Shaked can of soda

Kamiko pushed back, pulling her katana with her, and at the last moment managed to dodge the enemy blades closing over her. The girl fell and hit her head on the seat. She instinctively grabbed her head with her hand, but the glove stuck to the hood.

"But the object was so close! Eh, did the clothes melt!?”

Soda pulled back the glove, the threads of the melted hood following her.

"It looks like gum… is it the gas? We need to get this sorted out quickly!"

Kamiko only became more entangled in the jacket that was sticking together.

The stranger didn't give her a chance to figure it out and quickly moved to Soda, who was throwing her melted jacket and gloves in a single mass onto the seat. Her glasses reflected the enemy's leg raised in the air, and the next thing she heard was the crack of the screen and the window of the train through which she flew out.

Soda fell off the bridge into a small field and rolled on the ground for several dozen meters before coming to a stop. Kamiko lost consciousness from the blow to her head.

“Soda… Soda!..” A wheezing voice came from the one remaining earphone.

***

Kamiko lost consciousness for a minute and fell into the nightmare that she constantly dreams about.

"Hey, Kamiko, are you buckled up?”

The driver asked, looking in the rearview mirror and immediately returning to the night road illuminated by the headlights.

"Yes, Takeshi brother!” Little Kamiko replied. ”Did you call Fumiko to prepare my yukata?”

"Yes, everything is ready. It seems like she's looking forward to the fireworks after Obon more than you’re.”

"This can't be!"

"Okay, okay! How are your kendo trainings going?”

Kamiko, wearing a tracksuit, fidgeted in her seat, unable to find a place for her wooden sword.

"Great! Kentaro won today!”

"Wow, that big boy? Not bad!"

"Yes! As you taught, against an enemy stronger than you, you need cunning and…”

Satisfied​​ Kamiko continued talking until she suddenly shouted, pointing her finger at the road.

”Carefully!!!”

A deer suddenly ran out of the hill and, in order not to hit it, Takeshi sharply turned the steering wheel, the car skidded, the guy turned the steering wheel back to return the car to the road. Frightened, Kamiko closed her eyes and screamed.

"Quiet, quiet. Everything is fine, the deer is safe!”

"Hooray!” The girl squealed happily, tears already gathering in her eyes. ”Brother, you're so cool!”

Takeshi turned a steep hilly road, and a bright light flashed around the corner, filling the car's interior, and a second later a terrible, deafening crash and scream were heard.

"Wake up, Kamiko!”

Suddenly, Soda's sister's voice was clearly heard in her head, and she woke up, quickly jumping up.

"I'm… fine." She said, wiping the blood from her mouth with her fist. ”But inside that tin can was a stronger can…”

"Soda, judging by the recording from the cameras of your glasses and his movements, this is an android! A completely different generation, we’ve never met such before, be careful."

"When did they manage to do this?”

The android climbed out of the train window and jumped off the bridge, landing with a thud and leaving a large crack in the ground. He silently walked towards Soda, stabbing a nearby tree with his blade.

"A perfectly smooth cut… The resonating blades are fine, but then why did her katana withstand the blow?" The android analyzed.

His subsystem, an assistant with artificial intelligence, suddenly addressed him via the intercom:

"Warning, danger! Alien nanobot infestation! Initiating cleanup.”

“So that’s what it is…” He said quietly, and then shouted. ”Hey! You're one of the Sun Guardians, right?”

"You're even talking? What business is it of yours, tin can!?”

Kamiko was left with only the muscular exoskeleton that supported her torso and cybernetic limbs, a katana in her hands, and a single earpiece. She threw away her broken glasses.

"S-s… Soda!” The surviving earpiece wheezed. ”A-are they jamming the connection? W-what's going on?”

"I guess I'm on my own now, huh?"

The android's face was hidden by a hood, but even so, his malicious smile was visible.

"If only you knew how many of yours, I killed! And don't think that those ten monks were the first."

"You bastard!"

Soda hissed furiously, moving slowly towards the enemy. The android didn't hesitate and ran straight at her. Their blades met again, the pair exchanged blows equally. At first, Kamiko tried to act more aggressively, but the android easily parried her blows, and then she decided to study her opponent first.

"His blades are vibrating? I see why the nanobots didn't work… but I pierced him. Could it be a defense system?"

"Are you exhausted already?”

The android grinned and delivered a powerful blow that sent Kamiko flying to the ground.

She quickly spun her legs around, defending herself from the android's blades, and then jumped back into a fighting stance.

"Cybernetic legs and arms. You only have a human torso and head! Where did you lose the rest?”

Without giving her a chance to respond, the android attacked again, swinging its blades left and right, as if dancing. But this was only part of the combat technique programmed into its program. And although Kamiko was an experienced fighter, she felt that she was inferior.

"Why are you hiding? What's wrong with your face? Does a robot have one?”

"Shh, I'm an android! The next step in evolution, a pathetic cyborg.”

"My name is Soda!" Kamiko beckoned to the enemy with her palm, provoking him to a reckless attack.” And you, perhaps… were called S3PO?”

"Sorry, no humor detected. I gave myself a name — Ningen.”

He pulled back his collar, revealing a tattoo on his neck that read ”9GEN” — NineGen, which the android simplified to Ningen, which means human in Japanese.

"The ninth generation!? The last time we met only the fifth…” Kamiko recalled.

"But you clearly despise people…” Soda attacked again. ”…what kind of attachment is this!?”

Ningen just snorted and, smiling again, attacked Soda, delivering rapid blows, trying to tire her out.

Left, right, top, bottom, center strike.

But Kamiko deftly blocked them with her katana, counterattacking.

"I guess it was passed on to me from you: just as your gods were anthropomorphic. The trace of the creator.”

"So… Soda… report what's going on? C-communication… is being interrupted.”

"Who's that on the other end? Could it be…” Ningen grinned slyly. ”…your sister? Miyata Fumiko…”

"What?"

Kamiko was taken aback by the surprise, which Ningen took advantage of.

But Soda also quickly came to her senses and parried another attack.

"How do you know?..”

"We’ve a lot of information about your organization. Don't worry so much. Once I'm done with you, I'll go to her temple… Miyata Kamiko.”

"B-beast!” Soda flared up and rushed to attack.

However, they’ll continue to fight on equal terms, looking for a gap in the enemy's defense.

"Your technique is not enough with your weak body!” Ningen shouted loudly and delivered a powerful blow with both blades.

Soda pushed him away again, she felt that she couldn’t defeat him directly.

"Oh really!?”

Soda smirked, looking furiously into the darkness of the hood, searching for the android's predatory eyes.

And then she rushed into a reckless attack, as if she’d staked everything on one blow.

"That's it!” Ningen said triumphantly.

He swung the blade in his left hand, but Soda crouched on her left leg, dodging it, and aimed her right at the android's head. However, he was flexible enough to swing his right blade towards his legs and Kamiko. The girl managed to shift the trajectory of the blow at the last moment.

A loud thud from the collision of the blade and the magatama boot was heard.

"What!?” Ningen didn't expect such resistance.

"Critical error!”

Soda was triumphant now. From a low position, she swung her katana, Ningen managed to lean back unnaturally, the blade only slightly grazing him, cutting his hood in half.

"Not bad for a human…” Ningen said, not so cheerfully. ”Where did you learn that?”

The android returned the body to its natural position. Seeing the enemy's face, Kamiko froze in a stupor, not believing her own eyes.

"N-no… it can't be.”

"Huh? Finally understand the difference between us?"

Ningen ran his fingers over his cheeks and the cut left at the bridge of his nose. Invisible to the eye, nanobots were already working hard to patch up the wound.

Kamiko didn't know how to react, even her cybernetic knees suddenly began to tremble. Soda said with a trembling voice.

"Brother!?”