(The Bounty sails towards the Kingdom of Shintaro.)
Jay: See? I told ya! Amazing!
Nya: I'll admit, I wasn't sure it could live up to the legend, but it's even more beautiful.
Wu: The Ivory City of Shintaro. Incredible.
Hailmar: It is with great honor, King Vangelis, that I present the famed Ninja of Ninjago.
Vangelis: Welcome, welcome! I'm most pleased you were able to accept our invitation. It is an honor. (He bows.)
Wu: The honor is ours. (The Ninja bow as well.) Shintaro is beyond anything we imagined.
Vangelis: I am only a mere figurehead. The citizens of our proud city of the heart of Shintaro -
Vania: Oh! They're here!
Vangelis: And please, meet my heart. Her royal princess, Vania.
Vania: I am such a fan. I've read all about your adventures. It was my idea to invite you to my birthday.
Cole: It's an honor to be here, princess.
Vania: So, is it true you've been to Hiroshi's Labyrinth?
Zane: Affirmative.
Vania: Competed in the Tournament of Elements?
Kai: Oh ho, do we have stories for you.
Vania: (gasps) I need to hear them all!
Cole: Where should we begin?
Vangelis: (He and Hailmar land between Vania and the Ninja.) You can begin by following me. Tomorrow will be a very busy day for all of us.
Vania: Cole. Earth Elemental. What is it like to command the very earth? Is it as fun as it sounds?
Cole: Yeah, pretty much.
Jay: Huh. Weird. The princess seems to like Cole. I mean, he's my best friend and all, but Cole?
Lloyd: Yeah. Weird.
(At night, Cole gets into bed, only to be startled by Lloyd.)
Cole: Aah!
Lloyd: Hello, Cole.
Cole: Lloyd? How did you sneak in here?
Lloyd: I'm a ninja. Remember? I'm here to warn you about the princess. I think she's lying, Cole. And I think she's up to something. I can tell. They're all the same.
Cole: All princesses? That seems a little bit judgey. Wait a second. This is because of Harumi?
Lloyd: No, not at all!
Cole: Because that's literally one example of that. Besides, I don't even like Vania like that. We just met! Calm down, Lloyd.
Lloyd: Hmph. (He leaves.)
Cole: (He gets ready to sleep, but someone sneaks in.) Okay. Lloyd, look. (He sees that the Geckle isn't Lloyd, and they both scream.) Aah!
Gleck: Aah! You're not Gilly! Aah! (He runs away.)
Cole: (He tackles him and sees a necklace, which he opens to see photos of his parents.) What? (Gleck takes the necklace back and runs away.) Hey! Get back here! Huh?
Guard: Sir, is everything all right?
Cole: There must be a - a secret passage or trapdoor somewhere! That's how he got in!
Guard: Uh, "he", sir?
Cole: There was a little purple creature in my room! He attacked me in bed! (The guards look at each other, confused. In Wu's room, he is getting into bed when Cole bursts in, startling him.) Emergency Ninja meeting! Forty-seventh floor lobby!
Wu: Cole.
Cole: Oh boy. I-I'm sorry, Master Wu. But we have to wake the others.
Jay: (yawning) So let me get this straight. You pulled me out of the most luxurious bed ever -
Nya: It felt like a cloud of warm contentment.
Jay: -because you saw a creature in your bedroom?
Cole: Yes, I told you. It tried to attack me, and when I fought back, it ran off somewhere. It disappeared. But get this. The weirdest part is that the creature was wearing my mother's necklace!
Lloyd: Cole, um, are you sure this really happened? Like, in reality?
Cole: What do you mean?
Zane: I believe he is implying that you were dreaming.
Cole: It wasn't a dream! I recognized it right away! He had a picture of my parents inside it!
Nya: So, where is it?
Cole: Well, I don't have it on me. The creature grabbed it back before he vanished!
Kai: Oh, cool. Buddy, go back to bed.
Wu: It must have been a dream, Cole, because I do not recall your mother ever having a locket.
Cole: She did! I've seen pictures of it. We have to tell King Vangelis.
Lloyd: Whoa, slow down. It's not that we don't believe you-
Jay: I don't believe him!
Lloyd: We're guests here. We can't wake up the king in the middle of the night.
Cole: But- (Everyone walks away.)
Wu: Cole, go to sleep. We can discuss all of this in the morning. Okay?
Cole: (He notices a shadow following him and catches them.) Ha! Got you now, you little purple- (He sees that it was Princess Vania.) Oh. Princess Vania? Oh well, sorry. I thought you were someone else, I swear!
Vania: I heard what you said back there. About the little purple creature.
Cole: Oh great, another person thinks I'm imagining things.
Vania: Oh, I don't think that at all.
Cole: You don't?
Vania: When I was a child, I thought I had an imaginary friend. A little purple creature, who used to follow me around. Now I'm starting to wonder if my imaginary friend was a real friend. Follow me. This way! (She takes Cole to the palace gardens.) Here.
Cole: The palace gardens?
Vania: This is where Mr. Sparkles and I used to play. Hmm, that's what I called him. All the adults insisted I dreamed him up in my head. But I swear, he used to come right up out of there. (She points to a small opening.) There used to be some mines under the city, but my father ordered them all covered up for the public's safety.
Cole: Mines?
Vania: Long ago, before my people settled here, there was an older city run by the super evil sorcerer, who built tunnels and mines and dungeons deep in the mountain. He's gone now, but the dungeons are still there, so my father forbade anyone from entering them. It's too dangerous.
Cole: Look, princess. Forbidden or not, I have to find out how my mom's necklace ended up with that purple dude.
Vania: Okay, I'm in. (She pulls out two torches.)
Cole: Are those- where did you-
Vania: "Always onward." The adventurer's motto.
Cole: If the king finds out-
Vania: I'm not some small child anymore. I'm old enough to decide things on my own.
Cole: Well, in that case... (He uses his Earth Punch to remove the bars of the opening, and they enter.) Always onward. And into the mines of an evil sorcerer.
Vania: I remember so many incredible stories about the evil sorcerer told by candlelight. He was called Hazza D'ur. Isn't that creepy? People had weird names back then, I guess. And he had all these evil powers and - oh look! Train tracks. I wonder where those go. (They follow the tracks and arrive at a dead end.)
Cole: Uh, let's take the other tunnel.
Vania: So anyway, a long long long time ago, the evil sorcerer was vanquished, and they say his bones are still down here in this mountain somewhere. Maybe we'll see them. Wouldn't that be great?
Cole: Uh, yeah. Great. (They come upon an active mine.) Wow. (They watch some creatures mining, supervised by Awakened Warriors.)
Vania: Oh, my. Look at all these creatures! Those look just like Mr. Sparkles!
Cole: Yeah. And just like the one that was in my room. But who are those guys?
Vania: I don't know. But they don't look happy. They're all chained up! (A Geckle spills some minerals, making a loud noise. The Skull Sorcerer appears from behind a lava waterfall.)
Skull Sorcerer: Who dares? Who dares to disturb the work?
Vania: (whispering) Who's that?
Skull Sorcerer: I warned you, all of you. The work must not stop, or there would be punishment!
Skull of Hazza D'ur: Punishment. Punish! (The Skull Sorcerer fires blasts at the Geckles and Munce.)
Cole: I don't know what's going on here. But I know a bad guy when I see one! And that, is a bad guy. Get back and tell your dad what's going on. Tell him to bring his guards, and wake up my friends.
Vania: What about you?
Cole: I'm the Elemental Master of Earth, and I'm surrounded by earth. I'm gonna do what I do best. (Vania smiles and leaves.)
Skull Sorcerer: The next to defy me shall feel-
Cole: Hey, buddy. Hey there. Name's Cole. Ninja. Uh, I heard there was some jerk down here, chaining people up, making them work? You seen any jerks around?
Skull Sorcerer: Get him! (The Awakened Warriors charge at Cole.)
Cole: (He tries to use his Earth Punch, but it won't work.) What the? Oh, come on! (He defeats all the Warriors.) Alright, how 'bout you give me the keys to all these chains before I really get angry?
Skull Sorcerer: You have meddled in the wrong place. Now you will witness my true wrath! The wrath of the Skull Sorcerer! (He revives the Warriors with a spell.)
Cole: What-what? No fair! Uh oh. (The Warriors defeat him.)
Skull of Hazza D'ur: The wrath of the Skull Sorcerer! (They laugh.)
(End of the episode. For more information, click here.)