A/N: Good God, things have not been going well for me the past week. No, I'm not sick with the coronavirus. No one in my family is. None of my friends and acquaintances are. But rather, I'm just bored. And tired.

That's right. Bored and tired.

I am not entirely sure why. I strongly suspect it's due to me not exercising a lot recently. Ever since my home state was put under lockdown, I've rarely needed an excuse to venture outside. I exercised using my family's elliptical and stuck to a sleeping schedule during the first couple of weeks. But after a while, I got lazy for reasons I can't fathom and didn't do a lot of physical activity ever since. All I've done for the past month or so was sit in front of my laptop to write these fics, brainstorm new story ideas, surf around YouTube and the Internet, do my final assignments for college... You know, the works.

I guess the lack of physical activity has left me in this state of perpetual exhaustion. And now, it's showing in the amount of content I actually write per day. I've barely made progress on my ongoing fics. I can only write a few hundred words at a time if I'm lucky. Writing has become a bit of a dreaded chore for me, which is stunning for a guy like me. The best I can do at this point is review, refine, and re-post these salvaged chapters.

Now that I've clearly noticed and acknowledged the problem, I'm going to try and solve it by going back to the patterns I tried to adhere to initially. Hopefully it works out well for me. Follow my profile for any updates on how I'm doing in that regard. I will try and keep you all in the loop as frequently as possible.

Alright, I think I'm done rambling on. On with the chapter. ENJOY!

Original A/N: Before I begin this chapter, I wanna tell everyone that I have something planned out. Something downright HUGE. Something that'll knock your socks off!

Candace: Am I finally gonna bust Phineas and Ferb?

No, Candace, that's not it.

Candace: Aw, nuts. Is it a sequel where I finally bust Phineas and Ferb?

Hmmmmm...not really...

Candace: DARN! What is it then, Fanatic?

I'm not spoiling the surprise yet, Candace! I will tell you and the readers in the story's epilogue.

Candace: WHAT? NO FAIR! THE EPILOGUE'S _A HUNDRED_ CHAPTERS AWAY!

You're way off, Candace. It's only 10-15 chapters away. So, stay tuned for what I have in store, everyone! Now, I present to you Chapter 5. ENJOY!

Candace: It just couldn't be a sequel where I bust my brothers, could it?...

P.S.: I need some help with the title for this chapter, for I can't think of a good one. Anyone who thinks of a good name for this chapter becomes one of my Favorite Authors and gets reviews from me everytime he/she updates his/her stories. Hopefully I'll keep my end of the bargain... Anyway, THANKS!

Again, ENJOY!

Edit: I would like to thank FrostShadowStar, Gyaradosmaster, Black Queen of Darkness, iheartphinabella05, and an unsigned reviewer for giving me their opinions of a perfect title for this chapter.

P.S.: Due to the ever-worsening situation regarding the coronavirus outbreak, I'm going to have to remind you all about the basic steps you should take if you want to stay healthy, courtesy of my university's reminder emails:

-Wash hands often with soap and water for 20-30 seconds at a time, and/or use hand sanitizer
-Avoid close contact with people who are sick
-Keep your hands away from nose, eyes, and mouth (I can't imagine how difficult this part is probably going to be)
-Eat well, get adequate rest, and exercise regularly
-Get a flu shot if you haven't already and are able to

And if you ARE sick (I hope you get better if you are), please be a good sport and save other folks the trouble of getting sick. You can do this by:

-Covering your mouth and nose with your sleeve, elbow, or a tissue whenever you sneeze or cough
-Not sharing food and drinks with others
-Avoiding touching your mouth, nose, and eyes (Again, I understand this is probably going to be difficult)
-Avoiding close contact with others
-Cleaning and disinfecting surfaces and objects
-Staying at home if you're unwell (PRIORITY NUMBER ONE!)
-Staying calm and keeping yourself well-informed (My personal advice)

If you already know this, then great! If you didn't know any of this beforehand, please keep that information in mind as we all go through this trying time. It's a realm of unknowns at this point, and I wish myself and all of humanity well.

It was a quiet night on Maple Drive. In Phineas and Ferb's bedroom, Ferb was dozing contently in his comfortable bed, clutching a book of Sophocles's Oedipus Rex to his chest. However, unlike most nights, Phineas was wide awake, staring at the ceiling with fear and apprehension. The inventor couldn't sleep. He didn't want to somehow get back into his subconscious and encounter that...that thing he found inside. He didn't know what it was, but it was definitely bad news and he had to do something to get rid of it.

But obviously, he couldn't do that. Phineas remembered during Adyson's birthday party that this dark character ordered him to flirt with her. He resisted, only to receive a slight shock of pain shooting up his spine as his body automatically moved forward, as if it were a puppet being controlled by a master. Knowing that this adversary was not the bluffing type, Phineas found himself reluctantly chatting up Adyson. Fortunately, this guy underestimated him: he had no experience with girls and the dark figure's goal of winning Adyson's attention has so far come to naught. But Phineas knew that this guy wasn't finished. The time will come when the figure would reveal himself to everything he knew and loved, his family, his friends...everything. He knew he couldn't let it happen, but how could he resist if he was being controlled like a puppet?

Phineas's eyelids started to get heavy. Panicking, the inventor intentionally widened his eyes, trying to fight the temptation of sleep.

"No!" thought Phineas. "I can't go back into my mind to talk to this guy again! I don't like it! Must stay awake!"

Phineas blinked, then reverted to his wide-eyed state. He blinked again. He blinked again. He blinked again. He blinked again. And then everything was black. After a minute, the inventor realized he gave in to the irresistible sandman and opened his eyes, only to find himself back in the bleak, empty landscape with the rolling purple fog.

"Oh, no," Phineas said.

"Oh, yes," said the figure, appearing from the fog. Phineas noticed that he can clearly see the outline of the figure's body, whereas he wasn't able to the first time he saw him. "Welcome back, Phineas. By the way, I've thought up of a good name for myself for future reference. From here on, call me the Shadow."

"The Shadow?" asked Phineas, the fear gone for a moment. "Is that meant to be frightening, because it isn't that scary of a title."

The Shadow sighed and replied, "Whatever, just go with it. I can't think of anything else! Now, where was I? Oh, right! I was gonna berate you for not completing your tasks!"

"I was supposed to finish today? I can't do that! I'm not that perfect! I need some time to gather all the supplies and materials needed to recreate my past inventions!"

"Okay, that can be let go. But what about that pretty, green-eyed girl with the red headband?"

"Adyson?"

"Adyson..." the Shadow said, disturbingly dreamily. "Adyson. A lovely name. The perfect name for a queen."

"You like Adyson?" Phineas shuddered. "I mean no disrespect for her, but...ewwwww..."

"SHUT UP!" the Shadow roared and he shoved his arm forward into empty air.

Phineas suddenly felt an unknown force thrust him into the air, and then, he felt the uneven ground greet his body with unwelcome arms. Yelling out in pain, Phineas began to remember an accident he had when he was five while riding a scooter. It was certainly not the best experience imaginable. Then, Phineas felt himself being dragged away, but when he looked to see what was pulling himself, he saw nothing. The inventor then looked up at the Shadow, who was pulling at empty air.

"Impressed, Phineas?" asked the Shadow. "I've learned this while entertaining myself. Now, come."

The Shadow then walked away, telekinetically dragging Phineas along with him as he stepped into the purple fog. Phineas began to shiver, for the fog was very cold, but the fog settled after a minute and he found himself at the Shadow's so-called headquarters. There was a computer screen with a keyboard, an armchair, a sofa, and, quite humorously, a refrigerator.

The Shadow released his telekinetic control over Phineas and stood over him.

"I don't ever wanna hear you disrespect my future queen in any way," he growled. "Got that?"

"Uh-huh..."

"Good boy." The Shadow walked away and began pacing back and forth; Phineas could now see legs and the villain no longer seemed to be levitating. "Now, because a slave must be treated leniently-" Phineas couldn't help but suppress a giggle at the irony of the Shadow's statement. "-I will let your delay slip. In fact, I'll give you no more than a week to get things done. If I don't see any satisfactory results, I will unleash all of my evil onto you. And I swear, the things you've experienced with me were only a taster. Now, bye-bye to you!"

The Shadow snapped his fingers, and Phineas found himself staring at the ceiling of his bedroom. The inventor cast a glance at his clock, which read 2:47 AM. Phineas couldn't believe it; the last time he checked before slipping back into his subconscious, it was 1:32 AM. Time certainly ran slower in the subconscious.

Phineas's eyelids became heavy again, and before he could fight it, the inventor dozed off into an uncomfortable sleep.

"Hey, Phineas. Whatcha' doin'?"

Phineas was jolted awake by the familiar voice, and he found himself sitting under the nice shade of the backyard tree with Ferb and Perry. The peaceful, warm air of summer was hanging comfortably over him. Sleep really wasn't that good last night.

"Uh, Phineas?" asked Isabella. "I said, 'Whatcha' doin'?"

"Sorry, Isabella," Phineas replied, "I had a bad sleep."

"Maybe you can invent something that cures people of daytime sleepiness!"

"Actually, I had a better idea," Phineas said reluctantly, looking at his stepbrother. "Ferb, remember what I said yesterday, about the summer almost ending?"

Ferb nodded, while Isabella gasped.

"It's almost the end of summer?" she asked. "I never knew! It felt like more than 104 days!"

"Well, it's about to end, like it or not. Anyway Ferb, I was wondering that, uh, since summer is about to come to a close, maybe we should reconstruct all of the inventions we've made in the past summer. To, uh, highlight all of the accomplishments we have made in spite of the fact that we're kids."

Once again, Phineas expected his hand to fly up and scratch his ear, but nothing happened. Now it was easy to lie, very easy, and Phineas really didn't like it.

"That sounds like a good idea!" Isabella exclaimed, while Ferb gave Phineas a thumbs-up of approval. "I'll call in everyone to help out!"

"And Ferb and I will go to Blueprint Heaven to retrieve the blueprints for our previous projects!" replied Phineas, smiling reluctantly. "Come, Ferb!"

"Wait, Phineas!" called Isabella. "Before you go, I want to say something!"

"Name it, Isabella."

"NO!" the Shadow's voice yelled in Phineas's mind. "No distractions! Get moving, Phineas! I've got some evil goals to achieve!"

Knowing that the Shadow can hear his thoughts, Phineas replied, "Isabella's just gonna say something to me. It's not like she's gonna take a lifetime to get finished! Besides, don't I have a week to get things done?"

"Just move now, otherwise it's a day!"

"Phineas, about that d-" Isabella began, but Phineas, wanting a distraction, looked at his watch.

"Oh, look at that! It's five till 10:00! Hurry Ferb, before it closes!"

And with that, Phineas grabbed Ferb and fled the backyard, leaving behind a shocked and hurt Isabella.

"Okay," she said sadly. "I'll just call everyone in, like you want me to..."

She then instinctively yet nonchalantly looked around, and said sadly, "Hey, where's Perry?"

Baljeet angrily muttered gibberish to himself as he walked down the sidewalk of Maple Drive, towards Phineas and Ferb's house, having been summoned there by a text from Isabella. He couldn't understand why Isabella liked Phineas if Phineas can't recognize her feelings for him, even if they were thrown right at his face. If Phineas were him, he'd think, then he'd find out right away, accept her feelings and treat her like she always imagined she'd be treated by him... Baljeet stopped and sighed dreamily, closing his eyes. Oh, how he'd like that to happen...

The Indian boy then opened his eyes and continued to walk down the street, all the while thinking of what would happen if Isabella noticed him. Approaching the backyard gate of 2308 Maple Drive, he opened the gate door and stepped into the famous backyard, only to find no one but Isabella sitting on the grass, weeping quietly into her palms.

"Isabella?" asked Baljeet, approaching his friend and crush. "Is...is something wrong?"

"Wrong?" replied Isabella, looking up at him. "Wrong? No, no, nothing's wrong! Nothing except-" She stood up abruptly, looking manic. "-EVERYTHING! Phineas doesn't recognize my feelings for him! Instead, he's preoccupied with those inventions of his, and all he seems to see me is as some sort of...servant! I mean, I have to help make his inventions for him every day! He doesn't respect me! I don't know why I've been wasting my time with him when I can find another, similarly lovely boy. A boy like-" Isabella turned at Baljeet, hearts in her eyes. "-you!"

Baljeet was shocked. "W-W-Wha?"

A fanatical Isabella grabbed his shoulders and pulled him close to her. "You heard me! I _love_ you! Forget Phineas; I think I've found my Mr. Perfect! And that is YOU!"

"Ohhhhh, Isabella..." sighed Baljeet, smiling in a goofy manner. "I feel the same..."

"Kiss me, Baljeet, and promise me we'll be together forever!"

"Yes, Izzie. We'll be together forever..."

"Kiss me!"

"Sure, Izzie..."

"BALJEET?"

Baljeet opened his eyes and found himself still standing on the sidewalk, 2308 Maple Drive and Isabella still a block away from him. Standing beside him was Ginger.

"Baljeet, you were spaced out!" Ginger exclaimed worriedly. "Well, thank goodness I snapped you out of it, because Buford would've-"

"AWWWWW!" screamed Baljeet. "Thanks, Ginger, for ruining that perfect moment of mine! I was imagining I found out Isabella loved me, and we were about to kiss, and we were gonna end up together; it all seemed so real...and YOU ruined it!"

Baljeet then stormed off toward 2308 Maple Drive, leaving Ginger shocked and hurt.

It only took five minutes for every kid who knew Phineas and Ferb to assemble into the Flynn-Fletcher backyard. Gretchen made her way toward Isabella, who was sitting under the backyard tree. The small auburn-haired Fireside Girl was followed by three other Fireside Girls. One of them had long brown hair, blue eyes, and wears a red bracelet on her left arm; another had brown hair tied into a ponytail, dark skin, green eyes, and wore brown earrings; and the third had long light-brown hair, brown eyes, and wore earrings.

"Captain," Gretchen said, "I'm here, and I wanna t-" She stopped when she saw Isabella's downcast mood. "Cap, what's wrong?" Gretchen turned to the three girls. "Girls, go on and have fun."

"Alright," the blonde Fireside Girl said, speaking in an Australian accent, and she and the other two girls left to join the other Fireside Girls. Meanwhile, Gretchen sat down next to Isabella.

"What's wrong, Izzie?" she asked.

"I tried to ask Phineas about the dance," replied Isabella, "but he ignored me just as usual."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm pretty sure Phineas will catch on someday."

Isabella looked at Gretchen hopefully. "Really?"

"Yep. Then again, there's always the chance of him finding someone else before you can get to him."

Isabella looked at the ground, depressed. "I'd like to be alone right now."

Gretchen blinked, then nodded and left, mentally berating herself and her love of facts and logic. Sighing, she approached the other Fireside Girls.

"What happened, Gretch?" asked Holly.

"She's still down about what happened yesterday," Gretchen replied, looking at Isabella. "I tried comforting her, but me and my stupid facts upset her again."

"What happened to her yesterday?" one of the new Fireside Girls, the dark-skinned girl with the brown-haired ponytail, asked.

Gretchen looked at her and the other two new girls. These three, Julia (the blonde one), Jordan (the one with the brown ponytail), and Haley (the one with the light-brown hair), were Fireside Girls, but members of a different troop stationed in a different section of Danville, Troop 46232. For some reason, the rest of their troop came down with a bad sickness while they were selling lemonade in a neighborhood and Julia, Jordan, and Haley (who were able to avoid contracting this sickness because they weren't there when the strange occurrence happened) needed to be temporarily relocated to a different troop until their colleagues recovered. Since they were active in a different part of Danville, they were unaware of what happened in the daily lives of Troop 46231, so Gretchen found it necessary to explain things with them.

"Our chief, Isabella, has a crush on her best friend, Phineas."

"Phineas?" asked Julia, curious. "As in Phineas Flynn?" Just because she, Jordan, and Haley didn't know much about Phineas and Ferb didn't mean they didn't know of Phineas and Ferb's inventions.

"Uh, yeah..." Milly replied in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Oh." A new emotion flooded Julia's face, and while the others couldn't identify it, Gretchen believed it was most likely a downcast mood.

"First Isabella, then Adyson, and now her," thought Gretchen. "Who's next? Irving? ...Actually, I wouldn't be surprised..."

Phineas and Ferb were walking away from Blueprint Heaven, pulling a cart full of blueprints of their past inventions behind them.

"Mrs. Carlson was nice enough to save those blueprints for us," replied Phineas, chuckling nervously, trying to steer any possible suspicion from Ferb away from him. Ferb nodded before finally speaking for the first time of the day.

"What was that, back there?"

"Back there?" Phineas repeated nervously. "Back where?"

"At our backyard. Isabella was about to tell you something, and you were keen on listening, but suddenly, you said that Blueprint Heaven closes in five minutes and made a run for it. And yet, we made it by 11:30 and the store was still in its opening hours. Is there something about Isabella you're trying to ignore?"

"Me, ignoring Isabella? Why would I do that?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

"Don't you squeal now, Phineas," the Shadow's voice said.

"I know, Shadow," replied Phineas mentally, "no need to remind me!"

"Look, I, uh, looked at my watch and, uh, misinterpreted the time," lied Phineas reluctantly. "Can you drop it now?"

Ferb was taken aback by Phineas's choice of words, and the redheaded tinkerer noticed it.

"Oh, sorry Ferb. I just had, uh, a really bad sleep."

Ferb nodded, understanding, and the two continued walking. A few minutes passed when the two boys came across a rather tall, purple building.

"Wow!" Phineas exclaimed, gasping in awe at the building's might. "That building is shaped like your head, Ferb!" He continued to examine it and suddenly felt a strange feeling. "Why do I get the feeling that we've been there before...?" Phineas's eye caught the building's sign and he read it. "Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated..."

Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated!

Phineas and Ferb looked around, having sworn they heard a chorus sing. Just then, Phineas's world became black...

Ferb heard Phineas grunt a bit, and he looked at his stepbrother. Surprisingly, he was standing still and upright, looking at the building's sign.

"Phineas?" asked Ferb. "I heard you grunt. Are you okay?"

No response.

"Phineas?"

Still no response. Ferb tapped Phineas's shoulder.

"Phineas?"

Phineas's head finally turned towards him, and Ferb could've sworn he saw, for a split-second, a sickening green in Phineas's eye before it disappeared, replacing itself with blue.

"Yeah?" replied Phineas, confused.

Ferb was equally confused. "Nothing..."

The Shadow watched on his screen, open-mouthed. The moment he first saw it on there, it took him aback that he decided to take full control of Phineas's body for a short time so he can see for himself. Now that it was confirmed to be credible, the villain sat back on his armchair, sinking into thought.

"Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, eh?" he asked. "Looks like I'm not the only villain here. I have some competition. Well, you know what they say about competition."

He smiled with evil anticipation.

"You CRUSH it."

Original A/N: UH-OH! Looks like the Shadow's going after Doof! And that should be where Perry finally comes in. In fact, the next chapter's a mostly Perry-and-Doof chapter. HOORAY!

Candace: This chapter was terrible, just terrible. More terrible than the last chapter!

Let me guess: you didn't get to bust Phineas and Ferb.

Candace: Exac- *gets pushed away*

I'd like to thank the following for reviewing:

trachie17 [LOL at your conversation with Shadow]

Gyaradosmaster [I am fully aware of the Baljeet-2xIsabella-2 pairing in your story. In fact, it inspired me to create this BaljeetxIsabella subplot, so creds to you! :)]

nightmaster000

GracieChanLuv101 (chapter 1 review)

raidpirate52

Joe the American [And keep up your lovely reviews!]

Stinkfly3

iheartphinabella05 [By the way, I congratulate you for continuing your "Anti-Phineas" fic in spite of the fact that it was unintentionally based off of mine. Don't let those accusations bring you down! :)]

speedman12 (unsigned)

Lummie [Yes. LOL.]

Person X (unsigned)

BroadwayFanGirl93 [That's right!]

NattyMc

Coolguyforever [That's right, Coolguyforever, I'm bringing back the whole answer-the-review thing. I'm only gonna do it if the review's long or if there are questions that I feel should be answered. Thanks for inspiring me! :)]

Black Queen of Darkness

fana (unsigned) [I know it's you, fanatheinvader, don't lie to me. :)]

Radar180 [Thanks!]

FanficFemale

Wow. I'm at six chapters and almost over 100 reviews. Good job, guys; y'all rock! Keep up the good work, and I'll keep up mine! :)

Candace: How DARE you push me away!

Uh-oh... *runs off* Well-hope-you-enjoyed-this-chapter-TheCartoonFanatic01-is-out-PEACE!

Candace: MOM! TheCartoonFanatic01 is stealing my line!

Oh, lord...

New A/N: And here's yet another thing I think this rewrite deserves credit for: how I depict Phineas's eye color. In the original, Phineas's eyes become permanently green when he is struck by the Turn-Everything-Evil-Inator, and yet, none of the members of the Flynn-Fletcher family noticed, not even Perry the frigging Platypus. But in the rewrite, the Shadow is capable of granting Phineas restricted control over his own body, and when that happens, Phineas's blue returns to his eyes. It's a perfect way for the Shadow to hide any presence of himself from any prying eyes while maintaining his hold over Phineas. I'm so glad I thought of it while I was writing this.

It's a shame these bursts of creativity do not fully redeem the overall quality of this rewrite. It's still sub-par compared to the original, to say the least.

...

Hmmm...maybe I should think about writing another rewrite to "Evil Phineas", one that'll reflect the years of experience I gained as an author ever since I left "Phineas and Ferb" behind...

...

I'll think about it, guys. I'll think about it.

In the meantime, I'd like to thank the following for reviewing:

-Maeph93: Looking at this, I feel like the problem is that it tried too hard to be different from the original. In the end, it just feels super-redundant. While it addresses some problems the original had, it's clear the rewrite was outmatched and overshadowed by the overall superiority of the original. I think my subconscious knew this too, because when I compare the writing styles of both the original and the rewrite, it's clear I ENJOYED writing the former over the latter. Very much so.

-Destr2oyer:

1) Apparently I did, considering my source was able to salvage them and give them to me per my request.

2) Yeah, I remember the Shadow being an actual evil Phineas from the past. Phineas's ancestor, maybe? I'll find out as I proceed along with this re-post of a rewrite.

3) I guess that was my obsession with underrated characters like Adyson Sweetwater coming into play here. XP XP XP

4) It's alright. Better late than never, am I right?

Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter! TheCartoonFanatic01 is out. PEACE!