The Tea House Test was an infamous challenge and fight between Neo and Seraph for Neo to gain access to The Oracle, to talk about the salvation of Zion during the near-end of the Machine War. Having the powers of The One, Neo was able to pass Seraph's test by landing two blows on him and proving himself as being truly The One. After Neo passed his test, Seraph led him through the Matrix's Backdoors to the Playground, where The Oracle was waiting for him.
Prelude[]
“ Neo, it's from The Oracle'"
”
"It's time to go.― Ballard and Neo[src]
Ballard offering Neo The Oracle's message.
After making a request that a hovercraft and its crew stays outside the gates of Zion in hoping that The Oracle would call for Neo after the Crisis Meeting, a reply has finally arrived in a form of a recording program. Ballard and his crew of the Caduceus stayed in radar of Zion, waiting for the call and eventually, after Ballard fights Seraph within the Matrix, Ballard was allowed to meet The Oracle and receive her message for Neo.
The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar about to leave the Zion docks.
The crew of the Caduceus returned to Zion and gave Neo the program and told him that it is from The Oracle. Neo knew what it was about and told Trinity that it was time to leave and meet with The Oracle. Link, in his quarters, spoke with Zee and told her that Morpheus needs Link to operate on the Nebuchadnezzar and he must leave as well.
On their way to the Nebuchadnezzar, Bane, now possessed by Smith, followed them to the turbo lift and tried to kill Neo with his knife. However, Bane was inturrupted as Kid screamed out Neo's name from down the tunnel of the loading dock and caused Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, and Link to turn around and see Bane. Bane, while holding the knife behind his back, lied and told Neo he wished him good luck. As he left, Kid caught up with the others and gave Neo a spoon as a gift from one of the orphans.
On board the Nebuchadnezzar, Neo jacked into the matrix and walked through the Chinatown area and entered the Tea house, where The Oracle was originally supposed to meet with him.
Instead, Neo saw an Exile sitting on a table across from him. Neo can see that the exile's program code is bright yellow and was significantly different than the other programs he has seen before. When asked about who he was, the exile told Neo his name and that he knew Neo is looking for The Oracle. After Seraph's introduction, he told Neo that he can take Neo to see The Oracle.
However, after Seraph's introduction he apologizes to Neo. Neo asked for the reason for his apology. Instead of telling him, Seraph immediately launched an attack towards Neo and a fight between the two began.
The Test[]
“ The Oracle has many enemies, I had to be sure."
”
"Of what?"
"That you are The One."
"You could have just asked."
"No. You do not truly know someone... until you fight them.― Seraph and Neo[src]
Seraph began with an palm strike towards Neo's face. Neo quickly blocked his attack and began to block all of Seraph's incoming attacks. As the battle began, Seraph used his martial arts ability to combat against Neo and force both of them to move backwards towards the entrance of the tea house.
Neo continued to block all of Seraph's punches and palm strikes during the fight. While moving towards the entrance of the complex, Seraph's quick and agile attacks caused both of them to step on top of the bench table that was on the east side of the entrance door. On top of the table, the battle was still in progress. Neo, however, began to fight back by using punching and kicking maneuvers. Seraph was able to block all of Neo's attacks as well as counter back against Neo with Neo blocking his attacks as well.
During the battle on the table, Neo performed a jumping front snap kick and Seraph block the attacked. But in return, Seraph performed the same technique only this time jumping towards Neo. This caused Neo and Seraph to jump at the same time. Seraph jumped towards Neo while performing the attack, and Neo jumped backwards while using his left hand to block the attack. They both landed on the next bench table and the battle pressed on.
Neo and Seraph fighting on the first table.
On the middle bench table on the east side of the tea house, Neo and Seraph performed martial arts kicking techniques to both block the other's kick and attack the opponent. During the fight, Neo attempted to punch Seraph by Seraph blocked his attack and grabbed his arm. He attempted to throw Neo, but he countered by performing a cartwheel to flip to the opposite side of the bench table. It is at this time that after Neo regained his stand on the table, he performed a palm strike attack to Seraph's chest. The attack hit Seraph and cause him to backflip to the next bench table from behind. At the same time as Seraph was flipping to the next table, Neo performed a jumping front snap kick while leaping to the next table as well.
After Seraph regained his footing, he blocked Neo's kick and the fight continued once more. Both of the fighters then began to attack and defend themselves from each other's incoming attacks. During their fight on the last table, Neo and Seraph managed to switch places once more with Neo's back facing the wall.
Neo and Seraph fighting on the last table.
Seraph signaling Neo that he passed the test.
The fight ends with Neo attempting to perform punching techniques on Seraph. Seraph blocked all of them once again and grabbed Neo's arms and threw him to the wall behind him. Neo flew back to the wall but instead of impacting the wall with his back, Neo used the palm of his hands to hold onto the wall and push off with his foot. As Neo pushed off the wall, he kicked Seraph with a front snap kick and caused Seraph to fly back to the previous bench table behind him.
Neo landed on the table next to the wall and performed a martial arts fighting stance. However, instead of going back to Neo to resume the fight, Seraph lifted his right arm in a 90 degree angle parallel from the floor and signaled to Neo that their fight was over.
Seraph explained to Neo that this was a test and they fought because The Oracle has many enemies and Seraph wanted to be sure that Neo is The One and is the person The Oracle was expecting. Though Neo said that Seraph could have asked him instead of fighting, Seraph responded that you can never really know a person until you fight them. Seraph then opened the entrance door with a key and led Neo to the Matrix's backdoor.
Aftermath[]
Seraph shows Neo the playground, where The Oracle is sitting on a bench.
Within the Matrix's backdoor, Seraph and Neo walked down the corridors while talking about the backdoor system within the Matrix. After walking past a few doors, Seraph found the correct door.
Seraph used his key to open the door and instantly beyond the door was the playground where Neo can see local bluepills walking around the area as well as The Oracle sitting on a bench a few meters in front of the door. Neo and Seraph walked inside and Seraph watched as Neo spoke with The Oracle about his destiny and how to save Zion.