Leland was thankful that the next day was Saturday. He had a lot of things to do since he found out he now had super powers, thanks to that coin. As he was eating breakfast, Grandpa Lizard came downstairs. He was grumbling to himself as he walked into the kitchen.
"Of all the rotten things," he said. "Why do I even bother with this?"
"What's the matter, Grandpa?" Leland asked.
"Oh nothing. I just have to get down to the museum right away. Just got a call from security. There was a break in last night. Nothing for you to worry about. Most likely I'll be gone all day."
Leland nodded, and continued eating his cereal. He was thankful that his grandfather was going to be gone for most of the day. That would give him some time to work on a project he had in mind.
Elsewhere in Green Meadow, the Get Along Gang was walking around town, on their way to the baseball field for a ball game. They were also giving Gosalyn a hard time about the events in gym class the day before.
"I bet that's the last time you ever call everyone into the field when Leland's up at bat," Bingo said.
"Very funny," Gosalyn said. "I still don't understand how that happened."
"It was like Leland got super strength or something," Zipper said. "Did you see how hard he was throwing the ball whenever he fielded it?"
"It was pretty weird," Dotty said, with a nod. "Especially considering last time we had gym class, he either struck out or barely hit the ball out of the infield."
The rest of the Gang agreed, and continued walking to the ball field. As they were on their way, the bank alarm began to ring. The Gang stopped, and they saw three men wearing masks rush out of the bank carrying bags of money. Officer Growler came running down the street blowing his whistle.
"Stop thieves!" he shouted.
"Cool, a bank robbery!" Gosalyn shouted.
The robbers jumped into their getaway car, and sped off. Officer Growler made a run for his police car. The Get Along Gang just stood there, and watched. Officer Growler tried to start his car, but it wouldn't go. No matter how hard he tried, the car wouldn't start.
"Darn it, why does it always do this when I have to chase down a robber?" he asked.
"Need some help with your car, Officer Growler?" Montgomery asked.
"No, the mechanic I usually go to isn't too far," Officer Growler replied. "But those crooks are long gone."
"Wait a minute," Portia said, looking up in the sky for a moment. "Hey guys, look at that!"
"What is it, Portia?" Dotty asked as she and the others looked up.
"Looks kinda like a flying lizard," Woolma commented.
It definitely was a flying lizard, wearing a black long-sleeved T-shirt, black pants, black gloves, a belt that looked looked like it had been wound around the lizard's body about three times, brown boots (with the laces undone on one of them), a black mask (the cheap plastic kind that uses elastic to hold it in place), what looked like a bathroom towel for a cape, and some kind of coin hanging from a string around his neck. He flew in the direction of the crooks that robbed the bank. Officer Growler and the Get Along Gang ran off to see what was going to happen. They heard the screeching of tires and stopped in their tracks. What they saw shocked them. The flying lizard had landed, and he was holding the car up above his head. He dropped the car on the ground, and it landed with a loud CRASH! The three crooks crawled out of it, dazed beyond belief. They crawled over to Officer Growler.
"We surrender," one said. "We give up!"
"Wow," Bingo said. "I've never seen anything like that! Outside of a Super Croc comic book, that is."
"That was amazing," Woolma said, walking over to this strange masked lizard. "You must be really strong to have picked up a car like that."
"It wasn't so hard," the masked lizard said. "But I wouldn't recommend it for those who don't have super strength."
"Yeah, you should leave that to professional superheroes," Zipper said. "Who are you, anyway?"
"Just call me Super Lizard," the masked lizard said. "Gotta go."
And with that, Super Lizard took to the air, and flew off. The others just watched as he flew out of sight.
"He seemed awfully familiar to me," Montgomery replied.
"Forget it, Montgomery," Zipper said. "Let's go play some baseball."
Montgomery walked to the ball field with the rest of the gang, but he just couldn't forget it. He knew he had seen "Super Lizard" before, but he couldn't figure out where. However, the others couldn't seem to forget their encounter with Super Lizard, either.
"I've seen a lot of superheroes in comic books and cartoons," Zipper said. "But this is the first time I've ever seen one in real life!"
"Yeah," Gosalyn said. "Even if he was wearing a cheap Halloween mask and a bathroom towel for a cape. I've seen better costumes than that!"
"I'd just like to know who he is," Montgomery said.
"Forget it, Montgomery," Dotty said. "You know that super heroes keep their secret identities a secret."
"Right," Portia said with a nod. "Just look at Superman. Nobody knows that he's Clark Kent."
"And nobody knows that Al E. Gator is Super Croc," Bingo said.
Montgomery just shrugged. He knew he had seen Super Lizard somewhere before. It was driving him crazy.
Super Lizard, in the meantime, flew around, until he reached the swamp. Then he ducked behind a tree, and emerged, out of costume. Super Lizard's secret identity (as if your author needs to tell you) was none other than Leland Lizard. Leland was pleased that he had fooled the Get Along Gang. And stopped a bank robbery on top of all that.
"Boy, that was just like how it happened in issue one of Super Croc!" he shouted. "He stopped a bank robbery right in front of the townspeople he knew, and they couldn't figure out his secret identity!"
"What are you babbling about, Leland?" Catchum asked as he came over.
"Oh, hi, Catchum," Leland said, whirling around. He spun around so fast, his coin whacked him in the face. He had forgotten he was still wearing it around his neck. After the coin hit him, he grabbed it, yanked it off, and shoved it into his pocket.
"Uhh, what are you doing here?" he asked.
"I live here, stupid!" Catchum shouted.
"Oh yeah."
"What's the matter with you, anyway?"
"Well, I guess school's getting me down. If my grades don't shape up, my grandfather is going to send me to military school."
"That's terrible! If you go to military school, who am I gonna boss around? Of course, if you go to military school, it might give me a chance to find a sidekick that has more brains than you do."
Leland said nothing. He was used to this from Catchum. In any case, Catchum started to walk off.
"Come on, let's go do something," he said.
"Like what?" Leland asked, a little nervously.
"I don't know. Maybe torment the Get Along Gang or something."
"Uhh, maybe later. I've got . . . . some stuff to do."
"Like what?"
"Like . . . . . study! I've got to go study. I don't really want to go to military school. Or be sent back a grade. Gotta go."
Leland ran behind the tree, grabbed his Super Lizard costume, and ran off as fast as he could. Catchum watched him run off, rolled his eyes, and shook his head.
"He's completely lost it," he said. Then he sighed. "I need a new sidekick."
For the rest of the day, Leland flew around town, wearing his Super Lizard get up so no one would recognize him. He was having way too much fun with this to stop now! He passed the Get Along Gang playing around their caboose. Portia and Dotty were flying kites. Woolma was primping in her mirror. Gosalyn and the boys were throwing around a football.
"Hey Bingo, go long!" Gosalyn shouted, as she threw the ball as hard as she could.
"I got it! I got it!" Bingo shouted as he ran to catch it. He wasn't watching where he was going as he was running, and ran directly into Portia, knocking her to the ground.
"Whoa!" Portia shouted as she and Bingo fell. The string snapped on her kite, and it flew directly into a tree, getting caught in the branches.
"My kite!" she shouted.
"Sorry, Portia," Bingo said. "I guess I should have looked where I was going."
"We'll help you get your kite down, Portia," Montgomery said. "Come on, gang. We'll form a ladder."
Montgomery stood under the branch Portia's kite was caught in, and Zipper climbed on his shoulders. Bingo climbed on top of Zipper, Gosalyn on Bingo, Woolma on Gosalyn, Dotty on Woolma, and finally Portia on Gosalyn. The gang made one wobbly ladder. Everyone sort of wobbled around, trying to keep their footing. Portia reached up to grab the kite, but Montgomery lost his footing completely, and fell. As a result, everyone else fell. Portia grabbed the tree branch, and was stuck.
"Hey guys, I'm stuck!" she shouted.
"Don't let go, Portia!" Montgomery called out. "We'll get you down!"
"Hopefully not by the ladder method," Gosalyn commented.
The branch Portia was hanging onto was starting to break. As luck would have it, Leland saw the whole thing happening.
"Wow, this is just like in Super Croc number seven!" he shouted. "The first time Super Croc met Louisa Lamour, when she accidentally fell from the window ledge trying to report a news story!"
Leland swooped down, just as the branch Portia was hanging on completely broke. The rest of the gang was in search for a ladder. He caught Portia in mid air and then flew her to the ground.
"Hey, it's Super Lizard again!" Portia shouted. "Thanks!"
"No problem," Leland said. "That's what us super heroes are for."
"Are you all right, Portia?" Montgomery asked as he and the rest of the gang ran over.
"Yeah, thanks to Super Lizard," Portia said.
"Oh, Super Lizard, you're a real hero!" Woolma swooned.
"Oh brother," Gosalyn groaned, rolling her eyes.
"Well, I'd better get going," Leland said. He took a jump, and flew into the air, and flew off. The gang watched him go.
"He may be a superhero," Montgomery said. "But there's something very familiar about that Super Lizard."
"Yeah, he kinda reminds me of Catchum's drippy sidekick Leland," Gosalyn said, then she burst out laughing. "Hey, can you just imagine him as a superhero?"
The rest of the gang began cracking up at the thought of it, except Montgomery. He was deep in thought about what Gosalyn just said.
"Maybe I'll have a talk with Leland," he said to himself. The rest of the gang didn't hear him. They were too busy laughing.
A little while later, Montgomery went to Leland's house and knocked on the door. Leland answered it, and was surprised to see Montgomery there.
"Uh, hi, Montgomery," he said. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to ask you something," Montgomery said. "Some really strange things have been happening around here lately. Especially with you."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, a couple of weeks ago, Miss Deering gave us a test, and from what I remember, you failed pretty badly, right?"
"Well . . . . yeah . . . ."
"And the pop quiz the other day, you got a perfect score. Not to mention a home run in gym class, and you usually strike out. And you were throwing harder as well."
"Oh, well, I just got lucky, that's all. I mean, everybody has a lucky day, don't they?"
"I guess you're right. Hey, listen, what do you know about Super Lizard?"
Leland choked just then. He just stood there, staring at Montgomery, silent. Montgomery looked at him strangely. He could see Leland starting to sweat a little.
"Leland, are you okay?" he asked.
"Y-yeah," Leland said, stammering a little. "I'm okay. Uhh, yeah, I saw Super Lizard when he stopped those three bank robbers."
"Really? The entire gang was there, and we didn't see you there?"
"Oh, I was there, trust me."
"Yeah. Well, I was just wondering. You know, this Super Lizard does remind me of somebody. Gosalyn said that he kind of looked like you. Actually, you do kind of look like Super Lizard, if you were wearing a mask and a bathroom towel as a cape, like Super Lizard was. But that's kind of silly, isn't it?"
Leland didn't say anything. He just started to look a little nervous. Montgomery had figured it out. But Leland wasn't sure if he wanted to say anything about it. Luckily, he didn't have to. Grandpa Lizard's car was starting to pull up into the driveway.
"Uh, Montgomery, you've got to go," Leland said. "My grandfather's coming, and he's not too crazy about me having people over when he's not home."
"Oh sure," Montgomery said. "I guess I'll see you later, Leland."
Montgomery left just as Grandpa Lizard was getting out of his car and coming up the walk.
"Who was that?" he asked. "Friend of yours?"
"That was Montgomery Moose," Leland said. "He's not really a friend, though. So, how did everything go at the museum?"
Grandpa Lizard came into the house, looking pretty mad. He grumbled under his breath as he walked into the kitchen.
"That bad?" Leland asked.
"The worst," Grandpa Lizard said. "Some crooks made off with a good chunk of the coin collection. They got most of the rare ones. That included the Krypton coin."
"Krypton coin? Which one was that?"
"It was part of the new shipment the other day. The one where a few coins went missing. It's kind of a weird one. Solid gold, hole punched in the middle of it. Said to give whoever had it in their possession super powers. Like super strength, super speed, and super brains, too. Now ain't that the most ridiculous thing you ever heard in your entire life, Leland?"
"Yeah, ridiculous."
Leland looked a little pale when he heard the description of the coin. It was the exact same coin he had found the day before. Only he didn't know at the time the coin had been stolen. He thought that if he told his grandfather he had it, Grandpa Lizard might think he stole it himself to use it to do better in school. Grandpa Lizard looked over at him, and saw the nervous look on his face.
"Well, what's the matter, boy?" he asked. "You look a little pale there."
"Uhhh, it's nothing, Grandpa," Leland said, quickly. "Uhhh, I think I'll go . . . . do my homework!"
"You said you finished it last night."
"Umm, uhhh . . . . . extra credit!"
And with that, Leland raced up the stairs and into his room, shutting the door behind him. He leaned against it, and began thinking about what to do.
"What am I going to do?" he asked. "I can't keep the coin. But if I do, I'll get into big trouble. I might get into even bigger trouble if I give the coin back to Grandpa."
As Leland was contemplating his dilemma, another dilemma was being contemplated. A bunch of rats were gathered in an abandoned warehouse in the waterfront. Their names were Rocky, Riley, and Ray. They were the ones who broke into the museum that Thursday night, and stolen the coin collection.
"I can't believe we lost the most valuable coin in the collection!" Rocky shouted.
"What I can't believe we didn't notice it until right now," Riley groaned. "What are we going to do when the boss finds out we lost the Krypton coin?"
"We'd better find it or else the boss'll kill us!"
"Yeah, but the question is how are we gonna find it?"
The two rats sat there, wondering what in the world they were going to do. Ray was sitting nearby, reading through the newspaper, not really helping out.
"Hey, guys, we made the paper!" he shouted. "Check this out. Green Meadow Museum robbed of priceless coin collection! We're famous!"
"If we don't find that Krypton coin, we're gonna be dead, you idiot!" Rocky yelled at his comrade. He yanked the newspaper out of his hands, rolled it up, and swatted him in the head with it about five times. Riley then noticed something in the paper, and grabbed it.
"Wait a minute!" he shouted. "In this picture here. That's the Krypton coin!"
"Let me see that," Rocky said, taking the paper. He began to read the article. "New superhero in town . . . . . called Super Lizard . . . . blah, blah blah . . . . some superhero. He looks like a kid wearing a cheap Halloween mask and a bathroom towel for a cape. But kid or not, that's the Krypton coin, all right."
"Now all we have to do is find out who this Super Lizard kid is," Riley said. "And then get that coin before the boss finds out we lost it!"
The other two rats nodded. They certainly didn't want their boss finding out they lost the most valuable coin.
Elsewhere, Gosalyn returned home to find her father, Drake, sitting on the couch, reading the newspaper.
"Hi, Dad!" she called out. "There was a bank robbery downtown today. Where were you? Or rather, where was Darkwing Duck?"
"I told you before, I've given up crime fighting," Drake said.
"It won't last," Gosalyn said. "Anyway, Green Meadow may not even need Darkwing Duck, anyway."
"What makes you say that?"
"There was this other superhero who stopped the robbery. And he had real superpowers. He lifted the crooks car up and threw it down, and he can fly, too. And he's just a kid!"
"Well . . . . . I've given up crime fighting, so Green Meadow is welcome to him."
"Okay, Dad. But if it makes you feel better, his outfit is dumber than your Darkwing outfit."
"Hey! My Darkwing outfit is not dumb!"
Gosalyn just laughed, and ran off. Drake just went back to his newspaper. He saw the article that mentioned the new superhero Gosalyn was talking about.
"Super Lizard," he said. "Hmm. Just some kid wearing a cheap Halloween mask and a bathroom towel for a cape. Gos was right. That is dumber than my Darkwing outfit!