Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 13

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 13 is the thirteenth issue of the main Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series published by Archie Comics.

Cover Corner Box
Princess Sally says "I'm the Pit Crew" as she is eating a water melon.

Part One
Sonic and Tails are flying in Sonic's biplane, looking for Robotnik's hovercraft, when they see an island floating in the sky. Curious about what keeps the island afloat, they decide to land on the island to check it out. However, a mysterious figure with a spiked glove shoots a rocket at them, and the pair is forced to bail. Tails saves Sonic using his flying ability and they land on the island unharmed, instantly suspecting Robotnik to be the one who launched the rocket. Sonic decides to ask for directions to home from the natives of the island, since their plane is wrecked, but the mysterious figure is determined to prevent them from going anywhere. An Assaulting Batter Blimp attacks them, and Sonic finds an energy shield. He does not know how long the effects will last, so he and Tails jump into the water. Sonic's shield fizzles out, and the pair discover an underwater maze, filled with spikes and traps.

As they make their way through, they are gradually sucked into a giant drain. Sonic and Tails fall unconscious and are sucked inside. They wake up to find themselves bound by ropes in a dark room. A voice greets them, and Sonic comments that it is not Robotnik's voice, the obvious person who would capture them. The voice, and the mysterious figure, is revealed to be Knuckles the Echidna, the last guardian of the Chaos Emerald (which keeps the island afloat). Knuckles says that his "pal" Robotnik informed him that Sonic and Tails would steal the Chaos Emerald, and this is why he has captured them.

Part Two
Robotnik and Snively are watching all of this from hidden cameras. It is revealed that Robotnik tricked Knuckles into capturing Sonic and Tails, so that he could steal the Chaos Emerald while Knuckles' back is turned. He plans on using its energies to recharge his hovercraft, which has crashed. Meanwhile, Knuckles becomes even more certain that Sonic and Tails were trying to steal the Chaos Emerald, absently forgetting that he already told them about it. He offers them a deal: Sonic and Tails have ten minutes to get off his island before he uses force to remove them himself. Sonic and Tails instantly make a run for it. Robotnik contacts Knuckles, telling him to catch them now instead of let them steal the chaos emerald. Knuckles tells him to wait, that he has a handle on things. Robotnik, after ending the transmission with Knuckles, moves up the countdown for his ship to blast off.

While Knuckles has been preoccupied with the heroes, Crabmeat has stolen the chaos emerald and brought it to Robotnik. Sonic and Tails continue to run around the island, avoiding Knuckles but having no intention of actually leaving (they couldn't anyway, their plane is wrecked). Tails wonders how they will prove their innocence, and Sonic replies that Robotnik will do it for them. The pair are unaware that they are headed straight for the place where the chaos emerald is kept, and Knuckles decides to intercept them (he has been watching them the whole time). He races through a secret passageway, but gets there to find the chaos emerald gone from its stone. Sonic and Tails arrive seconds later, and Knuckles concludes that Robotnik double-crossed him. He orders Sonic and Tails to lead him to Robotnik.

Robotnik, Crabmeat, and a SWATbot are aboard Robotnik's hovercraft, heading for Robotropolis. The chaos emerald has recharged it well, so Robotnik decides to keep the chaos emerald for further use. All of a sudden, Sonic zips by and takes the emerald from Robotnik. Knuckles is with him, and says that he and Sonic have come to an agreement. Robotnik sends SWATbots after them, and they do battle, with Sonic and Knuckles coming out on top. However, Robotnik escapes with the hovercraft.

Now that Robotnik is gone, Sonic and Tails face the issue of how to get home. Knuckles comments that while Sonic and Tails were unconscious, he had picked up the pieces of their biplane. Sonic puts the plane back together in a flash. As they leave, Knuckles says to himself that he probably hasn't seen the last of them.

Part One
Tails and Bunnie are watching Sonic use his Sonic Spin to carve a statue of Antoine, when suddenly Sally and Rotor come running up with alarming news from a reconnaisance mission outside of Robotropolis, startling Sonic and making him ruin the statue. Sally informs them that she heard Robotnik bragging about a space weapon called Robostorm, capable of firing rays at Mobius with the ability to roboticize everyhing within a hundred-mile radius. The Freedom Fighters instantly decide to try and stop Robotnik, though they will have to get past a team of SWATbots first.

The Freedom Fighters travel to Robotropolis, where they instantly see Robostorm (it looks like Robotnik's face). Sonic confuses the SWATbots by running so fast they see multiple images of him, and diverts attention away from the Freedom Fighters, who enter Robostorm. Once joined by Sonic, the Freedom Fighters begin sabotaging the main circuits. Unfortunately, Dr. Robotnik and Snively walk up to Robostorm and attempt to enter. Snively makes a comment about how the SWATbots once guarding Robostorm are gone, and that the door is open. Robotnik is infuriated, but the Freedom Fighters escape by blasting off into space.

In space, Sonic wonders how they will sabotage Robostorm while they are in it, and Sally replies that they can't, they will have to land in Knothole and then sabotage it. Robotnik and Snively are pursuing Robostorm in his ship. Snively blasts Robostorm with a de-energizer, but not before Robotnik sheilds his eyes. He does not like to see an image of himself blasted. The Freedom Fighters are unharmed, but dazed. Robotnik sends them a message: either allow him to take them back to Mobius to be Roboticized, or be left to drift in space forever.

Part Two
There is still some auxilary power left in Robostorm, so Sonic and Sally decide to land on one of Mobius' one hundred moons. They blast themselves to the nearest moon, landing roughly, and the villains pursue. The heroes soon find, though, that the moon is made almost entirely of muck, and that escaping will be difficult. Robotnik and Snively, too, are also stuck in the mud, but their ship is a transformer, and the giant walker can traverse the gunk easily.

The transformer kicks Robostorm, again while Robotnik is sheilding his eyes. However, it becomes apparent that the Freedom Fighters were not in the ship when the transformer kicked it. Robotnik, infuriated, orders Snively to "get them!" and the devious pair chase the Freedom Fighters in a tank that comes out of the transformer's toe. Sonic wonders how to stop Robotnik and escape, and calls on something that Bunnie said earlier, that everything Robotnik builds looks like him. Sonic gets an idea, goes into a super sonic spin, and carves a giant statue of Robotnik out of muck. Robotnik, unable to resist, gets out of the tank and walks over to have a closer look. But the staue is unstable, and falls on Robotnik. Snively abandons the tank to dig Robotnik out (though all he has is a spoon) and while his back is turned, the Freedom Fighters steal the transformer and return to Knothole.

The next morning, Rotor makes a special breakfast to celebrate the defeat of Robotnik, though no one wants to eat it... It's Mobian Mush.

Key Events

 * Sonic and Tails meet Knuckles for the first time.
 * This is the first time of many that Robotnik/Eggman will try to steal the Chaos Emerald/Master Emerald from Knuckles.
 * Dr Robotnik's doomsday weapon, the Robostorm, is defeated by being drained of its power.
 * Robotnik and Snively are stranded on Muckury.

Trivia

 * This issue features the comic tie-in to the videogame Sonic 3
 * Knuckles the Echidna makes his debut in this issue. Due to his rising popularity in the series, Knuckles would be the feature of numerous backstories, have his own three-issue miniseries and his own spinoff series named after him.
 * Despite being shown in later issues of the Island falling without the power of the emerald keeping it aloft, the island doesn't plummet an inch after Robotnik took it, and the Emerald was on an outdoor shrine of stones instead of in the crystalline chamber that would be seen for the first time in Sonic and Knuckles.
 * The Tornado appears for the first time in the series.
 * Outside of Knuckles' cave, a sign states 'Gotham City 14 Miles', referencing the primary setting of the Batman series.
 * A line in Sonic Grams makes note of a Sonic air hockey game under development by Sega at the time of writing.