A/N: IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS, START WITH THIS CHAPTER.
...
The Batter found himself standing on a strip of bright yellow plastic leading to a large plastic building of the same color. All around him was a white ocean, sloshing heavily against the sides of the walkway. He sensed another consciousness with his own, a name that danced around the barriers of his mind, and knowledge that was not his. The puppeteer, the Player, had joined with him. The voice had told the Player what needed to be done. The Batter allowed himself to be guided by these instructions. This was Zone 0. He needed to find a being called the Judge. This shouldn't be too hard, he thought, if Zone Zero is only this small block of land. He walked along the path towards the building. Through one of the doors a small creature emerged and trotted towards him. It was a cat, he saw upon it drawing closer, but not an ordinary cat. Its face was twisted up at the sides, creating a horrible wide grin that never closed.
"There cannot be any other living beings in Zone Zero, so I must assume that you are only a mere figment of my imagination," the cat said. The Batter felt the Player's confusion and unease. "Nevertheless, I will introduce myself. I am the Judge, and I am aching to know your name, dear elusory interlocutor." The Player's confusion lessened. The Batter nodded to the Judge.
"I'm the Batter. I've been assigned to a sacred mission." The Judge sat on his haunches and tilted his head to one side.
"It is a pleasure. However, it is not the puppet I was addressing, but the puppeteer controlling it. What is your name, dear puppeteer?" The Batter could feel the Player's surprise at the Judge's notice of a puppeteer. The Batter himself was also mildly surprised but continued the conversation in the Player's stead, giving their name first.
"They can't talk to us," he explained, "However, they can see and hear everything." The Judge nodded and began washing his face with a seemingly too tiny paw.
"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," he said to the Player. The Batter wasted no time in awkward pauses.
"I believe we're in need of your services," he prompted. The Judge's yellow eyes flashed.
"Many people are in need of my services, you know. Everybody loves cats." He stood and stepped closer to the Batter. "We rub ourselves against their legs and purr in the most insistent manner." He demonstrated this on the Batter's shins, purring loudly. He then looked up at him, his grin starting to irritate the Batter. "They adore that," he mentioned, implying the Batter should be impressed. The Batter used his bat to nudge the cat away.
"I'm not talking about that kind of help," he grunted. The Judge seemed slightly put out but kept his distance.
"I see...But what sort of service could I offer to an ectoplasmic entity?" The Batter inclined his head, taking on an air of self-importance.
"I have a sacred mission to fulfill. I must purify the world." The Judge chuckled and dipped his head.
"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." The Judge turned and began to walk back to the building. The Batter followed, up a ladder to the second level. The Judge looked back at him, a thought occurring to him.
"Allow me to confess that I find you quite tangible for a phantasmagorical being," he said, "Might you in fact be a creature of flesh and blood?" The Player seemed to think that was a funny question. The Batter responded with dry sarcasm,
"I think so, yes." The Judge gave a small 'hm!' sound.
"So I have been mistaken from the beginning. You did not even interrupt me in my deluded phantasms..." He paused a moment. "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 Zero was an empty land. Obviously I was misled. 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." The Player felt slightly uneasy at this last statement. The Batter silently reassured them that his combat skills were sufficient.
"I am aware," he told the Judge.
"This is good. I only hope you are as capable as you seem in purifying the world. Now, follow me and I will show you the way out of this place into the other zones." The strange cat climbed another ladder to the third level, the roof of the building. A staircase descended into the building from here. The Batter sheathed his bat in a sling on his back. I'm not going to enjoy this, he thought with a shake of his head as he stepped down into the building.
...
About an hour later the Batter emerged from the other end of the building, leaving the Judge in his floating box puzzle house with a large bowl of cat food. Ahead of him lay another plastic bridge to a new type of floating box. He approached it slowly, curiously. The boxes inside the building and on small islands around the main block had been a pale yellow, almost transparent. This one was solid and red. The Batter nearly gave a start as the Judge's voice appeared from behind him.
"Here is an accessory that is going to be especially helpful on your purifying quest, dear enlightened student and sportive friend," the grinning cat said, causing the Batter to turn around, "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 criticisable appearance, this red cube is of undeniable use. Besides rendering you and the entirety of your health and competence, it is capable of sending you to the Nothingness." The word stung in the Batter's mind. I've been there before...he thought with a light shiver. The Judge continued in his story. "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!" The Batter nodded and walked towards the box, reaching out to it. Just before his hand touched the smooth plastic, the Judge gave one final piece of advice.
"Your only enemy is the fear that will grab you." The Batter paused, then pressed his hand to the box and entered the Nothingness.
A/N: Gosh, this is terrible. I'm so sorry, guys. I have no excuse for this garbage.
