A bright red screen was emitting a dangerous aura about it. To make matters worse, this was DEM industries, so it was guaranteed to be bad. "Humpty Dumpty will be over the target area in approximately five hours." Ridiculous name, but with DEM, it was going to be lethal.

In the room, several businessmen of DEM industries were reviewing over the plan, the screen even showing diagrams of the target, the planet, and all the technical babble. "And where's Westcott? Surely he'd be informed of a much earlier attack." One guy questioned.

"Hasn't moved at all." The first speaker responded. "We have him right where we want him - and he has not moved from his hotel in Tenguu City." A few guys grinned.

In Fraxinus, Mario was staring down a recently-woken up Natsumi, frowning. Natsumi was staring right back while Princess Peach was behind her, doing her hair.

Peach let go of her hair and looked at Natsumi. "Isn't that cute, Mario?"

"Ah-hah." Mario simply tried not to give too many details away. "It looks-a nice on you, Natsumi."

Natsumi frowned more. "You can do better than a generic 'its nice', Mario. I hate this so much, care to go into ACTUAL detail on why you like this so much?"

Mario personally took offense of Natsumi dissing Peach's work that he went to bonk Natsumi's head with a karate chop, only to see Natsumi flinch at the last second. Mario loosened up his face and dropped his hand before any violence could be committed upon the witch. "I'm-a sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"No, it's fine..."

Now this was an awkward situation. Luigi came into the room with a mirror. "Mario! I brought - oh my word, what happened here?"

Peach sighed. "Mario got a little too ahead of himself."

"H-hey.." Mario lowered his hat. "She didn't appreciate the-a hard work you put into that outfit..."

Luigi shook his head. "Sorry, Mario. You can't go jumping in like that..."

"Weeg? You too?" And now it was a sad scene full of heavy emotions. Mario just gripped his fist as he tried to come up with something. "Natsumi, the one who-a came up with that outfit to-a begin with was Shido and-a company. You should be-a thanking them."

Natsumi turned her head to Mario, and then back into staring at nothing. "Shido... I..."

"We're-a here for you, Natsumi, no matter how-a irrational I get sometimes, hee hee!" Mario put his hand on Natsumi's back to give her a pat on the back. Natsumi flinched again, but didn't move from the comfort. She didn't remember this kindness, but... If Shido and the good guys can protect her from Bowser, then...

Peach almost read her mind. "You can't really go around advertising your Spirit form with Bowser or those mechas around. You could get seriously hurt."

"You're right, I should-" As Natsumi stood up, the door opened, and in came Shido.

"Oh, cute outfit. You really did good, Peach!" Shido gave a happy expression while thumbs-upping Peach.

"HYAAAH?" Natsumi almost immediately backed up. "N-no! I wasn't ready yet! You weren't supposed to - I was gonna - aaah?! Go away!" The witch curled before disappearing in a poof of smoke, startling Luigi as he dived behind Mario.

Shido blinked as he uncovered his eyes from the smoke, coughing. "She still got that weird personality?"

Mario shrugged. "We had it-a going for a while!"

Shido walked out into a Fraxinus hallway, saddened by the news. "Might've pushed Natsumi a little too far... Didn't expect her to hate me walking in like that..." He walked into another room, where Kotori and Reine were analyzing the footage. Reine's face was lit up by the monitor she was using.

"No, I don't think she hated it." She replied in a monotone voice like always. She then pointed at the screen, which just revealed Natsumi's emotions. "As seen here, all the moods have increased since you and Linguini's first encounter with her."

Shido sighed in relief as Kotori folded her arms. "She's just not used to the compliments, I think." She thought as Shido turned his head to her as she continued. "Even deep down, she wanted it to be complimented. I think that Mario gave the wrong way to describe it, that's all. And you coming in there unexpectantly did make her go into a tsundere. She lacks the confidence to try and say her true words."

Shido was so tempted to say "Aren't you a tsundere" but hid it. Instead he said "Oh yeah, I think she did say nobody would even look at her before she transformed."

"And those self-negative comments warped her perception on herself. What's important isn't whether or not she's beautiful," She turned her head to Shido quickly. "But whether or not someone accepts her for who she truly is."

Shido stared back at the monitor, in which it somehow had a full body of Natsumi's... Astral Dress. It definitely looked more ragged than the beautification project Peach did.

Natsumi re-materialized in an empty bedroom, immediately covering herself in a blanket. "Those liars..." She stuffed her face in the mattress. "Haniel." She called out.

Kotori then walked through the Fraxinus, angrily biting her lollipop. "I'll expose all of you." - Natsumi was transformed into Kotori.

"Tohka, Yoshino." Natsumi, disguised as Kotori, walked into the lounge room, seeing the two girls sitting on a couch.

"Ah, hello..." Yoshino replied quietly.

Tohka, of course, was the louder one. "Are you taking a break too, Kotori?"

Natsumi didn't reply, continuing on her own narrow-minded scheme. "So, what do you think of that? Natsumi, that is."

Tohka squinted. "What... do we think?"

"Isn't she, like, totally lame?" Natsumi tried to self-project. "It's actually PATHETIC how ugly she is, right?"

Tohka and Yoshino looked at each other, with Tohka simply replying. "What's... gotten into you, Kotori? You're acting weird."

"Eh?" Natsumi blinked.

The two stood up, with Yoshino answering. "I don't think Natsumi-san is lame at all.." And Tohka was simply pressing her hand on Kotori's forehead to check for a fever.

"W-what? Isn't someone that gloomy just really annoying?" Natsumi coiled, questioning the two legitimately. The door to the side opened, with a silent "huh" coming from Natsumi.

From the door was Kaguya, Yuzuru and Miku. Kaguya being the first to speak. "Huh? What's going on here?" Natsumi started to sweat, looking behind herself at the trio. Kaguya continued. "What's wrong, Kotori? You look angry."

"Seriously, everyone..." Natsumi started to feel cornered. "Tohka and Yoshino are saying some crazy things right now..."

Robotic Yuzuru. "Question: Crazy? Like what?"

"They're saying that Natsumi's actually cute, and not a huge pain, and..." She started to slow her words down as she looked at the trio. The trio just had shocked faces.

Kaguya rebutted. "YOU'RE the one saying crazy things here..."

The other two narrowed her eyes at Kotori. Yuzuru glared. "Suspicion: This isn't like you, Kotori."

And Miku got to speak, too. "There's nothing wrong with Natsumi, you meanie!" She pouted, which got the other two to laugh.

While the two were laughing, Natsumi pondered to herself. "No way, this can't be, I..." She suddenly bolted right out of the room, with the others shocked.

"Oi, Kotori?!" Kaguya shouted.

Natsumi sprinted down the hallway with her head down - big mistake, as she bumped into someone halfway down the hall. Shido. "Kotori? Sorry, are you okay?" He looked at Natsumi closely. Something wasn't right with this Kotori. "You look down. Something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine..." She weakly stated.

"Oh, right, I meant to ask you about Natsumi's meals." Shido wasn't biting just yet.

Natsumi blinked, side-eyeing Shido. "Show your true colors..."

Shido kept smiling. "Would it be okay if we let Natsumi out of her room?"

Another 'eh' from Natsumi.

"I've been thinking about this a lot, but it's gotta be lonely eating by herself, right? Heck, we could have Mario rekindle a friendship, considering that rocky road we had earlier..." Looks like someone spilled the beans about Mario. "Cheer both of them up, she could do with a friend like Mario..." Natsumi hung her head low, with Shido finally noticing. "Huh?!" At closer inspection, tears collided with the metal floor. "Hey, what's wrong?! Is it a bad idea?"

Natsumi raised her head with anger. "Shut up! You jerk! She bolted out of the room past Shido."

"Hey, Kotori...!" Shido gave chase, but as soon as he went down a corridor, upon looking all directions, Kotori was gone. He looked down to see a green wrapped lollipop. "Can't believe she left this behind... What HAPPENED to her...?" Shido's thoughts were interrupted by a phone call. He looked at his phone and saw it was from... Kotori? But she just stormed out... Regardless, he answered with a straight question. "Kotori? What's gotten into you?"

"Huh?" The actual Kotori replied. "What are you talking about?... Wait. Never mind that. It's an emergency. Natsumi's escaped from her room." This earned a shock from Shido.

After a while of searching, Luigi came back to the Itsuka Household - he had been tasked with looking for Natsumi too. He met up with Shido, who was outside. The search took them so long, it turned into sunset. He eyed the dropped lollipop in Shido's pocket as Shido lamented. "No good. Can't find her anywhere..."

Luigi looked at the Itsuka Household. "I'll.. go check in there?" Luigi walked up to the door, but Shido's eye noticed something EXTREMELY offputting.

"Luigi."

"Yeah, Shido?" Luigi looked back.

"The door's cracked open."

Luigi looked at the door, and sure enough, there was a slight gap open. Luigi got goosebumps and shivered. "I'll... go talk to her. You stay out here in case she bolts..."

Shido nodded. "Thanks for being so brave, Luigi..."

Luigi sighed. "I woulda just been the patsy anyway."

The plumber entered the door. "Hello? Natsumi? We can talk alone if you want. No Shido here, just-a-me, Luigi..." He nervously chuckled as he went down the main foyer area. He turned to the living room and saw a blonde woman sitting on the couch. Luigi RECOGNIZED her. "Ellen?!"

The woman, turning out to be Ellen, turned her head to Luigi. "I would say 'pardon the intrusion', but it looks like you've done the exact same thing."

"I-I got permission to! U-unlike you!" Luigi immediately quivered upon seeing the powerful wizard, his legs turning into jelly. "What are you doing here? As far as M-mario told me, you stabbed a person living in this house through the back!" Luigi backed up against the wall - Ellen hadn't moved an inch. "Why is DEM in Shido's house?!"

Ellen stood up. "I was here to ask Shido a question. But since you're so close to the subject matter, you'll do just nicely." Ellen finally stood up, fully facing Luigi.

Luigi tried to back up more, but was just met with more wall.

"G-go on? If it involves not death, that's cool..."

"Where is Witch?" Ellen got to the point.

Witch...? Oh yeah, Natsumi! Luigi gritted his teeth. "As if I-I'd tell you!"

"Really?" She replied with a monotone face, then seemingly switched subjects as she tilted her head to the rest of Shido's house. "The Itsuka's have a nice residence. Shido must live a good life here." Luigi blankly stared as she kept going. "It would be a shame if it were all lost."

Luigi finally caught on. But too late. Ellen was pulling out her sword. "It is but a simple question, so I'll ask again - in the exchange for the other Spirits' safety." She pointed it STRAIGHT at Luigi. She kept getting closer until it was inches away from his mustache. "Where. Is. Witch."

"A-ah?!" Luigi fumbled to try and sort himself out - any weapons, excuses, ANYTHING to leave him alive.

"Any sign of Natsumi?" Kotori asked within Fraxinus' main room.

"Nothing from Point A."

"Nothing from Point B."

Both responses dampened Kotori's mood. "Not good. If she's taken steps to actively try and avoid us..."

"Huh...?" A crew member looked at their monitor. "This pattern..."

Kotori instantly spoke up. "Is it Natsumi?"

"No... Judging by the altitude and trajectory of this unknown signal, it is likely a satellite.

Kannazuki stood still. "That's strange... why is a satellite-"

"Commander!" Another crew member responded. "Another signal! It's faint, but there's magic coming from it. It's a bomb!"

Kotori gasped.

"We have a visual!" The information kept dropping. The video feed zoomed in on the DEM satellite, showing a Bandersnatch."

"A Bandersnatch?!" Kotori stated the obvious.

Kannazuki flinched at the video. "That explains it..."

Kotori growled at the visual, then pulled out her phone. "Oh no..."

It was a long and silent staredown between Luigi and Ellen. Ellen's arm not moving an inch with her sword threatening Luigi's life. Her phone rang, and she used her other hand to answer. "I'm here."

More silence.

"Understood. I'll deal with it." She put her phone down as he sword vanished. "You are SERIOUSLY lucky, Luigi." Ellen called Luigi by name.

She walked out the house, with Shido clearly shocked. "Ellen?!"

Ellen simply gave him a glance as she walked by, with Luigi following suit, stopping to meet with Shido. "No Natsumi, but definitely an Ellen!"

Shido was about to question it, but HIS phone rang too. It was Kotori again. He picked up. "Hi."

"Shido, stay calm and listen." Kotori got to the point again. "It might be hard to believe, but a satellite is going to fall on Tenguu City in less than half an hour."

Luigi was listening in, leaning in to hear. "Oh no...!" He backed out.

Shido was shocked too. "Wait! Why is a...?!"

"No time to explain." Kotori responded, her voice raising from stress. "At any rate, you're all in danger out there. Get to one of the shelters."

Shido didn't budge. "What about Tohka and the others?" Shido gritted his teeth.

"Don't worry about them. Fragments from the wreckage won't even scratch the shelters."

Shido still questioned. "Fragments?"

"That's right. We're taking that bomb on. Just keep looking for Natsumi as much as you can. But if you can't find her (worst case scenario) just GO TO A SHELTER. Don't try to be a hero that WILL die out there."

"Okay, I promise." Shido pressed his hand against his window as he looked into the horizon.

Luigi raised his hand. "I'm getting Mario and Peach!"

Kotori kept talking. "Good luck, both of you."

"Kotori..." Shido stiffly said as Luigi ran ahead.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Kotori blushed for a little while, but responded. "I'm supposed to be the one thanking YOU." She immediately hung up.

Shido put his phone in his pocket as he looked out into the sky.

Luigi was leading the pack into the night sky as the citizens were fleeing into shelters. The ones who weren't were Luigi, Mario and Peach.

"Mama-mia!" Mario turned his head to his surroundings as he kept dashing. "Way to tell-a us about a bomb last-a minute!"

Peach was worried as she also kept dashing. "Half an hour, do we really have that much time?!"

The gang ran past Shido, who was going in an aimless direction. "Natsumi! Natsumi! Please, answer if you can hear me! NATSUMI!"

He ran past the group, in which Mario gave a guilty look.

Shido kept screaming. "A satellite is going to fall on the city! You're not safe out here! Come with me to one of the underground shelters! If you don't know where to go, follow me! Got it, Natsumi?!" He froze up as he gasped for air. "You won't have to be... alone anymore... You can go wherever you want after this is all over! So just..."

"Why are you going so far just for me?" Natsumi watched from a distance. "You know you're frantically searching for the real me right now, don't you?" She gripped her clean dress. "I made a mess of your life - I took everyone away. I did all sorts of bad things... But you... and your friends... They protected me from everything. Even that big scary turtle... Why are you trying so hard just for me...?"

"NATSUMIIIIIIII!"

The situation was grim at Fraxinus. "Commander! The satellite!"

Kotori looked at her monitor. "It's really getting close... Calculate it's collision course."

"Roger!"

"We're going to shoot it down."

"NATSUMIIIII!" Shido's voice croaked as he caught his breath. He recoiled from the effort he was putting in - but kept persisting. "Natsumi, are you following me?! I'm right here! I'm right-" He was interrupted by a flash of blinding white light as he ducked and covered his eyes. "Ghk-! Ah?!" He looked up to see the light coming from Fraxinus.

"Fire the cannon!" Kotori commanded. At once, a giant white laser went straight towards the satellite. The satellite grew a green forcefield and reflected the shot into the sky. A territory. "What happened? That's impossible... That's one of our best cannons - all that from a single Bandersnatch?" She heard more rumbling as she blinked. "What now?!"

"Enemy at twelve o clock. Getting visual now." The visual appeared on the main monitor as Kotori gritted her teeth.

Slight panic begun with the crew members. "That's..."

"Commander!"

Kotori was peeved. "Right now, we need to..." She took the lollipop out of her mouth as she stood up. "Kannazuki. Take over."

"Yes, Commander." An immediate response.

Kotori looked down at her personal desk - a red button behind a glass protection. With her might, she shattered the glass with her fist without even flinching from the shards. She pressed it as something occured - a spiritual forcefield surrounded her. "I suppose I have to do it myself." She grinned as flames surrounded her. Her commander outfit was slowly replaced by a white kimono-like Astral Dress, but the commander part was not entirely lost. Of course, the main attraction were the horns attached to her ribbons. She flicked her sleeve as she teleported to outside of Fraxinus. She raised her hand. "Camael." At once, the fearsome axe went from flames to physical as she caught it in one hand. As soon as she gripped it. "Megiddo." She commanded, as the axe transformed into a cannon. Even more metal parts were being attached to Megiddo as it transformed into yet another form. "Gungnir!"

Fraxinus charged up behind her as she also charged. "FIRE!" They fired two of their biggest shots at the exact same time. They both collided with the satellite as it didn't even pull up it's Territory.

Everything went silent... As the smoke cleared... Nothing was there. Kotori did not move until she got a "target neutralized" from her earpiece as she kneeled down to her knees - in air. She was sweating bullets from using Camael. An alarm blared as she looked up into the air. Another satellite. Her pupils shrunk as she tried to summon Camael again. "Cama-" Her voice croaked as she fell down from using too much energy.

"KOTORI!" The crew shouted.

"Kotori!" Mario shouted from below, as he pulled out his nearby Item Bag.

Luigi scurried behind Mario as he leaned in to look. "Mario! The only power up we have is the Fire Flower! Kotori's a fire spirit!"

Mario looked at Luigi as he gave a stern look. "It's to boost her-a up. Speaking of-a boosting up..." He looked at Peach.

Peach silently nodded as she pulled out her parasol and boosted Mario up into the air. Mario... couldn't... quite... reach... But he pulled out the Fire Flower. The last power-up. Let's hope this works. "Kotori! Catch!" With strength, he tossed the Fire Flower up into the air and it collided with Kotori, the girl absorbing the power...

"Kotori? What's going on?" Kaguya tried to communicate.

"Where's Shido?" Tohka.

"Ahhh! I can't take this dread!" Miku.

Tohka summoned her Astral Dress without thinking twice. She looked at all the others - she was built for this. Combat. "Come on. We have to fight it."

Shido looked up at the satellite, and Kotori's unmoving body. He tried to reach up. "It's all up to me - Sandalphon!" He summoned the sword and fired a beam at the satellite - of course, it deflecting the slash. He suddenly felt unbearable pain as he was brought to his knees, still clinging on to Sandalphon. Just as we was about to collapse - arms grabbed onto his own. It was Tohka. And the Spirits. And even the Mario gang!

Peach was happy. "I'm glad we made it in time."

Shido was shocked. "Why... why are you all here?"

Tohka, being the most obsessed, came with the most clean answer. "I sensed something was wrong with you and came right over."

"Thaaaat's right!" Miku winked. "We're all in this together now! And there's no way you're making us back down!~"

Mario looked up. "And there she is!"

A giant ball of fire landed behind the group, as red twintails emerged with it. Wait.. It wasn't red anymore. It was white. White hair, red horns, a white-and-red color scheme for her outfits, and even Camael had turned into white and red instead of black and red.

"Kotori?!" Shido gasped. "What are you-"

"Thank Mario for this." She stepped forward ahead of the group.

She darted forward, leaving a trail of fire as she jumped up much higher than normal, as she gripped the Territory with her own hands to try and tear it. As soon as she flew back, she used Camael powered up by the Fire Flower to slash through the Territory easier. She continued hacking at the satellite, refusing to back out.

"Well, come-a on!" Mario ran forward. "We gotta be a team!"

Kaguya nodded. "Hmph! A powered-up Kotori does not compare to us twins!"

Yuzuru followed. "Agreement: We will all take this thing down." They summoned their Dresses.

"I-I can't back down." Yoshino stood her ground as she summoned hers.

"Hah, boosting people is my thing!" Miku summoned her dress at last.

"Ike!" Ellen barged into the room.

"Ellen. Glad you could make it." Isaac sat casually in his chair.

"You need to evacuate! The board has instigated a mutiny. They're trying to-"

"I know." He didn't budge.

"Then why aren't you-"

"Because they'll never succeed." He grinned. "But just as a measure, how about we send her out? It'll be a good test run."

He grinned to the person in the shadows. The new recruit.

"Gabriel - March!" Miku commanded as she boosted the group.

Mario was jumping on all sorts of debris. "Kotori! Pretend like you're-a throwing snowballs!"

Kotori went into a claw grip as fireballs appeared. She grinned widely. "Your power-ups are so AWESOME." She tossed fireballs at the satellite.

Luigi was getting tossed up by the Yamai's tornado, as he slammed an electric-powered fist into the satellite. "Thunder!" He bounced off the satellite and bounced off Peach's parasol.

"WAH-HAH!" Mario leapt and STOMPED on the satellite.

Shido looked up in the sky, seeing everyone get to work. "Shall we, Tohka?" He turned his head to Tohka. "We're gonna take that thing down. I know we can do it together."

"No, not yet." Tohka replied seriously. "I'm not entirely sure, but it seems to be carrying a bomb. We need to get it higher first."

Shido growled, but then Kaguya's voice rang out. "Tsk. Don't you know who we are? We're the Yamai sisters, children of the hurricane, priestesses of the wind."

"Guarantee: An object of this weight is no challenge for us."

They both summoned another massive tornado, in which, admittedly, Luigi got caught up in. "Waaaah!"

"Let's do it!"

"Affirmative!"

They both screamed - and then something hit them. Shido gasped as he looked onto the horizon - an army of Bandersnatch. They fired at the group which caused massive explosions across the sky.

"Dammit!" The twins screamed.

"Hey!" Miku yelped.

Shido turned fully to Tohka. "We need to help them!"

Tohka crouched as she flew into the sky, agreeing. "I'm on it!"

Kaguya and Yuzuru were continuing their assault, dodging an incoming Bandersnatch.

Mario bounced on the satellite and then axe-kicked another Bandersnatch, diving behind Miku who used her voice to destroy an incoming missile barrage. Yoshino came from above and used ice shards to counter them, riding on Zadkiel. She backed up upon seeing a Bandersnatch reach out for her. She was saved by Tohka, who sliced the machine in half.

"Tohka!" Yoshino smiled.

"Are you okay?"

They looked at the distance to see multiple red lights. Tohka continued. "Let's go!"

Tohka swiped at the missiles, causing a row to explode as they jumped up, Miku's voice acting as a song barrier. And the Yamai acting as pure support.

Shido looked up in the air, the satellite still making progress. He clenched his teeth.

"Don't worry. It'll be okay. It's all going to work somehow. It worked out back then, didn't it? It'll be okay. I'm sure someone's just gonna go save the day anyway. Mario looks plenty capable. Come on already!"

"Someone!"

"Anyone!"

Natsumi watched from a void.

"SHIDO!" Tohka yelled as a Bandersnatch was coming right for him. Tohka broke all contact and dived to Shido's location. "SHIDO!"

Shido felt visible pain as he tried to aim his Sandalphon at the Bandersnatch...

He closed his eyes.

Nothing happened.

He waited a few moments.

Nothing happened.

Shido.. slowly opened his eyes.

A lollipop was blocking the Bandersnatch sword. "...What... the?"

The lollipop broke the sword, and the Bandersnatch exploded in a cartoony poof. The lollipop transformed, revealing Natsumi!... in her raggy normal Astral Dress.

"N-Natsumi?!" Shido stated the obvious.

"...Take care of it already." Natsumi looked up at the satellite, which was being blasted still by the Spirits and a Fire Flower Kotori. "You're gonna blow it up, aren't you?"

Shido narrowed his gaze. "Yeah!" They heard screams as they looked up - the Spirits were dwindling, Kotori just got hit, which made her lose the power up.

"Then just do it already! We're running out of time! Haniel!" She raised her hand up, summoning her broom Angel.

Shido looked up to see the bomb turned into a massive cartoon stuffy flying pig.

"You can work with that, right?"

Shido smiled. "Tohka."
"Right!"

"Young Master." Kamek hurried after Bowser Junior - who seemingly took over. "It is my sworn duty to protect you. I can't have you rushing in like that."

"I can't just sit by while Mario hogs all the glory!" Junior turned around to retort to Kamek.

"While that may be true, have you forgotten that they have left quite a while ago? Come on, there's no point."

"Oh, yes there is!" Junior scoffed as he looked at the sky - the rocket was taken care of, and shortly after, there was green particles in the air, indicating a Spirit seal. "Come on! We can't be late!"

"Gonna steal the spotlight at the last second!" Junior shouted in determination as he-

suddenly got knocked back. "YEOW!"

"Young Master!" Kamek immediately got to his aid.

Junior got up, raising his fist at the stranger. "Hey, what's the big idea? Don't you know who I am?!"

The figure revealed itself to be someone in a DEM suit.

Slim body.

Blue eyes.

White, short hair.

And a monotone face.

"I know what you are. In my way." Origami pointed her guns at Junior.