"Now we need to get down," he says.

I look at the distance between us and the red beam. It's pretty far. "Are we gonna fly over to J-Hope's group or something?"

"We'd get shot in the air."

"Do we run instead?"

"They'll surround us too easily."

"So what's your plan?"

"..."

"... you didn't think this out very well, did you."

"Hey, I had about one second to make this decision!" Jungkook crosses his arms. "It's not like I could sit down for an afternoon and plan this all out -"

"- but now we're stuck here until something happens -"

"- you didn't have a better idea -"

"- we're up here useless either way -"

"GOTCHA!"

We whirl around. Three Fighters have sneaked up on us, blocking our way back.

These ones don't look drunk.

Jungkook stands in front of me again without hesitation. Now behind us in all its glory is a really really steep slope downwards into the Fighters' camp.

"I don't see how this can end well," I say quietly so only Jungkook can hear.

"We'll figure something out," he breathes.

The middle Fighter steps up suddenly. Jungkook steps back which forces me to do the same. I look behind me and the amount of space we've got left is much less than I'm comfortable with.

Please don't back up anymore.

"What're you two doing here by yourselves?" the middle Fighter asks.

"Talking with you," I reply.

He sneers and sends bricks of earth at us without warning. Jungkook blows them off course in time so we don't get hit.

Then the other two join.

These guys don't talk nearly as much as Drunk Fighter did, probably because they don't need the distraction. Jungkook and I form a shield to block the onslaught of dirt and rocks but I know it won't last us very long - I can feel my energy dissipating away with each hit.

Middle Fighter stops to take a huge chunk out of the land next to him. It's got snow still on top and tree roots sticking out of it and everything.

"I don't think it's worth using so much energy to block that," I tell Jungkook.

"But we can't just dissolve the shield."

Again I glance at the slope behind us, then back at the Fighters.

Think, Y/n!

The earth chunk seems to launch at us in slow motion. Any impact on the shield will sap up our energy, which we need to conserve, so we've got to lower the shield or dodge the chunk altogether...

I wrap my arms around Jungkook's waist and hug him for dear life-

-as I step backwards.

The ground gives way to the steep slope below us. I glimpse the Fighter's chunk of land flying overhead, narrowly missed, before I shut my eyes and we go tumbling down the hill together.

Jungkook is the only constant thing I can hold onto as the world whirls around us.

I grimace as I crash into the ground again and again with each roll. But moments later I feel air currents lifting us up the slightest bit, creating a cushion of sorts between us and the ground. It doesn't slow us down but the reduced pain is more than enough. A wave of relief washes over me.

And then we speed up.

No no no Jungkook what are you doing - ?!

Everything feels so much worse because there's no sense of direction, just constant spinning around like the inside of a washing machine. We'll probably roll through one of their campfires, at this rate, or crash into a tree and never wake up again. I brace myself for impact.

But the ride is oddly smooth with the air cushion's help and even at this insane speed, I can feel the currents around us changing as if Jungkook is steering us. How he can tell where we are is beyond me.

So that's how we find ourselves Sonic Spinning down the hill and through the camp.

I'm just starting to feel some motion sickness when Jungkook abruptly stops controlling us. We must've arrived. But inertia keeps us going and launches us into the air, and the ground is the only thing I can see for a few seconds before I land in a pile of snow that moves to catch me as I fall.

Suga? I look up.

I can't help but smile because somehow, we really found the right place.

Jin stares at us in awe. "Did you just Sonic Spin to us?"

"Sonic was my childhood!" Suga runs over. I've never seen him so excited before. "You know, back in my days, we used to have these -"

"WATCH OUT!"

Instantly we crouch down.

The same chunk of land from earlier is rumbling straight for us. Taehyung motions upwards with his hand so it misses us, barely, and flies through where our heads were just a few seconds ago.

Was that thing chasing us the whole time?

The chunk of land slams back down and the ground shakes with impact, which is good because we're not dead. And bad because everyone knows where we are now.

Fighters are moving towards us from all directions, closing in like ants finding a fresh snack. As we stand up again I note the elite golden pins on some of their suits. These are some of the best Fighters that Freedom Academy could find.

"We're guaranteed to lose if we stay," Namjoon shouts. "We need to move!"

"I got you!"

I glance over and almost laugh out loud.

"You brought the self-circuiting toaster?!" Jin's eyes are comically large.

"I thought it would be useful!" Taehyung grins, holding the small silver box like a happy child.

He must've been carrying it the whole time but never mind that now. The toaster is our only hope of escape.

J-Hope distorts the surrounding light so the toaster becomes invisible to the Fighters. I watch in awe as Taehyung throws seemingly nothing into the air, and Namjoon and Jin charge up the poor thing as much as possible for an explosion.

An explosion.

My eyes widen in realization.

"RUN GUYS IT'S GONNA EXPLODE!"

Somewhere in my panicked mind was enough sense to block my yelling so none of the Fighters could hear that. Suga casts an ice mist around us and Jungkook pushes us with wind and Taehyung deflects any projectiles aimed at us as we book it through the camp in some random direction away from the charged toaster.

BOOM!

We don't make it quite far enough.

A scorching heat wave blasts over us. The debris in the air makes it really hard to breathe and forces me to cough and shut my eyes and all I can hear is the screams of the majorly injured Fighters caught in the explosion-

Until the air drops to room temperature. I look up. Jin is protecting us from the heat, hands held outwards to form a protective shield around our group. None of us slow down or spare a glance at the chaos behind us.

"I can't believe that worked!" Namjoon exclaims.

Taehyung whoops in victory. "Told you it'd be a great weapon!"

Not a beat after that someone slams into us - hard.

Turns out sparing a glance at the chaos behind us would have been a smart thing to do.

I react in time to spin around and somehow push back into a standoff. The Fighter seems unfazed, glaring straight into my eyes. I glare back until I feel the temperature around us rising again.

Fire.

I gather enough elemental energy to shove him away, far enough for me to glance back at the group. Jin's shield is off. Taehyung is flinging dirt particles at the eyes of his opponent. Jungkook and Namjoon are teamworking to strike multiple Fighters at once. And Suga's usually next to J-Hope... where's J-Hope?

The heat around us is getting unbearable. I desperately wind back the closest Fighters to keep them at a distance as I speed walk over to Jin, grimacing because it's getting too hot to run or do any movement. Even the slightest wind I generate becomes warm before I can cool myself down with it.

The rest of our group seems to think the same, too.

Attacks from our side stop. Jin casts the shield over us again when we're closer together and I immediately inhale in relief at the new cool air in here compared to the fiery mess outside.

"Why are they not attacking anymore?" Jungkook asks.

I look out through the shield to see for myself. The Fighters are still closing in, but they really have ceased fire. I consider the insane heat as a possibility but there are too many fire elementalists for that to stop them.

"Guys," Jin says softly, "I can't hold this up forever."

That sparks a realization in all of us.

"... are they waiting for you to hit energy exhaustion?"

"We'll be another person down."

"That toaster explosion must've given them some serious inspiration."

"Wait, how much longer can you hold up the shield?"

Jin shrugs at that question, visibly tired. "Maybe six minutes?"

That's a lot more than I'd thought, considering it took both me and Jungkook together just to fight off three earth Fighters on top of the hill earlier.

"We've got six minutes to escape then."

"I don't think we'll make it out that quickly. I'll cover after you," Suga says.

"No!" Namjoon insists. "Ice isn't as effective against fire and then we'll be two people down -"

"- we're missing J-Hope," Suga snaps. "We're already two people down."

No one responds to that.

I grimace at the amount of time we've already spent arguing. Arguing won't help us, least of all now. I glance at the Fighters around us, thinking...

Freedom Academy tends to send out large amounts of one or two elements to attack with coordinated, overpowering moves, hence the boiling temperature outside of our shield right now.

Surely there must be a weakness in this strategy that we can exploit.

"I don't think we've seen a single air or light elementalist," Jungkook muses. I turn my attention back to him. "So there should be no one to mute J-Hope's yelling or stop him from sending a signal, right?"

Unless the unthinkable has happened. I nod.

"You're saying he left us on purpose?" Suga exclaims. "J-Hope wouldn't betray us -"

"No way!" Jungkook shakes his head. "I'm saying maybe he saw the opportunity to leave, didn't have time to tell us, and decided to turn himself invisible and locate Jimin himself."

Well that's... nice, but also mean of him to desert us.

Taehyung frowns. "What about us though?"

I gaze out at the Fighters and consider how all of this has played out. From the first getaway fight to this moment, Sonic Spins and toaster explosions and all, our most successful triumphs have relied on surprise and teamwork.

J-Hope was right this whole time. We've got to be unpredictable and different if we're going to survive. We have to be unlike the government.

Maybe if we replicate that enough times and just be ourselves all the way... maybe somehow, we still have a chance.