Flashback Zone

GREETINGS, MORTAL READERS. I AM THE OMNIPOTENT OMNI-VIEWER, RIDER OF TIME AND SPACE. I WELCOME YOU TO MY DOMAIN.



Ooh, actually, sorry, I think I came on a bit strong there. How are you all doing? All good? Great, excellent, groovy!

I’m Omni-Viewer and I’m a living gateway through time and space. It’s all terribly technical, I’ll not bore you with the details. Anyway, I’ve been tasked by my good friend Megadroid with giving new readers a look back at stories from the past they may not be familiar with. I just hope I can keep my timelines straight and not give away storylines from future issues that haven’t even been written yet -speaking of which, you’re going to LOVE #275, it’s a classic!



We’ll relive some of STC’s greatest moments and hopefully some of you will learn about some of the lesser known adventures Sonic and his friends went on. I assume by now you’ve read all about Sonic’s scintillating adventure with the wonderful St. George. It’s not the first time STC’s seen a dragon, though. Hop through my giant, glowing face and I’ll take you back in time… I promise it’s a lot less weird than I just made it sound.

Sonic’s World: The Monster Wakes

Issues #94-95



Script: Lew Stringer
Art: Roberto Corona and Andy Pritchett
Lettering: Tom Frame

Not unlike the STC of today, Sonic was unable to work with the Freedom Fighters during this time. Unlike today’s STC, it’s because he was stranded in the Special Zone (and I’ve got no doubt we’ll come to that in time, dear readers)! In his absence, the remaining Freedom Fighters enlisted the help of Tekno the Canary and Shortfuse the Cybernik!



New Year’s Day 1997 saw the gang visited by an old pal of mine, a certain Knuckles the Echidna! Tekno had the great idea of using her underground laboratory as a secret base for the crew and Knuckles was just the spiny anteater for the job of excavating the necessary space to build extra living quarters!



Unfortunately, before leaving, Knuckles’ tunnelled deep into the hibernation place of a deadly dragon! Shortfuse and Tails accidentally awoke the mighty creature, who was in a foul mood- it turns out he wasn’t due to wake up for another thousand years and he was definitely not pleased about his wake-up call!



Shortfuse, Tails and Johnny battled the attacking dragon to no avail- Shortfuse took charge but only managed to rub Tails’ fur the wrong way with his attitude. The heroes couldn’t even leave a scratch on the incredible beast. Eventually, Amy and Tekno realised that the dragon had only attacked out of self-defence at having been woken up.



Tails decided the best course of action was to apologise to the dragon, but the scaly leviathan was having none of it. He told Tails that he would now have to wait a thousand years for the rest of his dragon friends to awaken. Tails was stunned- it turns out that in dragon years, the extra thousand would only make him the equivalent of a teenager in normal terms! Tails suggested the dragon help the Freedom Fighters battle Robotnik but the dragon was too tired and grumpy to offer his services. He told Tails he’d let the furry hero know his answer in a few years’ time- once he’d had the chance to wake up!



The day was saved- at least for the time being- but Amy had her concerns about Shortfuse and his temper. The armour-clad hero had always been a hothead, but he’d almost made sure his friends were a hot-everything when the dragon struck! And things would definitely get more heated and boil over in—oh, that’s enough of this extended metaphor, I’m sure we’ll get to that story sooner or later!



Well, readers- or Boomers, as Megadroid insists I call you- that was an adventure that was tightly told: it certainly didn’t drag-on! Ha, because it… yes, very good.

Anyway, we’ve not seen hide nor hair nor scale from our tale’s dragon ever since this adventure. I wonder what he’s up to nowadays… well, actually, I don’t because I’m omnipotent, but I’m sure you’re wondering hard enough for both of us.

Join me again next issue for a look at a classic clash between two heroes! Ahh, don’t you love a good old misunderstanding-scrap?

See you next space-time!