Disclaimers: I own none of the characters that you recognize from the Matrix or the Matrix: Reloaded. They belong to the Wachowskis.

Also, in this fic they don't use 'I' 'me' 'my' 'mine' etc. Even when referring to only one of them. I think it adds a certain dramatic effect.

Dedicated to the Forlown Legions, which were disbanded today. I will miss you dearly, Thrious and bunch. Rest in peace, 12/21/03

DUAL BIOGRAPHY

Chapter XXIII: White Dragon

One opens to the door to the White Dragon Dojo, motioning for me to enter. I do, and he follows and closes the door behind me. The place is very small, with a waiting room that we're currently standing in. There is a window pointing outside to which I can see the street and the city, which reminds me of mine and One's apartment except for the fact the window is still whole. There is a small wooden table of sorts that comes up to about mid-calf, and fake wooden-plastic benches line the room. Coat hooks are also in abundance. Opposite the coat hooks are cubbyholes for shoes (I'd assume), and above the cubbyholes is a larger window that I can see a dojo from. It is a typical square dojo, with a padded floor.  The remaining wall above the benches also has a window, and I can see a small hallway and a closed door behind it. There is a door next to the window, and I open it and step into the small corridor, glancing down the hallway. One side leads to the dojo I saw, while the other curls around the corner. My current interest is the closed door that One is now standing near. He opens it and peers inside, nodding to me.. I follow him, observing there as well.

It is a small office, occupied by a single woman sitting at a large desk. Papers are strewn about the desk, all of them with complicated numbers or attendance lists. There are also pens and pencils littered around the desk and an occasional dragon paperweight or such. She doesn't look up at us, so both of us examine the trinkets in the room.

Mounted upon the walls are swords and daggers of all sorts. One of them has a huge nick in it, probably abuse of the blade or a nasty battle. The rest of them are in prime condition and glisten from the two or three lights in the ceiling. There are scrolls, too, mentioning accomplishments from this and that. None of them mean much to me, knowing that I can beat humans easily. The thing that draws most of my attention is an unrolled vertical scroll on a wall, marked with kanji-esque characters. But they're not kanji, and I wonder vaguely what they are.

I glance over to One, who seems to be testing the weight of a small knife with an ornately carved hilt. I also noticed another one of the kanji-like scrolls and make a mental note of it to him, but he responds just as quickly that he already looked at it and also could not figure out exactly what it was.

After about five minutes of appraising the items in the girl's office, I tap on the desk once, impatiently. The woman looks up to us and sighs, then goes back to her working.

"It is two o'clock, Miss Prash," One half-growled next to me.

The girl looks up again and smiles, "Ah yes, I forgot! You must be the men who I was on the phone with two hours ago! I'm sorry, how long have you been waiting here? I just got very preoccupied, that's it….Name's Raikan. Raikan Prash."

//"Unusual name for a human."// One points out.

//"Indeed."// I respond to him.

"Neil, and he is Adrian."

"Pleasure to meet you both." She smiles at us again then turns back to the papers, working hastily.

"We are here for the jobs you offered…." I trail off, waiting for soime sort of acknowledgement.


"I know that," She responds, not looking up, "Just sit tight as I'll be there in like two seconds. Stretch if you want."

With a shrug, both of us exit into the tiny corridor. One follows me onto the dojo. We look at each other and nod, dropping our connection to a thread so that we may spar and not know the next move the other will do, because otherwise it would be very difficult to have a nice match. Even the slightest loneliness sets of the feeling of us being separated twice, but I know that the connection is still there and it beings me comfort as I prepare to spar.

In a flash, he brings his foot up in a roundhouse that I knew was coming. I block and slide under him in a trip, but he jumps backwards and lunges in with a hard jab. I grab his hand and twist it, but he, just as fast, jumps with it and pulls me towards him, re-gripping my own wrist. His other hand turns into uppercut at my solar plexus, but I duck at send a foot flying up at his chin. He is forced to let go of my wrist to block it, and we both back off.

"Do you think that was a sufficient  stretch?" I asked him with a smirk.

"We think so," He responds, as we both open back up the connection to each other, "And you?"

"Agreed."

In the middle of the word, Raikan walks in. She is dressed in a standard gi, black pants and a black jacket. She bows as she enters, and looks at One with a  raised eyebrow.

"Shoes?"

He nods, "Would you prefer them off?"

"If you could be so kind."

Both One and I sit down on the mat and begin to unlace the top of the boots. After that is done, we throw them off to the side.

"How do you spar with all that clothing?" She asked with a smirk.

We both shrug, "We always have."

"You guys like a team or something?" She continues, that smirk not leaving her face.

I nod, "Yes, that is correct. We always fight together." I look at One with a stern glance in my eye, he gives me the evil eye back.

//"Why do you continue to bring that up?""// He asks, a snarl in his words.

//"What do you mean?"//

//"It seems you always bring up the MI into this. Might we add that we did not have a second persona that we didn't tell you about."//

//"Your point is clear."//

"Hello?"

"Sorry," I quickly apologize, "We missed what you said."

"I'll spar with one of you, how's that sound?"

"We fight together and only together."

"Well that's not fair," She responds, pursing her lips, "That doesn't show your skill to me. You know what, spar each other. Do you do that?"

I nod.

"Fine, spar each other."

We degrade the connection again as I start with a full roundhouse, aiming for his gut. He jumps back and ducks, grabbing my foot and twisting it, sending me flying in the air. As soon as my hands hit the ground I'm back up, rolling into him with a spinning back-kick. This time as goes to grab my foot, I slide it faster out of his grasp and follow up with an elbow that is blocked by his arm. My empty hand flies around to slap him harshly across the face. He goes to block again, but his block is weaker and my nails graze his face, leaving raised welts. Before he can attack me, I slam him in the stomach with a sidekick, causing him to stumble back.

Raikan moves to intervene, but I move around her. One stands back up and catches my collarbone in his outstretched fist as I charge for him, giving him the opportunity to reverse this match. His spinning sidekick nails my cheek, but I hear no bone cracking. However, he spins around with an elbow and hits me again, and this time there is the sound of my cheekbone fracturing. I back handspring backwards and nod to him, symbolizing the end of the match. He stops and smirks broadly.

"Beat you."

"Quiet," I look at him, holding my injured cheek.

"I said to SPAR!" Raikan half-shouts, "Your cheek is shattered! How do you expect to teach a class with a broken cheekbone?!"

I shrug to her, "Spar On---Neil now."

One looks at Raikan and falls into a fighting stance. Raikan does the same, bowing first.

Even now I don't see this match being interesting. Our knowledge as programs far outweighs hers, and the speed and strength both of us contain are nothing to laugh at either. One has a leisurely stance; he's not really trying. Raikan's face, however, is marked with concentration as she stands lightly on her feet, glancing over my brother. One is normally fairly aggressive when we spar, but right now he is hanging back, waiting for the girl's first strike.

She charges, coming in first with a full front kick. My brother steps back easily and the kick misses, but her follow up with the wheel kick hits him squarely in the neck. For a second both of us are slightly amazed that she could hit him---that kind of speed is a progam.

 One sharpens up immediately, his focus shifting squarely to his opponent. Raikan smirks as she finishes the combo with a jumping spinning roundhouse. One ducks and stands up immediately back with a full roundhouse of his own. Raikan's hand shoots out to block the kick as the other moves to grab my twin's empty hand. She succeeds in it and pulls him forward, his balance broken on one foot. One stumbles forward as she throws a spinning back kick at the unbalanced man, hitting him in the collarbone and sending him reeling backwards. Seeing the advantage, the girl continues her attack with a nasty skin kick that hits it's mark and then a crescent kick that will raise a nice bruise on his shoulder and topples him to the floor as well. Raikan drops to his level, and makes a move to punch him flat in the face, but stops a second away from his face.

"Do you surrender?" She asks.

One nods slightly and slides out from under her fist, standing up and brushing the dust off his coat.

"You're not human," I comment unquestionably.

"Correct," She says with a grin, "And neither are you two."