When the Platypus Cry Part 1
By Lolitafreak88
*To truly understand this plot, it is best to read 'Writer's Blockade' first. Thank you*
"URGHH!" Now many people in life get frustrated over something. Whether it's making a difficult decision such as what yogurt flavor to get or where you want to go for the day. Whether its frustration over not getting something right or trying to solve a difficult test question. Or even if you receive something that could completely change your view of someone and are too chicken to look into it and yet too excited to ignore it. Candace was suffering from the last possibility of frustration. The Danville teenage girl who cried 'Busted' was struggling with a dilemma. Two days ago, she thought she had her mind set but now... it was a whole new problem. On that day, she had changed her view of Danville, and also stories, by activating her brother's Fan-Fiction Fantasizer. By gullibly choosing 'Go all the Way Level' she had transformed the universe into that of a story Isabella herself had written to receive a new patch (That looked very good on her sash after she received it). This story was the 'Fireside Princess' a modern fairy-tale that was fairly modern indeed. So Candace was instructed by the mysterious Narrator to go into this creative world as the main protagonist, bring it to a satisfying conclusion so she could revert things back to normal, and also find an object that apparently had something to say about Perry, her pet platypus that 'didn't do much'. This object turned out to be a very simple yet very complex white camera. There was nothing complex about its design, but rather what pictures it could hold. Candace had drawn a few conclusions though several were definitely worst-case scenarios. 1, it could have photos of a memory of Perry's that Candace had forgotten. 2, it could have photos of Perry's family or reveal something about Perry's origins, which was what Candace was actually hoping for. 3, it could have photos of Phineas and Ferb's inventions and make it a fine tool for busting. 4, it could have photos of Perry that were random and made no sense, in which case that would mean the Narrator lied about its importance. 5, and this was the worst but undeniable possibility, it had pictures of Perry that no teenage girl or little brothers should see of their pet platypus. There was also the chance that it could have no photos at all but from what Candace knew of the Narrator, it wouldn't make sense for him to give her something that had absolutely no information.
Anyways, so Candace had successfully completed her goal of the story (At the cost of getting kissed by Perry), befriended the Narrator, and returned home. She hadn't busted her brothers but the invention had made her realize important things and brought a change in her that she really appreciated. So she made an exception on busting her brothers. The Fan-Fiction Fantasizer, after some fine tuning, was now in use at the library and the Danville library was more popular then ever. People were now using it to go into the stories they wanted and had a blast. Candace hadn't used it since then though because she was struggling with this camera issue. She wanted to look at it, but was afraid of tackling the potential shock value alone. But she was also afraid of getting her closest friends (Or even her brothers Phineas and Ferb) involved. So Candace had kept it in her Panic Room for safe-keeping and finally brought it out on this day, having decided it was time to call for back-up. But now she was second-guessing herself which brought upon this vague frustration. After scratching her head she finally made her decision.
"If I am going to crack the code, I need a good cracker." She announced and quickly started dialing a very familiar number on her cell-phone. The recipient of this call was her best friend Stacy.
Stacy was a friendly, cool, and smart girl, though maybe a bit underestimated by her mother. Still, she was Candace's closest friend, and was often the final push Candace needed to do something. Of course, she was often a bit disappointed in Candace when she got in her busting moods but she was loyal and sometimes even helped her in her busting escapades. Plus they worked well as a team, once winning an obstacle course challenge against her little sister Ginger and Isabella. Candace knew Stacy would probably help her, plus it could give Stacy something to do for the day. It was still early morning after all. Stacy was brushing her long black hair when the phone rang and she stopped brushing to pick it up.
"Stacy's room, Stacy speaking." She replied, having recognized the number instantly from many times of answering it. Though she was glad to hear from Candace. She listened as Candace asked if she would come over to help her with a problem.
"What's the problem?" Stacy questioned. A few more sentences later.
"A camera? What kind?" Candace then proceeded to vaguely explain how it was relevant to someone and would apparently reveal something important about this person that Candace didn't know of.
"Is it Jeremy?" Stacy asked with a teasing voice.
"Uh, no. If it was don't you think I would have already looked into the camera by now on my own?" Candace replied, slightly miffed. Jeremy was Candace's boyfriend and who SHE would've chose to play the love interest in 'Fireside Princess'. Instead she had to settle with a serious, human-like Perry. Thankfully Perry was epic in the story as the 'Mysterious Lover' and protected her. Candace now liked to think some of Jeremy's qualities had been put into the Perry who was playing the 'Mysterious Lover' though it was only a theory.
"Good point. Well then who is it?" Stacy asked, setting one of her hands down on the bed. Candace didn't want to give all the detailed information over the phone, she would rather have Stacy come over so Candace could tell Stacy in her room where their conversations would be private. Plus she was dreading telling Stacy about marrying and kissing Perry. While she had accepted that she had to kiss Perry for the sake of the story and that Perry's behavior was noble and he deserved a reward, it was still really embarrassing. 'Girl cheats on boyfriend with platypus', Candace thought bitterly, I can see it now. Then again Stacy wouldn't gossip about personal things, especially regarding Candace, so she felt safe in telling Stacy about this.
"Well... apparently it has something to do with Perry. Weird right? But the person who gave it me was really serious about this, he even gave me this extremely cryptic clue that seems to be about not just Perry but about everything I know." Candace explained while twirling her hair lazily. For a few seconds there was no response on the other side. Candace was worried Stacy hung up or something so she asked,
"Stace? Are you there? Hello?" Normally, Stacy would've replied already considering that the topic of Perry was usually limited. However... recently... Stacy could no longer consider that topic limited and actually considered it dangerous ground. It all started on that fateful day. It was Isabella's birthday and Stacy had dedicated herself to watching the 'Grievance', a horror movie that had its own reputation. Then everything changed when she reached the last ten minutes of the film. Agent P and his nemesis, some pharmacist (Or was it scientist?) crashed into her house and had a brief battle before the doctor was scared off by something. Stacy figured out Agent P was Perry's alter-ego, a secret agent who did all this without the Flynn-Fletcher family knowing. She was then shown a paper explaining what would happen if his cover was blown, that he would be relocated and their memories of him would be erased. Stacy, not being a direct family member, had an advantage over this rule. Knowing that she didn't want her best friend and little brothers to lose their pet platypus (Because that would just be cruel), she vowed to keep it a secret. It seemed to please Perry and she was able to make it look like she hadn't seen any of the clash that had destroyed part of her house when the actual bosses of the corporation had appeared, disguised as repairmen. She also felt like it gave Perry some hope and happiness for some odd reason.
Stacy knew that keeping a secret could be stressful, especially one like this, but she felt like it gave her a purpose and she certainly didn't want to be someone who would blurt out the secret out of pressure. Things had been great so far too, the topic of Perry hadn't been brought up in a conversation since then and life was good. But now this was happening. Stacy was concerned that after hearing from Candace the importance of the camera and that it would say something about Perry, she was worried it'd reveal Perry's secret identity. Then again, she didn't know if that was what the camera was about either, making it difficult to decide what to do about it.
"...Candace..." Stacy finally spoke and with a quiet tone. Candace was relieved and asked,
"Yes?!"
"I... don't think I can help you, sorry. How about you try asking Jeremy for help?" Stacy had decided that it was best that she not get involved. She knew if Candace saw something that looked suspicious in that camera regarding Perry, she would most likely ask Stacy about it. Stacy would be in the position of knowing but having to lie about it and she didn't want that. So Stacy decided that someone else would have to help Candace. For Perry's sake, she decided. Luckily, Candace was taking it quite well.
"Well... Jeremy IS my boyfriend. I would hate to get him involved in something that's been treated like a secret of the universe." Candace admitted. Stacy was a bit touched to hear Candace wanting to protect Jeremy in a way. Though that made the camera sound like something higher-ups would be interested in. Like something out of a decent action flick. Stacy had another idea though,
"Then maybe Jenny...?" She suggested. Candace's eyebrow raised at this idea. Jenny was another friend of Candace's, not 'friend' enough to hang out with her everyday but 'friend' enough to be on her cell-phone. She was sweet but a hippie, always campaigning to save the pigeons and participating in environmental projects or community service. Candace was kind of upset that she never got a chance to hang out with Jenny because of this. So why was Stacy suggesting Jenny as a potential contact?
"Stacy, are you sure you can't help? You sounded interested a while ago, did something come up?" Candace inquired. Stacy finally resorted to a very old-fashioned technique, deciding to end the call as soon as possible. She grabbed a piece of paper and began crinkling it.
"Ah man we're breaking up! Sorry Candace, call me later, have fun with the camera! Ciao!" Stacy exclaimed desperately. Candace, of all people, knew this trick quite well and pointed it out,
"Stacy you're just crinkling paper. Are you in a hurry? Do you need to go somewhere? Hello? Hello?" It was too late, Stacy had hung up and so Candace was on her own yet again. Stacy was determined to protect Perry's secret and so she felt this was decision she had to make. Candace, not knowing this, decided Stacy was busy today and so she would have to ask someone else for help. She sat with her legs crossed on the bed and started to ponder who else she could ask for help.
"Phineas and Ferb are my little brothers and I have a hunch they'd be very shocked to find out something they didn't know about Perry. Whatever it is. Mom and Dad wouldn't believe me... ugh... I guess I really have no choice." She conceded. Stacy's suggestions usually were very effective anyway, maybe Jenny would provide a new perspective that Candace didn't have. Plus Candace had been in much tougher situations so this was nothing. She started dialing a number she rarely dialed. After a while,
"Hello?" Jenny's voice responded. Jenny was a gentle but still open-minded and young soul, and was currently on a walk outside somewhere. She seemed to be in a good mood too which encouraged Candace further.
"Hey Jenny!" Candace greeted cheerfully.
"Oh hi Candace, it's good to hear from you. I don't talk to you often, you should really give me a call sometime." Jenny pointed out. Candace frowned because of the irony in that statement but moved on to the main topic.
"Say Jenny, could you come over by any chance? I have a very mysterious camera that I want to look into but I would feel more comfortable looking into it with a close friend at my side so..." Candace stammered a bit near the end, unsure of how to refer to Jenny. But Jenny instantly lit up with excitement.
"I would LOVE that. I don't have anything to do today and I was just going to the park to play and sightsee but this sounds promising. I'll be right there!" Jenny shouted before hanging up. Candace pulled the phone away from her ear in surprise at how easy that was before she heard knocking on the door downstairs. Then she heard her mom call out,
"Candace, there's someone at the door!" Candace was now very surprised. That was just like the time she thought Stacy had arrived at her house impossibly fast though it turned out to be some clowns Phineas and Ferb had summoned to cheer her up. At least Jenny had the excuse of being on a walk. Perhaps she was just very close to Candace's house. In any event, Candace hid the camera under the pillow and then raced out of her room and down the stairs towards the door. She answered and sure enough there was Jenny. She had her usual outfit on and the same flower in her hair and had an eager expression. She was also holding what looked like a boomerang. It looked like it was made out of wood and like someone had painted it on it. Maybe her sibling Django had painted it?
"Hey Candace! I am really glad you invited me over. I hope that we have fun." Jenny said honestly. Candace smiled, glad that Jenny was excited about this as opposed to... scared about it. Oh but I didn't tell her anything about the camera's back-story yet, Candace realized.
"Yeah, I really need your help to figure something out and... what's with the boomerang?" Candace asked, finding that she could not take her eyes off it. Jenny looked at the boomerang and then held it in front of her so Candace could get a better look at it.
"This is an authentic Australian boomerang. The museum received it just last week as a gift and Django painted on it to make it more personal. I'm pretty good at throwing it and was going to play with it at the park but this might be more intellectual." Jenny explained. Candace was a bit surprised at Jenny's use of 'intellectual' but was glad to hear that Django had painted on it. Though Candace was never fond of Phineas and Ferb's friends (Besides Isabella) she was beginning to realize Django wasn't so bad. Plus if he was related to Jenny then he couldn't be that bad. Like how Ginger was Stacy's little sister. Odd how some of Phineas and Ferb's friends are siblings of some of my best friends, Candace contemplated.
"Um, so let's go upstairs. Then I'll explain everything." Candace said as she headed towards the stairs. But then Jenny gasped as though she figured something out and started looking around.
"Oh yeah, where's Perry? I would love to pet him. I do find it quite interesting that you have such a rare, elegant pet like a platypus." Jenny commented. He's only elegant in fan-fiction, Candace wanted to say but knew she couldn't.
"I think you're too late, he's probably-" Candace began.
"Hey, where's Perry?" Jenny asked the all important question.
"Yep. Just like that." Candace said with a bored tone. If anything, she was hoping that the camera would explain where he went off to everyday.
As for Perry, he had become his Agent P persona and was outside in the backyard. He was about to get to one of his many secret entrances when he saw something very strange. An umbrella, floating in mid-air with a propeller on top. It also had a tag on it that said 'Use me'. Perry was a bit confused and wondered if it was one of Phineas and Ferb's inventions though he looked on the back of the tag and saw that it was from O.W.A.C.A (Organization Without A Cool Acronym), the agency he was a member of. Perry gave one of his usual unsurprised looks at this, wondering why the O.W.A.C.A was going so far as to do this instead of letting him use a normal secret entrance like usual. But Agent P followed the instruction and grabbed the handle of the umbrella and amazingly, the umbrella flew up into the air and Perry held on firmly. He ascended upward at a fair pace and they even flew past the window of Candace's room. Candace and Jenny had entered the room but were talking to one another with their backs against the window so they did not see Perry as he briefly rose up in front of the window. Like an elevator.
"So where is the camera you mentioned?" Jenny asked as she sat next to Candace on the bed. Candace pulled the camera from under the pillow without a word and showed it to Jenny. Jenny looked curious of course.
"That is quite mysterious. Whose is it?" She asked. Candace sighed and said,
"Well it was given to me as a result of one of my brother's inventions. It will 'change my world forever' and will reveal to me something I never knew before about Perry. Then there's this cryptic clue that came with it. The reality you live in is false, this camera is what makes your reality true. It sounds like something mind-boggling." Jenny thought for a moment before replying,
"Well, then whatever's in this camera is of dire importance and should be treated carefully. What do you think are in those pictures?" Candace started to go down the list,
"Well it could have to do with his origins, where he goes everyday, be about a special memory, be something random, and... um... be inappropriate." She mumbled the last one in embarrassment but Jenny offered an understanding smile.
"Oh Candace, I doubt that Perry the Platypus would do something inappropriate. A pet cares and respects its owners. Even if he goes out everyday, which I admit isn't the most positive sign, I'm sure he wouldn't go as far to do something that would be disgraceful. And if it's the other way around, someone doing something inappropriate to Perry, then that is animal cruelty. And they deserve to face the wrath of Gaia." Jenny stated with passion towards the end. Candace looked a bit freaked out at Jenny's brief display of hippie love but she did have a point. Plus Perry never came back smelling strange or having any noticeable change in appearance, besides one time where he had lipstick stains on him, so it probably wasn't that.
"Thanks Jenny, that was strangely reassuring." Candace said kindly. Jenny gave a warm glance.
"Glad I could help. So where did you get this camera anyway? The first clue is how you received this." Jenny pointed out. Candace knew that she would've had to do this anyway regardless of who she asked for help so she took a deep breath and began to explain the whole 'Fireside Princess' adventure.
Agent P on the other hand was still holding onto the flying umbrella with a very bored expression. He even yawned and used his other hand to cover his mouth as he yawned. He was so high up that he was in the clouds, likely to hide himself from the eyes of a curious public. Finally the umbrella started to descend at a quick pace and Perry saw that he was above the park. Why are they meeting in a public place? Perry could only think. Major Monogram and Carl often did have strange ideas but this was particularly unusual for them. After a few moments of quick descending, he finally landed in a tree where he saw Major Monogram, Carl, and to his surprise Agent's Pinky and Peter the Panda in the branches. Now Perry was slightly concerned. Though the fact that there were only two agents here was better than all the agents being there as he remembered that time he had been seen as a renegade agent due to one of Dr. Doofensmirtz' inventions.
"Ah there you are Agent P, our base is getting washed from top to bottom today so that's why we are meeting here. It's a natural and secretive place. But enough fun and games, we have some serious things to discuss." Major Monogram stated. Agent P gave his full attention to him and listened calmly.
"Well we've done some snooping around as always to see what your nemesis is up to and we actually found something... scary. Something extremely dangerous. He seems to have come up with an Inator that can actually bend reality and create things out of thin air. Like weapons or creatures or, of all things, shaving cream! Not that he has created any shaving cream, it's just me giving an example." Major Monogram stated. Agent P's mouth dropped open. Dr. Doofensmirtz had built some interesting inventions before and ones that could even be deemed threatening (Like the 'Destroy anyone who can't make up their minds' Inator) but this sounded... extreme. Agent P hoped there was a good enough back-story from Doofy that would explain why he had made such a threatening Inator.
"So we are here to warn you and be alert, as this Inator could actually be what Heinz needs to take over the Tri-State Area. Fortunately we've developed a weapon of our own that could counter it. Carl if you may." Major Monogram signaled Carl to take something out and hand it to Perry. It appeared to be a gun of some sort but what was interesting about its shape was that part of it was plastic and it appeared to be one of the guns used to fire cracker jacks at a baseball game into the hands of lucky spectators. There were even packages of cracker jacks inside it. But they noticeably had images of some of O.W.A.C.A agents on them. Perry looked very doubtful at the weapon, wondering how cracker jacks could classify as a weapon.
"These are no ordinary cracker jacks, these have been modified to have intense explosive capabilities, and are as strong as dynamite. They will be able to blow up the Inator and save the day. You can also modify how big the range of the explosion is to make it more balanced. If we were at the base we'd show you how to use it properly but I'm afraid you'll have to find out how it works for yourself Agent P." Carl said. Agent P gave a thankful smile. From the description given to him, it DID sound quite effective actually and he was up for trying different strategies to take down his frenemy. Though he still wondered what Agent Pinky and Peter the Panda were doing here.
"I see you are curious about your fellow agents. Well, since the danger of this particular Inator is so great, they are here as back-up if you need them. If there's any trouble, don't hesitate to call for back-up. We'll be waiting here for when you need us. Good luck Agent P." Major Monogram said. Agent P did a salute and then got back on the umbrella and took off, heading towards Dr. Doofensmirtz' headquarters. Carl though took the time to ask Major Monogram something.
"Sir, are you sure we should wait in this tree? I heard the squirrels in this park get in your pants or something. Also, wouldn't you like to get some ice cream or something?"
"Carl, we don't let appetites get in the way of our work." Major Monogram responded bluntly. Agent's Pinky and Peter noticeably frowned at this. If they were going to wait they should at least have something to satisfy them in the meantime. Major Monogram looked to each of the agents before restating,
"But ice cream does sound good, let's go get some while Perry's on his way." The agents and Carl's facial expressions showed approval of this.
FINALLY I am back to Phineas and Ferb fan-fiction. Writing stories with little dialogue (Besides My Little Pony) can get a bit old of times. That's why alternating between series works well for me :D. Plus it's time to continue the storyline I have begun and concocted with great intrigue and hype. By the way, the warning at the start of the story is something I chose to do because I would hate to confuse readers by explaining past events that you'd only be aware of had you read 'Writer's Blockade'. Plus since the most recently posted stories are on the first page in a series, it is key to let readers know if a story is part of a story arc and not just a stand-alone story. At least that's what I am going for. If you don't like the warning though, please let me know. So Candace has invited Jenny over to reason about the camera. How will Jenny react to Candace's story? What is Phineas and Ferb's invention for the day? And is Dr. Doofensmirtz invention really as dangerous as Major Monogram says? We'll find out in chapter 2! :D Even in a storyline of my own I take no ownership of copyright because all the rights belong respectfully and eloquently to Phineas and Ferb and Disney, who are currently channeling their inner superhero XD. Thank you ^_^.