Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 251

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 251 is the two hundred fifty-first issue in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by Archie Comics. It is the twelfth and final part of the Sonic & Mega Man: Worlds Collide crossover event.

Official solicitation

 * The biggest crossover event of 2013 ends here with the stunning conclusion to Sonic/Mega Man: Worlds Collide (part twelve of twelve)! After an intense battle, Sonic and Mega Man are at the mercy of Drs. Eggman and Wily and, to make matters worse, the evil doctors have set the final stage of their plan into motion: to use the power of the Chaos Emeralds to become unstoppable demi-gods of destruction! But look out bad dudes, our true blue heroes have a plan, too — and it's 'super'! The history-making crossover event crashes to a close in the final chapter you can't miss! Featuring new cover art from Sonic and Mega Man art legend Patrick 'SPAZ' Spaziante and an all-new 'Evil Friends Forever' variant by superstar artist Ben Bates!

When Worlds Collide Finale: Best of the Best
The issue opens with Dr. Eggman and Dr. Wily recapping the previous issue's events while taunting the blue heroes about their inevitable victory. Meanwhile, back at the battlefield, Dr. Light tells a injured Tails that he's the wrong kind of doctor to tend to his injuries and that he can only try to keep him safe for the time being. Tails tells him not to give up and that Sonic and Mega Man will prevail. Dr. Light replies by saying that while he has faith that they'll save their worlds, in order for all of them to survive their current situation, they'd need a miracle. Speaking of, suddenly, tons of Robot Masters are disabled in the heat of battle by a storm of familiar weapons raining from the sky. The source of the help is revealed to be the eight original Light Numbers, called in to provide extra assistance in the battle by Roll. After Light informs Knuckles that they're friendlies, they realize that Sonic and Rock have spent a bit too long in the Wily Egg and could probably use some help. With the Light Numbers covering them, Dr. Light, Knuckles, and Proto Man decide to mount a rescue mission atop the Rush Jet and twin Item-2s.

Back on board the Wily Egg, Rock tries to get Wily to come to his senses, but Dr. Wily tells him that Eggman has opened his eyes to the notion of reshaping everything as he sees fit saying that the plan is "one of Eggman's overly extreme notions that's actually appealing" making Eggman say, "Don't get lippy with me in front of the children!" Sonic warns Dr. Eggman that this is the second time that he's tried this and asks if he was EVER worried about completely breaking reality. Eggman replies with, "Oh, our world is bent so far out of shape, it's bound to SNAP! Yes, I gleefully abused the fuzzy space-time of this Zone to kidnap your friends and find all the Chaos Emeralds, and without you catching on! But..." Suddenly, Wily objects, saying that Eggman told him that the Skull Egg Zone would let them cheat the rules of reality, not break their worlds. However, Eggman assures him that since they have all seven Emeralds, any damage that's been done will be completely erased when they reshape everything. Wily calms down, saying that Eggman should've told him about these things. The heroes each ask if the other can escape from their capsule to which they both report a negative. Suddenly, though, Knuckles, Blues, and Thomas crash into the room, taking both heroes and villains by surprise. Rock is relieved to see them while Sonic jokes about how Knuckles is never gonna let him live this down. While Proto Man and Knuckles attack the Docs in their Egg Mobile and Saucer, Light works to free Sonic and Rock. The Docs scramble to their Egg-Wily Machine X and the heroes are freed, immediately hopping on Rush with Thomas to try and take down the Genesis Wave Generator. Dr. Light tells his son that he doesn't have any E-Tanks, but using the Super Adaptor should give him enough strength to fight. Sonic wonders what a "Super Adaptor" is and Rock shows him, merging with Rush into his aerial form. Sonic gives his new look a thumbs up and says that he actually just gave him an idea.

As Knuckles and Blues batter the Egg-Wily Machine X's cockpit, the Docs nervously work to get their weapon powered back up. They soon launch into the air and Eggman warns Wily to not draw too much energy from the Genesis Chamber. Wily opposes him by saying that he said that their power was limitless to which Eggman replies that it may only potentially be and they need to protect the Genesis Wave at all costs. After Knuckles clangs onto their cockpit to do some more damage, though, Wily's had enough and tries to activate his personal defense systems. However, when they don't respond, he's thrown for a loop as Eggman cackles away at his earlier sabotage. He doesn't laugh for long, though, as his weapons are also disabled when he tries to repel Proto Man. They each realize the other's betrayal and start arguing while Light, Sonic, and Mega Man arrive at the Generator. Light says that he can't disable it, but Sonic suggests another idea, urging Mega Man to give him a lift up to the Emeralds. The Docs work towards repairing the fruits of their treacherous acts all the while smack-talking each other and just as Knuckles is about to deal the final blow to their cracked and fizzled Egg-Wily Machine X, they harness the full power of the Emeralds to activate a full system restore, making their mech more powerful than ever. The two call a temporary truce and try to mount an attack on Team Rad Red when Sonic and Rock make it to the Emeralds, going Super and taking huge swipes at the monstrous machine, halting it.

Super Sonic thanks Knuckles and Blues for the cover and tells them that they can handle things now while Super Mega Man suggests that they tell Duo to fall back as well. The Docs look in shock at their golden nemeses before firing everything that they've got at them. Super Sonic and Super Mega Man maneuver past and shoot down the projectiles as they come, Sonic urging Rock to be as reckless as possible due to their new invulnerability. Rock fires a super Mega Buster shot at the Machine, but the Docs dodge it. However, this opens up a window for Sonic to come in with a super spin attack at their back. The machine repels Sonic with a laser and puts up a shield, causing the heroes to try a new tactic. After reminding Rock of his invincible state, Sonic distracts them by banging at their shield repeatedly so the gold robot can unleash a huge blast, shattering their defense. Sonic and Rock make short work of the rest of the machine's weapons (All the while, their friends look on as the Genesis Wave starts to take effect, including Duo and a newly reformed Chaos 0.) when they realize that with the Genesis Wave currently rewriting things, they need to wrap this up quickly. They decide to combine their forces into a Super Sonic Shot that completely destroys what's left of the Egg-Wily Machine X.

The heroes super bro-fist on a job well done as they look on at the dimensional distortion affecting the cosmos. Rock thinks that they're too late, but Sonic assures him that with a little Chaos Control, it's no problem. After explaining the concept to Rock, both heroes focus and charge up Chaos energy blasts to return their respective worlds to normal. In the meantime, a downed Wily in his Saucer looks on as he stews in his defeat. Eggman, however, isn't going down so easily. Despite Wily's claim that it's over, he refuses to listen and starts quickly repairing the machine's severed head to create a makeshift Egg Mobile which he then uses to rush recklessly towards Sonic. Almost finished creating their respective energy balls, Sonic warns Rock to not lose focus no matter what happens. Of course, this prompts Eggman to slam into Super Sonic, rocketing them both towards their changed world. Sonic tells Rock not to worry about him and take the shot to restore his own world, which he does, all the while thanking Sonic for everything. As Rock floats back down towards his vortex home, he smiles that everything will be back to normal. Things aren't so good for Sonic, on the other hand, as with Eggman ramming him, he can't seem to perfectly focus. Realizing that it's now or nothing, he takes the shot and Eggman follows up with a laser, fraying the ball somewhat, but still creating an obvious change in the warp. The issue ends as Sonic and Eggman are enveloped by whiteness.

Off Panel
Jet expressed his displeasure about why he wasn't in When Worlds Collide. Big comforted him saying Froggy wasn't there either.

Trivia

 * Dr. Eggman stating that the Egg-Wily Machine X self-repair systems are running at 251% when drawing power from the Chaos Emeralds, is a reference to the number of this issue.
 * Dr. Eggman shouting "Ahh! I hate the robot!" when Super Armor Mega blasts the Egg-Wily Machine X, is a reference to Doctor Ivo Robotnik's quote, "I hate that hedgehog!" from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
 * The sabotaged boards responsible for the disabled weapons systems for Wily and Eggman's stations, B. and C. and M.B.M., are references to the spin-off games Mega Man: Battle and Chase and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, respectively.
 * The original robot masters from Mega Man and the 2 new robot masters from Mega Man: Powered up appear for the first time in the crossover.