So...I was so bothered by Infinite's backstory to the point I decided to go deeper research into it and have a version of my own so I'm not working with a just poorly written character in the Flora Foundry AU-

First thing first, we REALLY gotta fix his backstory (again).

And I'm going to have to traumatize the FRICK out of this guy so it gets him to have a good reason to wear that helmet- (and yes, it is technically a helmet but calling it a mask just seems much better to me at times hahaaa-)

I do not have a choice, I'm so sorry FF!Zero/FF!Infinite :')

And once after hearing this song "Monster" by Jorge Rivera-Herrans, I got a handful of ideas on how this should go. Also can we say how much this song fits Zero/Infinite if only he was written right or interpreted this way.
And I can literally imagine a whole animatic dedicated to him from this audio and I'm very tempted to make the animatic come true- so, that's another reason why I wanted to create a proper backstory for him.

So yeah, some of the backstory is inspired by this song along with a couple versions of Infinite's theme, some research I got from the Sonic wiki and couple of information I gained from how the fan base interpret him/seeing how other people described their version of Infinite's backstory (which I may say is nothing like the one I came up with surprisingly so far-)

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

However, the backstory is still in construction, I was originally just going to write out the entirety of FF!Infinite's backstory but uhhh it was taking too long so I'll just reveal it bit by bit over time instead.

Anyways, here's my version of the Jackal Squad members (still gotta draw the two others that being Patru and Quintus).
And heck, also these are non-canon names because SEGA literally never bothered to name them or give out any info about them besides them being part of the Jackal Squad and being jackals- w h y.
So I just made sure the names were all associated with numbers and had some help from others coming up with them as well :)

Introducing the first member I decided to draw:
Duex.

Credits to DaGreenieStudios for coming up with the name.
If you swap the letters of "u" and "e" together, you'll get Deux which means Two in French.
Also Greenie and I also joked of this guy having a heavy French accent for absolutely no reason lol.
Probably also a chill and slightly laid back person, you can just see him randomly looking like he's asleep at times- but he is serious enough to get the job done when needed to.
Also I kind of do what this guy to know how to speak French-

Here's Duex's color ref.

And here we got Mittsu.
Basically another way to say three in Japanese. It's not actually pronounced "Mitt-su" in Japanese but that's how you pronounce her name in this case.
Just by looking through the IDW comic, she only appeared like probably once or twice and I couldn't see which weapon she wielded.
So judging by the length, I just assumed her weapon could be something like this. I didn't want her just holding a plain blade weapon since her other squad members are already holding plentiful of weapons that are like that.
So I gave her what I believe is called a blade gauntlet as her weapon.
Not too sure on her personality yet but I'm sure it'll develop soon enough.

Also as a fun fact, I showed this character to Fluffy once and called her Mittens.
I can imagine Duex calling her Mittens as a nickname and annoying her with it lol. So uhhh credits to Fluffy for giving me that idea-
But gosh I haven't drawn feminine characters in a while, I still need a lot of practice, I don't like how this turned out :')

And here's Mittsu's color ref.

And here we got Eno. Basically One but spelled backwards.
(I did a terrible job in drawing and designing him ack-)
I haven't completely fleshed out his description and lore yet but I imagine him that he could be best friends with FF!Zero in the group. And has a unique bond with Altin who you'll see soon enough.
He's good with long and close ranged combat. He has great accuracy when it comes to throwing objects.
His mains weapons consisting of throwing knives and daggers.
He's usually the one who trains Altin to become better at fighting.
He stands by Zero's side and supports him every way till the end. A rather loyal and supportive friend.

And here's his color ref.

And here we got Altin.
Basically has the word "Alti" in his name which means six in Turkish.
Using then Turkish language inspired by Blossoms_Gemz :)

Also his eyes are golden since Altin also means "Gold" in Turkish.

Just by looking through the IDW comic panels, he looks like a guy who's in the mercenary group for the adventures and all. Is very loyal and can be enthusiastic at times. I'm also going to make him the youngest of the bunch in the Jackal squad because of that.
(It'll work out don't worry-)
He's also the only one in the Jackal squad to ever have said anything in the comic besides Zero, literally.

This guy shall also wield this squiggly like weapon and once activated will start to hear up over time and once hot enough can create radiation to poison opponents. He can use this knife to also melt down metal when needed.

Here's his color ref.

And now...here we got Zero.

Ah so this is the guy SEGA screwed up with his backstory- he had so much potential that got wasted.
Not sure when they're going to bring this guy back with a more plausible backstory but for the sake of letting my own mind rest, I decided to make my own version of his backstory that hopefully works out with the rest of the events that happens in the Sonic games-
I'll just slowly reveal it over time though.

Anyways uhhh yeah, just like in his original backstory, he is the captain of the mercenary squad known as the "Jackal Squad" but his goals are a bit more different than just "oh I became a villain because Shadow killed by squad offscreen, beat me up in seconds, and called me worthless, humiliating me"
Unlike the canon Zero, FF!Zero's goals are a bit different. In this case he cared for his squad and agreed to be in alliance with Eggman because they would've all died if he hadn't accepted and also wanted to learn to use the Phantom Ruby.
The vision he saw from the phantom Ruby was not only because he wanted the world to change but also because he wanted a world where there would be no one else but him and his squad standing left where they could finally do whatever they wanted with no one daring to oppose them directly.
And the reason FF!Zero felt like he was "going through the motions" is because he felt rather detached to himself every time when he had to imagine that he was someone else every time when he started to kill people in order to protect his squad to prevent the guilt from creeping into him (because as long as you visualized as yourself as someone else doing terrible things, you wouldn't feel too guilty because you would slowly trick your brain into thinking that it really wasn't you who did it when in reality it's not true)

This made him feel like he was on autopilot all the time, like he was watching someone else do the killing rather than himself. And due to how frequent he had to kill, he was also starting to get used to imagining himself as this other person who killed, who probably enjoyed it as well, leaving no remorse. This other version he visualized himself as will soon form into his persona as Infinite as time goes on.

Also this is him after he witnessed his squad being massacred/ died in the landmine. The scene where it made it look like Shadow was the one who murdered them all and is planning to avenge his fallen comrades later on.
At this time he activated the phantom Ruby which intrigued Dr. Eggman since Zero specifically seemed to have been the only one to activate it and decides to trick Zero into wearing the device that will literally latch itself onto Zero permanently with the Phantom Ruby powering it.
Just by judging by the information I have received, the Phantom Ruby when at its weakened state will consume anything associated with it once consumed, like sucking in other energy sources in order to charge itself.

So taking that information, here are the downsides of the phantom ruby/device attached into Zero.:

If Zero were to use the phantom ruby prototype (the one attached onto his arm) out of the range of the phantom ruby's main power source, the prototype will use Zero himself as a power source to maintain its form if it can't find another alternative to charge itself. This may cause Zero's physical form to slowly fade and glitch over time if he were to stray too far away from the phantom ruby's main power source.

So this meant he had limited place to go therefore he wasn't able to leave too far from Eggman's base back in the Arsenal pyramid where the main Phantom Ruby was being researched on.

Now this problem will be fixed later on throughout the time where he would be able to move freely without the restrictions of the phantom Ruby later on.

At this time he also creates realistic illusions of his squad mates and puts himself in virtual reality worlds to fight against other previous enemies such as fighting against Chaos, Metal, Shadow, etc. within those virtual realities to train himself and figure out the weaknesses of each powerful opponents as he also enhances his control with the phantom Ruby prototype as well.
The also takes the time to make the illusions of his squad accurate and real as much as possible, trying to pretend that they were still alive.

And this is him if he were to see a reflection of his own face.

His eyes turn like this because when he sees the reflection of his face, he sees the face of a failure, someone who failed to protect his squad, someone so worthless staring back at him as his kind flashes back to where he saw his squad being killed during the landmine, still blaming Shadow to be the murder. This trigger of memory also causes the Phantom Ruby prototype to act up as he starts to hallucinate a lot. Causing him to have a hard time to differentiate between reality and hallucinations for some time. This is due to him being haunted by the memories and failures in his past...he just can't let go of what happened to his squad and how much he failed on them.

An incident happened where a Shadow clone controlled by Eggman attacks him (he thinks this is the real Shadow at the time) and basically confuses Zero immensely, Eggman using the real phantom Ruby to mess up more of Zero's mind and perception and creates hallucinations of his squad members being disappointed in him while the clone Shadow also attacked him and soon enough the illusions as well.

Eggman was going this so he can make Zero embrace the Phantom Ruby's powers quicker because he could notice that Zero was hesitant about using the Phantom Ruby at times, he was basically using his skill rather than the strange power after all.

After some torment and manipulation done from all the hallucinations and the Shadow clone, Zero barely manages to get rid of the hallucinations of his squad members then gets stabbed by his own phantom Ruby prototype due to the Shadow clone getting a hold of him.

And just as Zero go through some immense pain and slowly start to die, Eggman simply just takes him back to the laboratory, making the scene look like the real Shadow attacked Zero while Eggman has saved him by trying to fix his injuries.

A surgical operation has begun which led to have the phantom Ruby embedded into his chest since it would've killed him if it was just pulled out his chest at that moment. And Eggman needed this guy alive to use the activated phantom Ruby prototype.

After that, he was also going through several moments of himself hallucinating, seeing his dead squad members or Shadow coming to murder him, he hallucinated every time when he saw his own face. Therefore he had to wear this helmet that prevents the phantom Ruby prototype to act up every time when he sees his own reflection.
And he also knew that if he wanted to move on or at least continue to have the energy to accomplish his own goals, he decided that Zero did die with his squad. And instead Infinite has taken his place.
The same person he always imagined himself as every time when he committed a slaughter. The person who craved for violence and showed no remorse.
That is the person he needed to be if he were to continue on living and become stronger than he was.

So...he always puts up a mask, always pretending that he was someone else while also trying to accomplish his goals in mastering the phantom Ruby and figure out a way to bring his squad members back and make that vision he saw those time ago into reality.

Then maybe, once he's able to get out of Eggman's grasp...he'll be able to do all of that himself. He just can't do that since he needs Eggman's technology to keep the main phantom Ruby in place.
He'll find a plan to work that out one day...once he can master the abilities of the Phantom Ruby. However he does get held back in using its full potential sometimes because he is afraid that the phantom Ruby may turn against him like it did before with all of those hallucinations.
He doesn't show it but he was scared of the own phantom Ruby at times. But maybe the more he uses and master it, he'll be able to control it and updo whatever he wanted with it without having to affect him.

And that one day of him creating the perfect copy of his squad members may come once he does achieve this control...

As of now, he was stuck with Eggman.

And that's the main ideas I got so far for his backstory. I probably got a lot of grammar mistakes here though since I'm trying to type this as fast as I can when writing all of this down-

And this is what he currently looks (unmasked) like once he appears in Flora Foundry :D

And phew, even though I still need to draw Patru and Quintus, I'm glad I was able to finish this-
The writing and drawing took a while :')
But in the plus side I think I'm starting to get a little hang of drawing mobians too.

Anyways uhhh look who I got from eBay :0
Look, due to the immense research and thought I put into my interpretation of this character, I may or may not start to favorite him slightly. BUT, BUT I'M ONLY FAVORITING TOWARDS MY VERSION OF INFINITE WITH THE BACKSTORY ALRIGHT? NOT THE POORLY WRITTEN VERSION FROM SONIC FORCES-
I PROBABLY WOULD'VE LIKE THE CANON CHARACTER DEPENDING ON IF THEY WRITTEN HIM WELL.

Anyways...now he shall be added to the rest of the collection.
Gosh, I can see why people call him edgy- this will be a guilty pleasure of mine :')
I just like my alternate version of Infinite, surely that's understandable-

Also something I got during my trip to New York. I thought this little guy's face looked funny and when I took a photo of it from the display counter in the bakery, they just gave me this bear cookie for free just because I took a photo of it in display lol.
I have to admit, I was surprised to get it for free just because I took a photo of it-

I realized I shared the wrong photo earlier, this was the drawing I was trying to show- I tried to draw his mask :')
I just thought this part of the quote from the Monster song fit so well with FF!Infinite's character here.
But this looks so weird though-

Also I drew this thing probably two or three weeks ago for Two Sided's uhh was it 3rd anniversary?
I tried to draw Sage for the first time, it's so hard to draw anything traditionally but I tried :')

Character rightfully belongs to NephaliMations

Anyways that's it for this chapter. I'm going to rest my fingers now. Have a good day or night everyone and thanks for checking in!