Let her be Free

Part 1 : Breaking new views

Yo, this is Superdimentio77, going for a little fic over one of the best Disney cartoons out there. Phineas and Ferb still make me laugh even today, whether it's Phineas and Ferb's extravagant inventions, Candace's dead-on busting obsession, or simply watching the antics of Agent P and the 'evil' Dr. Doofenshmirtz. A good show, with good music, and a good ending.

Although, one day, I plunged myself into some Fanfics, and I read one in particular. It was "Unexpected Reactions", from Jaida857. It adressed a very good point : Whenever we saw Linda actually busting Phineas and Ferb, it always came out so... negative. I mean, it's understandable that she is shocked, but every time she reacts so out of character. Not counting the dream of course, but remember "Phineas and Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo", when she found out about the Rollercoaster ? What was up with that ?!

Plus, I often felt kinda bad for poor Candace. Sure she mainly acted as a 'party pooper', but she always got the short end of the stick, even when she wasn't trying to bust Phineas and Ferb. Heck, the one episode when it was all about that, the universe taunted her by leaving the invention into the garden all night, but even Candace herself knew that if she tried to show it to her Mom, it would vanish in the most absurd of ways, like clockwork ! Really, at this point, anyone would have given up, or plunged into insanity. And we pretty much know where Candace leans towards to...

So you know what ? This is the fanfic where Candace does win, but without any talking zebra or 'Doof-topia' at the end. This is the fanfic that finally lifts the curse off the Flynn-Fletcher daughter. Some have already done it, but this time, I'm behind the keyboard. So kick back, relax, and enjoy this reading.

Candace Flynn-Fletcher, sole sister of the renowned 'child geniuses' Phineas and Ferb, the Cou(p) de Crayon, the Squirrels in my Pants' girl, and Queen of Mars among other titles. Today was another normal day for young Candace. Well, as normal as it got in her life, which was not much.

Today, Phineas and Ferb had invented a machine capable of recreating historic battles through solid holograms, and were using it to give a free show (if Buford wasn't at the ticket stand) of a pure recreation of the Battle of Fort Danville during the American Civil War, with the impacts replaced by paint balls, and some slight historic modifications. What can you do, laser-eyed horses are cool !

And right now, Candace was in the phase she came to hate the most : the Wait. It was at this moment that Candace could still hear the noises of the invention of the day, thus she one-hundred percent KNEW that it was still in her backyard. Her mom was on the way, she was sure of it.

It should be an easy win, the machine was big enough, and there was an audience attending. That was what she would be thinking... if that was the first time. But it wasn't. Oh no, it certainly wasn't.

Once, her brothers had made a skyscraper that had gone all the way up to the moon. And yet, it was gone the second her mother had given a look at the backyard.

Once, an audience had accumulated itself to watch a self-made cartoon from the boys. Before doing the conga out of the garden, following the screen, who also had danced its way out of the backyard.

Once, the boys had made an elixir that made their sister a 50 foot tall giant. She had become the proof herself, and certainly not a small one ! But the moment she had attained her house, she had become normal again.

Those were three out of the dozens of failures she had collected during this summer. And that was only just that, this summer. The two 'prodiges' had been building functionning IA's and automatons since the age of six. It was when Candace was twelve that the Busting Instinct touched her. An instinct which was apparently doomed to never be satisfied.

Candace sighed, as she took this moment of solitude to reflect upon herself, upon her way of life. Was she really expecting anything to be different ? If that trip to the future she took was anything true, that meant that she would have to wait for a hollow victory to come in 25 years. Didn't that mean that she was busting her back trying to bust her brothers for absolutely nothing ? Why wasn't this working ? Why did the universe itself felt the need to protect her brothers ?

She had tried so hard each time, she was still giving her best every day, she didn't want to give up ! If her brothers could do whatever they wanted... why wasn't she allowed to win ? Throwing the towel wasn't an option anymore, but the towel was beginning to run dry. Candace could feel it deep inside her, if things kept going that way, she would stay chained to her resolution, without any feeling of satisfaction or thrill coming out of it. She would plunge into madness, if she wasn't already in it.

The poor girl shivered, feeling weak and misty-eyed. Yet still, she didn't give up hope, and through this small hope, she adressed a small prayer to... someone out there, anyone. 'Dear cosmic force that keeps protecting my brothers, we've been playing for quite some time now, and you've been leading the game quite well. As in, I... never got one point on the scoreboard. Ever.'

Candace could feel her in-mind voice crack, but she continued. 'Look, I just... I just want my Mom to not think I'm a major cuckoo clock, alright ? I want to show her I'm not just calling her to get some selfish attention, that I'm actually telling the truth. I-I-I don't even care if my brothers are punished anymore, I just want my Mom to believe me. Please, allow me that, just this once. Allow me to win, so I can finally put that busting business all behind me. Please...'

Candace sighed again, looking even more miserable. As if 'that guy' was going to listen to her. As if today would be any different.

…

And yet...

Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated~

On the balcony of a strangely shaped purple building, it was yet another day of evil fighting for O.W.C.A.'s top agent, Perry the Platypus, a.k.a. Agent P.

Call from Major Monogram, check.

Going to Doof's lair, check.

Trap activated, check.

Tedious monologue, check.

Now, it was time for the 'Get out of trap' phase, followed by the 'Find the ever-present Self-Destruct Button on this -inator' phase, and it would be another day packed for the semi-aquatic crime fighter. Same old, same old.

"Now, Perry the Platypus", announced Dr. Doofenshmirtz with his usual pizzaz, "watch as I activate my Change-of-Fate-inator, so I can finally shatter my own bumbling demanour and bad luck, which means my daughter will not be embarrassed by me at tonight's bowling- you know, it's weird. I don't know why I'm telling you all that, I already made one huge monologue about it, what the heck ? I mean, it's like I'm repeating all of this for somebody who just got here, how does that make any sense ?"

Perry stopped struggling against his 'Mummypus' bindings for a moment to shrug to his neme-pal, before resuming his struggle.

"You know what, I never passed Philosophy back in High School, so I don't see why I should care. Instead, let's see how well my little machine operates !" said the doctor, before being kicked in the chin by Perry, finally free from his white bandage prison. "Outch ! You know, I'll have to go to a dentist at some point, and you can bet this bill will be on you !"

Perry rolled his eyes, and went straight for the self-destruct button. As usual, it was easy to notice, with big bold letters around it. Agent P thus pressed the red button, as Doctor D's face contorted in horror.

"Nooooo !" hollered the evil scientist... before grinning. "And by that I mean, Yeeeees !"

Perry was quite taken aback by his nemesis' reaction, and even more when he realized the machine wasn't blowing up as it should be, instead taking its firing position with the cannon pointing at the sky.

"Ha ! I may not have passed Philosophy in High School, but I did pick out one or two things from the Psychology classes, like the dangers of routine itself ! I knew you'd go straight for the self-destruct button, so I inverted it with the actual Firing Button ! Uh huh, that's right, that lab coat ain't just for show or one running joke !" boasted Heinz Doofenshmirtz, delighted of his nemesis' shocked expression. "Now admire, as time and space collide, so my final fate can be changed, and my stinkin' bad luck go away forever !"

If Perry's O.W.C.A. Academy classes and tales from his owners told him one thing about playing with time and space, it's that it often amounted to a lot of trouble if the controls were in the wrong hands. And while Doof's hands weren't the worst, they were clumsy and rushy enough for a good disaster.

Quickly, the monotreme searched for the fire button, but found out that the control panel was full of blinking buttons, with absolutely no indication over what did what. Heck, what if all those buttons were relied to the Firing function as well ?

Agent P was hesitating, and it was this hesitation that allowed the machine to oblige its purpose, firing a huge bright white ray in the sky. "Oooh, light show !" was Doofenshmirtz's only reaction. The blast of light shot all the way up to the sky and beyond. Then...

*SHATTER*

An omnious sound of breaking glass resonated all around town, making everyone look up. Something had been broken, something huge...

Phineas stopped his approach on General Buford, and looked up to the sky. The audience and the kids reenacting the battle did just the same, confused by this strange sound.

"Wow. Whatever just broke, I hope it wasn't too valuable." said Phineas.

"How loud is the shatter is no indication, it's the message you hear in it." recited Ferb wisely.

"I didn't get a word of what you just said, but I somewhat feel more aware of the universe. How the heck do you do that ?" asked Buford, scratching his head with his cutlass.

Candace winced at the sound, and looked at the sky with an eyebrow raised.

Why did she feel... less heavy all of a sudden ?

Linda hit the brakes of her car as she heard the noise. She looked at her husband with a confused expression. "What was that ?"

"No idea dear, but I can only hope that wasn't expensive or historically important. Though by the sound, I'd say it wasn't older than, say... ten years." awnsered Lawrence, scratching his chin.

Linda rolled her eyes with a smile. "One day honey, you've got to teach me how you guess those things."

In a low-flying helicopter, the pilots jerked back at the omnious shattering sound. "Bob, did you hear that ? Whoever's flower pot that just was, they are not getting their money back, that's for sure."

"You got that right Phil. Say, I don't know why I ask this, but is the winch secured ?" asked Bob to his copilot.

Phil looked by the window, and was astonished to see the winch beginning to fall down. "Hey, no it isn't ! Good thing we noticed that now !" said the man, as he pressed a button to retract the hook back to the vehicle. "Phew, that was close. Can you imagine if we had caught something with that ? That would have been very problematic for someone."

"Yeah, their stuff just disappearing like that, flying away, never to be seen again. I know I'd go mad if that happened to me." laughed Bob with a wave of his hand.

"Like the last chocolate donut, up a fresh morning ?" said Phil in an accusatory tone, prompting Bob to rub his eyes in annoyance.

"Oh come on, not that tale again..."

Back at Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, the sound had finally ceased. Perry removed his hands from his ear holes, feeling a bit anxious. Doofenshmirtz's machine had done something, but what ? The man however, was ecstasic.

"Well, looks like my fate went out with a bang, litteraly ! Or soundly, whatever's best." shrugged the scientist. "But back to what really matters, I am cured from my legendary akwardness ! Gone is 'Heinz Doofus-shmirtz', here is 'Heinz... um, Doof-in-charge-shmirtz'. I'll work on it later. Right now, I must apply the ultimate test !"

Hastily, Doofenshmirtz rushed inside the building, leaving Perry alone for a moment. The agent looked around him and around the city, expecting some sort of anomaly to pop up, but nothing came. Perry felt confused. Could his nemesis have succeeded ?

He was about to be awnsered, as Heinz came back with the item that would decide if this was his ultimate triumph : A Soccer ball.

"Alright, so you know about how I stink at kicking things. Family reunion, mechanic leg, Love Händel, all that jazz. Well, if my Inator pulled it off, and my bumbliness is truly gone, then it means I can finally give that thing the kick it deserves !" explained Doofenshmirtz, putting the ball on the ground.

Perry watched with mixed feelings at the scientist taking a few steps back. If the man actually pulled that off, this would mean his future battles would become a lot harder. Then again, it could mean that Heinz would succeed in more things, reducing his frustration, and perhaps his evil as well.

Dr. Doofenshmirtz felt like he had backed enough, and ran straight for the ball, ready to finally have its foot come in contact with the inflated plastic sphere. He came closer, closer, closer...

He kicked !

...And not only did he miss the ball, but Heinz's foot managed to go all the way up to his face, giving himself a kick in the schnoz and falling to the ground.

Perry winced at the impact, and went to the fallen doctor to see if he was okay. Fortunately, it looked like nothing was broken, but Doofenshmirtz's face was contorted into a frown.

"I missed ! I can't believe it, I'm still just as bumbly as ever ! Those materials were a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I wasted them on a machine that fails, hard and loud !" complained Doofenshmirtz. He got up, and saw Perry giving him a 'So, what now ?' look. "*Sigh*, don't bother Perry the Platypus. That thing only fires once, then it's busted forever. Let me just do it for ya, and we'll call it a day."

Doofenshmirtz walked to his invention, slightly grumbling, and pushed one of the buttons on the panel. Immediately, the machine blew up, and the doctor quickly brushed away the soot. "Curse you, Perry the Platypus. Same time tomorrow, have a nice evening." said the scientist in a pouting tone.

The agent tipped his hat, returning the polite salute, and jumped off the balcony on his hang-glider, with the Agent P~ music accompanying his exit. Doofenshirmitz sighed as he saw him glide away. Another day in the job.

His trail of thought was interrupted when his Ray of Sunshine came in from the front door. "Dad, are you getting ready ? You know it's father-daughter bowling night." said Vanessa, carrying her bowling ball bag. She quickly noticed the sour expression on her father's face. "What's wrong ? Perry thwarted you once again ?"

Doofenshmirtz sighed. "Yeah, but this time I really felt like it had worked. There was this huge blast of light, that shattering sound, and everything ! But it didn't do what it was supposed to do at all, and I kicked myself in the nose as a result."

Vanessa cocked her head in interest. "What was it supposed to do ?"

"It was supposed to get rid of my bad luck and clumsiness, so I could be better at conquering the Tri-State area, and... not embarrassing you tonight, like I constantly do. But looks like I'll make everything akward once again." said Doofenshmirtz sadly, looking at the ground.

Vanessa's features softened at her father's sad tone. Her father was an embarrassing goof, but it wasn't like he could completely help it. His prior education had not been the best, and she knew he was trying so hard to connect with her the way his parents never did.

"Come on Dad, you know that's not true. You can be cool. I know you can be, because I know you are cool. And besides, it's Bowling night. I think you can impress them with some of your amazing hand dexterity and some well-placed strikes. I know how much you like winning. You'll have fun, I guarantee it." said Vanessa with a cheeky grin.

"You're only saying that to make me feel better." mumbled Heinz with a pout. It then turned to a smile. "And it's working~."

Vanessa smiled as she watched her father giddly going to grab his stuff. He might not be Mayor or capable settling a grudge without the inclusion of evil science, but he was her father. And he wasn't so bad doing just that.

Five minutes later, the father-daughter duo was ready to go, when the Doctor stopped in his tracks, his eyes turned to the reddening sky. "You know, it's strange when I think about it."

"What is ?" asked Vanessa, also stopping.

"Well, I operated my Change-of-Fate-inator to destroy the biggest cursing fate it could find, and since the materials were a bit different, I regulated it to the size of Danville. I mean, who else in Danville would have it worse than me in cursed destiny, right ?"

"Uh, right ? But what are you saying exactly ?" questionned Vanessa, not quite following her father.

"Well the thing is, my machine did hit something. That noise was the sound of something huge breaking, but the important question is, if that wasn't my cursed fate being blown up... then what did ?"

Vanessa thought about Heinz's words for a moment. What did make this fracas ? She couldn't find of anybody being deeper into a cursed stream of failures than her own father. Except maybe...

But before she could finish that thought, her father spoke up again. "Eh, you know what I always say. If there is a problem in Danville and you don't know how it came to be, blame Roger. If you know it was your fault, blame him twice as hard. Now, let's roll on some losers !" cheered Heinz, hurrying to the door.

Vanessa followed, trying to forget this omnious question she just asked herself. Bowling Victory awaited, and she knew her father would relish in her pride for him as much as he could, so better not to make him wait.

Candace propped her head up as she heard the oh-so familiar sound of her mother's car pulling up before their house. The teenager could only wonder if the invention was still there, or if the universe had already make its move to make her look like a fool yet again.

Nevertheless, Candace went for it. "Mom, you gotta see what Phineas and Ferb did in the backyard."

Linda mused at her daughter's words, having heard them so many times these last two months. "Honey, I'd love to 'see' what the boys have done, but I gotta get the groceries inside first."

"Oh no, it's quite alright dear, I'll take care of it. You two run along." said Lawrence.

"Aw, thanks honey." thanked the mother, before turning to Candace. "Alright, lead the way sweetie."

This time, Candace didn't feel the bother to pull her mother all the way through the living room. She didn't even look through the window to see if the invention's shape could still be discerned. Today, she didn't even feel the need to care. 'What's the point ? Let's just get it over with, so we can eat some pie or whatever.' thought Candace depressively.

Candace opened thesliding window-door (?), turned to her mother, closed her eyes, and with a sigh, pointed a lazy hand at where her brothers' thingamajig of the day would be.

"Ta-da." Candace mumbled. She waited for her mother to ask what she was supposed to see, or for her to say her usual 'Hi boys'. Then Candace would open her eyes, and see nothing but the green grass and tree of her usual backyard.

As usual.

…

One thing she certainly didn't expect was a bout silence, followed by her mom stuttering. "Candace ? What. The heck. Is that ?"

At this very instant, Candace's eyes shot open, her breath was cut sharp, and her heart skipped a beat. She could clearly see her mother's shocked expression.

It... It couldn't be. No, it had to be something else, the universe was going to erase everything in an instant, a sick joke was going to fall on her every second. For a moment, Candace refused to look on the right, afraid of the crushing disappointement she was going to endure once again. But... maybe, just maybe...

Slowly, she turned her head to her backyard. And her heart skipped a beat yet again.

It was there.

The machine, the audience, the huge Fort of Danville Battle reconstruction, her brothers and their friends in their old-timey uniforms, everything was still there, and her mother was seeing it.

A thundering crashing sound resonated in her head, releasing a sensation, a thought she today believed she'd never get over this single matter that had occupied the last three years of her life.

She had done it. Her brothers were busted.

The teenage girl felt her entire being going numb, trying to process the fact of her victory. Her mouth only let out incomprehensive short words, not being able to focus on anything.

Next to the mother and daughter were Candace's best friends, Stacy and Jenny, both appreciating the resolution of the show with a smoothie in hand. They were lying against the house's wall, when they noticed the newcommers.

"Oh, hi Candace, hi Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher." said Stacy casually, then taking a sip of her smoothie while turning back to the representation. Only a couple of seconds later did she do a double-take, making her eyes widen and her in-mouth drink spray all over the backyard grass. "*cough cough* Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher ?! But you are... and the thing, it's still..."

"Woah. When I was announced that I would witness an event like none other this week, I thought making yellow sweaters an actual trend would be it. This one's much better though." whistled Jenny, just as impressed by the unlikely event. She then noticed Candace's predicament, and her face contorted into concern. "Candace, you don't look too fresh."

Candace groaned something untranslatable, and her knees wobbled like jelly. The two friends immediately reacted and catched her just before she lost control of her legs. "Wow, careful girl ! Spit-out cherry smoothie doesn't bode well with the scalp, I can tell you that."

"Jacy... Stenny..." moaned Candace, her eyes still struggling to focus onto something.

The two girls looked at eachother, then back at their long-necked friend. "Yes, what is it ? We're totally listening." assured Jenny.

Candace then seemed to stare a thousand miles away, her lips trembling, as she expressed two words that unleashed a torrent of emotions in such a weak voice. "I won..."

Stacy and Jenny looked at eachother again. Having known Candace for quite some time, they knew how much busting her brothers mattered to her, and the toll that obsession had made on her through the years. They also had witnessed firsthand Phineas and Ferb's inventions disappearing in the whackiest ways possible, yet not once had they ever seen Candace's mom witnessing the two brothers' wonderous feats.

They could only imagine the state of shock Candace was in over her recent victory. As such, the duo felt a lot of sympathy for their friend right now, and even a bit of pride. After trying so hard for so long, she had finally managed to carry out her mission, where litteraly anybody else would have cracked. As such, they smiled warmly to Candace.

"Yeah... I guess you did. Congrats Candace, your busting days finally paid off." said Stacy, while Jenny gave Candace a good friendly pat on the back. The numb girl only gave out a sound that was halfway between a sigh and a laugh, the end of her lips akwardly twitching upwards.

Meanwhile, Linda continued to stare over the battlefield in her backyard, lost for words, looking at her sons and their friends dressed as Union and Confederate soldiers, with Buford apparently signing a withdrawal of his troops to Phineas, all of this under the stares of an audience acumulated on wooden terraces.

Ferb, overlooking the treaty being signed, noticed something felt... amiss. He then turned around, and his eyes slightly widened, which meant quite a lot for the young british boy. He tapped on his brother's shoulder, trying to alert him of the unusual event happening.

"Yeah, what's up Ferb ?" said Phineas. Ferb pointed in the direction he was looking, and Phineas' vision followed. The red-haired genius immediately caught up what made his brother seem so tense. Well, Ferb-wise anyways.

"Hey Dinner Bell, the least ya can do when I surrender is not ignore it. If I had to go the coward way out, I want it to be a noticed coward way out !" grumbled Buford, irritated to see Phineas not paying attention anymore. But when Buford looked at what he was looking at, his hold on the feathered pen was no more, ink spilling all over the document. "Welp, as Erastus B. Tyler may have said once : 'Didn't see that one coming.'"

All the other kids stopped what they were doing, and saw what the big deal was. The children that were the most used to Phineas and Ferb's activities (Isabella, Baljeet, Irving, Django, and the Fireside Girls) immediately showed worry upon seeing the red-haired adult gaping at them.

"That certainly cannot be good..." said Baljeet, fidgeting with his Confederate hat.

"I got a bad feeling about this too." concurred Isabella, already imagining Bad End scenarios in her head. There was also a scenario of Phineas transforming into a muscular centaur and galloping away with her on his back, but that one always showed up when the boy was near her.

Phineas didn't know why he was feeling nervous right now, but chose to welcome her mother nontheless. "Uh, hi Mom. Did you find your lychee-flavoured ice cream at the store ?"

Linda finally broke free from her stuppor, but still seemed very frazzled. "Phineas Flynn, Ferbs Fletcher ! What is this... this... litteral battlefield ?! How is it here ?! Why are there so many people in our backyard ?! Where even is our backyard ?!"

Phineas winced at his mother's upset tone. "Well, we were only reproducing the Grand Battle of Fort Danville. But you don't have to worry, none of this is real. Ferb, could you...?"

Ferb obeyed immediately, sorting a blank remote and pressing a button. Instantly, the hills and fort phased out of existence, revealing the rest of the backyard, and what resembled a huge buffed-up cinema projector, covered with wires of all colors just now stopping to pulsate with energy. This event only made Linda recoil even more, as her two sons approached her.

"Wha- You- How did you do that ?!" asked Linda.

"Well, with this machine, we created an entire three-dimensional field, all the while stretching the extent of space just so it would stay in our backyard, and not overflow on the neighbours'. And with the special jackets we have under our uniforms, we use sensors to reproduce benign shocks instead of real injuries caused by the swords. Also, the firearms are filled with paint." explained Phineas.

"Where did you get that machine ?! Who sold you something like that ?!" uttered Linda, getting slowly more frustrated as the conversation went on.

"No one, we built it."

Linda's jaw dropped a little more. "Built it ?! How did you build something like that ?! How were you even able to ?!"

"We got spares this morning, went to work, and it was done by lunchtime. Compared to what else we built this summer, that project was pretty tame." said Phineas.

"What do you mean 'Compared to-'" But Linda Flynn-Fletcher didn't finish her sentence, her words getting stuck inside her throat. Realization struck her with the force of Heinz Doofenshmirtz's electricity bill. New thoughts popped up inside her mind, majorly made of phone calls, blurred fantasies...

… and a desperate voice trying to reach out for her.

Trying to reorganize her mind before jumping to any rushed conclusion, Linda decided to pry awnsers. With a shaky breath, she kneeled to the level of her red-haired son, and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Phineas, I want you to listen and awnser with every bit of honesty I know is in you." said Linda, looking at Phineas right in the eye. When Phineas nodded, she continued. "Phineas, was what Candace said about the things you made each day true ?"

"Well, that depends which one you are talking about." awnsered Phineas truthfully.

"Did you build a Roller-coaster around the city ?"

"That's right, our first project of the Summer."

"Beach in the backyard ?"

"Yep."

"A racing speedcar ?"

"Uh-huh."

"Recreating winter in summer ?"

"We did that, yes."

"Time machine ?"

"We just fixed it, but yeah."

"A portal to Mars ?"

"It was a science project for Baljeet."

"A flying space rocket ?"

"We didn't make just one, and we also boarded in other spaceships."

"A gigantic carwash station ?"

"It was mostly for charity. And the smell of fresh wax."

"A shrinking device ?"

"It was to make hide and seek inside the house more interesting."

"An anti-gravity machine ?"

"One of my personnal favourites."

"An X-7 Football Stadium ?"

"We got to relieve Ferb of his Football curse too."

"Brand new language ?"

"Bsolutely-erb."

"Giant ant farm ?"

"They grew up so fast, in ways we can't even understand."

"Phineas, is there anything that Candace told me about you boys inventing that wasn't true ?!"

The boy paused and scratched his chin, thinking it hard for a couple of seconds. "No, I guess she was pretty much always right. But why do you ask though ?"

Linda was now holding her head in her hands as she tried to proceed what she just heard. Nontheless, she awnsered her son's question. "Because I simply can't wrap my head around the fact you did all of this, and I never knew a thing about it !"

Now Phineas felt really confused. "But... we told you what we were doing. Each day, we told you, we acknowledged it, and you seemed to take it pretty well."

"I didn't think you two were doing it for real !" bellowed Linda while throwing her hands up in the air.

"What's all the big fuss down here ?" quipped Lawrence, poking his head by the window-door frame.

"The big fuss, Lawrence, is that our sons have apparently made disproportionate projects all summer long !" said Linda to her husband.

"Oh, you mean like the Monster Truck we used to help Candace see how to parallel park. Quite a remarkable day that was, oh yes." said Lawrence, going down the memory lane.

Linda didn't think she could be even more flabbergasted, yet here she was. "Y-Y-You knew about this ?! About them doing all this ?!"

"Well, I only saw a few of them, but each time I counted you their exploits, you simply rolled your eyes and smiled, saying something about me being as imaginative as our children." admitted Lawrence.

The puzzle pieces were fitting themselves way too fast inside Linda's mind, and the revelations simply kept clashing. The frustration and stress were know leaving place to a queasy and sick feeling, as the disoriented mother began to stagger. "Oooh, my head. I don't feel so good."

Immediately, her husband reached to her, and caught her by the shoulders. "I got you. Do you want some relaxing tea ?"

"Make a plentiful batch, and go strong on the honey. We need to talk about all of this." said Linda, waving her hand over her dazed daughter, her nervous sons, all the people in her backyard, and finally the metal contraption that had begun this whole mess. She then got to drop orders. "Phineas, get everyone out of here, except Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford."

Phineas nodded shyly at her stern mother, and turned to the crowd. "Alright everyone, thanks for coming along, but show's over ! Don't forget the cleaning policy, we'll return any trash left behind !"

The crowd silently made its exit, as did the kids. Irving, Django and the Fireside Girls all gave out anxious and worried looks at their friends, before finally closing the backyard door behind them. Ferb then pressed a button that made the wooden terraces retract inside the ground. Linda gave a little sigh of relief.

"Good, we'll see what we'll do about that thing later." said Linda, pointing at the extinguished machine. "Right now, I need you kids to wait for me in the living room." The kids obeyed so, and trudged inside the house. Linda then turned to the teens. "Jenny, Stacy, could you please bring Candace inside and help her regain focus ? Thank you girls."

The adolescent duo nodded, and gently carried Candace inside. When it was only her and Lawrence in the garden, Linda gave out a long tired sigh.

The next hour or so would be long and tiring...

Author's note : And that's Part 1. Part 2 is on the way, don't you worry. But tell me what you think of Candace finally winning. More emotions and reactions coming in the next part, I promise.

This is Superdimentio77, squirrel-in-pants-free since 2010. See ya~.