Isabella felt quite cheerful that morning, as she stepped through the portal from Catyu to earth. The night she had spent with Erina had been a lot of fun, and the night she spent with Sora had been great too. For her at least. Thinking back on it, she didn't do anything too out there, but certainly there were a number of things she definitely didn't ever want Senpai to see.
At first Isabella had only intended to take a photo of Sora in clown makeup, but temptation had struck, and she found herself spitefully pressuring him into trying on an increasingly bizarre series of outfits. After that, Isabella had a flash of inspiration and she texted her maids to come and cook dinner for them in the secret base without giving warning to Sora. When the maids came in, Sora had been standing there in gaudiest, worst imaginable gyaru style makeup with white lips, a fake tan, and thick layers of mascara turning her otherwise pretty features garish and transvestite-like, while wearing nothing but a boob window sweater and black lace stockings with garter belts.
Isabella had of course acted surprised and apologetic, while secretly taking photos of the scene and laughing inside. The only saving grace for Sora was that she hadn't looked in a mirror yet, so she didn't know just how badly Isabella had defaced her, so she wasn't as embarrassed as she could have been. At least until Sora went to the bathroom for the first time that night, and was so shocked by her appearance that she spent almost half an hour hiding in the shower.
It had been a lot of fun for Isabella to get revenge on Sora like that, and she even had a few amusing photos from the affair that she might be willing to show Aika, but she absolutely didn't want what happened to be viewed in full by the other warriors.
In her heart she knew Sora didn't really deserve to be treated like that, but in the end it was just harmless fun, right? Besides, that's what she got for being so easy to bully. Senpai doesn't really need some loser like Souji around, after all.
Isabella found the door to Twoearle's workshop open, and the woman herself inside, sitting in front of her computer. Though she never quite let her guard down around the mad scientist, enough time had passed that Isabella thought Twoearle probably wasn't an Elemerian anymore. Probably. She still didn't like her, though. It took a while for Isabella to put her finger on it, but eventually she realised why: Twoearle was creepy as hell.
Somehow she was always able to move completely soundlessly, and she had the nerve to act like it was an accident whenever she crept up on someone. Human ears weren't as sensitive as Isabella's, so she could only guess Twoearle had some kind of technology that allowed her to sneak about the way she did.
"Ah, there you are." The light the computer screen cast on Twoearle's face changed colour as she very quickly alt tabbed, before standing up.
The other thing that was incredibly disturbing about Twoearle was her constant surveillance. Aika had even warned Isabella that she put cameras everywhere, constantly recorded everything and even reviewed the footage, but that somehow skipped her mind when she'd decided to, uh, play with Souji a little last night. It was okay right now, because there wasn't a live feed from one end of the portal to the other, but Isabella would definitely have to delete the ship's footage when she went back.
"You're finished with my suit?"
"Yup, yup." Twoearle smiled cheerily, unlocking what looked almost like an electronic display case with her key and removing the pink bracer from inside. "Catch!" She tossed it across the room, and Isabella caught it. "It's mostly like the other suits I made, though lacking, uh, certain features. I've added all the stuff I have on my suits to it, so now you can enjoy the excellion shorts like everyone else does."
"What are those?" Isabella slipped the device over her wrist.
"Very useful." Twoearle answered, vaguely. "But not polite to talk about with a minor. Ask Aika if you have to."
Isabella frowned. "Is there anything in the update you can actually talk to me about?"
"Yeah, yeah." Twoearle waved her hand. "There's now a module in their that you can use to convert the power of Elemera Orbs into useful abilities, like Aika's flight module for example."
"I don't have any orbs, though?" Isabella frowned.
"Well, whenever you next defeat an Elemerian, you should be able to use whatever they leave behind. Some of them aren't as useful as others, but anyway. Maybe your 'senpai' will let you borrow one." She said 'senpai' in an exaggeratedly childish tone, and Isabella narrowed her eyes. "Oh, don't be like that, it's just a little fun. Besides, I'm sure you'd like an excuse to hang see her, anyway."
"Any other features you'd like to tell me about?"
"Yeah, well there's actually two Elemera modules now, so you can combine the effects of two different orbs, which is the new thing I want to install on everyone's suits. Uses a lot of energy, though. It's definitely a one off."
"Combine them how?" Isabella felt frustration well up inside her. "I don't even know what they do individually."
"Um…" Twoearle tapped her lip. "So like, you can only combine them by theme, but not effect. I just made it, so I don't really know how it works, yet. Just throw whatever at the wall and see what sticks, I guess."
"Theme?" Isabella repeated, obviously baffled.
"Anyway, let Aika know that it'll be a few more days on her tailsuit the next time you see her." She waved Isabella away and turned back to her computer.
Apparently dismissed, Isabella walked towards the door scowling. Stupid, creepy, wierdo. She grumbled internally as she crossed the catapult room and came to the portal Figure it out yourself, but don't worry that it might explode. Just as she was about to step through back to her homeworld, a red light flashed and a loud alarm went off.
Isabella hesitated for a second, before rushing back into the catapult room, at the same time that Twoearle came from her lab on the other side. "What's going on?" Isabella asked.
"Elemerian attack." Twoearle answered.
Good chance to get my own Elemera modules, anyway. With a brief flash of light, Isabella transformed into Tailpink and moved towards the catapult.
"Wait!" Twoearle shouted at her suddenly. "Don't go just yet."
"Why not?" Isabella turned to face her.
"This can't be a coincidence." Disbelief leaked into Twoearle's tone and she shook her head. "The Elemerian is in North Korea."
"What?" Not wanting to get struck with a nuclear weapon Senpai had been, Isabella backed away a few steps from the catapult. "I'm guessing that's like Earth's version of North Nekorea?"
For some reason that made Twoearle roll her eyes, but she nodded. "Yeah, and according to the energy reading it's a really powerful Elemerian, too. Definitely officer class."
"I guess we just wait for Senpai and the others to arrive."
"'Senpai and the others'?" Twoearle repeated absently, still focussed on the screen. "Usually it's 'Tailred and the others'."
"So what?" Isabella snapped back.
"Just shows where your priorities are, I guess." Isabella grumbled. "Anyway, according to what I'm reading, the Elemerian is alone and it's not attacking anyone, either."
"Do you have footage?"
"Not yet." She frowned at something. "That's... weird. How the hell can that…?" Twoearle pushed a button on the console and there was the sound of a communicator clicking on. "Red, Blue, and Yellow. Are you guys on your way?"
"We're all in the elevator now." Came back Souji's voice over the device.
Twoearle glanced over at Isabella. "All three of you?"
"I'm here." Aika's voice confirmed.
"Me too." Erina replied.
A look of complete bafflement came over Twoearle's face, and she turned of the communicator.
"What is it?" Isabella asked, a strange feeling of worry settling in her gut.
"Um…" Twoearle scratched the side of her head. "According to this, there's already a tailsuit warrior, there?"
"But the others are in the elevator?"
"I know." She bit her lip.
"Okay, so who's that, then?" Isabella looked at the screen.
"...I have no absolutely no idea." Twoearle admitted, and the room was filled with the sound of her fingers on the keyboard again. "Let's see if I can get a view with the satellite…"
Orchidmantisguildy had to fight to keep from chuckling. It was bad practice for an Elemerian who was specialised at infiltration to break out into maniacal laughter; apparently that was a dead give away to most humans of your ill intentions. But still, it was hard for the Elemerian not to pleased when a plan came together so smoothly and perfectly, with almost no effort.
Currently disguised as a woman, Orchidmantis stood there in some kind of traditional, local robes, apparently called a 'hanbok', waving her hand and smiling brightly as tears of joy and gratitude rolled down her face. All an act of course. Orchidmantisguildy was nothing if not a master thespian. She stood atop a balcony, many shorter men in military uniforms stood around her waving as well, though somehow their smiles seemed a little more forced than you might expect.
Below them, many columns of soldiers marched in a line, accompanied by tanks and trucks bearing massive rockets. Their uniforms varied from officer to linemen, but they all bore the distinctive red star of North Korea. At Orchidmantisguildy's side stood Kim's body double, short enough that his head only come up to Orchidmantishuildy's shoulder, and chubby enough that his waist was easily double the size of her willowy figure, but the supreme leader himself was mysteriously absent.
Aside from the Orchidmantisguildy's mysterious presence, an outsider would be forgiven for thinking this was just another one of the Hermit Kingdom's countless and meaningless military parades, but this time it was different. Standing atop a stage being towed by four columns of chanting soldiers, was a little girl in twintails. Very little. She would not have looked out of place in a kindergarten, smiling happily and throwing at kisses at crowds of confused onlookers. Her pure white hair was done up in a small, curly pair of twintails, pigtails specifically. She was dressed in a leotard with armoured gauntlets and metal boots that came to her ankles, but with what looked like a miniature military uniform over the top of it.
If someone hadn't been paying attention to world news recently, they might be confused as to why she was there, but for everyone else it was a sudden and terrifying realisation. That day the world would tremble as one when they realised that North Korea had its own twintail warrior. Orchidmantisguildy fought down her evil laugh, and settled for adjusting her pink cravat instead.
"What the hell is going on?" Souji said aloud what he imagined everyone else was already probably thinking.
All the tailsuit warriors were in the secret base, watching the broadcast on the large screen, though their reactions were very different.
Erina looked saddened as she uttered, "That poor little girl. Do you think she's being lied to?"
"Is she even a real tailsuit warrior?" Aika asked grimmly, glancing at Twoearle for the answer.
"Oh, she's so cuuute." Twoearle gushed, wiping a line of drool from the corner of her mouth.
A vein throbbed on Aika's head, and she reached out to dig her thumb and forefinger into Twoearle's neck.
"Ow! Okay, okay, okay!" Twoearle instantly tapped three times on Aika's thigh. "According to the censors she's wearing a real tailsuit."
"She might not even be a little girl, then." Aika pointed out, releasing Twoearle and glancing at Souji. "She could be someone like Souji."
"Where would they even find someone with a strong twintail attribute in North Korea?" Souji asked in disbelief. "Don't they have like, thirteen legal hairstyles or something?"
On the screen, a matronly woman in traditional korean garb announced something with a warm, proud smile. As she spoke, japanese subtitles appeared below her, though the tailsuits were perfectly capable of translating for the warriors. "With this, we are pleased to announce one new hairstyle to those approved by our wise party. Women of all ages across our glorious land may enjoy this new double tailed style."
"Well, okay." Souji grimaced. "By my point still stands, right? Where did they find someone with enough twintail attribute to form an Elemera?"
Twoearle gasped, suddenly turning pale.
"What?" Souji asked as he and Aika glanced at her.
"N-n-nothing." She stuttered, squirming nervously as she sweated and looked about the room.
"What did you do?" Aika challenged her, eyes narrowing.
"Me? I didn't do anything, what are you talking about?" Twoearle giggled nervously.
"You know something about this!" Aika accused.
"I mean, not really?" Twoearle admitted. "But I did sell some stuff to someone with a North Korean IP address."
"What stuff?"
"Uh, like, nothing you could make a twinsuit out of, that's for certain." Twoearle scratched the back of her head. "I didn't even sell anything with a battery, so… I can't possibly be responsible for this?"
"I can't help but notice you didn't answer the question directly." Aika growled.
"Eh-heh. Heh-heh-eh…"
"I figured it out." Isabella suddenly announced over her shoulder. "Pause it and rewind."
"Oh, look at that, I'm needed elsewhere." Twoearle hurried over to the controls and twisted a few knobs and dials."
"There! Right there!" Isabella stepped forward to point at the screen. "Zoom in and pause on that lady."
The footage stopped on a tall, beautiful women in a Hanbok, though for some reason she was wearing a bizarre, pink, western style cravat over her dress.
"That's Orchidmantisguildy." Isabella pronounced. "That's how they got a tailsuit."
"Are you sure?" Souji asked.
"Yeah, absolutely. He wore that stupid thing whenever he was disguised as a human, and he only took it off when he betrayed me, just before I was saved by Senpai." Aika put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and Isabella gave her a small grateful smile. "No one else would wear something so ugly, anyway."
"It might be related to his Elemera." Twoearle speculated. "There's a good chance that it's what allows him to disguise himself as a human."
"So what do we do, then?" Erina asked. "In Tokubetsu shows, the bad guys often try to influence politicians towards corruption, but… I mean, North Korea is already awful?"
"I don't know what his plans are, but they're definitely not good for us." Souji folded his arms. "And the more time we give him, the worse it gets."
Erina worriedly chewed her finger. "But last time we went into North Korea-"
"North Nekorea." Twoearle corrected.
Erina continued. "-North Nekorea they fired a nuke."
"I have a solution for that." Twoearle answered. "It's actually pretty easy to make, we already have the technology, I just didn't have the time to prepare it last time. Basically, I just need something to let the spacejump catapult lock onto the missile and teleport it out of the Earth's atmosphere. One of you will have to carry it closer to the bomb, but you can do it with the ribbon Elemera."
"How long do you think it will take you to make it?" Souji asked.
"Maybe a few hours. It's really not that complicated. Think like a big laser pointer."
"Alright, sounds like a plan." Souji scratched his chin, before looking at Aika. "You're gonna have sit this one out, I'm sorry."
"I know." Aika frowned, glumly.
"Just until your suit gets repaired." Souji reassured her, before looking at Isabella and Erina. He considered them both for a second. "Pink is going to have to run missile interference." He decided after a moment. "Yellow just doesn't have the patience or self control for it."
"Sorry." Erina looked at the floor.
"Lame. I wanted to be there to take down Orchidmantisguildy." Isabella frowned.
"I'm sorry, but you're the only one I can trust to handle it right now."
"Yeah, I know."
"In the meantime." Souji turned to look at Twoearle. "Can you keep locked onto Orchidmantisguildy?"
"Yes." Twoearle reassured. "As long as he doesn't go underground or something."
"Alright, that's our plan then." He looked at Erina. "We take this seriously from the start. We catapult in, defeat Orchidmantisguildy, and catapult out."
"What about the new Twintail Warrior?" Aika asked.
"Once Orchidmantisguildy reveals his true form, they'll definitely join us." Souji said with confidence.
"Yeah, I agree a hundred percent." Twoearle nodded confidently. "Anyone with a strong love of twintails isn't going to be able to abide by the Elemerians threatening to steal that attribute from them." She stated with certainty, before turning and walking into her lab. "One of you stay here and keep an eye on things while I get to building."