2023-11-15: A Dismal Alternative

• Cutscene: A Dismal Alternative
• Cast: Naoko Suzuki, Koji Kabuto
• Where: Goragon
• Date: Sometime in December 0097
• Summary: The end of the world is nigh. A girl laments her powerlessness, reaching out to Possibility in hopes of learning how she might yet might a difference. What she sees, instead... (CW: Paralysis, death)

---

A sharp intake of breath, eyes opening to behold a world full of light. Heaven...? No. This overwhelming feeling... there's only one thing this could mean, she knows instinctively. Failure. This is not the miracle they desired. This is the miracle desired by Dr. Hell.

And yet... she's still here. She remembers everything leading up this moment, which means... "...I'm still me." Why? Wasn't this supposed to obliterate the world, and make it anew? This version of herself... shouldn't exist anymore.

"That means..." It's not too late. There's still a chance. But what can she do? A true Miracle Worker would find a way to turn this around. But there's always been so little she could actually do. Certainly not by herself. If only she had more--

As if in response to her thoughts, a single character flashes on a golden cube floating directly in front of her.

力

This is... only a possibility. Isn't it? She won't suddenly gain what she seeks, if she were to claim that cube. Touching anything in this place is probably a bad idea to begin with. But... what if it has an answer for her? Is she supposed to just ignore what's right in front of her? No way. She could never do that. She has to know, or she'll always be left wondering 'what if'.

Slowly, carefully, Naoko reaches out towards the cube with the 'power' kanji. She's just going to test what happens. She can just back off immediately if it's bad. But surely nothing bad could happen if she only uses one finger to just lightly tap--

---

She instantly knows where she is. This is, unmistakenly... a Pilder she's sitting in. And not just a Pilder. The Pilder. Currently docked, serving as the cockpit of--

Naoko cracks up, laughing for what feels like forever. Of course. Of course her idea of Power would put her directly in the pilot seat of Mazinger Z. Could it be any more on the nose? Who could have imagined that Possibility would be this unimaginative. Or is that just her? Is she so predictable that Possibility itself wouldn't have it any other way?

She needs a moment to catch her breath, and refocus herself. Ok, so she's here in Mazinger Z, but... where exactly is 'here'? She can't see a thing in front of her, everything out there is shrouded in some kind of deep fog.

"...Come on, Possibility. You didn't just send me from one void to another, did you?" Well, at least she has a giant robot - the best one, in fact. Might as well--

Wait. How is she supposed to control this? She knows the theory, but, actually moving a Mazinger would be very different from what she's used to. If she'd had the choice, she would have made this easier somehow. Made it possible to control it as if it were her own body.

...As if it were... her own...

She can't move. She'd somehow failed to notice it earlier, but... she can't move her arms, her legs, her head... her face is the only thing that she still can, fixed though it is facing forward. She turns her widening eyes as best she can to get a better view of the cockpit. Wires. So many wires next to her on either side, crossing over her body haphazardly. She doesn't feel them.

Tentatively, she thinks about raising her right arm. That, she can feel. Her giant metal arm, slowly rising up. Then dropping down abruptly, as she gasps in shock. And the realization hits that this isn't something that was done to her. She did this to herself.

But how? How could this happen? If she's in Mazinger Z, then what about--

---

"Koji-san?"

A vision unfolds before her eyes, of the Photon Power Labs' hangar. Mazinger Z stretches out before her, and standing in front is Koji Kabuto. One of the world's great heroes of yore, turned equally respectable scientist. He turns to her with a smile.

"Hm? What's up?"

Casual and friendly, as usual. Why wouldn't he be? He knows his young intern to be a bit of an overenthusiastic fan, but he's always happy to answer any questions she might have.

"There's something I've always wondered. That question that keeps coming up. 'God or Devil?'"

Koji nods patiently, wondering where she's going with this.

Even now, he doesn't suspect a thing.

"...Why not both?"

It happens in an instant. Without warning, the slightest sound, or any other indication of what exactly caused it. Koji's eyes roll into the back of his head, and he collapses, like a puppet whose strings were cut.

Such a fragile thing, the human mind. So easily broken, by one such as herself. Naoko nudges the empty shell with her foot.

"A pathetic end, Koji Kabuto. You fancied yourself a scientist, with such middling intellect? You couldn't even deduce what I was really after. Not even once did you consider that such an innocent, earnest little girl could have such--"

---

Naoko screams in agony, rejecting the unbidden vision with every fiber of her being. But she cannot escape the reality of her current circumstances, unable to tear herself free from her self-imposed prison. She's trapped, with regrets that come far too late, for an action that she cannot comprehend.

All that, just out of a petty wish to claim Mazinger Z for her own. ...No. That's not it. There was more to it than that.

It's not fog, that was obscuring her vision of the outside world. The thick blanket of smoke and ash slowly begins to clear, revealing a massive crater, reaching as far as the eye can see. No, not quite. She can see the ruins of slagged buildings at the edge, far in the distance. This used to be a city. Until...

She presses her eyes tightly shut, trying to push down the surfacing memories, the knowledge of what happened here. But she already knows it will be in vain. Because right before she closed her eyes, she'd seen it. That wreckage of a giant vessel. Unmistakably... a Zentradi Monitor. The Ra Mari II.

She should have realized it sooner. The perspective was all wrong. She was looking down on the crater from far too high up.

The reason she took Mazinger Z... was to take possession of Infinity. Everyone came to stop her... but they had no idea what she was capable of. With her advanced machine interface, it was child's play to redirect the energy of Infinity's main weapon, turning it omni-directional.

There was no escape. Fujinomiya, along with everything and anyone in it, was annihilated.

And now, here she is. The sole arbitrator of the ultimate miracle that is to bring about the new, perfect world.

Just as planned.

Tears streaming down her face, Naoko lets out a hollow laugh.

---

"NOOOOOO!"

Naoko jerks back her hand to grip her chest, a wild look in her eyes as she stumbles backwards. "It can't be! It's a lie! There's... there's no possible world in which that could happen!"

Turning sharply from the cube bearing the '力' kanji, she begins to run through the endless expanse of light. She doesn't care where she ends up. As long as it's far away from this false possibility.