Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or OFF, if I did, Gordon Freeman would totally be referenced in both of them.
Chapter I: Initial inclinations
Arriving in their room from another exhausting day, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long, let out their respective breaths of relief. With another weekend due for them, they were understandably tired because of schoolwork, training, and all other things concerning the life of a young huntsman-in-training.
"Finally, I thought the weekend would never get here." Ruby said as her back was against the soft cushion of her mattress.
"You said it, Rubes." On the other hand, Yang was sitting near the table that was against their window. Her lilac eyes looked up to the ceiling, followed by a sigh. "Seriously, every week feels as if it's getting more and more straining. I mean is it just me or do we get more and more winded after the end of every week?"
"It's expected to be like that really." Weiss spoke as she finished changing out of her uniform and into her casual clothing. "The further we get into training to becoming huntsmen, the harder our days and weeks will become."
"Really?" Yang then turned her glanced to the bow-clad Faunus who was lying down on her bed. "What do you think, Blake?"
"Well, I just think that Professor Port has been more boring as of late." Blake's teammates let out their respective chuckles at her little joke, mostly Yang and Ruby. "But in all honesty, I just think it's only tiring for now. I'm sure it'll at least lighten up after about a week." Blake then continued staring at the space above her bed.
"Good thinking, Blake." Yang gave her a thumbs-up. "But since it's the weekend and tomorrow we don't have classes, what do you think we should do for tonight, ladies?" The blond brawler raised her eyebrows at Ruby first.
"Umm…" The scythe-rifle wielder scratched her head, trying to think of an idea. "I don't really have a clue; maybe get some sleep since we're all beat?" She tried to think of anything else from the top of her head but couldn't really get anything.
"You know, Ruby does have a point. Don't you feel tired at all, Yang?" Weiss inquired.
"I do but what are we supposed to do for the rest of the hour, stare at our ceiling and windows until we bore ourselves to sleep? At least Blake has her books lying around."
"Well, why don't we just read some of Blake's books then?" Ruby suggested.
"Rubes, we just spent a quarter of the day doing just that. Besides, some of the books Blake read would be way too… umm, out of your age." Yang glanced at Blake who responded with a look of amusement.
"Good point," Team RWBY's leader just let a sigh of defeat escape her. "Alright, I guess we'll just have to let the boredom win this time-" Instantly, an idea pinged across Ruby's mind. "Wait! I have an idea." With that, Ruby jumped out of her bed and ran towards their room closet.
The red-hooded scythe wielder returned with a small box-like device in her hands that was joined with a peculiar flat disk container. Her teammates looked at her curiously but Yang knew what her sister was holding.
"What'cha doin' with that, Rubes?" The blonde brawler asked as her sister finished setting up the whole system in record time.
"We're going to be playing something that Jaune gave me the other day," Ruby showed her team the disk container which was a video game or some sort of movie. By how Ruby explained it, the trio assumed that it was going to be a video game.
The cover was mainly black with a little bit orange tinted and sprayed around the background, giving off a mysterious vibe. In the middle of the cover, a bright orange diagonal orange cross placed with the word "off" written over it. From the cover, the game gave off a slightly mysterious vibe, which made Weiss, Yang, and Blake look at it curiously.
"Off?" Weiss read as she approached her leader which made her immediately think that this was going to be another horror game.
"What's it about?" Yang asked her sister whom had turned the box system they'll be using to play the game.
"From what Jaune told me, it's about a character guy called the Batter and his quest to clean or what was the word again…" Ruby wondered. "Oh! Purify! That's it. The Batter's quest to purify the world he lives in."
"Is it like, based around various myths and legends around Remnant or something?" Blake inquired, looking at the cover curiously from her bed.
"I don't think so, I mean, I've never heard of a story of someone called the Batter going around and cleaning Grimm." Ruby responded as she took the disk out its case.
"I guess you can say no one can bat an eye with that kind of story, eh, eh?" Yang joked which earned her a sigh from Blake, a groan from a Weiss shaking her head, and a chuckle from Ruby. "Oh, dang, and there aren't any snacks here. Rubes, how long did Jaune say the game was?"
"He said it took him around four to five hours max to complete the whole thing," Ruby responded as she loaded the disk into the box device.
"Right, I'll go get some snacks and drinks then, guys, don't start the game without me," Yang said as she headed out onto the door.
"Please don't tell me that is going to be another horror game, Ruby." Weiss advised, shivering in the back of her mind as she remembered the last time they played something on the frightening caliber.
"What? No. Psh." Ruby answered. "I mean, I've already explained the story to you, isn't that already enough proof that nothing is going to jump at us from the screen while we play?"
Weiss responded with a sigh. "I suppose you're right but if this is another horror game, I swear, I'll never let you hear the end of the time you thought that the Pyramid thing was coming for you when it was just Jaune knocking on the door to borrow some pencils."
"How was I supposed to know the title Silent Hill was supposed to be scary?" Ruby mocked a pout as Blake seemingly got a chuckle out of her reaction.
"And that time you were afraid of staying in our room because you thought a little girl named Alma was going to come and haunt you." Weiss added.
"In my defense, Alma was pretty scary and how she can make it seem like you're dreaming or just hallucinating." Ruby retorted.
"Pretty scary? The acronym of the game was FEAR, Ruby, so it was kinda obvious that the little girl in the cover with a game name like that was meant to scare you." Blake said as Weiss nodded.
"It was First Encounter Assault Recon! I just thought the scares were going to be a small thing." Ruby defended herself before she sighed in admission. "Don't worry, this time, if anything scary happens, I won't let it get the best of me."
"Will you?" Blake and Weiss simultaneously asked.
"Yes!" Ruby responded as Yang got back from getting snacks and drinks.
"Back." Yang closed the door behind her as she entered the room. "Got a lot of snacks since you did say this game might be good for a while, Rubes." The blonde brawler placed the aforementioned snacks on their table before turning to Ruby.
"Alright, now since everyone's ready, I'll run the game now."
As soon as the game booted up onto the box device, the large screen standing on top of it displayed a screen almost completely blank with the same picture layered over the game's cover over a menu with three keys. The key in the middle of the top and bottom one was faded while the top one read "New Game" and the other read "Quit"
"Ooh…" Ruby said as she held the controller in her hand before the music kicked on. She seemed to be curious while the others seemed to be a little hesitant.
"I swear, if this is another horror game…" Yang mumbled as Ruby went with the New Game option.
Their view was redirected to a black screen followed by the appearance of a small text box with an advisory that read;
Caution – It is possible that certain scenes in this game are shocking to an unwarned public. Or maybe not…
"What?" At this point, Ruby tensed up to a degree. Was this game going to scare her intentionally? The maybe not in the advisory is throwing her off guard.
"This is another horror game," Weiss gave a tired sigh.
"I don't think so," Blake responded. "The whole warning is sort of contradicting itself."
"Unless it wants to lower our guard during the spooky stuff." Yang said with Ruby and Blake giving her a glance.
The petal sniper then proceeded on, expecting more than a few scares now from the game thanks to the advisory. What followed the advisory was a small note to have the music of the game turned on and the name of the company that made the game.
Ruby was then presented with the name selection screen. A collection of letters and numbers were right before her sight as she moved the cursor to form the name 'Ruby'. She went to the okay option before being asked to confirm her name. Following the name confirmation screen was a question-less selection screen that asked the user for their gender.
"Ha! Aren't you a guy, sis?" Yang teased as the red-clad scythe-sniper chose the 'I'm a girl' option.
[Alright.]
[Welcome, Ruby]
"Thanks, game," Ruby already felt like this was much better than F.E.A.R. even if this one seemed quieter in its eeriness.
Another dialogue popped up in dark void of the screen along with small pixilated form of a person that was hard to discern because of the monochrome palette it bore.
[You have been assigned to a being called "The Batter."]
"Is that supposed to be him?" Yang pointed to the small pixilated man in the middle of the void.
"I think so," Ruby shrugged. "Looks a little creepy to be honest."
"It's very hard to tell because of choice of color." Blake stated.
"I think that was intentional on the developer's part." Weiss reasoned.
[The Batter has an important mission.]
[Be sure that it's accomplished.]
"But what's the mission about?" Ruby asked.
"Rubes, you're talking to the screen, you're not gettin' any answers." Yang pointed out.
"I know Yang, but are they just going to tell me that and expect not to question the whole thing?" The scythe-sniper huffed.
[We will let you out in Zone 0.]
[Good luck.]
[For more information, find the one called "The Judge."]
"…well I guess they are." Ruby sighed in defeat.
"Talk about brief instruction," Yang shook her head. "They haven't even taught you any controls yet."
"Well I think simple instructions at the beginning of a game would be preferred by most," Weiss started. "Though it is strange that they're vague about what this Batter's mission is supposed to be."
"Why is he even called the Batter anyways?" Blake inquired, glancing towards her team leader.
[OFF]