Chapter Text
Welcome, reader.
You have been assigned to a being called The Batter.
The Batter is on a mission. Be sure that it’s accomplished.
We will let you both out in Zone 0. Good luck.
For more information, find the one called The Judge.
An infinite plane of darkness quickly gave way for Zone 0, alternatively known as Joas. An endless yellow haze surrounded it with darker yellow structures, like an island built upon a foggy void. A pathway led from the central building to a distant platform, where a monochromatic man dressed in a striped uniform and black cap, briefly glancing upwards towards the sky above, as if staring at something that couldn’t be seen by others.
After a few moments of silence, the Batter tilted his head back downwards before walking forward across the pathway towards the center building, where he soon found himself encountering one of the few residents of Zone 0, coming to a stop in his path. A small white cat with a large and toothy grin, eyes possessing intellect beyond that of what the species would usually have.
“There can be no living beings in Zone 0,” the cat spoke fluently while sitting before the Batter, flicking his tail back and forth with little regard. “I deduce, therefore, that you are a figment of my imagination. Nevertheless, I will introduce myself. I am the Judge, and I am aching to know your name, my dear illusory interlocutor.” The feline said with a slight tilt of his head.
“I am the Batter. I’ve been entrusted with a sacred mission.” The monochromatic man replied, his tone bored, as if matching the tone of color that made up his body. But the cat did not seem to care, briefly stretching out his body with a roll of his eyes, before speaking once more.
“Delighted, I’m sure. But I am not addressing the body– only the soul that it harbors. What is your name, controller?” The Judge asked curiously as his long tail continued to idly sway behind him, not staring at the Batter as much as he was staring through him, as if seeing something that others couldn’t.
“They are a reader. They cannot talk to us. However, they can see and hear everything.”
“Although to me you are nothing more than an imaginary specter, I must say that I am delighted to make your acquaintance as well, my dear reader.” The Judge replied with a slight curtsey of his feline body, briefly bowing his head before looking back up towards the Batter, as if sensing the request that would come from the man next.
“I believe we need your help.”
“Many people require my services, you know. Everybody loves cats,” the Judge retorted, briefly pausing to lick at the back of his paw before lowering back to the ground and continuing. “We rub ourselves against their legs and purr in a most insistent manner. They adore that.” But yet the Batter did not care for such sensations.
“I’m not talking about that kind of help.”
“I see– but what sort of service could I offer to an ectoplasmic entity?”
“I have a sacred mission to fulfill,” the Batter replied emotionlessly. “I must purify the world.”
“There is no objective more laudable!” The Judge laughed in a playful manner as his answer, the feline’s humor a stark contrast to the man’s stoicism, his grin only growing wider. “Therefore, I agree to serve as your guide through this place, if I may be of any assistance.”
“Thanks.” The Batter simply said before the Judge turned and walked towards the yellow building behind him, his tail shifting back and forth in amusement as he approached the nearest open door before making a large leap to the ledge above, soon followed by the monochromatic man, climbing up a ladder to reach him, where the Judge looked upon his form with a curious lilt in his tone and tilt of his head.
“Allow me to confess that I find you quite tangible for a phantasmagorical being,” the white feline observed, as if the Batter were a specimen to be dissected by the Judge’s watchful gaze. “Might you in fact be a person of flesh and blood?”
“I think so.”
“So I was mistaken from the first, and you did not even interrupt my fanciful soliloquizing…” the Judge murmured, his curiosity seeming to grow and grow with each passing interaction with this enigmatic man. “I must say, this is really quite strange. You are the first living being I have ever met in this place.” He added while scratching his ear with one of his paws.
“I had concluded, therefore, that Zone 0 was empty. It’s all too obvious that I was mistaken,” He remarked as his curious gaze was matched only by the Batter’s detached gaze from underneath the brim of his cap. “Now, then. There are other zones. In those territories you may find yourself subject to the violent attentions of certain hostile individuals. Your sacred mission may well lead you to those places. Would you like me to acquaint you with the art of violent confrontation?” He offered politely to which the Batter responded with a slight shake of his head.
“I know how to fight.”
“Very well then. You must be ready to dispose of all the impure obstacles standing between you and the success of your luminous mission,” the Judge replied before continuing with a quiet snicker. “Provided that your intelligence is as advanced as your undeniable capacity for monotonous exchanges. Please do follow me, if you would like my guidance a while longer.”
As soon as his last words were uttered, the Judge suddenly did a massive leap that brought them to the top of the building. The Batter wasted little time with climbing up the ladder to follow them, finding not the Judge by a set of stairs that led downwards into the building from the roof. Heading downwards, the enigmatic man found himself in a mostly empty room with another set of stairs at the opposite end, blocked by obstacles that were impossible to get around.
“Ah, yes– passing through here will require the careful operation of your cerebral apparatus,” the Judge amusedly commented from next to one of the impossible obstacles blocking the way forward, snickering quietly to himself before continuing. “You know, the one bathing limply in your languid cranium. I believe that these floating blocks correspond, in some way or another, to the symbols you see before you on the wall.” He tilted his head towards the back wall of the room, which had the digits one through four written upon it.
The Batter flicked the first switch that corresponded to the number one’s location on the wall, located in the top left of the room, before going forward to input the rest of the combination in the corresponding order. Afterwards, the impossible obstacles lowered into the ground and the Judge descended further into the building.
The next two floors were much the same, with impossible obstacles blocking the way downwards and switches to open them, along with numbers on the walls in order to hint at the implied order to flip them in. The white cat acting as their guide chose to be inherently unhelpful, waiting next to the obstacles for the Batter to open the way for him, even attending to a bowl of food on the second one.
“Ahaha, finally, after all our exertions, the eagerly awaited recompense arrives upon the scene!” He remarked happily before beginning to devour whatever laid inside of the wooden bowl while the Batter went on with flipping switches to open the way forward. The next room led to a singular platform amidst the haze, a red cube floating there. As the Batter approached, the Judge suddenly entered from behind to speak, as he seemed to love doing.
“Now feast your eyes upon an accessory that will prove especially useful on your purifying quest, my enlightened student and sportive friend,” the Judge remarked while brushing past the Batter’s legs, his tail gesturing towards what laid in the middle of the platform. “It is a cube floating in the air, as you have no doubt noticed. Nevertheless, you will be able to distinguish it from its fellows by the tasteless contrast forced upon your gaze by its clashing colors, which defy any sensible theory of the visual arts.” He pointed out while scratching at the cube a single time.
“Do not judge it too quickly, however, for in spite of its questionable appearance, this red cube possesses an undeniable utility,” the Judge explained as the Batter stepped forward, hovering a hand over the cube. “In addition to restoring your health and competence points in their entirety, it is capable of saving your progress and sending you to the Nothingness.”
“The Nothingness.” The Batter echoed under his breath.
“The Nothingness is a place of transition outside space itself, where you can travel from one point to another at the speed of light,” the Judge continued on, beginning to walk back into the building towards the rest of Zone 0. “Now I invite you to try it for yourself, in order to discover regions more populous than this deserted place. Open your wings, my dear companion, and fly towards the zones ahead without hesitation! Your only enemy is the fear that will grip you.”
“Okay.”
“Do not worry, I too travel widely across the zones of this world. I am certain we will meet again,” the Judge murmured lazily before stopping himself and turning back towards the Batter, flicking his tail as he did so. “Ah, yes– by the by, take this. This curiously named item is the key that will grant you entry to Zone 1.” He added as his tail swept across the floor, leaving behind what appeared to be a playing card with a picture of a lion’s head printed upon it on both sides.
The Batter stepped forward and picked the card up off the ground while the Judge turned back around and went back towards the rest of Zone 0, stopping once more by the open door to look at the enigmatic man over his shoulder.
“Go on, I invite you to try activating the floating cube behind you.” He said before departing back into the building, leaving the Batter to turn and place a hand on the floating red cube, immediately feeling revitalized before choosing to return to the Nothingness. As soon as he did, he was whisked away in a flash of light.
The moment that the light faded, the Batter found himself in a familiarly desolate dark void, with the image of Zone 0 right below his feet. The Leo Card hummed in his hand as a new location became available to him, which he walked over to and entered Zone 1.