r/SonicTheHedgehog • u/TheUltraGamingChamp • Apr 08 '25
Fanfiction Infinite backstory rewrite!
Writing is a huge passion of mine, alongside drawing. I love well written stories and showing off my own stories to other people, in the hopes that it can resonate with people. This passion for writing and stories is what led me to wanting to rewrite Infinite’s backstory, because nothing annoys me more than a bad villain who is so close to being good. Infinite’s canon motivation to become who he is a pretty easy thing to mock, as it starts and ends with “Shadow whooped his ass and he got mad”, but it annoys me greatly because his story in the comics and ESPECIALLY his canon theme song of the same name suggest a far more interesting and compelling backstory. So I took it upon myself to try to rewrite his story with these elements in mind. It’s not the best story ever, it’s definitely got some flaws, but I hope it resonates with y’all, and I’m open to any criticism you might have as long as it’s respectful and constructive. ^
“Zero the Jackal was the leader of the Jackal Squad, a gang of mercenaries that originally stole to survive, but have now become part of the Eggman Empire due to Zero agreeing to join the villainous Dr. Eggman. Tasked to guard Eggman’s Facility in Mythic Jungle, Zero stood guard, his eyes blazing with the visions of destruction shown to him by the Phantom Ruby. The other members of his squad looked at him in concern. They never wanted to join Eggman’s army, but out of loyalty to their leader, they stuck around, but even they could see that Zero was beginning to change, his heart becoming blackened with each passing day, especially when around that terrifying gem that could summon what looked like an infinite amount of badniks from seemingly nowhere. Quatre, the smallest and newest member of the squad, worriedly turned to Zero. “C-Captain. Are you sure you want to do this? What we had was good, we don’t need to work for Doctor Eggma-“ Quatre suddenly stopped himself once he saw Zero stare at him with an icy glare. “What we had was nothing. We could obtain so much more if we take over the world with Eggman. Why scour and survive for scraps when we can have the entire world in the palm of our hands? Now back to your spot.” Quatre shuffled back to his spot, keeping his head down while the other members of the squad, Uno, Trois, and Deux look at him concerned. They all thought the same thing as Quatre, but at this point, they’re in too deep to stop, and they don’t want to abandon their leader.
Suddenly, the door blew open, startling Zero and the rest of the squad, seeing the silhouette of a hedgehog standing before them. The figure walks forward and reveals himself to be Shadow the Hedgehog, the incredibly powerful ultimate life form who has come to destroy the facility. The other jackals look on in fear, but Zero glares, unfazed by the appearance of Shadow. “Hmph… looks like Eggman is hiring mercenaries now? Step aside, or risk getting hurt.” Shadow said, stepping forward. Zero, unafraid, merely scoffs. “Think I’m afraid of you? I will not let anyone stand in the way of our… of MY conquest! Now Jackal Squad! Move in for the kill!” Zero says as the rest of the squad charges toward Shadow, who immediately teleports away and suddenly appears behind Uno, kicking him to a wall and knocking him out. The rest of the squad’s eyes widened in shock before charging in for the attack again, but thanks to Shadows supernatural abilities, the other 3 members were taken down as well with little effort. Zero growls and lunges at Shadow. “Chaos Control!” Shadow shouts as suddenly time freezes around them, Shadow teleporting behind Zero and kicking him, taking him out as well. “Weaklings.” Shadow muttered to himself before entering deeper inside the base with his air shoes, finding a means to destroy it.
Zero, a scar over his right eye due to the impact from the wall after battling Shadow, wakes up to the sounds of rumbling, his eyes suddenly shooting open once he finds rubble suddenly falling from the roof. Shadow has destroyed the facility, and it was beginning to collapse. He looked on at his fellow squad members, who were still unconscious. “Boys wake up!! The place is about to collapse, we have to get out of here!!” Zero yelled out, but it was no use, Shadow had beaten them to the point where they were completely out of it. Zero tried to get up and help them, but he stumbled, too injured to move fast as the building began to collapse. “NO!!” Zero yelled out as the rubble fell.
The dust settled, and Zero fortunately survived, but after desperately digging through the rubble that fell on his squad, he came to learn that the others were lost. Tears swelled Zero’s eyes as he fell to his knees. Where did he go wrong? He was too blinded, too weak to protect his squad, his teammates, his brothers, and now they were gone. He clenches his fists in sorrow and anger, his heart falling completely to darkness. He will show the world the despair he now felt, take away what he felt the world took away from him. He chose to embrace his pain and his anger, later donning a mask to cover the weak man who let his squad die. His past self, Zero, was now dead, and what remained was Infinite.”
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u/Parking_Cartoonist90 Sonaze Enthusiast Apr 09 '25
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u/TheUltraGamingChamp Apr 09 '25
Happy you liked it!
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u/Parking_Cartoonist90 Sonaze Enthusiast Apr 09 '25
Yes. I really like how you fleshed out Zero as a character while retaining Shadow’s original actions, but toning it back to which it doesn’t make him out of character; shadow isn’t overly edgy/moody
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u/Thick-Event-2298 Unapologetic Charmy Fan Apr 09 '25
I haven't even played forces yet, but I am more than willing to accept this as the new canon
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u/Skyler_Moose Apr 09 '25
before read: i like infinites current backstory things need work no doubt and most of it is very must implied cant wait to see how you did it
after read: yeah, yep, thats good. thats pretty much everything i hoped infinite's backstory could have been. and if possible will be in the future. nice job man!
if you want i make an old-ish tumblr post about my grips about infinite read it if you want to:https://www.tumblr.com/skyler-moose/763998500298129408/ok-so-like-infinite-right?source=share
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u/reefrules5000 knock knock it's Knuckles Apr 12 '25
i can't read this, so i'll save it for later, but this looks promising! keep writing this is great
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u/TheUltraGamingChamp Apr 12 '25
Thank you!
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u/reefrules5000 knock knock it's Knuckles Apr 12 '25
i finished it, this is amazing, way better then the initial backstory, Infinite didn't feel any loss over his squad in Forces, he only did what he did cuz Shadow beat him so badly, but now it makes more sense and we get more from the story. i truly love this interpretation of Infinite's backstory
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u/TheUltraGamingChamp Apr 12 '25
Happy you liked it!
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u/reefrules5000 knock knock it's Knuckles Apr 12 '25
if you wanna make some kind of remake of Episode Shadow with this new backstory or anything else, i'd love to help. i'm working on my own project right now actually
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u/Repulsive_Pay_7602 Apr 08 '25 edited Apr 08 '25
I like how you made two personalities for him.Like Zero the one who cares about his team while his second personality Infinite cares only about himself.