Pinball'd
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. All characters are my own.
Ping! Ping! Ping!
Hard rock music blasted from the pinball machine as the smirking young man sent the small silver ball flying into the bumpers. The smell of pizza being made wafted through the air of the pizzeria.
"Yeah! I got the high score, baby! Again!" Ron Ritchie grinned, his sandy blond hair falling over his eyes. He quickly paused to brush his hair out, but continued playing.
"Hey come on, Ritchie!" A young boy whined. "Let us play!"
"Yeah, there's one pinball machine here, man!" Another boy exclaimed. "Let us have a turn!"
Ritchie continued playing, his scowl the only indicating he was acknowledging the boys. Ugh, Don and Dan, the Reynolds twins. They're always so annoying. "Back off, ya brats! I'm gonna beat the high score!"
"You've been on that thing for an hour!"
"And I'll be on this table for as many hours as it takes to beat that high score!" Ritchie snapped. "Go play something else!"
"It's the only table here!" The boy exclaimed. "This isn't fair! We'll tell the manager!"
"Like he'll listen to you!" Ritchie snorted. His distraction caused him to lose his ball. "GAH!" He yelped when the little screen on the backboard said "GAME OVER". He angrily whirled on the young boy. "You little brat! Look what you did!"
"Ron, knock it off!" A female voice snapped at him. Ritchie turned his head and saw a young black woman staring at him with a frown on her face. Her hair was in beaded braids. She wore a red polo shirt with "Angus's Pizza" written on it in white lettering, and a pair of blue jeans, covered by a white apron. She tapped her sneaker-covered foot. "You've been hogging that machine for the past three hours."
"Aw come on, Shanice..." Ron groaned. "I nearly finally beat the high score!"
Shanice rolled her eyes, the beads crackling with the movements of her head. "Ron, get out." She jerked her thumb at the door. "Let the kids play with the machine."
"Shanice, I have to practice. I'll never be a champion pinballer if I don't get to practice."
"There's no tournaments going around here, and they got pinball video games. Go home."
"Fine." Ritchie grunted and stormed out, muttering under his breath. Shanice and the boys watched him leave. The young woman then turned to the boys with a smile on her face.
"Here you go, kids." She pulled some quarters out of her pocket and gave them to them. "On the house. An apology for him."
"Thank you." The boys thanked in unison, then went to play on the pinball machine. Meanwhile, Ron had left the pizza place.
"They're lucky that the pizza here is good and cheap..." Ritchie muttered. He walked down the street. The young man noticed that the sun was going down.
Why's it going down so fast...oh right, it's fall. Days're getting shorter. He continued on his way. He was long used to the way his little town in upstate New York seemed to completely go dormant in the evenings. He sighed and kicked a can that was left on the sidewalk. "If I had my own pinball machine, I could practice. Sure, video games are good, but it's not the same."
Throughout his whole life, Ron Ritchie had been a pinball fanatic. Ever since the age of six, when his parents let him play in a mall's small arcade. He had found an old pinball table there. Star Trek: The Next Generation. The table was over 25 years old, but it awed the boy's young mind.
He would eventually learn of PAPA, the Professional and Amateur Pinball Association. It became his dream to win the World Pinball Championship. But it was hard to achieve such dreams in this small town. He managed to make it to his home, a mid-sized house covered in blue vinyl siding.
"Friggin' Reynolds boys..." He grumbled as he waked towards the house, only to knock into a woman.
"Ack!" She yelped as she fell to the ground.
"Ah, geez!" Ritchie gasped. "Sorry about that!" Where'd this woman come from?!
"It's alright." The woman smiled as Ritchie helped her up. "I wasn't paying attention."
"I guess I wasn't, either." The blond man smiled. "You alright?"
"I'm fine, thanks." The woman assured. "Does something trouble you? You look a bit distracted."
"Yeah, just thinking about those bratty Reynolds boys." The man answered. "They wrecked my pinball practice."
"Ah, I see." The woman nodded. "Well, maybe you shouldn't hog the table."
"Yeah, but..." Ritchie shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "I can't afford a real pinball table, and the one in the pizza place is the only table in town. I want to be a real-life Pinball Wizard, and I need the practice."
"Well, that doesn't mean you should be selfish with the table." The woman advised.
"Yeah, yeah." Ritchie waved it off. "You sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine, thank you." The woman said. "You have a good night."
"Uh, thanks." Ritchie walked into his house. Unbeknownst to him, the woman watched him go inside, with an amused look on her face.
Boy should learn to share... Her eyes started to glow a sickly green...
The night was a quiet one for Ron Ritchie. He made himself some dinner, and put on a movie. Gremlins 2 was a personal favorite film of his, and since Halloween was coming up, he thought it was a good film to get into the season. Afterwards, he went to bed. Curled up under his warm covers, he dreamed his dreams of pinball glory. In the night, a wispy green cloud started to form over him and cover him...
"Uhn..." Ritchie groaned as he held his head. "I swear I didn't drink last night..." He felt something odd under him. "Wha-? This isn't my bed..." He tried to get up, but bonked his head on something. "Where...where am I?" He felt around. "What's going on?!" He saw that he was surrounded by darkness. "Where am I?!" He continued feeling around, and found he was inside a sphere. "What is this?! Shanice?! SHANICE?! Is this one of your pranks?! This isn't funny, girl! Come on!" He banged on the sphere's walls. "Come on! Let me out of here!"
"Hey, let's play some pinball!" A voice yelled. The young man recognized it. It was Don Reynolds.
"Yeah, that jerk Ron isn't here!" Ritchie heard Dan Reynolds say. "We can finally play at this table!"
"Huh?" Ritchie blinked in confusion. "Uh, guys? I'm right here! What's going on?" He heard the sound of a plunger being pulled. "What?"
WHAM!
"GAH!" Ritchie yelped as he felt himself get knocked by the plunger. "WHOAAAAAA!" His eyes widened as he realized what he was seeing. "Oh, no..."
Ping! Ping! Ping!
"WAH! HEY! OW!" Ritchie yelped and screamed as he got battered around in the pinball as it bounced around on the table. "What's going on?! Help me! AGH!"
Don happily played the pinball game. He glanced at his twin brother. "Hey Dan!"
"Yeah, Don?"
"It's kind of nice not having that Ritchie jerk hogging this table."
"Yeah, it is."
A grin spread on Dan's face. "Hey, Don! You wanna se if I can bet Ritchie's high score?"
"Heck yeah!" Dan laughed. Dan chuckled and continued playing. "Man, I wish I could see the look on Ritchie's face when he sees this..."
"AGH! OH MY FACE! HELP ME! GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Ritchie screamed as he got bounced around inside the pinball. "DON, WAIT! I'M IN HERE, YOU MORON!" Outside, the woman that Ritchie encountered last night smiled as she watched the boys play through the pizza place's window.
"Have a Happy Halloween, Ronald Ritchie..." She chortled as she walked away.
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