Clone Girls

"Let’s fight!"

"..." Ticia sighed. Right now, she was on the training ground with Willia. It was Willia’s turn to spend some time alone with Ticia, and when Ticia asked her what she wanted to do, this was her answer.

"I’ll ask again, but are you sure you want to do this? Don’t you want to play a game with big sis?"

"No! I want to fight big sis! I want to show you how much I’ve trained!" Willia was stubborn about her choice. Ever since the first time Ticia trained the clone girls, Willia had only shown interest in training and fighting. She pestered Ticia everyday to train with her, and give her more advice to better herself. Ticia did not know how to take it. On one hand she was happy the girl had found something that she liked and devoted so much of her time to, but on the other…

She’s gonna become a battle freak if this continues… Ticia mentally noted. It should be said however, that Willia’s fondness for training and battle was something that came right from Ticia herself. She might not have noticed it, but she was quite the battle junkie too, and this fact only made her superior, Rika, work more than she ever demanded.

Still, Ticia ended up granting the girl’s wish, but there was something bothering her… 

"I’m fine with giving you some lessons, but why did you drag Nillia with you?"

Yes, Nillia was also present. The poor girl had been dragged by Willia to the training ground the moment Ticia had agreed to train with Willia. 

Contrary to most clone girls, Nillia had yet to find something that interested her. She had a rather reserved personality, so she never spoke her concerns to others. By the time Ticia had noticed, the girl with a high ponytail was always being dragged around by Willia. A-4 had told her that the two girls were often in the training area, so she assumed Nillia was just training alongside Willia. Whatever it was they were doing for training, Ticia just hoped the girl did not become Willia’s punching bag. That’s why she sent an escape rope to the girl.

"Nillia, you can do something else if you want, I'll take care of this little troublemaker."

"Hey! I’m not a troublemaker!" Willia protested, but it fell onto deaf ears.

"... Thank you for asking, big sis, but I’m fine. I want to join the training lesson." The girl responded. Ticia did not know whether Nillia’s answer was truly her wish, or if she had already resigned herself to her fate…

"Enough talking! Let’s begin already!" Willia exclaimed, it would seem that her patience had run out.

"Alright, alright." Ticia said, she then clapped her hands together. "Then let’s begin with the usual laps, soldiers. We’ll do some stretching moves after that."

""Yes!""

"Can I join in too?" A voice came from behind Ticia.

"Ah, it’s Lidia!" Willia exclaimed. "Of course you can join! It’s more fun if we’re multiple to do it!"

Now that I think about it.  Ticia recalled. A-4 did mention that Lidia usually trained alone around this time of the day… Well, at this point, what’s there to argue for one more girl wanting to train

With the addition of Lidia, they all proceeded to do their usual training with no complaints. During that time, Ticia thought back about the three clone girls’ abilities.

All three of them had special genetic enhancements that gave them strong fighting capabilities in a specific domain. 

Willia was the strongest in terms of raw strength alone. All her capabilities were focused on this. Because of that however, the clone girl had developed a rather aggressive style, only focusing on attacking her enemies. Quite frankly, and to Ticia’s frustration, she did not use her brain much. Not that she was stupid, but she might be the clone girl with the most simplest and honest personality. Nillia had similar gene enhancements, but hers focused more on her body’s toughness, endurance, as well as a very good dexterity. Thanks to that, Ticia had remarked during training that Nillia could endure more hits than her sisters, and still be somewhat fine. As for Lidia, her genetic modifications were quite surprising. Somehow, A-4 had managed to modify the clone girl’s ability to make her presence felt. Thanks to that, she was the best at sneaking out unnoticed. Even Ticia needed to stay concentrated to notice the girl’s faint presence. Added to this, Lidia was the fastest and most agile of the group. From the reports on genetic modifications, Ticia also learned that Lidia also had enhanced senses, making her very sensible. She could see and hear better and farther than most of her sisters. If trained correctly, she could become a big threat to her enemies. But this could be said for every clone girl though. And while Ticia agreed to train them, she had no intentions on making them deadly soldiers. Just giving them enough training to defend themselves was enough in her eyes.

Still, if Ticia classed the fighting abilities of all the clone girls, all three of them would be classed on the upper tier, with only three other clone girls occupying the firsts spots. In fact, A-4 had even made a classment: The strongest of them all was Licia, the second was Vinia and the third was Ria. The three clone girls were the closest to Ticia’s overall capabilities, no doubt thanks to the genetical modifications. 

Ria’s modifications were quite simple and standard. They essentially focused on enhancing her capabilities to make quicker judgments, beside some physical strengthening. To Ticia, this was the reason why Ria appeared more mature than the others.

Licia and Vinia were special cases when it came to enhancements. Vinia had the most enhanced genes from all clone girls, making her stronger than her sisters. As a side effect however, she took more time to learn, and would not likely be able to master her skills to the level of her sisters. In other words, she was a Jack of all trades, Master of none. Licia, on the other hand, was the clone girl with the least genetic modifications. In fact, except for the growth rate modification, she was a perfect copy of Ticia.

As for the remaining clone girls, their modifications were more focused on other aspects. For example, Mia and Nia had similar enhancements, mostly boosting their mental capacities, but with still well balanced physical abilities if compared to Nicia. In fact, Nicia’s modifications were mostly focused on her mind, and while she also possessed an enhanced view like Lidia, she did not receive any enhancements to her physical abilities, making her weaker than her sisters. Then there was the case of Miria and Tiria. Beside receiving what A-4 called basic physical enhancements, both clone girls seemed linked to each other somehow. According to A-4, the AI had managed to reproduce the telepathic link that some human twins possessed. Thanks to that, they could communicate to each other without even speaking, and as a result, their coordination was top notch.

For Ticinia… The clone girl had received a random number of gene modifications that did not particularly go well with one another, which usually ended with the unstability or death of the subject. This was also the case for Vinia, because she had too many genetic modifications. It really was a surprise to A-4 that the two girls managed to survive until this point and showed no signs of weakening. The AI had ended up praising Ticia’s genetic code as one of the finest DNA structures ever built. 

This instability however, terrified Ticia, she had already nearly lost Vinia when the clone girl had to be forced out of her nutrition pod, and she had grown more attached to the girls than she thought. If anything happened to them, she would be devastated. This was the reason she mainly focused her attention on Ticinia and Vinia. She was scared that something might happen to them at any moment.

According to A-4, I’ll need to keep checking their state until the growth period is over, which means for at least one year. Ticia thought as she began stretching. The clone girls are aging at a fast rate right now. they would grow one year older every three weeks until they reach the age of sixteen. Then, the growth rate would slow down until the clone girls reached the age of eighteen. A-4 had estimated this second part to take at most half a year, and when that would be done, the clone girls would age just like any normal human being.

Which reminds me, they’ll soon be nine years old… Should I prepare some gifts for them? Ticia thought seriously. She wanted the girls to experience what a birthday was like and enjoy their childhood as much as possible. After all, they would have very short ones… But as she thought of this, her train of thoughts was interrupted by Nillia’s voice.

"... Instructor… I think we did enough stretching…" It sounded like a pleading voice.

"Hm?" Only now did Ticia realize what was happening. While she lost herself in her inner thoughts, she had unconsciously trained like she usually did, not the adjusted format she had done for the clone girls. Because of that, the three clone girls, who had followed her through the training without saying a word, looked exhausted. Oh crap! What have I done!?  She panicked internally.

"...Alright soldiers." Ticia said, acting calmly. She did not want the girls to know she had messed up and totally forgotten about them! "You all did a good job for this special training! As a reward, we shall do a small pause before resuming training with some spars."

"Thank you for the lesson, instructor!" Said an energetic Willia, seemingly not having enough yet. "I never thought you would even change the training course to be even more difficult! This is simply the best!"

"Y-yeah, I’m glad you’re happy…" Ticia answered as she averted eye contact. Willia was really too honest, it made Ticia guilty to have come up with such a lie. Her eyes then met Lidia’s gaze.

"..." The girl had definitely seen through her lie! She made a strange face as she stared at Ticia, making her feel more guilt for her lie. Still, in the end, Lidia ended up breaking eye contact, leaving to hydrate herself. Ticia was left in a very awkward mood in the middle of all that…

"...I should go hydrate myself too…" In the end, she decided to continue as if nothing happened. 

After a short pause, the three clone girls stood in line in front of Ticia, waiting for what was coming next. "Today, we will continue our unarmed fighting training. So let’s do our usual spars."

"Ah, instructor, uhm, about that…" Wilia began saying somewhat uneasily, scratching the back of her head.

"Yes? What is it, Willia?"

"I changed my mind, I don’t want to fight you."

"Huh?" Ticia did not expect this. "Then, what is it that you want to do now?"

"I’ll show you how much I’ve improved by fighting Nillia! So just watch us!" Willia declared, Ticia immediately looked at Nillia, as if asking if she was alright with this.

"..." The girl did not respond, simply giving a small nod.

"... I guess it’s alright, I’m fine with it too, but…" Ticia looked to the right, where Lidia was standing. "What about Lidia? You can’t leave her alone when she asked to join your training session."

"Ooops, I forgot~" Willia said, sticking her tong out. This made Ticia sigh. Willia did it again, not paying attention to her surroundings before saying whatever she wanted.

Fortunately, Lidia was used to this, she raised her hand before saying. "Instructor, I’m fine with just watching."

"Yes! Lidia says it’s fine! So can we begin, Instructor?" Willia was already in position to start a fight with Nillia, who had also assumed a fighting stance.

"... Fine." Ticia agreed, since the clone girls had already decided to do this anyway, there was no need to say anything more. "Since you are already in a position to fight, you will begin when I say so. I’ll be the judge, the one who wins is the one still standing at the end, but be carefull not to hurt eachother too much. Is that understood?"

""Yes!""

"Good." Ticia nodded, Lidia had positioned herself to her left, arms crossed. "Then, Begin!"

As soon as Ticia gave the start of the match, Willia rushed at Nillia with a big smile on her face. "Here I come, Nillia!"

"..." Nillia did not respond. She simply put her forearms in front of her face and blocked a roundhouse kick from Willia.

"Hehe! This is only the beginning!" Willia began laughing as she continued her assault on Nillia, who somehow managed to block all of Nillia’s attacks without taking a step back. After some time of continuous strikes, Nillia’s defense seemed to weaken, something that Willia noticed.

"An opening!" She said as she charged with her left shoulder. But just at this moment, Nillia sidestepped to the left, tending her right leg to make Willia stumble.

Unfortunately, Willia managed to evade the trick. "Wow, that was close! That’s a good one Nillia!" She then immediately resumed her barrage of hits.

Watching from the sideline, Ticia had a smile on her face. Willia and Nillia’s fighting styles were really the polar opposite from one another! Willia just focused on attacking, striking as much as she could to overwhelm her enemy, and letting her instincts guide her. As for Nillia, her defense was excellent. The girl did not hesitate to do feints to lure her enemy and then strike! This was an excellent tactic.

"...Big sis, who do you think will win?" Lidia asked from Ticia’s side. She was watching the spar ensue with a lot of attention. Because of this, she did not even notice that she did not call Ticia 'instructor', but rather by her usual nickname.

Ticia did not mind, always with a smile on her face, and still looking at the spar, she answered. "Hmm… I wonder who~? It’s hard to tell~."

"Big sis… You already know, don’t you?" Lidia saw through Ticia’s vague answer. She always saw through Ticia. Usually this would put Ticia in an awkward position, but this time it did not, her smile only increased.

"That’s right, I can already guess the outcome of this match." Then, she looked directly at Lidia, who looked back at her. "What about you, Lidia? Have you guessed who will win?"

"..." Lidia refocused on the fight instead of answering. After a while, she finally spoke. "I think sister Nillia will win."

"Oh? Why do you think so?"

"Because she has been blocking all of sister Willia’s hits without faltering. From what I can see, she can still take more."

"Hehe, that’s a good observation, Lidia. Unfortunately, you’re about half right." Ticia said, the smirk on her face not disappearing one bit. Just like Willia at this moment, she was enjoying herself!

"Then… Who do you think will win, big sis?" Lidia asked, curious about how Ticia was so sure her prediction was wrong.

"I have something better to propose to you, Lidia." Ticia said, refocusing her attention away from the spar and on the girl next to her. "If you can guess correctly what the outcome of this match will be, I’ll grant you one wish."

"... Anything?" Lidia said. She had taken the bait Ticia gave her! Because if Lidia managed to find the correct answer, not only would this improve her deduction skills, this would also become a good excuse for Ticia to spoil Lidia a bit!

"Anything! From passing more time with me to getting a new toy! This big sis will grant it!"

"I’ll do it!" Lidia immediately answered and focused herself only on the battle in front of her, trying to analyze Willia and Nillia’s conditions. Her motivation was at the maximum!

This made Ticia giggle a little before she too, focused on the match. A few minutes passed, Nillia and Willia were still sparing, and did not seem to show signs of fatigue. In this atmosphere, Lidia finally spoke up.

"I get it! Big sis, I know who’s gonna win!" She energetically said.

"Tell me then."

"None of them will!" She proclaimed proudly with her hands on her hips. Ticia thought the gesture was cute, she smiled at Lidia before asking her.

"Why do you think so?"

"I didn’t notice at first, but Nillia’s getting exhausted. She won't be able to continue for long."

"That’s right." Ticia nodded her head. "Then? What about Willia? Why can’t she win?"

"Because she doesn’t pay attention to her state! She might still have a lot of energy, but she focuses so much on her attacks that she becomes clumsier at evading and blocking Nillia’s strikes!"

There was a moment of silence between the two as they stared into each other’s eyes. After some seconds that appeared to be minutes to Lidia, she finally asked hesitantly.

"H-how is it? Did I get it right?"

In reaction to this, Ticia started laughing, startling Lidia. "... It’s perfect Lidia, I give you a ten out of ten."

"Yes!" Full of joy, Lidia began a victory dance, before seeing Ticia’s warm gaze on her. Her face reddened like a tomato as she calmed herself, full of embarassment. Ticia did not mind, in fact, this rare show of raw emotions coming from Lidia made her want to hug the girl immediately, but she restrained herself.

"Now, look at your sisters, it is about to end." Ticia said, managing to maintain her calm demeanor.

Just as she said, the two girls looked exhausted, they had been fighting for ten minutes!

"I’ll get you with my next move, Nillia!" Willia exclaimed between two breaths.

"...Come." Nillia just readied herself one more time to receive the impact.

"Yaaaaaaah!" Willia charged, preparing to punch with her right arm. Of course, Nillia prepared herself to counter. She caught Willia’s coming fist with her left palm, grabbing it.

"This is not the end!" Willia exclaimed as she tried to strike with her left hand… Which also got caught into Nillia’s free hand. The two entered a staring contest, exerting force to push the other. They stayed in this arguably funny situation for a while, before Willia had enough.

"Agh, enough with that! I’m gonna use my secret technique!" She declared. "Behold! Willia’s super headbut!"

""Eh?""

"Eh? Augh!"

Willia’s surprise headbut not only caught Nillia by surprise, it also surprised Ticia and Lidia! Not expecting this move, Nilia did not prepare herself, and two clone girls' foreheads connected. Nillia immediately fell unconscious, but she wasn’t the only one who got KOed, Willia also fell on top of Nillia, unconscious too. Nillia’s head was hard, so Willia took as much damage as Nillia. Were it not for the fact that Nillia was exhausted, she might have endured it, but in her current state, she could not do so… In the end, the hit had taken both of them out!

""..."" Ticia and Lidia just stared at the now two unconscious girls. Not knowing what to say.

"Geez…" After some seconds passed, Ticia sighed. "I knew that none of the two would come up on top of the other, but… I didn’t expect this move…"

She closed in on the girls, checking their state with the help of A-4. The both of them were fine, they would only get a short headache when waking up. That, and the clear bump each girl had on their forehead. If Nia saw them, she would immediately burst out laughing. 

After this, Ticia ordered A-4 to carry the two girls to their bedrooms to take some rest. She then turned to Lidia.

"There is a lot to say about their fight, don’t you think so, Lidia?"

"Yes." The girl nodded as she got closer.

"Tell me then, what do you have to say to your sisters for them to improve?"

"First, I don’t think it’s a good idea to scream or invent names for your moves."

This was a good remark to make to Willia, she had incessantly screamed when she attacked, or commented about something. Then, there was the fact that she yelled the name of her techniques…

"You’re right about that, there’s no use about this." Ticia nodded, but then, a memory of her past submerged. She forced herself to forget about it. "Yes, no use at all…"

"?" Lidia tilted her head.

"Ahem, what did you notice next?" Ticia continued, as if nothing happened.

"Yes, secondly, Nillia was too much on the defensive, she could have dodged some hits and struck back multiple times, but she did not do so… And finally, Willia should have been more aware of her own condition, there is no use doing what she did when you are exhausted."

"You’re right, Lidia, you’re absolutely right. This deserves a second reward~." Ticia nodded happily at Lidia’s deductions, she really was good at analyzing things! "And here’s a bonus reward!"  She headpatted Lidia.

"Wh-what are you doing, big sis! That’s not a reward! P-please stop!" Lidia struggled, embarrassed. On the surface, she wasn’t particularly keen on these kinds of interactions, but the weak resistance she showed said the contrary however.

"It’s fine it’s fine~, just enjoy it for now~." Ticia said, definitely enjoying it more than Lidia. 

They stayed like this for a while, then, Lidia finally stopped.

"Now, about your rewards, tell me. What is it that you want? A new toy? Or perhaps some special training…"

"No, I don't want something like that…" Lidia said, looking somewhat hesitant to say her wish.

"What is it then?" Ticia said expectantly. "Don’t worry! Whatever it is, big sis will make sure to do it!"

"You promise?"

"Yes! I swear on my name! I will respect your wishes and make it happen!" Ticia said, not realizing the consequences of what she just said.

"Then… Please let me call you ‘mother' from now on!" Lidia exclaimed, closing her eyes.

"Wha-! N-no!" Ticia did not expect this from lidia, she panicked. Y-you’re wrong, Lidia! I’m not your mother! There's no way someone like me is a mother! A pang of unknown pain hit her chest as she strongly denied it. "Uhm, Lidia? I already said it, but I am not your 'mother'. I am your ‘big sis’... You can’t call me like that, ok?"

"I knew it… You won’t let me call you that even though you promised to do anything…" Lidia said dispiritedly as she lowered her head, her expression invisible to Ticia. This simple denial had crushed the girl’s spirit, and this made Ticia panic even more.

"D-don’t you want something else? Anything is fine but that!" She exclaimed, but got no answer from Lidia. W-what do I do… Ticia thought. How can I make her happy? Should I propose something else? After all, kids forget easily, right? But it’s Lidia we’re talking about! She’s not like Nia or Ticinia, it won’t work! Gah, it’s in times like this that I need Rika! She always deals with complicated things! Ticia sought refuge in her past superior, but obviously, the answer wasn’t there. Should I… Just accept it? N-no! I can’t! I just can’t do it! 

She had thought about this question a lot of times ever since Nia first called her mother. But there was something deep inside Ticia’s heart, that prevented her from acknowledging the clone girls as her ‘daughters’. Something that Ticia was scared of…

It was when she was struggling like that that she noticed something from Lidia. Although she could not see her face, she noticed small water drops falling to the ground. Lidia… Was crying.

"!!!" Oh no! What did I do! I made her cry! Ticia panicked even more, this was the first time ever one of the clone girls had cried because of her actions. She wants to call me mother this much… Ticia reflected on her actions.

Lidia was a good girl, she listened to her and did not cause any troubles. She didn’t need as much attention as some of her sisters, and did not ask to be spoiled too. Taking all of those facts, Ticia asked herself. Wasn’t it fine to grant lidia's wish? It's not like it was such a big deal, right?

It was under such thoughts that Ticia spoke her next words.

"...Fine, I’ll make your wish come true. You can call me… ‘M-moter’..." She embarrassedly said, her face becoming red.

"Eh?" Lidia raised her head with big eyes full of tears, she was indeed crying, but she did not expect Ticia to agree.

"O-only when it’s just the two of us! Okay?"

"Un, that’s fine!" Lidia said, finally smiling. "Thank you, mother!"

Ticia sighed in relief, Lidia was not crying anymore. Still, being called ‘mother’ made her feel… weird. So she forcefully changed the subject.

"Ahem, w-what about your second wish? What do you want to do about this one?"

"I want to use it now, mother!"

"R-really? Say it then." Ticia said with some tension in her voice, not used to being called ‘mother’. She hoped the wish would be simpler for her to grant this time…

"Then… My second wish is…"

In a somewhat tense atmosphere, Lidia expressed her second wish...