_Rouge p.o.v_

"So, where to next?" Knuckles asked.

Maria had the emerald locator hooked up to a laptop. "Let's see. I'm getting large readings from eggman's base, but that shouldn't be unusual, considering that Shadow sent him two chaos emeralds. That's blocking most chaos energy readings, but I might be able to locate some of the smaller areas."

"Hey, Knuckles!"

We turned towards the forest to see Sonic running over with, surprisingly, Blaze at his side. She didn't look very happy. I hadn't ever really gotten to know her. I did know that she guarded some kind of precious gems. Maybe she had them with her.

Sonic was a bit on the lighter side. "Long time, no see. Blaze has a-"

"You," she interrupted, marching right up to the echidna, "you have some explaining to do. When the Master Emerald breaks, Angel Island falls, correct?"

"Right." He seemed a bit unnerved at this interrogation, and a little annoyed.

"Then tell me what's going on with the Sol Emeralds." She pulled out an emerald cut gem, but it was very dull. It looked like it had once been dark blue, but then covered with dust that would never come off.

Knuckles took it from her. "That doesn't look good."

"This happened a couple of weeks ago. It is also been plaguing my homeland with earthquakes. I assumed it was the same as Angel Island falling."

"Are any of the Sol Emeralds Broken?"

"No; that was my next question. Can anything cause Angel Island to fall without breaking the Master Emerald?"

"Yeah, if Tikal and Chaos," he pointed to them, "aren't inside it."

"That doesn't help me."

Shadow, after hearing this, looked stunned. "Two sides of the same coin," he mumbled.

"What's that?" I asked him.

"When Eggman was explaining the creation of Latik and Chaos B., did he say she was created by the memory or memories of Tikal?"

"Memories," Bokkun said. "Why?"

He shook his head. "This is bad. Blaze, was there a guardian of the sol emeralds before you?"

"Of course. The ancient text describes them as the Blue of the Cage and the Sunset Shadow."

He started pacing. "This is nuts. Latik wears the armor of the Nocturnus Clan. The Nocturnus Clan lives in the Twilight Cage, and Latik is blue. Chaos B. is as black as a shadow, and his eyes are orange, like a sunset."

I was starting to catch on. "You don't think…"

"I'm almost positive. Just one more question." He turned to Tikal. "Did the Nocturnus Clan ever attack you?"

"Yes, many times. The weirdest was right before I trapped Chaos and me inside the Master Emerald. I ran into this young soldier who was unable to kill anyone after they saw a baby crying by its dead mother."

My mind was completely blown. "Shadow, I think you're right!"

"I am right. Latik and Chaos B. aren't created anti versions of Tikal and Chaos. They are completely different people who are their inter-dimensional counterparts."

We all looked at Latik. She looked stunned. "Why can't I remember any of it?"

"Here," Shadow said, snatching the sol emerald from Knuckles. "Catch."

The emerald sailed at Latik, and she caught it. It glowed, returning to its original color momentarily, but then returned to its dull state.

Latik's eyes were wide. "I remember now. Shadow, you're right."

"Wait, wait, hold on," Blaze said. "This doesn't make any sense. How could she be here if she was in the sol emeralds?"

"You said that the problem with the emeralds started a couple of weeks ago," Shadow said. "That was the same time Eggman 'created' Latik. When he thought he was getting an Anti-Tikal, he was probably thinking that using her memories would give him what he was after. The Master Emerald pieces instead found her counterpart, and must have pulled her out of the sol emeralds, its counterpart, and released her."

"What about Chaos B.?" Maria asked.

I took this one. "Eggman said that Chaos B. was pure negative chaos energy. That was only what he thought. He must have used the pieces for this as well. The way we can prove he isn't pure chaos energy is Maria."

"What?" She asked.

"I saw you turn on that machine that was supposed to immobilize him. It was after he knocked us down. Then Cream starts beating him up because he was moving slower. If he had been pure chaos energy, that should have immobilized him, but he was still up for the fight."

"Now for the big issue," Shadow said. "Latik is able to harness the powers of both the chaos emeralds, Master Emerald, and sol emeralds. This is probably due to the fact that she originated in this world, but then crossed over into yours."

"Why's this a problem?" Blaze asked.

"Because if she can, then Chaos B. can too."

Knuckles caught on. "Oh no. Blaze, you didn't happen to bring all of the sol emeralds, did you?"

"Of course I did. If you had a solution, I wanted to use it right away."

"We need to find the last pieces of the Master Emerald," Knuckles said. "Maria, have you found anything yet?"

She checked her laptop. "Yep. Let's load up."