Chapter 4

Perry looked down at the metal bands holding him to the chair. He took out a small pen. The device squirted out some acid gel, burning through the metal. He escaped and kicked Doofenshmirtz in the legs, knocking him to the floor.

"Well, Perry the Platypus. Looks like your luck just ran out!" Dr. D sang pointing to some saltshakers on a table nearby. One wobbled a bit. Perry rushed to it and stopped put his hand on it, securing that it wouldn't fall.

"Aww… Well, try to fight me with all of these mirrors!" Doofenshmirtz announced pulling a tarp off of a big circle of tall mirrors.

"Remember, if you break any one of them, thanks to the badluckinator, you'll be cursed with seven years of bad luck!"

Perry looked at all the mirrors nervously.

Meanwhile…

Jenny approached Candace with her backpack on.

Candace bit her nails.

"Hey, Candace. Remember when I said I had a doctor's appointment next Friday? Well, turns out I wrote it on my calendar wrong. It's really today. Sorry. I know it's the talent show, but I won't be able to reschedule for a long time. I wish you and Stacy luck though. Kay?"

Candace began tearing up.

"What am I going to do!?" she cried with as much as her voice could handle, "I'm going to have to cancel this year."

"Hey, it's not all that bad. Just do it next year," Vanessa said.

"I can't do it next year! That's way too long! The show must go on though. Whether it's me or not, there still has to be some sort of talent going on. You can sing, Vanessa!"

"Hey! Whoa! I am not singing in front of everyone! Can't I just stand behind the curtain and sing while you lip-sync or something?"

"Unfortunately, no. Knowing my luck, I'm going to mess it all up! Please, do it, Vanessa! You're my only hope! Just sing along to the recording."

"But I don't know all the words!" Vanessa said.

"I'll give you the lyrics. I still have them in my locker. You can look them over back stage. You're not until the seventh act."

Vanessa looked down at the ground and sighed. "Okay. I guess I can do it. It's a pretty slow song isn't it?"

"Yeah! Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you sooooo much, Vanessa. How can I ever repay you?!" Candace exclaimed hoarsely as she hugged her friend.

Vanessa pushed her away saying, "You can repay me by not hugging!"

Meanwhile…

Perry swiftly moved around trying to get closer to Dr. Doofenshmirtz in order to take the ray gun from him.

Once Perry got close enough, Doofenshmirtz held the device high above his head.

"Ha-ha! You can't reach it!"

Perry gave him a shove, knocking him into the mirrors. Each falling and breaking.

"Now who's getting the bad luck?" Doofenshmirtz wondered.

"Is it me or you? I mean, I was the one that actually hit the mirrors, but you pushed me into them. Hmm… I wonder- Ow!" Perry punched Dr. D's arm in an attempt to knock the invention out of his hand.

The platypus, after much struggling, ripped the gadget out of his enemy's hands, switched it to reverse, and zapped the city.

Dr. D muttered, "Well, it looks like it was me that got the bad luck."

Back at the school…

Recess had ended and everyone was headed towards the auditorium for the talent show. Vanessa was repeatedly rehearsing the song to herself.

Candace paced nervously backstage.

"I'll just play the soundtrack and stay here just in case anything goes wrong."

Vanessa nodded as she continued moving her lips, mumbling the lyrics.

Candace put in the CD to double check that it would work. It played perfectly. "Well, that was fortunate," she said to herself, "Maybe my luck is finally starting to turn around."