Leap Day 3: The New Generation

Part 1

Leo burst into the room all excited. "They cancelled school tomorrow due to the weather!" He announced. His parents, Phineas and Isabella looked at him. So did his pet capybara, Captain. His sister, Ally was by his side.

"Why they don't have school on Speedster like they did in 2020 for the pandemic? I have no idea. It's 2036 peeps! We can do better. But I'm not complaining, yay, no school!"

"Sounds like you are a little, sis." Leo told her. Ally shot a look at him.

"I am not!" She sighed. "Yeah, maybe you're right. But school can be so tedious. Even a hard-core school fan can appreciate time off every now and then." Isabella smiled.

"We know." She said. "Your father and I just got the news."

"What are you kids going to do for this special occasion that only happens mostly every four years?" Leo shrugged.

"Probably the usual." He stated. "Play VR games all day." Phineas frowned at this,

"Oh, Leo!" Isabella said. Leo was confused.

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

"You obviously did." Ally pointed out. "Considering they both look disappointed."

"It's a special day on the calendar." Phineas explained. "You should do something very special in honor of the day."

"Dad, no offense, but I'm not you. I'm not going to play sports on the moon or do snow activities and definitely no frog related stuff. Plus, frogs go into a sort of hibernation during winter, and other animals can leap too like bunnies and us humans if we want to, so why do we think of just frogs?" Phineas sighed and shrugged..

"I know you're not. And I'm not offended at all. It's just that...well, you can do whatever you want."

"Thank you."

"Okay, glad that's settled then." He went off to his room, but not without greeting Captain and petting him.

"You can do whatever you want too, honey." Isabella told Ally.

"I know." Ally stated. "I'll probably do something that I like. Just don't know yet." She too went off, but also not before greeting and petting Captain.

"I just don't know, Isabella." Phineas said to her. "I thought that camping trip we took last summer would make Leo excited about the outdoors."

"Phineas," Isabella stated. "That would be lovely, but..."

"I know. He's not me. He's his own kid. Both of our kids are, and I can't make them do stuff that they don't want to do."

"Exactly. Both of our kids are special just the way they are."

"I know what I'm doing tomorrow!" Leo announced at the dinner table that night. This got Phineas excited.

"Changed your mind about playing VR games all day, son?" He asked.

"I'm going to invite my friends over for a sleepover tonight and..." Phineas got a little excited about this.

"Yeah? Yeah?"

"Play VR games with them!" Phineas' smile vanished.

"Oh, that's cool. I'm excited for you, son. Bet you kids will have a great time."

"Thanks Dad, I'm sure we will." Isabella looked at her daughter.

"Did you decide on an activity?" Ally shrugged.

"Probably hang out with my friends too." She admitted.

"Well whatever you do, I bet you'll have a great time as well." She looked down at the capybara.

"And same goes for you too, big guy."

"Uh, Mom?" Leo said. "He's an animal. He'll probably do what he does everyday: Eat, sleep, poop, and pace around the house for no reason." Isabella looked at her son.

"You don't know that. He could be a secret spy or a superhero."

"Was Perry or Pinky spies or superheroes?"

"Sadly, no. But they were superheroes to us, even without superpowers."

"Come to think of it," Phineas put in. "I could've sworn that your uncle Ferb and I discovered Perry was an agent when we were kids, saw our selves in an altranate dimension. But that was just a fever dream, nothing more. Would be awesome though."

"Yeah." Isabella agreed. "Yeah, it would be awesome. That is when I kissed you for the first time since you were too oblivious of my love towards you." Just then, their family robot, Rita wheeled up and spoke.

"You have a phone call from the Amara fam. Do you want to pick up now?" Leo's heart skipped a beat. Amara was Francesca's last name. Why were her family calling?

"Wonder what they want." Isabella said as if reading Leo's mind. Phineas looked at the robot.

"Yes." He replied. "Yes, we would please Rita."

"Very well." The robot said.

"Good evening, Flynn-Sharpiro family." They heard Mr. Amara say in a thick Italian accent. "I'm sorry if this is out of the blue and so sudden but would you mind watching Francesca tonight and most of the day tomorrow? Her mother and I both have very important work conferences in the next state. We want to leave tonight to beat the snow, so can you pick her up right now? The babysitter bot malfunctioned and we don't have time to bring it to a store to have her fixed. This would be greatly appreciated." Leo's heart stopped. If Francesca comes here tomorrow, he'll need a change of plans in order to impress her. He knew he had to.

"We would love to, Karmelo." Phineas answered. "We couldv'e sent Rita over to watch her, but I think Leo will like this much better. I'll have the self-driving car pick her up. It'll be there in a few minutes."

"Oh, Gracie Millie! Your family are truly life savors."

"Don't mention it. I'm sure Leo will love to have her over. His friends are coming over tonight, but I'm sure they won't mind the extra company."

"I'll go tell her the good news and have her wait."

"You do that."

"Addio, Phineas!"

"Addio, Karnelo! You and your wife have a good time at your conferences. We're take great care of Francesca."

"I know you will."

"Call ended." Rita stated.

"Thank you, Rita. Can you tell my car to pick up Frencesca at the Amara address?"

"Certainly. Already done. Can I do anything else for you?"

"No, that's all for now. Thank you."

"With pleasure." Alexis wheeled off and Phineas resumed eating. Leo's heart was racing now. Now he definitely had to change his plans. Francesca wouldn't want the current plan he had, not in a million years. But what? He wasn't crazily inventive like his uncle and dad were. He had to think fast.

"Francesca's coming tonight!" Isabella announced as if they were hearing the news for the first time. "How exiting!" Ally grinned at her brother.

"Any change in plans, brother?" She asked. "I'm not sure Francesca would be too thrilled in playing mindless VR games all day."

"Hey, yeah!" Phineas piped up. He looked at his son. "Bet this will put a wrench in that plan of yours, huh? Do you have any new ones?"

"Uh, no." The boy admitted. "But I bet I'll think of one with my friends."

"I bet you will, son." They continued eating in silence as Leo was thinking of said plan.

Captain saw that his watch was glowing. He knew what that meant. It meant that his boss, Diana Denvers, had a new superhero assignment for him. He turned his watch on and his boss appeared on a hologram before his very eyes that only he could see.

"Super Capybara," She began. "all of the froglets in the entire tristate area has all been reported missing by their froggy parents who all went out of hibernation just to find them. We don't know why or where. That's your job. Figure out where they all went and save all of them. Good luck!" The hologram vanished as the clock shut itself off. Super Capybara knew what to do. He didn't know where to start looking, but he knew he had to start outside. So he went off towards the automatic doggy door.

Once at the door, and once it opened, he was shocked to see a green frog sitting in front of it. He went to the frog. The door closed behind him.

"Oh, please!" The frog pleaded. "I heard about you Super Capybara and need your help."

"Let me guess." Captain began. "Your little one has gone missing and you want me to help, right?" The frog was confused.

"Yes, my little Croak. But how do you know?"

"Word's gotten around that all the froglets in the tri- state area has gone missing, so, you're not the only one."

"So, will you help? Will you find my little Croak and return him safe and sound to me, his daddy?" Captain smiled.

"Of course I will." He replied. "That's what I do best after all. I help animals and people in need." The frog smiled.

"Oh, thank goodness! I knew I could count on you. Oh, sorry, I'm Jim by the way."

"Well, Jim, you chose a great helper. Now, where did you last see Croak may I ask?"

"We were hibernating near the now frozen pond. He shouted 'daddy, help.' As soon as I woke up, he was gone."

"Hmmm, interesting. Where is this pond, Jim? Can you lead me to it?" Jim nodded.

"Of course, it's not far. Follow me!" Jim hopped away. Captain followed.

As Rita was cleaning the kitchen after dinner, she noticed Captain was gone.

"Where's Captain?" She wondered out loud. "Oh well. I'll tell Master Phineas about it, even though he probably won't care since he disappears every time." The robot picked up his food and water bowls, and kept cleaning.

"Oh, hello, Francesca." Phineas greeted when the the door opened automatically from his voice command and she came inside. The door closed behind her. "Are you ready to do whatever?"

"I'm ecstatic, Mr. Flinn-Sharpiro!" The little girl responded. Phineas smiled.

"Good. I'm so happy to hear that." He called for Leo. "Leo! Francesca's here!" Leo appeared.

"Thanks, Dad." He said to him. "I'll take it from here."

"I know you will, son. Remember, carpe diem!"

"Sure, Dad. Whatever." He and Francesca left. "That's Latin for 'seize the day.'"

"I know." Francesca said. Leo blushed.

"You do? Oh." He felt like an idiot now, telling Frencesca what she already knew. Francesca noticed this.

"That's alright." She said. "Latin is a long dead language anyways. How can you possibly have known that I knew that?" Leo laughed a little.

"Hey, yeah!" He frowned to himself. He still felt foolish about it though.

"Here's the pond where Croak and I live." Jim said as they were at the frozen pond with a bunch of lily pads under the ice.

"And you said that your son got snatched as you were hibernating?" Captain wanted to know.

"Correct."

"Hmmm, interesting. And where's his mother?" Jim frowned at this.

"I'm afraid she's no longer with us. It's just Croak and I." Captain frowned as well.

"Oh, sorry for your loss."

"Thanks. It's been hard on us, but we managed so far and will keep at it." He then began to cry. "Which is why you need to save him. He's all I have!" Captain was determined.

"Don't worry. I'll do what I can to get Croak home." Jim smiled and calmed down.

"I know you will." Captain went on inspecting the whole pond.

Isabella opened the door and let Ally's friends, Iman and Jade enter. Leo's friends Ravi and Griff were also there.

"Hello." Isabella greeted them as soon as she told the door to close. "Are you..."

"Where's Leo?" Griff interrupted.

"Griff!" Ravi scolded. "Manners!" Isabella giggled. Just like Buford and Bajeet and still are. She pointed out where Leo was. Ravi thanked her and he and Griff went off. Isabella looked at her daughter's friends again.

"Are you girls ready for your sleepover?" She asked again.

"Oh yes." Iman agreed in a Hindu accent.

"This sleepover is going to be so lit!" Jade cheered. "We're going to put it on fire!" Iman laughed nervously as Isabella gave them a look.

"She doesn't mean literally put it on fire. That would be arson and Jade knows that's illegal, don't you, Jade?" Jade sighed and looked disappointed.

"I suppose." Isabella smiled as Iman changed the subject.

"Ally mentioned that Leo's GF is here?"

"Oh, yes, Francesca." Isabella said.

"Wow, Francesca! I haven't seen Francesca since we went camping last summer."

"I don't think Francesca even heard your voices last time. Since you two didn't talk, she probably forgot you two even tagged along."

"That was due to our bets to one another that Jade and I made that we wouldn't talk though the entire thing."

"Yeah, why did you two make that bet again? It was weird. It's like if this was a story, no offense, you guys shouldn't have been needed or mentioned at all."

"It was my Dad's idea." Jade explained. "He said that if I didn't talk, I would get 10 bucks. And if I could get Iman in on it, I would get twice that." She laughed. "I got 20 bucks because of it. That was a happy day." Iman sighed sadly.

"And I got nothing for it." She put in. "Jade promised me that I'd get half. It's what I get for trusting Jade, I guess. I shouldn't have trusted her."Jade laughed again as she gave Iman a noogie.

"Shouldn't have trusted me is right! You may be smart, but you never' ll learn this, That's why I lo...I mean ha...you know." Iman gave out a sheepish grin and laughed nervously again.

"Right." Isabella sighed.

"You're Buford's daughter alright." She said to Jade.

"Iman!" Ally said with glee on the stairs. She raced down to them. "Jade; you guys are here!"

"Of course." Jade said to her. "You invited us, remember? Where would we be?" Ally shrugged.

"Well, I'll leave you girls to it." Isabella spoke. "Before I go, I have to ask. Do you girls want any snacks?" They all shook their heads. Isabella then left. Ally took the girls to her room.

Captain searched the entire pond but didn't find anything useful. Jim noticed that Captain was exhausted.

"Please don't give up." He begged. "I need my little froglet. Surely you'll understand if you have kids."

"I do have kids." Captain told him. "Two loving human kids. They're my owners and I'll do anything to protect them."Jim smiled.

"Great, then you'll keep going?"

"I don't know, Jim. It's late. Probably will be best if we wait until tom..." The capybara then saw something. "Wait a minute." He went closer to investigate. Jim was concerned.

"What is it?" Captain pointed his nose down at something buried beneath the snow. He dug it up to reveal a plastic beaker. "What am I looking at?"

"I don't know but it has writing on it,"

"Well, I don't know what the strange writing is. I can't read human words."

"I can't either, but my boss can. Hang on, I'll give her a call." Captain pressed a button on his watch. A hologram of his boss appeared in her PJs. Jim's eyes widened.

"What is this magic?" He asked himself.

"What is it, Super Capybara?" Diana asked. Captain showed her the beaker. She looked at it and examined it "Hmmmm, that looks like a beaker from a science lab. And it says that it's from Danville High School in room 1129. Hang on, I'll find on how to get there." The hologram shut off and music that sounded as if they were in an elevator could be heard. Jim was very confused now.

"What's happening?" He wanted to know. "I'm so confused.

"Elevator music." Captain told him. "We have to wait until my boss comes back on with more information."

"What? But we're not in an elevator whatever that is."

Just then, Diana reappeared in hologram form.

"I installed the location in your phone." She informed the animal. "So go there ASAP and free those poor froglets. Diana Denvers over and out!" The hologram vanished. Captain clicked on the GPS icon on his phone and looked at it.

"It's this way." Captain told Jim. "Come on, the sooner we get there, the better." He whistled.

"Wait, we're going to hop/walk there?" Jim wanted to know. "I don't know how far away it is, but if it is, it could take forever, or as my son said to his friends, forevs." Just then, a hover car hovered up to them. "What's that?"

"My self-driving hover car that I got from getting this job."

"Is this our transportation? Won't humans see us?"

"No. What's cool about this baby is that it's invisible to the human eye. So they can't see it nor what's inside it."

"Oh, that's cool." Captain smiled.

"Yeah it is. Now hop in." The animals hopped in and they hovered off.

"Leo!" Phineas called when a red headed kid with glasses came in. "The last of your friends, Jack is here." Leo came up to them followed by Francesca, Griff, and Ravi.

"Hey, Jack." Leo greeted.

"Hey, Leo." Jack greeted back. He saw Francesca was here. "My, Leo, you didn't tell me that your GF will be here."

"It was sort of unexpected. Her parents are busy tomorrow and their babysitter bot broke. They didn't have time to have it repaired, so here she is. Sorry I didn't call you. I don't know why I didn't."

"You were too distracted by her. I know. And don't worry. So I'm guessing playing VR games all day tomorrow is a no go?"

"That would be correct." Francesca stated. "Unless you can't survive without it, Jack."

"No, I can. If I didn't play it as a baby because I was too young and didn't know how, I can survive."

"Good."

"Then what are we going to do tomorrow?"

"Don't know." Griff stated. "But whatever it is, Leo promised that'll it'll be fun. But if you ask me, it'll probably be stups lame. I mean what is more fun then playing violent VR games?"

"Tons of stuff." Ravi told him. "Like you could study. My dad taught me that there is nothing more satisfying then to study."

"No thank you. I'll save that for boring ol' school. Btw, you're one weird kid, you know that?" Ravi shrugged.

"Like father, like son." Griff rolled his eyes.

"Whatevs." They all went upstairs.

"You are here!" Captain's GPS announced when they were at Danville High. The car parked itself in the empty lot and the two animals got out. They headed for the door.

Before they entered, Jim saw someone inside and tons of boxes filled with holes. In each box was one of the kidnapped froglets. He immediately recognized one of the froglets and got excited.

"Croak!" He croaked. "It's me, Daddy!"

"Shhhhh!" Captain said to him. "We have to be quiet."

"Sorry! How are we going to get inside?" Captain looked all around for a way in. Captain was about to say something when the man left.

"Wait, I think the man's leaving." They saw him lock up the door to the room and went towards them. Jim panicked. "He's heading towards us!" The two animals saw the man leave though one of the doors next to them.

"This is our chance!" Captain said. He and the frog snuck inside before the door closed behind them. The two animals then looked around at their surroundings, then at the door that the man left from.

The animals both crawled/hopped around until they got to the classroom of 1129. They both looked at the door. Jim turned to Captain.

"How on froggy earth are we to get inside?" He wanted to know. Captain stood on two feet and took out a lock pic that he got from his compartment from his hover car. Holding it in his claws. He went to the lock of the door, and placed it in, working at it. Jim noticed this. "What are you doing?"

Once he opened the door, he looked at Jim to answer as he went on all fours again and put away the lock pic.

"I always carry a lock pic on me to get into locked doors. At the superhero school, they teach you how to pick locks as well as a bunch of other useful things you'll need to do this job."

"That's neat."

"Yeah it is." They all looked at the froglets in the room. "Croak! I'm here to rescue you! My new friend, Captain is here too." Frogs then hopped up and attacked them. The two animals screamed.

"The deed is done, Croak." A froglet stated to him as the other froglets threw the unconscious capybara and adult frog into a single cage and locked it. "Will that be all? May I take my leave now?"

"Thanks, Gribb." Croak thanked him. "That'll be all. You may leave." Gribb thanked him and hopped off. Croak sighed and looked up at the cage where his dad and Captain were. "Sorry I had to do this Dad and stranger. But you wouldn't understand. You two will though, in the morning hopefully when the pills you two got force fed with wears off."

Leo looked up at Francesca as she entered his bedroom that night in her pictures of different ice cream PJs. Griff and Ravi were already asleep in their sleeping bags. He smiled.

"I like your PJs." He told her. Francesca looked at him as she walked to her 'I heart Spain' sleeping beg.

"Oh, my gelato PJs? Thanks, I got them as a souvenir the last time I was in Italy. I also got another one when I went to Spain on the same trip. Say, when I said goodnight to everyone, I wanted to say the same to Captain but I didn't see him." Leo hopped into bed.

"Oh, he's probably gone then." Francesca was confused.

"Gone? Gone where?" Leo shrugged.

"Don't know. Wherever he goes to, I guess."

"Should we tell your parents?"

"No. He does this all the time and reappears later on. My folks said their pets did the same thing when they were kids. So it's all right."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes I am. Let's get some sleep for tomorrow."

"Okay. If you say so." Leo changed the subject. "So, tell me about Italy and Spain." But Francesca was already asleep. "Francesca?" He sighed.

But before he went to sleep, inspiration struck him. He thought about it some more and was absolutely sure about it. He knew what to do tomorrow. And with that, he too, fell fast asleep.