Air Ridin’! - Part 1

**Air Ridin'! - Part 1** is the twenty-ninth Season 3 episode of Leeko: The Beginning trilogy, and the ninety-sixth episode overall. This episode marks the first part of the five-part finale to *Leeko: The Beginning* trilogy. It is also the first half of a two-part episode.

## Summary

King Leonardo kidnaps Milly in order to get her to spoil information on the Shooting Star. Meanwhile, a group of Air Gliders appear and Leeko sets off to battle them.

## Characters

### Primary

* Leeko
* Moonlight Man
* Milly
* Manny
* King Leonardo
* Gene

### Secondary

* Aerialessa (*no dialogue*)
* Air Gliders (*debut; no dialogue*)
* Athena (*no dialogue*)
* Aurora Man
* Beatrice (*no dialogue*)
* Bubbles (*no dialogue*)
* Chef Peppermint (*no dialogue*)
* Chief Gordy (*no dialogue*)
* Chicky (*no dialogue*)
* Cindy (*no dialogue*)
* Cuddleshy (*no dialogue*)
* Daisy (*no dialogue*)
* Dr. Medico (*no dialogue*)
* Felix (*no dialogue*)
* Gamba (*no dialogue*)
* Helios & Luna
* Hilda (*no dialogue*)
* Hover (*no dialogue*)
* King Forrest (*no dialogue*)
* Lady Chanter
* Lola (*no dialogue*)
* Madeline (*no dialogue*)
* Marvin (*no dialogue*)
* Mayor Bay Brittleton (*no dialogue*)
* Miss Yuubin (*no dialogue*)
* Mr. Mage
* Numnum & Cece (*no dialogue*)
* Parker (*no dialogue*)
* Professor Antico
* Sir Chanter
* Sir Pathogen
* Snowdrop (*no dialogue*)
* Tantan & Sunsun (*no dialogue*)
* Tommy
* Twilight Man
* Viruses (*no dialogue*)
* Whitehead (*no dialogue*)
* Various unnamed animals (*no dialogue*)
* Various unnamed Puffy Town villagers (*no dialogue*)

## Episode summary

The episode begins in Castle Leonardo, where King Leonardo is once again complaining to Gene about how all the monsters he has sent so far were not up to the task of beating Leeko. Gene suggests that King Leonardo change tactics and first try to stop Leeko from being able to use his Shooting Star before trying to beat him. To accomplish this, King Leonardo and Tommy head out in the Royal Racecar and abduct Milly while she is having a picnic with her family and Leeko. They then take her down to the castle dungeon and try to coax her with sweets while keeping her tied up, saying they will not release her until she reveals where Mr. Mage is keeping the Shooting Star. Before long, however, Manny and the others come in to try and save her, though Manny foolishly gives away the Shooting Star's location in the process. Hearing this, King Leonardo and Tommy ran off in an instant to head for Seashell Valley. Milly does not bother to chase them, since she is confident that there's little the two can do even if they find it. She then recaps the events of A Dark And Story Night to explain how she became the Shooting Star's keeper, and also explains how she discovered Mr. Mage's secret chamber in the first place before the events of the show. The two then speculate for a moment how Leeko's Shooting Star fits so perfectly inside Mr. Mage's secret chamber despite Mr. Mage being around for so much longer.

Once King Leonardo and Tommy arrive at Seashell Valley, they proceed to threaten the great sage to cough up the Shooting Star, but Mr. Mage remains silent. Leonardo orders his soldiers to toss their spears at Mr. Mage, but this proves ineffective. King Leonardo then orders Mr. Mage to be tossed in the dungeon, but Sir Pathogen informs him of the impracticality of this command. As they bicker, a storm gathers over Usapia, and just as Milly reunites with her family back at the castle, the clouds part to reveal a massive alien ship that proceeds to bombard the castle with explosive rounds. These shots appear to be aimed at Leeko in particular, who makes a run for it. Meanwhile, the whole event is being observed by all of the residents in Puffy Town as King Leonardo and Tommy hurry back to Castle Leonardo in a rush. They dial up Nebula Enterprises to ask what the big idea is, and Gene reveals that his company has sent the giant warship Destriker to take care of Leeko once and for all. Seeing that Leeko is in danger, Moonlight Man urges Milly to call the Shooting Star, despite Milly's complaints that doing so will reveal its location to Leonardo.

Milly calls for the Shooting Star, but Leeko has difficulty getting on it due to continuously being harassed by Destriker's attacks. Moonlight Man and his soldiers step in to deflect some of the volleys away, giving Leeko time to hop on. Leeko then attempts to fly toward Destriker to attack it, but the ship merely changes focus and attacks Milly instead, forcing Leeko to go and save her. While they try to get away, one of Destriker's bolts breaks a piece off the Shooting Star, causing it to fail momentarily and dropping Milly and Leeko from the sky. Before they hit the water, the Shooting Star recovers and picks them up, carrying them back to Seashell Valley. Seeing all of this, Gene informs King Leonardo and Tommy that Mr. Mage acts as a sanctuary where the Shooting Star and Star Warriors can heal, forcing them to come up with a fallback plan. Meanwhile, Milly and Leeko's close friends manage to meet inside Mr. Mage's sanctuary, where the great sage tells them that the Shooting Star needs time to heal.

Back at the castle, Gene informs King Leonardo and Tommy that he intends to send the Air Gliders out to deal with Leeko before his Shooting Star can recover fully. Sensing this danger, the Shooting Star carries Leeko off and out of Mr. Mage to fight them, though it is still somewhat shaky. As Leeko meets up with his new foes, Gene introduces each of them in turn, as King Leonardo and Tommy cheer for the Air Gliders' success. The episode ends on a cliffhanger at this point, leading into the next episode: Air Ridin’! - Part 2.

## Trivia

* This is the seventh two-part episode of the *Leeko: The Beginning* series. It is also the last two-part episode of Season 3 and the entire Beginning series.
* This is the twenty-second episode to not feature a Copy Ability.
	+ It is also the last episode in the *Leeko: The Beginning* trilogy to not feature a Copy Ability.
* When the Puffies watch the Destriker destroying Castle Leonardo, Madeline can be seen holding the Robo-Puppy plush toy from the episode A Puppy To Love!. Additionally, Marvin can be seen holding his crystal ball.
* This is the twenty-sixth episode in the *Leeko: The Beginning* series where Milly calls for the Shooting Star.