Conviction
Disclaimer: Still own squat. Oh well.
7. Welcome to the dojo.
Trinity walked down the metal corridor with a grim look on her face. She stopped at a door on her left, a door to a room that had until recently been occupied. She knocked, the harsh sound reverberating through the hall. A voice called from inside.
'Who is it?'
'Trinity.'
'Go away.'
She sighed. She hadn't thought Eve would be so difficult. She'd given her time to cool down, lose some of the anger. But maybe there was some there that would never go away. She wondered if that might come in handy in combat later. Right now, however, Eve was late for training. And if she had to pull rank to make her come out, she would.
'No.'
She heard a grunt of frustration from inside the room, and then a low thud as something heavy hit the door. She opened it slowly and stepped inside. Eve sat on her bed, her back against the wall, hugging her knees. She was staring at the opposite wall, a frown etched on her face. She spoke.
'I don't think I want to talk to you right now.'
Trinity shut the door behind her, and sat down on the bed next to Eve. She studied her features for a minute, before replying.
'I don't want to talk to you either. I want to fight you.'
Eve turned her head and stared at her sister.
'What?'
'I want to fight you. But first you need to train. And to do that, you need to come with me.'
With that, she left the room, leaving Eve alone on the bed. She knew she would follow.
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'Alright. Link, you ready?'
'Yes sir,' he said, whilst typing commands into the keyboard in front of him. 'All present and correct, but where's Eve?'
'She'll come.' Trinity smiled to herself, and perched on the arm of one of the battered chairs to wait.
Sure enough, Eve appeared, looking rebellious.
Trinity watched her, a small smirk on her face. 'Glad you could join us. Take a seat. Link! I think we want a combat training program.'
'But…aren't we supposed to start with these operational programs?'
'I'm sure she can handle it,' said Trinity, with a glance at Eve.
Eve sat herself in the chair, while Link's finger hovered over the load key. He pressed it, and her body twitched as the stream of information flooded her mind. It ended, and she opened her eyes and gasped.
'Wow. How the hell…?'
'I'll leave you two to get on with it.' Trinity got up, and left the room.
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She went to the main deck where Morpheus was sitting, watching the sewers fly past the windows of the ship.
He turned, and said, 'How is she?'
'She's fine. It's going to take her a while to cool off, but I think that will help her in combat.'
'Yes. You understand why I chose you to be her sparring partner, don't you.'
Trinity didn't reply. She knew he would tell her anyway.
'It's because you understand her. Better than anyone else on this ship. She'll trust you. You'll be able to anticipate each other's moves, know what the other is thinking. I think that if you train together, you two could be near unbeatable.'
Trinity looked at her boots. She wasn't good at, or wasn't accustomed to, taking praise like this from the captain. She felt uncomfortable.
'I'll go and see how she's doing.'
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'Well, I think you're just about ready. Not that anyone is ever ready for Trinity.' Link turned in his chair, and watched Eve as she shook herself, almost as if she could feel the new power she had coursing through her body.
'She's that good?'
'Find out for yourself,' said Link, as he saw Trinity striding into the room.
She walked over to Eve's chair. 'What do you think?'
'I think I'm ready. But…where?'
Trinity smiled and attached the plug into Eve's neck socket before going to her own chair. Link plugged her in and pressed LOAD.
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'Welcome to the dojo.'
They stood in the wide space, with the Japanese décor. Eve looked down at her clothes, a pale beige gi. Trinity wore black.
'Now usually Morpheus says something about how this place has rules, like gravity, but that you can bend them. Some you can break. All you have to do is free your mind.'
'So, why are you sparring with me and not him?'
'Because I can kick your ass and not feel guilty. Begin.'
They struck the opening poses, and began to edge towards each other, slowly at first but the tempo soon increased, and fists flew.
A punch, blocked, twisted, then a roundhouse kick, deflected, stomach punch, a backflip, jab, another block, twisting away, preparing, punch, and then Trinity rose into the air and kicked Eve squarely in the chest, sending her crashing into the wall.
'Not good enough. Hit me. Again!'
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'Hey, you guys, check these two out. I think she's reading her mind!' Link yelled from his seat in front of the screens.
Fathom, Janus and Leda entered the room, and crowded round the screens, followed soon after by Neo and Morpheus.
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Eve pulled herself to her feet, and ran at Trinity. A flurry of punches and kicks came, but everywhere she was, Trinity was faster, anticipating her every move. Eve rolled to avoid a vicious kick, jumped up and somersaulted over Trinity, landing hard on the other side. Blocking, punching, twisting away, she aimed a punch that Trinity had to turn to avoid, and in the moment she was facing away, Eve sent a kick to the side of her head, stopping short with her toe just touching her cheek. Trinity became still, and with the top of her foot, Eve slapped her face.
'Got you.'
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Neo smiled. 'Nice.'
Janus was shaking his head, a look of amazement on his face. 'She'd better watch her back from now on. Trinity will not like that.'
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Trinity glared at Eve, and then looked upward, yelling, 'Link, the jump program please.' She turned to Eve. 'Time to knock some of that cockiness out of you.'
Before Eve knew what was happening, she was dressed in her normal clothes again, and standing on top of a skyscraper. Trinity stood next to her, in black latex and shades.
'Watch, and copy. Free your mind.'
With that, she ran, and leapt into the air, soaring over the street, and landed gracefully on the building opposite. She then rose, and put her hands on her hips.
Eve stood on the other side, shocked. 'Right. I can do this. Easy.' She took a running jump, flew for a while, but then she looked down and began to plummet to the floor, screaming. She hit the ground, and bounced, before landing again heavily.
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Link winced. 'Ouch.'
'Hey, what if she had made it?' Fathom looked around eagerly for an answer.
'She didn't.' This from Leda, with a cold look.
'Lets face it, it would have been worrying if she had. I mean, not even Neo made his first jump.'
Link got up from his chair and went to unplug Trinity, and then Eve, who sat up and groaned.
'That hurt.'
Morpheus smiled slightly. 'But why? It wasn't real, was it.'
Eve looked up at him. 'I don't know.'
'The human mind is an amazing thing. It makes it real. That's why we must be careful not to get killed in the Matrix.'
The crew dispersed, leaving Morpheus and Eve alone.
'I was very impressed with your sparring today. You have a real flair. You and Trinity could make a great team, if you could just forget your differences.'
Eve looked down, unsure of what to say. Morpheus had mentioned one of the things that had been bothering her, stuck in the back of her mind, and she was still quite in awe of the wise man who stood before her.
'Now get some rest. You'll be grateful for it in the morning.'
Wow. Writing fights is really hard! I take my hat off to all of you who do it so well. Now onto my thank yous:
thereisnobrain- I realise I've just gone and done exactly the opposite of what you recommended, but I just didn't think it would work. I hope the other characters' comments might tell you why. Sorry! Keep reading- it means a lot.
Da Buffster- Nice idea- I must try that. *evilthoughts* Thanks for the v's, I am so proud. :D This chapter was quicker! Yay! I guess its because my teachers decided to be just a little nicer and give us just a little less homework. We have so much it is unbelievable! I hate it when I lose work and stuff. In our house it's usually my sisters fault. Grrr. Trin in Guides is a tempting idea. I must rack my brains for a plot line so if you have any ideas that would be fantastic. :D Hyperness rocks, and so does fluff. In reasonable amounts of course. Too much fluff will make you choke.
Outlaw- Stop changing your name, bitch! Just kidding sweetie. :D Jeez you are so vain- 'Fathom is so cool.' Who is Fathom based on?? I think we know. ;) Keep it up with the German- Mr. Poni is out to get you! Ciao- and keep reading!!
Agent Josey- Let me explain. You are the only person that has reviewed every single chapter from the beginning, and for that I award you…umm…the SeleneZana Reviewer of Faithfulness Award! (I am so imaginative :D) Congratulations. You have really hyper friends! Hey Rhian (the girl out of nowhere). I won't say hi to Naz, because she gets her own thank you, because she reviewed. Yay! Thanks for introducing people- spreading my thoughts far and wide. :D See ya next time.
Angel-Of-Lightness- Thank you! I'm so flattered. :D As for the line in chapter three, I also know some people like that. I guess they inspired me a little. Spelling Cypher wrong is the fault of my goddamn spell check. It changes stuff automatically! Grrr. Thanks for pointing it out- I'll have to change that. I'm glad you liked it, I will be trying to keep Neo in the story, but he's kind of a secondary character. Hopefully this chapter was quicker anyway. Thanks for everything, and keep reading!
I wrote lots today. :D Now I must go and find some Deep Heat or something, because my muscles kill from playing rugby today. 'Stupid girl' I can hear my mum say. Oh well. See y'all next time!
