Original story idea by me, I do not own Danny Phantom or The Mask.
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The Amity Park Public Library.
It was a pretty typical Wednesday afternoon for Tommy Weissman - business had picked up with school out for summer, with more parents coming in to check out materials and more activities for the kids who had free time to spare. But despite the increase in duties, he enjoyed this part of his job - it may have been a basic summer job for the high school junior, but he had loved to read from a young age, and he loved educating others about the joys of reading. Plus, it was certainly better than working at a place like the Nasty Burger - no late hours, no particularly rude customers, and a lot better pay.
His pretty typical afternoon was about to go haywire, in a way he never would have expected. Out of apparent thin air, a large gust of wind brought in a whirling green and black twister, coming to a sudden halt in front of the circulation desk.
"Hellooooo, Tommy!!! I hope you've got something amazing for me today!"
Tommy stared back at the woman, in complete surprise at her unusual arrival. Her green face looked like something out of a Saturday night monster movie, but he couldn't deny that her body was unbelievably gorgeous, looking like she had stepped off the cover of People magazine. He tried to study this face closer, get some understanding of who this could possibly be - and the more he looked, the more he saw some familiarity in her strange visage.
"Jazz Fenton?!?!?"
"Correct, Tommy boy!!! But please, don't refer to me as humble little Jazz Fenton - I'm superior in every way! Introductions aside, tell me you have something for me today - some Thoreau, Fitzgerald, even some Bradberry or Hemingway!!!"
"Uhhh…we have some new James Patterson stuff."
Mask Jazz groaned. "Ughhhh, no one cares about Patterson, that loser uses ghostwriters for all his shit! Fine, I'll find something myself!" Dashing like a cheetah amongst the shelves, she grabbed about 15 books and found a chair, flipping through the pages at lightning speed.
In about two minutes, Mask Jazz was back at the desk, green head swelling from her now-filled brain. "Let's see - that was Walden, The Grapes of Wrath, Fahrenheit 451, To Kill a Mockingbird, On the Road - that was awesome!!!" She leaned in and planted a big kiss on Tommy's cheek, before zipping out the door. "Thanks again, Tommy!!!"
"Uhhh…you're welcome?" As quick as she had come in, she was gone - maybe these long summer days were getting to Tommy.
A few blocks away, the local art society was holding their monthly meeting - this month's topic, the works of Paul Cézanne.
In a dull voice, a presenter made his remarks. "At the age of ten Cézanne entered the Saint Joseph school in Aix. Classmates were the later sculptor Philippe Solari and Henri Gasquet, father of the writer Joachim Gasquet, who was to publish his book-"
His speech was suddenly interrupted by a green-faced woman with bright orange hair, pushing him aside from the podium. As the audience gasped in shock, Mask Jazz began to speak.
"Ooh, I can tell you all about Cézanne! He was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation and influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century. Cézanne is said to have formed the bridge between late 19th-century Impressionism and the early 20th century's new line of artistic enquiry, Cubism!!! Pretty cool, huh?!?!"
"Ma'am, whoever you are, please get off our stage!!"
Mask Jazz pouted, a dark thundercloud somehow pouring rain from above her. "Hhmph, your loss. You wanted knowledge, I gave you knowledge. But you bunch of rubes don't know real art anyway." She spun off, leaving the audience confounded by her appearance.
Stopping for a moment in the middle of a city street, Mask Jazz pondered what to do next. Looking down at her hands, she was bothered - the mask may have given her an amazing look, great knowledge and a vast array of superpowers - but it didn't give her any nail polish. They were still the same hands as regular old Jazz, and that was unacceptable.
"I need a manicure - and now!" Spinning off again, her twister narrowly missed a passing car, the driver having to smash on the brakes to avoid hitting the supernatural sight. Just another day in Amity Park.
Arriving at the salon, Mask Jazz took a seat in a chair. Looking over to her right, she saw one of the most popular girls in all of Casper High - Paulina Sanchez, the dark-haired Latina beauty of the sophomore class. Locking eyes on each other, Mask Jazz flashed her great white teeth, a warning shot of the mayhem that she knew she could cause. Paulina could only act in disgust at the mysterious woman with the rubbery green head, a true freak if there ever was one.
"Who the hell are you, you ugly green puta?" Paulina didn't know it yet, but that sentence had condemned her to an unfortunate fate.
Several miles away at the Foley's house, Danny, Sam and Tucker were down in the basement. Going into junior year, it was that time when colleges started to look for applicants, and the SATs would be in front of them in no time. At the moment, biology was the current subject of study.
"Tucker, can you tell me what the endoplasmic reticulum does in a cell?" Danny asked.
"It helps transport proteins. Dude, do you pay any attention in class?"
"Very funny, Tucker." Today was supposed to be peaceful for Danny - B minus students like himself weren't going to make it far in college, so this summer was all about studying. Much as they joked around, that comment cut a little bit too deep.
All of a sudden, a blue wisp of cold air emerged from Danny's mouth - his ghost sense, alerting him to a nearby foe. Looks like he wasn't going to get that peaceful day after all - and mean comments needed to be brushed aside.
"Guys, we've got trouble. Get behind me, and get ready to fire. I'm going ghost!"
White rings transforming him, Danny sped off into the sky. He didn't know his foe yet - but he was ready to bring it on.
And he would soon have some unexpected help in this battle.