Easily my least favorite boss fight, even less than Planet Wisp's. I mean, I know Sonic Heroes technically had boss rehashing too (two robotic birds, two fights against a different team, two fights against robot herds, and then Egg Emperor...and multiply all that by four!), but at least they knew how to keep it interesting and not exact carbon copies of previous battles...and at least they got progressively harder instead of easier! (With maybe the exception of Aquarium Park).

My rant is done: enjoy the chapter! :D

When I returned outside again, I found the chain sticking out of a stray asteroid, and I figured that the gravity on this planet must've been really strong for the entire thing to have been pulled in. The generator itself was directly in front of me, but true to form, Eggman had one of his lackeys lying in wait for me to arrive…even though it was merely a recolor of the Frigate Orcan.

Really? Another rehash? Eggman's really dropping in his creativity…

Regardless, I was going to put it out of commission all the same.

"You know," I started, strolling up to it like I owned the place. "I don't like what you're doing to my friends in there. It's messed up, so I'm gonna mess you up!"

I stretched for a bit before running towards it.

"Yeah, that's right. I want to be able to fully enjoy taking you apart without some pulled muscle slowing me down."

I launched into the air, extending my fist.

"Of course, if you want to run away, please feel free. There's no shame in that!"

Well, maybe a little shame.

The Frigate Skullian stayed in place, staying silent even as I landed on it.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you."

That was when it finally moved, and I could only hold on as a warp portal suddenly ripped open, and the Frigate charged forward, taking me with it. I just sucked in my cheeks and held on for dear life.

"Here we go…"

. . .

The other side of the portal led to the far side of Asteroid Coaster, although the Frigate had thrown me off at one point. I'd only been saved by one of those purple paths like the ones at Starlight Carnival, and while I had no idea what it doing there, I wasn't going to question it.

"I just hope this path doesn't end too quickly," I huffed under my breath, chasing down the Frigate as it tried to escape from me. Scooping up some white Wisps out of their capsule, I boosted forward, closing the distance between me and the Frigate in no time flat.

"I guess it took my advice about running away," I hummed, just as it started firing several rapid fire blasts at me. I side stepped away from them and ran straight down the middle, targeting the lights above me and shattering them. It hardly did anything to really take the Frigate down, but hey- every bit counts!

Fire spewed out of the back end of the Frigate as it picked up speed and hurried away from me. I landed back on the path and simply smirked to myself.

"See? This won't be so bad!"

The Frigate then started dropping debris out of its cargo hold, being an array of rings, crates, and Wisp capsules. I ended up tripping over one of the crates, falling on my face and groaning.

"Ugh, I take back all the backtalk I spewed before…" I moaned, rubbing my nose and making sure it wasn't crooked or anything. Picking myself up, I gathered some rings and hurried to grab a nearby Wisp container. Instead of a cyan alien, or even one of the Nega Wisps, I was a little surprised to find an orange alien.

"Wow, haven't found one of these for a while!" I exclaimed, popping the container open. "But I'll have to be directly under the Frigate to use it…and I wonder how I'm supposed to do that with all these crates raining down?"

I was so busy dodging around the crates that I couldn't gain enough acceleration to get directly under the Frigate. With Frigate Orcan, it wasn't as hard to weave around the boxes and bolt forward, but this time, there was far more debris and I was so focused on not tripping again; I couldn't afford that.

"And I'm too far to home in on it!" I complained, swerving around a crate again. The orange alien I'd saved just looked curiously at me, wondering what was taking so long in using its power. I frowned and tried hurrying through the crates, but the Frigate caught me off guard, and I felt one of its blasts hit me square in the chest, sending me toppling backwards and losing lots of ground.

"Noooo!" I yelled, tumbling over myself until I hit an unfortunately placed crate. I slumped against it for the time being, with the Frigate Skullian easily escaping and the orange alien nuzzling me in an attempt to get me back on my feet. I'd hit my head against the metal crate, so I was discombobulated for a moment, meaning I wasn't getting up anytime soon…

What was I supposed to do?

"Handle it."

My eyes widened, before glancing at the Wisp like it had said something. It shook its head, and I realized I must've been hearing things again. It was who was yelling at me this time that I couldn't place…

"Take care of it yourself."

Nah, never mind- definitely Shadow.

He had a weird way of showing his support sometimes, but I knew when he was giving it, and I also knew to take what I could and roll with it. Knowing that a guy like Shadow had your back in the worst situations…it made you want to work harder to be worthy of that kind of praise.

"Which is exactly what I'm going to do," I said, smirking to myself as I stood up again and started jogging. First I'd slow down the Frigate by taking out its boosters…then I'd get under it and hit it where it really hurts!

"And I know just how to handle it!" I stated pleasantly, hurrying along with the Orange Wisp coming along for the ride. Which was a good thing, because I was going to need its help.

The Frigate had a lot of ground on me, but seeing as the path ahead was clear for the time being, I sprinted my way forward and attempted to get within distance of the Frigate again.

"Bring it on!" I called to it, beckoning for a challenge. It roared –don't ask me how!- and fired its blasters again, which I flipped around easily.

"Oh, you've got to do better than that!"

It seemed to accept my challenge, flying into another warp tunnel. I rolled my eyes and followed it through…although I was forced to go back by meteorites come at me from the other side.

"Well, didn't see this coming!" I yelped, running back and forth to avoid them all. The Frigate finally came back, tanking above me and locking its turrets on me. I had nowhere to run this time, so I waited for the barrage and did my best to dodge. I danced around crazily, working myself underneath the cargo hold.

"Looks like my plan is coming together a little early!" I exclaimed, calling for the orange alien. "ROCKET!"

The orange alien flew over in a flash, lending me its energy just in time to avoid another onslaught of attacks. I rocketed upwards on the spot, drilling into the bottom of the Frigate until I broke through.

"Woo hoo!" I cried above the Frigate, hindering it enough to send it careening into the distance. Despite losing control for that brief moment, the Frigate up righted itself and continued to charge forward. I was quick to alight back on my feet and hurried on too, ready to put the creep out of commission once and for all.

When the Frigate was back above the path, it started dropping a ton of rings from his cargo, along with spike balls and more Wisps. I did my best to work around them, managing to snag another orange alien from trouble.

"Hello!" I greeted, still cartwheeling around the spike balls. "I know this might not be the best place to talk, but I'm going to need your help, if you don't mind."

The orange alien nodded eagerly, happy to repay the favor of his rescue, and turned into energy for me to use whenever I needed.

"All right, that was simple," I hummed, gaining ground on the Frigate once again. The Frigate must've known that too, for it opened around warp portal and disappeared beyond it. I grimaced and braced myself.

"Here we go…again."

Meteorites came hurling out of the portal, forcing me to swerve sharply and drift around them quickly. They pounded into the ground, leaving shockwaves with the force of impact. I cringed and kept darting out of the way, just long enough for the Frigate to come back into view. I wasted no time this round, hurrying under the crate and utilizing the power of my alien buddy.

"ROCKET!"

I burst into a flare of orange, shooting upwards into the Frigate once again. I forced myself against the exterior, willing my way through and coming back out the top.

"Woo hoo!"

The Frigate started going crazy again, but instead of recovering this time, it had no way of bringing it itself up, so in a blazing glory of flames, smoke, and rings, the Frigate Skullian started descending downward, and I picked up the rings it left behind.

"Should've kept running while you had the chance, bro."

And as I finished running along the luminescent path, I almost thought I heard E-123 Omega's voice in the back of my head.

And he was telling me "Thank you."

. . .

Eventually I found my way back to the final generator, feeling a little excited at finally freeing all of the planets from Eggman's clutches. I landed in front of the broken generator with a wide grin, dusting myself off of remains from the battle.

"Whew, that was almost difficult!" I announced, just in time for Tails to arrive on the scene a few seconds too late.

"Sonic, you did it!" Tails celebrated, flying down to me and smiling. I walked next to him and returned the favor.

"Couldn't have done it without you, buddy!"

Beaming, he hurried to catch up to me and practically had a skip in his step. "Thanks!"

It was then that I realized I was a tad exhausted, but whether it was from the recent battle or the accumulation of all I went through that day, I couldn't tell; I just knew that I wanted to relax, and nothing more.

"Hey…" Tails began again, and I perked my ear to show that I was listening. "We both deserve some kind of reward. "

"Yeah!" I agreed, welcoming the change in the atmosphere. "Maybe we should go to an amusement park or something!"

"Ha ha, right," he simpered, rolling his eyes. "But one that's, y'know, less evil than this one."

Which I knew was evil from the start!

We laughed about it for a couple moments, and while was glad for that, I knew there were still some…pressing issues to address.

"So…are all of the aliens getting free?"

"Looks like it!" Tails responded brightly, easing my worries. "Once the power of all the generators shut off, the locks on all the containers vanished! The tractor beams are gone, and the planets are finally free!"

"Was there ever any doubt? I mean, really?" I chuckled, lightly nudging Tails on the shoulder. "Great job, buddy."

Tails looked as though he wanted to be thrilled, but something crossed his mind that made him glance at his shoes.

"I just hope Yacker's okay…"

"I think he'll be fine," I assured, holding out my hand. "You, um, don't think the weapon you were shot with still works…do you?"

"Not without power flowing to it," Tails pondered. "I think we're all good."

"Heh heh, THAT'S what I like to hear!"

As we walked away, set to go back to Tropical Resort one last time, I could finally walk away feeling fully accomplished, knowing that all of the planets I had visited were now free from tyranny…and from being forced into tourist attractions.

Planets were a place to live, and a place to call home…and in my opinion? Never, ever, were to be exploited for anything.