A/N:
This wasn't the intended next chapter, I had such a busy week/weekend. I still haven't had a chance to look over the other chapter like I wanted, but don't worry! I'm sure you won't even notice, except I just told you!
This does mean though I will be out of backlog chapters next update. I better hurry up and get into the writing mines. We're on the home stretch anyway, only 4/5 left after next update.
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Amy watched as Vanilla looked around at the bright lights and flashing signs, the tall buildings and wide paved streets. She had to admit, the place looked impressive, and it was somewhat heart warming to see Vanilla react to Casino Night Zone for the first time.
They stood on the side of the main street in front of their hotel, having just checked in. The whole trip was rather abrupt, and none of them would have gone if it wasn't free. Turns out, for some reason, Mayor Fink had decided that the entire village, including him, should go on a trip to Casino Night Zone. A common vacation spot, it was extremely far from their village, and Amy couldn't understand why the mayor would take money out of the village's coffers to pay for such a trip. Then again, the entire village, Amy included, didn't look this gift horse in the mouth.
"I can't wait to lose all my money, pass out, and wake up married to somebody I've never met!" said Vanilla, cutting Amy out of her thoughts.
Amy sputtered, while everybody else stared at her wide eyed.
"Uh, yeah, so who wants to be chaperone for Vanilla?" asked Sonic.
"I guess I can do that," said Tails, stepping towards her. Sonic blocked him from taking any more steps, while Vanilla was still spinning obliviously, her head up looking at the sights.
"Not you," said Sonic. "She'll drag you into it and then you'll both come out married to people you've never met."
"That doesn't sound so bad," said Knuckles. "I've met Eggman, and I wouldn't want to marry him."
Amy was so astounded by that logic, she didn't know what to say to it.
"This whole place is a scam," said Sticks. Finally Vanilla stopped twirling. "Sure, it looks nice with its tall buildings and fancy springs, but it's just here to take every last penny from good hard working folks and give them nothing but empty promises in return!"
"Wrong!" said Vanilla. "Well, yes about taking our money, but wrong about what they offer! This place offers fun! It's basically a giant theme park!"
"It's a theme park alright, where the theme is a scam!"
"So about chaperoning Vanilla," said Amy. "We should keep it simple. Girls and boys stick together and we can meet up later. That sound good?"
"Fine," said Sonic.
"I hate that idea," said Vanilla.
"You don't get a vote!" snapped Amy.
"So how about we go check out the slots," said Sonic, looking to Tails and then Knuckles. "I love those things."
"Yeah!" replied Knuckles, as Tails said, "All right!" and all three ran off leaving Amy, Sticks, and Vanilla alone. It was then that Amy was painfully aware that neither Vanilla, or Sticks, had been here before.
"So, where to girls?" asked Amy. Vanilla just glared, while Sticks ignored the question, glancing around in clear boredom.
"How about we go to the slots?" asked Vanilla, though her tone made it clear she didn't expect to be taken seriously.
"Maybe later," said Amy. "The slots are better at night anyway."
"I'm guessing that's why they call it Casino Night Zone," said Sticks, folding her arms over her chest.
"If the slots are better at night, why is Sonic going there now?" asked Vanilla.
"Because they're less crowded during the day, and he really likes slots."
"Okay, whatever," said Vanilla, now sounding grumpy. Amy felt a bit annoyed herself, but tried to push that aside. These two were ruining the trip with their attitudes, and it if there was any salvaging this, it'd be up to Amy to show them a good time.
"How about we start off by -" Amy was cut off by her communicator beeping. She pressed it, seeing it was a call from Sonic.
"Hey Amy, I'm out of rings, can you -"
"No," said Amy, cutting the connection. She then looked at Vanilla and then Sticks. "Let's walk the strip, see if anything catches our eye," said Amy. Their hotel was already on the strip, along with a host of prominent casinos.
"I don't want nothing catching my eye," said Sticks, who despite her complaining, followed Amy as she started to walk in the opposite direction Sonic and the boys ran to.
"Yeah, it sounds painful," said Vanilla, who just had to sigh deeply before moving along. "Maybe if we go fast, we can outrun whatever might be trying to catch our eye."
"You two are so funny," said Amy, who wasn't laughing.
"I just need one ring," said Sonic. They'd decided to start off at Casinopolis, since it was indoors and benefited from the dim indoor lighting. Tails didn't look like he was listening, and Knuckles was a few feet away inspecting an unfamiliar game machine with a large blinking green stone on it.
"I told you to stick with the yellow ring machines," said Tails, distracted by a nearby Tomatopotamus themed Pachinko machine..
"The blue ones pay out more!" said Sonic. "We're talking ten times the winnings!"
"At ten times the cost," said Tails. "Just throw yourself into the ones that give points," he continued, now walking towards the Pachinko machine.
"Points are worthless!" said Sonic.
Tails sighed. He then produced a single yellow ring, flicking it towards Sonic who then grabbed it out of the air like a lifeline.
"Stay away from the slots," he said. "Try poker or something. There's a table over there." He gestured vaguely in another direction from where he was walking. Sonic could see three other players already at the machine, Lady Walrus, Mrs. Vandersnout and W. T. Barker, the latter two talking conspiratorially about something. "But don't come to me for more rings. You do this every time, you see a slot machine, and then you speed through it until you've lost all your rings because you don't know how to stop. Don't you understand probability?"
He reached the Pachinko machine and started playing, leaving Sonic with his lone yellow ring.
"Hey Knux," said Sonic, turning, "You want to go play some-" He stopped talking when he saw Knuckles was fully consumed by the rare stone machine.
Sonic deflated a little. What he really needed was a sure fire way to turn a single ring into a lot of rings. Without converting more money into them. Sonic did have more money, but that was for necessities, like chilidogs.
"Psst, hey, kid," came a voice. "Need some rings?" Sonic turned around and saw a familiar, if annoying face.
"Weren't you just at the poker table?" asked Sonic, crossing his arms. "Whatever scam you're working, I'm not falling for it."
"Me?" said Barker, looking offended. "Scam? Why, I would never! I just saw you looking mournfully at your precious one ring, why, I thought you could use some more?"
It was a bad idea, but….
"I'm listening," said Sonic, expecting to regret this. Barker grinned.
"It's simple really, you see over there on the other side of the floor is a Keno table. Mrs. Vandersnout, lovely woman by the way, is currently working the table. I want you to buy a slip from her and place these numbers." He fished out a piece of paper with a single motion and Sonic took it. "I expect you'll get at least a few catches, and if you do, we split the prize 70/30."
Sonic narrowed his eyes. "If you're so confident in your numbers, why don't you buy it yourself? What do you need me for?"
"Oh, Sonic," said Barker, putting on a sad tone and face. "I don't have even a single ring to buy a keno ticket. Sure, there are others I could go to, but why would I give up on the chance to help a hero in need? And hey, if you don't get any catches, it's not like I'm asking anything of you."
That just set off even more alarm bells for Sonic. But then again, what was the worst that could happen?
Tails was having a blast at the pachinko machine. It was oddly satisfying watching the rings fall along the pegs and then to slowly learn the mechanics of how they fell as he racked up yet more rings. All the while Tomatopotamus was flying and shooting tomatoes on the screen, collecting those ever important rings in tandem with his success.
Even if he was enjoying himself, it was a shame that Tomatopotamus had been reduced to Pachinko. Sure, they not got Tomatopotamus working in 3-D, but that didn't mean they had to resort to secluding Tomatopotamus to pachinko.
Eventually Tails had to grab a tray to fit all his rings. Once the tray was full, he searched around, finding Knuckles was still at the same green stone game he'd found, but was now surrounded by a bunch of female onlookers cheering him on, and Sonic was at the slots again, a tray of blue rings by his side…. Which was odd. It was very unlikely he hit it big with one yellow ring.
Shaking his head, Tails decided to find a higher payout pachinko machine, finding one with a Bio-Citizen Evil Village theme.
The game was much harder, with Tails having to ignore the terrifying sights on the screen and focus on the rings tumbling around. The machine could tell based on weight and shape that he was using yellow rings, but it didn't take long for him to figure out how the machine worked so he could start filling up his tray with blue rings.
"You're using my lucky machine," said a voice just outside of Tails' peripheral vision. He couldn't spare even a second to glance at who was talking, but he knew from the voice it was a girl and he didn't recognise her from voice alone.
"Luck has nothing to do with it," said Tails as he grabbed the last of the yellow rings and slotted them in. "I'm pretty good at this game."
"Doesn't matter how good you are, I rigged this machine in particular to always pay out more than you put in."
That shocked Tails out of his concentration, and he turned to look at the stranger. He felt his eyes widen a bit as he saw she was a tall vixen, with red fur and hair, a yellow muzzle, blue eyes, a black tank top, black shorts, black boots, all oddly topped off with a yellow bow in her hair. She was really pretty, but was probably closer to Sonic in age, maybe even a bit older than that. Besides, he had enough attention and was already settled.
The girl pointed at the machine, the cuffs of her white gloves longer than what was typically fashionable. "See?"
Tails whipped his head around and say that, true enough, all the rings were falling right into the correct spots even without Tails' help.
"Isn't that… bad?" asked Tails. The girl crossed her arms, looking at him like he was some kind of piteous creature.
"Only for you," she said. "Now scram so I can win a few rounds."
Tails grabbed his tray of blue rings and did as she suggested. She didn't seem like the kind of girl he should mess with, and besides, the point of the game was to play and have fun, not cheat and win rings.
"You are so good at this," said one of the girls surrounding Knuckles, her hands reaching up to brush against his shoulder.
"I know," said Knuckles, finding another green crystal piece. "It's like it's my duty to find all the pieces!"
Rings were pouring out of the machine, dumping into a tray. His fans would come in and bring more trays because he couldn't seem to put them in faster than they came out. It was like the machine was broken. He wasn't complaining though.
"Of course it'd seem like that, you're King Crab Red, the best gambler this side of the island!"
"That's my name," said Knuckles, smiling as he found another piece. The game flashed that this was a record number of pieces, and more rings poured out. Everyone cheered.
"Another round of drinks, Mr. Red?" asked some hoity toity guy in a dinner jacket.
"Of course, and don't forget my friends here," said Knuckles. Everyone cheered again, and he smiled. He'd been to this place before of course, but he didn't remember everyone being so friendly then.
"When I grow up, I want to be just like you," said an old cat lady with a cane. She then collapsed into her wheelchair behind her, before another, younger cat in a green outfit rolled her away.
"Why don't you try another game, King Crab Red?" suggested one of his many, many fangirls, her yellow fur and round ears making Knuckles assume she was a bear or some kind, or perhaps a small shark. "Show us how a real high roller plays blackjack!"
"Blackjack huh?" said Knuckles, deciding that it was time to switch games, now that he held the record number of green crystal pieces. He decided to stop the game, entering KNX as the high score, just above the previous high score holder, somebody named BAT, and then let himself get lead on by his group of adoring fans, a few of the girls carrying his trays of rings.
They led him to a large, green felt covered table. Already sitting was a posh looking squirrel with some kind of military uniform on, and one of Knuckles' friends, Admiral Beaverton. He sat next to Admiral Beaverton.
"I say," said Admiral Beaverton when Knuckles sat down. "It's good to see you again, old chap."
"Do you know this guy, Red?" asked one of the girls, a tall wolf with dark orange fur and green eyes, wearing a long dress.
"I sure do, whoever you are," said Knuckles.
The wolf girl swooned and fluttered her eyelashes at him.
"My name is-," but Knuckes was already distracted by another wolf girl on his other side.
Knuckles' thoughts were then interrupted by a middle aged white fox standing across the table.
"Ten thousand rings, minimum bet," he said.
A few of the girls dropped all his trays down on the table in front of him, and the white fox sighed, taking the trays and instead replacing them with super rings. Knuckles' eyes widened. He'd never actually seen a super ring before. They were blue on the inside of the ring and orange on the outside, and worth a lot of rings
"So uh, how do you play this game?" asked Knuckles, as the two on each side of him placed their own super rings on the table. The crowd around him laughed. He didn't understand why, so decided to laugh along too.
"Standard blackjack, no surrenders," said the white fox. He dealt himself two cards, one card face down and the other face up, a jack. He then dealt each of them two cards, both face up. Knuckles saw he had an eight and a two.
Deciding to just watch and learn, he watched the squirrel say, "hit," and get a third card. He had a six, an eight, and a four. Then the squirrel said, "Stand."
Then it looked like it was Admiral Beaverton's turn, who had a five and a nine. "Hit," he said, and the white fox dealer gave him another card, a seven. The crowd gasped, and then cheered as the dealer slid over more super rings. Knuckles narrowed his eyes, upset that his so called friend was hogging all the attention.
"Come on, you can do this Red," said one of the girls, a green furred hedgehog around his age.
"Hit!" said Knuckles. The dealer gave him another card, a five. Nobody around him cheered, so he said, "Hit!" again. The game seemed easy enough, just say "hit" until you win, and never say "stand".
He was given another eight, and his fans gasped, the dealer moving over to separate the second eight from the first group of cards. Knuckles had no idea why he did that.
"Hit!" Knuckles said. They still weren't cheering!
"Which hand, sir?" said the dealer.
"Well, I have two," said Knuckles.
The dealer sighed, and gave him two more cards, one over each group. The first was a three, then a six. Knuckles' head was starting to hurt. Keeping track of all these numbers was really hard! This was much worse than Tails' lessons! At least the cards had the numbers on them though. It was a shame he couldn't remember how much they were.
Still no cheering. "Hit!"
A three, which the dealer moved to yet another pile, then a seven.
The crowd cheered, and the dealer slid him some more super rings. Did that mean it was time to stop?
"Keep going, Red!" said a random voice from the crowd. It sounded like a young boy. One who probably looked up to him. Because the boy would be short.
"Hit!" he said, taking the advice.
He got a two and then a one. The crowd gasped.
"Hit!" said Knuckles. That wasn't the reaction he was looking for.
"Are you sure, sir?"
"You heard him!" said an old man, banging his cane on the table. "King Crab Red would never make a stupid mistake because he doesn't know how the game works! If he says hit, then hit!"
"You tell him old man!" said Knuckles.
"King Crap Red?" said Admiral Beaverton, but Knuckles ignored him.
The dealer sighed, and finally gave him his cards. A one and a seven.
The crowd went absolutely wild, and the dealer slid over two stacks of super coins.
"That was incredible, King Crab Red!" said the green hedgehog girl. "I knew you knew what you were doing!"
"I definitely did," he said, smiling as some of the girls gathered his super rings into a tray and handed it to him.
"That is not King Crab Red," said Admiral Beaverton, and the crowd suddenly stilled. They turned to look at him, and Knuckles joined them.
"It's not?" asked Knuckles.
"Well of course not!" said Admiral Beaverton. "King Crab Red has been dead for ages. Plus, he was a crab. Knuckles, you're not a crab, are you old boy?"
A few of the members of the crowd peered at him closely, as if trying to tell if he was a crab or not. He was pretty sure he wasn't a crab. He was an echidna. But that kinda sounded like "crab".
"But he is really red," said a male red wolf.
"And he's got these tendril things," said a girl yellow badger, pointing to his quills. "Crabs have tendrils, right?"
"I'm not sure," said an older purple shrew, with glasses on. "But he does have those pincers." She pointed to his knuckles.
"There is a portrait of King Crab Red on the wall over there!" said the squirrel who wasn't very good at the "hit" game. He pointed to a distant wall, which was completely dominated by a gigantic painting of a large blue crab with a crown. Prominent spikes of some kind came off his hands and shoulders, his hair spikey and pointed up, and his arms were thin and scrawny.
"It's like looking into a mirror!" said Knuckles. For some reason, all his fans turned and glared at him. "So, what game should I play next?"
Sonic landed hard in the shallow pool of disgusting water.
"Gross," he said, standing up, making sure he still had his trays of blue rings. They were all he could save when they threw him down here.
Then he felt something heavy land on him, and back into the water he went.
"Sorry Sonic," said Tails, getting up off him.
"Tails?" asked Sonic. "What are you doing here?"
"I accidentally played a rigged pachinko," he said, revealing his own tray of blue rings. "What about you?"
"Rigged keno," said Sonic.
They heard yelling from up above, and managed to move as Knuckles fell right where they'd been only seconds before. Another tray of rings followed after, but they weren't blue rings.
"Woah, Knuckles, how'd you get these super rings?", said Sonic, picking one up and inspecting it.
"Wow! Those are worth a thousand yellow rings!" They scrambled to help Knuckles find all of them and put them in his tray.
"Think of the slot machines you could play with this!" said Sonic.
"I think you've had enough slots," said Tails.
"Don't tell me what to do!"
"Where are we?" asked Knuckles, standing up, covered in the gross water.
"Garbage dump built underground," said Sonic, shrugging.
"It's amazing how often we get thrown down here," said Tails.
"No trip to Casinopolis is complete without it!" said Sonic. "Race you guys out? First one out gets to pick where we go next!"
"You're on!" said Tails.
"This place stinks," said Knuckles.
"We can grab a shower at one of the other game corners," said Tails.
"Too slow!" said Sonic, ignoring them. He ran off just as he saw Tails take to the air.
"Five aces!" said Doctor Eggman.
"Eggman, that's cheating!" said Amy. "There's no way you could have five aces!"
Vanilla grinned.
At first, she'd been afraid that Amy's extremely annoying tendency to take charge and over-plan everything would make the Casino Night Zone trip boring. But luckily they really did just walk the strip for a bit, before she decided they should visit a casino called, funnily enough, COPE. That Vanilla couldn't help but laugh really hard when she saw it probably had something to do with the choice.
Once inside, they split up and played some games before converging on poker. Vanilla barely even understood how to play poker, but she figured her innate scientific genius would make her a poker genius.
It did not.
Her, Amy, and Sticks' were currently playing with Doctor Eggman, Bean the Dynamite, and… some human girl who hadn't introduced herself.
The girl was the real reason Vanilla wanted to play. She'd never seen a human besides Doctor Eggman before, and hadn't been sure they even existed in this world. But no, turned out, they just usually lived on the continents. Who knew?
"Six aces," said Vanilla, splaying out her hand.
"This is insane!" said Amy, staring at Vanilla. "We're playing with one deck, there can't be eleven aces in there! And you can't have six cards in your hand!"
"Well I dunno," said Sticks, keeping her cards close to her non-existent sleeve. "If Eggman's cheating, why not let Vanilla?"
"That's not the point, Sticks," continued Amy. "I just think that if anything goes, someone should have told me." She laid down her hand and had a normal straight. Nowhere near good enough.
"Well, it's not like we're playing for anything," replied Sticks.
"What!?" said Bean, slamming his seven cards on the table, all jokers. They hadn't been playing with jokers.
"We agreed to play for explosions," said the girl. Vanilla clammed up and her eyes widened. It was the first time the girl had spoken. She sounded completely normal, which in itself just felt so weird. Then it felt even weirder to think that a human was weird.
"When did we agree to this?" asked Amy. "We just sat down and took cards. We don't have a dealer, so I thought this was just for fun."
"I love explosions!" said Vanilla. Well, she loved bombs more than explosions, but explosions came with bombs. "How do we play for explosions?"
"Well," said Bean, pulling out a bomb. Its fuse wasn't lit, and he managed to spin it around on his finger. "When you lose a hand, you explode. Fun, right?"
"Sticks, what you got?" said Vanilla, hoping at least that Bean would explode along with her.
"I ain't telling," she said, holding her cards to her chest and looking away.
"Sticks, don't be like that," said Amy. "Just show your cards."
"No way, we're supposed to keep our hands close to the chest! So that's what I'm doing!" She continued to hold her cards to the chest.
"Looks like I win then," said Bean, grinning as he rolled small round black bombs in all their directions. Their fuses were lit.
What a way to meet a famous character I didn't know existed in this world. She thought to herself, bracing for the explosion. Losing in a poker game and exploding.
"So weird all these places have showers," said Vanilla. "Not that I'm complaining." Exploding wasn't any fun at all, bringing back memories of that horrible Gumtree Berry Pie disaster they endured a while back.
"Gambling can be a messy business," agreed Amy.
They were walking around looking for a new place to stop at, after declining another poker game and having cleaned up from Bean's explosions.
Vanilla's communicator beeped, and she looked down and saw she'd gotten a message on Snarkchat from Rabbit Girl.
This bar is uber exclusive, you should come check it out with us.
Attached was an awkwardly framed selfie from Rabbit Girl, with Reindeer Girl also in frame. Their heads were blocking the frame.
"Sticks, run, Amy, smile for the camera," Vanilla said, holding up her communicator. Amy smiled and made a V for Victory sign. Sticks hissed and ran out of frame. Vanilla took a picture and sent it with a message asking what the bar was called and where it was.
She received a photo of the bar's large sign bearing its name, The Cold Ones, along with an address.
"Let's go here," said Vanilla, showing Amy. "My friend Rabbit Girl says it's uber exclusive."
"Sure, but if it's uber exclusive how do you know we'll be let in?" asked Amy. They crossed the street, Vanilla and Sticks just following Amy, assuming she knew where she was going.
"I don't think Rabbit Girl would invite me if I couldn't get in," said Vanilla.
"Getting in places is easy," said Sticks. "It's getting out that can be a problem."
When they reached the bar, it looked like the sun was only beginning to set. Vanilla thought it was perfect timing, you didn't want to get drinks too early, and there was still plenty of time left before they had to turn in.
It turned out both Rabbit Girl and Reindeer Girl were waiting for them. Reindeer Girl waved happily as they approached, and Vanilla waved back even though she didn't really know Reindeer Girl that well.
"They can't come," said Rabbit Girl once we closed the distance.
"Who says?" asked Sticks.
"It's exclusive," said Rabbit Girl, crossing her arms. Sticks took a single step forward and held out her fist. Rabbit Girl saw it and frowned, her eyes widening as she uncrossed her arms.
"What she means is," said Reindeer Girl, holding up her hands, "Is that anybody can go in so long as you can. It's only for the cold tolerant."
"Oh, joy!" said Vanilla. "Finally, a place for me!"
"I don't know…," said Amy, sceptically. "I don't like the idea of letting Vanilla go in there by herself."
Vanilla whirled around to face Amy. "But Amy!" she said. "I want to crack open a couple of boys with the Cold Ones!"
"If they serve that in there you will not be cracking them open!" said Amy, more forcefully this time. She turned to look at Rabbit Girl, then Reindeer Girl.
"Can I trust you two to make sure Vanilla doesn't go too far?"
"Sure," said Rabbit Girl, sounding extremely non-committal.
"Okay then I'll be back in a bit," said Vanilla, taking the opportunity to grab Rabbit Girl's hand and lead her into the bar.
"We'll wait for you, so don't take too long!" said Amy, while Sticks said something under her breath that Vanilla couldn't catch.
The bar had a seriously powerful air conditioner. As soon as the three girls crossed through the door, Vanilla was enveloped in wonderful comfortable air.
"Aaaah," said Vanilla, in complete relief.
"You really should grow out your summer coat," said Reindeer Girl as they went through another door, into the bar proper. "I don't know why you keep your winter one."
"How do I do that?" asked Vanilla, immediately losing interest in the question at the sight of the bar.
"Oh my gosh!" she said, eyes darting around. The bar was either full of frosted ice, or something that looked a lot like ice, with the chairs, the bar, and the stools all looking like they'd been meticulously carved. The tables looked like gigantic ice cubes stuck in the floor, which, while not ice, was coloured a matted white.
The bar was full of patrons as well. Of course it looked like the entire Unnamed Village walrus population was there. But there were a bunch of completely new and unfamiliar folks as well. A group of wolves sat in the corner, heads huddled close together before they broke apart laughing. Vanilla thought she heard them laugh about a crab or something. At the far end of the bar a large yellow polar bear sat, alone. Vanilla squinted at him, wondering if it was Bark. That'd make two famous characters she didn't know existed in just one day!
"Come on, let's get a drink," said Rabbit Girl, leading the way to the middle of the bar.
"Oh look, there's another arctic fox!" whispered Vanilla, mostly to herself, gesturing to a light-blue furred fox at the end of the bar opposite Bark. She wore a dress, and seemed maybe a bit older than Vanilla herself. "I have got to talk to her."
She made to walk to her, but Rabbit Girl pulled her arm back. "Don't be weird," she said. "You'll get us kicked out."
Vanilla huffed, and gestured to Bark. "Can I go talk to him?"
"No," said Rabbit Girl as they sat down. "We're just here for drinks, a few pics, and then everybody on social media will be so jealous."
"Because I really care what social media things," said Vanilla, sarcastically.
"Love the attitude," said Rabbit Girl.
"Can I see some ID?" asked the bartender, a huge brownfurred musk ox with his right horn showing a visible crack. He had a visible tattoo on one arm, a heart that said "mom" on it.
They all three fished out their IDs and passed them over. In doing so, Vanilla confirmed to herself the bar really was made of ice. The bartender took a look at the IDs and slid them back without another word.
Really, what was the point? None of them were so much as teenagers. Which begged another question.
"We'll have three drinks," said Rabbit Girl, holding up three fingers. "Make mine an Irish Cream. My reindeer friend here will take an Eggnog, and this girl," she clapped me on the back, "probably likes vanilla."
Holy crap are we really drinking, thought Vanilla, as the bartender turned around and went into a hidden back room. Best to play it cool until I'm sure.
She turned to Rabbit Girl and asked, "Vanilla?"
"What?" asked Rabbit Girl. "Don't you like vanilla, Vanilla?"
"I do actually," she admitted.
"Nailed it," said Rabbit Girl, smiling a little.
The bartender came back holding three tall frosted glasses with straws coming out of them, setting them down in front of the three girls in a fluid motion. Vanilla notices the glasses too, were made of ice.
Rabbit Girl whipped out her smart phone and began taking pictures, twice demanding Vanilla and Reindeer Girl include themselves in the shot. Once done, Reindeer Girl grabbed her glass and sucked on the straw, and Rabbit Girl began taking pictures of her own drink.
Vanilla looked at her glass warily. It wasn't clear, and it wasn't totally liquid. It had a milkshake like consistency, which made Vanilla suspicious that these were just milkshakes. She took a pull from the straw.
"Woah," said Vanilla. She then started to drink like she was dying of thirst in the desert. It was definitely a milkshake, but it was the best milkshake she'd ever had. There was just something different about it. It wasn't cloyingly sweet, and oddly sharp and creamy, which somehow blended together into a taste Vanilla found she loved.
"I'll have another," said Vanilla, finishing hers in moments. The bartender left to go make her milkshake, while Rabbit Girl finally finished her picture taking.
"Don't go too hard on them," she said, taking a sip of hers. "I don't want any more of your friends to punch me."
"You can't tell me what to do!" said Vanilla, feeling a bit light headed. The bartender returned with her second milkshake, which she snatched up before he could set it down. She didn't bother with the straw this time.
"Please don't do this," said Reindeer Girl, watching wide eyed as Vanilla slammed back a third milkshake.
"So yeah, she had like, seven before she was weak enough that we could stop her," said Rabbit Girl. Vanilla had an arm over the girl's shoulders, being held upright by her. In the other hand she held a tall empty glass that looked like it was made of ice. "It would have been impressive if it wasn't so embarrassing."
Amy sighed, pinching the bridge of her muzzle. Of course Vanilla would find a way to follow her initial plan.
"She didn't get married in there did she?" asked Sticks.
"Worse," said Rabbit Girl. Amy's heart stopped. "She talked to uncool strangers."
Sticks gasped in horror.
"Well hand her over then," said Amy, ducking down so Vanilla could get her arm around her shoulders.
"Welp, see ya," said Rabbit Girl, walking off. Reindeer Girl stood for a moment, looking worried.
"Did nobody teach her how to pace herself?" asked Reindeer Girl.
"Nope, Amy can be real neglectful sometimes," said Sticks, not at all helpfully.
"I have such a brain freeze," said Vanilla, giggling into Amy's neck.
Amy just growled, scaring Reindeer Girl off. Amy watched as she caught up to Rabbit Girl in the distance.
"So, where to next?" asked Sticks, not bothering to help keep Vanilla on her feet. "It's gotten dark, so why don't we meet up with the guys?"
"We might as well," said Amy. "Here, take Vanilla while I call Sonic." Just as Sticks made a move to hold Vanilla, Amy heard a loud bleugh sound, as something wet ran down her back.
"Ew!" said Amy, backing up and letting Vanilly flop onto the ground. The fox girl just rolled over, eyes open and muzzle disgustingly covered in sick.
"We'll hit the showers first," suggested Sticks.
"That was the greatest magic show I've ever seen!" said Knuckles as they left the auditorium.
"It had everything!" agreed Tails. "Suspense, drama, giant floating bubbles!"
"That part where they stole all the rings from the vault and gave them out to everyone was pretty weird though," said Sonic.
"Who knew Eggman was a magician?" asked Knuckles.
"I think that part was unrelated," replied Sonic, thinking on the incident. "I know I for one wasn't entertained by Eggman's sudden crying."
"Was that before or after he fired lasers randomly into the audience?" asked Tails.
Before Sonic could answer, his communicator beeped.
"Yeah, Amy, what's up?"
"It's getting late and Sticks suggested we all meet up somewhere," said Amy. "Any ideas on where to go?"
Sonic looked at Tails, remembering some of his suggestions.
"Well, Tails was thinking about visiting the springs, maybe jumping on some balloons, and taking a few rides on the Ferris wheel. Just so long as we avoid the spinning barrels I'm fine."
"Vanilla had a few too many drinks, so I don't know if the park area is such a good idea," said Amy.
"Nah, she'll be fine," said Sonic, glancing at Tails again. He hadn't heard, now talking to Knuckles. "We'll just avoid the major stuff until she gets over it."
"Meet you at the park entrance then," said Amy, and ended the call.
"Hear that guys, we're going to the park!"
"Yeah!" said Tails, as Knuckles said, "All right!"
Running along the path they took a few boost pads and loops until they made it to the park entrance.
The Casino Night Zone park was second only to Twinkle Park in terms of things to do and sights to see. But then again that made sense, Twinkle Park was a dedicated park, while Casino Night Zone was practically a city with how much stuff it had.
"I can't wait to play some bumper cars before getting launched into the roller coaster!" said Tails. "Vanilla would love that!"
"Hey guys, we just made it," said Amy, as the three girls walked up to them. Sticks waved happily, while Vanilla vomited onto the floor in greeting.
"Yeah, she'll love that," said Sonic, looking at Tails' disgusted grimace.
"Or we could just sit on the park bench and do nothing?" he amended.
"I will never drink those milkshakes again, if only the pain would stop," said Vanilla, holding on to her stomach.
"Trying to make deals never works," said Tails, moving over the rub her back. "Instead, try drinking some hot water."
"Do you have hot water?" asked Vanilla.
"No."
"Alright, let's go!" said Sonic, getting bored of this. He turned around and was about to enter the park, when a moped with two side seats rolled up, blocking the entrance.
"Oh come on!" said Sonic, getting a look at who it was. "I haven't seen you guys in forever, and you choose now to show up when we're on vacation!"
"You're not the only ones on vacation," said Fang, the purple whatever-he-was, Sonic forgot. He got off his moped, and raised his popgun, while his two mooks, Bean and Bark, stood up as well, Bean grinning wildly while Bark just stood there. "You want to get inside the park, you've gotta pay."
"Knuckles, pay the guy so we can get going," said Sonic.
Fang frowned, lowering his popgun. "You're not going to fight me?"
"What part of vacation don't you understand?" asked Sonic, while Knuckles walked over and handed Fang a few super rings, a huge smile on his face. "We're off the clock."
Fang whistled. "Well, alright then. Have fun at the park!" They got back into their seats and rode away.
"They're nicer than I expected," said Vanilla, looking a little less green already.
"Those three are trouble," said Amy.
"Who were those guys?" asked Sticks. "I only know the duck from when we played poker. I swear I had a winning hand, I just didn't want to reveal my cards until the right time."
"Long story," said Sonic, opening the entrance gate and walking through into the park.
"Nobody respects me!" cried Eggman, who planted himself between Tails and Vanilla on the bench they'd sat on.
"Nope," Tails heard Vanilla say, and Eggman only cried harder. He'd been there so long, she was feeling better, but every time they tried to leave the bench, Eggman would pull them back and cry louder.
"And my dad, he never respected me either!"
"You've told us this six times already," said Tails.
"Oh, I know," said Eggman suddenly, tears still running down his face through his glasses. "I need ice cream!"
"Then go get some," said Vanilla. It was a testament to how annoyed she was that she didn't immediately ask to join him.
"I can't," cried Eggman, the sobs coming back fresh again. "Those magician guys stole all my rings!"
From behind the bench, Sticks showed up, looking happy as could be.
"Hey guys," she said, holding her hands between her back, rocking on her heels. "Eggman won't leave you alone?"
"I don't have any ice cream!" Eggman wailed, and then buried his head in his hands.
"Please save us," said Vanilla. "This is really embarrassing."
"At least he's not throwing up every five seconds," muttered Tails.
"Yeah that was pretty gross," said Sticks.
"Wait, what?" asked Vanilla. "I can't hear you over Doctor Eggman's sobs."
"I've got something for you, Eggy," said Sticks, walking over to Eggman. He sniffled, and looked up from his hands.
"What? Is it self -esteem? I really need that right now."
"Even better," said Sticks, and it was only then that Tails noticed her hands were still behind her back. "I've been keeping these close to my chest, metaphorically, keeping them up my sleep, metaphorically, and waiting for the right time to show them, literally."
"Your cards?" asked Vanilla.
"Yep, here you go Eggman," and she brandished five cards that Tails couldn't see past Eggman's oversized torso.
"These… these cards," said Eggman, his voice clearing up. "These are incredible. I've never seen a better hand."
"I told you," said Sticks. "You can have it, you just gotta get up and leave these poor kids alone."
Eggman snatched the cards and stood up, giggling like a madman. His sudden movement caused both Tails and Vanilla to fall off the bench with a loud ouph.
"I'll never forget this!" said Eggman, fanning the cards in front of him. Tails still couldn't see what they were. "I'll give up villainy, I'll turn over a new leaf, maybe become a poet, or a famous actor! I promise!"
"Whatever you say Eggman," said Sticks, nodding along.
"Here I come world, it's me, me!" yelled Eggman, before rushing off into the distance.
"What?" asked Vanilla.
"Ah, don't mention it," said Sticks.
"Wow," said Tails, picking himself off the ground. He then dusted himself off. "If Eggman keeps those promises, you'll have permanently saved the village! We can finally have a nice quiet life!"
"He's not going to remember any of this, is he?" asked Vanilla, also standing up.
"Probably not," said Sticks. "Anyway, you guys wanna go visit the springs? Or we could go to the bumper cars, they installed a spring in between them and the roller coaster."
"Yeah, let's go!" said Tails, rushing across the bench and grabbing Vanilla's hand. He'd been waiting all day for this!
The next morning everybody woke up bleary eyed and groggy. The excitement and fun of the previous night was so incredible, they'd barely gotten any sleep. But truly it was an adventure they'd never forget.
Vanilla certainly wouldn't forget all the wacky hi-jinks and fun adventures they managed to cram into that one night. Everyone would be talking about it for ages.
After they ate breakfast at the hotel, they went to one of the prize corners, which were in actually massive mall-sized stores that accepted rings as currency, just like everything else in Casino Night Zone. Apparently it was how they got around gambling regulations.
Unfortunately they were too tired to do any serious shopping.
"It's just as well," said Tails, with visible bags under his eyes despite his two cups of coffee. "We've got to meet up with the rest of the village in an hour so we can get back home."
"Then let's just go to this one," said Amy, pointing to a huge complex. Vanilla looked at it and read out the name.
"Fink's Prize Chest," she said. She sighed slightly. "That's why Mayor Fink sponsored the entire village's trip here."
"I'm sure it's just a coincidence," said Sticks.
Everyone stopped in their tracks, staring at Sticks. She stared back.
"What? He can't be in to places at once, at worst it's a relative. That's only slightly corrupt, all things considered."
"Well we did get an awesome trip out of it either way," said Sonic as they entered the prize corner.
"I got a ton of rings from pachinko," said Tails to Vanilla. Vanilla glanced at his trays full of blue rings. They split up but still didn't go too far, with Vanilla sticking with Tails.
"I'll get you something," he continued. "How about a stuffed animal? Those are popular prizes."
"What's that?" asked Vanilla, pointing at a large shiny red object.
The man behind the counter, a tall blue-furred squirrel, picked it up and took it to the counter so Vanilla could get a closer look.
"It's the red Chaos Crystal!" he said. "Pretty rare, I think there's only one of them? Anyway, it costs twenty thousand rings."
Vanilla looked at Tails, and Tails' heart sank. That was exactly how many rings he had in total. Two trays of blue rings.
He frowned, but Vanilla's eyes just got bigger and she seemed to look so adorable, like telling her no would break her heart and he'd be damned for the rest of his life.
"Oh alright, I'll take it," he said, placing both of his trays on the counter. The squirrel separated the trays and ran his finger along the rows, before nodding, satisfied. He then tossed the crystal to Tails.
"There you go, a perfect gift for your girl," he said, smiling. "Girls love giant precious gems, or at least my wife tells me."
"Yes!" said Vanilla, grabbing it as soon as Tails gestured for her to take it. "Now I have two!"
"Wait, two?" asked Tails. Those could be dangerous! If she was collecting them, it could attract all kinds of bad guys!
"Hey, you two!" called out Sonic from the distance, near the exit. "Come on, we're leaving." He turned and slowly dragged a giant bag full of junk, traded in with his winnings from the slots.
Tails and Vanilla caught up to him, and then the others. Amy was looking extremely happy, also carrying a massive bag of what looked like stuffed animals. He knew stuffed animals were a popular choice! But no, he had to trade everything for a Chaos Crystal.
"Didn't you get anything, Tails?" asked Knuckles, carrying a large cardboard box in front of him. It looked like he was straining slightly with the effort, and he wondered what was inside.
"Yeah, but I got it for Vanilla," he said.
"Aww," said both Amy and Sticks, and Tails felt himself blush in embarrassment.
"So what was it?" asked Sonic.
"The red Chaos Crystal," Vanilla chirped.
"Nice," said Sonic. Tails expected him to be a bit more concerned than he was. "Weird how it ended up here, but nice."
Well, if Sonic wasn't worried. "So, what's in the box, Knuckles?" asked Tails.
"A pet shark!"
Suddenly the choice of a Chaos Crystal didn't seem so bad.
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