The Crystal Forest reflected the moon, blue ripples being displayed on the water. There were no longer any lights that shone a path for Sonic and the others to walk, but Chip's orb suddenly became radiant, creating a flashlight for them.

"Wow...a forest made of crystal..." Jr. said, while he saw himself being refracted by a blue-green jewel tree. Sonic himself was impressed by the beauty of the land. The crystals were an assortment of shapes and sizes and colors. Some were shaped exactly like a tree or grass, some were just elongated and twisted. Some were clear, some were a mixture, such as green and purple. It was as if a great glass artist constructed the forest.

Sonic began to step on the smooth icy ground, him being afraid that it would crack under his feet. It seemed to be strong enough to hold his weight. He resumed walking into the forest, the others following suit.

Sonic could swear he was seeing strange images while he looked at his own reflection on the road, on the mushrooms, rocks, and trees, anything. He saw things such as his werehog form, staring back at him with an irritated look, as if he's done something wrong to him. A very dark blue hedgehog with rage in his eyes. Him...decaying. He couldn't help but stop and look at a rock that showed him a dead hedgehog. It was all like a train wreck. He knew he shouldn't pay attention to them, but he couldn't cast his gaze away. The others were wondering what he was doing.

"Daddy...are you alright? You look...nervous." Jr. put his hand on his shoulder, Sonic paying attention.

"I'm fine. I just can't help but look at this...dead hedgehog that looks like me."

Jr. turned his head to the rock. "I don't see anything, dad."

"I know why Sonic is seeing things that we can't see, Jr. It's because this forest...is reflecting his life, his future, and all the parts of him."

Sonic glanced back at Eve. "So, this is...my future, huh? Well, I know I'd be dead someday, but..."

There was a field of grass that caught his attention. He hurried to it, watching the assortment of images that were playing. There was a girl, with short brown hair, wearing a white dress, walking with him across a green hill. He scrutinized the movie that was playing, realizing that he never saw this woman in his life and he's never been to that land. Why couldn't he remember her? This was possibly playing a time in his life, one that he probably blocked from his mind.

"What are you seeing?" Chip inquired, while the others were gathered around him.

"There's this...beautiful woman walking with me. We're talking, but I can't hear anything...I'm wondering why this forest is even playing this. I don't remember this! This never happened!" he growled angrily.

"It's alright, Sonic. No need to..." Eve reached out to him with a reassuring hand, Sonic slapping it away, swiftly turning around and snarling.

"Sonic! What is up with you? I'm just trying to help!" Eve retracted her hand away from him, shocked.

Sonic's face softened, him breathing heavily as if there was little oxygen. He realized what he did.

"I'm...sorry, Eve. I'm just frustrated that I can't remember this..." Sonic looked at Chip, realizing his colors were slightly a shade darker.

I'm not going to do that again...not going to snap at anyone again... Sonic contemplated to himself, regretful. He shook his head, deciding to no longer view what was going on in the grass. He thought that he should no longer get distracted and just get to the monster.

One crystal he ignored was him on his knees, crying, then fading into the darkness.

He began seeing glass flowers the farther he went, their colors becoming more bright and more numerous. He suddenly noticed that he started to step on a few, the beautiful neon glass shattered under his feet, making a crunch sound that echoed throughout the woods. He stopped, the forest being silent except for the crickets chirping. It was until he heard a ringing noise being uttered into the deeper parts of the woods.

Riiing...

Seeing a path that led to a blue mountain, with a waterfall in the middle in the distance, with no flowers in it, he began to run towards the sound, his image being returned on the plants. He could see Shadow the hedgehog near him, reminding him of one of the battles he undertook.

Riiiinggg...

The sound again. He vanished in a blue streak, Jr. mimicking him in order to catch up.

Sonic could tell the path was ending, as he saw glass trees holding crystal apples on every side and a cavern inside the waterfall. The only thing not crystal was the mountain and the two mushrooms that reached the skies that were beside it. Jr. appeared to him a few seconds later, his head moving left to right as he looked, curious about the apples. Sonic didn't felt like waiting for the others. He went ahead to the cavern, Jr. not noticing as he tried to get the fruit.

"Hello little one! I assume you want this crystal apple, do you not?" Jr. moved his head to the right and saw a familiar stick-thin creature. It was Bilan, the happy side of him holding onto an apple that had a pea green liquid inside of it.

"You better not do that..."

"Shut up! He wants the apple, doesn't he? Why do you continue to tell me to do things?"

"Because if you give him that, something bad will happen. Something not good at all."

Jr. gazed up at them, once hearing that "something bad will happen" not making him hungry anymore. "Thanks, but no thanks. I don't want it now."

"Oh, why not? Your father just ditched you! And it's been a while since you had something in your stomach, hmm? You know, it looks like a liquid, but it satisfies hunger! Just poke a hole in it and drink it!"

"Damn it, Bilan. Don't do this..." The depressed side of him tried to snatch the apple away from him, his reaction time being too slow for the joyful side.

Jr. knew he shouldn't drink it. If the depressed side knew something wrong would happen, then he shouldn't. But he thought he shouldn't fight the next monster with an empty stomach...no, he had to resist. He began to walk away, following the path of his father, until the joyful side suddenly turned bright red, his eyes becoming narrow.

"You listen to me you dumb shit! Eat the damn apple! I swear nothing bad would happen! You have my promise!"

Jr. sniffled, then began to swell with tears. He just wanted to leave, but his yelling scared him out of his wits for him to go away.

"Here!" He tossed the apple to him, Jr. catching it.

He really did feel bad. Bilan, overall, was a scary creature, and he thought he couldn't escape from them. He also just wanted his crying to stop. He took his finger, poking a hole in the apple, which felt like he was shoving it through cotton, and began to drink it.

It tasted good. It was a sweet flavor, and it felt refreshing as he began to swallow it. He immediately stopped crying, feeling better.

However, he felt like he sinned. He knew he wasn't supposed to do it. He could taste that there was something wrong with the liquid, such as it was poisoned or...something worse. It could've had some evil power inside it. He started to feel sick, him falling on his knees, clutching his stomach.

"Dad...dad...help..." he whispered, his voice becoming raspy and weak. He didn't had enough strength to scream, and he wished he could; he felt as if he was going to fade away. His face was flushed, breathing becoming harder.

His eyes turned to the left, seeing that Eve and Chip finally arrived. Eve thought about complaining about Sonic leaving them alone, until she saw his son, coughing erratically.

"Jr.! What happened? Can you tell me?"

He couldn't speak. He smashed his teeth together, grunting and shaking his head no.

She examined the scene. Near Jr. was a glass apple, completely devoid of liquid, and near the tree, the creature Bilan.

"Oh no...Bilan! What did you do to this poor child? Why did you made him do this?" she yelled, gripping the apple and pointing to it.

"Hey, he brought it to himself! Since he ate from the tree, this paradise...will disappear! And Sonic will never experience this feeling again! No Name will prevail!"

Sonic emerged from the darkness in the cavern, finding nothing but him filled with a rage that consumed him. He saw his son, sick, about ready to pass out, Eve holding him. Bilan was laughing, while the depressed side was crying.

He vanished, both Bilans experiencing a painful jab to the face, falling face first onto the ground. As they tried to get back up, they felt the force of a thousand fists hitting them at once, bleeding and blackened.

It was happening too fast. Eve and Chip knew what was going on. Sonic, enraged that his child became sick, was trying to kill Bilan. Eve rose swiftly, seeing enough. "Sonic! Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

Bilan was bleeding severely when Sonic came to a stop. He still had his hand formed as a fist, gazing angrily at Eve.

Jr. was once again crying. He has never seen his father acting this way. He was being protective, but this was too far for him.

Sonic turned away his eyes from them and looked back at Bilan. "What did you do to Jr.? I swear, if you're going to kill him..."

"I'm sorry...happy Bilan is...with No Name. He wanted to kill this forest...trying to kill a part of you. I couldn't stop him..."

A surge of remorse filled him again. He caused enough damage to Bilan that he nearly killed him. This wasn't him at all.

"Sonic, what the hell has gotten into you? I can understand that you're angry because they made Jr. sick, but...this doesn't justify what you did!"

Silence. That was all he could think. He didn't look at anyone until Bilan rose, him becoming thicker and taller.

"No, it does justify what he did. We are...the beast he's looking for. We are the beast of love. This actually isn't...our form."

Bilan twitched, the two of them being torn apart. They were separated, the joyful side transforming into what seemed to be a shield with a maniacal smile. It was blue, a small part of it on fire. The depressed side of him became longer and sharper, into an icy sword with the crescent moon on the handle. They were exactly that: a sword and shield.

The Crystal Forest seemed to be melting, its colors being mixed together into the ground. The field of flowers was also suffering, also dissolving into the earth. The land was dying.

"Are you ready, Sonic? If you defeat us in less than five minutes, the Crystal Forest remains...if not, or you don't defeat us, you may never feel love again!" The shield began to laugh.

Jr., despite his weakness, got up slowly. He knew that this was now a battle, and no matter how sick he was, he would fight them. He had to help his father.

Sonic could immediately find the weak spot. The middle of the sword. But he knew the shield would be a problem. He had to get rid of it somehow.

The two began the fight by swiping their large sword at Sonic, him leaping out of the way. Once Sonic's feet reached the earth, the sword was thrusting towards him, nearly stabbing him in the side until Sonic jumped to the left. Eve charged towards the large sword, nearly getting the weak spot until the shield shifted to the right, blocking her attack and making her sword red with heat. Jr., using all of his strength to run towards the shield, Chip following him, attempted to roll under it in order to sneak attack on the sword. The shield, in a flash, blocked his attack, the bottom of it luckily not on fire. Jr. jumped back, the sword charged towards him. As the sword attempted to attack him, Sonic homed in on the weak spot, curling up in a ball and hitting it.

"Good job, you guys! Too bad you only got 4 minutes left!"

In the middle of the shield, metal spikes began to protrude from it. There was a glowing gem in the middle of it, a weak spot being protected from the spikes and flames.

Sonic wondered about this weak spot. How was he going to get to it without stabbing himself or putting himself on fire? He didn't have enough time to think, as the sword was launched towards him. Sonic shifted behind it, the sword's attack missing. Sonic attempted to get to the weak spot on the sword by hitting it in light speed, but the shield was just as quick as he was. As soon as he was face to face with the shield, it sputtered flames and hot air.

A burn was starting to form on his arm, until Jr. hit another jewel fragment on the sword, the shield halting its fire. The sword, in retaliation, propelled a blast of ice and snow towards him.

Jr. was about to move, until something struck him in the stomach. The apple liquid he drank earlier...it was making him sick again. He had to get through the pain, lest he would be frozen. He tried to move his feet, but it was like they were transformed to lead.

He experienced nothing. Opening his eyes to see what was going on, a green shield was protecting him from the cold. He could also see Chip ahead of him, with his arm stretched.

He could only lay there. He was now too ill to move. He shut his eyes, sleeping away.

"What's wrong with Jr.? And how is Chip..." The Bilan shield tried to tackle him, him once again disappearing and dodging its assault.

"3 minutes..."

"Sonic, he will be okay! You just...focus on beating these guys!" Chip grunted, shifting the large shield to Jr.'s body. He flitted towards him, deciding to stand guard. He could only warily look at the shield and the sword, as they kept their attention towards Sonic and Eve.

The sword projectiled yet another wave of snow and ice while the shield exhaled flames. Both Sonic and Eve rolled out of the way, and in a blast of blue light, Sonic hit yet another jewel shard inside the sword.

The sword dropped to the earth. It was beginning to fade away, its light flashing and dulling.

"I am sorry, Sonic...please defeat Bilan, or else this land will go away..." the sword said, while it vanished into nothingness.

"Well, one down, another one to go, Sonic. But how are we going to get to that shield's weak spot?" Eve said to him.

There seemed to be no way he could get to it. He couldn't just simply attack it, neither could Jr., and her sword probably couldn't get close enough. Maybe Chip...

"I have an idea, Eve. Bring Chip over here and protect Jr. Do it before we run out of time..."

"Only 2 minutes, you numb skulls! You will never defeat me this way!" it snickered.

Chip flew towards him in a hurry. "What is it, Sonic? Do you have a plan?"

"Can you do anything that will hit those weak spots? I know that Eve, Jr., and I can't. You must have something!"

He knew this version of Chip was different. He didn't know how he suddenly got the ability to create shields, but he could possibly have some more powers than that.

"I'll try this out, Sonic..." The shield continued to laugh at them, until a flurry of ice shards began to hit his flames. Although they were generally weak, it did douse the flames, showing a jewel shard. Sonic homed in on it, and struck it, it shattering everywhere.

"You only have 1 minute...come on, shit heads!"

The rest of the shards were near the spikes. They seemed to be well-protected.

But was there some sort of power that would suddenly appear if he felt love, like the last two times? He had to try it. It was the only option he had right now.

He knew that he cared deeply about his friends. When he began to think about how he would do anything for them, he at once felt a warming sensation in his body. Even if he was in the middle of a battle, he felt comfortable and calm. He felt the kindness and warmth he had for everyone he knew. It was until his arms began to feel a little cold, but he felt fine. He knew nothing wrong was happening, and then he opened his eyes.

Sonic, remembering all the love he had for his friends, saw that his arms grew into blades. They seemed to be carved out of ice, much like the depressed Bilan's sword.

"Shield me, Chip. I'm going to slash the last weak spots..."

Chip couldn't even see him. He could only see a blue-green streak speed by and slash the gem shards away.

"You...you..." it gasped. "You bastards! How dare you stop me! I'll...I'll kill you...I'll..."

It dissolved into the air, the ice from the shield melting and the flames dying away. The shield dropped to the earth, and then it seemed to slowly dissolve away.

The glass trees and plants began to rise slowly, growing and regaining their color back. In less than 5 minutes, the forest was dying and then was revived.

A small gem piece fell into the earth. It was a deep red ruby, shaped like a heart. Sonic picked it up, also seeing that a part of his soul was floating in the air. His blades went away, as he reached for it.

Once again, everything went black, as was the tradition of every time he got his soul. He could only see a silhouette, also shaped like a woman.

As soon as Sonic could see her clearly, she looked exactly like the woman he saw in the movie playing grass.

"Who...who are you? I don't remember you at all..."

"I am supposed to be...your love. There's a long story on why you can't remember me, but you really don't have the time to hear me..."

"Yes I do! Tell me!" Sonic yelled, frustrated.

"No, I can't right now, Sonic...maybe once you receive the next soul piece..."

Sonic could only look at her angrily, thinking that it would be a while before he would get the next piece, and he wanted answers now.

"Anyways...Sonic, I have seen your emotions overcome you twice. You must learn to control this. You no longer need to be in the Alpha lands, and the Omega lands are much more difficult, due to No Name and your evil emotions ruling with an iron fist there. The monsters will become more challenging, and you will deal with more trials...but the good news is that you only need four more pieces of your soul to go. It's not much longer now, Sonic..."

"So, there's one more after the Omega lands? I've heard that this was Hope, but where is it..."

"You will find out for yourself, Sonic...No Name and the Disorders now think you're a big threat, so you're going to see them more often.

"I cannot give you any more advice than that. I know you're tired of hearing this, but..."

She leaned over, and gave him a small kiss. "Good luck."

She disappeared, changing into white specks of light and was blown away.