Chapter Three: Double Trouble

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Oy! Hanakuso On'na! The kid's stirring --!! OW!! What was that for?!

Shut up! He's trying to say something…

"D-don't…don't leave m-me…."

…

Nani? What's with that look?! You don't mean…?

Hai…

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Shinji would have found the gentle swaying to be almost comforting were it not for the fact that his head felt like someone had struck it with a sledgehammer. Groaning, he sat up only to find a wet cloth that was once upon his head fall onto his lap. "Where am I?" He mumbled as he opened his eyes.

"Konnichiwa!!"

Shinji jumped back, slamming the back of his head against a wall causing him to whine in pain. Frantically rubbing the newer of his head injuries he focused on just what had scared the living crap out of him. Wearing a large smile, it turned out to be a waitress in leather bearing a drink. Placing saucer and cup before him, Shinji raised a brow as he saw only white and bright red cream shaped into a heart. "This is Naomi-chan's Special New Friend Greeting Coffee! Enjoy!" She announced with a wink before watching him like a much-too-friendly vulture. Picking up the cup, he figured that she seemed nice enough –or rather, feared how she would react to his refusal more than any fear of whatever the drink had in it -- and took a sip. "Wow…this is good…much better than what I've had before." Naomi's smile seemed to grow even larger before walked off. Within the speed Shinji took to have another sip, Naomi was replaced.

"Hiya!"

Turning Shinji's eyes widened some before a brow rose as he found himself face to face with a most peculiar person, "…what are you? Some cosplayer?" Shinji asked. The other appeared to be wearing some type of life-like purple dragon mask along with headphones blaring hip hop, a dark leather coat and white gloves. Titling his head, the other asked, "Cosplayer?" "Erm…nevermind." Despite any confusion, the purple one shoved a drawing before him. At first it looked like a crayon doodle done by any child, but upon further inspection of the picture Shinji nearly found his crotch sporting his coffee. It was a person being struck by a bullet train, "That's you!" The purple one replied cheerfully. Making his way out of his chair, Shinji sought to escape the train.

"Oy!" Slamming a boot on a nearby table, raising a knee up and ultimately blocking Shinji's path was another was of the supposed cosplayer; this one appearing to be a red demon of sorts. "So yer the one..." The red one murmured, an annoyed tone held in his voice. Shinji backed away, barely squeaking out,"You must have me confused with someone else!" Turning to run, he found himself slamming into yet another one. The blue turtle clad man chuckled. "It seems the waters are awfully choppy today." He found himself trapped by these weird people, and found himself in a middle of a panic attack. There was no escape! What did they want? Hadn't they done enough to him?! Had they come to finish the job?! Suddenly from a seat nearby, an occupant snored, causing the last shock. Thus the Third Child fainted.

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"Ura, Momo…you bakas!!" Two small fists planted themselves into the two imagins' stomach, causing both of them to double over. "What was that for, you little twerp?!" Momotaros complained as he writhed on the ground. "You scared him." Kohana grumbled.

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When Shinji awoke, he was still on the train, yet he found himself in a seat before an older man currently eating fried rice. "Looks like you're awake…Mr. Ikari." The older man announced before taking a spoonful of rice in his mouth, focusing on a small flag within the rice. "…where…where am I?" Shinji finally asked by instinct, causing the older man to simply smile as he finished another spoonful. "You are on the DenLiner…the train of time."

"Train…of Time?" Blinking, Shinji's mind began to clear up. Turning to see the several strange people from before, he asked on, "Who are they? Better yet…who are you?" The older man paused before putting down his spoon, "I am the Owner of the DenLiner…and they are what we call Imagins." "Imagins? Is that some type of cosplay?" The Owner began to laugh, "No, an Imagin is a being from the future."

A being from the future…Shinji eyes widened some, "Like the Angels?!"

"Angels?" Placing his cup of coffee earlier before the young boy, Naomi was suddenly taken back with that question. Putting her finger to her chin, she broke into a fit of giggles upon the thought of the Taros wearing white robes with halos. "So cute! Hehe!!" Owner, however, corrected Shinji, "No. Though we have only learned about your 'Angels' I do not believe Imagins are like them." Glancing to one of the windows of the dining car, Owner continued, "As I said, the DenLiner is a train of time. We traverse time to protect it from all threats…however recently the DenLiner was derailed on our current journey by currently unknown means. When it was over, we found ourselves here."

"Derailed?" Though Shinji couldn't be sure if the man was senile or telling the truth, but decided to keep his skeptic thoughts to himself for now. "This time in which you live, Mr. Ikari, is a forgotten time; tucked away beneath the sands of time. Though forgotten, the tracks still remain. When we derailed, our only choice was to land on these tracks. Unfortunately the neglect upon them made controlling the train difficult…" "…that's when you hit me, right?" "I apologize. The best thing we could do to save you was to have them form a bond with you."

"Them?" He turned back to the Imagin; the red one was in a grumpy mood, sitting away from the others, the blue one was playing with a child's fishing rod, the purple busy coloring in the picture of Shinji being hit by the train, a yellow one was asleep and snoring. "A bond?" "Yes, an Imagin possesses the ability to bond with a human under a verbal contract." "A contract? I don't remember a contract…" It was only then that he recalled one of his strange dreams.

D-don't…don't leave m-me….

The train rocked, causing all but the yellow imagin and the Owner to look toward a window. The older man's eyes nearly bugged out as he saw a small flag in the middle of his fried rice fall, causing him to raise his hands; fingertips pointing down and the backs of his hands pressed against his face.

"What's going on!?" The red imagin shouted. Looking out a window, Shinji's eyes once more widened, "It's an Angel!"