Stray Baby Vulture

**Stray Baby Vulture** is the twenty-third Season 1 episode of Leeko: The Beginning trilogy, and the twenty-third episode overall.

## Summary

Leo kidnaps Aerialessa’s baby with hopes of injected it to make it a monster; Aerialessa gets even.

## Characters

### Primary

* Leeko
* Chicky
* Hover
* Tommy
* King Leonardo

### Secondary

* Aerialessa (*no dialogue*)
* Beatrice
* Bubbles (*no dialogue*)
* Chef Peppermint
* Chief Gordy
* Cindy (*no dialogue*)
* Felix (*no dialogue*)
* Helios & Luna
* Madeline
* Manny
* Marvin
* Mayor Bay Brittleton
* Milly
* Moonlight Man
* Mr. Mage
* Parker (*no dialogue*)
* Professor Antico
* Snowdrop
* Various unnamed Puffy villagers

## Episode summary

The episode begins at Castle Leonardo, where Tommy is showing King Leonardo a new invention of his, dubbed "Operation Big-Shot": a device which injects ordinary creatures with a chemical mixture that transforms them into a giant monster. Tommy demonstrates the elixir by injecting the mixture into an ordinary caterpillar, turning it into a massive beast. King Leonardo gloats that now he won't need to order monsters from Nebula Enterprises. Later on, Aerialessa causes a stir around Usapia, prompting the citizens of Puffy Town to wonder if something has happened to her chick. Leeko and Hover investigate the situation by traveling to Aerialessa’s Nest, and find that the chick is missing. Leeko then hears the cries of the chick from down below as King Leonardo and Tommy are abducting him using their Tank car, but they end up dropping the chick down the cliff and Leeko finds him, but Hover inadvertently scares the chick and he runs away.

As King Leonardo and Tommy recount their initial failed attempt to apprehend the chick, Chicky finds his way down to Puffy Town and ignores Leeko and Hover to have a look around, causing a stir among the Puffies it runs across. Milly and Manny soon notice the bird and join Leeko and Hover in their chase to get him back home. Soon, more residents of Puffy Town join the group to chase down the runaway bird as he causes more trouble in Puffy Town. Eventually, Chicky stops in Antico's museum to cuddle with the leftover feather from his mother, allowing the group to close in on him. At that moment, King Leonardo and Tommy find them, and try to convince the town to hand Chicky over to them, lying that they will return it to the nest. Milly and Manny call them out for this, prompting them to retreat for the moment. Milly and Manny then set off to try and return Chicky to the nest with Leeko and Hover.

As Aerialessa continues searching for her baby, King Leonardo and Tommy make plans to ambush the kids to take the chick for themselves. As Chicky stops at a riverside to sip some water, he gets caught in a net by King Leonardo, but as they brag, Chicky manages to jump out of the net and falls into the river. In an effort to rescue Chicky before he goes over the waterfall, Milly calls the Shooting Star for Leeko to use. As Leeko closes in, however, Aerialessa goes after the pink mouse, thinking he is responsible for her baby's disappearance again. Aerialessa unwittingly prevents Leeko from saving the chick, and he goes over the falls, but thankfully he had a log to hold onto and was unharmed. As Chicky and Hover continue down the river, King Leonardo catches up again and catches Chicky, throwing him into the container and driving off to the castle.

As Leeko continues to avoid Aerialessa's attacks, Hover manages to catch up to him during a fall and tells him to head to the castle to retrieve Chicky, which he promptly does. At the castle, King Leonardo and Tommy prepare to use their insta-monster mixture to transform Chicky into a beast. With Aerialessa still hot on his tail, Leeko flies to the castle, where Helios, Luna, and Moonlight Man direct him to the throne room. Leeko soon flies in and Aerialessa follows, landing in front of the culprits as Hover tells her the scoop. Aerialessa proceeds to pin King Leonardo and Tommy down, knocking the injecting device away, and retrieving her chick, flying off with him. As the episode ends, Aerialessa drops King Leonardo and Tommy from a great height as punishment, and Leeko and friends watch the birds return home from the castle deck.

## Trivia

* This is the second appearance of Aerialessa and her baby Chicky.
* This is the eighth episode in the series to not feature a Copy Ability.
* Seventh episode where Milly calls for the Shooting Star.
* The scene where Chicky discovers Puffy Town somewhat mirrors Leeko's first impression of the town in Leeko Comes To Puffy Town.