Ninjago S13 E6

## Plot

Lloyd, Jay, Nya, Murt, and the other Munce reach the Munce Home-Cave. The Munce there are amazed that they were able to escape from the Skull Sorcerer. Murt credits their escape to the ninja. They meet the queen of the Munce, Murtessa. She thanks them for freeing her subjects, and takes a liking to Jay. She assumes that Nya is a servant girl, but Jay says she's his Yang. It means they belong together. Lloyd wants to work with the Munce to find their friends and defeat the Skull Sorcerer. They find a cave drawing of the warrior fighting Grief-Bringer. I really hate that Lloyd assumes that "Milly" is a guy, when Milly and Gilly are clearly female names. Speaking of which, I wish Lloyd had interacted with Murtessa and used that to get over his assumption that all princesses are evil/his continued angst about Harumi/his unnecessary meanness towards Vania. Two guards enter and tell Jay that Murtessa has invited him to dinner, but Nya has enough and tells the guards that they're a team, so they're all going. Murtessa asks Jay if he's betrothed, and Nya tells her that he is, to her. Murtessa challenges her to the Munce rite of ritual combat for the right to Jay, believing that Nya is unworthy of his love. Nya refuses at first, but agrees when Murtessa taunts her by comparing her to a child. We finally see a season 13 "Hero" suit as Nya prepares to battle. It's basically just knight armor with a shield over their season 11 gis, but I don't mind because it looks amazing! The etchings engraved on the helmet, shoulder pad, and shield are so pretty! Murtessa basically rolls into a Sonic ball and hits Nya over and over again. Nya uses spinjitzu to knock her out and win… and then the Munce declare her to be their new queen. Meanwhile, Kai and Zane are lost. They hide when they hear people coming, but it's just Geckles. They assume they're the minions of the Skull Sorcerer, but they decide to take them to the Geckle Strong-Cave to meet with their leader, Chancellor Gulch, to be sure. Continuing with the missed potential, I wish Zane was suspicious of or nervous around Gulch due to his experiences in the second half of season 11 with Chancellor Vex and his continued guilt and trauma over what he did as the Ice Emperor, which is never acknowledged in the show, because heaven forbid we teach children how to deal with serious emotions so they grow up to be better adjusted than the rest of us (Elena of Avalor, *Amphibia*, *The Owl House*, *Inside Out*, *Encanto*, *Turning Red*, etc.) There is a reason why these TV shows and films resonate with so many adults, in addition to the target audience of children. Not just because some focus on generational trauma, but also how to deal with strong emotions, that negative ones aren't bad, the desire to simply be included and understood, etc. Chancellor Gulch decides that the only way to settle this is with a trial by Mino. Kai and Zane are dropped into a pit and have to fight one. Their powers don't work, and they're swatted away by the Mino's horn when they try to do spinjitzu instead. Zane analyzes the Mino and sees that its armor is made of vengestone. He's able to ride it briefly and take off its armor, which it actually hated wearing, so Zane and Kai have made a new friend. A Geckle in a hood tells the chancellor that during the fight, the ninja attempted to use elemental powers, which means the rumors they heard about elemental masters visiting Shintaro were true. If Zane and Kai are elemental masters, then they might know Gilly. Yeah, the Geckle is Gleck, the one that has Cole's mother's locket. Zane and Kai notice it, and realize that Cole must've seen that Geckle in his room. They tell the Geckles that they don't know Gilly, but they are elemental masters, and they prove it by showing off their powers, and tell them that their missing friends are also elemental masters. Gulch is ashamed of suspecting them, so he resigns, and Kai is elected the new chancellor. He asks them what they know about the Skull Sorcerer, and he and Zane are taken to the story cave. Gulch starts telling them about Gilly and the twin blades, but Kai says they've already heard this part. The Skull Sorcerer's story starts with a trio of adventurous explorers who ventured deep into the mountain, in old caverns that the Geckles are forbidden to enter. There, they found an evil skull from the old world. The Skull Sorcerer used its power to reawaken evil warriors as skeletons, who then captured and enslaved many Geckles and Munce to mine vengestone for them. Now they have to hide, or they'll be captured as well. Zane says that the two tribes have a common enemy in the Skull Sorcerer. If they can convince them to put aside their differences and work together, then they could defeat him. However, the Geckles find the idea so ridiculous that they assume Kai is joking, and the guys decide that they'll need a different approach.