CHAPTER 10- I must say, this is one of the chapters with the least action, but it's my favorite.

Real fast: If any of you out there live in NC or VA, keep your eye out! I'll be there from the 14 of July to the 18 with my church choir, because we're going on tour! PM me if you actually want to know where we'll be!

In the meantime, I don't own Phineas and Ferb.

Read on!

With that, the pair of brothers turned away from each other and headed in opposite directions.

FERB'S POV

I sighed as I stumbled over yet another piece of fallen ceiling. Holly gripped my arm and steadied me and I gave her a grateful smile. I yanked on the obnoxious stone behind me and it fell forward to a more manageable position.

Holly turned back to walking next to me and I returned my attention to the tablet I was carrying. The darn thing was seriously heavy, and it didn't help much that my hands were burned from putting it back together. My telekinesis can only last so long without me getting too tired, so that in itself was a last minute resort.

A hand placed on my chest made me stop and look down. Perry stood in front of me, his brow furrowed, and he was looking into the distance. I raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?" I whispered, lowering the stone so that it was resting on the floor of the hallway.

Perry motioned forward and I craned my ears in that direction, and tried as hard as I could to figure out what he had heard. A soft clatter reached my ears and I looked at Holly.

Her eyes were wide and she looked at me. "Do we want to know what that is?"

I shook my head slowly and looked down at Perry. He was looking at us and he shook his head, and motioned us towards a door set into the side of the hall that I hadn't noticed before. I hauled the stone up off of the floor and followed Holly and Perry into the room.

It was crazily dark, and Perry shuffled around for a moment. There was a click, and the lights flicked on above us. Perry shut the door to the hall and glanced around the room, his face filled with relief.

He darted over to a trunk that rested in the corner of the otherwise empty room and began rummaging through it. Holly and I glanced at one another and walked over to where he was. Perry pulled himself out of the trunk holding two devices that looked suspiciously like hearing aids.

He paused, grabbed two more, and stuck them in his hat. He grabbed a gun from the trunk, stuck it in his hat as well, and shut the lid of the trunk with his tail. He held out the hearing aids to Holly and I. We glanced at each other and took them slowly.

Perry motioned for us to put them in and I looked at Holly. She shrugged and began positioning the aid in her ear. I set the stone onto the floor and let it lean against my leg. I went to put the aid into my ear, but my burnt fingers couldn't position the strap around my ear. Holly stepped over, her aid already in place, and her cool fingers pulled the device from my hands.

"Let me," she said as she fastened the aid to my ear. It was in a moment later and we looked at Perry.

"What does this do," Holly asked, "improve our hearing?"

Perry smiled, coughed and chattered.

"Testing, one, two, three."

Holly and I jumped and we both stared at Perry. His grin widened. "It works, right? Carl designed these specifically in case something like this was to happen."

I shook my head slowly, filled with disbelief. "You know you have an Australian accent?" was the only thing that I could think of to say.

Perry snorted and nodded. Holly frowned. "Wait, what do you mean, 'something like this'?"

Perry shrugged. "If I were ever in a situation where we needed to communicate and pen and paper wouldn't cut it. Frankly, I'm amazed that I even remembered about these."

Holly nodded. "All right. Do you have one for when we get back to Phineas and Isabella and everyone?"

I was kind of happy she said when and not if.

Perry nodded. "Yeah. Unfortunately, Carl only designed four, so some people aren't going to get one."

"Does it work for all animals, or just you?" I asked as I removed the heavy stone from my foot and leaned it against the wall.

"If you're asking if you could understand Pinky, then yes."

I nodded. Holly sighed. "So, are we just going to stay here until we get a signal or something from Phineas?"

The ceiling rumbled and Perry's face paled. "No way. That's another thing….the ghost shield ends in about twenty yards."

Holly and I looked at each other. "It what?" we cried.

Perry winced. "I know. But we have to keep moving, or Phineas and Isabella and Candace and everyone can't get to the Other dimension-inator."

I looked at Holly. Her face was pale and her hands were trembling. "I really don't want to deal with ghosts, Ferb. They're coming from everywhere!"

It suddenly dawned on me which ghost she really didn't want to see-her mother. I could see it in her eyes. She was scared to death, and she obviously didn't want to go through that hurt again. I took both her hands in mine and sighed. "Holly, I know. But you can't see them…not the ones from here, anyways. You can do this. I believe in you."

Holly gulped and squeezed my charred hands. I grimaced, but didn't say anything. "You sure Ferb?"

I nodded. "Positive. Please. Perry and I need you."

Perry nodded and Holly sighed. She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a tight hug. I hugged back and then pulled away, resting my hands on her shoulders. "You good?"

Holly bit her lip and nodded, which made her brown pigtails bob in the cutest way.

I shook my head at the thought. I can't get too sentimental right now! Perry tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to find him holding up about five pairs of sunglasses. My eyes widened.

"Those aren't-?"

It wasn't even a question. Perry nodded. "Extra ghost glasses. I had Carl make more. It's a good thing I did."

I shook my head. "I really got to thank Carl someday."

I glanced at Holly. She sighed and took a pair. When I raised an eyebrow, she smiled. "I might as well know what I'm up against."

Perry tucked the rest into his hat and I couldn't help but wonder how much stuff he could store in there. It seemed pretty spacious for a 1940's fedora. I picked up the stone, half with my mind, and half with my own strength, and I nodded to the door.

"Shall we go?" Perry opened the door and motioned us out. I followed Holly and glanced back as Perry shut the door behind him. I glanced down the dark hallway and grimaced.

Holly grabbed my left hand, the one that I wasn't using to hold the stone, and she then reached over and grabbed Perry's hand.

I gave her an encouraging smile, and we headed into the ghost shield free zone.

Phineas sighed and punched the wall in anger, yelping and shaking his fist a second later. Isabella groaned and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Phineas, focus! This is not going to help Ferb, Holly, and Perry!"

Candace shook her head. "She's right, Phineas. You need to calm down."

Phineas moaned and slid to the rubble filled floor, putting his head in his hands. "I know! But this is the third door that's locked, and the fifth that's led us nowhere!"

Dr. Doofenshmirtz sighed and leaned against the wall. "Kid, if I've learned anything from being thwarted by your platypus on a daily basis, it's that sometimes you need to hit a few dead ends before you go anywhere."

Everyone turned to look at him in astonishment. The scientist shrugged. "What? Sometimes I give good advice!"

Phineas gave a small smile. "You're right, Dr. D. But I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. The ghosts are still coming after us-" a rumble above them proved his point, "-and Pinky doesn't have keys to this part of the underground system."

Pinky shook his head and spread his paws out, giving a weak smile. Isabella patted her dog gently and then turned back to Phineas. She knelt in front of him.

"Look, Phineas, I know this is scary, but you need to pull through. For Ferb. Come on! You've built a rollercoaster-twice, might I add-you've gone to the moon who knows how many times, travelled through time…the least you can do is open that door!"

Phineas glanced up and locked eyes with Isabella. She sighed. "Phineas, I know you can do this. I haven't gotten my lock picking patch yet, and you can get us into that room faster than anyone else here. Please. We all believe in you!"

She paused, and glanced down at the floor. "I believe in you," she said quietly, unknowingly echoing Ferb's words.

Phineas looked at Isabella for a long time. Finally, he grabbed her by the elbows and stood pulling her with him. "You're right Isabella," he said softly, gazing into her eyes. "I can do it. I just needed to believe in something."

He frowned slightly, and then gave the dazzling smile that Isabella had come to love. "And I think I found it."

He yanked her forward and pressed his lips to hers. Candace leapt in the air and pumped her fist with pure happiness.

Vanessa smiled and leaned her head against her dad's chest. The evil doctor gave a small smile and wrapped an arm around his daughter. Pinky just shook his head and grinned. Perry so owed him five bucks.

Phineas pulled away a second later, his face the color of his hair. Isabella stared at him in astonishment. "You….you just…I…but…"

Phineas rubbed his neck sheepishly and turned to the lock in front of him. "So….a padlock. Piece of cake."

Isabella looked back at Candace, who gave her a grin. Isabella smiled and linked her fingers through Phineas'. The boy paused for barely a second, gave a smile, squeezed her fingers, and had the lock open in a matter of twenty seconds.

"See," he said, sweeping his hand aside and gesturing to the room in front of him, "piece of cake."

Everyone trooped into the room and Phineas began to follow. Isabella tightened her hold on his hand and the boy stopped, his face flushing again. Isabella raised an eyebrow.

"You realize that that was the corniest thing ever, right?"

Phineas blushed even more and rubbed his neck. "Yeah, well-"

Isabella stopped him. "It was also the sweetest."

Phineas grinned and glanced up as the ceiling shook again. He pulled Isabella into the room after the others. "Hey," he said, and shrugged lightly, "I figured, we're going to get attacked by ghosts at some point; I might as well get that feeling out there. It's been in me for a while, and I really wanted to…do it sooner."

His face gained a deeper shade of red as he realized what he'd just confessed and he quickly let go of Isabella's hand.

Phineas darted over to Candace, and despite the rumbling ceiling above them, the boys step had never been lighter.

I had to. It was the perfect opportunity to throw some Phinabella in there. Was it too much?

Eh, I don't think it was.

Yeah yeah. Translators. Hey, Perry lost his pen! And Carl doesn't get enough credit. *sad face* But anywho...

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