"...pain..."
A soft and raspy voice echoed within a dark confined cellar. The room contained nothing but a stone cold bed, a torn-up pillow, and a blanket sheet too thin to keep anyone comfortable or warm. There was no light in the cellar, so everything was grey and lifeless. Day and night were unknown concepts within the room; it was enough to drive a fully grown adult into insanity from the solitary confinement.
"...it hurts..."
He reached his hands out in front of him-they were both trembling, his fingers crooked. He barely had the strength to keep himself still. The numerous tests and experiments he endured had brought him to his breaking point, especially when his mind was never stable in the first place. His breathing grew ragged, the horror and torment still lingering in body and thought.
He was never given a choice of what life he wanted to live; he was already given a life of pain from birth. "Family" was just a concept to him, "friends" just another term that expressed vulnerability. All he knew was pain, anger, and hatred, and that was how he grew up from childhood. There was no love, no compassion, nothing. Those were all fake to him, all lies.
Even though his body was beaten, scarred, tortured, burned, and mistreated now, this was the first life he felt like he could make a choice. He chose to live in this dark room, away from the illusion of luxury and comfort. He chose to undergo these experiments to grow stronger, to become one with eternity. To become Infinite. No matter what it took.
"You really think you can be somebody?"
A figure in the shadows was maliciously baring his teeth at the young jackal, curled up on the ground before him. Allowing his hatred to consume him, he kicked the jackal on the ground, hearing a grunt of pain.
"You're pathetic. You can't even stand to fight for yourself. Look at you."
Finding amusement in hearing the groans of the pathetic person on the ground, he grabbed his hair, to look straight into those fearful and meek eyes before he gave a couple more punches to his face, making him bleed from a cut lip and a broken nose.
"I ought to kill you right now. The world has no room for weaklings."
He quickly grew bored with him, however, and just tossed him away, leaving him to roll in the dust.
"The wise thing to do would be to stay away from my sight. Shouldn't be so hard for you to go unnoticed, since you are a nobody. If I see you again, I will not hesitate to kill you if I find you too weak to live."
Once he left, the jackal on the ground started to weep softly, since he had no strength left. Everyone always picked on him, he could never fit in everywhere. No matter how hard he tried. He was always a nuisance, an extra mouth to feed, a rag doll getting in someone's way. He was pathetic. He was useless. He was...
"No. I am not weak."
All of his life, he was labeled these names. From the gangs he worked with, from those who stomped on him, even from the Doctor that he worked with to gain these new powers. And that hedgehog...especially him. He had grown to hate him, for humiliating him in such a manner, to label him like many others before him. He hated them all. They all drove him to this point of insanity, this desire to become a new being. Soon, they would all pay for it.
But for now, he had to endure this excruciating pain that left him with few words. Pain so intense that he could not muster the strength to groan from it.
"...I was born in this pain. It only hurts if I let it..."
He slowly lowered his quivering hands to his lap, allowing them to rest and relieve the pain for a brief moment. Once he felt ready, he would reach one trembling hand toward his chest, clenching onto his chest fur in agony.
"I will soon have a new heart. One that isn't vulnerable. One that isn't mortal. One that is...infinite."
The ruthless jackal then grinned towards himself, his face distorting in a painfully wicked manner. His fangs pointed out as he clenched his teeth.
"Yes...That shall be my name. All this time, no one gave me a name, so I bore the name of my race: Jackal. Now, I can finally make a name for myself."
Letting out a malicious chuckle that made the cold air freeze into ice, he sighed to himself in content. Yes, he could make a choice now.
"A choice to be truly Infinite."
"Wait."
The test subject, strapped by the arms and legs against the table, held his feet and curled his toes tightly, tensing up from the instruments of torture that were closing in on him. His arms were starting to quiver in a nervous manner, not able to bear the thought about what would happen next.
"Wait, wait!"
The miniature drill started to slow down as it reached toward the creature's chest, a millimeter from piercing him. He was panting heavily, covered in sweat and blood, full of fear. His eyes started to form tears, the pain finally messing with whatever sanity he had left.
"Oh? I thought you told me you would have no hesitations."
A rough but cold voice echoed in the chambers of the lab. Taking a step forward and fondling with his abnormally large moustache, Dr. Eggman greeted him with a mischievous smirk. "Don't tell me you want to back out now," he continued with a false sense of hurtfulness that was mocking in his own sadistic nature. "Not after all of the tests we've done already. It was never a problem before, why would it be one now? You're not weak, are you?"
The subject's right ear flicked at the sound of the word. Weak. That word flooded back the memories, the laughter from his enemies, the mockery of it all.
"No. I made a choice to do this without anesthetics, I should continue. Carry on, doctor."
Eggman let out a humorous chuckle, walking over to the control panel next to him and pressing a button to resume the process. "Just as I thought."
From the echoes of the chambers, a faint whirring sound filled the atmosphere, quickly drowned out a deafening cry of pain.
Opening his eyes suddenly, the jackal gasped, catching his breath as a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. The experiments had not only invaded his body, but now his dreams as well. For weeks, he would be having these terrors wake him up, leaving him restless as well as physically feeble. But it would all be worth it. He was almost ready to become Infinite. Just one more test, one more trial to break his limits. Then he would be complete. This desire, this determination was what kept him stable for all this time.
But for now, he would try to get whatever rest he could. Letting the soreness in his body creep in and dull his senses, he slowly drifted off to sleep once more.
He stepped up to the glass container, allowing the wires to search their way around his body, connect themselves towards him, and hold him in midair.
A robotic female voice spoke from the computer nearby, where the evil scientist sat down to observe his experiment and the data. Test subject locked in place.
"Good." The doctor grinned once more as he bent his fingers inwards and tapped the tips of each of his fingers together, a habit that most villainous figures adapted to. "Once the experiment begins, the Phantom Ruby will fuse with your heart, and its power will course through your veins. There will be an incredible amount of pain in the procedure, however. One that makes all of the previous tests seem like a simple prick on the finger. Are you ready, Jackal?"
"Ready," he calmly but immediately replied. "If that's what it takes to be Infinite, then I will do what is needed." The Phantom Ruby would be the final key to unlocking his true self. When he had first encountered Eggman, it was simply to lead his own Jackal Squad to rob him, but when he attempted to snag that ruby, a revelation hit him. The ruby had shown him the deepest, darkest desires of his heart; it showed him a vision of a destroyed world, nothing but ruin in the wakes. And that was what he always wanted: the destruction of life itself.
Eggman pressed a button, observing as the procedure started. A slot opened from the bottom as a metal platform lifted the Phantom Ruby up to the subject's level. Almost immediately, the ruby started to glow and then emit waves of crimson red and magenta, the colors alternating. A metallic whir came from the jewel as it grew more active, starting off with vibrations that quickly grew to tremendous quakes, thanks to a few modifications Eggman installed in the chamber. Instantly, energy that resembled red lightning shot out from the gem and fired onto the subject's chest, in which he hollered out in unimaginable pain. He felt his entire heart burn intensely, and that feeling of fire spread in his bloodstream, reaching his entire body.
Intrigued by the spectacle, the mad doctor wickedly smirked once again as the procedure followed. "Yes, yes!" he exclaimed, sadistically enjoying every moment of it. Unfortunately for him, the moment was short-lived as he heard an alarm go off in the computer, a sure sign of danger. "What!?" He quickly turned to the statistics to see, in his horror, that his subject was destabilizing in every way imaginable. The Phantom Ruby was creating extremities within his body, and the energy was overloading. "No, this shouldn't happen! I experimented on both the Ruby and Jackal, what went wrong? I must it all down, quick!"
Before he could even press another button, the jackal shouted out to him, "No! I can take this, I am not weak!"
"You fool!" Eggman responded. "How do you expect us to achieve world domination if you'll die from this?"
"I won't die," he simply replied. Then, another lightning spark shot out from the Ruby, striking him exactly in the center of his chest once more, his body starting to glow red. The light then grew brighter and brighter, the pressure within the container causing the glass to crack. Eggman, realizing what would happen, quickly flipped over a desk and cowered behind it to shield him from the impact.
There was then a large boom, glass shards and shrapnel flying all over the place. Once the coast was clear, he peeked from his hiding spot to see what had happened. When the smoke cleared, out came Infinite, rising from the ashes, the Phantom Ruby now fused into his chest. His left yellow eye glowed brightly, a red aura surrounding his entire body.
At this, the doctor couldn't help but stare in awe before bursting out in a fit of malevolent laughter. "Success! A brilliant success! I doubted you there for a moment but now, after all of those tests, here you stand! Now there will be nothing that can stop us, not even that pesky Sonic!"
Infinite crossed his arms, showing nothing but a stoic expression. It was clear that the transformation had also changed his attitude. "Do you have that mask I requested you to forge for me?"
"Huh?" Eggman was a but surprised that Infinite did not seem to show any enjoyment in what would be one of the most successful moments of his entire life, but he quickly responded. "Oh, yes, yes. I have it for you. But why don't we find out what your capabilities are, now that you have the Phantom Ruby?"
"Very well."
"Splendid! I know just who to test this new power on. Oh ho ho ho ho ho!"
Hey guys! A Random Role Player here! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I'm really excited to continue with this story, I have so many ideas planned for this! Sonic Forces had a lot of potential to be a great story and great game, and I want to show what could have happened in the game.
So let me know what you guys think! Feel free to leave a review or even PM me. I would greatly appreciate all of your comments, advise, and even constructive criticism to help improve this story as well as my personal writing skills.
Thank you all for reading! Stay tuned for more :)
