Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 175


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Archie Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 175 was the one hundred and seventy-fifth issue of the main Sonic the Hedgehog comic series.

Story One

 * "Eggman Empire"

Dawn: the Egg Fleet is approaching the Kingdom of Knothole. Eggman and Snively watch this vast spectacle from the opening of a hanger door in their battle suits, ready to end the war once and for all.

In Freedom HQ, the Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix are having a grand old time relaxing, playing video games and strumming on a guitar. Knuckles is worried about Espio; he's been missing since before the wedding. Julie-Su tries to get him to relax, but Rouge has other ideas, and decides to try and flirt with Knuckles while offering to go looking for Espio.

Julie-Su and Rouge start to get into a verbal disagreement while Sally and Sonic begin to talk about how things have been going lately. Everything seems to be on the up and up, with Knothole now a city, families reuniting and there's a new king on the throne with most of the villains beaten. And before long, they might take down Eggman himself. As they converse, Sonic notes something's off with Tails as if he is holding something back from him. Tails and Rotor run a diagnostic on NICOLE and begin talking about what's happened lately with Fiona betraying them and Tommy dying, but Tails just shrugs it off, saying that as long as he has his friends and family with him, he'll be fine. It is at this point that NICOLE delivers the unpleasant news that they’re under attack.

Snively arrives at Freedom HQ and makes his way in with his new mech by tearing off the roof. Part of the roof falls on Tails, but Rotor pushes him out of the way with the roof falling on him instead, injuring his back and neck before he is consumed in an energy blast. In the common room, Snively begins blasting his former friends, one after another, seemingly vaporizing them right before everyone’s eyes. Sally tries to get everyone organized to mount a defense, but Bunnie is stopped by Snively's mech, and to Sonic's shock, Sally herself is vaporized in the middle of giving Sonic an order. Snively keeps on firing, taking out Antoine, Charmy, Saffron, and Ray. He then proceeds to allow Bunnie to join her husband, zapping her as well.

Amy wakes up from all the commotion, Sonic is trying to restrain Knuckles from doing something stupid, and Tails is in shock as everyone he just cared about died right before his eyes. Mighty, enraged over what happened to Ray, tears Snively's mech apart piece by piece, screaming at Snively at the injustice of vaporizing Ray. Snively, not wanting him to feel left out, proceeds to vaporize him as well with the mech's remaining arm. Sonic climbs out of the hole that was Freedom HQ, ready to fight Snively, but he self-destructs the remnants of his mech, burying Knuckles, Amy and Tails under rubble and begins to fly away, revealing that this attack was nothing more than a simple distraction. Tails figures out that Eggman is attacking Knothole and tells Sonic from under the rubble to run and save their families.

Sonic arrives at Knothole, and finds it in flames. Everything is gone - only Castle Acorn remains standing. But not for long, as it explodes right before his eyes. Out of the rubble of the once proud castle emerges Eggman, inside a giant mech with a huge orange mustache, saying it's about time Sonic showed up.

Sonic accuses him of killing everyone he ever cared about, to which Doctor Eggman corrects him. They're not dead; he simply captured them and sent them to the Egg Grapes where they will die. Sonic tells him that this plan of will fail since Snively missed him, to which Eggman corrects him again, stating that he told Snively to leave Sonic for himself. Eggman proceeds to fire a barrage of missiles at Sonic, who dodges them. Eggman then taunts Sonic by pointing out all of his failures, to which Sonic simply tells him to shut up as he attempts to hit him with a spindash attack.

As the two continue to battle Eggman continues to mock Sonic, stating that his little rebellion was simply allowed to exist for his personal amusement and that no matter how many times Sonic may have won, the simple fact remains that Mobius is still under his thumb just like it was years ago. He explains why King Max's attempt to rally failed, since the rest of the world knows this simple truth and that Knothole never saw this attack coming. He then knocks Sonic down with his wrecking ball, telling him to get up and that he's not done with him yet.

Sonic keeps trying to attack Eggman’s suit but to no avail, as everything Sonic tries against it just bounces right off. Eggman tells him that this suit was designed specifically just to fight him. After knocking Sonic down again, he tells Sonic that he's reached his limit. This enrages Sonic, who proceeds to run away from him faster than Eggman has ever seen before and he quickly orders Snively to track him. Snively finds Sonic's location and tells Eggman that Sonic was already at the east coast. There, Sonic is using his figure eight maneuver to really give himself a boost.

Sonic flies across the continent, smacks the Egg Beater and sends it flying into the castle's ruins hard where it seems to then explode. Sonic, feeling confident that he just beat Eggman once again, asks how he feels about that for his limit. The Egg Beater then rises up from the ruins (with only a dent in the shield), with Eggman replying that it's just fine.

Eggman then proceeds to attack a stunned Sonic over and over again until he finally goes down. Eggman now grabs the barely conscious form of his beaten adversary, telling exactly what he is going to do to all of Sonic's friends and family and how he is going to leave Sonic here: beaten, humiliated, and all alone. Eggman then proceeds to drop Sonic and flies back to the Egg Fleet to return to New Megaopolis, leaving Sonic lying on the ground, helpless and defeated.

Tails comes running over to Sonic, having dug himself out of the ruins of Freedom HQ. He begins to help Sonic up, apologizing for not getting there sooner. Sonic tells him not to worry about it, and that so long as they're still breathing, they’ve still got a chance...

Quotes

 * Rouge: Watch it, Pinky.
 * Julie-Su: You wear pink!


 * Snively: (tears through Freedom HQ's roof) Knock-knock, my friends.


 * Mighty: He could never hurt you! I told him I'd keep him safe!  And you go and vaporize him!
 * Snively: (zaps Mighty) Fine! I don't want you to feel left out!


 * Eggman: It's about time you showed up, rodent.


 * Sonic: Nice try, Doc. Snively didn't zap me. I get to save the day like always.
 * Eggman: Silly boy, I told Snively to leave you for me!


 * Sonic: H-Ha! H-How's that for m-my limit, E-Eggman?
 * Eggman: It's just fine, Sonic. Although I am a little upset that you dented the shield.


 * Eggman: Like I said, Sonic... (hits Sonic with the shield) ...you're out-matched...out-classed...(hits Sonic with the wrecking ball) ...you're not fast enough...(kicks Sonic) ...you're not strong enough... (hits Sonic with a laser) ...and you certainly aren't smart enough to defeat me. (picks Sonic up from the ground) I'm going back to New Megaopolis now. Once I've freshened up, I'm going to turn on the Egg Grapes.  Everyone you've ever known or cared for will be turned into fuel for my city.  And you'll be left here--helpless.  I'm not playing with you, rodent.  Run--run all over the world and try to start a new Freedom Fighter group.  You will find no one.  So run--for the rest of your life--and never escape the humiliation of today. ''(throws Sonic to the ground)

Key Events

 * Almost every village resident is captured by Dr. Eggman and Snively and imprisoned in Egg Grape Chambers.
 * Knothole Village is destroyed by the Egg Fleet.
 * Sonic is utterly defeated by Dr. Eggman in their battle.

Background information

 * This is the series' seventh milestone issue.
 * This issue featured one of the first times Dr. Eggman totally defeats Sonic.
 * The friction between Sonic and Tails is mentioned in this issue, foreshadowing their eventual fight in Sonic the Hedgehog #178 - #179.
 * This is the first and so far only milestone issue not to feature the issue number (#175) in a fancy font under the title.