Daredevil Days

by Molly McGuire

  Chapter 5

  Candace was staring anxiously out of the backseat window of the family car as they drove home from their shopping trip. It seemed that the ride was taking forever, and all Candace wanted was to get home and finally get Phineas in trouble!

  All of a sudden, she noticed a strange object flying through the air. Could that be . . . ? Candace shook her head in disbelief. There was no way Grandpa Reg, Phineas, and Ferb could have gotten their hands on a flying motorcycle! Or could they have? “Dad, can we speed this pony ride up a little?” she asked anxiously.

  “Honey, I’ll have you ladies home in two shakes of a lamb’s tail,” her father replied. Then he suddenly slammed on the brakes and patiently waited for a turtle to cross the street. Candace sighed. At this rate, they were never going to get there!

  Back inside the Holy Mackerel, Phineas and Ferb were struggling to regain control of their runaway motorcycle. They spun out of the sky and landed with a thud on top of a train that was barreling along a bridge over a river. Just before the train entered a tunnel, the Holy Mackerel slid off—and was headed for the water below!

  Thinking quickly, Ferb broke off the remaining wing and threw it under the vehicle like a surfboard. The Holy Mackerel surfed right onto the riverbank . . . and kept going! It slid across the grass, into a neighbor’s yard, and onto an inflatable castle.

  Suddenly, the castle catapulted the Holy Mackerel back up into the sky, and then the motorcycle landed right smack where it had started—at the top of the jump launch in Phineas and Ferb’s backyard!

  With all the extra momentum, the Holy Mackerel began to coast down the ramp, picking up even more speed. The motorcycle launched itself out over the gorge and sailed through the air. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. The faces in the crowd were staring up at the motorcycle in shock.

  Then, with a thud, the Holy Mackerel made a miraculous landing on the other side of the gorge! The crowd erupted in cheers.

  What a ride! Phineas thought, both relieved and exhilarated. McGregor’s Gorge had proved no match for the new Holy Mackerel!

  “Good show, my boys! Good show!” Grandpa Reg cheered and congratulated Phineas and Ferb. They had helped him achieve his lifelong dream!

  Meanwhile, Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s sand-kicking contraption was flying across the sky toward Boris the Bully’s house, with Perry still aboard.

  “Ha-ha, the home of my former nemesis!” The evil doctor cackled. “Time to kick a little sand, eh, Perry the Platypus?”

  Perry fixed his eyes on his nemesis and leaped out of his shoes, leaving them still stuck to the flypaper. Perry had been secretly wearing shoes the whole time—ones that looked exactly like his very own feet! He stood in his white-and-blue-striped tube socks, glaring at Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

  “Tube socks?” The villain looked shocked, but then got back to business. “Well, it’s too late now. . . .” The doctor pushed the button on his remote control. Under them, the giant boot wound up, preparing to kick a huge bucketful of sand right over Boris’s house.

  Finally! Dr. Doofensmirtz thought gleefully. After all of these years, I will get my revenge against terrible Boris the Bully!

  But Perry had an idea. He was not going to let the evil doctor get away with this. Just as the boot was aiming for the bucket, the platypus raced across the cockpit and leaped onto Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s back.

  “What are you doing?” the evil doctor cried. This had not been part of his plan!

  Chapter 6

  Back at Phineas and Ferb’s house, the boys and Grandpa Reg were relaxing after accomplishing their awesome feat.

  “Thank you, lads, for helpin’ this old codger fulfill his dreams,” Grandpa Reg said happily.

  Just then, Candace came storming across the yard.

  “You guys are sooo busted,” she announced, taking in the scene of the giant gorge behind them. “Look at this. It’s even better than I thought. There’s no way you’re going to get out of this one!” She ran gleefully back toward the house. “Oh, Mom! Moooooom!”

  But what Candace didn’t know was that Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s invention was hovering dangerously close to Phineas and Ferb’s backyard. The doctor was struggling to maintain control of his contraption as he wrestled with Perry, who was still attached to his back. “Cut it out, Perry the Platypus!” he yelled.

  Suddenly, the doctor lost his grip on his remote control, and it tumbled to the ground below. “Ha! No stopping it now!” Dr. Doofenshmirtz proclaimed, watching the controller get smaller and smaller as it fell.

  And he was right. His boot-and-sand bucket contraption was already in motion. The big mechanical boot kicked the metal bucket, sending tons of sand into the air. It looked like Boris the Bully was in for a sandstorm.

  But just then, an unexpected gust of wind swirled through the air. It picked up the falling sand and sent it flying right back in Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s direction! Perry ducked as the sand blasted toward them and covered the evil doctor from head to toe.

  All of a sudden, the metal bucket swung backward and knocked right into the giant boot. The boot broke off and plummeted toward the ground below—heading right for Phineas and Ferb’s backyard! And it was aimed directly for a row of dump trucks full of dirt that Phineas and Ferb had dug out to form McGregor’s Gorge!

  The boot slammed down onto the trucks, causing them to tip over and send the dirt flying into the air—and right back into the gorge it had come out of. It hardly looked like a hole had been dug at all anymore!

  Perry calmly watched the chaos below. Then he quietly unfolded a hang glider, jumped into the air, and flew away from the sand-kicking machine. A moment later, Dr. Doofenshmirtz spiraled away in his destroyed contraption. “Curse you, Perry the Platypus!” he shouted.

  At the Fletcher-Flynn house, Grandpa Reg still couldn’t get over all that had happened. “I must say, I love the new anthem,” he remarked. Phineas also thought the peppy new tune was a huge improvement over the dreary original.

  At that moment, Perry the Platypus waddled into the yard. “Hey, Perry,” Phineas said.

  “But I do miss the old one,” Grandpa Reg continued, thinking about the familiar song that brought back such memories. “Couldn’t I hear it one last time?”

  “You got it, Grandpa! One last time, girls!” Phineas exclaimed.

  Isabella and the Fireside Girls cranked out the old song one more time. And sure enough, in rolled the clouds. Then it started to rain, causing new grass to sprout in the dirt that had refilled the gorge. Phineas and Ferb looked on in amazement. That is pretty cool! Phineas thought.

  “These two have really done it this time, Mom,” Candace was telling her mother as the song ended. “Look what they did to the backyard.” She dragged her mom to the spot where the gorge had been.

  “Wow!” her mom exclaimed. “You guys made the lawn look great! Oh, it’s all weeded and watered. Well done!”

  Candace’s mouth dropped open in shock. There had been a giant hole there a moment ago! It looked as if Phineas was going to get away with another one of his schemes. How did he do it?

  “So what else did you do today?” Mrs. Flynn asked, leading the boys and Grandpa Reg inside.

  “Well, these two roister-doisters wheeled out me old iron, built a crackin’ match for McGregor’s Gorge, and helped this daft ole git have one last knees-up,” Grandpa Reg told her happily.

  Phineas gave Ferb a baffled look. What was their grandfather talking about? “I have absolutely no idea,” Ferb replied, knowing exactly what Phineas was thinking.

  Phineas smiled. It had been a spectacular day. Grandpa Reg had finally accomplished his lifelong dream, and he and Ferb had managed to jump a gorge—in sidecars, no less! Just as Phineas had suspected, recreating one of Grandpa Reg’s outrageous stories was way better than simply listening to one. Hmm, I wonder what we can re-create next! Phineas thought.

  Don’t miss the fun in the next

  Phineas & Ferb book . . .

  Fr
eeze Frame

  Adapted by Ellie O’Ryan

  Based on the series created by Dan Povenmire & Jeff “Swampy” Marsh

  Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher grinned at each other across the dining room table as they ate dinner with their family. It had been a perfect summer day: warm sun, gentle breezes, and an exciting trip to the moon. The brothers were pretty pleased with themselves.

  But across the table, their older sister, Candace Flynn, was not pleased at all. She put down her fork and pouted. “But Mom, it’s true!” she complained. “The boys built an elevator to the moon in the backyard today!”

  Mrs. Flynn shook her head. “Last time I checked, the yard was noticeably ‘moon elevator’ free,” their mom said patiently.

  “But—” Candace sputtered.

  Phineas felt bad. He and Ferb thought Candace was a great big sister, and they didn’t mean to drive her crazy. They didn’t even mind that Candace spent most of her time trying to get them in trouble. So Phineas decided to speak up in her defense.

  “It’s true,” he said, nodding his head. “We were up there. Ferb did the whole ‘one giant step’ thing. Check out this moon stuff we brought back.” He held out a handful of moon rocks, while Ferb waved an American flag—the one that Neil Armstrong had planted forty years earlier!

  Candace crossed her arms and smirked.

  But their mom just smiled at Phineas and Ferb.

  “Oh, you boys are so adorable,” their dad said proudly.

  “Ugh! You don’t believe it!” Candace exclaimed. “I’m so over this!”

  “Oh, Candace,” her mom said with a sigh. “Revel in your brothers’ imaginations. It makes life so much more fun!” She stood up and started to clear the table.

  Phineas stretched and yawned. “Pushing the boundaries of time and space sure makes a guy tired,” he said.

  “See?” Mrs. Flynn asked. “How fun is that?”

  But Candace just shook her head. She didn’t think there was anything fun about living with Phineas and Ferb. In fact, ever since her mom had married Ferb’s dad and Ferb had officially become her stepbrother, Candace had been constantly annoyed by the pair. They did one crazy thing after another—and they never got in trouble for any of it!

  But Phineas and Ferb had been thrilled when Phineas’ mom married Ferb’s dad. They felt more like real brothers than stepbrothers—and, even better, they were best friends, too!

  Rubbing their eyes and yawning, Phineas and Ferb got up from the table and walked over to the staircase. After their exciting adventures that day, they were ready for bed.

  “’Night, boys,” Mr. Fletcher said in his very proper English accent.

  “’Night, mopey,” Mrs. Flynn teased Candace.

  Candace slumped off toward the stairs without even responding to her mom. No matter what shenanigans Phineas and Ferb tried, no one ever believed Candace. Her parents always thought she was the crazy one!

  “‘See? How fun is that?’” she said grumpily, repeating her mom. “If only they’d believe me!” Candace sighed. She knew that without proof—without cold, hard, undeniable proof— Phineas and Ferb would continue to get away with their usual stunts.