[center][h3] Michael and Franklin [/h3]
Level 4- (22/40) EXP / Level 3- (16/30) EXP (+2 EXP)
Location: Forest Temple
Wordcount: 1227
A collab with: [@Lugubrious] [/center]
[hr]
The pink brazier indicated a straightforward hallway that led Michael and Franklin to fanciful door. Pushing it open revealed a small chamber, compared to the one they’d encountered before, with a royal palette. Vivid wooden walls gave way to brilliant purple curtains surrounding stained glass windows, through which beamed impossible sunlight. Their shoes tread across plush red carpet as their feet brought them to the far wall.

That wall played host to some sort of extravagant ball game. A number of colorful pegs were arrayed across a colorful background depicting scenic countryside. Above and below the field of pegs were two machines: the one at the top looked like some sort of dispenser, complete with miniature cannon, and the bucket apparatus at the bottom slid from left to right and back again. To the field’s right extended a sort of scoring system. Depicted in the top notch of the scoring system was another painting. The left, meanwhile, displayed a number of available balls, as well as a strange-looking unicorn behind the glass.

In front of the game, a single terminal rose from the floor. It sported just one stick, movable left and right only, and one button. 

[hider=Puzzle][img]https://www.windowscentral.com/sites/wpcentral.com/files/styles/w830/public/field/image/2017/11/peggle-2-bjorn.jpg?itok=Dr57eZcY[/img][/hider]

The two took several moments to observe their next puzzle. The room they were in was certainly fancy, and a stark contrast to the nearly empty room that the last puzzle took place in. The newest puzzle appeared to be some sort of ball game, although how it was meant to be completed was unknown to them. [color=00aeef]"Huh...it reminds me of pinball, sort of."[/color] Michael said, scratching his chin as he looked it over.

[color=39b54a]"Yeah, a little bit."[/color] Franklin squinted his eyes at the puzzle. Soon after they entered, a terminal rose from the floor with what had to be the controls to the puzzle. Looking around the room to make sure there was nothing he was missing, Franklin walked towards the terminal. [color=39b54a]"Looks easy enough."[/color] He turned back to Michael. [color=39b54a]"Well, you got the last one, so I'll get this one."[/color]

Michael shrugged. [color=00aeef]"Works for me."[/color]

Turning back to the game, Franklin grabbed the stick, moving it back and forth a bit to test it. It seemed to move the angle of the cannon, and trying to move it forward proved impossible. With no clue as to how the game was meant to be played, he decided to do what seemed to be the best option. Moving the cannon to the left, he pointed it straight down, and pressed the button.

The cannon launched a ball straightaway, firing the pearl-like sphere downward. When it struck a blue peg the ball bounced, destroying the peg in the process. It continued to bounced around, off the walls and other pegs, eliminating each one. Striking a blue one didn’t seem to do much, but when the ball hit a singular orange peg, it burst in a shower of sparkles and one of the lights on the right-side gauge lit up. A few seconds later, the ball disappeared through the bottom of the machine, not falling into the bucket. A low tone sounded out from the mechanism, and one of the balls on the left-side gauge went dark.


Franklin frowned as the ball disappeared, seemingly not accomplishing much. He still wasn't sure what the goal of the game was, but a few of the rules had been cleared up- striking the blue ones didn't do anything, but hitting orange ones seemed to be the right thing to do. There was also the matter of the bucket at the bottom of the stage, which, if he had to guess what would happen if he landed a ball in it, would either result in him winning the game or getting a lot of points. Either way, he assumed it would be a good outcome. With that in mind, Franklin angled the cannon towards the right side of the stage, and once the bucket started approaching, pushed the button.

The aimed shot bounced off the right wall without hitting any pegs and dropped neatly into the bucket. No points were added, and nor was the gauge on the right filled, but a glowing message appeared reading, ‘Free Ball!’ Sure enough, the count of balls on the left side didn’t go down. 

[color=39b54a]"Huh."[/color] His theory was partly correct- it was something good, but it didn't win the game for him. Still, it was something to keep in mind. The only way he could see to win the game so far was to hit all the orange circles. While a few of them were seemingly out of reach of the cannon, he had an idea. Angling the cannon towards the right side once more, he aimed at one of the blue circles and fired, hoping to bounce the cannonball off it to hit the orange circles.

The man’s solid idea went into play, and a moment after it fired the ball pinged off the blue target. Its trajectory after that, however, was luck of the draw. It arced lazily over to narrowly miss the orange Franklin hoped for, bounced off two blues in quick succession, and clocked another blue and orange before hitting the wall and falling out the bottom.

Franklin frowned as he watched the ball fall off the stage. [color=39b54a][i]At least I got one...[/i][/color] While the outcome wasn't what he had been hoping for, he now knew what he had to do. Taking a few moments to mentally plot out the likely trajectories of the ball, he began to angle the cannon. Over the span of about a minute, he fired off a multitude of projectiles, spread across every side of the stage. He attempted to maximize the amount of orange circles that he could hit with every ball, firing most of his projectiles off in an attempt to finish the puzzle for good.

With each attempt, he honed his aim. One after another, he struck the orange pegs and steadily filled up the right-hand gauge. Three times, twice on purpose and once by sheer luck, Franklin got the ball into the basket, and it saved his bacon. With the free ball granted by the last decisive score, he aimed the cannon and let loose at the final peg, exposed by its neighboring blues taken out by prior attempts. The game slowed down as the ball grew close, threatening to miss by a hair, but the marble struck home. Instantly rainbows filled the game, flashing along the sides and trailing behind the ball as it continued to bounce, and triumphant music resounded. 

After the confetti stopped flying, a slot opened up in the bottom of the machine, like in a crane game. Into the tray plopped a painting of the game’s goofy-looking unicorn, a memento of the anachronistic carnival game and a testament to Franklin’s victory.

Michael, who had been watching with passive interest for the most part, jumped back slightly as the music began to play. [color=00aeef]"Ahh! What the hell?"[/color]

Franklin let out a chuckle at Michael's surprise, grinning as rainbows filled the stage. [color=39b54a]"Now that's what victory sounds like."[/color] As the tray opened up, he reached down to grab the painting, holding it up to inspect it. [color=39b54a]"That's one more painting. Guess we're almost done."[/color]

[color=00aeef]"Well, if the kid got the others...then yeah, we're almost done. Let's put it with the others for now.[/color]