Leaf Monster

**Leaf Monster** is a boss in The Messenger. It is the first boss of the game and is fought at the end of Autumn Hills. Leaf Monsters guard the exit to Autumn Hills and only come out during a full moon.

## Profile

### Appearance

Leaf Monster is a small pile of orange leaves that transforms into a humanoid creature completely covered in orange leaves and twigs. On its face are two round yellow eyes and one tinier eye in between, and two rows of pointy teeth in its mouth. When Leaf Monster loses its leaf armor, it reveals a skeleton of brown roots and twigs, with a few loose leaves remaining.

## Boss Fight

Leaf Monster walks extremely slowly towards Ninja. Periodically, Leaf Monster will stop moving, take a leap into the air, and try to land on top of Ninja.

Leaf Monster is completely invulnerable while it has a coat of leaf armor on its body. Ninja must remove the armor by damaging Leaf Monster once. Leaf Monster will then recoil in shock, and it will shoot out its leaves like a horizontal boomerang projectile (though this projectile cannot be Cloudstepped). While this projectile is active, the Leaf Monster will be vulnerable to damage and Leaf Monster cannot move. Leaf Monster will start moving again when its leaf armor returns to its body.

When Leaf Monster's health reaches or passes thresholds of multiples of 5, Leaf Monster will jump into the upper part of the arena; normally, Ninja cannot get up there, but it's possible with skillfully Cloudstepping off of Leaf Monster's body. Leaf Monster then releases two boomerang projectiles downward to the ground level, then horizontally outwards to the sides of the room. One projectile will be near the ground and can only be jumped over, the other can either be jumped over or ducked under. The projectiles reverse trajectory and return back to Leaf Monster's body. Leaf Monster walks along the upper part of the arena for a brief moment, then it jumps back down to the ground level, attempting to hit Ninja during its descent.

## Main Story

In the shop before the Leaf Monster boss room, The Shopkeeper attempts to frighten Ninja by explaining that a Leaf Monster guards the exit to Autumn Hills. After laughing at Ninja's negative reaction, The Shopkeeper reassures Ninja not to worry about it, since Leaf Monsters only come out during a full moon. But, The Shopkeeper comes to the realization that there actually is a full moon in Autumn Hills from Ninja's perspective. The Shopkeeper half-apologizes and wishes Ninja good luck for the upcoming Leaf Monster boss fight.

Ninja enters Leaf Monster's room, where a small innocent pile of leaves sits at the opposite end of the room. But suddenly, the entrance and the exit of the room are closed off by doors composed of brown roots and orange leaves, the innocent pile of leaves increases to a tall height, and the true Leaf Monster bursts forth from the leaf pile. Ninja and the Leaf Monster engage in battle. Ninja defeats Leaf Monster and continues out of Autumn Hills and onward to Forlorn Temple.

## Trivia

* Leaf Monster is referred to as "LeafBoss" in the picture files and "Leaf Golem" in the other game files.
* A 16-bit version of the Leaf Monster fight can be seen in old promotional material.
* Although normally inaccessible, a partially programmed 16-bit Leaf Monster can be fought if the player clips out of bounds to skip the later half of Autumn Hills, which includes the Leaf Monster fight. Once Ninja gains the power to freely time travel, he can return to Autumn Hills and enter the Leaf Monster's room in 16-bit. After enough damage has been dealt to 16-bit Leaf Monster, Leaf Monster jumps to the upper level of the arena and remains stuck frozen for the remainder of the fight.

## Gallery

Leaf Monster's 8-bit spritesheet.Leaf Monster's 16-bit spritesheet.Key art #2, which depicts Leaf Monster on the left.Key art #3, which depicts Leaf Monster in the bottom-left.