Casino

Skidding to a stop in front of two big, wide open doors, Sonic turned around to allow Tails to catch up with him. Only seconds later the young fox touched down aside of the hedgehog.

"I win," Sonic noticed with a broad grin.

"As usually," Tails shrugged, not seeming to mind much. "I wonder why I keep racing you in the first place."

Rubbing his nose, Sonic looked down on him. "Well, just walking all the way from the airport would be much less fun, don'tcha think?"

Now Tails grinned too. "I guess so. This place just doesn't have enough shortcuts for flying."

"So, where do you wanna send your complaint, little bro?" Sonic smirked.

"Dunno. We could ask that guy over there." The two tailed fox pointed at a rabbit standing just behind the entrance to the casino they stood in front of.

"I don't think he's responsible for the architecture around here." Sonic shrugged. "Let's get in."

Tails nodded and followed the hedgehog as Sonic advanced through the broad doors.

However the two friends didn't get far as the black suited rabbit stretched out his arm blocking the hedgehog's stride. "Entrance only for adults," he said flatly.

Sonic arched an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Last time that didn't matter."

"Last time is not now. I don't know who was here 'last time', but I am on duty now, and the rules say no children into the casino. Gambling is not for kids." The rabbit pulled his arm back to cross it with the other one.

"I am not a little kid that needs to be protected from the evil gambling machines, you know?" Sonic's arms folded on his chest as if to adapt the rabbit's gesture.

"I know who you are, but saving the world doesn't make you any more suited to get in here." The rabbit gave Sonic a stern look. "Go spend your time at a teenagers' club or something. I don't have the time to deal with immature freaks like you two."

Eyebrows still raised, Sonic turned to Tails. "What did he just call us, little bro?"

"It wasn't nice at least, Sonic." Tails frowned. "You know, Sir, you could at least be friendly with people."

"I'm friendly with clients, and you aren't clients so I can be with you as I please." The clerk shrugged.

"Come on, Sonic, let's go somewhere else…" Tails was already starting to turn away when he saw Sonic shaking his head.

"No." The hedgehog turned back to the rabbit with a glare on his normally smiling face. "I'll tell you something. I spend a good amount of my lifetime chasing after Eggman to save people's butts, yours and your casino included. None of the adults you seem to like so much more than us came to help me and my friends, instead you all nicely kick back and watch us being shot and thrown bombs at, and afterwards you say 'Nice job, kiddo, now go back playing'. I play where I want. And right now, I wanna play in there 'cause it looks like a lot of fun. If you're a better take than Eggman's bots, give it a try and stop us. Come on, Tails."

Tails nodded hurriedly as the hedgehog pushed past the clerk and casually started to walk along the red carpet on the floor. Tails looked up at the rabbit with a small frown. "You managed something not many people do. You pissed off Sonic." Stepping past the surprisingly still man, Tails started to follow his older friend, but then turned around again. "Oh, before I forget. Tell your boss this place got horrible flying shortcuts."


"I didn't think we'd get another job so fast," Charmy exclaimed happily, continuously flying around the rest of Team Chaotix.

"Yeah, we were actually lucky this time," Vector noticed, snatching the hyperactive child out of the air. "Stop doing that."

Kneeling on the ground, fingers tracing the already eroded prints left in between Vanilla's flowers, Espio looked up just briefly, completely ignoring the byplay. "And it's a proper one, too. So stop messing around and help. We need to save all the clues we can get."

"Roger that!", Charmy shouted exitedly, dashing around the corner of the rabbit family's small house as soon as Vector released him. "I'm gonna find'em first!"

Taking a slow breath, Espio shook his head. "Fine." Changing the topic, he pointed Vector at the traces he'd found. "What do you say?"

The crocodile leaned down as well, closely regarding the ground. "Not a normal footprint," he said. "One small pointed part and a broader one. Either Misses Vanilla got a woman in high-heels trampling down her roses…"

"… or it was a robot," Espio finished.

"What is the more sensible thing," the green reptile noticed standing back up.

"Taking into account how the door was split in half and thrown out of the hinges, the thief must have been very strong," the chameleon continued, slowly walking around the house while he spoke. "A robot would easily master that strength."

"Possibly the real thief was afraid to carry out his deed himself," Vector speculated. "Or he couldn't do it."

"His or her motivation is a mystery to me, anyway. Who breaks into a house while the owners are on holiday, has all the time in the world to get out everything of value… and all that's taken is two old pieces of decoration?" Espio scratched his head.

"Perhaps the thief was interrupted," Vector suggested. "Someone might have come by and seen him… Although, then this person would have called the police…"

"I think –" Espio didn't get to state what he was thinking when Charmy burst around the corner and almost collided with him.

"You gotta see this!", the young bee shouted, almost breathless with excitement. "The thief made a fire in the garden behind the house!"

Exchanging a look of surprise, the two older detectives followed Charmy's lead, past the veranda and a swing for Cream on a brightly green meadow, over to a hedge and a line of bushes that surrounded the garden.

Stopping between two round bushes, Charmy pointed onto the ground beneath himself. "See?"

Espio tilted his head, staring down onto the grass. It was slightly longer here, but just where Charmy pointed the grass blades were missing. Instead, the Chaotix looked at two palm-sized, round, black marks. "Something… burned the grass…", the chameleon muttered.

"I told you!" Charmy folded his arms, visibly proud about himself. "The thief burned it!"

"Why should he do that?" Vector frowned. "Why here? What did he burn? If he was to destroy traces of what he'd done here, the house would have been a better choice. What's so special about this spot?" He looked around.

Espio shook his head. "There is nothing special about it. I see two possible explanations: First… These burned spots have nothing to do with the case at all. Second… we thought of a robot. And this," he pointed at the grass, "makes me think of a jetpack."

Vector looked between his friend and the ground. "You have a point there. What directly leads us to another question… The only person I can think of that uses robots… is Dr. Eggman."

"Eggman's always the bad guy!", Charmy commented. "And he still owes us the money for saving him…"

"Even if we're right, and Eggman is behind all this…" Espio frowned thoughtfully. "What does he want Vanilla's old plate and vase for?"

"Umm…" Charmy scratched his head. "Build a giant killer robot and conquer the world?"


Slowly wandering along the streets, Knuckles didn't spend any more thoughts on the pendant that now lay on his chest since the echidna had decided to wear the bracelet the way it was designed to be carried around. He had stopped trying to find out if the thing had anything to do with him, with his duty as the Emerald's guardian, if it maybe had been worn by another guardian in the past, long before he existed, or if it had been owned by someone guarding something other than the Master Emerald. A place maybe, or some treasure… or something else.

The question what Eggman wanted with it, and the things he'd taken from the Floating Island, had of course sprung to mind now that he had some more idle time. Not that Knuckles had found any answers to it. Neither had the echidna's musing turned up anything else of use; no ideas how Eggman had known there was stuff to dig out while Knuckles – who had spent his complete life on Angel Island – had not even considered there was even stuff to find. Just like some times before, Eggman seemed to know more than he did. As long as Eggman's more of knowledge concerned robots and similar things, the echidna could have hardly cared less, but if things concerned his island, relics from his ancestors, or maybe also the Master Emerald… then Knuckles was very much concerned.

All these thoughts that had played over and over in Knuckles' mind at the beginning of his trip had somehow greatly toned down during his walk. The city was large, and even though the echidna had been there before he had to admit to himself he was getting lost in it. At night times it looked very different than it did now, there were signs up you could use for orientation during the nightly hours in the giant casino, and there had been more people around. If it wouldn't be for the faint music playing in some of the clubs, you could believe the city was deserted at this hour.

He briefly considered entering one of the casinos that was already open, but a short glance through the doors clued him that inside a giant room filled with slot machines and behind it a giant pinball machine waited for gamblers; and that it was loud, with more people than he liked and with far too many brightly blinking lights in there. At least not deserted anyway, but Knuckles doubted any of the guys would be able to help him. He wasn't even sure what to ask for. He needed to find Eggman, but as much as Knuckles hated the idea by now the robots and their creator could be anywhere. How could he ask for the way if he didn't know where he wanted to go?

So he just kept strolling down the street he was on. Unfortunately for Knuckles, it soon turned out to be a dead end, but on second look that could have been worse. The square the echidna found himself on was surrounded by benches and palm trees in giant pots – the palm trees, not the benches of course. The square's center held a small fountain that let clear water sputter out of a thing that looked like a rather dumb kind of fish to Knuckles. Out of the large mouth as well as several holes across the sculpture's body thin jets of water rained into a round pool.

Knuckles shrugged and stepped up to the pool's edge. Glancing around for any signs if this was prohibited and finding none, the echidna dropped down on the rim around the pool, reaching with both hands into the water. It was amazingly refreshing, and after quenching his thirst, Knuckles also washed the remains of his fights with the robots and the fall afterwards off himself, and the dirt off the medallion. It looked even shinier now, Knuckles noticed warily. He would have to watch out for it in this strange city.

The echidna was still studying the small piece of jewellery for anything he might have overseen before when his ears picked up a sound and caused him to look over his shoulder. His fingers released the pendant and it dropped onto his chest as he span around. Behind him, the street had filled with robots. Slightly humanoid machines with a roundish torso, their armor painted in bright pink, red and green shades as was usual for the bots in this zone. The pink ones even possessed bunny ears... Knuckles had always thought it looked totally ridiculous. What had Eggman smoked when he created the things?

To Knuckles' dismay the robots didn't plan just standing around looking stupid. In spite of their clumsy and bizzare appearance, their red robot eyes were fixed on him with a glooming stare. They were here for him. Knuckles's eyes traced over the group, trying to judge where to attack best, but the robots were quicker. Mouthing a yelp as guns were raised and fire was opened at him, the echidna dived for cover into the only possible direction.

Into the small pool.


The world was spinning. Curled into a tight ball he couldn't see the blinking lights any more, but he felt the light tickles of electricity when he touched the walls and he heard the sounds the pinball table gave out everytime his score was boosted to a new high. Nothing like a novice to spindashing, Sonic sped up his rolling, hit a ramp and was catapulted upwards. Uncurling briefly in mid-air to orientate himself, the hedgehog set direction and homed in on the oversized slot machine in the middle of the board. For several seconds he was caught in blackness before being released and feeling a piece of the flipper scrape by his spines, but failing to truly change his direction.

A slightly dissonant chime was played as the blue hedgehog dropped into a large box full of pillows that softened his landing. Crawling out of it and tumbling over to the group of people gathered around the controls, Sonic had to admit he was slightly dizzy by now.

He was welcomed by Tails, pointing proudly at their newly set up highscore. "Hey Sonic! That's a new record!"

The hedgehog grinned. "Yeah, we're good, aren't we?"

"You sure are." The rabbit responsible for the pinball event nodded smiling. "Do you want another round? You're attracting quite a crowd…"

Sonic's green eyes roamed the faces of the admittedly rather big group of people lined up to watch them. He shook his head. "No thanks. I'm gonna get sick if Tails keeps bouncing me around like that…" The fox shot his brother a look of reproach. Sonic grinned. "No, you were great, Tails. Come on, let's get our prize and then go find some snacks, huh?"

Tails nodded and happily twirled his namesakes. "Yup!"

Hopping down the stage they stood on and working their way through the crowd, the two friends reached the exit and were handed a check. Sonic eyed it while they walked out. "That's more than a pair of new runners. We can get you some nice stuff to pimp up the Tornado as well, I guess."

Tails smiled. "That's great. I think if I can get the battle mode changed a little and increase wing sweepback, I can get her a lot faster…"

Sonic grinned and patted the fox' back. "I'm sure you can. And then we're gonna race."

"'Course!" Tails beamed. "But first we could head back the way we came, I guess we passed by a burger shop somewhere and –" The fox was interrupted by the sounds of machine gun fire not too far away.

"What the –", Sonic started only to find himself cut off by a loud metallic crash.

The two friends exchanged glances. Tails frowned. "Sounds like trouble."

Sonic folded the check and slipped it into his sock for safekeeping. "You say it."


"Okay, Cream, we gotta be really quiet now," Amy whispered.

Nodding seriously, the little rabbit followed her friend. Slowly and cautiously, the two girls crept up to one of the windows. Glimpsing over the window sill, they could get a look into the Chaotix' office.

Vector was pacing the room. "… no other solution at the moment but believe Eggman to be the thief," the crocodile said.

"All clues lead to him," Espio agreed, sitting on the sofa in a lotus position.

Cream's little fingers poked Amy's side. "Did he say Eggman?"

The pink hedgehog nodded. "I heard it, too."

"Doctor Eggman does a lot of bad things… but why would he steal Mum's decoration?" Cream's big, brown eyes looked doubtful.

"I don't know, Cream." Amy shrugged. "We'll just have to find out. That's what detectives do, you know?"

The little rabbit nodded, and both girls returned to look inside, hoping to eavesdrop on something else important.

"Did you find out anything on Eggman's current activities?", Vector just asked.

Espio nodded. "His robots have been seen at several places during the past days. I found reports of Eggman machines having been sighted in Mystic Ruins and Emerald Hill. They were spotted digging and roaming some old ruins."

"Old ruins? Aren't they scared of the ghosts?", Charmy Bee threw in, hopping up and down on the sofa next to Espio.

The chameleon shook his head. "Robots can't be scared of anything. Will you sit still, Charmy?"

Moping, the bee fell quiet for a brief moment. "Can we go see some ghosts then?"

Espio looked up to the team's leader. "Are we going to investigate Eggman's activities?"

The crocodile nodded. "Yes. We have to. If he has stolen Misses Vanilla's properties, he'll keep them most likely in his base. Our priority for now is locating it," he decided.

"Emerald Hill isn't far from here. I suggest we begin there." Espio stood up.

"Are we gonna smash some robots? Please!" Charmy beat his wings, flying after the chameleon.

"We probably have to, anyway. But we should try to stay unnoticed first," Espio explained, heading for the door. The two other detectives followed, leaving Amy and Cream to duck behind a few containers as they walked past.

"Now what are we gonna do, Amy?", the bunny wondered, nearly shivering with excitement. "Are we gonna investigate, too?"

Amy nodded. "Of course. But we have to be really careful so they won't see us, alright?"

"Alright!" Cream smiled, giving Amy a thumbs-up.

The hedgehog smiled too as she lead her younger friend after the Chaotix. Playing detectives was certainly fun; and it helped her not to think too much about other stuff.


Launching himself out of the not more than knee-deep water, Knuckles reached out with both hands and snatched firmly around the forearms of the robot standing directly in front of him. Lifting up the machine in spite of it being almost two times as tall as he was and at least 5 times heavier, Knuckles flung it over his head and released his grip again. Sent flying the Egg Pawn crashed against the ugly fish statue which in consequence lost a fin.

A quick jump brought the red echidna over the rim of the pool and into the midst of more robots. Knuckles lurched forwards, swinging his right arm around, thus adding a slight spin around his vertical to the motion and used the momentum of the jump to drive the punch of his fist even harder against the closest machine's chest armor. The small conic spikes on his namesakes stuck in the metal, the echidna leaned backwards for stability and spun around again, the damaged robots torso making unhealthy contact with two of the others that collapsed backwards. Shaking and unclenching his fist Knuckles' only half voluntary hold on 'his' robot was loosened and the red armoured machine hurtled through the air before colliding with one of the palm trees, toppling it over and hitting another robot.

The smirk on Knuckles' face lasted but a second – until two of the farther away robots had gotten the idea the advantage in close combat was Knuckles', and the use of their guns was increasing their chances to harm him while not getting damaged themselves. With a growl of both anger and surprise Knuckles dived for cover again behind the small wall around the pool.

Peering over it carefully and watching the bullets smashing against the apparently not very durably constructed and now crumbling fish fountain thingy, the echidna found to his annoyance the six remaining robots were starting to round the pool. There was nowhere he could have run to behind, and the shelter a round and not very high wall could offer wasn't that amazing either. His current situation was at least to be classified as 'suboptimal'.

Knuckles had just chosen to try his luck and jump the nearest robot to his left – a modified version of the regular Egg Pawns he'd seen in Casino Park before, purple colored with bunny ears, a design he'd always wondered what Eggman had taken when coming up with it – just because this one looked the silliest, but stopped before having even started to carry out his plan when something smashed into the back of the robot at the other side of the fountain pool. Finally ceasing to unleash its wrath on the helpless statue, the robot crumbled in a heap.

A streak of blue dashed from the fallen machine to its direct neighbour, the quick blurry shape revealing itself to be a spiky ball of royal blue that now bounded down onto another bunny robot with the force of a striking comet.

Casually rising to his feet from the wreckage, the blue hedgehog cockily folded his arms without showing any sign the five heavily armed robots still standing could be of any danger to him. Head slightly tipped aside the teenager eyed the sizzling and smoking pile of electronic waste to his feet. "You were one ugly piece of junkbot anyway," he said, and though Sonic still stood with his back to Knuckles, the echidna knew there was a grin on his face.

A soft whirring noise announced yet another newcomer. Gently descending towards the hedgehog, Tails shouted down to him. "Hey, you started without me!"

"Ya could have been faster, you know? I had to make sure they don't run off!"

Tails had almost reached ground level and was about to reply, but obviously the flying fox had let down his guard a little too much and the bot closest to him took advantage of it by hopping up and punching out at him. Though the move itself looked awkward and clumsy, the robot's left arm connected with the side of Tails' head. With a shriek of pain the fox dropped to the ground, curled up and clutched his head.

Casualty wiped away within less than a second, Sonic turned to the robot. Now that he was finally able to see the hedgehog's face, Knuckles watched with slight surprise how Sonic's eyes narrowed and the green in them suddenly seemed much darker than the usual shade of emerald, and when he spoke there was a growling undertone in it. Honestly Knuckles' hadn't expected him to say anything at all and directly get over to tearing the bots to bits.

"You interrupt our day off, attack random people, and now you hurt my little brother. What do you think I'll do with you now?" Whether the hedgehog had truly meant the robot to process the question or not would most likely stay his secret forever, he didn't really give it time to react at least. One second he'd been standing straight and still, the next he was gone, the image of blue hedgehog replaced by a disruptive blur crashing into the four robots in front of him.

His eyes catching a glimpse of movement from his right, Knuckles spotted the purple bunny-eared robot turn towards the hedgehog too, once more raising its gun. Although this kind of projectiles usually didn't mean much of a threat for Sonic given his speed, the echidna decided it wasn't his style just standing and watching Sonic do all the work. While he jumped the robot and planted a hard punch against its head, the echidna couldn't really help a strange feeling of familiarity to get to him. It happened quite often the blue hedgehog needed someone to watch his back, as he wasn't the most thoughtful one in battle; and if he was around, there was some kind of silent agreement on this being Knuckles' job.

At the same time reaching the spot where Tails still formed a ball of orange fur on the ground, Knuckles and Sonic exchanged just a brief glance before turning their attention to the little two-tailed fox.

Their worries receded when Tails opened his blue eyes as Sonic picked him up gently and pulled his hands away from his head. "You alright, big guy?"

The kid gave a small nod. "I think so. It just hurt a lot…"

Finishing looking over Tails' head, Sonic smiled at his adopted little brother. "It's just a bump now. Be more careful next time, okay?"

Tails nodded again and Sonic helped him to his feet.

"If you still want to fight we'll have to find some fresh bots I guess…", the blue hedgehog noticed pointing around.

"No thanks." Tails shook his head before turning to the red echidna. "Hi Knuckles!"

"Hello Tails. Sonic." Knuckles nodded at both of them.

The hedgehog grinned. "Long time no see. Want a burger? We were just out to get some snacks when we heard you being so noisy with these guys here."

Knuckles shrugged. Sonic and Tails knew a lot more about the surface ways than he did, so maybe staying with them for a while was the easiest way through here. "Fine, why not?"