Chapter 81: A Fashion Disaster
An alarm then blared and they looked to see an all to familiar box fall from the sky. It opened up to reveal a giant pink rose bud that bloomed and there was Raymond in the center. His usual robotic hands were replaced by rose buds and vines with thorns were running up his arm. "Plaza peasants, behold!" He said and the buds that were his hands bloomed into two large roses. "Stepfather made me some adjustments" he said dramatically and spiked grew from the roses and vines."Okay, whoever defeats Raymond gets to decide the team gimmick. Deal?" Ko bargained and the others nodded. They then burst out the doors and stood before Raymond. "Buzz of Raymond!" They said in unison. "Oh? Oh...my" he said and he began to laugh. "I'm sorry. Did I come at a bad time? Are you breaking up?" He asked in between laughs. "Huh? They're- They're our new costumes" Ko explained. "Costumes? The four of you together look like pretend gone wrong" he laughed. "Hey! Let me show you what these costumes are really made of!" Ko shouted and he lunged at Raymond, only to end up getting tangled in his cape and landing at Raymond's feet. "You don't want to underestimate my powerful, high-tech armor!" Rad declared as he activated the rockets that were in the wings. He ended up falling flat on his face and being dragged across the pavement. Enid went to attack but she dropped her weapons to scratch herself. "Just you wait until I get over there!" she said. She then held her face in pain when parts of the outfit got into her eyes."Okay" Nebula sighed out as plucked off one of the false orbs off the sash and threw it at Raymond. She then levitated Ko into the air and chased after Rad. She then launched Ko at Rad and the force from Ko's landing destroyed the rockets, just as Rad was brought to Raymond's feet. "Well, far be it from me to let you all go outside looking like that. Let me give you some pointers" he said and he fired spikes at the heroes. Nebula stomped a foot on the ground and made a wall of ice appear, causing the spikes to hit the wall instead of the heroes as they jumped into the air. "You look uncomfortable over there, let me scratch that itch" he said as he made a blade grow out of one of the roses and attacked Enid. "Enid!" Rad, Nebula, and Ko called in unison as she went falling to the ground. Nebula quickly caught her in a levitation beam and gently lowered her to the ground. "Now, I think you should lighten that load!" Raymond stated as he blasted Rad while Nebula was distracted with Enid. "And you, next time, get a cape that isn't made of polyester blend!" he said as he kicked Ko. "At least she has the right idea of keeping it sleek and form fitting" he said as he grabbed a hold of Nebula while she was levitating Rad and Ko to the ground. "I just love judging people" He said as he landed with Nebula was struggling to get out of his grasp. She kicked his leg and she rolled out of his reach as he was forced onto the ground. He then spotted Brandon and RMS and he walked away to taunt them.
"Way to go Rad! Your super-sleek armor was super useless!" Enid said. "Me!" Rad said with a mouthful of asphalt. He then spat it out ad pointed a finger at her. "Well what were you doin' out there Miss Scratchy-Butt No-Jutsu?" he accused. "If you both just listened to me, we could have bested Raymond using the power of-" Ko started as he hopped over as best as he could while he was tangled in his cape. "Capes do not give you the power of flight!" Enid yelled as she interrupted him. "Even if they did, I'm not wearing one" Rad said. "Well, how are we supposed to be a team if we can't even agree on what to wear?!" Ko asked angrily. "I don't even know if I wanna be on this team anymore" Rad said disgustedly. "Oh, I get it, so you're saying that you're quitting?" Enid asked. "Yes" Rad responded and Nebula clenched her fists.
"That's enough! We can be a team again by going back to normal! We had no problem being a team before all this costume drama! Ko, you clearly need a cape that is not that long and thick! Rad, lose the armor, it's clearly too heavy and you don't know how to operate it! Enid, go with something that's not itchy! And if you guys are going to keep fighting like this then I'm done! I'm out of here! When you guys decide that you're wrong and want to stop acting like infants, you know how to contact me" Nebula shouted. "So you're quitting too?" Enid scoffed and Nebula stormed off in a huff. "Then I quit too" Ko said. "Well then, I guess this is… goodbye. Let's go Babe! We can become the hero duo of Radula" Rad said as he flew after Nebula. She let out a yell and she took out her phone and began to text. Rad then landed and he followed her. She heard him following and she held out a hand. "Oh no you don't. Since you wanna act like a child, you are going home. I have somewhere I need to be" she said and she stormed off.
She then burst through the door of Cafe where Carla and the brown haired girl were waiting at a table. "Hey. So, they choose to act like children?" the brown haired girl commented as Nebula sat down in an empty chair. Barista Pup then came over with a mug of warm liquid and placed it near Nebula. "Hope you don't mind that we ordered you a drink" Carla said as she put a hand on Nebula's back. "Thanks girls" she said and she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "Thanks again for meeting me here on such short notice, especially since it's getting late" she said. "Of course! That's what friends are for! Besides, it gave me a good reason to leave the house. Prohyas wanted to watch a certain broccoli superhero marathon and I did not really want to watch with him, especially after last time" the brown haired girl said and she took a slow sip from her drink. "What happened?" Carla asked and the girl told them about how her boyfriend made it seem like they were going to have a romantic evening together, only to watch the latest episodes of 'Broccoli Punch' instead. "And the whole time I'm thinking, 'And I had Zange style my hair and I let her dress me up for this? It'll be romantic she said, you guys will have such a great time she says' and if it wasn't for Grup taking my place while I got a snack, I would have been bored out of my mind" she said and the other girls laughed. Nebula could already feel the world slipping away as she enjoyed the company of her friends. After they talked about their lives and told stories while having their drinks, they all said 'farewell' and went their separate ways.
The next day, Nebula was sleeping on the couch in the living room when Rad woke her up. To her surprise, he was in his old outfit that consisted of his work vest and pink leggings. "You're getting rid of the armor?" she asked as she let out a yawn and rubbed her face to wake up. Rad nodded and Nebula hugged him. "Good. Now let me get ready then we can go see Drupe" she said. She then kissed his cheek and went to get ready. Once she was dressed and ready, she and Rad went to see Drupe to get their old outfits back. "Come on, say it" she said as Rad drove. "You were right" he said and she smirked. They then pulled into the parking lot and after Rad parked, they got out and Drupe sent them to the back to put on their old outfits. Enid then showed up and got changed and moments later, Ko walked into the back.
"Enid? Nebula? Rad?" Ko said in shock as Enid was putting her gloves on, Rad was putting his last boot on, and Nebula was unsurprisingly on her phone. "What happened to your artistic integrity?" Ko asked slightly angry. "And why exactly are you here Ko?" Enid accused and Ko went silent. "Admit it, these new outfits were a bad idea" Nebula said as she put her phone in her pocket. The other heroes then sheepishly agreed. "But that means that we're back at square one! No gimmick, no team name, and our same old, boring costumes" Ko said. "But at least we're a team again" Nebula said as she put a hand on Rad and Enid's shoulders. "Gee, thanks Ko" Drupe said when she heard what he had said. "Oh! Sorry!" Ko apologized. "No offense taken. Listen, if I were you, I'd just keep kicking butt and saving the day, and let the rest form naturally. You guys make a great team and you just gotta let everyone else see it!" she responded. "Thanks Drupe" Enid said as they all realized that she was right. "Always happy to help! In return, could you go finish what you started with Raymond? He's still out there terrorizing potential customers" she said and the heroes rushed out of the store after Ko got back into his old costume.
"Hey Bolt for brains! Ready for a rematch?" Nebula taunted. "Bodega Brats! Sporting spandex now are we? How about some natural fibers?" he then had the vines encase his arm and he went to attack the heroes. They dodged it and he gasped. "How stylish! How flattering! Clean silhouettes! True perfection!" he said as the heroes attacked him and sent him flying into the ground. "Your sense of teamwork and willingness to compromise is too much!" he said and he vanished away with a cloud of rose petals. "Uhh… what just happened?" Nebula questioned. Dynamite Watkins then fell from the sky with her cameraman. "Incredible victory against that floral fiend! I see you're wearing the same matching outfits, but have you decided on a team name? My expectations are extremely high!" she questioned. They all looked at each other and smiled. "We are Ko, Rad, Nebula, and Enid! And we are heroes!" They all said in unison. "Hm… I… LOVE it!" Dynamite Watkins said and a crowd gathered around and began to cheer.