Comics, Humor

How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 9: Of Chaos and Chaos Emeralds


Once again it’s just over a year since last time in the series. Having gone through a variety of one-offs and short-run stories, we rejoin Sonic the Comic at issue #175, for the final original story in the comic’s run – the 10-part adaptation of the Dreamcast launch title and fan-favourite that is Sonic Adventure. The world of Sonic Adventure being as different as it is to what had already been established through StC’s continuity, the writers decided to do their own unique take on the story. I’ll warn you at this point though – because this is the last story of StC, there’s some MAJOR spoilers ahead in tying up loose ends and just throwing a few curve balls at the reader. Consider yourselves warned, OK? Where else do you get spoiler warnings for material that’s nearly 2 decades old?
Right. Let’s get this thing rolling! Hit the jump to continue.

The Sonic Adventure adaptation ran for 10 issues, as mentioned: from StC #175 to #184, the 23rd of February to the 28th of June, 2000. Each issue’s story part had a different title, but all were written by Nigel Kitching and illustrated by Richard Elson, a well-established team that had recently reformed following Nigel’s return to the comic after a departure some months previously. Quite a lot has happened since our adventures on Flickies’ Island concluded in issue #106, but a brief (and awful, but it’ll do) summary of the interim 70 issues: Dr. Robotnik returned from where he’d been taken by the Drakon Prosecutor with a load of other Drakons in tow, trying to get the Chaos Emeralds. While briefly succeeding in doing so, the doctor was eventually defeated and vanished into a sub-atomic dimension. Amy Rose & Tekno the Canary (an StC-exclusive character) had a series of adventures dimension-hopping, and met up with Sonic, Grimer, and Nack the Weasel as they were attempting to investigate where Robotnik had got to. A series of events lead to Robotnik merging that dimension with that of both Mobius and Earth, eventually being defeated again by our heroes. Robotnik was trapped and presumed killed by a rockfall, which leads up to the start of #175 where we discover that Robotnik and Grimer have indeed managed to get to safety somewhere else. Ol’ lard-bucket’s mental health hasn’t taken too well to a string of defeats, though.

Well, maybe if you brought him something a bit more appetising, Grimer – I mean, two pieces of grey bread and a bowl of soup? Get this man something with some meat to it! Grimer says that their chance will come again, but that Robotnik has to take care of himself, and that it’s not like him to just give up. Trying to be more upbeat, the green-skinned henchman says that next time they’ll destroy Sonic the Hedgehog, but this suggestion doesn’t go down well.

With tonight’s dinner menu thoroughly ruined and Grimer reassembling his tray by at least returning the now-empty bowl to it, Robotnik reminds Grimer that he told him to never mention the hedgehog’s name in his presence. Grimer completes his task, musing as he does so that he’s never seen the fat man like this before, and that he’s just given up. He decides then and there that he can’t let that happen, devoted sap that he is – he has to do something.
Meanwhile, in the Emerald Hill Zone (everyone returned back there from the Floating Island in part 8, remember?), Sonic is busy arguing with the rest of the Freedom Fighters. The hedgehog is convinced that the Kintobor computer is wasting its time looking for proof of Robotnik’s continued existence.

Porker Lewis, no longer in a bomber jacket, tells Sonic that if Robotnik’s bloated corpse (OK, he might not have used those exact words) was under the aforementioned rockfall he’s sure that he should have picked up some trace of it. I mean, this isn’t unreasonable, considering the sheer size of the man. Amy then chimes in that the group had seen how mentally unstable Robotnik had become (even for the StC incarnation of the character!), and that if he is still alive then the whole of Mobius is in deadly danger, though you could make an argument that that’s been business as usual for the better part of a decade. Johnny Lightfoot agrees with her, but everyone’s favourite dick isn’t having any of it.

Well, to be fair Sonic, she hangs around with you. I remember the incident on the Miracle Planet where you ran around the whole thing and terrified Amy into thinking you’d abandoned her back in part 2, even if you don’t. Porker Lewis interjects, saying that the Kintobor computer has picked something up in the Metropolis City Zone. The creature on-screen looks obviously organic, but while Amy says she doesn’t know what it is, Robotnik could be behind it. Sonic disagrees, thinking it doesn’t look like his style somehow. Nevertheless, as Tails points out, it’s going to take more than the Metropolis cops to stop the thing. Come on, guys! It’s not even done anything yet! Presumption of evil, much? They decide to check it out anyway, flying off in a 4-seater aircraft thing that’s sort of like a bunch of Egg-O-Matics glued together. I’m guessing Tails is the actual pilot? You’ll also note I said 4 seater. Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Johnny Lightfoot are all on board, but as the craft takes to the skies, Sonic asks what happened to Porker Lewis.

The trigger of Porker’s nervous breakdown was after part 7 – you may recall that at the conclusion of that story, Porker was stuck on the Miracle Planet for a month; and unlike when Sonic was stuck up there and the worst he had to worry about was an amorous Amy Rose, Porker was instead held captive by Metallix robots. He’s only recently joined Sonic and friends again after an extended stay on the Floating Island. Amy lets the comment about the beverage-making pass, and they arrive on-site in short order. And not a moment too soon!

“Oh no! Our weapons are useless!” Luckily the cops don’t have to keep firing their water pistols for very long, as a streak of light bursts right through their lines & scatters them all over the place, without a care in the world – who else but Sonic? Getting his first sight of the creature, the hedgehog thinks that it doesn’t look that tough and defeating it shouldn’t take too long. But suddenly, something’s wrong. Sonic drops to the floor, as Amy asks what the matter is. Too distracted by what’s just happened to make some banter up, Sonic admits he isn’t sure – that just as he was about to attack the creature, he suddenly started to feel weird. While this is going on, Johnny Lightfoot makes an attack run, calling on Tails to join him, which the fox does; only for the creature to turn its head and glare at them. Johnny and Tails both seize up and scream in terror. Amy points this out to Sonic, who says he was “slightly, er… nervous” himself just before. Smooth, Sonic, I’m sure she bought it.

The creature continues some idle destruction of the area while our heroes are parsing this new information on its abilities, and as Johnny deals with another wave of the effect coming from it, Sonic gets back to his feet. Announcing that now he knows it’s a power of the creature, he can cope with it; Sonic charges at it again, yelling that he hasn’t finished with it yet, even as he privately hopes that he actually can manage, as he’s never felt fear like it. Sonic spindashes into the creature with a splat, but gets trapped in the process.

The creature’s face is priceless, for the record. It’s less pain as it is “What the hell did I eat?” Via mad panicked spindashing (or possibly the creature just ejecting him itself), Sonic is unceremoniously thrown out, landing on his face heavily and his eyes shutting in pain. The rest of the team dash forward, with Johnny congratulating Sonic that he’s done it, and the creature is on the run – but Sonic’s still grasping at his face. A concerned Amy Rose asks if the hedgehog’s all right.

Oh god! Green eyes! The unspeakable horror! Don’t attack it again, Sonic; it might turn your arms blue instead of their correct tan colour as well! Clearly we need to take a fortnight’s break to parse all this.

Issue #176’s section starts with green-eyes Sonic telling everyone to relax, as he feels fine – even with the new eye colour and the lighter-green sclera around it. Hell, even the end of his nose is now tinted green, though no-one’s mentioning that. Maybe it’s a really big bogey? Who knows (was that pun intentional? If it was, you’re fired -Ed). The glowing sclera part at least is still bothering Amy, telling Sonic that it’s giving off a “weird green light”; though just as Johnny agrees with her that the creature did something to him, and Sonic fires back that whatever it was it didn’t work – well, there’s visible proof otherwise, Sonic – the glowing effect wears off.

I like to think at this point that Johnny Lightfoot is the voice here of a large chunk of the Sonic community, especially at around the time the comic was put out (OK, maybe a year or two later for the most vocal parts of it. The two Sonic Adventure games hadn’t properly bedded down yet, after all). There’s no time for a detailed conversation about the colour of Sonic’s irises though, as a vehicle sets down to the side of the area. It’s Porker Lewis, who has seemingly finished his milky drink and has arrived to help. Sonic immediately questions why the pig is there given his earlier decision to stay behind. It seems Porker has been busy while the rest of the band was out, using the Kintobor computer to pore over the data on the creature. It’s made up of Chaos Energy, and as such, Porker thinks he knows how to defeat it. He’s even brought some equipment to do it. Sonic, cocky as ever, quickly cuts him off, saying that the issue has already been taken care of, and that they’re not going to need any of the pig’s fancy gizmos this time.
Oh, Sonic. You’d have thought you’d know not to say things like that by this point.

Meanwhile, far away and in another dimensional plane of existence, Dr. Robotnik and Grimer are gazing at some sort of extra-dimensional TV set, presumably linked to camera-bots flying around Metropolis. Robotnik asks Grimer, who’s showing off the image on the set, what exactly it is that he’s done. Grimer, the very picture of pride, says that he’s released the Chaos creature, as he couldn’t bear to see his master just sitting there doing nothing. It seems the henchman found some notes of Robotnik’s explaining that Chaos could never be released as he was too uncontrollable, but he’d then also found a cylindrical device. Robotnik takes the tube off Grimer, looking it over and seemingly reminiscing as he recalls its name: the Anti-Chaos Nullifier. Robotnik he notes he designed it years ago, before he’d met Grimer, and it was the only thing that could control Chaos. Grimer smiles with glee as he says that all they need to do is let Chaos destroy Sonic, and at that point Robotnik can take control of the creature and force the Mobian people to make him their ruler again. A brilliant plan, Grimer!

Robotnik seems awfully chirpy about this turn of events, doesn’t he? Grimer doesn’t seem to be a fan…
Meanwhile, back with our heroes, Porker has used the time while Robotnik & Grimer have been filling in plot to set up his toys. Specifically, it’s a ring on the floor with what appear to be stage lights pointing at the air just above it, in a circle around its edge. Chaos, rather considerately, has been ignoring the team and doing some more miscellaneous wreckage in the mean time despite his re-appearance before (presumably he just dived over Sonic and got back to what he was doing before the hedgehog arrived in the first place). While the equipment is all good to go (and I suppose Porker having lost his nerve means that he was able to set it all up without having to worry about the fear problem, given that state is essentially his base setting now), there’s one problem – in order for the kit to work, Chaos has to be standing in the middle of it. Sonic tells the pig to leave it to him, as he does a super-speed spin around a petrol tanker (with helpful “Highly flammable” warning painted on the side). The spin results in a mini-tornado carrying it up (does a petrol tanker count as a car?) into the air and hurling it at Chaos. The tanker explodes in a large fireball that Chaos jumps through at Sonic, who dryly notes that he’s now got the thing’s attention, before telling Porker Lewis to get ready. Chaos lands in the ring, right where they want him.

Sloppy work, Porker! Did you not do any testing that the thing was plugged in before saying they could start the plan? I mean, that one’s up there as rule #2 on the IT Support check-list (right after rule #1, of course). Sonic tries to reach the cable to plug it in but Chaos, either not understanding what the ring’s for or just not caring about it, stands there radiating the fear effect even more strongly than before. Sonic simply can’t reach the cabling. Johnny steps forward, asking Sonic to let him try as he really thinks that he can do it.

With the rabbit going flying, a visibly shaken Sonic the Hedgehog yells at Porker that whatever it is the pig’s going to do, he’s to do it now: Porker immediately hits the button and a shard of energy shoots up from the ring’s base, exploding Chaos into a shower of watery pieces. Porker drops the controller in triumph, saying that he knew he could do it given his studying of chaos energy for months (he’s been up on the Floating Island with Knuckles, remember?). Sonic cuts off the pig’s technobabble again, saying that explanations can happen later and the important thing is that they’ve won. He turns away from Porker and back towards the rest of the gang, seeing Amy and Tails kneeling down on the floor. Sonic cheerily asks where Johnny’s got to – the rabbit has even impressed him, this time. Though of course he’s not too happy with Johnny; after all, Sonic’s supposed to be the hero around here… but Amy can’t raise her head up as she simply says “Sonic…”

Oh. Well, crap. And this isn’t a fake-out like in part 3, or a computer simulation like in part 5. Johnny Lightfoot is no more. It just got real, folks.

Two weeks after the scarring of the poor readers of Sonic the Comic, we return to the story seemingly pretty much at the exact point we left it. While Amy, Porker, and Tails avert their looks, crying at their fallen comrade’s loss, Sonic is in full on denial. Stating out loud that Johnny can’t be dead, the rabbit opens his eyes and reaches up towards Sonic from his position flat on the floor, telling Sonic to take it easy – he was only fooling around. It’ll take more than some creepy monster to finish him off. Oh, awesome, everything’s fine then; the writers were just scarring the kids for a joke! Only it’s sadly not the case – Johnny, a more urgent look now on his face as he continues reaching upwards with his hand, asking if Sonic can hear him, before with a final “Sonic…” his image disappears. Sonic wakes with a start, as the reaching hand turns out to be Amy’s. She tells him he was dreaming again, and to go back to sleep. It’s been a little while, it seems.

Drama of the moment aside as Sonic has to actually deal with something for once rather than make a glib comment about it – spot the in-jokes and background details in this one, kids! I see a Mega Drive, issues of various Fleetway publications (including, rather disturbingly, StC itself – the levels of Inception here don’t even bear thinking about, more so considering we literally just came out of a dream sequence), what appear to be Pepsi cans, a USS Enterprise, a suspiciously Game Boy-looking handheld on the desk… does Sega know about that one, Sonic? Surely you’re not playing Sonic 6 on it?
Anyway, getting back to the plot… Amy tries to lift Sonic out of his guilt by telling him that Johnny knew the risks of the occupation when he joined the Freedom Fighters, something that all of the group do. She also says that nobody blames Sonic for Johnny’s loss. Sonic himself isn’t having any of it – he blames himself, saying he’s been an idiot, risking everyone’s lives for years without it once occurring to him that something like this could happen (well, I guess it does fit with the cocksure nature of Fleetway Sonic…) But now he knows what he’s got to do. What exactly this is, we aren’t told for the moment, as the story cuts back to Robotnik & Grimer’s hidey-hole dimension. Robotnik’s seemingly given up on his fasting, tearing into a chicken leg as Grimer studies a large computer screen. Having widened the search parameters per Robotnik’s instruction, Grimer is finding traces of Chaos again. Robotnik doesn’t seem surprised by this development, saying that Chaos is energy, which can’t be destroyed – he’s simply changed his form. E=mc², and all that jazz.

Robotnik scratches his chin thoughtfully as something seemingly clicks inside his head. Chaos’s action makes perfect sense, to him at least. Care to fill us in, Doc? But we’re denied an explanation as the scene instead switches to the Floating Island itself, orbiting high over Mobius – with a single, strange-looking cloud hovering over it. We’re reminded that the island was built by the long-lost echidna race (as we found out in part 6, remember?), and is now home to Knuckles, guardian of the Chaos Emeralds. Inside the island’s control room are Knuckles the Echidna and Porker Lewis. Knuckles talks to Amy over a video link, saying that the pig has been analysing the readings he took from Sonic’s eyes and that the green energy is definitely the same as the creature they encountered, but Amy cuts him off, downcast. She tells Knuckles that Sonic’s gone.

The mist building up in the background over the last couple of panels while the two in the control room had their backs turned is now obvious even over the video link, with Amy asking Knuckles what’s going on behind them. The echidna turns to look, but as he does so, Amy loses the signal. Knuckles quickly yells out a cry of “Intruder!” as Porker cowers in fear, and the creature finally speaks for the first time – it is Chaos, and has “come to claim what is rightfully mine!” Chaos eyes up the Emeralds gleefully as Knuckles trembles with fear, too scared to move. Lewis does the same, but at least manages to stammer out that it’s Chaos making him feel that way, as Chaos reaches into the central column of energy holding the Emeralds in place. Knuckles tries to make an effort to stop the creature as it tells the echidna that the “Ancient Emeralds” belong to it – not only that, but are a part of it.

Through gritted teeth and scrunched-up eyes, Knuckles tells Chaos that the Emeralds are the only thing keeping the Floating Island in the sky – if they’re taken, the island will crash. Chaos of course doesn’t care, saying that the pair will simply be the next to die at its hands, and not the last either. With a healthy dose of maniacal laughter, it starts absorbing the Emeralds into itself. Back on the ground, the lost transmission has Amy panicked. Evidently a wireless signal being dropped is rare enough that Mobius’s telecoms providers are better than the likes of O2 or Sprint, then.

How right you are, Amy. How right you are.

We begin the next issue with a mini-recap of last time: Knuckles again tells Chaos that it can’t take the emeralds as they’re keeping the island aloft. Chaos says the Emeralds are its by right, and that once it has them it will be complete – and unstoppable. This worries Porker even more than the terror wave that Chaos is giving off, as he stammers out that Chaos was more than the Freedom Fighters could handle even before it started shoving magical rocks into itself like they’re blobs of colourful suntan lotion. The pair have to stop the process at all costs.
Don’t worry guys, the cavalry is on the way!

They’ve made bloody good time as well, we’ve gone from toolbox-on-the-wing to near-arrival very very quickly. Presumably the pink paint isn’t the only overhaul Tails has made to the Tornado since part 8. Back inside the control room, Knuckles has moved away from Chaos and towards the control room. More specifically, he’s heading for a very obviously-sticking out lever.

Y’know, for a lever that essentially is the Floating Island’s self-destruct button, this thing looks very easy to accidentally hit. There’s no cover safeguards or anything, just a nice grippy handle to pull down on. Did the ancient Echidnas not have an equivalent of the Health & Safety Executive? Not even someone to point out that this might not be the best implementation of something you can’t undo? Knuckles hovers just in front of the lever, hesitating – somewhat understandable, given the irreplaceable nature of the island. Porker practically begs him to do it, reminding him that if Chaos finishes absorbing the Emeralds, they’re lost anyway and the island is doomed regardless. Knuckles still is reluctant even as he moves closer to the lever, saying that there must be another way. Lewis knows that there isn’t, and tells him again that he has to do it now (hey, just like Sonic was saying to Porker about the ring just before Johnny died. Parallels!) Knuckles finally pulls back the lever.

The Dragon Balls Emeralds scatter in all directions, as we cut back to the bad guys again.

I know no time has passed since the last panel, but I just had to include this one as it sums up a key difference between how Fleetway & Archie dealt with Robotnik’s change between his classic incarnation’s look, and Sonic Adventure’s. Archie had a story arc involving death, alternate dimensions and personalities, robotic bodies, and went on for ages. This panel here is the entirety of how StC dealt with it – he’s putting on a coat, and he has a new set of trousers, gloves, and shoes on. That’s it.
Yes, I know Fleetway did a transformation sequence to go from his original SegaSonic look to the AoStH one. It wasn’t as involved! Quiet at the back!
Anyhow, it seems this new Sega-approved outfit for the 21st century is Robotnik’s down-to-business outfit, as Robotnik observes that the Chaos Emeralds are no longer safely protected on the Floating Island… which he finds interesting. Grimer quickly agrees with his master, pointing out that the Emeralds are the most powerful sources of energy in existence. I’m fairly sure Robotnik knows this, Grimer… At this, Robotnik marches out of the room, telling his henchman that they’ve skulked in the shadows for long enough and that this could be the opportunity they’ve been waiting for – something Grimer finds only too pleasing, his old boss seemingly back.
On the now-doomed Floating Island, Tails has landed the Tornado and rushes into the control room of the island with Amy, who immediately demands to know from Porker and a distraught Knuckles what’s happened. Chaos itself is long gone. Knuckles is beyond comforting, saying to no-one in particular that it was his responsibility to protect the Floating Island and keep the Chaos Emeralds safe – his life’s work.

Look, I know it’s what everyone’s thinking, Tails, but way to rub it in, y’know? Amy doesn’t seem to quite know what to do at this point while Porker fiddles with a control panel – I suspect he’s more doing it to not have to look at Knuckles than anything else given that, knowing Porker, the pig probably feels guilty for practically ordering Knuckles to destroy the island. A moment of madness strikes Knuckles as he suddenly gets up and tells everyone that they’d better go now while they still can – but that he’s staying, as there’s nothing for him to live for any more. As he does so, a rumbling starts up, Tails stating the obvious (still doing it even to the very end of the comic’s life!) that this is it, the island is going down. Knuckles again tells everyone else to get off the island while they still can.

Between Johnny Lightfoot and the Floating Island, Amy’s had enough losses for one story arc. An iron bar is an… interesting form of “persuasion”, and I do see a sort of far-away look in the hedgehog’s eyes, but hey, whatever works… Just don’t try that at home, kids! One knocked-out echidna later, the gang manage to escape to the Tornado just in time, Porker flying it out with Amy and a now-conscious-again Knuckles sat behind him. Tails just flies alongside under his own power. All but Porker Lewis turn as the Floating Island, bits flying off it, hits the ocean with an almighty splash, nearby Flickies fleeing in terror. The island tips over, then sinks beneath the surface and out of sight, with a final “plop!”

I can appreciate the situation you were in Amy, but you’re a bit too chirpy over the potential concussion and brain damage you’ve just inflicted onto Knuckles. Then again, given the number of times he’s been duped over the years, he probably doesn’t have all that much in that skull to actually damage… ehh, never mind. As for you, Knux – she tried negotiation, don’t try and wiggle sympathy out of it! The hedgehog has the moral high ground here.
Porker brings the Tornado to a safe landing on the ground and the crew disembark, getting each other up to speed on what’s been happening. Knuckles tells Amy & Tails about the ejection of the Chaos Emeralds to the four corners of Mobius, but that it’s only a matter of time before Chaos finds them all. He begins speculating about what might happen at that point, when a voice chips in that they’ll think of something; they always do. Tails, Porker, Amy, and Knuckles turn to see who this mystery figure is, and:

As if there was any doubt. Wait, the Blue Bomber? But Worlds Collide isn’t going to happen for another 13 years! Have you been playing with the Time Stones again, Sonic? I think it’s time for another fortnight’s break.

Issue #179 begins with Porker Lewis playing at being ophthalmologist, examining Sonic’s eyes with a load of fancy equipment back at the Freedom Fighter base in the Emerald Hill Zone. The pig asks Sonic if he’ll sit still on the examination table for a minute, as he still wants to run a few more tests to check… something. We don’t find out what exactly as what little patience Sonic has is now gone entirely. Telling Lewis he’s had enough, Sonic gets up off the table and disconnects some power cords, even as the pig tries to tell him that they still don’t know why coming into contact with Chaos turned his eyes green.

Dear oh dear, Sonic – you have no idea how many people you’ve upset by saying that sentence! Does this count as being a dick to the audience? Porker says that Sonic had told them he kept seeing some kind of violet glow before his eyes – an entirely new piece of information, presumably this just started – but Sonic just tells him “later”, as right now he’s more bothered about what’s happened to the Chaos Emeralds. He walks into the next room over, where Knuckles appears to be using some sort of fancy steam-punk telescope to locate them. Sonic reminds Knuckles that they need to locate the Emeralds before Chaos does, and then they can start to find out what became of the Floating Island following its Atlantis impression last issue. A clearly frustrated Knuckles tells Sonic he’s well aware of that, and that he doesn’t understand it. It’s almost as if something is preventing him from locating the Emeralds.
Gee, do we have any suspects for who might be doing that?

Cutting back to the Emerald Hill Zone again following our single-panel visit to Robotnik & Grimer, Sonic winces in pain as Porker asks what the matter is. Sonic replies that it’s nothing, but that he’s seeing the violet blur again. Given Sonic’s known as the blue blur, it’s not Sonia, is it? I don’t think I could take a Sonic Underground turn at this point. Fortunately it seems not, as the blur appears to the reader for the first time as a purple blob next to Porker Lewis. Sonic says it’s clearer than ever, but Porker, looking right at it, cannot see anything; and neither can Knuckles, who’s still present and tells Sonic there’s nothing there so it must be a problem with his eyes. This time it doesn’t go away for Sonic though, getting even clearer as it begins to form a humanoid shape. Sonic asks Knuckles if he still can’t see anything, to which the echidna says he can’t.

Sonic promptly vanishes in a puff of purple smoke, causing a stunned Knuckles to note that he guesses it wasn’t. We then switch scenes to see Sonic standing in front of a Triceratops stampede, the echidna girl who zapped him by his side (now in actual form), and a few other painted echidnas riding on top of what appear to be Tyrannosaurus Rexes, as a couple more echidnas ride on Pterodactyls in the background. No, I’m not making this up, quiet at the back! Disorientated, Sonic asks what’s going on before seeing the stampede and suddenly realising the danger, the girl for her part apparently having made a mistake. Sonic quickly deadpans that either the problem with his eyesight is worse than he thought or he’s about to get trampled to death by a herd of animals that became extinct thousands of years ago (thousands? Evidently dinosaurs lasted a lot longer on Mobius than they did on Earth!)

Now out of harm’s way, the echidna girl tells Sonic not to do any talking to the painted echidna warriors at the base of the rocks. Sonic’s not impressed though, pointing out that first she’s teleported him into the middle of a stampede, almost getting the both of them killed in the process; and now she’s giving him orders! The girl apologises, saying that being in the path of the stampede was an accident, she’s never transported someone from the distant future before – and that Sonic has to trust her. So the act of her teleporting someone also teleports herself randomly? That seems awfully dangerous, someone should work on fixing that! Sonic picks up on the “distant future” part immediately, but before he can ask further about it one of the echidnas yells up at the girl, addressing her by the name of Tikal. He tells her that the hunting grounds are dangerous (yeah, we kinda picked up on that already) and asks if her father knows she’s this far away from the city. One of the other echidnas says, though he can’t be sure from the dust, he believes he saw the hedgehog grab Tikal and get her out of harm’s way, which I guess can only score well for Sonic.

The other echidnas are astounded that a hedgehog can speak, despite being talking animals themselves – presumably the echidnas were the first on Mobius to gain this ability, they’re already established as being an ancient race, after all. The past Knuckles points at Sonic, questioning Sonic’s belief that the two have met before. Sonic realises that Knuckles has no idea who he is, and thinks that things are getting too weird (even more so than the dinosaurs all over the place, though I guess being in the past at least makes those reasonable). But before he can delve into this further, yet another echidna arrives (it’s almost like this is a Ken Penders comic, isn’t it?) and tells Knuckles to come quickly, as intruders have arrived. Knuckles runs off, telling them to stay put. Of course, this was never going to happen, with Tikal jumping down and telling Sonic to come with her, but the hedgehog is way ahead of her and has already started his descent down the rock face. The echidnas and Sonic stand on a cliff edge looking down into a canyon, where a spaceship is resting. Judging from the reaction, it’s clearly something the echidnas, stone-age as they look, have seen before. An echidna notes there’s only one of “them”, and that this could be their chance… Knuckles for his part just says nobody is to move until he gives the word. The hatch on the spaceship opens, to reveal:

Ohhh yes. I told you these guys would be back when one popped up at the end of part 8! But why is the Drakon Prosecutor here? You’ll have to find out – next time (cue cries of anguish from the audience)!

Join us again very soon for the second half of the Sonic Adventure arc in the final, tenth part of How Fleetway Played The Games. I hear Sonic’s going to spend the time in-between doing a quick scenic tour of the UK:

Tsk. Could have at least had the patience to let me finish the article first!

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Refresh yourself on the previous eight parts:
How Fleetway Played The Games, Part One: Of Flying Battleships and Space Eggs
How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 2: Of Time Stones and Shrink Lasers
How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 3: Of Emeralds and Echidnas
How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 4: Of Evacuating and Electricians
How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 5: Of Ice and Repairing
How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 6: Of Master Emeralds and Death Eggs
How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 7: Of Chaotix and Metallixes
How Fleetway Played The Games, Part 8: Of Flickies and Space Marines
And don’t forget David the Lurker’s treatment of the USA’s Archie comic adaptations!
How Archie Played the Games, Part One: Of Pinball and Echidnas
How Archie Played the Games, Part Two: Of Floating Islands
How Archie Played The Games, Part Three: Of Pink And Metal Hedgehogs
How Archie Played The Games, Part Four: Of Walkers and Snipers
How Archie Played The Games, Part Five: Of Rodents and Giants
How Archie Played The Games, Part 6A: Of Death Eggs and Robot Birds
How Archie Played The Games, Part 6B: Of Silver Hedgehogs and Falling Islands
How Archie Played The Games, Part 7: Of FLiCKIES and Remote Atolls
How Archie Played The Games, Part 8: Of Abandoned Bases and Obscure Characters

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2 Comments

  • Reply

    Wow, it’s nice to see these again! Can’t wait for the Archie version of this.

  • Reply

    Glad to see this feature again! Hope the next part won’t be as long in coming. 😉
    Is the Archie version ever going to continue, though?

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