Chapter 22:

"What?" Yumi demanded this time as Jonas's last words were spoken, however before they could act, Aelita suddenly rushed from the safety of the tower, having heard the whole thing.

"No!" Jonas screamed when he noticed this as well and turned to point his fist at her, causing a strange gantlet to appear around his hand, which was clearly his weapon, "Keep her back," He ordered sternly, forcing her to stop in her tacks.

But, before anyone could do anything about it, the Scyphozoa quickly used the distraction to attack.

"Hey!" Jonas called out in surprise when it suddenly wrapped its tentacles around his body, paralyzing him as it started transferring data into his mind.

"No!" Aelita screaming as she tried to go to his aid, but the other warriors quickly stopped her.

"No Aelita, stay back, we'll –" Ulrich started to order, however he was interrupted when the forms of three Tarantulas suddenly appeared in the sky between them and their friend, before falling the ground where they immediately lifted their front arms to start shooting at them, forcing the four of them to scatter and hide behind digital trees and rocks to avoid being hit.

"We have to get to him; we can't let him do this," Aelita insisted as she ducked down with Odd and Ulrich.

"I agree, but I don't think these guys are going to make that easy. It looks like Xana wants this pretty badly," Odd observed as he looked around the base of the tree, only to quickly duck again as the monsters kept them pinned down in their hiding spots.

"Guys," Yumi spoke up from the other side of the path, getting everyone's attention as she called for a battle strategy, leaving the two boys to nod in agreement before Odd quickly made to utilize his claws in climbing the tree he had been hiding behind, while Ulrich prepared for the signal.

With the monsters distracted with their constant barrage of laser fire, they didn't notice the purple cat getting into position high above and a moment later several arrows became embedded in one of their heads, causing the creature to explode into pieces, which in turn forced the other two to give their attention to the tree tops, allowing Ulrich just enough time to speed run from his barricade and take out another.

The last one immediately lowered its gun again to hit him in the chest with a burst of energy, which sent the warrior to the ground where he was momentarily defenseless until the familiar form of a metal fan flew through the air to hit the monster, causing it to expire as well.

Unfortunately, their victory was short lived. Even though they were able to reach Jonas again, it was only to find him kneeling rigidly on the pathway, gripping at his head in discomfort, while the Scyphozoa floated away again; its mission completed.

"Jonas?" Aelita asked worriedly, knowing very well the many valuable things that creature could have taken from him, or all the horrible things it could have put inside. "Jonas, are you alright?" She added as she reached him and tried to touch his shoulder only for him to turn quickly and claw out at her like a wild animal.

"Hey!" Ulrich complained as he pulled her out of harm's way, but didn't get the chance to continue the argument as he watched Jonas stand at his full height, looking at them with the kind of smile that didn't belong on the face of any human, and the glowing red symbols in his eyes that told them that their friend was no longer there.

"Jonas?" Aelita tried again, before Ulrich quickly pulled her behind him as the Xanafied version of their older friend attacked, nearly taking their heads off as he used his claws as actual weapons.

"Come on, man, don't let him take over," Ulrich tried to reason as Yumi and Odd attempted to drive him back. However, Yumi was quickly devirtualized when she got a little too close and he suddenly materialized his shield to use it as a battering ram, knocking her right off her feet and allowing him to fire off several arrows into her body with the same hand, before she even had a chance to recover.

Odd seemed to fair better, but only before his weapon was long-ranged, and Jonas couldn't afford to get too close to him. But that didn't stop his older version was shooting Odd's own arrows right out of the air; before devirtualizing him as well, leaving only Ulrich and Aelita in his wake.

"Jonas, stop it!" She ordered as the two warriors backed away.

"He can't hear you, Aelita," Ulrich informed her sternly as he held his sword out in front to keep the man from charging them.

"Aelita, get back to the tower," Jeremy commanded from the head set in a panic, knowing very well that she had to be inside for the Code: Earth program to bring her in, and if she was devirtualized before that, she wouldn't be coming back.

"But –" She started to complain, however the samurai next to her wouldn't hear of it.

"Go!" Ulrich proclaimed loudly, continuing to hold his position as Jonas stalked toward them, even though he already knew he was no match for the guy.

"Aelita – the tower!" Jeremy yelled at the top of his voice, which finally forced her to relent and she ran toward the structure, leaving her friends behind to face their fates.

"Come on, then," Ulrich challenged as he hooped a little on his feet, before activating his super-sprint again and charged into the battle.

However, as he did so, something strange happened, Jonas just stopped in his tracks to suddenly lower himself to one knee; where he raised his hands to slam them together over his head, causing a shock-wave to hit the warrior as time itself was slowed to a crawl.

Even with his speed, Ulrich couldn't even move at a normal pace anymore, and could only watch as Jonas stood up again, clearly not affected by the ability at all, and casually took the warrior's sword right out of his hands before devirtualizing him with it as he walked by without a care in the world.

…

Ulrich cried out a little as he was rematerialized in the scanner, his brain falsely informing him that the virtual pain was real, and he looked up to find Odd still standing in the room with an air of defeat about him.

"Jeremy, what was that?" Ulrich demanded of the ceiling, already hearing the genius's meticulous typing through the speakers.

"I don't know," He admitted sternly, "Somehow he's slowed down time; it must be a new ability of his." He explained without much confidence in his voice, before the typing suddenly stopped and they could hear him panicking all over again.

"What's wrong?" Odd asked worriedly.

"Aelita – she didn't make it to the tower," He yelled into his headset causing their hearts to stop, "I can't bring her back."

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