A/N: Another chapter. Huzzah. There be light in this dark tunnel.

Reader: What does that have to do with anything?

I don't know.

Anyway, enough dillydallying. On to the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Nintendo, I don't own anything Sega, and I don't own anything Death Battle. There. That should cover my bases, lol.

"Tada! Welcome to my workshop!"

The Koopa Prince had cheered that with an open-mouthed grin and his arms spread out, as though he was presenting something magnificent.

"Well?" He asked. "What do you think?"

Sage stared blankly at the young turtle prince. He looked ridiculous like that. Did he think he was some kind of showman? Then again, her father tended to be the same. But his genius was well-founded, so he could stand to be grandiose about it.

She then turned her attention to the surrounding area. It was an extremely large work area with many machines within. Though these machines were not like those that her father would make. These bore different color schemes representative of Bowser. Or his son. Furthermore, these machines seemed…childish.

Sage hovered towards one such machine. A large mech. It looked completely ridiculous, looking like a child's plaything. It overall body was barrel-shaped with metal clamps for hands. The feet being a simple block shape, its joints colorful. In one of its clamps was what appeared to be a large hammer with the shape of a cow's head. There was even a cowbell and utter on it. Mechanical, of course.

"This is Mecha Jr!" the Koopa Prince exclaimed. "Got it for my birthday! It might not look it, but it's really strong! Nearly beat Mario with it! Till he broke it."

She did not know what this "Mario" was, but it sounded like Sonic.

"But I managed to put it back together. Even make a few upgrades! Now it's bigger and badder than ever! Pretty cool, huh?"

She had the flattest look on her face as she responded with, "My father could make this in his sleep."

Junior deflated a bit. "Er, well, I guess."

Done with that, Sage moved over to another large machine invention that looked like it should not be able to fit here despite the work area being extremely large. What appeared to be some large, mostly green clown-like robot. Its head was white with plus-sign shaped yellow eyes. It had large hammers for hands, two light blue glasses in front and one in the back, and what appeared to be blasters of some sort on the front.

"This is the Megahammer!" the Koopa Prince exclaimed. "I used it out in space once! But Mario destroyed it."

Again with this "Mario".

"These light blue glasses," Sage pointed out. "They seem like a weakness."

"Yeah, Mario destroyed them with Bill Missiles I shot at him. Then at the head."

"That makes them a design flaw."

"Uh, I suppose…."

"And yet, you've still put them on there as large targets to be hit."

"…They complete the look?"

This machine was ridiculous. Writing it off, she moved towards a machine that, like with the Megahammer, should not fit in here yet somehow did. It was a large, crude-looking mecha version of Bowser. She immediately hated it. Also, it looked like it could fall apart once activated.

"This is Mecha-Bowser! Speaks for itself. Giant robot dad. Not as big as when he goes Fury mode, but eh. It breathes fire! Used it once and-."

"Let me guess," Sage interrupted. "It was destroyed by Mario."

"Wow, how'd you know?"

She gave him an unimpressed look.

"Oh yeah, I guess I see a pattern now. Still, pretty cool, right?"

"…No."

He deflated again. She almost found it amusing. Almost.

"W-Well, um, look at this!"

He scrambled over towards a vehicle that caused Sage to freeze momentarily. It was a helicopter-like vehicle with a face on it. The rim and propeller were the same shade of green as the Koopa Prince's head.

What made Sage freeze was its shape. It was very close to the shape of her father's signature vehicle, the Eggmobile. The very one rendered to stone. By the Koopa Prince, no less.

Her eye narrowed as she clenched a fist, her form glitching red and blue. She closed her eyes and pushed those negative feelings away. She could not lose control like before.

"This is my Clown Car!" Bowser Jr. exclaimed, not noticing Sage's brief lapse of emotion. "It's kinda my signature vehicle. It might not look like much, but it can do lots of stuff! Watch!"

She watched blankly as the Koopa Prince hopped into his Clown Car and started demonstrating its capabilities.

"It has a boxing glove function!"

Mechanical arms extended from within the vehicle, boxing gloves covering the hands. The young prince had the vehicle do practice punches for show.

Sage was not impressed.

"It has drills!"

The mechanical arms retracted, then emerged again. Only with drills for hands instead of boxing gloves. He made a show of demonstrating their effectiveness by drilling and stabbing the air.

Sage was still not impressed.

"It has buzzsaws!"

The mechanical arms once again retracted, re-emerging with buzzsaws. He slashed the air with them.

Sage blinked. Confused, suddenly.

"It has a cannon!"

The mechanical arms retracted, and a cannon appeared on the front, firing a large cannonball towards the distant wall.

…Wait a minute.

"It can even launch Mechakoopas!"

The cannon disappeared, and the front opened to release a small mechanical koopa that seemed like a wind-up toy. It leaped forward to hit a nonexistent target, then exploded.

"I can fire a lot of those! Same for the cannon."

Sage couldn't lie. She was suddenly interested.

"Plus, it's a sweet ride!"

The Koopa Prince then started flying around at a surprisingly fast speed, moving high in the sky and flying around the other large inventions. Cheering all the while. Sage watched it all intently.

The young prince returned to the ground and hopped out of his Clown Car, letting it hover in place. He leaned on it with his hand, looking prideful.

"I built this thing myself. Pretty cool, right?"

As though the universe itself was offended that the Koopa Prince wanted to look cool in front of a girl he was trying to impress, the vehicle moved to the side as a result of the added weight on the side. Causing Bowser Jr. to fall flat on his face. Ruining his moment of coolness.

Sage gave the downed prince a flat look, then ignored and hovered passed him towards his vehicle.

"May I examine it myself for a moment?"

The Koopa Prince got back to his feet and dusted himself off.

"Um, sure, go ahead."

Sage hovered about the Clown Car. Scanning and examining each part of the inside, then the seat area. The control panel was simplistic, with buttons labeled with pictures of the weapons the vehicle utilized. Steering and throttles were even more simplistic, almost child-like.

"Bowser Koopa the Second-."

"You can call me Junior."

"-you say you designed this yourself?" Sage asked, ignoring his suggestion.

He nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

"This vehicle should not be able to work as it does. The propellor is too small and slow to allow flight. The vehicle itself should be far larger to be able to physically house these additional weapons. And even then, it should be far too heavy to move around as well as it should."

"That sounds right, yeah."

"This vehicle should not be physically or scientifically possible. And yet here it is. How?"

The Koopa Prince put his fists to his hips and puffed out his chest in pride, looking smug.

"Well as you can probably tell, I'm something of an inventor myself. And my Clown Car is my pride and joy! Lots of sweat and tears went into it. And maybe a bit of blood at first. It was my first invention. Plus, adding a little magic definitely helps."

Sage tilted her head. "So, a combination of science and magic?"

"Pretty much."

"And the same would go for your other machines here?"

"Yeah. And I haven't even shown you the Boomsday Machine, yet! It's somewhere else, though. It's a lot bigger than the Megahammer or Mecha-Bowser, and those two barely fit here as is-."

She let the young prince ramble as she put a finger to her chin in thought. His Clown Car was essentially a wind-up toy, to put it lightly. Yet the addition of magic turns it into a versatile warmachine. Perhaps not to the effectiveness of her father's machines, such as the Eggmobile. Yet its capabilities could not be denied.

She hated to admit it, but she was…impressed.

And if she could somehow utilize the magic used for these machines, her father's inventions could perhaps be improved upon. She simulated his previous inventions such as the Eggmobile, the Egg Dragoon, and the Death Egg Robot. Each can house many more weapons systems with the use of magic, and perhaps prove far deadlier against Sonic and his friends.

"-and the cow jumped over the moon."

That last part brought her out of her simulations. Blinking, she turned to the Koopa Prince.

"What does a cow and the moon have to do with your inventions?"

"Oh, so you heard that part?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "I saw you spacing out just now."

"I was not 'spacing out'. I was running millions of simulations-."

"You were spacing out."

Do not. Fire the laser. At the Koopa Prince.

"Anyway," he continued. "You didn't say what you thought about my Clown Car. You were impressed. Admit it!"

Sage narrowed her eyes at him.

…

"It is noteworthy."

"So you were impressed!"

"Don't push it."

"Nope. You were impressed! I can tell!"

Ugh. She almost wished she hadn't inquired more about it. Almost. She cataloged the new information for later simulations.

"Was that why you brought me here?" Sage inquired. "So that you could 'impress me'?"

"No- well, maybe a little bit," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "But mostly because I was thinking that maybe we could work together on something!"

Sage gave him a flat look. "Me. Work with you?"

"Yeah! We can build an awesome mech that can totally crush Mario! Maybe even upgrade some of my machines! You could probably come up with some great ideas for them."

She absolutely could. It's debatable whether she would, however.

"Oh! Or maybe we can build you a racing kart!"

She blinked. "A…what?"

"A racing kart!" He repeated. "See, we all usually get together with Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom for Kart Racing! There's actually a race coming up soon! I mean, I don't know if we'll be able to take part after the invasion happened. But it's still something to do!"

Sage stared blankly.

"Something wrong?" the Koopa Prince asked.

"…Bowser Koopa the Second-."

"Seriously, that's a mouthful. Junior is fine."

"-would I be correct in presuming that this 'Mario' is some kind of arch nemesis?"

"Yep! Mostly for Dad. But I've scrapped with him a few times myself."

He looked so prideful at that. Though she imagined all those "scraps" ended with him losing.

"And this Mushroom Kingdom? Is that an enemy kingdom?"

"Pretty much. Least until my dad finally conquers it."

"I see. So you mean to tell me that you have frequent 'kart races' with your enemies?"

"Yep!"

…

…

"Do you understand how nonsensical that is?"

"Not really," the Koopa Prince shrugged. "It's kind of a ceasefire thing."

Once again, nonsensical. Her father would willingly die before considering any kind of ceasefire with Sonic and his friends for some kind of competition. He could barely stand to form an alliance with them.

"Besides!" the young prince grinned. "It's all in good fun."

Fun…with enemies….

"Here, let me show you mine!"

Sage watched the Koopa Prince run off towards something that was covered by a tarp. He pulled it off and went "Tada!" like before, acting like a showman. Though once she saw the "race cart", she immediately gave a flat look.

"It's simply a smaller version of your Clown Car, but with wheels."

Though her scans indicated that it lacked the additional weapon systems. It merely had a projectile launcher. Though what it launched, she couldn't tell.

Bowser's child shrugged. "What can I say? It's my signature vehicle."

For once, she couldn't fault the Koopa Prince that. Her father always kept his signature vehicles and weapons the same. Only upgraded after every defeat.

"So, what do you say?" he asked excitedly. "Let's build you a race kart!"

She didn't like that he seemed so excited about this. What use would she have for a race cart? Did he think she'd want to participate in this apparent kart race coming soon?

"Bowser Koopa the Second-."

"Junior."

"The offer is appreciated-."

It wasn't.

"But I have no interest in kart racing."

That caused the Koopa Prince to deflate and slump to the floor.

"Aw man."

Sage noted his change in tone. "You seem disappointed. Why?"

"Well, I figured if we tried building something, maybe you would feel a little better after everything."

Sage raised an eyebrow. "You were…trying to improve my mood?"

"Yeah! Cheer you up and stuff. Guess that didn't work."

Sage just stared at the sulking prince. Why would he care about her emotional state? She was about to tell him that her emotional state bore no relevance to him, but stopped herself.

She was supposed to "play nice" with the Koopa Prince. And if Bowser found out she hadn't exactly been willing to even try, then the deal would be off. And her father forever dead. Granted, she could research the ways to bring him back. But she would still be watched closely. She needed to make this work, even if fake on her end.

And besides…at least the prince was trying. Perhaps she would, as they say, throw him a bone.

"…I've changed my mind, Bowser Koopa the Second."

"That's gonna get old real qui- wait, what was that first part?"

"I've decided that I would like my own race kart."

She'd never use it, of course. But she supposed it would make a nice souvenir of this universe.

"That's great!" The Koopa Prince's mood turned a complete one-eighty, him hopping in delight. "We can work on sketches and stuff to see how you want it to look!"

That was a smart idea. Although….

Sage turned her gaze back to the Koopa Prince's race kart, then back to the Clown Car. How the former was essentially a smaller version of the latter, but with wheels. With that logic, she could simply say she'd want hers to be a smaller version of the Eggmobile with wheels.

"…Actually," she began. "I believe I would like it to be similar to my father's Eggmobile."

"Egg what's it?"

"I believe you had turned it to stone before my father's demise."

The Koopa Prince blinked and cupped his chin in thought.

"…Oh yeah! Man, the look on his face when he saw my dad as a living skeleton. That was probably the moment he realized he picked the wrong fight."

Sage raised her hand and charged her laser.

"I-I mean, the Eggmobile! Yeah! We can go get it, if you want. Doesn't hurt to have a reference for design. I'll even turn it back to normal!"

It was too late for deflecting. She wouldn't miss this ti- wait.

She narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

"Why, what?"

"Why let me have the Eggmobile?"

The young prince rubbed the back of his head. "I mean, we need it for reference, right? Besides, you can use it as your own personal ride. Like how my Clown Car is for me."

That was far too simple a reason. And yet….

"It won't be any trouble for me to have it?" Sage inquired.

"I don't really see how. We can bring it back here and make any repairs it needs. Then you can ride in style! Like me!"

She doubted he "rode in style", but her mind went into overdrive. If the Eggmobile could be returned from its stone state, then perhaps-.

…

…

"If it truly will not be an issue," Sage said. "Then yes. I would like the Eggmobile returned to normal and returned to me."

"You got it!" the Koopa Prince cheered. "Let's go now while there's still daylight!"

He quickly hopped into his Clown Car, then held his hand out.

"Hop in! There's enough room!"

She gave a dark, blank glare.

"O-Or just fly beside me. That works, too."

"I can teleport. I will meet you there."

"Wait, but-."

Not letting him finish, Sage teleported out of there.

Bowser Jr. just sat there in his Clown Car as the cute A.I. girl left.

…

…

He sighed and leaned his head on his hand, grumbling.

"I think I got my work cut out for me on this one."

Still, not like his dad ever gave up in trying to woo (i.e kidnap) Princess Peach. Even though he failed every single time because of Mario. So Junior wouldn't give up either! He'd get Sage to stop hating him somehow. Maybe even like him, a little. J-Just like, of course! Like a friend. They didn't need to be together together. Even though she was really cute and awesome.

He just needed to remember his father's advice.

"Remember, son! If you want a girl to like you, just kidnap her and put her in a cage!"

Junior facefaulted in his Clown Car. "THAT STILL DOESN'T HELP!"

Sage reappeared in the now desolate battlefield, hovering before the stone Eggmobile. She moved towards the seat area and inspected the control panel.

It didn't seem as though anything had been damaged. Despite likely being caught near the blast area of the Death Egg. The A.I. girl inspected a specific area of the control panel.

The Distress Signal.

Sage had insisted that her father have that installed in all his vehicles and war machines after noticing that he had never considered it before. If the Eggmobile was still properly functioning once it returned to normal, then she could activate the distress signal. And it would signal back to base that something had gone wrong.

Despite going all in on the invasion, there was still one person (yes, person, not robot) who had stayed behind to essentially watch over the home base until her father's triumphant return after a successful invasion. Not that that happened, tragically.

He was a relatively recent hire, acting as a human assistant to her father. Sage had written him off as someone her father would fire after a week at most. But the man had proven invaluable and had remained for several months now. Serving her father faithfully. And while not as tech savvy as either her or her father, he still proved extremely reliable to manage and oversee certain operations while Sage and Dr. Eggman focused on other inventions. And if Sage were to be honest, she had considered the idea of referring to the man as her "uncle", though she still debated that even now.

It was a long shot. It had taken the Chaos Emeralds to be able to power the machines needed to cross into this universe. Now that they were trapped here, getting here would require a power source equal to the Chaos Emeralds. She could think of one such power source, but it would not be easy to get.

Still, if the distress signal worked, then the man back home could at least know that something was wrong. And maybe do something. Anything. She could use all the help she could get.

"Hey, Sage!"

Ah. The Koopa Prince. Joy.

She turned and gave a blank stare towards the arriving son of Bowser. He stopped his clown car in front of the stone Eggmobile and hopped out.

"Yeesh. You didn't have to just leave me behind like that. Nothing wrong with traveling together."

Her blank stare was dark and haunting.

"Being friends with you is gonna be a treat," he mumbled sarcastically.

He pulled out some kind of short metal staff with an orb on it. He pointed it towards the stone Eggmobile, and a beam of what seemed to be magical energy shot out towards it. In an instant, the signature vehicle of Dr. Eggman was returned to normal.

Sage had recorded and scanned the staff, as well as the magic used. It would prove useful. She then scanned the Eggmobile. It seemed to be in optimal condition, though still in need of repair.

She slowly hovered into the seat and activated the vehicle. It hummed to life and hovered in the air. She took a moment to take it in. Her father's vehicle, now hers. For now, at least. Until her father was returned from the grave. Still, she just let the moment sit.

…She truly missed her father.

"So, ready to take it back?"

Yes. She was.

As the Koopa Prince hopped into his Clown Car, Sage reached towards the distress signal, did the A.I. equivalent of praying, and pushed the switch.

The distress signal activated.

A latte with steamed Austrian goat milk sat on the table, having long gotten cold.

"…The Doctor should've sent word by now."

A lone man of average size with short-cut black hair, brown eyes, light brown skin, and a thin beard stood within one of the many laboratories in Dr. Eggman's secret lair. He wore a black jacket, black shirt, a black tie, black pants, and black shoes.

He had been hired by the Doctor over six months ago somewhat on a whim. Mainly to see how having another human presence around would affect operations. But also because, not known to the daughter of the Doctor, he could act as a sort of "babysitter" for Sage and the others. To entertain them when Eggman needed to absolutely focus on something with no interruption, unless it was an emergency.

Though the man had long proved he could be more than that. Not only providing an added human element to the Eggman Empire, but also proving he understood how to manage several inventions and operations. While not as tech savvy as Eggman or Sage, he still proved invaluable. And the Doctor always appreciated the special lattes he made.

The man's name? Simply Agent Stone. No first name ever given. While originally suspicious, a quick background check wiped that suspicion away. And his many months of service showed him truly loyal to Eggman.

Agent Stone tapped a finger on the table nervously. Based on a time table planned out by the Doctor and Sage, the invasion of the Koopa Kingdom in another universe should've been completed by now. There was Operation Catfish, which would've been put together within a few days. Then the actual battle, which should've only lasted ten minutes at most. Then perhaps an hour to clean up the mess afterwards and make sure no other surprises were had. Then a message would be sent to prepare for their return for eventual planning of Eggman Land 2.

That was supposed to be many hours ago.

"Maybe I'm worrying over nothing," he said to himself. "It's not like unaccounted variables can't pop out. Perhaps the battle simply hasn't started yet. Or the enemy is proving tougher than predicted. Or cleanup is taking longer than expected. It could be a lot of-."

A beeping from the main computer had him jump.

"A-A message at last!"

Agent Stone scrambled towards the main computer, a relieved smile on his face. That smile quickly went away when he saw the message wasn't an ordinary message. It was a distress signal.

Something had gone wrong

"…Oh no."

What could have happened? Had the invasion failed? That couldn't be! The Doctor and Sage had planned it out perfectly! But the distress signal was activated. A clear sign that it possibly had. And the fact they weren't back yet meant that it had failed so utterly that they were now stuck there and needed rescue.

"But how am I supposed to help?"

He understood how to activate the machine needed to cross over to that other universe, but the power source was another issue. The Chaos Emeralds were what were needed, but they had been taken to aid in the invasion. Upon success, they would be used to return home. But if they were stuck there, that meant the machine on their end was destroyed. The Chaos Emeralds possibly even scattered like they normally do after use, only in the other universe.

From what he understood after learning from the Doctor, there was one other item here in this universe that had the power to match the Chaos Emeralds. The only item he could think of that could power the machine.

The Master Emerald.

But that was guarded by Knuckles the Echidna. And he was certainly not just going to hand it over. Especially if Agent Stone explained why he needed it. He could always steal it, however. It had proven rather easy on multiple occasions that it was easy to steal. But that usually led to Knuckles going on the war path. And Sonic and others having to-.

"Wait, Sonic…yes, maybe."

There was always the peaceful approach. He could approach Sonic the Hedgehog and explain the situation. He was still enemies with Eggman, yes, but he's worked with the good doctor before. When the situation called for it, anyway. He could appeal to Sonic's good nature and convince him to help rescue Dr. Eggman and Sage. Sage definitely, at least. He had been willing to help Sage back during the Starfall Island adventure. Perhaps he would do so again?

"Either steal the Master Emerald myself, or ask Sonic for help."

The Doctor would be loathe to see Agent Stone work with his sworn enemy, but if it meant getting him and Sage back quickly….

He picked the smarter option.

"Not how I imagined meeting the good Doctor's arch nemesis, but I need his help."

He just hoped Sonic would be willing to help.

A/N: And that's it for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it.

Sage is proving to be rather difficult and stubborn. But to be fair, this is literally Day 1 of this little friendship. Not like she'll improve immediately. And hey, Junior isn't about to give up so easily. He is motivated by a cute gir- potential new friend. Yes, just friends. He doesn't like-like her or anything. How ridiculous.

Sage getting a race kart. I'm sure she'll never use it. Not like there's a race coming up soon. Nope, she'll never use it. But at least she got the Eggmobile back.

And yeah, Agent Stone is a thing. I wasn't origininally going to include him, but I figured there'd need to be some catalyst to get Sonic on the tail. Plus, Stone is written as a relatively recent, but invaluable hire. So yeah.

Hope you enjoyed this. Leave a follow and fav. And a review, too. I love reading them.

See you in the next update. Laters.