Chapter 3: Pinball Panic
The casino was nearby, so Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles could easily run to it. The lights flashed brightly as they entered in the direction they saw Eggman flee in.
"Wow, this place sure is bright!" Sonic commented.
"Yeah. I hope it's not a distraction." Tails replied.
Then, the three of them stopped suddenly. "I hope that isn't," Knuckles said, "what I think it is…"
They all looked out in front of them to see three giant pinball machines. "Talk about déjà vu…" Sonic again commented. The giant machines were nearly identical to the ones that our heroes had encountered numerous times before, in everywhere from the Night Casino to the Casino Park. No one knew why every casino in the nearby area felt the need to have a giant pinball table to the right of the slot machines, three feet south of the blackjack tables, but they all did. Sonic looked to his right and saw a chute marked "Pinball Entrance". Tails and Knuckles saw similar chutes in two other locations. Each one corresponded to one of the giant tables.
"Look down there! An exit!" Tails pointed out. At the center of each table was an opening large enough for any of them to fit through. With the knowledge of that exit, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles each hopped into a separate chute. The pinball madness began!
Sonic got out of his machine quickly; then again, it was predictable, given the amount of experience he had with these things. Sonic flew out of the entrance tube onto the left flipper. Catching himself quickly, Sonic launched himself from the flipper and bounced off of a bumper, sending him back to his starting point. I'm going to have to do better than that, Sonic thought to himself. Another better-aimed shot sent Sonic straight up to the ledge in front of the exit.
Tails was having a fairly easy time of it as well. He made the same starting mistake as Sonic, and then launched himself into a giant slot machine. The reels landed on bells, giving Tails twenty giant gold rings. That's weird…no Sonic faces, Tails commented internally about the relatively realistic appearance of the slots in this casino. Despite his luck, though, Tails failed to notice that he was directly over the pit at the center of the table! About to fall to his doom, Tails remembered that he could fly even further with his belt and the Rings he just got as an alternate power source. He used this and carried himself up out of the pit. Further making use of his signature move Tails flew to the exit and greeted Sonic outside.
Knuckles was not having a good time at all. He was relatively new to the "living pinball" experience and was set off even further by the lack of a flat wall, meaning that no amount of well-timed gliding and climbing would save him. Three shots sent him into the bumpers, and a fourth shot him to the ceiling. Doing nothing but rapid-fire flipper launching, Knuckles was a bit shocked when he slowed down drastically and flew right up into the exit. Realizing that Tails was carrying him, Knuckles was somewhat relieved.
"I can see you're new to this," Tails explained.
"Thanks…" Knuckles replied dryly.
Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails are safe for the time, but for a brief second, Sonic's thoughts turned to Amy. How was she holding up? He couldn't know, but you can thanks to the power of dramatic irony.
At the hospital, Amy was slowly recovering. She woke up with a start, thinking she was still at the beach.
"Eggman, you let me go right now!" she screamed.
A doctor heard this and rushed into the room. He was relieved to see that Amy was fine as soon as she realized that she was in the hospital. Despite this comfort, she started screaming again.
"Everyone watch out for Eggman! He captured me before this! He said something about a nuclear bomb! Make shelters! Do something!" Amy yelled frantically.
Everyone looked at her like she had two heads. "Eggman?" the doctor inquired. "I think that parasailing accident messed with your head…"
"Parasailing accident? That's not what happened!" Amy protested.
"Well, that's what your friend said when he brought you in, anyway," the doctor replied.
"Friend?" Amy asked.
"Yeah, he was a blue hedgehog about your size. He was pretty worried."
"Sonic! He does care for me! He must have avoided mentioning Eggman to avoid panic!"
"I think you just took too hard a hit on the head. I'm sure you'll remember the parasailing accident after you rest a bit. Now go back to the room and sleep. It'll be good for you."
"What? But Eggman's going to attack! Don't you believe me?"
"Just sleep for a while and you'll be fine."
Amy growled and went back to the room.
Without realizing it, Sonic started talking to himself. "Man, I hope she's alright…"
"Sonic, are you still worried about Amy?" Knuckles asked.
"Huh? Oh yeah, that…I'll be fine."
The three of them continued to find Eggman waiting at the top of a large pipe structure. "Well, how unpleasant of you to drop in…" he said. " But unfortunately, one of you will have to drop out!" Eggman pressed a button on his control panel and the floor collapsed under Tails. He fell into the hole; neither Sonic nor Knuckles could see where it ended. Sonic was shocked into submission. "WHAT? Tails?" Sonic called desperately into the gap, but he got no reply. He knew, even though he didn't want to admit it, that not even perfectly times flying could have let Tails escape that one. Knuckles was shocked too, but he was able to do what he did best: turn his anger into pure rage. "WHY YOU! THAT'S NOT FIGHTING FAIR! I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD FOR THAT!"
In a fit of rage, Knuckles stormed the structure. Eggman dropped a bomb from his hovercraft into one of the tubes. It flew straight at Knuckles. Knuckles fell backwards from the hit, but when the smoke cleared, it was too late for Eggman this time. Knuckles planted a huge fist into the glass of Eggman's ship. Eggman fled with a broken windshield and several bleeding wounds. In his haste, he dropped two Chaos Emeralds. That's weird, Knuckles thought. Eggman wasn't using Chaos Emeralds this time. Well, at least we have them now.
Sonic was still in shock. He looked down into the unnatural fissure as far as he could, but saw no sign of anything. Knuckles called him. "Sonic, let's go! I'm sure Tails will be fine!"
"Shut up Knuckles! You're just saying that and you know it!"
"Sonic, listen—"
"No, you listen! I've lost at least one, maybe even two of my closest friends today and you're telling me to just come along like nothing ever happened?"
"Sonic, as much as you want to feel sorry for yourself, there won't be a 'you' to feel sorry for anymore if you don't move your ass and help me! Eggman is trying to destroy the world! We can't afford to have you sitting around pitying yourself!"
Sonic didn't respond.
"Sonic, listen. I know, as hard as it is to admit, that I can't do this on my own. Unless you want to die, follow me so we can beat Eggman!"
Still, Sonic was unmoved. In a last ditch attempt to bring Sonic back to life, Knuckles tried to give one of his best mental abilities to Sonic.
"Alright, I've tried hard enough to bring you back, but don't get up—at least, not for my sake. Do it for Eggman. Wouldn't you just like to destroy him now after all he's done to you? I know this won't help Tails and Amy any, but if you destroy Eggman, then he won't be around to hurt any of your other friends."
The look of anguish on Sonic's face turned into a look of pure anger and hate. "You're right. I will destroy Eggman, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop me. You in?"
"That's what I've been asking you for the last ten minutes! Now let's go! I saw Eggman escape toward Lava Mountain!"
As Sonic and Knuckles trudged toward Lava Mountain with a new sense of vengeance, a gloved hand struggled to grip the side of a deep chasm.