"Guess what's in a week, Perry?" Monogram asked.
Perry just stared at him. That was his way of saying I'm-not-going-to-guess-because-I-don't-want-to-and-you-can't-make-me.
"All right, I'll tell you. In exactly one week, it will be your fourth year at the agency! Isn't that exciting?"
Perry continued to stare at him.
"We're thinking of throwing you a party. Would you like that?"
Perry folded his arms.
"I didn't think so. Well, anyway, your mission: Doofenshmirtz has been buying up all of the puppets in the tri-state area. Investigate and put a stop to… whatever it is he's doing with those puppets, because it must be EVIL!"
Perry saluted and ran to his jet car.
Perry burst through Doofenshmirtz's wall a few minutes later.
"Perry the platypus?" Doofenshmirtz gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"Stopping you." Perry responded, even though he knew Doofenshmirtz couldn't understand him.
"No, seriously, what are you doing here? Is this because of all the puppets? I hate to tell you this, but…. I wasn't actually planning to do anything EVIL with them… I was just going to put on a puppet show."
Perry frowned.
"Fine, I'll do something evil." Doofenshmirtz pushed a button, and Perry was trapped inside a puppet theater.
Perry peeked his head out of the front of the stage.
"So, now that you're trapped, let me tell you about my new evil scheme I just thought up. I'm going to make and film a puppet show, and put it on children's television! And you know how all of the children's TV programs have a lesson for the children to learn? I will teach them to think of ME as their leader, and I will rule the next generation of the tri-state area!"
Perry cocked his head in confusion.
"Well, it's the best I could think up on such short notice, Perry the platypus."
"One plus one equals eeeleeven, two plus two equals twenty-twoo, three plus three equals thirty-threee, that is what it equals!" Perry sang. "Come on, you all know this song by now. Sing along."
The agents were assembled in a circle, waiting for Monogram to come and talk to them.
"How come Perry always makes up the best songs?" Carrie the cat said. "I can't even think up a tune."
"He's smart." Pinky the Chihuahua responded.
"Seven plus seven equals seventy-seven, eight plus eight equals eighty-eiight, nine plus nine equals ninety-niine, that is what it equals! Okay, guys, get ready for the hard part." Perry said. "Ten plus ten equals one thousand and ten, eleven plus eleven equals onethousandonehundredand eleven, twelve plus twelve equals onethousandtwohundredandtweelve, that is what it equals!"
"Let's do something else!" Peter the panda said. "Like fight each other. Last standing agent wins."
Monogram walked in at that moment. "Good, all of you are here." He smiled at Perry. "Agent P, would you mind stepping out of the room for a moment?"
Perry looked at him, confused.
"Only a moment."
Perry sighed and left the room. He knew what this was all about. Monogram was probably planning some stupid surprise party for his anniversary at the agency.
It wasn't that Perry didn't like parties, he just flat out hated them with a burning passion. Confetti flew in his eye on his first birthday party and infected it. At the O.W.C.A Halloween Bash, he'd wound up in a crazy paint and cupcake fight which resulted in Monogram scrubbing him clean for two hours. At the O.W.C.A Christmas party, Monogram ate a carrot that had served as Perry's snowman's nose. The O.W.C.A Thanksgiving party two years ago had been cut short after Monogram found out that Agent T was dead, and that had pretty much killed Perry's love of parties, if there was any to begin with. Terrence had been his first friend at the agency. They'd spent every moment together.
He just didn't have good luck with parties. And they were too loud, anyways.
Well, he wasn't going to stick around waiting while they planned it. He was heading home.
Phineas and Ferb were really the only people Perry had a strong relationship with. They'd had a pretty long history: Phineas and Ferb had adopted him when he was a baby. Phineas and Ferb played with him every day after they brought him home. They had only ever made him mad twice. When Ferb was six, he used Perry as a chair. When Phineas was eight, he had shaved all of Perry's fur off out of curiosity. Even though Perry wasn't around much anymore, they still played with Perry from time to time and missed him when he was gone. Last year, they had discovered Perry was a secret agent. After Phineas stopped being a superjerk to Perry, the three of them had developed an even stronger bond. Unfortunately, only Perry remembered the event.
Those two were Perry's favorite people in the world. He loved them so much.
When Perry got back home, Phineas was sitting on the couch with Ferb and his computer. "Look at this, Ferb. I'm logging in to an awesome site. It's asking me for my password."
Perry jumped up on the couch and sat down on Phineas' keyboard.
The computer made an annoying repeated dinging sound. The password box on Phineas' computer was filled with different letters.
"I don't think that's the password, Perry." Phineas said.
Perry chattered innocently.
"Do you know what's more fun than anything? Throwing a party for someone." Phineas said. "It makes you feel really happy inside."
Perry felt a little bad. Maybe planning a party made Monogram happy as well. Maybe Perry could pretend to be fine with the party, at least for him.
Perry jumped down, pressing the return key on Phineas' computer.
"That is not the password." Said the computer.
"I TOLD YOU!" Phineas said.
Pinky was drawing a picture of a doorknob when Perry found him.
"Guess what I'm doing for my agency anniversary?" Perry said.
"Sleeping. No wait, sitting on the couch watching soap operas and eating junk food."
"I'm having a party."
Pinky stared straight ahead. Then he shook himself off and turned to face Perry. "I'm sorry, I thought you just said you were having a party."
"I did."
"Hah, that's a funny joke." Pinky started to laugh. "Seriously. I almost believed you for a second."
"Pinky, I really AM having a party. I told Monogram and everything."
"I'm sorry, I think I mistook you for my friend Perry the platypus. You're his twin brother, right? I'm sorry, I'm no good with names, and I can't remember yours…"
"It's me. Perry. I'm having a party."
"Seriously?"
"Yep."
"You're joking."
"Nope."
"You're pulling my leg."
"I'm as serious as ever."
"We're being filmed. This is some insane planned joke. Doofenshmirtz hit you with his least-likely-inator."
"His what?"
"He built that inator once. You destroyed it. I saw the fight on the O.W.C.A internet."
"I keep telling you, that wasn't me! And I REALLY am having a party."
Pinky squinted. "Are you okay? Do you need to see the vet? Are you sick?"
"I'm FINE, Pinky. I just decided it might be nice to… you know… celebrate."
Pinky nodded slowly. "Okay. Well… I suppose anything is possible now."