Disclaimer: This is my first time writing a fanfiction in years (with the last "work" being the extremely short-lived, ThingTale). Good thing about this one is that I'm actually knowledgable about both media that I'll be using (HfjONE and OFF, in this case). Having this be a one-shot/short fanfic is probably a good way to start since it means I won't have another "project" on my dish, and I can do this within a reasonable timeframe. Hopefully, you guys will enjoy this unexpected choice of a crossover! Also, I literally wrote this fanfiction because of the opportunity to do a pun in the title lmao. For dialogue from OFF, I'll refer to the Version 3.0 English translation created by RecDra.
Should be obvious but I do not own ONE or OFF, they belong to Cheesy Hfj and Unproductive Fun Time, respectively.
"This has to be the right set of coordinates, I'm pretty sure." Liam had been saying this for several minutes, trying to locate where Stone could be. He was desperate to find out anything else about ONE, hoping that finding Stone would give him and Bryce answers on how to stop ONE from continuing. How to stop lives from being stolen and manipulated. Bryce had begrudgingly joined the endeavors while exchanging glances into the infinite void of the Waiting Room. Liam still never quite figured out what Bryce was looking at but didn't pay it any mind, as finding Stone was top priority. As painful and horrific as these past deaths were, they temporarily snapped Bryce from his trance.
"Let me check it again." demanded Bryce, hoping not to face another death and be stuck doing this forever. The soda bottle went through each line as thoroughly as he possibly could, not wanting to be teleported to the "wrong place" again. "Yeah, think you got it." he said with some level of confidence. "Okay, here goes…" replied the backpack as he lifted the radio's antenna, their means of traveling to many worlds. The radio answered by emanating that now familiar low-pitched droning and soon transplanted them into yet another alien world.
The two objects were anticipating to face death yet again—whether that be by being dropped straight into it, by the hands of an almighty being, or in an embarrassing scenario. What they did not expect, however, was to be greeted with magenta and a seemingly endless ocean. For the first time, they were within a city. Unfortunately, it was not what Liam had been looking for.
"Woah. Well, we didn't find Stone…again… But this is new alright." Bryce looked around at his surroundings, particularly noticing the off-colored waters surrounding them. Even by just looking at the surface of the water, it was obvious it wasn't natural; there was a shimmering similar to oil, and when Bryce cupped some into his hands, he felt an unexpected texture.
"Is the water…plastic?" questioned the confused soda bottle. "Wait, really? Let me see." Liam scooped some of the water and was equally surprised at this discovery. "Huh…weird." said Liam, pouring out the water and drying his hands. "Well, nothing's killed us so far. Might as well head into town." Bryce hesistatingly followed Liam, fearing they would all be struck dead at any moment.
Up ahead was a signpost, which read in big, bold letters the name of this town, "Bismark." Below it were arrows pointing upwards to the Center, which held a library, and pointing downwards to where the two are currently, the Lower Part. "Oh, cool, they have a library. We should check that out." suggested Liam, curious now to see what a library from another universe would be like.
"Liam," said the soda bottle, grabbing Liam's arm to catch his attention. "you do know that we're going to meet people who likely wouldn't hesitate to kill us, right?"
"Bryce, we're on our way to a town. We're gonna meet some folks either way. If we die, that means we can go back and try again. Let's just kinda take things in." Bryce knew they weren't exactly wrong and gave up trying to argue further.
"Okay, fine. Don't say I didn't warn you." And as the two walked toward the Center, they were greeted with the view of a colossal tower stretching atop the sky as a monolith. In the front of the building was the word "library," and on the right side, an arrow pointing towards where the objects had just entered. The two stared in wonder, with Liam being the first to complement it,
"Oh wow. That is a really large library."
"Don't tell me you want to explore all of that." said a now concerned Bryce, knowing the curious nature of the backpack.
"I probably won't. Two floors should be enough." Bryce felt slightly alleviated, but knew not to completely trust his word, if the incident that brought them into this mess in the first place had anything to say about it. It was difficult for either of them to forget the literal shocking turn of events that led them to the Waiting Room. No one ever forgets their first death.
Entering the library, they faced a deep-blue interior, completely contrasting to the outdoors. On both sides were a flight of staircases with doors aside them, with the middle hosting the front desk with a few shelves behind it. By this point, Bryce and Liam had already met a strange numbers of individuals from the multiverse, from aliens to humans, even beings who looked like they were scribbled into existence. It was very strange to have met the humans that the second batch of contestants from ONE had talked about, considering they were superior to them. So when they were face-to-face with a white humanoid, they stood frozen. While it heavily resembled a human, it's clothing and skin were a pale white, and their heads were almost cubic. Unsurprisingly, the few residents within the building were frightened at the sight of the strange beings, perhaps even more so than usual.
"Aaaahh! Spectres in the library! Panic!" screamed the one beside a staircase, exiting through the side door. The other hid behind the desk, hoping the strange and scary spectres would leave.
"O-oh, I'm trapped! I'll surely be eaten!" the clerk panicked, shaking violently. Bryce and Liam were taken back at this turn of events, not expecting the people here to be so timid. Keeping his distance, Liam approached the desk, attempting to calm down the frightened individual.
"H-hey, calm down! We're not, uh, 'spectres.' We're not gonna kill you."
"Pl-pl-please st-stay away!" returned the clerk, his voice trembling.
"Believe me, we were just as scared as you guys were. Uh, my name's Liam, and this here is Bryce. We just got here and don't mean any harm." Bryce was about tell Liam just to leave them alone until the clerk replied,
"Y-you're vi-visitors? A–a-are you sure?"
"We just showed up here and wanted to visit the library."
"O-oh…um…uh, i-in any case. W-welcome to the library of Bismark, uh, in Zone 2." responded the clerk, who slowly stood up, showing only his frightened eyes.
"Zone 2?" questioned Liam. "Y-yes. There are three zones i-in total. Z-zone 1 is responsible for the smoke, metal, plastic, and me-meat that make up our world." Liam and Bryce found this discovery highly unusual, grimacing at the mention of meat. Bryce finally said,
"So, can we visit the library then?"
"U-um, w-well…the others might panic. A-and that makes a lot of n-noise."
Liam assured the clerk, telling him, "Don't worry. We're not going to hurt anyone. We just want to look around."
"Uh, uh, al-alright. B-but please don't tear out or turn the pages. I-it gets loud." Bryce and Liam looked at each other, confused about how turning a page would be considered too loud, but pressed on.
"Thanks." said Bryce as the two went up the stairs and onto the 1st floor. As expected, the people in the floor noticed the walking objects and panicked, dropping their books and running down the stairs. "I feel kind of bad. They're so easily scared." said Liam in response.
"It's probably not worth talking to them if they're all going to be like that." Bryce replied, picking up one of the fallen books. As he did, he looked confused, scrunching his face as he flipped through the empty pages. "Are all the books here fake?" Liam went to one of the bookshelves with a notable pale-blue mark on the floor. He pulled a random book from a shelf and opened it, landing on pages depicting illustrations of orchid flowers.
"Not all of them. I think the shelves with this have real books." Liam said, pointing downwards to the pale-blue marking. Bryce shelved away the book he was holding and went to the nearest bookshelf, picking one with the title on its spine that read, "Tales and Legends." He flipped through, landing on a short story called "The Toad King." Skimming through it, he chuckled.
"Wow, they sure do have engaging stories."
"I'm sure the rest aren't all that bad." Liam said, wanting to defend the status of the library. As the objects looked around the first and second floors, they briefly read whatever books interested them. One of them informed them about the arrows on the outside of the library and which direction each pointed, but strangely, it's contents stayed upside-down no matter which way they turned it. A couple of the books held information about this world, with multiple copies mentioning three guardians and a queen, although they were difficult to read with the faded text. Liam had found a book containing a table of contents about this universe, but unfortunately, the rest of the pages were missing or empty. Perhaps the most unnerving find was from a book Bryce picked out, which simply had the words "I have run out of oxygen" scribbled across a blank page.
"So, it seems like this world has a monarchy? I wonder if we'll meet any of the guardians or the queen." Stated the curious backpack, attempting to process what little information they had. "I hope not. Come on, we've explored enough." gestured Bryce, motioning his arm to invite Liam to return to the Center.
Just as they were about to leave, they heard a loud thud and some commotion upstairs. They both turned around at the source of the activity, seeing that it's occurring on the third floor above them. Liam, intrigued yet cautious, approached the set of stairs before being stopped by Bryce. "What are you doing?" whispered the panicked soda bottle.
"I just wanna take a peek at what's happening. Maybe someone's hurt!" Liam murmured back.
"No! What if that's the 'spectres' those people were talking about? Or the guardians or queen?" hissed Bryce, stressing the potential danger this could bring.
"Well, if its the other two, then maybe they can help us and explain things." Liam declared, making his final decision to approach the next floor carefully.
"Liam, wait!" begged Bryce, not wishing to die again. As the two went up and walked through the connecting hallway, they peeped their heads around the corner, just enough to see what was unfolding in the third floor. They did not expect to find a lanky humanoid sporting a baseball cap and bat, accompanied by a large white ring, facing off against an unusual being that stood on four legs, had large eyes, and a grim set of incisors. The latter seemed to be exhausted.
"Pitiful fool!" exclaimed the quadrupedal animal, "It is not yet time for me to reveal my true nature. But know that you will soon get what you deserve, you insufferable buffoon." And as if on cue, the animal teleported away, revealing behind them another floating ring. The aforementioned tall humanoid walked up to it and touched it, with the ring responding by accompanying the other ring. Both rings then shrunk down and turned into silver rings, fitting snuggly on the man's fingers. The man went forward to the next set of stairs before noticing that two large cubes were blocking it, appearing disgruntled at the sight of an obstacle. Liam decided that now would be the best time to approach the mysterious person, with Bryce desperately whispering, "No, wait!" He pulled at the backpack's leg in an attempt to stop him, leading Liam to accidentally trip on the last step of stairs and alerting the stranger to their presence.
"Show yourselves, unholy spirits." proclaimed the figure, turning around with his bat and add-ons ready. Liam got up quickly, desperately preparing to attempt to defend himself and Bryce from another misunderstanding.
"No, no, no, w-wait! We're not those 'specters' that you guys think we are!" Liam shouted in panic. Soon enough, he was accompanied by Bryce, both raising their arms in surrender, hearts beating from fear.
"We got here by mistake and want some help and answers! I promise we're not a threat!" The being held steady, briefly exchanging a look with his add-ons before lowering his bat, his grip frim.
"Explain." demanded the figure.
"It's a long story, but—" replied Liam before being cut off by Bryce. "We're trying to reach someone, and we're wondering if, by chance you recognize this. Liam show them the sticky note." Liam, still nervous, handed the figure the sticky note containing the coordinates to Stone. The being took it, studying the long chain of numbers. 'Perhaps this is a code I will need later?' he thought. "No." he replied, returning it to the backpack.
"Oh, alright. Uh, the other thing is that we're confused as to what's going on. Do you know anything about the guardians or a queen?" asked Liam.
"The guardian of Zone 1, Dedan, was a plague upon the land. He has been defeated, and the land purified." answered the stoic man. "Japhet, the guardian of Zone 2, resides here. He must be stopped."
Bryce commented, "'Purified?' What, are you a holy man or something?" He smiled a bit, imagining how ridiculous someone dressed in baseball uniform would look, knocking on peoples' doors, asking them if they've heard of their savior.
"Something like that, yeah." responded the man in an utmost plain manner.
"Well, do you know someone else who might help us?" Liam replied.
The man thought about this briefly before answering, "The Judge is competent. He might prove useful."
"Oh, great! Can you take us to him?"
"...okay." Saying this, the man's add-ons transformed back into rings. Liam asked him a question as the three descended to the front desk. "So, what is your name?" The man responded with utmost sincerity, "I am The Batter."
"...wait, seriously?" chuckled Bryce, finding this stranger harder to believe.
"Yes."
"Well, I'm Liam, and this is Bryce."
Having arrived at the front desk, The Batter approached the clerk, who had since gotten out of their hiding spot. Still spooked at the sight of the two objects, he asked The Batter if he was alright, mentioning a cat at the southern entrance. The Batter nodded and went outside, with Bryce and Liam following closely behind. Sure enough, there was the 'cat' the clerk mentioned, with a pure white coat and a grotesque set of teeth. Despite his appearance, however, he politely spoke to The Batter.
"Salutations, dear immaculate comrade. Is your journey unfolding under optimal conditions?" The Judge questioned, making apparent his diverse and intricate vocabulary. "These premises are less humid than the preceding ones; I must admit that I am very pleased about that. The feline race is not very fond of rain. I have heard from an old friend that the shopping mall in the north of the city has fallen prey to ectoplasmic assaults…Perhaps it would be wise for you to make your way there and illuminate the place with your purifying light."
Finally given a chance to speak, The Batter replied, "These two want your help." He gestured towards the sentient soda bottle and backpack behind him.
"My, isn't this an intriguing occurrence. These strangers do not appear to belong to any race of ectoplasmic beings, nor are they residents of any Zones. And who might you curious fellows be? I'm aching to know your names." said The Judge, his curiosity piqued.
Just as Liam was about to respond, Bryce took the initiative, in part of becoming tired of Liam repeating himself. "I'm Bryce, he's Liam. We want to know if you happen to recognize this, and if we can get there." On cue, Liam pulled out the sticky note from within himself and showed it to the abnormal cat. Upon further inspection, the feline replied, "I must apologize, dear unfamiliars. I do not recognize the significance behind these numerical values. Nor do I know of any individual aptly named 'Stone.'" Wishing to help further down the possible location, he asked, "Are they within any of the Zones present?"
"See, that's the thing. We came into your world by mistake, so they're not in these, uh, Zones. But do you have something that could take us there instead?" Liam objected.
"I'm afraid not. The Nothingness is the sole central hub by which one may fly freely between Zones. I have no reason to believe that it or the red cubes connected to The Nothingness can project one into an altogether different space. Lest you wish to roam the infinite black abyss." replied The Judge.
"Damn it." said Liam, upset that he couldn't get to Stone's location without dying. "Well, thanks for the help anyways."
"The pleasure is all mine."
"Hey, so, you mentioned earlier about specters in the mall? Since we can't do much here, mind if we-" suggested the ever generous Liam.
Immediately upon hearing this, Bryce interjected, "Sorry, can you give us a moment?"
"Permission granted." "Ok." replied the duo in white.
Pulling Liam to the side, Bryce lowered his frustrated voice, "Are you serious!? You barely met these two and want to risk your neck for them?"
"Bryce, we've already gone over this. Yes, I don't want to die, but that means we can go back and try again. They helped us the best they could, why not return the favor?"
"Liam, I don't think answering a few questions warrants that. We should just leave 'em; I don't…trust them." Bryce retaliated, glancing back at the bizarre appearances of the two bleached strangers. Additionally, The Batter's add-ons emanated a soft and faint buzzing, reminding him a bit too much of the geometrical and incomprehensible horror that was Abstracty.
"If either of them starts going after us, we'll run. Simple as that. Aside from that, I don't think they're that bad. I wouldn't be that quick to judge." replied Liam, sending a light jab at something Bryce had been doing since they've first met in ONE.
"This is another world we're talking about, I have a right to be worried!"
"Look, if it makes you feel better, we probably won't see this place again. Whatever happens, I'm sure we'll meet up again at the radio. Besides, it's not like we have anything better to do here."
Bryce desperately wanted to prove Liam wrong, but words failed to escape his breath. He couldn't think of any real counter and realized that there wasn't much the two could do at this moment. And so he surrendered from the argument.
"Fine…we'll join them. But as soon as something goes wrong, we run away."
"Alright."
Returning to the southern entrance, Bryce spoke up to the two pale beings informing them on their decision.
"So, we talked a bit, and we want to know if we could…help you two." the soda bottle hesitantly declared.
"I am elated to hear this and accept your generosity. I suggest you head north to the shopping mall and assist my comrade in vanquishing the ectoplasmic beings. Posthaste, my friends!" exclaimed The Judge. As the living objects followed closely behind The Batter's steps, the purifier noted a lack of confirmation that would've indicated that the two had been recruited to his party. Meanwhile, Bryce was on edge, his thoughts occupied on the near future while thinking, 'I'm going to regret this.'
Wanted to add this at the beginning but didn't want to prolong the start of this fanfic. Anyways, this is more of a preview for what I have in mind. I want to write more but I have my hands full this week (2/27). Hopefully I can spare some time for it next week since that's when my spring break starts. I still want this to be a fanfic I can finish relatively quickly so that I can go back to my other project and focus more on college. At the moment, I'm undecided if I want to have Liam and Bryce go through all of Zone 2 and die by the hands of Japhet or to die at a random point in the story where The Batter considers the two a hinderance to his holy mission (especially given that there isn't much two living objects can do against specters, unless they buy weapons from Zacharie). Let me know what you think would be best!
Oh and also, please tell me if any one here seemed off-character. AND I'm surprised I'm the seemingly the first person on this site to post an HfjONE fanfic.