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Team Tankers M4B Part 5

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Rescuers Side Mission: Go to Castle Draclugia's Library!


PMD-Explorers Mission M4B Part 5



"Hey... could this be... could this be the library of Lexy?" Kiefer whispered.
"I think you are right Kiefer," replied Marston. "I would think it difficult to have such a place belonging to Merlot, as if she never ever did come here."
"So we have finally found the library," said Marston still with a low voice. "What are we waiting for, let's go!"

Peter was the one who pushed the door open. Slowly, carefully, he pushed the door and to his dismay, it made a small creaking sound. Freezing for a moment, Peter was afraid they already had broken the golden rule of a library. Fortunately, seconds ticked away without anyone coming to warn them. With a sigh of relief, Peter went in, followed by Tanith, Marston and Kiefer. The first thing which caught their attention was a strange light coming from the ceiling of the large hall. It was indeed strange to them that despite these clouds outside, such a dazzling light could exist inside. The next thing they noticed was that this hall too had one of the finest quality carpet. And to their astonishment, they have found the library. Not that they didn't expect it to be, but the library itself was by far more breath-taking than they had imagined.

Bookshelves of all heights, all breadths, all colours seemed to rule the immense hall. They were so randomly placed that it seemed they were the trees which populated a wild jungle. Many of them bore pieces of paper with ineligible scribbles written on them and the one who put them there seemed to have been very careful in doing so. All sorts of folders and books seemed to stick out of the shelves at random points. There didn't seem to be any lack of ladders too, some more odd looking than others.

And as the eyes of the four Pokémon rose up to contemplate the height of the shelves, their gaze met a strange ceiling. It was of a light blue, just like the scarf Peter was wearing right now, with specs of white cottony fibres scattered on it and in the centre of the ceiling dwelled a shining bright sphere, projecting the yellow beams of light which overflowed the library. On the other hand, none of them could see a single window. The bookshelves probably hid them away, or prevented entrance to anyone from outside.

The little group of rescuers advanced quietly in between the shelves. They were once again amazed at how these shelves were used. The books were so tidily arranged - no inch of space was wasted, no books seemed cramped on the wooden shelves, piles of books were neatly stacked up on the tables - and the blending of all the book colours together made as if the whole library was a huge piece of art with a colourful pattern adorned with the golden labels on the book spines.

It was not until later that their attention fell on a tall chair with a long velvet backrest, which by the way, bore strange scorched marks. An enormous book open with its red back to them and the end of two dark brown furry ears sticking above it. The four of them hesitated for a minute until a small brown paw appeared on the top left corner of the book, peeling a page ever with so much delicacy to the other part of the book.
"Do you think that's Lexy?" whispered Marston to Peter.

But before the Pikachu could reply, a voice coming from behind the book responded.
"Yes, that's me," Lexy answered with an ever so bored tone.

Each of them was equally speechless. Did Lexy know they were in the library all this time? Yet, he didn't seem to have moved from his seat, or seen them.
"I guess that from your silence," Lexy continued with as much enthusiasm, "that you are here for the binder about Kyurem?"
"How... how did you know?" was the reply of a confused Tanith.

The large red book was carefully closed, with the paw of the Eevee sliding onto the cover of the book and the other paw ensuring that none of the pages inside were being folded. With the book now put on Lexy's lap, the four Pokémon could at last see the librarian.
"Simple, your friends have been begging me to let them get it all day yesterday," was the answer.
"Did... did any of them succeed?" asked Marston his curiosity taking over again.
"Of course, the majority, if not all, of them weren't up to my expectations," said Lexy coldly, his half opened eyes meeting with the Pokémon in front of him. "What do you want, I cannot allow any Pokémon handle what have been worth years of work."

The hopes of the rescuers took a bad hit. They had already gone through a tough situation this morning, and now, it seemed as though their effort were vain.
"But surely, you can see if we can reach your expectations?" queried Kiefer tentatively.
"You can try to prove your dedication to the pursuit of knowledge and best me in a battle of wits of your choosing," Lexy began, his tail twitching a little and the faintest smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"Aww, that's not fair," moaned Tanith.
"And Tanith is right," added Peter. "I mean, you are challenging us to a battle of wits, while you are here probably all day and most probably know more than this single library."
"So I guess you don't want to know more about Kyurem after all?" challenged Lexy putting his paw back on the book he was reading.
"Oh wait wait wait!" replied Tanith quickly. "Well, I guess we don't have any choice. So... guys, do you know what should we pick?"
"Um... Lexy?" uttered Marston drawing the attention of the Eevee.
"Yes?" answered Lexy with a sigh.
"What kind of challenge did the other teams ask you?" Marston quizzed Lexy blushing a little.
"Well... some wanted to play cards, others riddles and some even challenged me to Rochambeau," Lexy winced with a slight surprised tone. "But to be true, I'm tired of those."

That last statement aroused Peter's curiosity.
"Oh?" he let out. "Then what do you want? Some logic puzzle or some sort?"
"Now that is something I haven't had for some time," said Lexy his brown eyes suddenly getting a little brighter and a faint grin appearing on his mouth. "So be it then. Here is your puzzle:"

Here are 10 bags of coins, each containing 10 coins. All the coins are identical and weigh 10g, but one of the bags contain falsified coins which are heavier by 1g. You are to identify the bag containing the falsified coins using this balance and those standard weights of 10g and 1g. Now, you can use this balance only once.


Lexy had walked to a table and placed a wooden balance on it from an old cupboard. Besides it, he put ten bags of coins and some weights marked with their mass on it.

"Hmm not bad Lexy," admitted Peter lightly after thinking for a while. "The only way to solve this is to put the bags in order. Taking one coin from the first, two from the second, three from the third and so on, until we get 10 from the tenth, and measure the weight. If all the coins are true, we expect them to weigh 55g."

Peter motioned and put the coins on the right side of the balance, balancing them on the left side with five 10g weights and five 1g weights.
"Now, if the first bag contained the falsified coins," went on Peter adding one more 1g weight to the left side, "the total weight would be 56g."

But the balance didn't even out.
"And if the falsified coins were in the second bag," Peter continued, "the total weight would be 57g."

Just then, the left side toppled down, balancing out the system.
"And since that is the case," Peter added triumphantly, "then the second bag here contains the falsified coins."
"Way to go Pete!" praised Marston.
"Very good," replied Lexy. "Now to the second puzzle."
"Wait, second puzzle?" asked Tanith confused.
"Why yes," smirked the Eevee. "And here it is:"

Here are 12 Oran berries, all identical in shape, size and weight, except for one of them. You are to devise a way so that you can identify the odd Oran berry using this balance only. And one more thing: you are allowed to use the balance only thrice.


Lexy took back the weights and bags of coins back into the old cupboard and took a basket of Oran berries behind his chair.
"Wait!" said Peter. "But, is the odd berry heavier or lighter than the rest?"
"That," remarked Lexy grinning, "would make the puzzle too easy if I just told you. But since this one is much more difficult, I'll allow you to try it out as much as you want and when you're ready, you show me."

Peter tried to solve the problem. Dividing the 12 Oran into two groups yielded no favourable outcome, so he went on trying groups of three. Trying out three against three groups left out a maximum of nine Oran berries where the odd Oran was. The method was not narrowing down fast enough. So Peter tried three groups of four berries, narrowing it down to maximum of eight in one try. But as he tried the consequent trials, he always came one try short of the result, it was getting frustrating.

"Lexy, do you have something I can write with?" inquired Peter stopping abruptly.
"Sure, you can take this," replied Lexy handling Peter a small pot of Bluk Juice which served as ink and a Tranquill feather.

Peter took them and numbered the Oran berries 1 to 12 and went on with his experiments. Marston was seeing that his friend was troubled and was getting worried.
"Hey, Pete... is everything all right?" Marston gently asked the Pikachu who was now frantically displacing the Oran berries on the balance, removing and restarting again.

But no answer came. Peter was struggling with the puzzle and he was getting nervous. Worse part of it, Lexy seemed to enjoy seeing Peter being helpless. Marston decided to give it a try, not that he knew anything would work. But as he tried to grab a berry, his paw knocked with Pete's and moved one berry onto another side so that there was now berries 1, 5 and 6 on the left and 2, 3 and 4  on the right.
"Mars! No!" yelped Peter before putting his paw on his mouth.
"I'm... I'm sorry Peter," said Marston regretfully.
"It's okay, I didn't mean to..." Peter now sighing.

Peter was about to start over when he realised that the balance was tilted the other way than it was previously, with berries 1, 2, 3 and 4 on the left and berries 5, 6, 7 and 8 on the right.
"Wait... that's it! You got it Marston!" beamed Peter with joy.
"Huh? What do you mean?" exclaimed the confused Mudkip.
"Lexy," continued Peter, "here is how it goes:"

First label the Oran berries one to 12 and divide them into three groups of four. Take the first group against the other. If they balance, the odd berry is in the 9, 10, 11 or 12 berry. But that's if you're lucky. So, let's assume it doesn't balance and that it tilts to the left. The next step is to take away berries 7 and 8 away, then switch two berries from each side. Suppose they balance now, it means that either berry 7 or berry 8 is the odd one, and that the odd berry is actually lighter, since earlier, the balance tilted to the left. But that's not what we are looking for; the worst case is when the odd berry is within the 6 remaining berries. This is where the next test comes into play. If the balance stays tilted to the left, it means that either berry 1 is heavier, or berry 2 and 3 are lighter. If it tilted to the right, it meant that either berries 5 and 6 are lighter, or berry 4 is heavier. In any case, we are left with 3 berries and knowing which is heavier or lighter. Any scenario can now be taken and taking 1 being heavier and berries 2 and 3 lighter, we balance 2 and 3 together. If they balance, the odd berry is 1, if not, the lighter berry is the one.
Okay, finally up. Yes it's late... :noes: But there were so many things going on today that I kept reading other things and coming to write only a little part :XD:

Merlot © :iconpmd-explorers:
Lexy © :iconlexyeevee:
Kiefer and Tanith © :iconthelightwithindark:

Feedback (as well as critiques), as always, appreciated ^_^

Applications: Team Tankers Team Thunderhead

Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Epilogue
© 2011 - 2024 UnknownOO8
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sinistroscribe's avatar
I had so much fun reading this! It is so interesting and engaging!
Good old logic never gets boring, rather, I found it refreshing, and now I'm more alert and not so bleh, so I can go and finish the next chapter of my story <3

But yes. FUn, interesting, awesome.
Definitely worth a fave :dummy: