REBORN FROM THE ASHES

(I made this story to see how the recently concluded television series Downton Abbey could be integrated with my dream PokéDC Universe, should Warner Brothers succeed in buying rights to both Pokémon and the show. Downton Abbey is a property of ITV. Superman is a property of DC Comics. Pokémon is a property of Game Freak and the Pokémon Company International. No infringement is intended.)

HYPOTHETICAL CAST:

Nathan Kress as Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman 

William Shatner as Perry White 

Felicity Huffman as Frannie Pendleton, leading reporter of the Daily Planet (my original character) 

Michelle Dockery as Dr. Regina Brooke Burton/Pounder (my original character) 

Dan Stevens as Matthew Crawley/Slashburn

STORY:

Silence and breeze virtually rule the cityscape of Metropolis in the southernmost part of Illinois. So far, no crime has touched the streets since Superman, Satoshi Yūzaki (Ash Ketchum), and their allies have defeated a clan of vampires trying to take over the United States.

Now, joyful laughs and funmaking dominate the building of the Daily Planet. From the editor-in-chief Perry White down to the receptionists, the entire staff celebrate the success of "Luthor Linked to Secret Arms Deal", a hit headline story by Frannie Pendleton, aunt to the young Lois Lane.

The newsroom is filled with people close to Frannie, including the neophyte Clark Kent and a certain Regina Brooke Burton, a scientist cursed by an industrial accident to turn into a giant rock monster, the Pounder, if provoked to anger.

The table on the newsroom is laid with assorted foods, a bottle of Martini, and posh glasses.

"Oh, thank you, everyone for celebrating our paper's success, but I may not be able to write such an article if people like Brooke, Clark, and Perry didn't give me some insights on the case. The Daily Planet has become a family to me", Frannie expresses her gratitude.

"I know you can do it, Pendleton", Perry affirms.

"Don't mention it, hun", Brooke says.

"Hey, Mrs. Pendleton, you can even let me give your enthusiastic niece some journalistic training", Clark suggests.

The whole crew then proceeds to eating, drinking, doing charades, and singing at the karaoke.

At nearly 1:00 a.m. does the party end. Clark, Perry, Brooke, and Frannie, as well as the other guests, exit the building. Then, they see a flame rocketing above the skies.

It was bright enough, yet it is no ordinary flame. The flame appears to be heading towards Brooke, but it does not touch her or go near her. The flame looks human. Better yet, it is human, only endowed with superpowers.

"Mary, my love, let us go home! George is waiting for our loving hands. We'll no longer have to part ways. I'm alive! Come with me please!", says the flaming human, hovering a few feet off the ground.

"You're mistaking me for somebody else", Brooke denies.

"But you are Mary. My eyes can't lie to me", says the flaming human.
"I'm sorry, whoever you are, but I'm Dr. Regina Brooke Burton".

"You don't have to hide from me, sweet Mary Josephine Crawley".

Then, those words from the flaming human gives Clark a clue on it really is.

"Crawley, that's it! Certainly, you're Matthew Crawley, husband to Mary and father to George. I know you're from Downton Abbey! We mean you no harm, my friend, but Brooke is not Mary Crawley. I mean no offense, but Mary's still dead", Clark nervously explains to the resurrected Matthew.

"How do you know my name, lad?", Matthew asks Clark.

"I'm aware of a television series based on your lives, although I never watched it myself", Clark answered.

"Ah, I see".

"Hi, I'm Clark Kent, reporter from the Daily Planet. This is my editor-in-chief, Perry White. This is my colleague Francine Pendleton, who takes care of the hard news. Well, there's, you know, the one who introduced herself to you".

"I don't understand all of this. Why is my body on fire? Why did I live again if I died during the war in Europe? Who raised me from the dead and gave me the power to burn and fly and throw flames at anything!? Can somebody please answer me!?"

"Matthew, we don't know how you got there, but we promise to help you find out".

"Thank you, Clark. You are of such good help to me for now".

Atop the globe of the Daily Planet building stands the mighty Mewtwo, with his eyes looking at the five baffled souls, particularly Matthew, saying, "You will know at the right time why I revived you, my herald".

THE BIG SWITCH (A Story about the Community of LGBTIQ)

(Superman and Vartox belongs to DC Comics. Pocket Monsters belongs to Nintendo, Game Freak, and the Pokémon Company International. No copyright infringement intended.)

HYPOTHETICAL CAST:

Nathan Kress as Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman
Adam Sandler as Vartox

STORY:

Vartox was walking around the lounge of the headquarters of the Catch-Alls at night when he saw a perplexed Superman reclining on a couch, with his hands folded against his lips and his eyes fixated on the ceiling, wondering what he must do next to save the world.

"You must be worried about something. You can tell me your problem, fella", Vartox offered Superman a chance for a good talk.

The last Kryptonian promptly agreed. "I badly wanted to help feminine men and masculine women without having them transition. I mean, I have no device that make swapping of bodies possible", he said.

"OK, I get what you mean. C'mon, I'll show you something", Vartox replied.

Vartox and Superman then proceeded to the former's arsenal, still inside the headquarters. Vartox then pointed to a bronze tool that looked like a large set of handcuffs.

"Is this what are you looking for?", Vartox asked Superman.

"Tell me first what it is, just for me to know what it is", Superman answered.

"Well, we Valeronians call this one the 'psychopneumatic exchanger'. It enables two persons of different sexes, races, or even species to exchange souls and spirits. That explains the name of the device. You would simply cuff their arms, press this blue button, watch their souls and spirits switch bodies, and presto, they're all set", Vartox explained.

"We'll have that one, but we need to put it to the test", Superman suggested.

"Game", Vartox smugly agreed. "I've been seeing none of my inventions fail".

The two later flew to Thailand, where "reassignment of sex" is in demand, looking for test subjects. They luckily found a pair at a beach in Phuket: a feminine man and a masculine woman, none of whom had transitioned yet.

"Good evening, friends, you two are guessing why Vartox and I are here. My good man here has a device that could enable, let's say, a man and a woman, to swap bodies literally, and we're looking for our very first volunteers for the experiment. You can slap me for free if the experiment doesn't work. Are you two willing to volunteer?", Superman said.

"Why not, I'm all for it! I want to be a girl so badly", said the feminine Thai man. The masculine woman simply nodded.

"If you don't mind me asking you two personal questions, why does each of you wants to belong to the opposite sex?", Superman asked.

"I want to do girly things like having long hair and wearing fancy dresses", the feminine man answered.

"I want to do things like driving trucks, you know", the masculine woman answered.

Superman found their answers quite cliché. "Anyway, let's all proceed to the experiment, OK"?

Superman and Vartox cuffed the two queer Thais, and the former pressed the button. Then, a glowing blue light emanated from the two Thais. Superman simply gasped in disbelief.

The procedure took more or less 4 minutes, after which the light subsided. Superman was still skeptical about the process. "I wonder if this is some kind of a trick", he thought.

This was the moment of truth. Superman must ask the two queer Thais again to confirm if their exchange of souls and spirits succeeded.

"How are you two feeling?", asked the Man of Steel.

Surprisingly, the man started to act masculine though confused. The woman became feminine though still confused as well. The procedure was a success! Vartox has made a breaktgrough. His invention would eliminate the need for surgery to switch from one sex to another. No longer would feminine men and masculine women to feel discomfort in their bodies for so long.

Well, Superman's alter ego Clark Kent constantly feels constrained being male. Would he take the process too?

Feeling Like a Loser? Don't Worry. I Feel the Same Way, Too, and We Probably Know Why.

Imagine yourself as a member of a soccer team. You and four of your teammates scored plus points for the team, but the rest fail to score and even suffered penalties, while most players from the opposing team score more points during a match. The opposing team won, and the team of which you are a member lost as a result. What would you feel? You would usually feel bad about the defeat, even though you have nothing to do directly with it. Why is it so?

Part of the answer may lie in the public generalization of a group in terms of its average character deduced from the performances of all of its members. A concrete analogy for this one is a stained shirt. The stain may not affect some portions, but the entire shirt has blemish.

People certainly generalize a group positively if its members who perform positive actions outnumber those who perform negative ones. Some decent people may feel that the actions of others who belong to the same group as they do water down their efforts because of this.

People usually tend to evaluate a group based on what its majority thinks, says, and acts, which could affect the rest of the group, as well as those to whom the majority does them. It could either spell benefit or damage to the psyches of the members of a group.

For example, affected individuals take measures to prevent males from committing major crimes such as robbery, murder, or rape as their peers have done, because more males than females commit such crimes. Males protecting their females from other males, confrontational feminist slogans, and socio-legal and psychological deterrents to all males are examples.

Experts call the positive phenomenon "basking in reflected glory" and the negative one "cutting off reflected failure".
When a person "basks in reflected glory", one feels very positive for the accomplishments of one's peers and may even claim them for oneself. When that person "cuts off reflected failure", one tries to dissociate oneself from the shortcomings of one's peers, referring to them as "them".

People tend to forget that they carry the reputations of their peer groups, and that public image DOES matter. I only hope that each of us will be careful not to do anything that could destroy our images and those of our peer groups.