Cooking Up Disaster

**Cooking Up Disaster** is the thirty-fourth Season 1 episode of Leeko: The Beginning trilogy, and the thirty-fourth episode overall. It is also the last episode of Season 1.

## Summary

The real Mr. Eggward visits and Leeko makes “popcorn” out of Leo’s monster, Cobbler.

## Characters

### Primary

* Leeko
* Chef Peppermint
* Milly
* Manny
* King Leonardo
* Tommy
* Mr. Eggward

### Secondary

* Beatrice (*no dialogue*)
* Chief Gordy (*no dialogue*)
* Cobbler (*debut*)
* Daisy (*no dialogue*)
* Felix (*no dialogue*)
* Gamba (*no dialogue*)
* Gene
* Hover
* Lady Chanter
* Mayor Bay Brittleton
* Sir Chanter
* Snowdrop
* Whitehead (*no dialogue*)
* Viruses (*no dialogue*)
* Various unnamed Puffy villagers

## Episode summary

The episode begins in the countryside outside Puffy Town, where Milly, Manny, and Leeko are returning from gathering vegetables. While Leeko is briefly distracted, he runs into Mr. Eggward, who asks him directions to Peppermint's Table. Leeko is frightened for a moment, as he remembers the events of A Taste-Off!, but regardless points Eggward into town, and the chef departs. Milly and Manny regroup with Leeko and see Eggward departing, mistaking him for Poppy Corn, but they do not stop him from reaching Chef Peppermint's restaurant. Once Eggward arrives, Peppermint confuses him for the monster as well and tries to attack him as Leeko and his friends join in. After a brief scuffle and a brief recap from Milly of the events of the episode "A Taste-Off!", Eggward confirms he is the real chef by pulling out his famous chef's knife. Once things calm down, Eggward explains that he has come to evaluate his former student Peppermint's progress as a chef by forcing Peppermint to prepare every meal he has on offer for a taste test. As Eggward is served each meal, he tries only a small sample and lets Leeko dispose of the rest. Having been served several dozen meals (and leaving Leeko intensely satisfied), Eggward judges his student to be "lousy", and closes his restaurant down until such a time that Peppermint can earn it back.

A short time later at Castle Leonardo, Tommy enters the throne room to tell King Leonardo that the famous Mr. Eggward has visited Usapia, which causes the king to rejoice over the opportunity to finally have good food for once. Meanwhile, back at Peppermint's Table, Peppermint dreads the idea that Eggward may open up a rival restaurant to further add to his student's humiliation. That evening, while Mr. Eggward is looking for lodgings, King Leonardo and Tommy arrive in their Tank car and cordially invite Eggward to the castle in exchange for a meal, which Eggward agrees to. The next day, a special show on Channel Lion Out Loud is broadcast which features Mr. Eggward and his cooking, as various dishes are tried by Mayor Bay, Snowdrop, Sir Chanter, and Lady Chanter. Milly and Manny also have a sample, and become curious if Eggward is using some kind of secret ingredient to make his dishes so much better than Peppermint's. Meanwhile, Peppermint himself becomes annoyed with his master's gloating on TV.

After the initial broadcast, all of Puffy Town along with Leeko and Hover line up outside of Castle Leonardo in hopes of getting a sample of Eggward's food, and Tommy lets them in for a banquet. As Eggward prepares a stir fry, he issues a challenge to Chef Peppermint to come up to the castle and prove his meddle as a chef by assisting him. Peppermint initially refuses, but accepts anyway in order to defend his honor. While Eggward continues to cook, Milly, Manny, and Leeko follow in secret as the chef disappears into a back room. They are soon greeted by Chef Peppermint. Milly tells Peppermint about their suspicions but is interrupted when Eggward emerges from the room and berates his student again before walking away. The group decides to infiltrate the room Eggward was in and finds a container of "Dijiri Extract". Suspecting it to be the secret ingredient Eggward is using, the group tests it on an instant ramen package, noticing how drastically the flavor is improved. Once finished, Mr. Eggward orders Peppermint to the studio via intercom.

Once Peppermint arrives, Mr. Eggward assigns him to make a meat and potato stew while continuing to humiliate him in front of the crowd. As Eggward continues to address the crowd, Peppermint secretly adds some of the Dijiri Extract to the stew. King Leonardo and the others are hesitant to try the stew at first, but soon realize it actually tastes very good. Peppermint then makes his move by revealing the secret ingredient to the crowd and accusing Eggward of fortifying his food with the substance, as Milly and Manny elaborate on the Dijiri Extract's chemical nature. As the crowd turns on him, Eggward brushes them off and proclaims that all great chefs use chemicals in their cooking. This "betrayal" causes Chef Peppermint to reject his former master and Peppermint tosses the extract at him, but it bounces off of Eggward's and straight into Leeko's mouth, causing the group to rightfully fear what may happen next. Leeko starts to feel the effects of the Dijiri Extract and picks up a fork and knife. He then sees everyone around him as food and starts chasing them down. King Leonardo runs for his life throughout the castle and enters what looks like a telephone booth in the halls. There, he contacts Nebula Enterprises for an "emergency download".

Through the Monster delivery system comes the corn monster Cobbler. It soon finds Leeko in the cooking studio and prevents Leeko from eating it by smacking him around repeatedly. It then grabs Leeko and shoots corn kernels into his mouth, which then painfully pop inside of him and snap him out of his stupor. Manny grabs Chef Peppermint's frying pan and tosses it to Leeko so he can swallow it and gain the Chef Copy Ability. Chef Leeko proceeds to strip Cobbler of its corn kernels and cooks them up into popcorn, which rapidly expands and fills the entire studio, presumably defeating the monster. King Leonardo laments his wasted money, but eats the popcorn anyway. Later on, as Mr. Eggward makes his departure, he reveals to Peppermint that he never used the Dijiri Extract in his cooking, instead having brought it specifically for Peppermint. Eggward then clarifies that he does not care about his reputation so long as his student Peppermint has learned his lesson. The episode ends as Eggward leaves one more hopeful message to Peppermint, reminding him that at least a certain someone will always enjoy his cooking.

## Trivia

* This is the first episode to air in 2003 and the last episode of Season 1.
* This is the last episode where Leonardo and Tommy drive their tank car, likely to have the show have less references to military violences.
* This is the third episode of *The Beginning* series to feature the Chef Copy Ability.
* Chef Peppermint’s mentor, Mr. Eggward, returns in this episode.
* The scene where King Leonardo and Tommy are being chased by a hallucinating Leeko is similar to chases featured in the *Scooby Doo* series.
* It is unclear why Milly, Manny, Leeko, and Peppermint initially thought Chef Eggward is Poppy Corn in disguise, as Poppy Corn was defeated at the end of “A Taste-Off!”.