People think that because I'm still only a teenager, I don't understand some of the horrors of our world.
Trust me when I say that I know one of those horrors personally.
Thing is, he never used to be like this.
When we were in our early teens, he was a bit gruff, but overall a great person, someone I'd be proud to have as my father.
So I ask again: what happened? Why did dad become like this?
At first I had no clue why he was doing what he did, why he'd transformed into such a jerkoff.
But despite some insecurity from my sister, I did some investigating.
Turns out mom is having an affair with someone.
When you face facts, I figured something like this was bound to happen eventually. I mean, come on, mom and dad have been married since they were eighteen. That's almost thirty years of marriage, people. It's hard to keep up something like that for that long without some hairline cracks in the foundation.
I don't know how dad found out. Hell, I'm not even sure if he really cares. But whatever happened, he didn't take it very well.
Now, I know what it's like to have anger and no way to vent it. I've been in that situation many times before.
But when you turn that anger on a family member...
...when you take your anger out on my sister...
...as I've said to many people, that's a line you're not meant to cross.
(Everything will work out in the end.)
The Blue Time Ranger is proud to present:
Ojamajo Doremi Breakaway Remastered™
Story Created: May 13th, 2013
The Dramatis Personnae (cast, if you will)...
Kosuke Toriumi and Bryce Papenbrook as Nick Kelly
Saeko Chiba and Erin Fitzgerald as Yuki Shinoya
Sakura Tange and Karen Strassman as Akemi Suzuki
Aya Hirano and Wendee Lee as Moriko Takahashi
Atsuko Enomoto and Cherami Leigh as Kurumi Sayoko
Tomo Saeki and Yuri Lowenthal as Saiki Shidoosha
Chiemi Chiba and Laura Bailey as Doremi Harukaze
Tomoko Akiya and Stephanie Sheh as Hazuki Fujiwara
Yuki Matsuoka and Michelle Ruff as Aiko Senoo
Rumi Shishido and Danielle Judovits as Onpu Segawa
Nami Miyahara and Erica Mendez as Momoko Asuka
Ikue Ohtani and Christine Marie Cabanos as Hana Makihatayama
Sawa Ishige and Brittney Karbowski as Poppu Harukaze
Kumiko Watanabe and Sarah Anne Williams as Fami Harukaze
Yui Horie and Amanda Celine Miller as Haruka Reisei
Ai Maeda and Lauren Landa as Ichiyou "Leaf" Kitakaze
Story Summary: Nick Kelly and Yuki Shinoya are siblings that are finally fed up with the way their father has been treating them ever since their mother left. To remedy this, they decide that it's time to break away from their old life, into a new life where all they need is their friends and each other. However, strange forces are at work behind the scenes, seemingly linked to the past and intent on eliminating Nick and Yuki before they can become a problem. With so many bad guys to fight, the looming threat of darkness hanging over the city of Misora, and even missives from many eons ago, can Nick and Yuki break away from the past, or will the past break them first?
Author's Note: Yes, I originally posted the whole thing as one long movie, but I eventually realized how kinda stupid that idea was. Recently, I combined all twenty-six of the original episodes into ten long OVA-style episodes, did some more fixing up, and even added a few things. So, if you read the original long one, I do suggest reading this new version. You may be glad you did. The other reason I'm doing this is to get ready for the second season I'm working on, and the upcoming story Ojamajo Doremi Breakaway: Once Upon a Time, which is linked to events in the second season.
Theme Song Notes: Since I can't post the opening and ending sequences anymore so I won't get my stuff axed, the opening theme for season one is "Futari no Prologue" by Saeko Chiba (the opening theme to Ajimu Beach Story. Who remembers THAT?) and the ending theme for season one is "Innocence" by Miyuki Hashimoto (the ending theme to the Shuffle! anime.)
And Now, the Obligatory Disclaimer: I, The Blue Time Ranger, 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 I DO own are any characters and places created by yours truly for the story. And, I do not intend to infringe on any copyrights, only to entertain my readers. Besides, if I did own Ojamajo Doremi, which I don't, why would I be writing fiction on a fan site?
Disclaimer the Second: Any characters originally created by my fellow author MeganePurinko that appear in this story are used with her permission.
Episode 1: Twin Memories
I couldn't help but cheer to myself as I continued to push buttons rapid-fire on my Playstation controller and made my on-screen character pretty much annihilate one of this game's most difficult bosses. I've been stuck on this creepy jerkoff for two months now, ever since I finished the main story. I know extra bosses are supposed to be much tougher than the rest of the game, but this guy is just unbelievably RIDICULOUS!
Oh, wait, I forgot. Introductions. I did this before, so why did I forget now?
My name's Nick Kelly. Fourteen years old as of a few weeks ago. My family... well, as I just said, it's kinda broken right now.
My mom is apparently having an affair with someone, and my father... I don't think I need to repeat myself.
Because of this, I rarely see mom anymore thanks to her new job at the downtown bank. She works pretty long hours, but the pay is reliable enough to keep us afloat and living a good life. I don't think mom knows what dad's been... um, 'doing', because the two of them pretty much split up, even if the divorce hasn't been finalized. Legal proceedings are not fun to deal with, people. I speak only from experience.
When dad caught wind of this, he really wanted to blow his top. He had anger issues as a kid, even if most of those issues were started by bullies picking on him. I guess those issues never faded, because not too long after mom and dad split up, dad started... well...
He couldn't take his anger out on me, because he knows I'd sock him right back if he did.
He did something even worse.
He started assaulting my sister.
About a year and a half ago was when it started. Yuki and I were already dealing with both the stress of the divorce proceedings and the assaults of an evil organization called the Delegates of Darkness.
I came home from practice that day, as I had recently joined the middle school soccer team. I called for my sister, who's always there to greet me when I get home no matter what happens.
She didn't answer my call.
Naturally, this weirded me out. I began searching around the house, wondering just what the heck was going on. Usually, if my sister couldn't greet me when I got home, she wasn't at home herself, likely out with her friends or her boyfriend. There had to be a reason why she wasn't responding to me.
When I reached her bedroom, I saw the reason.
She was sitting on her bed, crying her heart out. At first, I wasn't sure why (methinks a certain black-haired someone might have had something to do with it), but then I saw bruises on her arms, and a rather nasty one on her face. I pretty much lost it at that point, ready to find the person responsible and slap him into uber-submission.
I had initially suspected her new boyfriend (mostly because I didn't completely trust him yet at that point like I do now) had done this to her.
When she said that dad had caused those bruises, I was utterly shocked.
I'm telling you right now, people, hearing that our own father had assaulted her JUST TO TAKE HIS ANGER OUT just enraged me like you wouldn't believe.
She tried to talk me out of it, knowing how strong dad was. I didn't pay it any mind, my only intent making dad pay for what he'd done.
But my sister started crying even harder, and then, as I'm sure you all know by now, I made a promise.
I promised my sister that no matter what happened from then on, I would protect her from the harshness of the world, that I would do my very best to keep dad from taking his anger out on her.
We sealed that promise with our grandmother's 'magic word', "nankurunaisa". It a little thing she liked to say that means "everything will work out".
Though dad continued his attacks, my sister and I stayed as strong as we could, hoping that something good would come of the waiting.
But most people who know me will remember that I'm not terribly patient at all. That simply wouldn't do it for me.
A year and a half of waiting for what? Nothing's really changed with dad. Thankfully, he only rarely does what he did, but it's still enough to be a problem.
I'm now officially sick of waiting. I'm ready to take action.
I'm surprised it took as long as it did for my patience to run out, but no more.
After a big cheer to celebrate finally whipping that annoying boss battle in the face, I put the game on pause and walked out of my room.
Taking a quick peek around the corner to see if anyone was approaching, I walked down the stairs, expecting to see dad sulking about it like he's been doing.
No one was in the living room.
Not leaving it to chance, I stepped into the kitchen, where it was easy to see the driveway. Dad's car wasn't there. Good. Now there won't be any chance of a slip-up.
I quickly dashed back up the stairs, ignoring my urge to try a backwards dash. (I'd been playing too much Castlevania lately.)
Stopping at a flower-patterned door, I tentatively knocked three times and waited for a response.
"Come on in, onii-chan."
Satisfied with that answer, I opened the door and stepped into the room of my younger sister, twelve-and-a-half-year-old Yuki Shinoya.
"I heard you in there," Yuki giggled. "Did you finally beat that boss?"
I nodded. "I seriously want to know what the developers were thinking when they made that boss as hard as they did. They must have known what they were getting themselves into!"
"That's intentional, Nick-kun," Yuki replied. "They make those post-game boss fights insanely hard so you feel triumphant when you take 'em down. It's meant to help you grow as a player."
"You would know this how?" I quipped. "You don't play RPGs."
"I play some of them!" Yuki shot back.
"Name one."
"Xenosaga Episode III."
"I didn't know you liked that series."
"I've been in love with it since the first game came out!" Yuki giggled. "Great characters, innovative battle systems, it's just awesome!"
I couldn't help but smirk as I saw the game case atop Yuki's Playstation 2. I'd bought one for her as a gift for her twelfth birthday, knowing they would be pretty inexpensive what with the Playstation 3 on the rise.
"Good for you, sis," I stated as I sat down on the bed by my sister.
I knew she didn't want to start that particular conversation, so I figured I'd do it myself.
"Aren't you sick of waiting by now, Yuki-chan?"
"Eh?"
I looked out the window; the bright daylight was starting to give way to the nighttime stars. Yes, corny, I know.
"I've had it with waiting for dad to change his ways," I explained. "It's obvious he's not making any effort to get his anger under control. I keep worrying that you might get hurt even worse next time... and worse, what if I'm not there to protect you this time?"
Yuki effectively stopped my tirade by letting her hand rest on top of my own.
"You've always been there to protect me, onii-chan," Yuki stated. "You haven't broken your promise."
"I know, Yuki-chan, but I'm out of patience. I'm done waiting for something to change when it's obviously not going to. We might not have any time left. What if the next time we see dad, he comes after you again? I might not be able to stop myself from snapping that bastard's neck..."
Yuki cringed slightly at that, though I knew she wasn't scared. She knew quite well that I could be seriously scary when I got angry, though not to the extent of my dad. I've learned from past experiences to keep myself under control if I get angry.
"Nick-kun... what are you saying?" Yuki asked.
Right to the point, huh? "I'm saying, sis, that I think it's time we hit the road before we end up in a catastrophe."
"You mean... run away from home?" Yuki gasped.
"We don't have anything left here!" I exclaimed. "Mom lives somewhere else now, and dad... well, I'd rather not talk about it. There's nothing for us here. I'm sick of living a life in fear of what dad could do."
"So... you want to break away from our old life?" Yuki wondered.
"Into a new life, where all we have is our friends... and each other," I responded. "Mom said she'd still support us whenever she could. But for the most part, we're on our own now."
Yuki let her legs dangle off the side of the bed. "Where would we go, onii-chan?"
Crap. I'd never really thought about that. "To be honest, sis, I don't really know. Pretty much... wherever the wind takes us, I guess."
To my definite surprise, Yuki smiled. "That's fine by me."
"We need to take this chance now, Yuki-chan, because I'm not sure if we're going to get another," I continued. "I'm going to go get my things. You pack up whatever you want to bring with you, and meet me in my room in an hour. We'll take off from there."
Yuki nodded. "Before we go... I... I just wanted to say that... I love you, onii-chan."
Yuki leapt over and threw her arms around me. I didn't waste a second in returning the hug. "I love you, too, sis."
As I hopped off of the bed to return to my room, I turned back to Yuki and said "Remember, sis... nankurunaisa."
Yuki giggled at that.
I raced back to my room, not sure where dad was but worried about when he would return. I had to do this quickly.
I packed pretty much what you'd expect for something like this, but I managed to make room in my messenger bag for both of my game systems, the Playstation 2 and Nintendo GameCube. It was then that I remembered something. Something mom had imparted to me.
I set my messenger bag down and jaunted over to the dresser, pulling the second drawer open and ruffling through the myriad of t-shirts I owned.
Yep. Just as I thought.
A couple months after the split, mom had given me a debit card that I could use if I ever needed to support myself since she was away so much.
I scooped the card up, slipped it into my wallet, and went to grab my messenger bag.
An hour passed with no sign of dad coming back to the house, so I decided that it was time to make like the wind.
"Yuki-chan? You ready?" I asked outside her room door.
"Just a second, Nick-kun!" Yuki exclaimed, and after a couple seconds of waiting, she opened the door, her Pretty Cure-themed backpack slung over her shoulder.
"Sorry about that," Yuki quipped. "I had a lot of wires to stuff in there. Hopefully next time Sony makes a console, they use less wires..."
Yuki reached out to take my hand. "Well, onii-chan, let's do this."
"And let's never look back," I responded.
Alas, we had a rather close call once we'd left the house. Just as we were dashing across the yard, a familiar set of headlights appeared.
"Oh, no..." Yuki gasped.
"Hide back here!" I growled, and we both dashed over to the neighbor's garage, pushing ourselves against the wall to avoid being spotted.
Sure enough, dad stepped out of his car and walked to the house. I had my hand clamped over Yuki's mouth in a desperate attempt to not be detected.
Dad looked around a few times, but simply grunted and walked back into the house. My god, that was probably the closest call I've ever had in my life.
"Oh, man, that had my heart going for a bit..." I gasped. "You okay, Yuki-chan?"
Yuki looked scared out of her wits. I can't honestly say I blame her.
"It's okay, Yuki-chan. We're all right," I stated, affectionately squeezing her shoulder to get her to calm down.
"Sorry, onii-chan... that just brought up a bad memory of the last time it happened..." Yuki gasped. "My heart was racing for a second..."
"Let's get going," I quipped. "I know a place."
And with that, we set off into the night-soaked city of Misora, leaving our old life behind once and for good.
Thankfully, it's still easy to navigate the city at night, especially if you've lived here your entire life.
I took Yuki through the city, intent on finding the destination we were searching for, but on the way, we were jumped by a gang of cloaked hoodlums.
"Hey, kiddies," one of the goons sneered. "What are you doing out here so late at night?"
"I was about to ask you the same question," I quipped, setting my bag down and reaching into it to pull out my wand, the Koseki Poron. I couldn't see their faces, but the black cloak that was easily distinguishable even this late at night meant that these hoodlums were part of the Delegates of Darkness.
"We're in a hurry, so if you'd just go ahead and leave us alone, we can all benefit here!" Yuki growled, pulling out her own Koseki Poron.
"Sorry, but we have our orders," one of the goons replied.
Didn't think so.
"Ready, Yuki-chan?" I asked.
"Let's do it, onii-chan!" Yuki giggled.
We held our wands in front of us as they began to glow with pure magical power.
"Snap, Tobiume!" Yuki shouted. Her Koseki Poron became a long, sword-like weapon with jitte-like prongs sprouting from the side of the blade.
"Sear with light, Nenshou Hikari!" I shouted. My Koseki Poron became a long, thick-bladed sword with crescent moon patterns. The weapon's blade was encased in pure crystal.
"You still wanna retract that stupid statement of yours before we hurt you?" I growled.
"It'll take more than fancy light shows to scare us," the hoodlums proclaimed.
I just shook my head. Guess it was time to teach these punks a lesson.
Thankfully, Yuki had already thought ahead, charging her magical energy into Tobiume's blade and slamming it down to the ground, causing deep pink energy spheres to vault from the tip of the blade and explode in front of the goons, scattering them easily.
I quickly spun Nenshou Hikari in my hands as the crystal-encased blade began to glow brightly. Hope this hurts, buddy.
"Diamond Tempest!" I shouted, swinging Nenshou Hikari horizontally and unleashing a gargantuan wave of pure light energy at the hoodlums, sending them all flying back into the shadows.
"Yeah, you'd better run!" I exclaimed. Seriously, I'm getting sick of them jumping us every chance they get.
We sheathed our weapons and continued our journey, unaware that someone was watching us from nearby.
"Wow, Nick-kun," Yuki gasped when we finally arrived at our destination: the rather ritzy-looking Through the Night Hotel. "It's so classy... are you sure we can afford this?"
"Thank mom for a contingency plan," I quipped, remembering the note mom had left with my debit card.
If you ever need a place to stay when your father's antics become too much, follow these directions and tell the clerk that I referred you. You'll be able to stay as long as you want for a discounted price. Don't worry about money, I have enough for all of us to get by. Maybe one day we'll be a family again.
"Okaa-san came prepared, huh?" Yuki noted, her arms looped around mine. I noticed lately that Yuki's been a lot more clingy and dependent on me, but as I've said before, it's perfectly understandable considering everything that we've been through.
"This place is going to be our home for a while, sis," I stated. "Let's enjoy it while we can, all right?"
"Acknowledged!" Yuki giggled as we walked into the hotel hand in hand.
As Yuki gazed at the lovely surroundings, I walked up to the clerk that was stationed at the main desk and told him exactly what mom had told me to do.
A few seconds later, I rejoined Yuki on the other side of the lobby, our room key in hand.
"Nick-kun, I just realized... what about the girls?" Yuki asked. "Won't they be worried if they hear what's happened?"
"We'll only tell them if we need to," I answered. "I'd rather they not get involved in this."
Yuki nodded. I know she's worried about the others. To be honest, I am too. But like I said, I'd rather keep them out of the loop until we need to explain ourselves. Which I'm afraid might be sooner rather than later...
But all in all, I was excited. Yuki and I are finally beginning a new life, where all we need is each other (and our friends and lovers, of course). I'm going to miss mom, but as long as she knows we're all right, I guess that's good enough for me.
All that can be seen is darkness as a mysterious figure casually strolls through the inky blackness of his legion's headquarters.
To his sides, strange glass tubes stretch in a line outwards, each containing an ominous red liquid that pulses with each step the figure makes, as if reacting to his very footsteps.
After a while of walking, the silver-haired man reaches a door embedded with the symbol of the organization he works for. He reaches out to knock twice on the door.
"Enter," the voice on the other side proclaims, full of command and control. The door opens, and the silver-haired man walks in.
"It has been too long, my lord," the silver-haired man proclaimed.
"Saotome. I assume your intelligence gathering mission was a success?" resounded the voice of the shadowed figure sitting on the throne at the opposite end of the room.
"Yes, my liege," Saotome responded. "However, I have some bad news as well. Two of my finest troopers were unfortunately repelled by... teenagers."
"Hmm... sounds like they could be the ones," the shadowed figure noted.
"The ones, you say, my lord? Is it true?"
"Yes, Saotome. The prophecy has come to pass, and the divine power will soon be ours. I will assign you with the task of eliminating them and taking the divine power. Do not disappoint me."
"Understood," Saotome replied, melting back into the darkness.
Yuki found me playing my game again when she stepped back into our room the next morning.
"Nick-kun, are you still fighting that cheap-o boss?" Yuki wondered.
"Worse," I quipped. "The game just threw a HARDER fight in my face. And what's worse, this guy is guarding the best frickin' weapon in the game. Add to that the fact that I need that weapon for some of the tougher bonus boss fights later... just ugh..."
"I'm getting kinda hungry... you wanna go down and get breakfast?" Yuki asked.
Before I could answer that, I heard my stomach growling. "Guess so... I've been itching to get something to munch on. Last night left me hungry..."
I put the game on pause so Yuki and I could head down to the cafeteria and get something to satisfy our stomachs.
"Are you really okay with this, Nick-kun?" Yuki asked me as we rode down the, in my honest opinion, cool-looking glass elevator. "I mean, this living on our own thing... I'm still a little worried..."
"We'll have to make the best of what we've got," I replied. "I personally couldn't stand the idea of spending any more time in that place and letting dad have his way."
"I just feel a little weird doing this..." Yuki admitted. "Of course, as long as you're with me, I'd go anywhere, but it still just feels out-of-place actually doing it..."
"We'll get through. I promise," I responded. "Nankurunaisa, remember?"
That was enough to get Yuki to smile.
Once we were settled into the cafeteria, happily munching on pancakes, I looked out one of the nearby windows. I wonder how mom's doing...
"Say, Nick-kun, did you wanna go see a movie later?" Yuki asked.
"Hm?"
"I know you've been pretty stressed lately," Yuki continued. "So I figured maybe we could go see a movie or something that'll get all of this stress to go away."
"Is it really that obvious?" I wondered.
"Hey, I'm your sister, Nick-kun. I can read you like a book," Yuki giggled.
"Well, is there anything you wanted to go see?" I asked. "I'd honestly be okay with anything you wanted to see."
Suddenly, Yuki's eyes began to sparkle. That must mean she's on to something. "I checked the paper this morning, and they've finally released that Super Sentai movie where they crossed over with Battle Rangers!"
"Aren't the two series technically the same thing, just meant to appeal to different age groups?" I quipped, knowing the differences between Battle Rangers and Super Sentai. Even nowadays, Yuki doesn't dare miss an episode of Battle Rangers, even if Onpu hasn't been in it as much lately due to other idol things. To be honest, I'm surprised that they're still doing Battle Rangers nowadays, especially with the meteoric rise in Super Sentai's popularity. Eh, classics will be classics, I guess.
"That doesn't mean Battle Rangers sucks, silly!" Yuki proclaimed. "And considering that two of Japan's most beloved superhero shows are finally crossing over with each other... ooh, I can't wait!"
I just had to smile at that. My sister really is something else, isn't she?
A couple people noticed that Yuki and I were holding hands as we walked back to our room. I didn't really pay it any mind. Yuki and I have been holding hands since we were little, and I don't see any reason to stop now, right? There's nothing really wrong with it.
I say this because there's this one kid in our class who seems to have it drilled into his mind that we're a little... um, more. I had to seriously restrain myself from punching that guy, because that accusation infuriated me. He apparently can't see that we both have a significant other (especially considering that Yuki never tends to shut up about Saiki). Yes, I'm closer to my sister than normal siblings are. Is there a problem with that?
We're closer than normal siblings because we've been through a lot of crazy situations in our life. And I don't see a single thing that's wrong with that.
"Seriously, I'm gettin' sick of this!" Aiko Senoo shouted. The rest of the Ojamajo were all pacing around the interior of the Twin Bells MAHO-dou that afternoon, starting to grow concerned about the fact that Nick and Yuki hadn't been in contact for over six months. "They're supposed to be our friends, and yet they haven't even said a word to us in SIX FREAKIN' MONTHS!"
"Ai-chan, I'm sure they have their reasons," Doremi Harukaze answered. "Last thing I heard, their parents had split up, so maybe they're still dealing with that..."
"Not that I don't know what that's like, but still, SIX MONTHS without a single word from them?!" Aiko shot back. "I'm starting to think there's more behind it than just that."
"Ai-chan, just let it be!" Onpu Segawa quipped. "It's probably too personal for us to be concerned about. If they want to tell us, they'll tell us, okay? We shouldn't be pressuring them into spilling the beans."
"I'm still worried about them, though..." Hazuki Fujiwara answered. "It's been way too long..."
"One of us needs to call them," Poppu Harukaze quipped. "Maybe you, Momo-chan? You've actually spent time with them these past few months, so maybe you'd know what's been going on."
"Sorry, Poppu-chan, I'm as in the dark as everyone else here," Momoko Asuka admitted. "Nick's never told me anything about what's been happening. I figured he just didn't want to talk about it, so I didn't push the issue."
"Hana-chan misses Yuki-mama..." Hana Makihatayama sighed, absent-mindedly playing with one of her long ponytails.
"Doremi-chan, you'd better call them," Aiko stated. "I'm getting sick of waiting and waiting."
Doremi shrugged her shoulders. "Might as well try something," Doremi admitted, whipping out her cell phone and dialing the number for the Kelly/Shinoya household.
A few seconds passed...
"Hello? Are Kelly-kun or Yuki-chan there?"
Doremi almost instantly jerked the phone away from her ear, and everyone could hear garbled yelling coming from the phone's speaker. After about three seconds, Doremi hastily closed the phone.
"What the heck was that, Doremi-chan?!" Aiko asked.
"Their father just yelled at me," Doremi answered. "Said that no one but him lives there anymore. He was really angry for some reason..."
"Okay, I think that counts enough to be 'suspicious'," Aiko growled, bringing out her own cell phone. "I'm callin' their cell phone."
Aiko waited a couple seconds, only to look up in surprise. "Kelly-kun's not answering!"
"Did he maybe not hear it?" Onpu wondered.
"Don't give me that! It didn't ring at all! That means he turned his phone off!" Aiko responded, losing patience by the second.
"Try calling Yuki-chan," Hazuki suggested. "She's more likely to answer her cell phone at this time of the day than Kelly-kun is."
Deciding it was worth a try, Aiko re-opened her cell phone and dialed Yuki's number. Almost instantly, the blue witch growled in frustration. "Yuki-chan's phone's off, too! What nonsense is this?!"
"Well, maybe they're somewhere that you can't use cell phones?" Doremi wondered.
"Where the heck would they be, at the movies?!" Aiko shouted, only to instantly realize the irony in her statement. She quickly gathered her wand and rushed out the front door.
"Ai-chan, where are you going?!" Fami exclaimed.
"I'm going to catch a flick!" Aiko shouted back. An' hopefully get some answers, too.
"My lord, I believe I have located the two that possess the fragments of the divine power," Saotome proclaimed to his commander. "They seem to be going to the movies."
"Use stealth, then," the leader stated. "If you attack full force, there may be a risk of us being discovered by the general public before our plans are ready to begin."
"And if they attempt to resist us?"
"Then you may use whatever means necessary."
"Understood, my lord."
"Two for Super Sentai vs. Battle Rangers, please," I stated to the person at the ticket window.
"Old school fan, huh?" the patron quipped, handing us both our tickets once I'd paid.
"I'm more partial to Super Sentai. My sister's the big Battle Rangers fan," I replied.
"Theater twelve to your right, and enjoy the show!" the patron proclaimed.
"Ooh, I'm so excited!" Yuki giggled. "I heard this movie's been getting amazing reviews!"
"I'd imagine so. Two of Japan's most legendary superhero shows together in one event, it's bound to be a ratings behemoth," I quipped as we walked up to the concession stand to get our munchies for the movie. "Now they just need to bring Kamen Rider into the mix and they'd be perfect..."
Yuki couldn't help but giggle at that. She knew that despite my love for Super Sentai, I was a rather extreme fan of the Kamen Rider franchise, partly due to the fact that it was the first superhero show that I saw growing up.
Reaching out to hold hands once again, Yuki and I made our way to the theater in question. If we had bothered to look around, we may have seen Aiko dashing into the theater, looking around frantically.
"Where did those two get to?" Aiko growled.
When we'd reached the doorway to the theater, an usher handed us both a toy replica of what appeared to be the Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger morphing device, the SP License.
"What's this for?" Yuki wondered.
"It's for the movie," the usher explained. "If any of the heroes are in trouble, use your SP License to cheer them on."
"Just like in the Pretty Cure movie!" Yuki exclaimed.
Once again, neither of us noticed Aiko approaching as we walked into the theater. And we definitely didn't notice the strange figures watching from the opposite end of the theater.
However, just as we were about to take our seats, something grabbed me by the arm and started pulling me back. I handed the popcorn bucket over to Yuki so I could take out my Koseki Poron and slash fiercely at whoever had just grabbed me.
To my surprise, it was Aiko who had pulled me back.
"Geez! Give me a little warning next time, why don't you?!" Aiko growled.
"A-Ai-chan?" Yuki gasped. "What's the matter?"
"I should be asking you two that question, little missy!" Aiko shot back, immediately advancing on me. "Where the hell have you two been for the past six months?!"
"I don't think it's really any of your concern, Ai-chan," I stated. "It's something we'd rather not share with you guys right now."
"Hello? You two haven't talked to us for six months! I think we've officially had enough of waiting for you two to spill the beans on what the heck's been happening with your family!" Aiko shouted.
I sighed in defeat. Aiko wasn't going to give up, apparently. "All right, fine. But not here. Yuki-chan and I are going to see our movie, and we'll stop by the MAHO-dou when it's done and we'll tell you. It's not something to mention in a public setting, got it?"
Aiko just nodded, her expression suddenly softening.
"Look. We just... we really miss you guys, okay? Ever since you two put that Zan-whatever guy six feet under, you haven't even said a single word to us. We were getting worried..." Aiko sighed. "I mean, you're supposed to be our friends, and friends don't keep secrets from each other, right?"
"Trust me, Ai-chan, we had a very good reason from keeping this one from you and the others," I responded. "We'll tell you the whole story when we stop by the MAHO-dou. Promise."
"All right, I'll hold ya to it," Aiko quipped, making her way out of the theater as quickly as she'd arrived.
"That was... weird," Yuki admitted. "I almost didn't realize that it's been so long since we've talked to the others..."
"Considering what we've been through, it'd be enough to scramble anyone's mind," I quipped. "But let's not stress ourselves out. Let's go see what these guys have in store."
With that, we went to take our seats, just missing the sets of eyes watching us from the darkness.
Two hours later...
"That was AWESOME!" Yuki giggled once the movie was over. I somehow knew that this was going to be one of her favorite things in a movie ever. "I just knew Onpu-onee-sama was going to steal the show in some way!"
I smiled a bit. The main plot of the movie was that the Battle Rangers were searching for the missing Princess Mi (played by Onpu, as always), and eventually ran into a random team of Rangers from all across Super Sentai history. (One of the main rangers was DekaRed, which would explain why our "wave this to cheer on the heroes" toy thing was the SP License.) After battling through a grueling gauntlet of bad guys from both series, they came across a dark witch that had captured Princess Mi and lured the good guys to her lair to get revenge for being sealed away by the very first Super Sentai team. The dark witch had utterly curbstomped the heroes until it was time for all of us to cheer them on. Because of our cheers (and in Yuki's favorite part of the movie), Princess Mi got this really cool-looking golden morpher thing that allowed her to transform into "Sorcerer Princess Mi", complete with a really sweet-looking golden armor suit that reminded me a bit of Excalibur Sonic. She'd used this new power to... well, completely annihilate the dark witch and save the day. I'm sure Yuki will we talking about that for years.
"She always does, Yuki-chan. You've known that for years," I responded as we made our way towards the Twin Bells MAHO-dou from the theater.
"I hope she'll keep playing Princess Mi for a long time! She's the only person I could possibly consider to play the role!"
As little hearts floated over Yuki's head, I looked back towards the theater, only to see something strange out of the corner of my eye.
Oh, crap.
"The way she just donned that golden suit and wrecked that hag... Onpu-chan's so cool and smart and KAWAII~"
"YUKI-CHAN, GET DOWN!" I shouted, grabbing my sister and pushing her to the ground. Turns out I'd acted just in time, as a set of throwing knives had flown over where we'd just been. If I'd have been off by a second or more... well, you probably wouldn't want to know.
"What the heck? Who threw that?!" Yuki exclaimed.
"That would be us, dumpling," one of the shadowy goons replied as they crawled out from their nearby hiding place. "Now I will make this as simple as I possibly can. Hand over your fragments of the divine power or we will slaughter you on the spot and take them ourselves."
"You know, you've got a lot of nerve, buddy," Yuki growled, whipping out her Spiritual Phone. "And only Saiki-kun gets to call me a dumpling and get away with it!"
Yuki and I stood back-to-back as we flicked our hands out, this motion flipping open our Spiritual Phones. Drawing a circle with them, we managed to create an energy ring that floated around us, eventually flying to just above our heads.
"Hybridize! Ojamajo Concerto, Start!" we both shouted, and the energy rings floated down around us, covering us both in a sheet of energy that quickly dispersed and left us in our witch outfits.
When we were fully transformed, we slammed our Spiritual Phones onto our wrists, closing them up so they appeared to be wristbands.
"The smiling quartz, Yuki-chi!" Yuki shouted, performing her post-henshin pose.
"The sparkling diamond, Kelly-chi!" I shouted, performing my own post-henshin pose.
Yuki and I quickly performed our group pose after that. "The world's youngest witches with the power to save the planet! We are the Ojamajos, guardians and defenders of the witch world!"
"Do not think your little light shows will intimidate us," the other goon stated.
"Sear with light, Nenshou Hikari!" I shouted, transforming my weapon instantly. These freaks want a light show? Oh, I'll give 'em a light show.
"Diamond Tempest!" I chanted, swinging my weapon horizontally and unleashing a searing wave of light energy that knocked the goons back a few yards.
But they still kept coming! Guess they're not your garden-variety goons.
"I've got this, Nick-kun," Yuki stated, winking at me before readying her own weapon. "Snap, Tobiume!"
"Give us the divine power," the goons proclaimed. "We will not ask you again."
"Why don't you go tell your leader to shove THIS up his tailpipe?!" Yuki shouted, Tobiume's blade glowing with blackish-blue electricity.
"Get her!" the goons growled, charging forward.
"Come forth, o lightning, and receive your punishment!" Yuki shouted, swinging her weapon in an arc that sent out a wave of lightning blasts, enough to stun the goons.
"Mystic Arte! Radiant Moonlight!" Yuki chanted, this time performing an overhead slash that created a giant black-and-blue energy crescent to slash at the goons. This was enough to get them to choose a full retreat, slinking back into the shadows.
"Yeah, you suck! Come back when you can put up a real fight!" Yuki shouted.
"Okay, now that that's over, we've got an appointment to get to," I quipped, and we reverted to normal so we could continue towards the MAHO-dou.
If I'd stopped to pay attention, I would have noticed someone with silver hair watching us from nearby.
"So. They do indeed possess the dual fragments of the divine power. This will be most interesting, indeed."
"So, did you get anything from them, Ai-chan?" Doremi asked when Aiko finally returned to the shop.
"They should be here any minute," Aiko replied. "They said they had a good reason for keeping it from us."
"Hey, I think I see them!" Onpu exclaimed as the front door of the Twin Bells began to open.
"ONPU-ONEE-SAMA!" Yuki squealed as she dove at Onpu. Saw that coming from a mile away.
"Nice to see you, too, Yuki-chan," Onpu giggled as she returned Yuki's flying hug.
"You looked so CUTE in that golden armor!" Yuki proclaimed.
"Oh, you saw the movie, huh?" Onpu quipped.
"Just got out of the theater!" Yuki exclaimed. "I swear, the way you were moving even with the armor on was just so graceful, it was all like ZOOM and WHAM and KABOOM!"
"Good to see you really haven't changed, Yuki-chan," Hazuki giggled.
"Now, I assume you guys have something to explain to us?" Aiko stated, cutting right to the point as always.
"Well, I guess we do," I responded. "But this is going to shock a lot of you here, so I'd be prepared if I were you."
"The troopers were defeated, my lord."
"Their loss. This confirms what I thought: these two unlikely children hold fragments of the divine power within them. I believe we will need to call on one of our more elite agents. Someone who's dealt with these two before."
"I understand, my lord."
To be continued...
On the next episode...
Aiko: Wow, I can't imagine that happening to me. That's ROUGH, you guys.
Yuki: Nick-kun promised he'd protect me. And he hasn't broken that promise yet.
Doremi: I'm more worried that your father might realize you've ran away and come after you.
Nick: Just let that son of a bitch try it! I'll snap his neck!
Onpu: Ouch.
Momoko: Anyway, we've got a good bit of trouble cropping up in the next episode! Apparently, someone from these Delegates of Darkness is attacking random parts of the city. It's almost like he's trying to draw someone out...
Yuki: Who in their right mind would do it like THAT?!
Nick: Wait just a second. I think I know who that is!
Doremi: You do?
Nick: Next time on Ojamajo Doremi Breakaway Remastered™, "Darkness Falls"!
Yuki: The winds will rise to carry our prologue!