Skye Prower

Skye started to nod, then stopped. "We'll, it was more Stacey who said it, not me!" ------------ Stacey smiled back. "If you do a good job here, maybe you can take them outside."

"It was a similar thing," said Skye. "Only, your's was more of a heal." -------------- "Well, anything you need you can use," said Stacey. Then, worried it would be too much for her, he added: "But you can't use them for anything except this arboretum."

"He created a magical ritual to remove his stutter," examined Harmony. Skye shuffled his feet. ------------- "Okay, let's see what we can find.," said Stacey. He opened a nearby cupboard, to find it bristling with gardening tools, most hardly used. "Uh.. take your pick..."

"At your age, yes. Didn't stutter though... not after the ritual," said Harmony. --------- "Yes really," said Stacey with a smile. "Is there anything you'll need?"

"Hey, don't say sorry!" smiled Harmony. "And I thought my brother was bad at your age!" ----------------- "Uh... No reason. We'll... be proud of you if you take good care of it..." said Stacey

"You really are the nervous type!" smiled Harmony. ------------ "Really?" asked Stacey. "That's enough for you?" asked Zoe.

"I think I will," grinned Harmony. "What colours do you think would go well?" --------------- "You don't?" asked Stacey surprised.

"Hmmm, maybe I could..." said Harmony -------------- "Oh boy.... maybe if you go shopping with someone at some point you'd get the hang of it," said Stacey.

"Different tastes I guess. I just prefer more colour," said Harmony. ----------------- "Okay... so here... you get units of currency for doing work. And they you exchange that currency for goods and services," Stacey explained.

"It's a little... drab for my tastes, but it's okay," said Harmony. "The old guys who live here aren't much for decorators!" ------------ "Uh... you don't know the concept of money?" ------------ "Will it be safe there?" Miles asked. ------------- "Yeah, you?"

"I can imagine it will seem odd, but you get used to it soon," promised Harmony. ------------- "Of course we do," said Stacey. "We wouldn't have shown it to you otherwise. And we'll pay you for your work of course."

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Harmony. "I'm just used to people bowing because... well, nevermind, it's in the past. How are you finding life here?" ------------ "This is the arboretum Sarah, an indoor garden. But as you can see, it's not well looked after. I thought you might like looking after it," said Stacey. ------------ "maybe it's just something it can do..." said Miles. ---------- "No problem," said melody giving Hope a quick hug.

"Maybe later," whispered Harmony. She gave a laugh. "No need to bow Mark, I've no rank or anything here. Just a normal girl." ------------ "Not far. In fact, we're there," said Stacey as they entered the messy arboretum. ------------- "You just know he gonna boast about that!" said Miles, trying to lighten the mood. ------------- "I won't do that. Promise," said melody

Issue 3 Story 1: The Bomb Bugs Me Sonic has always has a Green Aesop (Namely don’t pollute and don’t experiment on animals) but most of the time it’s not heavy handed (mostly). It’s just there in the background, or at most ‘This place was beautiful before Robotnik’. This story as a new Aesop, Nuclear weapons are BAAAAAAADDDDDDD! And beats you over the head with it, with no relenting, for the first half of the story, even going so far to have the character do a marching protest. Okay, it’s a distraction, but still… The whole ‘Robotnik has nuclear weapons and now is more dangerous’ doesn’t make any sense in context either. If Robotnik wanted to destroy the great forest, all he’d need is a bunch of normal (or maybe incendiary) bombs. Not a nuke. (Note: This is not a commentary on my own feelings about nuclear weapons. Just how the Aesop is forced and overdone) So, having pounded us into the ground to not support nukes, the story goes even more insane, with Rotor dressing up as Robotnik to steal the bomb. Only we end up with an out of costume Rotor and Robotnik both arguing that they are the real Rotor. ‘Robotnik’ proves it by taking off his mask to reveal Rotor. Then ‘Rotor’ takes off his mask to reveal Robotnik, gloating. Wait, what? How… does that help? At all? And why are you gloating about it. Cue each of them taking more and more masks off. What? Just… what? And even Sonic comments it ridicule. The whole sequence makes no sense, either as a joke, or any kind of cunning ploy. But eventually they escape and realise their effort was for naught as Robotnik’s Bomb was just bug spray. The first half is smothered by the ‘nukes are bad’ Aesop. Even those pro that stance with find it hard to get past. The second half is just ridiculous. Avoid. Story 2: Rabbot Deployment Landmark time. There’s one main cast member of SatAM still to be introduced, Bunnie Rabbot. Better late than never I suppose! The first half is fairly straight forward, with Bunnie being trapped in a Robotizer and Sonic just in the nick of too late to stop it before it begins. Two interesting things of note. The first is a pun so bad and forced Sally herself needs to complain about it. The second is a nice touch. After being rescued from the Robotizer Rotor points out for all they know Robotnik could track her, but Sonic is instant they have to help her. A bit more of a moral dilemma than you usually see at this stage. Then we get to the second half and we’re right back into light-hearted territory, as Bunnie is completely aware and capable of her new abilities. Not even a learning ‘I can lift how much?’ montage. (Interestingly, going by Antion origin story, the post-reboot world seems to be averting this) Interestingly, they seem at this stage to be trying to set Bunnie up as an equal to Sonic, with Bunnie even referring to herself as his ‘partner’. Infact, fighting the latest threat, Bunnie is permitted to save Sonic TWICE! The second time with a display of strength that would gobsmack Mighty. Though Sonic still gets the final blow, in the exact same way that Scratch and Grounder were taken out in the last issue. And yet, after this intro, Bunnie hardly shows up in the following issues, and when she does her power tends to have been reduced. Either the writers didn’t get the memo, or it was felt that two powerful characters would make stories too difficult to write for. And one other interesting note, Bunnie seems pretty interest in Antione at first sight! The story has some good points, but is overall average, with just the introduction of a new character too buoy it up. Alas Bunnie fails, at this stage, to live up to her intro, but things will improve later. Overall: Read for Bunnie’s introduction, but that’s all that can be recommended about it.

"Is... is he okay?" asked Miles worried. ---------- "Now why would that worry you?" giggled Melody

Miles cast a spell to create light, worried that Shadow being taken was just a distraction. ------------- "Oh, you know me. I'm ALWAYS read to show off!" grinned Melody.

Miles reached it and tried to prise it open. ------------ Melody laughed again

"The pool made her nice?" whispered Harmony unbelieving. She smiled at Mark. "Hello there. Nice to meet you." Stacey made his way through haven, Zoe following. ------------ Miles hurried up the stairs. ------------- "Are you sure Sis!" laughed Melody

"Which floor is it," said Miles, heading for the stairs. -------------- "Awwww, but I'm sure it will be once we get on stage!"

"So I see," said Harmony. "Mark wanted to meet you," Skye said to Harmony. "Yes, follow me," said Stacey, heading out the kitchen. --------------- "He... h-he... just got g-grabbed!" said Miles, pointing a shaking finger at the elevator. ---------- "Thing is what?" asked Melody

Miles gave a cry of fright and leapt back as Shadow was grabbed, bumping into Zamy and Zean. ------------- "If she was perfect, she could sing!" grinned Melody.

"Sarah?" Harmony whispered back. "Oh boy...." She spoke up. "Oh yes, Sarah. I remember now. Sorry." "Do you want to come with me Sarah," said Stacey. "There's something we want to show you." "I'm coming too!" called Zoe. ------------- "The sounds getting fainter! We might be safe," said Miles. ------------ "Careful, or I'll push YOU onto the stage!"

"That's great! So the two of you managed to separate then?" asked Harmony ecstatically, happy tears starting to form. She hugged Dominic tightly. Then she looked at Sarah. "We.. we did? When?"

"Have we met?" asked Harmony more confused, before grinning and giving Dylan a combo of hug and picking him up. "How are you Dominic?" she asked.

"I really think she'll like that!" smiled Zoe. Skye came back with Harmony, still wearing her tiara. "What are you kids whispering about?" she asked. "Wait... who??" she looked confused at Sarah. ------------- "Let's give it a go!" nodded Miles. ------------- "One day I'll succeed!"