Shadow the Hedgehog, Metal Sonic, Dr. Robotnik, the Freedom Fighters, etc are (c) to Sega. Beth is (c) to me. Don't steal.. or I'll feed you to Someone. This is a short Prelude to Second Nature.
(Someone: I AM OFFENDED! How dare you use me as a dog!?) Lyrics (c) to Sting, Someone (c) to Joe Hedgehog. This is a prelude to Second Nature.

I dream of rain
I dream of gardens in the desert sand
I wake in pain
I dream of love as time runs through my hand

I dream of fire
Those dreams are tied to a horse that will never tire
And in the flames
Her shadows play in the shape of a man's desire

This desert rose
Each of her veils, a secret promise
This desert flower
No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this

And as she turns
This way she moves in the logic of all my dreams
This fire burns
I realize that nothing's as it seems

I dream of rain
I dream of gardens in the desert sand
I wake in pain
I dream of love as time runs through my hand

I dream of rain
I lift my gaze to empty skies above
I close my eyes, this rare perfume
Is the sweet intoxication of her love

I dream of rain
I dream of gardens in the desert sand
I wake in pain
I dream of love as time runs through my hand

Sweet desert rose
Each of her veils, a secret promise
This desert flower
No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this

Sweet desert rose
This memory of Eden haunts us all
This desert flower, this rare perfume
Is the sweet intoxication of the fall

Desert Rose

The SWATbot threw down the form of an echidna before Robotnik. She was blue all over, and had frizzy dreadlocks. Her breathing was laboured, her casual clothes torn.
She looked at Robotnik, silently.

He studied her.

"You're Beth Echidna, aren't you?"

She nodded, then coughed.
Beth was well-known for her computer skills.

"You're sick." It was like a death sentence

Another nod.

"Well, Beth, let us make a deal. Here in Robotropolis, I have a newly made antibiotic, one that can cure you, in time. It's painless. However, is return, you must work here in Robotropolis, and use your computer skills to my advantage. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes." He stepped down from his chair, and they shook hands.

"Shadow," he turned to the black hedgehog, who had been studying the newcomer since her arrival.

"Yes?"

"Give our new member a tour, and direct her to the medical supply. The antibiotic is Anelicillin (A/N: Not a real antibiotic)."

"Sir."

He saluted, and took Beth by the arm.

"C'mon."

Once they had departed, Ivo waved a hand towards the darkness to his left.

"Mecha."

Metal stepped forward, red eyes glowing.

"Yes, sire?"

"I want you to keep a close eye on that echidna. Remember Knuckles."

Julian's mood darkened considerably after he had uttered the echidna's name. Knuckles carried valuable Robotropolis information. Robotnik hated him.

"Affirmative."

"So.."

Beth collapsed against Shadow, panting.

"Sorry.." she coughed.

"It's okay."

He swooped under her, then stood up, so that he was supporting her.

"Thanks.." she added.

They managed to make it to the med supplies. Shadow pulled out a small container from the drawer, and handed it to her, along with a bottle of water.

She thanked him, then downed the water, along with a capsule.

"It needs five minutes to work to start working.." Shadow informed her.

Beth nodded, and waited. Her face lit up.

"Amazing! I feel better than I've felt.. in a long time..."

Shadow couldn't help but smile.

"That's good. Now come on, I gotta give you the tour."

She stood up, with little difficulty, and trotted beside him.

"So.." she prodded.

"I'm Shadow. I, uh, live here."

"Hey, Shads. I'm Beth.."

"You're from the Floating Island, right?"

"Uh huh.."

"Then how come you're not there anymore?"

"Oh." She frowned a little bit. "Well, you see, I was walking through a stray alley, and.. I was jumped. Um.. After a little bit, I fainted.. they freaked out, took me for dead, and dumped me in the Great Forest. When I woke up, SWATbots surrounded me, and I was brought here."

Shadow was in shock. Robotnik's henchman, he may have been, but he wasn't heartless. Or ruthless, for that matter.

"How could anyone jump a sick girl?!"

Beth shrugged, nonchalantly.

"That's life, Shads."

They spent hours talking. Shadow found himself spilling all his secrets, and his life, to her, without control. He told her everything.. Maria, recruit to Robotropolis, Ray.. And Beth was just as lively. They chatted as if they were old friends.
Metal watched, impassively.

****

Metal found that he could not concentrate. He shut off the computer, and turned away.

"Hey Metal!"

Without even turning to look at the newcomer, he uttered, in a flat voice:

"Greetings."

"What's up?"

Beth took a seat behind him.

"My business is none of your concern, echidna."

Some people would have been turned off by that, but not Beth. She persisted.

"Aww.. don't be so stiff!"

"Why do you care?"

"You look lonely."

"Negative. I am not lonely."

"Well, I'm lonely! So talk to me."

"Why don't you talk to Shadow?" There was something in his voice now. Irony, maybe.

"Because you're here!"

"So? Why do you wish to talk to me?"

"Because I think you're cool."

"You're not afraid of me?"

Beth seemed surprised.

"No? Why would I be?"

"I'm a spiky blue robot with red eyes and claws."

"So?"

"What do you mean, 'So?'?!"

"It's what it's the inside that counts!"

"I'm an assassin Mecha Bot." Mecha answered, blandly.

"You're more than that.. and I know it."

Metal Sonic let out a mechanical version of a sigh, and gave it.

"What do you wish to discuss?"

"Anything you want, Metal. Just tell me about yourself, what you like, what you dislike, et cetera."

"Well.. I.." He was at a loss for words. He wanted to list 'solitude', as a like, but.. for some odd reason, this creature wanted to converse with him. Nobody had ever wanted to talk to him before. For the first time.. he felt wanted. As if somebody cared. So he talked. They came to the subject of his organic counterpart. His twin eyes blazed, like fire.

"Sssonic, how I loathe him. The original.. I am nothing but a copy. A cheap imitation. " He clenched, and unclenched his fists.

"Actually," Beth put in, "You're not."

Fury transformed into confusion.

"What?"

"A cheap imitation acts like the original. You.. you're your own person."

He stared. She shifted her feet, and dropped her eyes.

"Um.. yeah.."

"I never thought of it that way."

It may not have changed his hate for Sonic; but it had changed his attitude towards the newbie.

There was a silence. Then,

"You do not deserve to be sick, Beth."

She glanced up.

"Thanks.."

   A couple of weeks passed. Robotnik was busy, preparing for another one of his evil schemes. Beth, being the amiable echidna she was, was bringing new joy into the lives of the two hedgehogs.

However, only known to Shadow, something was amiss.

Beth sighed, as they passed the dungeons.

"Beth.. what's the matter?"

"I.. I.." She trailed off.

"Yes?"

"I.. can't stand this, Shadow. I'm.. not strong enough. I can't bear to see innocent mobians turned into mindless killing machines.."

She lowered her line of sight to the ground. Shadow lifted her chin with his finger.

"Believe it or not, I don't like it anymore than you do."

She didn't answer.

"Listen, Beth. In a month or so, you'll be cured. Then, we'll leave together, de-roboticize the Mobians, and start a new life."

"Really?"

Her eyes shone.

Shadow nodded, smiling.

"Really."

He regained seriousity.

"However.."

"Yes?"

"You need that medicine, Beth. So you'll have to hold out a while longer."

"Alright.."


Everything would have gone perfectly, if not for what happened next...

>Priority two fox has been apprehended, sir<

The SWATbots were armed with a still Tails.

"Excellent. Beth, roboticize him. I am too busy to see to it myself."

She saluted.

"Yes, sir."

The SWATbots followed her, then placed Tails in the roboticizer.
They then exited, leaving the two alone. Tails made no sound, just stared ahead of him. Beth powered up the roboticizer, wincing.
Her finger hovered over the 'Start' button. It was trembling, suspended in the air.
Tails saw her hesitation, and looked pleadingly at her.

She blanched.

"Just press the button, Beth." She ordered herself. Her finger was still frozen.

"Press the button."

She couldn't do it. She couldn't turn a young fox into a mindless robot.
She collapsed against the machine, knowing that she would regret her next move. She pressed to 'Open' button, and turned off the power as the tube came up.

Tails blinked in surprise.

"Go.." she whispered to him.

He waddled over to her.

"Thank you."

"Go." She repeated.

"You're too nice to work in Robotropolis. You should come and be a Freedom Fighter."

"Well.."

What did she have to lose? Robotnik would know it was her who freed him.

"I'll meet you in the Great Forest."

"Kay!"

And he was gone.

Beth immediately began packing. Shadow approached.

"Beth.. what are you doing?"

"I.. wasn't strong enough, Shadow.. There was a little fox.. I set him free.. I have to go."

"This way." He grabbed her by the arm, and sped off.

Robotnik's feet pounded down on the hard, metal ground.

"SWATBOTS!" he bellowed, spraying them with spit, "Bring Beth Echidna to me. NOW!"

"I knew it was a bad idea to bring her here."

Metal entered.

"Sir?"

"Beth.. echidna is a traitor. She was in league with the Knothole Freedom Fighters..  (A/N: LIAR!) Find her, and kill her, painfully."

Metal's eyes blazed. Beth had been a traitor. A spy. Everything she had said to him, all her feelings for him. A lie. A rage built up in him; almost equal to the feeling he experienced around his organic counterpart. He had been betrayed.

He should have never trusted her. She would die. If he had known the truth, that Beth had simply had too much compassion for Tails, then none of this tragedy would have happened.

SWATbots ran amok Robotropolis, searching for Beth.
She wasn't there.

"Beth.." Shadow whispered, taking her hands in his, for the last time.

"I'm sorry, Shadow."

"It's okay, Beth. It can still work this way. I'll relay the medicine to you, and you'll be cured."

She smiled.

"Okay."

"Take care."

"I will."

And they parted.
Beth followed an ecstatic Tails, and Shadow headed back to Robotropolis.

"You'll love Knothole."

*****

"Tails, where have yo-" Sally stopped short, at the sight of the newcomer.

"Hello."

"Hi..."

Sally sent a glance at the young fox.

"I'm Beth.."

"She saved me!" Tails beamed.

Sally scanned her.

"Welcome."

The two shook hands.

"To the Knothole Freedom Fighters. We don't have any huts to spare at the moment, so you'll have to stay with Bunnie for the night."

Beth was given a tour, and introduced to the others. She was asked questions, and answered. Nobody seemed to really care that she was once a worker in Robotropolis. She took up residence with Bunnie, for a week. She sat down to the computer, opening up her e-mails. That's when the trouble began.

Metal still hadn't recovered. He sat, facing the computer, completely motionless, brooding. His luminous red eyes were fixed on the screen. Then, an idea came to him. He knew Beth's e-mail account. He also knew that she used it frequently. He could trace her. A faint smile appeared on his face, as he opened the hacker programs.
Sure enough, she was sending one. Probably to family. Metal switched on the program, and watched attentively as it pinpointed the coordinates of Knothole. His manner changed to gleeful. He prepared a bomb, and set out. Had he been thinking rationally, he might have been able to wipe eradicate the Freedom Fighters, once and for all. However.. he was too caught up his hate, and rage, to be thinking straight.

Beth switched off the laptop, and extinguished the light. She slumped in her bed, and mentally prepared for sleep.
Unknown to her, and the rest of the village, a certain blue robot had just planted a bomb in the middle of Knothole, and set the timer to 10 minutes. And then he was gone, the same way he came, without a trace.

Amy, rubbing sleep from her eyes, wandered across Knothole, in search for Princess Sally. She hadn't been able to sleep.

"I need pills," the little pink hedgehog breathed. Without warning, her foot encountered something, and she tripped over it. She drew out her flashlight, and shown it upon the object. Her heart nearly stopped.

A bomb.

The counter was at 5 minutes. Amy drew in a great breath, then let out a shrill scream.

"That'll wake 'em up."

Before long, the entire village was awake. Sonic, Bunnie and Princess Sally managed to usher everybody out, not having enough time to actually try and deactivate the bomb. As if the Freedom Fighters gaining safe distance from the village was some sort of a cue, there was a deafening explosion. It was a small bomb. The surrounding trees of Knothole village were incinerated. The group watched in silent horror, as their home, their base of operations, reduced to mere ashes. 
It was a terrible sight. There was complete silence; no birds, no insects, nothing. Sonic zipped over to exam the area. He returned, with a face similar to stone.

"That was a Robotropolis bomb."

Beth felt the eyes of the others upon her.

"S-sonic.."

"Only Robotropolis citizens have access to that kind of equipment."

He advanced. Tails threw himself between them.

"Sonic, please-"

The hedgehog pushed him aside, grabbed Beth by the arm, and was gone in a Sonic Boom.
Once the echidna regained awareness of her surroundings, she found herself alone, with Sonic, in a barren wasteland of some sort.

"I won't kill you.." his voice was low and sharp, "But, you're exiled. If you die here... it's your own fault."

"Sonic-"

But he was gone.
Beth sighed, allowing herself a peek around her.

"You deserve this, Beth." She told herself, "This is your fault for working of Robotnik. This is your punishment."

And the blue echidna set off.

****

Shadow hadn't heard from Beth for days, he was beginning to get worried.

"She'll be fine," he assured himself. It didn't do the trick. Succumbing, he flopped down on a couch, and turned the TV on. Idly, he fiddled around with the remote, searching for something interesting to watch.

It dropped from his hand and clattered onto the ground.

For, on the TV, was a news report.

"A teenage, female echidna was found dead today. She had no wounds on her body, doctors believed her to be sick. Research is in process."

They flashed a picture. One exactly identical to the echidna that had worked with him. His heard nearly stopped.

"Beth.. No..." his tone was less than a whisper. Pleading. Begging.

"No."

He had lost Maria, and now Beth.

The TV continued to play, and Shadow sat, frozen, for about 10 minutes. Then, angrily, he hurled a nearby bar at the TV, breaking it. He rushed over to the computer, mechanically, tearing streaming down his face.

"Beth.."

He slumped forwards, staining the screen.

"Computer.. who is the leader of the Knothole Freedom Fighters?"

The computer gave a beep, then produced a picture of an azure hedgehog, grinning.

>Sonic the Hedgehog<

Shadow, chest heaving with pain, grit his teeth, clenched his fists, and narrowed his eyes to murderous slits.

"Sonic the Hedgehog, " he snarled, "You're going to have Hell to pay for this..."

The end.

And the moral of this story is- don't put purple turkeys in the microwave.

Angsty fic. Yum. There ends the prelude to Second Nature, a fic I've been wanting to write a for a while now. Sorry if it's sloppy at the end, it's late at night. Next up, the fic you've been waiting for (Keep dreaming, Sipp)- Second Nature.
Anyway..

Timeline:

Here we go:

**Enter Eliza: Nursed illegally in a village controlled by ruthless and evil dogs, Mighty the Armadillo finds himself far away from home. And the only way to get back home, is to overthrow the Cellos, which is next to impossible.

**Duty Calls: Knuckles and Tails have mysteriously disappeared, and Sonic heads to the Floating Island, searching for clues. But what he does find, is far more than he bargained for. A rogue echidna, an old friend, a few friendly faces, and the infamous Metal Sonic!

**Friends 'Till the End: Tails and Eliza have been forbidden to see each other. But when Metal-Sonic threatens to blow up the island, the two know that they have to stop him, together, even if it means disobeying Mighty or even the cost of their very lives......

The Dark Vengeance Re-Write: Enerjak's back, and craving vengeance! Using Knuckles and the Chaotix as pawns in his evil scheme, the twisted echidna plans to take over the Floating Island, no, the world!

Siblings: People have gone missing, and it's up to Espio, Mighty and Eliza, and a newcomer to find them. But something's not quite right.. and Espio wants to what. But his questions lead him to death's door... and someone he never thought he'd see again.

The Weak, the Strong and the Mighty: When the island is threatened by Volgo the. Stoat, an old enemy of Mighty, Mighty must go solo to stop him. However, he isn't as solo as he thinks he is.... But why is Kiibi helping Eliza, and who is that strange armadillo who saved her..?

Eliza's Birthday Bash: Eliza's tenth birthday has arrived. The Chaotix, and the Freedom Fighters are planning a surprise party. They're not the only ones who want to surprise Eliza, and this particular surprise isn't going to pleasant....

The Armour of an Echidna: Shay-lu is back, and he's geared for revenge against Mighty. The sneaky weasel's got the perfect sinister plot in mind, and he's planning to attack Mighty's 'weaker' side....

A Squirrel Walks Among us: An urgent e-mail from Axel draws Eliza into the heart of Robotropolis, and straight into Robotnik's waiting hands. (Prelude to Trapped)

Trapped: All has been quiet since Shay-lu's latest attack. Mecha still lies dead, Robotnik has calmed down, and there's no sign of Enerjak and his legion, anywhere. Now, a new enemy has come to the Floating Island, hoping to steal the Master Emerald and terrorize the islanders. However, the mayhem doesn't really start until Amy Rose finds Eliza bloodied, and literally ripped apart in Lava Reef.....

Behind Steel Doors: Metal-Sonic is back.. with a vengeance! The robot, long thought to be dead, has returned, with upgrades, an invulnerability to the resistance, and a steely rage. His first action: locking Tails, Ray, Eliza, Amy and Shamus in 
the abandoned city of Robotropolis

Desert Rose: A sick echidna girl comes to work with Shadow and Metal Sonic in Robotropolis. Metal, reminded of Knux's treachery, decides to keep an eye on her.. but things change.. The two hedgehogs find themselves growing fond of the girl.. and then, the trouble begins.. (Prelude to Second Nature)

***Second Nature: A competitive treasure-hunting race, quickly turns into a nightmare for the Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix when Robotnik unleashes his prize creations, instructing them with the sole purpose of collecting the Chaos Emeralds for his diabolical plan, and destroying every single mobian standing in their paths.

*Simplicity: A new girl comes to the island, claiming to be a Guardian of some sort. But things take a more nauseating twist when Robo-Knux kidnaps the girl, in an effort to manipulate her and her abilities...

*Corrosion: Robotropolis  is taken over by a mysterious being, and it becomes a base of operating for the new dictator. Mobius slowly becomes taken over by this powerful unknown. The Chaotix, and what's left of the Freedom Fighters soon learn, that they only for Mobius lies with a certain Mecha Bot...

*Hot Flashes: A wounded puppy appears on the Floating Island. A member of the Chaotix takes him in, and the puppy proves to have a thirst for destruction. Knuckles, suspicious, researches the dog's identity.. and is shocked at what he finds... (working desc)

*Sunrise: A young Guardian runs away from home, on a strange quest. Sonic decides that he wants to accompany her. And that's where the mayhem begins..

*Requiem: He's back! Dimitri strikes again, this time as a cybernetic echidna, once again backed up by the Dark Legion! But he's more than ready for Knuckles and the Chaotix this time..

*Parallel: Amy Rose's murder is just the beginning of a series of death-attempts, meant to frame Sonic. It works, and the hedgehog soon finds himself exiled from Knothole. Meanwhile, Metal is having similar problems...

*Double-Blade: A double fic. Limrik tries to sell Eliza to Robo-Knux, and his plan backfires. He soon finds himself having to rely on the echidna, if he ever wants to escape RK's wrath. While all this is happening, somebody is desperately trying to make Az lose Guardianship, and it's up to her and Knux to find out who, and stop them.

*Back to the Future: Sonic is transported five years into the future, where a new dictator rules. There is a small band of rebels, but they are losing bitterly. Can he once again bring hope amidst the despair and desolation that is Mobius?

*: Has yet to be written.
**: not finished yet, and I don't think they will be.
***: A goodie. An extra-long, action-packed fic, for your reading pleasure.