A/N – Yes, I'm alive, and still writing on this. Don't faint from the shock.

Chapter Four

"Hey, Ferb, isn't that Mr. Zengle from the doonkelberry stand?"

Ferb Fletcher followed his brother's gaze toward the stage at the head of the Municipal Ballroom and Banquet Hall. Visible from their table, standing not quite in the wings, a man was conversing with Ms Grissel, the Mayor's assistant. Ten years had added a few pounds to his midsection, and some noticeable streaks of gray to his long brown hair and full beard, but it most certainly was Mr. Zengle from the doonkelberry stand, and Ferb nodded.

"Wow," Isabella chimed in, "it is him. I wonder what he's doing here."

Vanessa craned to see what they were all gaping at, and Ferb explained to her, "We made a day trip to Drusselstein once, to buy doonkelberries. The summer you and I met."

Ferb would have thought she'd have known better by now, but Vanessa actually looked surprised when she said, "You made a day trip to Drusselstein? How did - ?" Now she caught herself, and gave a sigh and a smile and a 'silly me' roll of her eyes. "Oh, let me guess. Molecular transporter?"

Ferb offered her a little smile back. "Trebuchet."

"And a warp generator," Phineas put in. "You know, to bring Danville and Drusselstein in range of each other."

"Right," said Vanessa, in that tone Ferb recognized as meaning, If I think too hard about this, my head might explode. He always took this as the cue for a change of subject, but of course Phineas didn't know Vanessa as he did.

"It was kind of a cheat, bending space like that," the redheaded genius went on, "and it took half the morning to build the generator, but it was really the only logical way to – Oh, hi, Mom!" Phineas hailed her as she approached the table. "We were just talking about doonkelberries."

"Mm, your favorite," she teased, giving his shoulder a pat as she passed behind his chair. "Good news," Linda informed them all. "I think your father has finally found a buyer for that Peruvian portmanteau." The stage was in her line of sight as she came around the table, and something she spotted there stopped her in her tracks and made her exclaim, "What has Candace got on her head?"

Ferb turned to follow her gaze and recognized at once, "That's not Candace."

"Hey," now Phineas spotted the peacock-gowned young lady waiting in the wings, "it's Princess Baldegunde!"

"Queen Baldegunde, I'd say," Ferb speculated, "judging by the size of that crown."

"Wow, this is great," Phineas enthused. "It's like everyone we know from Drusselstein is here."

"Queen – Princess – what?" Linda looked among them, thorougly confused.

"She looks just like Candace," Isabella explained. "We met her years ago, when she came to Danville to open the Opera House. She was really nice."

"Yeah," Phineas chimed in, "she helped us build a giant jukebox in the back yard."

"Okay, now you've really lost me," Linda sat down in the empty chair next to Ferb. "When was there ever a giant jukebox in our back yard?"

"Well," Phineas began to explain, "remember when they dedicated the Danville Opera House, back when we were kids? Dad had this old jukebox, and Ferb and I thought it would be fun to build a…"

Ferb could only guess how far Phineas would have taken this story, and what Mum's reaction to it would have been, because now his brother was distracted by some new activity on the stage and said, "Hey, look, it's Ambrose!" Indeed, the new City Hall Communications What's-it had come out to the podium, and the microphone squealed in protest at his approach. Phineas started applauding him in encouragement, Isabella and Linda joined him, even Vanessa was politely putting her hands together, and Ferb, thus outnumbered, gamely tossed in a few slow claps.

Some scattered applause was also coming in from the rest of the guests as Ambrose adjusted the mic and proclaimed, "Happy New Year, Danville!"

Phineas shouted, "Happy New Year!" back at him, prompting a few more responses of the same from around the room.

Ambrose gave him a Thanks, bro smile in reply and called out, "Are you ready to celebrate?"

"Yeah!" shouted Phineas, Isabella and Linda close behind, as more whoops and yeahs followed. Vanessa did give up some more light, polite clapping, but she glanced at Ferb with a knowing grin and a subtle, sympathetic roll of her eyes, conscious of his less-than-generous thoughts about his sister's husband.

Ambrose leaned in closer to the microphone. "Then I want to hear you give a big, big round of applause for the man who made all of this possible. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for MAYOR ROGER DOOOOFENSHMIIIIIIIRTZ!"

Now Vanessa began clapping in earnest for her Uncle Roger and Ferb obliged her by joining in as Danville's Mayor strode onto the stage, beaming his blinding smile and waving in response to the genuinely appreciative reception. Ambrose had scuttled back out of the way as Roger reached the podium, and Danville's ever-popular Public Servant stood there for a minute, letting the applause build, before he raised one hand in a modest gesture that said, Oh, please, you're much too kind. Another minute while the crowd quieted down, then the Mayor began to speak. "My fellow citizens, thank you for coming to what promises to be a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration! It gives me great pleasure to announce that we have some very special guests here from my native land of Drusselstein, and I know you will give them a warm, Danville welcome. Gentlemen…" he turned toward the wings and four men, including Mr. Zengle, came onto the stage, bowing and bobbing to the applause. Mayor Doofenshmirtz announced them one by one and each took a deeper bow when he heard his name. "Mayor Vafels, from my hometown of Gimmelshtump. Mayor Chikinin, from the neighboring town of Stumblegimp. Minister Guiserblint from the Drusselsteinian Foreign Affairs office. And Mr. Zengle of the Doonkelberry Farmers Association."

Ferb, Phineas and Isabella all put a little extra enthusiasm into their applause for this last gentleman.

"My friends," Roger was speaking again, "we are all concerned about preserving our environment, and finding new, earth-friendly sources of renewable energy. We in Danville and the Tri-State Area have been aggressive in our efforts to 'Go Green.' But tonight I am here to announce that we are ready to take the next step in energy innovation. Thanks to our friends from Drusselstein, we are about to Go Purple!"

There was some applause at this declaration, just because it seemed to be the thing to do, but Phineas looked across the table at Ferb and half-whispered, "What's he mean, go purple?" The only answer Ferb had was a shrug.

"To tell us more about this groundbreaking discovery," Roger was going on, "it is my honor to present our most esteemed guest. Ladies and gentleman, please rise for Her Royal Majesty, Queen Baldegunde of Drusselstein."

As the band struck up the Drusselsteinian National Anthem and the young woman in the peacock gown emerged onto the stage, Linda leaned toward Ferb and whispered, "You're sure that's not Candace?"

Ferb nodded as they all got to their feet. As if he needed any proof, his sister and father just then came weaving between the neighboring tables to join them. Candace stopped by Phineas and Lawrence circled around to stand by his wife. Linda, still astonished, looked at her daughter and back toward the Queen before she whispered, "Lawrence, did you notice…?"

"Yes, darling," he murmured, "Candace has a doppelganger. Fascinating, isn't it?"

The Anthem came to its abrupt conclusion (It really stops too quickly there, thought Ferb), and Queen Baldegunde stepped to the microphone. "American friends of Danville, it makes great happiness in me to be here for big party of much food and dancing! For many centuries, my country of Drusselstein has been famous for our growing of doonkelberries. We make cooking of many good things from this native fruit, and I bring them here tonight to share with you. But, I bring you something more! I bring you newest discovery of amazing scientific brains of Drusselstein: modern electric-type power made from humble doonkelberry plant!" Turning toward the wings, Her Royal Highness decreed, "Bring forth big ceremonial light switch!" At this cue, two City Hall staffers wheeled onto the stage a piece of machinery that looked like something Vanessa's father might have made. Big cables trailed behind it to somewhere offstage, and there were two large electrical levers on the front, one with a green handle in the 'up' position and one with a purple handle in the 'down' position. Queen Baldegunde walked up to the machine and proclaimed, "Party-making friends of the Tri-State Area…" With both hands, she pulled down the green lever and, with a resounding thunk, the entire room went black.

"Ugh, Dad," Vanessa muttered instinctively as a general murmur of surprise and confusion rippled through the crowd. Ferb knew just what she was thinking and wondered, himself, if Dr. Doofenshmirtz had somehow escaped his duck-billed babysitter. But within moments, the Queen's voice rang out through the room.

"I give to you – DOONKENOL!"

With another thunk and a whoosh, the ballroom was illuminated by a myriad of flashing and twinkling lights that transformed it into a festive fairyland. A chorus of Oooos filled the room, even Ferb chiming in at this enchanting surprise. The Queen released the purple-handled lever, now in the 'up' position, from her grasp and proclaimed, "Now it is time to be happy persons who make much feasting and dancing to music of Large Band!"

lllllllllll

Perry the Platypus sprawled in the huge recliner chair, soda bottle in one paw, stray kernels of popcorn scattered on and around him. The credits for Cruisetastrophe were rolling on the big screen television as he stretched and scooted himself into an upright position. Taking one more pull at his soda straw, Perry stifled a little platyburp before setting the bottle on the cluttered coffee table. His fedora had been squashed a bit in the back by the cushy chair padding, and he reached up to straighten it. Beside him, in a matching recliner, Dr. Doofenshmirtz was slurping at his own soda and brushing popcorn off his lab coat, a contented smile on his face. Perry's bill mirrored that smile as their eyes met. It was nice, just hanging out with his Nemesis.

"Now that's a classic, Perry the Platypus," said Dr. Doofenshmirtz, waxing lyrical about the cheesy old disaster movie. "When Suzuki the Sushi Chef fights off that giant octopus – they just don't make movies like that any more. I was on the edge of my seat, and I saw this six times in the theatre! No, really, six times!" As if Perry didn't believe him. "I don't know why it's never come out on home video, some legal thing, probably. Wow, you really liked that mushroom and anchovy pizza, Perry the Platypus!" Doofenshmirtz picked up the mostly-empty box from the coffee table and moved the remaining two slices to the half-full box of Meat-Eaters. "What's left of the quattro formaggi?" he reached for the other pizza box. "Quattro formaggi, you know that means four cheeses in Italian, but it tasted like just three cheeses to me. I think they shorted me a cheese. One slice left, Perry the Platypus," Heinz tempted him with the open box.

Perry fended it off with an upraised paw and emitted a sluggish chatter that turned into a belch. Pizza was not part of a platypus's natural diet, and he already knew he was going to regret eating so much of it.

"Suit yourself," the man added the quattro formaggi to the Meat-Eaters box and gathered up the two empties. "Ugh," he groaned a bit getting to his feet and looked at the clock. "Fifteen minutes before they start Space Plane 2013. I need an intermission. And another soda."

Intermissions were taken, cold sodas were fetched from the fridge, a fresh tub of buttery, salty goodness was spewed out of the Popcorn-inator, and the Evil Scientist and his Nemesis reconvened in front of the television. "Have you seen the Space Plane movies, Perry the Platypus? The first one's not bad, but it's not as good as Space Plane 2013. You know, it's one of those things where the sequel is actually better than the original. Of course that's mostly because the second one has Flint McAlester, and he's always good. I tell you, Perry the Platypus, if you're ever flying to the Martian Pyramids Resort in a Space Plane and you get hit by a comet and it looks like you're about to crash into the Sun, you want Flint McAlester at the controls. He's a real mensch's mensch."

There were still five minutes to go before Space Plane 2013 and Doofenshmirtz reached for the remote, switching to the Channel 9 local news. As soon as Perry saw the live feed from the Mayor's New Year's Eve party flash up on the screen, he lunged for the remote. It was his job to keep Doofenshmirtz distracted from what his hated brother was up to this evening. The last thing Agent P needed right now was a knock-down drag-out over some impromptu Party-Crash-Inator.

"Calm down, Perry the Platypus, you're not going to miss anything," the Evil Scientist clutched the remote protectively. "Channel 9 is covering the New Year's party and I want to see if Vanessa gets on camera. She's there with that Fletcher of hers. You know I still want you to meet him someday, but somehow you're never around when he's here."

Yeah, Perry winced a little at this. There had been a couple of close calls already. It was dangerous enough that Ferb and Vanessa knew his secrets, but at least he could trust them. The thought of Dr. Doofenshmirtz discovering the connection between Agent P and 'That Fletcher' was too dire to contemplate. Of course, Perry reassured himself, this is Doof we're talking about.

"He's kind of weird," the man was going on about his future son-in-law, "but he's really not bad, once you get used to him. He's a good listener; he reminds me of you. Man, Mike Van Headofapilgrim is really showing his age," Doofenshmirtz remarked on the reporter who was standing in front of a table full of revelers waving and making faces at the camera. "Aw, come on, show my Baby Girl!" the man groused, seeing that all the faces on the screen were strangers to him.

"…announcement of a new energy source called Doonkenol…" the TV newsman had to raise his voice to be heard over the background noise.

"Wait a minute – did he say Doonkenol?" Heinz tightened his grip on the remote. Perry didn't like that glower on his face.

"Yes, Doonkenol," said Mike Van Headofapilgrim, "derived from the doonkelberry, which I understand is a big thing in Drusselstein…"

"Doonkenol?" the Evil Scientist repeated, his glare threatening to burn a hole in the screen.

"According to Mayor Roger Doofenshmirtz, Doonkenol is going to revolutionize energy efficiency in the entire Tri-State Area! So get ready to Go Purple, Danville! This is Mike Van Headofapilgrim, wishing all the shut-ins watching at home a Happy New Year!"

"I don't believe this!" Heinz flung the remote into the box of leftover pizza. Perry swiftly rescued it and changed the channel back to Cinema Classics before bracing himself in a fighting stance, ready to Thwart. "And who is he calling a shut-in?" the man bristled, as if he had just now processed the reporter's remark. "Oh, this is just typical, Perry the Platypus, my brother Roger getting all the credit for something I invented! That's right," he shook his fist at the television, "I'm the one who came up with the idea of using doonkelberries as a fuel source! It's true, Perry the Platypus, don't look so surprised."

Perry wasn't aware that he had looked surprised, but he did relax just a tiny bit when the Evil Scientist plopped back down in his chair and explained, "Of course, I called my invention Doonkeline. You know, like gasoline, but with doonkelberries. I created it as a substitute for Boom Juice – there was a shortage, and the price of Boom Juice was skyrocketing, and I had a lot of self-destruct buttons to detonate. I had to come up with something. But I could never make it work." He slouched back in the chair, a pensive frown knitting his brow. "I could never make it function properly. And now here's Roger…" A dismissive wave of his hand toward the television, and Doofenshmirtz fell silent.

Perry actually felt a little bad, to see him in such a funk. With what he hoped was a comforting chatter, the platypus offered the popcorn bowl. Heinz took it and began munching as Perry settled back into his own recliner. Ominous chords of music thundered from the television, and the ruggedly handsome face of Flint McAlester filled the screen. In an instant, the funk was gone, and Heinz Doofenshmirtz was grinning like a little boy at his first matinee, awestruck by the magic of the movies.

"Shhh, Perry the Platypus, shhh," came his noisy whisper. "It's starting…"

To be continued…

A/N –I had to look up his name, but "Guiserblint" is Baldegunde's chaperone, etc., in "Make Play." I figure now that she's of age, he got a promotion. Of course, Mr Zengle is from "The Doonkelberry Imperative." Mayor Chikinin is from "One Good Turn" (the P&F Wiki site spells it Chickenen, but I like my spelling better). Mayor Vafels is mine, but his name is derived from a Doof gag in "One Good Turn." Oh, and Mike Van Headofapilgrim is from the "Kinderlumper" episode.