Mystery Mountain

Mystery Mountain is a location first seen in the episode "Race Up Mystery Mountain." It is the former lair of Night Ninja and is also the home of An Yu, as revealed in "Meet An Yu," Munki-gu, and Teeny Weeny.
== Description ==
=== Location and Appearance ===
The exact nature of Mystery Mountain is inconsistent throughout the series. Most of the time, it is suggested to be located in another dimension or world, but as of Season 3 (and in some Season 2 episodes), it is also sometimes depicted as an island floating on a cloud above the city.
Mystery Mountain is, as its name suggests, a mountain. There is a single path with stairs that leads from the foot of the mountain to the top. There are four other paths in the bamboo forest, but it is unknown where they lead to.
Mystery Mountain is surrounded by a bamboo forest. It contains a pagoda on top, various caves inside, one of which can serve as a dungeon, and various ornaments at the foot and along the path, all of which resemble ancient Japanese or Chinese architecture. The stairs leading up from the forest to Mystery Mountain are lit by lanterns.
Several booby traps are in place to protect the pagoda, including a coded lock on the door, dragon tongues and trapdoors.
Next to the mountain is a usually inactive volcano.
The mountain contains several sources of red Sticky Splat that can sometimes shoot up from the ground like geysers.
The mountain is in a way sentient, and can get angry as well as be reasoned with. An Yu in particular frequently talks with the mountain. The mountain mostly communicates through a dragon statue inside the Pagoda.
=== Access ===
Mystery Mountain can only be accessed through one of two portals, even in episodes where it appears as a floating island and thus should technically be reachable with a flying vehicle.
The first, and most frequently seen, portal is located in the city where the PJ Masks reside. To open the portal, one has to go to the wall the portal is hidden behind and use a ritual described in the Scroll of Mystery Mountain, an ancient scroll that was discovered in the vault of the museum and promptly stolen by Night Ninja. The ritual originally involved multiple hand movements, ending with drawing the infinity symbol in the air. As of Season 3 (and a few Season 2 episodes), only drawing the symbol is enough to open the portal.
The second portal to Mystery Mountain can be opened in the air, as seen in "Flight of the Ninja" and "The Disappearing Ninjas." If one flies with just the right velocity, height, and perform the entrance ritual correctly, one will be able to travel to Mystery Mountain through a portal that's opened in the sky.
=== Relics ===
Mystery Mountain contains several relics of power, most of which are stored in the Pagoda on top of the mountain or in the various caves inside the mountain itself. So far these relics include:
* Ring of Ninjability: A ring that supposedly could give the bearer three times the power, as rumored by a scroll that the PJ Masks never retrieved. But it only proves that the person has three times the power, like when the PJ Masks worked together to save PJ Robot. It is currently lost in one of the booby traps.
* The Dragon Stones:
** Petrifying Dragon Stone: A magical red stone with the power to turn anything into stone.
** Invisibility Dragon Stone: A magical green stone with the power to turn the wielder invisible.
* The Golden Wand: An ancient and mysterious relic kept inside the pagoda on Mystery Mountain. It is currently unknown what the wand's powers are, or where it's now located.
* Transforming Splat: A unique, red variation of Sticky Splat, located in a secret room in the cave. In "The Splat Monster," Teeny Weeny accidentally fell in this splat and turned himself into a monster when he sneezed.
* The Thinking Stone: First seen in "Super Muscles Show Off," a stone as old as time. It allows the wielder the power to slow things down with their mind, but requires deep concentration to use.
* Munki-gu Statue: First seen in "PJ Party Mountain," an ancient statue that has the power to change the appearance of others to look like someone else. It was also the place where Munki-gu was held captive for 1,000 years due to being too naughty until he was freed in his titular debut episode.
* Space Laser Staff: A staff from many galaxies away that somehow ended up on Mystery Mountain. It was embedded into a wall and could only be removed by Newton Star. It can fire powerful laser blasts. It is now currently in space.
* Dragon Potion: A potion stolen by Munki-gu and used by him to turn the Laughing Lizard into a dragon.
* Wiggly Wordy Wand: A wand that juggles people's words around when chanting a spell.
* Magical Monkey Flute: A flute used by Munki-gu to make the PJ Masks say nonsensical words.
* Sorcerer's Wand: A wand that can petrify or un-petrify anybody.
* Ring of Invisibility: A ring that has the same ability as the Invisibility Dragon Stone when the bearer wears it.
* Cave Stones: Five stones, one of which is the Ordinary Stone, and four of which represent the classical elements.
* Urn of Dragon Roars: A pot that uses sonic vibrations to push anything or anyone away.
== In the Series ==
On their first visit to Mystery Mountain, "Race Up Mystery Mountain," the PJ Masks competed with Night Ninja to get the ring first, but both failed. Despite this, the former are lucky that the latter didn't get the ring. The second time, "The Mountain Prisoner," Night Ninja forced the PJ Masks to get the ring for him by taking PJ Robot prisoner. This time they succeeded and the PJs' prize was a freed PJ Robot, but discovered the ring had no powers at all. What the ring and the traps were truly about was teaching any potential finders the value of teamwork.
Although he failed to obtain the ring, and since the PJ Masks failed to retrieve the Mystery Mountain Scroll from him, Night Ninja made Mystery Mountain into his new lair after these events. The mountain was next seen in "Gekko Vs. the Splatcano," in which Night Ninja transformed the mountain into a Splatcano, forcing the PJ Masks to once again travel to the mountain and stop him.
In "Wolfy Mountain," the Wolfies discovered Mystery Mountain and tried to take it from Night Ninja, forcing the villain to team up with the PJ Masks.
In "Flight of the Ninja," which was also the last appearance of Mystery Mountain in Season 2, Night Ninja planned to launch a giant Sticky Splat onto the museum.
In "Masters of the Mountain," Catboy and Night Ninja competed with each other in a set of races, and even worked together when they got trapped by the dragon splat tongues.
In "Armadylan Zen," which was also the first appearance of Mystery Mountain in Season 3, the PJ Masks took Armadylan on a zen trip to Mystery Mountain to help him to calm down, since Armadylan gets easily angry by Night Ninja and his Ninjalinos throwing sticky splats at him.
In "Werejalinos," the Wolfy Kids and their new allies, the Werejalinos, tried to take Mystery Mountain from Night Ninja, but the Wolfies ended up trapped by the dragon tongues, and the PJ Masks convinced the Werejalinos to give up being werewolves.
In "Teacher Goes Ninja," the PJ Masks went to stop Night Ninja and his Ninjalinos to rescue their Teacher.
In "Meet An Yu," it was revealed that An Yu is the protector of Mystery Mountain and the secrets it holds. She tried to face Night Ninja by herself, but the PJ Masks helped her out anyway.
In "The Secret of the Pagoda," the PJ Masks worked together with An Yu to stop Night Ninja and his Ninjalinos from stealing the Golden Wand from the pagoda. The PJs even ended up finally seeing the inside of the pagoda.
In "Storm of the Ninja," the PJ Masks had to help An Yu to solve an ancient riddle to stop Night Ninja from forming a storm with a staff that would help him get to the pagoda.
In "The PJ Rovers," the PJ Masks drove around the place using their PJ Rovers. A chase ensued with Night Ninja and his Ninjalinos as the villain wanted to have one for himself, and while he succeeded in stealing Owlette's vehicle, it stopped halfway up the mountain, and she retrieved it.
In the short "An Yu's Bird Rescue," An Yu invited Owlette over to relax with her. During their meditation, they assisted a baby bird in learning how to fly.
In the short "PJ Masks Surprise," the PJ Masks threw a surprise party for An Yu, who has not heard of the word "party." They were about to serve cake, but it gets devoured by one of the dragon statues, leaving both An Yu and the PJs stupefied for a few seconds before going straight to the dancing. This is the first time PJ Robot meets An Yu, as well as the first time since "The Mountain Prisoner" for the former to be at Mystery Mountain, although it's currently unknown when and how he properly met the latter.
In "The Splat Monster," the Teeny Weeny Ninjalino discovered the secret room filled with a special kind of sticky splat named Transforming Splat in the cave of Mystery Mountain.
In "Ninjability," Night Ninja and his Ninjalinos traveled up the mountain and into the pagoda in order to get the power of ultimate Ninjability, while Night Ninja explained what the power does.
In "Wheels of a Hero," Night Ninja teleported to the mountain while racing using Owlette's Owl-Glider.
In "Clash on Mystery Mountain," Armadylan went to take An Yu's staff from her, thinking that she was a villain at first, but realizes she wasn't actually a bad guy; he was only tricked by Night Ninja, who tried to take control of the mountain again.
In "A Teeny Weeny Problem," An Yu tried to train Teeny Weeny/the Splat Monster to be the Mystery Mountain's Guardian assistant.
In "Do The Gekko," Night Ninja stole one of the special bamboos, the same kind An Yu’s staff is made of, and filled it with Ninja Magic. An Yu wasn't able to stop the ninjas as they poof away, so she asks the PJ Masks for help, as well as discovering their daytime counterparts for the first time.
In "The Disappearing Ninjas," Romeo used the Sky Factory to imprison the Ninjalinos to use their power to open the sky portal to Mystery Mountain, and ordered his Fly Bots to take everything from the pagoda.
In "Gekko Everywhere," which was also the last appearance of An Yu in Season 3, she seemed to have changed the locks on the pagoda's gate to keep Night Ninja out, as mentioned by the latter. So in order to get in, Night Ninja had built a catapult to launch himself and his Ninjalinos into the pagoda, but had forgotten about the booby traps, which he finally realized when one of his Ninjalinos got flung out of the outside of the pagoda. Gekko got rid of the catapult later, causing Night Ninja to chase after it, and, halfway down, warned Catboy that he'll get his little green friend for that. Catboy met up with Gekko and An Yu at the top of the mountain, where she thanked Gekko for his help and warned him about the Teleporting Crystal that he has in his hand.
In "PJ Robot Vs Romeo," which was also the last appearance of Mystery Mountain in Season 3, the PJ Masks (though offscreen) rescued Rip and Howler from an incoming boulder.
In "Motsuki's Missing Sister," which was also the first appearance of Mystery Mountain in Season 4, Night Ninja and his Ninjalinos led Motsuki to the pagoda, where Luna Girl was being held prisoner.
In "PJ Party Mountain," Night Ninja and his Ninjalinos infiltrated the secret cave, where they find the Munki-gu statue and planned to trick the PJ Masks using An Yu's identity with the statue.
In "Wolfies of the Pagoda," the Wolfies infiltrated the mountain for the second time so they could play around. An Yu was soon alerted by their presence and went to stop them from causing trouble. She later hypnotized the group by playing her flute since they are in animal form.
In "Master Fang's Secret," Night Ninja teleported Catboy and Armadylan to the mountain's dungeon using the ninja travel spell.
As revealed in "The Power of Monkey Chatter" and "Invisible Munki-Gu" Mystery Mountain is somehow sentient and can get angry when someone breaks one of the laws of the mountain or steals powerful items from the mountain.
In "The Power of Mystery Mountain" Night Ninja used an ancient spell and ritual to bring the mountain into the city. During the episode the mountain rained splat. It also granted An Yu the ability to use her staff's power in the city forevermore.
== Trivia ==
* Mystery Mountain might be a reference to Kubo and the Two Strings, a movie released in 2016. Both had Chinese and Japanese culture.
* Unlike its book counterpart, the Bamboo Forest, Mystery Mountain isn't physically located near the city (other than being depicted as a floating island in some of its appearances), and is only located in another world or dimension.
* Mystery Mountain could also be a reference to Mystic Mountain in Latin America.
* When the premiere of "Heroes of the Sky" was announced, it was revealed that the new character Munki-gu was trapped in Mystery Mountain for a thousand years for being naughty.
* It is also the home of Birdie, as seen in some episodes.
* It is proven that Mystery Mountain is the source of An Yu's powers, as she loses them as soon as she leaves the mountain.
* It is unknown how Mystery Mountain was formed, though it existed for a long time, including after the modern age was born, along with the rest of the city and the PJ Masks.