Ojamajo Doremi: The Darkside Chronicles

by S.P.D. Gold Ranger

Due to letting his guard down after defeating the Dark Master Malefor, Nick underestimates a new foe, and his beloved pays the price. But is Momoko really dead? And, in his anger, has Nick lost sight of what he’s really fighting for?

My name is Nick Kelly.

Nick can be seen looking up towards a red-stained full moon.

The name should sound familiar, right?

Yuki walks up and latches onto Nick's arm, the two silently taking solace in each other.

For the past couple years, me and my Ojamajo friends have taken it upon ourselves to fight any beings of darkness that try to conquer our world.

The camera pans up to the stained moon.

But, even with all my experience in all things pertaining to the dark fruit loops...

A bright flash of red fills the screen.

...nothing could prepare me for what happened next.

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(Follow the light... but beware the darkness within.)

S.P.D. Gold Ranger presents:
Ojamajo Doremi Diamond and Pearl: The Darkside Chronicles
Rated: T for Teen (due to intense scenes, intimate moments, and violence. Basically, my usual.)
Story Created: November 29th, 2009
Summary: The only second chances in life... are those you make yourself. Due to letting his guard down after defeating the Dark Master Malefor, Nick underestimates a new foe, and his beloved pays the price. Now, Nick is dedicated to hunting down and defeating the mysterious Darkside, all so his girlfriend can rest in peace. But is Momoko really dead? And, in his anger, has Nick lost sight of what he's really fighting for?

Timeline Placement: About a month after Ojamajo Doremi Diamond and Pearl Magic Dimension: Together at the End of the Dream (god, is that a mouthful), but long before Ojamajo Doremi: Race Against Time. Just thought I'd let you know.

Disclaimer: As always, I don't own even one bit of Ojamajo Doremi or anything related to it, except of course for the plot of this story, Nick Kelly, Haruka Reisei, Ichiyou Kitakaze, Riiko Izawa, and Yumi Hitoyama, who are my characters, and Yuki Shinoya, Akemi Suzuki, Moriko Takahashi, and Kurumi Sayoko, who are characters created by fellow author YukiShinoya444.

Author's Note: The Ojamajos created by YukiShinoya444 will make an appearance in this story. Before you even ask, I do have permission to use Yuki's team in my stories (so long as I don't make them look bad).

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Chapter 1: From Darkside

It all started about a month after me and my Ojamajo friends defeated the Dark Master Malefor once and for all. We all decided to take a well-earned rest for winning such a tough battle. It wasn't until it was too late that I realized what a foolish decision that was.

We close in on the Asuka household. A quick look inside the window shows that Nick Kelly and Momoko Asuka are asleep on the couch, arms around each other and cuddling with each other. An old alien movie is playing on Momoko's TV.

Momoko yawned softly, staring loftily at the movie on her television.

"Why do I always fall asleep watching those silly old b-movies?" Momoko wondered.

"Probably because they think that kind of stuff passes as suitable late night television," Nick answered, still a bit lost in his own sleepiness.

"Oh, sorry, Nick... did I wake you up?"

"Nah. It was probably the movie," Nick responded. "Their screams are so cheesy."

"Those were made in the fifties," Momoko noted, sighing in happiness as Nick started rubbing her shoulders. "They were supposed to be cheesy."

"Yeah, and the special effects are even cheesier," Nick continued, taking great delight in seeing his girlfriend so happy. "Remember how surprised I was when I found out that when they actually filmed it, Godzilla was nothing more than a guy in a giant rubber suit?"

"Yeah, I remember that," Momoko giggled as Nick started to massage her sides. "I always had a feeling about that. I could CLEARLY see the rubber lining on that giant thing."

"Made it SO FREAKING WEIRD the next time I watched a Godzilla movie," Nick stated.

"Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"Just shut up and kiss me."

With that, Nick and Momoko pressed their lips to each other's, pouring as much passion as they could into the liplock; they hadn't spent much time together since they had defeated Malefor while still trying to clean up some of the damage that he and Gaul had caused, so now the two lovers were trying to make up for lost ground.

"I love you, Nick."

"I love you, too, Momoko."

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"I miss Nick-kun..."

"It's only been a month, Yuki-chan."

"I know that, Saiki-kun," Yuki Shinoya exclaimed to her boyfriend Saiki Shidoosha. "But a girl can't help but be worried about him!!"

"Yuki-chan..." Saiki groaned.

Yuki suddenly perked up. "SAIKI-KUN!!!"

Before Saiki could ask what brought that on, Yuki rushed into his arms.

"I would NEVER leave you, and you know that," Yuki giggled.

Saiki was still confused.

"Do you not trust Nick-kun anymore? Even though I confessed my love for him?"

Saiki turned a little surprised at that. "THAT'S what you're worried about?"

"Saiki-kun, listen. Even though I confessed to Nick-kun, you'll always be number one in my heart!!" Yuki stated matter-of-factly. "Nick-kun is special to me, too. He's one of the few that truly believed in me when the rest of the world was against me and my dark powers!! It's not surprising I'd be such great friends with him..."

Saiki couldn't help but smile at that speech. "You wanna go see him? Misora's not too far from here."

Yuki hopped to her feet. "Let's go visit Nick-kun!!!"

After a bit of a sweatdrop from Saiki, the two lovers were off.

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Down in the industrial sector, a mysterious figure can be seen pushing through rubble.

"Well, well. It looks like my time has arrived."

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Nick and Momoko were now walking through the early morning Misora streets, their arms linked and the two of them cuddled as close as humanly possible.

"It feels so nice to go on a walk without the bustle of the city messing with our rhythm, huh?" Momoko giggled.

"You've gotten pretty romantic since we sent Malefor to the glue factory, huh?" Nick commented.

"We haven't been able to spend much time together lately because we've been fixing the damage that Gaul and Malefor caused," Momoko continued. "And besides, I want to spend as much time together as we can. You know as well as I do how unpredictable fate can be. I just want to be with you as much as I can so that when our time comes, be it naturally or us pulled apart by that damn Lady Fate, we can safely say we spent every moment we could to the fullest."

Nick was kind of stunned by his girlfriend's speech. Wow. I never realized how much I mean to her.

Momoko was about to lean in for a kiss when explosions rocked the area around them, forcing Nick to hold Momoko close to him so neither of them would get caught in the blast.

When the dust from the explosions cleared, Nick looked around for whoever had tried to obliterate them.

After a couple seconds, Nick's gaze locked on to a mysterious figure standing not two feet from them.

"Well, well," the figure proclaimed. "More inferior Earthlings for me to pulverize."

"Well, it was fun while it lasted," Momoko noted, separating from Nick and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Let's just wipe the floor with him and we'll get back to cuddling, okay?" Nick responded, clenching his fists in concentration.

Almost instantly, a powerful golden aura arced up around the two lovers, and their appearances suddenly changed drastically: Nick's hair had stood up, turned spiky, and shifted to a bright gold color; and Momoko's hair was now joined together in seven long spikes which curved at the bottom. Nick's eyes shifted from tree-brown to emerald-green, and Momoko's eyes shifted from sea-green to a pure gold.

"Been a while since we've had to use our super forms, huh?" Momoko noted.

"I'm just glad jou-sama taught us how to transform without the Majokai Crystals," Nick responded.

Deciding to worry about that later, Nick returned his focus back to the task at hand. "All right, buddy, you wanna start explaining yourself? Momoko and I were on a romantic walk before you came and interrupted, so if you don't want to become swiss cheese like Gaul and Malefor were, I suggest you skedaddle immediately."

The figure just smirked. "Poor, pathetic human. Now you shall know the wrath of Darkside."

With that, Darkside started floating into the air.

"Who exactly IS this joker?" Nick wondered, a bit confused.

Nick's expression of confusion became something else entirely when Darkside aimed for the ground and fired a black sphere of energy from his palm.

Nick gasped in shock at the power he sensed from that blast, but Momoko had already taken the offensive.

"You little bastard!! The gracefulness of a girl who can dream, take this!! Ojamajo Aura Star!!"

At Momoko's command, about a dozen golden energy beams thundered from her open palms and intercepted the dark blast, causing it to fly harmlessly away from the city.

"Whoa... he's mad!! That blast had enough power to destroy the whole city!!" Nick exclaimed. "Nice shot, Momoko."

"No problem-o," Momoko giggled.

Nick then turned back to Darkside. "Hey, freak show!! It's your business if you want to mess with our city, but fight us first, you little coward!!"

Darkside just grunted.

Momoko giggled again. "Gifted speaker."

His smirk now one of complete viciousness, Darkside raised his palm into the air, and an immense dark sphere formed in his palm, the energy growing larger and stronger with each passing second.

"No... no, that CAN'T be meant for us!!" Nick exclaimed. "That's way too much energy. It's enough to destroy the city ten times over!!"

Momoko just gasped in shock.

Nick already knew the truth. "Momoko... we can't stop that..."

Darkside just smiled, as his attack continued to grow until it was larger than the entirety of Misora.

"Why... WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" Nick exclaimed, hoping to reason with Darkside. "There'll be nothing... nothing left at all!!! You can't just go around destroying people's homes without a reason!! Please... you wouldn't!!!"

In response, Darkside just laughed. "Sorry, boy, but your request has been denied."

Darkside pointed towards Misora.

"Vanishing Ball."

And with that, the immense sphere of dark energy started moving towards Misora.

Nick and Momoko just stood there in shock, knowing that even with their now-immense strength, they wouldn't be able to stop Darkside's Vanishing Ball.

"What'll we do, Nick?" Momoko asked.

"The only thing we can do: get the hell out of here. You know there's no way we can stop that thing," Nick responded.

Momoko nodded, not liking the decision, but knowing it was the only thing they could do.

And so, the two lovers rose into the sky and flew away from the rapidly approaching Vanishing Ball, hoping it wouldn't catch up to them. As the Vanishing Ball slowly descended towards the city, it ripped through anything that it touched, vaporizing it without a second's warning.

Nick looked back as he rocketed forward; the Vanishing Ball was getting too close for comfort.

"Pick up the pace, Momoko!!" Nick exclaimed.

Momoko just nodded, increasing the speed of her flight.

Just then, Nick noticed something on the ground. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that there were two figures down on the ground. A closer look revealed that said figures were actually Yuki and Saiki, both gaping at the approaching Vanishing Ball.

"Yuki-chan, Saiki-kun, grab hold!!!" Momoko exclaimed. "There's no time!!!"

Not waiting for an answer, Yuki and Saiki reached out so Nick and Momoko could pick them up.

Once Yuki was secure in Nick's grip, and Momoko was safely carrying Saiki, they both boosted forward, hoping to outrun the destructive energy that was chasing them.

Before long, the four just barely made it out of the doomed city just as the Vanishing Ball engulfed the whole city.

Nick and Momoko set Yuki and Saiki down on the mesa they'd landed on, the green and yellow witches reverting to their normal selves.

Nick couldn't do anything but fall to his knees and watch as the Vanishing Ball shined and exploded, taking the entire hilly town of Misora with it.

When the explosion from the Vanishing Ball cleared, there was absolutely nothing left of the proud city of Misora... not even rubble to sift through.

Momoko was the first to hear a sob.

"Nick?"

Nick slammed his fist into the ground.

"Some hero I am..." Nick growled, a few tears falling. "I'm supposed to be the one that everyone could count on, and yet I can't even defend my own city..."

Nick barely even noticed that Momoko had laid her hands on his shoulders and started massaging them in an attempt to calm her boyfriend down.

Suddenly, a horrifying thought struck Nick. "Oh, no... the others!!!"

"What's the matter?"

Nick turned around, and noticed the rest of their group standing behind them, all completely unharmed.

"We just came back from the Majokai because we felt some incredibly strong dark power," Hazuki noted.

"Um... I have a bigger question... where's our home?" Aiko wondered, looking towards the crater that used to be Misora.

"One of you tell them... I'm still too shocked..." Nick stated.

"It's hard to say, but... some freak named Darkside came and wiped Misora off the map..." Momoko explained, trying to hold back her own tears.

"You mean... all our families are GONE?" Doremi shakily asked.

"And let me get this straight... YOU RAN AWAY?!!" Moriko exclaimed, reaching out so she could slap Nick across the face.

Surprisingly, Nick didn't retaliate in the slightest to the slap. "Go ahead and slap the hell out of me, Mori-chan... I deserve it for not being able to defend my own home..."

"Yeah, you DO deserve it, you cowardly little..." Moriko growled, reaching out to slap Nick again, only to be cut off when Momoko punched the jade witch in the face.

"KNOCK IT OFF, MORIKO-CHAN!!!! Don't you think Nick feels bad enough already?!!" Momoko screamed. "I knew just by LOOKING at that attack that there was no way we'd be able to stop it!! Why can't you just accept that some things are unavoidable?! It's not Nick's fault, so don't go blaming him for something that none of us could stop!!!"

Moriko just stood there, shell-shocked by Momoko's words.

"You tried your best," Onpu noted. "That's all that really matters..."

"What does it even matter, anyway?!!" Nick exclaimed. "We don't have a home to go back to anymore..."

"Don't let things like that get you down, Kellysi-chan!!" Hana exclaimed, hugging Nick.

"There are always events in life that we can't control," Fami stated.

"We've never let things like this stop us before, have we?" Poppu asked.

"We'll get Darkside for this if it's the last thing we do!!" Haruka exclaimed. "Right, Leaf?"

"You know it!!" Ichiyou responded.

"Don't let it bring you down... please, Nick-kun, you know we don't like seeing you sad..." Akemi stated.

"We'll find a way. We always do," Kurumi continued.

Before Nick could form a response to his friends, Darkside appeared again, directly in front of the party.

"Damn it, Darkside, why can't you just leave me alone?! I don't need you causing me any more pain!!!" Nick exclaimed.

"I believe that you haven't even begun to experience pain yet, boy," Darkside growled, grinning savagely. "So I will administer the pain you need to feel."

Not wasting a second, Darkside phased towards Momoko and grabbed her by the throat.

"No, Darkside, DON'T!!! Please, not Momoko!! She's all I have!!!" Nick exclaimed.

Ignoring Nick's pleas, Darkside formed another sphere of dark energy in his palm, aiming straight for Momoko's heart.

"Please... please, not Momoko... I don't want to lose my beloved... please, Darkside..."

Darkside continued to ignore Nick's pleading, taking this moment to fire the sphere of dark energy straight through Momoko's chest, the yellow witch flying back before eventually falling to the ground.

His task done, Darkside disappeared. Most of the Ojamajos were too stunned to even speak. Nick was the only one moving, his entire body twitching, his mind unable to comprehend what had just happened.

Before long, Nick finally found the feeling in his legs, rushing up to his fatally-injured girlfriend, completely unsure of what to do.

"What the hell are you waiting for, Nick-kun?!! Hurry up and heal her already!!!" Moriko exclaimed.

Nick just shook his head. "I can't..."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU CAN'T?!!!" Moriko screamed.

"Moriko-chan, the soten kisshun can't heal a fatal injury," Yuki responded, tears already falling from her chocolate brown eyes.

"I... I'm so sorry, Momoko... I couldn't save our home... I couldn't even save you..." Nick cried.

"Hey, hey..." Momoko stated weakly, trying her best not to exacerbate her injuries, though she knew she was done for, being that it looked like a hole had been carved straight through her stomach. "Don't... talk like that... that's not the Nick I know..."

"Momoko, please don't talk right now..." Nick responded.

"I have enough strength... to tell you this, Nick... I really enjoyed our time together... so now I can say that we spent... as much time together as we could..."

Momoko reached out to hold Nick's hand.

"Just... don't ever forget..."

Nick's fear seemed to skyrocket as he realized he could now actually feel Momoko's life slipping away.

"...don't forget... that... I love you..."

And with that, Momoko's head fell back, and her now limp hand fell to the ground.

There were no signs of life left in Momoko.

Nick was finally too shocked to speak.

Everyone just stood there, silently mourning the loss of one of their own.

Just then, Yuki noticed that Nick had started twitching, and that a soft dark glow was covering him.

Yuki was suddenly struck by a horrifying realization. "Oh, no..."

Before the black witch could even react, Nick underwent a terrifying transformation: his skin was now deathly pale, and an immense dark aura was radiating from him, his clothes had turned completely black, and his eyes now shined with an evil-looking light.

The only difference from the last time Nick had yielded to his Convexity form was the inescapable fact that the dark aura now surrounding him was raging uncontrollably, as if Nick's impulses were looking for something.

Nick brought one of his feet down, and this expelled a dark ripple that knocked the others to the ground. This stomp also created cracks in the ground around Nick that radiated dark energy.

Yuki instantly knew what would happen if Nick's Convexity powers went too far out of control, and rushed forward in an attempt to stop him.

"Nick-kun, please!!!" Yuki cried, throwing her arms around Nick and holding him closely.

Nick seemed to stop right there, suddenly shifting back to his normal self and returning Yuki's embrace.

"Nick-kun... you know I love you, right? I know that I can't EVER replace Momo-chan... but I'll always be there if you need me, okay?"

Nick just nodded, not feeling like saying anything more.

And so, just like that, I had let my guard down, and Momoko was killed because of my foolishness. Some hero I am... that's when I realized that Darkside was a much higher caliber than Gaul or Malefor could have ever hoped to be. He was way out of my league. But that wasn't going to stop me. This reminded me of an often unanswerable question: how do you beat something that's unbeatable, stop something that's unstoppable? I will find the answer to that question... and I will make Darkside pay.

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Next time:

Chapter 2: Eminence of Dark

Nick has suffered through fates that no one should ever have to go through. But how will these losses affect his resolve to destroy Darkside no matter what the cost?