"The following ten years were another sad and lonely time for the kingdom of Danland," said the narrator, "but at least they had the comfort of knowing that the Princess Isabella was safe. The good fairies disguised themselves as three social service workers, and they brought her to the abandoned woodcutter's cottage—which didn't turn out to be quite as habitable as they'd originally thought, but that's what magic is for! They had it fixed up in no time, and in the process, Buford discovered a hidden passion for interior design. And so it was that, deep in the forest, the fairies raised the princess as their own."
As soon as her eyes fluttered open, ten-year-old Isabella was accosted by the feeling that there was something important she was supposed to remember. Today was a very big day, but she couldn't remember exactly why.
Oh, well, she thought. Maybe her neurons just needed a little time to wake up.
With a yawn and a stretch, she swung her legs over the side of her bed and stumbled to her dressing table. As usual, the reflection that stared back at her from the mirror looked like a lion whose mane hadn't seen a hairbrush in about two decades. As she tried to tackle the tangles, she also tried her utmost to remember. Today was a very big day, but why?...
Then, as she clipped in her pink hair bow, the lightbulb came.
"Today's a big day!" announced Buford, approaching the table where Baljeet and Perry were enjoying bowls of Berry-O's.
"Oh, yes!" mumbled Baljeet. He swallowed his mouthful. "Yes, a very big day indeed!"
"The biggest!" Buford spread his arms wide.
Baljeet nodded enthusiastically "Huge! Enormous!"
There was a pause.
"…So, what's going on today?" asked Buford, putting his arms down.
"I was hoping you knew," said Baljeet.
"You don't remember?"
"No."
"Well, neither do I." Buford folded his arms. "Oh, great."
Perry rolled his eyes, and then left the table to retrieve the calendar from the wall, where the day was circled in bright red pen with the words "Isabella's Birthday" scrawled above it. He thrust it at the boys, pointing.
"Oh! It's Isabella's birthday!" exclaimed Baljeet.
"How could we forget that?" said Buford.
"Yeah, it's not like we had the day circled in red pen and labeled "Isabella's Birthday," said Baljeet.
"So, what do we do?" asked Buford.
Just then, Isabella skipped down the stairs. "Morning, guys! Whatchya doin'?"
"Um, well…" Buford snuck a glance at Baljeet, who shrugged.
"I have nothing," he whispered.
"Well, we definitely weren't just looking at the calendar to try and remember why today is such an important day," said Buford. Perry facepalmed, but Isabella didn't appear to be listening. She had poured herself some Berry-O's and was scarfing them down as fast as she could.
"So, guess what, guys? Today's a really big day—!"
"Erm—!" The fairies looked frantically at one another.
"—today's the day I finally get my Picnicking badge!" Isabella stood up, pointing to the empty spot on her scout sash.
"…Huh?" said Buford.
"Picnicking badge?" said Baljeet.
"Right! Today is the Forest Scouts' Picnic." Isabella pushed her empty bowl away and stood up. "Sorry, guys; gotta run!" she said. "The animals are expecting me."
The fairies looked at one another in surprise. Buford and Baljeet looked at one another. Then the two of them looked at Perry. The platypus shrugged.
"Well, okay," said Buford. "Just be back in time for lunch!"
"Okay!" said Isabella as she grabbed her backpack.
"And don't talk to strangers!" added Baljeet.
"Okay," said Isabella. She waved and dashed out the door. "Bye now!"
The three waved back. "Bye!"
The slamming of the door was followed by an awkward pause.
"…Well, whaddaya know?" said Buford. "I guess Isabella didn't remember her birthday, either."
"How do you forget your own birthday?" asked Baljeet.
"Eh. Search me," said Buford.
Perry, meanwhile, was scribbling frantically on a napkin. Capping the marker, he raced over to the boys and held it up in front of them. It bore a picture of Isabella standing next to an enormous cake. Himself, Buford, and Baljeet were popping out of the top of the cake in a shower of confetti, with party hats and noisemakers and presents.
"Yeah, yeah, that's a nice drawing, Perry, but we've gotta figure out what to do for Isabella's birthday," said Buford. The platypus rolled his eyes.
"Wait, I know!" said Baljeet suddenly. "What if we throw Isabella a birthday party?"
"Hey, yeah! That's a great idea!" said Buford. "We can get it ready while Isabella is out at her scout meeting."
"It will be a surprise!" said Baljeet.
"Good! Now, start puttin' up decorations!" said Buford, pushing Baljeet away. "I'll be in charge of making the best, most giant birthday cake ever! Perry, you can—"
He suddenly broke off, looking around. "Where's Perry?"
True to the stereotype, Malefischmirtz's castle was the crumbling, bat-infested, dark-and-dank, gloom-and-doom kind sorcerers usually inhabit—but nonetheless, it wasn't too gloomy for a little musical ditty.
"Malefischmirtz's crumbling, bat-infested, dark-and-dank, gloom-and-doom caa-aaastle!..."
"Hey, the rent was cheapest, okay!?" the sorcerer protested.
BAM! With a strength not normally associated with fairies or platypuses, Perry suddenly kicked in the door.
The sorcerer whirled around. "Ah, Perry the fairy-pus! So glad you could make it—wait, what's that?" he asked, looking at the brightly wrapped package under Perry's arm. "Is that for me? You got me a present? How thoughtful; you know, you're the best nemesis an evil sorcerer could ask—"
Perry looked down at the present, then hurriedly whipped it behind his back, shaking his head.
"—for. Oh. So, it's not for me?" asked Malefischmirtz. Perry shook his head. The sorcerer rubbed the back of his neck. "…Well. This is awkward."
Perry rolled his eyes. After a painfully long pause, the sorcerer asked,
"…Then who is it for?"
A third time, Perry shook his head.
"Don't worry; you can trust me; I won't tell anyone!" the sorcerer said. "Come on; now you've got me all curious!"
Instead of replying, Perry pointed to the ominous-looking iron cauldron behind him, which was full of a bubbling white substance.
"What, that?" said the sorcerer. "Oh, that's just a triple batch of my homemade vanilla bean gelato. Made with real cream! If you're looking for my evil plan, then you'll have to look over—oh, wait; I forgot."
Malefischmirtz aimed his staff at the platypus with an evil laugh; a purple beam erupted from its tip. Within seconds, Perry found himself encased in a magical crystal.
"Now, as I was saying," the sorcerer smirked, "If you're looking for my evil plan, then you have to look over here."
He walked over to the window of the tower, where there sat a purple crystal similar to the one in which Perry was imprisoned, except that this crystal was pulsing with an eerie light.
"Do you like it?" Malefischmirtz snickered. "You see, fairy Perry, I was just going to make one batch of gelato, but it turned out that I read the recipe wrong. Why don't those cookbooks speak English?—" He sighed. "Anyway, I ended up making a triple recipe, but I only have one box of ice-cream-cones! You can't eat ice cream without a cone; it's just not right; right?—"
Perry blinked.
"My feelings exactly!" the sorcerer exclaimed. "I had this extra purple crystal lying around, so I decided to enchant it with my special cone-attraction-spell. It will bring all of the ice cream cones in the kingdom right here to me, and then I'll have more than enough for all my gelato!" He threw back his head, laughing evilly. Perry gritted his teeth, growling. You won't get away with this!
"The time has come!" said Malefischmirtz, tapping the crystal with his staff. It began to glow, brighter and brighter. Perry winced, feeling around in his pocket for a pair of sunglasses. "Every single ice-cream-cone in the kingdom shall be mine!—oh, wow, that's really bright. Ouch, my eyes!" said the sorcerer, fumbling around in front of him. "Where's the dimmer switch on this thing!?..."
"How's it looking, Ferb?" called Prince Phineas. In response to his half-brother's shouts, Prince Ferb poked his head out of the rocket, looking confused. "I said, how's it going up there?"
Ferb pointed to his brother, gesturing to his face. The welding mask.
"Oh, right!" said Phineas, suddenly realizing that he must sound like Darth Vader. He quickly reached up and flipped the mask up, revealing his face. "Sorry about that. How's it going up there?" Ferb gave him the thumbs-up.
"Great!" said Phineas. "The tailfin's attached. If you've got the radio system back in order, then all we need to do is fill the fuel tank, and we should be good to go!"
"What the heck are you guys doing?" a sharp voice suddenly cut in.
"Oh, hi, Candace," said Phineas, waving at his older sister as she stomped across the courtyard towards them, lifting her long skirts out of the mud.
"Eww! Hadn't they ever heard of sod in the 1400's?" said Candace. "Aaaargh! Whatever. Phineas and Ferb,—"
She suddenly stopped, looking up at the enormous rocket. "What is that?"
"It's a rocket," explained Phineas. With a sudden fwoomp!, an inflatable slide popped out from the rocket's doorway, allowing Ferb to slide to the ground beside his brother. "Ferb and I are gonna launch ourselves into orbit, so that we can see whether the earth is really flat or not. Wanna come along?"
"No!" said Candace firmly.
"Are you sure? The passenger cabin has a high-def. TV."
"Those haven't even been invented yet!" exclaimed Candace. "Never mind! Aren't you two supposed to be doing prince stuff, like, I don't know—practicing your archery, or whatever?"
"Oh, yeah; we did that earlier this morning," said Phineas, gesturing across the courtyard to a row of targets. Each had multiple arrows sticking out of the bull's-eye at its center. "You should've seen Ferb. He sliced an apple in two at 30 yards!"
"When you take the time to calculate the physics, it's really quite simple," said Ferb.
"Then we had some free time before lunch, so we just thought we'd beat Galileo to the punch."
"What!? Aaaargh!" said Candace, clutching her forehead. "When Mom sees this, you guys are gonna be soooo busted!" Candace turned on her heel and stalked back towards the castle. "Mom! MOM!—"
"Well, Ferb, I guess it's just you and me," said Phineas. "Now, who's ready for a space flight?"
Suddenly, a beam of purple light shot out of the sky, engulfing the nose cone of their rocket.
"What's going on!?" exclaimed Phineas. The rocket shuddered, rattled, and then, with a groaning of metal, the whole thing lifted high into the air.
"Wow. You really bolted the top on tight, didn't you?" said Phineas. Ferb gave him a thumbs-up.
Throughout the kingdom, it was the same story. All of a sudden, everyone's cone-shaped objects were suddenly yanked from their hands by beams of purple light, soaring up and away through the skies, all headed in the same direction: Mount Doof.
"Ah, here they come, Perry the fairy-pus!" laughed Malefischmirtz, rubbing his hands together as the cone shaped objects piled up before him. He picked up a traffic cone. "Though, come to think of it, I don't remember ice-cream-cones being such a violent shade of orange."
While the sorcerer was having his moment of triumph, inside the crystal, Perry pulled out his wand. Its tip began to crackle with magical energy; wielding it like a blowtorch, he began to carve his way out of the prism.
"By the way, do you like my sunglasses?" said the sorcerer. "I know, they're cool, right? They're the coolest shades in the whole—"
As he turned around, he barely had time to register the winged blue blur heading flying towards him before he was knocked right off his feet, slamming to the floor.
"OOF!" The sorcerer looked up at the platypus pinning him to the ground. Perry looked back sternly over the gold rims of his aviators. "What!?" exclaimed Malefischmirtz. "How are your shades cooler than mine? More importantly, how did you escape my—oh," said the sorcerer as he looked over at the neat little hole the fairy had made.
Perry said nothing, but promptly sent a spell in the direction of the offending crystal, which exploded. Purple shards flew in every direction; one large chunk struck the cauldron of gelato, knocking it over.
"NO!..." cried Malefishmirtz, as the purple beams drawing the cone-shaped objects to the tower vanished, sending the items plummeting back to earth. "My gelato!..."
"You know, Ferb," said Phineas as they watched the purple beam pull their rocket away into the sky by its nose cone, "Somehow, this isn't what I imagined beating Galileo would be like." Ferb shrugged.
"—Mom! Mom! Mom!" came Candace's sudden shrieks, as she dragged Queen Linda out the door into the courtyard. "C'mon!"
"Whoa; slow down, there, Candace," said the queen. "It's not very princess-like to pull on your mother. Eww, this courtyard is so muddy!" Linda hurriedly lifted her skirts out of the muck. "You know, we really should put down some sod."
"Yeah, yeah; whatever; just look at this!—" said Candace, with a grand sweeping gesture towards the airborne rocket. However, while Queen Linda was distracted by the mud, the purple beam suddenly vanished, and the rocket plunged out of sight beyond the castle wall.
"Oh, wow!" said Linda, looking up. "Just look at all those bull's-eyes! You boys have really been practicing, haven't you?"
"Yes! Yes, we have," said Phineas as he and Ferb walked up to them.
"What!?" sputtered Candace, looking frantically around. "It—but—no, no! You don't understand! They built a rocket! A rocket! It was right here; I swear!"
"A rocket? Candace, those haven't even been invented yet," said the queen. "Now, aren't you supposed to be doing princess stuff, like working on your embroidery?"
"AAAAARGH!" screamed Candace, throwing her fists in the air. "This is so not fair. I know it was here!"
"Candace, it's not very princess-like to scream," said Linda, before she grabbed her daughter's wrist and pulled her back towards the castle.
"I thought you said it wasn't very princess-like to pull on people, either!" Candace protested, trying to break free from her mother's grip.
"I'm the queen. I can get away with anything," replied Linda. She waved to Phineas and Ferb. "Good job on your archery, boys!"
"Thanks, Mom!" called Phineas, before he turned to his brother. "Well, it looks like the rocket fell somewhere over the Fair Forest. Ferb," he said, "I know what we're gonna do today!"
"No! My gelato!" Malefishmirtz moaned. "Curse you, Perry the—"
The sorcerer suddenly broke off, and sighed. "You know, not much has changed in the last ten years, has it? It's always the same routine; I make up evil schemes, and you defeat me, and then—hey, aren't you listening?—"
Perry, meanwhile, had pulled off his sunglasses and was striding out the door, his package under his arm. No use sticking around once his nemesis was vanquished. A platypus had things to do, birthday parties to go to, and presents to deliver.
"Where are you going?" Malefishmirtz exclaimed. "You can't leave now, I'm in the middle of a dramatic, philosophical speech! Come back here! Aaaaargh!" The sorcerer shook his fist at the platypus' retreating back. "Curse you, Perry the Fairy-pus! I will finish my speech eventually; you'll—!"
The door slammed. Malefischmirtz picked himself up off the ground.
"—see. Hmph!" he harrumphed. "Perry the fairy-pus thinks he's won, but I will find out who that present is for!" The sorcerer rubbed his hands together. "And I know just how to do it, too: using my Spy-inator!" he laughed. "I think it's still in the closet somewhere."
"Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the two-hundred-and-sixty-fifth Forest Scouts Meeting," said Isabella, looking at the eager faces of the assembled animals. "Are you all excited to get your picnicking badges?"
There came a rousing cheer.
"I know, me too!" Isabella said excitedly. "Let's just go over the checklist one last time, shall we? Okay. Sandwiches?—"
A deer pushed forward a plate piled high with peanut butter and ham on rye.
"Perfect! Chips?"
A squirrel held up two colorful, vacuum-sealed bags.
"Honey-pickle and barbecued chocolate. Good choice of flavors!" Isabella nodded approvingly. "Fruit salad?"
A chorus of twittering birds suddenly swooped in, each one carrying a berry in its beak, which they dropped one after another into a large bowl.
"Check! Carrot sticks?"
The bunnies hopped forward, carrying armloads of fresh-from-the-garden carrots. Taking them in their paws, they quickly sheared them down into bite-size sticks with their teeth.
"Check!—And, last but not least," said Isabella, "Lemonade!"
All of a sudden, a large pitcher was moving across the ground towards them, as though by itself. Looking closely, however, Isabella saw that the pitcher was actually being carried by an army of friendly ants.
"Left! Left! Left, right, left!" came their tiny marching cry. "Left! Left! Left, right, left!—HALT!"
"Great!" said Isabella. "I think we're all set. Wow, this is a lot of food," she remarked. "How in the world are we going to eat it all?"
Isabella sat down on the checkered blanket with a sigh, her head in her hands. "If only we had more people to invite."
Suddenly, a loud THUD echoed through the forest. The ground trembled beneath their tower of sandwiches wobbled threateningly. The lemonade sloshed.
"What was that!?" exclaimed Isabella, jumping up. She turned to the scouts. "Hmm. Anyone interested in getting their mysterious-noise-investigation patch?"
AN: Thanks for reading! Reviews are always welcome. I hope you have a lovely day!