Save the Platypuses
Chapter 1
"So, Perry," Phineas said to his pet who was in his kennel. The family was at the Dansville International Airport, waiting to go on their trip to Australia. "Are you ready to go to Australia? There will be tons of platypuses like you." Perry chattered in reply. "I know you can't wait to go like we are."
Perry smiled. It was true. The aquatic mammal couldn't wait to get to his home country and continent. He hoped Major Monogram didn't call and he'd have to fake being sick again. He hoped Doofenshmirtz would get a temporary nemesis, or better yet, wait to try to take over the Tri-State Area until he returned. He didn't want to miss out on this trip with his family.
The PA system came on telling them that Platyair, flight 192, their airplane, was getting ready to board. Linda looked at her daughter, who was texting on her cellphone.
"Okay, Candace." Linda said. "We're about to board. You're going to have to put that away now."
"Yeah, yeah, Mom." Candace responded. "I will."
They were the next ones in line and Candace was still texting, Linda sighed and snatched it from the teen's hands.
"Mom!" Candace complained. "I was texting Stacy."
"I thought I told you to put this thing away." Candace blinked in confusion.
"You did? I must've been too busy texting to listen. Just let me finish and turn it off." Candace tried to grab it, but her mom held it above her. "Mom!"
"You promise to put it away before we board?"
"Yeah, yeah, I promise. Just give me my phone!" Linda arched an eyebrow. Candace stopped and smiled lamely. "Please?" Linda gave the phone to her daughter, already having a doubt. Candace continued texting.
Lawrence and Linda put away their passports when the lady behind the desk said that they could board. Linda looked at Candace, who was still texting. She sighed.
"Candace!" She scolded.
"I'm sorry, Mom." Candace apologized. "I will put it away when we take off. I promise." Linda sighed again.
"That's what you said when we were next in line."
"Well, that was when I thought of more to type to Stacy. I really promise this time." Linda sighed again.
"I know how you feel." The lady said to Linda. "I have five teenagers at home."
"I feel so bad for you." Phineas looked at his stepbrother.
"Will we be this stubborn when we're teenagers, Ferb?" Ferb shrugged.
"I think girls are the ones that might be more difficult." He said. "But, I might be wrong." Phineas handed Perry to the woman.
"Can you put Perry in the baggage compartment?" He asked. "We wanted to have him until we board." The woman nodded.
"Sure." She replied and went over to see the pet. "Oh, a platypus! He'll feel right at home." The woman grabbed Perry's kennel. "I'll make sure he has a wonderful flight. You all have a wonderful flight too."
"Thanks." The kids, Candace, and their parents entered the jetway.
"Hey!" Phineas said, beaming at the platypus insignia on the door of the plane. "A platypus insignia!"
"Well, this is Platyair." Ferb pointed out. "So, it's not really a big surprise."
"I know; it's just so cool seeing it." He and his family continued going on the plane.
When the PA system came on, telling everybody to turn off their electrical devices until at a point in the air and no cellphones for the whole flight, Candace was still on her phone. Linda noticed this from her seat behind, and snatched it away.
"Mom!" The teenager complained. "I was just about to shut it off and put it away!"
"Well, I did it for you." Linda told her, showing her that she had indeed, shut the phone. "Now, put it away dear." She gave it to her daughter. Candace groaned as she laid back in the seat.
"Teenage problems?" Asked the Australian woman next to Linda.
"Yeah." Linda answered.
"I have teenage problems with my daughter too. She really means well though."
"Yeah, Candace does too."
"Mum problems?" The teenaged girl asked her with her Australian accent.
"Yeah." Candace replied. "Mom problems."
"Same here. My mum makes me crack a fruity." Candace looked at her, confused.
"Huh?"
"Oh, it's Australian slang. It means go crazy, mad, insane."
"Oh. Do you brothers do that?"
"Huh?"
"You know, do your brothers make you crack…you know."
"I only have one little brother and a sister. They're twins. And yes, yes they do make me crack a fruity."
"Do they build stuff like a roller coaster, or a rocket to the moon? Do you try to tell your mom about it, trying to bust them, but no matter what you do, it disappears without a trace?"
"No; my siblings do other stuff that drives me off the wall."
"Oh."
"By the way, I'm Kym." Kym offered Candace her hand. Candace shook it.
"Hi Kym, I'm Candace."
"If you're going to watch on the in-flight TV, I have a show that you might like."
"Okay, cool."
Phineas sat by two other kids; they both looked like they were around his age. The boy was reading a book. The girl was watching TV on the in-flight TV.
"Hello." He greeted them. "I'm Phineas." The girl paused the show she was watching and took out her ear buds so she could talk.
"G'day!" The two kids said at once, the boy not looking away from his book. They too had Australian accents.
"I'm Sydney." Said the girl.
"An Aussie named Sydney." Phineas said. "That's neat." Sydney smiled. She gestured towards the boy. "And this is my brother, Nate." Phineas saw the book that Nate was reading: 'Platypus Police Squad: The Ostrich Conspiracy'. Sydney went back to her TV watching.
"Oh, you like those books too?" He asked. "Have you read the first one?" Nate looked at him.
"Yes; I love these books because they have my favorite animals; platypuses."
"Cool! You know my stepbrother and I own a pet platypus." Nate's eyes grew big.
"Really?" Phineas nodded.
"His name's Perry."
"That's so neat. I thought platypuses are only native in Australia. I didn't know they were in the US too."
"Yeah, we have tons of them in Dansville. It's weird, but we do."
"You'd think they'd be illegal to own, or the males at least because of them being venomous 'n all."
"Our mayor did try to take platypuses away from us, but ever since one saved his life, he changed the law so we can own them again."
"That's nice. It must've been heartbreaking thinking that you could no longer own Perry."
"Oh, it was. But once the mayor made it legal again, we were happy. Ferb and I won't know what we'll do without Perry. Oh, and Perry did accidently strike me with his barbs once. I had to go to the hospital, but it's okay, Ferb and I made sure that it wouldn't happen again by making a special shot that got rid of the poison. Poor guy, though. He must've thought that it was all his fault. He must've felt terrible about it."
"How do you know?"
"Sometimes, I get the feeling that he knows what's going on and he understands us."
"Oh, that's cool."
"Yeah." He then changed the subject. "Do you want to see him after we land?" Nate looked at him again.
"Can I?" Phineas nodded.
"I don't see why not. I'm sure my parents won't mind." Nate smiled.
"Thanks, mate; I'm sure my parents won't mind either." Phineas smiled too.
"Perfect; it's settled then! When we land, find us in the baggage claim, and I'll show you Perry."
"I can't wait!" He looked at the show that her sister was watching that showed a teenager fighting bad guys. "You know what'll be cool? A platypus secret agent!"
"Yeah, yeah, that would be cool. It would be awesome if Perry was one, but he's just an ordinally pet platypus, and we love him just the same."
"Where do you work?" The Australian man next to Lawrence asked.
"I work in the antique business."
"Ah, I'm a mechanic. By the way, I'm Brian." The two men shook hands.
"I'm Lawrence."
Sixteen hours later, they landed at the Sydney Airport. The families got up, grabbed their carry-ons, and waited so they could get off the plane. Candace and Kym traded emails before they left. Candace was shocked that Kym was spelled with a 'y' instead of an 'I'.
"I didn't know Kym could be spelled with a 'y'. I always thought it was only 'I'."
"Well, not with my name. Remember it; if you spell it with a 'I' in my email address, you won't get me."
"Okay; I'll try not to. I'll do it as written here. Oh, and thank you for introducing me to those shows about those two alien human girls and the mermaids and Merman. They were interesting." The two girls then bid farewell to each other, and left the aircraft.
Phineas raced for his parents when he saw them in the gate. Candace was texting on her cellphone once again. He told them about Nate and Sydney, and asked if it was okay if they could meet Perry.
"I don't see why not." Linda said. She looked at her husband. "Lawrence?"
"If we don't miss our taxi, it's okay." Phineas smiled.
"Thanks Mom, thanks Dad. I knew you wouldn't mind." And so, they all went to the baggage claim to claim their other luggage.
"Hey, Perry!" Phineas greeted the platypus after grabbing his kennel off the baggage claim. "How was your flight in the baggage compartment?" Perry had just woken up. He looked at his owner. He was glad they had landed. It was boring in the baggage claim. Having Mr. Squeaks in with him didn't help. He didn't have Biff and Pinky with him to entertain him with backstories. He just stayed in his kennel the whole flight.
"Yo, Phineas!" Phineas heard Nate shout. Phineas turned around and saw Nate running his way. His sister, parents, and even Kym were following him. Kym too, was texting on her cellphone. Phineas smiled.
"Yo, Nate!" He looked at his family. "Ferb, Mom, Dad, Candace, this is Nate and Sydney."
When the parents got the luggage, they too, looked at Nate, Sydney, Kym, and their parents. They both smiled.
"G'day!" Nate's dad greeted.
"Long time no see, Lisa." Linda greeted the mom.
"You too, Brian." Lawrence said to the dad. Linda then nudged her daughter. "Candace, be nice." Lisa nudged her as well.
"Kym," She said. "Put that away. We're meeting new people. Be polite." The two teenagers put down their phones and looked at each other in shock.
"Oh, hi, Kym!"
"G'day, Candace."
"Was this the girl you were sitting with?" Linda asked. Candace nodded.
"Mom. This is Kym, with a y." Candace told her mom.
"Mum, this is my new friend Candace." Kym said to her mother. As they all talked to each other, Phineas showed Perry to Nate.
"This is Perry." He introduced the mammal. Nate bent down to look at Perry.
"Yep; that's a platypus all right." He waved to him. "G'day, Perry. I sat with your owner and we are now friends. It's so good to finally meet you. My all-time favorite animal are platypuses." Perry chattered.
"Hey, a platypus!" Sydney said, looking at Perry.
"This is Perry, sis. Phineas and his stepbrother own him. It's legal to own platypuses in Danville where they live." Sydney looked at Phineas.
"You're so lucky."
"And who do we have here?" Brian wanted to know, looking at Perry. Their mom did as well.
"Mum, Dad; this is Perry, Phineas' pet platypus." The parents looked surprised at first, but then smiled.
"Nate wants to own a platypus." The father said. "But we never got around to it."
"We better get going, Linda." Lawrence told her. "Or we'll have a long wait for another taxi."
"Okay," She looked at her children. "Say good-bye, kids." The kids said goodbye to their new friends.
"Cheerio!" Kym said.
"Ta-ta!" Sydney added.
"Hooroo!" Nate put in. Phineas was confused.
"Hoo, what?" He questioned out loud.
"Hooroo! We're all saying goodbye in Australia."
"Oh, well, hooroo then!" The Flynn-Fletchers left.
While riding in the taxi, Phineas sat Perry's kennel on his lap so that the platypus could see the view of the Indian Ocean outside.
"Take a gander, Pers." He told his pet. "This is Australia." Perry looked at it with content, enjoying the view of his home country.
As his family was leaving their hotel room for the evening, Perry quickly darted out of the room, careful so he wouldn't be noticed. He hid until they were out of sight. He then used the elevator and went down to the lobby (luckily, he was the only one in it).
He went outside and strolled about. This was his home country and his home continent and he haven't been here for years; there was no way he was going to be cooped in the hotel room!
A half an hour went by, and Perry couldn't believe whom he saw by the Indian Ocean. It was his platypus family: Meredith, Amy, and Abby! He was so happy that he bolted to them.
"Meredith! Abby! Amy!" He called. They looked his way and smiles all appeared on their faces.
"Perry!" Meredith said with glee. "What are you doing here?"
"My family and I are on vacation here." Perry exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"We went back onto one of those winged monsters that carry humans…"
"Airplanes." Perry corrected.
"Anyways, we boarded into one and came back here. I didn't open the
window this time."
"That's good." He looked around. "Where's Andy?"
Before he could hear his answer, Andy hopped out of the ocean with a fish in his bill.
"Oh, hey Perry." He said, his voice muffled so it was hard to understand. His eyes then widened. "Perry?!" He swallowed the fish right down and ran to his brother. "Hey, bro! It's been a while; how you doin'?" Perry smiled.
"I'm doing good." He answered. "How are all of you?"
"Good!" They all replied.
"Well, that's good."
"I can't say the same for the sake of our species." Amy said. Perry was confused.
"What do you mean?" He wanted to know. Abby nudged her.
"Amy!"" She whined. "Don't; it'll only make him worry!"
"Worry about what?" Perry asked. "What's going on?"
"We better tell him." Meredith told her sisters. Her sisters sighed. The youngest platypus was right. He needed to know. Abby looked her eldest brother in the eye.
"Perry," She began. "Our species are disappearing."
"What?" Perry questioned.
"There are fewer and fewer platypuses each and every day. They're being hunted down."
"That's terrible!"
"But, don't worry, Perry." Meredith assured him. "I'm sure the humans will do something about it, now come on; let's catch up with our brother."
"Yeah, okay." Perry agreed. "I hope they do something about it too."
The next morning, the Flynn-Fletchers went to the zoo.
They had just closed the door when Perry awoke.
If Perry were just a normal pet, he would've been disappointed because he couldn't escape, but luckily he was an agent. He got a lock pick from under the blanket in his kennel, went to the door of the hotel room, and picked the lock. When it clicked, he opened the door, shut it behind him, and went down the stairs. He was careful not to be noticed.
When looking at the kangaroo exhibit, Phineas couldn't believe whom he saw. Nate noticed him and raced over.
"Yo, Phineas!" He shouted.
"Yo, Nate!" He said back. "So, you like the zoo?" Phineas nodded.
"Sure do! It has some animals that we don't have at our zoo at home."
"Did you see the platypus exhibit?"
"No, not yet."
"Well when you do, you'll love it! I know I do! We've been here like a thousand times and whenever we see the platypus exhibit, well, we never get tired of it; it's like seeing it for the first time!" Phineas smiled.
"I'm sure we would love it. Talking about it is making me want to go right now, but I think we are going to see more animals until we get to them."
"Well, I better get to my back to my family. Hooroo! Enjoy the zoo!"
"Hooroo; I will!" Nate went back to his family and Phineas went back to his.
"Come on, Mom!" Phineas shouted to her, running after seeing a sign pointing to the platypus exhibit. "The platypus exhibit is this way!"
"We're coming; we're coming." Linda told her excited son.
"I can't believe you want to see platypuses." Candace said. "We got one at home."
"Yeah, but Nate said I'll love it! Perry'll miss out! Oh well, he'll see them in the pictures we show him. Now, come on!" He ran ahead. Linda and Lawrence smiled at each other as they followed their excited son. Ferb and Candace did too.
As soon as Phineas got there, he looked around. His smile faded when he didn't see any platypuses. His family caught up behind him.
"Hey; where are the platypuses?" He asked out loud.
"I don't know, honey." Linda told him.
"Maybe you scared all of them off." Candace spoke.
"I'm sure they're hiding." Lawrence assured him. "If we stay put for a few minutes, I'm sure they'll come."
"I don't think so." They heard a familiar voice. They looked and saw Nate and his family next to them. Nate was on the fence. "We've been here almost ten minutes and we haven't seen then."
"I suggested we move on and come back later." Brian said. "But, Nate and Sydney wanted to stay here."
"I don't know why." Kym added. "They don't seem to be out right now.'
"We should ask." Sydney suggested.
"Yeah, we should." Nate agreed. Kym groaned.
"You should've asked a while ago!" She told them.
"Well we didn't think of it until now." Kym rolled her eyes.
"I thought of it a while ago."
"Maybe you should've asked a while ago." Candace suggested. Kym sighed.
"I should've." A zookeeper passed nearby. Nate, Phineas, Sydney, and Ferb went to her.
"Excuse me!" Nate said to her. The zookeeper stopped and looked down at him. "Where are the platypuses? We haven't seen them for a long time." The woman frowned.
"Oh I'm sorry; we don't have them anymore. We meant to have a sign up telling zoogoers like you kids, but never got around to it I guess." The kids were confused.
"Why do you not have them anymore?" Phineas wanted to know. The zookeeper looked at him. She then sighed, hating to have to tell what she was about to tell them.
She told them what Abby had told Perry.
"I'm afraid," She continued. "That if they keep disappearing like this; platypuses will soon become extinct."