Time to answer some reviews!

To Titus Genuicus: I'm glad you enjoy this fanfic! Yeah, Penny can be a bit too imaginative for her own good (and perhaps delusional when it comes to her uncle's wits.); but she is only five when this story takes place, so such fantasy is to be expected. But, rest assured, the love she has for Gadget is no fairy tale. :)

The drive back home was completely silent, apart from the never-ending noise the streets naturally made. Penny sat in the middle between her look-alike and puppy. Because of the explosion, Prof. Von Slickstien explained the lab was no longer "child-proof", meaning the clone couldn't stay there. Since the professor practically lived in his own laboratory, and Dr. Jindal wasn't going to do any science-y stuff anytime soon, she had to stay at Penny's house. Penny, of course, didn't like this at all, but there was not much she could do.

"It won't be so bad," Uncle Gadget tried to convince her. "Think of it this way: at least you'll have someone to play with when Brain won't come out of his hiding spot." But Penny didn't want to play with herself. Where's the fun in that? She would rather be bored out of her mind! Nevertheless, she gave in anyways. At the end of the day, she couldn't leave someone with nowhere to go, even if it was herself in a way.

Of course, sitting in the back seat next to one's copy brings the perfect opportunity to a little bit of scientific investigation. Just how alike was this clone? Were there any flaws that needed to be found? With little to no thought, Penny began examining the other's hair, just to see if it was really did stop right below the shoulders. The clone shot a few confused looks at her at first, but then began investigating on her own. They then moved on to their faces, arms, and shirts. They were examining each other's bellies when they found their ticklish spots. Both began to giggle uncontrollably, and decided anonymously to find flaws in their laughs. A tickle war had begun.

"Girls! Please! Sit quietly! I don't want either of you to get hurt."

"Yes, Uncle Gadget."

"Understood, inspector."

The car remained quiet until they arrived home.

000

The rest of the day's events were rather normal, considering the circumstances. Uncle Gadget had told the girls that they weren't allowed to go outside at the same time, afraid that the neighbors would call the authorities and take the clone away to "who knows where". The clone herself started to remember the house, and major events that took place in it. This made Penny feel very uneasy. Even Uncle Gadget was a bit surprised. The copy, however, couldn't seem to remember the little things, such as the crack in the living room ceiling, or the wonky top step (they lost count of how many times she tripped or fell. ). She didn't seem to care though; at one point, she told Penny that "such details are insignificant". This made the young girl concerned.

Everything else was the same as always: lunch, nap, play, supper, movie, and bed. Tomorrow, on the other hand, was going to be a completely different story. Uncle Gadget had to go to work in the morning, and that meant he would be gone all day. Since Penny was only a little girl, a baby sitter usually came to watch her (unless she had Kindergarten, then she would stay at a friend's house until her uncle picked her up.). How was Uncle Gadget going to explain two Pennies to her baby sitter? Oh well. He would think of something. Uncle Gadget always had a solution to a problem. There was still another question that was still nagging at her. She just had to ask it.

"What's your name?" The whispered question cut through the dark room, illuminated by the glow-in-the-dark stars that stuck to the ceiling. Penny made sure it looked as much as the actual night sky as possible, even though she made the Big Bear too big, and she was missing Orion and the girl with the ball and chain. The clone, who slept in a sleeping bag in the middle of the room, was silent for a moment.

"Why are you asking me this?"

"Because I want to know. Is it my name? Or is it something completely different? Do you even have a name?"

"It matters not if I have a name. Now go to sleep." But Penny couldn't. She needed to know.

"It's a simple question, really. Do you have a name, yes or no?"

"No! Now shush!" Satisfied with her answer, Penny closed her eyes to fall asleep. However, a new question started to keep her up.

"If you did have a name, what would it be?" No response. "I could call you Penny 2! Oh! I know! How about Clone!" Incomprehensible muttering could be heard from the floor.

"Are you going to keep this up all night?"

"Until I find a name that suits you." A long moment of silence followed.

"Adelphie."

"Huh?"

"My name is Adelphie. Now please. Go to sleep." Adelphie. A rather odd choice, but at least it was something. Rolling onto her side, Penny closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Well, she would have, if Adelphie didn't start screaming.

Surprised, Penny shot up until she was sitting up straight. It was hard to see, but she could make out Adelphie wriggling in her sleeping bag, clawing at her belly. In the mist of… whatever it was she was doing, Adelphie managed to wiggle herself out of her bedding. That's when Penny saw it: right in the middle of Adelphie's belly, a hand, complete with a wrist and half of a forearm, was grasping at the air. Penny immediately hid under her sheets.

"UNCLE GADGET!" She didn't know what to do. What could she do?! Her clone was growing another arm from her belly! Normal people didn't grow arms from their bellies! All of a sudden, Penny could hear her bedroom door slam open.

"What going – OH MY GOODNESS! PENNY'S CLONE!"

"Her name's Adelphie, Uncle Gadget!" He didn't respond to Penny's correction. In fact, Penny wasn't sure what her uncle was doing. She so badly wanted to peek from her sheets, but was too afraid to. As long as Adelphie was still screaming, Penny was going to remain hidden. After what felt like an eternity, it finally stopped. Ever so carefully, Penny lowered her sheets to see what happened.

Sitting in the middle of the room was Uncle Gadget, with Adelphie holding on to him tightly. He, in return, rubbed her back, just like he would to Penny whenever she had a nightmare. He was looking at Adelphie rather strangely though. It was almost like he was afraid of her. Slowly, Penny slipped off her bed and approached her uncle and clone.

"Is Adelphie okay, Uncle Gadget?" she asked in a quiet, careful tone.

"Um… yes. I think so. Although… why don't you ask her yourself?" Although she felt sorry for her, Penny did not want to ask Adelphie about her well-being. But she did so anyway. She tapped her shoulder, and the clone turned to look at her. Her face was pale, and her pupils were no more than tiny specks.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

"I'm right here," said a voice in the far edge of the room.

Penny turned to see the source of the voice. Sure enough, there was her living reflection, covered in sweat and holding onto her belly as if she was about to throw up. Ever so slowly, Penny looked back at the mystery girl that held on to her uncle for dear life.

"She's another clone," Uncle Gadget tried to explain. "She… kind of crawled out of Adelphie… I guess."

"But why?"

"I don't know."

"So I'm going to keep having clones for the rest of my life?!"

"No, Penny. I'm sure there's a limit."

"What if there isn't?" Uncle Gadget didn't quite know how to answer that question.

"Listen. It's been a long night. I have work tomorrow, and I need to figure out this baby sitter problem of ours." He pointed two fingers at Penny and Adelphie. "You two, go back to bed. This one will be staying in my room."

"Why?"

"Because she's a bit clingy, that's why. Now good night, both of you." And with that, Uncle Gadget left the room, carrying the new clone in his arms.

Penny suddenly wished she had a puppy to hold.

"My, isn't the inspector quite the comforter," Adelphie remarked. "I especially enjoyed the part when he hugged you tightly and said everything was going to be alright." Penny said nothing, confused that her clone recalled these events despite them never happening.

000

Nothing eventful happened until the next morning, when Uncle Gadget found two clones in his bed instead of one. According to one, the other had "crawled out of her" later in the night. Since no one woke up, Penny reasoned that it might have not been as painful for the copy as it was for Adelphie. Speaking of the clones, they were… odd, to say the least. The first seemed to be suffering from an intense case of Pantophobia; she was so scared of her surroundings that she refused to even leave Uncle Gadget's bedroom. She was eventually coasted out, but she scootched wherever she went, her back pinned to the wall at all times. The other was the complete opposite. She wasn't afraid of anything, not even death itself. While Penny envied her bravery at first, she noticed that the clone would do things that weren't very wise. Uncle Gadget made sure all entrances to the garage were locked, for the look-alike's safety. Neither of them seemed to remember anything about the house as well. As far as they were concerned, they were living with a police inspector, a strange human-like puppy, and two girls that looked exactly like them. They didn't care about learning names, so Penny didn't even bother trying to name them. Instead, she gave them secret nicknames: Daredevil and Phobia.

The breakfast table was a bit more chaotic than usual; Phobia was too afraid to eat the pancakes given to her, Daredevil attempted to lick the syrup off her knife, and Adelphie suspiciously poked at her food before deciding to eat it (she claimed it was a few seconds uncooked, which was absurd; Uncle Gadget's pancakes were perfect.). Penny, all the while, tried to help her uncle with all the madness that was going on. After what felt like forever, breakfast was finally over. Daredevil ran upstairs out of sight, while Phobia retreated to the wall, avoiding any dust bunnies that crossed her path. Brain also made a surprise appearance, poking his head from around a corner and running to sit next to who he thought was Penny. Adelphie smirked.

"Penny. Adelphie. I need you to listen very carefully." Both girls turned their attention to Uncle Gadget. "I'm going to call the baby sitter to tell her not to come today."

"So you're going to stay here?" Adelphie asked, eyebrow raised. Uncle Gadget shook his head in a weary manner.

"As much as I don't want to, I have to go in today." Penny's eyes widened.

"Then who's going to watch us, Uncle Gadget?!"

"You are, I'm afraid." On any other day, Penny would have been celebrating with joy. But this wasn't any other day. She was in a house with three other selves, and she felt uncomfortable around all of them! Adelphie didn't seem to fond of the idea either.

"Are you nuts?! You can't leave us here! Penny can't take care of two psychos, let alone herself! She's only five!"

"Neither are you, Adelphie, but what choice do I have? I have enough faith in Penny that she won't do anything dangerous."

"Maybe not Penny per se,…" Adelphie didn't finish her sentence, but a loud thud that came from upstairs did it for her. Uncle Gadget groaned with frustration.

"I have to go. Penny, please be good?"

"I will, Uncle Gadget."

"Right." Uncle Gadget got up from his seat at the table, and walked up to Penny, giving her a quick hug. In her ear, he whispered "I won't be long." After that, he dashed through the door, disappearing from sight.

"Inspector has faith in you, huh?" Penny glanced at her look alike. "You must be smart to be trusted to be left at home alone."

"Sure I am! Why, I bet I could build my own computer if I could!" Adelphie looked at Penny rather strangely.

"Oh really. Where are you going to put it?"

"In my backpack, of course!"

"A computer can't fit in your backpack! Let alone this house!" Before Penny had time to explain, she was interrupted by a familiar and annoyed voice from upstairs. Remembering her deadly counterpart, Penny launched herself from her seat, and rocketed up the stairs. It took a couple of seconds, but she eventually found the clone in her room. Actually, there were three standing before the young girl. There was Daredevil, and two others; one was a brunette, and the other had green eyes. Daredevil was standing on top of the dresser, a blanket tied around her neck, with Burnette piggyback riding on her. Green eyes, on the other hand, had thrown all the clothes in the drawers onto the floor, creating one giant pile of t-shirts, pants, socks, and underwear.

Five clones.

Why, oh why did she let her dreams of going to the future get the best of her?