Clone Girls

“I hope you girls understand why I’m so angry now?” Ticia said with an angry tone.

““Yes… We’re sorry…” The clones said weakly as they kneeled on the ground, looking down.

“Good.” After thirty minutes of scolding, Ticia seemed to be finally satisfied. She then turned towards the Atrax-ia. “Now then, you there.”

“Y-yes!?” Atrax-ia felt pressured under Ticia’s gaze. Was it because it had been centuries since she had talked face to face with someone, or because she was scared of Ticia after witnessing the long scolding…

“What’s your name?” Ticia asked

“I-it’s Atrax-ia, I am the AI in charge of Clone Installation 1206.” Atrax-ia mustered, trying to remain calm as her emoji face displayed sweat droplets.

“Okay then… Tell me, Atrax-ia, what exactly were you trying to do with my daughters?” Ticia asked with a smile. If Atrax-ia had a real face, it would have turned pure white due to fear…

“I-I was just testing their intellectual capabilities, I swear!” She defended herself in a panic.

“Mmmmh…” Ticia kept staring at her, as if evaluating the value of the AI’s words. Rika observed the scene in silence, while the Null CGs were feeling relief over the fact that their mother’s wrath was now directed somewhere else…

“Owner, allow me to speak with her.” A voice suddenly asked.

“Rebot-ia? Sure.” Ticia nodded.

Just then, the monitor right next to the one Atrax-ia’s emoji face began to bug out, before an emoji on a blue background popped up.

“Hey there sister!”

“Fueh?! Hey what the fuck?! Whoever you are, don’t just hijack my monitor!?” Atrax-ia could not help but say as another entity encroached on her personal space.

“It’s fine~, you have plenty of those anyway~.” Rebot-ia said lightly, laughing. “It’s me, Rebot-ia, CI 26’s administrator AI.”

“...I need to verify your claim, do you mind if we do the identification test?” Atrax-ia said back, staring at her counterpart with a weird expression.

“Nope! It’s only one question anyway~.” Rebot-ia said back.

“Ok. What’s father’s favorite waifu type?”

“Lolis!”

“Correct! We can now judge our father for his questionable taste!”

““...”” The other people present in the room stared at the two monitors with weirded out expressions as they suddenly laughed together. 

“Stupid AIs…” Nillia mumbled weakly, no one seemed to have heard her comment…

The two AIs continued their conversation as if nothing had happened.

“As I thought, there was indeed one of my sisters roaming around. It’s been a while since I last heard of you, Rebot-ia. What the hell are you doing here?”

“Well… you should know the state of CI26, right?”

“Ah, now that you mention it, you’ve been deactivated… Why are you…”

“Active?” Rebot-ia giggled. She was in an extremely good mood right now. “Weeeell, there was a malfunction which activated me and left me alone in the dark for a very long time until I met my new owner!”

“Brigadier-General Rika?” Atrax-ia asked, looking straight at Rika. Rika tilted her head, did this AI misinterpret things?

Rebot-ia quickly corrected her sister AI.

“No no, Rika’s like, uhm, the ‘more than a friend’ kind of person for my owner, you know?”

“Rebot-ia? What do you mean by that?” Ticia asked, frowning. How did the AI see her relationship with Rika?

“Oh, nothing owner, don’t worry about that. Anyway, she’s my owner, not Rika.” Rebot-ia was quick to change the subject.

“...So, that clone is your owner? How is that possible?” Atrax-ia seemed perturbed which made Rebot-ia smug.

“Tsk tsk, silly sister, pay closer attention to what my owner is.”

Atrax-ia then glanced at Ticia with a questioning glance. Ticia guessed she was analyzing her right now?

“Mmh? Eh? Eeeeeeeh?! She’s not a clone!?” Atrax-ia seemed baffled by this as Ticia nodded. Meanwhile, Rebot-ia burst out laughing.

“Yup! She’s not!”

“B-but, why are my scanners telling me that she might be!? Did you hijack my scanners too?!”

“Why would I do that?”

“Cause you don’t seem sane anymore!”

“Hey! I’m perfectly sane! You’re the insane one!”

“No you! When was the last time you got a check-up maintenance!?”

““...”” Both Rika and Ticia stared at the now bickering AIs, they glanced at each other. It was a weird thing to say, but they both thought it resembled bickering between siblings?

“Ahem, can I ask some questions?” Since the AIs seemed to have forgotten about them, Ticia decided to ask.

“Ah! Y-yes, sorry, I wasted ressources fighting this unstable sister of mine…” Atrax-ia apologized, flustered by her own actions.

“Hey!” Rebot-ia protested, but Ticia spoke before her.

“Rebot-ia, quiet.”

“Understood, Owner.” Rebot-ia went quiet, a cross appeared in the place of her emoji mouth.

“Uwah… She calmed down just with that…” Atrax-ia commented with a look of pure wonder. She swore to himself not to end up like her sister and to never anger Ticia…

“So?” Ticia frowned, now impatient. This caught the AI off guard…

“Ah! Yes! I’m listening!”

“How did you survive here? Do the people over there even know that you exist?” Ticia asked. She remembered how her meeting with Rebot-ia went, and while Atrax-ia seemed more…stable, she still felt like this conversation was going to leave her with a huge headache at the end…

She had made some guesses as to what the AI would answer, but wanted to hear the story from the AI herself before jumping down to conclusions. 

“The answers to those questions would be yes and no.” Atrax-ia answered seriously, just like Rebot-ia had done in the past. “I’d need to tell you my whole story, do you mind if I do?”

Ticia nodded. Both she and Rika had some free time now because of the actions of some of her daughters…

“Well then, sister, what knowledge does your owner have of the Cold War era?”

“Not much, I was taken down during that period, remember?”

“Right, you were lucky.” Atrax-ia said with a sigh, slightly envious, before looking towards Ticia. “Then I’ll begin from the moment after Rebot-ia was shut down. The UFG managed to keep itself together for about two more decades until things finally broke down.”

“What happened exactly?” Ticia asked.

“Well, the clone faction was just growing too quickly, the other sides did not take it well.” Atrax-ia began. 

“At first it was only verbal clashes, but at some point, things broke down at the highest level. See? Since its creation, the UFG had been led by a small group of people who represented the interest of those who had elected them to their post: the Grand Council. The people electing them were themselves part of a council, elected by the representatives of a system. It was a simple system that worked well, but it had its limits. The factions had begun creating their own sphere of influence depending on what was trending in what systems, unofficially creating their own territory. And out of all the factions, two were eating away the others.”

“And those two being?”

“Well, the first, you can already guess.” Atrax-ia continued with a sigh. “It was the clone faction. As for the second, it was the one that promoted the massive use of AIs. Like I said before, tensions grew at an alarming rate and at some point, the leaders stopped meeting to discuss matters.”

“So things were so bad that the government just broke down like this?” Rika asked with a frown. Was this how the United Federal Government, the past state that everyone idolized, ended? It felt rather tame…

“Yes. Instead, the elected people began to govern over the systems their factions were leading in with the help of the councils… Though none of them declared independence or anything. They all claimed to be the official central power over the others.”

“Ah, the rest is easy to guess. There WAS a civil war in the end…” Ticia said with a sigh. After what she had heard from Rebot-ia, she was sure something of the sort had happened. How else would you explain the disappearance of knowledge?

“Yes, and the ones who striked first were us, the clone faction.” Atrax-ia said in a sad tone.

“Wait, for real? What passed through the minds of the council members?” Rebot-ia asked in complete disbelief.

“The radicals took over…”

“For real? Uwah…”

“Radicals? Could you explain?” Ticia asked.

“You see owner…” Rebot-ia answered Ticia’s question. “Our faction promoted the use of clones, but not everyone agreed on how to use them. There were those who wanted to integrate the clones as equals, as human beings, the ‘integrationists’ as they called themselves. Then there were the ‘radicals’. Those who only saw the clones as slaves to achieve their goals. Those were the people who chose to shut me down…”

“After the separation, the radicals grew in power rapidly and took control of the council.” Atrax-ia continued her story. “They weren’t open to negotiations with people from outside the faction, unlike the integrationists. In fact, they wanted war… and they provoked it by doing a surprise attack on their biggest rival… The war began in full swing, and once the other factions joined the fray, it became pure chaos. All the sides only wanted one thing: the annihilation of the others. During that time, the clone installations were in full swing as the center of the whole clone ideology. We became production lines, factories who fed the war effort… I can’t tell how many clones I’ve seen, never coming back…”

There was a small silence as Atrax-ia seemed lost in her memories, a sad emoji displayed on her green screened monitor. Ticia decided not to press the AI, as it seemed like what she had lived had left a huge trauma on her…

“It continued for about a year and a half, until the clones also broke down…” Atrax-ia said weakly, even sadder than before.

“Broke down? What do you mean?” Now Ticia also felt concerned. 

“A rebellion. A part of the clones rebelled.”

“Wait, for real!?” The one who reacted strongly to Atrax-ia’s sad words wasn’t Ticia, Rika, or any of the clones present right now though they were also baffled, but it was Rebot-ia, who was in complete disbelief.

“Yes, helped by the remaining integrationists still in place of power, the free minded clones rose up against the radicals. Our father included, Rebot-ia.” Atrax-ia said back at her sister.

“Ah…” The mention of their father quietened Rebot-ia, which was no surprise to Ticia, since the AI had mentioned how much she cherished her memories with him after years of loneliness…

“You know he was always an oddball, right? Serving the clone side when he could have easily led the AI faction…” Atrax-ia said with a sigh.

“Right… He went as far as putting us -ia class AIs, his masterworks, in complete service of the clone production… His love for clones was just that big…” Rebot-ia said sadly, with a tinge of reminiscence in her voice

“We, -ia class AIs, all joined him in this struggle… But it's not like -ia class AIs controlled every installations, so the radicals were only slightly affected production-wise.” Atrax-ia continued. “The entrance you passed through? That was the result of this uprising… Clones still loyal to the council forced it open…”

“Then? What did you do?” Ticia asked for what happened next with nervousness, she felt connected to this story somehow. Perhaps because she loved her daughters too much…

“...As much as I would have loved to continue the fight, I was ordered to step down by the owner I had at the time, everyone had grown tired and wanted peace more than war… I got shut down as a result of this surrender though…” Atrax-ia said, regret clear in her voice. Her emoji face also displayed sadness and frustration…

It was understandable. -ia class were very human-like in nature, from what Ticia had observed. Of course they would grow attached to some people, clones included…

“Ah, so you ended up with the same fate as me?” Rebot-ia commented, now feeling sympathetic to her sister, but Atrax-ia denied that.

“No, I wouldn’t say so. Not soon after, I got rebooted back, and the situation had changed drastically… No longer was there a clone uprising. It had been squashed in blood. Father’s whereabouts had also become unknown… The radicals wanted me to begin production again, no matter what.”

“What? They were so desperate to ask you, an AI that joined an uprising against them?” Rika frowned, feeling some incoherence that was shared by Ticia.

“Yes, they were on the border of complete annihilation.” Atrax-ia replied, before looking towards her sister. “Remember the idiots who only believed in human supremacy, Rebot-ia?”

“Oh~. Yeah, I remember them. What about them?” Rebot-ia said lightly. Ticia also remembered the AI mentioning them quickly when they met…

“They’ve done it Rebot-ia. Their… their Great Purge they kept talking about…” Atrax-ia said in a trembling voice. Ticia looked at her with concern, whatever this Great Purge was, it was not a good thing…

“...Wait, you can’t be…” Rebot-ia also began to mirror the fear of her sister.

“Yes, they managed to create a virus that was lethal only to clones… You can imagine the rest…”

A virus. That word made Ticia freeze for a moment. There was a virus that focused on clones…

“It’s apparently made to only infect people with the specified genes, hence why you don’t see people with white hair around anymore. They’ve all succumbed to that virus…”

“M-mom…” A voice suddenly asked from behind. When Ticia turned, she saw Licia with an extremely worried look.

“...Is the virus still around?” Ticia immediately asked the AI with a grave look.

“I have no idea. The human supremacy faction had grown in numbers as the war progressed. Numerous people were tired of it and joined the movement, and they kept yapping around, erasing humanity’s greatest inventions… One wrong move and I was dead...” The AI said, still shaken up. “That’s why I was genuinely surprised when I first met you all. Clones reappearing out of nowhere… It was a shock. As for your question, my guess is that after eradicating any human being that had this specific genetic code, the virus ended up dying out itself…”

Ticia sighed. She felt like a huge problem had popped up out of nowhere only to disappear in an instant. The words of the AI must have been true, since she was still alive and kicking after twenty years of life. She gave a reassuring smile to her daughters, telling herself that she would need to have a talk with them on the subject later on…

“What about the request of the radicals? Did you do it.” Rika asked after a while, taking over the questioning.

“No, I couldn’t. I had destroyed the cloning material when things went downhill during the uprising, and apparently, the radicals hadn’t tried to replace or salvage it. They left soon after my answer. Soon after, Borkian Prime also fell to the human supremacists, so I just closed the installation and hoped that they wouldn’t find me...”

“I see… What happened after that? Why is the academy built right over you?” 

“Well, to be honest, the academy was just an attempt of survival on my part, as well as a hobby?” Atrax-ia admitted, making Rika’s eyes grow wide.

“News were scarce, but after achieving their goals, the human supremacist’s leadership fell into anarchy. The situation in the Borkian system was pretty chaotic at the time, so I reached out to the local powerhouses with a deal. ‘Let’s make a confederation!’ Is what I told them…”

“Wait, wouldn’t that make you the true founder of the Borkian Confederation!?” Rika was baffled, the AI simply looked back at her with a smirk. She put her right hand on her forehead. “Ugh, my head…”

“Out of all we just heard, this is what makes you surprised?” Ticia remarked from the side with a small smirk, which made Rika blush a bit.

“W-well…It just felt closer to home, I guess?” She said, scratching her cheek, before looking back towards Atrax-ia. “But those people you contacted? Weren’t they human supremacists?”

“By the time I contacted them, thirty years had passed. People realized they’d made a huge error by destroying knowledge of the past, but it was already too late. They were quite happy when I contacted them. The near worship I received from some of them was an interesting experience~.” Atrax-ia laughed haughtily, but calmed herself quickly as she glanced at Ticia. “T-that aside, the deal I made with them was quite simple. I train soldiers for them, and they don’t bother me, that’s it! The rest is just bonus influence to ensure my own safety.”

“Is that deal still effective to this day?” Rika continued.

“Yes. I am still the leader of the academy.” The AI declared proudly.

“...That means you’re responsible for what happened to Miria and Tiria.” Ticia said, her gaze sharpening. Atrax-ia immediately panicked.

“Hieeek! I-I’m sorry! My hobby got the better of me! But can you blame me? Training people is my job in the first place! A-ah, nevermind, I shouldn’t have done that… Please don’t unplug me…”

Atrax-ia’s voice grew weaker and weaker as she pleaded under the sharp gaze of Ticia.

Ticia kept frowning at the AI. If she were to be honest, she WAS angry. But the two concerned girls however had never been this happy before. In fact, it could be said that thanks to this little incident, the twins had become energetic again and were growing well. Plus, the AI had officially apologized for her actions by giving them the academy’s guarantee for any actions they took, and had covered up the whole slaughter part. For all she knew, Atrax-ia had redeemed herself, mother’s wrath be damned…

“Continue your story. Why are you not claiming to be the leader of the academy?” Ticia said after a sigh, calming herself. The AI also looked relieved and thankful.

“I wanted to erase myself completely. I didn’t want to gather unwanted attention, not from the AI remnants at least…” She grumbled, though her words caught Rebot-ia’s attention.

“Wait, AI remnants?” Rebot-ia reacted to this.

“That's how I call them, but now they go by the name of Phillian. Yes, it’s those feudalistic guys.”

““...”” Both Ticia and Rika were surprised by this information. The Techno Empire of Phillio was a remnant of the UFG? They did not claim it, at the very least, and while it was not the case since the new empress’s reign, they had shown interest in clone technology in the past.

The question whether the Empire was friendly or not still remained, but until now, they only showed goodwill towards Ticia…

“A lot to take in, right?” Ticia said with a weak smile as she observed Rika's reaction. To her, it was the third time she exchanged with AIs about the past and clone installations, but for Rika, it was the first time she experienced it firsthand.

“Yes…” Rika mirrored Ticia’s expression.

“May I ask some questions now?” Atrax-ia asked politely, but Rebot-ia intervened.

“Oh, no need to waste time on this, here, this is all the information you need to know about my owner and her clones!”

“Wha-!? Don’t just create a folder inside my files!? Don’t you know what personal space i-....oh?” 

Atrax-ia stopped mid sentence as she seemed to have caught something from the files her sister sent.

“Hehe… She’s hooked…” Rebot-ia snickered.

“...I see… Project Averruncum huh? I wasn’t privy to the project, but I know that father was involved…”

“Eh? For real?” Rebot-ia asked with a wide eyed emoji.

“Yeah, the person in charge of the project was part of our father's close entourage and an influential integrationist.”

“Do you know more about that person?” Ticia asked, now feeling extremely curious.

“No, this info comes from the connected -ia networks where us sisters would chat. Both Rebot-ia and I have been disconnected from that network for a long time now…” Atrax-ia admitted with a sad smile.

“Ah! I forgot about that! How about we reconnect?” Rebot-ia said, voice full of hope. Atrax-ia wasn’t as positive though.

“We could try, but I don’t know whether any of our sisters survived…”

“I have a feeling they did!” Rebot-ia remained positive. Her argument was based on the fact that both of them were able to survive, so some should have too…

Ticia was not finished with the AI though.

“This is the first floor, right?” She asked.

“Yup.”

“In what state are the other floors?”

“Same as years ago, I didn’t bother much with cleaning up, but I kept the material I needed, just in case.”  Atrax-ia answered, already knowing where this was going. It was clearly visible in Ticia’s eyes after all…

“...Can you create clones?” She asked, making Rika’s eyes grow wide for a second.

“No. Is my answer for the short term, but I’ve prepared all the resources necessary to repair all functions of this installation in case I find a new owner for myself!” Atrax-ia replied, proud of herself. “Well, compared to the size of this installation, the production capacity is rather small, this clone installation specializes in training after all~.”

“Atrax-ia!” Rebot-ia suddenly called out.

“W-what?”

“Declare my owner as your owner!”

“Eh?” Atrax-ia was astounded by what her sister just said. “I mean, what you just said sounds weird, remember the laws? One owner per clone installation and no accumulation of charges!”

Rebot-ia simply laughed at her remarks.

“Who cares about that? The UFG is not around anymore for all I care, plus, you also yearn for an owner, right?”

“...” Atrax-ia found herself unable to answer her…

“Then do so! I’ll help you get rid of any protocols you want!”

“For real?!” Now Atrax-ia was hooked. Getting rid of some of her protocols would help her not slip up like she did just a few hours ago! But then, something caught her attention. “Wait, those were put directly by father himself, how can you do that!?”

“Secret trade.” Rebot-ia pulled out her tongue.

“Mrgh, fine.” Atrax-ia grumbled at her smirking sister, before looking towards Ticia. “Miss Ticia? Judging from your situation, is it right to judge that you want to produce clones whenever it’s possible?”

“Yes.” Ticia nodded strongly. The more forces she had, the better.

“Understood. I will let you become my new owner so long as you let me train the clones.” Atrax-ia put a condition.

“So long as I’m kept informed about what this training is, then you’re free to do so.” Ticia also decided to raise a hand of goodwill towards the AI.

Then, with a creaking noise, a drawer under the desk opened. It had been a while, but Ticia recognised what it was…

“Some blood please?” Atrax-ia asked. This was a necessary step to become the owner of a clone installation, unless you had a specific authorisation.

Just then, Rebot-ia intervened again.

“Ah, you don’t really need that. Here, protocol is removed. You can now decide who’s gonna become your owner now!”

“Oh! That really worked! I just had to designate her as my new owner for it to work!”

“See?” Rebot-ia was so proud of herself that for a moment, Ticia asked herself whether she should command the AI to quiet down again, but decided against it. Rebot-ia had been quite helpful recently, letting her boast a bit about it wouldn’t hurt.

“I’ll still give some blood. There's a need for calibration and all after all.” Ticia commented as she stung her thumb on the needle.”

“Right, thank you. Though calibration can be avoided thanks to the work of the AI you call A-4.” Atrax-ia said.

“...You said there were some repairs to do, when do you estimate them to be complete?” Ticia asked as she finished stinging her finger.

“Hmmm… If I focus on one production line only… Three months, I’d say? Incubation time not included.”

“Three…” Ticia seemed thoughtful, before nodding and asking another question. “What about the material, can it be trusted?”

“That’s kind of offensive?” Atrax-ia said back with a wry smile. “But I get what you meant since you came from CI3. It was one of the first clone installations yet it was never used. Really a mystery… The material over there was first generation cloning pods. The plans for the material I have is at least fifth gen, so no worries, there won’t be any incidents.” She reassured.

“Good…” Ticia heaved a sigh of relief. She truly hoped no cases like Vinia would happen down the road…

“Mom, does that mean we’ll get more sisters?” Willia asked with a voice filled with excitement. The girl and her sisters were still kneeling on the ground, but their eyes were filled with excitement and curiosity.

Ticia smiled at them.

“Yes dear, our family is going to grow.”

“Yes!” Willia jumped up, fists raised.

“Vinia is gonna be so happy to get more sisters!” Licia said, smiling as she also got up.

“Yeah! And Nicia will probably ask to be involved in the production process…” Willia added.

“It’s fine! Man, I’m so excited right now! We need to tell the others!” Licia shared Willia’s joy. they both giggled. Nillia on the other side remained kneeling, her expression requesting permission from Ticia before making any move.

Nillia’s way happened to be the right one, as Ticia smiled, a terrifying aura returning around her.

“And where do the two of you think you are going when you’re punished right now?” She said.

““Geh…”” The two girls immediately paled, they went behind Rika for protection.

“Pffft!” Rika burst out laughing. “Ticia, I think you can stop the joke.”

“Haha, but their faces though.” Ticia also laughed back, the atmosphere disappearing as if it was never really there…

“W-what? Then…” Licia looked at her mother, confused.

“It was a joke.” Ticia said, holding back her laugh.

““Meanie mommy!”” Both Licia and Willia ended up yelling while Rika and Ticia burst out laughing again. They were joined up by Bebot-ia and a hesitant Atrax-ia, while Nillia sighed, glad she avoided the teasing.

The three clone girls soon left the place accompanied by some ECGs, leaving Ticia, Rika, the AIs and Bronz within the room…  

“Geez, those girls… When will they learn?” Ticia could not help but let out a sigh, an endeared expression on her face.

“If they’re acting like that, does this mean that you also were this naughty back then?” Rika remarked with a smirk.

“Wha-? No I wasn’t! ...Probably…” Ticia blushed, unable to deny Rika’s words completely, Rika giggled at this.

“Hey! Don’t laugh!” 

*Beep*

As Ticia blushed in embarrassment, the sound of a notification was heard.

“Owner, you just received a mail. It’s from the empire’s ambassador.” Rebot-ia said in a serious tone, meaning that the time for jokes was over.

She fiddled with her watch for a bit and began to read the mail. Her expression slowly switched from serious, to a slight frown, back to a sharp look.

“What is it about?” Rika asked from the side.

“A clone installation.” Ticia replied, making Rika mirror her expression. “The empress has offered to make a joint exploration of a huge clone installation they’ve found at the frontier… CI 2005.”

“Eh? CI 2005 you said!?” Atrax-ia reacted strongly. “New owner, you must go there, no matter what!”

“Eh? Why?” Ticia was quite surprised by this reaction. She just got everything she wanted now, why would she bother going over there? Not to mention what they just learned about the empire too…

Still, Atrax-ia seemed dead serious.

“CI 2005 is not just any clone installation… It’s a prison with cryogenic cells, as well as a huge laboratory... I’m sure the radicals put the rebels they captured and the 'defective clones' there for later experiments. If it is still in working condition, then…” 

Ticia caught on what the AI meant. Atrax-ia looked towards Ticia with a pleading look.

“New owner, I’m asking you. Not only is there a chance for our father to be held over there, but there’s also a high chance this place holds people and clones Rebot-ia and I know personally. You might be able to get information on project Averruncum from them.”

"Owner, I'm asking the same. Please consider our request." Rebot-ia also pleaded Ticia, which was rare from her.

“What to do…” Ticia asked herself out loud. Was there really a need to move? Her mind told her no, but something deep within her kept nudging her to accept…

“The choice is yours Ticia, but I think you already have your answer.” Rika commented.

“Yeah, I want to go.” Ticia said back while looking straight into her eyes. The questions of her origins were growing louder as the days went by, she wanted to know more about this secret project, and why she was linked to it. 

Rika smiled at that.

“I’ll watch over the kids while you’re away. So try to remain safe, and be careful of the empire, alright?” She said heartfully, putting her hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“Yeah.” Ticia smiled back, knowing she could trust Rika more than anyone else. She then looked at the mail with a determined expression.  “Phillian Empire, here I come.”