Perry blamed Pinky. Pinky blamed Peter. Peter blamed Perry. Terry wasn't blamed by and didn't blame anyone because he was too sensible.
It all started the day Major Monogram sent the four animals to COWCA, the Canadian Organisation Without a Cool Acronym, for a month long training retreat. Because Canada was so far away, the four agents had to leave their host families, which already meant that Perry was cranky before they had even boarded the minibus.
The second reason Perry was cranky? They had to take a minibus.
None of the other agents cared. Terry was listening to music and reading a book, while Pinky and Peter had a discussion about their nemeses. Perry hadn't brought anything to do, so on the long ride to Canada, he just laid back in his seat and made snarky comments under his breath whenever Pinky or Peter said something that he thought stupid or weird.
Carl was the one driving the minibus, and he seemed to be able to tell that Perry wasn't happy, because on their first rest stop about two and a half hours into their trip, he went into the service station and bought several magazines for Perry to look at. Perry hated magazines but he appreciated the effort Carl had made, and besides it was better than doing nothing. He decided to amuse himself by looking at the pictures of the cars, models, and random adverts and doodling on them with a pen stolen from Major Monogram's office when the superior officer had been telling them about the trip.
"Well, guys," said Carl eventually, pulling the bus over. "Here we are."
Perry leapt out of his seat as if it had just stung him and dived for the door of the minibus. Carl, who only just managed to open the minibus's doors before the desperate platypus crashed into them, chuckled. "Calm down, Agent P or you'll-"
CRASH!
Carl winced. "-trip," he finished.
Perry lay at the bottom of the step into the minibus. It didn't really hurt him, but he could feel his friends' eyes on him. His pride damaged slightly, he got to his feet and surveyed the building. It looked almost exactly like OWCA's headquarters, complete with a sign saying COWCA Secret Headquarters (pay no attention to this sign). Perry snorted. Seemed like the leader of COWCA had the same stupid idea as Major Monogram.
Carl walked past him. "Hold on, Agent P. Lemme get the stuff from the bus, and then you can go in and register.
The other three agents gathered their stuff from the minibus, each chatting about the month to come. Perry was just watching two fox agents chase each other across the lawn when someone leapt on his back. He yelped and shook himself. "Come on, Perry!" said Pinky excitedly, hugging Perry around his neck. "Cheer up! Have you ever been to Canada before?"
"Yes," Perry lied grumpily.
"Well, have you ever been here before? To COWCA headquarters?"
Perry sighed. He could say yes, but his best friend would know that he was lying. "No," he admitted.
"Then I'm sure you'll have a good time," Pinky said optimistically.
"Hey, P!" called a female voice. "Over here!"
Perry turned to see a familiar brown-haired girl come across the lawn towards him. She looked exactly the same as when he had last seen her—clothes and all—except for a red scar down her cheek. She knelt down next to the platypus.
"Hey, Lyla," said Perry. He had to admit—if only to himself—that it was nice to see her again.
"You can talk now?" asked Lyla Lolliberry, looking and sounding only mildly surprised. "That's awesome, P. Wanna sit with me at lunch and catch up?"
To his surprise, Perry realised that that sounded quite good. "Thanks, Ly. That would be great."
Lyla beamed, and then looked over Perry's head. "So who are your friends?"
"These are-" Perry turned round, intending to finish that sentence with "my best friends" but ended up finishing it with "the biggest morons on Earth," when he saw that Terry had managed to get himself stuck in the minibus's door, with Pinky pulling on his hand from outside the minibus and Peter tapping on the glass door from inside the minibus. Perry pinched the bridge of his nose. This was going to be a very long month.