the point is that Aesop chose that planet for a reason. Ames couldn't be willful there and act forcefully, if she did, she would be provoking Manison.
Aesop knew Ames well enough to know that she would be able to weigh the pros and cons, he had also predicted that she wouldn't act forcefully, or he wouldn't have chosen that planet, after all, he didn't want to hurt Ames.
Of course, that was before Ames disappeared from his visions, now he could only hope for the best. With Austin's help, nothing should go wrong, right?
In any case, Ringo's clone landed, looking around, ready to start following the trail left by Aesop.
But meanwhile, Ames, still in the Hidden Nightmare state, began to follow their plan.
First they started from the top down, using a map of the planet, they managed to pinpoint three possible cities. The cities were quite far apart from each other, indicating that Aesop could teleport if necessary.
He was probably in one of those cities and would likely teleport to one of the other two.
They drew a few more names and managed to point to one of the cities, the city was called Whitelight.
After that, they divided the city map into 60 sectors, quickly finding a common point, the chosen sector was located in the eastern district, a commercial zone.
Finally, they listed all the public places and added a "none" option, drawing lots again. After drawing lots several times, one name had the highest number of repetitions.
Whitelight Shopping Center, the tallest building in the city of Whitelight, a smile spread across Ames's face as soon as she saw it.
Ames wanted to run there immediately, but Ringo stopped her. He made Ames mark all 110 floors, and they started trying their luck. When they saw that he was on the penthouse floor, their lips trembled, but this also raised Ringo's suspicions.
How did Aesop manage to stay in the spotlight? Not that he lacked influence, but his influence was very sparse, he had been out of the public eye for so long that only a few old men remembered him.
But Ringo thought that, like Manison, Aesop was part of the Ancient Ones, perhaps he had asked him for a favor?
Who knows?
In any case, he explained his points to Ames, but Ames didn't care about that at all now, she wasn't sure if their luck would work, but at that point, she just wanted to run to Aesop.
Ringo didn't stop her this time, so Ames, still atop the Hidden Nightmare, sped through the sky.
It took her less than 5 seconds to reach her destination, crossing half the planet to do so.
Ringo watched as Ames slowly descended to the top of the building, her energy now fully active and fixed at that point, the space had become so cramped that any portal opening would be prevented.
But the next moment, Ames's energy shattered as a diminutive figure emerged from the hotel with surprised eyes. -Ames, what are you doing here?
-Austin!- Ames said, her face turning serious, her desire to find Aesop intensifying into a growing malice. -Where is Aesop?!
Ames didn't know why Austin was there, but if he had done something to Aesop... Ames might really go crazy this time.
Austin had an exasperated face with a wry smile, it seemed Ames had misunderstood. Besides, she found them way too quickly! How did she do that?!
Austin turned to look into the room and waved his hand, Aesop, who was protected by Austin's magic and undetected by Ames, was forcibly removed.
He glared at Austin, but Austin's expression was exasperated. -Hey, buddy, sorry, but your daughter looks like she's going to want to start a fight with me if she doesn't see you quickly. I have no interest in destroying that guy's planet, I can't handle his anger.
Aesop scoffed slightly, but he wasn't really angry, he knew perfectly well that Austin was right. Even so, he would write it down, in the future, he needed to "get his revenge".
Ames finally lost her malice, instead looking at Aesop with boundless emotion, a smile slowly growing on her lips as Aesop smiled too, but his smile resembled that of a father who went to buy milk and was found years later by his daughter who had a "gentle" smile on her face and a knife in her hand.
Aesop just wanted to run now, but he knew it was pointless, so he sighed. What will be, will be. Right now, he was just curious because he hadn't been able to see Ames. Besides, how had they found him so quickly? None of the traps he set were triggered! It didn't make sense!