Sky Pirates

The Sky Pirates, originally referred to as the Mystic Cave Pirates are a group that appear in the Sonic the Comic series published by Fleetway Editions. They are band of pirates that are lead by Captain Plunder.

History
When Sonic the Hedgehog and his fellow Freedom Fighters went to the Mystic Cave Zone in order to rescue Amy Rose, they ran into Captain Plunder and his crew mates, who were the ones responsible for kidnapping Amy. While Sonic attempted to save Amy, Plunder quickly held Tails captive, demanding the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic. When Sonic refused, Plunder threw Tails over a cliff, but the fox flew to safety. Sonic then attempted to fight Filch, only for his attacks to fail due to the pirate being a ghost. Instead, Sonic went on to attack Plunder, but was soon cut off by Amy, who suggested they form an alliance in order so the Freedom Fighters could stop Robotnik and the Sky Pirates could still gain money. Despite the treaty being made, Plunder still intended on getting the Chaos Emeralds.

While some of Robotnik's minions attempted to capture the Emerald Hill Folk for enslavement, above the skies, the Sky Pirates raided the robots' prison ship, as per Sonic's plan, allowing Sonic and his allies an opportunity to fight back. After the fight, Lewis accidentally revealed the location of the Chaos Emeralds as being in the North Cave to Filch, prompting the pirates to hurry over there.

At the North Cave, the Freedom Fighters confronted and battled the Sky Pirates over the Chaos Emeralds, but Sonic was eventually forced to hand them over when Tails was taken hostage. However, the two soon followed the pirates' ship on the Tornado, only to find that the the emeralds had made the pirates into peaceful and loving individualsby absorbing their evil enegies, allowing Sonic and Tails to retrieve the emeralds from the pirates without any trouble.

While Robotnik celebrated his birthday aboard the Robotnicus, it was attacked by the Sky Pirates, soon capturing Robotnik and demanding his treasures, or taxes, to be handed over. Robotnik took them to the safe where he keeps his money, only to explain that it needs two keys to open up. However, with Filch's ghostly abilities, they were able to open the vault and getaway with the loot, only for Plunder himself to be captured.

With Plunder being found guilty of piracy, he was taken to the Highview Corrective Centre, where he met Simpson the Cat. With the help of the cat's strange abilities, the two eventually managed to escape the prison using a a secret tunnel dug by Billy Gulch. Meanwhile, on the outside of the prison, Filch had brought a handful of the Sky Pirates to assist in taking out the guards.

While Plunder and Simpson managed to escape, many of the pirates brought along by Filch were captured. Back at the pirate's hideout, Plunder waited around for two days until Filch returned and informed the captain of the fate of their crew. However, the captain didn't feel they were worth saving, and instead decided to start anew with those remaining.

Plunder, Filch, and a new member of their crew, Professor, soon showed up on the Floating Island in the Sandopolis Zone using an ancient map in order to gain the treasures in the area. Despite the protests of Knuckles, the captain started his search, eventually managing to unearth the Lost Pyramid of Sandopolis.

When the gates of the pyramid opened, Plunder came face to face with the Guardian, though with some quick thinking from Knuckles, it was submerged in quicksand. Upon entering the tomb and seeing all the treasures within, the pirates attempted to horde it forthemselves, but were driven away without anything when the Hyudro emerged. The three pirates returned to their ship, making up fibs about what had happened to cause them to return without any loot.