Phineas rubbed his head in frustration. He had a crucial decision to make and it was up to him make the right choice. One wrong move could ruin the entire thing. All the choices had to be weighed out cause if not; the entire party could be wiped out. Time seemed to slow down the more Phineas thought, and he wasn't making a decision that was going to make things worse.
"For all that is good and decent Phin, make your move!" Ferb yelled from across the table.
Phineas looked up at his brother. "I'm trying, but this is important."
"We know that, Dinna' bell, but it's not like this is going to kill you." Buford added
"Well technically it can-" Baljeet said before Buford slugged him in the arm.
"Why did you two have to make things so difficult?" Phineas asked his adversaries.
"We didn't, you and your team merely failed to stop us." Bryan defended himself.
"Did Phineas make a move yet?" Bryan's ally and best friend, Dallas, asked as he returned from the kitchen with a bowl of Cheetoes, and a Monster energy drink.
"No, we did a good job of moving him into a corner."
"Well that was the point." Dallas commented as he sat down.
Phineas looked the board over one more time, and then with as much confidence as he could muster, Phineas placed the last of his pieces. "I'm going to attack Greenland from Iceland."
Bryan smiled and grabbed his set of dice from the table. A few rolls of the dice later, Phineas' ranks had been decimated, and immediately after that, Dallas' armies swopped in and cleared the board of any opposition that was left.
Ferb, Baljeet, Buford and Phineas groaned in frustration.
"This is the third time!" Baljeet spouted out.
"Are you two cheating?" Buford eyed the friends.
"Nope, just really good at 'Risk'." Dallas answered.
"Are you guys done in here?" Isabella asked, sticking her head in the room.
"Yes, we just finished." Phineas answered. Isabella walked across the room and sat down in Phineas' lap. Phineas blushed.
"So did you guys win?" Isabella wandered.
"No, we lost… again…" Phineas muttered.
"Again? What's up with you guys?" Addison asked as she too entered from a different room, walking over to Ferb, leaning over the back of his chair and giving him a hug.
"I don't know, we just haven't figured out a way to beat them yet." Ferb answered. Ginger and Katie made their way from the other room and over to their perspective partners, Baljeet and Bryan respectively.
"It's not like we're trying that hard. We just know what we are going to do." Dallas defended. His heart pained a little bit, looking around at the group and everyone in a couple besides himself.
"Oh Dallas, where is Alex at? We invited her to come?" Isabella asked.
"Oh, she said that she didn't want to come. Said she had some family stuff to do tonight." His heart did a flutter a little bit at the sound of his crush's name.
"Oh, well I wish she coulda had the chance to come. I know that you would have liked for her to be here." Isabella winked at Dallas.
Dallas rolled his eyes. "Can we please move on from talking about me? Not a big fan of it."
"Fine, fine; you do know that we do care that you have some kind of success in all aspects of your life. Even after you did those things a couple of years ago." Phineas reminisced.
"That is certainly something I don't want to talk about." Dallas shuddered at the thought, remembering what had happened.
"But we've moved on, and so now we look on to new things."
"Speaking of which, what's everybody doing tomorrow?" Isabella asked.
"Baljeet is taking me too… where was it again?" Ginger asked.
"On a road trip, to see some of the best Christmas light displays in Danville." Baljeet reminded. "Yes, it isn't much, but I remember how much you like to see the lights." Ginger's smile was huge as she gave Baljeet a tight hug.
"I think Millie wants to do something…" Buford looked over at his girlfriend.
"You promised to come with me to see my grandparents."Hey, we're going to Millie's grandparents."
"I don't think we have anything to do tomorrow," Ferb answered, looking at Phineas, who shook his head.
"And I know that mom would want me to do something, even though it is Christmas break." Addison added.
"Well, if you guys want, you can come over to my house. Maybe we'll watch some movies or something." Isabella offered. "And yes Dallas, you can come too."
"Oh, ok. Thanks for the invite. I won't be in the way will I?"
"Of course not."
"Alright, so do we need to bring anything, or what time we meeting, things like that?"
"Don't worry bout anything. I'll take care of everything." Isabella commented.
The older man walked into the large empty room, book in his hand. Five people, hand chosen by him and luckily for him, born with the talent he needed, had been assembled. His top medics ready to assist them when needed. His second in command meet him as he reached the small group.
"Is everything taken care of?"
"Yes, sir. Everything is ready." The second replied. "The largest, empty, enclosed area we could get, the best teleporters in the entire army, and the best medics that aren't already on a mission.
"Good," the older man opened the book to the page he needed, "Let's begin."