The portal re-opened in the sky above the city street, sending the Judge careening to the ground along with the bottle, which smashed open and dropped its sugary contents onto the ground. Luckily, due to his instincts being feline in nature, he managed to twist himself around midair and land squarely on his paws with nary a hair out of place. For a moment, the cat remained completely motionless. What had just happened? He was used to traversing through and between the zones, but this was nothing like that. Inter-zone travel involved stepping up to a save cube and first walking through a dark plane known as 'the Nothingness' before one could reach their destination. But this? This was nothing like that. This was a massive vortex, devouring all that came near it, even shredding the laws of time and space to do so. This was the force that had torn him out of his home and ruined his chance for a catnap. It could only be considered impeccable luck that he was the only inhabitant of Zone 0. Otherwise, the Judge was doubtless that it would've consumed any others who came near.
As soon as he recovered from the immediate shock, the Judge decided to look around. Wherever he was now, it was nothing like the world he had always known. The ground beneath his paws was still compact, but in a different way that almost felt... more natural? It was warm, unlike the bits of metallic scrap that formed the ground that he had become so accustomed to. Surrounding him were tall structures he presumed to be buildings, perhaps residence of some sort. Nonetheless, they were taller than any buildings he had ever seen, their roofs high enough for them to take on the appearance of touching the clouds. The sky itself was a brilliant shade of blue, bringing life to the otherwise drab, grey structures. The air was clean and easy to breathe, unlike the smoke workers inhaled in ragged heaves.
However, the strangest part about the place was the light it gave off. Everything in his world had been lit by lamps and furnaces, where everything here seemed to emanate light and warmth. The Judge soon realised that the source of such was a glowing sphere amongst the clouds that was so bright it was almost blinding. 'How nice it must be to reside here,' he thought. 'It would probably be in my best interest to not get used to such luxuries.'
Despite the hospitality the current setting was providing, the Judge was still lost and somewhat confused. He likely wasn't the only one, he quickly concluded. Seeing the force behind that vortex... he likely wasn't the only one affected. However, he also knew that he certainly wasn't the most dangerous creature that existed, and if others from his reality had been affected...
As if right on que, he heard the first scream. That couldn't possibly be good. He ran across the sidewalk as quickly as his paws could carry him and skidded around a corner where he was greeted with a plethora of... what exactly? The Judge was taken aback. That wasn't at all what he had expected. These beings weren't anything he recognised at all. They didn't even appear to be of his world in general. Nevertheless, they appeared hostile, but what could he do about it? While he was far from powerless, it was unlikely his nimble paws would be able to do as much as scathe these beings through the chinks in their armour. Luckily, none of the beasts appeared to notice him, giving the Judge an opportunity to get himself into a more tactical position. Noticing a nearby fire escape, he scrambled up a flight of metallic stairs in order to further survey his surroundings.
For once, he had absolutely no idea what to do. He knew the Zones inside and out, but here? Everything here was a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside of an enigma. Once again being a first, he swallowed his pride, deciding, like a fool, to ask the seemingly nonexistent voice inside his head. "For once, I am clueless. Why not use your cerebrum, for you seem to know more about my current surroundings than I," he was in turn compelled to jump off of the flimsy metallic platform straight into the fray, where he could possibly land a blow to their eyes. Of course, the feline gent wasn't having any of this. "Perhaps I was misinformed. It seems your intelligence is on par with that of the average kitten. Acting upon such a decision would surely cause me to be instantly slain as-" he was cut off as a frantic citizen had the same idea as he, accidentally pushing off the mildly disgruntled cat in the fray.
The Judge plummeted to the ground for the second time in the past few minutes, this time his paws finding their way onto the roof of a parked car. One of the beasts, as was his luck, instantly noticed the clang of metal, quickly changing its course towards the odd-appearing feline. The Judge hissed as an intimidation tactic (which didn't help at all) before unsheathing his claws and preparing to strike. There was no possible way this could go wrong.