A faint tinkling noise could be heard in a purple penthouse deluxe in the sky, yet the sound was so subtle that only those close enough could hear it. And only those who cared enough would make quite the racket that followed.
"Perry the Platypus!" a German doctor shouted at the top of his lungs, the object of his shouting being a teal platypus in a nineteen forties brown fedora. An embarrassed blush played upon the agent's face along with a sheepish grin. The anima raised his hands in mock confusion as if to say 'sorry, man…'
"And it was my couch again, too!" Dr. Doofenshmirtz mourned as he attended the old couch, once again making a mental note to change the baby barf green cushion. He'd found out about the agent doing it the first time because he'd confessed, but this time, it seemed to be an intentional attempt to distract the doctor. He scarcely cared that it was working.
"You still haven't gotten rid of that thing?" a woman in her early twenties clad in black asked disgustedly. She knew that the couch was unsanitary and had refused to go near it. Her eyes wandered from her father, to the platypus he was fighting, back to her father, and finally rested on a green-haired fifteen-year-old and his brother who were watching from a safe distance, munching on popcorn. The former of the two simply stared at her with those eyes that she'd grown accustomed to over the past few summers.
"Hey… when did you get here? Am I going crazy?" Vanessa asked of the brothers. She knew that being in her father's apartment for long amounts of time could not have been good for her health. After a few seconds of pondering, she noticed that a small box was encompassing everyone's faces, capturing their expressions. Much like icons on deciantart did. "And why are our heads in these tiny boxes?" she asked aloud, not completely expecting an answer.
"We came here looking for Perry, but he's fighting with your dad again, and Ferb.. well..." the red headed boy replied, his mouth—as usual—moving at a slightly faster pace than his mind, and by the time his head had caught up with the rest of the statement, he glanced over at his brother. A look of confusion crossed Phineas Flynn's face as he looked at his brother. "Ferb?"
"I have plausible deniability for whatever you may or may not have just seen," the aforementioned young man answered, just coming out of his spell. As always, he'd been star struck by the beauty of the woman in front of him. While the back of his mind wondered when he'd ever grow out of this crush, the more dominant part asked of him when he was finally going to make his move on Vanessa Doofenshmirtz.
All too suddenly, the door to D.E.I. swung open, revealing none other than the boys' neighbor from across the street.
"Hey, Phineas. Hey, Ferb," Isabella Garcia Shapiro greeted casually, as if she had not just tracked her crush and his brother to a penthouse deluxe in the sky. With her normal cuteness factor in place, the fifteen-year-old girl continued to walk uninvited into the apartment. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Hey Isabella," Phineas responded obliviously, as if he hadn't noticed how incredibly cute his neighbor had gotten in the past few seconds. He continued to talk, having the rapt attention of most everyone in the room. Doof and Perry had a small mini-battle in the background. Don't worry, no one's gonna get hurt.
"I'm actually really confused as to what is happening here," the red headed boy admitted. Isabella's heart spiked, hoping he was going to say what she thought he was going to say. "Ferb and I were just here to find Perry and Ferb is acting weird…" he finished up, sending the raven-haired girl into a small bout of sadness over her crush's obliviousness.
"I'm not acting weird," Ferb piped up, looking extremely level-headed. He sent a small grin in Vanessa's direction, which was picked up on by both girls in the room.
"Oh, he's definitely not acting weird," Vanessa vouched, having already become accustomed to the Brit's behavior around her. If she were asked, it was normal for Ferb to act like this. Isabella nearly laughed when she figured it out over the course of two seconds. She laughed lightly.
"Really, Phineas?" Isabella asked, gaining the red head's attention. Yet she was too focused on what she had discovered than the fact that she had what she'd wanted the longest time. "You can't even tell that Ferb is—"
Yet the rest of her sentence was to be unheard, seeing as how the previously mentioned young man had placed a swift hand over the girl's mouth, preventing her from saying any more. Even Doof and Perry quit fighting for a moment to join in on the conversation.
"That Ferb is what?" Phineas asked, incredibly curious as to what could have happened to his brother. He hoped it wasn't something bad…or contagious… He barely noticed it when his pet platypus face palmed. Nor when that Vanessa girl cocked a curious eyebrow.
"I want to prolong his innocence," Ferb whispered in Vanessa's ear, low enough for practically everyone but the concerned boy to hear. Isabella gently removed the Brit's hand from her mouth, finally submitting to not continue her previous sentence.
"Come on, Phin," Isabella sighed, attempting to see a bright side to all of this. At least she could get a few minutes alone with her crush. "Let's just get you outta here so Ferb can hang with Nessa…" and I can hang out with you… Isabella added mentally, but left that part out as she walked over to her crush's side.
"B-but Ferb…" Phineas stammered, suddenly feeling weird that his brother wasn't by his side, but rather his best female friend. Somehow, the thought of spending some alone time with his best friend left his stomach attempting gymnastics and failing. He tried not to think about how pretty she was, or how she smelled like strawberries today…
"Don't worry!" Ferb smiled, observing Phineas' expression as he realized that he'd be left with Isabella. Though it was slightly worried, it was also blushing, which seemed to be noticed by everyone by himself and Isabella. The notion was quite comical. "I'll be completely fine," Ferb added, watching as some of the worry melt away from his brother's face. It was instead replaced by nervousness.
"And you can hang out with Isabella," Vanessa added, and—upon sensing the nervousness in Phineas' face—wiggled her eyebrows playfully.
"Why do I have a funny feeling in my stomach?" Phineas asked, unable to bear the suspense any longer. It looked like Ferb and Vanessa knew something, but weren't going to tell.
For a moment, everyone held their breath, waiting for the normally clueless boy to catch on. Isabella especially had her eyes practically glued on the red head from her place beside him.
"No, seriously. Why?" Phineas asked after a few beats of silence. What should have been disappointment to follow that statement was instead most everyone in the room slyly smiling at the red headed boy. All except for Doofenshmirtz, who pouted angrily in the corner for some reason or another.
"You'll see…" Isabella said, finally reaching a decision. It was now or never. She reached out and held the boy's hand in her own. He instinctively held it in return, yet his face still showed the innocence about him that she loved. It was one of the many things she loved about him.
"What do you mean?" Phineas asked, his stomach doing some serious flips now. He wondered if Isabella could feel how his palm had started to sweat. Or was it all in his head. Well, the thought vacated his brain when Isabella held onto his hand, pulled him closer, and kissed him. Swift, but passionate, the kiss sent an electric shock through the teenager's body. Once released, he could only gape for a second before his face split into a grin. He looked over at his best friend, a confused but happy look upon his face. "Isabella!" he gasped, smiling at her. For a moment, the two were lost in their own world.
"Woah, Deja-vuish…" Ferb murmured, turning his attention from the new couple to the woman on his side. Deciding that now would be the best time to make a move, Ferb chanced a look at Vanessa. He grinned and subtly held her hand within his own. He was pleased when she smiled in return.
"Aren't you a bit young to be my boyfriend?" Vanessa asked. Though a twenty year old woman dating a fifteen year old man was the last of her worries. Ferb always had been more mature than those of his age, was ever the gentleman, and had never failed to make her laugh when it was needed. Despite her teasing of their ages, she had grown to care for the green-haired teenager, and knew this caring would weather all time. Especially when he pulled her in lightly for a kiss. The gentle kiss sent a spark through her, and she smiled at the boy's affects on her.
"If you'll have me, then no," Ferb said, aware that his accent may have overdone it a tad. However, given the look on Vanessa's face, he assumed it was doing something right. Smiling, he continued, "No I'm not…" He curled her in for a hug. Despite the age difference, he was already taller her so his nose rested above her head without problem.
"How can you be so young and so romantic…?" Vanessa murmured, taking in her Ferb. Her amazing Ferb. The moment had to be crashed by her father.
"Do I even get a say in this?" Heinz screeched, furious at his daughter being whisked away before his very eyes. By a green-haired hooligan no less!
"No, no you don't," Vanessa answered before drawing Ferb in for another kiss. The Brit responded in kind, sealing the gentle kiss.
As Doof looked around for backup, he realized that the red headed boy and the black haired girl were still in their own little world. The scientist was instantly infuriated, and wondered how his apartment—a source of evil—had become a nest of lovebirds. That is, until Perry the Platypus came up and punched him in the jaw.
Grateful for the distraction, Doofenshmirtz prepared to return to the battle when he realized the platypus' finger had already pushed the self-destruction button and the countdown had begun. The doctor ran wildly to the machine in an attempt to save what could be salvaged.
Moments after Perry had managed to herd the lovebirds out of the building, the machine finally exploded. It was soon followed by the normal "Curse you Perry the Platypus!" and the random background voices singing his name in the background. Sighing with satisfaction that another job had been well-done, Perry fixed a translator—made by Phineas and Ferb a few summers ago—inside his mouth.
"Now you can do whatever you want without him pestering you," Perry said in a thick Australian accent. It was then that he realized Phineas and Isabella had continued to walk and talk together. A sense of paternal pride welled up inside him as he watched the boy talk animatedly with his best-friend-turned-girlfriend.
"Thanks, Perry," Vanessa said gratefully, pulling the platypus' attention. Ferb's arm was wrapped casually around her shoulder, and Perry could tell that his owner was just as grateful—if not more so. Doof wasn't exactly someone you should mess with when it came to his daughter.
"Hey Ferb!" Phineas exclaimed excitedly, running up the pathway to the others, Isabella in tow. Though he held her by the hand and seemed to be refusing to let go, Perry could tell the girl wasn't pleased with the situation.
"What?" Ferb asked, more than slightly irritated. He and Phineas had just gotten the girls of their lives to hang with them for a while, and he had another big idea. Then again…
"He said he needed to tell you something and insisted he come and tell you personally…" Isabella said. Though she didn't look thrilled with this, she knew better than to try and get in the way of Phineas and his big ideas. Besides, his imagination was one of those things that made Phineas Phineas.
"I forgot about this idea I had!" Phineas began to chatter excitedly. It has a warm slide that makes you see everything in newspaper print!" As the boy finished explaining his idea, his platypus face palmed epically. How is it that the boy could finally get it that Isabella had wanted nothing more than to spend time with him, and he still wanted to make new ideas?
"What use would that possibly be to us?" Ferb asked, unsure where his brother's ideas were going this time.
"I…" Phineas' face began to show the telltale blush, and everyone suddenly became interested in why the boy had chosen this idea for the day. "I just wanted to write down the best day ever without having to write anything…" Phineas explained bashfully. Isabella felt lost for a moment.
"Oh… well that's actually pretty sweet," Vanessa smiled at the misunderstanding. Phineas hadn't wanted to build something to ignore Isabella, more like he'd wanted to build something because of her.
"Phineas…" Isabella started out slowly, a smile growing on her face as understanding dawned on her. "So you're saying that this is the best day ever?"
"Well, yeah…" Phineas admitted, hoping he wasn't weirding her out. On the contrary, once the words had left his mouth he found himself in the middle of a hug from Isabella. He gratefully returned the gesture.
"Well, well," Ferb smiled, drawing the attention of the two smiling lovebirds. "Look who decided to be romantic for once," he teased, eliciting a few snickers from Perry.
"So…" Phineas coughed, seeming to understand that he was being teased by his brother, but wasn't offended by it. "You guys wanna help me get building or what?" he smiled.
"Sure thing, Phineas," Isabella smiled. Without warning, she planted a swift kiss on Phineas' red cheek. The boy was stunned for a second once more before a grin spread on his face.
"I don't think I'll every quite get used to that…" Phienas admitted, still attempting to come back to earth. He barely noticed the slightly worried look on Isabella's face.
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Isabella asked, unsure what he meant by that. Was it a my-best-friend-keeps-kissing-me-and-it's-weird thing or a this-beautiful-girl-keeps-kissing-me-and-knocking-me-off-my-feet thing?
"Definitely good," Phineas smiled as he pulled her in for a proper kiss. He could feel her smile as she deepened the kiss, but before anything else happened, a bright flash erupted from the side. Surprised, they broke apart and turned to Ferb, who was holding a camera. Vanessa was chuckling.
"It's a kodac moment…" she teased, ripping off an old commercial she'd seen as a kid. She chuckled as Isabella leant her head on Phineas' chest in embarrassment and as he—in turn—held his hand on her shoulder, gently pulling her closer.
"What did I just walk in on?" Baljeet asked from the side, a shocked expression on his face. He'd seen Phineas and Isabella kiss and saw how comfortable Ferb was with Vanessa. In short—the poor fifteen year old college boy was confused.
Ferb snapped a picture of Baljeet's shocked face and showed it to him with a grin. "Epicness…" he answered simply. He would have chuckled at the expression Baljeet made had Phineas not started the construction of their new invention.
"Ferb, we'll need a blow torch and some peanut butter. Oh, and don't forget the newspaper!" Phineas said, optimistic and hyper once more. Before he could get too carried away, Isabella pulled him into one more kiss before leaving to start working on finding the resources. Phineas halted for a moment, shocked by what had happened yet again. "…whoa…"
"Yep," Ferb smiled, uncurling his arm from around Vanessa's shoulders and pulling her into a brief hug before going to fetch the aforementioned items. "That's what love will do to you."
"So true…" Vanessa agreed before seeing her boyfriend off. A few seconds after his departure, she sighed contentedly for the moment. She shook her head in disbelief. "How did I not notice how romantic he was before?" she wondered aloud.
"You were too caught up in your dad's evil scheme to notice," Baljeet pointed out, attempting to be helpful in the matter.
"What?" Vanessa turned, startled by the Hindi boy.
"Nothing…" Baljeet whimpered, his nerdlike instincts warning him a tad too late of the thread that was behind him.
"Wedgie time, Nerd!" a fifteen-year-old Buford announced, performing said task efficiently.
"But Buford!" Baljeet protested. "You are three minutes and twenty three seconds early!"
"You were talkin' bout Doodenasia's evil schemes…" Buford announced, not quite paying attention to the whimpering nerd he'd just set down. After a moment of contemplative thought, the bully continued. "He's actually a good guy…"
"Is there anyone who thinks my dad is even slightly evil?!" Vanessa asked, exasperated with all the non-believers. Perry raised his hand, earning a smile from the girl. "Thanks, Perry…" she said as she began to watch the construction of the new invention.
"How did you know about her dad, Buford?" Baljeet asked, curiosity intensified.
"That's none o' your business!" Buford exclaimed before introducing his saliva-covered finger to the inside of Baljeet's ear, resulting in a wet willy. However, the questions did not stop.
"Yeah…" Vanessa agreed, coming back to the conversation. She peeled her eyes away from the contraption to look at the bully and his nerd once more. "How did you know about my dad?"
"I helped him with one of his plots once," Buford answered without skipping a beat. If it was one thing he feared, it was women. However, he didn't show it as he complacently continued with "Met him at a convenient store down the street."
"Wow…" Baljeet murmured in wonder. Under threat of fist, he finished with "It is a small world after all."
"That's for sure," Vanessa agreed. None of them quite noticed how the platypus beside them was desperately trying not to unleash his giggles upon the world.
"Well, that should do it!" Phineas exclaimed from where he was. Beside him were Isabella and Ferb. Before him was an enormous contraption, to which he beamed at with pride.
"That was quick!" Vanessa said, surprised as she checked her watch. Not more than a few minutes had gone by since the boy had the idea in his head!
"Actually, Dinner Bell's kinda late this time," Buford replied, unimpressed. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot in impatience. "What gives?"
"Love is distracting," Ferb pointed out solemnly, earning a playful shove from his brother.
"Like you're one to talk," Phineas grinned. Ferb blushed lightly. "You couldn't keep your eyes off—"
"OH!" Buford exclaimed, placing his hands over his ears in shock. He squeezed his eyes shut in an overly dramatic way. "TMI, dude! I didn't know you were like that!"
"BUFORD!" Isabella shouted in response, not believing his head went there. "Are you serious?! He was talking about Ferb looking over at Vanessa every other second!" Without missing a beat, she slipped her hand in Phineas' to prove her point. She lifted both hands to show the bully. "Get it now?"
During the exchange, Phineas had no idea what was going on, but assumed it had something to do with his obliviousness. He blushed with a small embarrassed smile. "Ehe… now I feel kinda dumb…" he admitted to the crowd. They looked at him for a beat before Isabella smiled at him.
"It's okay," Isabella reassured him, lowering their hands. With more than just a trace of relief, she smiled "at least now you get it."
"Took you long enough…" Buford muttered, wondering how they had hopped from the previous discussion to this one.
"Guys, stop being so mean to Phin," Vanessa said. For one shining moment, Phineas' embarrassed smile seemed to fade into a genuine one. Until she continued with "We all know he's a five year old at heart."
As the others snickered, Phineas chuckled lightly, getting the humor, but not really seeing why it was funny. "Maybe it's good to have the maturity of a five year old for a longer amount of time…" he put out there. For the amount of time that no one talked, one could swear they heard crickets chirping. Finally, Ferb broke the silence.
"Sorry bro," Ferb smiled, teasing back in place. "But I wouldn't want to be five for fifteen years." As Ferb walked over to Vanessa, he saw his brother poke a tongue out at him. Smiling, he returned with "derp" and crossed his eyes. The look on his brother's face made the entire group laugh out loud.
"Well, it's better late than never, right?" Isabella asked, placing her head on Phineas' shoulder. Said red head calmed down and smiled.
"Honestly, I thought you two were dating when we went around the world…" Vanessa admitted. Isabella giggled, Phineas blushed, Ferb smiled, a faint frown found its way to Baljeet's face, Perry snickered, and Buford came up with the wittiest comment.
"Dinner Bell and Girly?" he jabbed, still unsure of who was with who.
"Who else?" Vanessa asked as she faced the couple, who were still somewhat shy around the teasing.
"Why, you and Ferb, of course," Perry announced with his translator. He remembered that he and the doctor had had to pick up Vanessa, but he'd seen Ferb in the background, buying a single rose. The memory made him smile sheepishly. "Too bad we had to pick you up before he could give you that rose…"
After a shocked silence, where everyone had stopped moving, Vanessa turned to Ferb, who had been mid-stride. Baljeet and Buford simply looked at Perry in shock. Both were wondering when Phineas and Ferb had made a properly functioning translator for the secret agent.
"Ferb? Is that true?" Vanessa asked, remembering the balcony in Paris those years ago.
"Yeah…" Ferb replied in a somewhat drawn-out fashion. In truth, he secretly worried weather she would find it weird that he'd liked her for so long. He was relieved when she came over and kissed him on the cheek. A smile spread on his face as he kissed her cheek in return.
"Strange…" Buford contemplated as he looked from Vanessa to Ferb to Phineas to Ferb and back to Vanessa again.
"How is that strange?" Isabella giggled, looking at Vanessa and Ferb. "It's cute."
"I thought for sure that Dinner Bell and Bean Pole McGee were—" Buford would have continued had Isabella not interrupted him with the scariest look on the planet.
"Okay, okay…" Isabella said hurridly. It wasn't that she had anything against those kind of couples, but Phineas and Ferb were brothers, not lovers… "I see where you were going now…"
"That we were what, Buford?" Phineas asked in his normal innocence. That simple sentence shocked everyone. Isabella tried to cover it up quickly.
"Oh, it's nothing to worry about…" Isabella chuckled nervously, and Phineas could tell instantly that she was covering something up. He wanted to know.
"No, really, I wanna know," Phineas said determinedly. He really wanted to figure out what Buford thought he and Ferb were doing.
"Perry," Baljeet announced suddenly, jerking everyone off track. With a smile, the boy turned to the platypus, who had been laughing silently for some time now. "Can we look in your lair?"
"Oh, yeah!" Phineas exclaimed, forgetting for the moment what everyone had been talking about a few minutes prior. "That'd be fun!"
"Way to throw me under the bus, Baljeet…" Perry murmured, remembering that Monogram still didn't know about the boys and their friends knowing and that the equipment in his lair could be dangerous.
"I am sorry," Baljeet announced, then whispered for only Perry to hear. "I did not realize you wished for Phineas' innocence to be soiled. If you want, I could explain to him—"
"Hey kids!" Perry suddenly exclaimed, his mere voice toppling Baljeet backwards. With a slightly smug smile at this, he asked "Who wants to look in my lair?"
After a round of cheers of agreement, Perry led the group to his lair under the Flynn-Fletcher household, a place that Phineas and Ferb enjoyed to frequent often, even though Perry disapproved of it sometimes.
What they did not expect was for Major Francis Monogram to be standing in Perry's lair, waiting for Agent P. He, in turn, was not expecting five teenagers and Vanessa to come in along with him.
"Agent P!" Major Monogram exclaimed, making Perry jump. The platypus waddled forward. "Why in the world are these children…and Vanessa here?" he questioned. Yet the platypus hadn't the time to formulate a reply when the eldest girl there questioned him.
"Was that supposed to be insulting?" Vanessa asked, wondering if he was making a quip at her age.
"Well, it wasn't at first," Monogram said slowly, then finished with narrowed eyes. "…but considering you pointed a gun at me the last time I saw you, then yeah, sure it can be…" Vanessa laughed when she remembered how long ago that had been.
"A gun?" Ferb questioned, an eyebrow raised. Vanessa rolled her eyes and beckoned him closer.
"It was actually a hairdryer, but don't tell him that," Vanessa whispered, eliciting a chuckle from her boyfriend. With a wink, she returned to her conversation with Monogram.
"You better consider who you're insulting before you insult them, Monogrampa," Vanessa smirked, temporarily stealing the name that her father often called him.
"Don't you start that, young lady," Monogram said sternly. He made a mental note to remind Heinz to be more careful about how he talked in front of his daughter. Then again, he'd probably be proud…
"It is so futuristic and techno in here…" Baljeet said, having had time to observe most everything in the lair without touching. Phineas had done the same, but had practically left fingerprints everywhere.
"I always did like coming in here…" Phineas beamed, looking at the platy plane. Monogram turned to face them.
You realize you're not supposed to be in here, right?" Monogram asked, half of his brow cocked in sarcastic curiosity.
"He's hard to control," Ferb said as Phineas continued to peruse the technology. He was still listening, just fascinated with what was in front of him.
"Tell me about it…" Isabella laughed lightly, causing Phineas to remember what they'd been talking about before coming here.
"I still want to know what you guys were talking about earlier," Phineas said, finally tearing his eyes away from the platypus themed equipment.
"I think it'd be better to drop it, Phin," Vanessa announced, sending a frown on the boy's face.
"Why?" he probed for an answer.
"It's a subject you don't know much about, that's all," Isabella replied honestly, hoping the answer would be enough for his quizative brain. She should have known it wouldn't be.
"Maybe it's time I know about this subject," Phineas proposed. A brief beat of silence ensued before Ferb cleared his throat.
"No…" he said firmly. When Phineas moved to object, he cut the red head off. "Maybe when you're at least twenty…"
"But I'm mature!" Phineas said, his eyes begging to be told what the secret forbidden topic was. "I can handle it, trust me!"
"Nope," Ferb replied, unrelenting. "Let's wait until the ball drops first."
"On New Years?" Phineas asked hopefully. Ferb chuckled.
"Yeah…" he agreed, knowing that the boy would most likely forget by the time summer vacation was over.
"Excuse me for the interruption," Baljeet announced, holding in his hands one of Perry's fedoras. Quite unlike him, seeing as how he was one of those people who didn't touch unless it was absolutely necessary. "…but I have located a blinking red light n Perry's nineteen forties fedora."
"Great googly moogly!" Monogram exclaimed before looking over his shoulder and calling for his paid unpaid intern. "Carl!"
"Yessir?" Carl asked, ready to get any job done.
"Do we still have a live feed?" the major worried as he risked a glance at the hat. Carl's face blanched.
"umm oops, sir…" Carl managed to choke out, indicating he hadn't done a job correctly.
"Live feed?" Phineas inquired, again forgetting about the topic. "To where?"
"The agency's been giving live feed to YouTube to try and balance the budget for a while now…" Vanessa announced as if it were no big deal. Suddenly, Phineas and Ferb realized why they'd never been able to access YouTube.
"Great googly moogly!" Monogram exclaimed, shocked that such a high security password would be known to one of his enemies' daughter. "How did you know that, young lady? That information is under a strict password—"
"frannysINtheHOUSE isn't a hard password to figure out," Vanessa said bluntly. After a few beats of silence, Carl did something he thought he'd never be able to do in his intern career.
"Told ya…" he murmured.
"frannysINtheHOUSE?" Ferb asked, sending most of the group into a fit of giggles.
"Don't ask…" Monogram said, hoping to salvage some of his dignity.
"Who is Franny?" Isabella asked between giggles. When the major cleared his throat loudly and proclaimed it was nobody, she laughed all the harder.
"It was his pet turtle when he was in the Academy," Carl explained. Yet no sooner had the words left his lips than Monogram was chastising him.
"CARL! If you do that one more time, I will down rate you back to unpaid unpaid intern!"
"But I like being an unpaid paid intern…"
"Well, if you want to keep it, then you better go and wash my car," Monogram said with a final air as he crossed his arms.
"Fine…" Carl moped as he left to do as he was asked. Ferb raised an eyebrow. Was Doofenshmirtz really the evil one here?
"Now," Monogram cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention. "Since I know you know about Agent P—"
"Well," Phineas said, cutting off the major. He winked at Isabella, who left quietly to prepare for the ultimate prank. He turned his attention back to the major. "Technically we're not sure if you truly know that we know about Perry. What if we really don't know at all?"
"What are you implying young man?" Major Monogram asked, dizzy from being talked around in circles.
"If you were awake, would that be behind you?" Ferb asked as he pointed behind the major. The great expanse of outer space lay behind him, and he was without a space helmet.
"Great googly moogly!" the man said once more before falling over in a faint.
"How many times has he fallen for that now?" Isabella asked as she turned off the special effects machine. Perry shook his head with a smile. Leave it to his owners to always find a way out of trouble.
"I dunno," Phineas replied, having not bothered to count after ten. He turned to his brother. "Great plan, by the way, Ferb," he congratulated. Vanessa smiled as she turned to her boyfriend.
"You thought of that, Ferb?" Vanessa asked, suddenly being reminded of her trick with the hairdryer. Upon his nod, she kissed his cheek.
"Hey! I know what else we can do today!" Phineas grinned. It was almost like Christmas. Three things in one day!
"What are you getting at?" Perry asked, noting how his owner was eyeing the equipment in the lair.
"Perry, can we play with some of your equipment?" Phineas asked excitedly. Perry folded his arms in an X shape and shook his head.
"You already know the answer to that, Phin, and that's a no," Perry said. As he watched his owner's face move from excitement to puzzlement, he continued with "It's way too dangerous.
"Would you let us use it if the world was about to end?" Phineas asked suddenly, throwing everyone for a loop.
"What?" Isabella asked as Perry made his query.
"What do you mean?"
"It says up there," Phineas said as he pointed to the screen. Baljeet instantly exclaimed.
"A frightening banner sliding across the screen as if it were breaking news stating that the world is about to end!?" he asked, frightened. Perry's eyes widened in horror as Doofenshmirtz appeared on screen.
"Hello~!" he exclaimed with a menacing chuckle. Perry primed himself for a fight when the evil scientist continued. "You will pay for what you did, Perry the Platypus! Vanessa is my daughter, and I should have a say in whether she gets to date leaf boy!" he exclaimed. Vanessa hid her face in embarrassment.
"Dad! Oh my Gosh, I'm already over eighteen! I can make my own decisions. You know I hate it when you treat me like a ten year old!" she ranted at the computer screen. As she caught her breath, Buford thought it would be fun to say hello.
"Hi, doctor doodenasia!" Buford greeted suddenly. Doof looked around until he saw the bully he had hired for a day. His face split into a grin.
"Oh, it's the bully kid!" Doof exclaimed with joy. "You want another part time job?"
"Well, do I get to bully people?" Buford asked, contemplating weather he should.
"Buford!" Phineas frowned.
"Come on!" the bully exclaimed.
"You are willing to sacrifice Ferb's happiness to bully those who are not your nerd?! You would betray us both?!" Baljeet exclaimed, halting Buford in his tracks for a moment. He turned to face his nerd.
"Wait… if I go with doodenasia, I won't be able to bully you anymore?" he asked, seriously weighing his options.
"No, no you will not…" Baljeet answered, staring his bully down. He cringed when Buford approached him.
"Sorry, doodenasia," Buford said as he gave Baljeet the wedgie of a lifetime. The bully grinned. "I'm stickin' by my nerd!"
"Well, you just missed out big time, kid…" Doof said, but didn't dwell on the fact. He had an evil scheme to put into place.
"What are you going to do?" Vanessa finally asked, wondering what "boyfriend-zap-away-inator" her father had come up with now. She hoped it would be nothing too embarrassing. Like the last one…
"I, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, am going to zap away every single boy in the tri-state-area!" the man laughed after revealing his master plan, enjoying his foolproof planning.
"But…" Phineas started out, gaining everyone's ear. "Wouldn't you get zapped away too?" The simple question put a damper on Heinz's parade, but everyone else breathed a sigh of relief. The doctor narrowed his eyes.
"Don't be a smart-Alic… nobody likes that…" the doctor scolded, folding his arms with an air of frustration. It had taken him a good two minutes to think of the plan and make the inator.
"Well, I thought I'd mention it to you beforehand," Phineas politely remarked.
"That is, unless you want to be zapped," Ferb added helpfully, the slightest of smirks on his face. It went unnoticed by the doctor, who had hung his head in frustration.
"I don't…"
"Well then, you might consider not proceeding with that plan," Ferb advised, gaining a look from the doctor which could only be described as funny. The doctor came out from behind a curtain in the wall and his face came off screen. While everyone was thinking something along the lines of Oz, Perry made his way to Doof and proceeded to start fighting him.
"You know, it's weird every time I see Perry fight like that…" Phineas mentioned casually as his pet platypus gave Heinz a good hit to the face. The boy flinched, but did nothing else reaction-wise.
"Tell me about it," Isabella agreed, nodding her head. "Same with me and Pinky…"
"Wait a minute!" Phineas said, mentally putting two and two together. "Pinky's an agent, too?"
"Yeah," Isabella said nonchalantly as she watched the Doof-Perry battle progress. "It was weird to find out, but after Perry, it didn't really surprise me…"
"Is there any animal we know that isn't a secret agent?!" Phineas asked rhetorically. Buford, however, decided to answer it in his own way.
"I wonder if Biff is a secret agent…" he mused aloud, allowing the group to ponder.
"How would he get from place to place, though?" Baljeet asked, turning away from the normal battle.
"It'd be cool if he had a floating bubble of water that could float anywhere he wanted," Phineas remarked, remembering how Buford had once wanted to do the same thing. Like a little woodland pixie or like a man, he couldn't tell.
"I can see it now…" Buford said as he rippled. While everyone else wondered how he could have a flashback at something that he'd never seen, Doof called more attention to himself.
"It doesn't matter!" the doctor called from the ground. Perry had gotten the man's hands behind him and was currently holding the inator, looking for the self-destruct button. This one was giving him more trouble than the others, for some reason… "Now let me just continue my plan!" he exclaimed, attempting to grab the inator, but essentially failing.
"Dad, as much as you annoy me, I don't want to loose you," Vanessa said as she gently nudged Perry off her father's back and helped him up. The scientist smiled lovingly at his daughter until she poked him in the chest with that look in her eye that said "don't mess with me" and continued with "OR Ferb, so drop the zapper plan and let me be."
Heinz looked from his daughter to the zapper in his nemesis' hands then back to his daughter. With a huff, he exclaimed "But it was a good plan!"
"Um, I mean no disrespect, but it really wasn't such a good plan," Ferb announced, the others nodding their heads in agreement.
"Yes it was!" the doctor exclaimed defiantly, glaring at the green-haired boy. "It was a great plan!"
"It would have ended human life on earth," Phineas pointed out. Though he may be innocent, he knew how some things worked…
"Well…fine. Go ahead. Take away my pride and joy," Heinz mourned as Perry finally found the self destruction button on the zapper. Using a paper clip to his advantage, the semi-aquatic mammal pushed the button and the machine made a small explosion in his hand. He heard the doctor continue to groan "It's okay. I'll just go and... and sit in the corner and mope," he sniffed.
"I'm not going anywhere, Dad," Vanessa pointed out, helping her father up. "Just because Ferb is my boyfriend doesn't mean that you're not my dad." The man looked from his daughter to her boyfriend back to his baby girl.
"What do you see in him, anyway?" he frowned. Vanessa pretended to think.
"Other than the fact he's saved my hide at least three times, he's kind, thoughtful, more mature than the guys my age and hasn't disrespected me once," Vanessa listed. Though she was sure she could list more, she left it at that and smiled at her father.
"Yeah, so?" Heinz asked, earning himself a face palm from all the girls in the vicinity.
"Someone tell me he didn't just say that," Isabella groaned, shocked at how someone could be that blind.
"He's my dad, he's clueless…" Vanessa sighed, resigned to the fact that her father would probably never understand. All she could hope he'd do would be to respect her decision…
"Hey!" Heinz shouted, faking hurt at what his daughter had just said.
"Well, what do you want me to say?" Vanessa asked, putting quotes in the air. "'It's my dad, it's not weird for me to come home to see him tied up by a platypus'?" The twenty one year old placed her hands on her hips to somehow emphasize her point. The doctor looked around sheepishly.
"In my defense, he's a semi-aquatic egg-laying mammal of action!" he defended weakly. Perry sighed.
"You've been listening to my theme song again, haven't you?" he accused the doctor, who now found something fascinating to look at on the ceiling.
"Maaaybe…"
"Well, it is very catchy," Phineas joined in the defense of the man. If only for the reason that he'd been listening to it at the start of the morning for the past three days.
"He has got more than just mad skills, he has got a beaver tail and a bill!" Baljeet began to sing, somehow using correct grammar in time with the beat of the song.
"And all the women swoon whenever they hear him say…" Isabella led up, then everyone looked at Perry expectantly. He gave them all a flat look.
"Come on, Perry!" Phineas beamed. "Nobody does it better than you." With a roll of his eyes, the platypus complied by taking his translator out of his mouth and creating his usual chatter. As the others continued to sing, he carefully placed the translator back in.
"He's Perry!" Vanessa sang, enjoying the moment.
"Perry the Platypus," Ferb added on, placing a secure arm around his girlfriend with a smile.
"You can call him Agent P," Buford mimicked Monogram's voice, smiling as he did so.
"Perry!" Phineas chimed in with a grin.
"I said you can call him Agent P," Buford restated in a gruff voice.
"Agent P!" the kids sang. Off key and horribly. Yet they all still laughed about it. All except Perry, who rolled his eyes with a slight smile.
"Whoever sent you that song…" Perry started, but was cut off by Vanessa.
"I sent it to Ferb after downloading it off my dad's evilPod," she said casually. Perry waited for the rest of the explanation.
"And I, in turn, sent it to all of our friends…" Ferb added on, glancing at all their friends in the platy-cave.
"Dunno why I was so cool about you being a secret agent… huh…" Phineas mused aloud, wondering.
"It's almost as if you went through it all before…" Isabella threw the suggestion out there, wondering if it could actually be a possibility.
"BEHOLD!" a voice shouted from behind. As the group turned, they saw Doofenshmirtz holding a small ray gun. Perry sighed as he prepared for a fight. He definitely needed overtime… "THE REMEMBER-INATOR! It causes you to remember stuff like where you lost the keys to the city or a certain tip of a shoelace..." the man's voice dwindled to nothing and Perry couldn't help but roll his eyes again.
"Did you loose them again?" he asked, wondering if this were his ninety-eighth or ninety-ninth time loosing them. Heinz paused a moment before answering.
"…You can't prove anything…" the doctor shouted before blasting the entire room. After a second of light flooding everywhere, the room returned to normal, but the people had not.
"Isabella!" Phineas gasped out loud, looking to the girl on his right, who was blushing fiercely.
"ehe… did I do that?" she asked nervously, unsure of what she had just remembered.
"Wait, so that previous one wasn't my first?" Phineas asked, more than somewhat confused. The girl at his side seemed to be just as confused as her companion.
"A! G! L! E! T! Aglet! I do not forget it!" Baljeet exclaimed happily, jamming out to a long forgotten song about shoelace tips.
"Why did we forget all this?" Ferb asked his girlfriend amidst the chaos. She simply shrugged it off.
"Blame it on my dad…" Vanessa said, having never forgotten the day that everyone suddenly remembered in the first place, but wondering where the song about aglets had come from.
"Hey, I'm also the one who gave you back those memories!" Heinz said in an attempt to gain some kind of respect. Everyone for the most part ignored him.
"Whoa dude…" Phineas said, his mind reeling in all that had happened today. "This is crazy…"
"It's all making sense now…" Buford said as he rippled once more.
"So-so-so-so…" Isabella stammered, giving Phineas an impression of his sister.
"You're almost sounding like Candace…" he teased just as his sister came into the lair.
"THE MYSTERIOUS FORCE CAME BACK!" Candace Flynn's shout echoed across the walls.
"Candace?!" Phineas gasped, wondering how his sister had suddenly appeared.
"What are you doing here?" Buford asked, wondering what the mysterious force was.
"I was looking for my brothers to say dinner's ready when the mysterious force hit me and I started to remember crazy things..." Candace admitted, reeling in the memory of a second dimension her wiping out at least thirty—what were they called?—normbots.
"Wait, does that mean everyone remembers everything?" Phineas asked, wondering how much longer he'd have with his beloved pet.
"Nah, I was just hiding behind the door to make sure you guys would be okay... and then Perry was in a fedora and..." Candace was about to continue when Perry held up a hand.
"I think they get it, Candace…" Perry said, halting the girl in her tracks.
"Since when did you start talking?" Candace asked, aghast.
"Candace, for how long were you concealed behind that door?" Baljeet asked. Perry had been talking most of the day now. It wasn't anything new.
"Um…" Candace began to think about it when she suddenly stopped and narrowed her eyes. "Well, that's not your business, is it?"
"Well, I guess not…" Baljeet gulped, sorry he'd asked.
"Okay, okay. I need to make sure I'm on the same page here. So all who is in this room remembers the Danville Robot Riot and the aglet?" Phineas clarified, scanning the faces of those around him.
"Yup," Isabella agreed with a cheerful smile.
"And our alternate dimension selves," Ferb added, giving Phineas yet another idea.
"Man, I would like to know how they're doing now that they have summer and everything is back to normal. I wonder if they're making every day count," the boy wondered. He began planning a trip to visit them in the near future.
"I'm sure they are. You guys sure did make them happy," Perry said, smiling as he remembered Platyborg. He wondered how his alternate dimension self was doing as well.
"They didn't have… basically anything fun. I don't even think they knew what fun was…" Phineas lamented, trying to possibly imagine what his childhood without fun or summer would have been like. The mere thought made him shiver.
"And you had to come in and make everything change…" Buford said gruffly.
"Yeah. In a good way," Phineas smiled, happy that he'd shown his alternate dimension self what fun was.
"It seems like they were just fine until you guys showed up," Buford said, suddenly chewing on some Tuff Gum. No one dared ask where he got it, though.
"Just fine?" Phineas asked, shaken that Buford would look at it that way. "The first thing we saw them doing was playing a game where one of the cards alternate me drew told him to CONFORM. What kind of game is that?"
"A non-demanding one," Buford answered simply.
"The whole point of a game is for it to be demanding. This one was telling him to be obedient. How do you do that in a board game?" Phineas asked, horrified by whatever sick mind would come up with such a cruel torture.
"That game sounds so evil!" Dr. Doofenshmirtz grinned.
"You would like it…" Perry muttered. Doofenshmirtz looked at him with that "aren't you supposed to be a genius" look.
"Well, duh!" he exclaimed. "I'm an evil scientist!" He threw his hands in the air.
"Well, for what it's worth, I like this dimension's Dr. D better…" Phineas put out there. Doof instantly glared at the teenager.
"What's that supposed to mean, kid?" he asked, hoping that he wouldn't say what he thought he was going to say. Vanessa put her hand over Phineas' mouth in a successful attempt to keep him quiet for a moment.
"Nothing, dad…" she said hurredly. She watched as her father huffed and turned the other way. She quickly removed her hand from Phineas' face and sighed of relief.
"Well, we need to get home," Candace said, pointing upward. "Mom said she was making stew tonight."
"Does it have zucchini?" Phineas asked hesitantly before following his sister. With a sigh, she answered her brother.
"No, Phineas. It doesn't," Candace replied. Before she could say 'busted', Phineas had grabbed Isabella's hand and was bounding out of the lair, an excited 'let's go' ringing in his wake.
All that were left in the lair were Perry, Doof, Ferb, and Vanessa. Ferb and Vanessa smiled at each other while Doof scowled on.
"See you later, Ferb," Vanessa smiled. She turned to leave but found that her hand was being held by Ferb. Smiling, he raised her hand to his lips.
"Goodbye, my lady," Ferb smiled as he relinquished her hand. She smiled as he turned to leave.
"Hey, Ferb!" she called his attention back. When he looked at her, she smiled. "You wanna hang out tomorrow?" she invited. Her invitation was met with a smile and a thumbs up. Vanessa smiled in return.
"WHAT AM I, LEFTOVER MEAT?!" Heinz screeched, alerting Perry that he and Ferb should probably go to the house.
"Come on, lover boy," Perry said as he dragged Ferb out of his lair. Leaving a silent command for the lair to push the Doofenshmirtz's out, Perry and his remaining owner left. Soon after that, a platform moved the family of two out onto the street.
"Sometimes you're really embarrassing, dad…" Vanessa stated the obvious as they stood there. The doctor grinned sheepishly once more.
"Well, you're my baby girl," he said genuinely, with a smile. When she smiled in return, he started to walk. "Wanna head home? I bet Norm could cook us something!" Vanessa chuckled as she followed her father home.
"Yeah, sure," Vanessa agreed, then something caught her attention. Something she'd almost forgotten. "You know something?"
"What is it, baby girl?" Heinz asked happily, looking over at his daguther through the little box. Like they have on deviantart icons.
"I still never figured out why our heads are in these small boxes…"