The Stages Of Zen

"ETHAN! ETHAN! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" shouted Ken. At that very moment, Ethan began to see everything as if time had stopped. He looks over his right shoulder and sees Ken shouting but he could not understand what he was saying. He looks up in the sky and sees the huge log falling right above him and he says to himself,

"what should I do now?" whispered Ethan. Then Ethan began to remember a conversation with his grandfather when he was about nine(9) years old,

" Young one, the sea can be calm and also rough, but it depends on us to control the wave gravity."

With those words in mind, Ethan stretches his hand above his head, looks up, closes his eyes and releases some sort of signal waves from his palms. Suddenly, the log and trees in the sky were levitating. Ken still looking at Ethan, notices that the trees are not falling and he rushes over to Ethan's side,

" Ethan are you alright? Why aren't the trees falling? Is this your ability?" asked Ken.

" I don't know….I think it is," Ethan replied.

Suddenly, Ethan faints on the spot and falls to the ground and Ken was shocked. With Ethan now unconscious, the trees began to fall again, so at that moment, Ken instinctively carries Ethan on his back and started running. As he was running, the black mist outlined his body frame which somehow increased his physique with him running at an unbelievable speed.

With the trees falling, Ken was able to dodge the trees and in a short time made his way to their bikes. Ken slowly puts Ethan down on the ground and grabs a bottle of water from his bag and pours it on Ethan's face which woke him up. Suddenly, they heard police sirens approaching the area.

"Ethan, there is no time, we have to go," said Ken.

They hopped on their bikes and rode off to Ken's house. Within a short period, they reached Ken's house went inside and sat down in the living room as if nothing ever happened. Whiles resting, they turned on the television in the living room and there was a news report,

"Breaking news! There was a disturbance in the forests and some civilians in the area say they saw trees floating in the air." said the news reporter.

They both pass out from exhaustion. After an hour, they woke up and Ken said to Ethan,

" Ethan, what is happening? It's like everything is falling out of place"

"I don't know Ken" replied Ethan.

"wait a minute…..Ethan isn't your father home now?" asked Ken.

"Yeah, he is" replied Ethan.

"Your father knows more about abilities than anybody we know, so let's go ask him about this," said Ken.

"Alright… let's go…" said Ethan.

They leave Ken's house in a hurry and hopped on their bikes again and headed off to Ethan's house. In a short while, they arrived at Ethan's house, they both entered and greeted Ethan's mom and went straight to Mr Taylor's office. They knock on the door and entered and Mr Taylor was sitting in his office chair working and he asked, "Ethan, Ken what can I do for you guys" said with a smile across his face.

"Dad, we would like to talk to you about something important," said Ethan.

"Ok then, have a seat guys," said Mr Taylor.

They both sat down in front of Mr Taylor and began to talk about what happened,

"Mr Taylor, our abilities are developing and they are out of control," said Ken.

"Is that the case?" asked Mr Taylor.

"Dad, we would like to know the background about abilities," said Ethan.

"Alright then listen very carefully," said Mr Taylor.

"In this world, every individual develops their abilities at the age of sixteen(16). Zen is the natural energy within every person and Zen is the main source used to activate abilities. The level of one's abilities are broken into four main stages; Zen tone, Zen prime, Zen ultra, and Zen zone.

Zen tone is the beginning stage, within this stage the user is supposed to learn and master how to control zen in the body and the user's zen grows with his senses which allows the user to detect how strong an opponent is.

Zen prime, the second stage. This stage truly helps the ability users to discover their way of applying their techniques. The physical and mental traits of the users increase by a milestone.

Zen ultra, the third stage. This stage can only be achieved through vigorous training. In this stage, the user will learn how to use his ability for long periods and in this stage, the user learns how to make his abilities take other forms than their original form.

Zen zone, the last stage. In this stage, the zone is unique to everybody, and in this zone, the ability user can create a special attack unique to their suitable style. So these are the stages and right now you both are in the Zen tone stage."

Ken and Ethan sat in silence, sinking in all the information they had just heard, and Mr Taylor continued; "Ethan, for you your ability is an ability passed down in our family for generations and it's called "Gravity Wave". Ever since you were born I have been monitoring your Zen and it seems you don't have an enormous amount of Zen within you which is unusual because our family members mostly have ability users with lots of Zen. Also, Ken, our family and your family have been comrades for a very long time. The Larson family are mostly secretive and kept the details regarding their abilities a secret but we never meddled in their affairs. But one thing I know is that the ability users of The Larson family possess enormous Zen.

You do not know this but in three(3) months your school will hold a tournament and this tournament is the battle of abilities. It is divided into 2 blocks, block A and B and at the end of each block, the finalists fight to claim the title of Top Form student. This student will be given opportunities for a steady climb into the Council of colors.

With that, I would like to train both of you for the coming tournament."

In shock, Ethan looks at Ken and they both nod in agreement. They were both happy because they knew that this is just the beginning of their journey. They both stood up and thanked Mr Taylor for everything and they exited the office but as they were exciting the office, Mr Taylor notifies them that tomorrow after school they should come to the office for their first training lesson.

After exiting the office, Ken tells Ethan, " I guess I will be heading home now, see you tomorrow Ethan" and Ken leaves Ethan's house and that was it for the day. It is now the next day, a school day. School proceeded as usual but this time there were no extraordinary events that took place and now school had closed. Ken and Ethan right after school set off to Ethan's house to meet Mr Taylor.

[Meanwhile With The Council of Colors]

They were having a meeting regarding the upcoming Kazuma Tournament and the first-year students.

"Leo, Nathan, I am sure by now you have gathered information on the first-year students that might have a big impression in the tournament," said Zayn.

"We sure do have a lot of new talent with these first years," said Nathan.

"It seems the tournament is going to be very interesting," said Leo.

TO BE CONTINUED