Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 260

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 260 is the two hundred sixtieth issue of the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series published by Archie Comics.

Official solicitation

 * Journey under the sea with Sonic the Hedgehog in the first chapter of an EPIC new SAGA! "Waves of Change": Part One – What could be worse than a world shattered to pieces? How about dark monsters rising from the abyss?! While Sonic and the Freedom Fighters race to find the Chaos Emeralds and Gaia Temples, Sonic ends up discovering a whole new world of adventure deep beneath the waves! But will those he encounters prove to be friend or foe? Then, in "Light in the Dark: Part one", Sally, Nicole, Tails and Antoine venture into the Eggman's latest grab for power to retrieve a desperately-needed Chaos Emerald! Featuring all-new cover art from superstar Ben Bates and a special SONIC VERSUS variant cover from Sonic artist Evan Stanley!

Waves of Change Part One: First Ripples
During the Shattered World Crisis affecting Sonic's World, the Knothole Freedom Fighters–Sonic the Hedgehog, Sally Acorn, Rotor the Walrus, Antoine D'Coolette, Bunnie D'Coolette, Miles "Tails" Prower, Amy Rose, Big the Cat, Cream the Rabbit, and her Chao Cheese–watch coverage from the other night courtesy of NICOLE the Holo-Lynx of an amateur video footage of Dark Gaia Creatures attacking civilians at Westopolis. Sally asks NICOLE if the people were harmed, and NICOLE replies that G.U.N. and local law forces were able to protect the people, and, of what NICOLE gathered, no one was severely hurt. Tails then begins to think that this links to what Professor Dillon Pickle's research states, as the Gaia Manuscripts stated the "end-of-the-world" scenario has monsters rising from the planet, in which that can be linked to Charles the Hedgehog's research on the dark energy. Antoine asks of Tails to not bring up the "end-of-the-world" scenario, but Bunnie speculates that the monsters could be mutated critters, which worries Sonic after the "incident." Sonic then chalks the "end-of-the-world" crisis by stating they can potentially fix this crisis via finding the Chaos Emeralds and inserting them in Gaia Temples. Sally then brings up the fact that the Emeralds alone are hard to hunt down, but Sonic replies that he's finds the Emeralds all the time, but according to him, no one is "as skilled as him to find them." Sally tells Sonic to watch his ego, and then prepares to begin a plan. She sends Sonic, Amy, and Rotor to a possible location of a Gaia Temple, while the rest of the Freedom Fighters will search for Chaos Emeralds.

At an undisclosed location near the shore, Sonic, Rotor, and Amy are walking searching for Gaia Temples using the Miles Electric. Sonic is bored since he doesn't get to find the Emeralds, but Amy reminds the blue hedgehog that in case anything dangerous happens while finding the temples, Amy and Rotor will need Sonic's assistance. Sonic doesn't want to be patronized, but he takes the compliment regardless. Rotor is having trouble searching for the temples, but Sonic reminds Rotor that the temples are secret, the reason they're not showing up on the Miles Electric. Rotor then replies that even Professor Pickle doesn't even know if there any temples, and between the region and the map, the temple isn't even located near here. As Sonic and Rotor horseplay, Amy hears mysterious tunes from nearby. She walks closer to the noise until approaching a hole in the ground. Amy then hollers to the source in the hole to ask if anyone is there. Suddenly, Coral the Betta answers Amy and asks Amy if she is the one named "Sonic." Amy denies but mentions that Sonic is alongside the three heroes above. Coral then tells the heroes to wait for someone to escort the heroes beneath the ground. Much later, Sonic is impatiently walking around in circles waiting for the person to escort the heroes below. Suddenly, Razor the Shark and his Chao Crusher rise from the ocean and questions the heroes if they were the ones he was supposed to fetch. Sonic confirms this to the shark, but he is more fascinated at Razor rising from the ocean. Razor regardless introduces himself before getting interrupted by Crusher attacking Sonic. Razor holds Crusher back and carries on his conversation about picking up the apparent "great hero," in which Sonic confirms that the term belongs to the speedy hero himself. Razor then gives three Air Charms to the three heroes, but Sonic and Rotor talk amongst themselves about asking Razor if there are any Gaia Temples nearby. Razor overhears their private conversation and asks about it, in which Amy replies that the three heroes are looking for Gaia Temples. However, Razor doesn't know about any temples, but states that the Eusebes Temple, a shrine he is sworn to protect, does have a potential lead to a Gaia Temple inside if that helps. The three Freedom Fighters, Razor, and Crusher then swim underwater nearby the underwater city of Meropis, where, thanks to the Air Charms, allows the three Freedom Fighters to walk underwater at ease. Sonic, who hates water with a passion, uses the Super Peel Out trick to help him hurry along a hole that leads them to the Eusebes Temple.

The heroes arrive at the shrine land, where Sonic thanks for the sweet land. However, Pearly the Manta Ray runs to the heroes and rushes Razor to see Aquarius' sealing to its cocoon. As Coral plays the Mystic Melody tune, Aquarius seals inside its cocoon. Razor and Pearly are amazed by the sealing while the three Freedom Fighters applause the tune, albeit confused. Coral introduces herself and Pearly to the Freedom Fighters and explains the Chao life cycle until Amy interrupts, as they already know about the Chao life cycle. Coral is amazed that Chao live in the surface world, and Amy replies that they didn't even know about underwater civilizations. Razor then moves the conversation aside to deal with why the Freedom Fighters are here. Coral is reminded of this and begins to ask Sonic if the spirits sent the heroes to help Coral and company. Sonic is confused about the spirits part, which makes Coral ask if spirits sent them here. Rotor bluntly states that they don't know anything of spirits and that they are here to look for Gaia Temples, but before he could finish his sentence, Amy elbows the walrus to tell the shrine people that the Freedom Fighters are at their service. Coral begins to break down of how the spirits told her about the heroes, but Razor conforms her, telling her and the rest of the heroes that it's getting quite late and that the three Freedom Fighters are allowed to stay the night and investigate the temple tomorrow. Pearly acquires the Air Charms from the heroes, and Razor then warns the heroes that it's dangerous to be outside at the night because of the Dark Gaia Monsters lurking around.

Later, Amy is communicating with Sally via Miles Electric about the underwater culture, in which the latter is jealous of the former for meeting a whole new civilization. Sally then asks Amy if they have found a Gaia Temple yet, in which the pink hedgehog denies, as the people here seem to not know what a "Gaia Temple" even is. Amy then mentions that Rotor will search the shrine to see if it has anything to do with a Gaia Temple. Amy then brings up the topic of spirits, since Coral did mention spirits telling her that heroes would need her help, but Sally cannot figure out an answer for this and tells Amy to play it by ear. Sally asks how Sonic is doing, in which the pink hedgehog replies that Sonic is a bit freaked out by the underwater life, but seems to be himself–which can be a difficult thing to understand sometimes. Sally concurs but is worried about the Dark Energy and how Sonic doesn't care for it unlike the others. Sally tells Amy that the rest of the Freedom Fighters are preparing to snag a Chaos Emerald right under Eggman's nose, ending the conversation. Amy walks outside while Sonic, Razor, Crusher, and several Chao play with each other. Amy finds Coral sitting down by Aquarius' egg and asks Coral if she can't sleep. Coral declines, as the betta fish is observing a Chao reincarnation since she has never seen one prior. Coral begins to cry and doubts she did the reincarnation correct, but Amy cheers her up by letting her know she did pretty professional in her opinion. Amy then mentions that Coral and Cream would make good friends since both are experts at Chao breeding. Coral, thinking of actual cream, is confused on how cream would help us, but Amy replies that Cream is a friend of theirs and that she or Tails could have helped the three Freedom Fighters, which confuses Coral even more, but Amy drops the subject. Amy was fascinated by Coral's performance of the Mystic Melody, which questions if the melody is used only for Chao reincarnation. Coral says that's only a part of it, since it helps keeps magic rings to power Meropis, as well as sustain a bubble shield around the city. It also lets her communicate with ancient spirits, which Coral doubts if the spirit thing is real. Amy conforms Coral, as she has seen weirder stuff, including giant, word-dominating robots, lizards attached on space stations, and a princess from other dimensions. Coral doubts any of that but thanks Amy for cheering her up, which makes Amy realize how Coral acted similar to Amy when she relied on Sonic all the time.

The next day, Rotor inspects the temple's outside, while Sonic had quickly checked the inside, as he comes to the conclusion that nothing screams "stick Chaos Emerald here" inside. Rotor states that the shrine is ancient enough to be a Gaia Temple, but it doesn't necessarily mean it is one. Rotor goes on how Coral mentioned that the shrine wasn't built by their people, therefore it must have come from the surface and gradually fell as the years passed by. Sonic puts it simply as a definite "maybe" just to have an answer. Meanwhile, Razor and Amy talk about their respective Chao, as Razor asks if Amy's Chao are really made of "cheese and chocolate," which Amy denies. Amy then replies to Razor that he named his Chao "Crusher" of all things, which Razor calmly answers that "it makes him feel special." Pearly hides behind a tree away from the Chao due to her fear of Chao. Amy tells Pearly that the Chao are harmless, but Pearly, being nothing more than a child, replies with a "nuh-uh!" Razor then comments on how Pearly should be afraid of Amy because of her spikes, but before anymore child's play can be continued, Razor, Amy, and Pearly hear a scream at the shrine. Razor arrives at the shrine, seeing Sonic conforming Coral, who was the one who screamed, and Rotor waiting. Razor grabs Sonic's arm, pulling the hedgehog away from Coral, demanding to know if Sonic hurt Coral. Rotor pulls Razor away from Sonic before a fight can ensue, and Sonic yells to Razor that he simply was trying to figure out why Coral screamed. Coral tells the heroes that Aquarius hasn't hatched from her cocoon yet. But, more danger arises as Amy, Pearly, and Crusher are ambushed by Captain Striker the Mantis Shrimp and his City Guard, asking the Freedom Fighters of their reason on being on the sacred ground.

Off Panel
Sonic and the Freedom Fighters watch a movie called Sharknutto, and Sonic is annoyed that they have wasted an entire Off Panel on this.

Trivia

 * The Off Panel for this issue is a parody of the film Sharknado.
 * The construction worker Egg Pawn variants in the second story come from Planet Wisp in Sonic Colors.
 * This is the first issue since #242 to have a back-up story.
 * Coral is shown playing the "Mystic Melody", an optional upgrade for playable characters from Sonic Adventure 2.
 * Rotor mentions that he beat his high score on "Angry Chao", a parody of the popular smartphone game Angry Birds.
 * While chatting to Coral, Amy makes allusions to the games Sonic Heroes, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Rush. Flashbacks to the events of Sonic the Hedgehog CD (a young Amy being captured by Metal Sonic) and Sonic Adventure (Amy facing ZERO).