Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.
Road Race! is a Sonic Flashback story which featured in Sonic the Back-to School Special and so far the only Sonic Riders adaptation to feature in Sonic the Comic Online.
Staff[]
Story: Ed Reynolds
Art: Thalia Evans
Letters: Charles Ellis
Story[]
Sonic and Tails have entered a KBC-broadcast illegal cross-planet road race, on Extreme Gear, against (among others) the descendants of the founders of Babylon: Jet the Hawk , Wave the Swallow and Storm the Albatross. Jet isn't happy about the cameras, but Wave addresses one of them directly, stating that the Babylons will win, while Sonic and Tails will die. The racers exit one trap-filled tunnel, only to met by a hungry dinosaur. Sonic and the Babylons escape, but Tails loses his board to the carnivore and is just saved from being eaten. As they rejoin the race, sharing Sonic's board, Sonic suggests they're only entering just so he can show off. He tries to call the race off, but Wave reveals that past the latest checkpoint, the boards will explode if their riders quit. The only option is to race, but the Babylons are perfectly willing to, thanks to the lures of cash, the chance to return to their island, and the sheer excitement. A born cheater, Jet whips out a gun and shoots Sonic's board, which plummets out of sight.
A massive explosion erupts behind them, which Jet wasn't expecting, since the boards aren't supposed to explode if they're beaten. Sonic emerges from the explosion, racing on foot, smoking slightly but otherwise OK. The hedgehog has learned in the meantime that the race is rigged: the organisers don't share the illegal gambling profits with the winners. Wave protests that all their families have raced and returned to Babylon in the air, which Sonic takes to mean 'died'. Sonic wins the race, and the Babylons follow, surprised that they haven't been killed. Sonic elaborates that Tails took a shortcut and removed the sensors from the finish line so the boards' computers think the Babylons are still racing. As Sonic heads off, Wave muses on how they'll never know what happened to their families, but Jet calms her down with a new idea to make money: Celebrity racing. He addresses a camera, warning Mobius to get ready for the onset of the Babylon Rogues. As that evening's KBC news comes to an end, the newsreader says that the race organisers have not yet been identified, but Sonic has not been ruled out as a suspect....
Trivia[]
- Turbo is among the other entrants in the race, but his appearance isn't counted as anything more than a cameo. Turbo wouldn't have a major story role until Issue 251's The Universe Game.
- If the pin-ups for the special are anything to go by, Blockhead Bill survived the destruction of the Special Zone and is entering the race. No word on what happened to Society Max though....
- The dinosaur may be a reference to Sonic and the Secret Rings, although noticeably different to the vicious carnivore seen in the Dinosaur Jungle world.
Timeline[]
This story takes place before the events of Issue 245. The previous Sonic the Hedgehog story in order of appearance was Goodbye, Mobius. The next story was The Battle For Mobius.