Chapter 2
Debuts and Identities! The Crawler and Helios!
Somebody once said... that a society in which Quirks are universal is really just a society in which Quirks must be suppressed". Super Strength, Super Speed, Light, Heat and Shock Wave Emission... and more still.
This innate power from birth that is now in the majority of people are known as 'Quirks'. If everyone was allowed to do as they pleased with those powers, the world would quickly descend into chaos.
That's exactly why we all restrain our Quirks and use them moderately, so that we can live our lives normally. Those are the iron-clad rules of today's society.
The one and only exception is Heroes! Acknowledge for their exceptional character and abilities. They are a special existence permitted to exert their Quirks to their heart's content for the sake of the people and the world!
All the kids grow up to admire Heroes and aspiring to become one. It's the only way to be able to fully unleash one's Quirks under the law after all.
But not everyone can become a Hero. Reality isn't that kind. And as a result... in some cases, "Quirks" with nowhere to go ... head towards a place outside the law.
In a part of the city, two guys were arguing loudly in front of a station.
One was a tall guy with short black hair swept back in a pompadour, and a small moustache. He wore a pair of goggles, with mufflers on either side, slit through the center as a visor. On the visor, there was a single pupil.
He also wore a black gakuran with black shoes and an armlet. His name is Ichimoku Samazu.
The other one was a short and bulky guy with brown hair and mutton chops. He is Jube Namimaru
He wore a black jacket open with torn ends and folded sleeves, a white T-shirt, black pants, and sandals. He also wore a black cap with a black peak, and an x-shaped buckle at the middle top center, which is torn at the back that mixes in with his hair.
They were both middle school students because of their clothes.
"Screw you! Can't have you making a fool outta me, you bastard!" Ichimoku yelled at the short student.
"The hell?! You think I'm gonna take that from you, you jerk?!" Jube yelled back, activating his Quirk.
He created wooden blades, coming from the palm of his hands.
Ichimoku responded by activating his Quirk, making a laser beam shoot from his eye.
The laser was shot at Jube, who deflected it to the sky by using the wooden blades from his palms.
A group of nearby people fled from the fight as the guys kept fighting.
Luckily, Pop Step and Petal Star saw the whole thing. Pop Step was standing on a store sign, and Petal Star was on a giant cherry blossom petal in the air.
The two girls looked at each other and touched the earpieces they wore.
"Yup. It's a fight," Pop Step reported to Koichi and Hikari. "Quirks being cut loose in front of the station."
"They're wearing school uniforms so they're probably middle schoolers," Petal Star reported too.
In another area, Koichi and Hikari, with their vigilante outfits on, touched their earpieces as they got ready to head out.
"Gotcha. We'll be right there," Koichi confirmed, putting on some black motorcycle gloves for some reason.
"We'll head to the scene right away," Hikari added, using sunlight to create a light hoverboard with his Quirk.
Koichi used his Quirk to glide on his hands and knee and Hikari rode on his hoverboard as they immediately went to the station.
"Let's stop these guys," Koichi spoke to his friend.
"Right," Hikari nodded. "How are those motorcycle gloves you got from Knuckleduster doing for you?"
"They're great," Koichi commented with a grin.
Soon, the two of them were nearing the two punks.
"Knock it off, you two!" Koichi said as he made his heroic entrance.
"You two are causing trouble for the surrounding people!" Hikari added.
The two students stopped fighting and turned to the two vigilantes.
Hikari stopped his hoverboard in front of the two guys.
However, Koichi lost his balance and control of his Quirk as he ended up crashing into a trash can.
'Oh. That didn't go as planned,' Hikari thought as he rode his hoverboard past the two guys and to his friend.
"What's with him?!" Ichimoku concernedly asked, looking at the vigilantes.
"You okay, guy?!" Jube equally concernedly asked Hikari's friend.
Koichi then came out the rubble as he brushed the dirt off his suit.
"Didn't even get hurt!" he said with a confident tone in his voice as the two students looked at him as if he was a idiot in a costume.
'I hope not,' Hikari thought.
"Hey! What's the big idea, you two?!" Jube exclaimed.
"Who, me? Heh heh... I am...the mysterious man with an air of danger... the Crawler!" Koichi exclaimed proudly.
"And I am... the guiding light of Naruhata... Helios!" Hikari declared.
"Huh? What're you talking about? You're Mr. Nice Guy and Guardian Angel, ain't you?" Ichimoku questioned.
"Err," Koichi started.
"Well, you see..." Hikari started.
"Oh yeah, the ones who go around picking up trash?" Jube interrupted. "You do good work."
"No, I'm Mr. Nice Guy reborn as the Crawler," Koichi informed them.
"And I'm Guardian Angel rebranded as Helios," Hikari stated.
"The Cruller? Going from Nice Guy to the Cruller? Not really seeing the connection to doughnuts," Ichimoku was confused.
"And Halos? Where'd you get that name from? The ring on your head?" Jube wondered.
"My name is Helios, not Halos," Hikari corrected them.
"No, no, no! Not the Cruller, it's the Crawler!" Koichi shouted. "And no more fighting. Violence never solved anything, y'know."
"It's scaring everybody," Helios added.
Then, Jube pushed the Crawler away angrily, but the vigilante was okay thanks to the motorcycle gloves.
"You either two ain't the boss of us!" Jube yelled at the two vigilantes
"Hahaha! Stop that now," The Crawler laughed. "This armor works great! Doesn't hurt at all!"
This made the delinquent students understandably pissed off as Ichimoku shot a laser into Koichi's eyes, causing the latter to scream in pain.
"Crawler!" Helios shouted as he held out his hands, absorbing sunlight and preparing to fight the two students.
Ichimoku shot a strong laser beam at Helios, who countered with his light beam from his hands. The two were locked neck and neck. However, Helios was so focused on that one student he forgot about the other one. Jube jumped and attacked with the wooden sword from his palm, hitting Helios on his blindside. That knocked Helios off his hoverboard, which disappeared, and sent him crashing into the Crawler as they both crashed into the garbage.
"You're acting pretty high and mighty for a 'nice guy'," Ichimoku jeered.
"And for a 'guardian angel', you sure are excessively proud of yourself," Jube sneered.
"It's the Crawler! The Crawler!" Koichi tried to correct them.
"I told you, it's Helios!" Hikari added.
"Just get back to picking up garbage like always!" the visor guy said while he and the other guy kicked the two vigilantes.
Suddenly, Knuckleduster jumped from a building and landed right in front of the four of them.
"Taking out the trash, eh? That means punks like you!" Knuckleduster declared.
Then, the two students stopped beating up the two vigilantes and turned to Knuckleduster.
"Huh?!" Jube was confused.
"Who's this old fart?!" Ichimoku asked.
"Master!" The Crawler gasped.
"What are you doing here?" Helios questioned.
"You there, punks! You're about to catch a beating! And we've gotta confirm a thing or two, " Knuckleduster said to the students while cracking his knuckles and walking up to them.
Knowing what was going to happen, the two vigilantes got in front of Knuckleduster and tried to stop him.
"Wait, wait, wait! You don't gotta punch them!" The Crawler stated.
"Why is that always your first move?" Helios inquired.
"It all goes faster once I punch 'em," Knuckleduster answered. "S'also more refreshing."
"Man, you need a better way to clear your head," The Crawler reasoned.
"He's right," Helios agreed.
"Why?" Knuckleduster was confused.
"'Why?'" The Crawler complained.
"Oh boy," Helios sighed.
The two students then looked at the duo and sweat-dropped.
"What's the deal, guys?" Jube guy asked.
From up above, the two idols were bored and unimpressed with how things were going.
"This is exhausting!" Pop Step complained.
"Same here," Petal Star grumbled in agreement.
Seeing how the situation was turning out, Pop Step jumped down off the sign and Petal Star guided the giant cherry blossom petal that she was on down to the ground.
Both idols landed right in front of the two students.
"Heya!" Pop Step greeted them happily with a smile.
"Mind if we step in?" Petal Star questioned in a happy tone as the two students start fanboying over them.
"Pop Step and Petal Star! I'm always watching your clips!" Ichimoku was excited.
"M-Me too. I always click 'like'!" Jube shouted.
"Thanks, boys! Want an autograph?!" Pop Step offered.
The two students nodded excitedly as the two idols started autographing their notebooks.
"Those losers have no manners. They're not total villains, but they're hardly on the up-and-up," Pop Step said to Petal Star.
"I know. They should practice it," Petal Star agreed.
"I'm on the up-and-up, I swear!" The Crawler stated, having heard the girls' conversation.
"So am I," Helios calmly agreed.
"Sure you do," Petal Star rolled her eyes.
Before an argument almost started, someone started screaming that a villain has appeared in the town.
"A villain!" a person screamed.
"Let's go, you two," Knuckleduster told The Crawler and Helios.
"Right," they both nodded.
Helios made another light hoverboard and rode on it as he, The Crawler, and Knuckleduster left to fight a villain.
In the city, the trio saw the villain was what looked like a giant rampaging through town. The giant's body appears to have rocks jutting out of his body and back. This giant is Akira Iwako.
"I'm hard! Real hard! I'm invincible!" Akira roared as the people were running away from him.
"I'm harder than any building!" he punched a whole building, causing it to shake and left a mark on it too.
Then a lady, who was running with her baby in a carriage, ended up losing control of the carriage due to the rocky man's rampage. The baby was sent flying out the carriage.
However, The Crawler managed to jump into action and grabbed the baby before the little one could've gotten hurt.
"Rescue successful!" he raised his thumb out as the baby was giggling.
"Nice job, Crawler," Helios commented, catching up to his friend while still on his hoverboard.
Knuckleduster then jumped behind Akira.
"Here we go!" Knuckleduster then punched the guy in the face, but it had no effect.
Akira smacked Knuckleduster far away as the man fell on the road
"This guy's bad news!" a civilian yelled.
"Someone call a hero!" another civilian complained.
Akira started walking up to the civilians who were panicking.
"HAHAHAHA! Nobody! Nobody can scratch my hide! HAHAHAHA!" the rocky villain laughed.
The Crawler and Helios then noticed the color of the villain's tongue. It was black, meaning he was addicted to the drug.
"Master, Helios, look," The Crawler told his mentor and friend.
"Yep. We've got a winner," Knuckleduster smiled as he ran towards the giant from behind.
As for the Crawler and Helios, they readied themselves in case they need to evade Akira's attacks.
Knuckleduster went in for the blow, but the rocky villain caught his punch. Then he punched the vigilante in the gut and threw him into a wall, knocking him out.
"Master!" The Crawler and Helios yelled.
"Triffer, of course. That's the same drug that turns normal people into aggressive villains. Adn we're just three volunteers trying to stop it all. What do we to stop him?" Helios wondered.
"I think I've got an idea," The Crawler figured, whispering it to his friend.
Then the giant looked at the two young vigilantes for a second, before laughing at them.
"HAHAHAHAHA! I'm a superhuman! And you're just trash! Scampering around at my feet won't do you any good!" Akira taunted as he then charged at them.
The Crawler used his Quirk to glide on the road, alongside his friend Helios riding on his hoverboard, as the villain was chasing after them.
Koichi's plan was to make the villain follow them so that Knuckleduster would have an excellent chance at subduing him.
Helios dodged the cars thanks to his hoverboard. The Crawler did his best on the ground to dodge while trying not to lose his balance.
The Crawler then jumped onto Helios' back and held on tight.
"I'll destroy you!" the rock giant yelled as tried to get the vigilante got off his back.
"Now, Helios!" Crawler yelled with his eyes closed.
"Huh?!" the villain asked.
Suddenly, Hikari came out of the corner of a building on his hoverboard and rode his way in front of the villain and his friend, with his hands full of white light.
"Dazzling Gleam!" the vigilante shouted with his eyes closed and his hands aimed at the villain.
The white light flashed so brightly that entire area was covered in light for a moment.
"Aaaahhhhh! It's too bright!" the rocky villain screamed.
When the light died down, Helios opened his eyes to see that the rock giant was disoriented because he had a hard time seeing with his eyes.
"Aaaaahhhh! I can't see!" the villain complained.
"Now, Master!" Helios yelled as Knuckleduster.
Knuckleduster charged towards Akira and pinned him down, "You instant villains ain't used to your boosted Quirks. Just full of openings. Like how you harden your skin too much, slowing your movements. Makes for some hard falls. And since this ain't your natural form, you gotta focus to keep up that hardening."
He then proceeded to pummel the hardened villain into submission, "Lose focus, and you go all soft. Smooth sailing after that first hit. Ain't gonna give you a chance to recover."
Knucleduster gave Akira a flurry of punches as the two delinquents watch with shock and confusion.
"Grrr...AAAAAAAHHH!" the rock giant yelled angrily in defeat.
He turned back into a normal person.
Helios sighed in relief as his friend's plan worked.
"I can't believe we did it," he was glad and surprised.
"Hmph," Knuckleduster scoffed. "That armor's not much when you ain't prepared to use it right. S'what happens you get cocky. And now that he's out cold, the Hardening's gone. Get a picture and check his I.D."
The Crawler and Helios took out their phones and did what their master told them. They checked Akira's I.D. but couldn't find any. Knuckleduster tied the man's hands down just in case he tries to act up again.
The Crawler and Helios met up with Pop Step and Petal Star. Along with Pop Step was the lady and the baby who the Crawler saved. The lady thanked Koichi for saving her child.
After the lady left with her baby, the group heard the sound of police sirens and had to get out of there quickly. Luckily, Petal Star used her Quirk to make a giant cherry blossom that picked up Knuckleduster. Then the vigilantes and idols left the scene quickly.
At the shared apartment roof home of Koichi and Hikari, the two guys are sharing a snack while the girls were on their phones.
"Ah! It's the talk of the town, what went down today," Pop Step said while checking her phone as Hikari got curious and Koichi got excited.
"The people sure are talking about it," Petal Star added.
"Really?" Hikari asked.
"Yeah?! What do they think of the new Heroes?!" Koichi wanted to know.
"They're calling you three 'Weird Fisted Mysterious Grandpa', 'Cruller', and 'Halos'," Pop Step read.
"IT'S THE CRAWLER!" Koichi yelled.
"And I'm Helios," Hikari frowned. "Seriously, it's not that hard to pronounce correctly."
"Well, maybe someday they'll get your names right," Petal Star commented and sweat-dropped.
Just because Koichi and I admire Heroes and started calling ourselves two of our own accord, it's not like that automatically means we can make a living off of it. We've got our everyday livehoods to think about, after all. The time we spend with normal stuff like school, our jobs, and at home. I'm well aware of how important it is. A five-minute walk from Higashinaruhata Station, on the roof of an old beat up beat up apartment that was lazily annexed on, likely unlawful construction, and that's our house, in words. The base of operations of our everyday lives.
Hikari and Koichi arrived home after a long morning at college.
"We're home! Or so I say, but it's not like there's anyone to greet us," Koichi said sadly as he and his friend entered.
"Someday, there might be," Hikari tried to cheer him up as they took off their shoes and he closed the door.
The two guys made their way to the living room, only to find out that an unknown man was inside eating their food.
"Hey, I'm having this, you don't mind do you?" the stranger asked.
Hikari didn't say anything as he noticed the long scar that the man had on his face that was near his left eye.
'Do we know this guy?' he thought.
When Hikari looked at his friend, he noticed Koichi's face turned bright red of pure anger. Then Koichi sighed as he pulled out his phone.
"911, what's your emergency?" the dispatcher asked Koichi, which Hikari overheard.
"Hello... yes... umm... there's an old man. I've never met or seen before in my house, eating my lunch, drinking beer, watching TV and making himself at home," Koichi explained.
"Koichi, I think..." Hikari started, but then was interrupted.
The stranger pulled out his mask and put it on.
"Take it easy, it's me! Just me!" the stranger, now identified as Knuckleduster, revealed. "So now you know I'm not some suspicious character, right?"
"Yeah, uh... we don't know about that. You were suspicious from day one," Koichi remarked dryly
"How did you even get in here?" Hikari wondered.
"The front door was locked, wasn't it?" Koichi asked.
"I was able to get in through the window," Said Knuckleduster as the two boys notice the broken window.
"You broke our window to get in?" Hikari asked.
Koichi then proceeded to cover the whole with tape when he heard someone knocking at the front door.
Both he and Hikari went to the door to see who it is. Koichi opened it only to find two girls that he and Hikari have never met before.
One had light skin and messy pink hair. She wore a seifuku and large round glasses with the glare covering her eyes. The other had light skin and long cherry colored hair with pink streaks. She wore a purple hoodie, white cap that covered her eyes, blue jeans, and black sneakers.
'I think I've seen the girl with long hair before,' Hikari thought, remembering back to his job a few days ago.
"Excuse me, but who might you two be?" Koichi asked them.
"Why are you here?" Hikari was curious.
Without answering their questions, both girls walked past them and entered their house.
"Excuse me, but this is our house!" Koichi shouted as the girls made their way to the living room.
"Maybe we know them," Hikari suggested as they followed the girls.
In the living room, the boys saw the girls put down their bags and reached inside of them, grabbing masks and putting them on. After tying up their hair in pigtails and putting on some makeup, they revealed themselves to be no other than Pop Step and Petal Star.
"Ah... Pop." Koichi gasped.
"Petal?" Hikari gasped too.
"It's us, okay?! Jeez!" Pop Step was annoyed.
"Yeah. No need to get mad at us," Petal Star joined in.
"You could have told us who you two were when we opened the door," Hikari mentioned.
"And you know, you ordinary appearance is pretty..." Koichi is then cut off by Pop Step's angry glare.
"If you say 'plain', I'll kill you, got it?!" she replied.
"Wasn't today's patrol supposed to start tonight?" Koichi questioned.
"I left my day job, early, so I'm taking a break until night fall." Knuckleduster answered.
"So you want me to believe that you have, you know what," Koichi hinted at.
"A job?" Hikari guessed.
"Yeah that," Koichi nodded.
"Just shut up," Pop Step popped her head out from behind some curtains. "As for Petal Star and me, we've got a live performance today. We're getting changed, so you guys better not peek."
"When did those curtains get here?" Hikari just noticed.
Petal Star popped her head out from behind the curtains and was next to her idol friend. "Pop and I brought them here so we can have our own privacy and space. Also, everything behind the curtain is our territory!"
"Okay," Hikari accepted as Pop, Step threw out Koichi's jacket that was on their side of the penthouse.
"For the record, this is my house," Koichi said dryly.
"I'm going to stay back here because my shift starts in half an hour," Hikari told his friend.
"I'm going to work," Koichi told the others before grabbing his bag and walking out the house.
"So, go then," Pop Step stated, with her head still out of the curtains.
"See ya," Petal Star's head was next to her friend.
"I'll allow it," Knuckleduster said, looking away from the TV for a moment.
"I'll catch up with you after work," Hikari mentioned.
As soon as Koichi left, Hikari looked at Knuckleduster.
"Here's a spare key for you," Hikari took it out of his pocket. "In case you want to come in again."
"Keep your key, I don't need it," Knuckleduster assured the young boy as he went back to watching TV.
"I think you should. Koichi and I can't have you breaking the window again just to come inside," Hikari reasoned as he sat down and put the spare key on a table.
"Hey, Hikari. Could you lend us some towels?" Pop Step asked.
"To wipe sweat and all that," Petal Star joined in.
"There are some in the drawers near where you two are," he informed them. "If you want, you two can take a bath when you return."
"Bath? Ew, no way. What are you aiming for, you leech?" Pop Step was suspicious.
"You want to peek in on us or something?" Petal Star inquired.
"No, I don't want to do anything like that," Hikari assured them, but then got depressed. "It reminds me of what happened back then."
"Why are you all depressed all of a sudden?" Pop Step noticed.
"What happened back then?" Petal Star asked.
"It all started back in early April," Hikari began to reminisce aloud. "One of our classmates told Koichi and me there was a new penthouse opened near the city center station with only 45,000 yen a month. We felt lucky because it was pretty cheap and we thought it was gonna be awesome. Though, the 'penthouse' looked like it was falling apart and the building below seemed like it could be demolished at any moment."
"We did notice the beat up building below your house when we got here," Pop Step remembered.
"I thought it was strange you and your friend were living in a house above a place like that," Petal Star commented.
"But you know what they say 'home is where the heart is'. Koichi and I cleaned the whole penthouse and made it squeaky clean. Koichi suggested bringing some classmates over so we can make some friends, but I told him we should wait a bit and try to make the building below a bit more appealing. Though, when I worked the night shift, Koichi called me to say he invited some classmates over to our house, but they left immediately. That got me worried, and the next day of college proved to be true as everyone ran away from Koichi and me. We heard rumors that people think we were creepy weirdos and to stay away from us because we're dangerous. Our college debut was a total failure," he continued.
"So, as you can see, it was quite a traumatic experience for Koichi, and unfortunate for me. And yet everyone knows I'm the more approachable one." Hikari sighed sadly.
"Yeah, Koichi really screwed things up for both of you," Pop Step sweat-dropped.
"That kind of reputation is hard to shake off," Petal Star commented.
In the afternoon, Hikari was at his workplace the Pearlescent Cafe, working as a barista and wearing his apron and hat. With his coworkers, they served meals and drinks to a few customers and cleaned the tables and floor. Though, today was a slow day for some reason. With that, their boss let them out early.
Taking off his uniform, Hikari left the cafe with his backpack on and checked the time on his phone.
'It's still early in the afternoon. Maybe I can go see Pop and Petal perform,' he thought as he tried to find them.
Luckily, he heard their singing, found the two idols performing above a street with cherry blossom petals falling everywhere, and saw a large crowd gathered for them.
'And here they are,' Hikari thought, watching from afar.
YAAAY! ARE YOU READY EVERYONE?! Pop Step yelled as she and her friend shook hands with everyone.
Pop jumped to the fans, and Petal rode on her giant cherry blossom petal to reach them.
"OKAY! IT'S TIME FOR OUR NEXT SONG!" Petal Star announced, with one hand holding her mic and the other controlling the cherry blossoms.
While watching, Hikari noticed a short fan (Teruo Unagisawa) trying to reach the idols, but he got pushed to ground by another fan. Luckily, Teruo had help from two familiar looking fans: Ichimoku and the Jube.
'Those are the two guys from yesterday. I'm glad Pop and Petal told Koichi and me that they're good now and won't cause any trouble,' Hikari thought.
He saw the guys help the short fan up as they talked to him. Then, Ichimoku let out a giant laser beam, with his head aimed at the sky.
"BURSTING LOVE EXPLOSION! MAGNOPTIC BLASTEEEER!" Ichimoku screamed out.
When it stopped, Hikari was surprised by what he saw. Though the two idols were actually smiling.
"Wah! So pretty!" Pop Step commented.
"It sure is!" Petal Star agreed.
"Thank you for your passionate support!" both girls shouted.
'Well, at least that guy didn't use his Quirk to start a fight or something,' Hikari thought, sweat-dropping.
Suddenly, Hikari saw Teruo take out from his pocket a familiar looking syringe.
'Is that what I think it is?' he thought.
"Pop Step! Petal Star! Look out!" Hikari yelled to the idols.
It was too late as the short fan put the syringe on his neck, injected himself with the substance, and transformed into a giant, slimy eel.
"I'm gonna shake Pop and Petal's hands too!" Teruo yelled.
With his sudden appearance, he covered most of the audience in slime as he made his way to the idols.
Seeing the eel guy approach them, Pop Step and Petal Star screamed, "KYAAAHHH?!"
Then both girls immediately fled from the eel, with Pop jumping away and Petal riding her giant cherry blossom she controls.
With the crazy fan chasing the girls, Hikari was worried.
'Oh no! That is Trigger! I've got to save Pop and Petal,' he thought worriedly, going into an alleyway to change into his vigilante costume.
After Hikari finished, he went back to the main street and saw a path of slime.
'Well, at least I know where to go,' Helios thought, making a light hoverboard and riding on it.
As he started following the trail of slime, he noticed the two guys from before who were with the short fan.
"Hey, you two," Helios got their attention as they looked at him. "Do you guys know what's going on?"
"It's Halos!" Jube recognized him.
"I'm Helios," the vigilante correct him. "Can you tell me what happened here?"
"Sure can," Ichimoku responded.
Both guys explained to the vigilante that the short fan really wanted a handshake from both idols, but didn't get one.
Helios immediately called Petal Star on his phone to tell her what the fan wanted from her and Pop Step.
When he finished, Knuckleduster showed up to stop the now-Triggered Teruo. He and Helios followed the slime trail to find and stop the fan-turned-giant eel.
Meanwhile, Koichi finished his job and walked out the shop. He felt relieved that he did his job better this time, until he heard some screaming. He saw Pop Step and Petal Star come by, jumping and riding away, respectively, from the giant slimy eel guy.
"Pop?! Petal?!" Koichi said as he watched them flee from Teruo before he ran in the corner and changed into his vigilante outfit.
When the Crawler finished and came out, Helios and Knuckleduster met up with him and filled him in on what was going on.
After that, the trio managed to catch up with the girls and the giant eel guy.
"Hey, what's your problem! Our life performance is now ruined!" Pop Step yelled at the crazy fan who was running after her while she leapt repeatedly.
"All of our hard work for nothing!" Petal Star yelled complaining.
"HANDSHAKE," Teruo yelled.
"EEEEEK! SO GROSSSS!" Pop Step yelled as the crazy fan was still after her and her friend.
"This guy is relentless!" Petal Star shouted.
"Take this!" Helios shouted, with him making a giant light boomerang in his hands.
Both idols looked back to see Helios, Crawler, and Knuckleduster behind the eel guy.
"Koichi!" Pop Step grinned.
"Hikari!" Petal Star grinned too.
Helios threw it at the giant, slimy eel guy, hitting him and knocking him down to the ground. With Teruo not moving, Crawler jumped on his neck, attempting to keep him still.
Then Knuckleduster tried to punch the trapped eel, but his fist slid off the slimy body.
Terou's slime helped him wiggle out of the Koichi's grasp. Before the guys could stop him, Teruo easily slipped away as the Crawler, Helios, and Knuckleduster crashed into each other.
The three guys crashed into each other as they were slapped into some trash cans near an udon noodle store.
Teruo kept chasing after the idols as the guys rose up from the ground.
"That didn't go well," The Crawler complained.
"I know. How do we stop that eel?" Helios asked.
"Boys, I have an idea," Knuckleduster told them, looking at the noodle store.
Meanwhile, Pop Step and Petal Star were still running from the crazy fan. They decided to stop at a corner and hid in an alleyway to catch their breath.
As Teruo looked for them, the girls left the alleyway and made themselves noticed.
"Hey big boy!" Petal Star greeted him as she and her friend stood in the street.
"Pop Step! Petal Star!" the fan blushed.
"You're really are a passionate fan aren't you? You've warmed our hearts!" Pop Step stated as both girls held out a hand to the fan.
"So that's why... just this once. Would you like to have a private handshake? You know...just the three of us?" Petal Star asked as both girls tried to look cute.
Though on the inside, both girls were a little nervous and disgusted about shaking his slimy hands. Before when they hid, Petal Star got a call from Helios. He explained to the girls that the slimy eel guy just wants a handshake from both of them.
Pop Step and Petal have no choice but to do it if they want Teruo to stop chasing them.
The crazy fan then start blushing madly as he approached the idols, and shook their hands with love and passion.
While he was ecstatic, the girls were grossed out by the slime on their hands.
Suddenly, the slimy eel guy wrapped his long body around both girls, smiling and blushing at them.
"Then, next, can you two hug me?" he asked excitedly.
The idols were surprised, as their bodies were getting slimed.
"Kyah!" Pop Step screamed.
"Wait! Stop! Stop! Stop!" Petal Star yelled.
Though Teruo ignored their distress and plea as he was too ecstatic.
"Gimme a kiss!" the crazy fan said, opening his round mouth and showing his sharp teeth.
"Aaaaahhhhh!" the girls screamed worriedly.
Luckily, something white fell from the sky, covering the three of them, and they all coughed for a moment.
"What the?" Petal Star was confused.
She and Pop Step and looked up and saw Crawler, Helios, and Knuckleduster on a rooftop. Helios held out a bag of something aimed at the girls and the crazy fan.
"What is this?" Pop Step asked the guys.
"It's flour from the udon shop," Helios answered.
"Let the moisture from his mucus be absorbed by the flour. Drain all the liquid, and cook him up good! Sounds about right!" Knuckleduster said, cracking his knuckles.
When the guys got to the ground, Crawler and Knuckleduster used that opportunity to beat up the trapped fan for the trouble he caused.
Eventually, Teruo turned back into his normal self. They started searching his pockets and found a syringe, probably used for injecting himself with Trigger, which was another step.
"No leads this time either, eh? Well, the villains who undergo the "Trigger" transformation are usually completely naked after all. Their clothes get ripped to shreds. That's why we gotta beat 'em senseless before they can transform," said Knuckleduster.
Before they could get even more info, they heard police sirens coming their way.
Helios checked on the idols, who looked messy and terrible covered in slime and flour.
"Are you two okay?" he questioned.
"Not really," Pop Step looked miserable.
"I think we'll take that bath after all," Petal Star looked miserable too.
Immediately, the vigilantes disappeared.
At the penthouse, the five vigilantes were relaxing after cleaning themselves up.
The girls and Iwao (Knuckleduster) told Koichi and Hikari to get some things for them, like shampoo and beer, whenever they can.
Then the girls argued with Knuckleduster about walking with just his boxers on and to not smoke cigarettes inside the house because they don't want the smell on them.
Hikari and Koichi sweat-dropped as they watched the arguing.
'I hope this doesn't happen everyday,' Hikari thought.
Koichi sighed as he said, "I'm gonna go ahead and put the laundry out to dry."
"Okay," his friend nodded.
After Koichi left the room, Hikari just sighed, sat down on the living room floor, and checked something on his phone.
Eventually, the arguing stopped at last. The girls sat down and checked their phones too. Knuckleduster just watched some TV.
"Hey, Hikari," Saki (Petal Star) started as they looked at each other. "Thanks for the help today, with the crazy fan."
"Yeah, you and Koichi are getting a little better," Kazuho (Pop Step) commented, still looking at her phone.
"You're both welcome," Hikari grinned, going back to his phone.
As Petal went back to her phone too, Pop looked at her friend with a grin for a moment.
Koichi was now outside on the balcony, hanging the vigilante costumes to dry. While looking at the stars, he thought about his college situation. It wasn't what he and Hikari expected, but even so, it isn't so bad.
Then, all of the sudden, a rumble happened in his house as he face palmed.
"You stupid old geezer! I can't believe you've done this!" Kazuho complained.
"Koichi, Hikari, would you mind kicking this crazy little girl out from the top off the balcony?" Iwao asked.
Koichi then sighed as he tried to control his anger. He then walked back inside the penthouse.