Perry lay down on the floor.

A few of the agents tripped over him.

Pinky came into the main room, stopped, and bent down next to him. "Perry?"

"Mm."

"You okay?"

"Need coffee."

"Were you up late again?"

"Worked all night… finished report… got check…"

Pinky sighed and grabbed a mug of coffee from Kyle, who had been walking past. "Don't tell me you've been working all this time!" He handed the mug to Perry.

Perry drank its contents gratefully. "At least I got my check."

"Perry, you really have to stop being so hard on yourself!"

"Huh?"

"Darren told me. You've been up all night, you put in extra hours, your mate's not speaking to you AND you're flying back and forth from Switzerland twice a week to help with a few villains that they can't take on themselves."

"Oh man, that's tomorrow, isn't it? I hate tomorrow…"

"You can't keep doing all this!" Pinky said. "You have to relax every once in a while! You gotta CHILL!"

"I'm chill. I have my coffee."

"Perry, you know what I mean… You need some downtime."

"I've had downtime before. I was sitting in a lawn chair and before I knew it, I was trapped. Then I flew on a pile of leaves for ten minutes. That was the end of my relaxation."

"You ever tried going to a beach or a spa or a yoga class or something?"

"I've been to a beach."

"Well, there's one thing. We'll go there tomorrow."

"I have to go to Switzerland tomorrow."

"We're canceling Switzerland."

"We can't just…"

"We can, Perry. You are going to forget everything that you're worried about. You gotta lose this stress!"

Perry pulled out his phone and stared at it. He pushed a button.

"No messages."

"Come on, Perry." Pinky grabbed his hand and pulled him up.

"I want to stay here…"

"You're comin' with me! I'm gonna de-stress you if it's the last thing I do!"


Darren banged on the door of the old garage. A big painting of a pony with seven legs was on the door, signed "Palmer".

The door opened. Poppy gave Darren a confused look. "What are you doing here?"

"Why did you two fight?" Darren demanded. "Perry's completely miserable! You won't even call him! He keeps pushing the message button on his phone and it keeps going 'no-messages-no-messages-no-no-no-no…'" Darren paused to take a breath. "And you just stay here in this stupid garage…"

Poppy backed up. "I… don't feel like talking about it… not right now…"

"Neither does he! And frankly, I think you're being stupid! He's one of the nicest guys I know and I hate seeing him like this! YOU made him like this!"

Poppy turned away from him and started to cry. "I don't know who else to turn to! He can't… or won't… I just thought he'd…"

"What? Thought he'd WHAT?"

"Listen to me…"


"See, isn't this nice?" Pinky curled up on a beach towel and stuck on some sunglasses. "We're at the beach! Chillin'!"

"Sure. I hate the sand. It sticks to my fur." Perry muttered. He was scribbling something down on a paper.

"Whatcha writin'?"

"A list Monogram needs."

"And what would happen if you didn't write the list?"

"Monogram wouldn't have it."

"Does he NEED it?"
"Not really."

"Then drop the pencil and listen to the waves!"

Perry glared at Pinky and put the paper away. "It's not like I've never heard what waves sound like before." He took out his phone and looked at it.

"Do NOT push the messages button."

"Why not?"

"Because, message button and Pinky is the same thing as Kendrine Adems song and Perry."

"Understood. But if I don't push it, how am I going to know if I have any messages?"

"Perry, just don't worry about it."

Perry stretched out and watched a toddler make a sandcastle.

The toddler picked up a hunk of sand and tossed it on the top of his castle. The structure fell.

"Fail." Perry said.

"What?"

"That kid's castle just fell."

"Oh."

They lay there a little longer.

"So… what do we do?" Perry asked.

"Just relax."

"My brain's going crazy trying to keep itself occupied."

"Don't pay attention to it. Try to think about the ocean noise."

"Did you know that there's probably a fish eating another fish under the water right at this moment?"

"That's a cheerful thought."

"Yeah. Want to go swimming?"

"The water makes me cold."

"Can I go?"

"Sure, knock yourself out. Not literally, mind you."
Perry took a running leap into the ocean and swam. He felt happiest when in the water. It always calmed him.

Unless, of course, he was in the agency's water entrance and Monogram forgot to turn off the laser sharks. That wasn't such relaxing water…


"I needed help." Poppy sobbed. "I can't work at the agency because I have to look after Palmer, and it's been so hard to get money… I felt terrible even for asking…"

"You asked him to help you with money?" Darren asked.

"Yes, I'm broke. I had to do jobs around town to earn enough to feed the both of us… and Palmer doesn't like that, he wants me to be home… I just didn't know who else to ask! Monogram can't spare a cent… my father doesn't even know what a dollar IS…"

"Perry didn't help?"

"He couldn't, he kept saying he couldn't, and I asked him why, and he got mad… he felt like I was pushing him… it turned into this terrible fight… I told him to not bother calling me again…" Poppy put her head in her hands. "I feel awful. I know it's selfish, but I can't help feeling like he needs to be more help for Palmer…"

Darren put a wing around her. "That's not selfish at all. I can't believe Perry would do that…"

"He wouldn't, don't get mad at him… he's very kind…"

Darren dug into his fedora and pulled out some money. "Here. Take this."

Poppy shook her head. "It's not right."

Darren put the money into her hand. "You need it. I don't."

Poppy smiled a little. "You're very kind… as well."


"Now, breathe in." Said the yoga instructor, sitting cross-legged on his mat.

Everyone inhaled.

"Now, breathe out."

Everyone exhaled.

"Breathe in…"

"I KNOW HOW TO BREATHE!" Perry shouted, jumping up from his mat. "I'VE KNOWN HOW TO BREATHE SINCE BEFORE I HATCHED FROM THE EGG! I DIDN'T COME HERE TO LEARN HOW TO BREATHE!"

"Sit back down." Pinky whispered from next to him.

The yoga instructor stared blankly at Perry. "There is much stress in your body. You must learn to rid of it through slow movements."

"Look, buddy, I get rid of my stress through FAST movements. LIKE PUNCHING THE ANNOYING BREATHING TEACHER IN THE FACE."

"Perry!" Pinky hissed.

"HE CAN'T UNDERSTAND A WORD I'M SAYING!" Perry snapped. "I CAN YELL AT HIM IN THIRTY-FIVE LANGUAGES AND HE WON'T KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING!"

"He can tell that you're yelling! You're disturbing the class!"

Perry sat back down on his mat and scowled at the instructor.

"Now, we will do the tree pose." Said the instructor, standing on one leg with his hands stretched out. "This helps to remind us that we can be as still as a tree if we want."

"This is reminding me that I can't do very much with my leg." Perry grumbled.

"And now, the downward dog pose." The instructor stood on all four limbs and hung his head down.

"I've only seen a dog in this actual position once, by the way." Perry told Pinky. "He was throwing up."

Pinky rolled his eyes. "Would you just at least PRETEND you're relaxed?"

Perry splayed out on the mat. "How's this?"
"Perry…"

"And now, the half-moon pose."

Perry tried to mimic the yoga instructor's pose. "Impossible." He leaned against the person next to him. "This is easier."

The person fell, crashing into the man next to him.

Perry sat down on his mat and watched. "Look, Pinky. I made human dominos."

Half of the yoga class had fallen on the floor.


Perry crawled through the pet flap and padded over to Phineas, who was fixing a toy. Perry recognized it as one of his favorite squeaky toys he had finally chewed through a few months ago.

He sprung up on Phineas' lap and chattered.

"Hey, Perry. I fixed your toy." Phineas held it out to him.

Perry grabbed the plastic hamburger in his mouth and jumped down. He chewed on it.

SQEUUUUUEEUEUUEUEEEEK! SQUEEK! SQUEEEEEEEEK!

It really was a lovely noise.

"Keep it down, boy." Phineas said fondly, patting Perry on the head. "Candace is in a bad mood today."

All the more reason to make noise. Irking Candace was just so fun.

Perry followed Phineas upstairs to his room. He climbed onto Phineas' bed and put down the hamburger.

The sheets weren't fluffy enough. Perry started rearranging them.

"Perry…"

Perry finally made a nice little spot to lie down in. He patted the area down with his feet a few times, and then curled up.

"Perry, you're right in the middle of the bed. How am I supposed to get in?"

"You'll figure something out." Perry chirped. He closed his eyes.

He was going to try to control his dreams this time. He was going to have a dream about getting rid of Carlos the caring clown for good.

Carlos was a clown toy that belonged to Candace. Perry hated Carlos with a burning passion.

He was also going to dream about Kendrine Adems spontaneously combusting.

But maybe he should put something nice into his dreams, too. Like Phineas and Ferb.

"Perry, can you please move? I need to get in bed."

Perry opened his eyes. He got up and lay back down on Phineas' pillow.

"Perry, that's even worse. Here." Phineas got under the covers and made enough room so that Perry could still have his spot on the blanket. Then he put Perry in his blanket spot.

"There you go. That's fair." Phineas said.

Perry chattered happily. He wrapped his tail around his paws and was soon asleep.