Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic or any of it's characters. I am simply borrowing the property for an independent story.
The moon had just come up as Sonic walked up to the brand new Casinopolis. It looked like loads of fun. Just from outside he heard slots rolling and the sounds of rings being collected as well as the glittering of what could have been valuable jewels. Sonic tried to walk in but apparently the door wouldn't open. He kicked it and spindashed it but it wouldn't budge. Sonic was about to give up and go home but then he noticed a giant spring on top of the roof just like the ones he was used to jumping on and soaring into the air with. If anything it would be fun just to hit it. He jumped high into the air and tackled it with a homing attack. After hearing the usual sound of a ring being collected the doors opened and Sonic entered the fancy looking Casinopolis.
Sonic was quite impressed when he walked into the area. It was quite spacious and full of life. Carpets covered the floor and Sonic couldn't wait to join in on all the game playing everyone was doing. After all he was definitely excited after receiving the anonymous letter encouraging him to "Come to the brand new Casinopolis to have fun and win loads of rings and the seven shiny Chaos Emeralds!" The letter seemed strange but Sonic wasn't about to miss out on any kind of fun. He walked up to a purple warp machine to find his pal Tails who had clearly won big and had a ton of rings with him.
"Hey Sonic, I'm glad you're here. I was looking for a partner to play this with." Said the two-tailed fox.
"Oh really?" replied Sonic, "What exactly is this?"
"It's a pinball machine. You've done before, you're thrown into a table to score yourself some rings. I hear if you complete a certain goal you even get an emerald."
"Sounds good to me let's go."
With that Sonic jumped into the warp machine. When he came out of the warp room he landed on an enormous table that was structured like a pinball machine. The machine had massive flippers which automatically shot Sonic across the table and into the many objects that gave Sonic some rings when he hit them. Sonic pretty much had to guess where he was going as he went through loop de loops and around holes. Sonic swore that the table was actually very dangerous and could be deadly if he wasn't careful. It was riddled with holes and if he fell through any of them he might drop to his doom. After hitting the many belts and being shot everywhere Sonic got quite a headache and was worn out from having to dodge the holes.
Suddenly a strange woman dressed in a purple jester costume flew down and grabbed Sonic. After going through a strange flight in a night sky Sonic was dropped into another giant pinball table with eight cards. On each card there was a picture of someone Sonic knew. From left to right there was Sonic, Tails, knuckles, Rouge, Shadow, Omega, Metal Sonic and Dr. Eggman at the end. By instinct he gave effort to run into Eggman's card. After hitting it it spinned a little and then a yellow emerald fell from above. With a final thrust from the giant flipper Sonic flew toward the emerald and grabbed it. He was instantly transported back into the main casino area and Tails was again there waiting for him.
"Impressive Sonic. My score was pretty good but I didn't get anywhere near a chaos emerald." Said Tails.
"Yeah." Replied Sonic. "I was able to walk out with this but it wasn't easy. And I'm definitely gonna need some aspirin later. But is it just me or was that thing a deathtrap? There seemed to be a couple of things not very safe about it. Especially those holes."
"Yeah, I guess that's why people weren't really in a rush to play it…"
Sonic gave him a flustered look. "I'm starting to not feel too comfortable with this thing. I mean I got this letter of invitation and it sounded fun but who's in charge of this thing?"
"I don't know Sonic… I actually got this letter too and I've ended up in same position as you…"
"We gotta figure out what's going on here Tails."
Just then a red echidna with long stylish dreadlocks and on his knuckles came over. It was none other than Knuckles the Echidna.
"Hey guys, crazy seeing you here." He said.
Sonic and Tails stared at him still half serious. Startled he said, "Whoa, what's wrong? Have you guys lost that mush cash?"
The two explained their worries to him. He thought for a moment and said, "I see. I got one of those letters too. But I haven't had to deal with any deathtraps. Just some slot machine that doesn't give me anything."
"Slot machine?" asked Sonic.
"Yeah, this giant slot machine. I jump into some cage and it spins. Depending on how the pictures line up I get a reward. But the most the stupid thing is giving me is a couple dozen rings. Stupid thing…"
"How bout I have a look at this stupid thing Knuckles?" asked Sonic.
Knuckles nodded sure and then led them to a giant slot machine. Sonic stared at it for a moment.
"This is it?" asked Sonic.
Knuckles confirmed it was and Sonic jumped in the giant slot. He fitted perfectly and a cage closed over him. In his ball form he spun around and around as the slots in the machine spun around and around. Finally the machine stopped on three rings and at least one hundred rings dropped from the ceiling. Sonic was released from the cage and looked around pleased. Knuckles stared in disbelief and yelled out, "THIS IS RIDICULOUS! Sonic gets lucky all the time and I'm left out in the cold."
"Say I wonder if this machine would have another emerald." Said Sonic.
"Worth a shot." Said Tails.
Sonic jumped in the cage again but this time a ring, a jackpot sign and a picture of Eggman's face showed up and no prize was awarded. Sonic jumped in yet again and this time three Eggman faces appeared. Suddenly huge showers of black spiked balls were shot from all directions. Startled the three heroes were jumping everywhere to avoid being hit by this dangerous trap.
Finally it seemed to stop and Sonic yelled out, "Eggman! He must have something to do with this. Who else would invite us to a bunch of deathtraps? Why as soon as I see him I'm gonna-" Just then one more spiked ball shot directly at Sonic. With a quick jump he barely escaped the spiked ball but landed back in the slot machine. It rolled some more and this time ended on three red chaos emeralds and thus a red Chaos Emerald dropped from the ceiling.
Sonic grabbed it in triumph and explained to everyone, "Alright guys. Clearly Eggman is up to something here. I'm gonna beat these traps and get the Chaos Emeralds cause that's probably the best way to find him. And if he's up to something then I'm gonna have to stop him."
The three agreed to see this through and exited the room through the warp room.