The Bottomless Pit! (Part 2)
(Back To Present Time…)
"I spy with my little eye, something that is... black!" Mabel said, looking around the bottomless pit.
"Oh, oh!" Ria raised her hand, "Everything!"
"Yay for Ria!" Mabel cheered. "Remind me to give you a sticker when we get out of this."
"Hey guys, who wants to pass the time by spinning?" Heather asked. She started spinning upside down.
"No," Ford said. Stan started to spin Ford. "WOAH!"
Stan laughed as he ran on top of Ford, rolling him like a log.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" Ford said.
"Ford's pain is funny, but I'm starting to get bored," Stan said, floating off of Ford. "Ria, tell a story."
"Really? Ok," Ria said as Ford floated behind them. "This story is called 'Ria's Really Great Pinball Story.' Is that a good title? Does it have to be a pun or whatever?"
(Three Days Before…)
Ria, Fids, Stan, and Heather were standing by a pinball machine. Ria was at the controls, while the younger kids watched. They cheered her on as she played the game.
"This is it." Ria said. "After four long years of trying, I might finally beat the high scores on Miss Pines' creepy old pinball game. If I do this, I might finally go down in history with the likes of Sal, Gaff, and of course, Poo."
She pointed to each of the names on the game.
"Have ya ever thought about just, I dunno, tiltin' the machine?" Stan asked.
"But isn't that against the rules?" Ria frowned.
"Screw the rules! Tilt, tilt, tilt!" Heather chanted. Ria lost the pinball game when the ball rolled through the fins.
"Failure, you stink!" The pinball skull said.
"Alright, that's it," Ria said. "Are you ready kids?"
"Aye aye captain!" Heather said. Stan and Fids stood on either side of the machine.
"Tilt tilt tilt tilt!" The two kids chanted. They rocked the machine back and forth.
"Quit tiltin', partner!" The skull said. "Quit tiltin'!"
"Tilt!" Ria yelled, tilting the machine up. The ball rolled into the skull's open mouth, scoring Ria the high score.
"Bullseye!" The skull announced. "New high score!"
"This is the best moment of my life," Ria smiled. "This totally beats my old best moment."
"Well, that ain't right," the skull said. "You cheated!"
"Wha- that thing's alive?" Ford, who had been reading a book nearby looked up in awe. His eyes widened.
"Or at least self-aware." Fids added.
"Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do about it?" Heather asked the game. "You're just a pinball game, pinball game. Taunt, taunt."
"Uh, fellas?" Fids said nervously. "There's an awful lot 'a green lightnin' comin' from the game..."
"No, that's the normal amount of green lightning," Ria said, then the lightning struck them.
Ria woke up in the game, wearing old western clothes. She groaned, hitting the buzzer beside her.
"Five more minutes," she said, then sat up. "Woah, you're not a normal alarm clock."
"Ria! We're inside the game!" Heather said. She, Stan, Ford, and Fids ran up to Ria, all dressed in old western clothes.
"Sweet banjo polish," Fids gasped.
"Hushed exclamation of wonder," Ria whispered.
"Awesome!" Heather laughed. The friends started running around and playing.
"If this is a dream, I never want to wake up!" Ria said.
"That can be arranged," the skull said. "Welcome to Tumbleweed Terror, partner!"
"Hey, it's the skeleton cowboy guy," Ria said. "Did you zap me into your game to congratulate me on getting the high score? I even beat Poo!"
"Hardly, and if'n I do recall, I did warn yall not to cheat," the machine said. "I tried to be gentleman-like, but I'm plum sick of being tilted. So, now I reckon, I'm gonna tilt you."
Fids and Heather gasped, clinging on to each other in fear.
"You can't do that!" Stan shouted.
"I just want to go on record and state that I was an innocent bystander in all of this." Ford pointed out.
"Traitor!" Heather shouted.
"Bystanders are worse." The Skull said. "What did you do? NOTING!"
"Oh yeah? Well, take this!' Ria yelled. She punched a button, but her fist bounced back to hit herself in the eye. "Ow! And this!" She did it again with the same results. "Ow, it hurts! I wish this was working better."
She punched the button one more time, and once again it came back to punch herself in the face. She fell backwards to the ground.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results," Fids said.
"Oh, that's why people think I'm crazy." Stan realized out loud.
"Ria!" Ford rushed over to her.
The skull laughed. "Get yourselves ready for the..." the words 'MULTI-BALL' appeared on a screen.
"Multi-ball!" They gasped. Five pinballs rolled out of the skull's mouth, chasing after the kids and Ria. The skull laughed again.
"Quick, over there!" Fids said. They ran over to the area behind the cardboard wall.
"Where'd ya go?" The skull said. "I'm not done teaching you a lesson about cheating, yet!"
"How are we gonna get out of here?" Fids asked.
"Think, guys!" Ford ordered.
"I'm trying," Ria said. "But it's hard with that handsome pinball bartender distracting me." She waved to a cutout of a male bartender.
"Ria focus." Heather urged.
"Right…Okay." Ria pulled herself together. "Don't worry, guys, I know every inch of this machine. There's a manual power switch inside. I can sneak in there and turn off the game. But we'll have to distract the cowboy guy. Are either of you good at jumping up and down and making annoying noises?"
Heather stood up, her hair ruffling in a breeze. "My time has come," she said.
"Alright, let's go, Ria," Fids said. "Ria?"
"So, are you, like, doing anything later?" Ria was talking to the cutout. Fids walked over and spun the bartender.
"Right." Ria remembered before leading the way.
"Come on out and show yourselves, varmints!" The skull yelled.
"Hey, over here!" Heather shouted, catching the skull's attention. She was jumping up and down on a buzzer. "Look at me! Watch this!"
She started dancing and blowing raspberries. Stan did the same on the opposite buzzer.
"Something ain't right here," the machine mused. "Let me see where this is going."
While Heather and Stan were distracting the skull, Ria, Fids, and Ford climbed into a minecart. It rolled down the track, leading to the inside of the game.
The skull was laughing, watching the kids.
"Yippee ti yi what?" He said, noticing that a few of the humans were missing. "Where'd ya go?" He tried to turn his head. "Darnit, I wish I had a neck."
Heather and Stan escaped to find the others, pulling out a screw from the floor they see their friends below. Ria was looking at a big green button.
"Guys what's taking so long?" Stan asked fearfully.
"Ria won't do it." Fids exclaimed quietly.
"What're you doin'? Just press the button!" Heather urged.
"Ok, so, I was going to do that," Ria began, "but I've been thinking. According to this, turning off the machine erases the scores permanently. That high score is like, my one big life accomplishment." She pointed to a warning sign.
"What?! If you don't press that button, we could die in here!" Heather cried; her voice was higher than usual.
"Fair point," Ria nodded. "But what is life anyway, when compared to the immortality of a high score?"
Ria, are you out of your mind?" Ford began to lecture.
"There y'all are," the skull said. "Get ready to meet your maker, kids. My maker is Ballway Games in Redmond, Washington."
The skull took a deep breath, pulling the kids towards him. They clawed at the ground, trying to hold on.
"Ria!" Heather yelled.
"Ria, please!" Stan cried. "Turn it off!"
"Uhhh," Ria bit her lip.
"What's more important than friendship?" Ford asked her.
Her eyes narrowed. "Nothing! Goodbye, high score!" She pressed the button. The high scores disappeared one by one, and Ria and the kids appeared back to normal, outside the game.
"Woah! Are you kids alright?" Ria asked the young teens.
"Yeah! You did it! You freed us!" Heather cheered, hugging Ria.
"Sorry about yer high score, Ria," Fids said.
"Yeah, I know it meant a lot to you." Ford added.
"Aw, it's ok," Ria said. "I've got a new life accomplishment now. Saving you."
Fids smiled, joining the hug.
"Still four years of work down the drain." Stan whistled. "No offense but I'm glad I'm not you right now."
"It's alright." Ria said. "Got plenty more time, and this time I'll do it right."
Everyone looked at her like she was crazy, and she must have been to want to touch that game again.
Ria's eyes widen. "You think that pinball bartender will call me?"
-To Be Continued