Nero

* SFM
* Drawn

Dark Wolf (by citizens of the Shadow Dimension)

Infinite (Original incarnation/previous identity)

**Nero** is the protagonist throughout Sonic Forces: ARC Infinity and briefly became a minor antagonist during the Shadow Dimension Arc. He is one of three incarnations of Infinite after the activation of ARC Infinity and a resident of Westopolis from the Silver Dimension.

Prior to the Silver Dimension getting invaded he and June were found washed ashore by Voltar who quickly brought them in as their caretaker. Nero soon became Voltar's accomplice in collecting bounties and survived, with Voltar and June, off of stolen scraps of food and hid in sketchy regions of Westopolis.

During the invasion he along with Voltar and Garris served as leading members of a resistance force led by Silver to fight Metallix and his invading army of robots.

## Appearance

Nero is an average build anthropomorphic wolf with gray eyes, shoes and fur with peach skin. He has large upwards pointing ears on top of his head, has four small tufts of fur protruding from both sides at the back of his head and a tail that is short and bushy. Nero wears a brown biker jacket with a silver bodysuit worn underneath. He wears white gloves with white sports tape wrapped around the palm area of his gloves.

During Heists with Voltar and in the Shadow Dimension Arc, Nero can be seen wearing a black ragged cloak, dark goggles and a plastic mask.

When entering a berserk state after extensive use of the Phantom Ruby, Nero's eyes glow red with a cold and malevolent look on his face. His eyes can glow red even through the mask and goggles he wears during the Shadow Dimension Arc.

## Personality

Nero is calm and overall serious most of the time and also incredibly sympathetic. Nero shows an immense disapproval for violence and expresses high volumes of sympathy for those he steals resources from with Voltar. Despite this he still gives Voltar a considerable degree of loyalty and cooperation during heists, fulfilling several successful bounties. When he and Voltar get captured by Silver and Garris, the two go their separate ways and disband with Nero refusing Voltar's request to help him escape. Nero told Voltar that he would rather earn his way out and that Voltar would be on his own from now on.

During the Silver Dimension Invasion, when presented the opportunity to escape from an open jail cell he chooses to save Garris from robots instead. As a member of Silver's led Resistance he suggests to Silver a quick way to end the invasion which was for Silver to give him the shard of the Phantom Ruby and use it to defeat Metallix. Silver immediately rejects and instead constructs plans to rescue as many civilians as possible which Nero bewilderingly accepts.

After using powers from the Phantom Ruby extensively he enters a berserk state that makes him become more malevolent, cold and ruthless. In his fight with Metallix and later Shadow, during this state of mind, he fights more aggressively and shows no hesitation or regret in collateral damage if it meant defeating his enemy. When snapped out of the Phantom Ruby's influence he feels guilt from letting the Phantom Ruby control him and allowing the destruction and casualties it provoked him to into.

## Powers, Abilities and Weapons

Nero has outstanding agility, durability and strength just like Voltar and when being chased by law enforcers with Voltar he is capable of respectable running speeds and jumping tall buildings with the aid of wall jumps and a wrist-mounted grappling hook.

### Lightning Wispon

Nero uses a Lightning Wispon that attacks with a whip of lightning. Nero uses this to cut down obstacles and create blockades to impede law enforcers from chasing him and Voltar. In combat, Nero depends on the Lightning Wispon for short to mid range fights and uses it to keep enemies at a distance.

### Phantom Ruby

With a Phantom Ruby fragment, Nero gains the ability to manipulate reality, matter and time-space. He uses it to from his hands; fire deadly beams of light, summon black holes, create false illusions, spawn weapons from memory and even conduct Chaos Control.

#### **Phantom Ruby: Chaos Control**

This ability is unique to Nero and his dimensional counterparts. Like the version of Chaos Control used with Chaos Emeralds it can manipulate time and space. However this version of Chaos Control cannot warp the user through time or space and can only alter reality around them and freeze time for a brief moment that returns the user back to the point of activation. This ability can also rewrite events at the user's will by simply changing the outcome. For example, Nero can use Phantom Ruby: Chaos Control to turn a group of robots attacking his allies into the robots being simply destroyed with no harm done to his allies.

## Relationships

### June

She is Nero's self proclaimed sister after how oddly similar she looked to him and how they were both washed ashore to the coastlines of Westopolis. June's timid nature resonated with Nero and is what made him care and look after her like a legitimate sister. When captured with Voltar and anticipating June to arrive and break the both of them out, Nero accepts and understands June for not coming to rescue them and instead hopes she can save herself by not getting caught.

Post Silver Dimension Destruction, Nero's interactions with June becomes near non existent with Nero in the Shadow Dimension and June in the Sonic Dimension. When they briefly meet in the Shadow Dimension after June is sent there to bring Lucy back to the Sonic Dimension, Nero is told the truth about he and June by her self proclaimed sister in that they were actually a single entity once named Infinite and pleaded to Nero that they need to stay away from one another to stop his resurrection. Nero saddened that he could no longer see June as a sister anymore still accepts this and urges June for her own safety by leaving back to the Sonic Dimension.

After June is consumed by Infinite's will and their absorption of Mace, Nero when being told to defeat Infinite by Sonic and co., became reluctant in doing so as that would mean destroying both June and Mace as well. As a result and in the closing moments of Nero's fight with Infinite, rather than slay Infinite he chooses to absorb him and in turn preserve the beings of June and Mace through him.

### Mace

Nero's interaction with Mace physically are incredibly brief and through Mace's Phantom Ruby synchronization, Nero learns a lot about him before they even meet and was the one who informs Mace about the true nature of the Phantom Ruby as well as the Hedgehog Dimensions.

After merging with Mace, Nero's conscious is only present when Mace is under distress and to Mace he sees him as a foil to keeping his emotions in check after a tough loss in a race. Over time, Mace and Nero figure out how to coincide as a combined entity with Nero wanting to stay a part of Mace with Mace wanting to seek the Hedgehogs and break apart. Nero despite this difference is indifferent should Mace want to break apart and plans on going into hiding when that time does come.

Both Mace and Nero have similar goals in wanting to prove themselves to others in a civilized manner with Mace wanting to become the best and respected Extreme-Gear racer and Nero striving to become a productive citizen in Metropolis and in the wake of danger someone in peril could turn to for salvation eventually leads to a mutual and brother-like bond between the two.

### Voltar

Nero partially doesn't get along with Voltar very well with his disapproval of Voltar's method of stealing in order to survive. Besides that Nero appears to be accepting and grateful for Voltar's occasional words of wisdom and leadership when softly spoken to by him about "not letting others take advantage of you and instead push back and take in order to help yourself". When he isn't accepting what of Voltar has to say to him he gets frustrated and annoyed about being outspoken by him like when he comes up with a smarter solution to problems than Nero. Despite refusing to escape imprisonment with Voltar and him leaving Nero behind, Nero showed regret about not going with Voltar and debated whether it was a better decision to go with him or not.

### Garris

Knowing Garris' grumpy nature, Nero made absolutely sure not to say or do any acts that would enrage him by giving full compliance when being interrogated after he and Voltar were apprehended by him. Nero initially feared Garris before and after he captured him but during the SIlver Dimension's invasion he sees through Garris' intimidating demeanor and discovers that he was just someone disgruntled about the younger generation after his rough time with students at the Technological Institute and capturing them as a sheriff. Nero took great pride in being someone Garris could finally trust after becoming a leader of Silver's Resistance during the Silver Dimension Invasion.

Unlike Voltar, Nero took Garris' instructions far more seriously and with much more obedience like when he was told not to stay away from the Phantom Ruby Garris held onto. When fighting Metallix with Garris and Silver, despite their warnings about the Phantom Ruby, Nero intercepted and used the Phantom Ruby to save Garris and Silver from being slain by Metallix even if it meant the Phantom Ruby taking hold of Nero and having him laying waste to Metropolis and ultimately leading to the annihilation of the Silver Dimension.

### Miles "Tails" Prower

Nero saw Tails simply as a far kinder version of Voltar and of the group who confronted him while confined in his prison cell the one he warmed up to the most. Tails helped Nero ensure that refusing to go with Voltar and escape the prison was the right decision and that he would promise to do what he could do to get him out of the Prison Center the best he could do.

It would take until Mace and June merging before Nero and Tails would interact again where he and Voltar helped equip Nero with the Asteroid Wispon to help combat his two similarities who then transformed into a look a like Infinite.

### Silver the Hedgehog

It took having the Silver Dimension being invaded before Nero had any interactions with Silver where he was surprised when he realized Silver's "strong sense of justice" personality. Much like Garris, Nero took Silver's instructions during the invasion of his Dimension very seriously, including Silver's intent on not letting Nero use the Phantom Ruby and the two along with Garris worked incredibly well as co-leaders of the Resistance. Seeing Silver's endless crusade to protect the innocent put a strain on him physically, later getting himself injured, Nero insisted to Silver that he shouldn't be pushing himself to save everyone given the mass invasion and the resistance's short numbers and that cut ties and sacrifices will have to be made given their circumstances. Silver agreed and the team pushed to save as many innocents as they can but not at the cost of their own lives.

Post Silver Dimension Destruction, Silver is the one who comforts Nero after being resurrected by him, Sonic and Shadow by splitting apart him and Mace before they could merge with June being possessed by Infinte. He assured to Nero that not every wrong act is entirely wrong and that he must make do with what moment happens no matter how bleak it may seem.

### Shadow the Hedgehog

Shadow quickly became someone Nero had to avoid during his time in the Shadow Dimension, similar to his initial interpretation of Garris. Nero at first sight immediately picked up on Shadow's powerful and relentless aura, drawing to the conclusion that any encounters with him while looking for Mace's Phantom Ruby would spell imminent doom for him. Nero could overpower Shadow with use of the Phantom Ruby but opts not to in fear of destroying the Shadow Dimension but without it he stands no chance in a head to head battle with him.

Nero wouldn't interact with Shadow until moments after finally meeting Mace where he gets ambushed by him. There he has no chances at defeating him and opts to defend evasively before Shadow taunts him by calling out Nero's cowardice tactics. It gets to the point where Shadow provokes Nero, after calling him weak, into using the Phantom Ruby and uses it to quickly overpower Shadow in a fury. After killing Nero, Shadow realizes Nero's intent on letting him hit him with his Chaos Lance before walking away with dissatisfaction.

When facing an iteration of Infinite taking on a combined form of both June and Mace, it was Shadow who convinced Nero into fighting this form of Infinite without holding back, even if it meant using the extent of the powers he had from the Phantom Ruby that resulted in the temporal distortion that destroyed the Silver Dimension and nearly the Shadow Dimension.

### Sonic the Hedgehog

Although brief, Nero's interactions with Sonic are with utmost respect. Nero is apologetic to Sonic for fearing him into trapping him and destroying a Chaos Emerald while he was still Infinite. Sonic is the one who convinces Nero into confronting a June and Mace powered Infinite and that without the power of seven Chaos Emeralds he was now the only one powerful enough to combat Infinite.