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The Chromatic Witch, Ep 2: The Power of Green


Yoruichi-san
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Gritting her teeth tightly, the girl pushed herself up off the ground. Sweat beaded near her temples and dripped down the side of her face and off her nose onto the linoleum below. Ninety-nine, she counted, then took a deep breath and lowered herself back down.

Her arms trembled with the exertion as she pushed up once again. There came a knock at the door. The girl allowed herself to collapse onto the floor. “Come in,” she said, catching her breath.

A lean, clean-cut young man with dark brown entered, carrying a tray. When he saw her, he frowned. “Shouldn’t you be resting?”

The girl shook her head. “I must be strong.” Her tone was tired, but steadied by conviction. “Besides, this might be my last chance to...” Her voice trailed off as a sad look came into her eyes.

The young man bit his lip. “You know,” he began after a moment, “you don’t have to go through with this. It’s not too late...”

The girl shook her head resolutely. “No, I have to do this.”

“Your family hasn’t cashed the check yet, you can still back out and simply return the money...”

“That’s not what...I mean...” The girl let out a long sigh. “I have to this, because I have to do this. This is who I am, who I want to be, who I can finally choose to be. This is my opportunity to truly be me, my only opportunity. There is nothing for me here, but there...”

The young man looked as if he wanted to say more, but he seemed to struggle inside. Finally, his shoulders fell and he capitulated. “Alright, I’ll leave you to it then.” He set the tray down on a nearby table. “You should eat it before it gets cold.”

The Chromatic Witch

EPISODE 2:

The Power of Green

“In brightest day, in blackest night,

No evil shall escape my sight

Let those who worship evil's might,

Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!!!”

The Green Lantern Oath

Warmed by the effusive sunlight streaming in through his window, Orin yawned and pulled himself out of his bed. Through his mind flitted fragments of last night’s dreams, memories of picnics at the park, splashing in the lake, and playing with his dog spot, who had met such an unfortunate end, and other scenes which were already beginning to fade.

As he yawned off the last remnants of drowsiness, an envelope icon popped up in his field of vision. “You have one new message. Read?” an automated voice asked.

“Yes,” he replied, and words began scrawling themselves in his view:

The Green Gateway has been found. All agents please be ready to depart by 0800 hours. Meet in the hangar.

Orin couldn’t keep the boyish grin off his face. The hanger...that means we’re taking the...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blades of grass cowered, oppressed by the streamlines around the landing jet. Its sleek obsidian-hued surface gleamed cooly under the hot sun. After its elegant contours finally slid to a stop, the hatch door on its side lowered, allowing the energetic agents to exit.

They shuffled out, greeting the scene with huge grins plastered upon their faces. To one side stood a forest whose luxurious green foliage shimmered in the bright sun. On the other side was a green sea of grass as far as the eye could see.

“According to the readings, we’re at the Gateway.” Wraith commented, his brows furrowed.

The agents exchanged perplexed looks. “But there’s nothing here but nature...”

All you need is nature and will,” an unfamiliar voice said. All the agents turned abruptly towards it.

A handsome dark haired young man in a fitted black and green costume stood in front of them, surveying them with marked interest.

“Kyle Rayner, I expected as much,” Father’s voice murmured over the neuro-link.

“Are you an agent of the Chromatic Witch?” Orin asked, his hand inching towards his phaser.

The young man smiled. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” As he spoke, he held up a fist towards them, from which a green beam of light shot out, expanding as it approached. It surrounded the group and formed into a translucent green box.

In the middle of one side of the box were some transcribed some characters:

GP1.doc

In the middle of the opposite side was an image:

GP2.doc

Wraith put his hand up to the translucent green wall and felt its resistance. “Looks like we’re going to have to figure out how to get out of here.”

The young man smiled and nodded. “If you do, I’ll be waiting.” Then he turned and disappeared into the forest.

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The adept agents had figured out the number of elements to the series, but what did it mean? Why was that number significant?

So it would seem that DD's number were good: 28,31,48,21,18, 28

Maybe a six letter word.

Any thought on why the two being were labeled H and K?

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Meanwhile, Captain Wraith studied the cartoon opponents with careful measure. What was with this strange art style they were drawn in, and why couldn't they just speak English, dammit?! And brushes? What an odd choice of weapon...unless...maybe it had some meaning, maybe there was some method to the Witch's madness? Hmmm....

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Its almost 11pm here, and I need to sleep. So I havent work it all out but...

I think it might have somethind to do with Dennis the Menace or something related to Hank Ketcham because of the cartoon duo with "H" and "K".

Edited by MikeD
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Here's what I got (not much, I'm afraid). Stop giggling, MoMa:

No spoilers (may as well make a fool of myself in the open). I was looking for a 6-letter shade of green that started and ended with the same letter. Discarded WILLOW because of the double LL.

Tried LAUREL and actually thought I was onto something when I substituted 28,31,48,21,18,28 with line/letter from Green Lantern Oath and got H,L,Y,N,T,H. 3 of the letters - L,R,L are +3 in the alphabet, U is -3. but the other 2 just don't fit. I bet you all thought of that anyway.

As for the paint brushes and the letters on the cartoons (I admit to knowing precisely 0 about GL so I had to Google): Kyle Rayner is an artist IRL. Could the H and K be initials of past or present names of GLC? And it seems the duo are mirror images of each other: it wouldn't take much imagination to mirror image K as Lambda (from Ep 1).

Like I said, not much. But there if you hadn't already thought of it and it's of any use to you.

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Heya Fab, those were good thoughts. I still haven't come up with any useful 6 letter word. From the hints, it would seem that the sequence going out 48 iterations is significant, but I don't have a good guess as to why the 48 is important. I'm also afraid that the cartoon reference is either a manga or anime reference and I also know 0 about that and haven't had much luck when trying to google "manga/anime green haired twins". I know that manga/anime seems to be a favorite with some of the younger BD crowd so I'm really hoping that someone will chime in with something helpful.

When I simply look at the final "riddle" from the twins, my best guess so far would be 'oxygen' but I didn't want to start blindly guessing answers w/o being able to tie it back to the code in some manner.

Also, the last number in my final sequence (28,31,48,21,18,28) could also be either 21 or 42. All three numbers (21,28,42) correspond to the final 84,7 pairing. That might help

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I keep checking this periodically, but I haven't come up with anything yet. (I should have put this in a spoiler)

I'm kidding about the spoilers--I'll try to stop using them.

H and K are both symbols for alkali metals on the periodic table. Perhaps the sequence of numbers is seeded in that table.

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H and K are both symbols for alkali metals on the periodic table. Perhaps the sequence of numbers is seeded in that table.

I thought about the periodic table but couldn't build any words with the elements corresponding to the numbers. I'm going to keep googling for some sort of manga/anime connection, but I really don't know anything at all about that scene.

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As Orin pondered over the little man's cryptic poem, he overheard an astute agent mention that the cartoon characters appeared to be drawn in the style of a particular country. He looked up some images over his neuro-link. Yes, indeed, this was the art style. But these particular characters did not seem to be from any particular series he could find.

"Their characters perhaps you can read..." That line in particular haunted his thoughts. The characters of the characters? There appeared to be no information about that...hmmmmmm ...characters...

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Fabby's on the right track. It's a language, probably a form of Japanese; that's what "characters" refers to. We may have to figure out the language and translate the given numbers.

Edit: Wait a sec, fab gave a link that contains three parts of the Japanese language; Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. At least two of them should make the H and K. Also, the paintbrushes probably refer to Asian calligraphy.

Edited by Aaryan
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@DD - If the last number of the sequence could be 21, 28, 42, does that also apply to the 1st one? If so, FUMA NATSURI could be NAMA NATSURI. But Y-San seemed quite happy with your sequence....

For those having fun with the above links, this is a

found the Hiragana / Katakana charts and assigned numbers to the syllable sounds. The charts are in columns of 5 or 10, depending on website. It could be I'm counting across instead of down, it could also be that the number eg 28 means column 2 row 8 or vice-versa Or it could be I'm flying off at a tangent.

Incidentally, Google translate gives NAMA NATSURI as "RAW FISHING" !!

Edit to correct my Japanese

Edited by fabpig
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grrrr, was writing up my failures and realized I had made a mistake and then found the answer. The actual sequence should be 28,31,48,21,18,42. I found a nice table for the Hiragana characters that was in "alphabetical order" and I used it to decode to Hu Ma N Na Tu Re -> Human Nature. I think this is probably the final answer.

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grrrr, was writing up my failures and realized I had made a mistake and then found the answer. The actual sequence should be 28,31,48,21,18,42. I found a nice table for the Hiragana characters that was in "alphabetical order" and I used it to decode to Hu Ma N Na Tu Re -> Human Nature. I think this is probably the final answer.

I would think so. It makes a lot more sense than

"RAW FISHING"

Nicely done DD

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A smile slowly crossed Orin’s face. Of course! The sequence...the brushes...it all made sense now. He turned to the characters, the kana twins. “I have read your characters!” he declared, holding his chest up high, eyes blazing with confidence.

Just then, a strange thing happened...the brushes disappeared from the twins’ hands and re-materialized in front of Orin. Pausing for only the slightest moment, he took one in each hand.

With 4 strokes of Hiragana’s brush and 1 stroke of Katakana’s, he wrote he first character,

280px-%E3%81%B5-bw.png

126px-%E3%83%95-bw.png

After being engendered into the space, the characters pulsed and then shot towards their respective character, flying into their chests. Was it the agents’ imaginations, or did the twins’ outlines seem slightly fainter?

With 3 strokes H and 2 of K, he flourished the second character,

200px-%E3%81%BE-bw.png

200px-%E3%83%9E-bw.png

Following, 1 stroke H, 2 strokes K,

122px-%E3%82%93-bw.png

166px-%E3%83%B3-bw.png

No, it was not their imaginations. The characters were fading with each character. Orin went on to the second word. 4 strokes for Hiragana, 2 strokes for Katakana,

280px-%E3%81%AA-bw.png

176px-%E3%83%8A-bw.png

1 stroke for Hiragana, 3 strokes for Katakana,

120px-%E3%81%A4-bw.png

230px-%E3%83%84-bw.png

Only the barest outline of the anime characters remained now. With a respectful bow of his head, Orin painted the final characters with 2 careful stroke for Hiragana and 1 for Katakana,

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/%E3%82%8C-bw.png/177px-%E3%82%8C-bw.png

http://upload.wikime...26px-レ-bw.png

The twins returned his bow, as if to say: It appears we were wrong, you are worthy opponents indeed. Then they vanished.

There was a rumbling, and the ground they stood upon shook. As the agents of Sector Lambda struggled to maintain their balance, a portion of the ridge in front of them began to collapse. A moment later, the ground stilled once more and they saw that now before them stood a long earthen staircase.

And hence they climbed, up the moss covered steps to the summit of the ridge. And from there...

...a chasm.

They could see nothing but a sheer drop to darkness below. In the distance, they could see the other side of the ravine. But how were they to get across?

Suddenly, the brushes Orin realized he was still holding flew out of his hands. As they did so, they shimmered and lost their form, metamorphosing into pure green energy. The energy split in different directions, becoming an array of nearly square, translucent green platforms. There was one platform in front the agents. Carefully, Orin touched his foot down onto its translucent surface. It seemed solid enough...a deep breath, and he shifted his weight onto it.

It held without even wavering. After studying it for a moment, Captain Wraith followed suit, then the rest of the team, one by one.

After the final member stood on the platform, the platform in front of it lit up. The Sector Lambda agents looked at each other, that was where they were suppose to go, they guessed, but it was too far to step...

Abruptly, they felt themselves propelled forward by a force. Before they realized what was happening, they landed on the platform in front of them. The platform they had been standing on had vanished, they realized, and something else...on the opposite side of the array, a faint outline of a final platform just became visible. This platform would connect the array to the other side of the gulf.

The platform they now were on had a number “1” on it. The three platforms 1 unit away now lit up. “Well...” said Wraith slowly, “I’m guessing we can only move to platforms at an exact distance from the current platform of the number on the platform. Once we move off a platform, it disappears and its ‘energy’ is added to the final platform. I’m guessing we can need to ‘visit’ every platform on our way to the final platform in order to sufficiently ‘power it up’.”

post-7969-0-86169400-1343875713_thumb.jp

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A few additions to the list.

h7-h8

a4-a1

a3-a2

f8-g8

c6-e6

b6-a6

g6-g7

b7-f7

f1-f3

c3-b3

d4-c4

d7-d5

I'm not sure I understand the b7-f7. Couldn't f7 also be reached from d7? If so, I think this eliminates most of your following deductions.

But I do think that this is a good approach although I'm sort of hoping one of the programmers will just write an exhaustive search to find the right path...

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Yeah, you're right. I guess I missed that. It's nice to see a puzzle where we can understand the rules, though.

I like making puzzles where part of the puzzle is figuring out the rules. I consider them 'thinking outside the box' puzzles or creative-thinking puzzles. It's my style, if it's not your cup of tea, feel free to look elsewhere *shrugs*.

Bah, should be asleep...instead of volunteering to pick ppl up at the airport at ridiculous hours :wacko: .

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