Enter your name.
Your name is _, correct?
Are you a boy, or girl?
Alright.
Welcome, _.
You have been assigned to a being called "The Batter." The Batter has an important mission. Be sure that it's accomplished. We will let you out in zone 0. Good luck.
For more information, find the one called "The Judge".
Zone 0
The Batter was sent to zone 0.
As the white light faded he looked around. The ground on which he stood was a mustard colored platform surrounded by an ocean of plastic. There are four semi-transparent blocks floating at the corners of the platform. It was silent, nothing but a slight breeze.
He walked forward toward a tall building, the sounds of the plastic lapping at all sides now entered his ears. Not long after a scraggly white cat with a Cheshire grin approached him.
"There cannot be any other living beings in zone 0, so I must assume that you are only a mere figment of my imagination. Nevertheless, I will introduce myself. I am the Judge, and I am aching to know your name, dear elusory interlocutor."
"I'm the Batter. I've been assigned to a sacred mission," he replied.
"It is a pleasure," he began. "However, it is not the puppet I was addressing, but the puppeteer controlling it. What is your name, dear puppeteer?" he asked to the seemingly invisible being he believed to be there.
There was silence.
"Their name is _. They can't talk to us. However, they can hear and see everything."
"Even though you too are but an inexistent apparition in my eyes, let it be said that I am delighted to meet you as well, dear _."
"I believe we're in need of your services," the Batter continued, remembering he had been told to find the Judge for information.
The cat seemed to grin wider. "Many people are in need of my services, you know. Everybody loves cats." He padded over to the man and as he rubbed up against his legs he spoke. "We rub ourselves up against their legs and purr in the most insistent manner. They adore that."
"I'm not talking about that kind of help," he said looking down at him coldly.
He stopped and sat by the Batter's feet. "I see... but what sort of service could I offer to an ectoplasmic entity?" Even after rubbing against him he refused to believe the man in front of him was real.
"I have a sacred mission to fulfill. I must purify the world."
"There is no objective more laudable than yours. I accept to serve you as a guide through this area, if it is of any help to you."
"Thanks."
With that, the Judge walked off and nimbly climbed a ladder to the left of the building, the Batter following after him. Once on top of a slender stretch of flat rooftop, the Judge spoke again.
"Allow me to confess that I find you quite tangible for a phantasmagorial being. Might you in fact be a creature of flesh and blood?"
"I think so, yes," he answered.
"So I have been mistaken from the beginning. You did not even interrupt me in my deluded phantasms..." He tilted his head to the side. "This is relatively bizarre, I must say, for you are the first living being I was given a chance to encounter in this lieu. I had in fact concluded that zone 0 was an empty land. Obviously I was mislead. However, there exist other zones. And in those territories, the risk of hostile individuals attacking you in the most violent manner is quite high. Your sacred mission will likely lead you into these lands. Would you like me to teach you the art of violent confrontation?"
"Yes."
With that, the Judge stood left to the Batter and explained, "As you can observe, you will find yourself placed at the right-hand side. Your opponent, however, in this case yours truly, will be located on the left, the correct place for a single combat. At the beginning of combat, you will be confronted with a choice. You have to decide whether to attack or flee. Attacking naturally permits you to engage the fight in the classical fashion. Finally, you can flee. As its name indicates, it is the option of the coward. I dehort this alternative. But now it is time for the offense. Anew to off me with your bat." As the Judge got ready to be hit he reminded the Batter of one last thing. "Please do hold back though, if you do not I would take the risk of dying, taking my secrets with me to the grave."
As the Batter charged at the Judge he heard the cat speak more.
"Excellent, dear sportive companion. You must consider the fact that you and your enemy's levels determine the impact of your assaults. It is possible that you or your adversaries could avoid the barrage of attacks that you will throw at each other with slyness. On occasion, your cast iron will get you a critical hit, which will cause teeth to fly in heaps. But let us move on, if you are willing to."
The Batter struck him in the ribs, the wind briefly being knocked out of him.
After a moment, he continued, "You can attack normally, use one of your special skills, and even use objects that you are carrying. How about trying to utilize an object? Take this Luck ticket and use it on your person with gratitude," he finished and passed the ticket to the Batter.
It was completely pointless to use the ticket now as he had not taken any damage, but he did as he was told.
"Impeccable. Your mastery of battle borders on brilliancy, my dear. But there is one thing we have not yet addressed. I am of course talking about your special attacks. They may induce a resurgence of health, or may be in and of themselves, powerful attacks. Nevertheless know this: any use of special attacks will decrease your energy. So I ask that you use these skills sparingly. Once your energy is completely consumed, it will be impossible to carry out heavy assaults. And if you happen to cross swords with a tougher opponent before being able to regain more energy, victory will be uncertain. But try it right away. You can use your skill 'The Wide Angle,' which will allow you to analyze your enemy."
The Batter once again did as he was told and focused his eyes on the Judge. He didn't seem particularly strong.
"Eh eh eh. You now know not only all about me, but also about the art of combat. About the Wide Angle... Know that its analysis will always be based on the start of the battle. Thus, it may accidentally analyze adversaries you have already knocked out for a long time. The confrontation ends, theoretically, when either your team, or all of your opponents, die.
"Take good care of your health if you want a successful career in purification. From now on you will be ready to crush all impure obstacles that get in your luminous mission's way. Well, supposing your intelligence is on the same level with your undeniable capability of dealing bat blows to an innocent cat. Be it as it may, your training has not reached its end yet. Let me ask you to follow me, if you still want me as your guide." He walked to the right of the small rooftop and climbed the second ladder that led to the top of the building, the Batter, once more, following after.
He stood at the top, an expanse of pale plastic ocean stretching endlessly below. He then headed down a flight of stairs to his left. When he had reached the bottom, he found himself in a small yellow room with the numbers: one, two, three, and four, painted in a bold black on the wall in a rectangular form.
Noticing another flight of stairs off to the side, he approached them. However, a gate blocked it.
"Ah, yes. To pass through here, you need to use your cerebral organ. You know, the one bathing flabbily in your tired cranium. I believe those floating blocks correspond to the symbols you can see on the wall in some way or another," the Judge said, licking a paw.
The Batter walked over to the block in the upper left corner, which corresponded to the "one" written on the wall, and pressed it. It then turned semi-transparent. He did this with the other three blocks as well.
The gate retracted back into the ground and the Judge went downstairs, then the Batter.
In this room were two windows in the center of the wall, on the opposite sides of each were the numbers: one, two, six, and eight, two, three. Eight blocks were lined up in a row of two. He pressed the blocks in the order as listed and the gate left the other staircase free to access. He walked down.
"Ahaha, finally! After all that exertion, the eagerly awaited recompense makes its entrance to the scene!" the Judge exclaimed running toward a bowl of cat food on the other side of the room and beginning to scarf it down.
The Batter looked around. Ten blocks were in the room this time and the back door was blocked. Another puzzle it would seem. He left the room and stepped outside. Clearly, there was something he was missing.
So he stood in front of the building thinking. Where was the one place he hadn't been yet? The answer became obvious after examining the building. He headed into the middle room that he had neglected after following the Judge up the ladder.
In this room was three rows of numbers on the wall. First were the numbers four, four, and eight. Second, two, eight, and seven. Finally, in the center, was a zero. With that, he went back into the room with the blocks. As he had done in the previous rooms, he pressed the blocks in order.
The gate blocking the door vanished and he stepped outside. There was a narrow path that led to a platform much like the one at the front of the building. In the center was a floating red block with a single white dot on the front. As he walked towards it, he heard the Judge behind him.
"Here is an accessory that is going to be especially helpful on your purifying quest, dear enlightened student and sportive friend. It is a cube, hovering in midair, as you have likely noticed. Nevertheless, you will be able to differentiate it from similar ones by the contrast of bad taste it imposes on your view of its clashing color, defying any sensible course of plastic arts. However do not judge it too quickly, because despite its criticizable appearance, this red cube is of undeniable use.
"Aside from rendering you the entirety of your health and energy, it is capable of sending you to the nothingness. The nothingness is a lieu of transition outside of space itself, where you can travel from one point to another at the speed of light. I now invite you to try it out, in order to discover locations more populous than this deserted land. Open your wings, my dear companion, and hurry away towards the following zones without hesitation! Your only enemy is the fear that will grab you."
"Okay."
"Do not worry, I too travel a lot through the different zones of the world. We will newly meet one another eventually without a doubt. Ah! By the by, take this. This object of a curious name will be the key that permits you to enter zone 1." He handed him a card with the zodiac sign of the Leo on it.
The Batter nodded, taking the card, and placing his hand on the cube. A blinding light enveloped him as he was sent away into the nothingness. There was nothing to be seen. The black void stretched on, the only thing to be heard was whispering and hushed murmurs.