This Reminds Me Of A Puzzle

"Can't be much longer," Flora said, opening the window and leaning out. "Ah! We're here! I can see the station!"

Layton started at the shout. "Oh, I must have nodded off," he said, adjusting his hat.

The train slowed to a halt. Professor Layton pulled their stuff down from overhead and passed the suitcases around. "Everyone have everything?" he asked. Everything seemed in order, so he headed off the train with Flora and Luke close behind.

Professor Layton looked over the pyramid, and then around. "Perhaps the excavation crew went inside," he suggested. Still, something was off about this dig site. There wasn't anything that stood out as belonging at an excavation.

"We'll take a quick peek inside," Layton decided, unable to control his curiosity any longer. "Be careful, and don't touch anything. Stay close."

Flora followed close behind Layton, gripping Luke's sleeve tightly. This place gave her the creeps, especially when they turned the corner and the light from outside was gone. A few more steps, and they saw a faint light a ways up. She could hear voices up ahead, two male voices. She looked up at the Professor, and her grip on Luke tightened. Truth be told, she was terrified.

"Hello!" Layton called. His voice echoed off the walls. "I'm Professor Layton, of Gressenheller University. I received your letter." He assumed it was the excavation crew up ahead, but he was posed to fight if it turned out he was wrong.

"My apologies," Professor Layton said, in some surprise. "Are you not the excavation crew?"

The two standing before the group of Brits were extremely different. One was short with blond hair, certainly no older than sixteen. The other was in armor, and so there was no way to tell the age. Dressed the way they were and without any of the required supplies, they couldn't be excavators. "Pardon me, but... if you're not here for excavation, who are you? And why are you here?"

Flora looked around the room, then thought of something. She pulled out of her bag a flashlight and clicked it on, giving them all a better idea of where they now stood. "What is all this?" she asked. "Pyramids don't look like this on the inside normally, do they?"

Al didn't know to trust these seemly harmless folk in front of him so he kept it careful.

"Well my name is Alphonse, Al for short. We're researcher's in search of mysterious stones. I'm talking back at our far away base, this suit of armor is being remotely controlled."

Al didn't want to give away their identities or the fact they know alchemy just yet until they learned more about these short British people in front of them.

Flora curtsied politely. "Nice to meet you. My name is Flora."

"A pleasure to meet you both," Layton said, tipping his hat to them. It didn't surprise him that the armor was controlled remotely. After his many adventures, especially the visit to the curious village St. Mystere, he wouldn't have been surprised if the armor was an AI program.

"The real question is, why would someone go to the trouble to make this place look like a pyramid?"

Layton crossed his arms thoughtfully. "Yes, a curse would keep most out, but archaeologists don't believe in curses. It wouldn't have worked very long. Though, what they're doing here is beyond me. I have a degree in archaeology and a penchant for puzzles, but I don't know much about engineering or general sciences." He took another look around the hall. "Have you been farther down the hall?"

"It worries me as well." Flora looked around at the metal walls. They were following Edward and Alphonse, even though they'd been told not to. The professor was quite curious about what this was all about, and Flora wasn't about to leave his side. Neither was Luke.

The professor took up Flora's flashlight and led the way. There wasn't anything that stood out except for the fact none of it should be in a pyramid. Then, ahead of Edward and Alphonse, he spotted something strange. "Wait a moment!" he called, running to catch up. He stopped when he reached the thing he'd noticed. "Look." He pointed at the floor.

The room widened at the end of the hall. On the other side, the hallway continued. Inside the strange room was a tiled floor nothing like the rest of the pyramid they'd seen so far. It was like something out of an Indiana Jones movie, with the stone tiled floor, a few with numbers. The Professor looked over them, frowning. "A puzzle in a pyramid? These sorts of things only are in the movies..."

The Professor looked down at Luke. "Do you happen to have a notepad?" he asked, then surveyed the room again. "My guess is that we have to step on each tile in a specific order. That means each one only once. The numbered ones give us a clue as to the order necessary to get across the room. So, if we draw out the layout of the room, and mark the ones with their number, we should be able to find the correct route."

"Right." Layton took up the notepad and pencil and sketched out a map of the room. Then he began numbering each tile so that he hit every already numbered tile at the right time and reached the other side of the room. It took all of five minutes. "That should do it," he said, double checking the results. He then took the first step.

The tile sunk in, and no arrows shot out. When he stepped off to the next tile, the previous didn't return to its original state. It stayed pressed down. "Right. So if I cross the floor in the correct order, you all should be able to just cross straight to the door. One moment." He continued zigzagging the floor, stepping carefully, until he reached the other side. The final tile pressed down, and the trap was disarmed.

"It should be safe now," he called. "Though..." He looked around the room. There were enough oddities here to look at for the moment.