The Batter awakens and finds himself in a strange place. The place resembles a garden but has a surreal nature to it. The Batter is used to surrealism, though not quite in this detail. Despite the comfortable environment, the Batter is uneasy. He looks down at his hands. They are white and his sleeves are black and white. The Batter never could look at himself before. All he could do was walk. He also is startled to find out that he himself was the one that moved his arms. He had never been able to move on his own free will.
"How?" The Batter askes his own hands. They don't reply.
"Welcome to Puella Magi Madoka Magica." Kyubey says after appearing out of nowhere.
"How am I able to move myself?" The Batter askes Kyubey.
"This is no longer a video game, Batter." Kyubey responds, "In anime, you do not have a controller. Instead, you have an animator who gives you your movements and with them you are free to move as you see fit."
"I… I've never moved myself before." The Batter says in stern wonder.
"Give it a try." Kyubey commands.
The Batter puts his hand on the ground and attempts to rise onto his feet. Though inexperienced in the art of motion, he rises to the feet and stands for the first time on his own.
"I'm up." The Batter proclaims. "What is my mission?"
"This place is known as a labyrinth. It is a sinister place created by an entity known as a witch, a being born of negative emotions. The place is inhabited by minions of the witch known as familiars who do the witch's bidding. I want you to purify some of the familiars in this zone. They kind of resemble the specters you used to fight so you'll know when you see them. Get rid of as many as you can. I must leave for a while to set things in motion, but I will return." Kyubey jumps through another portal, leaving the Batter in the labyrinth.
The Batter notices his bat on a table-like structure. He walks over to it, picks it up and holds it over his shoulder. The Batter proceeds to wonders around the labyrinth aimlessly. The rose garden nature of the labyrinth is a new experience for the Batter. Plants really didn't exist in his world, but he doesn't stop to smell the roses. He remains focused on his mission and just walks, looking for a familiar to purify. After who knows how long, the Batter encounters a familiar. The thing looks like a cotton ball wearing a mustache with a stick figure like body and a butterfly for legs. It seems to be landscaping. The Batter approaches it. The familiar notices the Batter.
"LELELELELE?" The familiar says confusingly.
"Servant of the witch, I am the Batter. I have come to purify you." The Batter waits for the purification battle to begin, but nothing happens.
"EEEEEELEEE?" The familiar sounds even more confused than in his last line.
"…" The Batter remains silent for a moment. "Why is nothing happening?"
The familiar begins to grow impatient and starts gyrating then utters the name "Anthony" Suddenly, two more Anthony's emerge from the background. They surround the Batter, start waving their arms in the air and chant in a melodic tone "AN-THO-NY, An-tho-ny." Then one suddenly lunges at the Batter.
"AH!" The Batter for the first time in his life not knowing what to do sloppily swings his bat with one hand at the lunging Anthony. When the bat meets the head of the Anthony, it explodes into a glimmer. Noticing this effect, the Batter clutches his bat with both hands and homerun hits the second Anthony, causing it to explode. The last Anthony trembles and attempts to flee, but the Batter throws his bat and it lands square in the back(?) of the Anthony's head. It explodes, of course. The Batter retrieves his bat and stares at it for a while, contemplating the fight he just had. "…This world has much different laws then mine." Though still confused about this new world, the Batter doesn't question his newfound movement anymore nor the new purification process and proceeds on with the task at hand.
The Batter wonders more, encountering and purifying other Anthony's. This new form of fighting is strange to the Batter. In OFF his combat system was the player pushed a command and some kind of attack would hit the enemy, whether it was a physical attack or Competences. Even when he attacked in OFF, the most he did was move forward a little and the enemy would take damage. He also notices that upon defeating the Anthony's he receives nothing. Not experience or credits. Battling by movement instead of button commands and not getting anything in return from purified enemies. What kind of world was this? "What is an anime?" The Batter wondered. While thinking, he stumbled upon a fountain covered with rose vines and surrounded by topiary. The fountain flowed with water. The Batter looked into the water and saw his reflection. The face staring back at him was human, but the face had no emotion. In fact, it didn't have anything. A blank face for a blank man. He looked at his hands again then looked back into the fountain. A featureless face stared back at him again, but this time it was a woman. The Batter knew this woman. This was the Queen he purified. They stared at each other for only seconds, but to the Batter it felt like forever. The Batter then looked at his bat he had set down on the edge of the fountain and returned his attention back to the water. This time a horrible monster wearing a baseball uniform with its mouth wide open greeted the Batter's vision. He jumped back in shock. After a few short panicked breaths he returned to the fountain only to see his face again.
"…That was strange." The Batter says showing no emotion. This was the first time he had ever seen his own face. Though which one was his real face?
Suddenly, the sound of a warning bell rings in the Batter's ears. He looks up to see a ghost like figure with many eyes, a mustache and butterfly wings banging its head on a bell.
"Adelbert Adelbert Adelbert" the ghost figure says repeatedly as it bangs its head into the bell.
In an instant, the Batter picks up his bat and confronts the ghost figure. "Adelbert." The Batter says in a stern voice, "Prepare to be purified."
Adelbert hears the Batter and charges directly at him. The Batter takes up a batting stance. As soon as Adelbert gets close, the Batter yells "Furious Homerun!" and swings his bat. The bat lets out a wave which splits Adelbert in two, causing him(?) to disappear.
"So that's how I use my Competence." The Batter acknowledges.
For who knows how long, the Batter wonders aimlessly purifying anything that gets in his way. He gets used to not only the movement but the new way of battling in this universe. Suddenly, he hears the voice of Kyubey in his head.
"It is time." Kyubey informs the batter. "Pick one of the roses and crush it."
The Batter picks one of the roses off the wall and crushes it in his hand. The room begins to shake violently and a cry of sorts is let out by an unknown entity. Suddenly, the Batter is pulled by an unseen force into the center of the labyrinth where he comes face to face with the witch. The Batter examines the witch. Her bodies surreal in nature with her "head" resembling moss with roses growing on it and her "body" being that of a demented butterfly. The text appears out of nowhere. GERTRUD.
"Gertrud." The Batter says, sizing up the witch, "Unholy being of distrust, I am the Batter. I have come to purify you and this labyrinth."
Gertrud does not pay attention to the Batter despite her bringing him to her chambers. Instead, she seems preoccupied. Noticing her distracted, the Batter looks to where the witch's attention is focused and notices a commotion. A girl dressed in yellow is fighting familiars while two girls watch from the sidelines. The girl in yellow seems to be summoning muskets of some kind to fight with. Many of them seem to be hovering when they fire. The Batter notices one of the girls holding something. Kyubey. Before another thought could enter the Batters mind, he notices the familiars manage to knock the girl in yellow unconscious, causing the two other girls to panic. Then, Kyubey looks at the Batter, the Batter returns the glance and springs into action. The Batter yells "Run with Courage!" runs right at the familiars, jumps into the air and flip kicks them, causing the familiars to disappear. He lands in front of the passed out girl in yellow facing the witch as if to say he is protecting her. The two girls look in confusion and relief to see the black and white man come to their rescue.
The Batter faces the witch, pulls out his bat and says "Purification in progress." The witch sends out a swarm of picturesque butterflies to attack, but the Batter swats them away with multiple bat swings. The witch growls and swings its massive head. The Batter attempts to block with his arms in an x shape but ends up getting knocked to the other side of the room right onto a wall. While impaled on the wall, the Batter feels a new feeling. Pain. Sure he has been hit in his own world but before the Batter's health was measured by numbers. Pain was nothing more than a measurement in OFF. In this world, the Batter does not know how much abuse he can take. Suddenly, the girl in yellow regains consciousness. Strings appear out of the muskets and immobilize the witch. The girl in yellow then summons a large cannon, says the words "Trio Finale" and a massive energy blast shoots at the witch. The witch, though constricted by the strings, manages to dodge the energy blast but the Batter jumps from his impalement, readies his bat in the air and swing. He hits the energy blast perfectly which causes it to fly right back at the witch. This time, it hits her and the witch is destroyed. With the destruction of the witch, the labyrinth also disappears, revealing the real world. The Batter's feet meet the ground and he looks around to notice the industrial scenery. Though different from his world, he knows he has "purified this zone."
The three girls stare at the Batter and likewise the Batter stares at them. These girls were much different than the people from OFF. They had color. They did not wear suits with ties but instead dress uniforms with bows, minus the girl in yellow. One girl had pink hair with red ribbons. One had blue hair. The girl in yellow was dressed in a fashion that was completely different to anything the Batter had ever seen before. Her hair was in twirls and she had a hat of some kind on with a feather in it. Her outfit was dress like but seemed battle ready. The girls examine the Batter with a sense of caution. His uniform was white but so was his skin. As white as paper. He wore a black hat and a black sweater underneath his baseball jersey. He also lacked a face. The silence only lasted a few seconds. Then a small object floated in front of the Batter. The object was black and had details on it. It looked like a pin with the shape of a ball with a spike sticking out the bottom and a smaller one with a butter fly on it sticking out the top. The Batter extends his arm and catches the object in his hand. He examines it for a second. Then Kyubey speaks.
"Well done Batter. You have completed your first task."
The girls stare at Kyubey in confusion. Was this man a creation of Kyubey? A magical man? Was he even human? Was he a construct of the witch but went rouge? Maybe he himself was a witch? Questions, questions. Then Kyubey speaks again. "Do not be afraid girls, this man is a visitor from another universe. He is here to aid us in our endeavors." The girls look once again at the Batter. The one in yellow walks slowly to the Batter. She stops in front of him. She stares at his faceless face and speaks to the Batter.
"Thank you for helping us." She says with a bow, "May I please have that small object you are holding?" The points at the hand the Batter is holding the small black object. The Batter looks to Kyubey for reassurance and Kyubey gives a small nod, giving him the go ahead. The Batter extends his hand over the girls and drops the small object into her palm. Now somewhat comfortable around each other, the girl's battle uniform changes into a uniform identical to the other girls. The girl in yellow explains to the other girls and the Batter what the object is.
"This is a Grief Seed. It is a reward for defeating the witch. Using magic depletes my Soul Gem, causing it to dim." She pulls out a yellow egg shaped gem decorated with what looks like gold. It glows but it is in fact a dim glow. She touches the Grief Seed to the Soul Gem. Darkness is taken from the Soul Gem, making glow brighter. The girls awe in amazement. The Batter, though he doesn't show it, is also amazed by this. Then, another girl emerges. This one has black, long hair. Her uniform was kind of like the girl in yellow but has noticeable differences and has more of a black, dark purple look. The girl with blonde hair offered to share the Grief Seed with her, but the black haired girl refused and walked off, but not before she noticed the Batter. She glanced at the Batter with confusion but retained the emotionless look on her face. But she left before anyone could take notice. The other girls seemed annoyed with her.
The girls then walk outside and the Batter follows. Once outside, the girls surround a woman lying on the ground. Apparently this woman was being influenced by the witch and was attempting to commit suicide. Because the witch was no more, the woman regained control of her mind. The girl with blonde hair comforts the woman saying she is safe now. She also informs her that the man in white was the one she should be thanking. Despite his unusual appearance, the woman hugs the man, thanking him profusely. The Batter had never really been thanked before, at least with this much emotion. What were these emotions? The Batter put an arm around the woman as she was to him, but he did not know why. The girls, though still confused about the Batter, look at him with admiration. Kyubey, just stares at him.