A Puzzle Unsolved: 2
Author's Notes:
A Puzzle Unsolved: Chapter 2: Holding on to the Past
"Oh, wake up already. I can't believe your capacity for sleeping through loud noises," Popo started, as he and all the other smashers that didn't make it to the next game weren't technically kicked out of the mansion. He was shaking Luke rather vigorously, until Ness finally came over and held a little fire by Luke. This finally woke the boy up. The smashers were grouped into rooms by age, or at least by children and adults. Gender didn't matter. Only age. It was four to a room. Except for Red. He and his Pokémon shared a room with Olimar. The other Pokémon were in another room. There were four floors that the smashers were staying in, with ten rooms each.
"You could've just opened the blinds, you know," Luke complained, making Ness face palm, as he had just walked in. "All it takes is the light to wake me up."
Popo groaned, thinking of how he didn't think to turn on a lamp. The ice climber had tried shaking, ice water, (Which was his specialty) whacking Luke with his hammer, and finally, a foghorn. The last one is what woke Ness up.
"How are the others still asleep?" Luke asked, moving to the closed curtain.
"No time, Luke. We need to get to breakfast now. We're late, and trust me, you do not want to miss out on the pancakes," Popo said, pushing Luke away from the window and out the door.
"Can't I at least get dressed?" Luke was still in his jammies, and he didn't want to leave that kind of an impression on the other smashers.
"No time, now let's go." Ness was grinning devilishly, as phase one of their prank had started. Luke could never solve that puzzle. He would never be able to get out of that pitfall by the time the others got up. He hid the grin at the masterfully planned prank as Luke looked over for some sign as to what was going on. Ness made sure it looked like he was already leaving so Luke wouldn't get suspicious. It was a good thing that they had discussed their plan before trying to wake Luke up.
Popo pushed Luke out the door, and took his hand and started running down the hall. Luke barely had time to get his satchel before the sudden departure. He noted the dark windows. It was clearly nighttime. Luke started analyzing the situation.
"I didn't know the windows were so shaded. They really don't provide any light," Luke said, suddenly jerking to the right, as Popo started slowing down. Popo fell into the floor, and Ness looked flabbergasted, as no one had ever seen through one of their pranks.
"Wh- Wh- Wha- H- How c-could you possibly know?" Ness was shocked, and his voice hid nothing.
"I was awake during your whole discussion. I just used convenient puzzles I had on the top of my mind to make sure I didn't react," Luke thought about what he had just said, and realized how different he was without the Professor's advice. He was a lot less gentlemanly, and that bothered him. He doubted the Professor would approve. He sighed, "Everything is so different now. I can't stop striving to be the gentleman that the Professor thought I was meant to be," he said louder than he meant to. He started moving to help Popo out of the hole.
"Well, that's certainly a start," Popo said, as he got out of the hole.
"You know what, let's just go back to bed."
"Good idea."
"Good night… again."
What the trio didn't notice, however, was that the puzzle that Popo didn't solve, the puzzle that was meant for Luke to solve in order for him to get out of the hole, disappeared into thin air.
"Whoa, did you guys feel that just now?" Luke asked the others when they had all woken up. Luke had also remembered to open the curtains before going back to sleep. When Luke woke up, he expected to feel something other than intrigued. Maybe euphoric, nervous. Heck, maybe even homesick. But definitely not intrigued. The young apprentice quickly put on his clothes after changing out of his pajamas. When he went over to the door to leave the room, he found it locked.
"Okay, very funny. Who locked the door? You're also locked inside, you know." Luke was now feeling frustrated, when the only response he received was the confusion dominating his room mates' faces.
"It must've been someone from the other side, 'cause we didn't do it. Well, I didn't, anyway." Popo's voice sounded both innocent and confused at the same time.
"Wait, is this a puzzle," Luke saw the object that he was so used to: A puzzle. It was shaped like a tablet, and had the smash symbol engraved on it. "Wait, is it connected to a padlock? So one of you three did do it." He was getting increasingly irate by the minute.
"Wait, I think I know who did it, Luke. If I'm right, and I probably am, then it's your fault," Ness shouted excitedly, though if you listened carefully, the boy's voice was tinted with fear.
"And how could that be true?"
"You see, there was a puzzle that was connected to the pitfall that was meant for you. Since you pulled Popo out of the hole instead of someone solving the puzzle, it was contaminated by your presence. Now, the mansion is probably filled with puzzles. I'm guessing you will be the most directly affected by the infestation, which is probably for the best, since you should be used to solving puzzles to do simple things by now," Ness said, taking a big breath when he finished. "Sadly, we are also going to be affected since the puzzles are all over the place. I'm guessing we aren't the only ones trapped in our rooms."
"Wait, but wasn't it you guys who set up the puzzle in the first place? Couldn't Popo have solved the puzzle? Couldn't you have, oh, I don't know, warned Luke that this would happen if the puzzle he didn't know about was too close to him and went unsolved?" Nana was very upset at her brother's lack of insight, and how Ness tried to pin the blame on Luke. "So now thanks to you two, who knows what's happened to the others. There is no way that Luke is going to be the most affected, not if the whole mansion is filled with puzzles."
Luke sighed, and got to work on the locked door. He soon realized that he would need help with solving it, though, as the puzzle sprang into action. Literally. A spring shot out of the tablet and shot Luke into Ness.
"That'll be a problem. There doesn't even seem to be any puzzle contained in the puzzle."
"What?" The other three yelled at the same time.
"I think we can hit the puzzle off the door. Popo and Nana, can you two smack the spring with your hammers so it goes back into the door?"
"Got it," the two said at the same time.
They got ready, and when they got close enough, the spring shot out again. The duo timed their swings perfectly, and the spring hit the door, causing the puzzle to shoot out through the window.
"We did it. Okay, the door's unlocked now. We need to help the others get out of their rooms, probably."
"I'll get this floor. Ness, you go get the second floor. Popo, you get the third floor. Luke, you get the fourth floor. Everyone know what they're doing?" Nana asked the others, knowing that no one in the group really knew.
"Hopefully?" All four of them said that at the same time. Luke got his satchel, his hat, and his good luck stamp, which was a gift from Professor Layton. Popo and Nana got into their parkas, (It was a chilly morning) picked their hammers back up off of the little stand they had, and looked at each other, knowing what was to come. Ness got his bat, his hat, and put away his book of rhymes.
"Let's do this," they all whispered, wanting to avoid waking up any still asleep smashers. They hoped they could achieve their goal without anyone knowing what had happened.
Nana soon found out that Ness's hypothesis was correct, with great dismay at that. She was at Mario, Luigi, Pit, and Dark Pit's room, and found the door enveloped in some sort of black fire. It didn't appear to be moving, like any normal fire. But it was still hot as any other fire. Nana saw the tablet, and heard shuffling on the other side of the door. The room was in the middle of the hall, and still very dark.
"Who did this? Was it Bowser? He knows there are better ways to get revenge," Mario yelled.
"What do you guys have in there?" Nana yelled, hearing more shuffling.
"Who is that?" Dark Pit shouted.
"It's Nana."
"What do you want? We really aren't taking visitors at the moment, in case if you didn't notice."
"Is there anything on the door?"
"A black fire that appears to be frozen." Pit said, his voice barely audible, made a whisper from fear.
"Is there a tablet on the door?"
"How'd you know?"
"There's one on this side as well. Okay, I'm going to try throwing some ice at the fire."
"That'll work so much better than highly pressurized water," Luigi noted, sarcasm filling his voice.
When Nana threw the ice clump, it bounced off. A few moments later, the fire flickered when the ice was in the light.
"Can you guys open your curtains for me?" Nana asked them, thinking of a possible solution.
"We did, but something is blocking out the light, and we can't open the windows to remove whatever it is," Mario shouted.
"How about turning on a lamp?" Nana asked them.
"Can't."
"What is the brightest light source you guys have in there?"
"Our fire balls," The two twins said at the same time.
"Hold them by the fire."
"Eh, why not," Mario said, having nothing to lose.
The fire started dimishing, and the five smashers started rejoicing. Soon, however, the sound of a roaring fire was heard, and then Luigi screamed. The fire noises didn't stop, and soon came out on Nana's side of the door. She threw her ice at the fire, and extinguished it. The tablet came off of the door, and the Mario bros and Pits came out of the room.
"What's going on, anyway," Pit asked.
"No time to explain, but there are puzzles locking all the doors. We need to get all the tablets off the doors, and fast. Luigi, go to the fourth floor and help Luke with that floor. Mario, go to the third floor and help Popo. Pit, you go the second floor, and Dark Pit, stay here with me."
They all complied, not entirely sure what was going on.
Ness went up to the second floor, and found a lot of weird things on the doors. One was covered with weird goo. There wasn't any tablet to be found. He decided to start with that door. He heard a bunch of loud bangs, and figured Snake was probably using his grenades. And C4. And rocket launcher. Ness stood by the door, and tried to absorb the explosive energy to build up enough power to knock the door off its hinges. He built up more than enough energy to do so with any regular door, but not this one. It just shuddered as the goo held it in place.
"Need some help with that?" Pit asked him, startling the boy, which caused his hat to hit the goo, and it held fast.
"What just happened? Who stole my explosions? I demand an explanation. Are we at war again?" Snake was losing his composure rather quickly, which wasn't any surprise to the others.
"I did. Is there a tablet on your side of the door?" Ness asked, hoping that there wasn't, since that would make for a simple solution.
"Yeah, Ness. How'd you know?" Peach asked the psychic boy.
"It's become a common problem," Ness said, avoiding a direct answer. He didn't need to let anyone know that this was partially his fault.
"Who exactly is in there?" Ness asked the four occupants of the presently locked room.
"Me, Peach, Snake, and Doctor Mario," Someone said; it sounded a lot like Sonic.
"Do you guys know what this goo is?"
"It appears to absorb any organic materials, while moving to the side to absorb said materials. Meanwhile, it simply is sticky to any inorganic materials," Dr. Mario said, "we haven't figured out a way to get through it, though, as it just moves back once the material is absorbed."
"I think we'll need Luke's help for this one," Ness grumbled to himself. He had never known that puzzles could be so strange. The puzzle he had set out was not even close to this difficult. It shouldn't have caused all this, either. Ness had planned ahead for his prank to turn sideways.
Popo didn't like puzzles. He didn't like being away from Nana. He didn't like it when they had a major dispute. He didn't like that he was the major cause of it. He especially didn't like the inner turmoil that he was suffering at the hands of his own prank.
He got to the first door, and found it already unlocked. He slowly opened the door, and found another door. Typical. There was screaming, and Popo guessed the people on the other side of the door had found out about their predicament.
"What is this tablet? It keeps on going to the other side of the door before we can smack it," someone screamed, their voice very gruff, but slightly groggy. Bowser had just woken up.
Popo waited for it to come to his side, and smacked it. It went in to the second door. On the side facing the hallway when it was closed. Popo quickly smacked that side, causing the tablet to jump to the other side of the door, and get smashed in between the two doors. The outer door disappeared, much to Popo's relief. He waited for the door to open, and open it did. Out came Bowser, Ganondorf, Link, and Zelda.
"What just happened?" Ganondorf growled at the young ice climber.
"I'm not going to explain it yet. Wait until everyone is out of their rooms. Ganondorf, go help Luke on the fourth floor. Bowser, stay here, and help me. Link, go down to the second floor and help Ness. Zelda, go to the bottom floor and help Nana. Okay, everyone?" Popo wasn't taking "no" for an answer. Bowser and Ganondorf still provided said non-answer, though. Ganondorf just didn't feel like the walk upstairs. Bowser just didn't feel like the walk through the hall. They soon agreed, however, when they realized the only chance of an explanation was if they complied.
Luke was already done with half the doors. He decided he didn't need the help from most of the other smashers. He soon came to Red and Olimar's room. He saw what looked to be a triforce on the door, with a tablet in the empty triangle. He thought of calling for Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf, but remembered three lanterns from Miracle Mask that were supposed to be a reference to the triforce. He quickly thought them up, and placed the lanterns in the respective spots. The door opened, and Charizard tackled Luke, having meant to attack the door.
"Oops," Charizard and Red said at the same time.
"I'm okay." Luke quickly said, getting up and brushing off some of the dust that had gotten on him. On to the next door.
Nana and Popo had finished with their floors, and went down to help Ness, as he had been calling out for help. Pit had tried to tell the young boy to focus, but Ness couldn't, not after causing all of this trouble on the other smashers. He knew he would get kicked out, and Popo might also get expelled from the prestigious mansion. He could only take his rage out on the goo, though, as no one else deserved that kind of anger directed toward them. He had gotten all the other doors, too. I swear I will explode from all the stress I'm feeling right now. Wait, explosions
"Snake, do you still have any C4 left?" Ness had thought of a solution.
"Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't. Doesn't matter, it doesn't have any effect on the goo anyway. Why do you ask?" Snake thought the boy's questions pointless.
"And a cardboard box, I assume," Ness hoped they would get the point.
"Duh, I'm always ready to hide, I mean camouflage no matter the situation," Snake said, as if it should be obvious. Everyone else face palmed, or turned their heads quizzically.
"Yeah, okay. Anyway, can you arm the C4 to blow, put in the box, then put the box on the wall so the C4 will make contact with the tablet for me?"
"Eh, worth a shot, but it had better not steal my explosion again."
Snake complied, and the box pushed the goo away while getting absorbed. This allowed the C4 to make direct contact with the tablet, but it didn't explode. They were running out of time.
"Peach, throw your turnips so the goo doesn't get through the cardboard and back to the explosives," Ness directed, feeling confident in his plan.
The sound of turnips being uprooted from the floor was heard, and soon after, an explosion. The plan must've worked, as the door fell onto the floor, having been ripped off its hinges. The tablet lay flat on the ground, and Ness moved over to pick it up. He decided against it, and used his bat to flip it over, not wanting to cause any more trouble. The tablet was disintegrating, but Ness saw a fancy line, like the top of a letter written in very fancy calligraphy. It looked like a cane facing to the right. That was all Ness could see, as the tablet was turning to dust.
There was only one door left in the hall. It looked to be the hardest puzzle of all, though. And that was in spite of all of the abstract puzzles Luke had encountered. Luke steeled himself, and then noticed Charizard melting a wax seal on the door.
"Wait, that could be important," Luke cried. He noticed a curved line that ended with a broken circle, inside of a rectangle. The line looked like a sideways question mark, with the dot missing.
It was too late, though, and the seal was fully gone. It seemed as though the tablet was the wax, and the door opened, revealing a floating woman in a blue dress, a dog, a duck, and a black star shaped creature. The star was tightly clutching at the woman's dress, and the woman held a wand that had a 2D star at the end with the middle cut out. A few more of the star creatures came out as well: They made up the colors of the rainbow, and there was also the aforementioned black, and a white one.
There was a lot of clamor downstairs, and Luke assumed that everyone was finally let out. He looked out the window, lost in thought, and noticed something that didn't belong. Luke couldn't quite make out all the details from so high up, but it looked to him like two floating gloves. Master Hand and Crazy Hand. There was one big problem, though. There were two tablets floating by the two hands, and they were radiating some sort of dark aura from them. Luke opened the window, and remembering a trampoline from a puzzle, made it appear at the ground. He jumped. When the others looked outside, the majority screamed. Some fainted. The ones on the bottom residential floor looked and saw a trampoline. Then they saw a young boy on the trampoline. They also saw the two hands, and fruitlessly tried to open the windows.
Now, what do we have here? Two tablets, but no abstract puzzles. Luke then saw the dark auras form into two warriors. The suits of armor from Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright, to be specific. The young boy had no weapons but his mind, and he hoped it would be enough to fend off such powerful warriors.
Ness saw the warriors, and immediately rushed up to the fourth floor and out the window. He wouldn't let his friend get beaten by more of the puzzles. The boy used PK thunder to slow his descent, and saw that there was a grand total of four suits now. He also noticed the Ice Climbers, well, climbing down the mansion. They hopped off and joined their roommates. This would be a real test for all four of them.
"Okay, when these guys were part of a puzzle, they attacked using one of three different attack patterns. All that had to be done was use the same moves as they did to block. So, theoretically, that same principle should still be in play. However, there were originally only three in the puzzle, so one of them should be at least somewhat unpredictable," Luke called out to the group while everyone got into a battle stance. No support would be coming, though, as the only open window got shut tight by another of the tablets.
Popo and Nana started attacking the first suit in perfect tandem, each in perfect synch with the other, always swinging their hammers while the other recovered, or swinging at the same time. The suit was only barely able to defend against this, until a second one came over and forced the two twins to separate. Luke was using a puzzle involving getting to the bottom of a purse, and many random objects came flying out. They ranged from lip gloss to anvils, but they all obstructed his opponent's attacks. One of the anvils hit the suit's head, and it went flying off. The suit promptly collapsed, but reformed.
"Guys, they're robots. I just remembered that. Aim for the tablets instead," Luke yelled while creating a wall filled with gold to appear to block an attack. Luke then dashed over to one of the tablets and placed his trunk under, and dashed away. The trunk soon burst open, causing an explosion to take out the first tablet. Master Hand was freed.
"One down, one to go," Luke yelled, making a run for the second tablet.
A sword soon blocked his path, as it made an arc through the air so as to send Luke flying into the mansion. Luke didn't get up, having been stunned by the blow.
"I've got it," Ness shouted, swinging his bat to send another sword back at its owner. He ducked under a swing, sidestepped a stab, and used PK pulse to deflect a jump attack. He got to the tablet, and swung his bat as hard as he could. Luckily, he didn't strike out. (Ba-dum-tsk.) The tablet went soaring through the air and into a suit. All four of the suits and the two tablets promptly disappeared in a cloud of dust.
"We did it. We actually did it, guys," Popo yelled ecstatically. The other three shared his euphoria at the battle they had won, and the doors they'd unlocked.
"You four have some explaining to do, though, unless if I'm wrong about the source of these tablets. You are in big trouble," Master Hand said, bringing down the group's mood. "I expect a full explanation, and it had better be good."
A figure stood in the shadows of the trees, watching the whole scene. Luke had done well, as to be expected. After all, he was the Professor's apprentice, and quite the protégé at that. The figure mulled over the long, drawn out, very complicated plan. Luke was bound to search for Hershel Layton. The person knew that. But what he would find would be quite the change from what was to be expected. That, was something Luke would never accept. That the great Professor Layton had changed from the fatherly figure Luke knew him to be. That the great archaeologist had changed from the amazingly clever and kind man he was known as. Yes, Professor Layton was a new man, and it was only a matter of time. Soon, Mister Triton, you will have to stop holding on to the past. Soon, you and Hershel Layton will both be in my grasp. The person then left a little present for Luke to find, and walked away into the depths of the woods. Yes, you may have escaped once, but every bird follows the trail of crumbs. After a few minutes, the only evidence that the mysterious person had ever been there was stamp that showed a smash ball inside Luke's hat. It oozed power from its handle. It wasn't just a stamp, but a weapon.
Author's Notes:
Who is that mysterious figure? Could this person have captured Professor Layton? What kind of weapon could a stamp be? All will be revealed, in time. What do guys think of the puzzles I'm using as attacks? I'm mostly using the mini games for Luke's attacks.
For Aurora, I didn't realize I actually went through with that little change. I'm sorry for that and any confusion it may have caused. Please disregard this little note if you have no idea what I'm talking about.
Please review. I'd also like possible attacks for Luke. Luke won't only have as many attacks as possible for the actual game. He'll have more. I know the flow of the story is kind of awkward, but it should (hopefully) get better as I continue writing this story.