"Fireside Diaries"
Story Written by Freedom Fighter

Enough of you liked the first season that "Fireside Diaries" has returned for a second season! There's a lot more fun in store, so let's get right to it! Season 2 starts with one of the two girls who didn't get a solo story in Season 1... Katie! (Look for Milly's first tale a little later on...)

Disclaimer: The characters of 'Phineas and Ferb' belong to Disney.


On a late afternoon in April, at the Fireside Girls' clubhouse in the woods...

"Meeting adjourned!"

Isabella banged the gavel down on the podium, which ended the meeting. The girls began to head for the exit. Suddenly, the arm of one girl reached out to tap the left shoulder of a second.

"Katie..." Gretchen said to her. "Can you wait a sec?"

"Sure," nodded Katie.

The two of them sat down, with Gretchen reaching into her bookbag to pull out her tablet PC as she did. She brought it out of sleep mode, and it booted up to a set of charts detailing how many entries each girl had written for the troop's mini-blog.

"Remember how the two of us came up with the plan to turn the troop website into a blog of all our adventures? Y'know... two weeks ago?"

"Yeah?"

"I haven't gotten any from you, Katie! Everyone's doing their part! Isabella has nearly a third of the entries herself - and that's not counting the ones she posts on behalf of the entire troop! Katie, you've got to contribute to the website!"

"I would, but I'm not that interesting! I can't ride a unicycle..."


Holly was riding on a unicycle, along a tightrope that was suspended above a bucket filled with mealworms that happened to be hanging above a tank filled with piranhas! To make it even more challenging, not only was it also raining, but she had blindfolded herself.


"...or be the Easter bunny..."


Adyson, dressed in a full head-and-body Easter bunny costume, lowered her head in embarrassment after having been talked into doing this gig.

"Just... just give me my basket..."

Isabella instead pulled out a carrot and motioned for Adyson to take it.

"Not until you take a bite of this and say, 'Eh... what's up, Doc?'"

"THAT'S NOT RIGHT AND YOU KNOW IT!"


"...or have tales of the things I'm doing to win over the boy of my dreams..."


Ginger was sitting quietly at an open table at the library, smiling gleefully with her fingers interlocked in front of her.

"Now all I have to do is wait for Baljeet to show up..."

So she waited, and waited, and waited, and waited... until she got a phone call.

"Hello?" Ginger said as she answered her cell phone.

She heard Gretchen on the other end, asking where she was. She replied...

"I'm at the library."

Gretchen told Ginger something... and that sent her into a panicked frenzy.

"WHAT? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS LIBRARY'S CLOSED ON SUNDAYS? THEN HOW DID I GET IN HERE?"


Katie chuckled. "Oh, Ginger. I worry about you sometimes."

"Those are great and all," noted Gretchen, "but surely there's at least one story you're willing to share with our audience."

Katie scratched the head, trying to think of a story involving her that she could use. Suddenly...

"I GOT ONE! And it's going to be the bestest, best story EVER!"

-
Entry #328 [FSD201] - The Magical Bluebird (01.09.12)
-

Entry #328 - Written by Katie

I was walking through the forest one beautiful spring day after school, planning to meet up with the rest of the girls at our secret clubhouse - which you should never tell anyone exists, 'cause it's a secret! I was supposed to be walking there with Ginger and Gretchen, but I told them that I had to go home first because I had left my uniform at home.

Katie waved goodbye as Ginger and Gretchen headed off. Once they were out of sight, though, Katie took off running left instead of right, in the opposite direction of her house.

I lied. I just found out about this secret frozen yogurt place that just opened up a few days ago, and they were handing out free samples! I tried the banana strawberry... and it was beyond delicious! I never knew you could mix two fruits with yogurt AND freeze it! What will people think of next?

Katie was so smitten with the free sample that she decided to buy some more to enjoy on the way...

And the part about me lying? I know it's wrong, but I only did it because I wanted to try all the flavors first and make sure they were good before telling them about it. Oh, and those things are expensive...

Katie gave $8.56, which was all the money she had on her, and got in exchange four small cups of frozen yogurt. Five minutes later, just as she was entering the forest, she was seen throwing the fourth and final cup in a nearby trash can, having eaten all of them herself.

Did I mention it was BEYOND delicious?

Katie looked down at her wristwatch and saw that it was already 3:40. She began walking at a faster pace.

"Oh, I hope the girls won't be mad at me for being late!"

She hurried along, not taking the time to smell the blooming flowers or admire the buzzing bees. The beauty of nature was not going to delay her from being any more tardy than she already was.

That was until a bluebird flew down from a tree and into her path, forcing her to stop before she could run into it.

"Whoa! You'd better be more careful, Mr. Bluebird. I almost sent you to the vet!"

The bluebird started chirping at Katie. But not in relief or in anger. It chirped at her in a worried tone. Hearing this, Katie asked...

"Is something wrong?"

The bird explained, in chirps, what the problem is. Katie carefully listened, even though she did not understand what he was saying, until he had finished his tale.

"That sounds great! Too bad I can't understand you. I wish I had Phineas and Ferb's animal translator on me."

The bluebird flapped his wings and started to fly off.

"That doesn't mean I won't help! Wait!"

Katie ran after the bluebird, forgetting about meeting up with her friends and instead focusing her attention on helping the woodland creature she had just met. To her surprise, she was not abandoning the girls after all. Because right at the moment she lost track of the bluebird - which was flying faster than she could run - she ended up finding Gretchen, who was lying face-down on the ground. And, by the looks of it, she was unconscious.

"Gretchen!"

Katie ran over, slipping the backpack she had on off of her shoulders and onto the ground as she did, and came to a stop next to Gretchen's body. Katie flipped Gretchen over so that the front of her body was facing up towards the sky. The blonde-haired girl quickly eyeballed her friend, and to her relief found that the brunette seemed uninjured. She only had small clumps of dirt and glass blades on her body. Suddenly, she heard Gretchen come to, groaning as she did. Katie quickly turned around, and leaned in to stop Gretchen, who was attempting to push herself up into a sitting position.

"Wait! You shouldn't be moving! You might have broken bones..."

"Katie, is that you?"

Gretchen sat up anyways, but she seemed to be squinting her eyes at Katie. And that was because she was having trouble seeing clearly. At that moment, Katie realized that Gretchen was missing something.

Her glasses.

"My glasses!" Gretchen cried, putting her hands on the ground and patting them around her in attempt to find them. "I can't see without my glasses!"

"Zoinks!" exclaimed Katie. "We'd, like, better find them!"

Gretchen continued to feel around on the ground next to her, while Katie took a few steps backward, retracing what she believed to be Gretchen's footprints. Even though she had no evidence of that being the case.

"One, two, three, four, five," she counted off the steps in her head.

CRACK!

Katie froze immediately. She gulped, then slowly looked down at her feet. She lifted her left one, the last to touch the ground, upwards. To her dismay, Gretchen's glasses - well, what was left of them - were underneath.

"I hope Gretchen was considering switching to contacts!"

"OHHH! OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Gretchen began moaning in pain. Katie gulped again.

"Did she actually hear me?"

Gretchen moaned again, even louder this time. Excruciatingly loud.

I wish that were the case. But instead, Gretchen was moaning about something else!

Katie ran back over to her fellow troop member and saw Gretchen rolling back and forth on the ground; her hands grasping her stomach.

And that something else...

Katie watched in horror as Gretchen's nose and mouth disappeared and were replaced by a large toucan-like beak. Then, her arms and hands became substituted with pigeon-like wings. The rest of her head, body, and feet then changed appropriately as well, all until the transformation was complete.

"Tweet," chirped Gretchen, in bird-speak.

Gretchen stared at Katie, who was shocked in disbelief.

...was Gretchen de-evolving... into a dodo bird!

Katie had pulled her Fireside Girls Handbook out of her backpack and was turning it to the ornithology section.

"Hmmm... says here dodo birds are extinct!" she read aloud. "Boy, am I going to prove everyone wrong! I should tell somebody. Perhaps Phineas and Ferb, for some reason..."

She looked up from her book and saw Gretchen had turned and bolted while she was preoccupied.

"Wait! People will ask questions when they see you like that!"

Katie chased after Gretchen, but the latter's head start had put the former at a huge disadvantage.


But try as I might, I could not catch up to Gretchen despite her short legs and her inability to fly. I did, however, manage to get to our secret clubhouse - which, again, you should pretend does not exist.

Katie bent over, gasping for air as she rested her hands on her knees. Once she had recovered, she started walking for the door. But just before she could grab the doorknob...

"HALT!" a booming voice exclaimed, making Katie jump back in fright.

Katie spun around and gasped when a pink 12-foot dragon magically appeared before her.

"WHO DARES TRESPASS? FIRESIDE GIRLS ONLY!"

"But... I am a Fireside Girl!"

"YOU'RE NOT WEARING A UNIFORM? THEREFORE, YOU CANNOT BE ONE!"

"There's no such rule saying you always have to wear it!" argued Katie, holding up the Handbook as proof. "So, let me in!"

"YOU MUST FIRST PASS A TEST!"

Katie thought about it for a second, then asked...

"Why?"

The dragon, taken aback by the question, now was the one who had to pause to think of a response.

"Wow..." she said, in a more-normal-volume voice. "No one's ever asked me why. Uh..."

Katie sat down on a nearby tree stump and waited for several minutes for the dragon to finish her sentence.

"NEVER MIND!" the dragon shouted in exasperation. "NOBODY CARES WHY, EVERYBODY CARES WHETHER YOU PASS THE TEST OR NOW!"

A paper airplane flew out of the dragon's mouth, and it landed on the ground in front of Katie. She picked it up and started to unfold it.

"ANSWER THIS MATH CHALLENGE AND YOU WILL PASS!"

"Hmmm..." Katie murmured, before reading the 'challenge' aloud. "'3a + 2b + 17x + 5 = a - 4y + 6z + 25. Solve for z.'"

Katie looked up quizzically at the dragon.

"I thought you said MATH! Since when does math have letters?"

"OOPS!" the dragon apologized. "THAT'S MEANT FOR HIGH SCHOOLERS!"

A second paper airplane emerged and crashed before Katie. She unfolded it and saw that it read 'What is 0 x 5?'

"Great!" Katie thought to herself. "Why did I pick now, of all times, to forget my zero times tables? Quick, say something! The dragon's staring at you!"

Katie took a deep breath, then... picked up a pebble off the ground and threw it at the dragon's head!

"Yes!" she cheered a little inside.

The pebble ended up going through the dragon's head and into a tree branch behind it... where it ended up hitting something solid.

"OW!"

Two things then fell from that branch... a one-button remote control and a pink, scaly... sausage? The control shattered upon hitting the ground, while the sausage landed on its head. The dragon disappeared from view.

"What the..."

Katie ran over and saw that the sausage was actually the pink dragon. Only this one happened to be just nine inches tall.

"You DO realize this is a 'comedic violence only' story, right?" the dragon asked as she got up, rubbing the one-inch bump atop her head.

"This is a story?" Katie asked in reply. "Oh, and hi, Ginger!"

Ginger gasped. "How did you know?"

"Never mind! Why are you a dragon? Has Gretchen always secretly been a dodo bird? And where is everybody else?"

"Beats me. You're the one telling this story."

"Again... this is a story?"

Suddenly, the two heard chirping above them, in the tree Ginger had fallen from. They looked up, and Katie saw the bluebird that had flown into her earlier.

"Ooh, bluebird!"

It then took off, attempting another getaway.

"I bet that bluebird knows! Let's catch him!"

Katie grabbed Ginger with one hand, then her backpack with the other, and took off once more.


So we chased after the bluebird, going deeper into the forest...

But as Katie and Ginger proceeded onward, their path got darker and darker, due to the fact that the forest was getting so dense that nearly all the sunlight was being kept out. It did not help matters that there were vines clogging up their path. Ginger had climbed up onto Katie's right shoulder to get a better view.

"Oh!" Katie suddenly came up with an idea. "Ginger, you're a dragon, right? You can clear our path with some fire, right?"

"And start a forest fire?" gasped Ginger. "That's against our code! Oh, and I don't breathe fire anyway."

Katie glared at Ginger. "What kind of dragon doesn't breathe fire?"

"Wait!" Ginger quickly changed the subject. "Where's the bluebird?"

Katie stopped. She looked left, right, in front, and behind her. The bluebird was gone.

"If this were a game of 'Tag,'" commented Ginger. "You'd always be 'It.'"

"HELP!" they heard someone scream from nearby. "I'M STUCK!"

The two girls - well, the girl and the dragon - looked at each other and gasped. They knew whose voice was calling out to them.

"ISABELLA!"

They followed their leader's voice until they found the source.

"Whoa..." Katie gasped upon seeing Isabella.

Like Gretchen and Ginger, Isabella had been transformed. She was no longer a girl like me. She was now... a magical unicorn!

Sure enough, Isabella was a glistening white unicorn - one that also happened to keep her long-flowing black, human hair. Unfortunately, it looked as if she had had a rough day, as she had dirt on her face and all four of her legs were entangled in vines.

"When I said I'd love to meet a unicorn today," Isabella thought out loud, "I'm pretty sure I wasn't thinking it would be me!"

"How did this happen?" queried Katie.

"I dunno," Isabella shrugged. "One minute I was talking to Adyson, and the next, I was here!"

"At least you're pretty!" huffed Ginger, who crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm a dragon! A DRAGON!"

Isabella raised an eyebrow curiously. "Aren't dragons... bigger?"

Katie cooed. "I think Ginger looks cute small!"

"Weren't you JUST unhappy about me not being able to breathe fire?" countered Ginger.

"That's all in the past! Let's get Isabella free, and then track down that bluebird!"

So Ginger and I unwrapped the vines from around Isabella's legs.

Once Isabella was free, she stretched each of her four legs out, one at a time.

"Aah! It feels good to be free! So... now what?"

Isabella looked at Katie, waiting for her to give direction.

"Wait... you want me to lead?"

"You seem to know what's going on more than me."

Katie flashed an exuberant smile. "Okay, then!"

Isabella squatted down so that Katie could climb onto her back.

"Okay, Katie!" Isabella shouted. "Tell me what to do!"

Katie nodded. "We were chasing a bluebird. I'm sure if we catch him, he can tell us what we're doing."

Isabella closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Katie watched as Isabella's horn began to light up like a disco ball.

"I... I think I've picked up her magical signature!"

Without warning, Isabella began to lift off of the ground, with Katie riding on her back and Ginger still gripping onto Katie's shoulder. Isabella continued to track the signal, using her magical powers to fly towards the trees and phase them through them, as if they were not there at all.

"Cool!" exclaimed Katie in reference to Isabella.


The trio emerged from the forest, and as they did, they saw the start of a rainbow before them. Isabella landed safely on it, then began walking forward. Katie was stunned with glee, as no words could describe how she was feeling as Isabella carried them over the rainbow.

Five minutes later, they reached the top of the rainbow. Katie, Isabella, and Ginger took in a minute to admire the view of the entire Tri-State Area. But they could not stay up there all day, as they were still searching for the bluebird. There was no way they would all be able to change back to normal if they could not find him.


"Is that... what I think it is?"

The trio was nearing the other end of the rainbow, and Katie had spotted something waiting for them. It was... a pot full of gold coins! Isabella jumped off a few feet short of the end, landing safely and comfortably on all four legs. Katie slid off Isabella's right side - surprising Ginger, who fell off and suffered another landing on the ground on her head - and sprinted for the black cauldron.

"STOP!"

Someone appeared in front of Katie, blocking her path. The blonde girl skidded to a halt just inches away from the newcomer.

"Why you tryin' to take away me pot o' gold, stranger?"

Before Katie stood Adyson, dressed like a leprechaun, complete with red hair and a beard. One that Katie had to touch to make sure it was real...

"Are you daft, lassie?" Adyson asked, slapping Katie's hand away.

"I just wanted to see if it was..."

"Real? Yep, it be as real as the hair between me toes!"

Katie cringed in disgust.

"Now, again... why you tryin' to take away me pot o' gold?"

"We weren't!" Katie exclaimed, as Isabella and Ginger trotted up behind her. "We're just looking for a bluebird!"

"You mean that one?" cut in Isabella, who pointed a hoof at the top of the pot.

Everyone turned in the direction she was pointing, and sure enough, the bluebird had come to rest atop Adyson's gold.

"The bluebird wants me pot o' gold? The fiend!"

"Get it!" Katie shouted.

All four of them leaped at the bluebird, attempting to catch it...

Will Katie the human, Isabella the unicorn, Ginger the dragon, and Adyson the leprechaun catch the bluebird? Will the bluebird tell them what's going on? And where did Gretchen the dodo bird go? Find out in my next diary entry, coming soon!
- Katie, member of Fireside Girls Troop 46231


At the next meeting after Katie's entry had been posted to the website, she was approached at the clubhouse in the woods by Gretchen. She was carrying a hard copy of Katie's entry in her left hand.

"So... I see you read it!" Katie said with a smile on her face. "You like it?"

Unfortunately, the frown on her face indicated that she did not.

"I like it, but you DO realize these are supposed to be tales of factual truth, right?" asked Gretchen.

Katie replied, sheepishly, "It's mostly truth..."

"I DON'T HAVE HAIR BETWEEN MY TOES!" Adyson shouted from the other side of the room.

"We'll leave it up," Gretchen said as she handed the copy to Katie, "but no more fantasy stories, okay?"

With that, Gretchen walked off. Katie stood there for a minute, staring at her story. Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Milly standing there.

"I liked it! You should write more!"

"But Gretchen said I couldn't!"

"She said 'not for the troop site!' She didn't say for anywhere else!"

Katie smiled mischievously.

"Say... wanna help me write Part Two?"

Milly nodded without hesitation, and then the two girls ran for the clubhouse exit in order to begin work on their new project.

End Entry

Author's Notes:
So with Katie, I decided to go a little whimsical and have her write an entry "out of the ordinary," or unexpected of her. Too bad she's probably not going to write anymore... at least for "Fireside Diaries," anyway.

Let me know what you thought of this, as always, and make sure you stay buckled in. New entries premiere Mondays, right here! Until next week, see ya!