Author's Note: This is the second chapter taking place during 'Phineas and Ferb in Dimmsdale: Odyssey into the Mind of Trixie', as that story spans over two days. It also contains a flashback to what happened after the events of Chapter 2, which is why this chapter is rather bulky in comparison to previous chapters. Regardless, I hope you enjoy!
Another day in Dimmsdale, another batch of pistachios to protect. This time, Mr Block gave Cavendish and Dakota a choice between three possible missions, in spite of the fact that the two time travelers' latest mistake resulted into the Nutty Chipmunk being set on fire in the late afternoon.
The first choice was to transport a truck, filled with pistachios, from the Dimmsdale Dock to the pistachio vault downtown, similar to that mission when they had to bring pistachios from A-Street to B-Street South.
The second choice they had was to attend a pistachio stand at the Dimmsdale Skate Park.
The last choice was to protect pistachios at the Dimmsdale Recreation Center, where a meeting would be held.
Cavendish decided to attend at the Dimmsdale Recreation Center. It seemed safer than the other two missions, and Balth wanted absolutely nothing to happen to the pistachios today. And if nothing much happens at all, like at a meeting, then how could anything bad happen to the green nuts?
As they arrived at the location, Balthazar asked his partner: "You have no objections to this, whatsoever? I know this can be quite boring and such…"
"Nah, I don't mind, Cav", Vinnie replied. "I know you want to nail down at least one pistachio mission. Besides, I heard the catering'll be good."
Cavendish groaned. Typical Dakota, always thinking with his stomach first.
As they entered, they noticed a food trolley loaded with pistachios in the distance, nearby a table labeled 'reserved'.
"That trolley must be our destination", Cavendish concluded and headed to the cart, followed by Dakota.
As they assumed position, Vinnie asked: "So, um, whose meeting are we actually attending with these pistachios?"
Balthazar pulled a note from his breast pocket and replied: "According to Mr Block's briefing, we're attending a parent meeting, organized under the name Flynn-Fletcher."
"That name sounds familiar, for some reason", Dakota pondered. "Where have I heard it befo-"
"Oh, it's you two again", a familiar, nagging, feminine voice grunted, interrupting Dakota's thought.
Cavendish and Dakota looked up and noticed three sets of parents. The first pair consists of a black-haired man with a white shirt and a black tie, and a woman with brown hair and a blue shirt. The second pair had a woman with a red bouffant resembling that of Bobbi Fabulous, and a bespectacled British man with brown hair. The third pair consists of a short, balding, bespectacled man with an English mustache, and a tall, Asian woman with a black, chin-length bob cut.
Balthazar and Vinnie were already familiar with the third pair, as the former of the two asked surprised: "Mr and Mrs Tang?"
"Well, you do seem to remember us, as should be expected", Mrs Tang replied.
"Hold on a moment", Cavendish said. He pulled up his note again. "According to my mission briefing, one Flynn-Fletcher organized the meeting you're about to have. Forgive us, but we weren't aware that a high-class pair like you two would attend there, no offense to this Flynn-Fletcher person."
"We've been invited", Mrs Tang replied coolly. "If you have any complaints, you should talk to Linda, not me."
"That would be me", the woman with the red bouffant clarified.
That additional information made Vinnie realize something. "Wait, I get it", he said. "Linda Flynn-Fletcher, with a red bouffant… Of course!"
He went to Linda and said: "You're Lindana from that catchy one-hit wonder from the seventies!"
"Ooh, we got ourselves a music know-it-all over here", the black-haired man with the tie said.
"Well, you know, I'm a big fan of music", Dakota clarified. "I even made a little ditty of my own, y'know. It goes like, 'we're going to the zoo, we're going to the zoo, and we're gonna see some animaaaals!' That's… all I got, though."
"Yeah, very nice", Mrs Tang droned. "Still doesn't explain what you two jokers are doing here, though."
"We are here to protect a batch of pistachios", Cavendish explained. "This batch here, to be precise." He tapped on the food trolley. "And no, we cannot leave until the meeting is over."
"Great, just what I needed", Mrs Tang sighed. "Having to talk to other parents with these Dr Zone rejects in my face, because of an insignificant green nut."
"Ah, come on, don't be a git", the bespectacled British man smiled. "These two could be very enjoyable if you get to know them. Let's introduce ourselves: my name's Lawrence Fletcher, husband of Linda Flynn-Fletcher, which you already know as Lindana. And the pair beside us are the Turners." Lawrence gestured towards the black-haired man and brown-haired woman.
The brown-haired woman, Mrs Turner continued: "Our names are-"
A loud truck was passing by outside the recreation center as Mrs Turner was telling her and her husband's names.
"-but you can call us Mom and Dad", she finished.
"And you already know the Tangs, I presume", Lawrence asked.
"Yeah, we do", Vinnie said. "Two days ago, to be exact. The name's Vinnie Dakota by the way, and my partner over here's Balthazar Cavendish."
"Greetings", he huffed.
"Say, how'd you get to know them, anyway?" Lawrence asked.
"Oh, nonononono, we are not going there", Cavendish said. "That's an embarrassing story!"
"Aw c'mon, Cav, I think they should know", Dakota nudged. "It was two days ago, when we got stuck on a building…"
"Oh dear", Cavendish shrunk.
"So, how are we gonna get down, again", Dakota asked Cavendish, as both of them looked down from the tall building they threw away the lava lamp from.
"Well, we cannot ask Mr Block for assistance, since all our time travel devices have been taken away", Cavendish mused, "and our mobile phone devices are back at our assigned trailer at the Happy Home Trailer Park-"
"Our phones?" Vinnie asked. "I got mine right here!" He pulled out his smartphone. He tried activating it, but the screen wouldn't turn on. "I guess I forgot to charge mine, though."
"As I was saying, our mobile phone devices are back at our assigned trailer", Balthazar concluded.
"Correction: you left yours at the trailer, and I forgot to charge mine", Dakota grunted.
"It might as well be the same thing", Cavendish argued. "In short, none of us can use our phones."
"So, what do we do, now?" Vinnie asked.
Balthazar looked down the building again. "We have to get down ourselves", he concluded.
About an hour later, Cavendish and Dakota are hanging onto the side of the building, slowly climbing down and dearly hoping not to slip up and fall down a gruesome demise.
One gruesome demise Dakota couldn't prevent this time, due to not having any time vehicles or other devices. And maybe one of his past selves that left to that lost island could fill in his place, but none of them could replace Cavendish.
Of course, Cavendish did not have any of those thoughts. Dakota deliberately never told Cavendish about the many deaths he had in the alternate timelines. Instead, he slowly pressed on, trying so hard not to slip up. One could tell from his face his idea was foolish, but what else could they do?
Both time travelers were taken out of their thoughts when they heard a voice yell at them through a megaphone: "Hey, you two up there!"
They turned around, and saw the amplified voice belonged to a fireman in front of a firetruck. They also saw a woman with a bob cut in a limousine, apparently busy talking over the phone, but she seemed unimportant to the situation.
"What are you two doing up there", the fireman asked.
Cavendish shifted his eyes before yelling loudly: "We were stuck on this building and are trying to climb down."
"Why didn't you just call the fire department", the fireman asked back.
"Our cellphones are unavailable", Dakota yelled in response. "More specifically, mine's dead and his is back home."
"Well, hang on, you two, I'm gonna rescue you guys", the fireman yelled. He went back to the firetruck.
"Dude must've had really good ears to hear us from up here", Dakota whispered to Cavendish, as the fireman turned around the firetruck ladder and extended it.
Unfortunately, the ladder didn't reach high enough.
"Sorry guys, the ladder's too short", the fireman apologized through the megaphone. "I have to call my colleagues for help, so it might take a while. He then glanced to his left, and recognized the limousine, as well as the woman inside. "Unless…" he thought.
"Wait, I got an idea", he yelled back to Vinnie and Balthazar. "Hang on."
The fireman went to the woman. "Mrs Tang", he addressed the woman.
The woman looked up. "Oh great, what now", she thought. She ordered her chauffeur to open her window, and asked the fireman: "What do you want?"
"You see, Mrs Tang, I need to save some civilians stuck onto a building, but the firetruck ladder I have can't reach far enough. And I thought, since you fund our fire department, you could maybe lend us a bodyguard of yours so he could catch them?"
Mrs Tang sighed irritably. "Fine", she grunted, "but you're gonna pay us some extra."
"Oh, sure, sure", the fireman nodded.
"Now could you hold on for a moment", Mrs Tang asked. "I'm gonna have to call my daughter first."
After the call was made, the woman stepped out the limousine, alongside her short husband, and a burly guy in a purple jacket. They followed the fireman to the building Vinnie and Balthazar were hanging onto.
"Mrs Tang has lent us her bodyguard", the fireman announced the two time travelers. "Just jump down and he'll catch you."
"Are you nuts", Cavendish yelled. "We could die!"
Dakota sighed. "You know what, I'll go first, then you go", he decided.
"Are you telling me that you're going with this willy-nilly, Dakota?" Cavendish asked.
But as Balth finished his question, Vinnie was already gone.
He saw Dakota already on the ground.
"Yes, yes I am", he spoke through the megaphone. "Now come on and jump."
Cavendish looked around and gulped. He let go off the railing and fell down.
Dakota looked up and paid attention to his partner, and the bodyguard next to him. It then hit him that where Cav would land was most likely not in the bodyguard's arms, but rather on the ground. If Vinnie didn't do something quick, Balthazar would die… and he couldn't go back in time and turn it around.
So, he leapt in the air and caught Cavendish right before the latter landed.
"Wow", the bodyguard noted, "I was way off, for some reason. Good thing you were there to save him."
"Ah, you know, he's Cavendish", Dakota replied. "What are ya gonna do?"
Vinnie told them the whole story, conveniently leaving out any of his thoughts concerning Cavendish's possible death and the island of lost Dakotas.
"…and then we had a steak sandwich at a nearby diner, and that's how we got to know each other", Vinnie finished his story.
"But why Mrs Tang's scornful attitude to you lads", Lawrence asked.
"Eh, we're kinda unpopular enough to not even be considered unpopular", Vinnie guessed. "So I guess she kinda hated us from the very start."
"You got that right", Mrs Tang huffed.
"But it gave Cavendish a kinda bad impression, I guess", Dakota mused.
"Quite", Balthazar harrumphed.
"Well, maybe you'll get to know each other even better at this parent meeting", Linda said, embracing both Mrs Tang and Cavendish.
"Bu-but we aren't parents", Balthazar protested. "We pretended to be some, but I'm not sure Gregory Teacher is an actual person."
"Well, you could still mingle in", Linda said. "It at least gives you something to do when protecting those pistachios over there.
Cavendish pondered about what Linda said, glancing over to the green nuts.
Dakota and Cavendish decided to join the parent meeting. They met up with several other parents, aside from the Turners, the Tangs and the Flynn-Fletchers.
The next parent they met was one Bucky McBadbat, a baseball player apparently so terrible that he had to wear a paper bag in order to prevent getting lynched.
They also met Connie and Clark Carmichael, a pair of wildlife fanatics slash veterinarians. They had a shortlived rivalry with the Turners, but in the end, they turned out to be not as bad as the Dinklebergs (who were, according to Mr Turner, the most vile people ever, though Cavendish and Dakota doubted that).
Next up were Mr and Mrs Johnson, a pair of African-American people whose son was apparently a super genius. Then came a woman who was good friends with Mrs Tang, but Dakota forgot her surname, while Cavendish thought it was Star, but refused to believe it was true.
The last were a pair of Hispanic people that actually were from a different town, but the Flynn-Fletchers met yesterday. They were known as Rafael and Angie Diaz, who told their son was currently having adventures in another dimension as a squire. According to Linda, it was a metaphor that their son went to college, which Balthazar found strange for a 14-year old boy.
Much to Vinnie's delight, they brought tortilla chips.
A few hours had passed, as the discussions were thriving, and Dakota was snacking on tortillas, caviar, egg rolls, pigs-in-a-blanket, deviled eggs, and other various foods, much to the dismay of both Cavendish and Mrs Tang.
In spite of their dismay, the meeting was enjoyable. Fun, one might even say. Dakota and Cavendish were pretty interested in the stories the parents had to say, whether it was about the parents themselves, or the irrational stories they told. For instance, the Turners told how their son Timmy had a martial arts fight with the local bully, and won. The Flynn-Fletchers told how their kids managed to reunite Love Händel on their anniversary. The Diazes told about a story how their son Marco had led a princess rebellion and threw over a school system.
"Golly, I didn't think I would have so much fun today", Cavendish announced. "I wouldn't know what could ruin my mood."
At the moment Balthazar's words left his mouth, however, something happened that could instantaneously ruin his mood. The backside of a white and purple van had crashed into the wall of the recreation center… at the exact spot Balth and Vinnie left the food trolley full of pistachios, crushing them instantly.
Soon after, a 'GONG' sounded that repaired the wall and moved the van away… but the pistachios remained crushed.
"I guess that would", Vinnie replied.
"NononononononoNONONONONONONONONONONOOOO", Balthazar panicked. "How could this have happened?!"
"Calm down, it's just some pistachios", Mrs Tang dismissed.
"Yeah, normally I'd agree, but our boss really wants the pistachios to be saved", Dakota responded. "Even if it was one of the most insignificant jobs that we're being assigned to."
He picked up his partner and said: "Come on, Cav, I think we still did a pretty decent job today."
As Vinnie dragged Balthazar to the exit, Linda pulled a notepad from her pocked and observed what she had written.
"Wait", she called to Vinnie and Balth, who turned around.
"Would you like to at least stay for our next item on our parent meeting?" she asked.
"There's more than talking and snacking?" Dakota asked.
"What could be on your planning that would make it better", Cavendish questioned.
"I think you might like it", Linda teased. "Or at least, one of you might."
"'Chop, chop, chop, chop away at my heart!'" Vinnie and Balthazar sang along the karaoke of the Lumberzacks hit song, 'Chop Away At My Heart'.
For the past hour, the time travelers had joined the parents singing karaoke along various tracks from all sorts of popular songs, such as ones from Chip Skylark, Love Händel, Britney Britney, and yes, also Lindana. Just like with the talking, the two had lots of fun.
"Whew, what a time", Vinnie puffed. "Feeling better now, Cav?"
"Exponentially better", Balthazar confirmed. "But I think it's time for us to go, now."
"Already?" Mr Turner asked. "But we're only halfway!"
"Well, we'd love to continue singing with you guys", Cavendish explained, "but I'm not sure how Mr Block would react if we told him we've been singing to karaoke tracks the entire day after we failed our mission."
"Well, if you say so", Connie said.
"We're gonna miss you guys", Rafael said while bearhugging the time travelers. "We've had loads of fun with you guys! Right, Mrs Tang?"
"Yeah, alright", Mrs Tang huffed like she didn't care.
"W-well, thank you all", Balthazar said. "I did not expect to have so much fun with you either."
"This calls for a memorial group selfie", Dakota exclaimed. "With a fully charged phone this time! Say cheese!"
Click!
Vinnie and Balthazar were walking back to the trailer park, after having said their goodbyes to the parents.
"Those were some pretty fun parents, alright", Vinnie told his partner.
"Yes", Balth admitted, "they weren't too bad indeed."
"Although, maybe the Turners should care a little more for their son, but what do I know", Dakota said.
They were walking towards a skate park, seeing many kids leave the place, after having much fun skating there, presumably. They didn't think much of it, but as they passed the entrance, they heard a feminine voice calling for them. "Hey!"
Dakota and Cavendish turned around, as they saw a little girl with pale blond hair and a yellow dress approach them.
When she reached the two time travelers, she asked: "Can you guys do me a favor tomorrow?"
