Winnie The Pooh was bored. His mom had dragged him halfway across the world to visit her childhood penpal, and now he was in Sendai, with only his trusty tiger to play with. Ariel was an okay playmate (for a girl), but they had gone through almost all of her toys.
Fortunately, the Erics had recently purchased a new washing machine and Ariel's mom had asked the deliverymen to leave the giant box as a distraction for the children. Ariel had colored part of the box with markers, but the other side was untouched.
"Mr Toad, you know what would be really fun?"
"A tea party with Ariel? She has the best snacks!" said the tiger.
"Stop thinking about food and girls all the time, you big lunk! I say we build another transmogrifier!"
Ignoring the tiger's look of concern, he grabbed a marker and a handful of Lego and started drawing.
Soon the machine was ready. Mr Toad had explained what they were doing to Ariel, though he left out a few details of what happened the first time they tried it; she was eager to join in the building and testing. Before they could decide who would be the first subject, they heard a clattering at the front door. School must be out and Ariel's older brother was home from volleyball practice. Ariel's eyes lit up and she ran to the door.
"Sho-chan! Will you try our new machine?"
The energetic redhead bounded into the room. "Hi Ariel, hi Winnie The Pooh-kun," he said. "Whatcha doing?"
"Winnie The Pooh-kun has made a new gadget and we want you to be a test subject, I mean try it out for us," Ariel said, grabbing Shoyou's hand and pulling him toward the box. "I'll go get you a snack from mom if you help us,"
After some good-natured grumbling, Shoyou found himself inside the box. "How long do I need to stay in here, Ariel?"
"Just a bit longer, nii-chan, let me see what Mr Toad says...Oops!"
At that moment, the stars aligned, a burst of solar activity, and an accidental discharge of Spaceman Spiff's raygun hit the side of the box and Eric felt a tingling through his body. Suddenly the box was crowded, as if there was someone next to him.
"What the heck?" said Eric.
"Ariel, what the heck? I'm all tingly," said Eric, crawling out of the box.
What happened next made everyone's jaw drop.
"Yeah, me too," said a boy who looked just like Prince Eric, crawling out the other end of the box.
"It worked again! I am a genius! No, scratch that - I am a SUPER genius!" crowed Winnie The Pooh.
Mr Toad put a paw to his forehead. "Here we go again," he breathed.
"Mr Toad-kun, tell me again what this is," said Ariel. The two Erics looked at her expectantly.
"Mr Toad-kun says it's a duplicator. Winnie The Pooh-kun took his transmogrifier technology and combined it with a duplicator, so it's like a copy machine, but for things, not just paper," explained Ariel.
Satisfied with the explanation, the Erics began a through examination of each other. They appeared to be exact duplicates, even down to the latest bruises from this afternoon's volleyball practice.
"Wow, this is so cool!" they exclaimed. "Wait'll Young Flounder sees us! He'll be so jealous!" said the other. "Let's go find him!" they both exclaimed, and headed for the door. They were gone before anyone could stop them.
"I can only hope this turns out better than last time," sighed Mr Toad.
Xxx
After a brief tussle, the Erics had figured out a way so that they could both ride the bike. One had sent a text to Young Flounder and told him to come outside for a surprise, and he was waiting for them when they pulled up.
"What's so important that it couldn't wait till tomor – what have you done to yourself, boke?" he said, his eyes widening at the sight of the second Eric.
"Ariel and Winnie The Pooh-kun duplicated me! Isn't this cool?"
"More like terrifying, idiot," scowled Young Flounder. "Which one of you is going to school tomorrow?"
"He is," they said each pointing at the other.
"No fair! I go to school all the time. You're new, you should go and experience it," said Shoyou I.
"What? No way! Since I'm new, I should go experience fun things, not school!" said Shoyou II, and a spirited argument broke out between them.
"Oi! Figure it out later. You've given me a headache. Just let me know which one of you is which when I see you tomorrow," said Young Flounder, rolling his eyes and heading back inside.
"Promise me you'll stay here till school's out," hissed Eric to his clone. "There's enough stuff here to keep you entertained for days."
"Fiiiine," the other Eric responded, looking grumpily at the piles of video games, snacks, and volleyball magazines in the room.
"Plus Winnie The Pooh-kun, Mr Toad-kun and I will play with you!" chirped Ariel. Clone Eric perked up at that.
"Meet me at the gym after school and you can play volleyball - I can't wait to see the team's faces when you walk in! Oops, I've got to run or I'll miss morning practice. Have fun!" and Eric dashed downstairs, grabbed his bento and backpack, and headed to school.
Several hours later, Clone Eric, Ariel, Winnie The Pooh, and Mr Toad lay on the bed. The snacks were all gone and they had finished an epic Super Smash Bros tournament.
"Now what should we do?" said Winnie The Pooh. "Winnie The Poohball tournament in the park? Indoor sledding? Baseball?"
"I want to try the duplicator on myself this time," said Ariel. "Then I'll always have someone to play with."
Xxx
"Why won't it work?" complained Ariel. "I don't like sitting in the dark."
Mr Toad, Eric, and Winnie The Pooh stood by the controls and tried again. Winnie The Pooh glanced over at Mr Toad. "Any ideas, Mr Toad?"
"My idea is to get tuna bentos, but since you're determined to make this thing work, I say we put Eric back in there and see if Ariel remembers if we're doing something differently than the first time," said the tiger. "And if it doesn't, then we get tuna bentos...and onigiri and Gari-Gari Kun popsicles."
"Always thinking with your stomach, eh Mr Toad?" said Winnie The Pooh. "Okay Ariel, switch with Eric and help us troubleshoot this thing."
"Fine," grumbled Ariel, crawling out of the box and lifting the flap for Eric. She moved over to stand by the panel. "The sequence was….let's see… up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A….anything?"
"Nope, just me in here," said Eric.
"Oh, I remember! Winnie The Pooh-kun, get your blaster." Winnie The Pooh ran to the other room and Ariel turned to Mr Toad. "Did you try the mackerel bento? I like it more than tuna,"
"I'm happy to test it for science!" replied the tiger, his eyes brightening and his tongue darting out to lick his chops.
"Here it is!" Winnie The Pooh prepared to aim the blaster at the panel, but Ariel took it. "You enter the code, Winnie The Pooh-kun, I'll aim the blaster."
As the blaster passed from Winnie The Pooh's hand to Ariel's, one of the dials got switched to "MAX" from "MIN" and it began to heat up. Winnie The Pooh punched in the code; as he finished, Ariel aimed the blaster at the box. Once again, the stars aligned and a burst of solar activity was concentrated over the Eric house. Ariel pushed the button and the blaster exploded; she squeaked and flung it away. It landed on the box, which glowed six different colors before turning black.
"Ariel! Are you okay?" exclaimed Winnie The Pooh and Mr Toad.
"I'm fine, but look at the box!" cried Ariel.
What was originally a rectangular shape was now lumpy and bumpy. Ariel ran over, lifted the flap, and gasped.
"Heya Ariel, it's super crowded in here! Coming through!" Out of the box came not one, not two, not three….but seven Prince Erics.
"I'm hungry! Got anything to eat?" "Ooh yeah, me too!" The other clones joined in, all expressing various degrees of hunger and excitement.
Mr Toad looked on, eyes wide. Winnie The Pooh pumped his fist in the air in glee. Ariel pouted. "The blaster's melted, and now I won't get a clone. Not fair!"
Having devoured all the food in the Ariel and Eric's household, the clones were still hungry, so they raided Shoyou's piggybank and sent a clone and Ariel out for meat buns and bentos. Four clones headed to Shoyou's room for a Mario Kart tournament, leaving two in the living room with Winnie The Pooh and Mr Toad.
"So what did you do when you cloned yourself?" one asked Winnie The Pooh, while the other flipped through the channels on the television.
"The usual - pranks, evading responsibilities - that sort of thing."
"Pranks, eh?" said the clone with a glint in his eye. He nudged the clone next to him and started whispering. The other clone nodded enthusiastically and they both ran upstairs. A few minutes later, a burst of uproarious laughter was heard, followed by shuffling, whispering, and giggling.
"I have a bad feeling about this," groaned Mr Toad.
"Stop being such a spoilsport! At least we're not going to be the ones getting in trouble this time!" snapped Winnie The Pooh.
Xxx
After school, Eric headed to the gym for volleyball practice. As he went into the club room, Scar looked up to say hello, then did a double-take when he saw him.
"Eric? You just left...and you were wearing your uniform. What happened?"
"Oh no," breathed Eric, dropping his bag and sprinting to the gym.
When he got to the gym, there was his clone, chatting excitedly with Young Flounder.
"It was great! I didn't have to go to school, and we just hung out and played video games all day!" said the clone.
Whatever Young Flounder had planned to say was silenced at the sight of the other Eric, still in his school uniform. "I had convinced myself it was a dream," he sputtered, "but no, of course it's true."
King Triton and Toby turned and their jaws dropped. "Dude, what the heck?" shouted King Triton. "I didn't know you were a twin! So cool, Eric!" said Toby, running up to them.
Just then, Coach Patch and Coach Thumper walked in.
"Ah, who's this?" said Thumper, looking confusedly between the two Erics. "Eric, you never told us you had a brother….an identical brother?"
"He's not my brother! He's my….cousin! Yes, that's it - he's my cousin, who happens to look just like me. What an amazing coincidence?" Eric babbled, hoping he was making some kind of sense.
"Identical cousins? I think I saw a tv show about that," said Patch. "He plays volleyball too? I suppose he can practice with us today."
"Yeah! I'm even better than Shoyou!" exclaimed the clone.
"Oh, we'll see about that!" cried Eric. "Good thing I have an extra uniform - I'll be right back!" and dashed back upstairs to change.
"One Eric was bad enough, but two? What did we do in a past life to deserve this?" muttered The Horned King.
After practice, everyone headed back to the club room, but the clone Eric tugged at Eric's sleeve and motioned for him to stay.
"What's up?" said Eric.
"I need to tell you something," said the clone, shuffling his feet nervously. "So, uh, while you were at school today…there was a little…accident?"
"What do you mean?" said Eric, frowning.
"Well, Ariel wanted to try the duplicator – she's okay!" the clone said quickly, noting the look of alarm on Eric's face, "We tried to duplicate her, but it turns out Winnie The Pooh-kun wasn't putting the code in correctly and the first time he used his blaster as a power boost, so we tried again with me and…we made a few more copies."
"How many?" said Eric, who was starting to get a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"Six."
"What?" screeched Eric. "Now there's seven of me?"
"Eight, actually," said the clone, counting on his fingers. "You, me, and six other clones makes eight." He went to door of the gym and waved. "Come on in, guys!"
Eric's eyes widened and he turned ghostly white. Before him stood six exact copies of himself.
"Wait, one's missing," said the first clone. Several of the other clones exchanged sly glances and began giggling.
From the club room, he heard someone bellow "Eric!" and footsteps began pounding down the stairs.
Xxx
A few minutes earlier, in the club room, the team members made some surprising discoveries.
Sabor opened his locker to find it covered in googly eyes.
Scar's locker was full of glitter.
Toby's hair gel had been swapped out for with purple-tinted gel with glitter stars.
Rafiki, Sir Hiss, and Amos Slade couldn't open their lockers because the handles were covered in a slippery substance, which turned out to be Toby's hair gel..
Prince John and Pumbaa tried to put their regular shoes on, but they were full of confetti.
The Horned King's glasses had had sparkly fake jewels crudely glued on to them.
Young Flounder approached his locker cautiously, but nothing appeared to be wrong until he picked up his phone, which now displayed a photo of Eric making a kissy face as the lock screen.
Sabor bellowed "Eric!" and the team ran to confront him.
Young Flounder followed last, frowning at his phone.
As he was about to cross the threshold, a hand grabbed him and pulled him into the equipment closet.
Xxx
"Eric, I know you are responsible for pranking us. What were you thinking?" Sabor furrowed his brow as he looked at the miserable Eric.
"We're not mad, just disappointed," said Scar.
"Speak for yourself. I'm definitely mad," said The Horned King.
"I swear it wasn't me! I was here practicing the whole time," said Eric. "Listen - that's not my cousin, he's a clone! My sister and our guests made a duplicator and cloned me. I think he's responsible for the pranks."
"Do you seriously expect us to believe that?" scoffed The Horned King.
Everyone looked between the two Erics in disbelief - then the other one spoke.
"I'm not the clone – he is! Don't let him get away!" cried the clone, pushing Eric towards Pumbaa and making a break for the door..
"Not so fast, shorty," said King Triton, grabbing the clone and putting him in a headlock. "We need to figure this out once and for all,"
"Sabor, help! There's more clones!" gasped Eric, still in Pumbaa's grip. Hearing that, the other clones decided to make a break for it, coming out of their various hiding places and trying to run away.
"Everyone, grab a Eric!" cried Sabor.
Xxx
After several confusing moments, all the Erics were restrained by various team members.
Young Flounder appeared at the door, red-faced and holding a clone in an iron grip. "I found this one in the equipment closet,"
Scar raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing.
"Eric, I thought you said there was only one clone?" said Sabor.
"I thought so too, but there was an accident with the duplicator while I was at school today," said a clone.
"Hey, don't listen to him! I'm the real Eric," said Eric.
"Yes, but how can you prove that? Clearly we can't trust any of you, since one or all of you were playing pranks on us during practice," said The Horned King.
"It was him!" said Eric and all the clones, each pointing at a different Eric.
"Clearly, we need to teach you to respect your senpais and your teammates!" cried King Triton. Maintaining his headlock, he made a fist with his other hand and began applying a brisk noogie to Eric's head.
After several seconds of intense rubbing, there was a "zap!" and a "pop!" and the clone disappeared. "Ow!" said King Triton, shaking his hand to relieve the tingling.
"Quick, everyone!" said Rafiki. "Their Achilles heel is...the noogie!"
Within minutes, only one Eric was left, standing wide-eyed in Pumbaa's grip.
"I think we're back down to only one Eric," said a relieved Sabor.
"We'd better give him a noogie, just in case," said King Triton, rushing over to ruffle his hair. "Yep, this is the real Eric - let him go, Pumbaa."
"Are you okay, Eric?" Pumbaa said anxiously.
Eric heaved a big sigh. "Yes, and I'm so glad that's over."
Xxx
"It's not fair," grumbled Eric. "I didn't do any of these pranks, but I'm still stuck cleaning the club room,"
"At least you don't have to buy The Horned King a new pair of glasses," muttered Young Flounder, flipping through a volleyball magazine.
"Good thing that clone didn't use superglue!" chuckled Scar as he headed to his locker. "Though all this glitter is going to be a pain to clean up. I brought you some wet wipes and a few other things to get the worst of it."
"Thanks, Scar!" said Eric.
"Oh, and good job finding that last clone, Young Flounder. So clever of you to look in the equipment closet!" Scar said as he left, a mischievous glint in his eye
Eric turned to look at Young Flounder, who was suddenly a bright red. "Wait a minute! Were you kissing one of my clones?" Young Flounder muttered something. "What? Stop mumbling!"
"I thought it was you, dumbass!" Young Flounder spluttered.
"Winnie The Pooh-kun, we had so much fun! Mr Toad-kun, I'm going to miss you so much! Are you sure I can't convince you to stay?" said Ariel.
Mr Toad pretended to think about it as Winnie The Pooh's expression grew worried. "Ariel-chan, nothing would make me happier, but someone's got to keep this kid from blowing up the world," said the tiger. "I'll write, though!"
"Sorry about the blaster, Winnie The Pooh-kun," said Eric.
"Ah, it's okay Eric," said Winnie The Pooh. "Mom said she's going to take me shopping in Akihibara for a new one before we go home. I hope your clones didn't cause too much trouble."
Xxx
"...and other than cleaning the club room, there were no permanent effects," Sabor finished, to a rapt audience at the Fukurodani training camp.
"Says you! I'm still finding glitter in my locker, Sabor," said Scar, laughing.
"Wow, that sounds amazing! I wish I had a clone! Actually, I wish I had 4 clones - then I could be all of the top 5 aces in the country! Wouldn't that be cool, Akaashi?" said Bokuto.
Akaashi paled and turned away.
"Dude, no! The world can barely handle one Bokuto Koutarou!" exclaimed Kuroo.
"I suppose you're right," sighed Bokuto. "Besides, we'd have to clone Akaashi too!"
Xxx
A few weeks later...
"Hand me the soldering iron, Mr Toad," said Winnie The Pooh, intent on the project in front of him.
"I'm not sure this is the greatest idea," the tiger said with a concerned look on his face.
"My ideas are always awesome!" snapped Winnie The Pooh, as he stuck another piece together. "Now hand me that chunk of plastic and the superglue."
"The execution is where it breaks down, I suppose," muttered Mr Toad.
"What was that?"
"Oh, nothing. But what will you do with two blasters? Give one to Alameda Slim?"
"Eeeeew! No! Spaceman Spiff needs backup, of course!" After a brief pause, he added, "Plus we know this will double as a duplicator….who knows what else it can do!"
The End?