Chapter 13: Level Zero

They walk through the city as Charlotte leads him through a narrow street. Neo looks around as he follows her deeper into the street.

"Here we are!" Charlotte grins as she faces one of the walls.

"Here? As in?" questions Neo, looking around in confusion.

He notices Charlotte tapping the bricks in the wall and observes her keenly.

"Done," she says, grabbing his arm and pulling him next to her in front of the wall.

They wait but nothing happens for a few seconds.

"Was that wall . . . supposed to open or something?" asks Neo.

"I'll be right behind you," she says.

"Behind me? Wait, what's that supp─ " the floor under them suddenly gives way and Neo looks at a grinning Charlotte as he falls down, his yelling echoing in the tunnel underground.

"How long is this thing?!" he chokes out as he realizes he's on a water slide, feeling very disoriented and all over the place as the ride seems to go on and on.

Until finally, it seems to end, and he slides straight through, slowing down as he comes to a halt.

Neo crawls out of the tube, his head spinning.

He looks back towards the slide as a squealing Charlotte comes through, splashing water everywhere as she reaches the end.

"Extremely fun, right?" she asks, smiling cheekily at him.

"I almost died!"

"We can't die, silly," giggles Charlotte as she bursts into hysterical laughter.

"Then I'll kill you!"

"Come on! Here, I'll help you up," says Charlotte, offering him her hand and helping him up.

Neo takes in the place around them for the first time, there is an entrance surrounded by fences and gates, beyond which sits an arcade area.

"Don't worry about being wet, let's go," Charlotte leads them to the gates, pausing when the gatekeeper asks for their IDs.

"Here. He is with me," she says, looking at Neo and catching a hint of sadness and frustration on his face.

"Come on, it was a joke! I promise I'll make it up to you," she smiles at him as they pass through the gateway.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure!"

They walk through the arcade, looking around in amazement. A lot of the games and areas seem to be under construction, and very few people are loitering around the place.

Charlotte breathes in deeply, "Nothing is better than the scent of fresh and new!"

"By the way," starts Neo, "Why are none of the games in here up there?"

". . . What? How do you know that to be the case?" asks Charlotte, startled by his question.

"Oh, I can tell because when I was lost and looking around during my first days in the Castle, I didn't notice any of these games being up there. So why aren't they?"

"'Because this is a secret level in the Castle, and it isn't meant to be public knowledge,"

"Secret level?"

"Yes! Welcome to Level Zero!" exclaims Charlotte, grinning wide.

"Everything in this place is in breach of the contract with the pilot's side," she explains.

"What contract?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. Let's just have fun!"

Charlotte's face lights up as something catches her attention and she runs towards it.

"Charlotte? Where are you going?" asks Neo, following her.

"This game is here?! No way!" he hears her say as they arrive at a fighting game with a huge screen.

"What game?"

Charlotte looks up at the name of the game, "Pilot's War,"

"Come on, we have to try it!" she hands him a controller and smashes the start button.

She selects the versus mode and a character selection menu pops up.

"The controls might be a bit differ─ "

"Oh, never mind. You're a natural," she says, watching Neo navigating through them easily.

Scrolling through the characters list, she reaches the one she wants and immediately locks it in.

"I picked a character as well," says Neo, even though he has no idea who the character is or what it does.

The game begins and Neo hits different buttons to see what they do.

His character throws normal punches and kicks the air. He then attacks Charlotte's character, landing hits on her and even a grapple.

"Are you okay? Why are you not playing?" asks Neo.

"I was giving you some time to get used to the controls, I'll start playing now,"

"Don't think I'll go easy on you because of the health differ─" Neo freezes in disbelief as he realizes something.

Charlotte presses one button and her character performs a single attack. Her character pulls out the katana from its sheath and attacks.

The words PERFECT flash on the screen.

"O─one hit! No way . . . and you took no damage!" exclaims Neo, still in disbelief.

"They made the game characters too accurate to the actual pilots," she explains.

"I realized it too late. I should have paid more attention to the name of the character you chose. It was titled second strongest: Ka─"

"─ Kayn?" a woman with a black cat on her shoulder suddenly comes between them both, causing them to jump.

"Oh! My bad, I didn't mean to scare you two," she looks at them with a smile, a hand resting on her cheek.