Post by Peregrine on Dec 26, 2023 23:06:48 GMT -6
DDD Day 27 - Part 7 of the Spirit Series
Previously, on the Spirit Series...
"But... I think I get it now, heehee. You were solving them, weren't you? All of them. Just not out loud."
"!"
"Gulp... I, um... er..."
The spirits watched Bidoof squirm in place for a few moments.
"I—"
"HOLD ON!"
The spirits all jumped in place, startled by Loudred's booming interjection.
"I don't know if I totally understand what's going on, but this feels like it's getting into another big discussion."
"And I wanna get into that, but the sun's almost up. We're gonna be getting a move on soon, and we're about to start exploring ruins!"
"Yeah, so?"
"So? So we have no idea what these ruins are! What kind of explorers are we? We've come all this way, and not once did we ever ask ourselves where this place is!"
"Oh... I guess not, huh?"
"Wait, hold on..."
"Do you guys... not know? What this place is, I mean?"
"I... thought this was some kind of after-afterlife, yup yup! You mean you know where we are, Diglett?"
"H-huh?! I thought you... we... huh. Okay."
Diglett cracked a devious smile.
"Oh no, that's the face he makes when he thinks of a really mean puzzle..."
"It won't too bad, I promise. In fact, it'll probably be the simplest puzzle we'll do this whole trip. All you need to do is pay attention. As you'll recall, my specialty is memorizing long sequences; I needed a good memory to identify every Pokémon who entered the Guildhouse, after all. So I'll tell you where we are... provided you can match my memory."
The spirits collectively gulped and readied their minds.
Here's the sequence:
1110101011100101010110011001110100100100001001001011001001010100001010101010101010001101001000101011010101010011101100011101010101010110010110010001110101101010100101010000101010101010101000100100100010101001010101001010111001010101100110011101001001110101010010110
That's all. Decode this sequence, and you'll have the answer to the question, where are we?
Answer Below — Click Spoiler to See!
Previously, on the Spirit Series...
"But... I think I get it now, heehee. You were solving them, weren't you? All of them. Just not out loud."
"!"
"Gulp... I, um... er..."
The spirits watched Bidoof squirm in place for a few moments.
"I—"
"HOLD ON!"
The spirits all jumped in place, startled by Loudred's booming interjection.
"I don't know if I totally understand what's going on, but this feels like it's getting into another big discussion."
"And I wanna get into that, but the sun's almost up. We're gonna be getting a move on soon, and we're about to start exploring ruins!"
"Yeah, so?"
"So? So we have no idea what these ruins are! What kind of explorers are we? We've come all this way, and not once did we ever ask ourselves where this place is!"
"Oh... I guess not, huh?"
"Wait, hold on..."
"Do you guys... not know? What this place is, I mean?"
"I... thought this was some kind of after-afterlife, yup yup! You mean you know where we are, Diglett?"
"H-huh?! I thought you... we... huh. Okay."
Diglett cracked a devious smile.
"Oh no, that's the face he makes when he thinks of a really mean puzzle..."
"It won't too bad, I promise. In fact, it'll probably be the simplest puzzle we'll do this whole trip. All you need to do is pay attention. As you'll recall, my specialty is memorizing long sequences; I needed a good memory to identify every Pokémon who entered the Guildhouse, after all. So I'll tell you where we are... provided you can match my memory."
The spirits collectively gulped and readied their minds.
Here's the sequence:
1110101011100101010110011001110100100100001001001011001001010100001010101010101010001101001000101011010101010011101100011101010101010110010110010001110101101010100101010000101010101010101000100100100010101001010101001010111001010101100110011101001001110101010010110
That's all. Decode this sequence, and you'll have the answer to the question, where are we?
Answer Below — Click Spoiler to See!
{Reveal Answer}
The spirits had been right to worry. Even if Diglett had devised a "simple" method of encryption, dealing with such a long sequence of numbers was unwieldy. However, it wasn't long before inspiration struck, as it so often did.
"A 265-digit sequence, huh? Hey hey, you know what's weird? 265 is such a big number, but it's got so few factors! Besides 1 and 265, there's just 5 and 53!"
"Hmm... Oh my gosh, that is weird! But does it mean anything?"
"Oh, oh! We're not just looking for a location in itself, we're looking for an answer to a question! I want to try something!"
Chimecho produced a long humming tone, and before the spirits began to appear a ceramic plate, long and flat. It was indented with grooves that produced a grid pattern on its face. All in all, it was 5 cells tall and 53 cells long.
"Oh, I see what you're going for! Ones and zeroes, on or off, that sort of thing!"
Loudred ran his hand over the grid, starting at the top left and moving right. He counted out the sequence again, tapping the cell his finger hovered over each time he recited a one. One by one, the cells he tapped turned black. When he was finished, the grid looked like so:
The spirits looked dumbfounded for a moment.
"...Well, yeah. That's about the size of it. As long as you worked out how to split it up, the sequence can be converted into a kind of picture! Neat, huh? So, where are we? The Hidden Land. Good work, everyb—"
"We're WHERE?!"
"The... the Hidden La—"
"That's RIDICULOUS! There's no way we could've ended up there!"
"I'm... I'm telling you guys, it's true!"
"Hey, lay off!"
"Hey, lay off!"
"Hey, lay off!"
"Meh-heh-heh, he's got a point. Between all of us, we've been to a whole lotta places. If it's the only option left, I'll start believing in fairy tales."
"Come on, it's the only place that makes sense! The mountainous landscape, the remoteness, the... well, the realness. I don't think this is some kind of afterlife, we're still spirits inhabiting the real world. But this place is still special: after all, we've never been able to see the sky until now. So it must have some kind of significance, and I think I know what it is: time."
"I've thought a lot about the Hidden Land, even back when we were alive. I'm convinced that it's only accessible to Pokémon who've done what we have, which is unbind themselves from time. That's exactly what we've done, in a way! It's all conjecture, I know, but I've got this feeling in my gut. This place has to be the Hidden Land!"
After a long pause, the spirits smiled. They all knew this feeling. It was one they'd nearly forgotten. An age-old thrill of adventure and discovery.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's see what the ruins of the Hidden Land have to offer!"
The spirits had been right to worry. Even if Diglett had devised a "simple" method of encryption, dealing with such a long sequence of numbers was unwieldy. However, it wasn't long before inspiration struck, as it so often did.
"A 265-digit sequence, huh? Hey hey, you know what's weird? 265 is such a big number, but it's got so few factors! Besides 1 and 265, there's just 5 and 53!"
"Hmm... Oh my gosh, that is weird! But does it mean anything?"
"Oh, oh! We're not just looking for a location in itself, we're looking for an answer to a question! I want to try something!"
Chimecho produced a long humming tone, and before the spirits began to appear a ceramic plate, long and flat. It was indented with grooves that produced a grid pattern on its face. All in all, it was 5 cells tall and 53 cells long.
"Oh, I see what you're going for! Ones and zeroes, on or off, that sort of thing!"
Loudred ran his hand over the grid, starting at the top left and moving right. He counted out the sequence again, tapping the cell his finger hovered over each time he recited a one. One by one, the cells he tapped turned black. When he was finished, the grid looked like so:
The spirits looked dumbfounded for a moment.
"...Well, yeah. That's about the size of it. As long as you worked out how to split it up, the sequence can be converted into a kind of picture! Neat, huh? So, where are we? The Hidden Land. Good work, everyb—"
"We're WHERE?!"
"The... the Hidden La—"
"That's RIDICULOUS! There's no way we could've ended up there!"
"I'm... I'm telling you guys, it's true!"
"Hey, lay off!"
"Hey, lay off!"
"Hey, lay off!"
"Meh-heh-heh, he's got a point. Between all of us, we've been to a whole lotta places. If it's the only option left, I'll start believing in fairy tales."
"Come on, it's the only place that makes sense! The mountainous landscape, the remoteness, the... well, the realness. I don't think this is some kind of afterlife, we're still spirits inhabiting the real world. But this place is still special: after all, we've never been able to see the sky until now. So it must have some kind of significance, and I think I know what it is: time."
"I've thought a lot about the Hidden Land, even back when we were alive. I'm convinced that it's only accessible to Pokémon who've done what we have, which is unbind themselves from time. That's exactly what we've done, in a way! It's all conjecture, I know, but I've got this feeling in my gut. This place has to be the Hidden Land!"
After a long pause, the spirits smiled. They all knew this feeling. It was one they'd nearly forgotten. An age-old thrill of adventure and discovery.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's see what the ruins of the Hidden Land have to offer!"