King Of The Woods

**King Of The Woods** is the fifth Season 1 episode of Leeko: The Beginning trilogy, and the fifth episode overall. It is notable for the first appearance of King Forrest.

## Summary

Leeko, Milly, and Manny get stranded in the middle of the Vinebush Forest, and King Leonardo, who tricks King Forrest into thinking they’re out to ruin the forest, plans to chop the forest down to make room for a new country club course.

## Characters

* Leeko
* Milly
* Manny
* Hover
* King Leonardo
* Tommy
* Viruses (*debut*)
* King Forrest (*debut*)
* Sir Chanter
* Lady Chanter
* Puffy villagers
* Animal friends
	+ Hilda
	+ Lola (*flashback*)
* Chef Peppermint (*cameo*)
* Gene
* The trees of Vinebush Forest (*debut*)

## Episode summary

The episode begins at Castle Leonardo. King Leonardo is attempting to order another monster from Nebula Enterprises, but he is told that he may not, due to an outstanding debt in the millions. Frustrated, the King then dismisses N.L.E., saying he has his own plan to stop Leeko using an encyclopedia on botany. Meanwhile, out in the countryside, Milly has taken Manny and Leeko out on a field trip to study the wildlife. While reading from her textbook, she did not notice that Leeko had wandered off, and the siblings set out to find where he had gone. Milly attempts to put her textbook away, when she finds Hover napping in her backpack. After some cajoling remarks from the cranky dragonfly, the team set off to find Leeko.

Meanwhile, the pink mouse is in a different section of the countryside, looking around. He finds an apple on the ground and rushes to eat it. He then finds more apples in a line and follows it, eating each one. Hilda spots him and finds the others to show them, who go chasing Leeko into the woods against Hilda's advice. Hilda then passed by Miss Yuubin who tells her she'd just finished a delivery from King Leonardo. After losing Leeko yet again in the forest, Milly, Manny, and Hover decide to pack it up and return home, but soon find they can't tell where they came in from and realize they are lost in the Vinebush Forest, and Hover tries to find a way out from above. Back at the castle, Lady Chanter grows distressed about Milly and Manny's absence, and suspects that King Leonardo might be responsible. Leonardo and Tommy then enter the quarters and hint not-so-subtly that the kids are now lost in the woods.

Back in the woods, Milly and Manny are concerned about Hover's long absence, when they are startled by Leeko emerging from the bushes. After a reconciliation, Hover returns to relay that he was unable to find his way back, but tries to spin it to make him look bold, which Milly does not buy for a minute. They decide to camp out for the night and try again in the morning. They set up a fire, which awakens King Forrest and he proceeds to trap the campers in a circle of roots. Forrest then appears before them and insists they came here to destroy him based on a letter he received. Milly tries to pacify Forrest, but Hover threatens him with the fire, prompting Forrest to rain apples down on them until they are buried in a massive pile.

At that moment, King Leonardo and Tommy drive into the woods in their Tank car. After Leonardo gloats over his plan, Forrest thanks them for warning him about the intruders, and points out that he is defenseless without his apples, though relieved his enemies were dealt with. At this, King Leonardo reveals his treachery by pulling out a laser chainsaw and cutting down the now defenseless Vinebush Forest one tree at a time, intent on claiming the cleared land for a development project. As the forest is wiped out, Leeko and the gang get thrown aside by his falling trunk, into a clearing where they are confronted by other trees of the forest, demanding that Leeko cough up an apple from Forrest to return him to life. Before the trees can extract the apple from Leeko's mouth, however, he and the kids are picked up and thrown into the tank car's container by Leonardo as he continues to deforest the area.

By morning, King Leonardo had finished cutting down the forest, as the residents of Puffy Town watch on, concerned. Leonardo then drives up to them and announces that in place of the Vinebush Forest, he has built a private country club, which is met with universal disdain from the townsfolk. On cue, Milly and Manny arrive with protest signs and are apprehended by the Viruses. Leeko, meanwhile, is searching inside of himself for the right apple while waiting inside of a rubber ball on a golf tee for King Leonardo to take a swipe with his hammer. Just in time, Leeko spits the apple out, which rapidly grows into King Forrest once more. Forrest takes Leonardo's hammer using his roots and swipes the King and Tommy away, then uses it to spread his apples out and regrow the forest, uprooting the golf course in the process. In the final scene, King Leonardo and Tommy end up lost in the Vinebush Forest at night, unable to find their way out, while Leeko and his friends enjoy apples atop King Forrest's canopy.

## Trivia

* Featured important/guest character: King Forrest
* This is the first episode in *The Beginning* series and the series as a whole where Leeko does not use a Copy Ability.
* In some countries, this episode’s title is “Beware Of The Vinebush King”.
* This is the first episode where there is no monster to fight.
* This is the first episode in the series where Moonlight Man doesn’t make his appearance.
* King Forrest was a lighter shade of brown in this episode before it was changed to a darker shade for the rest of the series.
* It is never explained how Leeko, Milly, Manny, and Hover got out of the container on the tank car. It's likely possible Moonlight Man (who is absent in this episode) freed them offscreen.