"Here we are." Linda said.

The family walked across the second-floor hall, which was open like a balcony on one side to view the inside pool and plants below. Linda stopped them when they reached two green wooden doors, each next to a curtained window.

She handed Phineas a key. "There's your room. Your father and I are right next door. Candace, I'll give you the key to yours."

Phineas's eyes widened. "We get our OWN room this time?"

"We're here for a while and you've got a lot of things with you." Lawrence said.

"That's all right, isn't it?" Linda asked. "You can stay with us-"

"No, it's perfect!" Phineas said. "Can Perry be in our room?"

"Of course." Linda said.

"Can Pajamas go with me?" Candace asked. She and the bird had become very fond of each other.

Pajamas was singing about soggy toast while sitting on Candace's shoulder.

"Sure." Phineas said.

"So-ggy toast, so-ggy toast, ve-ry ve-ry soggy toast!" Pajamas chirped.

"All right." Linda said. "Get your backpacks in your room and then get the rest of your things up using the dumbwaiter." She went towards her room next door. Candace, Lawrence and Pajamas followed.

Perry followed Phineas and Ferb into the first door.

"Wow." Perry said.

"Yeah." Phineas said, closing the door behind them. "Big bed in here. The other door opens to twin beds."

"So I get one of the twin beds?"

Phineas laughed.

They navigated out of the bedroom. There was a whole kitchen and living room, and a balcony.

"Holy cow. I can't believe your parents let you have all this space." Perry said.

Phineas shrugged. "They know we're not going to blow it up."

"Amazing." Perry said.

They went back out of the room and towards the dumbwaiter.

"I'll get our suitcases from downstairs." Ferb said, heading in an alternate direction. "You guys retrieve them."

"Okay!" Phineas said.

He and Perry sat down by the dumbwaiter and waited.

"That thing's big. You could probably fit a person in there." Perry said.

"They'd get low on air." Phineas said.

An obnoxious whining sound confirmed that Ferb had managed to send up the baggage.

Phineas pulled up on the dumbwaiter door. One half of the door rose and the other sank.

"Cool." Perry said.

Phineas pulled up on the second door, revealing their luggage.

"Help me drag these out." Phineas said. He tugged on a large red suitcase and pulled it out.

Perry grabbed Ferb's duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder. Then he picked up Ferb's suitcase and his toybag.

Phineas stared at him.

"Weight training." Perry explained.

Phineas closed the dumbwaiter and pushed the button to send it back down.

"Interesting." Dane said, stopping to sniff at a patch of dry ground. "It's a slightly old scent, but very heavy."
"So he WAS here?" Prince asked.

"Yep." Dane said. "But he's not here now."

"Great. Keep following." Prince said.

Dane grinned. "It'll cost you."

"We're in the same stinkin' gang." Prince reminded him, clenching her fists. "I go down, YOU go down with me."

Dane shook his head. "You think I'm doing this for my own sake, or out of the good of my heart? This is your mess. I'm being very kind for helping you to clean it up."
Prince scowled and slammed five dollars into his outstretched paw.

"That's it?" Dane asked. "I wouldn't even be able to buy a gift card at Slushie Burger with this."

"You get more when you actually FIND him." Prince said.

Dane mumbled something about worker's rights, sniffed the air, and headed off. Prince followed him.

Did she want to find him?

It would be hard to face him again. She hadn't seen him in years. And what was she going to do when she found him…

"You coming, or not?" Dane asked. Prince had stopped walking, deep in thought.

"Sure." She said, kicking at a rock. "Why not."

"It's nice you guys get to walk around alone." Perry said.

"We're almost twelve." Phineas said. "And besides, we're not alone. We have you."

"I doubt I'm included in adult supervision, but I'm honored all the same."

"Dad works up here looking for antiques." Phineas said. "That's why we haven't seen a lot of him and mom. If we want to explore, we gotta do it on our own."

Perry, Phineas and Ferb walked up a steep road incline and stopped at the top. The incline had become flat. They were at the top of a mountain.

"Wow." Perry said.

"Beautiful view." Ferb said.

Phineas pointed to the left. "That's where our condo thingy is. And down there, if you look really far, you can see the awesome toilet."

"Where's the foot manicure place?" Ferb teased.

Phineas ignored him. "There are a ton of flowers. It's so pretty. Imagine skateboarding down the mountain."

"Sounds deadly." Perry said.

Ferb pointed at his watch.

"We'd better go." Phineas said.

They started back. The cool wind and the smell of the flowers helped to relax Perry. For a moment, he forgot all about the police.

"Those houses all look the same." Ferb said, pointing at five townhouses to their right.

"They're townhouses." Perry explained.

"Does that mean all townhouses are the same?" Phineas asked. "Whoops…"

He had slipped on a rock and started tumbling down the edge of the mountain. Ferb looked to be silently screaming.

Phineas stopped by ramming into one of the townhouses. Perry wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Phinny?" He called, trying not to panic. "Are you okay?"

Shakily, Phineas sat up. At first Perry thought he was crying.

But he was laughing harder than ever. "Did you see that?" He gasped.

"Yes. Phineas flew." Perry said, making his way down to him. "Are you hurt?"

"Maybe, I dunno!" Phineas was still choking on laughter. He was covered in scratches, but otherwise seemed fine.

Ferb started to follow down the mountain.

"Stay up there." Perry warned him. "I don't want both of you smashing into townhouses."

"We wouldn't want to break them." Ferb said.

Perry helped Phineas stand up. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!"

"All right then. Take it easy." Perry led Phineas back up.

"Let's watch a movie." Ferb proposed.

Perry was trying to clean out Phineas's scratches, but Phineas wasn't making it easy. He kept reaching for things on the coffee table or jerking away.

"Hold still." Perry commanded.

"It stings." Phineas said. He grabbed a little trinket on the table and started fixing it onto his latest invention.

"Maybe I'm doing it wrong." Perry said, sticking a bandage on one of Phineas's cuts. "I don't know. I just figure if you clean it out and wrap it up, it'll eventually heal. Wow, I got a weird sense of déjà vu when I said that."

"Déjà vu happens when you feel like you've seen something before." Ferb said.

"Or heard." Perry said. "There you go. You're good."

"Yaaayy!" Phineas cheered. He jumped up and ran into the bedroom.

A crash was audible.

"Are you going through your awkward growth phase or something?" Perry called. "Are you not aware of where your body is?"

"I'm fine!" Phineas called back. "I just knocked over the lamp when I was trying to get the movie off of the shelf."

"Déjà vu happens when you feel like you've seen something before." Ferb said, sitting down next to Perry.

"Cut it out." Perry said with a smile.

Ferb grinned.

"I found the movie." Phineas said, sticking a DVD into the player on the television. He sat down on the couch next to Perry. "It's the best. It's called 'Cowboy Dylan'."

The commercials began to play.

"He's back." Said the announcer. "And he's ready to escape from prison AGAIN."

The screen showed a handsome man running from police.

"That's Prison Escape Twenty-Two." Ferb said.

"Dude, how many times is that guy gonna escape and get locked up again?" Phineas asked.

The handsome man began to jump over electrical surges. The police chased after him and accidentally stepped on the electricity wires. Recovering quickly, they continued to pursue him.

"If they had really been electrocuted, they wouldn't have gotten up so quick." Perry said. "They'd be tingling with pain all over."

"How do you know?" Phineas gave Perry a concerned look.

"They just… common knowledge." Perry said.

The handsome man grabbed a pole from the policeman behind him and poked him with it. The policeman fell down.

"Watch Kenny Kennington escape from jail and get caught for the twenty-second time in the all-new movie, Prison Escape Twenty-Two!"

"Strange but odd." Ferb said.

The commercial changed. A video of a platypus appeared on the screen. It sat there.

"A documentary about the wonderful platypus." The announcer said. "Platypuses are very docile creatures. Let's see what this one does."

The platypus inhaled and exhaled.

"Simply fascinating!" The announcer said. "This platypus and many others are featured in the documentary, 'Platypus Life'."

"Is that interesting to you, Perry?" Phineas asked.

"Let's say that from your point of view, it would be like watching a human sit, stare straight ahead, and breathe."

"Except the platypus was staring sideways." Phineas said.

"That's straight ahead for a platypus." Perry said. "You gotta watch on all sides for predators, like badgers and snakes."

"How did you learn to stare straight ahead?"

"At first it was kind of like being cross-eyed." Perry said. "But now it's normal for me to focus on objects." He stretched out on the couch and leaned against Ferb.

"Do any other platypuses find it strange?" Phineas asked.

"Untrained ones? Yeah. My mom's always worried I'm going to go blind. She says 'Put your eyes back or they will make everything look fluffy'."

Phineas laughed.

"And now, our feature presentation!" Said the TV. "Cowboy Dylan!"

"Finally." Perry said. "Let's hope the movie's longer than the previews were."

"Let's go to the park tomorrow." Phineas said. "It's really fun. The swings face the edge of a mountain."

"Just don't fall off again." Perry said. "You're lucky that townhouse was there this time."

"You didn't hurt the townhouse when you crashed into it, did you?" Ferb asked.

Phineas shot him a look.