Once again, Shadow and Peach were out on their quest to stop Bowser's mad plot. Holding the M16, and being in a jungle-like environment, Shadow felt almost like a member of the Crown Armed Forces of Mobius out on patrol in some far-off country that most citizens couldn't locate on a map. Soon enough, the patrol would yield fruit as him and Peach came across a group of Koopa Troopas and Goombas, which they summarily blasted. Going through this area, they didn't encounter any foes they hadn't encountered before, barring a couple of Wigglers, which merely got angry after being shot once and had to be shot a couple of times to dispatch them. Aside from the Wigglers, the sight of familiar foes was good for Peach, who really needed a break from the spookiness of Cookie Forest.

Whenever he got a break from hearing gunfire, Shadow took a mental pause to listen to the chirping of crickets and the sputtering of cicadas, in addition to the various sounds of tropical birds such as toucans. It was like nothing he'd heard when he went out to the observation deck of Rouge's mansion, and even though the warm milk had calmed his nerves plenty, he still got a good deal of relaxation from the sounds of the jungle. He also got an unusually greater sense of satisfaction from blowing away his foes with the M16. This time, a twisted grin formed on his face with each kill, and a couple of times, he had to work hard to suppress laughter. Overall, he couldn't believe himself, especially because he felt sad about blinding a few Blarggs, but on the other hand, he figured that as long as he was giving others a chance to be happy, then he should be allowed to indulge in some of that happiness himself. After Shadow and Peach had covered a fair bit of ground, the former got a rude shock as they came out of the jungle and into a barren desert environment.

"Peach, is this normal?"

"Actually, it is. Rainbow Island is known for its biodiversity, hence the name."

"I much preferred the jungle, but whatever."

Thus, Shadow and Peach proceeded onwards in the desert. Their main concerns here were Dry Bones and Bony Beetles, plus some Pokeys. In shooting a Pokey, Shadow discovered that each shot merely dislodged one of its five segments, so with quick precision, he raked the M16 upwards and got rid of every segment with as few bullets as possible. As they trudged on, Shadow discovered that he missed the cool air of Vanilla Mountain. Granted, he wasn't extremely affected by hot or cold temperatures, but the longer he was out in this desert heat, the more he wanted to go home to Rouge and take a cold shower. Speaking of water…

"Shaddy, I'm going to have another drink if you don't mind."

"Go right ahead."

Peach whipped out her water bottle and took another drink, while Shadow covered her. Soon enough, they got back on track, trying to beat the heat. The heat wasn't the only problem, either, as his Hedgehog Sense alerted him to something else…

"What is it now, Shaddy?"

"Quicksand. I'll grab your arm and guide you through."

Shadow let go of the foregrip of his M16, grabbed Peach's arm and led her across the desert, using his Hedgehog Sense to help them dodge quicksand. The Dry Bones, Bony Beetles and Pokeys made things difficult, as did some Koopa Paratroopas and Paragoombas, but neither Shadow nor Peach were willing to give up. He wasn't the type to give up anyways, but knowing that he had someone on his side who wanted to step up and be an inspiration to her people, that gave him more motivation. Similarly, she wanted to keep going because not only had she come so far, but she also felt extremely empowered in doing so. Sure, this wasn't her first outing in trying to defeat Bowser, but it was perhaps one of her finest in her opinion. Eventually, they managed to get through the quicksand fields, only to come to a whole sea of quicksand, with the only way across being a stone bridge. Not only that, but Shadow's Hedgehog Sense was tingling again…

"What now, Shaddy?"

"Looks like somebody booby trapped our welcome mat. Still, it's nothing I can't handle…"

Seeing that the bridge was seemingly safe, Shadow let go of Peach's arm and crossed with her. As it turned out, this bridge was actually a maze built atop the quicksand sea. Soon enough, however, they found out what Shadow's Hedgehog Sense was alerting them to: an oncoming Tox Box. Unfazed, Shadow simply walked up to it and punched it into the quicksand. Peach recoiled a bit from nearly getting squished, but managed to move on after recomposing herself. Moving along the stone bridge maze, Shadow and Peach came across a couple more Tox Boxes, but none of them were any match for Shadow's fists.

After making it through the desert wasteland, Shadow and Peach found themselves at a dessert wonderland. The ground was made of green frosting, dotted with rocks and stones made of rock candy, and there were bushes made of cotton candy and trees made of gingerbread. Shadow dropped his jaw and lowered his M16 when he saw the whole smorgasbord.

"Oh my god…" said Shadow.

Peach giggled. "Looks yummy, doesn't it?"

It did indeed look yummy to Shadow, who cast aside his M16 and began digging into the frosting-covered ground and eating it. After digging past the initial layer of frosting, he found that the earth was actually chocolate cake, rich and decadent to such a degree that it merited the descriptor "death by chocolate". To him, this was the cherry on top of the sundae that was the warm milk he had earlier.

"Shaddy!"

Shadow ignored Peach and kept eating.

"Shaddy, stop!"

Again, Shadow ignored Peach.

"Shaddy, I said stop!"

Once again, Shadow was far too enamored with the rich chocolate taste to pay attention to Peach, so she smacked him with the butt of the Galil, which finally got him to stop and pay attention to her.

"What was that all about?" said Shadow.

"Shaddy, you're going to get sick if you eat so much!"

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are!"

"Peach, not only do I not need food to live, but I have an extremely fast metabolism, so no, I'm not."

"Still, you shouldn't eat so much!"

Shadow sighed. "All right, if it means that much to you, I'll pick up my M16 and get back to the mission."

Peach smiled. "Hey, there's no need to be so grumpy! I'm just doing this because I care about you!"

"I'm glad you care about me, but sometimes, you underestimate my capabilities."

"Come on, let's just go!"

And so, Shadow and Peach proceeded on through the dessert-themed section of Rainbow Island. Here, their main worries were Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Paragoombas and Koopa Paratroopas, plus Lakitus and their associated Spinies. However, some of the Lakitus were holding fishing rods with various types of desserts attached to the lines. Rather than immediately snagging the desserts, however, Shadow blasted the Lakitus first. However, upon attempting to grab a dessert, Peach stopped him.

"Shaddy, what if those are poisoned?"

"Big deal. The poison won't affect me."

"Please, just concentrate on the mission!"

"Hmph."

Reluctantly, Shadow continued on. In doing so, him and Peach encountered a couple of Chargin' Chucks, only these guys threw sharpened candy canes as if they were darts. He blocked the candy canes with his body, and they ventilated their foes before moving on. Noticing the candy canes that had dropped to the ground, Shadow briefly considered picking them up and offering some to Peach, but decided that they were probably poisoned and left them where they lay. Overall, this part of Rainbow Island was very difficult for Shadow to get through because he was so tempted to dig into the delectable dessert landscape, but he kept his focus about him and moved on the best he could. He wasn't alone, however, as Peach couldn't help but think about how Shadow was so enamored with eating the ground that she snuck a piece of a gingerbread tree and ate it. However, this triggered his Hedgehog Sense, and he turned around to catch her in the act.

"Oh what!?" said Shadow. "So I'm not allowed to eat the scenery, but you are!?"

"Hey, I was only taking one bite!"

"You know, I ought to tackle you to the ground and kiss your brains out for getting so cute with me."

Peach laughed. "Oh, you're so funny!"

Shadow snorted. "Ordinarily, I would smack you for getting so cheeky with me, but 1. I don't hit women without a really good reason, and 2. I find your laughter very comforting."

"Awww…you're so sweet!"

"Come on."

And so, Shadow and Peach trudged their way through the dessert land. Soon enough, the sweetness ended, and they came upon a desolate plain with dead grass and trees that appeared to have been shredded by machine gun fire. Almost immediately, his Hedgehog Sense went off, and it immediately became apparent why: a Bullet Bill was headed towards them. They shot it, but all that happened was it dropped to the ground. Soon, more Bullet Bills came at them.

"Save your ammo, Peach! Let's dodge these bastards and try to find out where they're coming from!"

"Right!"

With this plan in mind, Shadow and Peach proceeded as quickly as they could through the battlefield, doing their best to dodge the Bullet Bills. Thus far, they were doing all right…that is, until they came upon a field of barbed wire.

"Use the Galil's bipod!" said Shadow. "It has a built-in wire cutter! I'll cover you!"

Peach stepped up to the barbed wire, and after a quick inspection of her Galil's bipod, she used it to cut a path through the barbed wire. Doing so also presented another hazard that Shadow's Hedgehog Sense picked up on: there were some Fuzzies travelling along the barbed wire. Shadow managed to waste them, but they seemed to take a lot of damage before going down, at least half a magazine per Fuzzy. As if that weren't enough, a bunch of Para-bombs were coming down. Fortunately, he managed to hold all of these foes off, and him and Peach were able to continue. Soon enough, they found at least one source of Bullet Bills: a cannon manned by a Bob-omb. Rather than aiming for the cannon, Shadow aimed for the Bob-omb, which exploded when shot and consequently destroyed the cannon.

"Nice shooting, Shadow!"

"Don't celebrate just yet. There are still some more coming at us."

Dodging some more Bullet Bills, Shadow and Peach kept going. Occasionally, they would encounter Chargin' Chucks throwing hand grenades, but these proved to be just as easy to dispatch as any other Chargin' Chucks. On the other hand, Shadow found himself having to order Peach to go prone so he could use his body to protect her against grenade fragments. Still, as long as it kept her alive, he was willing to go along with it. Eventually, they came to another cannon + Bob-omb combo, which was easy enough to defeat in spite of the Para-bombs that were coming down on them. Soon enough, they came to some more barbed wire, but Shadow wasted any Fuzzies travelling along it before Peach cut it with her Galil's bipod. As they made their way through the battlefield, the number of Bullet Bills that was coming at them reduced with each cannon they destroyed, which was a relief for Peach in particular because she was worried about using up too much ammo on shooting down the Bullet Bills.

Fortunately for Peach, the madness would soon subside as they came to a grassy coastline. Here, things were a bit more of a cakewalk for her and Shadow as they only had to deal with Dino Rhinos and Dino-Torches here, plus Goombas and Koopa Troopas. Shadow even enjoyed this portion of Rainbow Island because even though the sun was shining brightly here, it was more of a warm, embracing heat rather than the more stifling heat present in the desert area and especially back at Magma Plains. While blasting his way through this area, he thought about how he'd like to come back here with Peach and just bask on the sandy beach. He even relished the thought of seeing her in a bikini and rubbing sunscreen all over her. Again, even if she didn't have Rouge's curves, he still thought she was very beautiful.

As much as he loved the idea of taking a relaxing vacation with Peach, Shadow came to his senses soon enough and did his best to focus on the mission. One thing that the two adventurers found surprising was that unless they aimed for a certain spot, the Dino Rhinos would turn into Dino-Torches when shot. However, they didn't let this deter them, especially Peach, who reflected on how she'd gotten through Cookie Forest alive and was more determined than ever to see this quest to its bitter end. Granted, she still wasn't used to the sight of her enemies splattering blood upon getting shot, but she supposed that everything had its price. After all, she did tell Shadow that she wanted to step up and be an inspiration to her people, and if she was going to have to do it at gunpoint, then so be it. Soon enough, the grassy coastline came to an end, replaced instead by an arctic badlands. Almost immediately, Peach began shivering when they reached this area.

"Gosh, it's so cold!" said Peach. "I'd better get my jacket…"

Peach took off her ALICE rig temporarily and pulled out a thigh-length pink shearling jacket, which she put on before rebuckling her ALICE rig.

"Shaddy, aren't you going to put a jacket on?"

"Why should I? I don't feel cold."

Peach frowned. "But you'll freeze to death!"

"No I won't."

"You're crazy! How can you go through this bitter cold without any layers!?"

"Because I'm the Ultimate Life Form."

"Shaddy, please put a jacket on already! You're making me colder just looking at you!"

"Ugh…fine…"

Shadow reached into his survival kit and pulled out a G-1 bomber jacket, which he put on.

"See?" said Peach. "Doesn't that feel better?"

"Not by much…if anything."

Peach smiled. "Oh, don't be so pouty! Besides, you look really sexy in a leather jacket!"

Shadow blushed. It was at this point that he reconsidered his position about wearing a jacket. If Peach approved, then why not? Besides, he enjoyed the "bad boy" image that leather jackets gave him.

"Thank you," said Shadow. "Let's go."

And so, Shadow and Peach trudged their way through the frozen wasteland. Thus far, it was mostly snowy ground, with a bunch of ice crystal formations sticking out. As far as their foes went, there were a lot of Mr. Blizzard snowmen to deal with. What proved disconcerting for Shadow was that some of these would throw cryo bombs, which left a pool of liquid nitrogen upon detonating. As tough as he was, even he wasn't resistant to getting frozen by liquid nitrogen, so he made it a point to destroy the Mr. Blizzards as quickly as possible. Those weren't the only foes they had to contend with, as there were also Spike Tops here, albeit with ice blue shells as opposed to the red-shelled ones they'd seen at Magma Plains. Despite the intense cold and her lack of pants, Peach felt all right at the moment. Part of her actually preferred the winter cold because there were a bunch of cute outfits that she could rock as a result. Besides, it also gave her the romantic image of being curled up by a fire with a cup of her favorite tea, or even hot chocolate if she felt like it. Casting such romantic images aside, she kept going along with Shadow.

Eventually, they reached a stone arch bridge with low railings. Here, there were a lot of Ice Bullies, which resembled regular Bullies, but were blue in color and had a single spike on top of their heads. Knowing what to do, Shadow and Peach attempted to smack them off the bridge with the butts of their rifles. Doing so actually imparted greater force than their submachine guns did, and the Ice Bullies fell off of the bridge and into a river of ice lava below, thereby burning to death. The enemies were numerous, but with a lot of determination and some sheer luck, Shadow and Peach made it to the end of the bridge, where a larger Chill Bully awaited. Like the Big Bully in Magma Plains, Shadow grabbed this one and threw it aside into the ice lava river. All that remained now was the next castle, which was just ahead.

The interior lighting of the castle was no different from other castles Shadow and Peach had been through, but it was quite chilly owing to the fact that the outside air was cold. Shortly after entering the castle, they encountered a Dry Bones, which they temporarily disintegrated. As they proceeded down the hallway, however, Shadow's Hedgehog Sense tingled again…

"Peach, STOP!"

Shadow and Peach stopped just in time before a huge pole with spikes came down and skewered them. Once the pole raised, they continued onward, only for Shadow's Hedgehog Sense to go off again…

"Duck into that trench!" said Shadow.

Shadow and Peach ducked into a trench, thereby avoiding a cylinder of circular saws that were coming at them. Once they dodged these, they kept going, only to come to another such cylinder. With no place to duck, Shadow swept Peach off her feet and jumped over it, after which he set her down. After jumping over a lava pit and avoiding a couple of Podoboos, they had to dodge some more sawblade cylinders, these rolling around on sets of rails. As if this wasn't bad enough, there were more of those large skewering poles to watch out for. In spite of all these obstacles, Shadow remained convinced that he'd get him and Peach through, so he took it slow – as much as it went against his nature – and used his Hedgehog Sense to guide both of them through. One of the more challenging obstacles was a set of two skewering poles – one pointing up at the ceiling and the other coming through the floor like the rest – that went up and down rapidly. The only way they got through this was by pausing in between the two before moving on, and Peach was especially relieved to get through them.

After going through a small door, they found themselves in a room with a bunch of platforms. The challenging aspect of this room was that many of the platforms had Li'l Sparkies circling them, with some even having the larger Hotheads, neither of which were vulnerable to 5.56mm rounds. Some of these platforms also had Fire Bars.

"You're doing well so far, Peach. Just stay with me and we'll get through this too."

Peach nodded, and she jumped onto the nearest platform with Shadow. Just like the previous room, he relied on his Hedgehog Sense in addition to his own eyesight to get them through. At one point, they stopped another Dry Bones, which was perhaps the easiest part about this room. Though Shadow did have plenty of anxiety about keeping Peach alive, he was nevertheless confident that they'd get through if they tried hard enough. Fortunately, they made it through, and they came to another big red door.

"Princess, get out…ooh, who's the handsome little guy you got there?" said another Koopaling.

"I'm Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form. I expect you have a name, too."

"I do! I'm Wendy O. Koopa, and you and the Princess are gonna become my toys!"

Like Lemmy did, Wendy hopped into a pipe, after which a couple of Podoboos popped out of the two other pipes and started heading for Peach and Shadow. However, Shadow stood in front of Peach, and…

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

In one swift motion, Shadow not only knocked out the Podoboos by charging into them, but also grabbed the real Wendy once she popped up and slammed her against a wall, after which he held her at gunpoint.

"Tell me more about Bowser's plan or I'll shoot."

"No way! I'm not talkin'!"

Shadow jabbed Wendy's neck with the muzzle of his M16. "Don't make me ventilate you, bitch."

"OK! OK! I know it's possible to summon Saphanolis, but I don't know exactly how! Ask Larry; he'd know!"

Shadow lowered his M16. "Thank you. You just saved your own life."

Shadow and Peach left Wendy's castle.

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.