The Ultimate Lifeforms

Bouvet Island

"Can I help you?" Rouge asked as she entered her room aboard the ARK. The door to her room had been left open, something she had herself had not done, meaning someone was inside without her permission. Much to her surprise, she found Shadow, not Scourge, rummaging through her clothing.
"Yes, actually." Shadow didn't even give Rouge a glance as he continued pulling clothing out of her drawers and throwing them behind him when they weren't the article he was searching for. "I'm looking for a couple of scarves."
"Just help yourself," she responded sarcastically. "It's not like I had everything folded nice and neat or that I prefer not having my clothing in a pile on the floor."
Ignoring her clear desire not to have her wardrobe all over the place, Shadow reached for the next drawer and placed his hand on the knob. Just as he was about to open it, Rouge swiftly grabbed onto his arm.
"Shadow, you know I have no secrets from you, but please, don't open that drawer."
It didn't take a genius to figure out what kind of clothing Rouge had in there that she wouldn't want him to see. Giving up on the drawers, Shadow moved to the built-in closet of the dormitory and began searching through it.
Rouge gave a defeated sigh. She could either help him or watch as he made a mess of the rest of her clothing. Gently pushing Shadow out of the way, Rouge pulled out scarves of various colors and materials.
"Had a particular look in mind?" she teased.
"These will do." Shadow picked out a navy blue scarf and a burgundy scarf from the collection Rouge presented to him.
"Why do you need scarves anyways?" Rouge asked as he put away the other scarves and, after putting on the burgundy scarf, got to work folding her scattered garments.
"I'm taking Sonic on a trip."
"A trip?"
"Yes. It's going to be cold, so we'll need scarves, especially Sonic, since he doesn't have fur on his arms or chest." Shadow removed his wrist communicator, tossing it to Rouge. "I'm going to need you to cover for me."
"Where should I go?" If Shadow wanted her to trick Eggman with the tracking devices in the communicators, they would need a decent cover.
"Go to your club. It won't be surprising we're there and it'll give you a chance to check up on the place, make sure everything's running fine."
Well, she was long overdue for a check-in. "How long will you be gone?"
"It shouldn't be more than a few hours. Just spend some time in Station Square so the Doctor doesn't go looking for us up here and try to send us on another mission." Shadow bundled up the blue scarf.
"You're lucky I like you so much, you know that?"

Sonic lay on a couch in the library, skimming through a book. Not being one for slow leisure activities, such as reading, he found it hard to stay focused. Giving up on the boring tale, he simply let go of the book, allowing it to drop onto his face.
Oh, well. He was bored enough to sleep now; might as well.
Sonic suddenly felt himself being pulled upward as something wrapped around his neck. Quickly pulling the book off of his face, Sonic looked down to see a thick, blue scarf wrapped around his neck and Shadow's hand on his arm. Shadow himself was wearing an identical scarf, only his was burgundy.
"What's this?" he asked.
"We're going on a trip." Shadow watched as Sonic's eyes lit up with an excitement he hadn't seen since the last time the blue hedgehog was on the planet below. "And it's going to be cold."
"You mean we're leaving the ARK?"
"Yes. But we're coming back!" Shadow added on quickly, only to regret it. Though it was true, watching Sonic's face fall in disappointment struck a nerve inside of him.
"It'll be good to get some fresh air," he tried once more to cheer Sonic up. Not waiting to see if it worked, Shadow prepared to leave. "Chaos Control!"

Sonic hugged himself as he felt a blast of frozen air come over him. Opening his eyes, he saw himself standing on a land mass of ice and rock, surrounded by miles and miles of ocean. He felt himself shivering as the cold seemed to seep right through him, chilling him to the bone.
"Where... where are we?" he asked through his chattering teeth, glad Shadow had given him the scarf.
"This, Sonic, is Bouvet Island." As much as Sonic had enjoyed traveling, Shadow knew there was no way he had ever seen this island before. Aside from the fact it was the most remote place on the planet and surrounded entirely by water, the island was uninhabitable. Nothing grew here and only the arctic seals came to breed. With a location so remote and isolated, Shadow didn't have to worry about anyone seeing Sonic or about said hedgehog trying to escape.
"What are we doing here?" Sonic didn't see how a trip to a frozen wasteland could be of any use to Shadow or Eggman.
"Come on, Sonic." Shadow smirked. "Don't tell me all that time on the ARK has made you... slow?" Without another word, he sped off, leaving Sonic in the dust.
"Not even in your dreams, Shads!" Sonic took off directly after him, catching up quickly.
"Follow me." Shadow took the lead, having a better understanding of the island layout than Sonic did.
Together, the two hedgehogs ran to the highest point of the island, the top of the inactive volcano. They slid down to the mouth of the volcano, a bowl which had filled with ice after years of inactivity.
"How good are you when you can't run?" Shadow asked when they reached the pit of volcano. Pushing against the wall, he built up momentum to slide across the layer of ice. Reaching the other end of the pit, he pushed off once more, charging straight for Sonic.
"Let's see and find out!" Sonic pushed off against the walls as well, charting a collision course for the incoming black hedgehog.
Bracing for impact, Shadow pushed Sonic aside at the last moment, changing both of their directions. They went on like that for a while, a perfect dance of attack and defense, two high-speed hedgehogs sliding across the ice.
Sonic could feel the freezing air in his lungs, invigorating him and filling him with life once more. It felt great to breathe real air as opposed to the air generated by the life-support system aboard the ARK.
Shadow motioned to the rocky ledges of the volcanic wall. With a leap, the two hedgehogs were bounding over each other, pulling themselves up with the momentum of their arms.
With Shadow in the lead, he had already disappeared out of sight over the edge of the landform.
Grabbing onto the rocks, Sonic repeated the motion until he was at the top of the volcano. Once he reached the top, Sonic put his right foot forward. With his left food behind him, Sonic kicked off, sliding down the side of the volcano through the ice while leaning to the left and right to steer his direction.
As he built speed, getting closer and closer to Shadow, Sonic knew he would need a little extra kick to get ahead. Steering himself towards a nearby rock, he put his hand out in front him, grabbing onto it. In a swift motion, he had pulled himself up over it, launching himself in the air towards Shadow. As soon as the ebony hedgehog was within reach, Sonic grabbed onto his shoulders and somersaulted over him.
"Not bad, Sonic." Shadow couldn't hide how impressed he was with Sonic's quick thinking. It looked like not even months of confinement could slow down his reflexes and wit. "But we're not done yet!"
As they reached the bottom of the volcano, they took off, running along the rocky shore of the island. Making a sharp turn, they headed for the center of the island, towards the lagoon.
Though Sonic loathed water more than anything else, he still followed Shadow into the lagoon.
Chunks of ice floated in the lagoon, creating perfect platforms for the hedgehogs to jump on as they crossed it.
Seeing the perfect opportunity to really get Sonic moving, Shadow launched a Chaos Spear at the platform Sonic was on, causing the cobalt hedgehog to jump to another one before it was destroyed.
"Are you trying to drown me?!" Sonic shouted with wide eyes as he dodged another blast of Chaos Energy. Unbeknownst to Sonic, at its deepest, the water only reached two feet.
"Just think of it as training." Shadow continued to strike at the ice, fully intending to drop his younger brother in the water.
Once Sonic stood atop the last solid ice platform in the water, he felt a sweat break out over him, regardless of the fact he was surrounded by arctic air.
"Come on, Shads," he said half-jokingly, half-nervous. "I think that's enough training for one day."
On second thought, he better not. Freezing water, plus arctic temperatures, would surely land Sonic with a nasty case of hypothermia, one he would have trouble explaining to Eggman considering Sonic was supposed to be trapped in a controlled-temperature environment. Instead, Shadow launched a Chaos Spear at the water directly underneath the ice platform, launching it forwards towards land.
Sonic jumped off the platform before it crashed against the shore, shattering into several smaller chunks of ice.
"Aww, I knew you cared too much about me," he teased. Shadow playfully rolled his eyes before he took the lead once more, racing towards the massive glacier on the island.