Never before has Jack seen a place so dreary. Like, yeah he's made it snow in cemeteries ('to add to the mood' he calls it when asked why), but this place seemed eerier. More dead… if that was even possible. Yet, he continued on his way, still wondering how he's never been to this town before.
This was truly peculiar.
It was only three forty-five in the afternoon when word spread that Danny Phantom was spotted flying over the town, for once not fighting another ghost. This got the townspeople riled up, wondering what their hero was up to. And also when he changed his outfit to be more casual. Was he just spending his free time lazily flying over the town he protected countless times? Was his usual HAZMAT suit getting repaired/cleaned at the moment and he had nothing to do? When no definitive answer came to mind, they did the only thing the citizens of Amity Park were known for: they chased after the ghost boy.
With school ending not long ago, Team Phantom retreated to their usual hangout: The Nasty Burger. Danny had been lucky to not have to fight any ghosts during school hours, much to the relief of the teenaged superhero. He had hardly gotten any sleep the night before, so the few brief minutes of slumber he got in his classes provided the much-needed energy to take on whatever the rest of the day had to throw at him. He never thought it'd be a copycat, however.
"Hey dude, do you know if Vlad has cloned you recently? Or if you have a white-haired Phantom twin that you never knew existed?" Danny's techno-geek friend, Tucker Foley, asked, sitting across from him, peering quizzically at his trusty PDA.
"Not since Dani. And no, I don't think so. Why?" The raven-haired sixteen-year-old replied, a small wary frown etched on his face.
"Check it out."
Displayed on the screen was the typical skyline of Amity Park, in all its ghostly glory. Hey, even Phantom was there… except that wasn't Phantom.
"You gonna go?" Sam implored, her now long black hair shifting as she tilted her head towards her ghostly friend.
"Do you need us to tag along as back up? Should we call Jazz?" Added Tucker.
Danny thought about it for a bit before responding.
"No, I should be fine, but just in case be on standby. We don't know what this doppelganger is here for. Hell, it could just be Amorpho wanting his fifteen minutes of fame again," he responded.
Sam and Tucker looked hesitantly at each other before shrugging, figuring that Danny would be fine by himself as like look-a-like hasn't caused any damage to the town yet.
"Alright dude, we'll be on standby."
"Good luck, Danny."
"Seeya guys." the ghost child said. Getting up from his place in the booth, he quickly strode outside the establishment and ducked into one of the forever convenient for superheroes alleyways to transform into his alter ego: Danny Phantom.
"Now, let's see who this imposter really is."
Jack was very confused. For one, he felt like someone was watching him, and two…
WHY THE HELL ARE THERE PICTURES OF ME EVERYWHERE?! He screamed internally, surrounded by billboards that sported the image of someone that resembled Jack immensely, ignoring the different outfit and eye colour.
And they didn't even get my good side… Jack thought, pouting, pacing along the edge of the building he landed on. Then he realised something. Something important he missed.
"... how do they know what I look like? How did they manage to get pictures of me?" He whispered to himself. "What is up with this town?"
Slowly, he took a step off the building, called the wind for its assistance once again, and continued to take in the sights of this bizarre town.
"There he is!" A shrill of voices squealed from below, making Jack lose his balance. Correcting his flying stance, he gazed down to the street underneath him, gaping in absolute shock. There, all simply admiring the spectacle above them, was an armada of citizens, pointing and chanting something Jack couldn't quite decipher. All he did know is that they were looking at one thing: him.
What? They can see me?
Jack drifted over to a nearby building, figuring it was for the best that he didn't make his descent down to the people below. Swinging himself up onto his shepherds crook, contemplating what this could all mean. The crowd consisted of people over the usual age of which people tend to forget their childhood beliefs. So why could they all see him?
"Who are you?" Said a voice, originating from somewhere behind Jack.
Jack stumbled, falling off the crook, and quickly whipped his head around to face the unknown figure. A small distance away stood a teenager, raven black hair that seemed darker than the darkest of nights, blue crystal eyes that twinkled with curiosity and caution, gazing at Jack in bewilderment.
Jack's eyes bulged with shock.
A… a teenager… why can he see me? Why can they all see me?
"Um… hello? I asked you a question," the figure said, sounding a bit irritated at being ignored.
Jack snapped out of his thoughts, straightened himself and awkwardly looked away from the boy.
"I… I'm Jack Frost…" He answered, mind still racing with possibilities to how he could be seen right now.
Maybe the whole town believes in the Guardians…
"Ok… why are you here?" The teen questioned.
"... Santa Claus sent me…"
The teen quirked an eyebrow at Jack's response.
"Ok then… and why did Santa send you here?"
"He wanted me to check out the town…"
"Why?"
"I don't know."
The teen sighed deeply in irritation. Jack turned to face him once more.
"Dude, couldn't you come up with a better story than that? Next, you'll be telling me the Easter Bunny cancelled Easter this year because he sprained his back leg or something. And seriously, you gave yourself the alias 'Jack Frost'? Are you apart of some gang in the Ghost Zone basing yourselves on characters of fantasy?"
Ok… so he doesn't believe in the Guardians… then why can he still see me?
"What's the 'Ghost Zone'?" Jack asked, hoping to get an answer to one of his many questions.
The teen paused his ranting and gazed at Jack in surprise.
"Are you serious? Aren't you a ghost? The Ghost Zone is your home, isn't it? Just like all the other ghosts."
"But I'm not a ghost."
"What?"
"I'm Jack Frost. Newest Guardian of Childhood and the spirit of winter and fun."
Jack's proclamation seemed to heavily confuse the teen.
"Ok, let me get this straight. Your name is actually Jack Frost. You're not a ghost, you're a spirit- the spirit of winter and fun no less. Santa is actually real, probably the same can be said for other fairytale beings. Is that right?"
"Yep."
"Welp. Stranger things have happened," the teen sighed.
"Like what?" Jack retorted, still deeply confused.
Suddenly white glowing rings appeared around the teen's middle, slowing breaking apart from each other till they disappeared into thin air. Instead of the previous black haired teenager stood the guy with his face plastered all over the town: Danny Phantom.
Jack was gobsmacked. It wasn't him on all those billboards. It was this color shifting teenager in a HAZMAT suit.
How the heck did he do that? Jack pondered.
The teen smirked at the winter spirits expression and extended his hand in greeting.
"Name's Danny. Fenton when human. Phantom when ghost."
Jack hesitantly stretched out his arm and awkwardly shook hands with Danny.
"Welcome to Amity Park, Jack Frost."