Sonic had been having a good day. Sonic had been having a really good day, to be honest. Nothing but lazing around eating chilidogs and snoozing away beneath a tree, happy to take life slow for a change.

And then the explosion happened.

Sonic jerked awake, ears perked and eyes wide, staring in the direction of Tails' workshop. The little fox had been performing experiments with Chaos energy, and his experiments weren't always the safest...

"Tails!" Sonic yelped, climbing to his feet and bolting toward the workshop, "I'm coming buddy!"

The hedgehog sprinted through the door, coughing as smoke drifted through the open door.

"Tails?" Sonic retched, waving away the smoke, "Tails talk to me! Are you o... kay..."

Sonic's eyes fell on a furry orange figure, the form of a small twin-tailed mobian fox. Tails blinked as he came round, comically frazzled by the detonation.

"Woah..." the fox chuckled, grinning at his adoptive brother, "That was a blast, huh?"

"Miles!" Sonic snapped, cuffing his brother around the ear, "Do you seriously think this is the time to make jokes?! You could have been seriously hurt!" Sonic sighed, biting back further scolding. "Are you okay, little buddy?"

"Ugh... I'll live..."

Both brother's ears perked as another voice came from nearby, the smoke now clearing just enough for them to see... another furry orange figure, scowling as he regarded Sonic and Tails with confusion.

"Uh," the other Tails grunted, "What the hell?"

"Tails..." Sonic said slowly, his eyes drifting over the floor to find three more identical foxes waking up, regarding one another with puzzled expressions. "What did you do?"

"Fascinating... absolutely fascinating..."

One Tails was busy circling the others with extreme curiosity, the other four foxes arranged around Tails' workshop like this was some bizarre family gathering. One stood, hands on hips, taking in the situation. Another leaned against a wall, arms folded, a permanent scowl etched into his face. A third flattened his ears and fiddled with his hands, features creased with worry. And the fifth sniffled as he sat on a workbench, Sonic tending to a graze on his knee.

"Fascinating..." the first Tails repeated, stroking his muzzle, "Fascinating..."

"Will you PLEASE..." the scowling Tails grumbled, "Stop saying 'fascinating'? You're beginning to piss me off."

"Hey!" hands on hips Tails strode over and glared at scowler. "This is a weird situation for all of us!"

"All of us?" Scowler replied with a smirk, "Funny choice of words considering we're the same person..."

"Guys, please?" Sonic snapped from his kneeling position, "This is crazy enough without you bickering with... yourselves..." the hedgehog returned his attention to bandaging his present patient's knee. "That feel better?"

Sniffler nodded, pouting as he sat on the workbench. This one seemed more like a regular kid, and had been in tears when he'd noticed his injury. "Is it gon' get infected?"

"Nah little dude, you're fine!" Sonic said, automatically back in big brother mode. He stood and regarded his strange company. "Okay, so... what the hell were you doing in here?"

"I... I mean, we..." the shy Tails stepped forward, looking as though he feared a beating for speaking up, "Were performing experiments on splitting Chaos energy..."

"To replicate the Chaos Emeralds' power!" Hips added.

"Power like that..." Scowler smirked, "Imagine what we could accomplish with unlimited Chaos energy!"

"Uh huh..." Sonic muttered, "And let me guess. It went wrong."

"There was a BIG 'SPLOSION!" his patient said, stretching his arms wide with a huge beam. "Like, BOOM!"

"I theorise..." the first Tails said, hands clasping behind his back, "that our individual chaos energy was... split into five different forms in the incident. An unforeseen, though fascinating, outcome."

"Stop saying fascinating!"

"Leave him alone!"

"Guys, please... we need to-"

"I'm hungry! Sonic can we get somethin' to-"

"QUIET!"

Sonic raised his hands, and his voice, to get the attention of the bantering foxes. He sighed as they each reacted differently. One smirked, one raised an eyebrow, two cowered at his outburst, and one simply offered him his attention. "Please guys..." Sonic said, calming his voice, "We need to figure out what went wrong so we can reverse this!"

"Sonic's right..." said one Tails, setting his hands on his hips in a very Sonic-esque fashion while scowler... scowled. "If we work together, we can find a way to refuse! But we need to work as a team!"

Scowler snorted. "Oh yeah, it's gonna be so easy..."

"Uh... excuse me..." shy Tails perked up, "What if... what if we can't find a way to refuse?"

"That possibility had also crossed my mind," agreed another Tails.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it!" both Sonic and the 'lead' Tails said simultaneously, glancing at one another in surprise.

"First things first..." Sonic said, "We need to give you guys names. It's gonna get real confusing if you all keep answering to Tails."

"Ooh! I wanna be Tails! I wanna be Tails!" The bandaged fox hopped up on the workbench and waved his hands, having seemingly forgotten his war wound.

"I think it's best..." lead Tails said, "If nobody gets to be Tails. We are all a part of... well, ourself anyway."

"Good thinking, little buddy!" Sonic said, "so get to it, guys!"

The lead Tails stroked his chin. "I kinda want something like 'Sonic', but I guess that's taken..." a smirk slowly made its way onto his face. "How about... Blitz?"

A snort sounded from his left, scowling Tails chuckling at the name. "Seriously dude? Blitz? Lame."

"Okay then smart guy, how about you?"

Scowler thought for a moment, arms still folded before a smirked. "Blade."

'Blitz' howled with laughter after a brief moment of incredulity. "Blade?! Seriously? Wow, edgy!"

'Blade' scowled, but Sonic interjected before the two foxes could argue much more. "Okay, Blitz and Blade..." The hedgehog chuckled despite himself, finding this situation far too bewildering. "Cool names, little buddies!"

"I dunno..." kid-Tails said from his perch on the workbench, "Blade sounds kinda scary!"

Blade redirected his perma-scowl to the other fox. "Shut up, squirt!"

"AH!" the fox hopped up and down excitedly, "Squirt! I wanna be Squirt! Sonic, can I be Squirt?"

"Sure you can..." Sonic shook his head, then wheezed as the fox hopped onto his shoulders with a happy yip. "Jeez, take it easy kid! Okay, who's next?"

"I... I have an idea but..." shy Tails said lightly, fiddling with his hands, "But... it's..."

"Come on, little bro!" Sonic said, depositing Squirt to the workshop floor, "Whatever it is, you don't have to be shy!"

"Yeah, bro!" Blitz, emulating Sonic, grinned at his 'brother'. "Nobody's judging!"

"Well..." shy Tails continued, big blue eyes shining, "I kind of like... Feather..."

There was yet another snort of laughter from Blade's direction, the scowling fox smirking condescendingly. Blitz glared at his twin, before shooting a thumbs up and a grin at the newly named 'Feather'. "That's a real nice name, bro!"

'Feather' offered a shy grin, ears perking slightly at the validation.

"Okay, that sorts that..." Sonic said, as all eyes landed on the final Tails. "What about you, dude?" the hedgehog said, "Any ideas?"

"Hmm..." the last fox said, "I don't have any particular ideas in mind. An eventuality such as this was not something I had anticipated."

"Wow, jeez!" Blitz said with a chuckle, "Easy on the vocab there, doc!"

'Doc' frowned, considering. "Doc. As in short for 'Doctor'. That seems appropriate."

"Okay then!" Sonic clapped his hands and regarded the band of his little brothers. "So... Blitz, Blade, Squirt, Feather and Doc. Nice to meet you all!" the hedgehog wore an exasperated grin as he looked each of them over, noting very slight differences in their individual builds. "So... what the heck do we do now?"

Amy Rose frowned as she hugged her coat around herself, stood outside the front door to Sonic and Tails' house in Green Hills. "I don't get it..." she muttered, "What did Sonic mean by 'a weird surprise?' "

"I dunno," Knuckles grunted, leaning close to the wall in an attempt to shield himself from the rain, "But they'd better open up fast! I didn't come here to get soaked!"

"Well that's on you for never wearing a jacket, knucklebrain!"

Before Knuckles could grumble in response, the door suddenly clicked with the sounds of locks being released, and creaked open to reveal a timidly cowering little fox. "Oh..." Tails said lightly, ears flattening at the sight of his friends, "H... hello, Amy... and Knuckles..."

"Hey Tails!" Amy smiled, "Nice to see y-hey!"

"Shove over!" Knuckles grunted, moving past Amy and causing a frightened looking Tails to recoil in shock. "Tails, get me a towel?"

"O... okay..."

Knuckles towelled himself off while Tails led him and Amy through the house, stopping and bringing them to a halt before a closed door. Sounds emanated from inside, muffled high-pitched voices chattering away. "I... have to warn you guys..." Tails fumbled with his hands, and Amy suddenly noticed how small and... effeminate he looked. "This... might be a shock..."

"Tails?" Amy said lightly, "Is everything okay? You don't seem... yourself..."

Tails' ears drooped and he looked up with big blue eyes. "You'll see..." the fox said, turning to open the door. "Please... come in..."

Amy and Knuckles exchanged a brief glance before following their little friend... and both their jaws flapped open simultaneously.

Two Tails' occupied the couch, presently engaged in a life-or-death battle in some video game or another, a third Tails tapped away at a laptop, and a fourth smaller Tails came barrelling into the room with a toy aeroplane, making propeller noises with his mouth. The first Tails bowed his head and

his ears at the sudden racket, and four sets of blue eyes met Knuckles and Amy.

"Oh, hi Knux! Hi Ames!"

"Oh great, the princess and the genius..."

"Greetings, Amy and Knuckles."

"AMY! KNUCKLES!"

Knuckles recoiled as the Tails with the plane ran over to him, pouncing forward to wrap his arms around the huge echidna's torso.

"Uh... Tails?" Amy said, unable to take her eyes away from the chaos before her, "What did you do?"

"It's... a long story..." the first Tails said, fiddling with his hands bashfully.

"We got sep'rated!" the other Tails said, grinning up at Knuckles and Amy. "Knux! Knux! Look at my plane, Knux!"

"SQUIRT? WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU?"

Amy and Knuckles watched a very haggard looking Sonic run into the room, almost tripping over more toys seemingly deposited by the fox child. "Ah, jeez..." the hedgehog's shoulders slumped as he registered their guests. "Sorry guys, I would have explained but..." He glared at 'Squirt', who now attempted to hide behind Knuckles' legs, "somebody's been giving me the run-around!"

"You can't catch me!" Squirt cried, hopping into the air and blowing a raspberry.

"Wanna bet?" Sonic couldn't help but grin at the little fox. Squirt was very much the hyperactive child part of Tails, and was reminding the hedgehog of Tails himself when he had been four years old.

"Sonic..." Knuckles grunted, eyes like pinpricks as he watched Squirt flutter onto the couch and snuggle into one of the other Tails' side. "Maybe you should explain exactly what's going on before I lose my last marble?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Sonic sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Well, y'see... Tails was performing some weird experiments with splitting Chaos energy, there was an accident and... he split himself into these five guys."

"Oh," said Knuckles after a brief pause, "Simple as that, huh?"

"So... which one is the original Tails?" Amy said.

"That's the thing," Sonic replied, "They all are. We came up with names for each one so they could be told apart, but they're all a piece of Tails." He turned around and called to the group. "Guys! Come over here and introduce yourselves!"

The Tails' did as they were told, mostly enthusiastic though one of them groaned and trudged into formation like a moody teen. One by one they introduced themselves, lined in a row like toy soldiers.

"They all look a little different, too..." Amy mused, looking over the small form of Squirt. The smallest fox grinned up at her, fiddling with his toy plane.

"We have our own personalities as well!" The fox introduced as Blitz piped up, a lopsided grin giving him the appearance of a fox-ified Sonic. "I'm handsome and extremely charming for example, and Blade is super edgy!"

"I am not edgy, faker!" 'Blade' snarled.

"He keeps calling me that..." Blitz chuckled, "I think he's a Shadow fanboy!"

"Bite me!"

"Guys, please..." 'Feather' said lightly, "Stop fighting?"

"I must really get back to work on my calculations..." 'Doc' said, hands clasped behind back as usual.

"I'm hungry!" 'Squirt' chimed, bouncing on his toes, "Sonic, can we order food now? I'm hungry!"

Sonic grinned. "Little bundles of joy, huh?"

"Hold up..." Knuckles raised his hands, signalling for quiet. "If you guys were all split from the original Tails..." he said carefully, brow creasing in a frown, "Then what happened to Tails?"

The five foxes glanced at one another as though communicating telepathically... before they looked as one to the three other mobians before them.

"Oh..."

"Don't worry..."

"I'm still..."

"In here..."

"Somewhere!"

Amy and Knuckles dropped their jaws as the foxes wore identical expressions, and continued each other's sentences flawlessly. All five of them moved in sync, every little movement executed in unison.

"Holy..." Knuckles muttered, while Sonic shook his head and grinned.

"Yep, they do that sometimes..." the blue hedgehog said, "Kinda creepy, huh?"

"Tails?" Amy said, leaning close to the foxes, "Are you really okay?"

Five pairs of blue eyes locked on hers at once.

"I..."

"Think..."

"So..."

"It's..."

"A little..."

"Confusing..."

"Like trying to..."

"Play..."

"Five video games..."

"At once..."

"Or something!"

"Hard..."

"To..."

"Explain!"

Sonic chuckled at Amy and Knuckles' bewildered expressions, before clapping his hands. "Okay guys, stop freaking out our house guests!"

Like flipping a switch the foxes returned to their individual states, synced intelligence receding back into five different forms.

"That's... really something..." Knuckles murmured, while Squirt toddled over to the large echidna. "Knuckles! Look at my plane!"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah... real nice, kid..."

"Anyway..." Sonic said, "We're ordering takeout. No way I'm cooking for all five of you!"

"I can help cook, Sonic!" Blitz said, setting his hands on his hips in that Sonic-esque fashion, "Maybe I can even teach you a few things!"

"Oh yeah? You pick up Tails' cooking skills too?"

"I... I could also help cook?" Feather said timidly, rubbing his hands together meekly.

"And I could handle..." Blade said with a smirk, "the knives..."

"Heck no, dude!" Blitz retorted, "No way you're being left in charge of sharp objects!"

"Guys, can you stop bickering for five seconds and go grab the takeout menus?" Sonic said, Blade rolling his eyes while Blitz dragged him away by the arm. Sonic shook his head and grinned at Amy and Knuckles. "So, guys!" he said, as though he hadn't a care in the world, "Who's hungry?"

Dinner was a messy affair, although after Knuckles and Amy had been seen out the clean up was sorted in record time. Sonic was happy to have five extra pairs of hands to help with the dishes, though Blade and Squirt had offered some resistance at the thought of doing chores. Now it was late, and it was getting time to start thinking about sleeping arrangements.

"Okay guys..." Sonic said, hands on hips as he regarded the five foxes, "We need to figure out where you five are going to sleep!"

"I'm having the bed," muttered Blade, the moody fox sulking as he sunk into the sofa.

"No, Blade..." Sonic said, "Squirt gets the bed because he's the youngest."

"We're exactly the same age, Chronic!"

"No arguing! Squirt gets the bed, the rest of you..." Sonic rubbed his chin, "We'll roll out some blankets and you can arrange yourselves on the furniture. Two or three of you'll fit on the sofa."

"I will be fine..." Doc waved a hand, his laptop clutched beneath an arm. "I wish to continue my calculations. See if I can find a way to reverse our predicament."

"No way, little buddy." Sonic said, "You're not pulling an all-nighter! All of you get some sleep, and we'll figure this out in the morning!"

Blade continued to sulk though did as he was told, helping the others with the blankets and the sleeping arrangements. In the end, they moved two armchairs together to create another 'bed', which would be occupied by a moody Blade. Blitz, Doc and Feather would share the sofa. Now the others were settled, Sonic led a very sleepy Squirt up the stairs to Tails' bedroom, and gently tucked him underneath the covers.

"There you go!" Sonic grinned as Squirt snuggled in, the top of his head and his big blue eyes all that was exposed now of the fox. "Get some sleep, kid! You'll need it for the morning!"

Squirt released a squeaky yawn and his eyes began to droop. "Sonic?" The little fox said quietly, "Do you think we'll ever get re... refussed again?"

Sonic chuckled. "You're the smartest guy... or guys, I guess, that I know, little buddy! If anybody can figure it out, it's you!"

"What if we can't and we're sep'rated for ever?"

Sonic offered his brother a comforting smile. "Don't worry about that, little dude..." he said, "We'll figure something out."

"Sonic?"

"Mhm?"

Squirt opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking every bit the four year old cub he had taken in years ago, "Iloveyou..."

Sonic grinned. "Love ya too, lil' bro."

Squirt hugged into Sonic's chest and Sonic squeezed the little fox back.

"Okay, squirt..." the hedgehog said, "Bed!"

Squirt nodded and curled up beneath the covers, obediently closing his eyes and curling into a tight ball.

Sonic hung at the doorway for a moment, before hitting the light switch and leaving the room. He wandered back to the living room to find Blitz, Doc and Feather snuggled together beneath a blanket, while Blade occupied the makeshift 'bed'.

Sonic set his hands on his hips and released an exasperated sigh. "Jeez, Tails..." he murmured, four pairs of orange ears flickering in time at his whispering voice, "What am I gonna do with you?"