Pre-chapter Conversation
"So Shadow, there's something that's been on my mind for a long time." I said, starting off the conversation.
"What is it?" Shadow asked, crossing his arms.
"In Sonic Heroes, whenever you, Rougey Poo, and Omega use your Team Blast, you use the green Chaos Emerald to perform Chaos Control, yet you still have to get the green emerald from the Special Stages. What's up with that?"
"That's easy. The emerald I used at the time was fake."
"Fake?" I raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"
"Sure. When Professor Gerald created me, he needed a way to test out my ability to distort space and time." The dark one explained. "Because he didn't have the resources necessary to get any of the Chaos Emeralds, the professor decided to create a fake emerald from the data he had on the Chaos Emeralds. The result was the emerald you saw in that game. Of course, it was weaker than a normal Chaos Emerald, so I was only able to freeze time for a few seconds."
"So you had a fake emerald like the one Tails made in Sonic Adventure 2, huh?" I sighed contently. "I love it when we could solve a mystery without any mishaps." I turned to the camera. "Enjoy the chapter, folks!"
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The Adventures of Izzy the Human
Chapter Six
Emerald Collecting can be a real Chore
A few miles outside Diary Square, a star twinkled in the sky. After it disappeared, our heroes and villains were seen falling.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!" They all screamed as they approached the ground at an alarming speed.
°CRASH!°
Everybody groaned in agony. They were all in a heap on the grass. When they got up, they looked back at the city. Dark clouds gathered around where the high school was situated. Thunder clashed and lightning pierced the sky. Amy looked scared out of her wits. Shadow and Knuckles had their arms crossed and their eyes closed. Tails and Dr. Robotnik each put a hand to their chins to try to think of a way to get out of this mess. Rouge was in mourning for the Master Emerald, which broke for possibly the millionth time ever. Sonic was stretching out his legs. After a few moments, he got up and turned away from the group.
"Sonic?" Amy said. The rest of the group turned towards the cobalt hedgehog.
"Come on. Those emeralds aren't going to just collect themselves." He said as he looked back at the group. That was when he noticed Tails reading the paper that fell out of Alice's purse earlier. "What's that you got there, Tails?"
"This fell out of Alice's purse when she was grabbed." The kitsune replied.
"Well, what's it say?"
"'Reunite the two dragons to return the balance to reality and belief.'" Tails read. Everybody aside from the black hedgehog and red echidna (who were still in a meditative state) gave the fox boy a confused look.
"What does that mean?" Amy asked. Tails shrugged.
"Well whatever it means, we'll have to worry about it later. We better get going." Sonic said.
Just then, Shadow and Knuckles opened their eyes.
"An emerald is close by." The black one said to Dr. Robotnik.
"One of the Master Emerald shards is close as well." Knuckles said to Sonic.
"We'll go and get the emeralds." The blue one said. "Once we get all six of them, we'll come back here and I'll knock some sense into Izzy! Both of them!"
"Not if we get them first, faker." Shadow said, getting ready to leave with Dr. Robotnik and Rouge.
"Once we get the Chaos Emeralds, we'll get the final one from those two spiky rats and take over the world!" Ivo added as he took a capsule out of his pocket. He tossed it on the ground. In a puff of smoke, his hovercraft appeared. "MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!.!.!.!.!.!.!" He jumped in and flew away. Shadow skated after him. Rouge turned to Knuckles with a smirk.
"And I'll see you later, with my Master Emerald!" She winked and flew after her comrades. Knuckles growled.
"Not if I get both shards first."
"Come on, Knuckles! Let's get moving before those two Izzys do any serious damage to the world." Sonic said as he grabbed Amy's hand. The girl blushed, but quickly wiped it off when he started running. Tails followed after them in the air.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Knuckles yelled as he started running after them.
They traveled for a few miles before coming up to an abandoned factory. The group skidded to a stop. Amy held her nose.
"Ugh! Don't tell me that shard is here!" She said.
"Ok. We won't." Knuckles replied as everybody walked around.
All around the factory was a stream of greenish goop. Sonic looked disgusted as he struggled to remove his foot from a puddle of the stuff.
"Yuck! I guess humans here are just as bad as Eggman when it comes to pollution."
"What did you expect?" Tails asked.
"Well they don't have to stink so—Woah!" Amy screamed as she tripped over a rock and landed in the dirty water. The rest of the group laughed as she stood up with mud dripping down her dress. She glared at them and turned to the rock she tripped over. She pulled out her hammer.
"Why you—Huh?" She stopped as she noticed that the rock was glowing. "Hey! I found it!" Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles ran over to her as she dug through the soil. She soon pulled out the Master Emerald half.
"I'll take that!" Knuckles said, snatching the shard out of her hands. He tried to wipe the muck off of it, but he was having a difficult time getting the dirt out of the cracks.
"I wonder if they have emerald cleaners around here." He mumbled. The two hedgehogs and the fox sweatdropped.
"Forget about that!" Sonic yelled. "Now that we have this shard, we can use it to find the Chaos Emeralds a little easier."
With that, the group sped off again. They went through forests and a couple of cities. Finally, after about a hundred miles, the group found themselves at a harbor. The Master Emerald shard glowed brightly.
"Alright! There's an emerald near here." The guardian said. They walked around a bit, Sonic clinging to Amy for safety.
"As long as we don't have to go in the water, we'll be fine." The blue hedgehog said fearfully. The pink hedgehog sweatdropped.
"Sonic, as much as I love you hugging me, this isn't very becoming of a hero." Sonic glared at her.
"Oh, and I suppose getting squeezed to death by you on a daily basis is?"
"That's completely different!" Amy shot back. Sonic stood up and crossed his arms.
"Not to me."
While the two argued, Tails and Knuckles sweatdropped and sighed.
"I hope Rouge never gets like that." The echidna said.
"I hope Yuji Naka never creates a fox version of Amy for me." The younger male said.
As they reached the end of a pier, the half of the Master Emerald started glowing brighter than it was earlier. Sonic and Amy turned towards Knuckles.
"The emerald—" Knuckles took a pause for effect. "—Is under the sea."
"NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!" Sonic screamed. He then fell to the ground and got in a fetal position. Tails and Amy looked at Knuckles, who grinned.
"That was so worth it." The echidna said.
"Is the Chaos Emerald really underwater?" Tails asked.
"Nah. It's right over there." Knuckles pointed at a nearby shack. "I just wanted to scare Sonic." He chuckled as Sonic got up.
"Not funny, Knucklehead." He growled.
"Well, I thought it was funny." Knuckles said. Amy rolled her eyes and walked over to the tiny shack.
She opened the door and looked inside. The wooden ceiling had a hole in it. The hedgehog looked at the floor and found the blue emerald lying in a pile of splinters. She picked it up and walked back to the rest of the group.
"I got it, so let's go." She said cheerfully. Sonic immediately grinned.
"Finally! Good bye, horrid place of water!"
He grabbed Amy's hand and sped off, followed by Tails and Knuckles. They dashed out of the city they were in. Once they cleared the suburbs, the ground started shaking.
"Woah! What's going on?" Tails yelled as he tried to keep his balance.
In front of the group, a huge rock formation lifted out of the ground and stretched about a mile upwards. When it finished lifting, there was a gigantic three-person loop ahead of them.
(A/N: By three-person, I mean that it is a loop like the kind you see in Sonic Heroes.)
"What's this about?" Knuckles asked.
"This must be a product of the emeralds' presence here." Tails replied.
"Looks fun." Sonic smirked as he ran up the middle lane with Amy hanging on tight. Knuckles took the right lane and Tails used the left one. Sonic and Amy went straight up the wall, Knuckles went along a spiral, as did Tails. The four soon passed by each other at the loop's ceiling and ran out of it.
"I never get tired of that!" Sonic cheered as he kept on running. They went a few more miles before Amy's emerald started glowing.
"Sonic, there's another one nearby." She said as everybody else stopped. They were near a cliff.
"You know, it's been pretty easy so far." Knuckles said.
"Tell me about it." Sonic agreed with a yawn. "This is kinda boring. Getting the emeralds is usually more exciting than this."
"Well, they don't call it the Boring Dimension for nothing." Tails commented.
"But still, I usually have more fun fighting Eggman. I almost wish it was him that I have to fight."
"Well, Sonic, I think you're about to get your excitement." Amy said. She pointed to her left, where the cliff was. The guys walked over to take a look. They saw a massive twister tearing up the farmland. The group was able to see a red glow coming from the vortex. Sonic smirked.
"Figures they wouldn't all be easy." He stretched a bit. "I better take care of this myself. Be right back!" He ran towards the cliff.
"Be careful, Sonic!" Amy and Tails yelled.
Sonic ran off the cliff and down the side. When he reached the ground, he stopped and held a hand to his chin.
"Now how am I going to get in there? It's too bad Tails didn't take the Tornado with him."
In a bright flash of light, a spring appeared in front of him. Sonic looked at it and then up. He saw several air rings floating directly above him. He smirked as he looked at the tornado.
"Gotta time it right." He said as he got ready to hop on the spring. The tornado started moving towards him.
After a few seconds, Sonic jumped on the spring. It propelled him up into the air towards the huge loops. He went through the first one and was propelled higher. A few feet later, he went through another one. He kept going through air rings until he was at least a thousand feet in the air. He was now directly over the center of the funnel. He saw a red dot getting tossed around.
"The red emerald." Sonic said to himself.
He dove into the tornado with a hand held out. When he got close to the emerald, he made to grab it, but he missed. He flipped and landed on a tractor that was caught up in the storm. He jumped off it and went towards the emerald again, but he went too high.
"Ugh! Will ya stand still!.?" He yelled in frustration. He then blinked as he noticed he was going towards a cow. He sweatdropped. "Man, tornados here are weird."
He jumped off the cow and finally made the grab!
"Alright! …But how do I get out of here?"
The force of the tornado caused the hedgehog to get spun around. After he went through several rotations, he noticed a row of rings going out of the tornado. Sonic moved his body as if he was swimming. He went towards the rings. The fact that he was still getting tossed around by the high winds didn't make things any easier for him.
"Ugh! Almost…there…" He grunted.
He was soon close enough to the rings. After getting spun around one more time, he used his light speed dash to get out of the tornado.
"Alright!" Tails and Amy cheered as they saw the blue hero run out of the twister. The row of rings stretched out to the cliff. Sonic ran along the row and landed close to the other three animals.
"Whew! Two and a half down, four and a half to go." He panted.
"Come on! We gotta get to the next emerald!" Knuckles yelled.
After Sonic got back his energy, the group sped off again.
Two days later…
"Alright! This is a stick up!" Dr. Robotnik yelled, holding a fully loaded laser.
The evil doctor was at a bank in a city far from Diary Square. He fired his gun into the air, causing the patrons of the bank to cower on the floor. Ivo walked over to one of the tellers.
"H-How much do you w-want?" The teller, who was an intern, stuttered.
"I don't want your worthless money!" Dr. Robotnik barked. "I want the Chaos Emeralds you have here!" The teller stopped shaking and raised an eyebrow.
"The what?"
"Don't play dumb with me!" Dr. Robotnik spat. "I read an article on the Internet that said two of the Chaos Emeralds have wound up here. Now hand them over or I will have to use other means of persuasion." The teller got brave.
"Oh yeah? And what are you and your toy gun gonna do?" He challenged. The doctor made to fire, but he put down the laser and smirked.
"Oh, I won't do anything."
With that, he snapped his fingers. Shadow and Rouge walked up to him. The teller took one look at them and exploded with laughter.
"Yeah right! What are two kids in Halloween costumes gonna do!.?" He stopped laughing long enough to ask.
"Lots." Ivo replied as he stepped aside.
Shadow and Rouge jumped into the booth and a cloud of dust appeared as sounds of fighting were heard. The bank customers sweatdropped. After a few minutes, the cloud dissipated, revealing a bruised-and-battered bank teller. The two furries were standing over him.
"Now will you give us the emeralds?" Dr. Robotnik asked.
"I told you. I can't." The teller replied.
"Heh. Wrong answer!" The good doctor snapped his fingers again. Another dust cloud appeared. A few minutes later, a couple of black eyes were added to the teller's injuries.
"Now take us to the vault!"
"I can't!" The teller repeated.
"I'm beginning to lose my patience! Get me those emeralds now! Otherwise, the last five seconds of your miserable life will be very painful!" Dr. Robotnik shoved the laser in the poor guy's face. The teller cowered.
"I can't! I don't have clearance! I'm new here!"
"WHAT!.?.!" The doctor, bat, and hedgehog yelled as they looked up.
(Me: Well, I did say he was an intern!)
The three villains fell over.
"Oh screw this!" Shadow yelled as he walked up to the vault. He moved his hands around, creating several balls of distorted space. He placed them against the vault's door.
"That's his Roaming Chaos attack, isn't it?" Rouge asked Dr. Robotnik, who nodded.
"He's using too many though." He said.
Shadow had placed at least a dozen of the bombs around the vault. He then moved away and got ready to snap his fingers. Rouge's eyes widened.
"HIT THE DECK!.!.!" She yelled as she ducked. Dr. Robotnik followed suit. The bank customers ran out of the bank. Shadow snapped his fingers.
°BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!°
Smoke filled the entire bank. The doctor and the bat coughed and gasped for air. When the smoke cleared, the trio's eyes widened.
"WHAT THE—!.?.!.?.!"
The vault was still standing!.?
"I'm the Ultimate Life Form! How can a few feet of titanium steel stand between me and two of the Chaos Emeralds!.?.!" Shadow roared. He jumped backwards and made to fire his Chaos Spear attack at the vault. Rouge stepped up and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Before you even start, I know how this joke goes." She said before walking towards the vault.
She gave the door a light kick. The entire room started shaking. After a few seconds, the vault door tumbled backwards and landed with a mighty crash. The two males stared at the door and her in disbelief. The bat ignored them and walked inside. She soon stepped out, holding the green and gray Chaos Emeralds.
"Yay! My favorite emerald!" Shadow yelled, holding his hands out towards the green emerald like a chao begging for food. Rouge rolled her eyes and handed it to him. The hedgehog rubbed the emerald against his face.
"Hello beautiful. I've missed you so much."
"Now I know why he always has the green one with him." Dr. Robotnik whispered to Rouge, who nodded. Shadow cleared his throat and turned towards his two comrades.
"Come on." He said as he walked out of the bank. "I know where the other emeralds are." The other two raised an eyebrow and followed.
"And how do you know that?" Rouge asked.
"I can feel four of the other emeralds and the Master Emerald." At those last two words, Rouge squealed.
"Well what are we waiting for?.! Let's go!" Shadow nodded and held up the green emerald.
"Chaos Control!" They disappeared in a flash of green light.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"So what is this place?" Rouge asked.
The trio was standing (floating in Dr. Robotnik's case) on top of a building. It was currently nighttime.
"I don't know, but it reminds me of Casino Park, only without the pinball tables." Shadow replied.
All around them were buildings with bright neon lights covering them. There were even sculptures made out of lights.
"This is called 'Las Vegas.'" Dr. Robotnik answered. He was looking at the computer on his hovercraft. "This is where most people spend their three-day weekends."
"I thought that was Atlantic City." Rouge commented.
"Gee, I wonder how you know that." Shadow said dryly. Rouge glared at him and crossed her arms.
"Moving on, this place has many casinos. In fact, the most in the entire world." Dr. Robotnik continued.
(A/N: Don't quote me on that, folks. It's a fair assumption though.)
"Hmmm… The Chaos Emeralds are that way." Shadow said, pointing at a particularly huge casino. The whole thing was shaped like a pyramid. Around it were several obelisks and statues of Anubis to add to the theme. Dr. Robotnik put a hand to his chin.
"This'll be difficult."
"Ugh! Eggman, it's easy!" Rouge huffed. "We'll just go in there, act like we're there to blow money on rigged games, and search for the emeralds!"
"She's right. Let's go!" Shadow said as he held up his emerald. "Chaos Control!"
They disappeared and reappeared at the front of the casino. Dr. Robotnik jumped out of his hovercraft and pressed a button on the side. In a puff of smoke, it became a capsule.
"I gotta remember that the next time you turn on us." Rouge said. Ivo sneered as he put it in his pocket.
"Let's get moving. The sooner we get these emeralds and the one those two brats have, the sooner I can take over the world."
As they started walking towards the entrance to the casino, Shadow started thinking.
'Our two emeralds, plus the four emeralds and the two halves of the Master Emerald I sensed… All the emeralds we need to deal with that punk are about to be assembled in one place. This is too easy. Surely that faker would have gotten one of them by now.'
The trio walked inside.
The entire interior was made to look like an ancient Egyptian tomb. Hieroglyphics littered the walls. More statues of Anubis and Egyptian gods were seen. In the casino area were Egyptian themed games and a stage. Rouge whistled at the sight.
"Almost like the inside of your base, huh?" She said to Ivo, who crossed his arms.
"Unlike this cheap simulation, mine is authentic." He replied.
The trio walked towards the entrance to the casino area when they were stopped by two guards.
"Hold it right there." The left guard said. "You kids aren't allowed in the casino."
"Kids!" Rouge demanded. Shadow just glared at the two humans. The left guard bent down towards the bat.
"That's right, little missy." He answered sweetly before looking up at Dr. Robotnik. "Sorry sir, but minors are not allowed in the casino. You could take them to the kid casino over there."
He pointed at an area that looked similar to the adult casino, except instead of slot machines, there were coin-operated arcade games. Ivo cackled at the idea of escorting the world's greatest jewel thief and the Ultimate Life Form to the arcade like they really were little kids, but business was business.
"Actually, these two are old enough to go inside the casino." He said at last. The guard gave him a weirded out expression.
"Sir, you can't be serious. What grown person would wear costumes like that?" Dr. Robotnik's sunglasses gleamed in the light.
"I'm deadly serious. And who said they were people to begin with?"
"Huh?"
"He could be telling the truth, Charlie." The right guard said. "Remember those other four animals that came by here?"
The villains each gave a horrified look.
"Other four animals?"
"Oh yeah. They were small guys like you two." The right guard gestured to Shadow and Rouge. "Two were hedgehogs, one was a weird fox that had two tails, and the other one was an anteater, I think…" He scratched his head.
"I think you mean echidna, Tom." Charlie said.
"Oh yeah!"
"It was just too good to be true…" Ivo, Rouge, and Shadow groaned.
"So are you guys friends or something?" Tom asked.
"WHAT!.?.!" The three villains demanded. The two guards sweatdropped and held their hands in defense.
"Me? Friends with that faker? Preposterous!" Shadow grunted.
"And you must be kidding if you think I'll ever be friends with that echidna!" Rouge agreed.
"Or that blasted hedgehog!" Dr. Robotnik added.
"Sorry, sorry!" Tom replied.
"So can we finally go in?" Rouge sighed.
"Sure." Both guards replied as they stepped aside.
"And don't forget about the contest we're having later!" Charlie called after them.
"I can't believe that faker is here!" Shadow said.
"The same thing goes for that echidna!" Rouge hissed, throwing her arms into the air.
"Let's just find those emeralds and get out of here before we run into them!" Dr. Robotnik said.
"Too late!"
The three villains stopped and turned at the voice. Standing before them were Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. Shadow's emerald glowed brightly as well as the gray one (Dr. Robotnik had that one).
"So I was right. You do have an emerald." Shadow said. Sonic smirked.
"Not just one." He said as he pulled out the red emerald. Knuckles pulled out the shard of the Master Emerald and Amy followed suit with the blue emerald. They were glowing as well. Rouge stomped her feet at the sight of half of her "baby."
"No fair! I'm supposed to have the whole Master Emerald!"
"Heh. Deal with it." Knuckles said as he put the shard away.
"So that means the cyan and yellow Chaos Emeralds are here." Tails said.
"As well as the other half of the Master Emerald." Dr. Robotnik added.
"But where are they?" Amy asked.
"Attention everyone!" A voice yelled. Everybody turned towards the stage, where a man in a suit was standing. "We're about ready to begin our contest. The object is to win as much money as possible within one hour. The one with the most money will win this!"
A woman wearing a Cleopatra outfit wheeled a covered cart on stage.
"This fabulous set of jewels!" The emcee pulled back the curtain to reveal—
"THE CHAOS EMERALDS!.?.!" The group yelled.
Inside a glass case were the cyan and yellow emeralds.
"Remember folks, one hour! The one who has won the most money within this time will win these jewels! So start winning! The clock is ticking!"
Everyone who listened to the announcement went nuts and ran over to the slot machines. Our heroes and villains faced each other.
"Who ever gets the most cash gets those lovely jewels." Rouge murmured. "Looks like I got some winning to do! I'm going to win those beautiful jewels all for myself!" She ran off towards the Roulette table.
"Not if I can help it!" Knuckles yelled before following.
"Yeah! I'm gonna win those emeralds for my Sonikku-chan!" Amy cheered.
"MUAHAHAHAHA!.!.! Not if I win them first, little girl!" Dr. Robotnik laughed.
"We'll get them before you, Eggman!" Tails shouted.
The three dashed over to the slot machines, leaving Shadow and Sonic to glare at each other.
"Are you a gambling 'hog, faker?" Shadow asked with a smirk.
"Nope, but there's a first time for everything." Sonic replied with the same smirk. "Think you got what it takes to beat us to the emeralds?" Shadow chuckled.
"Don't make me laugh. You won't even come close to beating me."
"We'll see about that!" Sonic yelled before racing Shadow to the Blackjack table.
At the Roulette table…
"Six black!" Rouge yelled as she got to the table. She slapped down a tall pile of chips.
"Twenty-five red!" Knuckles shouted as he reached the table. He also slapped down the same amount of chips.
"Hey! I was here first, Red!"
"No way!" Knuckles shot back.
"Calm down." The worker for the game said. "You two can make your bets for the same roll." The two furries calmed down. "Do we have any other players?"
Some people started running towards the table until Rouge and Knuckles sent them a death glare. They immediately backed down.
"…That's new…" The worker said before shaking his head. "Let's begin!"
He took out a white ball and rolled it on the Roulette wheel. He then spun the wheel.
"Round and round she goes, where she stops, nobody knows!"
"Cut the clichés." Rouge said. "Come on! Mama needs a pair of emeralds!"
"Stay away from the six." Knuckles said. "Your home is twenty-five."
"Don't you dare go near that twenty-five. It's a rat-infested hell hole. Number six is calling your name."
"Don't listen to her." Knuckles fought back. "You love number twenty-five."
"No it doesn't!" Rouge yelled. "It wants six!"
"No! It wants twenty-five!" Knuckles yelled as he and Rouge faced each other.
"Six!"
"Twenty-five!"
The ball started slowing down.
"Six!"
"Twenty-five!"
"Six!"
"Twenty-five!"
The ball finally stopped.
"Six black." The worker said.
"Yes!.!.!" Rouge cheered.
"What!.?.!" Knuckles yelled, bringing his fist crashing down on the table. The force of the blow caused the ball to bounce out of six black and into twenty-five red.
"Well whaddya know, twenty-five red!" The worker said, sliding a huge pile of chips towards Knuckles.
"WHAT!.?.!" Rouge screamed.
At the slot machines…
"Thanks to my new machine, I'll get jackpots every single time! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!.!.!.!.!" Dr. Robotnik laughed. He had a small computer hooked up to the coin slot of his slot machine. Unfortunately for him, Tails and Amy overheard this.
"Excuse me." The fox boy said to a passing security guard, "That man over there is planning to cheat at the slot machine."
"What?.!" The guard yelled. He then grabbed Dr. Robotnik in a choke hold.
"Huh!.? Let go of me!.!.!"
"No dice! You're out of here for cheating! And in front of such impressionable kids too!" The guard said as he dragged Dr. Robotnik away.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!" The doctor screamed as Tails waved good bye. The kitsune turned back to the slot machine.
"Now to get this thing out of here."
°WHAM!°
Tails was knocked to the wall by Amy and her hammer.
"Amy!.? What are you doing!.?" He yelled as he rubbed his head.
"Sorry Tails, but we need to win in a hurry!" Amy said as she pulled down the lever of the machine Dr. Robotnik was trying to rig. The wheels spun around for few seconds before each of them stopped on a seven. The bells for the machine went off as it started spitting out coins.
At the Blackjack table…
"Hit me." Shadow said. He had three cards in front of him. The dealer picked a card from the deck and laid it on the table.
"Twenty." He said.
"I'll stay." Shadow replied. He gave an amused glance towards Sonic, who was looking extremely nervous. He currently had four cards in front of him. His current total was ten (he had low cards).
"H-Hit me." The hedgehog said. The dealer drew from the deck.
"Fifteen." He said as he laid the card in front of Sonic.
"Hit me."
"Eighteen."
"Hit me."
The dealer pulled another card from the deck. It was the three of clubs.
"Twenty-one."
Shadow gaped at the blue hedgehog's boundless luck. He couldn't believe he lost to Sonic again! He was about to bang his head on the table when…
"Hit me."
Both the dealer and the dark hedgehog looked at Sonic like he grew two heads.
"Are you sure, sir?" The dealer asked, getting a glare from Shadow in the process.
"Hit me." The cobalt hedgehog repeated. Shadow had a look of triumph as the dealer drew a card.
"Twenty-seven."
"Hit me."
Back with the treasure hunters…
"Twelve!" Rouge yelled at Knuckles.
"Eight!" Knuckles roared at Rouge.
"Twelve!"
"Eight!"
"Twelve!"
"Eight!"
The ball stopped.
"Eight red!" The worker at the table called.
"Yes!" Knuckles cheered.
Suddenly, the table was rocked, causing the ball to go into Twelve black.
"Oops! My mistake. Twelve black!"
"HUH!.?.!" Knuckles glared at Rouge, who was whistling innocently.
With Tails and Amy…
"All right! Come to Mommy!" Amy cheered as the tenth cascade of coins came out of the slot machine.
"MMMMMMPH!.!.! MMMMPH!.!.!" Tails' screams were muffled. He was gagged and tied up behind the pink hedgehog.
With the faker and the Ultimate Life Form…
"Hit me." Sonic said.
"°Sigh° Thirty-two…" The dealer said as he laid Sonic's fifteenth card on the table. Shadow looked like he was going to kill someone. Namely a certain hedgehog.
"Hit me."
"Forty."
"Hit me."
"For the love of Maria! YOU LOST!.!.!" Shadow yelled.
Forty minutes later…
"Time is almost up everybody!" The emcee yelled. There were currently ten seconds left!
"Sonic here!" Amy and Knuckles yelled as they each tossed a huge bag of cash towards Sonic. He caught them with no problem and started running towards the stage.
"Here Shadow!" Rouge called.
She tossed a gigantic bag towards Shadow, who already had a huge bag with him. He caught it and skated after Sonic. Miraculously, they were both able to go at an amazing speed, despite the weight of the bags. They each raced neck and neck towards the stage area, where a balance scale was set up. Just as time was about to run out, both hedgehogs got to the scale.
"Woah! You guys sure won big!" The emcee yelled. "Ok! Place your cash at both ends of the scale and we'll see who has the most!"
Rouge and the rest of our heroes walked over as Shadow and Sonic started piling the bags on the scale. After they finished, the scale started moving.
"Yes!" Sonic yelled as the scale went lower on his side. He quickly wiped the grin when it went up.
"Heh. Looks like we win." Shadow said as his side of the scale went down. But it ascended again.
"Looks like you spoke too soon." Sonic said.
The scale tipped both ways for a few minutes before both groups (minus Dr. Robotnik, who was still outside the casino) gasped.
"IT'S A TIE!.?.!.?.!"
"Impossible! I don't tie with anyone." Shadow said as he crossed his arms.
"Glad you agree. 'Cause we won, faker!" Sonic said. Both hedgehogs glared at each other.
"Men." Rouge said, shaking her head.
"So who won?" Amy asked the emcee.
"That's easy! Both of you win!" The emcee replied. "Come on up and get your prize!"
The six furries walked on stage.
"There's something I don't understand." Knuckles said.
"What's that?" Tails, who was untied, asked.
"Where's the other half of the Master Emerald?"
"We'll worry about that in a few." Sonic said. "Now we get our emeralds."
"And now for your prizes." The emcee said, grinning evilly. He pushed a nearby button with his foot. Doing so caused a trap door to open underneath everybody's feet!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!" The group screamed as they fell.
"So long suckers!" The man yelled.
He was about to wheel the cart containing the cyan and yellow Chaos Emeralds when Shadow appeared in a flash of Chaos Control. The emcee gulped.
"I'll take those." The ebony hedgehog said. He punched a hole in the glass case and grabbed the emeralds. He then jumped back into the trap door.
Everybody fell for what seemed like miles. Soon they wound up in an office of sorts. It was nicely decorated with a velvet carpet and some leather couches and chairs. They got up from the floor and looked at the desk ahead of them. Sitting at it was a man wearing a three-piece suit and a pharaoh's hat. He had a small mustache and a goatee. He seemed to be as tall as Dr. Robotnik, but it was hard to say for sure.
"I've been watching you." The man started. "I'm impressed."
"Hey! What's the big idea setting us up like that!.?" Knuckles roared at the man.
"And who are you?" Sonic asked.
"I am the owner of this casino." The man replied. "And as for why I sent you here, I have a job for you." He stood up and walked in front of the desk.
"A few days ago, these two weird guys who are animals like you appeared in a city called Diary Square. They're wreaking havoc."
"We're aware of that." Shadow said.
"Yeah. We're trying to get these—" Sonic started, holding up his emerald. "—So that we can go back and fight them."
"Good. So you should agree to my offer." The owner said. "If I let out you of here, you must promise to go back to Diary Square and defeat them."
"Well that's kind of redundant." Rouge commented. "What's your involvement in this, anyway?"
"My son lives in Diary Square. I want those two guys dealt with before any harm comes to him."
"Why should we help you? After the stunt you just pulled, I oughta rearrange your face!" Knuckles said.
"If you don't help me, I'll introduce you to my secret weapon." The owner shot back.
"Oh? And what's that?"
"I'm glad you asked." The owner sneered as he took out a remote and pushed a button.
A movie screen lowered from the ceiling and turned on. It displayed a jail cell containing several people. Their eyes were wide open and they were babbling things like "Keep your health meter above zero" and "Press B button to jump."
"Why are they saying useless information?" Shadow asked.
The camera panned around. The group gasped as they found out the reason.
"Hi! I'm Omochao! I'm here to help!" There was a scream and static appeared on screen before it turned off.
"I lose more camera guys that way." The casino owner said before turning to the group, who was cowering in fear. Even Shadow was spooked by the appearance of the blue robot. "So what do you say?"
"We're gonna need a little more incentive that."
"KNUCKLES!.!.!" Everybody else yelled. The owner hissed at them.
"Fine! As an added bonus, you can keep those jewels, plus this one I found." He took the other half of the Master Emerald out of his pocket and tossed it to the ground. "Satisfied?"
"Very." Knuckles replied as he greedily grabbed the shard and applied it the other one he had. In a bright flash of green light, the Master Emerald was restored.
"Now we'll be leaving." Sonic said as he and everybody else ran out of the office.
"And good luck!" The owner called.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Took you long enough!" Dr. Robotnik yelled as he got up. The six furries got out of the casino with the five Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald in hand.
"Whatever, Eggman. Now let's go! I got a dimension to save!" Sonic said as he held up the red emerald. Shadow followed suit with the green one.
"Chaos Control!" Both hedgehogs yelled.
In a blinding flash of light, they all disappeared. They soon reappeared on top of the hill outside Diary Square. The sky was completely dark and thunder would be heard every few seconds. The occasional lightning bolt would also light up the sky.
"Well, it looks like our little guardians have been busy." Rouge said.
The entire city was surrounded by a brick wall. Many of the buildings were also destroyed. And where the high school once stood was a castle. Many torches were placed along the perimeter. Many towers jutted out from the sides.
"We gotta find a way in there!" Tails said.
"We also have to get the final emerald back from them." Amy said.
"We've come this far. There's no way we're giving up!" Sonic declared. The rest of the group (yes, even Dr. Robotnik) showed their agreement.
"Here's the plan…" Sonic started.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
What is Sonic's plan? Will the blue hero defeat the two Izzys and return peace to the Boring Dimension? Find out next time in the final chapter of The Adventures of Izzy the Human!
