Cloudchild

Chapter 6 - Falling

The catapult launched Annani out the window. She ricocheted across a flying jelly then splatted against another. Gravity peeled her off—she bounced to and fro down the gelatinous flotilla.

"Oof—wwuh—ow! Hwuh—mmfm—hmruh!"

Annani landed upon a particular Magna Bulla and rolled down his trilobate body. He caught Annani then swallowed her head. She kicked and growled, causing bubbles within, though remained stuck. Her quills extended, entrapment ensured.

Sacrificed to the jelly lord, Annani haplessly drifted along; weight caused gradual descension. He grabbed other flying jellies and pulled himself higher while the brat bicycled and muffled amid his airborne bobbing.

Eventually, Annani pulled her head out and gasped for air—gasped again because she held onto nothing! She caught her ride's tentacles and swayed.

Hunh, everyone looks so small from up here... Oh, wait... Annani's guts slipped up her throat. "I don't wanna fall!" She lifted her knees but couldn't hoist herself up.

Down below, a telescope gleamed.

"Mr. Blue!? That you down there!? HELLLP MMMEE—" Annani was swallowed whole, all gone...

Annani bounced around inside her gelatinous ride, rubbery membranes briefly disfigured from her sporadic movement, propulsion disrupted. He floated into a few flying jellies who wobbled into others—a tsunami of wobbling jellies bombarded the city.

Although entombed in jelly, Annani saw through the transparent exterior. Down below, a big green man waddled after children, gesticulation and vocalisation furious though ignored.

Amazed, the pupils gathered and stared.

"Look! The Angel really can fly!" Petrichor squealed and the children cheered—Annani's jellyfish swooped and smooshed them.

"Definitely a black beetle!" the schoolmaster yelled. He threw the Magna Bulla off and yelled at the panicked children until a flying jelly smashed into his back, knocking him over.

Citizens hissed and scattered as giant jellies rained upon them, market stalls and stacked goods unspared from disruption.

Annani's friend dragged himself over other flying jellies. Airborne again, he jounced amid the jumbled flotilla which rippled with greater chaos.

Her head popped out his mouth, quills extended. Air gulped, Annani coughed and kicked her legs. "Get me outta here!" Her ride ascended. "Hey! Wrong way! Go down!" She swam in place, remaining stuck within her gelatinous transport. He flopped against another like him and descended.

Annani sighed. An apartment building with a rooftop garden amid skylights caught her attention. That's my place? "Go up now! That way! Over there! I'll show you my parents!" He didn't listen. "Ughhh! You stupid bubble!" Quills relaxed, she retracted and kicked within the creature. He climbed other jellies, drifted off, and dragged over others whenever his friend's weight lowered him.

Eventually, Annani's ride floated along the apartment building. Her head reemerged, quills a black curtain, rooftop gardens below. She squirmed, shoulders stuck; the jelly floated off.

"Hey! Don't go anywhere!" Annani wriggled, exit impossible so she kicked; nothing worked. She swung her head and bit a mouthful of woody shrubs. Her teeth peeled some bark—whiplashed, her teeth still clung.

Extended between her teeth and a hovering host, Annani soon realised the bag that contained the shrubs lifted! She spat them out as her friend rose.

"Heyyy! Put me dowwwn! Nowww—" The jelly sneezed her out; she smashed through a skylight. Annani whirled amidst showering shards and face planted into the floor.