The Cake's Crumb: A Phineas and Ferb Fanfiction

Chapter 3: Pondering

The sun beat down on the Flynn-Fletcher backyard early in the morning. Isabella, Ferb, Buford, and Baljeet were sitting around the usual tree, protected from the sun by the leaves above. The atmosphere seemed somber. Buford was scratching the grass. Baljeet was twiddling his fingers. Ferb was flipping through a notepad. As for Isabella, she was simply looking down at the ground with a sullen expression. For her, this was quite a situation. Why would Phineas just go missing? Was it because of something she had said in her letter? Was it how she delivered it, was it her stress over the whole "crumb cake" nickname? Whatever it was, it gave her an expression of discontent on her face.

"Maybe we can get Dinnerbell back by singing a song on a roof like we did for Perry."

"Buford, that's ridiculous and sounds cliche. How does music assist us with finding someone missing? I suggest applying some sense of logic here."

"What? Emotionally-driven musical talent works every time for us, Baljeet!"

During Buford and Baljeet's argument over the power of searching for people via singing, Isabella leaned along the bumpy, mossy tree trunk, deep in thought. Somehow, she felt guilty for all of this. If she hadn't sent Phineas the letter, he likely wouldn't have vanished. She had written it without taking into consideration how HE would feel.

"I'm just saying, music makes people happy!"

"But it's completely ridiculous and-"

"WOULD YOU TWO SHUT IT FOR ONE SECOND!"

Almost immediately, everyone turned their gazes towards Isabella. She glanced back at herself and sighed after her... outburst.

"It's...it's my fault. I shouldn't have sent him that letter. And to think that I told him everything in it..."

The other kids looked at each other for a few seconds as Isabella shed a tear. Buford was the first to break the silence, smirking at Baljeet.

"I guess someone owes me money."

Baljeet grumbled, fishing a $20 bill out of his pocket and handing it to Buford before looking back towards Isabella.

"At first I was worried about Phineas flat out rejecting me on the spot. Now though... I'm worried about him, I... I..."

Isabella burst into tears as Ferb patted her on the back and both Buford and Baljeet looked on in sympathy.

Then, Buford stood up triumphantly, coughing into his hand before putting his fists on his shoulders.

"Well, we'd best find him then! It's what Dinnerbell would want us to do!"

Baljeet, Isabella, and Ferb looked to Buford with smiles on their faces, with Isabella feeling her tears drying up.

"For Phineas."

Baljeet joined Ferb right after, throwing his fist into the air in victory.

"For Phineas!"

After a moment's hesitation, Isabella got up off her feet, cheering alongside the others.

"For Phineas!"

"So, Perry the Platypus, I see you've met the new Norm."

Heinz Doofenshmirtz stood before Perry within his laboratory, where large numbers of computer consoles, spare blueprints, and prototypes dotted the floor. Many of them were broken, some had scorch marks, and as a whole they looked quite incomplete. Of particular note to Perry was the lack of an Inator in the lab, something which he normally expected from Doofenshmirtz. He struggled to break free, but the two robots keeping him restrained had grips of iron, twisting his muscles and keeping him immobilized. Towering above them was a large monitor bearing Norm's face, illuminating the room.