"R-ryotaro Nogami and H-hana... We don't mean any harm..." the young man replied nervously as he and the girl were pulled up by their clothes, "The Imagin... it's traveling back to the past memory of your companion..."

"What Ryotaro is saying that the Imagin will go to the past and wreak havoc there," Hana explained more clearly as she maintained eye contact with Matsu, "And any damage he does back there will affect everything in the present time. So you need us to go after him and stop him!"

"...You better be telling the truth..." he growled before letting both of them go. "Take me with you... This is my world after all." Matsu said while eyeing the pair with suspicion, not fully trusting either of them.

Hana was about to protest when Ryotaro stopped her, his eyes showed determination despite his uneasy tone.

"It's alright... Hana," Ryotaro assured his partner as he took out an unusual looking belt, "Momotaros, we should get going if we want to stop that Imagin...!"

Something unusual happened to Ryotaro after he said that. Matsu wasn't sure what it was, but the next moment the young man's hair went from messy to flared backwards with his eyes showing a red hue.

"Henshin!"

Sword Form

A sound similar to the announcement of a train's arrival came from the belt Ryotaro put on, pressing the topmost button on it and swiping what looked like a futuristic train pass over the buckle. Patterns resembling small railroad tracks formed over the man's body, covering it in some form of black and white armor. Plates of red color then attach to the armor, with the visor completing the transformation.

"I... have arrived!" the transformed Ryotaro declared with a pose similar to a kabuki actor's as a railroad track materialized behind him, followed by a train. Hana called out to the Devilman to hop on as the armored man went to the front of the train. He inserted the card from earlier into his pass and then placed it into the slot of a motorcycle that functioned as a control mechanism of the train. Without further question, Matsu found himself joining this unusual group to travel to the past of his world.

Confused, Matsu jumped on the train with the two. He gave them a look of confusion. "So... Is there anything you can tell me about these... Imagins, and your unique... 'abilities'?" He asked while glancing back and forth between the pair.

The train's cabin was actually quite comfortable, having room for what looked like a diner and a woman minding the counter. There were three Imagins of blue, yellow, and purple hanging out at the area as Hana helped explain things to Matsu. Unlike the Imagin he met earlier, these did not exhibit any hostile extent towards him. In fact, the blue Imagin with turtle-like features was busy flirting with the woman at the counter, the yellow Imagin was sleeping while sitting straight up at one of the vacant tables, while the purple Imagin was occupying another table busy drawing with crayons.

"Imagins are beings capable of traveling through time," Hana started with her explanation as the woman at the counter laid down two cups of coffee with generous amounts of colored whipped cream on top for them, "They will form contracts with susceptible people and will try to complete the contract however they can in order to travel to the most memorable time in that person's past. The danger is the damage they will cause in the past will affect the present, and possibly affect you and everyone else."

"But why THIS world? Everything has already gone to hell. What more could they damage here? Also what's the deal with the belts, and the train, and those three." Matsu gestured to the weird things happening around him. He had also reverted to a semi human form, so that he didn't need to look for clothes to replace the ones he had torn.

"I am not sure why they decided to come to this world, but it looks like the people of your world harbor very strong memories of the past," Hana said as she looked through the windows showing a vast, desolate, and sandy landscape, "The Imagins that came here may be looking for means to go to your world's past and change something there to their advantage. If they can change your timeline, it might influence their own timeline."

"The Den-O Belt and Rider Pass lets Ryotaro fight as Den-O," Hana continued before she looked to the other Imagins with them in the train, "Those are Urataros, Kintaros, and Ryutaros, and they help Ryotaro fight other Imagins. Momotaros is currently possessing Ryotaro's body to pursue the Imagin to the past."

---On the day the devils appeared---

The young man that eventually became one of the volunteers was hanging out with some of his buddies at a park when they saw the sky grow dark and devils started landing on the ground and causing havoc. While the volunteer was running away, he suddenly stopped as generous amounts of sand started pouring out of his body and gather together to form the Bat Imagin.

The Imagin then proceeded to attack its surroundings indiscriminately, causing even more damage to buildings and nearby people. Its effect could be felt in the present - causing some people who should have survived the devil attacks to vanish and certain structures to become absent in the area.

The DenLiner arrived just in time to encounter the Imagin attacking its vicinity, with Den-O coming out to encounter him. The train stopped to allow Matsu and Hana to disembark at this point.

"Tell me something... Is it possible to change the past for a better future?" Matsu asked Hana, observing the destruction with a look of unease, remembering this event with a bad taste in his mouth. This was the day that he got his demonic abilities. Rather than wait for an answer, he leap forward, driving his fist through one of the demons attack random bystanders.

He then proceeded to charge at the Imagin, his mouth glowing with hellfire.
"Die, bastard!" he yelled, leaping up and attempting to blast the sand apparition.

11:53, Today: Matsu Shoji rolled 20 using 1d20 ((20))

"It is possible, but not exactly easy," Hana warned before Matsu went ahead to strike at the Bat Imagin. This time Matsu could actually feel his attack connect at the Imagin as the flames caught on to the entity and burning it.

"Hey!? Stop stealing my scene here!" Den-O called out at Matsu in a manner that was entirely different from how Ryotaro spoke earlier. In haste, Den-O took out his pass and placed it over the belt buckle, causing energy to course towards the sword he has now assembled.

FULL CHARGE

"Here's a special service! My Special Attack Version 5!" Den-O yelled out as he swung his sword, with the blade detaching and flying about to cut in a V shape. The armored warrior then turned around to strike a pose as the Imagin collapsed and exploded.

At this point, more Imagins show up as the devil attacks increased in intensity. It seemed like there were more people affected by the Imagins back in the present.

"How do we stop this?!" Matsu yelled as he kept on attacking the imagins with everything he had in his arsenal, but it just seemed to get worse.

"I... I'm not sure..." Hana was clearly overwhelmed by the sheer number of Imagins that have appeared in this time. Even if Den-O had the means to fight Imagin, there was a limit to how many he could fight at a time. Even as they were figuring things out, some of the buildings nearby started to slowly vanish from sight as if they never were there in the first place.

Matsu would experience a strange feeling as well, as if an unusual tingling spreading through his body. Hana would call his attention to his arms and legs - which were slowly vanishing and spreading to the rest of his body.

"Ah sh*t. I knew i shouldn't have woken up today..." Matsu groaned as his body dispersed.

"I don't feel so good..." he said before fading away entirely.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Fri 01 June 2018.

The last thing Matsu saw was Hana trying to reach out for his arm, reaching out a moment too late before the darkness claimed him. The sensation could be best described to plunging into a pitch-black pool of water - the darkness so thick and heavy that the Devilman could not even see his own hands or bother trying to even move. It felt just right to simply let things be and drift off into the void...

"Damn it...! What the void is someone like him doin' here...!"

The voice was faint, nearly inaudible but echoed in his head. Matsu felt a hand grab on to his chest, and then suddenly drag him up...

Up...

And up...

Until he suddenly came out of a surface. Air filled his lungs and tried to expel whatever liquid (if that was even liquid) that got in. His body felt like it had not moved in ages, while his eyes were adjusting to finally opening up after so long.

"Hey, ya back from yer sleep yet?" a rough voice asked as Matsu's eyes shifted upwards to whoever was speaking to him. The individual's face was black and featureless save for the white where his eyes were supposed to be, and his hair flared wildly upwards. Garbed in armor, the man was resting a halberd over his shoulders, secured by both hands on the ends.

"GAH!" Matsu screamed as he rapidly crawled backwards from his sitting position, trying to put distance between himself and the newcomer. looking around, he pointed his finger at the figure. "Who the hell are you, and where am I?!" He demanded.

"Oh, me?" the figure asked as he remained squatting at the spot when Matsu crawled backwards from his position, looking behind first to wonder if there was something scary there. Matsu would notice that everywhere was dark and they were standing on a large piece of rock hovering over nowhere, but he could still see himself and the unusual savior of his just like it were daytime.

"I go by many names - the Summoner from the Void! The Possessor of the Malicious!" the figure said as he stood up and twirled his halberd about before striking a fancy pose, "But most of all, people just call me... Evil."

"Yeah well... I've met Satan before. He's quite evil as well." Matsu said dusting himself off, as he got to his feet.
"But WHY am I here, Where is this?" He asked.

"To keep it short and simple, you were forcefully kicked out of your own world," the spiky-haired entity who called himself Evil said as he finally straightened up and motioned to the vastness of space they were looking at, "As for where you are, you are literally in nowhere."

"So...! What exactly happened for you to end up here, if I may ask?" Evil then added, curious about the circumstances of this individual, "And who are you?"

"Time travel. I got erased from existence or something like that. I'm Matsushiru, or just Matsu." he said, looking around the supposed space of nowhere. This was become more confusing by the second.

"Well that really sucks, I really feel for ya there Matsu," Evil said, trying to comfort Matsu's situation, "I kinda find it weird though - ya don't look like the time travelin' kind to me. Sounds to me somethin' fishy happened over where ya from."

"Something about 'Imagins'. There were some guys that had a train, and some weird belt thing." Matsu replied, waving his hand, not really understanding the whole situation himself.

The unusual man accompanying Matsu was silent for a moment, as if hearing the most ridiculous thing from the Devilman's mouth. He then broke into an uproarious laughter that lasted for a minute or two before stopping to catch his breath.

"Ohohoho... You mean those guys?" Evil asked, still holding back on another laugh that was about to come up, "It had to be them, of all travelers..."

A few more laughs escaped Evil's mouth (wherever it is) before he cleared his throat and looked to Matsu in a more serious manner.

"Okay. First of all, your world will make it somehow," the being said as he let the rear end of his halberd tap on the ground, "You however, we need to bring you somewhere first before letting you get back to your world. Since you were forced out of your world due to special circumstances we need to first get you realigned back at the Nexus."
This message was last updated by the player at 04:20, Wed 06 June 2018.

"Nexus?" Matsu asked, eying Evil with a look of confusion.

"What we consider as home and the middle of everywhere and nowhere," Evil explained in the simplest way possible, "Safest place to be when you're in the middle of nowhere."

"You can fly, right?" Evil then added as he started to float, "While it is possible to get there on foot, it will save you effort if you could at least fly there."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:45, Fri 08 June 2018.

"Oh yeah, sure." Matsu replied as he gave a small grunt of effort before two wings sprouted from his back. "I'll follow you." He said, looking at Evil
This message was last edited by the player at 05:02, Sat 09 June 2018.

"Alri--ght!" Evil exclaimed as he proceeded ahead, his halberd vanishing from sight as he motioned for Matsu to follow, "Just follow me and ya won't get lost!"

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Prologue chapter ended, to be continued...
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ooc: Matsu may post at the Nexus thread from here on...