Chapter 80: Ko, Rad, Nebula, and Enid!
The next day, Ko, Rad, Nebula, and Enid got called into battle against Vormulax. "You're going down Vormulax!" Ko said as he got ready to attack while Vormulax laughed malevolently. He then launched a powerfist and before she could be sent flying, Rad used his finger beam to catch her. "Got her! You know what to do girls" Rad said. Enid and Nebula then jumped into the air and froze Vormulax. Nebula then made a skateboard out of ice as the frozen villainess fell. She landed on the skateboard and rolled off the edge of the cliff, down and off a ramp that Nebula formed out of ice, and Enid sent a flaming kick as she was in the air. As she fell to the ground, it began to snow.
The heroes congratulated each other as they got into Rad's van. "Nice thinking with the skateboard and ramp back there babe" Rad complimented. "Yeah, you seem to be getting better at making things that will actually work out of ice" Enid commented. "Thanks guys. But you guys were great too!" Nebula said. "Yeah! We were all amazing!" Ko said excitedly and Nebula laughed when he started to bounce up and down in his seat. "We make such a good team y'all! It's like we're best friends or something" Rad said as he landed in the parking lot of the bodega. "Maybe cause we are. I mean after all that we've been through, why wouldn't we be?" Nebula asked as they all got out of the van. They then gasped when they saw the large crowd that was cheering for them and chanting " Ko! Rad! Nebula! Enid!" and Nebula's jaw dropped when she saw just how large the crowd was. "Wow, there's more people welcoming us back than usual!" Ko said in awe as they all waved to the crowd.
"Am I doing this right?" Nebula whispered to Rad as she was waving awkwardly. Rad threw an arm around her as he kept waving to the crowd. "Not quite, put some more pep in it! You look like you don't want to be here" he commented. Nebula watched how Rad was and she then copied his actions and the crowd cheered oven more. "There ya go! See? That's more like it!" Rad praised.
A helicopter then flew in and Dynamite Watkins came out with her cameraman on a rope. "Here they are! The new team heroes that have been helping people all over. As you can tell from the crowd, everyone just loves them! We've heard about your heroic feats keeping Lord Boxman and Professor Venomous at bay, protecting the plaza from destruction, and now successfully returning from yet another top secret mission!" Dynamite Watkins announced excitedly. I think we're all dying to hear so we can shout it loud and proud after your next victory! What do you call yourselves?" she asked. "We are… Ko, Rad, Nebula, and Enid?" Ko answered unsurely. "Huh, doesn't quite roll off the tongue. Every real hero team needs a great name. Just think of Hue Troop, P.O.I.N.T, and who could forget about the legendary villain team The Cactus Crew? So? What's your team name?" Dynamite Watkins asked. "Uhhh, well" Ko started. "It's a secret for now!" Rad said. He then threw Nebula over his shoulder and levitated Ko and Enid. "Ch-check back with us tomorrow 'cause our team name's gonna kick your high heels right off!" he said as he brought them into 'Gar's Hero Supply and Bodega' and the crowd stared at them in confusion.
He then let out a sigh of relief as he put Nebula on the ground and released his friends from his levitation beam in a back room. "Rad, why did you tell her that?" Enid asked. "I'm sorry, I panicked!" he responded. "At least it was an answer and it bought us some time for us to decide on something" Nebula said. "But how are we going to set ourselves apart from a whole world of hero teams?" he asked. "Yeah but we never needed a team name or anything before" Enid pointed out. "Guys, these are the big leagues and it's time for us to take ourselves seriously! We just need to think of what other teams have that we don't" Ko said. "Besides a team name?" Nebula commented. "I got it!" Ko announced after a while of them all thinking. "Hero teams don't just have a cool name, they have really cool costumes!" Ko said. "Costumes?" Rad, Nebula, and Enid asked in unison. "But we just got these new costumes from Drupe" Rad mentioned. "Right! But our costumes don't have a gimmick! Hue Troop are all different colors, The Cactus Crew are all well, they're all cactuses, and P.O.I.N.T is um…" Ko trailed off. "At P.O.I.N.T no one's costume matches. Their costumes are all based on their powers and personality" Nebula said nonchalantly. "What I'm trying to say is, if we have a gimmick, then we can make that our name" Ko said.
"Good point. And our team definitely has some of the key roles for a team. We have Rad as the muscle and the pilot, like Foxtail, Enid is our spy, Ko, you're the motivator, Dendy is out tech and weapons expert, Mr. Gar is obviously the boss, and I'm not sure what I would be. Maybe we can incorporate our roles into out new costumes. But we would need to find a way to make our costumes blend in with each other's" Nebula suggested.
"A costume gimmick huh? I love it! What's our gimmick guys?" Enid asked and Nebula put a hand on her chin in thought. "You guys thought of one right?" Rad asked as they remained silent. "Welp, I guess we all know what we must do now" Nebula said. She then brought them all to Drupe's fashion boutique 'Strawbaby Couture' and they saw Drupe working on an armor like outfit that was on a yellowish-tan humanoid dog.
"So, uh, Drupe, you made us these new costumes a-and they're great but…" Ko trailed off. "Thanks dudes. I'm glad that they didn't give you any trouble" Drupe said. The humanoid dog barked and Drupe let out a laugh. "You're welcome Dogmun" she said and he walked off. "So, if you guys like the outfits then what's up?" Drupe asked. "Well, there is one problem. We were actually hoping you could get something more charismatic and identifiable" Enid said. "Yeah! Like they're stylish, flattering, and don't mess with out silhouettes, but what's our gimmick?" Rad asked. "A gimmick? Um, what did you have in mind?" Drupe asked. "We uh...we don't really know" Ko responded with a nervous chuckle. "That's kinda why we came to you" Nebula said sheepishly as she rubbed her arm. "Hmm, well, I like to think of my personal brand err, gimmick as something aspirational! Like, what is the thing that I want people to look at and immediately think of Drupe? Try something new, who knows, you might like it" she suggested. The heroes then went to go try on different costumes. 'Hey Nebula, are you finding everything okay?" Drupe asked
"Yeah, I'm just thinking about what I could do for a costume. The thing is, what role would I be? I'm no medic and we have Dendy as a tech expert. I guess I could be the expert since I was created knowing everything that you need to be a hero as well as every hero move known... Oh! Maybe I could be the hot head, I do tend to lose my cool a lot! But the outfit should be form fitting so I doesn't mess with my figure or get in my way. It should also be comfortable. So basically sleek and chique" Nebula responded. "I think I have something that might work" Drupe said and she lead Nebula to a changing room. "Stay here, I'll go get it" she said and she went off to find the outfit she was thinking of. Once she finally found it,she slid it into the changing room to the other girl and she then heard the shuffling of clothes.
"Well, what do you think?" she asked and Nebula stepped out in a dark blue bodysuit with dark gloves, boots, and a sash that had orbs on it. "Those orbs are for decoration to show that you can put objects on the sash, I hope you don't mind that I modeled them after yours from when P.O.I.N.T took over the plaza" Drupe said. "Nah, it fine. This outfit is awesome! It's perfect! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Nebula said excitedly and she surprised the fashionista by giving her a large hug. Drupe was in shock for a moment and when she realized what was happening, she hugged the girl back and then took her to the cash register where she bought the new outfit. "Thanks again Drupe! I can't wait to see what the others choose!" she said and she walked off to find the others "Oooh! Maybe Rad chose something that will show off his muscles since he takes a lot of pride in them" she said dreamily as she imagined Rad in something similar to Laserblast's outfit.
"Hey guys! So, what did you find?" she asked when found them. "Capes!" Ko said happily as he was wearing a green cape that was a bit long for him. "Barbarians!" Enid announced as she was in a barbarian outfit. "Robo armor...stuff" Rad said as he was adorned in a gold and silver armor with a giant pair of gold wings. "I went with sleek and chique" Nebula said nonchalantly.
"Come on guys! Could we have picked costumes that were more different?" Ko asked. "Just following my dreams Ko" Rad said disappointedly. "Yeah you guys are really gonna have to convince me about those" Enid said.
"Capes are great because they're flowy and they help you fly! See?" Ko asked as he jumped into the air and flapped his arms to stay in the air. "Ko, I hate to burst your bubble, but long capes like that will only get in your way. If you're gonna have a cape, at least have one that isn't longer than your body" Nebula said as she levitated Ko to the ground. "Yeah, take it from me, no they don't! Robo armor is super strong" Rad said and Nebula looked at him in shock. "You wore a cape?" She asked. "And super heavy by the looks of it" Nebula commented. "It's also sleek and shiny" he said as he showed off his armor. "Uh barbarian outfits are of the Earth and help you get in touch with your inner fighting spirit" Enid said and the boys looked to Nebula for her input. "That outfit does look cool and those are really cool weapons. But it also looks kinda itchy" she said as she felt the fabric of Enid's outfit and she smirked at the girl's input. "That's bogus!" Rad commented. "It's not bogus" Enid said as she argued with Ko and Rad. "I choose sleek and chique because it's form fitting, comfortable, and it doesn't mess with my figure or get in my way" Nebula said and she let out a sigh when she realized that they weren't listening to her.