When faced with the question of loneliness, he answers that he listens to the rocks. Pom explains that he lives in the mines to escape the hustle and bustle of the outside world. The two kids descend into an old mine and meet Uncle Pom, an eccentric old miner. But once again the stone takes action and the pirates and military look on in awe as the children float down quietly and out of their reach. During this escape, the rail collapses and Pazu and Sheeta fall with the ruins into the darkness of the canyon below. In order to escape the military force in front of them and the pirates on the track behind them, they take a turn and the two of them run across a third route. The hijacking of the ship did not go unnoticed and soon large military reinforcements were on their way: Muska and his men began to pursue two children. Dola, having gathered her sons, was right on their heels. With the help of the villagers, Pazu and Sheeta manage to escape and board a train. Unfortunately, it does not take much time for pirates to trace Sheeta to where she landed. Pazu wants to prove his father’s honor and honesty so he has been working on a small ornithopter which should allow him to rediscover Laputa. Upon his return, nobody believed his discovery of the floating castle and he died in poverty. The picture was taken by Pazu’s father, an explorer who snapped the photo during a harsh storm.
In the house, Sheeta notices a photograph of the legendary Castle of Laputa. When he tries to test the levitation himself, he falls head first through the roof below but gets up without a scratch. After she awakens, Pazu asks to see the stone, inquiring about its mystical properties of which Sheeta has no recollection of. The next morning, Sheeta is awakened by the sound of Pazu playing the trumpet on the roof. Narrowly he catches the girl and decides to bring her back home. To his surprise, she appears to have no weight… that is until the stone stops glowing and she almost drags them both down into the shaft. She falls straight to the head of the mine excavation and Pazu rushes to catch her. While returning to the mine with a meal for his boss, he sees Sheeta slowly descending from the sky. In a small mining town below, a boy called Pazu is working very late. However, while unconscious her amulet emits a bright blue glow and she goes from a free-fall to a float. She is unable to keep her grip and she falls to what appears at first to be her doom.
In order to escape the pirates who have gotten wind of her amulet, she goes through a window and grabs the outer walls of the ship. In the confusion, Sheeta manages to knock out her captor and reclaim her crystal. Suddenly, the ship is attacked by Dola and her gang of pirates, which coincedentally are her sons. The latter is a government agent who has kidnapped Sheeta and taken a powerful family heirloom of hers, a necklace made of pure Aetherium. A zeppelin-like airship flies through the clouds at night.