Perry woke the next morning and stretched himself. He was on Phineas's bed, which was strange because he'd switched to Ferb's bed in the middle of the night. Maybe the boys moved him. Or maybe he was still so shaken up from the previous day that he'd imagined moving.

The memories of the last 24 hours came flooding back to him. Doofenshmirtz, the Earthquake-inator, falling… He'd nearly died. It scared him to think about. What if he hadn't made it, if Doof hadn't caught him? His family would never know what happened to him, they might think he'd run away or deserted them. Perry blinked back tears. In his line of work anything could happen, but he hadn't ever thought about being killed on the job before. Now it was all he could think about. He almost thought about taking the day off, but Major Monogram would not like it. Perry sighed before making his way through the house on four legs, just in case. Perry walked into the kitchen and stepped on a large blueprint. He was lifted off it by Phineas, who thankfully didn't seem to mind much.

"Careful, Perry. That's for our giant spinning plates. Though I don't know where we can get plates that big yet…"

Perry was set down next to the table and repressed a smile when the family fell into routines.

"Did you hear that, Mum? Giant… Spinning… Plates!"

Candace spoke each word slowly with emphasis as though Linda wasn't going to understand.

"Yes, I know Candace. Like the ones in the circus. Just don't use my good plates, boys."

Candace stormed up to her room muttering something about getting her camera. Before the rest of the family could notice, Perry slipped away into a tube hidden under a house plant. He landed in his seat at the HQ again. (Hey, where's Perry?) Monogram was on the giant screen before him wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

"Ah, Agent P. What, this? It's casual Friday."

Perry rolled his eyes. Nobody ever told him about these things. Not that it mattered, as a Platypus with nothing but a hat he was about as casual as he could get.

"It seems Doofenshmirtz has bought up all the batteries in the Tristate area. We need you to find out what he's up to and put a stop to it."

Perry saluted at the screen and ran off to his scooter. This was a day just like any other, right? Then why did it feel so different? Perry drove out of one of the many exits hidden round town and headed for Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated. He had a sickening fluttering in his stomach. He knew he was nervous but he should have no reason to be worried. Unless the same thing happened again…

Perry took the stairs up to the evil scientists floor, hoping to prolong the inevitable. He hoped the most forward approach would not be expected as he opened the front door with the key he'd been given. It really did save money on broken doors. He stepped into the room, looking briefly round. He didn't see anything so took another step. Suddenly something fell over him with a loud smack. His paws flew over his head to protect himself but he soon found that nothing had hit him. Doofenshmirtz had apparently gone cheap on the trap and just dropped a washing basket over his nemesis. Perry straightened up to try and push it off of him but Doof had already piled some bricks on top of it. Doofenshmirtz laughed and closed his front door.

"Perry the Platypus, you're in for a bit of a shock."

Perry raised an eyebrow at the scientist. Was that supposed to be a pun? Doof seemed to catch on that he'd said it at the wrong time.

"Riiight… I haven't explained my scheme yet. Well my latest invention is the Lightning-inator!"

He pointed dramatically at a little machine in the middle of the room that looked surprisingly like a bug-zapper.

"This little machine can take the energy of millions of batteries and change it into pure electricity! With this I can devastate the Tristate area with lightning bolts! Aaand win that bet with Vanessa that lightning can strike the same place twice if there's enough of it, but that's not the important part."

Perry wasn't paying too much attention to his enemy's rambling. He'd picked a ruler up off the floor and was busy knocking bricks off the basket while Doof's back was turned. Doofenshmirtz didn't hear the noise behind him as he turned on the whirring -inator with a button on a pad in his hand. Perry flung the basket over his head and into Doofenshmirtz, who turned round and rubbed the back of his head.

"Ow! Well you know what, it doesn't matter if you escape! This one's remote controlled and I have the remote!"

And with that Doof ran off with a loud cackle to the balcony holding the Lightning-inator and its remote. Perry gave a signature chatter before rushing after him. The moment he set foot on the balcony however, all rational thinking left the Platypus. Perry froze up. He didn't know why he did it, but he couldn't move, his heart pounded in his chest and all he could think about was the drop below him. The Lightning-inator was up and running, the skies turned a dark shade of purple with clouds as lightning began to build, thunderous rumbles signalling their arrival. Doof laughed but soon realised that his nemesis hadn't followed him which was very un-Perry the Platypus-like.

Lightning showered over the Tristate area but was all drawn to one spot. Phineas and Ferb watched in awe as waves of bright white light struck the giant metal pole sticking out of their back garden.

"Hey, Ferb. I didn't know plate spinners made such good lightning conductors."

Back on the balcony of DEI, Perry still hadn't moved a muscle. His eyes were wide with shock as he realised that he couldn't stop the -inator this time. Luckily the lightning seemed to be all headed to one same area, so most of the Tristate area was safe. Doofenshmirtz has stopped laughing and watched Perry the Platypus curiously. He glared when he realised the semi-aquatic mammal wasn't going to try and stop him. Was his scheme really that unthreatening. His Lightning-inator obviously a failure, Doof hurled it at Perry with poor aim. It bounced off the floor next to Perry's feet and then again over the edge of the balcony.

The noise startled Perry out of his frozen state and the agent shot back into the building faster than the evil scientist thought a Platypus could move. Doofenshmirtz was very confused and cautiously followed his frenemy, wary that it might be a trap of his own. When he went back into the room the only strange thing he saw was the washing basket, turned upside-down, shaking. Still careful, Doof picked up the basket and was shocked at what he saw. Perry the Platypus, his most formidable foe, was curled in a tight ball trembling. His fedora was pulled down over his eyes, balanced on his beak. Doofenshmirtz felt something tug on his heartstrings. He'd never seen Perry the Platypus like this and for some reason had no desire to ever see it again. Doof knelt down and rested his hand on Perry's back. Perry stopped shaking, as though only just realising that his adversary was there.

"What's wrong, Perry the Platypus?"

Perry shook his head and curled up tighter. Now, Doof knew his frenemy, it was part of the job to, and he knew something was very wrong. He scooped Perry up into his arms, trying his best not to feel awkward about it. He slowly got the little mammal to uncurl and then held him at arms length, his hands holding just under Perry's arms. Perry managed to keep his hat over his eyes, but otherwise went limp. He wasn't in any condition to be fighting. Doof tried to guess at what might be the matter, after all Perry couldn't speak, being a Platypus and all.

"Is this about what happened yesterday?"

Perry felt his heart skip a beat as all the fear rushed through him again at once. All he could remember was his family and how he didn't want to die and leave all of that. A large tear snuck its way past his fedora and dripped off the end of his beak. Doofenshmirtz sighed, he'd guessed as much.

"Look, Perry the Platypus, I didn't mean for you to fall. It scared me a bit too."

Perry dared to look up slightly at this, trying in vain to hide his watery eyes. Doof nodded.

"No really, it did. I wouldn't be much of an evil genius without a nemesis would I? If it makes you feel better we can keep all our fighting indoors. No chance of falling off of anything!"

Doofenshmirtz had a goofy half-hearted grin on his face. Perry couldn't help but smile weakly. It was a pitifully small gesture considering the emotional trauma he'd suffered because of this, but Perry knew that his frenemy was trying his best to get things back to normal. Knowing that Doofenshmirtz didn't ever mean him intentional harm did manage to lift Perry's spirits though. Perry nodded slowly, the lump in his throat causing him to let a few more tears spill. Some were from the previous fear but most were from relief. Acting on impulse, Doof brought his crying nemesis into a tight hug before putting him back on the floor.

"I don't care what Major Monobrow says. I think you should take the rest of the day off."

Perry wiped the stray tear traces from his eyes and smiled gratefully at Doofenshmirtz, who just shooed him out the door.

"Just… promise you'll be better tomorrow."

Somehow Perry knew he wasn't talking about the fighting. Perry took the long way home, happy in knowing that sometimes the one who understands most is the one you least expected to understand at all. When he got home Candace was screaming something about spinning plates while Phineas was insisting that they were melted by lightning. Linda completely ignored the sibling hostility. Perry smiled warmly. He was lucky to have his family, but he was very privileged to have a frenemy like Doofenshmirtz.