The Cloning (Part 3)

Ford and Heather continued working the ticket stand, but Heather, as expected was getting distracted by the party going on inside, "Woah! Sounds like the party's getting nuts," out of curiosity, Ford took a peek inside to see his twin brother dancing wildly and forming a crowd around him. "I gotta get in there!" Heather exclaimed giving Ford a pleading look.

"Umm… well, I… um-" Ford began looking at his list and sighed. "Go ahead." He told her.

"Thanks, you're the best!" Heather exclaimed before running inside to join Stan on the Dance floor.

Ford looked at them through the window, and then looked back at the people in line in front of him waiting for their tickets. He stood up and addressed the crowd, "I'll be back shortly!" He left his seat to go inside to join them. "I'm sure Mabel won't mind if I'm gone for a few minutes…" He whispered to himself.

Before Ford could reach the door, Mabel grabbed him by his ear and pulled him back to the table, "What do you think you're doing, Ford ?"

"OW! OW! OW! Grauntie Mabel, that hurts!" Ford complained.

She sat him back down in his chair, and Ford rubbed his red ear to ease the pain, "Now stay there and sell these good people their tickets," she ordered firmly. "You made a promise. Stay committed to it."

Ford sighed and continued selling tickets. He looked back to the party, where Heather was dancing by herself, "If only I could be in two places at once," he spoke to himself. The once again He recalled the phenomenon that happened earlier that day and gasped. Ford had an idea, it was time to go to plan B! But unfortunately, that would require leaving the station again, and he couldn't risk Mabel catching him leaving again.

As if by a miracle, Fids walked outside and saw Ford, "Hey, Ford," he waved. "The party is going crazy in there! You should see your brother."

"Hey, Fids!" Ford waved. "Can you do me a favor? I really have to use the bathroom, and Heather bailed on me. Can you take my place for a bit?" he asked.

Fids smiled, "Sure! Can you make it quick, though? I really want to watch the dancing contest."

"No problem," Ford said. He made a dash for it, but Fids stopped him.

"You're not going to go make copies of yourself, are you?" He asked fearfully.

"What?" Ford scoffed. "Why I would never…" He ran then as fast as he could.

Fids face palmed, this would not end well.

Meanwhile now that he was free, he ran to the copy machine in Mabel's office. The door was no longer locked which means Mabel must have gone in there earlier and forgot to relock it. He lied down on the scanner and pressed the copy button. "I wonder if this is a good idea," he thought out loud, a little too late. The machine printed out a black and white picture of Ford. The paper fell on the ground, and the image obtained color and came to life, creating a Ford double. "Woah!" Ford gasped. He paused at his double. "I have a really big head."

Ford and his clone spoke simultaneously, "So, uh…" they chuckled. "Sorry, you first. Stop copying me!" They laughed in unison.

Ford stood silent for a while, taking in the clone. His mind was boggled with interest. How did the Author make this machine, and more importantly was this machines inventor really the Author? Well as much as he wanted to learn about his clone and the thing that created him, he needed to act fast if he wanted his plan to work. He looked through Grauntie Mabel's desk drawers to find blank pins. With a permanent marker, he wrote a '2' on it and pinned it to his clone's jacket, "For now, I will call you, Number Two."

"Definitely not," his clone disagreed. "You know a name we've always wanted?"

Ford and the clone smirked knowingly, "Shermy," they finished at the same time.

"Alright, Shermy. Let's make this quick," Ford ordered. "I'm thinking you cover me at the ticket stand, while I ask Heather to dance with me."

Shermy pulled out the exact same list that Ford had, "I know the plan." he smirked.

A thought came to Ford, and he took a couple steps back, "Hey, we're not going to get jealous and turn on each other like the clones in the movies, are we?"

"Ford, please," Shermy scoffed. "This is you you're talking about. Not to mention," he added, "you can always just disintegrate me with water."

"True…" He considered. "Alright. Partners?"

"Partners," Shermy smiled. They shook hands.

And moments later Shermy steps outside, where Fids is, "About time, Ford!" he exclaimed. "I'm getting tired of handing people their tickets!"

"Hey, no problem, Fids," the clone smiled. He peeked inside the window and gave Ford a thumbs up. Ford returned the gesture from the other side of the glass and walked up to Heather.

Fids looked back at the window, "Hey, who are you looking at…?" he peeked inside and gasped. Fids looked back at Shermy and narrowed his eyes in accusation. "You didn't."

"I didn't. He did," Shermy corrected him, pointing his thumb at the original Ford.

Fids shook his head, "Look, we'll talk about this later, but I just gotta say that I am very disappointed in you. I mean him. I mean- AUGH! I need to sit down," he sat back down in the chair while Shermy continued working the ticket stand.

Shermy glanced back at Ford again, only to see that Heather was with some guy he had never seen before. He had black hair, and a gothic look about him. He had a jealous thought towards him, and, judging from Ford's expression, so had he. He called Ford, "Hey, Ford. It's me, you and I just had the same jealousy fantasy."

"We have to get rid of him if I ever want to dance with Heather!" Ford exclaimed from the other end. There was a pause. "Oh, no! They're sitting on the couch! We gotta think of something quick!"

Shermy looked outside to see the kid's bike. He knew it was his because it had a logo that matched his jacket. "I got an idea!"

"I got the same one," Ford nodded, "but we're gonna need some help," the two of them silently agreed to their new plan, and Ford hung up.

Shermy saw that Fids was still sitting next to him, and he heard the whole conversation. "So, uh… do you mind?"

Fids frowned and folded his arms bitterly, "Oh, not at all, Ford's clone!" he replied sarcastically. "Just go right on ahead, I don't care! Make a million clones for all I care. At the very least, PROMISE me you'll have one for the ticket stand!"

"I promise," Shermy said.

He left Fids alone at the stand, and once the clone was out of earshot, he grumbled, "Man Stan was right about him, science does make him crazy!"

(Back inside…)

Ford and his clone wasted no time making another and Ford stuck a pin with a '3' written on it on a third clone's jacket, "And that's where you come in, Number Three!" he finished.

"But what if that guy catches me?" The third clone asked. "I'll be all alone!"

"He does have a good point," Shermy nodded.

Ford sighed, "This isn't a problem. We'll just make one more. Four people will be enough, right?" He jumped back on the scanner to make another copy of himself, but the copier jammed.

"Uh-oh, paper jam," Shermy called out. He pulled the paper out of the copy machine, and the clone screamed as it came to life. It came out bent and distorted, and it made a screeching sound instead of talking.

"Come on!" Number Three groaned. "You're not going to pair me up with him, are you?"

Shermy shushed him, "Don't be rude!" He turned to the paper jammed clone, "Hey, it's okay."

Paper Jam Ford yelled something incoherent, and Ford sighed, "Okay. Just one more clone."

(Back with Stan…)

Preston was on the stage, dancing and singing a catchy R&B song. When he was done, the crowd cheered. He smiled cockily and handed the microphone to Stan, "Try to beat that!"

Stan narrowed his eyes at Preston, "I will!" He turned to see Fids running up to him and Buddy. "Hey, Fids! Where have you been?"

"Doing your brother, a favor," Fids grumbled. "Or should I say brothers," he added under his breath.

"What was that?" Stan asked, only to suddenly get it. "He didn't." He groaned.

"He did." Fids confirmed.

Stan shook his head. "Ain't no stopping him now." He confirmed the obvious. "Just remind me to spray him down with water so I know he's not a clone."

"Gladly." Fids said.

"Clone?" Buddy asked confused.

"It's nothing. Now go!" Fids gave Stan a push towards the stage.

Stan walked up to the stage and pointed to Maria, "Ria! Give me that really awesome 70s, crowd pleasing song everyone likes!"

Maria began playing the song "Romanian Rap City" by King, and Stan danced to the beat of it. He sang, "Is this a fake dream? Or is this reality? Trapped in a mudslide, don't escape from the fantasy!"

The crowd cheered wildly for him while he sang and danced, and when the song reached a guitar solo, he shouted. "NOW I'M GONNA DO A FLIP!" Instead of actually doing a flip, he fell on his face, but he smiled. "That was for YOU guys!" Stan was very proud of the jealous and angry look on Preston's face. He was even happier when he saw that Susan was clapping for him. He wanted nothing more at the moment than to win that contest and Susan's heart.

(Back with Ford…)

Ford ran up to Maria and whispered something in her ear. She repeated what he said through the microphone, "I have a quick announcement: Would the owner of a silver and red dirt bike please report outside. It is being stolen right now."

The guy with Heather looked outside, "Wait, WHAT?!" he ran outside, where Clones 3 and 4 were riding her bike away from the shack and laughing. "Hey, come back here!" he yelled, chasing them.

Ford took the chance to walk up to Heather, "Oh, tough luck. I wonder who those guys are who aren't me because I'm right here."

Heather laughed. "Hey, you got someone to cover for you cool!" She exclaimed. "Now we can hang!"

"So, who uh was that?" He asked pointing in the direction of the guy went.

"Oh, that was my ex." Heather admitted.

"Ex?" Ford asked.

"Yeah, his name is Cooper, Cooper Green he wasn't supposed to be here this summer, but he got kicked out of band camp early. I bet he did it on purpose too." She sighed. "We were in a band last year together and it sort of happened. I think he's trying to get back together with me."

"Oh…" Ford looks nervous now.

"But I'm glad he's gone." She suddenly added. "Whoever stole his bike is my new hero."

A big smile suddenly slip on Ford's face, he was her new hero, nice!

Suddenly, Ria played a slower song, and people were coupling up to dance.

"This is a nice song," Heather thought out loud.

Ford smiled and tapped his feet to the rhythm.

Stan saw this and ran up to Ford, "Hey, doofus, now's your chance to ask-"

Ford covered his mouth and moved to where Heather wouldn't hear. "Stan!" He warned.

"Oh, come on you went through all the trouble of clones now ask her!" Stan whispered harshly.

"Wait how do you know-" Ford began, but Stan cut in.

"Fids ratted you out."

"Traitor!" Ford whispered half heatedly.

"Come on! Go!" Stan urged. "Before this whole plan of yours blows up in your face."

"Okay, I'll do it!" Ford said. It was easier said than done, though. He got too nervous to go over to Heather and ended up bailing. "I'll be right back!" Ford ran away in the opposite direction.

Stan shook his head. "And he was so close to actually pulling it off."

Meanwhile with Paper Jam Ford running the ticket stand, and Clones 3 and 4 still distracting Cooper, Shermy and Ford paced around each other in the twins' room, "I agree," Shermy nodded after Ford explained the situation. "You can't just DANCE with her. What if there's a glitch in the sound system?"

"Grauntie Mabel might get in the way," Ford added. "And Cooper might come back. There are too many variables," he clasped his hands together. "We need help."

And soon they had all the help they could need. Six more copies of himself later, Ford made sure that the other Fords knew the plan, and they set out to put it in action. Clone Number 10 walked up to Maria, "Ria, someone threw up near the food table."

Ria sighed, "I bet it was the stale candy. Alright, stay here. Let me take care of it."

Once she was gone, the clone put in a disc labeled 'Heather's Mix'. Meanwhile, another clone attached a stuffed animal of an adorable kitten on a fishing rod and dangled it in front of Grauntie Mabel. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed. "GIVE ME THAT!" She tried to grab it, but ended up crashing into a table. She got back up and went after it. "GIVE ME THE CAT!"

Now that both women were distracted, another clone, Number Six, rang a bell. Shermy heard it and ran over to Ford, "That's your cue. Now's the perfect moment to ask Heather to dance," he gave Ford a small push. "Good luck, me!"

"Thanks!" Ford smiled. He walked down the hallway only to see that Heather was leaning against the wall next to the bathroom door, and not on the dance floor as planned.

"Oh, hey, Ford!" Heather waved.

Ford tried not to panic, "W-what are you doing here? Wouldn't you rather be out on the dance floor?" he glanced at his watch. "In exactly 42 seconds?"

"Just waiting for the bathroom," she shrugged.

Ford took a deep breath and decided on a plan two: Small talk. Before he could ask anything, Heather spoke up, "So hey, let's say everyone at this party gets stuck on a deserted island. Who do you think the leader would be?"

"I, uh…" Ford is lost for words.

"I think I would go with this lunatic," Heather pointed at a short, sweaty, angry-looking man that was dancing furiously.

Ford laughed and looked at the partiers, "I'd probably go for the tall guy over there, because freaky tall people can reach coconuts?"

"Speaking of freaks, wanna see something?" Heather asked. She pulled out a picture. "Those are my cousins, and that's me," he pointed to a younger version of herself with braces and pigtails. "Yep. I was a freak."

Ford laughed, suddenly feeling more comfortable, "You know, kids would make fun of my hands before I started hiding them all the time."

"Your hands are awesome Ford." Heather told him. "They make you unique. Besides being normal is so overrated."

Ford smiled. "So, I guess this makes us both freaks hu?" He asked.

Heather held out her class. "To being freaks" She stated.

"To being freaks," Ford repeated. They clinked their cups, and at that moment, a boy Ford's age stormed angrily out of the restroom.

"Wait for me?" Heather asked before going in.

"Sure." Ford exclaimed as she went in.

Shermy suddenly came in the hallway with the rest of the clones behind him. "Hey! What are you doing up here?" Shermy asked. "Ria is almost done cleaning up Number 10's fake vomit!"

"You won't believe this, guys!" Ford smiled. "I bumped into Heather accidentally and things are actually going great!"

"That's nice," Shermy commented, "but not the plan. Do we have to remind you?" The other clones pulled out their lists and read the steps out loud from it, but out of order.

It was an odd sight for Ford, but he pushed it aside, "Listen, guys. Maybe we don't need the plan anymore, you know? I could just go talk to her like a normal person," he suggested.

Ford's clones gasped, clearly in disagreement, "If you're not going to stick to the plan, maybe you shouldn't be the Ford to dance with Heather," Number 5 said. The other clones muttered to each other in agreement.

"Guys, come on," Ford backed away. "We promised we wouldn't turn on each other."

Shermy stepped forward, "I think we all knew we were lying. Get him!"

The clones grabbed Ford and threw him in a closet and closed the door, despite Ford's protests. Ford banged his fists at the door, and he overheard the clones arguing over who would get to dance with Heather. He tried the doorknob to see that Shermy had forgotten to lock it, and he ran out when no one was looking. He made it to the balcony when one of the clones grabbed him and dragged him back to the other clones.

"Come on, Ford. Give it up," Shermy asserted. "You're overpowered."

At that moment, Fids walked into the hallway to use the bathroom, only to see Ford and his clones in the hallway. He stared at them for a long, awkward moment before going back to the dance floor, "I'm going to forget I saw this."

"FIDS!" Ford shouted as he wrestled with his clones. "Help me!"

"Nope Stan says this is for your own good!" Fids says leaving.

"No Wait! Come Back!" Ford cried as they dragged him further away.

"Nope." And with that Fids was gone.

"Man what a mean friend." Clone 5 said as they all stopped for a moment.

"We should get rid of him next." Number 7 said.

With the other clones distracted, Ford punched Shermy in the face, and tried to make a run for it.

"CLONE FIGHT!" One of them yelled. The clones start fighting each other, and Ford snuck out of the rumble.

"Hey, Classic Ford's getting away!" A clone exclaimed. "Get him!"

The clones march towards Ford and cornered him. Ford's only weapon was a party popper that was on the ground next to him, "Stay back!" he warned. Ford fired it, and, much to his shock and relief, the smoke from the party popper caused the sprinklers to activate, and the clones melted. Ford sighed in relief, "Glad that's over," he smiled.

"Not quite." A voice said behind him.

Ford turned to see that one clone still remained. And it was Shermy, "Uh-oh."

Shermy yelled and jumped on Ford, and the two of them wrestled on the ground, "Say it!" the clone demanded. He hit Ford. "Say I can dance with Heather!"

"Never!"

The sound of a laugh caused them both to stop. "Heather?" They asked in unison. They looked over the balcony to see Heather chatting and laughing with Cooper.

"Man, I forgot how awesome it was to just hang out with you." Heather admitted. "As friends."

"Yeah friends." Cooper added making a secretive fist pump.

Shermy and Ford sat down and sighed, defeated. "We blew it."

"You wanna grab a couple of sodas?" Shermy asked. Ford nodded, not thinking of anything better to do.

Meanwhile Stan and Preston had finished dancing, and Ria announced, "Let the party crown voting begin!"

"Good luck, Stan," Preston said sarcastically.

"Actually, in our family, it's more common to say Mazel tov," Stan corrected him. "It's a religious term, meaning good luck."

Preston rolled his eyes, "Whatever, loser. Just know that after this, Susan WILL be my girlfriend."

Unseen by either of them, Susan looked fuming mad.

"Applause to vote for Stan!" Ria began. The crowd applauded loudly for her. "Let's check the applause meter," she raised her hand to measure the sound. "Very good, Stan! And the next contestant: Preston," the crowd applauded softly. Preston glared at the audience angrily, and more people clapped for him. To raise the odds, Preston went up to bribe Crazy Chiu, and her clapping, added to the others, ended up louder than Stan's. "Ladies and gentlemen, we-we have a winner," Ria hesitated, looking disappointed. She reluctantly gave Preston the crown. "Preston Northwest."

"Thank you!" Preston smiled. He walked over to Susan. "And now to claim my other prize!" He went to grab her hand, but she slapped it away.

"What do you think I am?!" She yelled suddenly. It shocked both Preston and Stan. "Do you really think that you can just label me as a prize without asking me what I want first?! I don't want to date either of you, so go away!"

"Way to be a killjoy, princess," Preston sneered. "Like I want to be with a peasant like you anyway," he turned to the crowd and announced an after-party at his place, and they all left, save for Stan, Ria, Susan, Fids, and Buddy

Stan turned to Susan, who was looking away and holding her arm, "Did… Did I really make you feel that way?"

Susan nodded sadly.

"I'm really sorry, Susan. I… I should have said something to you first. I didn't mean to make you feel that way. I understand if you want to leave."

"Who said I wanted to leave?" She asked. "I won't go out with you, but I will forgive you," Susan smiled. "How about we stay friends?"

Stan smiled, "Yeah, sure! I'm Stan Pines," he introduced himself. He pointed to the others. "That's Fids, Buddy, he on a trial friendship bases at the moment." He added. "And there's Maria, and Danny, and Heather is over there with…" He stops as he notices the new guy. "Oh no…."

"What?" Susan asked.

"He blew it." Fids and Stan said in unison.

"Who did?" Susan asked.

"I'll explain later." Stan assured her. "Now you can also meet my Grauntie Mabel and my twin brother, Ford when he's done mopping."

Susan laughed, "That sounds great!"

"Do you kids want to keep dancing?" Ria asked.

"Yeah!" the kids cheered.

Ria played another song, and everyone danced along to it.

Back with Ford and Shermy, the two sighed as they set on the roof; each held a can of soda, "Some night, huh?" Shermy spoke up to break the silence. A shooting star flew across the night sky as they opened their soda cans.

"Do you think we even have a chance with Heather?" Ford asked. "I mean, we don't know if she's ready for another relationship after Bud, not to mention Cooper is back."

"To be honest," Shermy thought, "I'm not sure, but the way we're doing it isn't working. The only real progress you made with her was when you weren't following the list."

Ford sighed, "I know. Stan was right. I do get in my own way."

"Literally!" They both laughed. The cans touched, but Shermy accidentally spilled his all over himself. He began to disintegrate.

Ford gasped, "Shermy!"

"It's okay, Ford," the clone reassured him. "I had a good run while it lasted. Don't forget what we talked about."

"Of course."

"And don't be a wimp around Heather anymore, okay?" Shermy added. "For my sake…" then the clone completely melted and bubbled into nothing but wet paper.

Ford paid his respects to Shermy and went back to the dance floor, where only his friends, Stan, and a new girl remained.

Of course, Buddy had ran off home saying it be kind of hard to hide from Mabel now that the crowd was gone.

Stan had agreed plus he wasn't sure if Ford was ready to forgive him.

"Ford!" Stan called out. "Where have you been! Meet my new friend!"

Ford ran over only to be drenched as Fids dunked a bucket of water over him. "Seriously?" he asked.

"Just checking." Fids said.

"Nice." Stan laughed giving him a high five.

"Okay I get it." Ford said. "No more touching experiments made by mad scientist who are run out of town."

"Told you." San laughed.

"So, does this mean you don't think he's the Author anymore?" Heather asked rejoining them.

"Heather!" Ford looked nervous. "I!"

"Clone trouble?" Heather asked pointing to his wet clothes.

Ford sighed "Yeah you guys were right, sorry for ditching you." He told her.

"No big." Heather said. "I think it worked out for the best, now Cooper and I are on good terms again…as friends…" She added quickly.

"So he found his bike?" Ford asked.

Heather gasped. "That was you wasn't it!?"

"Me?" Ford scoffed. "No, I…." Everyone gave him a look and he sighed. "Okay I may have tasked some clones with the job."

"You idiot!" Fids shook his head.

"You think they'll get the wrong idea and come back for revenge?" Susan asked suddenly getting on board.

"Wait you told her?" Ford asked.

Stan nodded. "She's one of us now."

Ford shook his head, man this had been a crazy night, he turned to Susan and answered. "As long as they did see anything at the wrong time we should be fine."

"Like?" Susan asked.

"Like me melting them all with water." Ford admitted.

Clones Number 3 and for gasped as they backed away from the shack window. Classic Ford had betrayed their brethren!

"He will pay!" Number 3 vowed.

"Yes." Number 4 agreed. "But First we must hide it will rain soon." He said pointing to the cloudy sky.

The clones ran then, vowing to return for revenge, but as the thunder rolled and the lightning strike another pair of misfits were already plotting their own revenge.

Buddy Gleeful ran up to his sister, a big grin on his face and said. "I'm in!"

Bonnie Gleeful smiled wickedly, "Perfect…"

Episode 15: The Cloning END!

Author's Notes: Tune in next week to find out what happens next! Thanks again for reading and please review!

Yours Truly, RoxieDivine ;)