Isabella was in her room, with an ice pack over her black eye, moping and crying. She could not believe "Phineas" had actually done such a horrible thing to her.
She glanced at a framed drawing of Phineas with hearts surrounding him on her nightstand table. Taking it, she stared at and began to envision her memories with Phineas through her mind.
"What Might Have Been (Instrumental Version)"
A montage of Isabella's memories showed all of the good things that she and Phineas had done together:
Like the time Phineas built a haunted house to help cure her bad case of the hiccups.
The time he gave her a big ice cream sundae when she got her tonsils removed.
The time he built her a Rainbow-Inator when he misunderstood her saying she had "never seen one of those in real life", when she was actually talking about unicorns.
When Phineas made Isabella blush for the first time on the Boat of Romance as they watched the sunset together.
The time she and the others shrunk, and she was caught in danger by a mechanical bug. Luckily, Phineas rescued her, swinging down on some thread and carried her to safety.
The time he invited her for a ride on their flying carpet.
The time they created their own Trojan War reenactment, where he was Paris and she was Helen.
The time they shared a picnic, alone together.
And on her birthday when she went out for ice cream with him after his grand finale for her. All she ever wanted was time alone with Phineas, that day.
But then, all of those memories began to transform into the depth ones:
Such as the time they did the Summer All The Time Collection for Gaston Le Mode's runway, and she cut out a fabric heart chain to show Phineas her feelings. But he was just confused by this.
The time she tried to ask him to The Night of the Falling Stars Girls' Choice Dance. Only for Phineas to invite Ferb along.
When they went on their Trip Around the World, in which Paris was one of their stops. But Phineas paid no attention to her.
Helping the boys with Meap, but Phineas believed Meap to be the cutest thing in the world, and Isabella failed to convince him that she was cute, too.
The time Phineas kept neglecting her during his and Ferb's career as "The Beak". Even though he was only trying to protect her.
The time she tried offering him a smoothie, but he turned it down as he did not like zucchini.
The time at the Halloween party at a castle, in which she dressed up as Cinderella. She tried to get Phineas to return her shoe by pretending to lose it, but he didn't notice.
Just on New Year's Eve, when she reminded him of the traditional kissing at midnight, but Phineas failed to get the hint and instead suggested that they build their own version of the New Year's Eve ball drop.
During the Pharmacist Outbreak spreading out in Danville, Isabella never earned her Emotional Bravery Patch, which was to confess her true feelings for Phineas.
Finally, those memories ended with Phineas hitting her in the eye.
Isabella sniffled, and reached for a tissue. "I just don't believe it," she thought to herself, aloud. "After all we've been through, together. And all he's done for me. Now, he does this to me. He doesn't even know how I really feel."
She paused to blow her nose, and placed the picture back on her nightstand.
"Maybe it's time to give up."
Heartbroken, and in rage, she flipped the drawing face-flat down and ducked her head between her legs and sobbed.
As for Candace, she returned to the very same spot she was at when the lightning struck her the previous day. After waiting a while, she started to get impatient, so she tried calling Phineas through his blue flip phone. But all she got was her own answering machine.
Candace groaned in dismay. She waited for the beep, and said; "Phineas, it's me. I'm precisely at the spot I was at when the lighting struck me. What's taking you so long?!"
She hung up Phineas' phone when she finished her voicemail, and paced around.
"Aloha," she heard her own voice greet from behind.
Candace spun around to face Phineas, smiling at her in his sister's newly-fashioned body.
"Oh… my… God…" Candace's jaw dropped.
"So…" grinned Phineas, "what do you think?"
"What have you done to me?!" exclaimed Candace.
"I'm giving you the day you'll never forget. More specifically, what you said you couldn't have over last summer, thanks to me," explained Phineas.
Candace examined Phineas in her body in deep astonishment. "My hair. It's… it's… it's beautiful!" She said, while sobbing a little. She sniffed and looked at the clothes Phineas picked out for her. "And I've been wanting that outfit since… well…" she blushed.
Phineas nodded. "And, I also paid a visit to the Le Rub de Scrub Spa. Remember when you and Stacy never went?"
I can't believe he did all of that for me, Candace thought to herself. She gave Phineas a big hug. "You're the best little brother a big sister could ever have!"
"You're welcome. So, how'd it go with the guys?" Phineas asked.
Candace went tongue-tied at that. She was afraid Phineas might ask her that. She didn't know how to explain to Phineas that she finally got him busted, thus ruining his social life with his friends, while he seemed to have improved her own. After all he's done for her, and the only way she ever seemed to repay him was by being an awful sister to him and Ferb.
She separated from Phineas. "Um… it went alright, I guess," she lied. "Can we get back to investigate our mind swapping?" She suggested, deciding to change the subject for now.
Phineas quickly remembered the reason why he was meeting Candace. "Oh! Right!"
"Okay!" Candace said. "So, this is precisely where I was when that lightning struck me, yesterday."
Phineas nodded. "Okay. What exactly were you doing before the lightning?"
"Well, I was walking along, after our not-so-great conversation, and…" Candace stopped in mid-sentence. "Ooh! What exactly happened after that before the lightning?" She began to panic.
"Calm down, Candace," Phineas tried to comfort his sister. "Don't worry. We're gonna figure this out, together. Tell you what, I'll go back to the spot where I was when the lightning struck me, and then we'll see if anything happens then. Okay?"
Candace took a deep breath, and nodded. "Okay."
She watched as Phineas left down the sidewalk.
After a few minutes, she felt Phineas' phone buzz in her pocket. "Hello?" She answered.
"It's me," Phineas said from the other line. "I'm right outside the Fireside Girls Lodge cabin. I was standing precisely right here when the lightning struck me."
"Okay," said Candace. She looked up, and around. "Isn't something supposed to happen?"
"Be patient," Phineas assured her. "Just close your eyes, relax yourself, and think what could have caused this lightning."
"That's it?"
"And try to pray real hard to be switched back," added Phineas. "I'll stay on line with you."
In their spots, Phineas and Candace both closed their eyes, and relaxed themselves.
They prayed as hard as they could in order to be swapped back to their own bodies.
"Oh, Lightning?" Candace spoke aloud. "It's me, Candace. Well… me Candace, still trapped in the body of my brother, Phineas. I… I-I mean we have returned exactly where we were when you struck us. So… you may strike me again. Ready whenever you are."
She waited, and braced herself. But nothing happened.
"Still waiting…" said Candace.
"Show yourself!" Phineas joined in, over the phone.
They waited for a minute or two. But still, nothing happened.
Suddenly, Candace gasped. "Of course! It's the Mysterious Force! It has returned to torture me!"
"What Mysterious Force?" asked Phineas.
"You know, the Mysterious Force that causes your inventions to disappear before Mom can see them?"
Phineas groaned. He knew what Candace was talking about. "I'm coming back," he told Candace before hanging up.
Candace waited a few minutes for Phineas to come back.
When he returned, he had the most annoyed look on his face. "Would you please stop it with this "Mysterious Force"?" exclaimed Phineas. "You know that's impossible!"
"No, it is possible! Explain how everything you and Ferb build always seems to disappear before Mom gets home!" exclaimed Candace.
"I don't know!" Phineas complained. "I'm sure there's a logical explanation for it. The way I see it, the universe works in mysterious ways."
Candace groaned. "No! Think about it! The logical explanation is the Mysterious Force! The real question is, why does it care so much about you and Ferb? Why doesn't it want you to get busted?" she exclaimed.
Phineas groaned as he and Candace argued.
Vanessa nearly passed by Phineas and Candace on her scooter. Noticing them, she came to a halt and looked back. She turned herself around, and pulled over to the siblings.
"Candace?" Vanessa said to "Candace", as she removed her helmet and goggles.
"What?" Candace responded. But, as expected, it looked like it was "Phineas" who greeted back.
"No!" Phineas hastily blurted out. "You don't mean 'what'! I mean 'what'! What?" He said to a confused Vanessa.
"I thought that was you," Vanessa tried to dismiss the awkwardness. She examined "Candace's" new attire. "That's quite a style you picked out. You look nice for a change." Then, she looked over at "Phineas". "Phineas, right?"
When Candace didn't answer, Phineas frowned and nudged her a little.
"Oh, yeah! Hi Vanessa! Yes, that's me! Phineas!" chuckled Candace.
"Are… you okay?" Vanessa asked the two.
"Huh?" said Candace. "Oh, we're fine! Perfect! Never been-" she paused as she felt a tickle in her/"Phineas'" throat, and cleared it. "Better!" She finished.
Vanessa narrowed her eyes. "Well… okay… if you say so…" She was about to start her scooter up, again. "Oh!" She remembered something, and stopped. "By the way, Candace. In case you haven't heard, they're having another Ducky Momo Sale in the Town Square, tomorrow."
Candace's eyes widened. "Oh my God! You mean Ducky Momo's-" she quickly cut herself off, realizing it looked like "Phineas" who was excited to hear about this. "I mean… that's great to hear. You should be very excited about that, Candace."
Vanessa blinked in absolute confusion at "Phineas'" reaction. "Are you… sure you're alright?" She asked.
"Well… umm…" Candace stammered speechlessly.
Phineas remained silent.
"You know, my dad's been working on this new inator thing, yesterday," Vanessa brought up to them, now suspicious.
Hearing that caught the siblings' attention sharply.
"Your dad?" asked Phineas.
"What inator thing?" Candace hastily demanded to know.
"I'm not sure," said Vanessa. "But now I'm thinking, that must've had something to do with whatever's going on with you two."
Phineas and Candace glanced at each other in surprise.
"But wait, I thought you said he'd given up on evil," said Candace. "Or… so Candace told me."
"Vanessa," Phineas began to say, "are you saying that, you'll actually believe us… if we tell you something crazy, that happened to us?"
"Which is?" Vanessa said, nodding her head.
Phineas hesitated for a few seconds. Then, he finally spit it out. "Candace and I somehow switched bodies last night!"
Vanessa stared at "Candace". Then at "Phineas".
"It's true!" Candace complained.
Studying the two, Vanessa gestured her head to her scooter. "Come with me."
As Vanessa put her helmet and goggles back on, Phineas and Candace stared at each other in absolute surprise.
"Y-you're saying you really do believe us?" asked Candace.
"Yeah," Vanessa started her scooter up. "Hop on. I'm sure my Dad can fix this."
While Phineas climbed onto the scooter behind Vanessa, Candace was stammered in disbelief. "So we're not crazy!" She beamed, maniacally. "You hear that, Danville? My brother and I are not crazy!"
Phineas cringed, embarrassed. "Yeah, yeah, are you coming?" He asked, getting impatient.
The look on Candace's/"Phineas'" face snapped her out of her craziness, and she hopped on Vanessa's scooter behind Phineas.
"Hang on!" announced Vanessa.
With Phineas holding onto Vanessa, and Candace holding onto Phineas, Vanessa rode off down the street.
"I don't know, Perry the Platypus!" claimed Dr. Doofenshmirtz. "If you hadn't disposed of those important scrolls, I'd know what to do!"
Perry blinked, and then grinned sheepishly.
Then, Dr. Doofenshmirtz sighed. "What's the use, anyway. I don't know how to undo the Brain-Switch Inator to switch those children back, and Vanessa won't even talk to me anymore."
Just then, Vanessa barged in through the front door. "Dad?" When she saw her father, she looked back out into the hall, and waved her hand. "He's in here."
Dr. Doofenshmirtz flinched. "Vanessa! What are you doing here? I thought you said you were never gonna talk to me again!"
But Vanessa ignored him as Phineas and Candace approached near the doorway.
Perry grimaced at the sight of his owners. Thinking fast, he dashed over to one of the open boxes, and hid.
"You remember Candace Flynn, and her brother, Phineas, right?" Vanessa asked.
Dr. Doofenshmirtz immediately recognized the siblings; the times during the Pharmacist Outbreak, and the time he and the gang had to rescue Candace and Vanessa from Feebla-Oot. But now, much to his own horror, mostly from their images on the Brain-Switch Inator's program.
"Oh, yes!" Dr. Doofenshmirtz grinned, somewhat anxious. "I remember you two kids. Unfortunately, as you can see, my nemesis and I are-" He pointed down where Perry was, only to find the platypus gone. Dr. Doofenshmirtz blinked in confusion. "Well, he was here just a moment ago."
Before he could start looking for Perry, Vanessa spoke firmly, "Dad! My friends would like to have a word with you."
Dr. Doofenshmirtz looked up, and giggled nervously. "Of course." Hesitant, he approached Phineas and Candace. "H-how can I help you?" He examined "Candace's" new outfit. "Oh, that's a nice new look. You look pretty."
Phineas ignored the doctor's compliment. "Dr. D.," he said, "we need to talk to you about something that happened to us."
"Yeah," Candace agreed, bitterly. "Something that Vanessa says you're responsi-"
"Let me handle this!" Phineas cut her off.
"Okay!" fussed Candace.
Dr. Doofenshmirtz's casual smile slowly faded by "Phineas'" strange behavior.
Phineas began to explain. "When we woke up this morning, we weren't… ourselves."
"Yeah?" Candace nodded in agreement.
Dr. Doofenshmirtz stared blankly at the two. Without a word, he simply slammed the door in their faces.
"Dad!" exclaimed Vanessa.
There was a hasty knock on the door, and the doorbell rang twice.
Dr. Doofenshmirtz noticed his daughter glaring at him. Grinning nervously again, he opened the door to Phineas and Candace. "Oh! You're back!" He pretended to look surprised.
"What do you mean?" asked Candace. "We didn't go anywhere."
"Riiight…" mused Dr. Doofenshmirtz. Then, he pretended to act all innocent and quirky. "Funny story, Kids! I haven't even a clue of whatever you're talking about! No idea!" He laughed. "Oh well. Have a nice day!"
He tried to close the door, again.
But this time, Phineas stuck his/"Candace's" foot in between to prevent him from doing so. Opening the door a little, he and Candace glared at Dr. Doofenshmirtz, suspiciously.
The siblings stepped inside to confront the evil scientist.
"I think you know exactly what we're talking about!" declared Phineas.
"Either you tell us, or let's hit him!" Candace said, threateningly. She put her/"Phineas'" fist up.
Dr. Doofenshmirtz flinched, frightened by "Phineas'" temper. "All right! All right! All right! I'll talk!" Taking a breath, Dr. Doofenshmirtz began to explain. "I've been working on another invention, yesterday. It's what I've been doing since the past years. But my nemesis keeps thwarting my evil schemes-" he caught himself. "I-I mean experiments!"
Phineas and Candace both eyed him agitated.
"Dad…" groaned Vanessa.
"Okay! I used to be an evil scientist who creates inators!" Dr. Doofenshmirtz admitted.
"Inators?" asked Phineas. "What kind of inators?"
"Now, let's see…" Dr. Doofenshmirtz thought to remember his past inators. "There was; my old Shrink-Inator, which is now a planter, my Turn Everything Evil-Inator, my Destruct-Inator, my Invis-Inator, I-I've had a lot of Inators! My most recent one is my Brain-Switch Inator." He gestured towards the Brain-Switch Inator. "That is most likely the answer to your problem."
Candace's eyes widened. "Wait a minute!" She interrupted. "Shrink-Inator? Destruct-Inator? Brain-Switch Inator?" Then, she glared at him, and pointed. "You! YOU'RE the Mysterious Force!"
"The what-now?" Dr. Doofenshmirtz looked puzzled.
"YOU'RE the reason my brothers' inventions disappear every day!" Candace shouted. "It all makes sense now! All this time, I thought it was some kind of Mysterious Force! But now I know! I KNOW!" She grinned evilly, and laughed maniacally.
Phineas face-palmed, embarrassed by Candace's behavior. "May we please stick to the topic, here?" he calmly suggested.
Candace immediately stopped laughing.
Everyone stared at each other awkwardly for a few moments, before Dr. Doofenshmirtz finally broke the silence.
"Umm… like I was saying... the Brain-Switch Inator is the answer to your problem! I'd use it to switch you two back to normal, but unfortunately, it's not working at the moment," he explained. "I'm missing two very important scrolls needed for the inator."
Phineas' eyes widened. "Scrolls! That's it! A scroll landed right in front of me, just before the lightning happened!"
"Me too!" said Candace.
The siblings exchanged a surprised glance. "We found those scrolls!" They both told Dr. Doofenshmirtz, who nodded.
"I can see that, but now that the Brain-Switch Inator has targeted you both, I don't really know how it can be undone, if that's what you came to ask me."
Candace's jaw dropped. "WHAT?! You mean we're, like, stuck in this curse?!"
"You're not gonna do anything about it?" asked Phineas.
"Well, I would know what to do, if my nemesis hadn't disposed of those scrolls," said Dr. Doofenshmirtz.
Eavesdropping on them, Perry rolled his eyes in dismay.
Phineas just thought of something. "So, Dr. D., of all of the inators you created, did they work?"
"Most of them," answered Dr. Doofenshmirtz. "That is, until my nemesis thwarts my evil schemes."
"Well, whoever your nemesis is, I'd like to have a word with him about all this!" snapped Candace.
Hearing Candace's words made Perry gulp. It seemed like only yesterday he caught Phineas and Ferb helping Dr. Doofenshmirtz with his Other Dimension-Inator, and eventually was forced to reveal his secret to the boys. Boy was Phineas angry at the platypus for believing he didn't trust him enough to tell him. Really, it was because once his cover was blown, he would have had to be relocated to another family and never see Phineas and Ferb again. Perry loved them just as much as they loved him.
Perry smiled a little at the memory of that day. Then, he snapped himself back into reality and remained hidden, careful not to be spotted by either Phineas or Candace.
"Wait, so you've made every single inator in the past?" asked Phineas.
"Yes," Dr. Doofenshmirtz answered. "Except one, which was the Space-Laser-Inator. It must've gotten mixed up with this giant Ice Cream like machine."
"Oh yeah, I remember that," agreed Vanessa. "I met Ferb for the first time at the store that very day."
"Space Laser-Inator?" Phineas said. "Hey. That's exactly one of the things Ferb and I ended up building last year! We were supposed to make that Ice Cream Maker for my friend, Isabella. After she had her tonsils removed."
Hearing Phineas mention Isabella made Candace regret not telling him what she did to her. Along with getting into a fight with Buford, and finally getting him busted by Linda. "Um… actually, Phineas, there's… something I shoulda told you earlier," she said.
"What is it?" Phineas looked at her.
Candace bit her/"Phineas'" lip. "May we speak outside? Alone?"
Phineas nodded. "Of course." He looked back up at Dr. Doofenshmirtz. "Thanks, Dr. D. Vanessa. That's all we wanted to know." With that, Phineas followed Candace out in the hallway, and into the elevator.
Once they were completely out of sight, Perry came out from his hiding place.
Dr. Doofenshmirtz noticed. "Oh, there you are, Perry the Platypus. You just missed those two kids the Brain-Switch Inator targeted."
Perry rolled his eyes, irritated.
"Well," Vanessa said. "That settles it!" She began to leave.
But Dr. Doofenshmirtz stopped her. "Vanessa, wait!"
Vanessa turned back to him. "What?"
"I…" Dr. Doofenshmirtz began. "... I know I broke my promise. And I'm really sorry."
Vanessa just narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "Sorry is not going to cut it this time. You promised that you would stop being evil!" She exclaimed. "'Promise' is a really big word, you know..."
Dr. Doofenshmirtz sighed sadly. "Yes, I know. I let my pride and my vengeance against my brother get to me, again, when I shouldn't have. I know that I've made pretty elaborate schemes that turned out to be big mistakes, and my latest one that caused your friends' brains to be switched is definitely one of them. But right now, I just can't figure out how to switch them back. I've been such an embarrassing father to you..."
Perry showed some sympathy for his nemesis, gently patting his arm.
Seeing their sad sulking looks made Vanessa's frown turn into a look of empathy. Sure, her father did make a lot of mistakes in the past. That was most likely because he's had a miserable childhood with uncaring parents. So, he tried to make it up by doing things for her, which she found rather embarrassing. Like she said before, he was more of a good guy who tried to be evil, after all his failed attempts to win her affection.
Finally, she sighed, and shook her head. "I guess, I was a little rough on you, myself..." she stated.
Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Perry both looked up at her in surprise.