Chapter 6

The car rumbled down the highway towards the center of Danville. The vet's office where they normally took Perry wasn't a very large business, but still had their location in the middle of town.

As Phineas turned off onto their exit, the speed limit went down to a reasonable speed, and Phineas smiled sneakily as an idea entered his mind.

"Hey, Ferb," Phineas pestered, almost as if he was poking him with his words. "You should stick your head out the window!"

"What? I am not sticking my head out the window," Ferb denied.

"Aww, it'll be fun!" Phineas persisted.

"First of all, if I stick my head out the window, my translator will fall off," Ferb clarified. "And second… it's demeaning! I'm a dog, yes. I'm not ignoring that. But I don't have to act like one if I don't want t—"

It was then that Ferb's collar speaker made a little cracking sound and cut out in mid-word. Ferb tried to look down at it, before making a little questioning sound at Phineas.

"Hah, Ferb, I warned you that you'd wear the battery down on that thing," Phineas reminded him with an attempt at suppressing a laugh. Ferb gave him an unamused glare.

Phineas turned on to a smaller street as he kept driving. They were about five minutes away from their destination now.

"Well, there's no sense in going back home to get a new battery. We only had one Lithium Double-D 10 Volt," Phineas told him. The car approached the small parking lot of the vet's office, and Phineas stopped the vehicle to turn it off. Then, he gently reached over and slid the machine off of Ferb's head. Ferb felt strange, knowing that all he could do now was bark.

"The superstore has plenty of them, but they don't open for another hour," Phineas thought through. "So we have a few options."

Ferb cocked his head in an effort to make Phineas continue.

"The store is about another twenty minute drive, and by the time we've gotten back here, it'll be close to 10 already," was Phineas' explanation. "And by then, the vets might be too busy to fit us in."

Phineas had taken his hands off the wheel to sit in a more relaxed position, looking to Ferb with caring understanding. "We can either go inside now, or head to the store and come back later. It's up to you."

Ferb straightened up a bit, so he could see above the dashboard. He peered over at the sliding glass doors of the veterinary clinic, where some employees were just entering to start their day.

With a sigh, Ferb decided. He had said it before; the sooner they got the serum injected, the sooner his 107 hours would start. They would have plenty of time to buy batteries during the following five days.

So Ferb ducked his head out from under the seatbelt, and put his paws on the door handle. He turned over his shoulder to look at his brother, and gave him a resolved woof.

"Alrighty then!" Phineas answered, unbuckling himself and coming outside around the car to open Ferb's door. Ferb had leapt out and followed Phineas through the sliding door.

Upon entering, both of them noticed the obvious signs that the office had only just opened. The computers were just turning on, and several stock boxes were still open, their contents being organized along the shelves.

Phineas and Ferb both spotted one of the veterinarians coming out from a back room. They did not recognize her as Perry's normal vet, most likely because they never came this early for their platypus' appointments.

"Hello…!" she greeted when she noticed her clients in the waiting area. "My my, early today, aren't we? Have you brought him here for a routine checkup?"

"No, actually," Phineas said, reaching into his pocket. "We were wondering if you could do us a favor."

Pulling out the glass syringe that he had delicately placed in a plastic ziploc bag, Phineas showed it to the doctor. He explained, "I needed to give this to him, but I wasn't sure how to do it."

"Oh sure," she answered. "Come follow me into room 1 and we can get him on the table."

Ferb trotted close to Phineas' legs as the vet led them both into the back room. Immediately, Ferb hopped up onto the examination table and sat willingly still.

"Eager, isn't he?" she noticed. Ferb nodded.

Taking the plastic bag from Phineas, the vet grasped the syringe out of the bag and held it up. She questioned, "And which doctor prescribed it? He should have told you how to administer the medicine yourself, if he expected you to give it at home."

"Actually," Phineas started, putting his hands on his hips and standing proudly. "I made it myself."

Staring at him for a moment, the doctor just paused, then set her hand over her head and shook it. "You made it yourself… In your garage, probably?"

"Yep," Phineas confirmed, unfazed by her voice.

"I'm not going to put some teenager's high school science experiment in his dog," she declined, placing the cylindrical needle on the table. "I am a professional veterinarian."

Ferb took the syringe in his mouth, and had walked to the edge of the table to look up at her.

She stared back at him uneasily and shifted away, saying, "Do I dare ask… what was it you're trying to do to him?"

Phineas held his hand out to Ferb, who dropped the needle into his palm. Phineas showed it to the veterinarian. "It turns him into a human."

The vet relaxed and smiled, her next words coming in a tone that sounded like she was attempting to explain a simple concept to a six-year-old.

"Listen, I'm sure your dog likes being a dog just fine. Lots of kids want their dogs to be human, but a sugar-water concoction won't do that. If he gets turned into a human, how will your dog like not being able to chase tennis balls or find bones?"

Ferb grumbled. Phineas laughed.

"Hah no, Ferb doesn't want to chase tennis balls or find bones. Cause he's not supposed to be a dog, he's my brother." Phineas came over to the table and wrapped his arms around Ferb's neck.

"He's supposed to be a seventeen-year-old human being. He was a human on Tuesday," Phineas elaborated. Then he picked up the needle that he had left on the counter, and placed it in the vet's hand.

"But there was a little accident, and he got turned into a dog by mistake." Phineas pointed at the syringe that the vet now held curiously. "So I made that to turn him back."

"And what makes you think that this dog is really your brother?" she returned skeptically.

"Well, he's obviously Ferb," Phineas said factually, pointing with his thumb out to the direction of the parking lot. "I mean, I was just talking to him in the car like five minutes ago."

"I suppose he was talking back, too?" the vet humored him.

"Yeah, I was trying to get him to stick his head out the window," Phineas giggled. He looked over to Ferb, who rolled his eyes. "But he told me that it was demeaning."

The doctor sighed. "Aaaand you're telling me he can speak English now."

"Na, dogs can't speak English," Phineas nodded sideways. "Cause they don't have the right vocal chords and stuff. So we had a translator, but it ran out of batteries."

"Right," the vet replied with doubt. "So if I told him that he needs a bath, he would understand me."

She haphazardly glanced jokingly over to Ferb, but jumped back when she noticed that he was glaring at her with his ears down. He had his teeth bared as he let out a low growl.

"Oh don't worry, Ferb, she's just kidding," Phineas waved it off. "You smell like bed sheet fabric softener, actually."

At this, Ferb put his ears back up and repositioned his feet. His tail was strewn strangely behind him, and he looked back at the two others with a quite normal, curious expression.

"Wh-what's wrong with him?" the doctor asked in surprise. "Did… did he hear me?"

"Sure," Phineas answered. He slid a chair over to the table where he could sit in it and clutch Ferb tightly. He squeezed him close in a big hug as they both stared back to the veterinarian.

"Pleeeeaaaaseeee give it to him, Doc. I want him to go back to being my brother again."

Poking Ferb in the chest, Phineas added, "And Ferb misses having person fingers."

The doctor looked debatably to the syringe in her hand, then up to Ferb. She pointed cautiously at him. "He looks so eager sitting there, but he was just growling at me two seconds ago."

"Ferb's not gonna bite anybody," Phineas assured. He grabbed Ferb's jaw again and opened it a good two inches. Then, he stuck out one of his fingers and hovered it between Ferb's teeth. "See."

Ferb's tongue was hanging out lopsidedly from his mouth. But Phineas was right, and Ferb only gave an eye roll and snorted at him. He pulled backwards away from Phineas' finger so that he could close his mouth.

Yet, for good measure, he took the top of his head and nudged Phineas with strength, to send him teetering out of his chair and landing on the hard white floor.

"Hey!" Phineas called, pushing himself off of the tile. He apologized to the vet, "Sorry, my brother gets annoyed sometimes when I poke him too much."

She couldn't help but laugh, then looked down reluctantly to the needle Phineas had given her. She stepped forward murmuring, "Oh, I can't believe I'm doing this."

Jumping at the vet's words, Ferb immediately sped to the center of the table and sat down in a ready position. He pulled up his shoulders as the doctor grasped some of his fur. The needle and serum going in was a bit of a sting and a pinch, but it didn't faze him even slightly. He was finally starting the counter to be himself again.

"Thanks!" Phineas exclaimed, almost as soon as the doctor had pulled away. But she was still eyeing them both with expectant confusion, almost as if she thought there should have been a magical puff of smoke.

"Is it… working?" she said half-suspiciously.

"Yep!" Phineas replied, already snuggling Ferb with both arms. "But he won't be a human again for another few days. If you want, we can come back then and Ferb can thank you himself."

Ferb looked up at her and nodded appreciatively.

"Yeah, that would be… interesting," she answered.

"Okay!" Phineas promised, as Ferb hopped off the table and they both proceeded to walk out. "Bye, see you then! And thanks!"