Just in case you've missed the pattern, I've made it a rule to update my stories at least every Saturday. However, I just finished school on Wednesday, so the last two chapters will probably be posted a bit more quickly.
It was a typical, normal day in one of the many bleak neighborhoods of Danville. The sun was not shining, the birds were not singing, and everything was in its proper place.
Well, except for the two boys scouting the area from within trashcans.
Once they deemed that the coast was clear, Phineas, Ferb, and Perry approached the dreary version of their 1st dimension home. But just as they reached the doorstep, Phineas paused and looked back at the platypus.
"Uh, you might want to..." he stopped, trying to come up with the right words. "I mean, these guys might not know you're not really a … you know."
Perry looked down, suddenly realizing the current state he was in. Giving an embarrassed grin in apology, he removed his hat, got down on all fours, and slid his eyesout of focus. Then he chattered in what the boys had once thought was the noise of an unintelligent creature.
Phineas and Ferb looked to each other hesitantly before resuming their stares at the undercover agent. Neither taking their eyes from their pet, Phineas warily drew his finger closer and closer to the doorbell. He removed his gaze for the briefest moment in order to actually press the button, but then it instantly returned to the previous spot, afraid that Perry may have sprouted wings in the millisecond that his eyes had been trained elsewhere.
They were admitted inside by a 2nd dimension Linda Flynn-Fletcher, who despite being an exact replica of their real mother seemed nearly unrecognizable in her gray overalls and anxious expression. After she left to go cower in the basement, the boys followed a series of sounds coming from the living room.
"Pick a Doofopoly Instruction Card," came a very familiar voice. Upon entering the room, Phineas and Ferb found another Phineas and Ferb, playing a board game.
"'Conform'," the crew-cut bearing Phineas read from the card. "Hey, I can do that."
Abandoning all ideas of any sort of negative reactions from their counterparts from suddenly coming upon a pair identical to themselves, Phineas stepped into the room.
"Hey guys!" he called out, as if greeting some old friends. Which, technically speaking, they were.
The other Phineas, however, did not give a similarly cheerful response.
"Oh no, they're replacing us!" he cried as he ducked behind the couch. "I must not have conformed quick enough."
The 1st dimension Phineas was in the middle of explaining the situation when he was interrupted by his look-alike suddenly crying out "Perry!"
He raced over to the platypus and pulled him into a hug. "Where have you been? We've missed you so much."
"Uh, Phineas?" his twin explained awkwardly. "He's not your Perry. He came with us."
"Oh sorry," the boy said, his disappointment evident. "Wait, can I hold him a little longer?" Then he held the pet all the tighter.
Ferb did not cry. He was just sweating out of his eyes.
For the first time, he became very aware of the other tall, green-haired figure sitting beside him. If he knew himself at all, then the other Ferb would be... sweating out of his eyes as well. He pulled out a handkerchief and offered it to him, right as his counterpart did the same.
As the two Phineas' discussed the 2nd dimension Perry's disappearance (he could tell that his Phineas was biting back a response that would relay the information he had on the former platypus' whereabouts), Ferb reflected on his recent observations.
Although there were several noticeable differences between those of the two dimensions, there were also many similarities. This led Ferb to conclude that the corresponding pairs possessed the same basic character, but different circumstances forced them to develop in different ways.
Ferb snapped out of his thoughts when he realized the topic had turned to summer, which the 2nd dimension boys had never experienced.
"Summer," said the 2nd Phineas, as if trying the word out for the first time. "It sounds dangerous, yet oddly compelling. What is it?"
"What is summer?" his partner replied. "Man, where do I begin?"
And thus the 1st dimension boys burst forth into a full-fledged musical number explaining all the wonders of the season, their counterparts eventually joining in. For reasons Ferb could never understand, they and anyone who came into contact with them always had a tendency to do that.
After the song, Phineas launched into a list of all the incredible things they had done over the vacation. But the boy paused mid-sentence when he realized a certain platypus was not among them.
"You are kidding me," Phineas stated as he and Ferb caught the fedora-clad Perry about to leave the house. "You're sneaking away again?"
All of Phineas' previous resentment resurfaced itself in only a moment's notice. "So nothing's changed. Did it ever occur to you that we could help you, that we could've made a great team? Well I guess you can't have teamwork without trust."
Perry's head lowered submissively, but Phineas didn't stop there.
"You don't have to sneak away anymore," Phineas said. "We know you're secret; you can just go."
Ferb could have prevented the platypus from walking dejectedly from the house, but he simply stood there. Because if he was honest with himself, Ferb was just as upset as his brother.
On account of the continuous looming danger they had been in up to this point, Ferb had pushed away all the confusion he had about Perry's secret life so he could focus on, you know, living to see the next day. He was a man of action, after all.
But since all that was over and done with, he was free to dwell on what he felt about the discovery. And there was only one word to describe it: betrayal.
He knew that it was the common practice of secret agents to keep their occupations hidden from the general public, but they were his family. Surely he could've at least told them about it.
But while Ferb was a man of action, he was also a man of reason. And from what little data he had gathered on Perry's new found personality, it was clear that he would not hide such a thing from his owners unless he truly had a good reason.
Unfortunately, in this world anger overcomes logic all too often.
So the two boys watched their pet disappear from sight as, falling in line with the most cliché of plots, it began to rain.
"You know," Phineas commented sadly. "I used to think you couldn't spell platypus without 'us'." Then he turned and walked back into the house.
Just before shutting the door, both literally and psychologically, Ferb added to no one in particular, "Well you can, but it would just be 'platyp'."
Because even though it may be possible to do so, it will never be completely whole again.