With his new strike force of mercenaries, they made a deal; the jackals would get all of Eggman's technology they needed for money in exchange for their assistance. With those jackals and the Phantom Ruby under his control, he was going to rock this world! However, heroes are never far away. If Sonic heard about this, he'd come running to stop Eggman in no time! But it wasn't Sonic that would come running in the dash.

His seventh best friend would. His name was Shadow the Hedgehog. He was a brooding loner, to put it bluntly. He usually acted with a cool and businesslike indifference, only occasionally showing his vulnerable side. He was rarely seen with others for an extended period of time and usually distances himself from essentially everyone. He was usually soft-spoken, silent and didn't speak much, but he always knew exactly what to say in combat. However, Shadow never bluffed. If he made a threat, he had every intention of carrying it out. Shadow constantly referred to himself as the Ultimate Lifeform and like Sonic, could be extremely arrogant, often belittling his opponents and insulting their lack of strength. He believed no one could beat him, and tended to see anyone as a fool for challenging him. Shadow also had a ruthless and merciless edge in combat that everyone else lacked, and displayed a natural "killer instinct".

One day, while he was sitting outside, pondering his next move, he got a call from his best friend, Rouge. "Hey there, Shadow." "Rouge." "A hello would be nice." "Hey. How have you been?" "I've been better. The Intelligence Division's been picking up some strange energy readings coming from one of Eggman's bases in the jungle." "The good old doctor. Are they the Chaos Emeralds again?" "No, this is an entirely different...thing whatsoever." "Alright, I'll go check it out."

With that in mind, Shadow teleported off to the jungle. He dashed off to the entrance. After he went a mile or two, he ran into the jackals, yet the lead one was nowhere to be found. "Hold up there! Where do you think you're going?" One of them said. "I'm going in there. Now get out of my way." Shadow said. "You're not going nowhere." Shadow, undeterred, just said "Chaos…..LANCE!" and shot 6 powerful lasers from his hands, which burned right through the jackals on the way. And they didn't get up.

Shadow then dashed into the facility, and Eggman, Orbot and Cubot were shocked to learn this when he tripped the security cameras along the way. While the robots were rebuilding one of Eggman's most powerful creations, Metal Sonic, Eggman ran to the intercom, which blared through the entire base. "We've got an intruder! Shadow has entered the facility! Defense Squad Jackal has been completely annihilated! All available troops, intercept that blasted hedgehog by any means necessary!" He grabbed the Phantom Ruby, and spawned several Egg Pawns outside to defeat Shadow. "I went through great pains to get the best mercenaries around and he still totally wrecked the defense squad! SHADOW!" Shadow was pleased to hear he was making an impression. "Hmph. Should have hired some defense squads for the defense squad, eh, Doctor? After he dashed through several Egg Pawns, Eggman was even more shocked, but Metal Sonic was finished, but not ready for battle yet. "Unbelievable! He's getting deeper and deeper into the facility! That computer running analyses in the core is invaluable! One of you idiots, stop that hedgehog now!"

But Shadow ran through all of them in a heartbeat and made it through several blockades of robots. "Shadow is STILL alive?! At least the analysis of the Phantom Ruby was completed yesterday, but...no, I still can't let this facility be destroyed! Is there ANYONE left out there?!" Shadow was incredulous that he would still need this when he could just build another one. "Seems like this place is important. No wonder the cannon fodder has been putting up a fight." He then ran somewhere and hid, so the cameras wouldn't track him anymore, and prepared to destroy the facility. The lead jackal was hopping around hunting for Shadow, and was ignoring Eggman in his headphones. "Hey! I know you can hear me. You're captain of Squad Jackal. Your squad was useless! GO CLEAN UP THEIR MESS ALREADY!" "Yeah, yeah, I got it." The jackal turned his ire to Shadow. "You. You destroyed my squad. I'll show you why they call me the ultimate mercenary!" The jackal then jumped out at Shadow, intending to knock him down and then close in for the kill. "Take THIS!" But before he could even touch him, Shadow teleported away, almost as if he knew he was coming. The jackal was surprised. "What?" Shadow then teleported in front of him and kicked him to the sky, then punched him to the ground, and kicked him to the pillar on his right. Shadow was less than impressed. "Worthless. Don't show your pathetic face around me ever again." With that, he teleported inside and laid waste to the facility. But the jackal, well….. "I….I'm shaking….me?! Me...afraid….? Pathetic?! Me….he's calling ME weak?! No. NO! I am not weak. I….I'm not. I am not weak. I am not weak! IIIIIII AAAAMMMM NOOOOOOTTTTTTT WEEEEAAAAAAKKKKK!" And the jackal let out a bloodcurdling scream to the heavens.

Eggman was definitely not having the best day. Even though he found the Phantom Ruby, he was attacked, lost several robots, a defense team and a facility all in one day. "Ironic, isn't it? You find the weapon of your dreams and life throws you a heapful of coal. Is the captain back?" "Yes, boss. He's...working on Metal." Orbot confirmed. "But be cautious. He's gotten a little screwloose.", Cubot said. "Ok. I'm gonna have a word with him right now."

Eggman walked into the room where the jackal was with Metal Sonic. He was working on how to power him up for battle. Eggman walked in. "Hey. I am not pleased with your performance. You and your squad let Shadow in the facility and now it's gone!" But the jackal wasn't listening. He was instead working on Metal whilst he was saying, "I am not weak. I am not weak. I am not weak. I am not weak. I am not weak. I am not weak." "Hey, you. Hello? Are you alright?" "I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK! I AM NOT WEAK!" Eggman just slapped him. "Hello, anybody home?" The jackal instead was wearing a Groucho Marx mask on his face. "Oh, hey, boss." "I am not pleased with your performance. You and your squad let Shadow in the facility and now it's gone! I worked my butt to get the best mercenaries around, and he still wrecked the squad and the base!" "Shut it. Do you think I don't know about that?" "No, I was just checking." "Can you believe him? Calling me weak. I'm not the weak one. He's the weak one. I assure you, I will not let it happen again. If I find him again, NO MORE MR. NICE JACKAL!" He grabbed a robotics book, ripped it in half and continued working on Metal.

Eggman, feeling his rage and dedication, looked at the jackal, and then looked at the Phantom Ruby. He then got an idea, since the Phantom Ruby was capable of doing so much, he thought he could make his own warrior, like he did all the time. "Hey, jackal. I happen to have a super-special plan." "What is it?" Eggman held up the Phantom Ruby from his back. "No. You told me we had to use our skills. You never said use the Phantom Ruby at all. You said only you could!" "That was before I saw they stink. But they could use some improvement. The Phantom Ruby worked with you. And I can't give it to the bots. Not to mention I made several prototypes, but I think this could be the one that works perfectly. So what do you say?" The jackal sighed. Maybe his skills were mediocre, but they could use improvement. He let go of the old him. "Sure. But I can never show my face again. That's why I wear this mask." "But it's too obvious. Any sane person would recognize you. But I happen to….have something I've been working on just for you. CUBOT!" Cubot ran in. "Yes, sir!" "Bring me Project Datatracker." "Yes, sir."

Cubot ran away and came back in with a silver-colored mask with large ears with white and black circular patterns on the inside, with the right ear being black with white circular patterns and the left being white with black circular patterns. While the left eye are visible through a red visor, the right eye was covered by a black lightning bolt-shaped piece, similar to an eyepatch, that was connected to the mask's right ear. "This mask will help you hide yourself. The right is like an eyepatch and will help you read target data and statistics. And it glows when the Phantom Ruby works. That's how we get you." The jackal put on the mask and reached for the Phantom Ruby. "WAIT! Before you do…" He handed the Phantom Ruby to Orbot. "Sculpt this one and the others into triangular shapes." Orbot did just that, put them in bags, and brought them to Eggman. He took one of the unshaped Phantom Rubies. "Now, let me do one last thing before I destroy this Phantom Ruby Prototype." He then went into a large room in the base and used the prototype to open time-space rips and dimensional rips. "Bring me the most powerful villains this side of the continuum and back!" he commanded the Phantom Ruby. It did so. Eggman brought the jackal back the final Phantom Ruby. He then placed it in between the middle of his chest.

The jackal felt the power of the Phantom Ruby surge within in. He saw a vision of a jackal hitting a gong, a bird screeching, jackals on rollerblades, one which holds a medallion saying in unison, "The power within. The power within.", one which holds a medallion that whispers "The power within. The power within.", which he then sees himself say "The power within. The power within. The power within. The power within. The power within. The power within.", who then took two clumps of sand and cried out, "THE POWER WITHIN!" The vision then faded. "The power. The Phantom Ruby has changed me. I HAVE BEEN….REBORN! DEATH TO ALL WHO OPPOSE THE EGGMAN EMPIRE!" Eggman laughed. "That's the spirit! You too, robots!" The jackal then zapped Orbot and Cubot, who then transformed into giants with their heads still intact. "Oh, man! The power!", they both cried out. Eggman was chuckling to himself. He then saw a vision of Sonic and his friends falling to the jackal and his many forces, with Eggman finally ruling the world. "Sonic. How I hate him. And all of that loathing will be focused into this invincible instrument of destruction! Every defeat, every humiliation at the hedgehog's hands will be returned a thousandfold by this! This is it. The ultimate weapon. With this, I can expand the Eggman Empire across the globe and conquer the world! This world is finally mine. I finally found it. This is what I was looking for. Not even Earth's strongest heroes will be able to stand against this! With this weapon of mass destruction, a never-ending supply of robots and enough lackeys to last a generation, I'd be invincible!" "Boss, they're here!" "Yes! My minions are all here! Come, new Eggman Army leader. We have a lot of work to do!", he beckoned to the jackal.

With that, Eggman, Orbot and Cubot went to meet the new lackeys, while the jackal followed. Eggman and his robot lackeys met with the many villains, and they all agreed to serve him. With the new Eggman army, and the Phantom Ruby's ability to create an army of robots and Shadow clones to last them, there would be no stopping them, as the jackal would lead them to create a new era; the Eggman era! And as for the jackal, with his new identity solidified by his mask and new powers, he decided to change his name. Now he went by a new name, and that name is….

Infinite.