Big-Top Bonanza Read online

  Then she heard a girl’s voice outside her window.

  “Hey, Jeremy! Want to sit together at the show?”

  Candace ran to her window and looked out. A girl from school named Mindy stood on the sidewalk, talking to Jeremy.

  “No! No! Mindy can’t sit with Jeremy!” Candace growled in her new, deep voice. “Got to stop this! Got to tell Mom!”

  Candace suddenly saw her reflection in the window. She put her hands to her face, which was covered with splotches. “Can’t go out looking like this!”

  As Candace looked around her room, she saw a paper bag on the floor. She had an idea. . . .

  A few moments later, Candace snuck out of her house. She had put the paper bag over her head to disguise herself. She spotted Mindy and Jeremy and tried to edge past them without being seen.

  “So how about us sitting together?” Mindy said to Jeremy.

  Candace forgot about sneaking past. Instead, she ran toward Mindy and shoved her aside.

  “’Scuse me,” she said with a growl.

  “Oh, it’s good, bro,” Jeremy said.

  Candice was stunned. Jeremy thought she was just some strange guy wearing a paper bag! Upset, Candace hurried away.

  After she had run off, Jeremy turned back to Mindy.

  “Thanks,” he said politely, “but I promised Candace.”

  Meanwhile, Perry was still trapped in Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s lab. Inside the net, Perry took off his fedora. He pulled a cord that started up a saw hidden inside. He used the saw to cut the net, then jumped to the ground.

  Moments later, he was flying his portable propeller toward home.

  When Perry flew over the Flynn-Fletchers’ backyard, he heard Phineas’s voice boom out over a loudspeaker. “We’re moments away from Ferb and the Amazing Perry!”

  Perry sighed. Dr. Doofenshmirtz planned to change the voice of every person in the world. If he wasn’t stopped, everyone would sound as squeaky as the evil doctor. Perry had a duty to stop him. But he also had a duty to his owners, Phineas and Ferb.

  Perry pulled out his coconut-shell top and steered toward the backyard.

  Inside the big top, the bleachers were filled. Three circus rings had been set up. In the center ring, Baljeet was peforming his thumb trick. Phineas and Ferb watched from the sidelines.

  Phineas turned to his stepbrother. “Hey, Ferb, you guys are up next. Where’s Perry?” Then he spotted the platypus. “Oh, there you are!”

  Baljeet continued his act. “And now, for my final trick,” he said to the audience. “I will reattach my thumb. Feel the rhythm! Feel the rhyme! Come on, thumb, it’s healing time!”

  With a quick movement, Baljeet made it look as if his thumb was now reattached. He held up his hands in triumph. Ferb hit a beat on his drum kit. The audience cheered.

  “Let’s hear it for Baljeet the Stupefying!” Phineas said into his microphone. “But now, prepare to be astounded when the Amazing Semiaquatic Perry, aided by Ferb, attempts to jump through that hoop into the shallow pond!” Phineas pointed toward the center ring.

  “Ooh! Aah!” called the audience.

  A spotlight lit up a platform where Ferb stood holding Perry. A trampoline, a large hoop, and a small swimming pool were lined up in front of the platform. Ferb didn’t hesitate. He knew Perry could do this stunt, even without a rehearsal.

  On the platform, Ferb held out his arms and dropped Perry. The platypus bounced on the trampoline, jumped through the hoop, and landed in the pool of water with barely a splash. The stunt had gone off perfectly.

  “Yeah! Let’s hear it for the Amazing Semiaquatic Perry!” Phineas yelled into his microphone. Cheers filled the circus tent.

  His performance finished, Perry was free to go back to his real work—fighting crime. He ducked out of the circus tent. His portable propeller was still hovering in the air. He grabbed the handles and flew off. It was time to stop Dr. Doofenshmirtz!

  Chapter 4

  After running away from Jeremy and Mindy, Candace had decided to go tell her mother about Phineas and Ferb’s circus. Still wearing the paper bag, Candace hopped a bus to the mall in order to track down her mother.

  Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher and her jazz group were in the Squat ’n’ Stitch when Candace found them.

  “Psst! Mom!” Candace whispered huskily.

  Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher recognized her daughter’s voice without even turning around. “Candace, have you been near the wild parsnips again?”

  Candace rolled her eyes. She had almost forgotten about her allergy after seeing what her little brothers were up to in the backyard. “Yes, but you’ve got to see what Phineas and Ferb are doing!”

  “What is it now?” her mother said with a sigh. She fiddled with the settings on her electronic keyboard.

  Candace realized that her mother was much more interested in music than in Phineas and Ferb’s latest scheme. So Candace began to sing. Because of her allergy, her voice sounded more like a growl.

  Candace sang about her brothers’ past schemes, including when they built a roller coaster and a beach in the backyard. She sang about the time they built a fifty-foot tree-house robot but didn’t get in trouble because their parents never saw it.

  One of Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher’s friends, Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro, was strumming on her bass guitar. “Testify, Candace!” she yelled, impressed by her passionate performance. “Testify!”

  Encouraged, Candace grabbed a microphone. Then she wiped off a dry-erase board on the wall. As she sang, she wrote the words EVIL BOYS on the board.

  Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher thought her daughter was giving a great performance. She picked up her guitar and plugged it in. She began playing some blues riffs to back up Candace, who continued to sing.

  In the audience, Mr. Fletcher adjusted the sound levels on his recording equipment. The women in the knitting class bobbed their heads to the music without missing a stitch.

  Candace sang another verse about her brothers. The women in the knitting class sang along with the chorus. The second time they sang, the women held up their knitting. They had knitted the letters EVIL BOYS, to go along with Candace’s song.

  Candace dropped to her knees for a big finish and belted out the last line.

  At the end of the song, the women in the knitting class cheered and threw balls of red yarn into the air.

  A little breathless, Candace turned to her mother. “So are you going to come home with me?”

  Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher smiled at her. “Are you kidding, hon?” she cried. “Let’s do another!”

  Candace groaned.

  Using his portable propeller, Perry flew to where the Voice-inator was sailing through the sky. He landed on the deck in front of Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

  “Perry the Platypus,” Dr. Doofenshmirtz cried. “You are too late!”

  Perry saw a large switch that was labeled ON/OFF. He reached for it.

  “Wait!” Dr. Doofenshmirtz slapped Perry’s paw away.

  It would take more than that to stop Agent P! Perry reached toward the switch again.

  “Wait, don’t touch that!” Dr. Doofenshmirtz yelled, knocking Perry’s paw away once more.

  Perry tried again. For the next few minutes, he tried to turn off the switch, and Dr. Doofenshmirtz slapped at his paw.

  “Stop it, stop it! Stop it, I told you!” Dr. Doofenshmirtz shouted over and over.

  Finally, the scientist tried to just cover the switch with his hands.

  Perry was ready. He started to tickle Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

  Dr. Doofenshmirtz giggled helplessly. “Stop—stop it!” he cried. “Stop it!”

  Perry tickled him even more. The scientist laughed so hard that he lost his grip. Perry saw his chance and reached for the switch.

  “I said keep your hands off that!” Dr. Doofenshmirtz yelled.

  Perry lunged for the switch. It was his only chance.

  Back at their circus, Phineas and Ferb watched the latest act. A half-dozen girls stood in a pyramid on each other’s shoulders t
wirling rings on their arms. As they finished, Phineas smiled. All of the acts so far had been terrific!

  Buford strolled up, ready to take his place in the spotlight.

  “Hey, I’ve got my costume all set,” he said. “Be sure to introduce me as the ‘Amazing Baggo.’”

  “You know, we’ve been thinking about your act and have some suggestions,” Phineas said.

  Ferb held up a diagram. It was similar to the one that Buford had drawn, except it was much more complicated.

  Phineas saw the confused look on Buford’s face. “Modify your torque and reverse the angle of trajectory,” Phineas explained as he pointed to the diagram.

  Buford frowned. “I still get to land in the mud, right?”

  “Oh, yeah, yeah!” Phineas said.

  “I want the mud,” Buford said, in case that point wasn’t totally clear.

  Phineas and Ferb nodded. They had guessed as much.

  A few moments later, Django finished his circus act. He had tried very hard to place his legs behind his head, and now he was all tangled up.

  Phineas ran back into the center ring. “Thank you, Django, the human pretzel!” he cried as Django was loaded into a cart and pushed out of the ring.

  “That’s got to hurt,” Phineas said. “And now, our next act will catapult through the heavens and land in a pit filled with the mysterious Aztec Mud of Doom!”

  The members of the audience sat up a little straighter. This sounded good.

  Just then, Candace dashed into the tent. She glanced around at the crowd. When she saw Jeremy sitting next to an empty seat, she almost fainted.

  “Jeremy! Jeremy! Jeremy!” she said happily. “He saved a seat for me!”

  Phineas looked around the tent for Buford. It was time for his act. Phineas saw Candace wearing a paper bag over her head and thought that she was Buford.

  “I give you, the Amazing Baggo!” Phineas yelled. He pushed Candace toward the catapult. She was so surprised that she was unable to talk.

  Buford ran toward the ring. “Ta-da!” he cried. He couldn’t wait to land in the huge tub of mud. Then he saw that someone else was strapped to the catapult.

  “Hey!” Buford yelled.

  Candace had been trying to convince her brothers that she wasn’t Buford. But her voice was now so deep that they didn’t believe her. She struggled to escape from the catapult. Candace wasn’t sure what the machine did, but knowing her brothers, it couldn’t be good.

  “Guys, cut it out!” she yelled. “Let go!”

  “That dude’s stealing my act!” Buford yelled. The catapult and the mud were his ideas! Buford started toward the center ring.

  It was too late. Phineas and Ferb pulled the lever. The catapult arm whipped forward. Candace flew through the air—and out the top of the circus tent!

  The crowd stared at the hole in the big top, confused. Ferb whistled in astonishment.

  “Hmmm. . . . He must have been lighter than we calculated,” Phineas said.

  “No, no! This is Buford’s moment to shine,” Buford yelled.

  Determined to finish his act, Buford decided to skip the part where he flew through the air. He ran over to the mud pit and jumped in.

  “Hey, everybody!” he shouted, waving to the audience. “Over here!”

  The audience cheered loudly.

  Phineas did a double take. “Wait. How did he get down there?”

  “Um, perhaps Buford truly is amazing?” Ferb suggested.

  The two brothers considered this, then went to pull Buford out of the mud.

  * * *

  Meanwhile, back on the flying Voice-inator, Perry was still fighting Dr. Doofenshmirtz. They struggled back and forth, each trying to gain control of the switch. Then the scientist crashed into it.

  CRACK! The switch broke.

  “Whoa! Ooh!” Dr. Doofenshmirtz said. He stared at the lever in disgust. “Oh, great. Now this thing is broken!”

  Neither Perry nor Dr. Doofenshmirtz realized that when the switch had been hit, a hose detached from the Voice-inator. The hose swung through the air. Then it dropped through the hole in the top of Phineas and Ferb’s circus tent. Within moments, Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s invention had transformed the air inside the tent into Doofelium.

  Inside the big top, no one realized that they were breathing Doofelium instead of air. At least, until they starting speaking.

  “And now, ladies and gentlemen,” Phineas announced in a high-pitched voice, “I give you our entire cast in our grand finale! Featuring the amazing Perry!”

  In the sky, Perry heard his cue over the loudspeaker. He grabbed hold of his propeller and flew down into the tent. There, he joined Phineas and Ferb for the finale.

  Everyone who had performed in the circus formed a human ladder. Since he was larger than the others, Buford was on the bottom. Phineas and Ferb were on his shoulders, and the ring-twirling girls stood on the brothers’ shoulders. The tower of kids reached all the way to the top of the tent.

  Phineas and Ferb climbed to the very top of the human ladder, where they sat on a trapeze next to Perry.

  It was an amazing finale to the circus. Except it was about to get even better. The tent continued to fill up with Doofelium gas until it looked as if it were a balloon about to explode. The sides of the tent tugged against the stakes that were holding it to the ground.

  Then the stakes pulled free! The tent lifted off the ground, leaving the circus ring, the audience, and all the performers behind.

  The tent flew into the sky, where it smashed into the Voice-inator with a loud crash!

  Still inside the circus ring with Phineas and Ferb, Perry watched the Voice-inator fall from the sky to the ground. The audience whistled and cheered.

  Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s voice could be heard in the distance. “Curse you, Perry the Platypus!” he yelled, his voice sounding even squeakier than usual.

  Perry shrugged. He hadn’t meant for the big top to crash into the Voice-inator, but he was glad that the machine had been destroyed. Now the world was safe again—at least until Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s next evil plan!

  Chapter 5

  As the crowd filed out of the Flynn-Fletchers’ backyard, they talked about how great the show was, especially the amazing finale.

  “Whoa!” said one boy. “Thanks, Phineas!”

  “I thought your cirque rocked,” added another boy.

  “That was awesome!”

  “You’re the coolest!”

  “That was the best circus I’ve ever been to!”

  Isabella smiled in agreement. “Well, Phineas, awesome as usual!”

  After the audience left, Phineas and Ferb took apart the circus ring. Then Ferb pulled a lever to lower the circus seats into the ground.

  At that moment, Phineas and Ferb’s parents returned home. They saw a backyard that looked . . . totally normal.

  “Hi, guys!” said Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher. Phineas waved cheerfully. “Mom, Dad, you missed our cirque!”

  “Well, it sure looks like you had fun,” his mom said as she looked at Perry, who was dressed once again in his circus costume.

  Perry grunted, looking unhappy.

  Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher held a disc in the air. “Who wants to hear my CD?” she asked.

  “Ooh, I do!” Phineas said eagerly.

  “All right,” Mr. Fletcher said. “Come on!”

  “Cool!” Ferb exclaimed.

  Later that day, the backyard was empty when Candace finally arrived home. After being thrown from the catapult, she had landed a long way from her house. By the time she made it back, she had scratches all over her body and her clothes were torn. Luckily, her face wasn’t blotchy and her voice was no longer a deep growl. Her allergic reaction had finally gone away.

  “Oh, well, at least I’m back to normal,” she said with a sigh.

  A shadow fell over her. She looked up to see Jeremy standing beside her, holding a CD.

  “Hey, Candace!” he said. “My mom played me some of their CD. Your singing i
s awesome! How’d you get your voice to sound like that?”

  Candace smiled and shrugged. “Oh, same as all the great blues singers—wild parsnips.”

  Jeremy looked confused, but Candace didn’t have the energy to explain. She smiled at Jeremy and headed inside. It could wait for another day—one that hadn’t involved a circus in the backyard or a sky-high catapult.

  Part Two

  Chapter 1

  The sun had barely risen, but at exactly 6:59 a.m. Phineas and Ferb sat bolt upright in bed. After all, it was summer. They couldn’t waste time by sleeping in.

  The clock’s display changed to 7:00 a.m. The alarm buzzed loudly. Phineas reached over and turned it off with a look of triumph.

  “Beat you to it again, slowpoke!” he said, laughing. “Hey, Ferb, ready to build the fastest, safest, most on-time backyard railroad ever?”

  Ferb clapped a railroad engineer’s hat on his head in response. Then he threw off his covers to show that he was already wearing an engineer’s uniform.

  “All right!” Phineas cried.

  The two boys jumped out of bed. They slid down the staircase banister, one after the other.

  “You man the boiler. I’ll handle the brakes,” Phineas said.

  The boys ran outside. Ferb saw their pet platypus, Perry, and put his engineer cap on Perry’s head.

  “Perry can be the station mascot,” Phineas said.

  Perry made a chattering noise. He would be their mascot—as long as he didn’t have more important things to do, of course.

  Usually, a beautiful summer day filled Phineas with energy. As soon as he woke up, he would get tons of ideas for projects. But today seemed different somehow.

  “Wow, it’s really nice out today,” Phineas said. “It’s almost like everything in nature is simultaneously saying . . .”