Puzzling a puzzle with puzzles on more puzzles.

not really ooc but it's OOC, also the title will be explained, and some first post info that helps me think... anything spoilerish will be in a double layered spoiler tab within this tab... and remember kids, Spin to win. Have fun. xωx:

Yooka's Equipment and current look:

Puzzling a puzzle on puzzles with more puzzles. EXPLAINED!:

the many difficulties I go through:

Starting Type ¦ Dark:

Energy ¦ 27:

Nothing unusual happening around Grassveil Town's Marketplace just the usual missing stalls and that most pokemon are huddled around the center of the Plaza. "wait... what?" Yooka said aloud as she realized what was really going on. Missing stalls and a group was forming? Did something happen or is something happening?

Usually the Plaza would be full of activity and there would be bountiful of merchandise being handed around. Yooka didn't know that the Grassveil Guild and the Aileron Guild decided to play a little game with the citizens. A miniature challenge with a reward of one thousand poke for the first to solve ten puzzles and anyone's names written into a book if they can even just clear the ten puzzles.

ooc, Obvious stuff about the reward:

A Zoroark and a Noivern were at a rather stand-out, and the only, stand explaining the event to anyone willing to volunteer. However, just before Yooka arrived the Noivern had flown off leaving the Zoroark to the activity. "Well hello miss... Your not a common Kecleon are you? Being Purple instead of green I mean. Well anyway, would you like to try your hand at our ten puzzles? It seems to be getting quite the attention. heheh." The Zoroark panned his arm out to the massive group around the stall.

Most of the pokemon next to Yooka gave her a slight glance but ignored her overall. It's not unusual for a Kecleon to be a different color. They are known for their natural ability to change color. Yooka just had a very stressful return from a mission that practically made this purple color permanent. She didn't mind it all that much.

"ofcourse, It's because the guilds issued an event for the public. If your looking for the merchant stalls then just follow the road north for a bit." Yooka felt like she knew this Zoroark but the feeling passed when she found herself saying sure. The Zoroark handed her a piece of paper and said "First you'll need a partner, just go looking for another pokemon. Hah, just like what we Zoroark are known for, the first puzzle seems like an illusion. Good Luck!" Yooka was turning around but then the Zoroark spoke up again. "One last thing, The partner you chose is to answer the puzzle... You came over and recieved the first puzzle. anyone who recieves the first or the future puzzles cannot be the one to answer. Bring back the answer once you've figured it out."

So she'll need to find a partner huh...? Shouldn't be to hard but what he said about only the partner answering and how she can't somewhat confused her. Does that mean she can't answer 'this' puzzle? Heh, guess that's why you'd need a partner, doesn't mean she can just answer it and tell her partner. So what's on the paper anyway? Nothing, or at least, there isn't anything on it from what Yooka can see. It was all grey and rather looked more like dust than parchment or wood.

answer:

The Ashen Grey Minccino was walking through the somewhat empty town, his eyes scanning the stalls that still had it's vendors, though, it was somewhat strange to see that there towns normal running around. Nightingale seemed confused, walking over to a random vendor and speaking. "Um, excuse me?" his tiny voice breaking the almost eery silence of the town. "Do you know where everyone is?" The Klefki seemed to turn and look down at the boy, answering with a somewhat sad tone of voice Everyone is in the town square trying to figure out a puzzle. There's one thousand Poke' in it for the winner...but...I'm stuck here. Do you need me to open any boxes? The chinchilla backed up and shook his head, the Klefki just let out a sigh and went back to their business. Nightingale looking around the town and walking slowly trying to find the village square. He wasn't from Grassveil but he was learning the town and trying to figure out where to go.

With a tail swishing from side to side he started to daydream. "What would I do with one thousand poke?" His expression changing to a devilish grin. "I should spend it on food! No...wait...I should save it. Hmm..." he said with a sigh, thinking about this was hard and he didn't know what he could even do with that much poke. Five hundred to him was a lot, so almost double that would make him one rich Minccino.

His ears twitched as he heard the sounds of Pokemon talking and growling; trying their best to find something or think of something. Whatever it was it sounded important and Nightingale figured that this was the way to go. Turning his body he walked off into the direction of the sound, blinking in confusion as he peeked around the corner, his head looking left and right. What was in front of him almost blew his mind; his jaw dropping as the mass pile of Pokemon was almost offputting. He didn't like big crowds because he didn't want to be lost inside of them. But he couldn't lose himself so he stood on his hind legs and inhaled a large breath of air to calm his nerves. Patting his face with his two front paws to sike himself up.

With one bold step, he got back on all fours and walked through the crowd, trying his best not to bump into others or get bumped into or stepped on. "Excuse me. Pardon me. Sorry! I'm sorry." He seemed to be announcing himself as he pushed his way through the crowd. It took some time but he followed the crowd and looked around for someone or anyone that he could talk to. He wanted to win the one thousand poke and he was going to give it his all; no matter how hard the questions where he would try to answer them. The worse thing that could happen to him was fail.

Yooka didn't really search around for a partner. She was trying to figure out the puzzle first before wandering off to find a random willing being. So far she could believe that it was harder than she thought. She tried a few things holding it over a random charmeleon's tail to see if it was invisible ink. nope. She even tried to rip it in a corner to see if it was even paper. It ripped... but when she looked away, it was back to normal.

What did the Zoroark say? The first puzzle was like an illusion. Zoroark illusions could be broken by hitting them, but is that it? Yooka just shrugged and sent her shadow to give it a shot. Nothing. "Mmrrr... What am I suppose to be doing here...?" She wasted too much time solving the puzzle than looking around for that partner. She really doesn't like to ask for help herself, but a second set of eyes would probably be for the better.

Moaning to herself she looked around. Most pokemon seem to be in groups of two or three. She even spotted a group of five. They do realize they'd be sharing the reward? Pff, maybe. Yooka didn't care for the reward, she considered these puzzles as a break from having to go out into the wild. I nice change of pace.

She notice a little grey-ish pokemon without anything and decided 'why not' to this one. She popped infront of the pokemon and said with a rather straight face, "You here for the puzzles? If so, then why not help me out? Im not in it for the reward, I just need a break from the guild." Yooka didn't really think it would answer yes and was looking around for another pokemon, however she stayed with this pokemon incase it said yes.

It took a while to break out of the group of Pokemon. A small success on his part and he was all the happier for it. But when a Kecleon stopped him his eyes looked them over. They were a strange color, unlike other Kecleon he said. Their words seemed to go in one ear and almost out the other, he was only half paying attention. But he heard the beginning half of the sentence. "You need my help?" He questioned, almost confused at the sudden extension of friendship at hand. "Sure? I guess. I don't have a partner but everyone here...well..." He gestured to the group of Pokemon around him, groups of two to five littered the ground around him and he seemed rather astounded by this. "I uh...sure? I'll help you any way I can." He was naive and accepted happily. If one were to take advantage of that he would be none the wiser, but he wasn't the smartest Pokemon here, not by a long shot. But he was filled with a look of determination to at least get somewhere with this quiz.

"Oh, uh...what is the puzzle exactly?" His tail wagged back and forth in excitement as he approached his new partner. "Oh, my name is Nightingale. But you can just call me Gale' for short if you want. What's yours?" It seemed nothing brought Pokemon closer together than trying to win a prize. The look on his face was that of innocent happiness, he was rather excited that he wasn't late and might be able to take part in this after all.

His eyes looking at the paper the Kecleon was holding. Maybe it was a clue, it seemed to him that it would be nice to start off with a clue just in case most Pokemon don't get it. But then again they might want to weed out the Pokemon who wouldn't be here in the first place. A good strategy on the hosts part but still it may have been over the top for children as they might not be able to take a loss.

Who was this Kecleon anyway? He had never seen them in Grassveil before. They seemed to be nice enough, though, it may just be a ruse. He wanted to see the good in everyone, however, he found their color to be off, and that's what threw him for a loop. Maybe it was just a normal Kecleon that changed it's color to purple because where they live purple would hide them better. Who knew? Nightingale sure didn't and he didn't want to make any bold assumptions. "Is that a clue?" the ashen chinchilla asked as he stood on his hind legs, pointing with his front paw at the paper in hand.

Off the bat, the Minccino accepted and even gave a name. That was oddly easy... but then again, finding a partner could be difficult. Not just anyone would even go for a random. This one didnt seem to mind that Yooka randomly asked if he wanted to join in. Yooka stopped looking around and instead refocused her attention on the little Minccino, somewhat ignoring the extended hand. She did at first reach out to comply but only about a quarter of the way before she hesitated, on the inside, and took a step back. She did however say her own name after a couple seconds, somewhat relunctantly. There was a Zoroark nearby, and every zoroark she encountered had played illusions on her. She didn't mind puzzles but she kept an open eye for anything unusual... pretty hard considering that the puzzles themselves are unusual enough.

The Minccino had also pointed out the many other groups around the place which she had noted was already going on when she arrived. Actually there were less now than there was when she arrived and very few were apparently even on their third puzzle and even then none apparently had ever gotten to the fourth. Earlier when she asked the charmeleon for its flame, she overheard some stuff about the event, like that no one had gotten to the fourth puzzle yet and that it had not started till about an hour ago. So it was at least somewhat fresh, however it was part of an announcement to the towns of Aileron, Rainfront, and Grassveil two days ago. How she missed that was beyond her. She was probably out doing a mission for the Guild at the time.

She explained to the Minccino the rules or what she heard and that the dust colored paper 'was' their first puzzle... and that the Zoroark said that 'just like what Zoroark species were know for, this paper was apparently like an illusion'. "I've already tried a whole verity of physical things I know of that could reveal any secrets concealed on a piece of 'normal' paper but for a puzzle like this... I dont think this is quite that normal. I looked around for clues on this one without asking directly but everyone's puzzle is unique, no one has a piece like this one. heh."

Yooka handed over the dust colored paper. Her face showed a tiny smirk. "Funny enough, I even crumpled it up after I gave it a tear... and both times it repaired itself, specifically when I wasn't looking. So I know for sure it isn't regular. I even tried to write on it myself but nothing could be written. If I wasn't already stressed enough from what I do at work, this thing isn't exactly helping me relieve it like I thought puzzles would do." She looked back towards the Zoroark but he was no longer there or even anywhere. Seems his shift probably ended, but she considered it part of some plan. Instead, it was an Alakazam. Oddly it had more than just two spoons. Yooka never seen this kind of Alakazam before. She could only assume it as a mega form and sighed... Another one...?

ooc, the changing of hosts and some 'one moar thang!' moments:

As they refused the paw shake he seemed rather upset but then shrugged it off as being a little too friendly, after all this was a competition and they may need to stop working with one another and have to fight against each other if they got far enough into it. He snapped to attention as Yooka spoke, telling him about everything they seemed to do to try and make the puzzle work, even going as far as to burning and ripping. It seemed odd that they were given a puzzle unlike the rest of the Pokemon here but then again Yooka was a bit odd herself so Nightingale enjoyed how the puzzle and the Pokemon it was given to almost went hand and hand.

Nightingale looked at the Pokemon and then at the paper, his eyes scanned it over for a second and he blinked. "Have you tried getting the dust off? It looks dusty..." he admitted, not trying to be condescending but pointing out the somewhat obvious. He didn't have it in his hand, however, and it looked like it was the color of dust, however, it may not even be dust at all and he may just be taking this a little too easy. "I mean, the paper looks too thin to have anything underneath it like another piece of paper. And you can't destroy it you said..." His tail swished side to side as he thought about cleaning, it was a habit to clean things. Though Nightingale didn't really enjoy cleaning too much he would do what would have to be done if he wanted to win a prize. "Us Minccino and Cinccino have a habit of cleaning things anyway; it won't be too hard." He admitted, offering Yooka a hand in solving the puzzle.

The ash grey Pokemon reflected on the words of Yooka and how she told him that these puzzles are all different and that no Pokemon has made it past puzzle four. How many puzzles would there be? It seems like if four is the hardest then that would be the last one, wouldn't it? Maybe that is just what the pokemon who run this contest want others to think. Maybe there were ten puzzles, or one hundred. The Mega Alakazam just scared Nightingale, this was going to be a really hard day of thinking. And he wouldn't want it any other way.

Then another idea popped into his head. "Or how about soaking it in water? I mean, the paper can't be hurt. And you already tried burning it. So why don't we just try and wash off the color and see if there is anything underneath it?" Nightingale was trying his best as he wanted to think outside the box as best as he could. What would he do if he wanted to hide the answer to a puzzle? He would hide the answer out in the open, obviously. But that may not be the case for this. He didn't have many ideas to start with.

((

ooc, this puzzles solution in comparison to D&Ds:

))

Clean the paper? Now why would someone do... ...she sighed remembering these puzzles were made by the guild... then laughed mildly. "Of course...! The first puzzle is like an illusion. It isn't a normal paper, doing something unusual like... 'clean' the thing, might just do the trick. However, water first I suppose. Wouldn't hurt to try." She pulled out her canteen located latched onto the waist of her plushy-like kecleon backpack and poured some in the middle of the paper... and just like paper it seemed to soak in a bit but unfortunately it didn't stay wet for long as the watermark vanished.

Yooka shrugged. "Heh, figures... Thinking about it, paper turns brittle while dust would just clump up, both not really revealing anything anyways... welp, alright... have a go." She placed the paper on the ground and took a step back. Clean the color off... it seems absolute absurd but ancient tombs do tend to gather dust and you do need to either clean it off or give it the cliche 'blow'. The more Yooka thinks about it the more it made sense. Yooka was too attached to the idea of illusions and how the paper kept regenerating itself to actually think of the reasoning behind the color of the paper. Yooka laughed quietly to herself, practically facepalming the idea.

ooc, ignore this if you want to do the next one.:

((OOC Stuff)):

As Yooka placed the paper on the ground and let Nightingale 'have a go' he nodded and turned around as his tail started to clean the paper off. It was somewhat easy for him to do it, his tail almost having a mind of its own as it swayed back and forth. He had cleaned so many things before this so he knew that if this was just dust he could be as gentle as possible. Sure, it was a piece paper that wouldn't break. But he still wanted to be careful. After all, it was just soaked with water. After a good minute of cleaning Nightingale moved his tail and stepped away from the paper on the ground. Turning around to see what the paper had written on it.

"Um...I don't uh..." At a loss for words, he spoke in a confused tone. "It's gibberish. It's just numbers and letters. One, two, three, four..." His voice got quiet for a second before he continued "Thirty-seven lines of gibberish." His ears pressed against his head as he picked up the paper in one paw and stood on his hind legs to give it to Yooka. He managed to figure out the first piece of the puzzle but this was something else entirely. He could barely speak his own language, never mind trying to read a new one as confusing as this.

He was disheartened by this discovery because he didn't let it sway him. "What do you think about this? Does it make any sense to you?" He questioned as he waited for an answer. It was kind of saddened that he couldn't help more but he was happy enough he helped expose what the heck was written on the paper.

Last edited by Yooka on Sat Mar 25, 2017 4:55 am; edited 1 time in total

ooc, something was just bothering me:

Just like dust being swept away by a broom. The paper's dust-like coloring was also swept off. It somewhat stunned Yooka for a second as she watched. It was odd seeing color acting like the real thing. It was as if the puzzle was made for this Minccino, or at least it would've taken Yooka forever to figure out the solution to the puzzle was to 'clean' the paper. What was left on the now white paper were footprint runes saying seemingly random letters or numbers and just like the Minccino said there were indeed thirty-seven lines of it but the last one seemed to be blank. "Well, the Zoroark did say to return the paper when we have solved it. Perhaps the Alakazam took his place... we should probably go to him instead? idk... maybe he'll be able to tell us something about this? Just a hunch..."

However, as if on cue. The Alakazam teleported next to the two. To Yooka, it only nodded and remained silent but it was telepathically saying something she couldn't hear, "Good, you solved the first puzzle. Now let me see it." The Alakazam picked up the paper with its psychic ability and again spoke in its telepathic way... "Oh, this 'is' your second puzzle, this was a fun one to play... but the question is, how would you finish this game? This should be easy considering there isn't any moves to really think about." the alakazam gave the paper back to the Kecleon before teleporting back to his post. Yooka stood confused but ignored it as she looked at the paper. "Well alrighty then... I dunno but he handed it back, perhaps we're not finished. well for one thing, it is definitely footprint runes, that's for sure. It's a pretty uncommon written language, pff... not even, its more of rare now a days. oh, wait... you can't read this? or is it that it's just 'that' confusing to you...? erm, well, actually... it is indeed gibberish... I dunno what to make of it without some form of hint."

Yooka sat down to think it over. Placing the paper back on the ground aswell. she knew what was on the paper but didn't quite get it herself. Thirty-seven lines within three colomns, with thirty-six having any actual writing. The first symbols of each line were the number of each line while the stuff next to that being random numbers and letters. the thirty-seventh line being blank. It was some form of list, maybe... probably. Yooka shook her head. "I feel like I've seen something like this somewhere, but that can't be."

the three hints:

Minccino looked at the paper on the ground, it was confusing, to say the least. "I wish I could tell you it made sense but...I don't understand it. The letters and numbers are just there. Sometimes they repeat themselves but...it's weird..." Nightingale sat on his rump as he let out a huff, crossing his two front arms in a look of anger as he stared the paper down as if that would make the answer jump out at him. His face scrunched as he thought about every answer to the puzzle. Maybe the paper needed something else to make these footprint writings make sense. "Maybe it's a secret code?" He couldn't help but sigh as he tried his best to come up with ideas.

Their test had only just begun and yet it was obvious that this test was made to break their minds, or break their spirits. Whatever would come first. And it was pretty obvious Nightingale would be the first to crack. He never had the brains for all that 'bigger picture' stuff and thinking outside the box wasn't his forte. He wasn't used to thinking this hard and he sighed, sinking forward into the ground with his ears covering his head. A groan escaping his lips as he looked at the paper. His grey eyes shifted his gaze to Yooka.

"Do you have any ideas?" He asked, in a hopeful tone, wishing that this Keleon would know the answer right away. Then again it was wishful thinking. They did, however, say that was writing was old so they must have seen this type of writing before, right? The more questions he asked the more questions he had that were unanswered.

ooc, heheheheheh, outside the box thinking! there's definitely more than 3 walls to everything! XDDD:

Current Type ¦ Normal:

Yooka could only shake her head as an answer. She looked back towards the Alakazam, then the paper. She's seen something similar to this, but she couldn't remember where... She knows the language but it's how it's written that she's getting 'de ja vu' from. "It's no code. If it is it's not the same as the guild's or my friend's... I saw a noivern leave before getting here but im not sure it was him. heh... I have a few things to say to him. a whoooole bunch of questions."

Yooka looked around again but noticed the groups thinned out yet again. There's even fewer groups remaining. "Hang on I'll be right back." she got up and went over to the Alakazam, asking whats the highest puzzle others have reached. The Alakazam only showed just one hand, and three fingers on said hand. Yooka returned just as quickly. Her expression was unsurprised "Well there's a shocker. no one, 'still', has gotten to the fourth puzzle. Guess the third one will be the end. hah. matter aswell keep trying to see what it could even be, unlucky that the alakazam didn't say anything that could help us towards this one... or anything. We can't even get passed the first puzzle... it's quite a doozie." Yooka sat down next to the paper and pulled out a mini Pencil to write down some decoding notes. "This may take awhile, so feel free to do something if you get bored."

Nightingale nodded his head as he seemed to leave Yooka alone to do her things. He just spoke aloud, mostly to himself as he waited. His mind fixated on the piece of paper in front of him. "Maybe the numbers and letter mean something? Is it math?" His soft, feminine sounding voice was a low whisper so no one but Yooka and himself could hear it, just in case anyone was watching them trying to figure this out. His ears stayed fixated to his head as he looked at the paper. He hated math even more because it reminded him of his time in class back in his old town. But he shook the feeling off as he remembered Yooka saying it was an old language. Standing up and stretching his body he started to clean himself with his tail, dusting off the dirt that has collected on his rump and stomach. His grey eyes looking over the groups around the both of them.

Time felt to almost slow down as he waited. He was like a child and didn't like to wait. But he knew that he couldn't help in any way as this was a language he didn't know, so in reality, no matter how much he wanted to help he just couldn't. His paw gently kneaded the ground under him as he waited for Yooka to decipher the code on the paper.

OOC Stuff:

ooc, waiting, the ooc and ic sides:

It took about fifteen minutes for Yooka to figure out there's no pattern to it but there is a pattern in the way it was put. She also found out that writing inside the thirty-seventh line actually worked but if it wasn't the answer it would vanish. She had to pull out a notebook to write more notes on this paper. If it wasn't bad enough that she had to pull out her notebook, her hands were shaking because she actually started to enjoy the design of this puzzle. She did 'not' want to give up on this one.

She didn't hear what the Minccino said despite it being pretty closeby. She also didn't notice that a crowd was forming over at the stand again. Yooka was 'also' not aware that the Zoroark was back and talking to the alakazam with a noivern in a way that could be considered a fight. the Alakazam was backed by Kangaskhan. It wasn't a real fight, it was just a set-up to keep those that gave up something to do, and to pull those that were still in it to back out or stop what they were doing. A distraction if one would call it that.

Another fifteen minutes later with the noivern/Zoroark duo ending as the victor Yooka had figured out that the a single number and one single letter next to the number were related but the extra letters were throwing her off the path towards the correct answer. Yooka growled to herself rather loudly when this popped up on her. "I thought I figured it out, but no... there's only eight numbers and next to those numbers are eight letters from the start of the alphabet... but the extra letters just dont work for me... what's this suppose to be for? These ones are not all from the start of the alphabet... K, Q, capital B, R, x... Gah, a clearer hint would've been nice, thank you..."

Taking yet another page out of her notebook and placing it on the ground with the other three pages surrounding the paper-puzzle. She went on to writing 'even more' ideas in her book. "I better not be thinking it wrong but it just feels right in a way... but why is that?" She placed a small rock on the newest notebook piece, so it didn't blow away from a random source. "Perhaps it 'is' some form of code... but If that's the case... then, the only thing 'for now' would be... what does the extra letters represent..."

ooc, the unique puzzle thing and some inside info on the 'behind the scenes':

As Yooka worked Nightingale entertained himself, watching the fight unfold and smiling. He wasn't much of a help but as the battle ended he walked back over to his purple friend. "Did you mind anyth..." his words slowly faded out as he stared at the pieces of paper on the ground. It looked at though Yooka was going crazy and scrawling down notes like crazy as Nightingale was off and about, having fun and messing around while she was writing like a madwoman who's life was on the line. It was almost entertaining to watch. Until he thought about it more and realised that maybe it isn't so good as he wasn't doing anything but standing around and watching and not contributing to his team. His ears flattened as he sat back down with Yooka, sitting next to her and watching her write. He was more focused now, almost determined to prove that he was a vital asset to the team and wasn't just some pokemon who was wasting time and holding back the other.

His determination seemed to be his downfall though as he was frying his brain over nothing as this wasn't something he was good at, either deciphering or just code cracking...whatever it was, it was horrible for him to think about. Whoever could make a code like this and understand it could think far beyond the limit Nightingale could. It was somewhat disheartening but mostly, it was scary to think about. He sat there as he stared at the papers infront of him waiting for something to pop out at him.

ooc, i find this funny:

The aspect of the extra symbols left Yooka when another paper disappeared from her book and was put to the side. She didn't realize the Minccino was next to her and practically killing himself over something even she was struggling to answer. Not all was lost however. It didn't pop to her immediately but she did figure out the one number/one letter bit was for some form of grid. Her newest paper in her notebook had a whole array of grid-like images. but one stood out more than the others. An 8 by 8 grid labelled a-h and 1-8. Yooka didn't snap out of her trance till she felt a chill.

She sat-up and leaned back, only to finally notice the Minccino next to her. She stared at him for a second before it came to her that he was 'really' confused. "Don't think too hard. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses... This just happens to be one of the few that require actual skills that may or may not be beyond me..." She handed him a piece of something she recieved from a skitty named Darcy not that long ago. It was just one of many sugar cookies within a wrapped object she had in her backpack. "This was from an ally of mine. I find them to be somewhat satisfactory in stressful situations. I think I figured out what the paper-puzzle could be, but I havent figured out the extra symbols just yet."

she went silent for a few seconds and looked around to notice that there were tables set-up on the otherside of the stand. She didn't notice them before... probably because of how many groups had arrived. She suddenly started picking up the papers that she had spread around the paper-puzzle. Putting them back into her notebook and moving towards the tables for a better place. "What do you consider fun...? I don't seem to have very many things to do except 'these' when they occur." she lied about doing them as they occur, as this was something new to her. She just wanted to break the tense atmosphere around herself and take a break from the extreme thinking.
She placed the stuff down on the table and spread everything out once again, but didn't look at it for she needed that break.

ooc, answer:

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