Kaius and Zane were both in shock preventing either one of them from acting appropriately. Zane could have easily slowed his descent and rewound the ground to right before it fell. The thing about time was that it became harder to control the further it progressed. Zane could have easily reversed time in the first few seconds of his fall, but the further he fell and the further time progressed the difficulty of rewinding it back multiplied.
At this point there was nothing Zane could do, he was too lax and let his guard down. Kaius was similarly shocked but his issue was different from Zanes. Kaius was too versatile, there were too many choices and as he watched Zane fall his mind stumbled on what was the best action. Countless possibilities flashed in front of him but he was too slow to decide and Zane continued to fall.
Kaius was was panicking now as he realized Zane was too far and he'd failed. He let his friend down, he was so powerful and had all these abilities and skills but couldn't decide what was best to use. It was all his fault his emotions went from shock to sadness to anger as he watched Zane fall, he couldn't handle it, it was too much.
NOOOOO! Kaius yelled
WOOOOM WOOOOOM
As Kaius yelled his black rainbowy aura manifested around him, but this time it looked like black flames with colorful specks floating in it. Energy burst forth from Kaius and a green wave spread throughout the whole area.
Zane who was falling suddenly stopped in mid air. He couldn't move his body at all but he could feel the strong time elements around him. Slowly Zane and the falling chunks of ground around him began to rise back up.
Kaius felt like his body was on fire, he didn't know what happened but his control of time never felt stronger. He sensed everything around him and slowly started to move his hand as if he were turning a dial. As he rewound time he could see Zane and the chunks of ground rise back up, he could also sense the pendulums and rock bridge moving backwards in time as well.
Kaius didn't care about whatever else was going on around him and focused only on rewinding Zane, but as Zane got closer it started to get harder to rewind time and Kaius's nose started to bleed. He continued focusing and moving time back, finally Zane rose up and the ground reformed itself.
Kaius smiled as blood ran down his nose "that was close" he said as his eyes closed and he fell forward unconscious.
Zane learned his lesson he would never let his guard down again. As soon as Kaius began to lean forward Zane had already slowed his fall and sped over to him.
He grabbed Kaius and slowly lowered him to the ground while checking his vitals.
In the area above the underground cave.
In the training hall many cadets were stuck in place like statues, some were throwing kicks or punches while others were jumping or running. Regardless of what they were doing before, they were now all frozen in time. No one could talk or move, but being time Elementalist they knew what was going on.
A tall woman with black curly hair stood in the middle of the training area, like every one else she too was frozen in time. Unlike the cadets she knew someone was in the caves below challenging the Timeless Clock. The Time Pulse just now was out of this world, as a Master Time Elementalist Marissa recognized this level of power was way above Master. The Time Pulse was a very powerful and dangerous technique. It controlled all time in the area but took a huge amount of energy to use.
Marissa kept track of how long the Time Pulse was active, 15 seconds should be the absolute upper limit but she'd already been frozen for 20 seconds and still counting.
A few seconds later and the time pulse was deactivated, students started to look around and gossip to one another. Everyone wanted to know who could have done such a thing.
As soon as the time pulse deactivated Marissa began heading towards the underground cave "continue with your lessons, aspire to control time the way you just witnessed it being controlled" she yelled.
Zane had laid Kaius down and was checking him over. Zane was super smart and studied all kinds of things, basic first aid was nothing to him. It seemed like Kaius just needed to rest, his nose was no longer bleeding and his breathing was normal. Zane vowed from this day to always carry health vials in case of emergencies like this. He wanted to go and get help, but there was no way he'd leave Kaius alone or chance carrying him without knowing where the path ahead ended.
Footsteps echoed down the hall and soon after Marissa appeared. Waving her hand she walked right over the area where the ground fell and knelt down next to Kaius. She looked him over then turned to Zane "you did well administering first aid." She noticed Kaius's rainbow badge and immediately connected the dots, "the dragon, that explains it" she thought to herself. Looking to Zane for confirmation she asked "so he is the one who used the Time Pulse?"
Zane's eyes went wide, this person was right that was definitely a Time Pulse, Zane should have realized it right away but he hadn't given it a second thought as he was more concerned with Kaius's well being. Zane nodded his head and explained what happened.
Marissa smiled then shook her head "you kids are amazing, you grasped the concepts of time and the lessons this Wonder aimed to teach." She pulled a health vial out of her pocket "unfortunately when I give him this your run will be voided and you will have to start again. I'm very sorry, you did extremely well and should be proud."
Zane smiled "thank you but there's no reason to be sorry give him the medicine, i'll take this test a million times if I have to, making sure he's ok is more important." Marissa moved to pour the medicine in Kaius's mouth but a hand grabbed her arm.
"No, i'm ok we can finish" Kaius said as he slowly opened his eyes. Kaius tried to stand and Zane moved in to help.
"Are you sure" Marissa asked "there's no need to push yourself any harder."
"It's cool we can finish" Kaius said while leaning on Zane.
"Very well however, if I feel you are in danger I will act accordingly and your run will be voided" Marissa said.
The boys nodded and turned towards the exit, they were so close but they didn't know what parts of the ground would fall, and Zane didn't think Kaius had enough energy to make another earth bridge.
"I got this" Zane said as he reached out and locked down the path in front of him, now even if a bomb exploded the path would not move until after Zane dispersed the elements.
Marissa followed behind as the boys walked the rest of the path and ascended the staircase to the exit.
When the group exited the tunnel Marissa made a few taps on her datapad as a chime went off in Kaius and Zane's ears. She walked up to Kaius and handed him the medicine "you have completed the trial now drink this."
Kaius nodded and downed the drink while still holding on to Zane. Instantly he felt much better and was able to stand on his own, he wasn't at 100% but he was getting there. "Thank you I can pay you back for this medicine" Kaius said.
Marissa shook her head "no need it's the least I could do but you two have the rest of the day off so head home and get some rest."
The boys thanked Marissa again, then Zane led them out the normal entrance back towards their dorm.