#Hehe I enjoyed getting to mull over these Nine character thoughts for a minute so thanks anon for giving me a chance to talk about my fav

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Would nine want to clone himself?

I'll be honest with you anon. Within the canon of Sonic Prime, I don't think he would.

By the end of season 2 of Prime, he gets to see Mangey, Sails, and the apparition of Tails, and we know that by Season 3 he's developed something of an identity crisis over the whole thing (the fact that other "versions" of himself exist out there + his belief that Sonic only ever saw him as basically Tails). So I think that whether you're looking at a canon or post Sonic Prime setting, Nine could consider cloning himself for either companionship or for getting more work done. However, (if he doesn't outright fear the possibility of a "can I really be the real me??" situation) I think he'd decide instead to build a robot or machine to do whatever he needs for the sake of practicality.

To put this in a bit of perspective, we see from Nine's introduction in Prime S1 E1 that he's actively trying to be alone (and has been alone as he can be for a while). He doesn't actively pursue companionship and is closed off because he doesn't want to be hurt by making himself vulnerable like that. A lot of how he acts at this point in the story is out of the desire to never be a victim again. However, given how strongly he seeks for Sonic to join his side in The Grim later, and then also almost immediately builds a Sonic robot after breaking off his situationship with Sonic, I don't think it's a stretch to say that Nine hadn't realized how much he actually craved companionship until after Sonic was no longer a factor in his future living plans. So the identity crisis + how he clearly misses Sonic and the companionship/care he gave him × Nine's trauma and doubled down response to the idea of being vulnerable (because he does see the Sonic situation as him opening up again only to be backstabbed) = "Let's build a robot that reminds me of Sonic so I don't have to feel alone and then build more robots to perform jobs I can't"

So...yeah. Tl;dr to me Nine is more likely to build a machine/robot before he even thinks about cloning himself (for the sake of practicality, identity crisis reasons, and so he doesn’t have to open himself up or deal with an actual person with opinions and ideas)

Now, with that being said, I could maybe see it in an au setting. If you're trying to be as practical and close to character as possible, I think one would have to come up with a situation in which cloning himself would be Nine's only option or the most practical option. And, in general, I love watching him suffer over his identity crisis, so I think a story in which he makes clones with himself and deals with the consequences could be interesting. Or (if it's your thing) I think a story where he ends up learning how to care for himself via all the clones and their problems and them learning to coexist and collaborate could also be both sweet and interesting (although that is also something one could do in an au with him and other Prime!Tails variants as well).

In any case, thanks for the ask anon!!😊