Sorry it took me a while to finally get to covering Issue 45, I had some unforseen technical difficulties that made me unable to do anything for a couple days, but I’m back now!
So the girls make their way to the campsite where Amy reserved them a spot, and they’re informed that because of the Metal Virus, a lot of the plants on the camp ground are extra dry due to them missing out on a rain season they were supposed to get water from, and as such are also extra flammable (which you know, totally won’t be important later).
Anyway, after the girls get settled in and are ready to relax for the night, Amy decides to do a Tarot Card reading for each of them...
There is one thing I find kinda interesting about this one page in particular... These cards look like the kinda thing that Amy bought from a store or something, but one of them has the Master Emerald on it, so does that mean everyone in the world is aware of the Master Emerald’s and Angel Island’s existance? I always assumed (and it’s also usually implied) that only the people who live on Angel Island like Knuckles and the main Sonic crew as well as some villains like Eggman and the Deadly Six now know about it at all, so how would the company who made these cards know about them? It could be that Amy herself made them, but who knows?
Anyway, once Amy gets to doing a card reading for Belle, this happens...
If I had to make a guess, the card that Amy pulled was probably either something foreshadowing to what’s about to happen (in fact, the card falling into the fire is also already foreshadowing), or it could also have been something else bad relating to Belle’s creation that might have made her feel bad. In either case, it was bad enough for Amy to not want Belle to see it, and the fact that she panicked as much as she did also probably makes Belle feel pretty bad even without seeing it.
So later in the night, Belle goes on a walk in the woods (because that has never gone wrong ever), and she ends up getting attacked by a Badnik who was hanging out in a Sonic-shaped bush. She was also using the flame from her built-in lighter as a light, and since she wasn’t able to put it out before passing out, she may or may not have lit the forest on fire.
Everyone wakes up to see what’s going on, and during the panic, it’s revealed that the bear dude’s son Ashe has gone missing...
That’s it for Issue 45, but we also have the preview pages for Issue 46...
Wait, Surge and Kit are here? Already? Also, it’s revealed that Belle might be made of metal underneath her wood exterior? And the Badnik is cool with her? QUESTIONS???
I’m assuming that means Surge and Kit as well as Starline’s other machines are going to try to convince Belle to join them or something like that, and it’ll also probably connect to Imposter Syndrome a bit too.