Chapter 17:

"Jeremy, he's dying, we'll never get him there in time," Ulrich demanded loudly as they rushed through the forest, toward the factory, but they were still a ways off.

"Okay stop!" Jeremy ordered through the speakers of the phone and they all halted in their tracks. "Lay him on the ground and back away," He said next as they listened to him typing.

"Jeremy, what are you going to do?" Aelita asked as they did as they were told and quietly backed up several steps.

"I'm gonna try a long distance possession," He explained sternly. "If Xana can do it, so can I," He announced confidently, before their attention was driven to the flickering street lights above them and they watched as the familiar form of specter morphed from the whiff of black smoke in the electrical discharge, before traveling down the pole to hover over Jonas for a moment, and then was carefully absorbed into his body.

The Lyoko Warriors stared at the scene in hope as a familiar yellow light that had accompanied Jeremy's last attempt at possession lit up the area for a minute.

"I never realized how – painful that looked," Odd whispered mutely, given that he had been the first and only person Jeremy had possessed in the past, until now.

"Jeremy?" Aelita begged the phone desperately when the light finally faded away, leaving their friend unmoving and unresponsive, "Jeremy, he's not moving."

"Hang on," The genius answered quickly as he typed several things into his computer before they heard the sound of the enter button being pressed, which was immediately followed by Jonas's body convulsing with the shock of a specter-caused defibrillator.

"What about now?" Jeremy commanded.

"No, nothing," Aelita said into the phone sadly and her friend quickly repeated the process again.

"Now?"

"It's not working, Jeremy," Ulrich answered this time as Aelita turned to burry her face in Odd's shoulder, unable to watch the process anymore.

"Okay, one more time," Jeremy answered sternly, before the button was hit again, followed by the shock, which was followed by Jonas letting out a pained scream, as he finally regained his life.

"Oh, thank god," Yumi proclaimed as they rushed to his side, only to find that he had lost consciousness again, but he was still breathing, he was still alive.

…

They reconvened in the computer lab ten minutes later, where they carefully laid Jonas on the floor and watched over him carefully as they waited for him to wake up, leaving Jeremy to continue sorting through the hard drive, looking for answers to the many questions that had come up in the last couple hours.

But, given what had just transpired, they were a little more willing to forget the Xana thing for the time being and focus more on finding a way to help Jonas remain living in their time.

"Why wouldn't he tell us this would happen?" Jeremy muttered to himself about an hour later, causing Odd to walk over and look at the screen.

"What's up?" He asked quietly.

"He knew, Odd," The genius proclaimed simply, "He knew the specter would lose its power eventually and that he wouldn't be able to survive the loss. So, why didn't he tell us, we could have helped him?"

"There's a lot about this situation we don't know and probably shouldn't," Aelita pointed out as she continued to sit with Jonas's head in her lap, so he didn't have to lie on cold, hard floor.

"But this seems like something specific, something he should have told us," Jeremy countered truthfully.

"Maybe this was part of his plan," Ulrich suddenly put in and everyone turned to look at him as he watched Jonas rest.

"What do you mean?" Yumi asked quietly, causing him to look at her.

"He didn't even try to fight them this time. What if he wanted the ninjas to capture him? What if this was how he had intended to pass Tyron the virus?"

"You mean the virus that is Xana?" Jeremy pointed out seriously.

"He said it himself," Ulrich countered sternly, "Xana would adjust his attacks if his existence was in danger." He repeated causing the room to go quite, "It wouldn't be the first time Xana worked with us to get something he wanted. What if a 20-year war was too much, what if –" He started again before looking back at Jonas as he finished the inquiry, "What if the enemy of his enemy was his friend?"

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