SonicSonic54321: Yes, every Eggman announcement so far has been in the game except for one (and I slipped that one in back at Tropical Resort). I didn't even know of all of them until I started adapting this, and there's also a video on Youtube that has every announcement in it (and it's over half an hour long! 'Tis crazy!)

. . .

Also, just wanted to say Starlight Carnival was actually very hard to write for. You would think it'd be simplier with how busy the stages are, but it's actually pretty tricky, especially with how often the scenery changes. :P

I finally managed to work my way out of the large space float, now running along the purple paths and bounding from attraction to attraction. I hadn't seen any more blue aliens in a while, let alone ANY alien capsules, and I wasn't sure whether that was entirely a good thing or a bad thing…

"Let's just hope that Eggman ran out of alien storage," I hummed under my breath, hands folded behind my head as I carried on.

And hopefully, he doesn't have alien layaway on speed dial.

Once I found my way off the winding purple paths, I slowed down a little, since everything in Starlight Carnival wasn't one straight shot through- I could careen myself off the edge of any of these attractions and find myself tumbling through space!

Trust me; I've tumbled through space more than enough times to know that it's not exactly a luxury cruise.

My mental contemplating was cut short when the way forward came to an unexpected end, and as I looked around for a way to keep moving forward-

"…Well, this is new."

-I found something interesting.

The latest path guided me toward what appeared to be a yellow spring, and I naturally stepped onto it, wondering what would happen. Nothing immediately, but when I jumped on it experimentally, it moved forward a little bit.

I grinned devilishly.

"Heh, this might just be what I needed!"

The jumping wasn't nearly as effective as my running, but eh, I was willing to try anything at this point, and if using colorful alien energy was already checked off my list of experiences, I might as well add "traverse gaps via giant yellow spring".

As I bounced, I took note of all the neon sights around the current area. A large green-wearing archer dominated the backdrop with its blinding lights, and neon-filled wires were twisted around to make several unidentified luminescent shapes, and fireworks continued to burst in the sky…

Maybe Eggman's goal was to give someone seizure.

"This place is really glitzy…seems like something Rouge would be interested in!"

Rouge definitely was one for the glamor world, and while her preferences were in jewels, she always struck me as the kind of person who would enjoy a nice highly-lit area against a starry sky. Heh, it wouldn't surprise me if she could manage tricking Knuckles into coming to a place like this…

Made extra unbelievable because Knuckles hates overly bright areas! …although Rouge COULD sell money to a bank for Chaos' sake.

I smirked to myself, conjuring up an entire scenario in my head. However, I didn't get too caught up in it; otherwise I'd get distracted and miss landing on the spring, thus plummeting to my death by plunging into the vastness of space…

Still, way cooler of a death than being killed by a Ferris Wheel.

The spring jumping continued, although instead of going forward, the spring itself started to rise upward. I was pretty impatient to get back to running, but granted, with the whole planet being nothing more than a floating carnival, there wasn't much to run across.

"I guess I'm just going to have to settle for going up," I sighed to myself, watching as the world around me continued to move up and down.

I took one last glance at the fleet of floats, and a thought came to my mind.

Who's to say that all these mechanical marvels weren't…battleships?

It certainly wouldn't surprise me- Eggman's made dozens of spaces fleets before -some of them even resembling fish!- it was just that this time, he had gotten a little more creative.

"Still," I told myself, leaping off the spring and landing on a platform housing a new path. "There's no saying that one of those things has a full supply of ammo stored within, ready to fire whenever…"

Really, it wouldn't surprise me, and if it was true, then I had to give it to Eggman- it was disguised pretty well.

. . .

Sometime later, I had ended up inside of another float/battleship, being flung around like nothing and running rampant through the areas. And as usual when I was at peace, some new creation of Eggman's had to come flying onto the scene, with the latest in the line being a hovering ball, shooting out green blasts.

It was almost like a disco ball, which went along nicely with the Technicolor floor and poppy music that was playing throughout.

One of the contraptions struck me in the arm with a well-timed shot, leaving a slight burn mark and igniting an instant dislike for the things from me.

"Better be careful around them," I murmured, but that went without saying. Timing my jump, I flipped myself onto an upper platform and bolted forward, almost brushing my ankle against the latest batch of blasts. I ducked under another stray shot, only to end up in front of trumpet-playing Egg Pawns. They started playing at a furious and rapid pace as soon as they saw me, and I leapt at them.

"Sorry guys," I apologized, barreling into the band and sending their instruments toward the ceiling. "I already have enough theme songs for myself!"

And all of them are awesome!

Afterwards, I made my way to the door that the Egg Pawns were supposedly guarding, and pushed the Eggman-faced button just to the side of it. The door flew open, and I darted on through.

"Huh…there haven't been any aliens in this area," I realized, running through the vibrant yet empty rooms on the craft. It sort of let me down- the aliens were so harmless and friendly, and I enjoyed their temporary company whenever I came across them.

Temporary company is better than none at all, in my opinion.

"Plus there's the fact that they're trapped all over the place, having their Hyper…whatever powers being sucked up by Eggman for whatever reason," I continued to muse. "And Tails said I just had a taste of that power…I can only imagine what would happen if I was fused with all of it…"

That thought made me shiver; if I could blast through places with a rainbow flying at my feet, become a laser and tear through the streets, or drill deep into the planets, or transform into a fiery ball of destruction or a cube of demolition -and not to mention the other possible powers that were out there- perhaps too much could overwhelm me…

Suddenly, I wasn't looking forward to find out.

However, I assumed that I probably wouldn't get the chance, so I carried on my way, continuing down a path without much of a destination. I was supposed to be looking for Eggman, and liberating aliens…but at my current rate, none of those goals would be materializing any time soon.

This adventure was just so different from previous experiences I had…before, I always had Tails by my side, even Knuckles during some adventures…and then there were other times where all my friends had backed me up when I needed it most. During my last adventure, only Tails and Amy had been around, but I had a new friend to travel around with me, and it was fun…

"Now at the moment, I've got no one," I muttered, sitting on a block as I figured out what to do next. "I mean, I do have Tails, and I did promise him that the next time Eggman struck it'd just be me and him…but he's been just messing with that translator, and I've…been off doing things that we're just based off a hunch."

A smirk then started to grow.

"Heh, too bad I was right. This place is pretty cool once you look past the evil…Tropical Resort was impressive, Sweet Mountain is cool as long as you're not there long enough to get diabetes, and Starlight Carnival is definitely a feast for the eyes…and there's still three planets I haven't even visited yet!"

Now curious as to what was waiting for me at the other planets, I sprung to my feet. I still had to get out of Starlight Carnival before I wondered about where I was going next.

There was still an Eggman to find, and I was pretty sure that there were still capsulated aliens throughout the parade…

…and even if that goal wasn't within my reach just yet, I'd keep running until I got close enough to grab it.