Coral the Betta

Coral the Betta  is a character that appears in the  Sonic the Hedgehog  comic series and its spin-offs published by  Archie Comics. She is an  anthropomorphic  betta and the priestess of the  Eusebes Temple.

Appearance
Coral is a humanoid betta fish with orange skin/scales. She has a long thin tail fin and no toes on her feet. Additionally, she has shoulder-length fins growing from her head, giving the appearance of hair, and two smaller additional fins growing on her forearms. Coral has purple eyes and a white muzzle with no nose and two smaller white orbs on her forehead. For attire, she wears a mint green dress with a purple sash and a mint green turban which appears to have four white corals ornaments, hence her name, with purple stripes on them.

Early life
At some point in her life, Coral was chosen over King Puff andQueen Angelica's daughter to be the priestess of the Eusebes Temple.[2]  After going through some training, Coral ascended to the title of priestess and took over all the duties following with it.[3] Eventually, she took Pearly the Manta Ray as her apprentice and trained her in the rites.[2]

Shattered World Crisis
In the aftermath of the Shattered World Crisis, Coral was performing her duties by giving rites to Aquarius at the Eusebes Temple when she is alarmed by Tikal informing her that she would soon meet some great heroes needing her help to save the world.[4]

Waves of Change
When Coral was aiding the reincarnation of Aquarius, she was contacted by the Knothole Freedom Fighters–Sonic, Amy, andRotor–from the surface. Realized they were the heroes the spirit spoke off, Coral send Razor to escort them to her. When she finished the start of Aquarius' rebirth, Coral welcomed the Freedom Fighters where she introduced herself. However, when the Freedom Fighters revealed they had not been send by the spirits to help them as she thought, Coral left before she could panic. As night fell, Coral went to watch over Aquarius' cocoon where she talked with Amy about her doubts about her role as a priestess.[3]

The next morning, Coral freaked out when she discovered that Aquarius had not yet been reborn. Though Sonic tried to calm her, Razor misinterpreted this and nearly attacked Sonic. No sooner, Captain Striker the Mantis Shrimp and the City Guard came to the Temple for their daily visit, only to discover that Coral had allowed the Freedom Fighters to trespass on sacred ground without permission.[3]  Upon Striker's questioning, Coral then revealed that Aquarius had not yet been reborn. Infuriated, Striker branded Coral a charlatan and decided to take her to King Puff and Queen Angelica to answer for her actions. With Razor, Sonic and Amy coming with her, Coral was brought to Meropis where she tried to assure the king and queen that she was still committed to her duties. However, even with Sonic backing her claims up, the king and queen ignored Coral's pleads and stripped her of her title and privileges before sending her back to the Eusebes Temple with her friends to spend her last night there. Emotionally shattered, Coral declined the Knothole Freedom Fighter's offer to come with them and tried to maintain Meropis' shield one last time. Despite her efforts however, she fails due to stress and self-deprecation and breaks down in tears. As such, Meropis lost it's shield and Dark Gaia monsters began invading Meropis and the temple.[2]

Sonic, Amy, Rotor, and Razor managed to thwart the initial wave, and Coral began blaming herself for the attack. However, her friends-particularly Razor-supported her, and she agreed to try raising the shield again while the others split up to defend the shrine and go to the aid of the City Guard.[5]  Sadly, her initial attempts proved fruitless, but help soon arrived in the form of Tikal, the same spirit who had addressed her before. Together with Pearly and the reawakened Aquarius, whose prolonged time in the cocoon had been a foreshadowing of a great evolution, she managed to restore the shield, driving out the remaining monsters. For her efforts, Coral's station as priestess was reinstated, and she subsequently taught Amy the Mystic Melody, and was surprised by the Hedgehog's aptitude.[6]

Personality
Coral is a very sweet, giving and devoted person. She is incredibly humble, but unfortunately to the point where it loops around to self-deprecation. As such, she is very sensitive and it does not take much to make her doubt her abilities and worth, leaving her always questioning what she is doing wrong and with little faith in herself. Also, when things do not go as planned, she begins to shutter and panic, which makes her rely on Razor in such emergencies. She also has limited knowledge about land cultures, not knowing Chao lived on dry land too.

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Coral is not really passive or a pacifistic, though she has an easier time standing up for others instead of herself.

Powers and abilities
Coral playing the Mystic Melody.<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Coral is capable of aquatic respiration, allowing her to breathe both on land and underwater.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-StH261_1-3">[2]

<p style="font-size:14px;line-height:22px;">Coral is pretty skilled when it comes to magic and is capable of playing the Mystic Melody. With it, Coral can aid the reincarnation of Chao, activate magic rings to power Meropis, sustain the watery shield that protects the citizens from harm and supposedly communicate with ancient spirits. According to Amy Rose, Coral plays it in a "lovely" way.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-StH260_2-3">[3]  However, it is required that Coral concentrates to use the Mystic Melody or it will falter.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-StH261_1-4">[2]

Trivia

 * Coral's species, the betta fish, is mistakenly misspelled as "beta" in Sonic the Hedgehog #259. It was later corrected in the following issue.
 * Coral is the first humanoid Mobian sea creature to be featured in the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics; previous sea Mobians-such as the  Forty Fathom Freedom Fighters -typically resembled their normal animal counterparts but possessed the ability to speak.
 * Coral is often identified in-text in the comics as a "Beta," which is a less formal form of her species name.
 * According to  Aleah Baker  on the Bumbleking Forums, Coral is about 16 years old  [1]