Previously on Doerai: Dawn of the Darkness...
Hitomi's eyes turned a surprising shade of misty yellow as she looked off to the side, as if staring at something that wasn't even there.
"Daylight is like a healing from the dark... When you're alone and afraid of the night, the rising sun will always wash away those fears those injuries... Ah..."
She closed her eyes, looking calm for a minute.
"It's a beautiful feeling, really."
Torikki's ears folded back, his differently colored eyes wide.
"His powers are much more different... But they can be used differently then you think... For example... Instead of curing a tear to the heart, it could rip the fragile thing in half."
Hitomi smirked.
"Just saying."
Doremi covered her mouth in shock, Yuki gulped.
"He wouldn't do something like that... right?" the pink witch whispered, her lips pursued.
Hitomi shrugged.
Akemi's gaze once again darted to Nick.
Nick... I wouldn't...
She gulped, her heart pounding.
No way in hell would I let something like that happen.
(Footage: As the opening begins, we can see a crystal-colored bird flying across the screen.)
Habata itara modoranai to ittte
(You say if you could fly, you would never come back)
(Footage: Nick and Akemi can be seen walking towards the beach, staring towards the sun.)
Mezashita no wa aoi, aoi ano sora
(You aimed for that blue, blue sky)
(Footage: Akemi smiles brightly, leading Nick to do the same. During the instrumental, we pan into the sky as the Doerai: Dawn of the Darkness logo appears on the screen.)
"Kanashimi" wa mada oboerarezu "setsunasa" wa ima tsukami hajimeta
(You've yet to remember "sadness", just now began to grasp "pain")
(Footage: Yuki and Doremi can be seen strolling down the city streets, just happy to be with each other.)
Anata e to daku kono kanjou mo ima "kotoba" ni kawatte iku
(Even the feelings I held onto for you are just now turning into words)
(Footage: Something knocks Doremi to the ground, and Yuki spins around, only to gasp in shock at what she sees.)
Michi naru sekai no yume kara mezamete
(As you awaken from the dream of an unknown world)
(Footage: A tanuki hops off of a nearby building, crossing great distances with very little effort, as if it's looking for someone...)
Kono hane wo hiroge tobitatsu
(Spread your wings and take off)
(Footage: The tanuki sees something and its face lights up. It charges forward, hopping into the arms of a girl. We can't see her features, as her upper half is obscured by the camera.)
Habata itara modoranai to ittte
(You say if you could fly, you would never come back)
(Footage: Nick and Akemi hop away from an energy attack, both holding each other's hands. They stare at each other for a second and nod.)
Mezashita no wa aoi, aoi ano sora
(You aimed for that blue, blue sky)
(Footage: A quick flash of the mysterious girl, then cut back to Nick and Akemi, both glowing with a powerful aura. After about a second, they thrust their hands forward and perform the Double Ojamajo Sparkle Screw, the silver beam of light blinding the screen.)
Tsukinuketara mitsukaru to shitte
(If you break through, you know you'll find it)
(Footage: Yuki pulls Doremi close to her to avoid a barrage of dark energy beams, nodding to the pink witch. The two join hands and begin chanting.)
Furikiru hodo aoi, aoi ano sora
(So try until you break free to that blue, blue sky)
(Footage: A quick flash of another mysterious girl, this one holding a microphone, then cut back to Yuki and Doremi, who thrust their hands into the sky to perform the Double Ojamajo Rewritten Masquerade, the massive collection of energy once again blinding the camera.)
Aoi, aoi ano sora
(That blue, blue sky)
(Footage: Quick flashes of the rest of the Ojamajos in spirit form.)
Aoi, aoi ano sora
(That blue, blue sky)
(Footage: A very familiar pair of blood-red eyes opens, the light covering the screen. When the light clears, we cut to Nick and Akemi at the beach, only this time, they're joined by Yuki and Doremi. Both couples are smiling brightly as the summer sun shines down on them.)
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(Even in the brightest light, there is always a little bit of darkness.)
YukiShinoya444 and S.P.D. Gold Ranger present:
Doerai: Dawn of the Darkness
Story Created: November 9th, 2008
Summary: AU. In the end, there is only a new beginning. The story continues as Nick and his friends go through another set of experiences... And what of the others?
On Today's Episode: As the race continues, all hope seems lost for a few minutes when Nick encounters something shocking and unexpected... Something even Hitomi wasn't prepared for... Something Torikki didn't even see coming...
Authoress' Notes: This time, I will do the odds and Nick-kun will do the evens! Wai~
Disclaimer: ...Shouldn't it be obvious by now we don't own anything? (by S.P.D. Gold Ranger: EXACTLY, Yuki-chan.)
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Phase 8: Midnight Revolution, Falling Comets (written by S.P.D. Gold Ranger)
"How much farther is it? OUCH!!!!"
"Be patient, boy."
"Maybe I'll do that if you stop biting me every time I ask a question!! OW!!! STOP BITING ME, I SAID!!!"
Akemi couldn't help but giggle at this. That's Nick, always impatient...
"We should be getting closer," Hunter noted. "Should only be about twenty more minutes at this pace."
No one seemed to notice Yuki, who looked lost in thought.
I can't take this anymore... I don't want to think about him, but he just comes zooming back into my heart no matter what I try...
Yuki looked up towards the ceiling of the underground ruins.
What do I do? I'm gonna go crazy before long if this keeps up..."I see it!!" Hitomi exclaimed. "There's the way out!!"
"I can see the Destroyer, too!!" Nick exclaimed. "We don't have much time!! Let's hurry!!"
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Once the party was out in the open again, they could clearly see the Destroyer approaching its' destination at a rapid pace.
"Okay, I have a new question, Hiko-chan," Yuki asked, to which Hitomi blushed a bit. "Now that we're in range of the Destroyer... HOW THE HELL DO WE STOP IT?!!"
"Let me try," Akemi stated, stepping up to the edge of the canyon and holding her hands out.
Knowing what Akemi was about to do, Nick walked up and placed his hands on Akemi's shoulders, transferring some of his energy to her. Akemi's aura grew larger as she focused.
"The frost-covered determination of a shy girl, take this!! Ojamajo Crystal Cannon!!"
Nodding to her boyfriend, Akemi fired her attack towards the Destroyer's legs, freezing them into a block of ice and stopping the Destroyer in its tracks.
"There we go," Akemi stated with a giggle.
"All right, now we have to destroy it," Doremi noted. "But how do we do that?"
"Look," Hitomi responded, pointing towards something on the Destroyer's head. Nick was the first to notice a gigantic, spiked purple crystal on the Destroyer's forehead.
"Of course!! I'll just bet that we have to destroy that thing if we're going to stop the Destroyer!!" Nick noted.
"Exactly, Nick," Hitomi noted, giggling a bit. "The problem is getting all the way up there to get at the darn thing..."
Nick responded to this by pulling out the seven Majokai Crystals. The others immediately got the message, gathering around Nick as he threw the crystals into the air. A powerful energy aura began gathering as the crystals spun around the four witch apprentices, covering them in a bright gold light.
When the bright flash died down, Nick, Yuki, Akemi, and Doremi had all transformed into their super forms.
"All right, now let's go deep-fry that sucker!!" Nick exclaimed, to which Hitomi and Yuki sweatdropped, Akemi and Utau giggled, and Doremi and Hunter just shook their heads.
Not wasting any more time, the four supercharged teenagers flew into the air and shot towards the immobilized Destroyer.
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"I see those fools are making an attempt to stop the Destroyer."
"Wishful thinking, Master Doerai."
"Let us watch and see how their foolish endeavor goes."
"Well said, Master Doerai. I will await this."
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"WHAT THE HELL?!!" Yuki exclaimed once the four had reached the Destroyer: there were dark crystals everywhere. "Don't freaking tell me that we have to destroy all of those damn things!!"
"It's gotta be the only way," Doremi noted, rubbing Yuki's shoulders in an attempt to calm her girlfriend down. "I'll just bet Doerai was expecting we'd think it would be easy."
"You know, Doerai's actually one of the smarter of the psychotic supervillains I've come across," Nick admitted, to which Akemi couldn't help but giggle.
"We may as well start our job," Akemi stated, flying over to one of the closer crystals and whacking it a few times, which caused it to shatter. The destroyed crystal emitted a pulse wave that would have knocked the crystal witch out of the sky had she not blocked in time, her now-golden hair flowing backwards in the wind.
Meanwhile, Yuki had decided to go after one of the larger crystals, wailing on it mercilessly.
"WHY... WON'T... YOU... BREAK?!!" Yuki screamed, having no luck in destroying the crystal.
"Yuki-chan, relax," Doremi stated, still rubbing Yuki's shoulders.
Out of the corner of Yuki's eye, the black witch saw the Destroyer turn its head towards Doremi and launch a meteor from its' mouth towards her.
"DOREMI-CHAN!!!"
Doremi just smiled and turned towards the incoming meteor.
"The force of the unluckiest pretty girl in the world, take this!! Ojamajo Storming Spike!!"
Doremi caught the meteor in a telekinetic grip and shot it towards the crystal that her girlfriend was attacking before, instantly shattering it.
"Just be patient," Doremi chided playfully, causing Yuki to blush.
Meanwhile, Nick had decided to go right for the giant crystal on the head.
"Figure I may as well end this," Nick noted, drawing his hand back.
"The bow and string of a determined boy, take this!! Ojamajo Arrow of Light!!"
The massive beam of emerald light shot forward, but...
"Damn it, not even dented!!" Nick exclaimed. "All right, then, time to step it up."
Nick covered himself in a bright emerald glow.
"For one who never backs down in the face of challenge... the Green Purifier of Bravery, at your service!!"
Yuki then noticed what Nick was up to.
"Hey, Nick-kun's got the right idea!!" Yuki exclaimed, covering herself in a twilight glow.
Akemi and Doremi did the same thing, powering up into their Purifier forms.
"For one so brave for the sake of love..."
Yuki glowed with a bright light, the Purifier uniform already forming and her hair pulling up into it's usual ribbon done ponytail.
"The Black Purifier of Courage, at your service!!"
"For one with such a beauty and grace that will never falter..."
Akemi's hair came undone, fastening into two long swirled up at the bottom ponytails as the purifier outfit materialized onto her slim body.
"The Crystal Purifier of Elegance, at your service!!"
"For one who's kind and compassionate heart will shine through always..."
Doremi's buns became spiraling pigtails as she glowed with a heavenly pink light, the purifier uniform forming on her angelic body as well.
"The Pink Purifier of Compassion, at your service!!"
"Amazing," Hunter stated in awe. "I had no idea they could be so powerful..."
Hitomi simply smiled.
Utau was hopping up and down like a giddy schoolgirl. "OKAA-SAMA!!! OTOU-SAN!!! GO AND KICK THAT THING'S BUTT!!!" the young singer exclaimed.
After a long and hard battle, the four supercharged teenagers managed to destroy all of the crystals...
...but the Destroyer was still alive.
"Persistent little bastard..." Yuki noted.
"We'll fix that," Nick stated, joining hands with Akemi and smiling.
"Spirits of the earth..." Nick chanted, his hand tightening around Akemi's.
"Spirits of the stars...." Akemi continued, glowing with a silver aura.
"Lend us your wills and give up the power to grant a miracle!! Our beautiful souls shall crush your dark heart!!" they both exclaimed, the force around them becoming tense.
"Double Ojamajo Sparkle Screw!!"
The two lovers fired the powerful silver beam straight into the mouth of the Destroyer, causing explosions all over the beast.
"Mission accomplished," Nick stated.
However, something odd began happening.
"What's it doing?" Yuki asked.
"No idea," Doremi answered.
Nick suddenly looked shocked as the Destroyer continued to move forward, breaking its legs off of the parts that had been frozen by Akemi and reaching out to grab the structure it had created at the start of its journey.
"No..." Nick stated, almost losing his breath.
"We failed..." Hunter squeaked.
"No, there's still hope," Hitomi shot back. "We still have a few days before the Belt of Fire activates. We need to use that time to find Doerai and stop him!"
"How do we do that, Hiko-chan?" Utau asked, already starting to freak out.
"We need to get the others through the Belt of Fire to the Burned Lands. That should provide us enough time to reach Doerai's lair beyond the Floating Islands before it's too late," Hitomi explained.
"We heard what the plan is, Hiko-chan," Yuki exclaimed as she, Doremi, Akemi, and Nick flew back down to the others, disengaging their super forms. "We'd better hurry!!"
Nodding gravely, Hitomi and Utau hopped down to the ground just in front of the Belt of Fire, the others following suit.
"I must stay," Hunter stated. "I need to protect the city just in case. Farewell, my brave adventurers!!"
And with that, Hunter disappeared into the tunnels.
"Minna, get close to us!!" Yuki exclaimed as she and Doremi combined their powers to create a spherical blue barrier.
"This should give us some protection from the heat," Doremi noted as Nick and the girls entered the barrier.
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"No hope. They should know this by now."
"Fools rush in. That's what they say, Master Doerai."
"Exactly. We should let them play their inane little game. Once they arrive here, we will teach them not to mess with us."
"Well said, Master."
Before we fade to black, we can see a flash of familiar-looking black hair.
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Nick couldn't see anything but fire as the party continued their trek towards the Burned Lands.
"Man, when does this inferno end?!" Nick exclaimed, only to see the barrier flickering a bit. Turning towards Yuki and Doremi, the ones who were producing the barrier, he noticed that they both looked like they were about to collapse.
Just then, Yuki fell to her knees. The barrier nearly disappeared, but the black witch was barely able to keep the barrier up.
Doremi looked over at her girlfriend, knowing what she was thinking. I won't go without Yuki-chan, though.
That was about it for Nick. "Yuki-chan, let's turn back. There's got to be another way!!"
Yuki shook her head. "Nick-kun... I've never done right by either of you... please, let me do this..."
This only confused Nick. "What are you saying?!"
"Nick... our path ends here... but yours lies beyond this," Doremi stated. "You guys need to stick together so this won't be for nothing..."
"Despite all the hateful things I've said to you, Nick-kun... I've always believed in you," Yuki admitted. "You need to take good care of Akemi-chan for me so Moriko-chan doesn't pound the daylights out of me, okay?"
Akemi looked like she was about to burst into tears. "Don't say things like that, Yuki-chan!! Please!!"
"It's all up to you two now," Doremi stated, the barrier disappearing and surrounding Nick, Akemi, Hitomi, and Utau.
"NOW GO!!!" were the last words Yuki and Doremi had to say before they used the last of their energy to send their friends on their way.
The four fell out of the barrier when it reached safe and solid ground on the outer edge of the Burned Lands. Nick scrambled to his feet and stared at the inferno in front of him, unable to believe what he was seeing.
"YUKI-CHAN!! DOREMI-CHAN!! NO!!!" Nick screamed, the flames of the Belt of Fire dancing about as if to mock him. Hitomi and Utau said nothing, too stunned to speak.
"Nick, stop!! It's too late!!" Akemi exclaimed, already in tears. "There's nothing you can do for them now..."
"No... they can't be gone!!" Nick exclaimed, trying his best not to face the truth.
"Nick... let it go..." Akemi pleaded.
All of a sudden, 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.
"Nick, please, don't!!" Akemi exclaimed.
"You can't stop me," Nick stated in a distorted voice.
"No, I can't. Only you can do that. Please, Nick... don't do this..." Akemi pleaded again.
This was enough to bring Nick back to his senses as he dropped to the ground and reverted back to his normal self.
"Nick... we have to go on. They wanted us to," Akemi stated, letting her hand rest on Nick's shoulder.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this," Nick responded, on the verge of breakdown. "I feel so alone..."
Akemi smiled at this. "You're not alone, Nick."
With that, Akemi brought Nick close to her and hugged him as tightly as she could. It took a few seconds for Nick to respond and return the embrace.
"I love you, Akemi."
"I love you, too, Nick."
"It's gonna be so hard without them..." Nick stated.
"We can do this, Nick," Akemi responded. "We have to. We can't let their sacrifice be for nothing."
"I'm with you, then, Akemi. I won't let Doerai spread any more of his madness."
"That's the spirit, dad!!" Utau exclaimed, finally finding her own voice.
"I'll admit, I wasn't prepared for that..." Hitomi noted. "Doremi-chan looked better than the princess did... maybe Doremi-chan sacrificed herself so she could be with the princess in the afterlife..."
"I never expected the princess to give her life for the one she loved... Just don't you dare try that with my mistress..." Torikki growled.
This caught Nick's attention as he separated himself from Akemi. "Torikki-kun, just what do you think you're implying?"
"You know damn well what, boy."
"Don't play mind games with me, buddy!!"
That was about it for Torikki, who leapt up and sank his teeth deep into Nick's hand.
"OW!!!! LET GO OF ME, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!!" Nick screamed, trying in vain to shake off the angry tanuki.
"Torikki-kun, that's quite enough!!!" Hitomi exclaimed, prying her tanuki off of Nick.
Akemi was over by her boyfriend in a flash, placing her hands on his wound.
"Soten kisshun!! I reject!!"
With that, the bite marks were gone, and Nick's hand was good as new.
Not saying anything more, Nick continued forward, Akemi not too far behind.
"Great... You really did it this time, Torikki-kun," Hitomi stated.
"I just worry about you, mistress."
"He'd NEVER try a stunt like that with me. He's already got someone. I still don't understand why you hate him so much, Torikki-kun..."
"I wish I could tell you that myself, mistress... something about him just rubs me the wrong way..."
Hitomi sighed heavily. "Oh, boy..."
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Next time:
Phase 9: Farewell to the End of a Dream
As the party continues through the Burned Lands, Akemi can easily see that Yuki and Doremi's ultimate sacrifice is still weighing heavily on Nick's mind. Can she find a way to snap her boyfriend out of his deep blue funk?