So far it had been uneventful on his side of the maze while he watched her progress. From what he could hear, she was struggling with trying to send a ball to a colored flag. If he were sitting on a chair, he would be on the edge of it as he saw her make her first hit. It traveled quite a ways, but from the slowing descent he could see it wasn't quite there. She likely intended to hit it to the other side in one go; ambitious but well worth it if it succeeded. It seemed the force didn't carry it as far as she wanted, and it fell a few meters short of her goal. Then, to his dismay he saw it continue to move…back towards the beginning! Shiloh was clearly not happy with this, dashing ahead with the metal stick in hand. "Hurry, it's rolling faster! Oh…she can't hear me." It was easy for forget that though he could see and hear everything she was doing, it didn't work the other way around.
A sense of relief washed over him when she finally stopped it, and a sigh escaped him. It was hard to watch her be so upset. He understood how frustrated she would be to have to start from the very beginning. With a much more successful second shot she had it on level ground. She spent a few minutes around the flag, trying to adjust her force to send the ball into the hole. The telltale 'clunk' told him she had succeeded, and he was waiting for the path on his end to open up. But…nothing happened. "A door? What am I supposed to with this?" Shiloh's voice caught his attention again, and he knelt to the ground to take a closer look. On her side there was a door, with four colored circles on it. He didn't remember seeing anything with those colors anywhere, but if they both were stuck then what could he do?
The panel! It had nearly slipped his mind. He had refrained from touching it as he observed his friend's progress, so much that it had been overlooked. There were four buttons, but all the same color. This was probably the last step then, seeing nothing else around that would bear any connection. Hesitantly, he pressed them all in order. Each one lit up with a color before dimming again: white, purple, red, black. "The colors were in a rhombus pattern, if I recall. White and red going vertical from top to bottom, and black to purple horizontally. I don't see any other hints, so I'd best try them in the order they appear."
The first combination he entered was white, purple, red, black. Nothing happened. Then he tried white, black, red, purple. Again, silence. "How about red, black, white, purple? No…then red, purple, white, black?" He decided to try things crosswise. Red, white, black purple. Nothing. Red, white, purple, black. No response. White, red, purple, black? Running out of options, he attempted another variation. White, red, black, purple. A rumbling began to shake the maze, and he grasped at the pedestal with the four buttons as he tried to hold onto something stable. "Was that it? Did I find the correct answer?" The way before him opened, and his worry turned into a smile. "The way is open! I'm sure that means the same will happen for her too." The puzzle wasn't particularly difficult, but he had a feeling that they wouldn't remain so simple as time went by. They both progressed to the third area.