Big Ideas In Little Danville - Prologue
"Okay, fire it up Ferb!"
The switch came down like a hammer, and the great machine began to whir. The crowd of kids backed up to watch its splendor, but the scene quickly changed as mechanical arms began to go haywire, and electricity started zapping out all over it.
"Get back guys! It's gonna blow!" The kids ran, retreating behind the safety of the fence. All except for Ferb, who stood by the side of his step-brother, who gave him a grateful smile before his face turned worried.
"Come on Ferb, let's get out of here!" His silent partner nodded and joined him as they both ran for the fence. Behind them the machine whirred and started pouring out smoke, while suddenly clocks appeared all around them in the air. But that was perfectly normal, the weather had called for chance of Dali today. The brothers had nearly reached the fence when a piercing whistle literally tore the sky apart, and Phineas skidded to a stop to look up.
"A train?" The machine, unable to take anymore self-abuse finally exploded, although all it felt like was a hard impact to his forehead...
Phineas winced, sitting back in his seat and rubbing the top of his hair, muttering unintelligible words under his breath. He glanced up at his surroundings, taking in the rows of seats on the train and the people filling them, and the whirring countryside out his window. Sighing, shaking off the last remnants of his dream, he settled back in his seat... and glanced up to notice the person in the row ahead of him leaning over the back of theirs to give him a nasty look. He flashed them an apologetic smile before looking away, making a mental note to not fall asleep again this trip. The fall forward was too hard on his head.
The trip had been long already. It had left Lyntown Central Station well over four hours ago, and outside the sun was starting to set. Adjusting his position in his seat, Phineas smiled as a little bubble of excitement built up in him. Another few hours and he'd be back in Danville for the first time since leaving for college over two years ago. He was just fresh off graduating from sophmore status, and with his part-time job in the city had finally saved up enough for a trip to see the family for the summer.
The summer. The thought of it made him chuckle slightly, while recalling back the memories of the dream. Summers in Danville were always a lot of fun, especially for him and his friends. Hopefully this year would be no different, even if he was an adult (albeit a young one) now.
The growing darkness outside seemed to be having an effect on Phineas, and he could feel his eyelids start to grow heavy again. He glanced at the seat ahead of him before leaning back in his, sliding down and leaning over on one hand. At least now, hopefully, he could avoid putting another dent in the back of the chair before him with his forehead. Sighing slightly, smiling, he closed his eyes.
---
"Phineas!"
Phineas had just enough time to look up before he was enveloped in his mother's arms with enough force to make him stagger back half a step. It was all he could do to keep ahold of his bags, and a faint blush rose up in his face.
"H-Hi Mom. I'm happy to see you too but ah, I can't breathe."
"Oh, sorry sweetie." Linda stepped back but didn't let go of her son, keeping her hands on his shoulders. Her eyes flicked up and down with a mother's appraising eye, and she smiled. "I missed you, Phineas. Oh, looks like you've got a little smudge right here."
He leaned back a little from the dreaded Motherly Spit Shine, giving her a bemused smile. "Moooom."
"Well honey," Linda said, clapping him on the back and leading him further back off the platform, "you may be 20 now, but you're still my boy and I like you to be presentable." She giggled and smirked faintly when she caught an eyeroll he didn't quite turn away enough in time to hide.
"Phineas~!"
The cry made them both look up, and for the second time that day he found himself hugged with enough force to bring him back a little. This time however a full-on kiss accompanied it, which brought a definite blush up to his face. Linda smiled knowingly and took the bags from his hands.
"I'll just take these to the car."
The kiss broke after a few moments and Isabella stepped back, giving her boyfriend a smile as she brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. "I missed you."
"Yeah, I gathered." Phineas snickered, giving her a wide smile. "You came up for Easter, though! And May Day."
"I know, but I still missed you."
"I missed you too." A strange noise brought his attention downwards, and his smile got wider as he leaned down, scooping up a platypus by his feet. "Perry! Good to see you, boy! Did you miss me too, huh?"
Chitter.
Phineas snorted, smirking slightly. "I'll take that as a yes." Hugging his pet in one arm he reached out with the other, taking hold of his step-brother's shoulders and bringing him in. All this was done without looking at him; he just knew he'd be right there. His grin was as big as it could be as he gave him a squeeze. "Ferb! Great to see you too, man." Ferb replied to this by raising his hand and giving Phineas an affectionate hair ruffle, which made him squirm away and laugh. "Yeah, you're still taller than me. You don't have to rub it in."
As Perry was returned to the ground the small group started down the platform, heading for the station's exit. Phineas smiled and slung his arms around the both of them, a familiar twinkle in his eyes. "You know, I was thinking on the train. You guys remember those summers when we were a kid?" This needed no further clarification, obviously, as Isabella's face lit up right away.
"Of course! It'd be kind of hard to forget them." As if reading his expression, she gave him a curious look that was not quite as innocent as her tone. "Phineas? Whatcha thiiinkin'?"
"I think you know already." Phineas chuckled, glancing between them both. "I was thinking we could make this year the absolute best summer ever!"
"Those are familiar words~"
"Hear me out." Phineas smiled, letting them both go to dig a few napkins out of his pockets, on which were drawn several designs. "I had a whole bunch of ideas for things we could do!" He started flipping through them, looking more and more eager with each one. "I mean, maybe not on the same level as when we were kids, but just think of all the awesome things we could do now!" He paused on one, then flushed deeply and quickly stuffed it away, grinning sheepishly. "O-oops. That one was something else." Ignoring Ferb's amused eyeroll and Isabella's giggle, he continued shuffling through the napkin notes. "There's all kinds of places we could see, too! I don't know about you guys, but I want my first summer back to be one to remember. I wanna blow all those others out of the water!"
"Well, count me in," Isabella said brightly. "My summer's pretty free."
"Great! Ferb?"
Ferb nodded.
"Terrific!" Phineas grinned broadly as he threw his fists in the air, the sudden exuberance drawing a few glances from the people around them. "First thing tomorrow, this summer gets interesting.