Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 232

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 232 is the two hundred thirty-second issue of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series published by Archie Comics.

Official Solicitation

 * 'Dark Tidings.' In the fallout of the Death Egg II's assault, Sonic and Knuckles compare notes. Sally has fallen, Ixis Naugus is king, and more! Answers to old question and new surprises abound in an issue primed for new and old fans alike! Then, in 'From the Shadows,' a defiant Elias seeks out his last hope. Who is Harvey Who? And what does he have planned?

Dark Tidings
At the end of the recent battle with Dr. Eggman, a triumphant Ixis Naugus proclaims in front of a cheering New Mobotropolis that he "Can protect you against NICOLE and Dr. Eggman." He approaches Elias Acorn, stating that the people have spoken and demanded the crown. However, Elias says that Naugus has served the two generations of Kings before him, and that he won't be the one to give it up to him now. This surprises Naugus, considering that he was reasonable before the attack.

Sonic abruptly bursts in, exclaiming that Naugus was the villain, and should not be king, leading to Geoffrey St. John to instigate the crowd saying that "the people choose the council, they should also choose the King!" Sonic argues that changing power would be too much with the Death Egg flying and Sally Acorn in Dr. Eggman's grasp.

The news of Sally's fall quickly startles Elias, along with the rest of the crowd. Geoffrey thinks to himself through the worried frenzy that he needs to solve the problem at hand, and worry about Sally later. Elias, confused, states that Roboticization shouldn't work. Sonic explains that the effect of Genesis leaves everyone vulnerable, and how Sally's sacrifice saved everyone.

Sonic's explanation now enlightens Naugus about the Order of Ixis's repeating chime-ins in his mind. One of the members tells them to leave Naugus be so that he can seize this opportunity and take advantage of Elias's shocked state.

He announces to the city that in these dire times, can they really afford a King that is easily bothered by loss and heart-break.' He then stated that he had lived only to serve the kingdom with all his power. Geoffrey apprehends the crown and places it on Naugus's head, saying that "the people have spoken!" The crowd cheers saying that Naugus will save the Princess and the citizens from Dr. Eggman.

Amy Rose then shows concern for Bunnie D'Coolette, having her roboticized limbs crystallized. Naugus claims that was a minor mistake in the heat of battle, and asked where she was. Amy replied that she was at the hospital, but before she could finish, Naugus directed everyone to that location. While arriving there, Elias asked Sonic to watch Bunnie while he "took care of things".

At the Hospital, Naugus analyzed the situation while Antoine D'Coolette refuses to allow him to solve the problem. As NICOLE opens the wall for everyone to see, Naugus reassures a doubtful Bunnie that she won't feel a thing. After a flash of light, it is revealed that Bunnie's robotic parts have been turned back into flesh and blood. Although this result was totally unintentional, Naugus and Geoffrey are able to claim this as a reward King Naugus gave her for her heroics. After Sonic and Geoffrey take some verbal hits at each other, Sonic tells Amy and Tails to tell the council and everyone else about the Death Egg and Sally while he handles the rescue plan, despite the fact they don't know the details. Sonic rushes to Freedom HQ and tells NICOLE to open up a pathway to Angel Island to see Knuckles and that the city needs to be repaired. NICOLE is still taking Sally's sacrifice hard and only responds through a screen of text. Sonic promises to get Sally back, but he needs for Knuckles to open his Warp Ring. As Warp Ring opens, Sonic tells NICOLE that they'll talk when he gets back.

When Sonic gets to Angel Island and meets Knuckles, Julie-Su and Charmy. He tells Knuckles he needs the Warp Ring. Knuckles and Charmy inform Sonic that Mighty and Ray took a Warp Ring to send letters and that he just stepped through the spare. Knuckles then asks what Sonic needs it for. After a lengthy explanation, Knuckles and Sonic fight over the events of Sally and the Death Egg and Sonic asks for the Warp Ring again. Knuckles refuses because 1.) To make it work, Sonic would need to know exactly where he is going, 2.) Eggman could be hiding any number of other threats inside the Death Egg, and 3.) Eggman could steal the Warp Ring. Sonic angrily retorts that they would help him if it had something to do with their ancestors, and Julie-Su informs him that since they found out that the Brotherhood was in the Twilight Zone, they tried to use the Warp Ring to get there and failed. They believe Dr. Finitevus has some special way of getting between zones and they have no idea of what dangers would be on the other side even if it did work. Knuckles says that both he and Sonic will have to wait, but Sonic storms off saying he'll figure out something else. Julie-Su, knowing of Knuckles past with, Sally offers to talk to Knuckles about it. Knuckles instead tells her to call to others to put the whole island on guard and Charmy wonders if they and Sonic are still friends.

As Sonic returns to Freedom HQ, he is met by Tails who informs him that Antoine has just arrested Geoffrey for treason, much to Sonic's delight.

On the Death Egg, Eggman is studying Mecha Sally while Snively updates him on the status of the Death Egg. Snively informs him that the reserve power is holding out but barely and they lost a lot of power after they fired the Egg Annihilator Beam on the city. But they begun to make up for it after launching Titan Metal Sonic. He also tells his uncle that most of the damage was concentrated at the Roboticizer Chamber but there are system problems throughout the Death Egg and loss of the Chaos Emerald make things harder. Eggman ignores him and continues working on Mecha Sally. Snively yells at Eggman about how they are barely airborn and that he is concerned over one robot. Eggman tells Snively that the Egg Mites will repair the Death Egg, they will find the Chaos Emerald and that he had a network of refueling depots before he thought of using the Emerald. Eggman then send Snively out of the room with Snively promising to take full advantage of the situation. Eggman then tell Mecha Sally she's been a problem over the years and that while Sonic was her WMD, she was the one who aimed him. While Eggman admits she may have saved half of Mobius, she has now exposed the heart of the Freedom Fighters and he plans to make the most of that as he prepares to experiment on her.

Fragile
Bunnie confesses to Antonine that despite having her normal body back, she feels "naked" without her powers and is less capable of helping the Freedom Fighter's cause...

Trivia

 * The original solicits for this issue stated that "From the Shadows" would feature as the back story in this issue. Editor Paul Kaminski stated that this was incorrect however, and that the back story for this issue is titled "Fragile".
 * The Egg Mites whom Eggman mentioned are from the video game Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), as stated by Dubs.
 * The missing Chaos Emerald originally was to show up on the bottom of an ocean, but was retconned into ending up in Mega Man's world by the Lanfront Ruins.