The Zentai Phenomenon: Serial Killer No. 3
By Jeffrey Bishop
The Zentai Phenomenon brings back the serial storytelling style, which peaked in popularity in the daily newspapers and weekly magazines of the early 20th Century, prior to the advent of a large and literate middle class and inexpensive printing of books — and particularly, of paperback books. This serial presents a standard Scurry Tails short story, but will do so over time between Oct. 14 and Nov. 1. The series will use a news clipping motif to “cover” the story in “real time” with the fictional events it represents. Come back often or click Follow to be sure to receive each new posting in the story as it’s published!
Tell Time: 3 minutes 30 seconds
Scare Rating: 1/5 Ghosts
Xeno Zentai Suits Push Parkour to New Highs
By William Reeves
LOS ANGELES (PA News, Oct. 29, 2012) — Parkour athletes are jumping for joy — sometimes as high as 20 feet now — based on the increase in performance they say they’ve attained from zentai suits distributed by Xeno Imports.
Parkour is a contemporary urban sport where young athletes maneuver across architectural obstacles — across, up and over walls or roofs, handrails or other city features, often in a race or in freestyle competition to see who can do the most extreme moves.
Historically, this sport has been performed in urban wear, but for a group of South L.A. traceurs who are big on the international scene, the discovery of high-performance zentai suits has upped their skill and athletic capabilities, along with their style.
Cho Li, a newer traceur with the High-Low Crew, introduced his mentors to the suits, and quickly demonstrated their performance potential.
“I was getting much better than when I’d first joined the crew,’ sad Li, “but I was always at the back of the crew, struggling to keep up and to do even the most basic moves of the line of guys in front of me. But the Xeno gave me strength and balance and speed that I didn’t have before. I passed half the crew on the run that first day!”
“Yeah, but now that we’ve all got the Xeno’s, you’re back at the back of the pack again,” interjected Danny, a more senior traceur, with affectionate good will toward the hodanna. “Seriously, though, we’re ALL better athletes for these zentai suits,” he added.
With more than six years experience under his belt, or suit, Danny had already invented a small handful of freestyle tricks, including the whip jump and the wall walker. But the Xeno zentai suits, have allowed him to expand his creative powers.
By his own report, and validated by a demonstration, Danny’s invented three new moves in the two weeks that he’s had his suit, including his new-now-signature ceiling climb, where he climbs up a wall and continues across a ceiling — perhaps across the underside of an overhang — and can tak at least three steps before losing grip and falling — or, most often, by reaching the other side.
“I’ve always tried to push the edge of parkour, and if I’m not learning someone else’s badcan moves, I’m tangoing my own.,” he said.
While the Xeno suits have already dramatically changed the sport in only a few weeks since they came on the scene, there are a few parkour purists who reject anything that alters the raw human skill and power that formerly was all that was present, and necessary, to compete.
Ri-Sky, from cross-town Long Beach rival crew StreetKrabs, is one of those skeptics — or “haters,” according to Cho Li.
“I’ve never used gloves. They have these new footie shoes. Now there’s the panty-hose suits in rainbow colors? We don’t need that junk!”
As if to underscore his point, Ri-Sky jumped from the ground to the top of a six-foot wall, then back to the ground where he landed on his hands. Admittedly, it was an impressive moved — but based on this reporter’s research, the move begged the question: what might it have been like had Ri-Sky been wearing a Xeno?
While the thrill of mastering incredibly difficult new athletic moves is its own high, athletes like Danny and Chi report that the Xeno suits give a high of their own; a subtle but everpresent peace and euphoria that is so pervasive that Danny no longer removes his Xeno.
“Why would I?” he asked no one in particular. “It’s a part of me and part of who I am now.”
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THE END
Copyright 2012
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