Words cannot even express how deeply sorry I am that this is so late. I promised it'd be out in December, after my long month of NaNoWriMo, yet I couldn't seem to get the momentum to finish it. And then once my beta returned it, it took me nearly two weeks to edit and post.

As an apology, I made this longer than I was going to. And as a side note, I have now been writing this story for over a year. :D

-Stranger (Devonwood)

Disclaimer: See girl. See girl type. Type, girl, type! (Still not mine)

The Matrix: Resurrection

Chapter 13: Skill

The large man-made machine burst through the pipes and plummeted out of the underground to hover just above the surface. A surface that had only previously been seen by two people in the last fifty years. As the five inhabitants of the machine stared out over the frozen desert and rolling clouds of thick, foggy, thunder and danger, they swallowed audibly, all secretly wondering if this would be the last thing they ever saw.

The first thing that registered in Neo’s battered and confused mind was that he had a splitting headache. That was most obviously his first thought, as the pain was closest to his nervous system, but as his eyes blinked more and more steadily, he felt the pain trickle all the way down his body and pool in his feet uncomfortably. As he shifted his weight to the other side, flipping his body over, Neo felt the material under him; a sleeping roll. More than just a little confused, he sat up, immediately wishing he didn’t when a shooting star of pain seared through his head and made jagged red lines run across his vision. Moaning loudly, he placed his head in his hands, rubbing his temples lightly with his forefingers.

The room was deadly quiet, so it was easy to hear the sound of a chair scraping against the floor coming from a far away place. He ignored it, since Neo still wasn’t sure where he was, and the room wasn’t giving him any hints. It was stark white, save for the sleeping pallet which was original by being a creamy shade of off-white. It reminded Neo a lot of a hospital, although there wasn’t the familiar scent of cleaner and sick people. The sheer lack of color made his eyes burn, until he stared down at his own skin, which thankfully was peach. He couldn’t even remember how many times he’d been called Whitey in school, yet now he was the most colorful thing around.

The white door burst open, and Neo only had enough time to make out a black whir of movement before he was tackled back to the floor in a bone crushing hug. The pain in his head all rushed back, and he whimpered slightly, the edges of his vision blurring for a brief second. He recognized the weight on top of him, though, and ran a hand along her back. Many nights, this same weight had rested on him, pushing down on him, and he would be a fool not to remember it.

Trinity pulled her face away from his shoulder, her eyes wet as if she had been crying. Neo felt a sting on his shoulder; she had slapped him. Hard.

“Don’t –slap- you ever –slap- do that to me –slap- again! –slap slap-“

Now blinked and rubbed his shoulder with his free hand, the other pinned under him by Trinity’s weight.

“I, uh...I’m sorry?”

She fixed a cold gaze on him, although Neo could tell that she was upset, and not truly angry.

“You’ve been unconscious for hours, Coppertop” she said by way of explanation, resorting back to his ‘green’ nickname and using her authoritative ‘Don’t fuck with me’ voice.

“And this time,” she added softly, “I couldn’t jack in anywhere to save you.”

Ah, Neo realized. She had been scared out of her mind. He patted her shoulder, and Trinity cleared her throat, composing herself once again. She pulled herself off of Neo’s body, and he tried the best he could not to sigh in relief, though he wondered whether it would have been so bad had she stayed right where she was.

“Your feet are frostbitten, as well as some parts of your hands.” She began emotionlessly, obviously desperate to get back in control of things. No matter how much time she and Neo had spent unraveling her hard exterior, it still popped back every so often. “Orion wrapped you up as soon as he could, so everything should be okay. The-“

“Who is Orion?” Neo interrupted, wishing that he could stop being confused. The pain in his head had now receded to a dull and annoying throb, and every time he had to think more than necessary, it just increased.

“He’s th-“

“I am Orion” called a voice from the doorway. Trinity looked like a wet and miffed cat at having been interrupted twice in a row, but she moved out of Neo’s line of sight so that he could see who was now in the room.

A tall, lanky man stood in the light, the top of his hair nearly brushing against the top of the doorframe. He had long blonde hair that was tied into a horsetail at the nape of his neck, and two tiny braids hung like bangs on either side of his face. He was dressed simply in a pair of white cotton breeches and a tunic that was almost exactly the shade of dried blood. A long sword was hilted at his side, and a thin sheen of sweat covered his forehead as if he had just gotten done with a long fight.

Neo sat up again, shuffling his feet as he did so, which created a painful friction with the padding below him. He winced and pulled his feet out from underneath the blanket, seeing the white gauze bandages wrapped carefully and precisely around them.

“Let me guess,” he started through slightly pain-clenched teeth. “You’re Skill.”

“That was quicker than the others.” Orion mentioned aside to Trinity. Neo blinked; where had he heard that before?

“Yes, I am Skill. And I believe it dreadfully improper to rattle on about oneself, so I’ll just give you the basic information about me. I am the second One, and I was born as Charles Hodgings. My parents were exceedingly wealthy, and I soon became bored with everything around me. I turned to a life of hacking, and that is where I first stumbled across the question that you know so well.

Once I arrived at the Architect, which was a lot easier back then, I must say, I chose to restart Zion. As we all did.” He sighed, trailing off for a bit. “I was immediately brought here, where I have established a dojo. Although,” he chuckled, “It’s not as if there are many people who drop by. Trinity is the first real fight I’ve had in the longest time.”

Neo looked stunned. “You fought him?”

“He refused to let me sit by your side.” She mumbled, her eyes downcast towards the floor.

Orion laughed heartily. “It ended up as a tie, though.”

Neo blinked and shuffled his legs again, forgetting instantly that it had been so painful the last time. Hot, white fire spiraled up his legs and sent blinding heat waves of pain down his spine, his head feeling as if someone had just bludgeoned him with a sharp object.

A flicker of worry crossed over Trinity’s features, and Orion walked closer to Neo, crouching down on the floor with one leg farther in front of the other. He placed his hands on Neo’s legs and pushed gently. At first, the pain caused by the slightest touch of pressure was unbearable, but soon the pain began to fade away as if it were smoke drifting off into the clouds, replaced by a cooling sensation of ice coldness. Within a mere moment, the only reminder of his frostbitten injury was the wraps around his feet, which Orion was slowly unraveling.

“Why did you heal me?” Neo asked gruffly, wiggling his toes once they were free. He was a little nonplussed at the situation, but tried his best not to show it.

“I would have thought you would have figured it out.” Orion said nonchalantly, standing up and heading out the door. “I like to fight an even match.” He stepped out.

Neo took the rest of the wrapping off and followed Orion out, Trinity walking a step behind him only because the hallway was not big enough to walk side by side. They came to a large room, a humongous dojo equipped with any fighting equipment one could possibly dream for. All of it had an Eastern flair, and from what Neo could tell, it was especially made for martial arts training. In the corner was a small, round, and flat wooden table that had three cups of tea on it.

“Come, sit.” Orion said over his shoulder, plopping down on a colorful mat and picking up his own cup of tea. He sipped it cautiously, testing the temperature, and set it back down on the table. Orion quirked a curious eyebrow to Neo, who relayed nearly the exact same facial expression back to Trinity. Her face was emotionless, save for the tiniest quirk of her lips that told Neo that they should go ahead. It was the smallest gesture, although in the past six months Neo had gotten used to how subtly Trinity communicated. Hell, her “I love you” could be something as discreet as blinking longer than normal, or pursing her lips just the tiniest bit. Neo raised his eyebrows and a smile flickered across his features before he turned around and padded over to the table.

Orion had sat on the far side of the table, allowing Trinity and Neo to sit across from each other. As both of them were seasoned fighters, they stared at their drinks, trying to outweigh the possibilities that they were poisoned. You could never be too careful, a training instructor had told Neo when he first arrived in Zion, especially when you are disadvantaged by your opponent.

Orion, sensing their hesitation, chuckled and placed his own cup of tea back in its original spot. “Don’t worry, I’m a man of my word. Honestly. I’ll even take a sip out of your cups to test them for any harmful ingredients.”

“That won’t work.” Trinity blurted in her commander voice. “You could have slipped a poison in that you yourself were immune to, and therefore it would give you no symptoms, although severely debilitating us.”

Orion pursed his lips into a fine line that almost disappeared, his eyebrows scrunching in worry. “You have suffered too long the effects of war.” He mentioned. There was a brief and awkward moment of silence before the second One spoke up again.

“If you’re not going to drink, then we must fight now. Stalling will just be delaying the inevitable, and I would rather like to get this done before lunch. I planned a nice sprout sandwich with dill relish, and I don’t want to miss it.”

He got up and walked over to the mat, where he sat down and leaned to the right, pulling his toes closer to his body in a stretch. Neo shot a quizzical look to Trinity, and the two of them headed over to the opposite corner of the sparring mat. In almost perfect synchronization they sat down facing each other, placing their feet up against the other's. Leaning in towards each other, they linked hands, pulling both the thigh muscles and the shoulder muscles in one exercise. They had learned to do this in the small confined space of the Nebuchadnezzar, and it was a great relief for neck and back pain.

Orion looked up from what he was doing. “Trinity, why are you stretching? This is Neo’s fight”

“A stretch is always good.” She gritted as she stood up, bending her upper body backwards into a bridge and placing her hands on the floor behind her. After holding the position for a few seconds, she kicked her feet over her head, bringing herself to stand back upright.

Orion stood still for a moment before he grinned. As Neo stretched on the floor, Trinity brushed a stray piece of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ears. She regarded Orion quizzically.

“You’re planning something.” She stated simply. Neo’s head jerked up, and he kicked his feet out in front of him, arching his back so that he stood up without using his hands. He walked over to stand next to Trinity, both of them straight as a board. They had learned through experience not to trust anyone, no matter how nice they seemed, and the previous Ones they had encountered only reinforced their training. Neo’s cheek twitched, but he remained otherwise perfectly still.

Orion nodded. “I figured that both of you should fight me.”

Trinity faltered for a second. “Excuse me?” she asked, regaining her steely expression and tone of voice again.

“Well, I already fought you, Trinity, and I tied. And I’m positive I would tie with Neo as well, since you two are so strikingly similar. Ergo, we would just end up at a middle ground, neither of us winning losing. I couldn’t let you pass, nor could I let you fail your mission. Eventually, one of us would give up and surrender. Now, I don’t see how that is fair, as that’s not testing you on skill. So, if I fight both of you, it will provide more of a challenge. Think of it from your point of view; it will be easier.”

Neo weighed the idea over in his mind. What decided it for him was when he looked over to Trinity. She was still staring forward, although her posture had changed. Her shoulders were squared, her jaw was clenched, and she was still ramrod straight in posture. She was ready for a fight.

“We’ll do it.” He said.

“Oh, good!” Orion said cheerfully. He unsheathed the long sword from his side, which made the distinct metal on metal noise as it was pulled out into the open. “Choose your weapon.”

Trinity, who hadn’t spoken at all for a while, walked over to the opposite side of the room. Neo sensed that she was in a meditative state, gearing herself up for a fight like she normally did. The detachment from reality was what made her such a great fighter, and everyone knew not to interrupt her once she got like this. Neo turned around and went directly behind him, scanning the wall with the fire of battle already racing through him. He reached down low and pulled a broadsword out from the bottom, hearing the satisfying sound of metal being unsheathed. When he got back to the edge of the mat, he saw Trinity’s choice; a small dagger. His mind instantly went back to that day back on the rooftop, where she displayed her knife throwing talents. Neo just hoped that Orion watched himself carefully

Orion looked over their choices appraisingly, nodding his head and grinning when he saw what Trinity had chosen. He flexed his fingers and cracked them, leaving Trinity and Neo to clutch their weapons tighter, Neo nearly white-knuckling the grip on his. The familiar feeling of adrenaline coursed through his veins, and was as effective as caffeine at jump starting his systems. His extremities felt as though they were being pumped with liquid fire, and he just itched for something to start.

Orion raised an eyebrow. “Three...two...”

“One.” Trinity interrupted, lunging forward with her right arm outstretched, displaying to anyone within range that she had the mind to gut them like a fish. Orion had a stunned look on his face before he grinned and blocked Trinity’s uppercut thrust with his sword, immediately parrying and trying to glance a blow to her shoulder. She blocked it a little late with her dagger, and had to duck out of the way so that her ear didn’t get nicked off in the process. Neo sprinted forward, covering his face diagonally with his sword to block any attacks. Orion blocked another one of Trinity’s blows, this time closer to his stomach, and he used her second of recoil to whip around and strike out at Neo. He was prepared for this, and slashed down with his weapon, feeling the ringing sensation of the two metal objects clashing against each other like yin and yang.

Trinity took a step back, bouncing on her heels as though she was trying to gain momentum just by standing still. Neo twirled around, sword still outstretched, ready to block anything that came his way. Trinity nodded briefly to Neo, who had turned around for the briefest second, and lunged in again. She struck near the top of Orion’s sword, grating it down the edge all the way to the hilt to make a sickening metallic sound. She managed to slice the back of Orion’s hand, which loosened the grip on his weapon. Momentarily stunned that she had gained an advantage over him, Orion threw his weapon far behind him, flipping backwards and picking it up as it bounced off of the ground. He panted quickly, and Neo saw the opportunity to strike. Closing his mind, he tried to visualize the code that would enable him to leap farther than it was humanly possible. Yet, his mind only pulled up a blank image.

Orion, who noticed what he was doing, cackled like a hyena about to attack its prey. “You can’t change the Code in here. This is about your fighting skill, not about how well you can manipulate symbols.”

And when the older man ran towards him with a feral battle cry, Neo realized just how every other pod-born must feel when faced with an opponent. Not being able to change his surroundings certainly crippled his fighting style. In his momentary stupor, he was vulnerable to any attack. Thankfully, Trinity leaped in front of him, wielding her dagger like a baseball bat and striking at the sword as if she had just hit a homerun. Neo heard a sickening pop from her shoulder that sounded as if it had been dislocated, yet Trinity continued through with the movement and leapt backwards.

“Neo,” she gritted, “get your head in the game before I have to shove it there for you.”

He grinned sardonically and wrapped his weapon around Orion’s to tangle the blades together. Orion struggled for a moment before his popped free, using the spare moment to slash downward at Neo’s leg. A gash appeared that went all the way down Neo’s leg, ripping his pants. A trail of blood streamed down from the half-removed skin. With a grimace, Neo flipped backwards, using the sword as a way to gain momentum. Orion jumped in the air preparing to slice Neo once again, but Trinity darted in suddenly (using the dagger in her left hand, he noticed) and struck a blow against Orion’s sword. The movement caught him off balance, and he staggered to the ground, falling on his back. Knowing that he was as prone as a turtle, Orion attempted to throw himself off of the ground. However, Trinity unearthed a mountain lion’s wail and pounced on him, using her hands to pin his arms to the ground, and her weight taking care of his stomach. The man fought, but Neo walked over and placed the sword tip to his throat, pressing ever so slightly that blood began to trickle.

“Life blood.” Neo said emotionlessly, staring down at his foe.

“Congratulations.” Orion gasped, the pressure of the sword making it painful to speak. Neo removed the blade, and Trinity jumped off of him as though his skin was poisonous. Orion sat up straight, and one look at his legs made it obvious that he couldn’t stand. Even after what they had just gone through, Neo went over to help wrap his wounds.

Orion held out a hand to stop him. “You forget; I am the One. Or, I was at one point. No matter the details, what I’m trying to say is that I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me; the hardest part of your journey is ahead.”

Trinity nodded sadly, and she nursed her right shoulder with her hand. Orion beckoned to her, and she warily kneeled down beside him. Orion placed his hand on her shoulder, and she winced with the pain. In a matter of moments, he let go, and she was able to rotate her shoulders in all directions possible. She stood up with a smile on her face; the most thanks she would ever give anyone.

“You’ve got quite a woman, there.” Orion commented to Neo. He raised his eyebrows. “Reminds me a lot of my girlfriend in the Matrix. Although, I think Trinity has a better ass.”

And before his girlfriend could retaliate, Neo pushed her gently towards the barrier, thanking Orion as they slipped through into the beyond, as blindly as they had ever been.