Trope Bingo: Fill - AU:Fusion
Title: Bless the little queens
Summary: All Ranka and Sheryl need is the power of song and the Drift to defeat the Kaiju
Content notes: No archive warnings, crossover between Pacific Rim and Macross Frontier
Ranka stared as the Sheryl Nome, top superstar and pop singer, clambered on top of the fallen Kaiju that lay right across the trashed concert arena. "Sheryl-san? What - "
The response was all diva. "I have to find out why these monsters keep attacking my concerts," she said, stomping her foot on the carcass for emphasis. Ranka winced, although she wasn't sure if she was worried that Sheryl would break her pretty heels (and they were really pretty, with shiny smooth pink leather and little diamonds set in heels so high that Ranka would never had managed even on flat ground, while Sheryl was climbing on a fallen Kaiju). Or if Sheryl was going to get infected with Kaiju blue from climbing on the corpse. Or if it was going to be some random combination of the two that also involved the star falling from the top of the corpse and her brother was going to kill her - !
"Well, are you just going to stare?" Sheryl demanded.
Or maybe Ranka should be more worried of death by pop diva. "I don't think what you're doing is a good idea," she called up. If Sheryl would listen to her advice, maybe Ranka didn't have to worry?
The pop diva side-eyed her with a suspicious expression that did not suit her pretty face. "Aren't you with the PPDC?"
Ranka shrunk into the leather jacket that her brother had lent her to protect against the cold. It just figured that Sheryl would pick up on this detail. The pop star herself was wearing just a light sun dress of a really light and lovely purple, and was braving the cold and the height and a kaiju, no less terrifying now that it was dead.
The least Ranka could do was answer her. "My brother is. I - " Ranka thought of all the disappointed looks Alto-kun had given her when he discovered that she would not become a pilot after all. "I'm not."
Sheryl made an impatient noise. Ranka marvelled at how the singer could convey emotion so easily in sound. "Then I suppose you don't know how to do this."
Ranka's eyes widened as she saw the sharp object that Sheryl pulled out from the folds of her skirt. "A biomechanical probe?"
"You didn't think I was going to find my answers just by climbing on top of this disgusting thing, did you?" Sheryl radiated disbelief in her tone. "No, I want to see what crazy reason this thing had in its mind when it burst onto my stage." Sheryl kicked the beast again, and Ranka mourned a little when she saw that the pink leather was now scuffed.
Ranka felt silly for pointing out the obvious, "So you intend to drift with a Kaiju brain? Alone?"
"I might not look it, but I come from a family of scientists," Sheryl sniffed. "I do know what I'm doing."
"But - but the neural load will kill you."
"I'll be leaving behind a beautiful corpse," Sheryl said, matter-of-fact. She jumped off the kaiju corpse, and used the jet propulsion machine that she had been using to float around the stage to lower herself gradually to the ground. "And I'll have some goddamned answers!" She went over to a nearby machine, and fished out two neural helmets.
"Your sound crew use neural networks for concerts?" Ranka asked.
"Grace said it increases the accuracy of the choreography," Sheryl said, with a shrug. She stared at Ranka as Ranka took one of the helmets out of her hands. "What are you doing?"
Ranka shrugged, trying to play it easy. "I have Drift compatability with most people in simulations. My brother says it's because I'm too easy going."
"I thought you said you weren't with the PPDC!"
"I - I can't face the real thing." Now was probably not the time for Ranka to share with Sheryl Nome, pop star extraordinaire, the exact details of Ranka's childhood trauma. "In the simulations, I know the Kaiju there are not real. I can feel it in my gut." Ranka touched her stomach, as she thought back to the way emotions seemed to bubble from it when she was faced with a real Kaiju.
"Well, whatever," Sheryl tossed her hair. "If you want to Drift with me, you better not hold me back. Don't bring your fear of the Kaiju into the Drift."
"I'll take care of you, Sheryl-san," Ranka promised.
Sheryl made a face as she slipped the helmet onto her head. "Turn the machine on and we'll see how good you are."
Ranka did so, the actions familiar to her after long hours of time spent in the control room, watching the competent men and women put her brother into the Jaeger back when he still had a pilot. "Initialising neural handshake," she said, for Sheryl's benefit. "3, 2, 1."
Then the blue of the Drift came rushing in, and along with it a song that Ranka thought no one else knew. Aimo, aimo, nede lushe...
Ranka sang along, Sheryl sang along, and the Kaiju from the race that called itself Vajra sang along too.
Summary: All Ranka and Sheryl need is the power of song and the Drift to defeat the Kaiju
Content notes: No archive warnings, crossover between Pacific Rim and Macross Frontier
Ranka stared as the Sheryl Nome, top superstar and pop singer, clambered on top of the fallen Kaiju that lay right across the trashed concert arena. "Sheryl-san? What - "
The response was all diva. "I have to find out why these monsters keep attacking my concerts," she said, stomping her foot on the carcass for emphasis. Ranka winced, although she wasn't sure if she was worried that Sheryl would break her pretty heels (and they were really pretty, with shiny smooth pink leather and little diamonds set in heels so high that Ranka would never had managed even on flat ground, while Sheryl was climbing on a fallen Kaiju). Or if Sheryl was going to get infected with Kaiju blue from climbing on the corpse. Or if it was going to be some random combination of the two that also involved the star falling from the top of the corpse and her brother was going to kill her - !
"Well, are you just going to stare?" Sheryl demanded.
Or maybe Ranka should be more worried of death by pop diva. "I don't think what you're doing is a good idea," she called up. If Sheryl would listen to her advice, maybe Ranka didn't have to worry?
The pop diva side-eyed her with a suspicious expression that did not suit her pretty face. "Aren't you with the PPDC?"
Ranka shrunk into the leather jacket that her brother had lent her to protect against the cold. It just figured that Sheryl would pick up on this detail. The pop star herself was wearing just a light sun dress of a really light and lovely purple, and was braving the cold and the height and a kaiju, no less terrifying now that it was dead.
The least Ranka could do was answer her. "My brother is. I - " Ranka thought of all the disappointed looks Alto-kun had given her when he discovered that she would not become a pilot after all. "I'm not."
Sheryl made an impatient noise. Ranka marvelled at how the singer could convey emotion so easily in sound. "Then I suppose you don't know how to do this."
Ranka's eyes widened as she saw the sharp object that Sheryl pulled out from the folds of her skirt. "A biomechanical probe?"
"You didn't think I was going to find my answers just by climbing on top of this disgusting thing, did you?" Sheryl radiated disbelief in her tone. "No, I want to see what crazy reason this thing had in its mind when it burst onto my stage." Sheryl kicked the beast again, and Ranka mourned a little when she saw that the pink leather was now scuffed.
Ranka felt silly for pointing out the obvious, "So you intend to drift with a Kaiju brain? Alone?"
"I might not look it, but I come from a family of scientists," Sheryl sniffed. "I do know what I'm doing."
"But - but the neural load will kill you."
"I'll be leaving behind a beautiful corpse," Sheryl said, matter-of-fact. She jumped off the kaiju corpse, and used the jet propulsion machine that she had been using to float around the stage to lower herself gradually to the ground. "And I'll have some goddamned answers!" She went over to a nearby machine, and fished out two neural helmets.
"Your sound crew use neural networks for concerts?" Ranka asked.
"Grace said it increases the accuracy of the choreography," Sheryl said, with a shrug. She stared at Ranka as Ranka took one of the helmets out of her hands. "What are you doing?"
Ranka shrugged, trying to play it easy. "I have Drift compatability with most people in simulations. My brother says it's because I'm too easy going."
"I thought you said you weren't with the PPDC!"
"I - I can't face the real thing." Now was probably not the time for Ranka to share with Sheryl Nome, pop star extraordinaire, the exact details of Ranka's childhood trauma. "In the simulations, I know the Kaiju there are not real. I can feel it in my gut." Ranka touched her stomach, as she thought back to the way emotions seemed to bubble from it when she was faced with a real Kaiju.
"Well, whatever," Sheryl tossed her hair. "If you want to Drift with me, you better not hold me back. Don't bring your fear of the Kaiju into the Drift."
"I'll take care of you, Sheryl-san," Ranka promised.
Sheryl made a face as she slipped the helmet onto her head. "Turn the machine on and we'll see how good you are."
Ranka did so, the actions familiar to her after long hours of time spent in the control room, watching the competent men and women put her brother into the Jaeger back when he still had a pilot. "Initialising neural handshake," she said, for Sheryl's benefit. "3, 2, 1."
Then the blue of the Drift came rushing in, and along with it a song that Ranka thought no one else knew. Aimo, aimo, nede lushe...
Ranka sang along, Sheryl sang along, and the Kaiju from the race that called itself Vajra sang along too.