All right, and we're back! You know, this chapter is actually very very special. Mostly because it's the last one. And also the longest, being the only one to not only surpass three thousand words, but make a pretty good dent into the four thousand mark as well. I'm so excited, I could-!
Review responses:
Dreadwing216: Well, points for being 'truthfully honest', it would be a shame if you were deceivingly honest. I don't care much for Ferbetchen because - well firstly, Ferbnessa and Irvetchen - but Gretchen's lack of character development within the show irks me. Still, I'll let anyone ship who they want to ship, just as long as they let me do the same in peace. Just don't expect me to write pairings I don't prefer, and there will be no reason for ship-driven civil wars in the fandom. If it means anything to you, Ferb and Gretchen are really close here, just not in a romantic way.
Phineas A: And I'm happy happy happy you feel that way!
Guest: For some reason, I predicted you would bring that up. (And wait, I thought the prefix 'hippo' had something to do with horses?)
What? The responses don't all have to be lengthy.
Onto... The last chapter of ehm-FAY-oh! Bring on the braces-proof popcorn, baby, and hold on tight!
Of all the people who could have been walking down that corridor, Doofenshmirtz had to be the one. Phineas, Ferb, and Gretchen stopped dead in their tracks, letting go of each other' arms. Ferb sent a distress signal, with an attached map of the building, to Vanessa and Perry using his upgraded wristwatch.
Phineas looked the scientist in the eye, wanting to be brave, to retaliate, but knowing the consequences of the decision kept him from doing anything unreasonable. Gretchen, therefore, stepped up for him instead. "And why we should?" She demanded, in response to his command to stop.
"Because... Well, because I said so, that's why."
The children all saw straight through the old parent excuse for 'I can't come up with a good reason'. "Luckily, I never leave home without a mobile trap or three..."
From the inside pockets on his lab coat, he retrieved an all-black -Inator of similar structure to Ferb's Invisinator. "Behold, children, the Trap-Inator!"
"He put lots of thought into that name," Ferb commented under his breath.
"Woah, enough from the peanut gallery over there," Doofenshmirtz retorted, annoyance in his voice. He took the machine's safety off and advanced. "What does that even mean? Is that some kind of museum, showcasing different varieties of peanuts?" He twisted the tip of the -Inator and took careful aim at Ferb, who stood at very high alert. A few warning shots were fired as he next spoke (unless they were simply blasts Doofenshmirtz missed, which was just as believable). "Because if that's the case, I just have to trick my brother into going with me there sometime. Wouldn't you agree? He's very allergic."
Distracted slightly by the irrelevance of the preceding rant, Ferb stopped for a moment to answer: "Well, actually, I-"
This hiccup in the boy's attention was enough to land a hit on his shoes. Once monochrome, they now took on a green aura, and soon enough the laces morphed into small vines adorned with the smallest of leaf sprouts growing from them. Rapidly, they began to grow and multiply, wrapping themselves around Ferb's legs and crawling up his body until the dream of movement took off and left him. His vision was highly limited, as he stood rooted in place with his arms outstretched high in the air, looking for a way to make themselves useful before being swallowed in plant life.
But it was all in vain. Ferb had become a tree, stationary, vulnerable, but in some twisted way, sturdy and alive.
Against his better judgement, perhaps, he chose not to open his mouth to warn Gretchen of the oncoming -Inator blast for fear that the vines would continue to grow and climb inside of him. Though his body inside remained unchanged, it was difficult but just possible for him to see through the foliage the faces of two of his closest friends scrambling to remove the vines. He let out what could closely be described as a sigh in defeat, though the movement of air into and out of his respiratory system started to require increasing amounts of stamina.
Phineas was clawing away at the vines, but as the ones he cut away fell lifeless to the floor, new ones swarmed in to take their place. Gretchen was to his left, trying in identical vain to do the same. Her ears perked up at the sound of Doofenshmirtz's -Inator clicking to another setting, then the futuristic noise of a beam going off, this time in Phineas's direction.
Instinctively, she rounded Ferb and flew out in front of his brother to take the hit. Before she knew what had happened, Gretchen's face smacked right into the ceiling.
She had to look up to see her partners and the evil scientist - however, as she was suspended upside-down, she was really staring at the ground. That is, she would be, if her eyes were functioning properly; her glasses had shattered upon impact.
At first, she did not see how this could restrain her. Nothing was holding her down; instead, the beam held her up. Despite her lack of eyesight and some blood rushing to her head, there should have been no reason that the reversed gravity could hinder her.
Gretchen tried jumping out to grab one of Ferb's branches, but could not find any of them - with her eyes nor her hands. Finally realizing she was beaten, she slumped down on the ceiling and blindly inspected her crushed lenses, pouting, rubbing her fingers along the frames and feeling the broken glass.
Phineas was the only one left. At that moment he realized it would be futile to try to save his friends, especially now that he was the last target.
"Now, you'll have no choice but to come with me..." Doofenshmirtz commented with a drawn-out evil cackle.
"N-N-No..." Phineas stammered, giving in to the temptation of resistance. After all, someone who was perfect would never allow themselves to be used for evil, and it was clear to Phineas now that that was his father's intention.
"I just told you, you don't have a choice. Come give your old man a hand, kiddo."
Phineas recoiled. What right did he have to subordinate him so? And who did he think he was to?
Not his father, that was for sure.
"Never!" He cried, "I'll never do something like that!"
"Hm... No, I think you will. Believe me."
Yet another new emotion overtook the redhead.
It was not anger, nor annoyance; nor frustration, nor rebellion; it was hatred.
"Why should I?" He demanded, "After all this time, when you never once considered me family? Wasn't I just some science experiment to you? I shouldn't have to remind you that I am a person, just like you are!" He balled his fists and advanced towards Doofenshmirtz. "I can't believe I have never figured it out. You never loved me, you never wanted to use me for good, and you are not my dad!"
Ferb and Gretchen watched in horror as the once-perfect boy burst into rage. He lunged at Doofenshmirtz's -Inator, trying to pry it from the man's hands, which clicked its barrel to another setting. Doof's eyes widened when he realized which one it was. "No, don't put it on that one, it isn't finished yet-"
He bit his lip as Phineas clutched the machine harder, and he did the same. One finger rested shakily on the trigger, and the other hand attempted to steady it at Phineas's nose. With one final push, however, the youth forced the -Inator to turn around, hitting Doofenshmirtz's instead.
This was the moment the doctor chose to fire the beam, realizing too late who would be receiving the shot.
The heat Phineas felt in his anger multiplied when a fire erupted where the evil scientist stood. Flames flickered around, licking Doofenshmirtz's sides. Yet the man remained unscathed, crying out not in pain but instead in defeat.
The fire was reflected in Phineas's eyes, which now expressed fear more than anything. Doofenshmirtz shakily stood back up and looked his son in the eyes. "Wow, this trap really... Is effective," he noted. "But don't think you've won. This isn't even real fire, so hah!"
He pointed downwards at Phineas with a leer, embers dancing out of the sleeves of his lab coat to the metallic floor. "I will get out of this, I assure you, and when I do, you'd better watch out!"
Phineas backed up cautiously, enough that he could hear his brother whisper softly to him, "Run. Gretchen and I will be fine. Trust me."
Phineas nodded.
"You know the plan?"
He nodded again.
"Go."
The last word had to be choked out, as at that moment the vines had done just as they threatened and moved into Ferb's mouth. Disgusted, the boy clamped down on them with angry jaws and disconnected them from the main plant. He spit the leaves out in futile resistance to the man in front of them.
Phineas did as he was told.
"Wait!" Doofenshmirtz shrieked, and Phineas stopped. "Do not go back in there - you have no idea what you're fighting! There is a war breaking out because of you and that girl! I know everything about you, kiddo, much more than you ever will. And if you try to stop me now..." The evil scientist looked through the fire, revealing a fist. "Wow, this really is terrific mood lighting. I feel so much more evil!" He cackled again, this time for only a second or two. "If you try to stop me, this will be the last the world will see of its beloved Perfeneas."
Doofenshmirtz planted his two feet at shoulder-width apart, his knees bent, and threw his head back, screaming, faux fire riding up his arms and resting in two flowering, burning orbs in his hands. If one looked carefully, they may have noticed how well Doofenshmirtz's spikey brown hair - which resembled Phineas's in every aspect except color - flapped along with the flames as if it, itself, had been ignited.
The doctor was still yelling his heart out when Phineas, who refused to accept the burning image of himself provided by the man, decided he had seen enough. He turned around fully and ran down the corridor - it was finally time to end this.
The testing room was all but empty now, as security guards, government officials, and the like - including even the United States President himself and many Secret Service members - paraded through the area looking for something to explain the experiments' absence. Phineas ducked his head into the doorframe to see what was going on.
Across the room, in the opposite door, he could see her doing the same.
Isealia.
Oh, how he wished he could run to her and embrace her and spill everything that had happened since their separation at the park. His imperfection, the impending conflict, the temporary loss of Ferb and Gretchen due to his own father's turning, the sensation he felt whenever in her presence that everything was going to be okay in the end, which he desperately needed to be sure of now...
The two finally locked eyes from across the long room and knew what to do. It was a sacrifice they would have to make.
They stepped back out into the room, and slowly, their presences made themselves apparent throughout the crowd, as silence rippled in waves to its center, where Vivian García-Shapiro had stationed herself.
Said geneticist quit her frantic jabbering when the people surrounding her did the same. She followed their attention first to the one side of the room, where her daughter stood in the all-white gown she had been changed into since she was returned to the facility. Next she looked to the other door, where stood the enemy in the form of a ten-year-seven-month-one-day-old boy in his signature garb of the same pure white. And breath struggled to make its way into and out of her, as she anticipated what was next to come.
In perfect unison, Phineas and Isabella turned along the ugly but spotless gray walls and onto the staging area. They stopped when they were close enough to smell each other's distinct, entrancing breath, blinked, and faced their audience.
Silence overtook the room, save for the sound of a door clicking shut in the background. After this, it was Phineas who had spoke first.
"Everyone, please, can we have your attention?" He started, despite how little it was needed. At this point, even if the Inexplicable Giant Floating Baby Head that roamed the streets of the town was hovering next to a member of the crowd, they would not notice for they were too busy watching the children.
Isabella, cognizant that the room was filled with many people who would not understand the redhead next to her, repeated his every word in crisp Spanish.
"We know what is going on," Phineas continued, surprisingly calm after his outrage just a minute or so before. There was no doubt in his mind that the girl to his left was the reason for this. "We are aware of your fighting. We accept that we are both its cause and its effect. And we despise it."
A murmur, a low hum, resounded in the right, English-speaking side of the crowd. It doubled in volume when Isabella finished translating, but did not dare to keep the youths from their speech.
"We have but one thing to ask of you all."
"Nosotros queremos una cosa de ustedes."
"We want - we need you to end it."
"Necesitamos que lo terminan."
The next lines they spoke together: "Now."
"Ahora."
They waited for an answer for longer than anyone would have liked.
"Lo siento, Isealia, no podemos. Es imposible!" This was the voice of said girl's mother, the only one in the whole crowd who had half a right to tell them this.
Status quo broken, others joined in chiming nonsense about how they were not in charge of the war, it was too late to draw back, and "My watermelon!"
Phineas raised a hand to silence the audience. "Then we have no choice?"
The people agreed, melancholy.
Phineas exhaled. "Then let us decide who the victor should be. Was that not the original plan anyway?"
This sunk in for a moment. Eventually the crowd came to agreement with Phineas.
He raised an eyebrow. "So, to the death, then?"
The crowd erupted, each shouting no at the top of their lungs. One member even chimed, louder than he had likely realized, "No, to the pain!"
People around him eyed the speaker. "What?" He nervously began, "To the death would be absolutely inconceivable!"
This satisfied the rest of the crowd, and the children were allowed to continue.
Phineas's eyes flickered to Isabella for a split second. "To the pain it is," he stated ambiguously.
With this, the two moved into the middle of the floor. Beside each of them lay one long, presumably wooden, stick with rounded ends, of origin unknown to anyone but their intended wielders. They each picked up their weapon with series of deep breaths.
"Ready?" Phineas whispered, just loud enough for her to hear.
Isabella winked. "Showtime."
At first, their movements were identical. They raised their sticks with the same brio and swung them down with the same deliberate inaccuracy. Povenmire and Marsh, who had left their control center and added themselves to the thin crowd, were taking furious notes on each of their forms. As did the directors of Isabella's test.
Then momentum began to build, as the two swung their weapons around with graceful expertise, colliding with each other in sharp clacks that sent shivers down the spines of onlookers. For added effect, at one point they even took to making direct contact between the stick and the child in front of them. Refraining from any real violence, of course; the last thing on either of their minds was purposely causing each other harm.
It was then that the Earth decided to play a little trick on everyone. The ground started to shake mightily, walls were ripped apart, and their inside structure could be seen. Half the crowd immediately ducked for cover, each keeping one eye on the relentless fighters.
In a peculiar way, as Phineas and Isabella - still convinced that the other had never lost perfection - kept exchanging blows, the shifting ground beneath them seemed to follow and highlight each of their specific gestures. It was as if the earthquake was being controlled by someone on a different plane, outside and on top, who could see everything that they did. Isabella leapt into the air, the rumbling of the ground making it so that she was multiple feet above the ground. She came down on Phineas, who blocked with his staff and dove out of the way so that while the transpiration looked undoubtedly cool, no one experienced harm.
Many fled the room, but the majority of the audience continued to watch as if nothing was moving around them.
This became impossible when it happened.
Earthquakes are brutal to any civilization that ever experiences them. One notable reason why is because of the damage they do to buildings.
Soon enough, the very ceiling gave way, and chunks of it at a time began raining to the still-shaking floor. Phineas and Isabella were unfazed by this development, however; they remained locked in their battle even as a particularly large piece above them threatened to break loose.
The seismic waves slowly but surely started to relax, coming in after longer intervals of time. Audience members who had kept watching the children in awe had regained balance enough that the experiments now held the entirety of the group's delicate, undivided attention.
Isabella turned her gaze upward, spotting the one gash of ceiling dangling precariously over the heads of her and her savant. It was time.
It was over, and he sensed it, too.
In one swift movement, she used her staff to yank the boy into her proximity.
The concrete slab of ceiling disconnected from its foundation.
Instead of fleeing, as would be expected, the two experiments remained stationary, glued to the floor.
It fell in a straight line, unmoved by inertia. Collectively, the people gasped as they saw the imminence of their representatives' doom.
Isabella thought quickly and moved quicklier. She and Phineas dropped their staffs in simultaneous surrender to the falling rock.
And then she kissed him.
Her face had dived under his and the two finally met at the lips.
And everyone saw it.
He wrapped his arms around her back and closed his eyes. That was it. The deed had been done.
The earthquake had since ceased to devastate the room when the largest chunk of the ceiling finally made contact.
Perfeneas and Isealia were never seen again in person after that. They were terminated in each other's arms.
To them, it was perfect.
"There. It's finished."
Gretchen released a bit of breath she did not know she was holding. "So, where are they?" She asked, visibly shaken.
"Vanessa should be back with them shortly," Ferb replied.
Gretchen sighed. "I'm so sorry I missed it," she apologized. "My parents will have my head when they discover I broke my glasses."
Ferb looked at her. "You do realise that sentence was grammatically flawless," he noted.
The girl squinted to try to make out his figure. "It was being?"
The green mass of what she deemed his hair bobbed up and down, signaling a nod.
"But why would your glasses be your parents' greatest concern after all you've done in the past few days?"
Gretchen could not see his face clearly, but immediately recognized the speaker's voice. She turned, and asked in surprise, "Irving?"
"That's my name, don't wear it out."
"How long have you been standing there?"
Irving looked about the small control center and out its window into the simulation room, where people of varied importance milled about in confusion. He could see Vivian bawling. "Good question," he stated.
"We should move. Candace and Perry are awaiting us outside," explained Ferb. "Then we go home. Things should sort themselves out during the next few days."
"Muy bien," agreed Gretchen, who allowed Ferb to leave first before moving to follow him.
"Graciela, wait," Irving called, and she about-faced to hear him better.
He removed his spectacles, revealing how naked his eyes looked without them. "Here, take my glasses," he offered. Gretchen tentatively accepted, and fit them on; they were very large on her and clashed, somehow cutely, with her uniform and beret.
"Th-Thank you," she stammered, adjusting its huge bridge so that it could find proper balance. "Let us go."
"Um..." He stopped her, "Now, I can't see..."
Gretchen backtracked and took his hand in hers. "I'll just have to help you along, then," she chided, and rested her head in his shoulder. The two exited the facility in bizarre peace.
It shot through the sky like a bolide, a colorful stream of sparkling something-or-other trailing behind it. It climbed ever higher until it reached their zenith, then exploded in a mass of brilliant, colorful light. More like it did the same in rapid succession, dancing in the night sky along with the trillions upon trillions of stars that had decided to take a backseat to their annual performance.
Ferb sat in his usual silence upon the grass in his backyard, paying no mind to the moisture staining his pants. He stroked their blades just to feel the forming dew rolling onto his fingers, the underlying calm beneath the spectacle that was the evening fireworks show.
Sort of like him.
Perry waddled up to his left hand, pushing his head into the crook of Ferb's arm. The boy smiled softly, then deserted the grass to pet his platypus instead.
His platypus. Perry belonged to him now, at least a little bit.
Ferb always felt a little awkward celebrating the American Independence Day every fourth of July, but this year he realised it was well worth celebrating; after all, he had lived on the west side of the Atlantic for most of his life, and even worked for the American government for a period of time. He was nearly a Yank himself, if not for his accent and propensity for tea.
To his left sat Gretchen Estrella Guerrero, just as entranced by the display as he was, if not more. He stole a glance at her, wondering how on Earth she had done all that she had to help when she was just so small. How was it possible to fit all that courage into such a frail, underdeveloped, eight-year-old body? He was never to know.
From behind, a pale pair of arms chose his shoulders as a place to rest their elbows, and his hair as a cushion for their owner's head. He stiffened slightly when he felt her brown hair fall upon his right shoulder and the black leather of her sleeves touch the sides of his head. Yes, even Vanessa had agreed to come to his house and watch the celebration.
Six... Six...
Ferb frowned. He had not seen Vanessa since the incident two days ago, and knew the conversation about his feelings that they were meaning to have was coming soon - likely after the fireworks were over. Oh well, he realised, I'm prepared for it. What's a measly six years, anyway?
To Vanessa's right was Candace, who had somehow managed to keep unimpressed comments to herself the whole time. A slight wind breezed through her hair, making her grab at her bare arms for a moment. However, she could not deny that the peace of the night was something she could come to enjoy... On special occasions, that is. The Fourth of July seemed a good enough example.
Peace. It was something Ferb and his team had worked so hard to preserve, and yet two days after they changed everything just to achieve it, no one had heard any news of withdrawal from the war which had loomed over the seven for much too long. It made the holiday bittersweet, and Ferb reasoned that that might have been why no one had yet said a word.
The person to his immediate right reached a finger out and poked him in the leg.
"Some night, huh Ferb?"
Surprisingly, the question did not shatter the silence, but only gently pushed through it. Ferb looked to the speaker.
And he agreed: "Absolutely, Phineas."
The redhead beside him crossed his arms over his blue cargo shorts. "So, this happens every year?"
"Well, when it doesn't rain," explained Vanessa. She closed her eyes briefly in thought; the teen loved everything about the holiday, and felt it as good a time as any for something special to happen.
Phineas smiled. "Something to look forward to, then."
They sat back in silence again. "So... You never did tell us what happened," he pressed. "Whatever happened to D-D-"
"Doofenshmirtz?" Gretchen asked, "He's fine. That trap didn't ever hurt him, see, made his body temperature drop so low that he would freeze if he stepped out of it. It was real heat, just not real fire."
"And what about you two?" Phineas inquired further. "How did you ever get out?"
Ferb looked to his brother with a playful stare and explained, "All of Doofenshmirtz's traps are escapable. You should know." He looked down. "We designed them."
"...This is true." He turned to the others, and defended, "Of course, they weren't traps when we made them. He, uh, has his own ways of taking things and making them useful to him."
"Yeah," all except Gretchen and the platypus sighed.
"But what about you, Phineas?" Vanessa wondered, "I know the earthquake was just a simulation, but man, that took guts to go up there and do what you did."
"Yeah, but we've all done some pretty gutsy things recently," Phineas commented. "Well, it took a lot, but Ferb's really good at that kind of stuff. He almost had me fooled that that piece of concrete was really falling! And I pick up on everything."
Ferb chuckled to himself at his brother's poor diction. At this time, the sliding glass door to the inside of the suburban house opened, perfectly framing a ten-year-seven-month-three-day-old girl in a pink pinafore.
"Everyone, good news!" Isabella announced, "Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher just read about it: our countries are having a ceasefire, the war is off!"
All the kids jumped up, exuberant. Phineas, in his enthusiasm, ran over to her with the biggest and most genuine grin he had ever exhibited, and grabbed both of her hands in his.
Joy. That was the first emotion that meeting Isabella had given him, and by far his favorite. It was the reason he had dropped from perfection, he decided; the joy she had given him had awakened a sense of emotions he had never experienced before, and he did not mind in the slightest.
"That's awesome, Isabella," he cheered, bouncing up and down. One last firework soared above them and exploded into a fury of orange, pink, green, brown, black, white, and teal. "Now, come on, let's celebrate."
Isabella did as she was told.
~End of Part Two~
Thank you all so much for sticking with me to the end! It's been a long and wild ride, and I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did writing it! When did I start this, the end of October or something like that? Currently, this is the longest piece I've probably ever written, FanFiction or otherwise. And every minute was worth it. :)
So remember: Carp...ooling saves the planet! Hah, thought I was going to say Carpe Diem, didn'tcha? Well, it's apropos, 'cause Earth Day was yesterday and everything.
Oh, and keep an eye out for the epilogue, everybody!