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Thursday, September 4, 2025

Shhhh! Digital Media Presents... The Butterfly Dragon: Heroes of our Own Reimagined: Episode 2 - Ai Yuanlin Ying




Chapters

  1. The Young Lady Ai (Finished September 4, 2025 6 PM EST)
  2. A Broken Cliché (Finished September 4, 2025 6 PM EST)
  3. Coming soon...

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Shhhh! Digital Media Presents:

The Butterfly Dragon - Heroes of our Own: Reimagined

by Brian Joseph Johns

Episode Two: Ai Yuanlin Ying

The Young Lady Ai

Sixteen Years Ago
North York High School
Toronto, Ontario, Canada


She held her books against her chest, hugging them protectively and looking very feminine in the process as a fourteen year old girl.

A natural cherry red smile adorned her lips, both of which were modest, thin and absent of cosmetics. Her tiny nose was perched just above her mouth, with ever so slightly an arch in the center before connecting with the shapely bridge between her eye brows.

A pair of thick framed glasses rested on her face, protecting a pair of wonderfully attractive almond eyes, both of which held the mystery of her innocence and intelligence.

She wore a pair of casually fitting blue jeans, loose enough to be comfortable while tight enough to remain on her thin body. A red turtle neck top clung closely to her pale skin, beneath which her athletic muscular tone remained concealed, giving both contrast and colour to her rosy appearance as she walked the halls of North York High School in search of her first class. 

She spied the numbers above the doors, pausing once to peer at a note she'd taped to one of her books. She squinted at it, trying to read it and then out of frustration, lifted her glasses and the fog of her blurry vision revealed the number as being one zero two. She replaced her glasses and the fog of blurriness returned, hiding from her the blonde haired girl standing just outside of her intended classroom goal.

The girl with the glasses and the turtle neck shirt, bumped into the blonde haired girl with a thud, as their foreheads collided.

The blonde haired girl reached up for her head, rubbing it profusely, while the girl who'd bumped into her did the same, removing her glasses long enough to get a glimpse of the girl with whom she'd just collided.

"Walk much?" asked the blonde haired girl of her, still rubbing her forehead.

"Often. However, I'd suggest that you look into future career plans of being a door, because you're clearly very good at it, and very obviously possess the intellect of one," the girl responded to the blonde haired girl with a slightly thick Southeast Asian accent.

"No offense, but I'd say that you're suffering from culture shock. Do doors make a good living where you're from?" asked the blonde haired girl with a smile on her face.

"No. Which is exactly why I'm here. I understand that the door program in this country is one of the best in the world?" the girl with the glasses responded, saving face for both of them and diffusing a potentially difficult situation.

"I'd have to say that I agree, but most graduates receive a complimentary crash helmet during their graduation. I'm still only part of the way through the first year program. I'm Alicia Westin," Alicia held out her hand to the girl with the glasses.

"Nice to meet you Alicia Westin. I'm Ai Yuanlin Ying, but you can call me Helayne. Helayne Ying," Helayne smiled at Alicia, accepting her hand and shaking it as was the customary introduction.

"You're from...?" Alicia asked Helayne.

"My parents. I'm from my parents, who are both from China," Helayne replied, adjusting her glasses.

"So I take it that math is your first class?" Alicia responded to Helayne.

"Why do you say?" asked Helayne.

"Because that's what this class is, and its my home room class too. One of my favourites," Alicia replied to Helayne as another girl arrived, she too Chinese much like Helayne.

"Alicia! How'd you do on yesterday's test?" asked Zheng, reaching into her backpack and pulling forth a graded paper from within.

"A minus. I got every question right except that calculus one on the Taylor series. Gets me every time," Alicia shrugged, accepting Zheng's graded test.

"A plus? So I take it that you're giving up on your home economics class and aiming for the rock star lifestyle of a mathematician, are you?" joked Alicia, as Helayne fidgeted rather nervously.

"Ha! You're too funny Alicia. Who's your friend?" asked Zheng.

"I'm Ai Yuanlin Ying, but you can call me Helayne," Helayne responded to Zheng.

"Great! Another genius I'm guessing? I'm Zheng Ni Wong, but don't let that fool you. I'm actually closer to a B plus. I just got lucky this time. Alicia, you want to see a trick I know for removing a few steps when factoring for the Taylor series?" Zheng offered Alicia, who stepped through the front door of the class, leading Zheng and Helayne over to their corner.

"Tailor series? You mean like a fashion tailor?" asked Helayne of them, her face suddenly perking up with an excited smile.

"No. Its a means of deriving initial conditions from curves, especially determining the tangent. You know... calculus?" Zheng explained to Helayne, who nodded in all the right places, while her smile slowly lost its curvature on its way to becoming a confused frown.

"Oh. Yes. Of course. I know," Helayne nodded, smiling politely as the frown lines on her forehead grew.

Alicia and Zheng took a pair of desks neighbouring each other, while Helayne took the desk just behind them and to the right.

A tall muscular girl stepped over to Helayne's desk, placing her books on it and folding her arms across her chest.

"You're in my desk!" the girl looked at her intensely.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't realize that this was a bring your own desk class!" Helayne responded sarcastically, purposely thickening her Chinese accent and drawing laughter from a few of the students in neighbouring desks.

"Are you some kind of smart Alice or something?" the girl leaned over and got in Helayne's face.

"Me? No. I'm not smart Alice. She's smart Alice. I'm humble Ai Yuanlin Ying," Helayne returned a smile to the girl, seemingly unintimidated as she pushed her glasses up on her nose.

One of the other students, a muscular guy who'd been standing just behind the tall girl stepped over to her, and whispered something in her ear.

"What class do you have next, Ai?" she asked Helayne.

Helayne nervously retrieved her time table from within her books, and then slowly found her way through the columns to her current day.

"Let's see... Math... Uhhh Pyzed. Pyze-ed! Oh! Ph sounds like 'F'. Fizz-Ed. Phys-Ed! Sorry. I'm still learning English," Helayne slowly worked her way through the correct pronunciation of the strange compound word and said it with confidence once she'd figured it out.

"You ever play one on one?" asked the tall girl.

"Yes. I learned that one many years ago. One on one? The answer is two!" Helayne said proudly, clapping her hands together excitedly as more of the students in neighbouring desks joined in the laughter.

The tall girl rolled her eyes, slapping her hand against her forehead and shaking her head.

"Look. I own Phys-Ed class..." the tall girl responded with growing impatience to Helayne.

"Fyze-ed! Phys-ed! You say that very good!" Helayne smiled again, drawing more laughter from the other students/

"You and I are going to go one on one on the basketball court to settle this next class. If you win? You can keep the desk. If I win? You're doing all of my homework in this class until second semester. If I fail this class because of you, then you're going to be in a world of trouble, humble girl!" the tall girl laid down the law to Helayne, and then walked away to find another desk with her boyfriend and his friends.

"Do you know who that is?!!!" asked Alicia of Helayne, a look of terror upon her face.

"No. She very rude. I tell her my name with a smile. She never tell me her name," Helayne replied, shaking her head negatively, her Chinese accent thick.

"That's because she doesn't have to. That's Zelle, as in G-Zelle? The Deep Trip-Hop DJ? She's captain of the women's basketball team and she runs with the most dangerous crowd in school!" Alicia explained to Helayne.

"She calls all the shots in the school. Even with the teachers. I heard that not even the cops mess with her..." Zheng added, indicating that G-Zelle's reach went beyond the school property.

"So we're playing basketball for my desk?" confirmed Helayne of Alicia.

"...and half a year's worth of homework if you lose, and that's her game," Alicia explained to Helayne, then looking to Zheng who in turn returned a fearful glance.

"It was nice knowing you Helayne..." Alicia said to Helayne as they turned to face the teacher, who began their math class.


...


The three of them were the last in the class to leave their desks, for they'd waited for G-Zelle to leave with their friends before getting in line to pickup their daily test results.

Helayne looked down, who since the start of class had remained silent as if fearful of her forboding doom as the class came to a close.

She picked up her test results, carefully folding the test and immediately pocketing it before either Alicia or Zheng could see.

 Alicia picked up her test, and contested the results with the teacher.

"Just an A? I went out of my way to show my proof for that answer! Where's my points for that?" Alicia argued with the teacher, showing her test.

"You got W and X, but you failed to provide a proof for how you came to the value of the variable Y. No points for that question. Next?" the teacher responded to Alicia.

"Good job Zheng, but you messed up on the same question as Alicia. You two should work together more, but be sure to ask me about this problem in the future," the teacher handed Zheng her test results.

"Alright. Fair enough. Shouldn't affect my average too much," Zheng nodded affirmatively, following Alicia and Helayne out of class.

"What did you get Helayne?" asked Alicia of her new friend.

"I did good. Too good. I have to go to get my shoes, shorts and shirt. Bye bye!" Helayne responded nervously, waving to the two of them, hoping that they'd not press her over the answer to her test.

"Bye," Alicia waved to Helayne, who quickly made her way through the halls and back to her locker.

"G-Zelle's going to make mince-meat out of her. Why did a girl like Helayne even sign-up for Phys-ed? She's got academics written all over her. Why waste the credit on something like phys-ed or art if she's aiming for a career in math or science?" asked Zheng as she accompanied Alicia to their next class.

"Yeah. There's something about her that seems kind of off..." Alicia remarked as they ran into another one of their friends.

"Hi Neil..." Alicia greeted a thin geeky looking fellow who still struggled with a mild case of adolescent acne.

"Where are you two going...?" Neil asked them.

"English lit. We've got another essay on Farley Mowat due this Friday..." Zheng responded.

"Cool! You might want to save that for later, didn't you hear?" asked Neil of them, his clothing one size too big for his smaller frame.

"Hear what?" asked Alicia.

"Some new student challenged G-Zelle to a one on one match in phys-ed class today. The principal turned it into a full fledged assembly. Grades ten, eleven and twelve are all required to attend. Something about morale building and supporting the school spirit..."  Neil explained to Alicia and Zheng, who looked to each other in puzzlement.

"Since when is basketball our school sport? We haven't won a single game in like two decades..." Alicia recalled the statistics, which her best friend Leland used to memorize and recite for her when he was still alive.

Not to mention, both Alicia and Zheng knew the girl who was involved in the challenge. They knew that she was no match for G-Zelle, and so they were doing their best to help her reduce the profile of what might damage her life, future and career.

"Everyone knows that the school sport is football. If G-Zelle is such a hotshot, then why didn't she challenge somebody athletic, rather than picking on us academics?" Zheng countered.

"Who did she challenge?" asked Neil.

"A tiny thin Chinese academic, named Helayne..." Alicia told Neil.

"The poor girl is going to get crushed by her, not to mention if she loses, she'll be doing G-Zelle's math homework for her for an entire semester!" Zheng continued.

"So why'd the principal show boat this then? Its not even an election year!" Neil asked them.

 "He's probably chasing the Norman Bethune Scholarship Fund for Athletics. Using that poor girl as a publicity stunt to gain their support," Alicia once again recalled her time with Leland, who had been interested in school politics to the extent that he'd wanted to run for the position of the student Prime Minister, and implement changes that would preserve academic, artistic and athletic scholarships for the entire board of education rather than singular focused programs that penalized those not part of that particular program.

"If G-Zelle even deserves a scholarship, considering that she's going to make that girl do all of her math homework!" Zheng agreed with Alicia.

"For Leland! What can I do to help?" asked Neil of Alicia and Zheng.

"There's only one thing we can do..." Alicia responded.

"If it looks like she's going to lose, and she most certainly will as she's an egg head like us, you know what we've got to do..." Zheng looked to Alicia and then Neil.

"Right! I'm on it!" Neil responded, and the three of them made their way to the gymnasium.

...

The gymnasium was lined with benches on all sides of the basketball court, with more than three hundred students in attendance of the event as they crowded in.

G-Zelle, a tall and proud woman who'd come from a family of athletes and physical achievement, stood at one end of the basketball court stretching and limbering herself up for what would inevitably amount to being a slaughter.

Her family had come from humble beginnings, having started out three generations earlier in low income housing. Her Grand-father, who was himself an athlete, had set a record for the hundred meter sprint, leading to his receiving a scholarship, which he'd used to pursue an education in Phys-ed himself.

His son, G-Zelle's father, had a natural ability for football, his sport of choice, and he'd gone on to play for the CFL, making a comfortable living until he received a debilitating injury, ending his career in athletics and leading to his having to pursue other avenues to support his family and their lifestyle in the public, which would find him working in the field of personal security and for people whose lives and lifestyles he never once spoke about.

His new career had opened many doors for him, both financially and politically so long as he kept the secrets of those whom he'd been entrusted to protect. With money and connections, his career blossomed and this new bounty found its way into the life of his daughter, an athlete and ever the more popular DJ herself. As he became close with the rich and powerful, so his daughter's opportunities grew, while those who obstructed those opportunities eventually disappeared, leaving her with the run of the school, and the principal with the benefit of her power, so long as he protected and promoted her interests. He'd quickly learned that they, her father's friends and associates were always watching.

They rewarded loyalty with money and opportunity. They punished disloyalty with destruction and disappearance.

All who operated within this dynamic either fell into the category of those who stayed clear of it, those who benefited from it, and those who defied it, the latter of whose category were the least and the shortest lived. 

Few ever spoke about these dynamics directly, and much like Alicia and Zheng had often done in protection of others, they felt a sense of responsibility to those who did not know of these dynamics, and the rules that made it all possible. 

They kept quiet about it, while protecting those of innocence and naivety.

They watched from their seats at the benches, while Neil stuck close to the door. He gave them a thumbs up, which they acknowledged with a nod.

"Where's Helayne?" asked Zheng of Alicia.

"If she's the genius that we hope she is, she's on a bus to another city as we speak..." Alicia smiled as she responded.

"Let's hope so..." Zheng replied as she watched G-Zelle doing her stretches and warming up.

On the other end of the gymnasium, there arose the sound of critical laughter and taunting. Alicia turned in the direction of the women's change room and spied a Chinese girl emerging from the change room door, wearing a red pair of shorts, a yellow sash, and a red skin tight t-shirt.

Alicia tapped Zheng's shoulder, and pointed in Helayne's direction.

"Look..." Alicia told her.

"She's got a lot of nerve. I'll give her that," Zheng said as Helayne pushed the glasses on her nose back into position from where they'd been sliding off.

They observed her, as she too began stretching and it quickly became apparent that Helayne was not so helpless as she'd first appeared.

Her leg muscles were thick and strong, with ripples and tone in places most people had none. Through her shirt it was easy to see the curves and bulges of muscle. Not masses of it as was the case with G-Zelle, but rather finely tuned into tight bridges and toned curves of perfection. Yet still, there was something about her that seemed off. Something out of place, for when she went to balance on one foot, she stumbled slightly, and caught herself, as if despite her remarkable physique, she lacked precision and balance. Like an awkward school girl that had not become aware of the beauty and potential of her body and health. 

Someone who was restrained and fearful of the ultimtate power of her womanhood.

A woman on the boundary between being an older girl, and a young lady, for  she'd been hanging onto a ruse that had long outgrown its worth to her life and ultimately, her future.

Helayne's glance found her new friends, and she caught them peering at her. She smiled and waved at them, drawing more scrutiny and taunting from others on the other end of the gymnasium, though their words and attitude had little effect upon her.

It was as if she knew something about which none of them in the gymnasium were aware.

Someone threw her a basketball, and she struggled to catch it. It bounced off of her forehead, sending her glasses around the side of her head. The ball continued onto the floor, rolling away from her as she chased it, many students in the gymnasium now laughing at her.

"At least she's entertaining..." Zheng remarked, smiling at Alicia amusedly.

Alicia returned Zheng's look with a cold stare, as she was not having any fun at Helayne's expense.

"Sorry..." Zheng corrected herself as a whistle sounded, and a loud voice emerged from the intercom system.

"Students of North York High. In the interest of the our school spirit and our incredible athletics programs, we're bringing you an event that we hope will inspire all of you, and make you realize that opportunities abound are available to you all, as long as you play by our rules, and respect the hierarchy of things. Sure, there's a really slight chance that things might not go as we're all hoping, but if they do, then we're looking at an opportunity for those of you in the athletics program that could lead to scholarship in our growing basketball program. Just like Ice Hockey, a truly Canadian sport. We'd like to see opportunities for academics and artists alike, but its truly sport that brings out the best of our competitive nature. We have a new student and heroic hopeful by the name of Ai Yuanlin Ying, who has boldly and brashly challenged our own high school athletic celebrity Deep Trip-Hop DJ G-Zelle in a game of one on one! So may the best woman win! Let the game begin!" Principal Seevers announced, as the referee ran onto the court with the basketball, bringing the two women together to face each other.

"Alright ladies. Here are the rules. The two of you are to stand on your own side, and you'll jump for the ball. As long as the ball remains in the bounds, it will remain in play. You may move with the ball only so long as you dribble it at least once for every step, and twice for every second when stationary. If you score a hoop during normal game play, you'll get a free shot. A hoop is two points. A free shot is one. Upon landing a free shot, the ball is given to the player scored against. If the free shot is missed, we come to the center again and jump for the ball. Play continues like this for four quarters, of five minutes each. The one with the highest score at the end of the four quarters, wins. Are we in understanding here?" asked the referee of G-Zelle and Helayne.

G-Zelle, standing at least a foot and a half taller than Helayne, nodded affirmatively.

Helayne nodded to the referee, nervously fixing her glasses on her nose once again.

The referee stood in the center, and tossed the ball straight up.

G-Zelle easily knocked the ball to her side, and immediately began dribbling the ball as she ran towards Helayne's hoop.

Helayne ran after G-Zelle, quickly catching up with her and attempting to knock the ball from around her left side. 

G-Zelle quickly pihouetted with the ball and spun, jumping up as she threw the ball, landing a perfect hoop and scoring against Helayne.

The crowd went wild, cheering for G-Zelle, who danced for the crowd, encouraging more cheering and participation from the audience.

Much to G-Zelle's shock, Helayne even clapped for G-Zelle's goal and her antics until the referee lead them to the point for the free shot, and gave the ball to G-Zelle, Helayne standing by the side.

G-Zelle threw the ball, easily scoring without touching the rim. The ball fell into the hoop with swoosh, and Helayne went after it, awkwardly catching it and struggling to find a rhythm as she dribbled it.

She paused in place, and once again pushed her glasses up her nose and into place, her vision blurry as she then advanced upon G-Zelle.

She ran forward, finally having found the timing and as G-Zelle attempted to take the ball, Helayne daftly side-stepped, spinning almost as G-Zelle had done earlier and circumnavigating the larger woman's boundaries.

Helayne then ran, pushing the limits of her timing until the ball bounced too hard, hitting her in face and breaking her glasses into two halves.

The two sides fell to the floor, and Helayne looked to them in shock, uncertain of what to do.

A Broken Cliché

Sixteen Years Ago
North York High School
Toronto, Ontario, Canada


She looked at the two halves of her glasses which lay on the floor close together, looking very much like a pair of butterfly's wings.

She then turned to face Alicia and Zheng, both of them seeing her without her glasses for the first time.

Her eyes were large and visceral, taking in everything, with both immense beauty and ferocity. Her nose was as perfect as her lips, and everything on her suddenly seemed right. She stood confidently, her body shape like the perfection of a golden statue.

That thing that had seemed so out of place about her was gone and she was no longer an older girl, but now a woman in all of her confidence, fitness and glory.

"Alicia? Zheng?" Helayne addressed her friends loudly and confidently, as the crowd stopped, some of them laughing at her, but most just watching her, as if she were some enigma that had recently been birthed before them all.

"Remember my math test this morning?" asked Helayne of Alicia and Zheng.

"What about it?" Alicia responded to Helayne.

"I didn't do so good on it as I said. I got an F," she said in perfect English.

 "I guess I was pretending to be someone... to be something that I'm not... But it never worked for me... So why don't I show you, what I am..." Helayne said to them confidently, kicking her broken glasses aside and pushing the ball back over to the referee, who suddenly blew the whistle.

"What, you're a basketball player now?" asked Alicia of Helayne.

"No. I've never played before in my life. I'm a fashion designer in training. I'm also an artist. A mixed martial artist," Helayne responded to Alicia and Zheng.

"Penalty against Ai. Holding," the referee called it against her, tossing the ball to G-Zelle.

G-Zelle charged out from the sideline aggressively, barreling towards Helayne, much larger and more imposing than her opponent.

As G-Zelle attempted to push through Helayne's defense, Helayne rolled forward, tumbling perfectly back up and onto her feet with full control of the ball. She easily timed her dribble and when G-Zelle was upon her once again, Helayne bounced it between her legs and ran through them to her other side, jumping in the air into a spinning kick, and sending the ball straight at the back board and into the hoop, landing perfectly on her feet.

There was silence in the gymnasium as nobody had seen such a move in their lives.

"Score: three for G-Zelle. Two for Helayne. Free throw for Helayne..." the referee tossed Helayne the ball and she caught it easily, her agility and balance almost inhuman.

She easily tossed the ball with one hand, underhanded without jumping, and the ball fell into the net with a swoosh.

"Tied game!" the referee announced, the laughter from the crowd earlier had disappeared, and the only people cheering were Alicia, Zheng and Neil.

Neil looked to Alicia and Zheng, knowing that there was an inherent danger no matter who won. If it was G-Zelle, then Helayne in spite of her lack of skills in mathematics, would have to do G-Zelle's homework and if G-Zelle failed as a result, it might be the end of Helayne and her family.

Neil looked to Alicia and Zheng, unsure of what to do, for they all knew that they were still beholden to their new friend, and had to do something to protect her in the event that this didn't work out for her.

Alicia nodded negatively to Neil, urging him not to pull the fire alarm, which was their backup plan to halt the game if they'd need to do so.

"If she wins this, it will put Principal Seevers on the spot. Leland even had a plan like that once, where we could win back the school, by pitting the Principal against G-Zelle and her family. Everyone would have a fair chance at an education," Alicia reasoned with Zheng, who nodded in agreement.

"Its risky though. What if she doesn't win?" Zheng asked Alicia.

"Then we're doing G-Zelle's homework for the semester. That will ensure that she passes math, and it will ensure that Helayne isn't held responsible for her failure," Alicia said to Zheng.

"But G-Zelle and her family will own us forever... We'll be beholden to them for the rest of their lives, and even when we're in a position of tenure in academics, we might be asked to do something for them that undermines everything we're about..." Zheng reminded her.

"Then lets cheer harder for Helayne, because she has to win!" Alicia said, getting to her feet as she encouraged everyone around her to join them in cheering for Helayne.


G-Zelle was now in control of the ball and running from her end with determination as Helayne defended her end of the court.

G-Zelle rushed in, side-stepping Helayne and rushing the net for a layup shot.

Helayne sprinted as hard and as fast as she could, leaping from a few feet behind G-Zelle as she lined up for her back board shot. 

Helayne landed her hand on G-Zelle's shoulder as she leapt up and guided the ball towards the back board. Helayne launched herself from G-Zelle's shoulder, while G-Zelle tried to knock her down.

Helayne just clipped the ball, which hit the back board, and fell onto the hoop, rounding it slowly as it balanced, losing momentum. The crowd watched as the ball seemingly stopped in place, barely moving as they watched it, ready to fall off the hoop, or inside of it to score a point for G-Zelle.

Alicia and Zheng cheered loudly as the ball picked up momentum, finally dropping on the other side of the hoop and into Helayne's hands.

She quickly dodged G-Zelle and ran the length of the court, lining up her own shot and landing a hoop.

The crowd went wild, but not for G-Zelle this time. The cheering was all for Helayne.

The referee looked over to Principal Seevers, who smirked at him. The referee nodded and handed Helayne the ball.

She quickly and humbly took her free shot, and scored a hoop just as the first quarter ended.

Helayne was now in the lead, and the entire gymnasium was cheering for her.

She took a short break with Alicia, Zheng and Neil.

"So. You're not exactly an academic, are you?" asked Alicia of her.

"No. It worked for a long time. A lot of people really thought I was clever, but the only person I was fooling was myself," Helayne smiled to Alicia.

"So what are you? What do you want to be?" asked Zheng of their new friend.

"I'm actually an artist. I'm not a big fan of math. I don't really do well in science. I want to be a fashion designer. I'm already a mixed martial artist and acrobat as you can see. At least if I fail as a fashion designer, I might have a career as a basketball player..." Helayne laughed.

"Even if you want to be a fashion designer, you're going to have to improve your score on the non-electives you know. To get accepted into fashion design school... You're going to need at least one math, probably geometry if you're doing fashion, and one science..." Alicia explained to Helayne.

"We've still got two years until graduation. That's a bit of time for me to improve," Helayne responded, running back onto the court to finish her game.

...

Forty-five minutes later, and the entire school was celebrating Helayne's win over G-Zelle.

Principal Seevers, who'd just gotten off of the phone with a powerful man by the name of Curtis Torman, turned to face Helayne's, Alicia's and Zheng's homeroom teacher.

"I just got off of the phone with Curtis. He says that he's moving the union's pension fund to another bank. Offshore, all things being fair in business and war, and that we're all going to need to reapply for eligibility, meaning that some of us will be eligible and some of us won't. I don't know or care how, but you're going to make sure that she doesn't graduate. If she does, then you'll be living on the run for the rest of your life. Do I make myself clear?" Principal Seevers said to Daniel Caruthers.

"Perfectly," Daniel responded.

"Now as for G-Zelle? We're going to be putting on a benefit concert where she'll headline as a DJ. We're going to promote this in the papers, and we're going to ensure that she's guaranteed a scholarship, for her extra-curricular work in promoting our school athletics programs," Principal Seevers asserted to Daniel.

"There's only a limited number of spots. Right now, it looks like those spots are reserved for the academics program, and Alicia and Zheng are the front runners. I don't want to lose them. They're the best thing that's happened for our academics programs for a long time and if we cut them off, we might draw the scrutiny of the ombudsman and an audit, which could spell legal trouble and an investigation..." Daniel backpedaled on the issue.

"I don't care. One of them is out, and G-Zelle is in. While Helayne? She'll never graduate. Do you understand?" Principal Seevers ordered Daniel.

"I do now, but I don't like it," Daniel responded, standing from his chair and walking over to the door.

"You don't have to like it. You just have to do it," Principal Seevers smiled at him scathingly as he stepped out of the door to the Principal's office.


To be continued...


Credits and attribution:

Special Thanks To Rocket Fuel Lakeshore Blvd West, perhaps the best place in history to get a coffee, circa 2001-2004. Miss you all very much.

Artwork: Amy Wong, Wendy Pusey, Ghastly, Birdman, Brian Joseph Johns, Daz3D, Unreal Engine...

Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you're on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession...

DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.

InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony. Research Paper Title: InstantID - Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.

Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.

Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.

Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian): https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)

Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay tuned)

Special thanks to Aitrepreneur, Mickmumpitz, Hugging Face and the YouTube educational content producers, including those catering to the AI content production pipeline and of course AlphaSignal.

Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery 
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life

Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery 
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life

Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts

Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history

Seamus O'Dowd
An extensive growing archive Katas, Techniques and Waza (mostly Shotokan)

Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai 
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art

Tapp Brothers Exercise For Better Motion 
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility

Special thanks to Canva for inspiring other creators and giving them the tools

Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!

Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof

Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no other choice. We do.

This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.

Copyright © 2025 Brian Joseph Johns 

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