"Found any lost treasure today?" asked a voice, startling the Cybunny from his reverie.

"Err, no, not yet... and you know very well that Lord Brighton was glad to have his missing boot back that I fished up, even if there were holes chewed into it by a sea creature," the Cybunny replied gruffly as he turned to the Lenny behind him.

"Well, the day's only just beginning. Who knows what you'll find -- a bit of kelp that someone dropped, or another handkerchief that someone lost," the Lenny joked.

"Oh hush, Artemis. One of these days I'll find some real treasure!" the Cybunny replied, reeling in his line and recasting yet again.

"You know I was only joking, Hayden. I’m sure you will... eventually. Anyway, did you read over all those history scrolls for our test next week? Can we go over all the Twelve Protectors? I think I got mixed up in my studying," Artemis asked, sitting down beside Hayden and taking off her overstuffed book bag.

"Sure. There was Sasha, Gordos, Psellia, Fauna, Marak, Torakor, Florin, Kelland, Siyana, Jerdana, King Altador and, of course, the Darkest Faerie. Legend has it the twelve secreted away a vast treasure somewhere in the heart of the city," Hayden began, reciting part of their lesson.

Artemis rolled her eyes. "You'll never rest with this treasure business until you've found some, will you? I'll have you know, I asked my Uncle Finneus about that legend and he said there was nothing to it. He said that every inch of the city has been searched by various treasure hunters, and no one has found any secret stash or secret room."

"I still think there's treasure somewhere. Don't you want to go looking for it, too? If we find it, we'll be legends, just like the protectors! Who knows, maybe one day we'll have statues in the hall!" Hayden declared.

"That's great and all, but maybe we should focus on the test first? The gardens should be quiet now if you want to go study there," Artemis said, picking up her bag.

Hayden sighed. "All right, fine. I'm not having any luck with the fishing today, either. Let me just reel in my line..." Hayden started, pausing as he felt added weight. "Hey, I think I've caught something!"

Artemis watched in disbelief as Hayden's line came up with his hook caught in the cork lid of a small bottle. The two stared wide-eyed at each other before Artemis gestured for Hayden to open it. He tipped the bottle over and a small key and a rolled-up piece of parchment fell into his hand. Artemis leaned over as Hayden unrolled the parchment, only to discover that it was written in a strange language.

"What do you think this says?" Hayden asked excitedly.

"I have no idea, but I think my Uncle Finneus might be able to help..."

Finneus's nephew had stopped by the Archives, spouting some nonsense about an error made when calculating the density of rabid Weewoos. A visit from his nephew would have been nothing out of the ordinary, had he not decided to bring along his Petpet. One might assume that such a rotund creature would be uninterested in anything other than food or sleep, but the miscreant had a penchant for ripping Finneus's beloved Meepit plushies to shreds.

"Bacon indeed," Finneus muttered. "How can he claim that wretched beast mistook my plushie for bacon? Even my eyesight isn't that bad..."

A voice called out and interrupted his brooding. "Uncle Finneus! There you are!" Artemis and her friend raced over, waving a rolled-up piece of parchment in the air. "Look what we've found!"

Giving his niece a stern look to indicate his disapproval, Finneus set down the box he was holding.

"Sorry, Uncle Finneus," Artemis apologised as she reached her uncle's side. "I know you've told me not to shout in the archives."

Keen to get back to his plushie search, Finneus decided that now was not the time to lecture Artemis about archive rules. "What have you found that's so exciting?"

Hayden handed the parchment to his friend's uncle. "I was fishing and caught a bottle. It had a key inside, and these instructions to find the treasure!"

"It's always about treasure with you, Hayden," Artemis said, rolling her eyes. "Do you know what it says, Uncle Finneus?"

Unrolling the aged parchment, Finneus carefully examined the scrawled handwriting. His jaw dropped and a look of excitement flashed in his eyes. "Sweet Fyora, this must be thousands of years old! I haven't seen anything written in... not since... but how to translate..."

Finneus's eyes jerked upward and he grabbed his niece by the shoulders. "Go. Fetch your cousin. We'll need his help." As Artemis turned to leave, Finneus added, "But tell him to leave Plumpy at home; I don't want another Meepit plushie to be ruined."

Finneus's attention turned to Hayden. "Through that door and to the left," he said, pointing. "Look on the bottom shelf. Find a copy of Extinct Neopian Languages and bring it to my office. I'll meet you there in a few minutes. I need to search the ancient document room to find the fragment that my predecessor claimed came from Jelly World..."

"It could be real!" Hayden exclaimed. "It's just that nobody has been able to find it... more than once." His eyes lit up. "Maybe the parchment we found will tell us how to find Jelly World? We'll be famous, and maybe even find treasure!" The young Cybunny began to bounce around a bit. When he got excited, it was all he could do not to jump all over the place.

"You two, quiet down!" Finneus snapped. "Now, go do what I asked of you!" He gave Hayden a little push toward the door that he had shown him to, then turned and went through another door across the room to the ancient document room, muttering to himself.

"He's right, we should start the adventure!" Hayden said, his grin so large that his face began to hurt. He ignored the slight irritation, however, and focused on his task. Walking through the door that the Lenny had shown him, he hopped to the left side of the room and examined the bottom shelf.

Countless books and scrolls lined the shelves, but Hayden found his quarry very quickly. It was a large book with stone slabs for a cover. The book was thick, stuffed full of parchment pages that, upon further inspection, contained scraps of odd languages that Hayden did not recognize. The title, EXTINCT NEOPIAN LANGUAGES, was engraved on the front stone cover in large block letters. Hayden lifted the book and almost dropped it, as it was much heavier than he had expected. Flipping the book over, the back read, "A hefty volume that covers the many lost languages of past civilisations in Neopia."

"Hefty," Hayden scoffed, hoisting the book into his arms once again.

He headed back to the Archives room and saw that Artemis was gone to get her cousin. Hayden lugged the heavy stone book to the door leading into Finneus's office, muttering under his breath about how the Lenny had better be able to translate the parchment with the gigantic book. Setting the book on the floor momentarily, the Cybunny turned the doorknob to Finneus's office. He pushed the door inward and then gasped when he saw...

Hayden stared at the scene for a moment before he realized who the Lupe was. It was Number Five, the deranged Lupe kept in the dungeons of the Darigan Citadel!

"Please stop shaking me!" Finneus said, his voice quaking and alternating as the wild Lupe stopped for a moment, shook the Lenny again, and then stopped.

"Thank you!" Finneus said, taking a moment to steady himself. He quickly glanced toward the door to see that Hayden was there, but Number Five hadn't yet noticed that they were no longer alone.

"Now," the archivist said, "I don't have all this knowledge memorized, you know. If there is any information, it would be in the archives. I can lead you on your path, but I don't know exactly what it is that you're looking for!"

The wild-eyed Lupe didn't seem to like that, and pounded on Finneus's desk with his walking stick. "I didn't spend two months planning a massive breakout of the Darigan dungeons to be stopped here! Just tell me everything you know now, and then lead me to all the rest of it!"

"Alright! Alright! Gracious, you're pushy!" Finneus said, crossing his arms before he went to one of the books on his shelf. Hayden wasn't sure what he should do. He needed to do something to help Finneus, but at the same time, he wasn't sure what he could do against the crazed Lupe.

He thought for a moment before looking around to see what might be able to help. Then, out of the window, he saw Artemis coming up the way with her cousin, the starry hat the Lenny was wearing an easily-identifiable mark.

Perfect! Hayden thought, slowly sneaking out of the doorway before Number Five saw him. If anyone would know how to solve this conundrum, it's him...

"Was it the 34th and a half queen of Tyrannia, who only stayed in office for forty-five minutes before being impeached after declaring war on all pancake companies throughout Neopia, all while writing the battle hymn of the waffle-eater kingdom?" Artemis snickered with a haughty smirk played across her face. "Or was it King Tulargapomp the 82nd of Meridell, who demanded that all Kaus take vocal lessons to help them follow their dreams and declared war on the waffle-companies, also while writing the theme of the pancake enthusiast armada?"

The Cybunny rolled his eyes and tapped his long foot. "Everyone knows there were four monarchs: Queen Aksha, 34th and a half queen of Tyrannia who was indeed impeached 45 minutes and 53 seconds  after being inaugurated. The second was in fact Kind Tulargapomp the 82nd who ruled over Meridell for as long as anyone can remember. The two kingdoms were locked in a floury, syrupy battle of breakfast foods and toaster pastries." Hayden stopped to take a breath, not realizing Artemis had already walked off and into the archives.

"The two other monarchs, two snarky queens, argued relentlessly over whether kittens or puppies were better. The older one -- Artemis, are you writing any of this down?" The Cybunny quit rambling and glanced around for his friend. "Artemis??"

He let out a long, drawn out sigh and jetted into the archives.

There stood Number Five the Lupe, Artemis, Finneus, and a tall red Eyrie with a brown scarf draped loosely around her neck who was chatting with the three. Hayden speedily bounced towards the quartet, secretly hoping he could catch up.

"...Why the language went 'extinct' is because many words looked and sounded precisely the same, the only difference being maybe a bit of emphasis on a vowel or two." The Eyrie pressed her red paws together and smiled.

"Ah, Philomena, was it? This is extremely interesting, but would you happen to know anything AT ALL about translating this language?" Finneus asked in a troubled voice.  His eyebrows were knitted together and his thumbs twirled around each other nervously.

"'Fraid not, mister Finneus," Philomena sighed, smoothing back the feathers on the top of her head, "I do know that you read right to left instead of left to right, though." She wrapped the scarf tightly around her neck and saluted the now trio.

"Thank you, Philomena!" Artemis called after her. 

"No problem!" The Eyrie gave a small wave as she contentedly strolled out the door.

After a few seconds of silence and thinking, the Lenny spoke up earnestly.

"What do we do now??"

Hayden sneered. "Give up? You are crazy!" he exclaimed in disgust. "Let me see that parchment!"

Finneus passed him the paper. "Remember, read right to left."

"I know!" the Cybunny snapped. He examined the parchment closely. "AHA!" he exclaimed.

"What is it? Artemis asked excitedly.

"It's Tyrannian spelled backwards," Hayden said smugly. "And I speak Tyrannian! It says, Follow the path of the Cobrall to where it resides, then ask it to tell you a riddle. The answer to the riddle is the location of the map to Jelly World!" he read excitedly. "I know where a cobrall resides! The Petpet Store! Let's go!"

"Noooo!" Number 5 moaned, clacking his walking stick against the ground. "They'll have found me by then. I need to see it. I need to know it's real!" He was starting to twitch now, and Hayden was wondering how wise it was to leave that walking stick in his hands.

Luckily, Finneus interjected before the crazed prisoner could really go off the wall.

"Do calm down, sir. I have an idea," he said, then turned to Hayden. "You mentioned there was a-ah-key in the bottle?"

"Yes, this one," Hayden replied, fishing it out of his pocket and handing it to the archivist.

"Mmm yes, yeeeess," Fineus murmured to himself, turning the key over in his hand, tracing the metal with his fingertips, and then holding it up closely to his monocled eye. "A-ha!"

"What?" three voices asked, on cue.

"Look here, at the key, through my monocle... mind the glass," Fineus explained, holding out the key in his palm and detaching his monocle to hover over the key. Artemis, Hayden, and Number 5 had to get almost forehead to forehead to get a good look.

"Is that--" Artemis started.

"A Cobrall!" Hayden exclaimed, triumphant, for indeed, there was a tiny Cobrall head engraved at the head of the key, its body twining around the shaft.

"Yes, but there does remain one pressing issue," Finneus murmured, replacing his monocle and stroking his chin. "How do we ask the key to tell us a riddle? How does a key tell... perhaps another definition of--"

"Uncle?"

"Yes, Artemis?"

"I think I know what to do," the Lenny replied, grinning ear to ear...

"What are we supposed to do with that?" Hayden asked.

"Well, this riddle will lead us to a map that will help us find Jelly World, right?" Artemis said.

Everyone nodded.

"So, jelly will help us find the answer!" She grabbed the key and stuck it right into the wobbly green jelly, then twisted the key as if opening a door. She carefully pulled the key back out and shook it to clean off the bits of lime goo. "Uncle Finneus, can we see your monocle again?"

"Hmm, of course," he said. He held it over the spot where she'd inserted the key into the jelly."That was a good thought, Artemis," he said after examining her work.

"That's amazing," Hayden said. "It looks just like the symbol over the door of the Illustrious Armoury..."

"And it won't take us as long to get there as it would the Petpet Store," Hayden agreed.

"So let's go!" Number Five insisted...

"Alright," Hayden sighed, the riches on his mind shortening his patience.

Number Five slipped out quietly, carrying with him a page torn from Extinct Neopian Languages. He hadn't realized it until the young Cybunny had brought it up, but the ancient Jelly World dialect did resemble Tyrannian backward -- had Jelly World really co-existed alongside Tyrannia? He supposed it was around at the time of ancient Altador, which itself existed about 1,000 years ago...

He had to uncover the complete story behind Jelly World.

I mean, I was the one who spent years studying the mythical location. I was the individual who got locked in jail for what Neopians though were incoherent ramblings, Number Five thought. Though the Cybunny's catch -- and his general party -- may have helped me out somewhat, access to the world should belong solely to me.

He had to get the other members of the group out of the way, and he knew just how to -- perfectly legally -- do it.

Running down into the public reading room, he grabbed a Language Textbook and -- after brushing up on his Tyrannian -- jotted some backward symbols down on an old parchment, a piece he had swiped from the cluttered floor of Finneus's chamber that was sitting unobtrusively beside a shredded Meepit plushie...

"Well, here we are," Finneus announced. "This building..." he began, then paused for dramatic effect. "This building exists as the speculative nexus between Neopia and the mythical land of Jelly."

"Yep," Number Five said. He then pursued a maniacal giggle. "This is what I've waited my entire life for!"

Visions of treasure flashed before the Cybunny's eyes. "This is what I've waited my entire life for!"

"Now," Artemis announced, "where can we put this key..."

The quartet glanced all around.

"Well, you could try inserting the key into the symbol above the door somehow," Number Five suggested. "After all, they do share the same emblem."

"Good thinking, Lupe," Artemis commended. "But... how do we get up there?"

"Er..." Finneus blurted, thinking out loud. "Climb on my shoulders," he instructed Number Five.

By now, the awkwardness of a crazed Lupe attempting to balance atop what appeared to be the archivist had attracted some glaring, and general bewilderment.

The Elephante who ran Illustrious Armoury -- observing the situation through the store window -- became especially disconcerted and went outside to see what exactly was going on.

"What's going on?" he inquired.

His eyes then widened when he saw Number Five.

"Hello, blacksmith," Artemis greeted. "We're attempting to locate Jelly World."

The Elephante smiled nervously. "Right," he agreed. "And, to do so, Number Five will have to... stand on Finneus's... shoulders?" He tried sorting something through his head.

"Yes," Hayden agreed.

"Well," the blacksmith placated, "would you like any help? I've a ladder in the back of my shop."

"Excellent!" Number Five exclaimed.

"Yes," the Elephante agreed. "I'll go get it for you two."

He went inside his store and retrieved his long ladder, which he carried out to the "Deranged Jelliers," as he called them.

"Just make sure you... find me when everything is done." The blacksmith smiled at the four before returning into his office and drafting a quick letter. Finding his Faerie Yooyu, he sent the message flying off toward the Hall of Heroes...

He peered around the symbol and... in the dead center, he spotted a keyhole.

"I've found a keyhole!" he shouted to the party below.

They cheered him on.

He inserted the key... it fit. He turned it... and the symbol fell down toward the ground, smashing into several pieces and creating a massive cloud of dust.

As the three below turned away and started coughing, Number Five quickly scaled down the ladder and, taking the old parchment found in the rubble, replaced it with the one that he had devised on his supposed bathroom break.

The three finished their coughing fit shortly after the dust subsided -- Number Five had long since performed his dastardly deed.

"I climbed down the ladder," the Lupe said before they asked questions.

"Yes," Hayden agreed. "Why aren't you coughing?"

Number Five almost laughed. "Are you kidding? The conditions are much worse in the Citadel."

The other three had to agree.

Hayden then saw the parchment there, buried within the rubble, and retrieved it. "It's in Jelly-speak!" he exclaimed, hoping that what he had called the language would catch on -- then, he could be famous for two things.

He read it aloud. "You have come this far... but your journey ends here. There is no Jelly World -- this was all just a massive ruse. Congrats, however... you would make an excellent sleuth and / or treasure hunter."

All but Number Five, who was giggling unnoticeably to himself, stared at the letter in disbelief.

"I guess that's it," Finneus uttered dejectedly. "There's no Jelly World."

"But," Number Five spoke, feigning misery, "it has to exist!"

"It doesn't," Hayden responded, his dreams seemingly less crushed than those of Number Five's.

"Well, what do we do now?" Artemis inquired.

That's when a carriage, pulled by two large Alabrisses, showed up. King Altador arrived at the scene. He walked up beside Number Five and handcuffed him.

"Number Five," he said, "I've been communicating with Meridell and the Darigan Citadel for a short while now; they were angry, as we were allegedly harboring a fugitive... you." He looked cross. "I was recently tipped off that you were here, in front of Illustrious Armoury, in some vain attempt to find Jelly World."

He gazed at the other three.

"Also," Altador continued, "I see you kidnapped my archivist and a few students from the Imperial Seminary to aid in your efforts. Is this true?"

Number Five glared at the three, and then at Altador. If he denied the fact, Darigan would just punish him more for not "telling the truth" about the matter. "It's true," he sighed.

"Very well," Altador replied gravely. He then took notice of the damage around him. "Tell the blacksmith that I'll reimburse him for the fallen emblem."

Altador ushered the deplorable Lupe into his carriage, and it rode off.

There was an awkward feeling in the air.

"Er... what do we do now?" Artemis reiterated.

"Let's go back to the Archives," Hayden suggested. "I'll go help you study..."

He retrieved the parchment that he had swapped with his own after the symbol had fallen down and smashed. It was a map... a map supposedly leading to Jelly World.

All he had to do now was find some way out. It would most certainly be more difficult -- after this long escape of his, the guarding of his Darigan cell would surely be increased.

He had the map, though, and that was all he needed... he started laughing again, a crazed chuckle heard throughout the hall...

Her Cybunny friend laughed. "I think I'm done with treasure hunting for now. I've had more adventure and excitement in a day than I've ever had, and..." he looked sadly toward the ground, "...I don't want to end up like Number Five, so obsessed about fame and things that, apparently, don't exist." He then smiled.

Artemis grinned.

Finneus quickly stopped in to return the ladder to the blacksmith, also telling him about the symbol and Altador's supposed funding of a new one. He soon returned back outside.

The three then walked back toward the Archives, thoughts of any sort of "Jelly World" already drifting from their conscious minds...

The End