"Is everybody ready?" asked Tails.
Star nodded from her comfy seat in the transformed (and ultimately roomier) Silverstrike. Tails counted down and then entered the final code for the Silverstrike—the Launch Code. The Silverstrike shot off across the sand, rising slowly above it and then, in one split second, going nearly straight up, high into the sky. When it was finally going horizontally again, Star looked out the window—what she saw amazed her beyond belief.
The hunk of metal was now soaring above the ocean, a huge expanse of blue blurring past below her. Ahead of them, a speck of darkness was just above the horizon—Angel Island, Star presumed. With the planes amazing speed, it reached the floating island in just under five minutes. When they had landed, Tails and Sonic jumped out. Star stood up to follow them, but then—
"We'll go find Knuckles and see if he knows anything about why you were sent here," said Sonic. "You stay in the plane and guard the Chaos Emeralds.
Although Star was almost certain the plane could just lock up to keep the emeralds safe she guarded them anyway. She could feel their power all around her, and she felt the magic building up inside her, preparing for attack. Then, she heard something come up from behind her. She looked to see that a bat was hurrying through the shadows, carrying a huge green emerald toward the shore. Suddenly, the spirits from the emeralds screamed out in Star's head.
"That's the Master Emerald! She's stealing it! Stop her!"
Star gathered up her magic and blew a huge gust of wind at the bat, knocking her off balance. She struggled to keep the Master Emerald and stay standing in the sudden gale, but she couldn't. She dropped to the ground.
"Drat!" she whispered, disappointed but still determined to steal the emerald.
Star kept the gale going strong as a red echidna glided in with Sonic and Tails right behind him. Star weakened the gale just a bit so that she could hear the conversation between the bat and the echidna, but instead of hearing their arguing, she heard something else. It was the voice of a spirit who was trapped inside of the Master Emerald.
"My name is Tikal," whispered the spirit. "I am from another long-lost civilization, the full-echidna race who discovered the Chaos and Master Emeralds. The spirits of Atlantis have sent me a message for you—it is about the final Chaos Emerald. You will find it in the city of silver."
Before Star could respond, she returned to the human world, finding that the bat was flying away angrily while the echidna leaned on the Master Emerald, clenching his spiky fists. His knuckles were spikes, so Star assumed that he was Knuckles. Sonic and Tails walked back over to the Silverstrike. They were blissfully unaware of Star's creating of the gale and of her speaking with Tikal.
"Knuckles said the Atlantians may have been close friends of his race," Tails explained, "But he can't know for sure."
"That's okay," Star answered back. "I spoke with some spirits—next, I am to go to the city of silver."
Sonic grinned and boomed, "To Silver City, then!"
Two minutes later, Star was stepping out of the plane and onto a sandy beach lined with palm trees. Beyond the palm trees were huge buildings towering above her—some seemed to reach up into the sky, threatening to shatter it. And below the buildings was the most surprising thing of all—thousands of people (well, anthropomorphic animals) were bustling through the city's crowded streets. Star had thought that she'd never see this many people in one place again!
"It's amazing!" was all she could say.
When she took another step, the Chaos Emeralds burst from their compartment and began circling around her. She could her a voice within them whispering something.
"The seventh emerald, gray as storm. Medusa's work would be the norm. Deep within one, does it lie. The seventh emerald, storm-gray sky."
"A statue," she whispered. Then she turned to Sonic and Tails and asked them, "Is there a statue somewhere in the city?"
"Yeah!" said Sonic. "It's in the center of the city."
Before he could say anything else, Star blasted off, through the streets of Silver City, and to a large circular area with many benches, beautiful fountains,and most importantly, a huge statue in the middle of it. Star couldn't quite figure out what it was supposed to be, but right now she didn't really care. The Chaos Emeralds still circled around her, waiting for her to release the final one of them. Star carefully searched the stone using Earth powers, finding that there was a trapdoor at the top. She used a whirlwind and then blasted through the top of the statue with great strength. Once in the statue, Star found a small gem on a pedestal. The gem was bleak and gray like stone or a stormy sky. She picked it up, and when it began encircling her with the others, it shone slightly more. Star rose up from out of the statue, only to find that a huge robot was attacking the city. She could see that Sonic and Tails were trying to defeat it, but they obviously weren't strong enough—they needed Chaos Emerald power, and she had all of it with her.
Star let the Chaos Emeralds power up. They began circling faster and faster around her, until they were just a blur of light and color. Then, they disappeared from sight, leaving only a few sparkles in their midst. Well, they also left Super Star.
The emeralds' colors were like flames in Star's eyes, and her fur shined a brighter white than it usually does. Her seven quills stood up a little, as if they themselves feared the power now contained within Star, ready to burst. She was ready for battle.
Star flew up to the robot, seeing that a fat, mustached man was sitting in the cockpit, laughing his head off at the miserable defeat of Sonic and Tails, who now watched Star creep up on him from the ground. She held out her hand, and out of it came Chaos Flames, burning just as her eyes were. It blew one of the robots arms off and into the ocean, and the rest of the huge hunk of metal turned to look at its powerful new competition. The fat man seemed afraid from the sight of the Star in this form—she looked very powerful.
Nevertheless, he began to attack her with huge missiles. She didn't even flinch when they hit her. The fire in her eyes burned even stronger as she tore huge rocks from a nearby mine and flung them at the robot, blowing off his other arm and one of his legs. The other leg broke from the weight of the rest of the robot, and then the torso fell to the ground. It was completely smashed, except for the cockpit. Out of it came the fat, bald, mustached man, his face burning red with fury.
"Who are you, you imbecile!?" he asked to Star as she began floating to the ground.
"I am Star Zenia Mystican," she said, "Princess of Atlantis. And you, my friend, are captured."
A huge band of squirrel and chipmunk police came and handcuffed the man. They then threw him in a police car and drove to the station. Soon, reporters were filling up the whole of the area around Star, asking her questions like, "How do you know Eggman?" and "Are you of any relation to Sonic?"
Star powered down, and the emeralds dropped to the floor. Tails swooped in and picked them up quickly before they teleported back to the Flicky Dimension, catching the eye of a few reporters who then followed him back to Sonic. Star answered the questions as well as she could, and in a few hours she was sleeping in her own apartment, Room 419, paid for completely by Freeza Fricks, Mayor of Silver City in thanks for defeating "Eggman," as they called him.
When she woke up she saw the sun rising outside her window. It was a new day. Today she would explore the city, discover more about technology, and maybe meet more of Sonic's friends. The future was bright, and the possibilities were limitless. She could go on like this forever—life in modern times was so much simpler than being royalty, which she loathed with passion. But she also knew that she wanted her city back. And when it came back, she would have to be princess again, right…?
Only time would tell.