"I feel myself being called. The trumpets are sounding, the winds are blowing. The smell of burned plastic and rotten meat fills my nostrils once again."

That was all The Batter could think before being thrust into a world of total darkness. His eyes opened, or at least, he thought they opened. What lay before him was nothing more than an empty abyss, and a solid ground beneath his feet. He tapped his right foot three times, then his left. He felt his bat in his hand and tightened his grip, tapping it against the ground as well to make sure his body wasn't deceiving him. Living as many different lives as he had, you never knew what was real and what was imaginary. He raised his other hand, feeling around for the bill of his hat. Everything seemed to be in check, so he decided to slowly walk forward. He reasoned that if he couldn't see, he'd eventually come to a wall, and then follow the wall to a door. What lied behind that door, he didn't care. Whatever it may be would be better than total darkness.

The Batter walked and walked for what felt like a century. Suddenly, a clicking noise came from behind him. He quickly turned around and readied his bat, preparing to strike at whatever was making the sound. In this world, with sound came light, and with light came life. The clicking turned into a squeaking, and The Batter was blinded by a bright white light. He shielded his eyes with his free hand and shouted, "Coward! Fight me without using such cowardly tactics!"

A familiar jokester voice said, "My my dear Batter, that's no way to greet an old friend now is it? Here I am opening the door for you, showing you the way out of this eternal darkness. I could have left you wandering you know."

The Batter lowered his hand and let his eyes adjust to the bright light. When his vision cleared, The Batter seen the cat mask wearing merchant standing in the doorway. His sweater was still the same two-sizes too big with a heart in the center of it. "Zacharie?" The Batter questioned. He wondered why he and Zacharie were in the same place once again, why the door opened behind him, why the smell of burning plastic pierced his nostrils. Zacharie turned to the side and held his right arm out to the side, so as to welcome The Batter into the new land. The Batter obliged, tipping his hat to Zacharie after entering.

His surrounding was stripped white and purple, like a grape-flavored peppermint candy. A large cube shaped building sat floating in the middle of a purple colored lake. Where he and Zacharie stood served as a boat docking, with several pedalo ready to be used. "I do hope you haven't lost your pedalo license. It wouldn't be very preferable for the both of us to squeeze into the same one," said Zacharie. He continued, "Also if you plan on fighting any aquatic creatures, please refrain from doing so in this zone. The water is very poisonous. I dropped credits into the water by accident when first arriving and when I scooped them out, my hands became paralyzed for some time."

"If bastards from the water attack me, I'm attacking them back. End of story," said The Batter as he boarded one of the pedalo. Zacharie held his hands up in the air and shrugged his shoulders. He boarded the pedalo next to The Batter's, and the two set off for the center island. It perplexed The Batter that this starting zone had no connecting bridge, and that Zacharie was the one to welcome him, instead o f The Judge. After the two docked on the island's port, The Batter charged towards the cube-shaped building and kicked the front door down, expecting something of evil intentions to be waiting inside.

Disappointed, The Batter walked to the center of the room and looked around, only to find the room was completely barren, save for a staircase to the left. He turned to Zacharie and asked, "So what's the big deal? Where's The Judge? Why is everything purple instead of yellow? This isn't the normal setup and I don't like it."

"Well you see . Coding can be changed, in many ways too. How do you know if you truly like or don't like the situation if you are just a string of numbers and letters? Regardless my friend, this time around it seems like both of us are going to be fighting the impure. I have my sword once again and my shop has turned into a holographic interface. I will, however, still accept your credits for other services, said Zacharie, pointing both of his index fingers and The Batter with his thumbs sticking up.

The Batter made a noise of confusion and said, "What do you mean by that? Whatever. Since The Judge isn't here to walk us through the beginning, how are we supposed to get to Damien?"

"Ah that brings me to the next explanation. Where we are standing right now is called Room of Joker. It acts as the nexus of this world. How exactly I have yet to figure out, but I believe it is linked to a set of cards." Zacharie walked to the back wall of the room and pushed on it, revealing a panel with five slots in it. In the middle sat a Joker playing card. Two slots sat on both side of the Joker card. Zacharie slid his fingers behind the card and lifted it, causing the room, but not the panel, to vanish. When he placed the card back down, the room rematerialized. "As you just saw with your own eyes, it seems this Joker card grants us access to the Joker room. Somewhere in this room, or on the island surrounding it, there must be another card that opens the door to another Zone."

The Batter listened attentively to Zacharie's explanation and tapped his bat against the ground as he thought. It was pretty evident no cards would be in this room, other than the only already on the panel. Without saying anything, he darted up the stairs and looked around. The second floor looked very similar to the postal office from his past excursions. He opened box after box after box. Eventually Zacharie followed him up the stairs, and chuckled at how frantic The Batter was to find a card. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"My my dear Batter. You're in a hurry."

"Shut up Whiskers! My bat has a need to clean the impure and if I don't purify something soon I'm going to go nuts!"

"You can always purify me~"

"No."

"Ouch my feelings." Zacharie saw something go flying that looked like a card and dove after it. When he flipped it over and looked at the front, a red diamond shape was on it. He told The Batter, "Stop running around like a wild man. I think I've found the ticker to our next Zone." The Batter stopped in his tracks and walked over to Zacharie. After looking at the card, he shook his head in agreement and the two went back downstairs. Zacharie took a deep breath and placed the card in the slot right of the Joker card. A loud whirring sound came from outside. The two rushed outside and looked around. A glowing rectangle floated on the poisonous waters, and above it flashed the words 'Zone of Diamond'.