"I'm glad you like it, Sephara," the blue Uni said smiling, "I sometimes take for granted the ability to fly, but your excitement reminds me how lucky I am!"

"You sure ar-ahhhh!" yelled Sephara, as a sudden and violent gust of wind blew them tumbling across the sky. Sephara managed to keep hold of Skyla's mane, but it had been a close call.

"Oh my! Are you okay, my friend?" the Uni said, trying to fly and look to the clinging Zafara at the same time."

Y-yeah... just surprised me, that's all," replied the shaky Zafara.

"Yes, me too! The winds are usually quite calm around here. Oh dear... actually, I'm not too sure of where 'here' is at the moment." the Uni said, glancing around. They seemed to have been blown right into a cloud. Skyla dove downward, trying to come out under the clouds. They seemed endless. Without warning, she burst from the cloud bank, only to realize she was about to smash into giant mass of...

Sephara shook her head to clear her mind. The impact had been a strange one. One moment she and Skyla had been flying through the clouds, and the next they were... well, she couldn't quite explain it. Everything she saw had a yellow-orange tint to it, and her eyes stung. She gasped for breath, but only got a mouthful of something sweet. Frantically she kicked her strong Zafara legs, scratching at the strange mass that held her. It gave way, and she fell out onto a soft street. Turning to look back and what she had been trapped in, she noticed a hoof sticking out of the side of it.

"SKYLA!" Sephara shouted, rushing to pull her friend out. The Uni came out easily enough, landing on top the Zafara. Interestingly, it didn't hurt much, as the ground had the consistency of-

"Jelly?" asked Skyla, looking around bewildered. "How can this be?" It was an entire city made of what seemed to be an orangy-yellow jelly.

"I think it must be Jelly World!" shouted Sephara excitedly.

"B-but, I thought that was just a rumour," the Uni replied, still wide-eyed.

"Guess not," said the Zafara looking around. "Ech, I'm never gonna get this stuff out of my fur, look at me! I'm blotched with orange!" she said, attempting to wipe the jelly off her arms, but only managing to spread it more.

"Eek! I can't even open my wings! They're stuck together." Skyla said, straining to open them.

"Looks like we're stuck here," sighed the Zafara. "At least until we can find some water to wash this stuff off. We'd better have a look around," Sephara said...

Heading back, Sephara asked one passerby, a Blumaroo, "Excuse me, ma'am... what's happening?"

"Somebody has crashed into the Giant Jelly!" the Blumaroo said, while taking notice of the orange substance all over them. "It wasn't you, was it?" she asked suspiciously.

"N-no, It wasn't uh... us," stammered the Zafara.

"Good," the Blumaroo said, walking away.

"That was close," Skyla whispered, "we'd better find somewhere to hide."

"Yeah," replied Sephara. They went back to going the other way, trying to avoid the eyes of suspicious Neopians as they passed. The Uni and Zafara felt like strangers in an unknown world... and they were. Walking further on, they found a cave of jelly. It looked deserted, so they hid for a while and tried to think of a plan to get out of their problem.

"Maybe... naw, that would never work," Skyla thought aloud.

"What are you thinking, Skyla?" the Zafara asked.

"Well," the Uni responded, "it's kind of stupid, but I'll tell you anyway. I was thinking we could sneak into someone's house and use their bathroom to wash off the jelly. That way, we could avoid any suspicion and try getting out of here."

"That's a good idea!" the Zafara said happily. They exited the cave and snuck behind a nearby house. It looked empty, so they gnawed at the jelly foundation to get inside. Once they'd gotten in, Sephara and Skyla started looking for the bathroom... however, before they could get the chance to wash themselves clean, they heard the sound of a doorknob jiggle.

"Oh no, let's get out of here!" Sephara said, frantically looking for a way out...

"What luck!" said Skyla, "The one door we open happens to lead into a closet..."

"Ssshhh!!!", said Sephara. She slightly opened the door and saw two figures, a Meerca and a Skeith, hunched over a blueprint. She tried listening in, but couldn't hear what they were saying.

The Meerca and Skeith ran up the stairs with evil grins on their faces.

"Something fishy is going on here; let's go investigate!" Sephara said to her friend. After carefully climbing the stairs, they quietly wandered the hallway. Hearing footsteps approach, they jumped into the nearest room. They were a bit luckier this time, for it turned out that they were now in the bathroom. Cautiously washing themselves, they cracked the door open and began to listen.

"My plan is complete!" the Meerca said, waving his arms around. "After I've seized control of the Giant Jelly, everyone will bow before me in awe... I'll be the King of Jelly World!"

Sephara and Skyla were amazed. How could anyone be so selfish?...

"Yes, but how?" queried Skyla.

The Zafara thought for a moment, then said, "Let's listen and try to find out what they're going to do."

"...lucky that those two dimwits crashed into the Giant Jelly when they did," the Skeith chortled.

"You're right about that, Chance," the Meerca replied. "With everyone in a state of chaos over that, we can walk right in and take over. It shouldn't be too difficult to incapacitate that oversized jelly Wocky guard. Not with this!" the Meerca said, waving around a bottle.

"So Gavin, if you're King, what does that make me?" Chance asked.

"Details, details..." Gavin replied. "Why are you worried about that now?"

"Well, it just sounds like you aren't going to need me around anymore, and I'm not sure I like that very much," replied the Skeith, curling his lip.

"Now Chance," the Meerca replied soothingly, "of course I'll still need you. All kings need a right-hand man, didn't you know that? You'll be my... uhm, my... ADVISOR! Yes, that's it, my advisor!"

"Ssshhhh!" Chance hushed urgently, "You don't want to get us found out, do you? Speaking of being found out, we need to check and see how things are going over at the Jelly."

"Right you are. Let me make sure I have enough of this," Gavin said, grinning evilly while pointing at the bottle he held in his hand. "I can't wait to see that Wocky melt!" he cackled.

"Sephara, you have a better line of sight... what is he holding?" Skyla whispered urgently.

"Um, I can't tell for sure, it looks like a bottle... a purple bottle."

Suddenly, the Skeith whipped his head around. "Did you hear something?" he snapped at Gavin.

"No... you're just getting jumpy. Let's get out of here," replied the Meerca. The girls huddled together in the bathroom, afraid to breathe.

"I'm sure I heard something coming from down the hall," Chance growled. "I'm going to check it out!" he announced, beginning to move from the room.

Frantically, the two friends looked around the bathroom. Was there nowhere to hide in here?...

The door swung open, and the Skeith's head popped in. He looked around a bit, then shrugged; he couldn't see anybody.

"See, what did I tell you?" said Gavin in a frazzled voice. "Nothing. You're just imagining things."

The voices trailed off as they walked down the hallway and decended the stairs. Skyla sighed from her place on the bathroom ceiling. She jumped down, followed by Sephara. At the last moment, they had wedged themselves into two corners of the ceiling, holding themselves up with all the strength in their bodies. If it wasn't for the stickyness of the jelly, they couldn't have even done that.

"I feel like laughing!" exclaimed Sephara after she was sure that the villains were gone from the house.

"Well, don't laugh yet. Look!" Skyla pointed to the bathroom window. From there, they could see the Skeith and Meerca walking towards the Giant Jelly, purple bottle tucked under Gavin's arm.

Without another word, the now clean pets raced to the door of the jelly house and cautiously crept outside.

Sephara saw Gavin and Chance round a corner, then motioned for Skyla to follow her lead.

"So, what do you think is in that bottle?" asked Skyla, shuddering at the thought of the poor Wocky melting. The Zafara gave a puzzled shrug, then kept on walking in silence.

After following the pets with the bottle for five minutes or so, Sephara suddenly stopped. "Look!" she pointed. Not too far in front of them sat the Giant Jelly. Before it stood the jelly guardian Wocky, who was handing out samples to the poor and needy of Jelly World.

Skyla's heart jumped, and she felt the urge to just rush up and tell the Wocky all she had heard. What would the Skeith and Meerca do to him if they weren't stopped? They had to act quickly...

"Great!" Skyla nearly squealed, "What is it?"

"Well," Sephara began, "as we found out the hard way, this jelly is very sticky."

Skyla was listening intently. "Yeah, so?" she asked, curious and anxious to stop the felons. As the Zafara whispered into her ear, a small smile spread across the Uni's face.

The two friends raced over to a nearby jelly house, scooping up as much jelly as they could.

With arms full of jelly, Sephara straddled herself on Skyla's back, and they took off into the sky.

"All right! This should be high enough," Skyla shouted over the wind to her Zafara friend, "Ready, set, FIRE!"...

Skyla backwinged and landed in a gust of air. Gavin scrambled for the purple bottle, skidding on the jelly. Sephara saw him run, recognized the intention in his eyes, and quickly vaulted from the blue Uni's back, throwing herself at the Meerca. She knocked him over and into the jelly. Gavin cried out with unadulterated hatred, his tail whipping around and smashing Sephara off him. She blinked up at the sky, dazed, gasping for breath.

That's when Skyla pounded up beside her. Sephara pulled herself up and sprang on to the Uni's back. They were in the air a second later, soaring after the Meerca who was trying to bounce away. Sephara glanced down at the citizens of Jelly World, but they were only staring up at after them, their mouths agape. Sephara shrugged and leaned her body into the wind. They would catch Gavin on their own!

But the Meerca turned, snarled up at them, and vanished into a forest of jelly trees. "Oh no!" Skyla moaned. "I'll never be able to land through the trees, we'd get stuck in the canopy. We have to pursue him on foot." She started to descend.

"No!" Sephara said, laying a paw on her friend's shoulder to stop her. "He's too dangerous, and might have more potions. We'll come back later. He won't dare leave the forest, and there is a wall encircling the entire city as well."

Skyla was hesitant to go, so she circled frustrated, over the forest for a while, but finally she consented and flew back to the Giant Jelly.

Everyone was staring at them as they landed. There was no sound as Sephara dismounted, except the wind breezing past the jelly buildings. Finally a Tonu said, "They ride the wind!"

The phrase was repeated over and over, until Sephara interrupted, confused. "Ride the wind? I suppose you could call it that, but--she's a Uni. She can fly, she's got wings."

"Fly?" the Jelly Keeper asked, pushing forward out of the crowd. "I am not sure what that means. No one here, you see, has what you call...'wings'."

What? No wings? Sephara and Skyla gazed at the crowd. There were no winged pets! Blumaroos, Kyrii, Wockies--but no Shoyrus, Draiks, Eyries, Unis, or pets painted Faerie. "Is that why you can't leave?" Skyla asked quietly.

"Leave?" the Jelly Keeper appeared confused. "There's nowhere else to go."

Something was missing. Sephara chewed her lip, and her eyes fell on Chance, the Skeith. The Skeith! Skeiths had wings! And that meant Chance, and Gavin as well, must be outlanders...

"No!!" Skyla shouted, turning to chase after him.

"Wait Skyla, I just thought of something," Sephara said, holding her friend back.

Skyla was still angry about losing sight of their enemy, and snorted.

"Well," Sephara prompted, "if Gavin and Chance came the same way we did, they must have found this place by accident or something. That means, they may have been able to mix that purple potion somewhere else. As soon as the potion is used up, they'll need to fly away and get more. As long as Chance can't fly away, our problems are solved!"

Skyla stamped the ground. "What are we supposed to do, take away their wings?"

Sephara smiled at her friend. "Skyla, you have something there. We need to do something to their wings, and you know what? If that potion can make jelly dissolve, then there must be some kind of potion that can make jelly stronger. Hardening jelly that NEVER breaks."

Skyla was now jumping with excitement. "So we need to pour that on Chance's wings!" she cried. "But first, we need the potion. How?" she asked.

Sephara shook her head. "Honestly, Skyla. You're a Kauvara's potion-making champion! You're ALWAYS in the Haunted Woods playing that game..."

Sephara began gathering whatever she could find, then dumped some jelly and a few other odds and ends in front of Skyla. She whinnied happily, then dove in. Soon, a blue potion was bubbling over a jelly flame. Sephara picked the potion up carefully in her hands, and climbed onto Skyla's back. Skyla was soon soaring over the jelly forest, trying to keep steady as Sephara took out a second bottle. This one was purple.

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" Sephara cried. That's when she got ready to dump the dissolving potion over the jelly trees, but Skyla wheeled and almost unseated Sephara.

"What happened?" Sephara choked.

"Sorry, I don't know," Skyla whispered.

An orange jelly ball whizzed by.

"They're firing at us!" Skyla gulped.

The next jelly ball hit her head, and the Uni was knocked from the sky. Sephara fell down, plummeting as the cold air rushed by her. The potions began to slip from her grasp...

They all scattered, and Sephara and Skyla landed in a large pile of sticky, orange jelly. More jelly balls whizzed over their heads and hit some of the villagers, making the poor, confused Neopets shriek and run away.

Skyla tried to move, but she was bound into the jelly prison and couldn't get up. Sephara, on the other hand, had been on the Uni's back, so only a little of her was covered.

"Sephara, you go!" Skyla urged the Zafara, "Take the potions and get that Skieth!"

"But... but..." Sephara stammered, not wanting to leave her friend in the sticky mess.

"GO!" the Uni shouted.

So, with her heart pounding against her chest, Sephara pulled herself out of the jelly and snatched up the potions. She ran as fast as she could over to Chance and Gavin, who were tormenting the villagers with more jelly balls.

That's when Chance marched over to the Jelly Keeper, who was looking both shocked and outraged.

The Skieth whipped out the purple potion, pulling off the cork with a small pop. He raised it, ready to tip the potion over the jelly Wocky and dissolve him completely!

"No!" Sephara yelled, and she raced up to Chance. Then she leapt onto his back, and struck the potion so hard that it was knocked from Chance's hand. It fell onto the floor and poured out, dissolving the jelly grass. Soon there was none of the potion left.

Chance roared with rage, trying to shake Sephara off his back. She clung tightly, though. However much the Skeith shook, she would not move. Growling angrily, Chance beat his wings and rose into the air.

He soared into the clouds, shaking more and more. Sephara started to slip, and feared that soon she'd be plunging down to the now very small Jelly World. She decided it was now or never. She was taking out the potion and reaching to take off the cork, when one of Chance's wings knocked it out of her hands!

The potion dropped through the air, falling in a downward spiral. Soon it would smash on the floor, and all the purple liquid that was held inside would be gone. Chance and Gavin would win. Numb with fear, Sephara watched it soar down. That's when the air was suddenly filled with a shrill neigh. Sephara turned around and gasped... it was Skyla!

The Uni had broken free of her jelly bounds, and was following them!

"SKYLA, THE POTION!" Sephara shrieked and pointed down.

Skyla saw the potion falling and plunged down like a missile, her hooves outstreched to grab the bottle. Would she make it in time to save the potion? Sephara held her breath...

Chance's body shook with laughter. Sephara hung on grimly, her eyes wide with fright. "Fool!" he cried. "If I fall, so does this Zafara here!"

The Skeith rolled over in midair. Sephara shrieked and clutched at him, closing her eyes tightly as the world spun around her. She could hear Skyla hissing in frustration as the three of them hovered high above Jelly World. Sephara cracked open one eyelid and dared to glance down. Gavin was bouncing around and throwing jelly balls at anyone who ventured near him. No help there, even if anyone had wings.

"You wouldn't!" shrieked Skyla. A gust of wind snapped down as she spoke, throwing the two fliers off balance. Skyla batted her wings and regained her position quickly, but Chance's body was wider and like a kite. He was swept along with the wind, a terrified Sephara still clinging to him. He fought his way back to where he had been, facing the furious Uni.

A plan formed in Sephara's mind as she stared at her helpless friend, who was upwind of them. She met the Uni's eyes and jerked her head behind Chance. Skyla frowned. Sephara did it again, mouthing the words, "Get behind him!"

Skyla smiled slightly as she began to understand. She sighed and said to Chance, "Fine. You win. I'm going to leave Jelly World to you and Gavin. You can keep the Zafara, too."

"What?!?" Sephara shrilled in faked astonishment.

"That's for dropping the potion!" yelled Skyla. She winged forward and dove beneath the unsuspecting Skeith. He bellowed and whipped around, but now Skyla was downwind of him, and the gusts were sweeping him closer and closer to her with every passing second. He bellowed again, but this time in glee, and stretched his claws out to swipe at the Uni. But Sephara wasn't going to let him. The white Zafara stood up, throwing Chance off balance, and sprang from his back into the air towards Skyla.

For a moment, time hung suspended. There was blue sky all around her, and she was frozen in midair. Then Sephara was jerked back into reality as she landed on Skyla's back. The force of her landing caused the Uni to sink below the Skeith. They went under Chance, then wove around and used the wind to bring them up above him. Quick as thought, Skyla upended the bottle on Chance. He shrieked as his wings fastened shut, and he plummeted back to the ground.

Sephara and Skyla soared down after him. The Jelly Keeper and the rest of the citizens of Jelly World had banded together and captured Gavin; he lay bound, muttering insults at everyone.

"Is Chance hurt?" Sephara asked, dismounting.

"No," said the Jelly Keeper, pointing to his left. "He landed in the Giant Jelly." The jelly Wocky looked at them with something like awe. "You saved us all, Windriders."

"Windriders?" Skyla repeated, startled, but Sephara elbowed her and said, "Oh, hush, I kind of like the title." Then louder, to the Jelly Keeper, she said, "We'll take Gavin and Chance back to Ne--er, where we come from, and hand them over to the authorities. You'll be safe now."

In the air a few hours later, with Jelly World fading fast behind them and Chance and Gavin dangling in a net under them, Skyla asked Sephara, "Why didn't you tell the Jelly Keeper that we were taking them to Neopia Central?"

Sephara shrugged and stared ahead. There was Terror Mountain in the distance, and the green land of Meridell, and rocky Tyrannia. Before it all was the glimmering city of Neopia Central, shining in the sunlight. The water of the ocean glinted below them.

"If you think about it," Sephara said slowly, "Neopians don't think Jelly World really exists, and the pets from Jelly World have no clue Neopia exists. They're two separate worlds, and they should stay that way. Think about what havoc Chance and Gavin caused, just two greedy Neopians preying on an unsuspecting world!" The Zafara pointed down at their two captives.

Skyla nodded. "I guess you're right," the Uni said, "Oh well--I, for one, will be glad to walk on solid ground again!" Sephara laughed, and they continued on their way home.

The End