Disclaimer: Macross Frontier is not mine.
Chapter One: Calling Dreams
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'Battle Goddess..We need you...'
Who? Who is calling...?
'We need...your strength...'
Strength? What strength? The only thing I can do is...
'Sing. Your voice is your power. Answer our call.'
Sheryl sat up from her bed abruptly. "Are you alright, Sheryl?"
Alto's concerned voice came from the doorway. The young man was standing there, looking puzzled. "I was about to call you awake for breakfast..." Sheryl shook her head to clear her mind and began her daily ritual. Tease Alto first thing in the morning.
"I don't need to be woken up. Did you perhaps, want to catch me sleeping undressed?"
Alto tried to hide his embarrassment and scowled instead. "Of course not! Do you take me for a pervert?!"
"Why, of course not. You're just Alto, you'd have no guts to be giving women the perverted glances. I thought you'd be an eager boyfriend," Sheryl answered, grinning widely when she saw Alto's eyes widen at her insinuation. "W-Whatever, you perverted woman! I'm going back to breakfast!"
"Who are you calling a pervert?!" Sheryl yelled after Alto's retreating back, but she smiled. Alto respected her space, so they both had not advanced into a more intimate level in their relationship yet. In fact, they both slept in separate rooms. Sheryl herself honestly had some doubts about being physical in their relationship. Who could she kid? With Alto's behaviour, it may take forever to get to that stage, but she couldn't possibly initiate the action!
No matter how great and 'masculine' THE Sheryl Nome was compared to princess Alto, she was still a woman! Did she have to do all the work in the relationship AND handle sex as the topping partner? Sure, she loved dominating and making fun of Alto most of the time, but she would love to be pampered during intimate moments. Alto is a man, after all. Sheryl was considerate enough to try not to injure his male pride. Men are certainly most egoistical creatures. Even Sheryl Nome could not compare to them!
Pondering on how to tease Alto further, Sheryl completely forgot the strange dream she had. After completing her morning routine, she joined Alto for breakfast. Alto had to go to work after breakfast. He was released from NUNS, and returned to SMS. But they still had to do daily patrol to ensure no other alien race were around to threaten them. On the other hand, Sheryl had to go look for a manager. She had handled all her affairs by herself so far, but she found it too tiring once she added in her main task as a singer, to sing.
Hopefully she could scout out potentially efficient people.
"I'll be going off now, Sheryl. Today we have extra training, so I'll be back at night," Alto stated, picking up his jacket from the chair. Sheryl smiled and gave him a goodbye kiss. "I guess I'll at least buy the ingredients for tonight's dinner."
Not long after Alto stepped out, Sheryl made her way into town as well. Elmo used to be Ranka's manager, so she did not feel like picking him again. Besides, allowing one manager to handle two star singers' careers? Big no-no in her books. Sheryl paused suddenly when she thought of Brera, her best friend as her manager. No doubt he would do a good job, but she wouldn't want to part Brera from the life of a pilot. Vaguely, she started humming 'My Boyfriend is a Pilot' under her breath as she observed people from her vantage at a café in the busy streets.
To find talents, it was best to observe people in their natural state, when they were not aware they were being screened as potential managers. She wondered if maybe she should ask someone she knew instead, but backtracked on the thought. Most of the people she actually knew were in the military or SMS. After five hours sitting there, Sheryl grew tired and got up. Maybe she really would ask Brera if he was interested in the job instead.
'Goddess...'
Shivers ran down her spine at the chilling voice.
Sheryl turned back, looking around wildly, but no one was remotely near her even. "...Strange...Am I imagining things...?" Deciding that she was, she pulled out her cell and voice-messaged her best friend about her enquiry and left to do some shopping.
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Just off his shift, Brera checked his cell for any messages. He had two, one from Ranka, and one from Sheryl. Ranka's message was to invite him for tea. Sheryl's message was to ask whether he was interested in being her manager. Brera raised his eye in amusement. This, he would have to discuss with Ranka. He decided to answer Sheryl after he talked about it with Ranka over tea.
Half an hour later, he saw Ranka awaiting him at a café they usually frequented.
"I'm sorry, did you wait long?"
"Not at all, I just arrived," Ranka replied cheerfully. "Let's order drinks first."
After their orders were taken, Brera told Ranka of Sheryl's offer. "Manager? Hmm...That's unusual. But judging your closeness with Sheryl-san, I guess that's not surprising," Ranka mused. Brera nodded in agreement, wondering himself why Sheryl would ask him for the job.
"She did tell me to put my consideration for my pilot's job ahead. Piloting is a part of me now...It's become a natural task. But I also considered her offer. To be Sheryl Nome's manager though, would be mightily challenging. What do you think of it, Ranka?"
"Hmm...It's true that being Sheryl-san's manager will be tough, but your piloting job nowadays is not really top priority since we're settled on Vajra now. Maybe you should try out the manager job first before deciding. I'm sure Sheryl-san will let you attempt it before you make a choice. She'd give you special treatment," Ranka replied, sounding a little dissatisfied at the end.
"Ranka...Sher won't give me special treatment. You don't have to worry about me falling for her charms, because I already have you. Besides...Alto is doing a wonderful job of tripping all over it."
Ranka laughed at Brera's joke. "I guess you're right. Why don't you ask Sheryl-san about your choice right now?" Brera nodded thoughtfully and messaged his friend. Almost instantly, there was an answer. "She said of course, and invited us over for dinner."
"That's lovely! Alto-kun's cooking is delicious," Ranka cheered, but immediately stopped upon seeing Brera's darkened expression. She hastily added, "Of course, I love onii-chan's cooking too!"
"That's decided. We will join Sher and Alto for dinner later."
Ranka nodded enthusiastically, missing the narrowed eyes of Brera. The android sensed something amiss. His sight had picked up traces of an organic creature that was not in his memory. Was it something native to the Vajra planet? The paw print; he concluded it was a paw, was somewhat close to that of the Earth's original species, wolves. However, as the creature was gone, and there was not any sort of commotion, he concluded that the creature, if it still was there, was harmless.
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"Huh...Now to just wait for Alto to come home and cook~"
Sheryl dropped all the shopping bags onto the kitchen counter, deciding to place them into the cabinet later. She would not admit it openly, but she really loved Alto's cooking. Secretly, she and Brera had been attending cooking classes, so that in future they may not need to burden each their own partner's with most chores. However, Sheryl was far from making a proper dinner.
Still, she won't easily give up! She is THE Sheryl Nome after all. Yawning a bit, Sheryl decided to take a nap for a while and headed to her room. Her hand was inches away from the light switch when she realized there was something really wrong. Immediately, her hand shot back to her chest as if to shield herself and fearfully, Sheryl stepped away from the door slowly.
"What...What is this...?!"
A large animal was in her room, its golden eyes gleaming in the dark room. It looked like some sort of canine, but it was large. Its fur was pure white, and tongues of flame seem to be flickering at its heels. The tail was bottle-brush style and furry, but the songstress could see a sting protruding from the end. The canine creature seemed to beckon her forward with his eyes, but Sheryl refused to be near anything she could not identify.
Suddenly, the tail struck out and in swift reflexes, she dodged and rolled to the side, but the creature cornered her, clawed paw raised high. Sheryl was about to scream out when she felt a painful jab in her arm. She gaped wordlessly as the creature's sting had punctured her. Immediately, a numbing sensation spread all over her body, rendering her unable to move. "W-What's happening?!"
When she looked up, the creature had its jaw wide open, its fangs shining an ominous pearl colour in the darkness. Fear instantly took over Sheryl, and she instinctively cried out,
"ALTO!!"
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It was another rather uneventful day. Peace could be boring, but it was much preferred than war. Alto dropped his keys on the table as he reached home. "Sheryl...?" He called out, but there was no answer. Peeking into the kitchen, he could see the groceries Sheryl bought on the counter. "Did she forget to organize again?"
He passed by her room, but her door was closed and there was no light. Alto wondered if his girlfriend went out again. Sheryl had messaged him earlier about having guests for dinner, so maybe she went to get some gifts for them? Then Sheryl would come back later, he supposed. The pilot went to take a bath and began cooking dinner. He was just about done when the doorbell rang.
Upon opening it, he discovered their guests for the day were Ranka and Brera. Alto was still a bit bothered that he didn't know the story behind Brera and Sheryl's friendship. He really needed to ask either one some day. "Hello, Alto-kun! Sorry for dropping in like this, we brought a gift," Ranka chirped and held out a wrapped present.
"You didn't have to bring such things. Take a seat first. Sheryl still isn't home yet," Alto answered and took the gift, placing it on the living room table. Brera froze at where he stood. "Onii-chan?" Ranka looked questioningly at her brother and partner.
"...I smell blood."
Announcing his words abruptly, Brera strode to Sheryl's room and threw the door open. The window was completely broken, as if a table had been thrown into it. Alto gasped, immediately in panic.
"What the hell...?! Sheryl!"
"...Alto, look here."
What Brera found was not comforting. There were blood stains on the floor, dragged for a while until at some point it stopped. Brera's mind was quick to analyse the situation. "Something broke in from outside, since the glass shards are within the room. I don't see much of a struggle's effects...The blood is minimal, probably a scratch or a cut. But from these marks...She's been taken. And...By a large creature at that."
"What do you mean, onii-chan?" Ranka asked, worried for Sheryl's safety.
"My vision can trace the tracks left behind by the creature. Judging by its paw size, I can say it is a large one. It is very well big enough to carry off a human. I...saw the same tracks at the café earlier, but smaller ones. I thought they meant no harm..." Brera trailed off. Alto turned to him immediately.
"How long can you keep a mark on these tracks?"
"It'll fade due to heat and moisture levels in the air."
"Brera, I don't care what you have to do, but trace it all the way to where it's run! If some fucking monster thinks it can kidnap my lover and get away with it, it's making a big mistake!" Alto growled like an injured beast, raged at the thought that he had been careless enough to assume Sheryl had just gone out. Who knows how far the beast had gone now?
Brera nodded, and immediately left through the window.
"Onii-chan!!" Ranka called out, but Brera was already gone. Alto was pulling on his jacket, preparing to leave the house. "Alto-kun, where are you going?!"
"I'm going to request some weapons, so that I can blow that animal away to kingdom come when I see its damn face," Alto snarled.
"Wait, I'm coming with you!" Ranka stated, catching Alto off guard.
"Wha...No! Brera will never allow it! We can't expose you to danger!" Alto protested.
"Sheryl-san is my friend! I have to go! Besides...It might have connection to our abilities. This was the Vajra's home planet after all...We don't know what other things could be affected by our fold-wave emitting powers on this planet. Don't be so hasty. Sheryl-san was not killed outright, but taken. This proves that she is still alive, and whatever that took her, must have its reasons. Why did it single out Sheryl-san...? I want to follow because I might be able to figure it out!" Ranka insisted.
Alto contemplated for a moment. "...Alright. But I don't want you to unnecessarily get into dangerous situations." Ranka nodded. "I think I'll go pack some supplies! Sheryl-san might need first aid when we find her!"
"Then meet me up at SMS office in thirty minutes. Get Brera on the phone and ask him his location too when you go there, then we can set off immediately," Alto ordered as if it was a battle.
Ranka dashed out of the door to do her part, and Alto ran for the SMS. He had a goddess to rescue.
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