(A/N: Wow, this took a really long time to post! Sorry about that; I was just really busy with school and the new AU I'm planning to post. And trying to figure out how to update "Once And For All." Sorry about that as well. I'll just get to that one when I have more ideas.
Thanks to Shadowclanwarrior for giving me the brilliant plot twist for Mabel and Pacifica's ultimate showdown later on!
And yes, you guys guessed it. The code in the clones' names was, in order of their initials, PACIFICA N. Gideon was probably subconsciously giving names which initials (in order of creation) spelled out the name of his best friend.
Gideon was led downstairs into a small closet, into which his doppelgangers shoved him. He looked up at them, trying to protest, but they shoved the door on him. Once he got to his feet, he considered banging on the door, but before he could, a clone's voice (most probably Peter's) told him, "There's no use cryin' 'fer help, Gideon! Plus, we left snacks and a colorin' book 'fer 'ya so 'ya don't get bored wit' 'yer imprisonment!"
Gideon looked at the coloring books, crayons, and box of chocolate-covered raisins at his feet, then sighed in frustration. He grabbed the box, and opened it before popping one candy in his mouth, already forming a plot in his mind.
Meanwhile, Peter glanced one last time at the door before turning to the other clones. "Alright, now that Gideon's trapped in that closet, now one of us has t'be the one t'dance with Melody. With that, I nominate myself," he gestured to himself, "since I've been around the longest."
"That's a pretty good point, logically speaking," the clone known as Nicholas nodded. "But I have another one to make: what if I was the clone t'dance wit' Melody; I'm the one that's been around the least, after all."
"That doesn't make much sense." Isaac crossed his arms.
"You don't make much sense!" Nicholas retaliated, shoving Isaac, who pushed Nicholas down to the ground in anger. "Shut up!" Isaac cried.
"Don't push people!" the clone known as Frank jabbed a finger in Isaac's face.
A string of disjointed noises rang out through the air, and the clones all looked up to see that Paper Jam Gideon was talking – or trying to talk.
"Uh, hey, friend," Peter stepped up to Paper Jam Gideon, taking a box of chocolate-covered raisins out of his vest. " 'Ya want some chocolate-covered raisins?"
Paper Jam Gideon responded by making a few coughing sounds. Taking that as a "yes", Peter attempted to feed Paper Jam Gideon one candy, but for some reason he couldn't get it past its lips. After eventually giving up, he turned to the other clones, feeling something bad in his gut.
"Uh, guys," Peter asked, "what'd you do if you were in a locked closet?"
"Break out," the others said simply and simultaneously; and then they looked at the closet door behind them, which was open.
Peter slapped his forehead as he realized that Gideon had escaped.
Gideon ran out from the hall and up the stairs to the attic, glancing over his shoulder every now and then to see if anyone who looked like him was behind him. He reached the attic, and then ran straight for the second flight of stairs that led down to the backstage of the party venue. He ran quickly down these stairs, and stopped three steps before the stairs ended. The nine year-old looked around, from the stage, to the dance floor where Melody was.
"Melody–!" Gideon tried to call out, but a hand from behind him clapped over his mouth. Without warning, he was dragged back up the stairs, and up to the attic where the clones were waiting for him. Isaac let go of Gideon, and pushed him forward to face Peter.
"Gideon Gleeful, 'ya better give up right now!" Peter pointed a finger at his creator. "You're overpowered, after all!"
"I know what you mean," Gideon put his hands up, "I mean, we've all got the same strengths and same weaknesses. If we start fightin' each other, then 'fer all we know...it could go on forever!"
"Yeah, good to know you see the same thing," Peter said. "Now if we–"
The clone was then interrupted by a straight punch from Gideon, who himself couldn't believe what he had just done. The other clones looked down at the fallen Peter, and after a moment of silence, Anthony took it upon himself to yell, "CLONE FIGHT!"
With that, the doppelgangers began to crowd Gideon, knocking him to the ground as well while Isaac straddled him and slapped him in the face, chanting "Why'm I hittin' myself?". This went on for only four seconds before Chris tackled Isaac to the floor.
Honestly, it was a wonder how no one in the party below was hearing the ruckus that the clones were causing, with their fighting and smacking and twisting and shouting. One crawled through the violence and managed to get to the stage stairs yet again before one of the facsimiles turned to notice him.
"Hey!" Nicholas cried out, causing every one to turn in his direction. "Classic Gideon's gettin' away!"
Gideon turned around, hoping that the poorly-taped on piece of paper on his cap would fool them. "No, friends," he pointed up to the letter "A" on his cap, "it's me, Adrian!"
"...Wait a minute," Peter narrowed his eyes. "Where's Cameron, 'Adrian'?"
Gideon realized his facade had been seen through when the paper on his cap peeled away, revealing the blue pine tree beneath.
"Get 'im!" Anthony cried out, signalling the clones to come forward, Peter even going to the front of the line. The nine year-old backed away, saying, "Stay back! Stay back!" to no avail. Gideon put one of his hands up, the other reaching to his back-up plan; the one that he had come up with while in the closet.
He pulled a party popper out of his vest, and then released the confetti from inside with a bang. The clones stopped and stared at the confetti at their feet, while the resulting smoke from the release reached the smoke-detecting sprinklers on the ceiling. Water shot out of the sprinklers from above, dousing the clones and making them melt. Gideon was at least a little relieved to hear that they just thought of it as a little inconvenience instead of the end of their lives, though Paper Jam Gideon made a few strange noises before lapsing into permanent silence.
"...That's taken care of," Gideon sighed, putting his hands on his hips. Little did he know, he sighed too soon, for it was then that a voice like his rang out, "YOU!"
He looked over his shoulder to see Peter, who had managed to evade the sprinklers by rushing to the stairs behind him, and who was now coming back up to get him.
Uh-oh.
Meanwhile down at the party, Pacifica was just finishing up dancing in the middle of the crowd. Robbie watched her with a smile – that kid's great – before flipping a disc upwards, and then catching it in his hand. He put it down on the mixing table.
"Right, one more song, guys," he spoke into the mike. "And then we're gonna bestow the Party Crown on tonight's Party Queen! It's gonna be the..." He paused, and then moved over to press one of a synthesizer's keys. When Robbie heard it produce the sound of a bomb exploding, he smirked in satisfaction. "Nailed it."
As Pacifica had just wound down from the previous dance, Mabel and her gang of friends walked up to her. The twelve-year old looked up at her opponent, her eyebrows creasing. This obviously wasn't gonna be any good, if the soap operas her mom watched was anything to go by.
"Look, valley girl," Grenda leaned into Pacifica's face, pointing a large finger at her. "Just because all those kids cheered for you doesn't mean you're gonna win."
As Pacifica thought of something to say, she heard footsteps coming behind her; and suddenly Tiffany and Alice were behind her now. "Well, if you're so sure Mabel's gonna win," Tiffany shot back, crossing her arms, "you wouldn't need to threaten the competition."
"Hey, watch it!" Mabel's other friend said, but then Mabel put out a hand to stop both her friends from shouting any more. "Candy, Grenda," Mabel said. "Let's not make a scene. She's right." She put a hand on her hips. "We don't need to threaten the competition...for now."
Mabel turned on her heel, and then laughed. "Let's see the better partier win. Hope you don't break your pride, Northwest."
"This isn't about my pride, Pines." Pacifica retaliated. "Stay away from my friend."
Mabel looked over her shoulder and examined the other girl. Then she gave a cold smirk, and went on her way, Candy and Grenda following behind her.
Pacifica watched her leave, and then gritted her teeth. The way Mabel held herself was just so...
"Don't worry about Mabel," Alice put a hand on her shoulder, and Tiffany did the same. "Yeah, girl, we know who the better partier is."
Pacifica looked at them both, and then laughed. "I just hope I'll be able to make it through the night without her crushing me like a bug."
Gideon felt like he was being crushed, as Peter held him firmly in a headlock. He ground his jaw, trying to get loose.
"Say it!" Peter shouted. "Say I can dance wit' Melody!"
By some miracle, Gideon managed to get Peter's arm off of him, and now threw the clone in the same headlock. "Weren't you the one who wanted to cheer me on?" he shouted back. Peter looked like he was about to reply, when the two of them heard laughter coming from the party.
That sounded like...
"Melody?" Gideon and Peter asked in unison.
Gideon let go of his clone, and the two of them raced down the backstage stairs to look upon the dance floor. Standing there was none other than Soos, whispering something into Melody's ear that made her laugh uncontrollably.
Adrian and Cameron...failed?
I...failed.
Gideon and Peter sighed, both out of disappointment and exhaustion.
"We really blew it," the two of them said in unison. They looked at each other, no more opposition on their faces. After a few seconds of silence, Peter spoke. "So, you wanna just go get a soda, or somethin'?"
Gideon found himself grinning, even if only a little. "Yeah, alright."
People clapped on the dance floor. Peter turned his head to look. "Hey, what's that?" he asked, and then pointed to the stage. "Gideon, 'Cifica's on stage now!"
"Huh?" Gideon turned to look – and sure enough, Pacifica was standing there, along with Robbie and Mabel.
That's right. The Party Crown.
The last song had ended. And now here Pacifica was, standing onstage, along with her opponent, hoping for something to at least prove to said opponent to just back off. She looked to the cheering crowd in front of her.
"Good luck, Pacifica." The twelve year-old didn't need to look beside her to know who was talking. In fact, Pacifica didn't need to turn her head to know that Mabel was glaring daggers at her right now. So she wouldn't look at all. That made her feel a little better.
"Let the voting for the Party Crown commence!" Robbie declared, and then moved to press a button on the synthesizer; it sounded the bell of a wrestling match. With that, he gestured to the competitor on his left. "Applaud to vote for Mabel!"
Pacifica glanced over the crowd. Of course Candy and Grenda were cheering, and of course Tiffany and Alice weren't, but there were other people whooping and clapping. She gulped, and glanced at Mabel this time. She looked pleased with herself. Pacifica looked back to the crowd, trying to put on a smile. Hope my reception's at least a little better.
"Let's check the Applause-O-Meter!" Robbie raised the hand that was pointing to Mabel, as if he were making some sort of human graph with it. "Mabel's side, looking pretty fine!" he said. Then he turned to Pacifica. "Alright, now applaud to vote for our next contestant, Pacifica!"
This time Candy and Grenda glared at Tiffany and Alice, who were cheering for their friend. Yet this time, Tiffany and Alice had more people to back them up, and they were even whistling. Pacifica felt her chest swell. Whistling was a good sign, right? She looked over to see the handyman raise his arm, taking stock of the people cheering.
Mabel looked the crowd over, and frowned. That wasn't a good sign. Fortunately for her, she knew just what to do. Mabel looked down at her shoes, and wrung the hem of her shirt, as if she was despondent. Within a few seconds, everyone in the room saw what had happened, and began lapsing into silence. Still a few stayed on, enough for Robbie to raise his arm up to the same level as the other one.
"Wow, a tie!" Robbie raised his eyebrows. "Ladies and gentlemen, this has never happened before! We need something to turn the tides!"
Mabel grinned. As long as she kept up this sad act, she was sure the tide would turn in her favor.
Just as Pacifica's heart was about to drop, however, her ears caught someone clapping hard in the back.
"Go, Pacifica! Go!" To her surprise, it was Uncle Bill, fixing his eyes on her and applauding as hard as he could. Pacifica's mouth fell open, as did Mabel's.
And as if that wasn't enough, more applause came from the backstage. The two girls looked to see, on the backstage stairs, Gideon cheering as well. (Though for some reason, he had the letter "P" on his hat instead of a blue pine tree. How odd.) Mabel watched in disbelief when Gideon caught her eye, and gave her a defiant look.
Pacifica's gaze wandered to the bottom of the stairs, where the real Gideon was standing and softly clapping, giving her a hopeful smile. She glanced back up at Peter, and breathed out an overwhelmed laugh. You'll have to explain this later, Gid, she thought as she turned back to the audience.
The arm which Robbie had pointed over Pacifica now tilted upwards. "There you have it, folks," he finished. "We have a winner!"
But for now, let me enjoy this moment.
"What?!" Mabel cried, and she looked at Pacifica, who wasn't even looking back at her. The nerve. She clenched her fists.
"This isn't over, Northwest," Mabel said under her breath.
Robbie took the crown from behind the mixing table, and placed it onto Pacifica's head. She looked the audience over one more time as they expected her to say something. But what could she say?
"I-I just wanna thank all of you guys!" she said, stretching her arms out. "You guys rock!"
When the audience heard this, they broke out into more cheering than they had done before since the party began. Tiffany raised an fist in the air, while Alice nearly lost her voice chanting "Pacifica! Pacifica! Pacifica!" with the crowd.
The twelve year-old found herself close to joyful tears. There's one more person I need to thank. She looked once more to the backstage stairs, but no one was there.
Meanwhile, up on the rooftop, Gideon reached into the cooler Melody had put there and pulled out two sodas. She wouldn't mind. He gave one of them to Peter, keeping the other one for himself.
"That was some night, huh?" Peter asked, keeping his gaze on the sky. Gideon looked up as well, and saw a shooting star pass by. They opened their soda cans simultaneously, and Gideon turned to his clone.
"Uh, thanks, 'fer clappin as well, and lettin' 'Cifica win, 'ya know," he said. Peter looked at him. "Don't mention it. Though why didn't you face Mabel? She was clearly threatenin' 'Cifica."
"I wanted to; I know 'ya know that, it's just..." Gideon scratched his nape. "It's just that every time I even hear Mabel's name, I just...freeze up. Kind'f like how I am wit' Melody, huh...except for a different reason altogether," he backtracked.
"Yeah. I just hope Melody really is as impressed wit' us as 'ya say she is," Peter replied. "I mean, I don't even know if we have a chance wit' her, since she's really older than us. But probably no matter what her age would be, we're makin' no progress at all wit' our checklists. The only real conversation 'ya had with Melody all night was outside that bathroom, and it wasn't even part of the plan."
"Mm-hmm." Gideon nodded. "Pacifica was right. I do get in my own way."
"Literally!" The two of them said in unison, and then looked at each other before chuckling. When he was able to catch his breath, Gideon held out his soda can. "To no more lists?" He proposed.
"To no more lists." Peter and Gideon made a toast, and promptly drank the soda at the same time.
Peter's eyes widened with horror as he realized what he had just done. He dropped his soda can, and stared at the hole where the liquid was slowly beginning to dissolve his body. "Oh, no," was all he could say.
"Peter!" Gideon got to his feet, watching his clone slowly melt away. "It's alright, friend. I had a pretty good life." He turned towards Gideon, and held what was left of his right arm up. "Just remember what we toasted to."
"R-right," the nine year-old agreed instantly. "Of course!"
"And stop bein' frozen stiff around Melody and Mabel," Peter gave his last request, " 'fer my sake..."
Gideon dropped to his knees, looking at the puddle on the rooftop. "Peter..." he squeaked, and then sniffled. " 'Ya were the only one who understood." He raised his soda can, and then poured out a libation for the dead.
Gideon got back downstairs, and this time decided to come to the indoor stage from the entrance outside. He stood up on a chair and peered through the window above the ticket booth.
He saw Robbie playing one more song on the DJ table. He saw Pacifica, dancing to the tune with two other girls, one of whom was wearing the Party Crown. He saw Bill, counting the dollars he had gotten with a satisfied smirk on his face. And he saw Melody, standing by the wall and tapping her foot to the beat.
Gideon stepped down from the chair, and walked up the steps to the door. He reached up to the doorknob, before turning around and remembering something.
The nine year-old took the checklist out of his vest, and read it over.
To no more lists.
He took a hold of the paper, and tore it into tiny bits, before scattering them on the ground before his feet. How amazing it was, to him, that that gesture felt so...liberating. He smiled, and then turned back towards the door.
This is gonna work.
He went inside, ready to face Melody.
...And Pacifica's new friends, apparently.
(A/N: ...Done! This was really drawn out...but maybe the next episode won't make you wait that long!
...Oh, who am I kidding?
And on a side note, Peter, like all the other clones, resembles Gideon in almost all aspects. I say "almost", because he's actually without some of Gideon's inhibitions. Just wanted to say it.)
GLSSHU ZLOO UHWXUQ QHAW HSLVRGH