Author's Notes: HOMAHGAWSHUGAIZ

IT'STHEFINALCHAPTER

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH

I don't know if I'm ready for all this… XD But oh, my goodness, it has been a horribly long time, hasn't it? As I post this, the first few seconds of June fourth, 2013 are ticking away, and that marks the two year anniversary of this fan fiction! Pretty awesome, especially considering that it both started and ended with Perry and Doof's Neme-Versary (whoops, spooooiillleeeers! But hey, you all knew he was going back in time anyway).

However, I am so, so sorry for keeping you all waiting for so long. I really didn't want the story to become one of those things that would never get finished, but thankfully for me, my family kept bugging me enough to make me write it whether I felt inspired or not. XD It was hard, but I think it was worth it!

Now, if you're reading this on fan fiction, you may or may not be aware that I've gradually been revamping the previous chapters in preparation for this one. Considering there will be lots of references to these, you may want to consider rereading them, just in case (but I know none of you will want to. xD)

But I shouldn't keep you waiting any longer. Without further ado, I give you; Time and Time Again; The Final Mission!

Silence.

Absolute silence.

That was the first thing you would notice if you had just happened to walk in on the scene. The second, most likely, was the assembly of people all clumped into the cavernous, hall-like room. Around the back wall, bleachers stood solidly, covered with scientists in lab coats and wide, round goggles with wide-eyed expressions to match. The center of the room, though perhaps once occupied, was deserted besides a large machine, atop of which sat a bald old man wearing a big white coat and grinning demonically. Beside it stood another scientist with flyaway brown hair and deep bags under his dark blue eyes, his lab coat sitting a little askew on one shoulder and his mouth arranged in a strangely lonesome, lopsided smile. There were many guards by the doors, all armed heavily, and handcuffed and restrained by these guards were several teenagers, all of whom looked positively horrified.

The scene took a moment to register in Phineas' quick-thinking mind. It couldn't be. It just couldn't. Perry was too tough, too smart, too darn awesome to be taken down so easily. There was something else going on, there had to be…

But there was no denying the cold, hard fact that that huge, scary laser had just fired with a terrifying BOOM and hit the little secret agent full in the face, and where he had stood before, there was now only a small plume of smoke rising from the ground. Perry had not dodged the blast, or even tried to- he had just let it come. And no one had done anything, anything, about it.

Phineas' eyes were already wide and terrified, and now they began to shine with tears. "Ferb!" he cried softly, turning to his blank-faced brother. Ferb was just staring at the scene with one eyebrow halfway raised thoughtfully, as if he had just put the last piece of a puzzle into place, and was making sure it fit properly. He blinked when Phineas called to him and turned to his right to face him.

"Ferb," Phineas entreated, horrified at the single thought that he couldn't get out of his mind. "It- it can't be real…Perry can't be…" he screwed his eyes shut to stop the rising flood, the terrible fever-hot feeling that meant it had to be true. "…gone…"

Ferb's answer was simple. He shook his head, fixed the emotional redhead with a sincere stare, and said in a low, plain whisper, "No, he's not."

Phineas just stared back at him in utter shock, a swell of fear and hope rising in his chest like the tidal wave they'd ridden as kids. Behind him, Isabella, Baljeet and Buford had all heard Ferb's statement, and they were just as shocked.

"What do you mean?" whispered Isabella, worried and stunned. "Is Perry okay somehow?"

"How is this possible?" Baljeet asked in utter bewilderment.

Ferb nodded very slightly so as not to be noticed by the guards and opened his mouth to explain- but just then, he was interrupted by a loud, "HA!" from the direction of the Disintevaporator-Inizer. It was Rodney- and he'd finally decided to start gloating again.

"At last!" he crowed, rising from his seat and turning to face the assembly with a twisted, triumphant grin. His wizened bald visage looked vaguely like some kind of martian. "At last, we have finished off our most dangerous enemy! The OWCA, formidable though it once was, has finally been crushed!"

And the room exploded in a burst of maniacal laughter, each scientist letting out his or her own callous cackle in a cacophony of credibly crazy chaos. However, in the midst of all this, there was a sudden sparking noise and a loud BANG, and a billowing cloud of smoke exploded from the back of the Disintevaporator-Inizer. Several scientists shouted in alarm, and Rodney nearly fell out of his seat in surprise. The guards, after a brief moment of confusion, rushed over to investigate, leaving just a few to watch the boys and their friends, who were rather startled and merely stared. For a few moments, no one moved or spoke- but eventually, one of the guards reemerged from behind the machine, holding a few snipped wires.

"Sir, someone appears to have tampered with the power core!" the man exclaimed, holding the wildly sparking wires up for his boss to see. Rodney gasped at the sight of them, let out a small shriek of distress, and dashed around to the back of the machine to inspect it for himself. The stepbrothers exchanged a quick glance, Phineas wide-eyed and confused and Ferb wearing a little half smile that said, Just wait and see. A few moments later, Rodney rose from the floor, wearing a scowl of pure outrage.

"Tampered with it, perhaps, isn't the best description," he fumed, his hairless brows furrowed in a rather comical manner. Even so, you could tell that he was livid- there might as well have been steam coming out of his ears. "It's been removed- and replaced with something entirely different!"

A huge gasp reverberated around the room, and the scientists' faces went from confused to shocked in a matter of seconds. Around the other side of the machine, Doofenshmirtz's eyes widened- but somehow, his expression didn't seem to match the others'. It wasn't so much shocked as just nervous, and it perhaps indicated fear of what might happen next.

"Sir, a report," said another guard, marching up to hold out another machine- the Triple-T, which was also sparking dangerously in the region of the control panel.

Rodney glared down at it as though it was a personal offense and cocked his head. "The rebels' time machine? Oh, for badness' sake, what is it now?"

"This one's had its power core tampered with as well," the guard reported grimly. "We suspect they might have been switched."

"Switched!" Rodney's expression was beyond rage. He seized the machine and began to examine it himself, clearly shaken. "But- but that means-!"

Despite this clearly being important, he didn't finish the sentence, instead electing to sputter furiously. The rest of the scientists seemed rather unnerved by now, but one of them stood up and cleared his throat anyway.

"It means wat, Wodneyh?" Professor Periwinkle inquired, his eyes large and round under the even-larger coke-bottle glasses that covered them. "Ish it bad?"

Rodney did not reply for a moment, too seething mad to do so. At last, he growled, "If the power cores were switched, then the functions of the machines would also be switched…and that means…"

"Perry's okay," Phineas breathed, relief spreading like a fresh breeze over his face. The other scientists all began to gasp and talk, the realization just dawning on them as well. Unlike Phineas, they were all wearing expressions of absolute horror- and Rodney was the worst.

"Do you realize what this means?" he demanded. "We've sent him back in time by accident, just as they planned to do! What are you all just standing there for, you fools? Turn that machine back on, we're sending someone to stop him at once!"

"Actually, Sir, it doesn't seem to be in working condition anymore," one of the guards spoke up timidly, cowed by his superior's incensed tone. "It's kind of smoking and some of the wires are melted…"

At this, the other scientists exploded into stressed conversation, all shocked by this sudden development. On the other hand, a huge grin stretched across Phineas' face, and he turned to his brother with glee. "Ferb, this is great!" he exclaimed, barely managing to restrict his tone to a whisper. "But…how did you know?"

A trace of a smile spread over Ferb's lips, and he began to explain. "Well, when we finished talking to Perry and you-know-who-" he began, but he was immediately interrupted by Buford.

"Wait, you guys were talking to Voldemort?" the bully asked in a husky whisper, thoroughly confused. "Or do you mean that bald dude? He looks similar enough."

Ferb sighed and gave a minute shake of the head 'no', and Phineas spoke up to answer his friend. "Not the you-know-who; him." And he gestured ever so slightly in Doofenshmirtz's direction. Upon following his exasperated companion's gaze, Buford's mouth widened into a perfect 'O' of understanding.

Ferb just glanced skyward, slightly miffed, and kept going as if he hadn't been interrupted at all. "When we finished talking, I saw him go behind the you-know-what holding the other you-know-what, and that's when he must have sabotaged the machine."

"You mean he was helping us?" asked Isabella incredulously, her voice barely audible (unless you had super hearing). "I thought he was the enemy!"

Phineas, who had caught up so fast he might have read Ferb's mind, shook his head covertly. "No, but we need to keep pretending he is so he won't get in trouble-"

"Wait, are you saying that Perry's nemesisis actually on our side, and he switched the cores while no one was looking to save Perry?" Baljeet suddenly exclaimed, in a voice that was by no standards a whisper. "How could that be true? It makes no sense!"

But the moment the words left his lips, he gasped in horror. The others' eyes widened in fear, the guards' attention snapped to Baljeet like many pairs of very bright searchlights, and even Rodney, far away though he was, looked up sharply.

Phineas bit his lip, while Ferb just closed his eyes and let his head droop. "Smooth, Jeet."

Buford growled and turned to the nerd threateningly. "You know what else doesn't make sense? How you can be so smart at math, and yet so dumb when it comes to everything else."

Baljeet just gulped, an apologetic grin tugging at his lips. "Umm…I am sorry?"

Across the room, Rodney whipped around to face Doofenshmirtz, whose stunned face had suddenly become several shades paler. "Heinz," said the crooked-nosed scientist slowly. "Is this true?"

Doofenshmirtz, after a short pause in which he didn't seem to know what to do, shook his head frantically. "Whaaat? No! Man, are you kidding me? I'm one hundred percent evil, remember? Why the heck would I save my…my, ah…enemy…" But he trailed off quickly at the sight of his former rival, whose eyes were now gleaming darkly, bright as the shine on his slick bald head.

Rodney shook his head as well, now squinting at Doofenshmirtz with a glare that was hotter and more precise than a pinpoint laser. "Oh, I'm sure you wouldn't, Heinz…if you were half of the evil scientist most of us have become."

Doofenshmirtz's eyes darted from one side of the room to the other, as if seeking refuge. "Umm…so you believe me?" he asked hopefully.

Rodney just narrowed his eyes further, which was clearly not intended to be a good response. Doofenshmirtz's uncomfortable grin melted into a grimace of fear. Across the room, the rebels' guards shoved the obviously terrified Baljeet into the open. "Sir, should we try to get them to talk?"

"That won't be necessary," Rodney replied coldly. "Doofenshmirtz, your foolishness betrays you. I should have known…the shock you displayed when we pretended to fire you, the uncomfortable bumbling at that meeting, the trust you seemed to show in your nemesis…it was all sincere! How could it not be, when you're too stupid to fake it?"

Doofenshmirtz bristled slightly at this but kept his mouth shut, instead chancing a glance at the crowd of scientists on the bleachers, all of them staring at him in shock. In the stands, Professor Periwinkle's eyes had gotten even wider, if that were possible, and he looked quite comical. Across from him, Doctor Bloodpudding's bushy eyebrows were furrowed in an expression of indignation, and beside him, Doctor Diminutive had sort of swelled in horror. The others' expressions were more or less the same.

"And now, look what you've done!" Rodney exclaimed. "You've doomed us all! Don't you realize that if he changes the past, our future will end? We'll disappear from existence!" Now his voice was tainted not only with exasperation, but with panic. "After all the hard work we put in to build this empire- this amazing feat of pure evil!" Wringing his hands, he took a step closer to Doofenshmirtz, who shrunk away from his advancing rival in fear. "For badness' sake, why," he stressed, "would you deliberately tear it down?"

Doofenshmirtz bit his lip, unsure of what to say- or, indeed, whether to speak at all. He glanced around the room, at all the scientists staring accusingly at him, and at the rebels, who looked worried and afraid. Then, inexplicably, something changed in his face. It wasn't a huge change, nothing too significant; just the smallest realization, which, for him, probably seemed a great deal larger. He turned back to Rodney, brows furrowed and a stubborn frown set firmly in place.

"You know what, Rodney? I hope you're ready for a back-story, 'cause I'll tell you why," he snapped. Rodney's expression clearly said he wasn't looking forward to another one of the doctor's back stories, but he did not respond in time to prevent it, and Doofenshmirtz, looking determined, took advantage of the momentary pause to turn to the assembly and continue.

"So do you guys remember around eight years ago, back when we were all trying to rule the Tri-State Area?" he began. At first, no one seemed to know what to say, but soon a few people glanced at each other and nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, well, am I the only one who really enjoyed that- like, more than I'm enjoying the actual ruling?" Doofenshmirtz proposed. "I mean, not that ruling the Tri-State Area is bad or anything- well, technically it is, I mean, we are evil- but it was nice back then, too. Making a new Inator every day, plotting against people, trapping my nemesis, the ensuing fight with said nemesis- I liked all of it. Well, except the thwarting bit. That wasn't so fun- but you get my point, right?"

Doofenshmirtz was a natural chatterbox, but he talked even more when he was nervous, and so his spiel was a bit much to take in for the scientists. Some nodded, while some just gave him odd looks, and one or two admitted, "Yeah, I guess so."

The tension in Doofenshmirtz's face seemed to lessen a bit. "See, I knew I couldn't be the only one!" he said with an air of relief. "And, hey, I don't know about you, but I don't really get to do that kind of stuff anymore- building Inators and making evil schemes, I mean. Have you guys been doing that recently?"

This time the scientists took a bit longer to deliberate. Slowly, one by one, they began to shake their heads. Clearly, Doofenshmirtz wasn't the only one whose life had declined a bit in the manner of excitement since the takeover.

Rodney, however, didn't seem to agree. He merely rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, saying irritably, "Heinz, you never listen, do you? The Tri-State Area is ours, has been ours for a long time, and would have continued to be ours had you not acted up all of a sudden. You could have done that whenever you felt like, had you been intelligent enough to think of it!"

Doofenshmirtz winced a little at the insult, but he shook his head resolutely. "Yeah, but it's just different when you're actually allowed! I mean, evil is supposed to be against the rules, right? Without any resistance, it got sort of boring. No 'You'll never stop me!' or anything, no 'So there, I won!'. It's kind of lame."

"So you're not happy with all this power?" Rodney accused dramatically, as if it was a personal offense to all of them. Somehow, his nasal voice sounded even more whiny in his outrage. "You'd rather keep getting beaten down by that accursed nemesis of yours, instead of ruling the Tri-State Area?"

"Ruling would be fun if I was actually doing it, Rodney!" Doofenshmirtz retorted. "I mean, I never get to make any evil decisions, or have any monuments of myself built to honor me, or have people worship my evil-ness or anything. Nooo, it's all about the team! Well, I never really wanted to be part of an evil team, you know? I'll be honest, when we first took over I was thinking I'd betray all you guys and take the Tri-State Area for myself- oh, come on, who wasn't thinking that?" he added, glancing at the somewhat stunned-looking assembly. "It's in our evil nature!" Realizing the truth in his statement, the others quickly began to agree with only the slightest degree of shame. Doofenshmirtz spread his hands as if to say, Duh!

"Heinz, you truly are a fool!" said Rodney patronizingly. "If only one of us ruled, the others would keep grabbing for power- whereas if we all rule, no one gets left out. Clearly we work better together!"

"No, we don't! Evil doesn't do teams!" Doofenshmirtz argued. He addressed the other scientists once more. "I mean, why did you want to take over? So you could have a nice car? So you could get free sushi?" Then he paused, sighed, and added, "Yes, we all know you wanted free sushi, Miss Yakamoto."

Somewhere in the audience, an Asian woman shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Beside her, Professor Periwinkle offered a supportive pat on the back.

"The point is," Doofenshmirtz continued, "I wanted to take over so I could have all the power to myself, so I could get the recognition I deserved, so I could look Perry the Platypus in the face and tell him, 'You lose, sucker!' Well, that didn't exactly work out, huh? In fact, I only know one person who really did get all that- I'm looking at you, Elizabeth!"

A ripple of shock ran through the audience, and in the third row back, a young woman exclaimed and rose in sharp indignation. Doofenshmirtz, exasperated, hastily amended his sentence.

"No, no, no, not you Elizabeth- him Elizabeth!" he said, pointing dramatically at Rodney.

Rodney bristled, but surprisingly did not try to deny the name. No one else responded at all, merely opting to stare blankly at Doofenshmirtz, who, as far as they could tell, was losing his marbles.

Doofenshmirtz, apparently, had expected a bigger response. "You know…Aloyse Everheart Elizabeth blah blah blah? It's not my fault he drilled it into my head by saying it over and over!"

Rodney- or maybe Elizabeth- eyed his feet for a small moment. "…It was my mother's name."

Then, after a short pause, he gathered himself and barked, "Anyway, what are you saying, Doofenshmirtz?"

"I'm saying that we claimed to all be equal or whatever- but seriously, am I the only one who noticed that we're really not?" He said it as if it were perfectly obvious- which, to him, it clearly was- and it showed. The others blinked, confused, as he elaborated. "I mean, at first we were but then we just sort of weren't anymore. You know what I'm saying?"

The scientists exchanged confused glances, clearly looking for support from their peers. Apparently, no one knew what he was saying.

Doofenshmirtz rolled his eyes. "Come on, think about it! Who sits at the head of our table? Rodney! Who makes all the decisions, really? Rodney! Who's been making tracking badge things without telling the rest of us, and forcing us to wear them, no matter how stupid they look?"

"Uh, he did tell us about that," Dr. Diminutive spoke up. "Were you not listening or something?"

"Whaaat? LOL Cats are my Achilles' Heel!" Doofenshmirtz protested, a light blush of embarrassment spreading over his cheeks. "Well, one of many, anyway- but that's not the point! Who makes all the announcements? Come on, who?"

Dr. Diminutive blinked and glanced around, hoping his colleague would look at someone else. Doofenshmirtz just kept his eyes trained on the doctor, waiting for a reply. Eventually, Diminutive said uncomfortably in a quiet voice, "Um, Rodney usually does."

"Yeah!" Doofenshmirtz agreed strongly. "And who's been making all our battle schematics and stuff? Tell me that!"

This time Professor Periwinkle spoke up, quickly joined by Miss Yakamoto and a few others. "Wodney has!"

"Who gets the first say in things and expects to be agreed with? Who has about a million monuments built to himself?" Doofenshmirtz was on a roll now, gathering confidence and speed like a snowball zooming down a hill. "Heck, he even gets to pick what kind of coffee we get in the lobby! Come on, people, who is this guy?"

This time, the response was much bigger- apparently Doofenshmirtz's words had actually gotten through to his audience. "RODNEY!" They called.

"Exactly!" he agreed heartily. "We're not ruling the Tri-State Area at all- Rodney is!"

Suddenly, everyone- even those who didn't seem quite sold yet- was staring at Rodney, who looked absolutely flabbergasted.

"Wh-what? I would never-" he stuttered. Then he stopped, held the pause for a moment, and took a quick breath. His eyes narrowed darkly. "Doofenshmirtz, your attempt at disguising your true motives is as bad as your choice in coffee! Which, by the way, is terrible," he said, with an air of disgust. "How do we know you're not going to just dethrone me and take the Tri-State Area for yourself?"

At this, the wide-eyed scientists immediately shifted their attention back to Doofenshmirtz, who retorted with determination, "Because I don't want the Tri-State Area, Rodney!"

This remark, needless to say, was met with a loud gasp that reverberated around the room.

"No, wait, let me fix that- I don't want this Tri-State Area," Doofenshmirtz added quickly, trying to keep on their good sides. "I mean, seriously, this one already has a bunch of problems; like the obscene amount of statues dedicated to Rodney, the Rebellion, the fact that I miss my nemesis like crazy- oh! And worst of all, my daughter is a psychiatrist! She's always psychoanalyzing me and stuff, it's driving me cuckoo!"

"Haowld aon, haowld aon," Professor Periwinkle interrupted, bemused. "Deed joo just saiy you meess your nemesees? I don't tink dat people do dat…"

Doofenshmirtz raised an eyebrow. "Well, yeah, why?"

Professor Periwinkle just stared.

For a few minutes, no one spoke.

Someone coughed discreetly in the background.

Doofenshmirtz, at length, just reddened a bit and snapped, "DON'T JUDGE ME!"

Then he sighed exasperatedly. "Look, what I'm saying is, I'd rather start fresh and conquer the Tri-State Area as I knew it eight years ago- back before all this crazy stuff happened. I want my old life back- and, yes, fine, my nemesis- and if you're too power-crazed to give it to me, Rodney, then I'll just have to take it!"

"Ridiculous, Doofenshmirtz!" Rodney snapped. "As if any of us believe a word you say!"

Doofenshmirtz just turned back to the assembly, who watched with stunned countenances. "No! I know I can't be alone in this, guys!" he asserted. Then, in a more vulnerable, coaxing sort of voice, he added, "Don't leave me hangin'…"

Rodney laughed harshly. "Hah! Do I even need to say how pathetic this is?" He turned to the others as well, immediately drawing their attention. "Come now, fellows. Is this story all nonsense, or is it just me?"

For a moment, no one did anything. The scientists stared from one rival to the other, trying to sort out their allegiances; the rebels stared with bated breath, mesmerized; and in the background, the guards wondered vaguely when their lives had become so insignificant. Eventually, someone seemed to recall all the things that had been said not a minute ago- and the reaction, though gradual in terms of size, was instantaneous.

"Heeey," came the slow, heavy realization. "Doofenshmirtz is actually right for once!"

"Yeah, this is no fun!" someone else joined in.

"I WANT MY MONEY BACK!"

"Booooo!"

"It's just you, Rodney!"

Soon the room was in an uproar, each scientist adding in his or her opinion as the volume escalated ever higher. Doofenshmirtz's face lit up in hopeful glee as he basked in the light of the fact that they were actually agreeing with him; these people, who had so often pushed him down just as much as everyone else, even when they had claimed to be on a team, were finally on his side for once. Now he just had to see it through until Perry the Platypus could finish his mission…

As all this was blooming around them, Rodney's face began to redden once more. Unshakable in his beliefs, he growled under his breath, "You think you can turn my own minions- ah, colleagues- against me?" he demanded, hastily covering his mistake. "You think you can overthrow me and rule instead?"

"I just said I didn't want to do that!" Doofenshmirtz protested, irritated. "Come on, Rodney, it's over anyway. Can't you just let me enjoy this before we all disappear?"

Rodney's eyes narrowed, and he gestured to the guard holding the Triple-T, who brought it over meekly, seemingly unsure as to whether his superior ought to be obeyed. "No!" Rodney snatched it out of his hands and held it threateningly. "No, I can't."

Doofenshmirtz raised his eyebrows, a little unsettled. "You can't seriously think I want to rule the Tri-State Area instead of you! Were you even listening to me that whole time? And besides," he added, with a swift glance at the machine held firmly in Rodney's gnarled fingers, "what are you gonna do with that, send me back in time with Perry the Platypus?"

"Oh, how sadly mistaken you are, you fool." Rodney's voice was a venomous hiss, dangerous and poisoned. "Don't you remember, this isn't a time machine anymore- not after your little sabotage attempt."

Doofenshmirtz's eyes widened, and he took a step back, realizing just what this meant. Rodney began to advance, and as he did, nearby guards began backing away fearfully.

"The Disintevaporator-Inizer…" Doofenshmirtz murmured in nervous understanding. "Oh, no."

"Oh, yes," Rodney answered with an uncanny grin. Without warning, he suddenly drew close and pressed the front of the machine up against Doofenshmirtz's chest. Doofenshmirtz attempted to step back again, but abruptly realized he had reached the wall faster than expected (perhaps the room wasn't quite so cavernous as it had previously seemed). He was trapped.

Rodney was breathing heavily now in his anger, face flushed and eyes like slits. "So you think it is over, and your little friends have won," he said maliciously, spitting out the word like a bitter cup of coffee. "But I won't let my empire fall so easily- not to you!"

There was a clicking and a growing whirr from deep inside the machine, and Doofenshmirtz's pulse accelerated with it. A green light peered out from where the face of the device was pressed against the thin black fabric of his shirt. Rodney's grin twisted at the corners cruelly.

"I have always," he confided, "wanted to do this…" Every word of the sentence was a delicate instrument, a precise weapon with which to use on his helpless rival, and he let each of them sink in with a weighty air of finality. Doofenshmirtz began to panic, casting his eyes around the room desperately in a search for help. Professor Periwinkle had been the first of the scientists to really notice, but he was too far away to do anything. The rebels had noticed as well, and were now struggling to escape, but the guards had returned to hold them tightly. No one knew quite what to do, time was running out, and as Rodney reveled in this fact, it began to look like the end.

Desperately, without even consciously deciding it, Doofenshmirtz's hand flew to the side of the device and began to search along the smooth round metal for something. The whirring grew louder, louder even than all the sounds of battle from downstairs, louder than Rodney's sudden, deranged laughter- so loud that no one really heard when the threatened doctor's fingers unexpectedly came upon the item they had been seeking, and, with hardly a moment of thought, pressed down upon it with a small, utterly unnoticed click.

First came a split-second of quiet, the calm before the storm.

Then came the storm.

An eardrum-shattering, painfully huge, louder-than-loud BOOM rocked the room, leaving almost no time to cry out. Anyone with any sense dove for cover, while the rest just covered their ears. Rodney was blasted backward with the force of an elephant on steroids, Doofenshmirtz was flattened against the wall, and the Triple-T was simply there one second and not the next. The room was bathed in fiery scarlet, a scalding wind swept the area, and it all culminated into a mind-blowing climax of light and sound- which was all over in half a heartbeat.

The silence, though golden as silences are said to be, was more deafening than the explosion.

It took everyone a while to recover; but the first to do so were the boys and their friends, who had been sheltered by their heavily-armored guards, whom Ferb had expertly maneuvered to be their cover. Everyone looked a little crispy, the guards included; but to the boys, it was the cause that mattered, not the result.

"What was that?" Baljeet asked, eyes wide and hair standing on end wildly.

"I think it was the Triple-T!" Phineas exclaimed, surveying the blackened room in wonder. "But how-?"

Just then, Ferb tapped him on the shoulder, pointing to the blackest place in the room by far, where a once-white lab coat was stirring as its owner rose woozily. Turning to reveal his soot-covered but miraculously intact face, he blinked a few times and suddenly spotted his rival laying on the ground a good twenty feet away. Rodney was just as blackened as Doofenshmirtz, but unlike the other, he had apparently been knocked out in the blast. Doofenshmirtz stared for a moment, before shaking himself out of his stupor and cracking a lopsided grin.

"Ha! In your face, you jerk!" he taunted, sort of shaking a fist in weak triumph. Then, after a beat, he added, "…Literally!" and fell backwards into a sitting position.

Phineas opened his mouth and glanced at Ferb, who shrugged; but before either of them could get any further, there was another loud BANG and the double doors burst open, knocking the guards out of the way forcefully. Before anyone could even react properly (save for Professor Periwinkle, who promptly toppled out of his seat), an unexpected figure leapt into the room- Candace, a ray gun in her hand and a determined look on her face.

"Freeze!" she shouted, as a wave of rebels swarmed in behind her. "You're all under arrest for trying to kill my pet platypus!"

"Candace!" Phineas exclaimed delightedly, as Jeremy rushed over to untie him and his friends. "You made it!"

"Hope we're not late," Candace answered with a tired grin. "Traffic was terrible!" And she nodded back at the rebels, who were slowly filling the room and still coming strong. Apparently they had fought their way all through the building's stairwell until they reached the top floor- which explained how tired they all looked. The stairs alone were rather torturous.

"So where's Perry?" Candace asked, glancing around the room worriedly (she didn't seem to care about the obvious explosion that had taken place there). "Did you make it in time?"

Phineas grinned happily. "Sort of- but you can ask Isabella about that. Ferb and I have to go check in with Doctor D."

And as Isabella began to explain what had transpired, the boys rushed off to make sure the doctor was alright. He waved cheerily as they approached, looking rather giddy.

"Can you believe that worked?" he greeted. "I mean, Rodney was about to finish me off, and you guys thought I was doomed, and then all of a sudden- BANG! Showed him!" Then he laughed and added, "And Perry the Platypus said you were too smart for self-destruct buttons! Pfft. See, they can be useful!"

"I guess they can," said Phineas cheerily, as he and Ferb helped Doofenshmirtz to his feet. "But there's still something I don't understand- how did you know about the self-destruct button? Ferb and I installed that so we could keep it secret from LOVE MUFFIN if they ever got a hold of it (not that that worked out particularly well), but we never told anyone about it."

Doofenshmirtz shrugged. "I just figured- doesn't everything have a self-destruct button?"

Phineas just laughed good naturedly (although Doofenshmirtz didn't seem to get why), and Ferb rolled his eyes with a smile. "Well, it worked, and that's all that matters," he assured them. "Now the evil dictators are conquered, and we've won- on our side, anyway. Now we just have to count on Perry to get things straightened out in the past!"

Doofenshmirtz frowned. "Yeah, about that…so basically, he's going to prevent all this bad stuff from happening in the first place…"

"Uh-huh," Phineas nodded.

"And then this future will disappear or something…?"

"Yep."

"With us in it."

"That's about the size of it," Phineas confirmed grimly. "I hate to say it, but our very existence is about to end abruptly. This…is the end."

Doofenshmirtz stared blankly, as if wondering why he'd chosen to go along with this plan in the first place. "Remind me, why is this a good idea?"

Phineas looked uncertain, but he put on a brave face. "It'll be okay, don't worry about it," he assured the doctor, looking away out the window. "Everything's in Perry's hands now…"

And for a brief moment, all three of them were silent, praying for the success of their mission, hoping everything would work out.

"…"

"Why are we all staring out this window?"

"Shh! Dramatic effect."

Elsewhere, tucked away in the metaphorical folds of time…

Time travel- real time travel- was nothing like the Time Transporter-Inator had made it out to be.

Afterwards, had Perry tried to describe it, he would have found it terribly difficult- it happened so quickly, and it was so disorienting. The best he could come up with was that one moment, he had been staring the Disintevaporator-Inizer full in the face, bidding his nemesis a surprisingly melancholy adieu and praying the man had gotten whatever it was he'd done right- and then, he was hurtling through a vortex of light and sound and color, which would have been sort of beautiful if it hadn't made him want to vomit. Then, before he could so much as blink, it was gone- and he was dumped in a nauseous heap onto something very hard and flat.

The world spun in circles, and he struggled to push the static out of his head. Somewhere to his left, a voice was talking avidly about something, although to him it sounded far off and fuzzy. Slowly, he heaved himself to his feet, then stumbled and threw out his hands to stop his fall. To his surprise, they came to rest on some kind of metal surface- like a wall going straight up. It felt smooth and metallic and gradually curved, like a cylinder- and moments later, when his head cleared and he was able to look at it properly, he was stunned to find that the object in question was none other than the Time Transporter-Inator, fully intact and apparently still operational.

He stepped back with a small gasp and stared up at the machine through the tears still lingering in his eyes, unsure of what he was seeing. Did that mean his harebrained nemesis' plan had really worked? Doofenshmirtz had actually managed to save him- and send him back in time to boot? It struck him as rather a critical thought, but he couldn't help but be delightedly surprised.

And if the TTI hadn't been enough proof of the plan having succeeded, then the one-sided conversation currently taking place on the other side of the machine certainly was. Peering around the machine discreetly, Perry could see he was not alone in the room- Doofenshmirtz, his back turned to the machine and his tone prideful, was currently striding around the room, talking excitedly of his newest plan. And most bizarrely, he was talking to Perry himself, who was still trapped in the ridiculous grandfather clock that Doofenshmirtz had used for a cage. The agent listened patiently, but there was a strong undertone of disappointment in his otherwise stony features. The reason, though it had slipped Doofenshmirtz's mind, was quite clear- today was their Neme-Versary, and the evil scientist had apparently forgotten entirely. Hiding behind the Time Transporter-Inator, Perry winced, remembering how much the realization had hurt. But Doofenshmirtz wasn't the most observant human Perry had met, and he was too occupied with his new machine to try to figure his nemesis out.

"…If it works without blowing anything up, then it's safe to use," he was saying, voice filled with devilish anticipation. "And if it goes horribly wrong, then I'll just use it on you instead!"

Then he turned on his heel and came straight for the machine, all set to test it, Perry supposed. The platypus ducked behind it and hid, remembering what Phineas and Ferb had said about not being seen. Doofenshmirtz, thankfully, didn't notice a thing and began to fiddle with the controls on his machine.

Hidden from view behind the Inator, Perry cleared his mind and tried to remember what Phineas and Ferb had told him about this mission. They had planned to show up, quietly prevent Perry of the past from getting stuck in the TTI, and go home again. That was all, wasn't it?

No, he had forgotten something- some little detail that would have proved troublesome. What had it been…?

But his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by an unexpected flash of bright light and a strange popping sound, and the world went white for a moment. When next he opened his eyes, he could hear Doofenshmirtz gloating about his machine to Perry's past self, obviously pleased with his success. But then, behind him, something strange happened- he heard Doofenshmirtz again. Talking over himself.

Whirling around in bewilderment, he came face-to-leg with what appeared to be another Doofenshmirtz, albeit clad in purple flip-flops and looking a little frazzled. Perry gaped, letting that sink in. Two Doofenshmirtzes? What in the world-?

Oblivious to Perry's presence, the new Doofenshmirtz grinned evilly and raised his arms in a triumphant way. "Haha, it worked!" he cackled loudly. "It functioned properly!"

But a moment later, however, he put a hand over his mouth in a stunned sort of way and fell silent. The first Doofenshmirtz stopped talking for a moment, apparently confused. "Did you hear something, Perry the Platypus?" he asked, as if he expected an answer. Of course there was no reply, chatter or otherwise, from Perry. After a beat, he seemed to brush it off as nothing and continued with his monologue. "Anyway, they should be back in eight minutes or so. That's the minimum amount of time…"

The other Doofenshmirtz uncovered his mouth and giggled nervously. "Whoops, that was a close one. Now, I must carry on with my-"

However, in the middle of his sentence, he glanced down and noticed Perry staring up at him, wide-eyed and a little suspicious. He yelped loudly, then recovered himself and hissed, "Perry the Platypus? What- what are you doing-" He floundered for a moment, lost for words. Then, sputtering for a good excuse for there being two of him, he added hastily, "B-but you're supposed to be trapped over there!"

Here he came to an abrupt halt, glanced quickly out from behind the Time Transporter-Inator, and came back looking even more confused. "I knew it, you are still trapped over there! Why are there two of you?" He gasped, shocked, and then said accusingly, "PRETENDY THE PRACTICE-PUS?"

Perry, absolutely baffled by this last exclamation, simply blurted, "What?" which seemed to shock Doofenshmirtz even more.

"Aaah!" he shrieked, somehow managing to keep his voice down enough not to be noticed. "You- did you just talk? What is wrong with this place?"

Perry, recovering his wits, shook his head to clear it. "Translator-Inator. It's not important," he added quickly, knowing the doctor would ask. Doofenshmirtz flinched as if the words were a threat and shrank back a little, but he continued anyway. "How did you get here? And more importantly, what are you doing here? You're interrupting an important mission!"

Doofenshmirtz's expression brightened a little at this. "Well, I guess I could ask you the same thing, but it's more fun to just go ahead and explain. You see, Perry the Platypus, I…am from the future!" He said the last part with a dramatic flare, as if he was sure it would blow Perry's mind.

Though this failed to do just what Doofenshmirtz expected it to, Perry did feel he was beginning to get a headache. "Oh, no. Not you too. This is going to be just great," he grumbled. Then he paused, puzzled. "But I just came from the future, and I saw you there! Why would you have traveled back in time as well?" He stopped himself abruptly. Temporal issues were really not his forte.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Perry the Platypus," said Doofenshmirtz, with a skeptical glance down at his nemesis. "Last I saw you, you didn't say anything about going back in time with me. Well, for that matter, you didn't say anything at all, which I have to say was much preferable. Hey, did you say you had a Translator-Inator?" His mouth widened into a sudden grin. "That's so cool! Why didn't I think of that?"

Perry shrugged slightly. "Well, technically, you did."

Doofenshmirtz looked surprised and rather in awe of himself, but Perry didn't have time or patience enough to pursue the topic. "But how can we both be from the future like this?" he muttered, irked by his lack of understanding. "Maybe…you're from an earlier time than me? No, that doesn't make any sense. With all the weird time-travel stuff going on, you would have mentioned it. And why would you want to come back here, anyway, when you've got the whole Tri-State Area at your beck and call?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, the whole Tri-State Area?" Doofenshmirtz exclaimed, stunned. "I'm the leader of the Tri-State Area in your future? That's so awesome! How'd I do it?" He gasped suddenly, leaving Perry in the dust. "Does this mean my plan is going to work? I knew this was a good idea!"

"What?" Perry sputtered, feeling he was slowly losing his grip on the situation. "Why is this new to you? Are you from a different timeline or something? Argh, why does time travel have to be so confusing!" He groaned and put a hand over his eyes, as if it might help clear his head. Doofenshmirtz, in sharp contrast, looked exuberant.

"Ah, I'm glad you asked about my plan!" he said gleefully. Perry almost interjected that he hadn't, but Doofenshmirtz just grinned and launched into his monologue without hesitation.

"Well, it started like this," he began excitedly. "I was just sitting around my house watching the news, and they were doing this story about some guy who, I don't know, grew up poor and then started making movies or something. He's not important. The thing is, it made me think- 'Why does he get to be famous and wealthy and stuff? Why can't I do something like that?' And then they started talking about one of his movies, where this guy goes back in time to change something that happened when he was a kid, and then- I don't know, he comes back and everything is great or something like that. Actually, it might have gone horribly wrong. I don't remember." He shrugged and rolled his eyes, as if to say, It's not important, and continued.

"Anyway, it gave me the idea to build these babies!" He stuck out a foot proudly, apparently displaying the bright purple flip-flop dangling from it. Perry gave it a suspicious glance, then raised an eyebrow. "A pair of flip-flops," he said dryly.

"Not just any pair of flip-flops," Doofenshmirtz continued. "A pair of TIME TRAVELING flip-flops! See, you can stomp your feet to input the date you want to travel to, isn't it cool? And they're portable!" And he grinned widely, obviously pleased with his invention.

Perry raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you just rebuild this thing?" he asked skeptically, jabbing a thumb at the TTI.

"Well, I would have," Doofenshmirtz explained, "except I figured out later that it doesn't actually work like a real time machine! See, you'd never guess- it actually just transports stuff to another dimension, where time moves much slower than it does in ours, and then spits it out again after a while, perfectly preserved. So it only transports things to the future! Weird, huh?"

Perry just stared. "You never mentioned this before…"

"I didn't think of it before."

"I don't know. Sounds like more lazy writing to me."

Doofenshmirtz's mouth hung open blankly. "What are you-?" But after a moment, he seemed to decide that there was no point in trying to ask, and he returned to explaining his plan with a slightly deflated air.

"So after building my Time-Traveling-Flip-Flop-Inators, I decided to put them to use. So I devised an eeevil scheme…my most evil scheme yet!" he added, his countenance darkening and his grin curling a little wider. The sound of it put Perry on edge, for a reason he couldn't quite place, and it raised the fur on the back of his neck.

"My plan was simple," Doofenshmirtz drawled. "I decided to achieve ultimate domination, I would travel back in time to your weakest moment, which is approaching as we speak! Once I had the upper hand, I would get rid of your past self once and for all, and then watch as my past self conquers the Tri-State Area- unhindered and unrestrained!" Then he burst into a bout of evil laughter, the sound ringing through the room with a malicious edge. (It was hard to believe they hadn't been noticed yet.)

Perry stared in horror, halfway appalled by his choice of words ('get rid of your past self' had a chilling ring to it), and halfway impressed. How could that be right? Doofenshmirtz had never said anything about this during Perry's time in the future, not once. Unless…

Wait.

Phineas and Ferb had mentioned a saboteur, someone who had traveled back in time to change the past at this very moment and turn the tide in LOVE MUFFIN's favor. And Carl had mentioned that whoever it was had come from a different future than the one Perry had visited, a completely distinct timeline. Considering these facts, and the plan he had just been presented with, Perry's quick-thinking mind could produce only one solution…

Doofenshmirtz himself was the saboteur.

His eyes widened, and he took a step back in shock. Doofenshmirtz, having noticed the little sign of alarm, ceased laughing and sneered down at Perry. "And now, Perry the Platypus," he added, a sudden undertone of maliciousness in his voice, "I'm afraid I'm just going to have to stop you from stopping me from stopping your past self from stopping my dreams of conquest from coming true!"

Perry stopped in his tracks and stared. Doofenshmirtz continued to grin dangerously for a moment, but soon faltered as the silence sank in. "I- I know. It's confusing," he assured his nemesis. "Just bear with me, okay?"

For a moment, Perry just stared. But then, in spite of the lighter remark, he began to feel a fresh wave of resolve spreading through him. Sinister plan or no, he was still dealing with Doofenshmirtz- and Doofenshmirtz was still an idiot, no matter what timeline he was from.

In the split second he had to work with, his mind went into overdrive. His mission was simple- prevent Doofenshmirtz from catching Perry's past self in the Time Transporter-Inator and turning it on. After that, somehow he'd have to get rid of Doofenshmirtz and the machine, seeing as it seemed to cause temporal problems just by existing. And in order to do that, he'd probably have to distract his past self and the other Doofenshmirtz. But how to do this?

Hm. Plans. They generally took longer than the time Perry had.

He decided to improvise.

Leaping into sudden action, he dashed forward and swept Doofenshmirtz's feet, knocking him away from the Time Transporter-Inator's controls. Doofenshmirtz shrieked as he fell, in a tone that was more indignant than alarmed, but the past Perry and Doofenshmirtz were too busy fighting to notice.

Watching the two of them go at it, Perry noted the flip out of the way his past self had executed, the punch Doofenshmirtz was about to throw…this was it. He glanced down at the control pad, ready to find the correct button as fast as possible- and then realized that Doofenshmirtz had labeled them all. Oh. Well, that made it simpler.

Just as the past Doofenshmirtz made an accidental swipe at Perry, sending him flying towards the machine, he pressed the button labeled 'DOORS'- and rather than falling into the machine, the doors closed, and the agent crashed into them instead. It still sounded rather painful, but at the very least he hadn't been caught. He stumbled for a moment, looking winded, but quickly recovered and leapt once more at Doofenshmirtz. And the battle resumed in full force, as if nothing had happened. Neither of the opponents knew of the bullet they'd just dodged.

Hidden safely behind the TTI, Perry breathed a sigh of relief. Stage one was complete. Now there was just the other Doofenshmirtz to deal with- and more importantly, his troublemaker of a creation.

"Perry the Platypus!" Doofenshmirtz growled from the floor, as if on cue. "I can't believe you would do that! Well, actually, I guess I can- but now I'm going to have to find some other moment to strike, and it's all thanks to you!"

Perry just frowned down at him. His mission wasn't over yet. "Good luck with that." And without further ado, he picked up a nearby rope (probably left out for trapping purposes) and adroitly tied his nemesis up. Doofenshmirtz yelped and began to struggle, but Perry merely tightened the bonds to assure himself of their security.

"Sorry, Doof," he said, with an actual note of apology in his voice. "It's part of the job."

Still, looking at him now, Perry couldn't help but feel a little guilty- his mind was still full of the recent events he had been through in the future, and of the time he and his nemesis had spent together, and the way Doofenshmirtz had bade him goodbye. It felt bad to treat the man this way when part of him still just wanted to say 'thank you'. Especially now that he knew the future was probably going to disappear, and the two of them along with it…

He furrowed his brow determinedly. No matter what temporal insanity awaited him after this, or how he felt about his enemy, it was safer to keep him restrained. He decided to turn back to the problem at hand.

The Time Transporter-Inator was one of Doofenshmirtz's inventions, so it had to have a self-destruct, he assumed. However, upon closer inspection of the control pad, it appeared there was none- despite the buttons being so meticulously labeled. Perry felt his heart skip a beat in alarm. The hulking thing looked too sturdy to destroy with brute force, and too heavy and noticeable to steal. He needed something that would get rid of the device, and (preferably) leave him time to get out.

Then another detail came to mind. On his first day in the future, at Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, the machine had self-destructed after being used twice. He remembered it because of how angry he had been with Doofenshmirtz- its own creator!- for forgetting to mention this. And then, even more irritating, the man had actually rescued him when he was falling out of the building at breakneck speed. But that part wasn't important.

The important part was the conveniently short lifespan of the Time Transport-Inator. Seeing as Doofenshmirtz had already tested it once, the second usage should activate the self-destruct and get rid of the machine!

But there was his past self to consider. Glancing out from behind the machine, he saw with little surprise that the other him and Doofenshmirtz were still fighting. It seemed they weren't going to stop until either Perry or the machine was destroyed (and again, this didn't phase him at all). But no matter how involved in the fray they were, Perry had been told he had a keen eye, and even Doofenshmirtz was bound to notice if the doors of the machine started opening and closing on their own. He needed a distraction.

And then, a very lucky thing happened; out of the corner of his eye, he happened to notice a small, plastic package laying near the Time Transport-Inator. Reaching out to it, he instantly recognized the small, spongy object wrapped inside as well as the label, Cuppy-Cake Pastries. It must have been knocked out of his fedora when his past self hit the doors of the machine- though it seemed odd now, as he hadn't even thought about the thing since the day the whole mess started.

Behind him, the other Doofenshmirtz made a sound of disgust. "Ugh, is that a Cuppy-Cake? Ooooh, I hate those things!" He shuddered a bit to emphasize his point. "What are you going to do with that, anyway? I know it destroys good eating habits, but it's not going to destroy my Inator!"

Perry raised his eyebrows and glanced out at his past self. A plan began to form in his mind- a crazy plan, with plenty of things that could go wrong, but a viable plan nonetheless.

"Actually, Doof…you'd be surprised," he muttered, a small grin tugging at his bill.

Meanwhile in the center of the room, the past Doofenshmirtz and Perry continued to duke it out. One of the doctor's cheeks was beginning to turn red with an odd waffle pattern that had probably come from Perry's tail, and the agent's hat was sitting a little askew from an apparent strike gone wrong. Both of them looked a little frazzled, though Doofenshmirtz was obviously the worse for wear.

However, as if they didn't have enough bruises already, there was one more yet to come, and come it did- sweet, speedy, and headed straight for Doofenshmirtz's head.

Thunk! The unidentified flying cupcake collided with Doofenshmirtz's right temple, knocking him off balance and then falling with a little squeak to the floor. He yelped and stumbled a few steps backwards, then threw an accusatory glare down at the guilty item.

"What the-? That's called fighting dirty, Perry the Platypus! No one said you could throw things at-" he stopped, gasped slowly, and then added, even more incensed, "Ooh, and of all things! You know I hate these!"

He picked up the cupcake and shook it emphatically at his opponent, who simply stared in total bewilderment. Behind the Inator, Perry crossed his fingers.

"Seriously, look at this- vanilla flavor and everything! Those are always so… so bland…" Doofenshmirtz slowed down halfway through his sentence, squinting at the packaging. Gradually, his expression began to change from disgust…to enlightenment.

"Ohhhh, that's it!" he exclaimed suddenly, apparently delighted. An excited smile replaced the grimace he had previously worn, and he executed an odd little hop for joy. "That's it, Perry the Platypus! The thing- the thing that I forgot- oh, how could I forget what today was? Of course, that's why I was building something big, to celebrate! I can't believe I forgot- oh, and you even got me a little prank gift!"

A few feet away, Perry's face brightened (you could tell he was just thrilled to hear that) and he nodded happily.

"Aw, that's so sweet of you," Doofenshmirtz added, having read the note Perry had scribbled on the plastic package. "Nice handwriting, by the way. Ooh! And before I forget again, I have a card for you! Look, it's over here, you'll love it…"

And the two of them retreated to the other end of the room, where Doofenshmirtz began to rifle through some drawers in search of the card.

Seeing his chance, Perry darted around the Time Transporter-Inator to the control pad and pressed a button. The machine's doors opened with a metallic sliding sound, but luckily, the other Doofenshmirtz and Perry didn't notice a thing (they were too engulfed with the card Doofenshmirtz was now displaying proudly). Feeling emboldened, Perry rushed back behind the machine, where the other Doofenshmirtz was still sitting, tied up and looking rather hassled.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "Is this some kind of plan to get rid of my Inator? It is, isn't it? Oh, come on, Perry the Platypus, this isn't fair-!"

"Sssshhh!" Perry interrupted, holding a finger to his lips with a stern frown. "Do you want to get us noticed and mess up the space-time continuum?"

Doofenshmirtz paused and looked away thoughtfully, as if considering whether such an act could be considered evil. Perry, mindful of the very short time limit he'd bought himself, took advantage of the momentary silence and grabbed his nemesis by the feet. He then proceeded to drag him around the TTI, headed for the open doors.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing now?" Doofenshmirtz whispered, having apparently decided that the space-time continuum should be left alone for the time being. "Are we getting inside the machine? Why would you do that, it could activate and-!"

"Doofenshmirtz, shut up!" Perry hissed.

"Or what, you'll throw me in and send me to the ice age?" said Doofenshmirtz sneeringly.

Perry, halfway through shoving him through the doors, turned and gave him a scathing look. "I thought it only worked one-way."

Doofenshmirtz stared blankly for a moment, defeated by his own logic, and shut up.

Without hesitation, Perry painstakingly hauled him into the machine, lab coat and all. He glanced around at the other him, who thankfully was too caught up with his own nemesis to notice a thing. Putting a hand on the door, Perry reached for the control pad and pressed a button. Then he slipped inside as the doors slid shut with a little hiss, for what he sincerely hoped would be the last time, and the machine began to hum darkly.

Out of nowhere, he felt a chill run down his spine, and a cloud of doubt suddenly overtook his conscience. If he had just changed the future, and that was where the Time Transporter-Inator would take them, then where would they end up? In the timeline he had come from, or from Doofenshmirtz's, or in a new one? Or maybe they would just stop existing halfway through? He suddenly wished he knew more about time travel.

And what of his timeline? Would everyone there disappear as well? And Phineas and Ferb…would they disappear with the horrible thought that he was gone? It all felt so incomplete. He still had to tell the boys that he was okay, that everything was going to be okay. And he wanted to see Candace, to apologize for hiding the truth from her. He wanted to see them all reunited with their parents. He wanted to make this future- their present- worth all their hard work.

And strangely, despite everything that had happened during his time in the future…he wanted to see Doofenshmirtz again. It wasn't just that the doctor had saved his life, and was clearly owed a 'thank you'- it was because of the deep, lonely ache that he'd felt when he saw his past self exchanging cards with his nemesis. They'd been so happy, he realized, in their own weird nemesis-y way. And now, in spite of all the times Doofenshmirtz had gotten on his nerves or messed something up, accidentally gotten them in trouble or put his foot in his mouth, tried to destroy him or even just made him feel bad…now he just wanted to see him again, and to make up for all the time they'd lost.

Because looking at his past self now, he realized that he wasn't needed here anymore. The past was just that, the past, and now he had to turn his sights toward the future- Danville's future, his family's future, and his own.

Now there was a Tri-State Area that was one platypus short, and that was where he needed to stay.

Suddenly, the machine gave a small jolt, and the moment came rushing back to him. The entire chamber was now shaking dangerously with a low rumbling noise, and the floor had lit up like a spotlight. The sound was slowly growing louder, and the quaking greater, and in the middle of it all, Perry was hit with a single, unsettling thought.

"…I just remembered how nauseating this was last time."

Doofenshmirtz, glaring at the platypus perched uncomfortably on his knees, groaned in dread over the growing noise. "I hate you, you know that?"

Perry sighed, gave him a somewhat apologetic glance, and said, "I know."

And then, in a sickening, ear-popping instant, the universe ceased to exist.

"…And the glitter was on sale, too, which makes it even better! See, I knew you'd like it. I put a lot of thought into this thing."

Perry couldn't believe his luck.

In a single conceivably concussion-causing cupcake collision, Doofenshmirtz had gone from totally clueless to totally celebratory, and things had gone swimmingly since. Even the Cuppy-Cake thing had gone over well, and he'd had a bit of indecision about whether that joke would be in good taste. Well, not in good taste, clearly, as Cuppy-Cakes tasted vaguely of cardboard and sugar, but all the same.

He had to admit, when no one else had remembered the occasion (well, 'no one else' was just Major Monogram, but still), he'd started to wonder whether he'd gotten it mixed up himself- but now that Doofenshmirtz remembered, none of that seemed to matter. Now, he thought, he was going to have a nice afternoon with his frenemy, and then maybe go home and take a good long nap.

But first, fate had a last twist planned.

Just as the two of them were finishing with the cards, there was an odd little click from the far side of the room and a low humming, and upon turning to investigate, they were immediately confronted with the sight of the Time Transporter-Inator activating, apparently, of its own accord. The lights were flashing wildly, the whole construct was trembling as if it would explode, and it was emitting an alarming growl that was hard to ignore. And then, before either one of them could react properly (beyond covering their ears), a blinding light filled every crevice of the room. Doofenshmirtz shrieked loudly, but by now the noise was so loud you'd never hear him, and Perry pulled his hat down over his ears and squinted his eyes shut. Then, in a heartbeat, the whole thing disappeared- leaving only a dying whirr that slowly faded away, and soon ground to a halt altogether.

Silence reigned.

At length, Doofenshmirtz blinked, to clear the sun spots out of his eyes. He was quiet for a moment, as if puzzling over what had just happened.

Then he turned on Perry with a small gasp. "Perry the Platypus, you did that somehow, didn't you?" he accused angrily, pointing a finger at his startled nemesis. Perry blinked and put his hands up to plead his innocence.

"Oh, you can't fool me," said Doofenshmirtz doggedly. "You probably even knew that it tends to blow up after two uses, didn't you?"

And as if on cue, the machine promptly exploded, spraying debris and smoke everywhere and blasting Doofenshmirtz's already wild hair straight back.

Flabbergasted and exasperated, Doofenshmirtz gesticulated speechlessly for a moment. Then, lost for words, he simply shook his fist and yelled, "CURSE YOU, PERRY THE PLATYPUS!"

Perry frowned uncomfortably, hoping this wasn't going to ruin their day. Yes, he'd been planning to destroy the Time Transporter-Inator after they were done celebrating their Neme-Versary- but he hadn't done a thing to it yet. So if he hadn't turned it on, and Doofenshmirtz hadn't either, then who…?

Doofenshmirtz put his fist down and gave a small sigh. "Oh well, I guess I didn't expect it to make it to the end of the day anyhow. Let's see, it's still pretty early…I guess I could always come up with a different scheme to pass the time or something…" Then he snapped his fingers and grinned. "Ooh, I've got it! I've got a few episodes of my favorite soap opera recorded (you remember El Matador de Amor, right?) and I was just thinking how I'd really like to catch up with Juan and Esmerelda's adorable love story. You wanna, like, 'hang out' and watch some with me?" He made quotation marks with his fingers as he spoke and cracked a goofy grin.

Perry, although still confused by the machine's sudden activation, could not help but think this a lovely suggestion. He smiled happily and gave the thumbs up.

"Great, it's in here!" said Doofenshmirtz cheerily, striding off to the living room and beckoning for his nemesis to follow. As Perry padded after him, he reflected that there had been a strange reversal; for once, it appeared Doofenshmirtz had saved the day. But, despite the nice afternoon he was sure he was going to have, he still couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the Time Transporter-Inator…

Candace had never been happier to see what Phineas and Ferb were up to- or, on the other hand, to discover that whatever it had been was over.

For about ten minutes now, she'd been standing and listening patiently as Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford eagerly related the events of their rescue mission to her and Jeremy. She'd gasped when they broke in through the roof, held her breath as they told her about the ensuing battle, gasped again as they explained how Perry had seemingly been destroyed, and been very relieved when they told her about how Doofenshmirtz switched the power cores. Granted, the main thing that puzzled her about the whole thing was why it had taken her so long to get up the stairs when she had once gone up and down in under five minutes, but she supposed that wasn't important. (It was an awfully long flight of stairs, after all.)

"And then, Rodney backed him up against the wall holding the Triple-T," Isabella was in the middle of explaining, "when all of a sudden, Doofenshmirtz did something to it and-"

"BOOM!" Buford added helpfully, throwing his arms in the air for effect and thwacking Baljeet in the ear in the process. Baljeet yelped and gave the bully a reproving glare.

"So it's gone?" asked Candace, raising her eyebrows. "The thing they built, I mean?"

"Sure is," Isabella confirmed.

Candace pounded her fist into her other hand, grinning. "I knew it! The mysterious force is back, and it recognizes my adult superiority! And to think, all I had to do was lead an army into battle and win." And she shrugged, as if to say, I should have tried this ages ago.

Meanwhile, the LOVE MUFFIN officials and guards had been rounded up, and were now being led back down the steps single file- all except for Professor Periwinkle, whom Doofenshmirtz had excused on account of his being 'not so evil after all'.

"Whai, tank you, Doofy!" the professor had squeaked. Then he'd added confusedly, "…I tink?"

Rodney was still knocked out, and had to be brought away on a stretcher, while his comrades had their pockets searched and their hands tied behind their backs. However, in sharp contrast with the grumbling, glaring, generally resentful LOVE MUFIN professors, Phineas and Ferb, who were overseeing the proceedings, looked delighted (albeit rather tired).

"Well, Ferb, that should be the last of 'em!" said Phineas cheerfully, wiping a bead of sweat off his brow. Ferb nodded and breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

"So, does that mean we've won?" Candace asked, having come over to investigate. "LOVE MUFFIN is finally vanquished for all time or whatever?"

"It sure does!" Phineas answered with a grin. Then a brief shadow of sadness passed over his countenance. "I just wish we'd done it sooner, you know? All those years of oppression could have been avoided, if we'd been willing to take the risk…"

"Oh, it's not your fault," Candace assured her brother, putting a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"And it's over now, anyway," Jeremy added with a smile. "Don't dwell on it."

Phineas nodded, but the frown remained. "I wonder how Perry's mission is going," he thought aloud, seeming concerned. "What if…he doesn't succeed?"

"Pardon me for cutting in," said Doofenshmirtz, who had finished chatting with Professor Periwinkle and apparently overheard their conversation, "but this is Perry the Platypus we're talking about." And he nodded knowingly, like that said it all.

Candace just nodded slowly with a doubtful frown. She just couldn't picture her pet platypus carrying out this supposedly very dangerous mission that Phineas and Ferb had described to her. Somehow, no matter how much the boys praised their pet, the thought of him fighting the saboteur they'd spoken of with his little webbed feet and his funny-shaped bill just seemed absurd.

"All the same," Phineas continued in a worried tone. "There are a lot of little details that could have gone over better. Like, what happens after the mission is done? Ferb and I had planned to bring the Triple-T with us so we could open another portal and go home, just to make sure we wouldn't cause any temporal errors- but Perry doesn't have any way of getting back! What's going to happen to him?"

Candace cocked an eyebrow. "Well, why can't he just use that thing that brought him here? You know, the other time-thingy. The…um…"

"The Time Transporter-Inator?" Doofenshmirtz put in helpfully.

"Yeah, that!"

"That's a fair point," said Isabella, smiling in a reassuring way. "You sent him back to a time when it still existed, right?"

"That's right!" said Phineas, a hopeful smile spreading across his face. Then it faltered, and he added sadly, "but for that to work, the machine would have to still exist in our time, too…"

He glanced at Doofenshmirtz, who shrugged doubtfully with an uncomfortable expression. "I could rebuild it," he suggested, seeming none too enthusiastic about the prospect. The last time he had rebuilt the Time Transporter-Inator, it had wound up destroying the top floor of his building, attracting a horde of minions who were all intent on arresting his very jet-lagged nemesis, and landing him in deep trouble with LOVE MUFFIN (or so he had thought). And more importantly, he had no idea where the blueprints were.

"Oh, tere's no need for dat, Doofy!" came an unexpected squeaky voice.

Surprised and confused, everyone turned to face Professor Periwinkle, who seemed rather excited about something and was rocking back and forth slightly in anticipation.

"You shee," the professor explained, his odd voice trembling a bit, "rechently, me and shum of da gaiz were trying to tink of a nais way to rewahd you for all da evil tings you do, Doofy (and to pay you back for hosting dat Minion Apprechiation Day shindig, it was wandarful)- and I taught to maiself, 'what yoosh ish a big old pile of junk jusht sitting around being big and old and uselesh?' So we taught we'd rebuild some of your old machines for you, as a little shurpraish!"

Doofenshmirtz raised his eyebrows and glanced at the others, who looked hopeful and eager. He turned back to Periwinkle with a small smile. "You mean, it's-?"

But just then, he was interrupted by Ferb, who had raised a finger to his lips and was now shushing them all fervently. There was a tense moment of silence, during which everyone else listened too. And then they heard it.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep, beep, beep, beep…

Whirrrrrrrrrrr…

The silence was suddenly broken as Baljeet squeaked in excitement, and Professor Periwinkle uttered a small, "Ooh!" Then Doofenshmirtz, wide-eyed and looking rather alarmed, shouted, "The lab!"

And they all took off, headed for the aforementioned room with flying feet and bated breath.

Upon arriving at the source of the noise and flinging the door open, they were immediately greeted with a blinking, blinding light that had suddenly flashed from within the room. Everyone yelled and covered their eyes, but the light cleared quite soon- and then, with only a low growl of machinery remaining, it was over.

Slowly, the boys uncovered their eyes, squinting as best they could at the newly-rebuilt machine (which, oddly, was now painted pink with purple polka-dots; a modification thanks to Professor Periwinkle, one had to guess). Phineas' mouth hung open slightly in awe and excitement, while Ferb simply raised his eyebrows. Everyone else followed suit in one way or another.

A bit of smoke curled away from the machine's doors, just as if they were tempting someone to open them and reveal the chamber's contents. Doofenshmirtz bit his lip, an odd mix of anxiety and hope swelling in his chest. He turned to Periwinkle uncertainly.

"Should I, ah…" he pointed hesitantly at the TTI. Periwinkle waved it aside.

"Oh, Doofy, so old-fashioned," he said lightly, with a little smile. "No, we made the doows automatic! Dere's no need to get tem youwself- oh! Dere dey go now."

Sure enough, as he spoke, there was a little click from the machine and the doors glided open smoothly. As if by silent agreement, no one moved- except for Phineas, Ferb, and Doofenshmirtz, who all approached the machine with a cautious step. They paused just outside, and Phineas and Doofenshmirtz gasped quietly.

"Perry!" exclaimed all three of them in unison, a thrilled grin spreading across Phineas' face and a relieved smile stretching across the doctor's.

"He made it back!" Phineas exclaimed.

"And he's still got that translator," Ferb added.

"And he brought a little, uh…friend," said Doofenshmirtz haltingly, knitting his brows. Then, pointing uncertainly, he said, "Is that me?"

For there, lying unconscious in the bottom of the machine, were Perry and- yes- another Doofenshmirtz, both unconscious and looking rather cramped. The doctor was halfway curled against the back wall of the machine with his knees drawn up and his arms raised as if to cover his head (although this was an unfortunate impossibility due to their being tied together), and Perry was laying on his side in the leftover space. Both of them looked a little hassled- Doofenshmirtz's hands and feet were bound efficiently, and Perry's Translator-Inator was just barely hanging on to the brim of his hat.

Looking at the two of them, Doofenshmirtz raised an eyebrow and said simply, "Well. This is…unexpected."

Phineas, on the other hand, had suddenly become concerned. "Is he okay?" he asked, lifting his pet out gently. "Why's he asleep like this? Has something happened to him?"

"Oh, that's normal. It's just really disorienting in there," Doofenshmirtz assured him, as Ferb put a finger to Perry's neck to look for a pulse. Just as he did so, Perry stirred slightly, and a quiet growl escaped his throat.

"He's waking up!" exclaimed Phineas triumphantly, turning to face his waiting companions with an enthused grin. Obviously relieved to hear the news, they gave a shout and ran over to see for themselves.

As the boys and their friends attended to their groggy pet, Doofenshmirtz gave his other self a suspicious, squint-eyed look. "…Is that really what I look like when I'm asleep?"

But whether or not this was true, he would never know- for at that moment Perry began to awaken.

"Perry…? Perry…"

"Wake up, Perry…!"

"Perry the Platypus, are you okay?…"

Perry came to with an odd feeling of static in his ears, along with the strange notion that he'd had it before. It did feel rather familiar, this drowsy sort of waking-up feeling. He supposed he'd felt like this at least twice before in the past few days, and he hoped vaguely that this would be the last time he had to endure it.

His mouth felt dry, his body was tired, his eyes didn't seem to want to open, and his mind felt a bit jumbled as well. It took him a moment to remember why this was so, but then-

"Perry!"

-it was all rushing back to him-

"Wake up, Perry, you can do it…"

-the mission- the Time Transporter-Inator-

"Poor thing, he looks so tired…!"

-Phineas and Ferb-

"It's okay, boy, come on…"

-Doofenshmirtz-

"Perry the Platypus? Please wake up…"

-he had to wake up-!

His eyes snapped open and he jerked a bit as if he'd just awoken from a dream of falling. Several exclamations sounded around him, and he was suddenly aware of being held in someone's arms. Upon prying his eyes open once more and glancing around, he was immediately greeted with a group of familiar, very welcome faces- Candace, Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford were just in front of him, all wearing large grins and looking very glad to see him. They all began to chatter at once, welcoming him back, asking if he was okay, and wondering how his mission had gone. But his voice didn't feel quite up to being used yet- and besides, he had to know, where were Phineas and Ferb?

"Oh, Perry, we're so happy to see you!"

A small gasp escaping him, he glanced upwards, and there they were- Ferb was holding him and smiling brightly, and Phineas was at his brother's right shoulder, holding Perry's little hand very tightly in his own with a delighted appearance.

His voice cracked a bit. "Phineas, Ferb…!" And then they were all hugging, each just glad to be with the other again. Candace joined in too, putting her arms around her little brothers lovingly with a contented smile. As this went on, the others' shouts of joy and excitement continued around them; but Perry only had ears for his beloved family.

"Good to have ya back, meat brick!" came Candace's cheerfully joking voice.

"Candace!" Perry said in surprise. "It's good to be back…!"

"I trust the mission went well," said Ferb, somehow managing to sound congratulatory, loving, and even a tad excited all at once. Ferb had that kind of quiet brilliance that gave his words just the tone and meaning he meant for them, and it was never more wonderful to hear.

"It did, it really did," he replied happily, nuzzling the teenager's cheek with a wide smile.

"We thought we lost you, boy!" Phineas sounded incredibly happy, but also a little choked. Perry supposed he'd had a rather dramatic day. They all had.

"No, I'm okay." He felt he had to assure them of this. "I'm fine…are you two alright? You're not hurt?"

"No, no, we're okay…everything's okay…"

With little surprise, he found himself purring quietly. So it was over? Had they won? Whatever had happened to LOVE MUFFIN? Countless questions were presenting themselves to him, and despite the lovely reunion they were having, he felt he had to get started soon or he would burst.

He pulled away a bit and looked the boys in the eyes. There were so many things he had to ask, it was hard to decide what to pick- but almost without thinking about it, the first thing he said was; "Where's Doofenshmirtz?"

Behind him, there was a small noise as from someone clearing their throat. "Um, back here."

Perry turned sharply, a little smile playing across his bill, and there he was- looking absolutely disheveled and grinning sheepishly, sitting behind his nemesis with his hands awkwardly twisting in his lap. The doctor gave a little wave with one hand, while the other played with the edge of his lab coat nervously. Perry, after a short pause, gave a little grin.

"You are my Doof, right?" he asked playfully with a small laugh. "The one from this timeline, I mean? Because I have seen way too many different incarnations of you today, and it's starting to get to me."

This sparked a little bout of laughter from everyone, even Doofenshmirtz, which was partly due to Perry's remark and partly due to their sheer relief at having him back.

"I am so glad to see you all again," said Perry happily when they had all calmed down. "But what happened? How did the Time Transporter-Inator get rebuilt? Did you defeat LOVE MUFFIN?"

"Yeah, we won!" Phineas said excitedly. "At first, we thought you'd really been destroyed, but then Rodney found out that Dr. D had switched the power cores- and then he tried to get him with the Triple-T since it had the Disintevaporator-Inizer's power core in it, but it blew up instead of working- and then, Candace showed up with the rest of the troops, and we took everybody into custody!"

"Except for me, 'cause I helped," said Doofenshmirtz proudly, drawing himself up with a little smirk.

"Speaking of that," Candace said suspiciously, narrowing her eyes at Doofenshmirtz (who shifted uncomfortably) and Professor Periwinkle (who had simply been standing by the wall and watching pleasantly while all this happened), "are we really going to let them go? What if they try something again?"

Phineas shrugged in a sort of calm way that showed he wasn't worried. "Well, I'd say we're pretty safe so long as we've got the rest of LOVE MUFFIN locked up. And if Dr. D tries something…" He glanced at Perry with a glowing smile. "Well, I think our 'Agent P' has got it covered!"

Perry smiled warmly, glad to hear that the boys had such faith in him- and that they weren't worried for him anymore.

Candace didn't look entirely convinced. "What about him?" she asked, jabbing a thumb at Periwinkle, who waved amiably.

"Oh, he's not going to be any trouble," Doofenshmirtz assured her with a little flip of the hand.

Periwinkle gave an exclamation of agreement, then went on to say something absolutely bewildering, presumably about how he wouldn't be a problem, gesticulating as he spoke and smiling brightly all the time.

There was a short silence. Doofenshmirtz, after a moment, turned and said, "See?"

Candace nodded slowly, one eye still narrowed in confusion, and the others turned to each other with puzzled expressions, wondering if anyone else had understood. Perry leaned over to Doofenshmirtz and muttered, "What's he saying?"

"I have no idea," Doofenshmirtz replied out of the corner of his mouth.

Perry couldn't help but laugh.

Phineas cleared his throat. "Um, anyway," he started awkwardly. "Perry, we've told you what happened here- but what happened to you? Did you make it to the past? Did your mission succeed?"

Perry nodded smilingly. "Yes, and yes," he confirmed. He then proceeded to tell them of all the things that had happened, from his arriving in the past to his leaving it. Everyone was amazed by the story, but naturally, Doofenshmirtz found it the most interesting. By the end of it, he was bursting with questions.

"So, this is me…but from another timeline?" he asked, nudging his doppelganger experimentally with the toe of his shoe. "Why's he all tied up like that? Did you have something to do with this?" He glared at Perry in exasperation.

Perry shrugged with an uncomfortable frown. "He was making so much noise, and I just knew it was going to get us caught. Besides," he added, getting a sneaky smirk, "you tie me up all the time. You even made me tie myself up once!"

Doofenshmirtz seemed a bit taken aback at first, but he quickly acquiesced with a nod. "Hm. True." Then he glanced down at the other Doofenshmirtz's feet, still adorned with the ridiculous flip-flops. "And what did you say these things were- time traveling flip-flops? That's so cool!"

"Well, yeah, but I'm a bit doubtful of how well they actually work," said Perry dubiously, putting a hand to his chin in thought. "I mean, they're supposed to be activated by stomping, and he was walking around an awful lot. It wouldn't surprise me if they just went off out of the blue-"

But just as he spoke, Doofenshmirtz tried to pull one of the shoes off, and in an instant it had let out a quick flash of purple light and disappeared- along with the wearer. Everybody jumped and Professor Periwinkle put his hand over his heart with a little, "Oh!" And then it was over. They all stared for a moment, before glancing at Doofenshmirtz with accusatory frowns.

Doofenshmirtz, suddenly in the spotlight, frowned uncomfortably and put his hands up in surrender. "W-well, I was thinking of taking a vacation anyway," he said hastily. Then, rubbing his neck awkwardly, he added, "A…a really exotic vacation."

Phineas and Ferb exchanged a somewhat worried glance, and Baljeet raised his eyebrows skeptically, but Perry couldn't help but giggle surreptitiously. Classic Doof.

"Hey, I just thought of something," Isabella spoke up unexpectedly. They turned to look at her, and she frowned. "If Perry's mission in the past succeeded…that means we're all going to disappear, doesn't it?"

They were quiet for a moment. Perry felt himself relax slightly, as he was quietly reminded of this inevitability. He exhaled softly, glanced up at Phineas and Ferb, and saw the same sentiments reflected in their tired faces. Phineas seemed to have become more somber now, more mature somehow than he was before. He looked down at his feet, then up at his brother, who put a hand on his shoulder with a gentle nod. Phineas' face tightened minutely, and he seemed to steel himself.

(It's time for some music! Go look up 'Midna's Sacrifice- the Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess')

"…I think so," he concluded remorsefully, returning his gaze to Isabella. Her face fell slightly, although she seemed to have already come to this conclusion herself, and behind her, the others seemed disappointed as well. Phineas sighed. "We…we had a good run, guys. It's been great knowing all of you."

Isabella's gaze was downcast. Buford seemed to be tearing up a little, and Baljeet had to comfort him tentatively with a pat on the back. Jeremy put his arms around Candace, who laid her head on his shoulder in a tender gesture. In the background, Professor Periwinkle burst into tears and produced a lime green handkerchief with which to dab at his eyes.

Phineas and Ferb were not without emotion, either. As if on cue, they turned to each other. Ferb said nothing. Phineas just stared for a moment, eyes shining softly. Then, they put their arms around each other in a good-natured brotherly embrace, and Phineas murmured, "Love you, bro."

Ferb patted him comfortingly. "Love you too, Phin."

Perry, observing this, felt a sudden sense of sadness overtaking him as well. Not wanting to disturb the boys yet, he looked up at Doofenshmirtz, expecting a last gruff sort of goodbye. However, instead of returning the sad gaze, Doofenshmirtz was busy glaring out into the middle distance, one hand on his chin. His eyes were narrowed, either in deep thought or in anger (or, possibly, a combination), and he had a rather indignant air about him. Perry raised an eyebrow.

"…Doof? Everything okay?"

Doofenshmirtz's face contracted briefly in a grimace. He suddenly burst out, "Okay, does anybody else think this is totally unfair?"

A short silence. Buford sniffed loudly.

Doofenshmirtz crossed his arms. "No, seriously. I know we're busy being all sad and stuff, but come on. We're all just going to die? The end? What's the use in that?"

"Well, it was supposed to be sort of a sad story," Ferb pointed out.

"Fourth wall, bro."

"Sorry."

"And it doesn't make any sense, either!" Doofenshmirtz continued vehemently, ignoring Ferb's odd comment. "I mean, why do we have to disappear? The other me, the one from the good future, he still got to exist and he wasn't even in his own timeline anymore! Why should we be any different?"

Phineas blinked, this being a new thought to him. "Well…to be honest, Ferb and I spent more time studying how to change the past than we did studying what would happen if we did. I guess…we just figured that would happen?"

"But we have done so much research on time travel!" Baljeet spoke up. "Have we not already come to a conclusion on this point?"

"Well, I've learned a thing or two about time travel myself," Doofenshmirtz continued, suddenly adopting a scientific tone. "And I learned that whenever someone makes a decision, the timeline splits into two alternate realities. Neither one of them has to stop existing- they just continue on separately, subject to the changes of their individual choices."

Ferb raised his eyebrows. Candace, wide-eyed and wondering, glanced up at Jeremy, who returned the glance with a little shrug. Perry narrowed his eyes.

"You got that off a science program or something, didn't you?" he asked skeptically. Doofenshmirtz, apparently struck by Perry's insight, squirmed uncomfortably.

"How'd you guess?" he muttered ruefully.

Perry shrugged with a faint smile. "I've never heard you say something so technical unless you heard it somewhere else."

"Still, he's got a point," Phineas spoke up, reflecting on the theories he and Ferb had come up with several days ago at the Rebellion camp. "Ferb and I thought we might be stuck in some kind of loop, or that the future would change completely if our mission succeeded- but the timeline theory seems plausible too!"

He glanced back at Baljeet, who shrugged and said, "He is right."

"So, we're not going to disappear?" asked Isabella hesitantly.

Baljeet spoke up once more. "Well, there is no way of knowing for sure…"

"But if you think about it," Ferb put in, raising a finger with a wise nod, "life in general has always been an uncertain matter."

"Ferb has a point too!" said Phineas, his face brightening with the light of a new day. Everyone looked up, recognizing that ever-familiar note of hope in his voice. "We might disappear any second," Phineas began, "but then again, we might not. So, as long as we're here, why shouldn't we make the most of it?"

Isabella nodded, a smile breaking over her face. "We could rebuild Danville!"

"And elect a new government!" Baljeet added hopefully.

"And I can finally show Mom all the stuff you guys did!" Candace exclaimed.

"We'll fix up the city, reunite our families, go back to our normal lives," Phineas rattled off, his voice growing brighter and brighter. "After all, if they did it in the second dimension, why can't we do it here?"

"YEAH!" everyone agreed, despite the fact that none of them had a clue what he was talking about.

"Let's go, you guys!" Phineas shouted exuberantly, raising a fist in the air. "I know what we're going to do today!"

Everyone cheered, and with the boys leading the way triumphantly, they began to head for the door, excited to get started.

"I cannot wait to get back to school…"

"I've got to tell my troop! This'll be great…!"

"I'm gonna go lift some heavy stuff!"

"Where's my cell phone? I can't wait to call Mom…"

And the party exited the lab cheerfully, all of them thrilled to be going back to normal. Perry grinned happily and began to follow, but stopped short. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw Doofenshmirtz standing by the Time Transporter-Inator with his back to them. Looking back, he saw Phineas and Ferb waiting by the door.

Phineas smiled invitingly. "Coming, boy?"

Perry was quiet for a moment. He looked at Doofenshmirtz, then back at the boys. Seeing this, Phineas nodded understandingly.

"That's cool," he said with a smile. "We'll catch up with you later, okay?"

Perry smiled, and nodded happily. Phineas returned the grin, and he and Ferb promptly left the room. "So, I've got an idea for how we should rebuild city hall…"

"Tell me all about it."

Perry watched them go until he could no longer see them, still wearing the smile. Then, turning around, he padded over to the Inator and stood next to his nemesis in silence.

They were both quiet for a moment, staring at the machine that had brought them so much trouble. Perry gazed at it, wondering blandly whether Professor Periwinkle had included a self-destruct button when he rebuilt the thing. Doofenshmirtz, at length, let out a small sigh.

"…We should really get rid of this thing."

Perry took a moment to respond. "I guess so."

Doofenshmirtz looked down at the machine's control pad, which still looked about the same to Perry. There was the self-destruct, all right.

Doofenshmirtz didn't seem to have the resolve to push it, so Perry did it for him. A timer appeared on a screen next to the button, and it began to count down. Doofenshmirtz sighed. They had a considerable amount of time before it went off. Perry, for one, felt he had done a service for the world.

Glancing up at the doctor, he smiled and said, "That was a good speech you gave…even if you did learn it from a science program."

A smile tugged at the corner of Doofenshmirtz's mouth. He looked away in an almost embarrassed manner. "Aw, quit it."

He did. They fell into silence again. Eventually, Doofenshmirtz sat down with his legs crossed and his elbows resting on his knees. Perry sat beside him. They both gazed at the oddly-painted machine, absorbed in thought.

"Hey," said Perry softly.

Doofenshmirtz looked down at him curiously.

Perry turned his gaze to the floor, a little self-conscious. "I just…wanted to say thanks. You know. For saving my life."

Doofenshmirtz grinned. "Well, what are enemies for?" Then, adopting a more nervous tone, he added, "We are still enemies, right?"

Perry closed his eyes and considered that for a moment. On the surface, it could be taken as an acknowledgement of their truce coming to an end. A nudge to indicate that they were going to go back to hating each other.

But, if one considered the particulars of their situation and relationship, and the tone Doofenshmirtz had used, it conveyed a different sort of message. This way, it sounded more like he was asking if they were still on normal terms; if they would still be together, as nemeses, or frenemies, or whatever their peculiar relationship could be described as; if, after eight long years of turmoil and doubt, things were finally going to go back to the way they had always been. The way Doofenshmirtz had always wanted them to stay.

Perry opened his eyes. He looked up at his waiting nemesis, who was watching him keenly for a reaction. "Well, put it this way," he began simply, with the beginnings of a smile. "So long as evil exists in the Tri-State Area…I am sworn to defend it."

Doofenshmirtz blinked. "So…that's a yes?"

Perry's smile widened a bit. He nodded decisively.

Doofenshmirtz's grin returned, and he exclaimed, "YES!"

Then, seeming a little sheepish, he coughed and stated, "I mean, good. Because I am definitely still evil. Not that I wanna go back to LOVE MUFFIN or anything, I don't- but believe me, the Tri-State Area hasn't seen the last of me!"

Perry laughed. After a moment, they returned to silence again.

The Inator continued its countdown with a slow ticking.

Perry thought back to his mission in the past. To how happy his past self had been when Doofenshmirtz gave him that card.

He sighed.

Doofenshmirtz looked down at him again. "Something wrong?"

"I was just wondering," Perry responded in a slightly downcast tone, "how things are going in the past." Then he shrugged, and revised this slightly. "Well, I guess it's not really the past anymore. Now it's a different timeline."

Doofenshmirtz rolled his eyes. It was all so confusing.

"Anyway," Perry continued quietly. "When I left, you and I- our past selves, that is- were just beginning to celebrate our Neme-Versary." There was a tinge of remorse in his voice. "And I…well, I just kind of wish that we…" He trailed off.

Doofenshmirtz was quiet for a moment, his brows knitted in concern. He shared Perry's sentiments, of course, but there wasn't much he could do about it. They'd already tried changing the past a few times, and it didn't seem to do much. Not to mention, time travel was very complicated, and he didn't want to get involved with it again if he could help it.

He looked away, feeling a little sad. But then, a thought occurred to him- a rather interesting thought- and he turned to face Perry with raised eyebrows.

"Perry the Platypus," he said, a curious note in his voice, "do you know what today is?"

Perry, still feeling sort of low and not really understanding, just looked up at him with a confused countenance. "Honestly, Doof, I've been through so much trouble with time travel lately, I couldn't tell you what day of the week it is."

"It's Tuesday," Doofenshmirtz informed him. Then, pressing further, he asked, "You really don't know?"

Perry frowned tiredly. "No. I haven't got a clue."

Doofenshmirtz seemed oddly excited. How ironic that he should remember, and not Perry! Well, the agent could hardly be blamed- he was probably very disoriented, after all.

(It's time for muuuuuusic! :D Go look up 'LOZ OST- After Boss Fight')

"Funny thing about time travel," the doctor stated cryptically, getting up and striding over to a desk in the corner of the room. "Since we have leap years and stuff, if you're transported several years in the future, you might not come back on exactly the same day you left."

Perry raised an eyebrow, wondering just where he was going with this. Doofenshmirtz opened a drawer and pulled something out, then put it behind his back and walked back to where Perry sat by the machine. His curiosity piqued, Perry stood and looked up at his nemesis wonderingly.

Doofenshmirtz was smiling happily, little flickers of emotion flashing across his face. "You see, the other day, I was in here and I happened to glance at the calendar- and, well…" he shifted nervously, trying to find the words. "Well, today happens to, uh…wh-what I'm trying to say is…"

Then, after a tense moment, he seemed to give it up. "Here- I've been waiting too long to give you this." He took the item he'd retrieved from the drawer out from behind his back, and held it out for Perry to see.

Perry gasped, recognizing what the paper was immediately. Shocked into silence, he took the card without a word and examined it. Judging by the scrawly handwriting and the copious amounts of craft glitter covering it, the thing seemed to be homemade. Feeling touched, he looked back up at Doofenshmirtz with shining eyes.

"You really did remember…"

Overcome with emotion and grinning happily, Perry wrapped his arms around his nemesis' leg in a happy embrace.

Doofenshmirtz grinned as well, his cheeks reddening in embarrassment. He knelt down and hugged his little nemesis back, saying, "Happy Neme-Versary, Perry the Platypus."

"Happy Neme-Versary, Doof…"

They stayed that way for a moment, each feeling a strange sense of peace. At last, releasing each other, Doofenshmirtz said eagerly, "Ooh, ooh, and I got you a present, too! Wait right there…"

He ran back to the other side of the room with the air of an excited child, and came back with a remote control. Perry leapt to his feet just as the doctor pressed the button, and just as he'd suspected, a cage suddenly dropped from the ceiling and landed overtop of him. Doofenshmirtz, feeling triumphant, let out a maniacal cackle and threw the remote over his shoulder carelessly. Perry grabbed the perfectly-sized bars and smiled at them, reflecting that he could have dodged easily- if he had wanted to at all.

"I have you now, Perry the Platypus!" Doofenshmirtz crowed, lifting the cage by a little handle on top. "So, I have all kinds of unused Inators sitting in my storage room…what say we pick one to fight over? You know, assuming some of them still work."

Perry chattered in response, feeling he didn't really need to say anything further, and Doofenshmirtz responded with an enthusiastic, "Great! I've got just the right one in mind. Wait 'til you see this plan, it's going to knock your socks off."

And so, chattering amiably about socks and evil plans and the like, he sauntered out of the room with Perry's cage in his hand. Inside, Perry listened with a sincerely happy smile. It was finally over now…

And even though he didn't know what awaited him in this new future they were embarking on…even though there might be more trials waiting for him someday…

It was a new day.

And he had never been happier to face it.

THREE…

TWO…

ONE…

ZERO.

~The End~

End Notes:

D:

Dx

TTOTT WAAAAAAAHHHHH

IT'S OVER

IT'S FINALLY OVER

Dangit, I'm gonna be crying for hours. =v=

Wow, I can't believe that's the end! I've been working on this one chapter for nearly a year now…it seems too weird to be real…

Anyway, now that you've survived to the end, I just want to say thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, commented, and overall enjoyed this chapter and the story at large! In particular, thanks to my excellent editor (Mom x3), my very supportive sisters, my dad- wait, no, he just distracted me. Nevermind- and to you, the reader, of course! You guys have been the best audience I could ask for, and it's you that have kept me going through the ups and downs of writing this story.

And now, though it seems beyond belief, I think…we really have come to the end. Sayonara, my friends!

This is Secret Agent G, signing off! ;u;