Neo and I were plugged into the Construct as the Dojo was uploaded. Neo seemed confused but, not distressed. He looked around.

"This is a sparring program, similar to the programmed reality of the Matrix." I explained. "It has the same basic rules. Rules like gravity. What you must learn is that these rules are no different than the rules of a computer system. Some of them can be bent. Others can be broken. Understand?"

Neo nodded. Good. I assumed a fighting stance.

"Then hit me, if you can." I ginned.

Neo assumed a similar stance, cautiously circling around me. Suddenly he gave a short cry and launched a furious attack. His, fists and feet were striking me from every angle. He pressed into his attack, but I blocked each and every blow with effortless speed.

Neo's face was knotted, teeth clenched, and he hurled himself at me. I smiled.

"Good. Adaptation." I said as I parred his fists. "Improvisation. But your weakness isn't your technique."

I went on the offensive. I attacked him. My feet and fists were everywhere; I took Neo apart. For every blow Neo blocked, five more hit their marks until - Neo fell. Panting, on his hands and knees, blood spits from his mouth, speckling the white floor of the dojo.

"How did I beat you?" I asked.

Neo shook his head, dejectedly. "You - You're too fast."

"Do you think my being faster, stronger has anything to do with my muscles in this place?" I asked.

Neo looked frustrated, still unable to catch his breath. He shook his head again.

"Do you believe that's air you are breathing now?" I pointed out.

Neo looked at me, realization dawning on him. I smiled.

"Again!" I ordered.

He stood and assumed another stance. I attacked this time. I struck at him and he blocked some of my strikes, but I was able to tag him a few times as well as a withheld finishing face punch.

"Come on, Neo. What are you waiting for? You're faster than this." I taunted him. He speed increased but I was still faster and stronger than him. He fell again.

"Come on!" I shouted at him. "Stop trying to hit me and actually hit me!"

I fire seemed to spark in Neo and he began to transcend the rules within the dojo. I began to struggle to block his onslaught of attacks. He backed me into a post and delivered a punched that stopped centimeters in front of my face.

"I know what you're trying to do." Neo said breathlessly. He still needed to breath.

"I'm trying to free your mind." I said, my breaths even. "But I can show you the door. You must be the one who walks through it."

Ne looked perplexed. I looked up.

"Tank. Load the 'Jump Program'."

The world reseeded out of existence and a roof top rushed from below us. Neo looked around startled.

"Let it all go, Neo. Fear. Doubt. Disbelief. Free your mind." I spun and ran hard at the edge of the rooftop. I easily made the jump. I turned to observe him. He paced around for a bit. He peeked over the edge and flinched back from it. He rubbed his face with his hands. He looked at me. I made no movement.

He took a deep breath and started to run. He launched himself into the air with a single maniacal shriek- - - but he came up drastically short. He plummeted.

I knew that, as I took the glitched door to the front the building from the top, when he hit the ground it would give way, stretching like a trapeze net. I knew he would bounce and flips onto his back.

I exited the building and walked up to him. I helped him to his feet.

"Do you know why you didn't make it?" I asked. Neo sagged.

"Because... I didn't think I would?" He replied. I smiled and nodded.


We took a break in the real world. Neo tried to move and groans, cradling his ribs. He spat blood into his hand. Neo looked at me with confusion when he discovered blood in him mouth.

"I thought it wasn't real." He said.

"You're mind makes it real." I answered. He stared at the blood.

"If you are killed in the Matrix," Neo asked, "do you die here?"

I nodded, "The body cannot live without the mind."


The next day we went through another training deck. I moved effortlessly through a crowded downtown street while Neo struggled to keep up, constantly being bumped and shouldered off the path.

"The Matrix is a system, Neo." I explained. "That system is our enemy. But when you are inside, you look around, what do you see? businessmen, lawyers, teachers, carpenters. The minds of the very people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy."

A cop writing a parking ticket looked up at Neo from behind his sunglasses. Neo seemed intimidated by him.

"You have to understand that most of these people are not ready to be unplugged and many of them are so inured; so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it."

A beautiful woman in a red dress smiled at Neo as she passed by. Neo looked at her, even turning his body to follow her with his eyes.

"Were you listening to me, Neo?" I asked. "Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?"

"I was…" Neo began to defend himself.

"Look again." I instructed

Neo turned just as Agent Smith leveled a gun at his face. He flinched away.

"Freeze it." I called.

Everything except me and Neo froze. Neo looked around

"This - this isn't the Matrix?" He asked hesitantly.

"No." In answered. "It's another training program designed to teach you one thing; if you are not one of us, you're one of them." I looked at the agent.

"What are they?" Neo asked.

"Sentient programs. They move in and out of any software still hardwired to their system. That means that anyone that we haven't unplugged is potentially an Agent. Inside the Matrix, they are everyone and they are no one." I explained.

Neo stared at the Agent.

I continued "We've survived by hiding from them, by running from them, but they are the gatekeepers, they're guarding all the doors, holding all the keys, which means that sooner or later someone is going to have to fight them."

Neo stepped towards the Agent and inspected it.

"Someone?" He mused.

I lowered my gaze. "I won't lie to you, Neo. Every single man or woman who has stood their ground, who has fought an Agent, has died. But where they failed, you will succeed."

I looked up at Neo. His eyebrows were knitted together.

"Why?"

"I've seen an Agent punch through a concrete wall. Men have emptied entire clips at them and hit nothing but air. Yet their strength and their speed are still based on a world that is built by rules. Because of that they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be."

Neo scratched his head and turned to me. "What? Are you trying to tell me that I can dodge bullets?"

I shook my head. "No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to."

My cell phone rang, and I flipped it open.

"We have a problem." Tank said.