Chapter 24 : Her idea after all.

" Were they able to stop those kids "? Indigo shook her head, " No. The children have proven to be more.....difficult than we expected ". Captain sighed as he played with his lighter, " Did you find the Atrotar jade "?

Indigo nodded, " Yes sir, it has already been moved as per your request ". He nodded, " At least you're not fully incompetent. Let's go ". Indigo gave a slight bow, " And the children "?

He tilted his head to the side, looking at the blue flame of his silver lighter " Leave them be. If they've survived this long, they must really be something. No need to make enemies with the crazy principal over it ".

She nodded and he entered the helicopter that had been waiting for him on the landing pad of the school building. Indigo naturally followed after him.

**^**^**^**^**^**^

The plan was simple but far from safe. In order for Peach's plan to work, they needed to get to really high ground. Since Kofi was their best climber, she agreed to climb. But Peach refused, holding the bottle out to them " This thing is a lot more toxic than it looks ".

Chase looked at it curiously, " More than your human bug spray "? She looked at it and shrugged, " It should be, I was saving it for last but I guess it'll have to do ". Dylan crouched lower, not wanting to be spotted " But why do you have to do it "?

She looked at him determinedly, " I'm the only one partially immune to its effects ". Chase looked at the bottle wearily, " Partially? So what happens ". Peach laughed nervously, " It'll only make me pass out but someone else could feel like acid was poured on them ".

Kofi nudged her shoulder with a smile, " Respect ". Chase shook his head, " It's dangerous. Back me up Dylan ". Dylan sighed, " We should at least give it a shot ". Kofi and Peach fist bumped while Chase shook his head tiredly, " And again, I'm the sane one ".

**^**^**^**^**^**^

Byran and Hawk ended up bringing the kids along and ran even faster, following the path of destruction left behind. They were all shocked by the bodies but when they saw no students, they pressed on.

Cassie was more than worried [ I hope Dylan's okay ] and mumbled to herself, " This is all my fault ". Charles nodded, " Yep, you're absolutely right ". Dexter glared at him and he went on, " What? If she hadn't kicked him off the team, he wouldn't be fighting for his life right now ".

Jubilee knocked his head and he glared at her, " It's not like I'm wrong ". She looked forward, " If you have no solution to offer to the present problem, it's better to shut up ". He rolled his eyes and noticed something white in the corner of his eye.

He stopped and looked to the left, " What's that supposed to be "? The others stopped as well and saw it too. Byran frowned as he turned in the direction, " I don't know, but we'll have to find out ".

**^**^**^**^**^**^**^

They had managed to avoid alerting the men down below as they climbed even higher up the trees. Peach spoke quietly as she looked down, " I'll keep going, you guys stay here ".

They nodded and watched her climb higher, occasionally jumping to other trees and using it like a staircase, just like what Chase did earlier. Kofi sat on her branch, hugging the stem of the tree and using one hand to stroke Whiskers fur.

Dylan looked at her doubtfully [ How can she pet that monster ] " Aren't you worried about Peach "? She shook her head, swinging her feet " Not in particular. Why "? Chase looked up at her as she jumped to another branch [ How did she get so far so quickly ] " She is risking her life after all ".

Kofi looked down with a slight smile, " Aren't we all? Besides, she knows what she's doing. It's her idea and potion after all ". The boys nodded in agreement and there were sudden gunshots nearby.

She put Whiskers on her shoulder and got up, " Guess they realized something was wrong ". Chase hugged the tree, " How "? Kofi took her head back as the bullet lodged in the branch above her, " They've been running past us for a while now, they'd catch up with the others. They'd be stupid if they didn't realize we'd simply disappeared ".

Dylan hugged his tree as well, " What now "? Kofi smiled, " Try not to die and hope for the best "? Chase frowned as he wrapped his legs around his tree, feeling the bullet that went into the branch he was formally standing on " Not helpful. Not helpful at all ".

Kofi jumped to another tree, " What do you expect me to do "? Dylan looked up, saw Peach and yelled " Not to rush you or anything.... ". Chase suddenly yelled, " Just do it already "!

Peach could barely hear them but she knew her friends were in trouble. Forcing herself to calm down, she broke her fan into smaller ones and threw the white liquid high into the air. She kissed the fans as she took aim, " Please don't miss ".

She raised her hand to throw when a sharp pain pierced her shoulder, making her let go of one of her fans " Fuck ". The bottle was already coming back down quickly. She gritted her teeth and threw the other fan at it.

She felt another bullet enter into the hand she used to throw the fan. The pain however didn't get to register as she suddenly felt dizzy, " It worked "! She missed her step and suddenly fell from the tree.

She could feel herself loosing consciousness and tried to fight it but couldn't. She could hear Kofi and the others screaming her name but it didn't help. She raised her hand as if someone would reach out to her and muttered to herself before passing out, " I don't want to die yet. Not like this ".