Kaneda was sitting at a restaurant booth with his biker gang friends. A waitress came to deliver their orders.
"I can't believe Kei is taking so long!! Are girls always so... so..."
"Cool it, Yamagata. She'll be here. Eat your sundae before it melts."
Yamagata leaned over to eat his sundae, but he kept looking up every time the front door to the restaurant would open.
"Better not take my girl, Yamagata."
Kaneda gave him a goofy look. "What's the deal? She should be here by now!"

"Me. Late as usual."
She pulled out her pistol and began firing shots behind herself. The bullet sailed past what she was shooting at, completely missing the target.
"Stop following me!"
A man dressed in a brown robe was chasing after her. "Wait! I have to ask something of you!"
"Well we all know what that is..."
Kei turned and began to run through an alley.
"If I could make it into that restaurant I should be okay..."
"Wait!"
She made a sharp turn and grabbed the door. She then yanked it open and ran in. Unfortunately for her, the man was still at her tail.

"KEI??"
Kaneda stared in amazement as the man dodged all of Kei's bullets. Eventually, she stopped and put her pistol away. She stared in contempt at the man. "Okay. What is it you want?"
The man looked at her neither with a look of hate or love. "I need to ask you a favor."
"Yeah. I heard that already."
"I need you and your friends over there to help me save the universe."
Kei fell on the floor. "What? " She rubbed her ears. "Did you hear that Kaneda?"
"Yeah. Weird ain't it? "
"Then why don't we just get out of here or something?"
"I want to see what this nut does."
The man produced a giant dreamcatcher from inside the huge pouch he carried at his side. He twirled it, making it spin. Kaneda looked in curiousity.
The man spoke. "I shall take you to another time. You will see what you need to see, Kei and Kaneda."
"How the heck did you know our names? You stalker!!"
"Just look into the dreamcatcher. Watch as it spins... slowly..."
"You can't fool us, you psycho!" Yamagata threw the remainder of his sundae at him. The man's face was splattered with it. He looked at Yamagata in anger. "Just for that you aren't coming." The man lifted up his right hand like in a Boy Scout salute, and chanted this word. "Immobilize... "
Yamagata then levitated off the ground. "Hey look guys! I'm a flying, talking type person!" Kei rolled her eyes at him. Immediately after, Yamagata crashed on top of the table. The table broke under his weight, and he lay there on the floor. It apparently gathered a spectacle as well. At least ten people were staring.
The man wiped the sundae off of his face. "Will you come now?"
Kei walked up to the fallen Yamagata and poked him. "Is he, well... "
"No, Kei. He will be unconscious until I see fit."
"When is it that you will see fit?"
"When we return from our little tour. Like I said, look into the dreamcatcher."
"Okay. We accept. We'll look."

The dreamcatcher began to glow a bright yellow. The strings that reached from end to end disappeared.

"Look carefully into the center. You will begin to see."

To Kaneda and Kei's astonishment, the dreamcatcher gave them a view of another world that they didn't know.

"Be prepared. I will bring you into this world."

The man held the bottom end carefully with his first finger and thumb, and spun it slowly. The dreamcatcher faded away, and a violent flash of light struck them.

"What the heck is going on?"

The light blinded Kaneda. Kei shielded her eyes, but she still seemed to be feeling the blinding pain anyway.

The man smirked at them. "Before we continue, I would like to tell you my name and my reasons for bothering you."

"I am Silva of the Wolfen Plain. I was born of Siegfried and the maiden Anne. The year I was born was 1974."

"1976? That means you're-"

"Yes. 54 years. Not many people from that time are still alive."

"How did you survive the war? And Akira?"

"You see, I too was one of the wizened ones. Just like No. 26. I was a late one to emerge with my power. It didn't awaken until I was eighteen. I was also the first one to be tested for psychic power."

"So?"

"You may ask if I was from Neo-Tokyo. No. I am from Europe. Believe it or not, That was the place where they first began that infernal operation. Old Tokyo was apparently trying to rule the world or something... that I do not know. Their army leveled the place and took me as a permanent hostage. They further continued my training and made me into a heartless killing machine. Ah. I think we should be here by now."

The light began to fade away because Silva put the dreamcatcher back into the pouch he carried at his side.

"Where are we?" Kei stared in amazement at the beautiful scenery that surrounded her and the others.

"We are in Tokyo, year 1990. Two years before the destruction. Take a moment to observe."

Trees lined the streets and alleys. Children were walking to school without fear of being harmed in any way whatsoever. People treated each other with a respect that eased the fact that the city was so crowded.

"This... this... is beautiful." Kei watched her surroundings in awe.