Chapter 11:

"Okay." Jonas stated calmly as he sat down to lean against the wall of the computer lab and looked around at them. "What do you wanna know?"

"Well, first – let's start with; why are you here?" Aelita started.

"If I remember correctly, you haven't yet met Tyron yet, have you?" He asked, causing them to look rather confused and he nodded as his question was answered. "At first he wasn't much of a threat, Xana was just hiding in his supercomputer, but when Tyron found out about him, he tried to find a way to control Xana."

"Control?" Jeremy repeated in disbelief.

"Clearly that was a very bad idea." Jonas agreed sourly. "Tyron didn't care how powerful Xana got, or how much destruction it caused. Just that he was able to use that power for himself."

"He's mad." Aelita proclaimed and Jonas laughed lightly.

"Yes, yes he is." He muttered to himself before going on. "The problem was that, obviously,Xana wasn't too thrilled to have someone trying to manipulate him. We tried to warn Tyron, but he wouldn't listen, we tried to stop Xana, and nearly succeeded a few times, but in the end he was persistent, finding anyway to survive, even using us."

"How so?" Jeremy asked quietly, but the man just shook his head and continued with his further statement, obviously not willing to go into that little detail.

"Eventually, the battle for control between Xana and Tryon escalated into a war. It nearly crippled the world-wide electrical grid." He went on. "Eventually, the government tracked the problem to Tryon; they were going to arrest him. We thought our problems were finally over, but –"

"But?" Aelita encouraged kindly when he paused for a moment to look at the floor.

"But we didn't realize until it was too late that he had planned to avoid the punishment." He stated, leaving everyone to go quiet as they listened to him. "It's true that his supercomputer isn't as powerful as ours, but it still had a basic function to control time."

"So, like your Franz Hopper, he was going to continually rewind a single day until he could find a way to avoid the government." Jonas continued calmly as he looked at Aelita for a moment. "But he didn't realize what forces he was messing with, in the end he didn't get a time loop, instead he – he froze time."

"What?" Jeremy stated in shook as he realized what that meant.

"What's more he wasn't immune to his own computer, so now he's stuck too." Jonas stated in a tone that suggested he had retained a lot of hatred for this man. "Aelita and I were spared because we were still on Lyoko when it happened, but Jeremy, Ulrich and Yumi were all on earth."

"So, they're – trapped." Aelita finished quietly and he nodded.

"We couldn't contact Jeremy, most of the digital world was frozen as well, so we couldn't even leave Lyoko, and without time moving at its normal pace we can't be rematerialized either." He explained coldly. "The world is trapped with everyone in it, and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

"So, that's why you came to the past?" Jeremy finally understood. "Because it's the only point in time that can still be manipulated?"

"That's right." Jonas admitted solemnly.

"So, then – how do you intend to stop this from happening?" Aelita put in.

"Aelita and I have been working on that for a while." He answered simply. "And we eventually found a way."

"And – are you going to tell us?" Ulrich stated, leaving his older friend to look at him and smile.

"Nope,"

"What?" Odd countered in shock and was about to continue when he was interrupted.

"I told you all you need to know. In fact, I probably told you too much." Jonas proclaimed seriously. "The only person in this room who can stop that future from happening is me. So, there's no point in telling you how."

"But –" Odd started again only for Jeremy to speak up this time.

"He's probably right." He admitted solemnly. "Knowing too much about our future, even if it isn't our future anymore; is dangerous." He added before looking up at Jonas again. "The question we should be asking now is – how can we help?"

"Unfortunately, we can't do anything right now." Jonas suddenly admitted sourly as he moved to lay his arm over his knee in annoyance. "I've jumped too far back in time; Tyron's computer isn't even onlineyet."

"How far away is it?" Jeremy stated curiously.

"Well, I've never been good at math, but – I'm guessing around three weeks." He proclaimed calmly.

"That's not that far away." Ulrich commanded sternly.

"I'm aware." Jonas muttered as if talking of the weather.

"Then you want to tell me why you're not preparing?" Ulrich countered in annoyance.

"Because, for one; I'm already prepared, I just can't do anything about it right now, and two; Aelita is already aware that I didn't hit the mark, she's working on the problem. So once I hear back from her, we can move forward."

"Oh," Ulrich stated dryly, causing Jonas to laugh under his breath.

"Relax, good buddy, I know it may not seem like I'm the best person for this job, but I've been training for this a long time." The man proclaimed casually. "I know what I'm doing."

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