April 1993
How about a bad cover this time?
Only one story in this one, "A Crowning Achievement." First hints that Sonic and Sally like each other. Sally has something important to tell Sonic, who wonders if it's why she changed her hair from blonde to brunette. Sally scoffs at that remark, but she thinks to herself if he likes her better as a brunette. We also get Sonic's thoughts, which is that he loves her dark hair but he'll never tell her that. Actually, Sally reveals the Magic Crown of the Acorn Kings, powered by the four Freedom Emeralds. Supposedly they hold great power, and Sally wants to use it to find her father. They open the box it's contained in, but whoops it's gone! Sonic blames Antoine and his Royal Guard who are supposed to keep constant watch over the box, which leads to the theory that one of the guardsmen is a spy for Robotnik. How to find out? Sonic runs in circles to burn the rubber off his sneakers, which creates smoke, which then sets off the sprinklers Rotor had installed. One of the guardsmen shorts out, revealing itself to be a robot. Robotnik now has the crown and scattered the Freedom Emeralds all over Mobius. Then the spy initiates its self-destruct mechanism, which prompts Sonic to pick him up and run off with him before he explodes, taking out Knothole and everyone with it.
Sally thinks Sonic is dead and starts crying cause she never told him she loved--but then is cut off by Antoine's exclamation that Sonic has returned just fine. Sonic wants her to finish what she was saying, which Sally awkwardly responds that she loved his recipe for pumpkin pie. Right, as if Sonic can bake. Or cook. Anyway, Sonic was able to launch the bot out of the tree stump entrance using his Warp Speed before it went KABLOOEY (as the comic describes it). With Sonic still at the surface, he notices a Robotnik blimp with many escorts heading off somewhere, so it's time for a mission. Sally forces Sonic and Antoine to work together for this one, which both of them reluctantly accept. I should note that, while most people who've read the comic or seen the SATAM show know this, but Sonic and Antoine really do not like each other.
So the two of them follow the blimp with their own hot air balloon, but forget that the Buzzbombers and Bat Brains clearly know they're there. The badniks pop their balloon, so Antoine bails out with his parachute. Sonic on the other hand decides to Sonic Spin across the bots to reach the blimp and pop it. Antoine catches Sonic in freefall, but the same fate is not met for the bots. The swatbot pilot crashes into the ground, and out pops a Freedom Emerald hidden within it. The swatbot reveals the plan to separate the emeralds, one by air, land, sea, and underground. Having retrieved the "air" emerald, Sonic forces Antoine to return to Sally with the emerald as he takes off on his own to find the others.
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HBJ Dubs
~Project 1000~