Chapter Text
Phineas and Ferb were resting, as usual, beneath their tree in the backyard of their home.
“Hey, guys!” greeted their best friend Isabella. “And… whatcha dooooin'?”
“Well… nothing,” Phineas replied. “We decided to rest, I mean… we can’t be doing something every single day. Gotta enjoy nature!”
“Can I hang out with you?”
“I don’t see why not. Sit down!”
The black-haired girl, flattered by the company, sat down beside Phineas, the boy she'd been in love with for a long time.
“It’s way too hot,” Isabella remarked. “I’d give anything to swim in a pool. Why don’t we go to my house?
“Great idea!”
The three of them walked over to her house, but not before Phineas and Ferb went to grab their swimsuits. On the way they ran into Candace.
“So… what are you two up to now?” said the redhead in that bitter tone she always used with her brothers.
“We’re going swimming in Isabella’s pool,” Phineas answered, smiling as always. “What are you gonna do?”
“Well, I was planning to invite Jeremy on a date, but… I’m not so sure. We’ve only just started dating... what if he doesn’t want to?”
“Candace, Candace, little sister. If Jeremy really loves you, he’ll definitely say yes. Besides, isn’t it better to find out now instead of much later when you’re regretting wasting your life? No offense…”
“You’re right! Thanks a lot, Phineas. Since when do you give such good advice?”
“Always, you just hadn’t noticed until now. Bye!”
Phineas left the house, but Ferb stayed behind to say something to Candace.
“Sometimes the fun is right in your own backyard, and the joy is in the journey,” said the green-haired boy before heading off to catch up with his brother and their best friend.
“These kids always leave me speechless,” Candace muttered to herself.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
“Jeremy!” the redhead cried out in surprise when she realized it was her boyfriend.
“Hey, Candace! Can’t a guy come see his girlfriend?” the blond teenager teased, kissing her.
“Of course, come in. I’ll get you something to drink. I need to talk to you about something.”
“Cool!”
Candace went to the kitchen to bring her boyfriend a drink. She couldn’t decide between lemonade, soda, or tea. Lemonade seemed too childish, but it meant something very important to her: the first day they met they had drunk it together. Soda was too ordinary, and tea… romantic, but with this heat… So after five minutes, on pure impulse, she grabbed two glasses of lemonade and went back to her boyfriend.
“Lemonade!” Jeremy exclaimed.
“What? Don’t you like it?” Candace asked, disappointed.
“Not at all. I bet you were thinking about the day we first met.”
“Ah! Yeah, of course.”
I think it’s time to invite him now, thought the redhead.
I’m going to tell her right now, Jeremy told himself.
“Candace!”
“Jeremy!” they both said at the exact same time. Then they both blushed.
“You first,” the blond said.
“Here it goes,” she sighed and spoke. “Jeremy, do you wanna go out right now?”
“For real? That’s exactly what I was gonna ask you!”
“Really?”
“Of course! Can’t a guy invite his girlfriend on a date?”
“Yeah. You’re right. So what are we waiting for? Let’s go right now!”
Hand in hand they left the living room and headed out of the house to have a good time. Isn’t it normal for a girl to invite her boyfriend?
Of course, we haven't forgotten about Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella. The three friends were crossing the street when an adult man approached the kids.
“Hey! Don’t you recognize me?” the stranger said.
The children didn’t even blink.
“I’m Ben.”
No response.
“Ben Baxter.”
Still nothing.
“From the Phineas and the Ferb-Tones concert.”
“Oh!” the friends remembered.
“The psychic!” Phineas said.
“Yeah! Anyway. I’ve come to offer you an opportunity.”
“Like what? We’re retired. There’s nothing left to do.”
“After what I’m about to tell you, you won’t turn it down. Do you know tomorrow is the 20th Danville Festival?”
“Yes,” Ferb replied. “They haven’t stopped talking about it on the news.”
“The festival needs one more band, and out of all the biggest hits this quiet, boring town has ever had, it’s you guys. A comeback. What do you say?”
“Ummm… I don’t know,” the kids hesitated.
“Remember it’s for charity.”
“Deal,” Phineas said.
“Great! I’ll add you to the list. You’ll be the grand finale after Lindana, Max-Modem and then you. Fine?”
“Thanks a lot.”
“Phineas and the Ferb-Tones are back on stage!”
“But no tricks to drag us back into the music and business industry,” Isabella warned.
“Sure, whatever you say.”
After shaking hands to seal the deal, the man left, and the kids returned to their plan: swimming in Isa’s pool.
“Okay. We’ll organize it like this. As always, Ferb will be on keyboard,” Phineas planned, and Ferb gave a thumbs-up in agreement, “Isabella will lead the chorus and the dancers. Then we’ll call the Fireside Girls…”
“And you’ll be the lead singer!” Isabella told him.
“We’ve got everything organized; we just need to practice a little. But first we’ll swim. How’s that sound?”
“We should rest first. Work later.”
Some minutes later, they three kids were in Isabella's backyard. They were about to enter Isabella’s house again to change clothes when suddenly Phineas tripped over a nearby stone, lost his balance and fell into the pool.
“Phineas!” Isabella screamed desperately and dove into the pool to save her friend. She pulled him out without any trouble.
“Isabella,” the redhead said once he was outside.
“Yeah?”
“You do know I can swim, right?”
The Fireside Girl blushed, pure embarrassment.
“I… I’m so sorry,” she apologized.
“No worries. Thanks for saving me,” he said while wringing out his hair and shirt, but suddenly he was hit by violent sneezes that sucked all the air out of him.
“Bro, are you feeling okay?” Ferb asked.
“What a weird question... of course I’m fine!” he answered, still sneezing and coughing.
“You’d better go home. You’re worrying me,” Isabella said, eyes pleading. Then she placed her hand on his forehead. “You’re burning up! Go home.”
Resigned, Phineas obeyed Isabella, mostly because it hurt him to see her worried.
“I’ll take care of him. Don’t worry, Isa,” Ferb reassured her.
“No, Ferb. I’m coming with you.”
Phineas lay in his boat-shaped bed, very weak, while Ferb, Isabella, and Linda waited anxiously for the doctor’s diagnosis, because from the look on his face... things were not good at all.
“Ahem… this is very bad,” the doctor whispered while taking the redheaded boy’s temperature.
“What happens to my son?” Linda asked, uneasy.
“The boy has the flu. For a kid who spends so much time outdoors, it’s pretty unusual.”
“How do you know it’s the flu?” Isabella asked, incredulous that Phineas, a boy known for having strong health, could get sick.
“It’s quite simple. First and most basic: he has a fever…”
Phineas was clearly burning up. He kept tossing in the sheets trying to find some comfort and coolness. But nothing happened.
“Second, the patient gets that pale complexion Phineas has…”
The redhead was as white as death itself, or at least the color of a ghostly sheet.
“Third, coughing and allergy attacks…”
The boy kept scratching his neck, coughing heavily and sneezing.
“Fourth and last… he loses his voice.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Phineas said ironically. “I haven’t lost my—” and he couldn’t finish the sentence, because that was as far as it went.
“Phineas! What’s wrong?” Isabella panicked.
“He lost his voice,” Ferb lamented.
“Doctor! How long will he be like this?” Linda asked.
“If you give him lemon juice continuously, surely in about…”—he checked his watch to calculate—“exactly… 48 hours.”
“48 hours!” everyone exclaimed. “That’s too long!”
“It’s the minimum. If he doesn’t stay in bed, it could be permanent.”
Everyone lowered their heads sadly, including Phineas.
“I have to go. Too many patients waiting,” the doctor said.
“I’ll walk you out,” Linda told him.
Linda and the doctor left the bedroom.
“So now… what are we gonna do?” Isabella said. “We can’t go to the festival without a lead singer. I’ll have to call Baxter and tell him we’re canceling the comeback.”
Isabella was about to pick up the phone beside the bed when Phineas stopped her by grabbing the hem of her dress.
“What do you want, Phineas? You’re sick! Besides, you can’t sing. There’s nothing we can do.”
The redhead gave her one of those pleading looks he sometimes used to convince people.
“Don’t even try. You can’t sing.”
Phineas made gestures and motions, as if to say, 'It doesn’t have to be me.'
“Then who?”
The boy discreetly shifted his gaze toward his brother. Isabella understood and did the same.
“Oh no! Not me. I can’t sing!” Ferb refused.
“Please, Ferb. What about when you sang on the backyard beach?”
“That’s different. But I won’t do it for anything in the world.”
“Ferb. Do it for us… for your brother, okay?”
The two of them begged with hands clasped. The green-haired boy found it impossible to refuse.
“Ah! Fine! But remember I’m doing it for you two, especially for you, Phineas… and don’t tell me later I never do anything for you. Plus the money raised is for charity.”
Phineas hugged his brother as if saying, 'Thank you! Thank you, little bro!'
“Enough with the sentimentality, let go! Come on, Isabella.” The black-haired girl didn’t follow.
“Isabella?”
“Sorry, Ferb, but Phineas needs someone to keep him company these days. When he’s alone he goes crazy!”
“We have no lead singer and now no choreographer either! Has the world gone insane?”
Isabella and Phineas laughed; the redhead’s laugh was barely audible.
“You’ve talked enough! Save your voice for singing. Tell Gretchen she’s in charge and to practice without me. We’ll watch you on TV tomorrow. We’ll be rooting for you!”
Ferb hurried out of the room. Phineas looked around both sides, as if searching for something.
“What’s wrong?” Isabella asked.
He tried to tell her something, but she didn’t understand.
“Try again. Maybe I’ll understand a little better.”
Annoyed and frustrated, he grabbed a nearby notebook and pencil and wrote something.
“Ah!” Isabella understood. The page said, “Hey, where's Perry?”
Perry was following his typical work routine: stopping Heinz Doofenshmirtz.
First, he walked down the hallway toward his owners’ room. To avoid getting sick, he pulled out a mask and ran out to enter one of his many hideouts: the kitchen oven.
“Agent P?” Major Monogram wondered. “Carl! Where's Agent P?”
“He must be on his way, sir,” the intern teenager replied.
“Oh! Right, yes.”
Suddenly Perry dropped from the ceiling. A little singed from the heat but ready for his mission.
“Sorry about the entrance, but we ran out of ideas for entry points,” Monogram apologized. “Anyway! Doofenshmirtz bought a ticket to the 20th Danville Festival. He’s definitely up to no good, since it’s the most crowded event in the whole city. Now go stop him.”
Perry gave his military salute and left the hideout in his small glider.
“Good luck, Agent P. How did that come out, Carl?”
“Very well.”
“I have to go. I need to buy two tickets for the festival.”
“Can I go, sir?”
“No! Not you.”
The platypus rode his glider until he reached his destination: the Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated building.
“Well, well! If it isn’t Perry the Platypus! Your punctuality is perfect, and by perfect I mean… totally imperfect! You’re very late. Do you think I have time for everything?”
Perry lowered his head.
“Doesn’t matter. But that won’t save you from… your doom!”
Pulling out a remote with a red button, he made a cardboard box appear and trap Perry inside. The next moment, the platypus was already outside it.
“I don’t even know how to make better traps anymore, so… Plan B!”
Pressing another green button, he caught Perry in a palm-tree trap, grabbing him by the ankle.
“Ah, the good old reliable traps are the best. What do you think?”
Perry chattered his teeth.
“Yeah… it’s the pure truth. I’ll tell you my whole plan… Nineteen years ago, when I was young, I came to live in Danville around this same time of year. Then I fell in love with a pretty girl named Francine. She was French, I was from Drusselstein... both foreigners... so we became good friends. We always picked each other for dances, dates and dinners because we felt strange in a different country. As time passed I asked her to be my girlfriend, right in the middle of the Danville Festival, but she rejected me. Ever since then I’ve held a grudge against the festival and against all the romantic couples who attend it. After a lot of research I discovered that music was what stimulated love! So that’s when the De-Musical-Inator was born!”
Pulling a white cover off an artifact, the device appeared. Perry observed it with some curiosity: it looked like a somewhat futuristic antenna.
“Behold! BEHOLD!” Doof said with arms raised. “BEHOLD and… cut! Are you done beholding? Well, it’s too late.”
Suddenly, he received a kick from Perry.
“How did you get out of your trap, Perry the Platypus?
That was always a mystery…
Ferb had gathered the Fireside Girls in the garage. Little Gretchen was replacing Isabella as leader, as had already been mentioned.
“All right, ladies… and Ferb!” Gretchen said. “As you know, Phineas has the flu and Isabella is taking care of him…”
“Sure. She’s ‘taking care’ of him…” Milly murmured sarcastically. The whole troop laughed.
“More respect for our leader! Thank you. We’ll start the Gitchee Gitchee Goo routine first in dance and then in singing. Have you forgotten the steps?”
Everyone shook their heads no.
“Perfect! Ferb, you’ll guide us on the music.”
The green-haired boy sat down at the keyboard and began playing the rhythms of the song.
Night was already falling.
“Oh Jeremy! You always know how to make me laugh,” Candace laughed as they returned from their date.
“It’s not that big a deal. I only choked on spaghetti!”
“Yeah, but it's totally different when it comes out your nose.”
The couple laughed heartily, remembering what had happened at the restaurant.
“Well, Jeremy, this is my house.”
“Why do you say that? I already know… another date tomorrow?”
“I don’t see why not.”
“Then until tomorrow, love.”
Bidding farewell with a kiss on the cheek, Candace entered her house.
“Stacy?” she said into her phone. “You won’t believe what happened! Jeremy and I went on a date! It was fabulous!” But right then she heard music coming from the garage. “Hold on, Stacy, I have two things to bust.”
Candace, wearing her angry-bull face, headed to the garage.
“What are you up to now, you two-” She didn’t continue because she was surprised to see Ferb alone with the Fireside Girls, without his brother. “Where's Phineas?”
“Sick,” he answered laconically, as always.
“Sick?” the redhead was shocked. “Wasn’t he perfectly fine this morning?”
“He fell into Isabella’s pool and caught the flu.”
Then Candace analyzed everything in her mind. It was obvious that sooner or later something would happen to him. He had spent so much time doing dangerous things -according to her- that something was bound to happen.
“Again, where is he?”
“In bed. Isabella’s taking care of him.”
She realized something else. The black-haired girl was taking advantage of the situation -according to her, because Isabella wouldn’t be that opportunistic either.
Candace went up the stairs until she reached the second floor, right in front of her brothers’ room.
First, she knocked, and when no one answered she opened it herself.
She was touched by the scene. Isabella was asleep in a chair beside Phineas, who was also asleep in his bed. You had to be a really good friend to stay and take care of someone, and really in love to fall asleep next to him while watching over him in his dreams. Thinking about it, she understood everything: love can do anything, even keep you from catching the flu if you’re beside someone who’s sick.
“Better leave them alone,” the redhead murmured to herself and closed the door.
Once again, Perry had beaten Doofenshmirtz and was about to press the self-destruct button on the machine.
“No, Perry the Platypus! Don’t do it!”
But it was too late for the evil scientist, because the platypus had already destroyed the device.
“Curse you, Perry the Platypus!” echoed across the entire Tri-State Area.
TO BE CONTINUED...