DISCLAIMER: Ojamajo Doremi © Toei Animation in 1999-2004. I don't get any commercial benefit from this fic.

The Future Story 2

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Chapter 5 – The Rainbow Gate

In the witch kingdom's flower garden…

At a corner near the Witch Queen Rose's plant, there was a pair of large, silver gate which was hidden inside some hanging plants. On top of the gate, there was a golden witch kingdom's symbol which implied that the gate was a very important gate for the witches there…

After the small training for the new witch apprentices in Maho-dou, Hana went home to her kingdom, but she decided to come to the flower garden before she goes home to the castle.

The new Queen of the Witch World then walked into the flower garden, until she stood up in front of the hidden gate, looked at the ten empty circle slots which formed a larger circle in the middle of the gate and said, "From now on, their training is started. It means that they'll be able to open this gate soon…"

However, when Hana kept looking at the slots, she immediately remembered about something and sighed, "Even so, they still need four more girls in their group… There are ten slots in this gate after all, while they're just… six girls…"

The young Queen took out her crystal ball and shifted her attention to the spherical object, "I wonder where they are now… the four members of the Star…"

'Poor Poppu. She must be missing them so much… How can they disappear and never come back anymore in a long time?' Hana thought, 'Just where's their wonderful friendship which I saw when they met at the first time? The friendship which allowed them to unite their power… The friendship which they used to find those powerful herbs… Where is it now?'

She bowed her head, still stared at the large gate sadly, "I hope I can find out about them soon… because I still need their help to open this gate, or at least, I need help from their grandchildren."

"However, this Rainbow Gate had already chose them since the beginning."

Hana still clearly remembered about what happened more than fifty years ago, when the previous Queen was terribly ill and she didn't have choice but to ask help from Pop and those four girls to find the powerful herbs which they needed to cure her predecessor. It was also when she gave the last chance to Doremi and the others to become the witch apprentices.

"Before I gave those necklace taps to them, I had a dream about this gate," said the new Queen to herself, "Even it happened before I knew about this gate… before they told me about how important this gate is."

She turned her focus back to the ten slots at the gate, "Ten slots and ten necklace taps… No doubt. They're the only one who can help me open this gate so that I can complete my most important mission."

.O.

"Good morning, Fami-chan, Rizu-chan," greeted Nozomi while she met both of her cousins at their school's rooftop, "How are you both today?"

"We're fine," Fami smiled, "How about you, Noz… uh, I mean… Non-chan? How are you today?"

"I'm fine too, of course," the brunette smiled back, "and I see you try hard to call me like that."

"Mou, Nozomi-nee…" Rizuko protested, "Why don't you let me call you like that?"

"Ehm, Rizu-chan… you don't get the point. Non-chan was my special nickname from my grandmother, who was also Fami-chan's grandmother. Moreover, you used to call me 'Nozomi-nee', so if you changed it with 'Non-nee'…"

"Oh, alright. I get it now," the younger girl sighed, then asked, "By the way, where's Shiro-chan, Molly-chan and Izumi-chan? We have promise to meet them here."

"Sorry, I'm late!" greeted Molly, cut what Rizuko said, "I wake up so early this morning just to prepare these bread for us."

"Bread?" Fami tilted her head, "Molly-chan, don't you have your breakfast before you come to school?"

"No no. It's not for the breakfast," Molly shook of her head. She then gave the mentioned bread to Fami, Nozomi and Rizuko while explained, "I prepare these bread for our training after school. Don't you remember that we should come to Maho-dou again this afternoon?"

"Oh yeah, that training…"

"Good morning, everyone!" greeted Shiroyuki and Izumi who finally arrived at the rooftop.

"Morning!" the four other girls replied. Molly didn't waste her time to give the remaining bread to both Shiroyuki and Izumi.

"Here, for our training," said Molly while she handed her homemade bread to the two girls, "I prepare these with my mom."

After Shiroyuki and Izumi thanked the blonde haired girl for the bread, all of them then talked further about their witch apprenticeship.

A few minutes later, the school's bell rang. The six girls then walked into their own respective class.

In her class, Molly sighed in relief while sat down on her seat. She was so glad that she could manage to give her homemade bread to the others before the bell rang.

'It couldn't help,' she thought, 'I'm alone here, in 5-1, while Fami-chan, Nozomi-chan and Shiro-chan are in 5-2.'

She smiled, 'Well, whatever. At least I can meet them outside my class, and we'll go to Maho-dou together this afternoon. I hope they'll like my bread'

.O.

In the afternoon…

"Molly-nee, your bread is delicious!" praised Izumi, "I enjoy eating this while having some tea like what we do now."

"Thank you, Izumi-chan. I'm glad that you like my bread," the blonde replied, then took a sip of her tea before she continued, "Then, how about you, Fami-chan? Nozomi-chan? Shiro-chan? Rizu-chan? Do you all like my bread?"

"Yep, I like it," commented Nozomi, "Your melon bread is so delicious. It's the most delicious melon bread I've ever ate."

"Really?"

The brunette nodded, "On top of that, melon is my favorite fruit, and that's why, I'm so happy to see that you make the melon bread for us."

"I'm happy to hear that," Molly smiled, but then turned her attention to the new Queen of the Witch World who sat down in front of her and asked, "Auntie Hana, do you want to talk with us about something important before we start our training for today?"

"Umm… yeah, I think I need to tell you all about something important."

"What is it?"

"Well, this is about my mission," replied Hana, "It's about the reason why you should become majingen before you can help me to reconnect our world."

"Then, what's the reason?"

"Uh, there's a large gate named Rainbow Gate in my kingdom's flower garden, which was locked right when the connection between the human world and the witch world was closed, and we should open the gate to make sure that the reconnection will going smoothly."

"Then, are you going to say that the only one who can open the Rainbow Gate is the majingen?" guessed Fami, "So you need our help to open the gate for your mission, Auntie Hana."

"You get it right, Fami-chan," Hana nodded, "To open the Rainbow Gate, I need ten majingen to cast their spell to the gate's slots, and once the gate is open, I just need to set a few things for the reconciliation."

"Sounds easy though, I think we should give our best to become the great majingen," Fami then noticed something, "but wait a minute. So you need ten majingen to open the gate? You know, it's just six of us, so you need to find four other witch apprentices to open the Rainbow Gate."

"That's right, though… I think we can talk about it later," the Queen finished her tea and stood up from her seat, "Now I just want to remind you that you'll take your first witch examination soon, so you all should prepare yourself from now on."

"Will we go home late since today? I mean, I just don't want to make my mother worry…" asked Izumi.

"Don't worry, Izumi-chan," Hana assured the youngest girl in the group, "Our training will be over at 5 PM everyday."

"Then, how about our club activity?" asked Molly, "Well, maybe it won't ever be a problem for Rizu-chan and Izumi-chan, as they don't need to participate in any club activity for now, but how about me, Fami-chan, Nozomi-chan and Shiro-chan?"

"Hmm… this is tough…" Hana thought for a few minutes before she added, "Well, I think if that activity is ended before 5 PM, you still can come here for your training, but if you all really can't come here because of your activity, maybe I can come to your house at night to give you a few training."

"Sounds like a win-win solution for me," Nozomi crossed her arms while thought about what Hana said, "Besides, it's no problem for you to come to teach us at our own house."

"All of you are lucky because all of your parents and grandparents have already know the truth about me, so I can freely teach you all in your own house," commented the young Queen, "Long time ago, all of your grandmothers just could take their training here."

"I see it," Fami smiled weakly, "Obaachan have ever told me and Non-chan about it."

"Yeah…" the brunette sighed, then looked at Hana's face with both of her magenta eyes, "She told us."

"By the way, Nozomi-chan," Hana asked, shifted the subject for a moment, "Do you know about the reason why your mother named you…"

"I know it. I asked okasan about it yesterday, as I noticed that Shiro-chan's grandmother mentioned about someone who inspired both my mother and my grandmother to give my name here last night, and… she told me the truth. She told me about obaachan's old friend who passed away long time ago because of her… cancer…" Nozomi cut Hana's question, "but I don't mind. Moreover, the meaning of my name is… wish or hope, so it isn't a bad name after all, right?"

"You're right, Nozomi-chan," Hana smiled, "Alright then, let's we start your training."