Author's Note: Yeah, sorry about the wait _ Things have been hectic around here, and I haven't had much time to write. And also, I wasn't sure if I should make the chapter longer or not. Grrr, indecisiveness. Once again, thanks for the reviews.
"Catch up with you in a minute, Stacy!"
As Phineas walked up to the door, Stacy headed in the opposite direction. She and Candace were planning on having dinner with Jeremy and Coltrane.
"Hey, what happened over there?" Candace asked, stepping outside to confront Phineas. She sounded more concerned than annoyed. "Ferb looked upset, but he wouldn't say anything about it, as usual. Did something dangerous happen?"
"No," Phineas responded. "I'm… not sure, really. But everything should be fine when we finish the project tomorrow." Candace was about to comment, but then she realized what Phineas had said. The project wasn't done! Which meant it was still in Isabella's backyard… ready to be uncovered before dinner! She smirked. This time, the boys would definitely be busted.
"Okay… see ya later!" After Phineas went inside, Candace closed the door and ran to catch up with her friend.
"So, do you think Coltrane will like my new—hey!" Stacy exclaimed after Candace yanked her in an unexpected direction.
"We need to stop by Isabella's first," she explained hastily. "It'll only take a minute."
"So… this machine will reconstruct anything I tell it to?" Isabella asked, intrigued.
"Well, of course, that's what I built it for," Doofenshmirtz explained. He wriggled around on the floor, trying to break free of the Fireside Girl netting. Isabella smirked. She punched in a few coordinates and fired the Reconstruct-inator out the window. The beam reached all the way to her backyard, striking the bed sheet she had used to cover Phineas and Ferb's Nutrition-izer.
Candace and Stacy were too busy climbing the fence to notice anything. "Is this even legal?" Stacy asked hesitantly.
"It's not important," Candace countered. She pointed to the bed sheet. "There it is! Let's check it out." Stacy reluctantly followed the redhead across the yard. When Candace pulled the sheet away, the first thing Stacy noticed was a small box with some kind of antenna at the top.
"What do you think that does?" Stacy asked, reaching for the device. Candace was confused at first, but then she recognized the box.
"Stacy, wait!" But she was too late. Stacy touched the antenna, suddenly shrinking until she was two inches tall.
"Of course, right after reconstruction, the whatever-it-is will be extremely fragile," Doofenshmirtz continued. Isabella took a second to process this information, and her grin widened.
"Candace? What's going on!?"
"Don't worry, Stacy… you just need to touch the thing again," Candace said. She reached for her tiny friend, but in her haste she tripped over a blade of grass. Her hand veered off course and smashed the shrinking box to pieces. "…Okay, now you can worry…"
"Um… can you let me out of this now? I think I'm starting to chafe," Doofenshmirtz whined.
"Sure," Isabella answered with false sincerity. She hit a few buttons on the remote, causing a laser to disintegrate the net holding Doofenshmirtz. A second beam from the Mime-inator trapped him once again. He leapt at Isabella, but collided with the inside of an invisible box. "You still can't leave the building, though. I can't have you ruining my plans."
Doofenshmirtz scoffed while rubbing his injured nose. "You're a little girl, what kind of schemes could you possibly have?"
Isabella glared, sending shivers down Heinz's spine. "For too long, I've been worrying about the well-being of others. All the Fireside Girls care about are earning patches and helping the community. Nobody ever asks what Isabella is doing, or if Isabella wants anything… Nobody except him…" She took a second to fantasize, but her trip to Phineas-land was short. "So, it's about time I got something I wanted. The smartest, dreamiest boy in the Tri-State Area… Phineas Flynn. Together, nothing will stop us from ruling the universe!" She let out a maniacal laugh that echoed throughout the room. Doofenshmirtz was amazed, and slightly terrified.
"…I wonder if this is what Perry feels like whenever I go off on one of my rants," he muttered.
Isabella was walking towards the Reconstruct-inator, but Doofenshmirtz's words stopped her. "Come again?"
"Oh, Perry the Platypus… he's just my nemesis, that's all. He's in the closet, if you want to meet him."
"The platypus?" she repeated. Isabella couldn't believe what she was hearing. She only knew one semi-aquatic mammal named Perry, and he lived across the street. She walked over to the closet door and threw it open. "…You're kidding me." She picked up Perry and examined him closely. "It's a pretty good replica, but…"
"Replica!? He's just frozen! That's all it is. Remember the Freezeanator?"
Isabella was dumbfounded. It made perfect sense. Perry disappeared every day, and always returned before the day was done.
"…Waaait a minute… I'm starting to think you already know him," Doofenshmirtz proposed.
"There's one way to find out," Isabella replied, readying her cell phone.
