Title: The Best Homework Excuse Ever

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the Matrix trilogy, the canon characters, story or anything related. I can only wish that I did. I make no profit from this – I am merely exercising my writing skills for the reading pleasure of readers. However, I own this story. I own the character Chase, and Lady Delerith owns Ari.

Authors' Notes:

Lady Delerith: Yes, i know you must all be gobs smacked but i DID finally write one of my chapters! Don't gasp too hard now. Anyway, this is my chappy in Ari's point of view, hope you all like it

Solia: She finished it! There, Andii, it's up. Not that you hadn't read it already on camp. Just for all those readers who are wondering what I'm on about, I nagged Delerith the whole time we were in Europe together to get her chapter done. We finally got back and, just before I left for Biology camp (I HATE mangroves and they should all be knocked down to make way for industrialism) Delerith gave me her handwritten draft of chapter 12. It's taken me a few weeks to get it typed and spell-checked. I haven't had much time – after camp I had my heart broken, and then I've had exams and stuff because it would of course be just my luck to come back to school just in time for exams. So, as you can imagine, this hasn't been at the top of my priorities list. Until now, when Andii started harassing me to get it uploaded.

THE BEST HOMEWORK EXCUSE EVER: Chapter Twelve

Ari opened her eyes as the training room materialised around her. She turned and took in her virtual surroundings. The room looked like Ari's perfect dream. The walls were lined with weapons. Daggers, double-bladed swords, spears, num-chucks, samurai swords… everything they would need with the exception of any kind of guns. Ari sighed. A machine gun would be nice at the moment, but melee weapons were better for her. She could make a bigger mess of Glorious with knives than she could with bullets.

What a sick little mind I have, Ari sniggered to herself. She ran her hands down her sides, feeling the leather beneath her fingers; this was all too good.

The long training room was split in half by a wall of glass, and through it Ari could see Chase preparing herself to fight with Ninox, who was standing in front of her, looking at the weapons. Normal guys would have been checking Chasey out. Why did Chase always find herself in miniskirts whenever she entered a virtual reality?

A second later Chase was charging at Ninox. Seeing his predicament, Ninox went to sidestep and reach for her arm. Before he could grab her, Chase dropped to the floor and spun her leg around, forcing the heel of her boot into the back of his right knee. Ninox fell as Chase straightened herself and ran towards the nearest wall and pulled a thin sword from its sheath. She pointed her sword towards Ninox and took a glance around the room. A flash of intuition seemed to hit her and she turned her gaze to meet Ari's. Ari smiled at her best friend, but Chase's eyes widened as she pointed to a location somewhere behind Ari.

"Look out!"

Surely Chase shouted it as she moved away from Ninox's attack with another sword, but just as surely, the pane of glass separating the friends blocked all sound. How was it, then, that Ari heard Chase's warning resonate in her head?

Ari turned just in time to dodge away from the pointed edge of Glorious' staff, the very edge grazing along her left cheek. She spun to the side and darted towards a pair of num-chucks on the other side of the room. She flipped off the wall, grabbing the num-chucks as she went and landed facing her enemy.

"Nice try," Ari practically spat at Glorious, sounding confident but mentally thanking Chase and her apparent powers. Glorious' eyes, so small and piggy, scrunched up into an ugly glare, but she smirked as she saw Ari's bleeding cheek.

"I'm just getting started."

Ari felt the trickle of blood roll down her jaw line but she didn't let it faze her. She wiped it with her sleeve and lowered herself into a battle stance, stretching the chain of the num-chucks. She flicked one end of the num-chuck over her back and stretched out her free hand.

"Bring it!" Ari called across the room, flicking her fingers in a gesture for Glorious to make the first move – something Morpheus had done once in her early training. Glorious leered and chucked her staff away from her hand and walked casually to the wall and wrenched down a sheathed sword from its place. She turned back and walked into the middle of the room. She smiled at Ari and placed a foot back and raised the still-sheathed sword over her head. She didn't move.

"Well?" Ari demanded impatiently.

"After you," Glorious replied.

She's trying to faze me; does she really think I'm stupid?

Ari smiled sweetly back.

"I would say 'ladies first', but I'm the only one in this room, I guess, and that's a bit pointless."

While Glorious paused in shock, Ari silently congratulated herself. That was a good one.

"Whores don't count as ladies."

There was silence.

What did that bitch just call me? All thoughts and cares of Chase's tame little spar next door evaporated from Ari's head. That's it! Ari bared her teeth and cried out as she darted towards Glorious' bulky figure. She swung the num-chucks in the air and aimed at the fingers clutching the blade. Glorious swooped the sword around in an arc and the 'chuck sawed through the air. Ari gasped at her mistake; tried to dodge the attack from behind as Glorious swung the blunted sword, aimed between Ari's shoulder blades.

Ari cried out as the wooden sheath connected painfully and she was sent sprawling to the floor. She mentally slapped herself. How could she be that stupid? Hearing a whoosh in the air, Ari rolled to the side as the sword slammed against the ground merely centimetres away from her head. Taking advantage of the moment, Ari grabbed the sheath and twisted it towards her. Glorious sucked her breath in painfully as her wrist went with the sword. She had no choice but to drop it.

Ari leaped up into a crouching position and flicked the hilt to the side; the cracked sheath slipped off and slid across the matted floor, revealing the sharp silver blade beneath. Standing up she swivelled the sword to get the feel of it. Glorious' eyes widened as she feebly back away, trying to dodge any incoming attacks.

None came.

"Go get a weapon. I want this to be a fair fight."

Glorious looked around the room then back to Ari.

"You want this to be a fair fight? Then put down the sword and fight me!"

"Fine, have it your way." Ari flicked the sword behind her where the force drove it into the wall. She balled her hands into fists and took a deep breath. This might be a little more difficult. Though Ari was quicker, Glorious was definitely stronger. She closed her eyes and cleared her thoughts. She opened them and called out, "Let's begin," and with a cry both ran for each other.

Glorious went to punch Ari but her arm was twisted around her back. Ari used all her strength to fling Glorious forward. As Glorious turned to retaliate, Ari did a spinning kick into her face, boot buckle colliding heavily with her enemy's jaw. Glorious staggered back, clutching at the side of her face, as Ari cart-wheeled backwards and out of the way. After she recovered from the initial shock, Glorious dropped her hand and raised her fist ready to fight.

"From me with lotsa love." Ari blew Glorious a kiss using her middle finger. The bigger, older girl sucked in her split lip and ran at Ari. Ari side-stepped her charge and kicked the back of Glorious, sending her sprawling across the matting as she'd done to her earlier. I'm so mean, Ari thought carelessly. Glorious laid there for a second and Ari knew she was formulating something in her hateful head. Ari stood and tried to watch Glorious, but she found her eyes getting drawn to the battle in the next room.

Chase and Ninox were locked in a high-speed hand-to-hand combat. Neither seemed to be losing and neither had the upper hand. Although, Chase was doing pretty well fighting in her knee-high stilettos. Ari shook her head – Chase and her fashion sense.

A movement in front of her brought her attention back to Glorious, who had raised herself to her knees. Ari watched, unsure of the next move. But at that moment, Glorious sprang to her feet, ran and yanked a sword off the wall, and swung the heavy blade at Ari's chest. Ari caught her breath and jumped back instinctively jumped backwards as the blade barely missed her. In the same movement, Glorious raised the sword up above her head, and time seemed to slow. Ari was unarmed. She felt her heart beat faster, pounding in her ears as she watched the blade come down, a shaft of light reflected off the smooth surface.

Ari closed her eyes and raised her hands. Glorious laughed in premature victory as the blade descended, but her eyes widened in shock as her sword stopped in its fatal path just a breath away from Ari's face. She stared in disbelief at the hands that held the blade, Ari's palms flat up against its sides.

"No!" she cried out as Ari opened her eyes. She'd caught it, yay! Knocking the blade to the side Ari coiled into a back flip away from her enemy, kicking Glorious in the chin as she did so. Glorious fell backwards onto the floor as Ari landed smoothly.

But Glorious wasted no time in rolling back onto her feet and storming back to the wall. She moodily kicked at a previously discarded sword as she started to dislodge a heavy wooden club from the wall. Uneasy, Ari started jogging softly towards the older girl. She didn't like to attack someone with their back turned – she knew for a fact Chase would never do it, no matter who it was. But this was Glorious, and Glorious wouldn't flinch at the thought of what Ari planned. Quietly, perfectly as she jogged past, Ari scooped up the sword Glorious had just kicked aside. She picked up her pace, wielding the sword high, ready to bring it down. Glorious nearly had her wooden club down, and Ari didn't like to think of what damage it could inflict. She was almost on top of Glorious now, and it was right then that the older girl noticed her.

Too late, Ari hoped, swinging the sword down with all of her strength. Glorious didn't have time to get a good swing, and Ari's blade sliced a long cut into the side of her face as she turned around. Shocked, Glorious threw all of her strength behind a clumsy hit of the club. Ari didn't expect much. She certainly didn't expect to feel the club smash into her abdomen like a car, sending her flying towards the glass partition separating her and Glorious from Chase's fight.

Her insides probably crushed, Ari didn't think she would survive crashing into the partition. It was programmed to be unbreakable. She closed her eyes and felt the first cell of her body touch the glass, wishing so hard that somebody had left a glitch in the programming…

The sound of shattering glass… A tiny scream of surprise (definitely Chase, except that this wall was soundproof…) and Ari kept moving. No splat. No crash. Still airborne. Then wham – straight into the floor, landing sprawled at Chase's feet, little bits of unbreakable glass flying everywhere.