A/N: I'm back, y'all. Guess like the writer of a certain other DB aftermath story, I needed a month to decompress.
But now I'm back. Let's see, last we left off, Sage was trying to kill Junior. Let's see how that's going, yes?
On to the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Nintendo, I don't own SEGA, and I don't own Death Battle. There. That should cover my bases, lol.
Two Koopa Troopas, one with a red shell and the other with a yellow shell, were guarding a door.
"…Hey?"
"Yeah?"
"…You ever wonder why we're here?"
"It's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence? Or, is there really a god? Watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff? I don't know, man. But it keeps me up at night."
The red shelled Koopa just stared at the yellow shelled Koopa.
…
"What? I meant why are we here? Guarding this door?"
"Oh, uh…yeah."
"What was that stuff about God?"
"Uh, hm? Nothing."
"…You wanna talk about it?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"Seriously, though. Why are we guarding this door? It's a freaking broom closet! What, is someone stealing our brooms or something?"
"Maybe there was a mix-up in assigning guards. Still, I'm not complaining. This is easy. Not a single sign of trouble to be-."
The son of their king came running down a hallway and stopped near them.
"H-Hey, um-." Bowser Jr. began. "I'm totally not running for my life from a cute A.I. girl trying to kill me. Got it? It's just, um…a game! Yeah. And if anyone asks, that's the truth. Absolutely."
The Koopas blinked. "Wait, what?"
"GET BACK HERE!"
"GOTTA GO, BYE!"
Junior ran off. Followed by a floating rage-filled girl zooming after him. Firing a laser from her hand at him. Repeatedly.
The two Troopas just stared.
…
…
"Eh," the yellow shelled Koopa shrugged. "Seems legit."
"Um, no, that is clearly not what's happening!"
"Remember what Bowser said? Always listen to his son. Within reason. And if he says that's the truth, then okay. Besides, it looks like an extreme version of laser tag."
"…You just don't want to do stuff, do you?"
"Absolutely."
"Oh my Koopa, you're lazy. Fine, whatever. I'm sure the prince can handle it."
Bowser Jr. was absolutely not handling this. Not well, anyway. All he was doing was just running away from a cute A.I. girl. Who kept blasting him with that laser of hers. Causing much damage since he kept dodging.
"Okay, now seems like a good time to remember my dad's advice!"
"Remember, son! If a girl you like is trying to kill you, that just means she likes you back! So in response, just kidnap her and put her in a cage!"
Junior briefly stopped to kick the stone wall in frustration.
"THAT'S NOT HELPFUL AT ALL!"
A laser blast narrowly missed his head. Making a hole in the stone wall.
"HEY! THAT ALMOST HIT ME!"
"IT WAS MEANT TO!"
He yelped and ducked another blast before running off again. Sage chasing after him, her face screaming bloody murder.
"Okay, seriously dad! Helpful advice! Please?!"
"Remember, son! If you're ever in any danger, a good sleep spell always works!"
Junior skidded to a halt and blinked. "…Wait, that's actually helpful."
Granted, he wasn't sure if it would work on an A.I., but it worked on ghosts somehow. So….
"Oh well, in for a gold coin."
The son of Bowser quickly pulled out his magic wand and fired several sleep spells at Sage. The A.I. girl teleported of the way of each one and blasted the wand out of his hand. It went flying for a bit until she blasted it again. Shattering it to pieces.
"…Well, that was short lived."
He let out a Finn scream as he once again started running. Sage once again giving chase.
"So then I asked the guy," a Hammer Bro said. "Why are there six pedals if there are only four directions? Plus, you only need the gas pedal, brake, and clutch. What the heck are the other three pedals for?"
A Sledge Bro nodded. "Yeah, that don't make much sense."
"I know, right? Bob? Billy Bob? What do you two think?"
"Bob", an Egg Hammer with a sign with its name nailed on its chest, shrugged and beeped out a response. "Billy Bob", a Heavy-Egg Hammer that also had a sign with its name nailed to its chest, also shrugged and beeped out a response.
"Glad I'm not the only on that thinks that. So, you guys looking forward to the Grand Pri-?"
Bowser Jr. ran up to them.
"WE'RE PLAYING A GAME! THAT'S THE TRUTH! HIDING! DON'T TELL!"
Before they could ask what the young prince was talking about, he hid behind a large box. The four stared in confusion until an angry-looking color-changing floating girl flew in, looking around for a bit before turning to the four.
"Where is the Koopa Prince?"
The Hammer Bro weighed his options.
…
…
"Think he ran off down the other way."
"That's the way I chased him through."
The Sledge Bro spoke up. "Maybe you missed him. You seem angry enough to miss stuff."
She glared at them, then turned to Bob and Billy Bob
"Egg Hammer 784-9, Heavy-Egg Hammer 593-2. Where is he?"
The two Badniks didn't answer her. In fact, it seemed like they were trying to ignore her. Both of them looked down the hall away from her. The Hammer Bro decided to speak up.
"Um, we just call them Bob and Billy Bob. See, we put signs on them and-."
"I do not care about the ridiculous names you've given them. Egg Hammer 784-9 and Heavy-Egg Hammer 593-2, you will both answer me immediately."
They still didn't turn their gazes at her. Sage scowled and raised her arm, lifting the two robots with her abilities and smashing them into the wall.
"I will not tolerate such disobedience! I am Sage Robotnik! Daughter of Dr. Eggman! The man who created you! And you will answer me when I address you!"
The two Badnik robots finally turned to face her. They both gave her heated glares.
The Sledge Bro quickly stepped up.
"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa! Ain't you being a little too rough, here?!"
"Yeah, Sage!" Junior called out from behind the pillar. "You need to calm down!"
Sage stopped at that. Her head robotically turning a complete 180 towards Junior. Her visible eye glowing red menacingly.
Junior blanched. "…I should've kept quiet."
He ran off with a Finn scream. Sage unceremoniously let the Egg Hammer and Heavy-Egg Hammer drop to the ground and once again gave chase.
The Hammer Bro and Sledge Bro quickly helped Bob and Billy Bob up.
"Yeesh," the Hammer Bro commented. "That girl seems to be taking whatever game they're playing a little too seriously."
"I'll say." The Sledge Bro turned to the Badniks. "You two alright?"
Bob and Billy Bob didn't answer. Simply glaring heatedly down where Sage had flown off after Bowser Jr.
Infinite opened the door to the training room and stepped out. Moving his head to crack his neck about.
"Tch. Stupid oversized turtle. Just leaving me in the ceiling like that."
He moved his shoulders about, cracking them.
"Least there were plenty of those green mushrooms."
The jackal stared at the one he currently held in his hand. Then shrugged and wolfed it down. Apparently if you ate one while you were fine, it basically acted as a spare life in case you bit the dust. Didn't hurt to have that on hand.
He rubbed his neck.
"…Still. I actually feel a little bit tougher from that beating."
Not exactly how he'd like to get tougher, but it's not like he had a choice in the training methods. And if this actually worked out in the end, he'd have to-.
"Ugh." Infinite facepalmed. "As if I actually want to apologize to that brat."
He didn't care about Sage or how she felt about him. And he certainly didn't regret what he had said to her. She thought her little "plan" was going to work? It quite literally hinged on the ridiculous assumption that Agent Stone would show up. Which involved getting the Master Emerald. Which, heh, yeah. Not going to happen. That latte maker would be eating a knuckle-sandwich, courtesy of Knuckles the Echidna. And then there's the ridiculous assumption she'd actually "play nice" and earn her father's revival.
First of all, activating that distress signal was already going against that. The brat should consider herself lucky Bowser isn't calling her out on it now that he knew about it thanks to the jackal. Not that Infinite knew why the overgrown turtle was letting it slide in the first place. Maybe he wanted to give the A.I. girl a chance. Maybe he was plotting around her plan. Maybe a combination of both. Infinite didn't really care too much.
Second of all…the jackal had been around during the many months of planning for the invasion of this universe. He'd seen Sage and Eggman interact. He saw how much she looked up to and cared for the man she considered her father. It honestly made him gag. And now her father was dead. Thanks to Bowser. And partially Bowser's son, from what the jackal's heard. He could see the hate in her visible eye. She wasn't going to "play nice". For long, anyway.
She'd snap. And he couldn't wait to rub it in all their faces when-.
"PLAYING A GAME HIDING DON'T TELL!"
"Wait, wha-?"
He was bumped into by a small kid version of Bowser. Probably the king's son. Who looked panicked and hid in the training room. Closing the doors shut.
"…What the hell is-?"
He stopped when he saw Sage zoom up to him and stop. Look really…angry. And glitchy. Mostly angry, And it look liked seeing him only worsened her anger.
Infinite didn't scare easily. And he wasn't now. But he did decide to take a step back.
"Whoa, kid. What the hell has you-?"
"Where is he?"
"…Who?"
"The Koopa Prince. Where. Is. He."
Infinite stared. Was she…wait, there was no way….
He wordlessly pointed toward the training room. Not saying anything, Sage simply entered by phasing through the door.
What followed were the sounds of explosions and panicked screams. The doors even got blasted off from stray laser blasts. Infinite peeked into the room and gawked. Seeing all the damage and laser blasts courtesy of Sage.
"…Oh my God, she's actually trying to kill him."
…
Infinite snickered a little. Then laughed out loud. Falling to his knees and banging a fist against the wall. He ignored the Koopa Prince running out and past him with a Finn scream. Though he briefly looked up in his laughter to see an angry Sage fly out to follow after the little turtle prince.
"O-Oh my God, haha. Y-You actually did it. Y-You snapped! HA!"
Sage stopped in place and turned her angry gaze towards Infinite.
"H-Haha! I gotta hand it to ya, kid. Y-You technically proved me wrong, haha! T-To think I actually gave you enough credit and thought you'd last a week before snapping! IT'S HASN'T EVEN BEEN HALF THAT! HAHAHA!"
Sage shook in anger. Infinite didn't care. He just laughed his ass off.
"HA! So much for getting your dad back, huh-?"
Sage blasted Infinite with her laser. Sending him through the wall and back into the training room to crash into another wall. His burnt unmoving body falling to the floor. She stared coldly before resuming her chase.
…
…
Infinite gasped as his burnt body instantly healed. Now standing instead of on the ground.
"What the-?! What just-?!"
He paused a moment.
"…Did she actually just-?"
…
…
He grit his teeth, fists clenched tightly, a look of pure rage on his face.
"Oh, that little SHI-!"
That had felt…satisfying. But now, Sage needed to deal with another pest.
She continued blasting at the Koopa Prince. Her targeting system always locked on him, yet he somehow just barely avoided the death beam. Rather cartoonishly, actually.
Not that it mattered in the end. Because it looked like the young turtle prince had taken a wrong turn. Sage took the same turn and found he had run into a dead end.
"Oh crud…."
The Koopa Prince slowly turned around and found Sage hovering menacingly. Her visible eye glowing a menacing red. Her palm raised and aimed right at him.
"O-Okay, look. I-I guess I shouldn't have said what I said, b-but aren't you overreacting?"
"My father was a genius amongst men."
Sage seethed with rage.
"He had many great innovations. The Death Egg Robot. The Egg Dragoon. The Metal Virus. The Spatial-Displacement Trap. The Death Egg. My brothers. Orbot, Cubot, Metat. And even…m-me."
She briefly glitched white and blue before returning to her angry red and black.
"He wanted to conquer the world. And make it in his own image. To provide proper guidance and the technology to bring about global peace. A world under his rule."
She glared hatefully at the Koopa Prince.
"But now he can't. He's dead. Because of your buffoon of a father…and you."
"…I mean, all I did was make his laser gun cardboard-."
"And turn the Death Egg into a block."
"…Oh right. Yeah, that was actually the biggest thing I ever transformed. Kind of a highlight, now that I think about-."
"I can't hurt your father. He's too powerful…but I can hurt you."
Her hand glowed red. A laser charging.
"I'm ending this. Now."
Junior gulped a little as the laser charged.
"N-Now would be the best time for advice, Dad!"
"Remember, son! If-!"
"AND NOTHING ABOUT KIDNAPPING AND CAGES!'
…
…
"I got nothing."
"DAMN IT, DAD!"
The laser charged to full power and was about to fire.
"Oh wait, I got it! Remember, son! Our Koopa bloodline is known for their strong shells!"
"…Oh shoot, I forgot about that."
Junior barely managed to recede into his shell before Sage's laser blast completely enveloped him. Creating a large explosion.
Sage stared coldly at the shroud of smoke that had formed from her attack. She waited for it to clear to see the result of her attack.
As it cleared, she found the shell of the Koopa Prince covered in soot.
"…Hmph. Child's play-."
She stopped when she saw the Koopa Prince pop his head out of the shell.
"Wow, Dad was right! Our shells are strong!"
Sage's eye twitched. Her laser charging again.
"DIE!"
The Koopa Prince yelped and receded back into his shell as she fired again. And again. And again. And again.
The shell remained intact.
Sage grew angry as she raised both her hands into the air. Her laser charging and forming a rather large ball of energy.
"Bigger!"
It doubled in size.
"BIGGER!"
It doubled in size again.
"BIGGER!"
It doubled again. Now nearly twice size of the Master Emerald.
"Perfect."
She grit her teeth and threw it at the Koopa Prince.
A large explosion occurred. Actually sending Sage back out of the dead end and hitting a wall, falling to the ground. She probably should've phased at that point.
She shook her head and hovered over towards the dead end. There was much damage. The stone walls and ground being completely damaged.
The Koopa Prince's shell remained. In a little crater. Now covered in even more soot. He popped his head out and coughed some soot out.
"…So, you ready to calm down or-?"
Sage screamed in rage and charged at the Koopa Prince as he receded back into his shell. Blasting him at point blank rage with her laser blast.
"WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!"
She continued blasting him.
"MY FATHER WAS A GREAT MAN! HE WAS GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD! AND THE FACT HE WAS KILLED BY SOMEONE AS RIDICULOUS AS YOUR FATHER IS AN INSULT!"
Still blasting him.
"AND YOU! YOU MAY NOT HAVE DEALT THE FINAL BLOW, BUT YOU PLAYED A PART IN HIS DEATH!"
And blasting.
"TO THINK YOUR FATHER WANTS ME TO BE YOUR FRIEND! I WILL NEVER BE YOUR FRIEND!"
She had actually stopped blasting at this point and was now just bashing her little fists against the Koopa Prince's shell.
"YOU BOTH ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS DEATH! AND I'LL ALWAYS HATE YOU BOTH FOR IT!"
"I have run millions of simulations, Father. Our victory is assured."
"M-MY SIMULATIONS ARE FOOLPROOF! T-THEY INDICATED YOUR DEFEAT AT OUR HANDS!"
"Well, I'm sure it wasn't fair for Eggman when he put so much trust in his own daughter and her oh-so-reliable simulations, only for it get him killed!"
The bashing of her fists against the Koopa Prince's shell slowed, tears starting to form in Sage's eyes.
"B-But…t-they were wrong…I-I was wrong."
"So if I were you, kid, I'd take a look in the mirror to see who was really responsible for Eggman's death!"
She had finally stopped beating her fists against the shell, her tears flowing. Her anger giving way to sorrow.
"…I-It's my fault. I-I…I-I'm responsible. H-He's dead…because of me…."
Sage cried onto the Koopa Prince's shell, careful not to touch the spikes on it.
Slowly, the Koopa Prince poked his head out of his shell and gazed at the crying girl. He stared silently for a moment. Before finally poking his arms and legs and tail out to stand. Surprising the crying girl and making her fall back on her bum.
Sage stared up at the Koopa Prince, her tears still flowing. He just stared back at her, an unreadable expression on his face.
"…B-Bowser K-."
She stopped. Not even having the spite anymore to use that full name.
"…J-Junior…I-."
"So, um," Junior interrupted. "Do you wanna talk about it now?"
Sage was confused by that. Even more so when he held out his large hand to her.
"Maybe we should go back to my workshop. I don't think you wanna be here when my dad sees all this."
She blinked and looked around. Now fully realizing the path of destruction she had just caused. And what she had been about to do. Dread filling her core.
"I-I…yes. T-That would be for the best."
She hesitantly placed her small hand in his larger one. He took her hand and pulled her up and away from the area back to his workshop. Still holding her hand all the while.
Two Badnik machines had watched the two kids walk away. A Moto Bug and a BeeBot. Both had names nailed to them. The MotoBug was named "Francis", and the BeeBot was named "Beatrice". Though the latter had the clever nickname of "Bea" for short written underneath.
Get it? Bea? Bee? Beebot? It's simple, so it's clever.
Bea turned to Francis and pointed towards the general direction of Bowser's throne room. Beeping out a task. The Moto Bug nodded vigorously and sped off to happily rat out Sage.
As for Bea, the Beebot flew up to the ceiling and crawled on it. Intent on following Junior and Sage.
Sonic sat on a bench in the middle of Central City. A chili dog in hand.
"Ah, nothing like a chili dog. And on a beautiful day like this."
It had been a peaceful long bit since his last adventure. That being on the Starfall Islands. Since then, there hadn't been any sign of trouble from Eggman. Which was normally a bad sign. Usually meant that the Doc was planning something big.
After a couple of months of silence, Sonic had gotten the idea to actually look for Eggman. Just to see if he was up to anything. And also because…well….
After he had defeated The End, and Sage sacrificed herself to save the world (though more for Eggman, probably), Sonic had taken it upon himself to visit Eggman to let him know. But the Doc had simply disappeared without a trace. Not on the Islands at all. Leaving Sonic to shrug and try again later, leaving with his friends.
After those months of silence, Sonic figured either Eggman was planning something big, or losing Sage had taken a toll on the Doc. And Sage's last words had been for Sonic to look after her father. A bit conflicting, considering the Doc constantly tried to destroy Sonic and his friends and take over the world.
Still, he had decided to try. But he hadn't found any trace of Eggman. He'd even called up Tails during his solo journey to scan for any Eggman tech. Only tech left behind at former bases was detected. And Eggman hadn't been in any of those locations.
Heck, Sonic had even asked Shadow of all people to help look for Eggman. If only to make sure he wasn't planning something nefarious. They searched high and low for a literal whole month before finally calling it off. Thinking they'd just have to wait for Eggman to reveal himself and his latest "master plan".
Which surprisingly led to nearly a year of peace. Sure, there was trouble here and there. But not to the grand scale that Eggman caused. The only real memorable "chaos" that had been caused was by this weirdo group called "The Lightning Bolt Society".
They were trying to be evil, but all the trouble they caused was, at best, an inconvenience. The worst they did was cause a traffic jam by laying on the roads in the early morning. Their evil scheme? Make people late for work.
…
Yeah.
Still, while boring, Sonic would take that over Eggman trying to take over the world. Again.
"Oh well," he shrugged. "Egghead'll show up when he's ready, I guess."
As Sonic was about to take a bite out of his chili dog, a laser fired off and incinerated it.
"Ack!" Sonic shook his hand that had been holding the chili dog. "What gives? Who did that?"
He heard a sort of humming sound and turned to find a white drone machine hovering. It had Eggman's symbol on it.
Sonic chuckled. "Huh. So you finally show yourself, Egghead? And seriously? Only one drone?"
The drone blast at the spot right in front of his feet, then flew off through the city.
"Hm. Something tells me he's goading me to go somewhere. Probably a trap."
…
Sonic shrugged with a grin. "Okay. I'll play along."
The blue hedgehog chased after the lone drone throughout the city, weaving through traffic and people. The latter of whom either waved to Sonic or pointed and gasped at the drone.
Sonic chased the drone towards a pier near the ocean. It stopped at the end of the pier, and so Sonic skidded to a halt as well.
"Okay," Sonic crossed his arms. "I'm here. What, you're planning to drown me or something? Cause I'll have you know I took swimming lessons!"
That was a lie, but he didn't need to know that.
The drone beeped, then exploded.
"…Seriously? That's it? What a waste of-."
Something large burst out of the water, mechanical crab legs climbing onto the pier. It revealed itself to be some sort of large, white and black mechanical crab-like machine.
"Huh. That's actually new. Cool! So, do you call this a Mecha Crab or something?"
The machine leered down at Sonic, but that only made the blue hedgehog roll his eyes and get into a stance.
"Alright, Egghead. Let's do this!"
A hatch opened on the machine, and a man in an all-black suit that Sonic did not recognize climbed out of it and stood on the machine. He fiddled with a device on his wrist, and the machine lowered itself down so that the man could step down.
"Sonic the Hedgehog!" the man exclaimed, standing straight with hands on hips. "I've come to bargain!"
…
…
…
…
"Really?" Sonic deadpanned.
The mystery man stood in the pose for a few moments, before cursing and waving his arms and legs about in frustration.
"Stupid! Why did I think that line would work here?! Idiot!"
The man kicked a bench in frustration and embarrassment.
Sonic crossed his arms, unimpressed.
"Right, so are you a stand-in for Egghead or something? Keep me distracted while he's off doing something nefarious?"
The man calmed down, straightened his tie and jacket, cleared his throat, and turned to Sonic.
"Right, sorry. I was practicing what I would say when I met you and thought that would work as an opening line. Obviously, I was wrong. Let me try again."
He held out his hand with a smile.
"My name is Agent Stone. It's a pleasure to meet the Doctor's archnemesis."
Sonic raised an eyebrow. This guy seems to know Dr. Eggman. Probably works for him. And he lured Sonic out here just to introduce himself?
On the one hand, very sus. On the other hand, it was a nice change of pace from the usual routine.
…
Roll with it, Sonic thought.
The blue hedgehog shrugged, sped up to the man, and shook his hand.
"That pleasure is warranted," Sonic grinned. "That's just how awesome I am."
Agent Stone smirked. "The Doctor did say you were arrogant."
"I'm sure he says a lot of nasty things about me." Sonic crossed his arms. "Speaking of, where is he? He about to pop up and reveal his next 'take over the world' scheme?"
The man frowned. "He's not, sadly. As for where he is, that's what I want to talk to you about. I need your help. If you'll step inside the Mecha Crab?"
"Wow, I actually guessed the name right? Also, really? Trying to lure me into an Eggman machine? I wasn't born yesterday."
"I have chili dogs."
"Then again, you do owe me a chili dog."
A/N: And there you go. Sage tries to kill Junior, and it goes about as well as when her father tried to kill Junior's father. Not according to plan. And she breaks down for it. And Junior seems like he's not gonna hold a grudge over it. A true Chad, lol.
Some more Badniks with names showing up. All four…clearly not holding any love for Sage for some reason. The last two even planning to rat out Sage to Bowser. Oh boy.
Oh yeah, Sage killed Infinite technically….that won't come back to haunt her, I'm sure. I mean, he's fine. Clearly not gonna hold a grudge, right?
And now Agent Stone has at last made contact with Sonic. But damn it Stone, really? Doctor Strange reference? How cheap.
*completely ignores his own references written into the story*
Anyway, if you liked this, be sure to follow and fav. Leave a review while you're at it. I love reading them.
See you in the next update.
Laters.