Day fifteen of MerMay prompt month.

Like I said, we are almost caught up to where I'm currently writing. I'm hoping to finish out this next week's chapters today. Wish me luck!

Another short chapter, but the is the last one! Er... so far... :\

I forgot to mention it, but this chapter puts this story at 30k words—pretty good for two weeks, eh?

Smartphone - Ferb

Isabella vanished soon after they arrived at the mall, saying she had something to take care of there and that she'd meet up with them soon. They watched as she headed up the escalator, and Phineas bit his lip. "Do you think she's feeling better than yesterday?" he asked tentatively.

Ferb nodded—she was definitely having a better day today.

"But why do you think she left?"

Ferb raised an eyebrow at his brother. "You seem really concerned…" he commented.

Phineas sighed. "I just… I'm… I don't know."

Ferb watched him for a moment, trying to distinguish if he was feeling like this because of friendship or something more than that. "What's going on Phineas?"

The redhead looked over at him and straightened, taking a deep breath. Letting it out slowly, he forced himself to relax. "I haven't always been a good friend to Isabella. And after you told me how she felt last week…" Phineas's shoulders dropped. "I didn't mean to make fun of her…" he whispered.

Ferb put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he didn't say anything. Phineas needed to get all of this out into the open so they could work through it.

"Even though I already apologized for it, I still wanted to make it up to her. And yesterday she seemed so…" Phineas struggled to find the right word.

"Exhausted," Ferb supplied.

The redhead grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, and I didn't even notice until you said something. And now she left to go do something without us and…" He shrugged. "I don't know. I don't want her to think I'm a bad friend…"

The like I do went unsaid, and Ferb made a mental note to let their mom know so she could inform his therapist and they could work through it. From what Ferb could understand of Phineas, he was afraid of losing the people closest to him. After Ferb himself, Isabella currently held that role—at least for those his age.

He put his hands in his pockets. "I wouldn't worry about it," Ferb told him. "She said it was a surprise."

Phineas looked at him, his head slightly tilted looking like a seal pup. "A surprise? For who?"

"Me." Ferb shrugged when Phineas' eyes widened.

The redhead grinned. "I like surprises."

Ferb couldn't stop the snort. Phineas loved surprises, that's for sure—so long as they weren't on him. He was too curious to leave a mystery alone when he was the one it was about.

Ferb and Phineas were browsing through a hobby store when Isabella sent Phineas a text asking where they were. When she found them, she held out a bag to Ferb with a huge grin. "Here you are!" she cheered.

Ferb raised an eyebrow at her even as he noticed his brother's eyes going wide as he recognized the logo on the bag. Without a word, he opened it up and pulled out…

"A phone," Ferb said with some surprise, ignoring the soft churning in his stomach. He grinned delightfully. "Thanks!"

Because even if he couldn't take it down into the water with him, he could at least keep it in the shack for when he was dry.

Isabella beamed. "Now you won't have any excuse not to call me." She pointed at the phone. "I already put in mine and Phineas's numbers."

Ferb blinked, his eyes wide, and he turned it on. Isabella stepped around to his side to help walk him through getting it set to his preferences, and show him how to put in his own prints for the unlock feature.

He never noticed Phineas watching them, confusion and intrigue warring in his eyes.

"This is great," Ferb affirmed. He shot her a sly look. "But there is one thing I need you to do for me."

Isabella blinked. "What's that?" she asked.

Ferb held the phone out. "I need you to record yourself saying 'What'cha doin'?' for your ringtone."

She gaped at him, her hand frozen in the act of accepting the phone. Then she burst out laughing, Phineas right behind her. "Fine!" she chuckled, grasping the phone.

Phineas quickly grabbed his from his pocket. "Can you do that for me too?!" he begged, his eyes almost as wide as dinner plates.

Isabella giggled, but she sent Ferb a playful glare. "You've started something I'm not sure I like."

He grinned and shrugged. "I don't regret it one bit."

The phone felt heavy in his pocket as he walked across the street, back to his family's home. He was actually really pleased to have it—he could send messages to some of the people in Zennor with it now instead of using his family's computer. But… he worried about getting so used to having it that he might forget and dive into the water with it still in his pocket…

He was discussing some random things with Phineas as they walked up the steps—or it was more like Phineas was chattering about random things while Ferb was lost in thought—so he was caught by surprise when the door was thrown open in front of him and an orange and red blur crashed into him with a cry of his name. "Ferb!"

"Candace!" he exclaimed, barely steadying himself from tumbling backwards and taking her with him. Phineas was laughing as he pulled Ferb's shopping bags from his hands and walked past his siblings, heading inside.

Ferb hadn't fully expected a grown-up Candace to act like this. He thought he had all of the clingy greetings out of the way… And the teenaged Candace hadn't ever acted like this—at least not towards him.

She seemed to realize this as she pulled back. "Sorry," she said, looking a little awkward, straightening her sweater just to have something to do. "I know we were never really close as kids… but I've missed you as much as the rest of them." Candace reached out and hugged him again, her eyes suspiciously shiny.

Oh. His heart clenched as he realized that, for all of her seeming distant towards him, she still cared so much. "Well," he stopped to clear his throat of the lump that had formed as she released him. "I apparently have a way to contact you now." He pulled his new phone from his pocket, showing it to his sister.

Candace's eyes lit up. "Finally!" she exclaimed. Watching as his face became solemn, she raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, what?" she said, her voice falling flat.

Ferb blinked at her before grimacing. "I, well… It's not waterproof…"

After a beat, Candace looked at him skeptically. "Really?"

"What?"

She rolled her eyes. "I get that you guys were apart for five years, but did you seriously forget all of the impossible things you two did? Making this thing—" she snatched the phone from his hand and held it up. "—waterproof should be child's play for you."

Ferb gaped at her because, well, she was absolutely right!

Shoving the phone back into his hands, Candace turned to go back into the house, leaving him to his thoughts. "Oh! And when you get that all figured out, do mine too." She smirked at him over her shoulder. "I know there's a few hours before you have to leave. Should be plenty of time."

Ama

Ama are Japanese pearl divers who still work at collecting pearls. Records of these divers date back as early as 927 AD, and they are likely to have started this tradition much earlier. Traditionally, and even as recently as the 1960s, ama dived wearing only a loincloth. In modern times, they have made use of the neoprene suits and SCUBA masks, though they still go without using the compressed air tanks.

These women began diving as early as 12 and 13 years old, and many divers are known to be active well into their 70s. They are rumored to live longer due to their training and disciplines. Women have been the favored divers in Japan due to the distribution of fat on their bodies which allowed them to endure the near-freezing seawater. They can free-dive to depths of thirty feet, and they have developed what they call Isobue ("ocean whistle") where they let out a long slow whistle as they surface, which helps regulate their breathing.

Not really associated with fantasy creatures, but similar enough to Ferb and kin that I decided to include it. Bonus: the ama are actually REAL in our world!