An hour later, the residents of the Monarossabergie House are back in their home in the kitchen. Yet they are joined by Matt, being the nice goalie he is to help out others. They are standing around the original countertop, which is in the dining room, looming over a gyros plate.

Brandon hesitantly reaches his hand out toward the plate. He then lowers his hand on its edge and taps it thrice.

Right away, three identical gyros plates fly from the plate and into view. CLATTER CLATTER CLATTER…!

“Look at that!” Brandon whirls to face his teammates. “Duplicating is actually good!” He extends his left hand toward the plates.

From the end of the countertop, Joseph pulls the closest gyros plate to himself and begins consuming it.

Standing across from Brandon, Nick frowns at the plates. “Not when it’s gyros. I’m gonna get a hamburger.” He then turns around and lumbers into the living room.

Joseph shoots him the death stare as he disappears into the foyer.

Matt peers down at Brandon since he is next to him. “So, when did this duplication thing start?”

Brandon grabs a triangular piece of pita bread from the plate, replicating it. “This morning—” He tears a bite from it with his teeth and begins chewing it. “It first happened to my mattress.”

“What was the last thing you touched before the mattress?” Joseph asks him as he puts his fork down.

Brandon swallows. “Ummm…” He knits his eyebrows with eyes narrowed ahead as he thinks hard. “I was on my bed…I was putting on… Socks.” He flicks his eyes down, catching sight of his socks. “I found these in the back of my drawer.” He wiggles his toes. “They were the only pair I found and I hadn’t worn ‘em in a while!”

Joseph leans over toward Brandon to get a good look at his socks. “Take them off.”

With great balance, Brandon takes of both socks successfully without the aid of an object nor duplicating them. Then he places his free hand against the island’s surface.

Nothing happened.

Joseph nods his head with his eyes on Brandon’s hand. “It works.” He turns to Matt. “It works!” He high-fives him.

“Yay!” Matt high-fives him back with a sweet smile.

Brandon gawks at them with his hands out from his sides. “But I have no more socks!”

Joseph turns back to him. “Wash some— You’re in charge of the laundry.”

“But I need my socks for the time being.” He slips his socks back on quickly. “I just won’t touch anything.”

“But you can’t do laundry with those socks if you duplicate everything you touch,” Matt points out.

Brandon sighs. “I’ll take ‘em off when I do.”

“This is not gonna go well,” Joseph mutters. He then picks up his fork and takes in a forkful of gyro meat.

BIZZ BIZZ…! Brandon’s smartphone vibrates from afar. BIZZ BIZZ...!

“I’ll get it!” Brandon slips past Matt and out of the aisle of countertops. He then skips down toward the sound, ending up in the living room.

He peers down at the sofa. “It’s somewhere here…!” He shoots his hands at the cushions of the sofa and begins throwing them aside in search of his phone. The cushions being to replicate, giving the illusion that the sofa is emitting endless amounts of cushions.

From the kitchen, Joseph slaps his hand on his forehead. Matt stares at the flying cushions in fright.

Finally, with messy hair, Brandon straightens up with his phone held in the air. “Got it!” He taps on the screen, having another phone slip from it. He presses the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

The front door opens and Nick comes ambling into his a paper bag in one hand and his phone against his ear in the other hand.

“I’m home.” He flashes him a kiddish smile.

Brandon eyes him with a flat expression. “Welcome home, Nicky.” He then pulls the phone away and turns it off; another phone flies into view and falls on the sofa.

He then peers down at the three duplicates of his phone lying on the sofa. “Oh man.”

Joseph stalks up to him menacingly. “What did you just do?”

Brandon swipes one of the three new phones from the sofa, duplicating it on contact. “I just duplicated my phone.” He peers down at the other three phones on the sofa. “Again.”

Joseph growls. “Ugh, give me that—!” He blindly snaps his hand out at Brandon’s phone, snatching it from his grasp and grazing his hand against his in the process.

Everyone immediately gapes at the scene.

Standing to the right of Joseph is an exact duplicate of Joseph: same mien, same attire, same posture, same him.

Joseph stares wide-eyed at his replica. “What the heck? Who are you, imposter?!” He sticks his face into his with his hands balled up by his sides. “What are you doing here?!”

The other Joseph stares at him incredulously. “What are YOU doing here? There’s only one of me and that’s me!” He slams his hand against his chest.

“No, it’s me!” Joseph snaps at him.

“Me!” he barks back at him.

“Me!”

“Me!”

“It’s me, you idiot!!!” Joseph then shoots his hand out at him and clutches the back collar of his shirt with his other fist pulled back, ready to plummet him with punches.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!!!” Brandon shouts, holding his hands out toward them.

“NO, DON’T TOUCH HIM!” Matt yells from the kitchen. He scrambles from between the countertops and rushes into the living room. “Guys! Stop!”

He pulls the two Josephs apart with his hands and slips in between them. “Guys, calm down…!”

“WHY DID YOU DUPLICATE ME, BRANDON?!” Joseph roars at his roommate.

Brandon grimaces at him. “I didn’t mean to!”

“Why did you make him?” the other Joseph shouts, pointing to his original self.

“I was here first!” Joseph snaps at him.

His duplicate turns to him with menacing eyes with lowered eyebrows. “Did you just say I’m not the first one here?”

“Yes, because you are—!” Joseph then reaches out hastily toward his replicate, attempting to shove Matt aside.

Matt though holds his ground, pushing Joseph back in place. “Guys!” he yells. “STOOOP!” He then snaps his head upward and emits rings of sonokinetic energy from his mouth while saying the word.

The rings let out a sharp, screeching sound, immediately stopping the commotion.

Matt closes his mouth and lowers his head, breathing in and out heavily in still silence. He takes a look at the Joseph to his left, then at the Joseph to his right. “Okay, one question: Who is the real Crammer?”

“It’s me, of course,” the Joseph to his right replies cockily.

The Joseph to his left lowers his eyebrows at him. “No, it’s me!” He gazes at the goalie. “Matt, it’s me!”

“Don’t listen to that idiot, it’s me!”

“Matt, listen to me, it’s me!”

Brandon gawks at the scene. “What did I do?!” he whimpers to himself. He then straightens up and shouts at them: “Okay, guys, what name do I call you?”

In unison, both of them whirl to face him and shout: “Joey!”

“Dang it…” Brandon purses his lips. “They have the same thoughts and minds!”

Matt holds his hands out toward the two Josephs. “Okay, Crammer number one, Crammer number two, what happened?”

“Monty duplicated me and now I have an evil twin!” the Joseph on the left exclaims. He points to his duplicate. “Mikey is better than this!” He is referring to Michael Cramarossa, his younger brother.

The Joseph on the right crosses his arms and huffs with a roll of his eyes. “Mikey wished he was half as good as me.”

Joseph narrows his eyes at him. “Hey, don’t talk bad about Mikey.”

The other Joseph sticks his face toward him. “I thought you didn’t like him.”

“No, I do.”

“Yes, I don’t.”

“No, I—”

“Joey,” Brandon cuts in, “it’s useless fighting…against yourself.”

“Shut it,” the Joseph on the left snaps at him. He jabs an angry finger at him. “I’m gonna reverse all this…” He whirls to his duplicate, reverting his finger at him. “...including YOU.”

The Joseph on the right rolls his eyes. “Good luck with that.” He pulls himself from Matt’s grasp and swaggers across the living room, toward the foyer.

Joseph pulls himself away from Matt with sharp eyes at his escaping replica. “Come back here—!” He rushes toward him.

With one look at his charging self, the other Joseph throws the front door open and speeds out of the house.

Joseph jumps into the foyer to chase after his duplicate.

“Wait, Joey!” Brandon shouts.

Joseph halts in his tracks and turns to him.

Brandon turns to Matt. “Matt, give him that jacket.” He nods toward the jacket that is draped over the edge of the sofa.

Matt takes the jacket and tosses it at Joseph.

“Wear that so we know that you’re the original Joey,” he explains.

Matt smiles at him. “That’s smart!”

He beams at him. “Thanks.”

“Fine.” Joseph ties the sleeves of the jacket around his waist. “Wish me luck.” He then takes off.

Joseph dashes through the front yard and darts his eyes right and left, quickly spotting his duplicate running down the left side of the sidewalk. He makes the sharp turn onto the sidewalk speeds down it, his eyes locked on his target.

The other Joseph quickly catches sight of his pursuing self, kicking up his pace and racing down the streets.

Huffing and puffing, his hair bouncing up and down to his movements, his athletic body at work, Joseph chases down himself into the small main street of Del Mar.

The two weave past the shoppers as they exclaim “Whoa! Eek!” and almost drop their shopping bags as the two emerge from the crowd, one after another.

They sprint through crosswalks, spin around lampposts, street mailboxes, and newspapers stands, and pass by people eating in outside cafés. They jump over curbs, dodge people’s protruding shopping bags, and speed down the hills in the pursuit of each other.

Joseph spots his duplicate coming to an intersection that has the red hand for him. A victorious smirk grows across his face: the one he is pursuing has halted. Suddenly, a crowd of shoppers emerges into his view, blocking him from seeing and going any further.

“Shoot!” Joseph stumbles backward and slips behind a street mailbox, next to its right side, by the curb to let the people pass.

Once the crowd of shoppers moved away, Joseph peers ahead of him to see if his replica is still standing by the curb or had already taken off.

His eyes immediately wide.

His duplicate is still standing on the curb, yet he has company: The Gulls’ third-string goalie, the one whom the Ducks organization traded Max Friberg for, Dustin Tokarski, is standing right beside him. From Joseph’s point of view, it seems like the goalie is conversing with him.

Joseph gasps and ducks behind the massive side of the street mailbox, hoping he was not spotted by his most hated teammate. He senses his detestation toward the goalie beginning to bubble inside him--a heavy, twisted, sharp feeling. With a deep breath, he ignores the feeling to avoid being distracted from the goal of this mission.

He slowly pokes his head out from the street mailbox’s side, curious as to what Dustin is going to do with his duplicate.

He spots his duplicate nodding his head at Dustin. Dustin then wraps his arm around him and leads him up the corner, disappearing behind the building that is situated by the curb.

Joseph stays in his kneeled position for a moment just in case the two reemerged from the side of the building. After a few still moments, the curb remains empty.

A smile grows on his face. That is one way to get rid of his second-most hated person.

---

It is now just Brandon and Matt in the kitchen. Nick has gone to his room for his post-lunch nap.

The two of them are standing around the middle countertop when they hear the front door opening then closing. The two of them perk up just as Joseph, with the jacket swaddled around his waist, swaggers into view.

“Joey!” Brandon exclaims. “You got rid of him?”

“Yes, I made him long gone.” Joseph parks himself at the end of the countertop the two are standing by. He then darkly glares at his roommate. “And you better make those socks of yours long gone as well.”

Brandon sighs. He peers up at Matt for a second opinion.

Matt nods his head. “Better be safe than sorry.”

He nods his head in agreement. “Alright.” He then slips his socks off and places them on the table. “There, they’re off.”

“Good,” Joseph states sternly. “Now go do laundry.”

With a sigh, Brandon pulls away from the countertop and ambles into the living room.

He peers down at the undone sofa that is spewed with extra cushions and phones. He turns his head away to continue his trek to the laundry room when something white catches his eyes. He gazes back down at the sofa.

There, wedged in between the cushions, is an object that is textile, round, and white.

Brandon walks up to it and yanks it out from the cushions. He raises it up into the air with triumph. “I found ‘em!” He turns to the other two teammates excitedly. “I found my clean pair of socks!”

“Yay!” Matt exclaims, clapping his hands.

“Next time, don’t store ‘em in the sofa,” Joseph snaps at him.

Brandon quickly slips his regular socks over his bare feet. “Oh man, finally: a pair of normal socks!” He wiggles his toes in response. “But…”

He leans over toward the sofa then straightens back up. He holds out a handful of phones in one hand and a fistful of cushions in his other hand. “Anyone need any extra phones or cushions?”


The End.

Notes

E.9 "Activate Duplicate"
Part 4/4
Episode 9/20