Weeks had passed and Eric was still depressed and full of self loathing. He would sit at a table at the playground, sulking all throughout break.
Dennis felt sorry for him and decided to talk to him.
"Hey, Eric," he greeted.
"Come to menace me?" asked Eric.
"No, I came to tell you that I'm sorry that you lost your town," said Dennis.
Eric just looked at him.
"Go away," he said.
"Look, my friends and I are going to hang out in my tree house," said Dennis. "You're welcome to come if you like."
"Yeah and as soon as I arrive through the door, a bucket of custard is going to drop on my head," replied Eric. "Or trip wire that causes a fan to turn on and blow feathers all over me. Leave me alone!"
Dennis stood there defeated.
"Okay, just saying."
He sadly walked away.
Just then the Crow flew up to Eric.
"Look, you can go if you want," he told him. "I'll keep an eye on you and warn you of any traps."
Eric looked at him.
"Look, you have fought many villains and have fallen into traps dangerous that what Dennis could do," said Crow.
Eric thought about this.
Later after school, Eric went to Dennis' tree house. He climbed up the ladder with Crow sitting on his shoulder. Once Eric got to the trap and arrived through the door, he was impressed.
Inside the treehouse was like a kids' paradise. There was a TV with a Games Station console attached to it, a snooker table, arcade machines, a book shelf full of comics and a table full of snacks and junk food.
Dennis, Gansher, Minnie, the Bash Street Kids, Pie-Face, Curly, Roger, Ivy, Beryl, Dinah-Mo, Molly, Sneaker, Percy and Les were all there.
"Eric, so glad you can make it," said Dennis as he got off his bean bag and ran over to him.
"This place is amazing," said Eric.
"And the part is….." said Dennis as he pointed at a sign.
It said "NO SOFTIES ALLOWED!"
"I like your crow, he looks cool," said Dennis.
"Oh thanks, that's my trusty sidekick," said Eric.
As Dennis brought him over to join the others, Minnie blushed. Ever since Eric moved to Bash Street School, she had developed a crush on. He sat right beside him and blushed.
"Oh hi, Eric," she greeted nervously.
"So, let's play 'Taekwondo Hamsters'," said Dennis.
'Taekwondo Hamsters was the hottest video game out right now. It was based on a comic book, that was made into a TV series, it was made into a successful video game and now it'll be made into a Hollywood feature film, produced by Micheal Ray.
"It's going to be terrible," said Roger. "Have you seen the designs of the hamsters?"
"Why can't Hollywood ever get it right," sighed Curly.
"They never did, they never will," said Dennis.
Eric was quite good at the game, and he even played snooker, the pinball machines and read comics.
Not being Bananaman and saving the world all the time meant that he could have fun and be a kid.
After a couple of hours, Minnie plucked up the courage to ask Eric on a date.
"Er, Eric, if you're not doing anything on….y'know….Saturday….would you…?"
She couldn't get the words out and Dennis burst out laughing.
"Minnie fancies Eric!" he teased her in sing song.
"I do not!" snapped Minnie.
"Minnie Fancies Eric! Minnie fancies Eric! Minnie Fancies Eric!" Dennis teased her again.
Minnie was angry and picked up a tomato from the food table and chucked it at Dennis' face.
SPLAT!
Dennis was angry and chucked a custard pie at her.
SPLAT!
"FOOD FIGHT!" cried Curly.
And all of the kids began to chuck food at each other.
Which upset Fatty because they were chucking his food.
"No, not my stuff!"
Pie-face was also upset because kids were chucking his pies.
Eric decided to join the fun. As he chucked some food, he had memories of fighting the villains over the years.
Take that, Doctor Gloom! He thought. "And this, General Blight! And this, Weather Man! Appleman, I'll turn you into juice!"
He was having fun picking up food and chucking them all over the place. But then he picked up a banana…
And just stared at it.
And stared at it.
He was upset.
Then he shook his head and continued the food fight.
Just then, Dennis pointed a water pistol at the back of Eric's head.
"Think fast."
Just then, Crow flew above Dennis snatched the pistol and flew over to Eric.
Crow dropped the pistol into Eric's hand and he sprayed water all over the front of Dennis' shorts.
Everyone stopped chucking food at each other and looked at Dennis.
"HA HA! DENNIS WET HIMSELF!" laughed Dinah-Mo.
Everyone laughed at Dennis.
At first Dennis was angry, but then he admired Eric for what he did. So he just smiled at him.
The food fight was over and all the kids wanted to go home. But there was a huge problem.
The kids and the whole interior of the tree house was filthy.
"Oh RASHER!" Dennis called.
Dennis' pig, Rasher got off his basket and started to lick the whole place clean like crazy. He also licked all the kids.
The kids and the tree house were now spotless. Rasher enjoyed that.
As all the kids left the treehouse, Eric noticed something.
"What's that on the floor?"
"Oh it's my Bananaman poster that fell on the floor," said Dennis.
As Dennis put it back up, Eric just stared at it. He was upset again.
"Are you okay?" asked Dennis.
"Yeah…...erm…," began Eric. "He didn't save my town."
Dennis looked at him.
"Eric, he saved all of you. It could be worse, you could've been in the town when it blew up. Listen, you're welcome to come here anytime you want. Okay?"
"Sure," said Eric, cheering up a bit. "Thank you for letting me in your treehouse, it is brilliant."
"You're welcome," said Dennis.
As Eric arrived home, he went into his bedroom and just laid on the bed.
He had a craving, a desire to do something. But should he do it?
Should he tell his new friends that he is Bananaman?
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A few more weeks had passed. All over the news and social media, the big question on everyone's lips was this:
"Where is Bananaman?"
All the kids at school were talking about it.
"I miss him," said Danny.
"He was cool," said Plug.
"I miss him too," said Smiffy.
"You don't know who we're talking about?" said Sidney.
Smiffy thought for a moment.
"Lord Snooty?" he answered.
Minnie was also missing him.
"He was my celebrity crush," she sighed.
"Even better than the Chrises?" asked Beryl.
"If a movie were to be made of Bananaman, Hemsworth should play him," sighed Minnie.
"Might be typecasting though," said Sneaker, as he pulled out a notepad and began to write notes. "Hmmm, I should write and produce a Bananaman movie. Sounds like a lot of dough. It doesn't have to be good, just make a lot of money. Maybe I should get Paul Rudd to co-write and produce…."
Eric couldn't take it anymore.
"Dennis, bring everyone into the treehouse later, I have a surprise for everyone."
Later after school, everyone went into Dennis' treehouse.
Eric stood in front of them holding a banana.
"Are you going to do a magic trick with a banana?" asked Toots.
"Something like that," answered Eric as he peeled the banana and ate it.
Just then, Eric began to transform into Bananaman!
The kids' mouths all dropped open in surprise. Except Smiffy, who had no idea what was going on.
Crow smiled. Bananaman was back.
"Eric, YOU'RE Bananaman?" asked Dennis,
"Yes," sighed Bananaman.
All the kids stared at him…...and then…..
"MY NEW BEST FRIEND IS BANANAMAN!" Dennis cried with joy.
All the kids all exclaimed.
"But Bananaman, where did you go?" asked Les.
Bananaman sighed.
"After I failed to save Dandy Town, I became depressed," he explained. His eyes filled up with tears. He felt really bad about what happened. "I thought the world would be better without Bananaman. So I declared that I would be Bananaman no more…."
He tried really hard not to cry.
"I am….I am not a hero….I'm sorry…..," he wept.
Dennis walked over to Bananaman and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"You can't save the world all the time," he said. "Besides, there was only one of you. If those four villains try to blow up Beanotown, you can count on us. I have my menacing skills….."
"My Minxing skills," said Minnie.
"My dodging," said Roger.
"My stunt skills," said Beryl.
"My disguises," said Les.
"My etiquette," said Smiffy.
Everyone just looked at him.
"Look bottom line: We could team up with you and use our skills when evil comes," said Dennis.
Bananaman was touched.
"Thank you Dennis," he said as he wiped the tears away. "You may be a menace, but deep down, you have a heart."
"There are people worse than me," said Dennis. "Politicians, movie producers, Katie Hopkins, Piers Morgan….. The list goes on."
Minnie was now more attracted to Eric/ Bananaman than ever.
She secretly had done drawings of her and Eric together in her room.
When everyone went home, Eric felt great. The weight was lifted off his shoulders.
That night he had a dream.
He had met Bananaman again.
They both looked at each other.
"I'm sorry," Eric said with his voice shaking.
Then Bananaman opened his arms and gave Eric a big hug.
"Welcome back, my friend," Bananaman wept for joy.
Eric did too.
Eric was now back as Bananaman.
Better yet, he had an army of friends with many talents to fight evil when the time came.
And lucky for him, it would come sooner than he thought.
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At the Maximum Security Prison, Doctor Gloom, General Blight, Appleman and the Weather Man hadn't heard any activity from Bananaman.
"The idiot must have quit being a hero for good," said Gloom. "Which means we can take over the world and he can't stop us. Gentlemen, it is time to bust out of prison. Appleman, if you please."
Appleman's pushed the stem down in his head. He had sent a message.
The message was sent to the Mole.
That night, the whole prison began to shake. The guards wondered if it was an earthquake.
A massive crash came from Doctor Gloom, General Blight, Appleman and the Weather Man's cell.
A massive drill burst from the cell floor. It was the vehicle of The Mole. The cell door flew open and the guards had their clubs at the ready.
"Doctor Gloom and company are escaping!" cried a guard.
"Yes, we had a lovely time here," said General Blight. "Food was nice."
The Mole handed Appleman an Apple bomb, and the Bad Apple himself chucked it at the guards. Smoke came out and the guards coughed and spluttered.
Once the smoke cleared, the villains had gone.
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Good Morning Beanotown had a news update about the breakout. Fiona the Newscaster got a job at GMB, by the way.
Whilst she was talking, there was static.
It was our five villains on the TV.
"Hello, Beanotown. Hello, Bananaman, where you may be," greeted Doctor Gloom.
Eric watched the TV with anger.
"We have blown up Dandytown, but Beanotown will be next in our list," said General Blight.
The Colonel, Dennis' neighbour was watching.
"General Blight!" he said with rage. They met at the army, and the Colonel stopped his evil plan.
"Tonight Bananaman," explained Gloom on the TV. "Meet us at the abandoned Toffee factory at 9 O'Clock. You know what's coming."
The villains vanished and it was back to Good Morning Beanotown.
Eric was very angry.
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He and Dennis called a meeting at the treehouse. All the kids were there.
"Friends, I need your menacing, minxing, dodging, gnashing, and whatever skills you have to defeat Doctor Gloom and his minions!"
"Yeah!" The kids cried in agreement.
"Who is with me?" asked Eric.
Everyone put their hands up. But then a voice could be heard.
"Count us in too!"
The kids looked out of the door of the treehouse, and saw the Colonel, Desperate Dan, Chief O'Reily, Winker Watson and his friends, Walter, Cuthbert, and all of the adults, including the parents of Dennis, Minnie, Ivy, Roger and Eric.
"I have met General Blight at the army, and he truly was a blighter," said the Colonel. "I will do whatever it takes to stop him."
"I need to send a message to Bananaman," said Chief O'Reily.
"Bananaman is right here," said Smiffy.
The other kids looked at him.
"SHUT UP, SMIFFY!"
"He's loopy," said Danny.
"No, it's true," said Pie-Face. "If Eric eats a banana, he….."
Dennis kicked him in the leg.
Chief O'Reilly began to call Bananaman on his phone. Just then, Eric's phone started ringing.
Everyone looked at Eric.
"Why is your phone ringing?" asked the Chief.
Eric sighed.
"Pie-Face and Smiffy are right."
The adults all looked at Eric confused.
Dennis handed him a banana. Eric peeled it and ate it.
Then Eric turned into Bananaman.
The adults were stunned.
"All this time, Bananaman was a 10 year old kid?" asked the Chief.
Bananaman's eyes began to fill up.
He was done for.
Eric's mother climbed up the ladder and got into the treehouse.
She looked at her son who was a superhero.
She had tears of joy, and then smiled.
"My son is a hero."
She then gave her son a big hug.
Everybody all went "Awww" and wiped away a few tears.
"Mum, a superhero had to keep his identity a secret," said Bananaman. "To protect his loved ones."
"Your father would be so proud," said his mum. "By the way, how did you get your powers?"
"There will be time to explain later," said Bananaman. "Right now, it's 4.10, we have to get ready by 9.00 and stop Doctor Gloom and his gang."
"Okay, everyone evacuate Beanotown!" ordered the Chief.
But no-one said anything.
"Everybody, do you want to get blown up?" asked the Chief.
"I'd rather go down with the ship," said the Colonel.
"Me too," said Desperate Dan. "I lost one town, I will not lose another."
Bananaman looked at the Beano and Dandy folk working together.
"We need to train if we're going to fight the villains," he said.