Sally Acorn


 * For the version of this character before the Super Genesis Wave, see Sally Acorn (Pre-Super Genesis Wave).

"I was born to lead, and one day I'll take the throne. Until then, I'm perfectly happy leading my Freedom Fighters!"

- Sally Acorn

Princess Sally Alicia Acorn is one of the main protagonists in the Sonic the Hedgehog and its spin-off comic series published by Archie Comics. She is an anthropomorphic ground squirrel, the daughter of King Acorn and leader of the New Freedom Fighters. Born as the heir to her fathers throne, she was taken, as a child, to the sanctuary of Knothole Village in the Wood Zone by her Nannie Rosie Woodchuck when her father was betrayed by his royal adviser, Dr. Eggman and led the New Freedom Fighters on many field missions against the scientist when he took power after banishing the King to the Special Zone. After King Acorn was rescued and resumed his role as king, Sally continued to lead the New Freedom Fighters in the ongoing battle against the Eggman Empire.

Appearance
Sally's design was first revealed at New York Comic Con (NYCC) 2012. She is an anthropomorphic ground squirrel with tan-brown fur (with light brown on the face and torso) as well as short, auburn hair, blue eyes, and a short bushy tail. As opposed to her pre-Super Genesis Wave self, Sally has bigger eyes, rounded cheeks, a more rounded hairstyle, and a outfit strikingly similar to her Mecha Sally armor. Her new clothes consist of a black, sleeveless crop-top and black shorts, both with white rimming, darker blue boots with white outlines on the buckles, and white gloves with blue bangles. She retains her blue vest, but she now wears it closed and, like her boots, it is colored a slightly darker shade of blue than originally. Her tan-colored underbelly also remains.

Early life
Sally was born as the heir to the Kingdom of Acorn and lived a peaceful life in Mobotropolis, always playing and enjoying life with her father. However, one night, her sleep was interrupted by Roise, who scooped her up in her arms, and spirited her away to the safety of Knothole Village in the Wood Zone, after the kings royal advisor (the man who would later come to be known as Dr. Eggman) betrayed him and banished him and the royal wizard Walter Naugus into the Special Zone, allowing him to take over the kingdom. Inspired by the heroism of Sonic the hedgehog, she assembled the New Freedom Fighters, whom she led as the field leader, to combat the Eggman Empire. After several years, the Freedom Fighters were finally able to take back the city, where Sonic rescued King Acorn. With the Eggman Empire still possessing a strong hold in the rest of the world, King Acorn returned to his duty as King, allowing his daughter to continue leading the Freedom Fighters.

Sally also appears to have been friends with the scientist Dr. Ellidy, who gifted her with a highly advanced handheld computer. Upon determining that the A.I. within was a "she," Sally asked the doctor for her name, and Ellidy found himself unable to answer. Her father suggested that she name the computer after a queen from their family line: Nicole. Sally became quite attached to Nicole, whose vast database seemed to her to be a match for any teaching, but was given a reality check by Rosie and realized that Nicole-at the time-lacked regard for anything beyond logic. Despite this, she kept Nicole even upon fleeing to Knothole, and eventually helped the computer discover her sentience. Ellidy, who went into retirement after giving Nicole to Sally, later developed the Ring-Blades, which would become Sally's signature weapon as a Freedom Fighter.

Countdown to Chaos

 * Note: From the readers point of view, this picks up from where Sally's original timeline ended.

During an undercover mission for the Sky Patrol, Sally found herself aboard the Death Egg evading capture. She managed to escape, but not before being caught on the Death Egg's security cameras. Eggman learned of her presence upon his return after a misadventure across the planet. He summoned Metal Sonic to hunt her down, vowing that Sonic will never see her alive. Sally evaded Metal Sonic until a well-timed hit sent her crashing into Mobotropolis and at the feet of Amy Rose, Cream, Bean and Bark. Members of the Royal Palace Guard attempted to aid Sally and Amy in fighting Metal Sonic, but were stopped, only for Sonic and Tails to rescue the two. After a tearful reunion from Sonic and a reunion with her father, King Acorn, Sally was requested by Nicole to return to Sky Patrol. There, Sally and Amy regained their memories of the previous world, which caused Sally to break down in grief over her actions as Mecha Sally. Though Bunnie comforted the princess, the time for processing was short - the planet was tearing itself apart because of the Super Genesis Wave. The Shattered World Crisis had begun.

The Shattered World Crisis
With Mobius broken, Sally lead the Freedom Fighters to Station Square in order to help with rescue operations. During this time, Nicole took notice of Sally's change in demeanor. Sally responded that she was doing this because of what she had done as Mecha Sally. Nicole, however, stopped her before she could go any further - that Mecha Sally wasn't her and that they needed her in the here and now. When the Freedom Fighters' rescue efforts reached a major impasse, G.U.N. stepped in, lead by Captain Amanda Tower, who complimented Sally and the Freedom Fighters for their efforts, saying that had they not been there, it would have turned into a recovery effort. Sally took the compliment with tearful pride, seeing that her efforts to make up for those actions were worth it. Sadly, the happy moment was cut short, as Muttski contacted the Freedom Fighters with news of the abduction of Charles the Hedgehog and Professor Pickle.

Sally and her teammates soon intercepted the Egg Train carrying Eggman's captives, and Sally led one squad to the engine car to stop the train while Sonic led the other in searching for the missing scientists. Much to their chagrin, Sally's group awakened E-106 Eta, who destroyed the train controls and prevented them from learning the professors' exact location. This forced the groups to launch a car-by-car search for the missing pair while the train continued to accelerate uncontrollably. Fortunately, they managed to rescue the scientists, from whom they learned of Dark Gaia, a malevolent force affecting the shattered plant, and Light Gaia, a being with the power to restore it. The group thus set out on a mission to recover the Chaos Emeralds and locate the Gaia Temples in order to heal their world. Sally led Tails, Antoine, and Nicole on the first mission to recover an Emerald, penetrating Crystal Cave undetected. < However, upon seeing the beautiful structures of the cave and realizing that they would be destroyed by Eggman's forces were the theft unnoticed, Sally persuaded Nicole to reactivate the security systems guarding the cave. After escaping, the group returned to the Sky Patrol, but their incursion alerted Eggman to the fact that Sally was making use of his stolen files.

The Freedom Fighters then made their way to Soumerca, where Amy and Sonic joined Sally in investigating reports of another Chaos Emerald found by Eggman's forces. They were attacked by E-113 Xi, but saved by the timely arrival of their old friends Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. The pair introduced the Freedom Fighters to their mentor Moss the Sloth, who sensed the Dark Gaia corruption that had been affecting Sonic for some time. Sonic insisted that he was fine, and Amy used her newly learned Mystic Melody to determine the location of the Chaos Emerald, which prompted Mighty and Ray to join the trio in journeying to the nearby Soumerca Egg Army base. Unfortunately, Egg Boss Thunderbolt was waiting for them with an electric trap, which caused Sonic to take on a savage Werehog form. Sally, Amy, and Ray recovered the Emerald while Mighty pursued Sonic, who easily defeated the Egg Soldiers and would have dispatched Thunderbolt had Mighty not engaged him. After a brief fight between the two, Sally and Amy managed to talk Sonic down, and they returned to Moss' hut. To their relief, Sonic returned to his normal form upon daybreak, but fearing a savage relapse voted to remain with Moss until he could get a handle on his new form.

Determined to continue on, Sally soon had the team targeted on another Chaos Emerald, and led the D'Coolettes in while Rotor, Amy, and Tails waited in reserve. Sensing an obvious trap, Sally nonetheless continued, knowing how essential the Emerald was to restoring the planet. As expected, Eggman's forces were in place: E-108 Iota, E-109 Kappa, and E-110 Lambda appeared to attack the trio of Freedom Fighters. Worse, when their backup arrived, the Chaos Emerald was flown away and a laser net appeared to trap them all. Luckily, the remaining crew aboard the Sky Patrol, led by Cream, flew in to rescue their beleaguered teammates. The group soon rendezvoused with Sonic, who was stunned by their battered appearances, and Sally berated herself for acting foolishly and not guessing that Eggman had learned of the stolen data. Sonic encouraged her, but both were unpleasantly surprised to learn that the next Chaos Emerald was in the hands of an old acquaintance: Breezie the Hedgehog. Sally quickly registered Sonic, Amy, and Tails in Breezie's Chaos Emerald Championship, but was unable to get any more of the Freedom Fighters into the tournament or buy the Emerald from Breezie instead. Despite the urgency of the matter, she refused to condone stealing the Emerald, knowing that the world looked to them as heroes. When Sonic questioned how her father felt about her employing the kingdom's wealth as she had-paying the Chaotix to help locate Emeralds and attempting to pay off Breezie-Sally recalled the awkwardness of approaching her father for the funds.

Shortly thereafter, an attack by Dark Gaia Creatures on the Sky Patrol forced Sally and her teammates-minus the absent D'Coolettes, Sonic, and Amy-to do battle with them. When they were within two minutes of the sun causing the monsters to vanish, a group of them swarmed Tails, and Sally dove off the Sky Patrol in order to save him. Though Tails returned the favor, Nicole later berated her friend for her recklessness. However, the conversation was interrupted as Nicole received a distress signal from her creator, Dr. Ellidy, and left for the Digital World to help him. Fearing for both of them, Sally took Tails and Big the Cat in the Tornado to Isolated Island, where Ellidy had taken up residence following his retirement. They were greeted by Ellidy's repurposed Badnik helpers, and arrived just in time to greet the returning Ellidy and Nicole. Nicole later commented to Sally that Ellidy seemed to act strangely around her, and Sally did her best to comfort her friend. The A.I. then confided her fear that Ellidy had been trapped in the Digital World deliberately, and that the party responsible might now be aware of their location.

The following day Ellidy showed off his latest acquisition, a Red Star Ring produced by Isolated Island's Lake of Rings following the crisis. When Ellidy reported that the Badnik assigned to monitor the lake was no longer sending footage despite reading as active, Sally volunteered herself and Big to go check on things. During the trip, Sally questioned how Big felt about Nicole, and the simple Cat responded that he liked her and it didn't matter to him whether she was a machine or not. The two arrived at the lake just in time for another Red Star Ring to emerge, but were then attacked by Ellidy's Badnik. After Big dispatched the robot, the two headed back to Dr. Ellidy's House, where they reported their findings. While Big and Tails turned in for the night, Sally contacted the Sky Patrol on her Miles Electric to inform them of what was going on. She then noticed a curious shelter near the house, but upon investigation was confronted by an irate Dr. Ellidy.

The confrontation led to a discussion of Ellidy's behavior towards Nicole, something that Sally couldn't understand, and Ellidy revealed that Nicole had been created to save the life of Nikki, his daughter. The effort had failed, and he had thus erected a shrine to her on the side of his home on Isoalted Island. Sally's exchange with him grew heated, but she eventually realized that they were being affected by the energy of Dark Gaia. Much to her horror, the Dark Gaia Creatures and Ellidy's Badniks closed in to attack, forcing them to take shelter inside the house. Closeting herself and Ellidy in the lab, the pair were confronted by Phage, the evil computer program who had taken control of Ellidy's Badniks and orchestrated the various attacks on them. An agent of Eggman's, she vowed to consume Nicole and claim Ellidy's research for her creator. This prompted Sally to use the Digitizer to go to her friend's aid, despite Ellidy's objections. Leaving the doctor a Ring Blade, she entered the Digital World and challenged Phage alongside Nicole.

Despite Sally's bravery, Phage merely set out to devour the pair of friends. Sally encouraged Nicole to flee, but instead the A.I. attacked Phage, causing considerable damage. The pair briefly escaped, and Sally questioned why her friend had not left when she had told her to. Nicole responded by revealing that Phage had prevented her from returning to her computer, and further insisted that she would not leave Sally. Sally then bemoaned that she could not use the abilities Nicole displayed in the Digital World, which Nicole reminded her was due to the Digitizer accommodating her own understanding of reality. Sally then hit upon a strategy-luring Phage to an outside system and having Nicole create a digital copy of one of Ellidy's Sling Rings so that she could pull Sally back into Ellidy's systems. The plan worked, and Nicole then tried to seal Phage out, but the virus proved too powerful until Ellidy inserted a Red Star Ring into Nicole's computer, transforming her into Overclocked Nicole. Sally embraced her empowered friend, and they and their teammates were soon preparing to join the other Freedom Fighters in Apotos. Before leaving, Sally spoke with Ellidy about Nicole again, and learned that her friend had discovered her own origins. After receiving the other Red Star Ring from Ellidy, Nicole surprised Sally by opting to travel with them as a hologram rather than inside a computer.

Personality
Sally is strong-minded and is very opinionated. She is often logical and focused with a playful side and prefers to plan ahead in almost all situations. She often takes the role of a leader, not only in directing and organizing people en masse but also through mediation and offering suggestions or compromises to difficult situations.

Despite being a princess, Sally is a bit of a "tomboy", not hesitating to get into rough or messy situations if needed and does not typically dress regally or act as a damsel, but rather acts as a fighter.

Sally is known to be kind but headstrong and has a tendency to put too much pressure on herself to react in the most wise way. She can be somewhat insecure at times and should she think herself to have failed or misjudged a situation in the past, she will often have tremendous self-doubts in herself at the frustration of her perceived inability.

Sally's attitude towards her title of princess is one of duty; she is a firm leader with a strong sense of justice and a warm heart, and loves her people and strives to do the best she can for them. She is very caring as well and shows passion, bravery and determination, often remaining undeterred by setbacks, and goes out of her way to make sure her friends are safe and happy. While inwardly compassionate, she can often come off as confrontational, overbearing, hard, sardonic and condescending when stifled enough. When her emotions are open however, she is often only protective of her friends, constantly worried about their well being in the field.

Powers and abilities
Though possessing average physical strength, Sally is very agile, being cable of acrobatic maneuvers. She also has proficiency in basic combat, weaponry skills and hand-to-hand combat, and possesses high reflexes and self-defense abilities.

Sally is a natural leader and tactician, serving as the strategist and organizer of the Freedom Fighters, such as coordinating her team's evacuation efforts of Station Square with noticeable results. She has a very logical mind, but has experienced enough that she readily accepts the mystical forces she encounters. However, her thought process does have it's drawbacks, such as limiting her physical abilities in the Digital World to what she is capable of in the real world.

Weapons
Sally wears a pair of bracelets around her gloves called the Ring-Blades which can project energy blades. These blades have enough durability to withstand Metal Sonic's claws, and can cut through highly solid substances such as metal alloys. Sally wields these energy blades with great proficiency in battle; in the Digital World, she could also conceive of them in other shapes such as a shield and sword.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Sally and Sonic both have memories of the previous timeline-and presumably their past relationships in it-but also have a different history in the new reality. Nevertheless, they are still close friends and dependable allies.

According to Ian Flynn, Sonic and Sally's relationship status is "Just Friends". This is mostly due to the fact that SEGA has mandated that the game characters not be in relationships.

Friends/allies

 * Freedom Fighters
 * New Freedom Fighters
 * Sonic
 * Tails
 * Amy Rose
 * Rotor
 * Bunnie
 * Antoine
 * Nicole
 * Big
 * Cream and Cheese
 * Omochao
 * Knuckles
 * Chaotix
 * Charmy Bee
 * Espio
 * Vector
 * Mighty
 * Ray
 * G.U.N.
 * Team Dark
 * Blaze
 * Silver

Enemies

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Metal Sonic
 * Badniks
 * Walter Naugus

Trivia

 * Despite the fact that Sally didn't originate from the games she has appeared on a large amount of SEGA merchandise.
 * Sally was the face of the now closed amusement park SEGA World's Sydney along with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Dr. Robotnik. She also had a large role in the performance Sonic Live in Sydney even having her own song (Sonic Thank You For Being You) and was the only character from the comics to appear.
 * In Japan Sally has a nickname Ricky (a squirrel-like animal friend that appears in Sonic the Hedgehog video game series), the nickname itself never made its way to America.