Well here's chapter two! Hope you guys like it! And thank you guys for the quick support for this story! There are already 12 favorites in only 3 days, that is awesome!
I'm trying to get rid of the 'aka PhinbellaFanatic' part of my penname, but it says that "Piano-Man" has already been taken, so I might have to change my name to "PianoMan6" or something instead.
**Disclaimer**
I don't own Phineas and Ferb.
Chapter 2: Hiking Accidents
It was Saturday morning, and Phineas and Ferb were going through the final checklist of things they needed to hike Danville Mountain. In a few minutes, they would be heading to the mountain to begin their ascent.
"Alright Ferb, looks like we're all ready to go!" Phineas said excitedly as they got on their jackets and other snow gear. Ferb took out their latest invention, named the atomic storage stick, which was a small object similar in shape and appearance to a flash drive. He pointed it at the mass of equipment they were bringing and clicked a little button. The device projected a spotlight onto the equipment and sucked all of it into it and into a de-molecularized state, providing handy and lightweight storage for the long trek ahead.
With that, the brothers headed out to Ferb's covered Ferrari and started towards Danville Mountain. The boys started a conversation about their latest building ideas, which was mostly led by Phineas, with the occasional body gesture from Ferb.
"And then we can adjust the tractor beam so that it-" Phineas was interrupted by his phone ringing. He got it out and checked the Caller ID: Jessica Miggins. He opened the phone and brought it to his ear.
"Hi Jessica, how's it going?"
Ferb took his eyes off the road to look at Phineas strangely.
"Oh hi Phineas!" Jessica gushed through the speaker. "I was just calling you to tell you a bit more about the dance. We're going to dinner and maybe a movie before the dance, if that's okay with you."
"That sounds way fun!" Phineas was interrupted by another call; this time it was from Isabella. No offense to Jessica, but he would rather talk to his best friend.
"Hey gotta go! You can tell me more about it next week, see ya!" Phineas said. Jessica muttered a goodbye and Phineas was about to accept the other call when Ferb stopped him.
"Who's Jessica?" Ferb asked, almost warily.
"She asked me to the Christmas Eve dance," Phineas replied, "But I gotta take this call now."
"Hello?"
"Hi Phineas! Watcha doin?" Isabella's voice came from the speaker, even more enthusiastic than the previous caller.
"Hi Isabella, we're just driving to Danville Mountain like I told you yesterday. I'm so excited to go explore those caves at the top!"
"Yeah, about that," Isabella's voice suddenly sounded nervous. "Those caves weren't actually that cool, you and Ferb can probably skip them if you want to."
"Are you kidding Isabella? The other Fireside girls told me it was awesome in there, and that's where Ferb and I are going to eat lunch!" Phineas wasn't sure why Isabella didn't want him to go in the caves.
"Really?" she said worriedly. "Um, well I guess you guys can explore the caves, I just … don't want you to get hurt, Phineas." Now Phineas understood that she was just worried about their safety.
"Don't worry, Isabella," he said reassuringly through the small receiver, "Ferb and I have a bunch of emergency medical stuff with us and lots of warm snow gear, so we will be protected."
"Are you sure? Maybe you guys could just-"
"Isabella, I promise you we won't get hurt. You have my word."
"...Ok Phineas, I trust you." Even talking through the phone, Phineas could tell he had comforted Isabella enough to make her smile.
Ferb pulled into an empty parking lot near the base of the mountain. Nobody but Phineas and Ferb would attempt Danville Mountain in the winter, so they were the only ones there.
"Oh, we're here. I'll see you later Isabella, and remember my promise!"
"Ok, Bye!"
With that, Phineas shut his phone, and the brothers began their walk to the huge mountain. Unlike the other side, this side of Danville Mountain had an evergreen forest at the bottom which thinned out as the elevation increased. The peak was so high up that it went into the clouds, and the caves were not much lower.
When they reached the bottom, there was too much snow to see the trail clearly anymore. Fortunately, Phineas and Ferb had expected this.
"You know what to do, Ferb!" Phineas said. Ferb pulled out atomic storage stick and clicked another button on it. A light again came from the device, and two pairs of special goggles materialized in front of their eyes. The goggles had a GPS on them, which showed whoever was wearing them where the trail was, and where they were on the mountain.
After the teenagers had adjusted their goggles, they started up the steep trail that wound through the thick forest and up the huge mountain. It was a good thing they had worn their extra-tractive boots; the snow would have made hiking impossible for ordinary boots. Even with the boots, Phineas and Ferb still had to catch each other more than a couple of times.
Right as the duo emerged from a tree-sheltered part of the trail into the open, a strong gust of wind picked up and pushed hard against the boy. Phineas was blown off his feet and nearly went tumbling down the mountain, but was tackled to the ground by Ferb first.
"Whoa, thanks Ferb, you saved me," Phineas said thankfully after the wind had calmed down. Ferb gave a thumbs-up and pulled his brother up, and they continued up the trail, which was getting to be too deep in snow.
The boys waddled through the snow to a fallen log and sat down. With an unspoken agreement, Ferb got two pairs of snowshoes from the storage stick so that they could walk on top of the snow. Phineas and Ferb slid on the shoes and then continued up the mountain.
By now, they had risen above the treeline and were nearing the peak of Danville Mountain. But here was where the chosen pathway became tricky. Now they had to rock-climb rather than walking, which could be very precarious when the rocks were covered in snow and ice. Luckily, both Phineas and Ferb managed to climb the rocks without any major difficulties. It got more difficult as they strayed into wispy clouds, but they could do it together.
At the same time, the brothers grabbed one last rock hold and hoisted themselves up onto the very peak of Danville Mountain. It was cold and windy, but Phineas and Ferb supported each other to maintain their balance. They stood up and gazed down at the Tri-State Area far below. The cloud they were in made it harder to see, but it was still possible.
"Hey Ferb, there's our house!" Phineas said, squinting and pointing at a little speck in the suburbs of Danville. They could see all their friends' houses, although it was too far away to see much anything else. Ferb pointed to Danville downtown; he had found Mr. Slushy Burgers, where Candace's newlywed husband Jeremy had used to work. There was Danville High too, and the awkwardly-shaped purple skyscraper that always reminded Phineas of Perry for no discernable reason.
As they observed the massive expanse, Ferb's stomach let out a huge rumble.
"Looks like you're ready for lunch." Phineas said, grinning. "Let's go eat in the caves so we don't freeze to death up here."
Ferb agreed and the two of them took the short trek down the mountain to where the caves were. At the mouth of the cave, Ferb pulled a few things out of his atomic storage stick, namely their lunches, as well as flashlights to explore the cave with. They flicked the flashlights on and ventured into the dark cave.
Almost immediately, the howling of the wind was silenced, and the snow quickly disappeared under their feet. Ferb's stomach growled again, so the boys took out their lunches and began to eat as they walked. After only a few minutes, they made it to the end of the tunnel, and to the one and only room out of the whole cave. Ferb said he needed to work on something, so the boys separated to explore.
The room was a huge cavern full of stalactites and stalagmites, among other rock formations. Some of the stalactites had met with the stalagmites after thousands of years of constant dripping, resulting in huge pillars throughout the cave. Even then, they could still hear the slow but constant drippings of water echo through the room.
Towards the back of the huge room, Phineas spied some writing on the wall. He took a closer look - it looked like a sort of informal log of everyone who had accomplished the task of climbing Danville Mountain. Names and short, inspirational messages were scratched into, or drawn on, the side of the wall or drawn on.
"Carpe diem," one said, which made Phineas smile; that was his treasured motto.
Phineas took another bite out of his ham-and-cheese sandwich and shone his flashlight to the left, only to encounter a different surprising phrase.
Fireside Girls Troop 46321
"Well isn't that serendipitous, I found this out of all the writing in the cave," he thought.
As he read the title, Phineas remembered that the former Fireside girls had explored this cave only a year before. "This must be their final accomplishment," he thought, smiling.
Below the title were a couple hearts of varying sizes etched into the wall, with things written in them. What were the Fireside girls doing? Phineas was going to call Ferb over to let him check it out, but a few words caught his eye first.
"Gretchen + ...Ferb?!" Phineas exclaimed out loud. Fortunately, Ferb was on the other side of the cave, too far away to hear. "I guess I'd better keep that a secret," Phineas said to himself mischievously before turning to the other hearts.
"Ginger + Baljeet, Isabella + Phineas, Milly + Buford," Phineas read aloud, not really paying attention to what they said.
"Good for them!" he thought, walking away from the hearts on the wall. "I hope their crushes ask them to that dance!"
Phineas took another bite of his sandwich and started to examine a cave formation, but suddenly stopped chewing.
The sandwich fell to the ground.
Phineas slowly turned his head around. He slowly backtracked to the hearts and located the biggest one. Phineas again read the elegantly drawn words inside of the heart in utter silence.
Isabella + Phineas
Phineas's eyes popped out as he read the words over and over again. Did Isabella … have a crush … on him? Phineas's mouth dropped open as he stared at the wall.
"Its probably just a coincidence, I mean, there are tons of Phineas's and Isabella's I know," Phineas thought, trying to rationalize his discovery with false facts. But the truth was just too obvious.
Phineas thought back to all of his memories with Isabella. She always seemed to be a closer friend than the others, sometimes even closer than Ferb. And she would always be there to comfort him, and she seemed to made an effort to see him every single day.
"And she touches me and gives me hugs almost every day too," Phineas thought, finally closing his mouth. And she had always seemed enthusiastic when they were at the bus stop, and yesterday morning she was … was Isabella blushing yesterday morning?
As Phineas thought about it, he realized that Isabella always seemed to be blushing. And just yesterday, she had gotten mad enough to break her textbook in two right after Jessica had asked him to the dance. He thought back to some of the things she had said that he had never understood.
"You had me at our grandchildren."
"So, would you like to go to the Night of the Falling Stars Girls' Choice dance tonight?"
"Are you sure there's nothing, or no one, that's more adorable?"
"That helmet looks so manly."
"How about a romantic dinner for two? Wanna sip, Phineas?"
"Well, that's not the Phineas Flynn that I fell in... to this sit-uation with."
Realization hit him and Phineas's mouth dropped open again. Isabella had liked, or maybe even loved, Phineas for years. Why she hadn't given up on him yet he had no idea, and the thought of how much disappointment she must have gone through hit him hard.
"I've ignored Isabella," Phineas said in a shaky voice, "Every day, for seven years."
Phineas felt awful. He had rarely, if ever, returned any feelings to her. Phineas was going to fix this, somehow. But what was he going to do? Did he like Isabella back?
Phineas decided he would think about it on the way back. He left the hearts and searched around the huge cavern until he saw another light, which had to be Ferb.
Ferb was performing a scientific experiment with some of the stalactites and the liquid that dripped from them. When he saw Phineas, he sucked his lab equipment into the storage stick.
"Just finished up a college project. Ready to go?"
Phineas could only nod, so the two of them found the tunnel and walked back to the snowy outdoors. The clouds were gone now and replaced by a sunny day, which meant they had been in the cave for a while. Ferb got out his snowboard and Phineas's skis, and they spent a couple minutes changing yet again into the proper boots and getting them on. Ferb noticed the Phineas's unusual silence, but decided not to ask.
When they were ready, Phineas and Ferb set off, skiing or snowboarding down the more spacious and snowier parts of the mountain. Being a man of action, Ferb would often do flips and tricks off of natural jumps, and even rode down a fallen log. Phineas would have been doing the same thing, but he had too much on his mind.
"I definitely love her as a friend, but as more than a friend?" Phineas thought as he skied down the slopes. He he had always thought that Isabella was really pretty, but he had never looked at her in that way. But as he pictured her in his mind: her silky hair, her elegant, athletic figure, her deep blue eyes...
WHAM! Ferb smacked into Phineas at a high speed, making them both lose their balance and come tumbling to a stop. Phineas was confused but was still caught up in his thoughts.
"You nearly skied off a cliff, Phineas," Ferb said, sounding slightly peeved. "Are you okay? You've been acting strange ever since we left the cave."
"I guess I really do think she's beautiful," Phineas thought, not really hearing Ferb. "But what would it be like to date Isabella?"
Phineas began weighing the pros and cons of Isabella and a possible future relationship.
"Let's see... she's cute, nice, caring, loving, pretty," Phineas realized he was repeating himself, but Isabella was good enough for repetitions. "...Athletic, a cheerleader, a former fireside girl, smart, my best friend, optimistic, hot … scratch that, that's derogatory … but its true, she has a beautiful voice, is easy to talk to..." the list went on for miles.
He then tried to think up some negative things about Isabella. "Well, she's … strong-willed? No, I like that about her..." Phineas racked his brain, but he couldn't come up with a single reason why not to date Isabella. Then it dawned on him.
"I think I do like her back," Phineas said aloud, with Ferb looking at him confusedly.
"Yeah, I want to date Isabella! Now I just have to tell her," he thought ecstatically. Phineas smiled, his optimism was back.
Phineas then caught up to the present. He finally processed what Ferb had said moments ago, that Ferb very well may have just saved his life.
"Oh! Uh, thanks Ferb! I owe you one! Now let's get down the mountain!"
With that Phineas sped down the mountain, new determination for Isabella pumping through his veins. Ferb was still confused, but decided not to push it. He hadn't caught what Phineas had said. At least Phineas was back to normal.
So it wasn't as much of a physical accident but rather an accident that Phineas happened to stumble upon the Fireside Girls' Writing. What will he do about it next chapter?
Guest Review Responses:
toolazytologinXP: Merry Christmas to you too!
Genemelene14: Well I hope that wasn't too long of a wait.
