Five years ago...
Doremi Harukaze, all decked out in her junior high uniform, rushed down the beach, hoping that the boy she wanted to see was still there.
The sun was beginning to set over the horizon, casting a radiant glow across the sand and water and giving the scene quite a lot of ambience.
Doremi took a few gazes around the area, suddenly catching sight of someone. There he was.
Not wasting any time, Doremi rushed over to the boy, panting heavily due to how fast she was running.
Looking up at the boy and regaining her composure, Doremi quickly reached into her pocket and pulled out a letter, just like she had those four years ago, when she had first become a witch.
"I got this for you!" Doremi exclaimed, holding the letter towards the boy and holding her breath.
A few seconds passed, though we can't see the boy or his reaction.
A little more time passed, and Doremi smiled brightly.
Putting the letter back in her pocket, Doremi walked forward a couple steps, whispering something into the boy's ear.
"Thank you..."
The scene fades away, and Doremi begins talking.
"I've never been so happy in my life. Though things weren't the same as they were before, now that our group had split up, I was happy. Life was good, and things were stable. Five years passed since that day, our lives staying in relative normality. But then, something happened..."
(The pages constantly turn, no matter how long the reader takes. When one story ends, another story will inevitably start. In the end, there is only a new beginning.)
The Blue Time Ranger proudly presents:
Ojamajo Doremi Diamond and Pearl: The Final Cut
Story Created: July 8th, 2011
Summary: It's been five years since Ojamajo Doremi ended. All the conflicts were resolved, and the girls went their separate ways, enjoying their stable lives. But was that really the end of the story? When Nick Kelly, a long-time friend of the Ojamajos, is attacked by his own parents, it forces him and Momoko to make their way back to the Majokai after five long years. This simple act inexplicably brings the rest of the gang back to Misora and back to their magical lives, due to similar circumstances. Now equipped with new gear and brand new powers, the Ojamajos must solve the mystery of why their parents have turned on them. It won't be easy, though, as a mysterious force is watching them from the shadows, intent on taking over the Majokai by any means necessary...
Author's Note: All right, I'm back, with a story I've been wanting to do for a good few years! The original Ojamajo Doremi Diamond and Pearl, my first big Ojamajo Doremi story, is something I had fun writing, trying to continue the legacy left behind by one of the greatest mahou shoujo anime shows ever. However, when I look back on it nowadays, I suddenly realize "Hey, I can do a lot better now that I'm more proficient at writing!" That, basically, is what Ojamajo Doremi Diamond and Pearl: The Final Cut is all about. It'll basically be fifty chapters long, sorta like an anime series, with more plot twists, more character development scenes, and many things I wanted to put in the original story but couldn't. Simply enough, this will be much more true to my original vision of the story. All right, enough of my pointless rambling, let's get on with the show!
Disclaimer (since I know I have to say this): I've said it for the better part of twelve years and I still have to say it. I do not own anything related to Ojamajo Doremi or any of its affiliations. It belongs solely to Toei Animation and whoever licenses it for their country. The only things of it I DO own are any characters created by yours truly for the story. And I am not infringing on any copyrights. I'm just doing this for the entertainment of my readers. Besides, if I did own Ojamajo Doremi, which I don't, why would I be writing fiction on a fan site?
OP/ED Note: The opening theme for episodes 1-17 is "Mirai Start" by Mimori Suzuko and the ending theme for episodes 1-17 is "Koi Suru Miracle" by Gokujou Seitokai Yuugeki and Sharyoubu (figured I'd let you know since I'm not posting the actual opening and ending sequences anymore, to avoid getting my stuff taken down again).
"POPPU!"
"Why do you always fall for that, Doremi?!"
Sixteen-year-old Doremi Harukaze began chasing her thirteen-year-old sister Poppu across the Harukaze household. Not much seemed to have changed, despite the long time since their magical adventures had ended.
Doremi had long ago decided to let her hair down every now and then after her boyfriend had complimented her hairstyle, so she wore it down occasionally. Nowadays, her preferred attire was a pink vest over a bright aqua blue shirt, a pleated yellow skirt, and Capri shoes that Nick had often pestered her to try.
Poppu hadn't changed much either, though, like Doremi, she had matured quite a lot during the five-year interim. Her hairstyle hadn't really changed much, but the gaggle of boyfriends she'd had during her time at Sonatine Kindergarten often wanted her to let her hair down like her big sister, so she did that on occasion, too. Everyone at Misora Middle School had complimented her whenever she had her hair down.
The siblings' mother, Haruka, watched from the kitchen, quite amused at her daughters' antics. Despite maturing greatly in the past five years, the two still retained a lot of their childlike innocence.
"Did Poppu do her thunderstorm trick again?" Keisuke Harukaze asked.
"Just like when they were kids," Haruka giggled.
As the two parents watched their kids, they suddenly twitched a few times, going completely rigid as they stood there. Their eyes flashed red for a second as they began to slowly walk towards Doremi and Poppu.
"Even after all these years, you still fall for that, huh, sis?" Poppu giggled, her pink ponytails bouncing.
"You know I don't like having thunder erupt right in my ears, especially when it's you faking it, Poppu!" Doremi exclaimed.
As Poppu reached over to help her sister up, she saw her parents walk up to her, looking like they were in a trance of some sort.
Only Doremi noticed that her parents' eyes were glowing red... the sure sign of evil magic.
Episode 1: The Act of Rebellion! Five Years Later, the Adventure Begins!
Hazuki Fujiwara looked up from the book she was reading, her hazel eyes twinkling as she looked outside.
Hazuki had grown up quite nicely during the few years she'd spent studying at Karen Girl's Academy. She'd let her hair grow a few inches so that it framed her face perfectly. A lot of the boys had swooned over her, too. Over the years, she had finally lost the glasses when her parents wanted her to try out contacts. It took Hazuki a few weeks to get used to it, but she eventually decided that she preferred contacts.
Now she was riding smoothly through her first high school year at Karen Girl's Academy. It didn't feel the same without Doremi or her friends, but she was pulling through.
"How's everything going, Hazuki?" Hazuki's father Akira asked as he walked into the room. The orange witch didn't notice that, like Doremi's parents, Akira's eyes were glowing red.
"I think I'm done with studying for now," Hazuki answered. "I'm ready for that test now."
Hazuki turned around to face her father, just then noticing his glowing eyes.
"And number forty-two goes up for the shot!" Aiko Senoo exclaimed to nobody in particular, dribbling a basketball outside her home in Osaka. During the five years since the end of her adventures, Aiko had let her hair grow a bit longer, but the most visible change was that she herself had grown a couple inches. Now she was about as tall as Momoko was, which made it easier for her to reach the higher basketball hoops that Leon Sokuryoku always insisted on using for his challenges. Aiko still played a lot of sports, being on the local high school basketball team.
"Ai-chan," Aiko's father Koji called.
"Just a sec, pops!" Aiko responded before flicking her wrist and taking a shot. The basketball went in perfectly.
"And Senoo SCORES!" Aiko exclaimed, punching the air in victory as Koji walked out.
"Still practicing, Ai-chan?" Koji wondered. Aiko didn't realize that, just like the others, his eyes were glowing a sharp red.
"The big game's comin' up soon, pops," the blue witch responded. "I'm stayin' in top shape so those fools have no reason to mock us."
"Your mom's coming to the game, too," Koji continued.
"She is?" Aiko gasped. "They finally let her take a day off?! What a perfect time, too, huh? She gets to see me knock those losers from Okinawa into next week!"
Aiko picked up the ball and walked up to Koji. "You wanna take a few shots?"
Onpu Segawa put down her microphone to write down the lyrics to her newest song, a cover of one of her favorite Misato Aki songs (she knew the lyrics anyway, she just wanted to be sure).
Onpu was still quite the popular idol even after five years, though she had recently decided to try out for movies alongside her work on Battle Rangers, which to everyone's surprise was still very popular nowadays.
Over the five years since she gave up being a witch, Onpu had let her hair grow down a bit, though she usually tied it into two ponytails instead of one like she used to. It was a look that seemed to go down really well with her fans.
"Is everything okay in there, dear?" Onpu's mother and manager Miho asked, walking into the booth just as Onpu had finished recording.
"Clear as crystal, okaa-san," Onpu responded. "Just about finished with my Kuchibiru Daydream cover, so we can go see the movie we promised, right?"
Miho nodded, walking up to Onpu and taking a look at her composition. "You've really been working hard on this, haven't you?"
"Ever since I announced this cover, I've been trying to keep the original feel of the song while giving it something that makes it more my style as well," Onpu giggled.
Suddenly, Onpu realized something. She looked over at her mother in confusion.
"Okaa-san, your eyes are glowing red for some reason..."
Sixteen-year-old Nick Kelly was thinking hard on his way home from school. Something was on his mind, but he couldn't quite put a finger on what it was.
He brushed a bit of his spiky brown hair out of his face, his similar-colored eyes blinking a few times as he searched his mind for what was bothering him.
Nick often believed that trouble tended to find him no matter where he went, so he knew to stay alert when he felt that something was bothering him.
Every now and then, Nick's mind would flash back to the adventures he'd had with his best friends and fellow former witches.
Nick had met them for the first time at nine years old as an exchange student, quite literally bumping into Doremi on the way to gym class. The two had become fast friends, but when Doremi hastily excused herself from the class, Nick realized that something was up. After school that day, he'd discreetly followed Doremi to the Flower Shop MAHO-dou, meeting the other members of Doremi's group and baby Hana as well. Becoming quite taken with the cute little infant, Nick had spent the day there and helped the girls take care of Hana.
But when Majorika, the girl's mentor, had busted in and started talking about the Majokai (not even realizing that Nick was there), the proverbial gig had been up. Rather than freak out about the situation as Doremi had expected him to do, Nick had stayed calm and agreed to keep their secret if he could help out with Hana on occasion. After a conference with the queen, she'd agreed on the deal. Nick had been given magical powers like the girls, but tended to be more restricted on what he could do with his own magic, due to Aiko treating him more like a "magical slave" (Aiko's term and idea) than an actual apprentice. The girls had placated Nick with the fact that it was only to make sure he would keep his promise, one of Nick's defining traits being that he never broke a promise.
Nick's first shining moment came during the final battle between the Ojamajos and the FLAT 4. When Oyajide had attempted to use a powerful electricity attack to finish Hana off, Nick had stepped up to try and repel the attack, willing to face the consequences if it meant saving the life of the little baby he'd grown so enamored with. Thankfully, Nick's bravery had been rewarded by the queen after the battle by allowing him full access to his magical powers.
Nick also managed to come through when the former witch queen had possessed Momoko Asuka, a girl Nick was pretty sure he had a crush on, to bring Hana to the Cursed Forest. Nick had bravely stepped up to buy the queen valuable time, dueling the possessed Momoko until the queen could purge her of Majotourbillon's influence.
And when Doremi had locked herself in the MAHO-dou after graduating elementary school, Nick had helped Doremi come back out by reminding her of all the times they'd bonded with everyone, hoping that Doremi wouldn't throw it away.
After all had been said and done, he had accompanied Momoko back to New York with his own family, getting letters from the girls on occasion. (In one of the more memorable ones, Aiko had actually apologized for treating Nick like a "magical slave" so long ago. And everyone knew how tricky it was to get Aiko to apologize for something like that.)
His mind snapping back to the present, Nick saw his house coming up quickly. Suddenly realizing what today was, he broke into a sprint.
"I'd better not keep Momoko waiting," Nick stated to nobody in particular as he continued to run.
Nick always had a sleepover with Momoko for one weekend out of every month. This was due to a monthly trip that his parents had to take for their job (they both worked for a technology company just outside the city). When Nick had been younger, this trip had always left him in the care of a babysitter, or some of his other relatives as he grew up. But when he'd become better friends with Momoko, Nick's parents had allowed him to stay with the Asuka family when they went on their trip.
That time had come, basically. Nick's parents were getting ready for their trip, and Nick was on his way home to get his gear for the weekend. Nick was never very patient for anything. Most of the time, his impatience had led the Ojamajos straight into trouble, but Nick had always managed to get them out of it in the end. So, Nick liked to consider his impatience both a strength and a weakness.
After finally reaching the front door, Nick brushed some dust off of his clothes (the dirt road he usually tended to take as a shortcut home from school had been extra dusty today for some odd reason) and knocked twice on the front door.
"Mom! Dad! I'm back!" Nick exclaimed, reaching for his key and heading inside. Then, he noticed something that seriously irked him: his parents hadn't responded to his call yet. Normally, whenever he called for his parents, they'd respond within five seconds. Now, nothing had happened for almost a minute, and Nick was starting to get worried.
"Eh, they're probably getting ready for their trip," Nick noted, laughing softly to himself as he headed for his room.
But as he started up the stairs, some unseen force slammed into his stomach and sent him tumbling back to the ground floor.
"All right, who's the wise guy?!" Nick shouted.
Nick quickly picked himself up, only for something to strike him in the back, causing him to crash back to the ground.
"Okay, whoever's playing a joke on me, this isn't funny!" Nick shouted, instinctively going for his wand, only to realize that he didn't have it.
Unfortunately for Nick, that moment of distraction cost him dearly, as something hard impacted the back of his neck the very next second, instantly knocking the consciousness right out of him.
The last thing Nick saw as his vision closed down was a familiar figure approaching him.
As Nick tried to adjust his vision to get rid of the darkness covering it, he noticed someone was staring down at him.
I swear, if that's whoever hit me, I'm gonna destroy him, Nick thought.
But as his vision began to clear up, he noticed it was actually Momoko, who was gazing at him with a concerned look.
"You okay, Nick?" Momoko asked.
Momoko hadn't changed much in terms of appearance, still holding her hair in her signature ring-shaped buns, though she let her hair down more than she used to. She still wore her earring, having promised Majomonroe she would never take it off.
"M-Momoko?" Nick asked. "I... I didn't know you were here..."
"I kinda got impatient waiting for you, so I decided to come over and pick you up," Momoko admitted. "You were out for a while..."
"I was out? What the heck happened to me?" Nick wondered. "Did I get hit by a freight train or something?"
Momoko just shook her head. "You might not believe this, but your parents attacked you."
"They WHAT?!" Nick screamed, only to feel a sharp pain in his back. Momoko quickly wrapped her arms around Nick to steady him. "Okay, so shouting is not a good idea when my back hurts... wait, how'd you know it was my parents?"
"When I got to the house, you door was hanging open and I... I saw your dad backhanding you in the neck. Then, Rhea-san came downstairs and they just walked out of the house. They passed right by me, like I wasn't even there," Momoko recounted.
"Jeez, talk about your bad movie plots..." Nick groaned.
"Did you need anything, Nick?" Momoko wondered.
"I... I should be fine," Nick replied. "Just give me a bit to get my strength back... that backhand HURT..."
Momoko kept her arms around Nick so she could steady him as he stood up. Nick flashed a smile at Momoko, suddenly realizing just how close they were to each other.
She's still on my mind even after what just happened, Nick thought. I've had a crush on her since we met, but... am I falling in love with her? Have I always been in love with her?
What Nick didn't know was that Momoko was having similar thoughts.
I never realized how handsome he looks when I'm looking at him up close like this, Momoko thought. Am I in love with him? I did kiss that Okajima kid, but that was more of a congratulations than anything else...
"Come on, let's get you to the couch," Momoko stated, "and I'll get you a soda. That always helps me when I'm feeling like this."
As Momoko walked into the Kelly family's kitchen, Nick continued to think about the bombshell his mind had dropped on him.
I never thought about it, but she's downright gorgeous like that, Nick thought. Oh, man, Nick, you really have it bad for her, don't you? My question is, does she feel the same way? I've never asked her because I'm scared of losing our friendship, but I don't know if five years is too long...
Momoko came back holding a bottle of Mountain Dew, Nick's favorite soda, and again Nick noticed how gorgeous Momoko looked. After a couple more seconds of debate, Nick came to a decision.
I'll give it a try. At least I can get it off my mind this way. "Hey, Momoko?"
"Yeah?"
"There's... there's something I've wanted to say to you for a while now," Nick started. "Oh, god, I hope I don't sound stupid saying this..."
Momoko instantly perked up at this. What? Oh, my god, is he going to...?
"Well, Momoko, it's actually been a few years since I've started feeling like this, and... I... oh, jeez, I must sound so stupid, Momoko," Nick stated, cursing himself for fumbling his words.
Nick stood up, his back not as stiff as before. "I'm no good at showing my feelings in words, so if it's okay, I'm just going to do this."
Before Momoko could ask what Nick was doing, he had laid his hands on her shoulders and leaned forward, planting his lips onto hers.
When their lips connected, Momoko's eyes shot open to their widest. Oh, god, he does feel the same way! Momoko thought. After about a second or two, her eyes closed and she leaned into the kiss, returning it with all the emotion she could.
Nick was relieved to know that he hadn't made a complete and total idiot of himself.
When they separated, clearly out of breath, Nick looked at Momoko, seeing nothing but love in her emerald-green eyes.
"Is that what you wanted to say, Nick?" Momoko gasped, still short on breath but extremely happy.
"Yeah," Nick answered. "I love you, Momoko. I think I always have."
Momoko couldn't help but smile. "I love you, too, Nick. I think I felt the same way."
As they reached out to hug each other, Momoko suddenly remembered something. "Hey, Nick! I just remembered, when your parents walked out, I saw something really strange. When I got a good look at Rhea-san, her eyes were glowing red. You think it has something to do with why they attacked you?"
"Has to be," Nick answered, cuddling with his new girlfriend. "If I've learned anything from my years as a witch apprentice, glowing red eyes are never a good sign. But... who or what is responsible for it?"
"Not sure," Momoko continued. "We'd probably need some first-hand experience to figure this one out, since this problem is obviously magical. Why don't we postpone the sleepover and head to the shop?"
Nick perked up at that. "You mean Majomonroe-san's shop? It's been ages since you've been there!"
"I have a feeling Majomonroe dealt with this before," Momoko giggled. "It'd be the best place to start. Let's go!"
Nick nodded, and together, the green and yellow witches rushed out into the early evening streets hand in hand.
After about fifteen minutes, Nick and Momoko had reached Majomonroe's Magical Sweets Shop.
"Well, Momoko, what do you think we'll find in there?" Nick asked.
Momoko smiled at her boyfriend. "Hopefully answers."
As Nick and Momoko stepped into the shop, they were unaware of the fact that Minori and Kenzou Asuka were standing nearby, or that a strange figure was watching them from afar.
To be continued...
On the next episode...
Doremi: Hey, everybody! It feels so good to be back!
Aiko: It hasn't really been that long, has it?
Fami: Um, try FIVE YEARS, Ai-chan.
Onpu: We've all been busy doing something or another, but now we've returned!
Hazuki: I'm so happy Kelly-kun and Momo-chan confessed their feelings for each other!
Doremi: But this is only the beginning of this adventure, right?
Momoko: That's right! Next time, we all meet up in the Majokai and try to find out just what's going on, why Nick's parents attacked him, and hopefully who's behind it...
Aiko: Sounds like a lazy couch potato's storyline.
Poppu: Ai-chan, don't be rude!
Hana: Hana-chan's so excited! So excited!
Momoko: So am I, Hana-chan, but we'll have to wait a bit for the next episode.
Hana: WHAT?! HOW LONG DO WE HAVE TO WAIT?!
Fami: Only about a week, I think.
Doremi: I hope a week is all it takes, because I really wanna see where this is headed! But wait... who's that strange girl with the long keys? And what's with that shadow thing?!
Nick: Next time on Ojamajo Doremi Diamond and Pearl: The Final Cut! "Escape to the Majokai! The Ojamajos Stand on Solid Ground!"
Momoko: Remember, memories are pearl and friendships are diamonds!
Doremi: Stay true to what you believe, and don't ever give up!