Shell Shock

**Shell Shock** is the twenty-first Season 3 episode of Leeko: The Beginning trilogy, and the eighty-eighth episode overall.

## Summary

King Leonardo wants to see what Tommy looks like without his shell, so he cracks it open with his mallet. After Milly demands him to fix it, NLE sends a monster shell over, turning Tommy into a monster.

## Characters

### Primary

* Leeko
* Milly
* King Leonardo
* Tommy

### Secondary

* Chef Peppermint
* Daisy
* Dr. Medico
* Gamba
* Gene
* Lady Chanter
* Manny
* Mayor Bay Brittleton
* Professor Antico
* Sir Chanter
* Sir Pathogen (*no dialogue*)
* Tremundia Tom (*debut*)
* Viruses (*no dialogue*)
* Whitehead
* Various unnamed Puffy villagers

## Episode summary

The episode begins at Seashell Beach, where Leeko, Milly, Manny, and the Puffy children are collecting shells and talking about molluscs. The Puffy kids then speculate on whether or not Tommy is a mollusc, since he also has a shell. Meanwhile, at Castle Leonardo, King Leonardo is grilling up some fried sea snails, and offers some to Tommy, but he refuses. Once finished, King Leonardo sees one of the empty shells and grows curious about what Tommy might look like without his, so he demands Tommy to remove his shell. Tommy resists the king's order and runs away as Leonardo attempts to break open the shell using his hammer. As Milly, Manny, and Leeko return to the castle, King Leonardo continues to chase his assistant who taunts him. Eventually, however, King Leonardo manages to get a good hit, which causes Tommy's shell to start cracking. Fearing the worst, Tommy pleads with Milly to take him to Dr. Medico's clinic before his shell breaks completely.

Once at the clinic, Dr. Medico tells Tommy there is nothing he can do to stop the shell from breaking. As the crack grows larger, King Leonardo shows up in the Royal Racecar to make things worse. After busting the door down, he manages to crack Tommy's shell in half, but Leeko and the kids step in and hold the shell together to protect the turtle's dignity. King Leonardo is finally dissuaded when the kids tell him he should get Tommy a new shell, so Leonardo drives back to the castle and contacts Nebula Enterprises. He requests they send him a "trick shell" that will turn Tommy into a monster, and Gene complies. Meanwhile, back at the clinic, Milly, Manny, and Leeko tape up Tommy's shell so it will hold together a little longer. Tommy isn't satisfied with the way it looks, so Milly suggests using glue. Dr. Medico cautions however that to use glue, the shell will have to come off for a moment, so Milly, Manny, and Leeko go looking for something else Tommy can wear in the meantime.

After finding an assortment of various things to substitute for a shell, Tommy is taken to the Chanter family's apartment and given a changing tent to use. Once everyone is clear that King Leonardo is nowhere nearby, Tommy steps in to the tent to begrudgingly try on one of the substitute pieces, but King Leonardo uses the Spyhopper to take a peek at the changing turtle. While appraising his options, however, Tommy catches the robot and smashes it, causing Leonardo to lose his camera. While Tommy tries on some of the substitute shells, Milly and Manny get to work on his broken one, and remark on how interesting it looks on the inside. Tommy is soon fed up with the offerings, and demands the group to find something better for him, when Leeko walks in with the large turtle shell he found earlier. Tommy is immediately enraptured by this shell and decides to put it on. After posing with his new shell for a bit, Tommy immediately snaps back to his usual rotten self and walks out of the room after barking at Milly to get to work on fixing his old shell. Before he can get too far, though, Tommy spots King Leonardo, and tries to hide in the shell for cover. Seeing the shell, King Leonardo attempts to smash it with his hammer, but fails. Feeling around inside for a moment, he determines there is something alive in there and - not knowing Tommy's inside - orders his Viruses to prepare the grill.

Shortly after rebuilding Tommy's shell, Milly and company start to smell something good from outside the window, and come out to see King Leonardo roasting Tommy alive on the grill. As soon as they realize this, Milly gets Leeko to rescue Tommy using his vacuum-mouth, and they explain to King Leonardo that he's only wearing the shell temporarily. King Leonardo then decides he still wants to see Tommy under his shell and chases after the turtle again, forcing him into the throne room. Once Tomme is away, Gene appears on the screen and tells Tommy he has a special gift for him. Once King Leonardo and the others come in, Tommy reveals himself, now wearing a bright shiny metallic shell. King Leonardo attempts to break it open, but to no avail. Tommy starts to laugh maniacally at his newfound invincibility, but then he suddenly transforms into a giant hideous beast called Tremundia Tom. Once fully transformed, the monstrous Tommy attacks everyone and attempts its powerful bites at Leeko. Milly tells Leeko to vacuum-mouth King Leonardo's hammer and he does this to get the Hammer Copy Ability.

Hammer Leeko proceeds to take several whacks at Tremundia Tom's shell, but to little avail, as he has to dodge several lightning blasts. After striking Tremundia Tommy's beak, Hammer Leeko manages to make one more hard blow on his shell using the Hammer Throw move, cracking it in two and returning Tommy to normal. Before King Leonardo can get a good look at the exposed Tommy, however, the turtle bolts for the door and gets out of view. Later on, he is able to return to his old shell, which looks good as new thanks to Milly's efforts. Despite this, King Leonardo's morbid curiosity is still not satisfied, and he chases his assistant down the halls to try to break his shell open again. The episode ends as Leeko and his friends comment on the hopeless situation.

## Trivia

* This is the third and final episode of the *Leeko: The Beginning* trilogy to feature the Hammer Copy Ability.
* This episode contains the only instance of censored nudity in the show.
* The episode’s title comes from the term “shell shock”, which is the result of stress from battle.
* When King Leonardo is imagining what Tommy might look like without his shell, an image of the famous The Birth of Venus painting is shown with modifications to make Venus resemble Tommy. Ironically, this is one the most famous paintings which did not get featured in the episode Monsterpiece On The Loose.