Grandpa Reg opened his scrapbook and flipped to a page filled with black-and-white photos. “Here I am as a young lad. I made my living working at the family fish-and-chips shop.” He chuckled at the memory. “But I was destined for bigger things.”
He turned the page and Phineas and Ferb saw a photo of a young man standing proudly next to an old motorcycle. The man wore a leather helmet and a pair of thick goggles.
“I was known as the Great Flying Fishmonger,” Grandpa Reg said proudly, turning another page. “Here’s my first jump over my dear mum’s tea society.”
Phineas and Ferb stared at the picture of their grandfather soaring high above a group of fancy ladies hosting a tea party. Awesome! Phineas thought.
Grandpa Reg showed them some more pictures of his motorcycle jumps, describing each as he went. “Me jumping a whale. A ton of crumpets. The Queen Mum.” Then he stopped.
“But there was one jump that haunts me to this day: McGregor’s Gorge of Doom,” their grandfather revealed sadly. “People turned out by the thousands to witness me and my trusty motorbike, the Holy Mackerel, make our biggest jump yet.” He pointed to a picture of himself smiling and waving, revving his motorcycle engine from a starting line.
Grandpa Reg explained that right as a band started playing, huge gray clouds moved in and it began to rain. It became too slippery to perform the jump, so he rescheduled it for a few weeks later. But then he was rained out again!
“And when I made another attempt,” Grandpa Reg grumbled as he remembered his third try, “there was nothing but blasted rain again.”
Grandpa Reg slammed his scrapbook shut and grunted as he stood up from the couch. He walked grumpily across the living room.
Phineas watched him leave. Doing jumps on a motorcycle sounded so cool, he thought.
But not getting to complete the biggest jump of your career would be pretty disappointing—he could understand why Grandpa Reg looked so discouraged.
“Wow, so whatever happened to the Holy Mackerel?” Phineas called after him.
“She’s right over there, although I see your mother has turned her into a lamp,” Grandpa Reg replied, pointing to a corner of the living room. Phineas took a closer look. The lamp did resemble a motorcycle—one that was shaped suspiciously like a fish.
Suddenly, Phineas had an idea. He was going to surprise Grandpa Reg by rebuilding the gorge in their backyard to give him another chance to jump over it! “Ferb,” Phineas said with a twinkle in his eye, “I know what we’re going to do today!”
Chapter 2
Meanwhile, Candace was busy running around the mall in a frenzy with her parents and Grandma Winnie. There was nothing she loved more than to shop.
“Oh, Grandma, you’re going to love this mall!” she exclaimed. “I’ll show you my favorite store, and there’s this little dress that—” Candace stopped suddenly. She was getting a strange feeling about something. And usually when she got such a feeling, Phineas was involved somehow. Her brother was always up to something, and she constantly had to keep track of him.
Narrowing her eyes, she whipped out her pink cell phone and speed-dialed her best friend, Stacy Hirano. “Stacy, I have this strange feeling that ground was just broken in my backyard. I need you to get over there and tell me what’s going on.”
Candace snapped her phone shut. Now that was taken care of and she could get back to what was really important—shopping!
Back at the house, Candace’s suspicions were right. There was some major construction going on! Bulldozers, dump trucks, and men with wheelbarrows filled the yard. And right at the center of it all stood Phineas. He was examining an old photo.
“Judging from this photo of McGregor’s Gorge, we’re right on track,” Phineas reported. He was feeling pretty satisfied with himself for having the idea to re-create Grandpa Reg’s motorcycle jump—right in their very own backyard!
Just then, Phineas’s friend Isabella Garcia walked up to him. She had a big crush on Phineas, but he never seemed to notice. “Hey, Phineas. Whatcha doin’?” she asked.
“Hey, Isabella,” Phineas replied. “We’re helping our grandpa fulfill his crushed dreams.”
“Where’s Ferb?” Isabella asked.
“He’s in the garage restoring a mackerel,” Phineas told her.
“Cool.” Isabella held up a fuzzy yellow stuffed animal. “Well, I brought over this cute little toy for Perry. Where is he?”
Phineas glanced around the backyard, looking for his pet platypus. “Huh. I don’t know,” Phineas said. Come to think of it, Perry hadn’t been around all morning. . . .
Little did Phineas or Ferb know that Perry had a secret life. When he wasn’t playing the part of family pet, he was acting as a secret agent, fending off attempts at domination of the tri-state area, launched by the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz.
Right now, Perry—Agent P when he was on duty—was underground in his headquarters, the high-tech Platypus Cave. Surrounded by computers and gadgets designed to defend against Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s every attack, Perry was sitting at his desk awaiting orders from his commanding officer.
Suddenly, Carl Karl, Major Monogram’s intern, popped up on the jumbo-screen monitor. “Oh. Ha,” he laughed nervously. He seemed uncomfortable being on the giant screen. “Hey, Agent P, Monogram’s thrown his back out . . .” he started to say.
Perry heard the familiar voice of his superior officer coming from the monitor as well. But he didn’t see him anywhere. “I’m on the floor, Agent P,” Major Monogram said.
“So I’ll be giving you your assignment, okay?” Carl continued. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a note card. He cleared his throat and then began to read:
“Dr. Doofenshmirtz has been purchasing some suspicious items—bags of sand, an extralong shoelace. . . . We know he’s up to no good. Get out there and see what he’s up to!”
Suspicious items surely meant the evil doctor was gearing up for something . . . evil. Perry quickly left the room. He was on the case!
Things aboveground were getting interesting as well. Phineas and Ferb were just about to unveil their big backyard surprise to Grandpa Reg. The boys guided him out the sliding glass door into the yard.
“What’s all the kerfuffle, lads?” Grandpa Reg asked, his hands covering his eyes so as not to spoil the surprise.
“You can open your eyes now!” Phineas told him excitedly.
He slowly opened his eyes. “Blimey!” their grandfather cried. Standing before him was an enormous trench dug right into the backyard and an exact replica of the jump he had never gotten the chance to complete!
Next to the gorge, Ferb was leaning proudly against the ultrashiny, supersleek, and fully restored Holy Mackerel. Grandpa Reg was stunned. “It’s McGregor’s Gorge and the Holy Mackerel!” he exclaimed. “Ferb, you’ve restored my pride and joy!”
Phineas and Grandpa Reg admired the shiny finish Ferb had applied to the fish-shaped bike. But then Grandpa Reg looked down at the ground sadly. “But I can’t operate a motorbike in my condition . . .” he began.
Phineas interrupted. “Not a problem. Ferb’s tricked out the entire bike—support, padded seating, ergonomic controls.” He walked around the motorcycle, pointing out all the features that would help Grandpa Reg make the jump. “And the best part . . .” Phineas paused for dramatic effect. “Sidecars!”
He and Ferb rolled out two gleaming silver sidecars, complete with their own fish tails! They snapped the cars into place on either side of the motorcycle.
“See,” Phineas continued, “as much as we want to help you fulfill your dream, we also really want to jump a gorge,” he admitted.
Grandpa Reg looked delighted. “Well, then you’ll come with me. The Flying Fishmongers shall jump again!” he proclaimed triumphantly.
Chapter 3
Over at the mall, Candace’s sweet shopping spree was turning a bit sour. Somehow her grandmother had steered her into Hail Britannia—just the kind of clothing store perfect
for British grandmothers but not for fashionistas like Candace. As Candace modeled yet another outfit, she adjusted her hat and fumed. “Uh, can we get out of here, like, now, before anyone I know happens to see—”
But then Candace heard a male voice call out from the front of the store. “Candace? I almost didn’t recognize you.”
No, Candace thought. It couldn’t be. It just could not be. She would absolutely die of humiliation on the spot if it was Jeremy Johnson, the boy she had a huge crush on. But she would recognize his voice anywhere, and it was definitely him!
“Jeremy! I-I, uh . . .” Candace stammered, trying to find a way to look fashionable in her stuffy-looking outfit. She could feel her face turning redder by the second.
But luckily for Candace, Jeremy couldn’t stay long. “I have to meet my mom at the food court, but I’ll see you later,” Jeremy said. He waved as he continued past the store entrance.
Candace could not believe what had just happened. It was so totally, utterly, completely mortifying. Why do things like this always happen to me? she wondered. Suddenly her cell phone rang. She quickly answered it.
“Oh, hey, Stacy . . .” Candace listened for a brief moment and then grinned mischievously. She knew her brothers were up to something! “Mom, Stacy just told me the boys built a huge gorge in the backyard!” she shouted.
Her mother rolled her eyes and smiled. Candace was always telling her outrageous things about Phineas and Ferb. “That hat might be a bit too tight,” she joked to her husband.
Phineas knew that if they were really going to re-create the scene of Grandpa Reg’s big jump they needed to gather a crowd. So he had asked his friend Baljeet to help spread the word about the Holy Mackerel and McGregor’s Gorge of Doom. Baljeet was in the center of town, wearing a mackerel costume to advertise the event.
“Come see the Flying Fishmongers jump McGregor’s Gorge! Tell your friends!” Baljeet shouted.
“Do you know how dumb you look?” Buford Van Stomm, the town bully, said, walking over to him.
“I thought this would be a good way to get more attention,” Baljeet responded.
Just then a pretty girl passed by and admired Baljeet’s costume. “I love your outfit. It’s so cute,” she cooed.
Buford did a double take. If a mackerel suit could get girls to notice him, he was in!
He quickly put on his own fish costume. “Gorge jump!” he shouted.
Candace, her parents, and Grandma Winnie had just left the mall and were heading to their car. As they walked by a TV repair shop, Candace couldn’t help but overhear a newscast on a large TV in the window.
“Come see the Flying Fishmongers jump the gorge, live!” the newscaster urged. Candace glanced at the picture on the TV screen and then pressed her face against the glass in shock. How could this be happening? The newscast was taking place in her very own backyard! “That’s our yard!” she shouted. “Mom! Mom, come here. I need you to see this!”
“Sponsored by Gorgeous Pore Cream Paste,” the newscaster continued. The screen flashed to a picture of skin cream just as Mrs. Flynn walked up behind her daughter.
“Oh, honey,” she said, looking at the commercial and shaking her head. “Your pores aren’t that big.”
Candace groaned. She had to get back to the house. Finally, Phineas is going to get busted, Candace thought. Sweet!
On the other side of town, Agent P was doing his best to stay incognito. It was of utmost importance for a spy of his caliber to keep his secret identity . . . a secret. In an alley behind Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s headquarters, the platypus emerged from a Dumpster. He scaled a stack of boxes and then dived behind a plant in the corner. Next he inched his way along a wall, heading for the back door.
Just as Perry was about to sneak inside, Dr. Doofenshmirtz flung the door open and stuck out his head. “Oh, just come in,” the doctor said, sounding annoyed.
Agent P shrugged and walked through the door into Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s sinister high-tech lab. But all of a sudden, Perry’s webbed feet were stuck to the floor and he couldn’t move!
“Yes, sticky flypaper, Perry the Platypus!” the doctor exclaimed, laughing evilly. Perry frowned as he realized he really was trapped. He was in quite the sticky situation!
Dr. Doofenshmirtz had Agent P just where he wanted him. He began to explain why he had developed his latest evil invention. “Quick story?” the doctor asked.
Without waiting for Perry’s answer, he continued, “Back in Drusselstein, in the days of my youth, there was a bully named Boris who always wore big, black boots. They called him ‘Big, Black Boots Boris the Bully.’” Dr. Doofenshmirtz shuddered at the memory and kept talking.
“He was always kicking sand in my face. When I was in the sandbox: sand. My first date: sand. Balancing my checkbook: sand! The beach . . .” Dr. Doofenshmirtz paused, and thought for a moment. “Oddly enough, nothing. But I couldn’t relax because I kept waiting for it.”
Dr. Doofenshmirtz went on. “Now he will be the one doing the waiting,” he said in an evil voice. The doctor held up a remote control. With his finger poised above a large red button, he bellowed, “Behold! The Now-Who’s-Blinded-by-Sand-inator!” Then he considered what he had just said. “Or maybe the Who’s-Crying-Now-inator!”
Dr. Doofenshmirtz pushed a button, and Perry watched as the walls of the room collapsed around them to reveal a giant boot. Rising out of the boot was a huge, rotating propeller-like device with a giant bucket dangling from its end.
“It’s a giant sand-kicking machine,” Dr. Doofenshmirtz explained. And he and Perry were already in the cockpit!
Agent P, still stuck on the flypaper, balled his fists. The evil doctor would not get away with this!
“You see, Perry the Platypus,” the doctor said as he revved the engine, “Boris has moved to the tri-state area, so I am going to cover his entire house in sand! Ah-ha-ha!”
Suddenly, the doctor’s latest invention roared to life and whisked Perry and Dr. Doofenshmirtz up into the sky! Perry was going have to come up with a way to get out of this latest mishap—and fast!
Chapter 4
In their backyard, Phineas, Ferb, and Grandpa Reg stood on top of an enormous launch ramp. A large crowd had gathered to watch the event. Advertising really pays off! Phineas thought. He reached for a microphone. “And now, what you’ve all come to see . . . The Flying Fishmongers!” Phineas announced. The crowd cheered wildly.
“And here to play the Fishmongers’ anthem are Isabella and the Fireside Girls!” The Fireside Girls were members of Isabella’s scout troop.
“Hit it!” Phineas shouted.
From a nearby gazebo, the girls began to play the slow, gloomy song that Grandpa Reg remembered so well from his earlier gorge-jumping attempts. But as they sang the lyrics, the sky above them darkened and there was a great clap of thunder. CRACK! Then it started to rain, drenching everyone in the crowd.
Grandpa Reg shook his head, disappointed. After all these years, the rain had ruined his plans yet again. “Well, my boy, looks like I’ll never get to fulfill my dream,” he told Ferb.
Phineas was very confused. There hadn’t been a cloud in the sky a moment ago! How could this be?
“Hey, guys,” he called to Isabella and the Fireside Girls. “You can stop playing.” The girls put down their instruments. Then, the rain stopped suddenly, the clouds broke, and the sun came out.
Phineas looked at the sky. “Wait a second . . .” he began. He had an idea! “Start again!” he told Isabella.
The band struck up the dull tune once more. And sure enough, the clouds moved in and it started to rain again.
“Stop!” Phineas commanded. “Start!” With each pause in the music, the sky cleared up. And with each new start, the rain rolled in. It was as if the Fishmonger anthem was controlling the weather!
“Grandpa, the song is so dreary it’s causing it to rain!” Phineas exclaimed. “What if we pep it up a bit?” he suggested.
“Pep away, my boy,” Gra
ndpa Reg said heartily.
“Hey, Isabella, crank it up a notch!” Phineas yelled.
“Okey dokey! Ready, girls?” Isabella said. Then she and the Fireside Girls began to play a funky, upbeat song that got the whole crowd moving. Phineas waited to see if his theory was correct. And sure enough, it was! The skies cleared up and the sun shone brightly. Now Grandpa’s gorge jump could continue as planned!
On top of the platform, Grandpa Reg sat on the Holy Mackerel, and Phineas and Ferb jumped into their sidecars. Their grandfather revved the motorcycle engine and stepped on the gas. They zoomed down the ramp and sailed out over the gorge, aiming right for the landing on the other side.
Phineas couldn’t believe it—they were going to make the jump! But then, they all realized that they weren’t going to clear the gorge after all! Before they knew it, Grandpa Reg, Phineas, and Ferb found themselves plummeting through the air, falling faster and faster toward the bottom of the gorge!
“Maybe we should have let it rain,” Grandpa Reg yelled as they dived down toward the ground.
“Don’t worry!” Phineas called out. “We’ve got a backup plan. Ferb?”
Ferb reached for a lever in his sidecar’s cockpit and yanked it backward. A pair of razor-thin wings shot out from both sides. The motorcycle righted its course and glided swiftly up and out of the gorge! But then, in the very next instant, one of the Mackerel’s wings clipped a branch and snapped in half.
“That can’t be good,” Phineas said.
The next thing they knew, Phineas, Ferb, and Grandpa Reg were careening across the sky again. They’d completely lost control of the Holy Mackerel! What were they going to do now?
Daredevil Days Page 3
