A Dark And Story Night

**A Dark And Story Night** is the fourth Season 1 episode of Leeko: The Beginning trilogy, and the fourth episode overall. It is notable for the first appearance of Thunder King.

## Synopsis

King Leonardo summons a powerful storm monster called Thunder King, which attacks all of the residents of Puffy Town and outmatches Leeko. Meanwhile, Milly learns about Nebula Enterprises, the Star Warriors, the Shooting Star, and Leeko’s mysterious background from Moonlight Man. Later, Leeko defeats Thunder King and peace returns to Puffy Town.

## Characters

* Leeko
* Milly
* Manny
* Moonlight Man
* Twilight Man (*flashback*)
* Aurora Man (*flashback*)
* King Leonardo
* Tommy
* Helios & Luna
* Sir Chanter
* Lady Chanter
* Puffy villagers
	+ Marvin (*debut*)
	+ Snowdrop
	+ Professor Antico
	+ Mayor Bay Brittleton
	+ Chief Gordy
* Chef Peppermint
* Hover
* Mr. Mage
* Gene
* Nebula (*flashback, silhouette*)
* Thunder King (*debut*)
* Octogiant (*flashback*)

## Episode summary

The episode begins at Castle Leonardo, as a livid King Leonardo storms into Sir Chanter's family quarters to confront Milly about her relationship with Leeko. He shows them photographs from Leeko's battle with Octogiant in the episode Leeko Comes To Puffy Town to prove their collusion, but the family merely remarks on how Leonardo managed to get the pictures. Fed up, the King then reveals his plan to sabotage Leeko's starship and prevent the pink Star Warrior from escaping his next monster. Leonardo then goes for his throne room to order the monster in question from Nebula Enterprises. Gene recommends to the King their newest monster Thunder King, while Moonlight Man spies from outside the room. The purple swordsman resolves to warn Milly and Leeko about the upcoming danger, as Manny tags along.

Later at Leeko's house, Milly finds Leeko making his own bed for Hover, and scolds the bird for taking advantage of him, to little avail. She tries to tell Leeko about Leonardo's scheming, but the pink Star Warrior is distracted by a dragonfly. At that moment, a massive black cyclone emerges from the sky above them and starts shooting lightning bolts down on the two as they make a run for it. Milly soon concludes that the storm is not natural as it continues to chase them down. The two run through Puffy Town, as the lightning causes havoc for the villagers, destroying several things within the town. Milly and Leeko get separated in the chase, but Manny manages to find her in town as Leonardo and Tommy drive past in their Tank car to watch Leeko get attacked. Leeko jumps into the vehicle's attached container, causing the lightning to focus on the car and prompting the drivers to get away. They try to get back in the castle, but end up crashing through the drawbridge into the moat.

Later, in the throne room, Gene attempts to reassure Leonardo, who has caught a fever from the (likely contaminated) moat water. Leonardo demands that Thunder King be sent back, but Gene cheerfully states that the contract forbids it. As the thundercloud looms over Usapia, Milly, Manny, Helios, and Luna set out to try and find where Leeko had gone. Leeko, meanwhile, is cowering under an old stone bridge in the countryside. Having failed to find him, Milly goes to Seashell Valley to ask its guardian for help. Mr. Mage directs Milly into the sanctuary, where Moonlight Man is standing before Leeko's Shooting Star. After explaining that she had hidden the Star here for safekeeping, she asks Moonlight Man to tell her more about Leeko. Meanwhile, Manny, Helios, and Luna manage to find Leeko making an escape, as lightning continues to rain down on him.

Back in Seashell Valley, Moonlight Man explains to Milly the story of Nebula Enterprises and the ambitions of its founder, as well as the Star Warriors who has risen to stop him. He relays that in the ensuing conflict, all but one warrior was vanquished. As that last warrior, Moonlight Man went into hiding, holding onto the hope that a new generation of warriors would appear. He then explains that he had taken the guise of King Leonardo's servant in order to look out for any new warriors arriving in Usapia due to their starships being programmed to detect the presence of monsters on any planet. Moonlight Man finishes by explaining that Leeko arrived 50 years too early, explaining his immaturity and inability to speak., and that he needs to rely on Milly to watch out for Leeko to help him learn and grow, also to keep his Shooting Star safe.

Manny, Helios, and Luna manage to find Leeko hiding in an old sewage drain. They encourage him to try and vacuum-mouth the thunderstorm instead of running. Leeko tries, but this fails and he must run away again, as Leonardo and Tommy pursue him once again in their car. Leeko manages to avoid these two, but is still under fire from Thunder King. Milly and Moonlight Man, and Milly calls for the Shooting Star to come to Leeko's aid. Using the Shooting Star, Leeko flies into the thundercloud to battle the monster hiding in it. After an initial engagement with Thunder King, Leeko vacuum-mouths the thundercloud and partially disperses it to uncover the beast for all to see. Thunder King then throws out a sword made of lightning to strike at Leeko with. After dodging it, Leeko vacuum-mouths the sword-shaped lightning to gain the Sword Copy Ability. Sword Leeko then proceeds to strike Thunder King several times using the Sword Beam, destroying him. As the cloud disperses, Leeko flies down to the kids who celebrated his victory. As his Shooting Star returns to Seashell Valley, Milly tells Leeko to let her know whenever he needs his Shooting Star again, and the episode ends there.

## Trivia

* This is the second appearance of the Sword Copy Ability in *The Beginning* arc of the Leeko series.
	+ Although it appears in a flashback, it's also the second episode in The Beginning series to feature the Fire ability.
* This episode reveals more about NLE by Moonlight Man. He also sheds some light on Leeko’s origins, the Star Warriors, and the Shooting Star.
* This is the first episode where Milly summons the Shooting Star. This would be subsequently repeated many times throughout the series.
* An official promotional image based off of this episode shows Leeko on the Shooting Star fighting the Thunder King with the Crash Copy Ability, though the Crash ability wasn’t introduced until Season 3.
* According to the original draft of this episode, the Spark Copy Ability was originally going to make its appearance. This idea was scrapped for unknown reasons, and the Spark Copy Ability was going to appear in a Season 3 episode.
* Most of the dialogue in this episode are puns based around lightning and thunder, reflecting the episode’s subject matter.