Disclaimer: I don't own Pacific Rim, Mazinger ZERO, or Super Robot Taisen
Disclaimer P2: Potential spoilers for uprising. MAJOR spoilers for Mazinger ZERO vs Ankoku Diashogun. You've been warned.
Disclaimer P3: I didn't care for Uprising at all and this fic is basically an attempt to wash its bad taste from my mouth. Ahem. Enjoy.
You Can Always Find Me Cancelling the Apocalypse
Since Stacker had found her, Mako Mori was a woman of action. She'd always been doing something, be it running from a hungry Kaiju, repairing Jaegers, and running kaiju battle simulations in a proxy Jaeger cockpit. Mako wasn't one to be comfortable in her father's shoes, but as Herc Hanson stepped down from the role of Standing Marshall of the PPDC, Mako felt they were shoes it was her duty to fill. Her father had asked Raleigh if he'd rather die working, or in a Jaeger she would definitely choose the latter.
She thought that the end would be darkness. Or some kind of hell. But instead she saw a face from a popular manga staring her in the face.
"Mazinger Z?" She asked. It was less of a robot she was familiar with because she knew some mecha anime (as Jaegers had certainly revived the mecha genre) and more of a face she'd seen as a child when Stacker showed her Mazinger Z: Infinity in theatres.
But despite all appearances, Mazinger Z stood in front of her, and she noted that it was about her size, head tilted to one side.
"Mako Mori. You came here far too early. Something wrong must've happened." The robot spoke in – Raleigh's voice? She figured it might be because Raleigh had all but vanished since he'd sealed the rift. Anyway. Mazinger Z. Talking. To her.
"Mazinger-San" She asked, almost like a question. He was Japanese, after all.
"Just call me Mazinger, or Z." He said. She swore that giant metal grill on his head looked like a large grin.
"Ok. Mazinger. Why am I . . . here?" She gestured to the ethereal void around them. Just a bunch of bright space that glowed like sunshine.
"We need you to save the multiverse Mako Mori." The machine said plainly.
Mako looked at Mazinger and tilted her head to one side. "We?"
Z took a hand and scratched the back of his head, about where the pileder's fin was located.
"Oh, right. You should see some alumni who've arrived. Now you're a newcomer as you haven't been in any of the Super Robot Taisen conflicts so I'll go through a brief list. Raise your hand if you recognize any of these pilots."
"Ryouma Nagare, Getter Robo." Hand raised.
"Takaya Noriko, Gunbuster." Hand raised (and silent cheering. It was Noriko).
"Amuro Rey, RX78-02 Gundam." Hand raised. Of course Gundam would be there.
"Simon the Digger, Gurren Lagann." Pass. Though the name was familiar.
"Eiji Asuka, SPT Layzner." Pass. It sounded like a real type anime.
"Shinji Ikari, EVA Unit 01." Raise.
"Akira Fudo, Devilman X." Pass.
"Gai Shishioh, GaoGaiGar." Raise. One she'd actually watched some episodes of.
Mako raised her hand for most of the bunch and Z nodded. "Good. You've done your homework. Now Ms. Mori, just imagine you're inside of Gypsy Danger."
Mako closed her eyes and her sharp business suit vanished, replaced by the jet-black pilot suit she'd worn with Raleigh years ago. The space around her warped into the cockpit of Gypsy Danger, and she felt herself connect with the machine as it's chest, arms, legs, and frame all formed around her. Then she saw them as Gypsy fully formed.
There was Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger, and beyond them were wisps of other machines. Just fully realized enough to be recognizable. While Mako wasn't exactly a mecha fangirl, she'd found referencing old mecha anime and tokusatsu helped when thinking of ways to retrofit jaegers. She recognized Gunbuster's shoulders and giant form and started walking to move Gypsy in formation with the rest of the army.
"Mazinger, what is our enemy?" she asked.
"Mazinger ZERO. The ultimate demonic side of Mazinger Z. Ms. Mori, as you might know, Mazinger Z's destiny is to walk that path of a God or a Devil. In this case it's a devil that's in control of all reality. And soon all realities unless we can all hit him at once with everything we've got. You're here. Your robot is made out of human ingenuity and spirit, and not super alloy z, so it's more effective than if I mass copied myself. Anyway we're sending waves of mecha at it and you're among the last to deploy, so be ready."
She felt something rise within her as she saw the massive reality warping size of Mazinger ZERO. It truly was a mechanical devil – towering over any other mech present in the bout. And it seemed to be grinning wickedly. While the standard iteration of Mazinger Z was a pretty straight forward design of simple shapes, ZERO took that basic concept and put it on steroids. Its body was extremely hulking and almost impossibly muscular despite being a machine. The mechanical grill had literally split in half to form two jaws of sorts and there were menacing pupils in each massive eye. Furthermore, the behemoth sported two axe blades on each arm that Mako knew were the "Iron Cutters". She sensed faint anger but mostly amusement from the entity – as it felt far more like a wicked elder god than any kind of machine at this point.
Getter Robo was the first to attack. "GETTA BEAAAAAAM!" Ryouma, the aforementioned pilot of Getter-1 yelled as the robot flew upwards and fired a beam from its chest towards the universe-sized thing. The beam kept firing in a straight line until it vanished, having not even hit ZERO yet. Given the size of the blast, that meant that ZERO was bigger than anything Mako could have imagined.
"Now follow Ryouma's lead!" Mako heard Amuro's voice in the intercom as the original Gundam began firing it's beam rifle. What followed was a barrage of attacks as the ace pilots called out the names of their chosen projectile attacks.
"Dangai Beam!"
"Space Thunder!"
"Spin Storm!"
"J-Quath!"
"Homing Lazer!"
More and more attacks were fired at ZERO and miniscule explosions finally appeared, appearing to have done no damage to the titan.
ZERO seemed to laugh, even as Ideon's Infinity Wave Motion Gun was shrugged off.
My turn
ZERO arched it's back and the two massive heat sinks on its chest blazed red orange. The sheer heat was felt by Mako and she made a mental note to herself to turn on the cooling system. A nod from her co- pilot – whoever they were – and the cooling was applied. But it didn't change the problem before them.
DYNAMIC FIRE
The heatsinks reached their limit and a colossal wave of hot death expanded from ZERO, nearing the assembled robot army.
"Now, use defenses!" The voice of Great Mazinger's pilot, Tetsuya Tsurugi boomed.
"PROTECT WALL!" The energetic voice of Gai Shishioh roared like the triumphant lion king he was named after as GaoGaiGar projected a wall of energy separating the group and the giant wave of heat.
"Gai-san, that won't be enough." The group heard over the speaker as Shinji Ikari, His EVA-01, and the other Evangelion units all took front and center to project their AT fields to assist GaoGaiGar.
Finally, Gunbuster flew beside them and unveiled its Buster Shield, which was really a big cape it covered its colossal frame with, protecting the majority of the machines behind it given its sheer size.
"Everyone, hit it like hell after we endure this attack!" The voice of Kabuto Kouji, the pilot of Mazinger Z itself managed to say before the attack hit.
Then waves and waves of heat bombarded the group. Mako screamed as the heat blocked out most of her senses. She wondered if they would even be able to survive, much less counterattack. She saw her father look to her.
Then the heat stopped mattering to her. She heard his voice, clear as a bell, as though he was still in the cockpit of Striker Eureka.
"You can always find me in the drift"
She spoke. "Our beams don't affect it at this range. We need to get closer. As soon as the heat stops, attack with our best weapons." Part of her couldn't believe she was talking to all these fictional heroes but the other part of her just wanted them all to win.
The heat stopped, and she felt herself propel forward as Layzner shot ahead of the group, striking ZERO with its V-MAX attack. Tekkaman Blade was next, with the Crash Intrude. Following that, Destiny Gundam joined Burning Gundam for a double palm strike to the face. ZERO roared and pointed its right arm at the group.
IRON CUTTER
The bladed metal fist flew at the assembled machines, but the group was ready for it.
"BUSTER BEAAAAAAM!" Noriko roared as Gunbuster shot a massive ray of violet light at the speeding projectile.
"Double Zeta Gundam! High Mega Cannon!"
"Mazinger ZERO, Iron Cutter, Lock. Mission Accepted."
"Gundam X! Firing!"
The various Gundams' attacks all joined with Gunbuster's, striking the Iron Cutter and slowing it down.
Kouji yelled amidst the battle.
"Now! The fist of one Mazinger shall intercept the other! I'll repel the power of a devil with the power of a God!"
As he spoke, a set of mechanical wings appeared on Mazinger Z's back, as it began to transform – into a giant fist? Mako blinked. This made fighting Kaiju seem almost mundane.
"BIG BANG PAAAAAANCH!" Kouji yelled as the fist flew forwards, slamming into ZERO's own and stopping it in its tracks. "Keep piling on our attacks before it can recover!" Kouji yelled as Mazinger reverted back to its robotic form.
As he did so, Gurren Lagann summoned a massive network of drills, shooting out to strike ZERO in the face. Getter Robo joined in, throwing its signature Getter Tomahawks. "Damn, we're not even slowing this thing down", Hayato, another pilot of Getter Robo yelled.
Mako acted quick, remembering what Raleigh might say in a situation like this as Gypsy Danger fired a blast of heat from its' double nuclear reactor turbine. Raleigh's "IMMA BURN THIS SON OF A BITCH!" echoed through her head as she recalled blasting Slattern with the same attack earlier. The blast struck ZERO in the eye, along with a Dancougaken, an Atomic Punch, and a Reactor Voltekka.
Despite the minimal damage ZERO was taking, it seemed to be enough as it was hit with barrage after barrage of ultimate attacks. It tried to use Rust Hurricane, but Ideon's Infinity Sword coupled with Shin Neo Granzon's Black Hole Cluster and Demonbane's Lunamaria Impact were enough to keep it from attacking while the onslaught continued. While Mako had no way of seeing the entire battle, she swore she saw Getter Robo G, Grendizer, and the Mazinger Brothers launch a combination attack on ZERO's right eye while various Gundams attacked the left eye. Zeorymer started setting off Mei-Oh explosions inside ZERO's pileder in hopes of disabling it, but it appeared to be for naught.
Even though ZERO was no longer attacking them, it was still a stalemate- and soon they'd run out of power.
"Kouji, this isn't working." Ryouma's voice came in. "We need more".
Mako felt a lightbulb turn on in her head. As she'd upgraded Gypsy Danger, surely these mecha had upgrades of their own. "Think of other creations from your timelines! The strongest Getter! The strongest Gundam! Even if you don't have some 'stronger form', imagine yourself at your best!" She yelled, hoping it would work.
Suddenly a larger Getter Robo swooped down on massive demonic batwings, clutching a giant ball of energy between its hands. "The little lady's got a good point! STONER SUNSHINE!" The pilot- who sounded like the earlier Ryouma – yelled, launching the projectile, which struck the jaw of ZERO and did some visible chipping.
"There!" Kouji yelled as a new Mazinger appeared, looking bulkier and with more points and edges and a Z emblazoned on its chest. "That's it! Now face Mazinkaiser! Demon God of Justice! Kaiser Nova!" The other Kouji roared as this new machine arced it's back and shot a huge heatwave in every direction. The wave hit ZERO point blank and it looked like ZERO moved backwards just a smidge.
"YES! That's it! With our new allies, our fighting spirit grows, and that leads to infinite potential!" Simon yelled as Gurren Lagann suddenly grew – and grew – and grew until it seemed to stop existing, yet Mako know it was there as several drills made of green energy slammed into ZERO from every conceivable angle at once. ZERO screamed and its eyes glowed yellow, firing deadly photon beams at the now Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. The translucent drills faded away as Gurren shrank to its standard form due to the damage incurred by the beams.
Mako was able to form a strategy just as Gunbuster kept ZERO distracted with a boosted Super Inazuma Kick to the side of its head. "It can't move now! Keep attacking! Eventually even a being like ZERO will tire!" She yelled.
"Don't get cocky, kid."
Mako turned to her pilot, surprised as Yancy Beckett gave her a dry smirk.
"I'm hardwired into Raleigh's – and now – your memories. Let's end this so we can see your old man, yeah?", Yancy asked.
She felt sadness from the drift, but still felt him. As he was Raleigh's brother, he was now her brother as well. Mako used the emotion from the drift and translated it into power as her and Yancy's combined willpower – conjured a boat?
Mako decided to stop asking questions and rammed the boatsword into ZERO's face. The boat exploded, but Yancy was quick to switch to the plasma cannons while Mako made sure Gypsy was flanked by other mecha – chiefly Getter Robo Go and Genesic GaoGaiGar. Getter Go used its tomahawk sword to shoot pure plasma into the crater Gypsy Danger created while Genesic swung its massive Goldion Crusher into ZERO's right arm, causing the whole limb to vanish into thin air.
"Now let's show it the power of the choudenji robo!" The voice of Kenichi, the lead pilot of Voltes V boomed as it joined Combattler V in a double attack – a drill spin followed up by a sword slash attack. The attack ceased any regeneration ZERO's arm was going through and Mako noted that now even Valkyries and Scopedogs, Arbalests and Aestevalis' were all swarming the thing.
ZERO's voice boomed in all their heads
FOOLS I AM EVERYTHING IF YOU END ME HERE I SHALL ENSURE YOU PERISH AS WELL
To that Gai's voice responded "ZERO! Our courage will allow us to defeat you! Even if it leads to death! Even if it leads to the unknown! I'd rather do that forever than fall here!"
And Iczer-One spoke up "We all have ones we love that we might never see again, yet for the sake of all we face you here today."
Noriko was next. "That's right! We all are fighting for the sake of the universe! We won't let you consume anything else!"
Mako found herself speaking aloud. "For the sake of all our families."
Kouji finished. "We strike you down today, Mazinger ZERO."
Then everything stopped. ZERO looked up, and behind all the gathered mecha, a rift began to shimmer. Two massive red hands broke through the rift, beginning to pry it apart. The mecha that broke from the rift was the size of ZERO – dwarfing anybody else there.
"Getter. . . Emperor." The first Ryouma said quietly.
Then they heard a voice of yet another Ryouma. "ZERO. This is the end. You've already lost, but if you choose to escalate this conflict. . . "Getter Emperor raised and clenched a fist. "You'll have to face me."
ZERO narrowed its eyes. GETTER EMPEROR. . . I WILL DESTROY ALL OF YOU
The surrounding mecha began to charge finishing moves once again. Genesic Hell and Heaven, Final Kaiser Blade, Burning Shuffle Alliance Attack, Sword Vigor, and Double Spin Storm to name a few. As then did so, Emperor charged a Getter Beam of its own.
Kouji and Tetsuya were the first ones to attack, using Thunder Break and Photon Beam, signaling everyone else to follow suit. Getter Beam, Choudenji V Slash, Psychic Wave, Thunder Flash, Final Fire, Hyper Beam Saber, Gekigan Flare, Fin Funnel, and Elbow Rocket all struck true to mark.
Then ZERO spoke despite the massive damage dealt to it.
KNOW THIS. . . IF I CEASE TO EXIST THEN SO WILL ALL OF YOU
THE NAME OF MAZINGER Z SHALL BE FORGOTTEN. KABUTO KOUJI, YOU AND YOUR FAMILY'S LEGACY TETSUYA TSURYGI, YOU AND YOUR REASON TO FIGHT, ALL SHALL BE LOST, ZERO spoke, a hint of bitterness in its booming voice. YOU WILL BE REPLACED BY LESSER MACHINES
To that, Kouji laughed. "ZERO, that won't happen. Everyone, every machine here today was inspired by my grandpa's Mazinger Z. So Z won't be forgotten. Its legacy will live on for eternity through everyone. A legacy of infinite possibilities!"
ZERO seemed to sigh. IN THIS CASE I AM INTRIGUED BY THESE POSSABILITIES. I SHALL CONCEADE FOR NOW. . . BUT IF THIS LEGACY EVER FALLS SHORT I SHALL APPEAR AGAIN
Then everything faded. Mako wished she could say hello to the other pilots, but all she got to do was turn to Yancy and see herself in his eyes. This event horizon, or whatever it was, happened and then Gypsy Danger, Mazinger Z, and everything else was gone.
Mako saw herself at different stages in life. Playing with her parents, being picked up by a recovering Stacker, fighting alongside Raleigh. Then she was staring at Gypsy Danger, being carried away by Knifehead – Yancy's memories. Then she was watching him leave the cockpit – there were Raleigh's memories. Then there was nothing else.
"For better or worse?"
"More control Ms. Mori."
"Pay attention to the drift. The drift is silence."
"Apologize to her."
"Screw you!"
"I said, apologize to her."
Mako felt her mind moving as though she was drunk. Memories from ten years ago – was it really that long? – came back to her and she felt herself being practically rocket-punched through time as they all flooded her brain.
"Mako-san. I hope you are able to fight for your precious Earth" The voice of Noriko rang in her head.
"Right on! You need to carry on the spirit of Mazinger Z with that badass Jeager Danger of yours!" Kouji chimed in.
"That's right Mako! Never give up! That same courage you showed shall give you strength!" Gai added.
"Time is giving you a second chance to make things right!" Kamille said. "Make sure you do what you need to." Amuro finished.
Then Mako opened her eyes. She was in the escape pod of Gypsy Danger. Raleigh was about to re-surface. She felt the water and was glad to feel the weight of her uniform. The sting of the sea salt in her eyes. The ache of her body after the battle. Raleigh re-surfaced and she, true to form, held onto him too tight, ignoring Tendo's messages to see if they were alright.
This time Mako made sure not to let go of Raleigh. This time Mako made sure Herc Hanson stayed acting Marshall of the PPDC. This time she had Newt's psyche evaluated so that his mind wouldn't be warped by the precursers. This time Mako made sure she stayed as a Jaeger pilot. She made sure she trained the new – and old recruits. Because at the end of the day, if Mako was ever faced with her father's question, she'd rather go out in a Jaeger than anything else.