And Soon They Number More Draft 2

Kol had done it. In a moment of whim and weakness, the Kelpie had come to him in the guise of Casey, offering herself to him. He supposed he was just THAT IRRESISTABLE, really. He couldn't blame her.

Now he had her beneath him, ready to get down and dirty with what was prooooobably the 5th wierdest sex he'd ever had. Depends on what you qualified that night in Moot Vegas as. He lined himself up with the fae, leaning down to whisper some amazing sex talk as he made his mark on her...

And then his plan ground to a screeching halt as two Gabes entered the room at once, babbling and pointing to one another about how the Kelpie had stolen their form, and they needed to stop her!!! Yknow, in between grappling with one another juuuust a bit too poorly for it to count as either catching the other.

Kol blinked, then glanced down at Casey. "Wait, you're not the Kelpie?"

She seemed just as perturbed as he was. "No. I thought we were getting kinky. Drawing out the Kelpie with raunchy, emotional stuff. I haven't seen her in a while."

Kol had pretty much completely lost his libido here, the sheer oddity of seeing two of his friend in the same room managing to beat his sex drive into submission. He stood, covering himself with a towel and putting his hands out. "Look, I know how we can solve this. The Kelpie wouldn't have Gabe's powers, right? Both of you, try to open a Gate. Just something small."

When both Gabes proceeded to open gates of equal quality, Kol realized they may be in for a bit of a problem. Casey stood, then whispered into Kol's ear. "Can't we just grab them? Two of us, two of them."

He... found that a pretty smart proposal. And together, they jumped forward, grappling with the two Gabes... and frowning as neither one admitted defeat.

A third Gabe entered the room. "Hey, what's happening in here?"

-------------------

The next 10 minutes were apparently Overtime, as the five assembled individuals attempted to figure out both who the Kelpie was, and why in the fresh hell a Gabe doppelganger beside the Kelpie was running around. Tensions were running high.

"Casey why on Earth did we leave the Evil Clone Questions at home?"

"I dunno, seems like one of those things you wouldn't see coming." One of the Gabes opined. "I know I packed the Silver, but that sure isn't coming in handy."

"You liar! I packed it! Because I'm the real Gabe!!!" Another shouted, resulting in another cacophony of Sender voices before Casey slapped a mana tentacle over all three of their mouths.

"Okay, so, we may not have the official list, but we can absolutely ask questions anyways. Stuff only the real Gabe would know about. Once we know who the real one is, we can figure out what to do about the doppelgangers."

Everyone else agreed that this was a very logical course of action, as Casey generally seemed to come up with. All five of them sat down in a circle, and prepared for an impromptu interrogation.

And then a second Kol peeked his head in the door. "You guys find the Kelpie yet?"

Casey, to her credit, didn't scream in frustration that loudly.

SEVERAL HOURS LATER...

"OKAY!!!" Casey shouted, having long since relocated to the largest bath due to the size of the crowd of duplicates. Somehow, nobody had thought to imitate her, which made all of this much less confusing. "EVERYONE LISTEN UP!!!"

A mana tentacle waved a large packet of papers high enough for the 20 Kols and 17 Gabes to see them. "ACCORDING TO THE RESULTS OF THE THIRD EDITION OF THE "SOMETHING ONLY THEY WOULD KNOW" TEST, ONLY FIVE OF YOU CAN POSSIBLY BE THE REAL KOL! WHEN I CALL YOUR NUMBER, PLEASE STEP FORWARD."

It had been going on like this for a while. Whenever it seemed they may be ready to uncover a mimic and make things slightly clearer, a new clone would step in just to muddy things up. Sometimes multiple even, as they had discovered when three Kols at once decided to make an appearance.

Delilah had briefly shown up, apparently having lost track of Gabe and hearing voices from the locker room. She had taken one look at the six Gabes playing cards while Casey interrogated the four Kols, shaken her head, and left muttering something about "freaking Main Characters" and needing a drink.

Casey's tenacity was winning out. This was the closest they'd come to finding the truth. She was prepared to issue the next edition of the Kol test to the five candidates. She would find the real one, and the Kelpie, and then she would figure out how in the name of the Fates she was going to deal with the rest. There was NO POSSIBLE WAY THIS COULD GET ANY MORE RIDICULOUS.

And then there was some demented cackling from one of the pipes, as the Kelpie emerged from a nearby drainage grate in a splash of water. "EEEEEEHEHEHEHE! Silly mortals didn't think of sewer! I fell asleep, but now I'll... I'll..."

The Kelpie stared down at a crowd of 37 clones and a single Casey. They stared back. One of the Gabes waved to her.

"Oh, sweet Titania..." the Kelpie said. "Uh... I think you... you actually win. I go now. Need tylenol and nap. Not ready to deal with this today."

And with a flash of light and the scent of a summer rain, the Kelpie was gone. Nobody was quite sure how to react. The crux of their conflict was not only gone, but had never been a factor in the first place.

Casey glanced around the room at the myriad clones. "Orgy?"

The cheer could be heard around the block.