Friend Or Foe?

Currently, it has been two(2) weeks since Ken and Ethan started their training with Mr Taylor and it seemed as if they were improving at a rapid rate. For those two(2) weeks, they have been performing the same exercise in their training. It is now a new day and Ken and Ethan went to school as usual but on that day nothing unusual happened for the first half of the day.

It was now lunchtime and they were at their usual relaxing spot on the rooftop of the school's building. They had finished their lunch and were relaxing on the benches laid out on the rooftop. As they were relaxing, Connor suddenly walks through the door leading up to the rooftop and Ken and Ethan noticed him right away because of the great amount of zen he possessed.

It being the fact that Ken and Ethan were able to sense his zen force(The level of an individual's zen and strength) is a great sign that their training was paying off.

"Do you guys mind if I join you?" asked Connor.

Surprisingly, Ken replied, "Sure, you can" then Connor sat down beside them.

"I feel we got off the wrong foot the other time, but I still want to be your friend," said Connor.

"Alright then, we can be friends," said Ken with a confident smirk across his face.

At that moment, Ethan glared at Ken and he understood what Ethan wanted to say, " I don't trust him". Ken nodded at Ethan to ensure him that everything is alright.

"Hey Conner, how would you describe your character in just a sentence," asked Ken.

"I would say I have no filter," said Connor.

They both burst into laughter and Connor asked, "What's so funny?" with a confused expression on his face. Lunchtime was over, and classes carried on as usual. As the final bell rang, the school had closed for the day and they both head over to train with Mr Taylor.

They got to the training centre and it seemed Mr Taylor was already there waiting for them. He looks at them in a certain way, as if he was examining their body and zen force.

"It has only been two weeks and you guys have improved a lot. Now, I am going to teach you the three basic combat skills concerning zen. After that, I am afraid that's all I can do for you guys, I won't teach you any more skills except to advise you guys from time to time. You guys must exploit your unique ways of levelling up your ability. With all that said, let us begin, first of all, these three basic skills are named; Force punch, Force kick and Force Transmission.

So first of all, with force punch, the individual has to gather zen into their knuckles seconds before having contact with an object when an individual throws his fist. With force kick, it is the same as the force punch but instead, the individual has to gather zen in the souls of their foot before attacking.

Lastly, with Force transmission, the individual transmits his zen into a weapon or object and this serves as an extension of the individual's body and allows them to unlock more ways of using their ability. So that's easy enough I would say, now we are going to practice all these till the tournament and the rest will be up to you," said Mr Taylor.

"Alright then let's get to work, we have a long road ahead of us," Ken shouts out with joy. They both walk up to the practice dummies that were displayed in various spots around the training grounds. Ken tries out the first skill, Force punch, he throws his fist and in the last seconds just before having contact with the dummy, he immediately transferred zen into his knuckles but something was wrong.

As soon as he hits the dummy it felt as if all that zen gathered in his knuckles had vanished suddenly and there was no damage inflicted on the dummy. "Wait were did my zen go," asked Ken. Mr Taylor responded, "It is because you are not putting your willpower behind the attack, your willpower is like the glue that binds your strength and without one, it is just random energy with no purpose,".

Meanwhile, Ethan performs his version of force punch and he performs it successfully with the same procedure as Ken. But it seems Ethan has the willpower that drives him to bring out his best. That willpower is his drive to grow as much as possible to impress his father and his urge to improve his powers to at least rival Ken's level.

With that, they perform the technique again and now it brought about the same result with Ethan successfully performing the technique and Ken failing to perform it. Mr Taylor walks up to them,

"I will be leaving you guys for a while but before I leave, I have to say something...I have given you guys the concept of these skills so you have to work on them for some weeks till it becomes like second nature to you. Regarding the third technique, there are a variety of weapons in the vault that you can choose from. This technique requires concentration for it to work. I will be leaving now, keep on practising." said Mr Taylor.

They continued to train for hours but there was a certain thing that bothered Ken. Since Ken didn't like the sound of using weapons, he didn't attempt the third skill, Force transmission. Meanwhile, Ethan attempted the technique using the one weapon he found fascinating, the katana. From that day, they continued to work on these techniques for weeks. After those weeks, they had both grown in various ways that were unexpected and it was now left with a month till the tournament.

It was now the next day and as usual, they both head off to school. Standing in front of the school's gate was Connor and Ken thought he was there waiting for them to arrive but something was wrong. Connor didn't even notice them as they were approaching. As if his mind was focused on something else and he looked troubled.

"Connor, are you alright you seem distracted by something," said Ken.

"It's none of your business," said Connor.

Suddenly, Connor receives a phone call and he answered the call. As he was talking to the mysterious person on the phone, his facial expression changed to a more worrisome state and he runs off away from the school to the street.

" wait, what the hell is up with him?" asked Ethan.

"I don't know but I have a bad feeling about this. I guess we are skipping school today….. let's follow him!!" said Ken.

They take off after Connor and in the process of the chase, they noticed that Connor was running towards the sketchiest ally ways in the city. They both decided to keep some distance between them and Connor for him not to notice them.

Connor finally stopped and it seemed he entered a huge mansion in the outskirts of the city.

"what do you think he is doing here?" asked Ethan. Suddenly they heard Connor shouting out, "PYRO!!! WHERE IS MY SISTER!!,".

"Sister?...wait Ethan I think that Connor's sister is in some sort of trouble…I think we should go and help him," said Ken.

They rush in and burst through the doors and before them Connor was in a fight with what seemed like two hundred(200) purple-colored creatures.

"what the hell is going on here?" asked Ethan.

"what the hell are you guys doing here?" asked Connor.

"We felt something was wrong so we followed you here," responded Ken.

"I told you guys to stay out of this," said Connor.

"What are these creatures?" asked Ken.

"There is no time to explain, all you need to know is they are our enemies, we have to take them out and save my sister," said Connor.

With that they began to fight, Connor conjures up some sort of ice glove around his hands and ice shoes on his feet then begins to fight the creatures in some sort of a street fight manner, knocking down the creatures one by one. Ethan runs towards the creatures then throws his fists, shouts out, "Force punch" and knocks ten(10) of them down at once. Ken stands in front of the creatures and jumps in the sky and shouts out, "Mist punch", then releases black smoke from his hands resembling a fist. As a result, flattening a bunch of the creatures down on the floor and destroying the wall behind those creatures. Connor saw Ken's attack and was immediately surprised with Ken's strength.

Without a sweat, they eventually take out all the creatures in the room and they walk towards the huge door that stood in the distance before them. They open the door and to their surprise, there were three(3) other doors leading to different pathways.

"Ken, Ethan, from here we must split up, we have to look for my sister...she was captured by their boss Pyro….we have to defeat Pryo and save her," said Connor.

So they all walked up to the doors and each one of them stood in front of a door.

"Before we go, I have to say something…..thank you guys for coming…..now let's go and don't die," said Connor with a smug expression. One by one they each open their doors and walkthrough.

TO BE CONTINUED