Daredevil Days

by Molly McGuire

  Copyright © 2010 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

  All rights reserved. Published by Disney Press, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information address Disney Press, 114 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10011-5690.

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Edition

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  J-689-1817-1-09349

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number on file.

  ISBN 978-1-4231-2740-6

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  If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped” book.

  Table of Contents

  Part One

  Part One Chapter 1

  Part One Chapter 2

  Part One Chapter 3

  Part One Chapter 4

  Part One Chapter 5

  Part One Chapter 6

  Part Two

  Part Two Chapter 1

  Part Two Chapter 2

  Part Two Chapter 3

  Part Two Chapter 4

  Part Two Chapter 5

  Part Two Chapter 6

  Freeze Frame Preview

  Part One

  Chapter 1

  It was another glorious day of summer vacation. Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher were sitting on the living room sofa with Phineas’s grandparents, Grandma Betty Jo and Grandpa Clyde. They were all listening to Mr. Fletcher give an exciting speech on antique thimbles.

  “And that is why the eighteenth-century sewing thimble is not only a slice of history, but a compelling example of American grit and perseverance . . .” Mr. Fletcher said, reading from his note card. He would be speaking in front of a large crowd that afternoon and wanted to practice his speech one last time. He looked at his family eagerly.

  “Great, Dad!” Phineas said enthusiastically. Mr. Fletcher knew everything there was to know about antiques—which was a good thing, because he owned an antique store in town.

  “Oh, that was wonderful!” Grandma Betty Jo cheered. Then she dropped her head and pretended to snore loudly.

  “Mom!” Mrs. Flynn, Phineas’s mother, scolded.

  “Oh, I’m kidding!” Grandma Betty Jo said with a chuckle. She smiled at Mr. Fletcher. “Your speech is going to be a big hit at the antique-thimble symposium.”

  Phineas’s mom looked down at her watch. “Which we’re going to be late for if we don’t get on the road,” she reminded him. “Thanks again for looking after the kids today,” she said to her parents. “Candace is skating at the park. All the numbers are on the fridge.”

  “Be good for your grandparents, boys!” Mr. Fletcher called to the boys as he and his wife left the house.

  Phineas and Ferb waved good-bye. The house seemed strangely quiet. What were they going to do all day? Even Perry, the boys’ pet platypus, looked a little bored.

  But then their grandmother gave them a sly smile. “You want to go down and embarrass your sister at the park?” she asked.

  “Yeah!” Phineas and Grandpa Clyde cheered in unison.

  The boys and their grandparents dashed out of the room, leaving Perry staring blankly after them. The day was getting better already!

  * * *

  At the park, Candace’s best friend, Stacy Hirano, was helping Candace roller-skate. “You got it!” Stacy cheered, skating in front of Candace. “You may be rusty, but you got it!”

  Stacy was a natural skater. Candace Flynn, on the other hand . . . was not. She was a whiz when it came to shopping and singing and acting—but skating wasn’t her thing.

  “I—I can’t turn around or stop, but I got it!” Candace was flailing her arms, frantically trying to keep her balance. “I wonder if Jeremy’s skating here today,” she said. Jeremy Johnson was a classmate of Candace and Stacy, and he worked at the local burger joint. Candace had a megacrush on him. In Candace’s eyes, Jeremy was absolutely the cutest guy on the entire planet.

  Suddenly, Stacy stopped skating, causing Candace to nearly crash into her. Stacy pointed across the park. “Isn’t that your family?” she asked. Candace’s mouth dropped open. What were they doing there?! She spotted Ferb roller-skating nearby in graceful circles.

  “See, I told you Ferb was a good skater,” Phineas said to his grandma, beaming proudly. They were all decked out in their skating helmets and elbow and knee pads. Grandpa Clyde was sitting on a nearby bench, watching all the action.

  “Ooh, that’s my boy!” Grandma Betty Jo cooed, admiring Ferb’s technique. She and Phineas joined Ferb out on the pavement and skated dazzling loops and spins around one another. A crowd had gathered to watch them. They were really good!

  Suddenly, Grandpa Clyde spotted Candace skating down the path. “Yoohoo!” he called to her.

  “Hello!” Grandma Betty Jo shouted, waving wildly at Candace.

  “Hey, Candace, jump in!” Phineas yelled as he spun around in a circle.

  Suddenly, Candace stopped short and looked over at her brothers and grandparents in horror. “Turn me around, Stacy!” she commanded. Stacy pointed her friend in the opposite direction, and they rolled away from Candace’s family. Candace was not happy. Leave it to Phineas to spoil a perfectly pleasant day at the park! I’ll get you, Phineas! she thought.

  Chapter 2

  Grandma Betty Jo, Phineas, and Ferb skated through the park on a sunlit path.

  “So Grandma, where did you get your moves?” Phineas asked her. He’d never seen another grandma who could roller-skate even half as well as his could!

  Phineas’s grandmother glided out in front of them and gracefully performed a few jumps. “Well, boys, I was quite the skater in my—OOOF!” She hadn’t been watching where she was going, and she’d run right into someone! She fell to the ground with a grunt. “Watch where you’re—” she started to say. She stopped in midsentence. The other skater looked vaguely familiar to her.

  That other skater had the same thought. “Betty Jo of the Tri-State Bombers?” she asked. She looked about the same age as Grandma Betty Jo, and she had short white hair.

  “Hildegard? Of the Saskatoon Slashers?” Betty Jo asked, totally surprised. She took off her eyeglasses to get a closer look at the woman she’d crashed into.

  Hildegard put her hands on her hips. “I thought I’d smelled the last of you back in 1957, when I took the trophy and became the rightful queen of the derby,” she said with a sneer.

  “Whoa! Grandma, you were in a roller-skating derby?” Phineas asked in surprise.

  “Not only was I in it, I was champ! It was years ago.” His grandma got a faraway look in her eye as she recalled the final roller-derby match between the Tri-State Bombers and the Saskatoon Slashers.

  “We were in our final lap. My team used our signature move, the Whip, to send me over the finish line.” She explained that the Whip was a difficult move skaters used when heading around a curve. They formed a human chain, and the person on the outside of the chain would fly forward with a burst of speed when they whipped around the bend. It sounded pretty tricky . . . and also pretty dangerous. My grandma’s a speed demon, Phineas thought. Cool!

  “Hildegard’s team had the same idea,” Grandma Betty Jo continued. Then she described how both she and Hildegard had approached the finish line at exactly the same time. Just when she was about to cross it, Hildegard reached out . . . and shoved her! Phineas and F
erb gasped. That didn’t sound fair at all!

  “You only won because you cheated!” Grandma Betty Jo exclaimed, turning to face her old rival.

  “‘Anything goes,’ remember?” Hildegard replied, repeating an old roller-derby saying. She narrowed her eyes.

  Grandma Betty Jo and Hildegard squared off like cowboys about to draw for a duel. “Well, what do you say we try it again?” Grandma Betty Jo challenged.

  “Anytime, anywhere!” Hildegard replied.

  “You skate like a water buffalo!” Grandma Betty Jo spat.

  “You couldn’t win a race against a one-legged, stuffed owl!” Hildegard yelled.

  Phineas smelled a rematch! He couldn’t wait to see his grandma in action.

  * * *

  A few moments later, Candace skated over to them, her eyes wide with shock at the sight of her grandma and another lady yelling at each other. Just then, Jeremy skidded to a stop right behind Candace. He’d been skating on his own in a different area of the park.

  “Hi, Jeremy,” Candace said, gazing at him dreamily. How romantic to practically be skating together, she thought. Or at least standing next to each other while wearing skates. It was progress!

  “Uh, Candace, why is my grandma yelling at your grandma?” Jeremy asked, frowning.

  Candace suddenly snapped out of the daydream she’d been having where she and Jeremy skated off into the sunset together, holding hands. “That’s your grandmother?!” she cried, pointing in surprise at the threatening-looking woman who was now barreling toward them.

  “Come on, Jeremy! You and your little sister are on my team!” Hildegard shouted. “Suzy!” she hollered. Jeremy dutifully followed his grandmother as a cute little girl with bright blue eyes and blond ringlets skated down the hill.

  “Yes, Grandma?” Suzy asked innocently, her eyes wide.

  “Me, you, and Jeremy are a team, got it?” Hildegard said gruffly.

  Suzy smiled sweetly and fluttered her eyelashes. She was ready for this challenge!

  Meanwhile, Grandma Betty Jo was rounding up her own team for the rematch. “So I need two of you kids on my team, okay?” she said.

  “Well,” Candace began slowly. No way was she getting roped into this one—especially with Jeremy on the other team! “You can have Phineas and Ferb, Grandma, I’m not—”

  “But that’s not fair, Candace,” Suzy interrupted in her sweetest voice. “Our team has two girls and one boy, so you need to be on your grandma’s team so it’s fair. Because it’s not fair if it’s two boys and one girl against two girls and one boy!” Suzy flashed her most innocent-looking smile.

  Candace narrowed her eyes at Jeremy’s little sister. She knew that this was all an act. Suzy was very protective of Jeremy and wanted to keep Candace far away from him.

  Phineas pointed at his sister. “Then it’s you, Ferb, and Grandma! You’ll make a great team!” he cheered.

  “But—” Candace protested. Skating wasn’t her thing! How was Jeremy supposed to realize how fabulous she was when she could barely stand up in a pair of skates?

  “Well, I guess it’s set then. We have to do it for our grandmas. Right, Candace?” Jeremy said with a smile.

  “Yeah . . .” Candace said, staring at Jeremy. She chuckled nervously. “Right.” Then she felt someone tap her sharply on the back. She spun around and looked down to see Jeremy’s sister grinning evilly at her.

  “Psst!” Suzy hissed quietly. “See you on the track, chump!” And with that, she raced away, doing a complicated twirl just to show Candace who was boss.

  “Yeah, great,” Candace said with a sigh. But then she thought of something. “Hey! Wait!” she said excitedly to the rest of the group. “There’s no where to have a roller-skating derby, remember? The old derby track got torn down and turned into a tattoo parlor!” Victory! Candace thought. She wouldn’t have to skate after all!

  “Leave the rink to us,” Phineas said slyly. He and Ferb would come up with a plan. They always did!

  Candace slumped her shoulders. How am I going to get out of this one? she thought. This is so not good!

  Chapter 3

  Meanwhile, Perry the Platypus, aka Agent P, wasn’t just sitting around at home doing nothing. He had packed himself into a shipping box, correct postage and all, to be delivered to his top secret headquarters under Phineas and Ferb’s house. You see, Perry wasn’t just an ordinary family pet. He was also a top secret agent in charge of making sure the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz never achieved domination of the tri-state area. It was a time-consuming job, but somebody had to do it.

  Perry dropped through the mail chute onto his desk chair, popped out of the box, and looked around the high-tech Platypus Cave. Now he just had to wait for orders from his superior officer, Major Monogram.

  Just then, Major Monogram’s face appeared above Perry’s desk, broadcast via a huge satellite monitor. “Hmm . . . Nice entrance, Agent P,” he said. “But you do realize there is an elevator right over there, right?”

  Perry glanced at the elevator and then turned back to the screen. He knew perfectly well there was an elevator there, but he preferred to travel undercover. He was a top-ranking spy, after all.

  “Okay,” Major Monogram said. “Back to business. Dr. Doofenshmirtz is up to something. I want you to get out there and put a stop to it.”

  Perry nodded. He knew that the evil doctor had a long history of being up to no good. And only Perry could put an end to it. Agent P gave a salute to his boss and got to work.

  Moments later, Agent P was sneaking into Doofenshmirtz Evil, Incorporated headquarters across town. He scaled a wall of the giant building and balanced carefully on a window ledge to get a peek inside. Dr. Doofenshmirtz was staring out another window. Perry leaped into the room, landing softly on his webbed feet. He assumed a karate stance and waited quietly for his enemy to turn away from the window on the other side of the room.

  “Will you cool it with the noise, Perry the Platypus?” Dr. Doofenshmirtz said. “I’ve got a splitting headache.” He turned around and didn’t look at all surprised to see Perry. “Can you hang out for just one moment? I’m almost there.”

  Dr. Doofenshmirtz walked a few steps and hit a yellow button that was mounted on the wall. Directly above Perry, a metal cage came crashing down from the ceiling. Before Agent P could react, the cage trapped the platypus inside with a clatter. Dr. Doofenshmirtz held his head and sighed. “Ow! I’ve got to get a quieter trap!”

  Perry shook the bars of the cage, but it was no use. He was locked inside. This was not a desirable situation for a spy to find himself in!

  Dr. Doofenshmirtz struggled to carry the cage with Perry inside. The doctor was huffing and puffing as he talked. “Now that you’re trapped, I will tell you my evil plan! I’m miserable because I can’t grow facial hair. It all started when I was about fifteen . . .” the evil doctor began. “I’ve tried everything. It’s all so painful.”

  He finally managed to shove Perry’s cage up against a window. He wiped his brow, breathing heavily, and pointed outside. “So, who do they erect a statue of right next door? Rutherford B. Hayes, our nineteenth president! Only the president with the best facial hair of all! Just look at that thing!” Dr. Doofenshmirtz stared angrily out the window.

  Perry peered between the bars of his cage into the grassy courtyard below. Standing in the center of the square was a statue of a man with a very bushy beard and mustache. He was quite hairy indeed!

  “There’s no beard like a nineteenth-century beard, Perry the Platypus,” the doctor said. “Anyway, that horrible statue must be destroyed, as it’s a constant reminder of my follicle failure!” the villain yelled, clenching his fists.

  Agent P glared at his enemy. How was he ever going to escape and save the statue from being destroyed?

  Candace and Stacy had headed back to Candace’s house. Candace couldn’t stop worrying about the roller derby.

  “I can’t be a part of this race!” Candace cried. She just absolutely, one-
hundred percent could not skate in the rematch. And it wasn’t only because her skating skills weren’t top-notch. “I mean, what if we win? Would Jeremy still like me?” she asked nervously.

  “All I know for sure is that boys hate to be beaten by girls,” Stacy said matter-of-factly.

  Candace frowned. What was a girl to do in a situation like this?

  Just then, Grandpa Clyde poked his head over the backyard fence. “There you are,” he said to Candace. “Do you know where your dad keeps his glue gun?”

  “Glue gun? What are they up to?” Candace wondered aloud. “Later Stace—” she said, and dashed after her grandfather. Whatever they were doing, Candace felt certain it was something they shouldn’t be. She’d catch Phineas this time around! Candace found Phineas, Ferb, and her grandfather huddled together in the backyard. “I knew it!” she exclaimed, looking around. They had built a giant, stadium-size roller-derby rink right on the lawn! Above the entrance they’d hung a big banner that said REMATCH! “I just knew you’d be up to something by now!” Candace yelled. She glared at Phineas. Then she flipped open her cell phone. “Just wait until Mom hears about this!”

  Suddenly, her grandmother skated into the backyard. “Heads up!” she shouted as she tossed a helmet in Candace’s direction. Then she handed Candace a pair of skates. “Lace ’em up tight, dearie. We’ve got a score to settle. Win! Win! Win!” she chanted. She put a roller skate in her mouth and shook it from side to side, like a lion wrestling its prey.

  “Yeah!” Phineas cheered. This was going to be one great rematch!

  Chapter 4

  It was almost time for the roller-derby rematch to begin. Grandma Betty Jo was in the locker room that Phineas, Ferb, and Grandpa Clyde had built. She was giving Candace and Ferb a pre-derby pep talk.