DISCLAIMER: There's totally not a robot invasion coming. Oh, and I don't own anything.
Chapter 2 - Heeding the Call: The Teens
"Are you sure you've hooked up all of the cables correctly?"
"Yes."
"And it's still not connecting?"
"Nope."
Jenny let out an aggravated growl. It was just her luck that today was the day her parents were out of town, leaving her alone in the house, when the Internet connection happened to go kaput. She wasn't versed in this sort of technology, so despite her inhibitions, she called someone that Candace had recommended to her before to fix her problem.
"He's a nerd; he knows this kind of stuff!" Candace had said to her. "Don't call those lame support people! They'll make you listen to hippie tunes for 30 minutes then not help you at all!"
Ignoring that fact that she listened to that psychedelic music Candace referred to as "hippie tunes", she had decided to take her up on that advice.
Even if she was beginning to regret it now.
Albert crawled out from underneath her desk, wiping his glasses. "All the cables are in the correct ports. There should be no reason for your connection to be kaput."
Jenny frowned, trying to think of what the problem could be. "Maybe it could be the antennae."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "You have an antennae? That's a little old school, don't you think?"
"Hey, it gets the job done," Jenny shot back, leading him to the back door. "And if you haven't noticed (as she waved her arm around at the décor of her house), we're all old school here."
"I'll have to take that into consideration next time you-WHOA!"
She looked in the backyard to see what had startled Albert and was mystified. The large grid antenna that usually sat on top of the house was now parked on top of the shed, its mast snapped in two.
"Of course this is going to be the problem!" Albert surmised, shaking his head. "You didn't notice your antennae crashing to the ground? What have you been doing all day?"
"Well," Jenny thought, putting a finger to her chin, "First I watered my flowers, then I meditated for an hour, then I gave Teresa a bath, and then I meditated for another hour, and then-"
"OK, OK!" the blonde teen said. "I get it! You didn't notice. Yeesh." He started toward the remnants of the shed, Jenny following closely behind. "At the very least, you should get it off your shed." He bent down to grip the dish, but before he could so much as muster up any strength to lift it, a slight grinding noise was heard from underneath the wreckage.
"Jenny, did you have anything living in your shed?" Albert queried.
"No. Why?"
"...Because it sounds like something was. Or is."
Before Jenny could respond, the wreckage flew out in all directions. Something at the bottom of the pile was now coming to the top, and unlike Albert, it had no problem lifting any of the pieces near its body.
Including Albert himself.
"Ahhh!" He slammed into the ground and skidded to a halt at Jenny's feet, who was busy staring at what had erupted from the rubble.
A bulky black and grey robot was hovering where the shed and antennae had laid. Its head was shaped like a bucket, with a red visor where its eyes would have been. It had somehow gotten pinned under the antennae when it was knocked over and only just recently reactivated. Ignoring the teens, it began to dust the remaining debris off of its body.
Silly humans and their low-lying architecture, it monotoned. When the Great Emperor Doofenshmirtz takes over this dimension, he will be sure to outlaw anything that will cause difficulties in our routes.
It abruptly noticed Jenny and Albert staring at him, and brought its arms up at the ready. Humans, where are your Dooferalls? They are required for all denizens of the Emperor. You there! He pointed at Jenny, now wielding a tape measure. You look to be a size 32.
She looked down at her yellow sweater and vibrant skirt, then glared at the robot angrily. "But I like my clothes!"
Irrelevant. The decade of the 1960's contacted us; they wish to have their articles of clothing returned to their possession.
"Hey!"
"Don't worry, milady!" Albert shouted, rapidly stepping in front of Jenny. "I will save you from this robot!"
"I am not your lady," Jenny emphasized. "And I don't think that...thing is going to care at all!"
"Maybe it will when I take it down with my Super-secret-special-awesome-military-training-Taijutsu-karate-chop of Doom!" Albert ran full out at the mech, yelling a at the top of his lungs. He brought down his hand on the robot's chest...
THUNK!
And promptly withdrew it, now yelling in pain.
"Oh thanks. My hero," Jenny said, shaking her head.
"Your sarcasm is not lost on me," Albert shot back as he nursed his hand.
Hostile action has been taken. Prepare to be eliminated. The robot picked up the antennae with little effort and threw it in the direction of the teens, who dived in opposite directions to avoid it. Seeing that no damage had been done, it turned to Albert, who saw himself trapped in the corner of the yard.
Your silly attack had no affect on me, Human. Allow me to show you a proper attempt at permanent damage. It brought its fist back, prepared to slam it into the teen. Panicked, Albert brought his hands up to his face to protect him from the inevitable robot attack.
SLAM!
That certainly wasn't the sound he expected to hear from the robot. He was expecting more of a "Thwack!" noise.
He peeked through his fingers to see the robot was now missing its head, wires exposed and sparking through the new opening. With a final sizzle, the robot dropped to the ground. Behind it was Jenny, brandishing a shovel and a angry expression on her face.
"That's for being an abomination to Mother Nature, you man-made heathen!"
Albert got off the ground, finding himself mesmerized by Jenny's sudden demeanor change. "Man, that was totally great, girl. You know," he added, walking up to her, "If you're not busy tonight, maybe we could-"
He was interrupted by the metal part of the spade screeching to a stop an inch away from his nose, its owner not pleased with him.
"Keep in mind who still has the shovel here, Albert."
He grinned mischievously, realizing that he had been bested. "Point taken."
She brought the shovel back and leaned on it, eyes not leaving his face. "I was warned about you. You know that, right?"
"By who?"
"Candace. And Stacy. And about half of my friends who you made a pass on."
"...Geez, word sure goes quickly around here, doesn't it?"
"You could say that, yeah," Jenny affirmed.
There was a long minute of silence where nothing was heard but the sparking of the wires from the robot. A very long, very awkward minute.
"So," Albert interjected, hastily changing the subject, "This robot. I wonder where it came from." He bent over the automaton and carefully studied the inner wiring. "It doesn't look like it's anything from around here. Heck, I would go as far to say it's not anything from-"
"It probably came from that."
Albert pulled his head out of the robot to follow Jenny's finger, and saw what neither of them had noticed before: a green portal over the tallest building in the city, with a massive amount of robots like the one they fought pouring out of it.
"Oh dear." Albert could hear the panic rising in Jenny's voice. "I hope everyone is all right."
He pulled out his cell and quickly dialed his house, but got nothing but a dial tone in response. "That's odd, I can't call anyone."
She got her own phone out, but like Albert's, it was not working as well. "I just used this to call you earlier. I wonder why it's not working now?"
That is because all communications have been blocked.
"Ahhh!" The two teens spun around to see four more of the black and grey robots behind them, seemingly appearing from nowhere.
Humans, where are your Dooferalls? Great Commander Doofenshmirtz demands all humans wear Dooferalls to signify his gloriousness.
"Yeah, we already heard that before! And we still don't know what you're talking about, you giant hunk of metal!" Albert yelled.
Incorrect response. Be sure to answer correctly next time, Human, or you will have Doofmuffs and Dooffins to compensate for your lack of Dooferalls. They are much more visually unappetizing.
Jenny stepped out from behind Albert, returning to her angry mood. "Oh yeah? Well, compensate this!" She swung the shovel at the lead robot-
Only for a neighboring bot to grab it out of the air, stopping it in its tracks. With one quick grasp, the mech snapped it in two, leaving Jenny with only the wooden handle.
This action is also not compatible with the question, female Human, the original robot monotoned. Prepare to be eliminated.
Albert and Jenny stepped back slightly but found themselves running into the bodies of two more robots, who now had them completely surrounded. Seeing no other alternative, he turned toward the brown-haired girl.
"So...are you good enough with that thing to stop six robots?"
"No," Jenny replied, wielding the remnants of her shovel like a sword and turning it over in her hands, "Not really."
"Just checking," Albert said, taking up his fighting stance again. "I'll just beat these guys back with my patented karate-"
"Albert, you just tried that approximately three minutes ago and it didn't work."
"That's because there was only one of them. These moves are aimed more toward multiple opponents."
"Uh...huh. Right." As the robots began to hover closer, the two stood back to back, ready to act.
"...Sorry I wasn't able to fix your Internet."
Jenny scoffed at his comment, turning her head around to look at him. "Albert, I think that's the least of our concerns right now."
"I'm still sorry, OK? I feel like I have to apologize before I get shot up by a bunch of robots."
She turned back toward the lead robot, smiling slightly. "Apology accepted."
"Thank you."
The robots began to charge their arm cannons, and the two saw that there was no time left for chit-chat.
"On the count of three, OK?" Albert said.
Jenny nodded. "OK."
"One."
The glow from the cannons became brighter.
"Two."
The energy was beginning to overflow the barrel, ready to fire.
"Thr-"
WHAM!
A giant mass landed on two of the robots, resulting in a large explosion. Through the smoke, Jenny couldn't make out what exactly had come down on them, but she didn't have time to wonder; Albert had grabbed her arm and dove to the side, momentarily confusing the remaining robots.
Halt, humans, one of the robots monotoned. It is hard to eliminate you when you are-
A second mass came out of nowhere, careening into the quartet and dismembering them into tiny bits. More smoke began to billow out, blurring the teens' vision. Albert coughed loudly, trying to reorient himself.
"You alright, Jenny?" he asked, standing up and offering his hand.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she affirmed, letting him get her back on her feet. She began to wipe the dust off of her shirt, but as the smoke cleared, she saw exactly what had destroyed the robots, and froze.
The area that the robots had been previously occupying were now replaced by two large and very strange vehicles: a giant monster truck with painted flames on the side, and a silver motorcycle with two side cars attached to it. The bike, for unknown reasons to Jenny and Albert, had a fish-motif to it.
"...Did you make those appear?" Jenny asked, glancing at Albert. She immediately regret asking this question, because his face appeared just as perplexed as Jenny's was.
"I didn't. You?"
"No."
They stared at the two contraptions in front of them, not sure of what to do. Calmly, Jenny dropped the rest of her shovel and dusted her clothes off. "In any case, they got rid of those filthy metal barbarians for us, so we should be thankful for that."
"And you're sure these things aren't going to do the same thing?" Albert said.
"No, they're fine," she replied, placing a hand on one of the truck wheels. "I feel a sort of...tranquil energy from them. Nothing like those stupid robots. It feels like they're here to help."
Albert opened his mouth again, presumably to make fun of her aura-sensing, when suddenly a female voice began to emanate out of the vehicles, booming loud enough for the two teens to hear quite clearly.
"Teenagers of the Tri-State Area..."
The voice was immediately recognized by both Jenny and Albert.
"Isn't that...Candace?" Albert inquired. "Why is she talking through these...things?"
Jenny shook her head wordlessly, just as curious as he was.
"My name is "insert name here"..."
A new, younger voice broadcast over the frequency. "Candace, you're suppose to put your name there."
"I know! Don't rush me!"
Jenny couldn't help but giggle as she could imagine Candace fighting with her little brother, despite the gravity of the situation. She continued on, having settled whatever argument had taken place.
"My name is Candace Flynn. I live on 2308 Maple Drive with my parents and my brothers, Phineas and Ferb. And we are in need of your help."
This was unexpected. Not as unexpected as a monster truck and a motorcycle driving up out of nowhere to crush some robots, but unexpected nonetheless. Jenny glanced at Albert again, wondering what exactly he was thinking.
"As you can see, there is a massive robot invasion all across the Tri-State Area, being led by an evil man from another dimension. He is taking those robots and enslaving the good people of this city, and it will only be a matter of time before the entire populace is overtaken.
"I come to you not as a fellow human, or even a citizen of this great nation, but as a friend. By coming together, we can force these creations to ex...ex...Baljeet, I still don't know that word!"
Now Baljeet's heavily accented voice was heard over the radio. "It is 'exfiltrate', Candace. It is the opposite of 'infiltrate'. Do they teach you nothing in high school?"
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Jenny heard the distinct sound of paper being crumpled followed by an "Ow!" as it was undoubtedly thrown at Baljeet.
"Listen, guys," Candace said, her tone getting more alarmed by the second, "I'm not that good at this sort of thing, so I'm going to just say it: My brothers, as annoying as they are, have sent out some of their doohickeys and whatchamacallits out to people, and if you want to help us kick some butt, you can come out using their stuff.
"Inside each of the things is a remote control for driving purposes, if you're not old enough to. If you are, you can switch to manual control by pressing the yellow button on the remote. All of the people who wish to come out can press the green button on the remote to prove that you're going to be there. "
There was a slight pause, then Jenny could hear something akin to desperation in her voice. "Look...this is going to be really dangerous. I can't say I would blame you if you didn't come. But...we're not going to just sit here and do nothing. We can't sit here and do nothing. Not when people are probably being rounded up as we speak."
Another pause, and she had to strain to hear Candace, as her voice was now nothing more than a strained whisper. "If you do come, we're meeting up in the center of the city. There are coordinates programmed into the remotes in case you need them. Head there with whatever contraption was sent to you. If you don't...well, we'll know why.
"But...it would be appreciated if you did come. The more help we get the better. And the better chance we won't go down fighting. So...come out if you can."
There was a long delay, and the two teens thought that the message had concluded. One last word, however, came over the radio.
"...Please."
With a final squawk, the message cut off, leaving nothing but empty static.
Both Jenny and Albert stood still, completely shocked at what was said. Neither of them had wanted to believe a word of what was going on. The robots, the portal, the inventions...it was almost too astounding to comprehend.
Jenny looked at the monster truck.
Then at the portal across the city.
Then back at the truck.
And steeled herself.
She had made up her mind.
She began to walk toward the ladder of the truck when she was grabbed by Albert, who had just slipped out of his trance.
"Jenny, are you nuts!" Albert shouted, pointing at the truck. "You're really going to get in that thing and go?"
"Yes," she affirmed, wrenching her arm out of his grasp, "Yes, I am. I'm going to help my friend." She started up the ladder, Albert gazing up at her questioningly.
"You do realize this is crazy, right? I mean, a giant motor vehicle isn't exactly the best thing to have when going to fight robots."
"They got rid of these robots, didn't they?"
Albert paused, clearly not thinking his argument through enough. "Well, yes, but it's still crazy."
"I would agree with you there," Jenny opened the door and slid into the driver's seat, disengaging the remote control from the dashboard. "But even a down-to-earth girl like me needs a little something different from the norm. And Candace is one of my best friends." She pushed the yellow button, causing the instrument panel to light up, followed by the green button. "If there's any way I can help her, I'll do it."
Albert deftly stepped back from the truck, crossing his arms. "You and your friends are weird."
"At least I have friends, Albert."
"Ouch. Burn."
Jenny glanced over the dash to see the motorcycle still unoccupied. As much as she didn't like Albert at the moment, she didn't just want to leave him there. There were two inventions, after all. Candace's brothers wouldn't have sent it out if...
Hold on a second.
Jenny grinned, knowing exactly what she need to say.
"Hey, Albert," she shouted down to him, "they did send an invention out to you to use."
He turned away, still not impressed. "Yeah, so?"
"Well, they must think you're at least capable of fighting back, right?"
"...That's true."
"And I'm sure Candace put in a good word for you to her brothers, since you did help her out earlier this summer."
Albert 's head turned slightly, and Jenny could almost see the gears turning in his mind. "That is also true."
"And if you came with me and helped her out, I'm sure she would be ever so grateful to you." She ducked down, not wanting to show him her evil grin. "Not to mention you would be a hero. All the girls would love you for that."
Albert turned his head to face Jenny. "...Even that other friend of yours? Stacy?"
"Mayyyybe," Jenny said, twirling a finger in her hair. "She usually doesn't go for nerds, but if she saw you in all of your glory, I'm sure she could change her mind." She knew that Candace and Stacy were already in relationships, but Albert certainly didn't need to know that. Not for the purposes of this event, anyway.
He whirled around, pointing a finger in the air. "All right, you've convinced me! Let's go save the Tri-State Area!"
A few minutes later (and after a quick stop at Albert's house), they were speeding off toward the center of the city, Jenny occupying the truck and Albert inside the motorcycle. Albert already had his license, so like Jenny, he was in full control of his vehicle. They had also found that there were radio links between the two inventions, so that they could talk to each other even while driving.
"What was your brother doing on his computer?" Jenny asked through her radio. She had noticed Albert's younger sibling in his room when they had passed the open door, rapidly typing away on his desktop.
"Who knows?" he replied. "He's probably just chatting away with his loser friends about Candace's brothers."
"Didn't that robot say all communications were blocked, though? So who would he be talking to?"
"Irving has some sort of weird connection that can circumnavigate the regular Internet grid," Albert told her, shrugging his shoulders. "Candace's brothers built it for him some time ago. He was so excited that he practically jumped out of his skin."
Jenny nodded, not wanting to pursue the issue. A moment later, however, Albert spoke up again.
"You know, technically you're suppose to have an adult in the vehicle with you when you're driving, Jenny. You do just have your learner's, right?"
She rolled her eyes, tapping her receiver to get rid of some of the static. "Yes, but technically people aren't suppose to wear dragon costumes when they're driving either."
"Hey! It's from Stumbleberry Finkbat! It represents strength and heroism," Albert retorted as he adjusted the hood of his costume over his head. "I'm sure Candace and Stacy will love it."
"Yeah, they'll feel something, all right." Jenny would have thrown in another sly insult, but she needed to focus; they were approaching the edge of the inner city, where they could clearly see a large quantity of robots weaving through the tall buildings.
"Hang on, Candace!" Jenny shouted, shifting her truck into gear. "We're on our way!"
EDIT: Slightly modified so that it doesn't look like I'm, apparently, taking potshots at anyone else's pairings.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Jenny, you are evil. And manipulative. That is all.
Like I mentioned on my profile page, this chapter was a pain in the tookis. It was hard trying to get just the right reasoning behind why Jenny and Albert would be at the same place for story purposes. That, and I have little experience in writing Jenny (besides A Surprise in Store) and no experience writing Albert. Thus, it took longer than I thought to get this chapter out.
There are two more groups of people to visit before we report back to Phineas and company. I will leave the guessing up to you, but if you look at my other stories and see who I write about, you'll already have a good indication of who it's going to be.
Read and review, if you like. Until next time.