"All right, everybody, I've got something very special to share with you!" Tails announced.
At once, Sonic, Knuckles, Sticks, and Amy put their hands over their eyes and chanted, "Please be ice cream, please be ice cream, please be ice cream!"
"No, guys, it's not ice cream." Penny giggled at their actions.
"Introducing, my latest invention!" He excitedly motioned his hands to a yellow object on the ground. Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks, minus Penny, moaned in disappointment.
"So help me, Tails, that better be an ice cream maker!" Knuckles grumbled, and Penny giggled again.
Hearing beeping, Penny looked up to see Eggman doing his daily attack, followed by an army of bees.
"Minions, attack!" Eggman ordered.
Sonic instantly got in front of the human girl, and he, Knuckles, Sticks, and Amy got into battle mode. Tails looked excited about this one attack, and Penny knew why. He was going to use his invention against Eggman.
"Perfect timing!" Tails said. "Behold, the cutting edge of defensive technology!" He stooped down towards his machine and pressed a button, and a blue laser shot up, creating a dome that covered the entire village. Eggman's bees shattered against the strong shield.
"I call it, the Village Fortifying Electromagnetic Protective Hemisphere!"
Sonic and the others groaned.
"I-I mean, Domepocalypse?" Tails suggested, and everyone agreed with him, clapping.
Penny watched from below as Eggman fired his laser at the shield, but the laser just bounced off and smashed into his bees. "What is this?" He asked in annoyance. "Some sort of Village Fortifying Electromagnetic Protective Hemisphere?"
Penny burst into fits of giggles, and Sonic smirked at her.
"No!" Tails smirked, motioning to his machine. "It's Domepocalypse!"
"Oh, good name!" Eggman shot back at him. "But it won't stop me! And by me I mean Obliterator Bot." He motioned his hand towards Obliterator bot, thinking the robot would easily break through the dome. Penny winced a little as an echoing bang was soon heard when Obliterator Bot landed on the dome, but soon sighed in relief when she watched Obliterator bot's sword shatter. Obliterator Bot then shot a laser, which directly hit Eggman's ship, sending the doctor sailing and screaming. Obliterator Bot tried to shoot a laser again, but this time he accidentally shot off his own head. He tumbled to the ground.
The villagers cheered at Eggman's defeat.
............................
Soon, Penny, Sonic, Sticks, Amy, and Knuckles appeared at an award ceremony for Tails's success. The mayor smiled down at his citizens. "Thanks for the Domepocalypse, the village threat level has now been lowered from certain doom to probable doom! For that, we award Tails this Trophy of Power!"
Everyone, including Penny and her friends, cheered for Tails. Tails happily accepted the trophy. He stared at it for a moment. "Is this trophy from a youth basketball league?" He asked suspiciously. The mayor smiled at him. "Sorry, kid, it's all we had." The mayor said apologetically.
Tails turned to the crowd. "Thank you." He grinned. "Our village is now free from Eggman's tyranny. My full proof Domepocalypse has neutralized all air attacks forever!"
"Hooray for Tails!" An old monkey cheered.
"We're finally s-a-a-a-f-f-e-e!" A female goat said.
A boar looked bored. "I was told there'd be pie...."
Before Tails could answer, Penny felt the ground rumble. She, Sonic, and the others turned around to see that Eggman had found a way to get into the village.... from underground. Eggman's scorpion robots started firing, and villagers ran around in panic. Sonic and the others fight the intruders. Eggman started firing his laser at the roof of the dome, and the laser shot down, destroying certain objects in its path. One missile headed straight for Penny and her friends. But luckily, Sonic grabbed the girl in his arms and dodged her out of the way just in time.
Tails watched from the stage, his face crestfallen. "But..." He protested. "It was foolproof!"
"It can't be foolproof!" Eggman said. "I got past it! Ah, crud, that came out wrong."
Sonic, who still had Penny in his arms, called to his friend. "Tails! We have to shut down the dome! It's helping Eggman!"
Tails had tried to get to it, but Eggman's robots were in the way. "I can't get to it!" He cried, dodging a missile. "Knuckles! Shut it off!"
Knuckles smashed a robot, and ran to the Domepocalypse. And with his strong muscles, the red echidna picked the Domepocalypse by the handles and forced the now sided dome on Eggman. Knuckles grunted as he tried to keep it in one place.
Sonic sped Penny to Tails's side and broke Eggman's machine. Eggman popped open the lid and looked around to see that his army was destroyed.
"I'm starting to feel like you guys don't want me around!" Eggman grumbled. "Well fine, maybe I'll go! On my own volition, of course. Completely my ideal." And with that, Eggman hopped out of his machine and took a run for it.
Tails and Penny walked up to Knuckles, and Tails turned off the machine. Penny smiled apologetically at the fox.
Back on the stage, Penny looked at Tails, and immediately felt sorry for the little guy. It wasn't his fault that Eggman had thought a way around the dome! However, the villagers decided to think that it was all his fault.
"Because of Domepocalypse was a total disaster, I hereby revoke Tails's Trophy of Power. Gimme that!" With one swipe, the trophy was taken from the poor guy's hands.
The audience, except for Penny, Sonic, Sticks, Amy, and Knuckles, booed. Having enough, Penny darted on stage, with Sonic following after her. "Guys, wait a minute!" The girl said. "We can't blame Tails just because he made a small mistake!"
"Penny's right!" Sonic said, walking up. "We can't expect Tails to think of every possible outcome! He's only one guy!"
"Thanks, Penny and Sonic." Tails said, raising his hand to stop them. "But they're right! It is my fault! It never occurred to me that Eggman would attack underground!"
"For realizing it's all his fault, and because his name is already on the placket, I hereby award Tails this Trophy of Shame!" The mayor announced, and he re-handed Tails his trophy. However, the cheers were less excited.
Penny frowned.
.....................
"Sonic's right." Tails said as he finished the final touches on his new machine. "I can't think of every possible outcome because I am only one guy! But, if I could split myself into five, I could form a brain trust of super-scientists!"
"I don't care." A new voice said. Tails turned around to find the boar from earlier. In his arms were four encyclopedias. "So are you going to buy a set of encyclopedias or what?"
Tails pressed a button on his machine, and hurried in. A moment later, the door opened, and one by one, five versions of Tails walked down the steps of the machine. The first one stood to face the others. "Okay, Brain Trust, what do we do now?"
One of the Tails raised his hand. "Ooh! Ooh!" He gasped excitedly.
"Yes?" The first Tails asked.
The one who raised his hand looked down sheepishly. "I don't know."
The Tails standing next to him laughed. "You're dumb!"
"Am NOT!" The other Tails retorted.
One of the Tails walked over to the wall and licked it. "Hey!" He said, motioning to the other Tailses. "This wall tastes like dirt!"
At that, the other Tails copied Tails's licking.
..........................
At Sonic's.....
"Sonic! You wanna see my new invention?!" The fox asked in excitement. He held up a gum-wrapper with bottle caps on it.
"Tails, that's not an invention." Sonic scoffed. "That's some bottle caps stuck to a gum wrapper"
Tails looked at his "invention" and tossed it out. Sonic got off the hammock. "You seem off today, buddy," He said, putting a hand on Tails's shoulder. "Maybe you just need something to eat. I'll run and get a Meh Burger.
Sonic sped off to Meh Burger, but stopped short when he saw Tails sitting down on a chair and eating a burger. "Tails?!" Sonic asked, shocked. "How did you get here so fast?"
Tails shrugged, and continued eating.
"Well, since you've eaten, why don't you meet me back at my place?" He asked, and he took off. When he got back, he looked stunned to see Tails tangled up in the hammock.
"Tails?!" Sonic asked, shocked.
......................
At Amy's...
Tails walked up to Amy, who was hanging a picture. Amy turned around and smiled. "Oh, good." She sighed in relief. "Help me hang this picture!"
Tails took a hammer and smashed a hole in the wall. Then, he tossed a nail inside. Thinking he was done hammering the nail in, the fox grabbed the picture from Amy's hands and placed it against the wall. However, with no nail to keep it steady, the picture clattered to the ground. Tails stared happily at his work and said, "I like helping!"
Amy grumbled in annoyance.
....................
At Sticks's.....
"Hey, Tails, you wanna play volleyball?" Sticks asked Tails in excitement.
"Why?" Tails asked.
"Because I wanna play!" Sticks said.
"Why?" Tails asked again, looking like he was enjoying this.
"I don't know!" Sticks shrieked.
"Why?" Tails asked.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Frustrated, Sticks immediately strangled Tails, and the two collided to the ground.
.......................
Knuckles....
Knuckles and Tails sat on two fold up chairs by the water. In their hands were bottles of whipped cream. "Okay," Knuckles instructed. "On the count of three. Three, two, one, go!" And with that, the echidna started spraying whipped cream in his mouth. He looked over at Tails and saw that he didn't squeeze his own bottle. "Oh, why didn't you do it?!" Knuckles asked, his mouth full.
"You didn't say Simon Says." Tails smirked.
"We're not playing Simon Says." Knuckles said in confusion.
"Well, who is?" Tails asked.
"I don't know." Knuckles grinned, and stood up, tossing his can of whipped cream on the chair. "But we'd better find out before we miss all the fun!" And with that, he took off running, but stopped to look behind him to see that Tails didn't even get up from the couch.
"Uh.... Simon Says?" Knuckles tried.
At that, Tails got up and hurried after Knuckles, tossing away the whipped cream bottle.
...................
Penny....
"Hey, Tails!" Penny grinned as she walked up to the fox. "Wanna do something fun?"
"I don't know," The fox said. "Like what?"
"Well, we could work on a new invention!" She grinned.
"What do we invent?!" The fox asked, and Penny turned to him in confusion. "Aren't you the science genius?" She asked.
"What's a genius?" Tails asked.
Penny's eye brows raised in confusion.
..................
Back at Sonic's shack, Sonic tucked Tails in on the fold-up couch. "Listen, buddy, you've been acting a bit weird. You need some rest."
The door opened, and Sonic's mouth dropped open when he saw Amy walk in with another Tails. "Let's get you to bed." She said. Penny followed soon after. "We should talk to Sonic and see...." Seeing now three Tails, Penny stopped in her tracks and her mouth dropped open. Two versions of Tails waved at each other, a smirk playing on their faces.
"Stop asking me why!" Sticks cried, clinging her head and accidentally bumping into Penny. She quickly hid behind the human girl, and came face to face with another Tails. "Why?" He asked. Completely panicked, Sticks hopped on Sonic's counter, screaming.
"Simon's gotta be around here somewhere," Knuckles said as he and his own version of Tails walked in. Knuckles grinned at the Tailses around him. "Hey, there, Tails. Hey, Tails. Hey, Tails."
"Knuckles, does something seem off to you?" Penny asked the Echidna, crossing her arms and standing next to Sonic.
Hearing a yelp, Penny and the others turned to see a Tails fall from the top of the fridge, moaning when he collided with the floor.
"Hmm. I'm starting to think there may be more than one Tails." Knuckles said. And at that, the Tailses looked up in excitement. "Cool!"
"Why?" One of the duplicates asked.
................................
Soon, they were in Tails's workshop, standing in front of a huge machine.
"Tails must've used this to split himself." Sonic observed.
"That explains it." Penny muttered, eyes never leaving the five Tailses.
"That guy is a genius!" One of the Tailses said. "I'd sure like to meet him some day!"
"I guess each one only has one fifth of his brain power!" Sticks said. "That explains why they're all so dumb!"
"I don't know," Knuckles said, grinning at the five foxes. "They seem pretty smart to me!"
"I don't think so, Knuckles." Penny said. "Look." She frowned at two of the Tails... they were either bonking themselves on a metal object, or spinning around in circles. Knuckles only shrugged.
"Let's get them all into this thing so we could put Tails back together." Sonic suggested, and Amy grinned, and ran up to the machine. She whistled down at the Tailses."Here, Tails. Come on, come on, boy! You want the ball....go get it!" She grinned as she tossed the ball into the machine, and at that, the Tailses ran after the ball, and Amy closed the door as the last Tails entered.
Sonic pressed a button....
...and five more Tailses were added to the mix. The now ten Tailses ran out of the machine, laughing hysterically.
"Eh, that could've gotten better." Sonic mumbled.
"Sonic...." Penny said, and she pointed over to the Tailses, who were running around. Instantly the two friends began chasing them. Penny ran in one direction, and Sonic darted after the other. He gasped when he saw a Tails playing on the edge of a well. Thinking quick, Sonic grabbed the Tails in his arms, and looked up. He sighed in annoyance when he saw two Tailses chasing each other on the roof.
Amy and Penny tried chasing Tails on their airplane, however, the two stopped short and ran off screaming as the plane chased them.
Sticks dug a trap to catch Tails, but accidentally caught Knuckles instead.
The Tailses were so dumb and out of control, that Knuckles finally whistled, and got their attention. "You guys wanna see a cheese puff that looks like the mayor?" He asked.
Penny and the others watched with open mouths as the Tailses immediately stopped whatever they were doing and followed Knuckles. Knuckles paused and looked at the gang. "I'll keep them busy!" He volunteered, staring at the dumbfounded Sonic, Penny, Sticks, and Amy. "You guys look for the cheese puff that looks like the mayor!"
.........................
Meanwhile, Eggman's layer.....
Eggman had been singing in the shower, and Tails flew over and nosily poked his head through the curtain. "Do you have pudding?" He asked.
Eggman shrieked, and turned off the faucet. He poked his head through the curtain and glared at Tails. "What are you doing here?!" He demanded. "You trying to sneak attack me?!"
"Why would I attack you?" Tails asked.
"Because that's what enemies do, gadoid!"
Tails laughed hysterically. "Gadoid!" He repeated. He laughed some more. "You're funny. Wanna be friends?"
"Friends?" Eggman asked, completely confused. "What about Sonic?"
"Who?" Tails asked..
"That's the spirit!" Eggman said, still cowering behind the curtain. "Disloyalty is a trait I admire in a tony. Welcome to Team Eggman! First order of business: Get me a towel!"
Tails saluted, and flew off. Soon, he flew back.
"Where's the towel?!" Eggman asked.
"What towel?" Tails asked.
"The towel I asked you for!" Eggman grumbled. "Get to it!"
Tails flew off again, and came back with a mug. "I found pudding!" He announced excitedly.
"No, not pudding. A TOWEL!" Eggman was getting completely fed up.
Finally, Tails came back, only this time he had a small towel. "Is this a towel?" He asked, holding it up.
Eggman, who was really getting fed up, grumbled in annoyance. "What am I supposed to cover with that? ARE YOU MOCKING ME?! Agh, forget this. I'll do it myself!" With a grunt, Eggman tore the shower curtain off and wrapped it around himself. He got out of the tub, and headed to his lounging room, with Tails behind him. When the door opened, Eggman screamed when he saw around four more Tailses, surrounded by pudding.
"Gadoid!" They laughed.
...................
Back at Sonic's, Sonic counted the Tails they had collected. "We're still missing five." He announced. "If we don't find them, we'll never put Tails back together!"
"Where could they be?" Penny mumbled.
"Hey, losers!" A voice said at the doorway. Penny's eyes widened to see Eggman standing there. "My layer's infested with half-wit foxes. I'm a super-villain! Not a babysitting service!"
"Why would the Tailses go to Eggman's layer?" Amy asked curiously.
"Apparently because I have pudding." Eggman grumbled. "At least I used to,"
"Knuckles," Sonic ordered. "You stay here and make sure that these guys don't go anywhere." Sonic ordered. Knuckles nodded. "I'll do what I can. That cheese puff fiasco really hurt my credit."
When they got there, Eggman grumbled in annoyance to see that his whole place was trashed. "Oh, come on!" He cried. "Go to your place and destroy stuff!" He paused when he realized what he said. "No, wait, bad example. I do that every chance I get."
Penny giggled. Sonic zoomed over to the shower curtain and collected all the Tailses.
"All right, let's blow this clambake." Eggman suggested as they walked out.
.....................
When they got back, Knuckles was playing duck duck goose with the Tailses. The rest of the Tailses Penny and the others collected joined in on the fun. Eggman waved farewell. "Well, good luck! It's going to take forever to get that smell out of my mobile."
"Wait! We don't know how to put Tails back together." Sonic protested, motioning his hand towards the ten duplicates of his friend. "None of us know how to work his machine!"
"Fine, I'll take a look." Eggman sighed. "But only because I don't want to find a Tails in my bathtub. Again." Eggman walked up to the machine. "Interesting." He mused. "Did you try switching it to reverse?"
"Hey, you're the tech wiz, not us." Sonic said. Eggman shook his head a little, but switched the switch back to reverse.
"Let's get these guys inside." Amy said, and once again she started treating Tails like a puppy. One by one, the Tailses walked into the machine. The last one turned to Knuckles, and they shook hands. "I'm gonna miss being smarter than you, Tails." He said.
"I'm gonna miss being smarter than you, Knuckles." The last Tails said with a smile, and Knuckles nodded. "Yeah..." He closed the door after him, and Penny shook her head in amusement, though she was smiling.
Soon, Tails walked out, rubbing his head. "Whoa. That was not smart." He mumbled.
Knuckles completely flipped out. "AH! HE'S STILL NOT SMART!" Knuckles panicked, pointing at Tails. "PUT HIM BACK IN!"
"No! That's not what Tails means!" Penny said, batting Knuckle's arm down. Tails nodded. "Penny's right! It wasn't smart of me to think that all I needed were versions of me! But when I really needed was my friends,"
"Aww." Penny smiled. Tails smiled back at her.
"Actually, you needed me." Eggman said. "Your friends just made things worse! I'd better be going. Gotta make a pudding run anyway. Because someone bombarded my entire supply!" He turned to Tails, his face twisted in anger. "I'm so mad at you, Tails."
"Why?" Tails asked.
Sticks screamed and pushed him off the machine.