Dimitri the Echidna

Dimitri the Echidna
Publication information
Publisher	Archie Comics
First appearance	Sonic the Hedgehog #35 (March 1996)
Created by	Michael Kanterovich and Ken Penders
In-story information
Team affiliations	Dark Legion, Dr. Robotnik, Eggman Empire
Notable aliases	Enerjak
Abilities	Superhuman strength and durability Electrokinesis

Dimitri the Echidna (one of two individuals to assume the name of Enerjak) originally served as the Dr. Ivo Robotnik-counterpart to Knuckles the Echidna in the fictional universe of the Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics. However, in later issues his role as an antagonist comes to an end, as his previously villainous intentions for domination are replaced by more noble desires, such as reunifying the Dark Legion founded by his descendants with Echidna society.

Originally, Dimitri was an anthropomorphic, humanoid, red-furred echidna who wore the dreadlocks of his species in braids and wore a scientist's lab coat. While in his Enerjak persona, Dimitri wore a ceremonial outfit created for ancient Echidna generals. It consisted of a golden faceplate, skirt, breastplate, and various bands of gold around the elbows, wrists, fingers, knees, and ankles. The rest of the outfit was blue, the rest of the helmet including a red gem in the forehead and openings that allowed the dreadlocks to stick out. When removed, his faceplate revealed the face of Dimitri, untouched by centuries of aging.

Upon losing his powers at the hands of Mammoth Mogul, Dimitri became an aged, wrinkled shadow of his former self; near death, his existence was perpetuated through the use of cybernetic implants, creating a metallic form composed of asymmetrical steel-gray components. His limbs include a three-fingered right hand, a left hand with standard fingers, a right foot with two toes and an elongated heel, and a left foot resembling a metal boot. Dimitri's right eye is a standard implant shared by several other characters, while his left eye is triangular; both eyes are red. In this form, he has only a small fraction of organic body visible, including his silver ring-adorned dreadlocks, his right leg above the knee, and his neck. Later, this body was immobilized and had to be mounted atop a flat, table-like surface with life support systems built in. Eventually, his situation deteriorated to the point where Dimitri was reduced to his cyborg head, contained within a floating glass orb as seen in Mobius: 25 Years Later and issues following #171, though the explanation for this transformation is different for each situation. Issue #184 features a modification to this form, as Dimitri's dreadlocks become tentacles as a result of his alliance with Dr. Robotnik.

History

Early life

The great grandson of Jor-dann and Kayla-La - the two Echidnas who originally came up with the plan to lift Echidnaopolis off the surface of Mobius to avoid the oncoming white comet - Dimitri was also the brother of the first Guardian. He and his brother Edmund were leading scientific minds in their time. The brothers devised a means to restore the Floating Island to Mobius' surface using Dimitri's creation, the Chaos Syphon, to slowly drain the power of the 12 Chaos Emeralds which held the island afloat, until it landed back in its original site on the planet surface.

Before they would deliver their plan to the Echidna Council, Dimitri and Edmund confronted Menthor, the High Councilor (and the ancestor of future High Councilor Pravda) in an attempt to gain his support. However, Menthor realized that if the plan went through, Dimitri would be considered a hero, and this could upset his own plans and ambitions, thus he denounced the plan as "heresay" and denied the brothers' petition. Dimitri was shocked, and took his plan to the Council anyways, hoping he could win over the support of the rest of the Council. Without Menthor's support however, the plan was again denied. Enraged by this, Dimitri decided to take actions into his own hands. Using the Chaos Syphon, the powers of 11 out of the 12 Chaos Emeralds were slowly drained, but an unforeseen effect occurred; the power of the Emeralds was sent into Dimitri. The result was the initial creation of the seemingly omnipotent being who would come to be known in the present day as Enerjak, after a legendary but otherwise unknown evil force.

Enerjak

See main article for more information.

As Enerjak, Dimitri became an Echidna with a massive superiority complex and no compunctions about harming others. Using his powers, Enerjak created Nekropolis, the dark twin city to Echidnaopolis. However, Edmund, who had sympathized with the Council's decision and simply accepted it, was forced to take action against his brother. With the help of the fire ants, which ate through Nekropolis' foundations and buried Enerjak, Edmund put an end to the threat of his brother. He then took his son Steppenwolf and Dimitri's son Menniker away from the ruins.

Despite being buried, Dimitri was still alive, and used a form of telepathy to communicate with his son, who visited the burial site frequently. Dimitri convinced him to follow in his footsteps and finish what he had started. Menniker went on to create the Dark Legion with the aims of restoring technology into Echidna society and returning their city to the surface of Mobius. While two Dark Legionnaires did kill Edmund, the first ever Guardian, his son Steppenwolf replaced him. After being trained by the fire ant Christopheles, Steppenwolf used his Chaos powers to transport the entire Dark Legion to the Twilight Zone.

When Dimitri's distant nephew Knuckles and his friends the Chaotix entered the ruins of Mt. Fate, they inadvertently ran into Dimitri, who had managed to escape. He recreated Nekronopolis and brainwashed the Chaotix, pitting them against Knuckles before facing his relative in a battle himself. With unseen help from his father Locke, Knuckles was able to launch Enerjak into space. Unfortunately, he was soon brought back by Mammoth Mogul and took over the Dark Legion. After another battle with Knuckles, in which he tried and failed to subjugate the younger Echidna, he led his new army in an attack on the city of Echidnaopolis, defeating both the Echidna Security Team and their Dingo counterparts.

During his attack, Enerjak was caught off guard by Mammoth Mogul, who used the stolen Sword of Acorns to drain the power of the eleven Emeralds from him. Without his power, Enerjak vanished, leaving behind the frail old form of Dimitri while his conqueror briefly ascended to new heights of power as Master Mogul, only to be defeated by Super Sonic, Hyper Knuckles, Turbo Tails, and a number of other allies. Dimitri avenged, in a roundabout kind of way, as Mogul's powers-including those stolen from Enerjak-were drained and used to create the Master Emerald.

Dimitri Returns

To preserve him, the Dark Legion replaced most of his body with robotic parts. Having his life prolonged, Dimitri was placed in charge of the Dark Legion as their former leader Kragok had been transported to the Twilight Zone with Tobor. In an attempt to gain a political foothold in Echidnapolis, he had the Dark Legion capture and brainwashed the High Councilor Pravda and had him support Benedict-a Dark Legion android-in his place. The plot was ultimately foiled by Knuckles, whose Chaos abilities shorted out the Dark Legionnaires employed against him. Not long afterwards, Dimitri teamed up with a robotic double of Robotnik Prime in a tandem effort to take over Mobius using a new weapon called the Chaos Cannon, a device meant to convert biological matter into technological. Part of this plan involved erasing Sonic and Knuckles' memories, but an accident ended up with the two switching minds instead. Despite blackmailing the two with what seemed their only chance to return to normal in exchange for the Master Emerald, the two were thwarted when the Master Emerald itself restored the heroes to normal. Dimitri escaped, and would later return to transport everyone on Angel Island to the Twilight Zone (where the Dark Legion had once been imprisoned) using the Quantum Beam in order to retake the Dark Legion's homeland without resistance or casualties. These effects were reversed however by Chaos Knuckles, who had temporarily aligned himself with the Legion in order to gain insight from Dimitri on how to use his powers. Initially, their plans involved sending Knuckles back in time to change history for the benefit of their race, but the attempted alterations resulted in catastrophe along their own timelines and had no impact on the actual present.

Shortly after this, Dimitri drastically changed his views, no doubt due to having been stripped of his Chaos powers and slowly regaining his sanity from the Chaos energy induced madness that made him Enerjak in the first place, as well as his realizaion his life was nearing its end. He tried to put an end to the long standing war between the Legion and the rest of Echidna society by proposing a reunification to the Echidna Council. Lien-Da secretly attempted to use the meeting between Dimitri and the Mitre (the political leader of the Angel Island Echidnas) to her own advantage, and arranged an assassination. The intended target of this assassination, however, was never stated (although some evidence suggests it was Dimitri). Regardless, the assassination was foiled by Lara-Su, Knuckles' daughter from an alternative future. Knuckles himself took a laser bolt aimed at either the Mitre or the Grand Master-it could have been either, given Lien-Da's treacherous nature-and temporarily faked death so as to make sure that Dimitri's new goals were genuine.

When Dimitri's health took a turn for the worse, he was immobilized and connected to a life support machine to keep him alive. Lien-Da assisted him in a plan to convince Knuckles to use his immense powers to give Dimitri new life. Firm in his belief that the Dark Legion must reunify with the rest of Echidna society, he made Lien-Da promise to continue his policies should he die. The plan to use Knuckles' power to save Dimitri failed due to interference from Mammoth Mogul, who tried to steal Knuckles' powers for himself. Following a battle between the two that resulted in Knuckles' temporary death and Mogul's theft of the Chaos Force, Dimitri was found alive by Lien-Da and Constable Remington. Without Knuckles' assistance, however, he had no apparent way to keep himself alive for much longer. Following Sonic's return from his exile in space, a result of the battle against the Xorda, Lien-Da stated that Dimitri "is no longer with us".

Enerjak's Rebirth

Lien-Da's words are proven false-or else misinformed-when Dimitri, reduced to a cyborg head in a floating glass ball as part of Dr. Finitevus's efforts to keep him alive, resurfaced at the side of the albino Echidna. He grudgingly tricked Locke into leaving the Master Emerald and all of Angel island in Dr. Finitevus's trust and that of the Destructix, despite his apparent dislike of Finitevus. There was also a deal between Dimitri and Dr. Finitevus, the latter apparently promising to use the energy contained in the Emerald to restore Dimitri to his status and power as Enerjak in the hopes of crushing the Dingoes and bringing the warring Flame and Frost Legions-one commanded by Lien-Da, the other by Remington. However, Dimitri changed his mind, having fled from Finitevus and his lieutenant Scourge the Hedgehog and disappeared. Unfortunately, any nobility in this act is negated by Finitevus' intentions to recreate Enerjak with or without Dimitri, especially since the doctor actually hoped that Dimitri would change his mind about becoming Enerjak again.

The former Grand Master's change of heart was made apparent when he arrived in New Mobotropolis in search of Knuckles, with a warning that Enerjak had returned. Unfortunately, Dimitri's news came too late, for Knuckles had already left for Angel Island, unaware of the dangers awaiting him. Still, Dimitri was able to warn the newly formed Council of Acorn of Enerjak's rebirth, and they quickly began preparing for the worst. He then began working with them as a consultant in the matter, though his arrogant expectations of obedience from his days as the Dark Legion's Grand Master remained intact. Despite his protests, NICOLE refused to use New Mobotropolis' nanites as a weapon against Enerjak, and a dejected Dimitri decided that perhaps it would be best to throw in his lot with the stronger side. As a result, he went to New Megaopolis in hopes of convincing Dr. Robotnik to depower Knuckles-the new Enerjak-before he could recover after being captured by the Egg Fleet. Dimitri's warning fell on deaf ears, until Enerjak broke free and devastated New Megaopolis, leaving Dimitri and his "allies" to take cover in a protected bunker.

When Lien-Da made a deal with Dr. Robotnik, in which he promised the Legion a return to power in exchange for their services, Lien-Da assumed that she would be Grandmaster. However, Robotnik then revealed that the position of Grandmaster had already been filled by a new and improved Dimitri.

Possible Future

Dimitri is one of several characters seen in the Mobius: 25 Years Later story arcs, still in his floating head incarnation. The difference between the possible future and the present is that Dimitri was left in this state after Dr. Robotnik, on the brink of defeat and desperate for help, ripped Dimitri from his life support unit in rage at the Grand Master's refusal to give him aid, in contrast to Dr. Finitevus' efforts to keep him alive. Despite this, Dimitri remains in a position of power over the Legion. He also has some unresolved issues with Lien-Da, no doubt stemming from some past argument, but is quite fond of his great-great-great grandson Rutan. His attitude of reunifying the Echidnas seems to also remain, as he thinks that Lien-Da and Julie-Su should mend the rift between them.

He reappears in another alternate future found in the second Mobius: 25 Years Later story. In this timeline, his now moderate policies have lost him a great deal of Lien-Da's respect, and she mockingly keeps him as a virtual prisoner in her home. Upon discovering of her conspiracy with King Shadow the Hedgehog, he angrily declares that he had never been so ashamed of his bloodline since he worked with Dr. Finitevus, a statement which partially served as forshadowing to the Enerjak:Reborn arc.

Personality

Dimitri goes to warn Knuckles about Enerjak's return in issue 179

Dimitri's personality varied between his two forms. As Enerjak, he was completely insane, making him dangerously unpredictable. Typically for most functionally omnipotent villains, he saw himself as superior to all other living things. Enerjak saw such beings as his playthings, useful only to serve or amuse him. He was also easily angered, and quick to swear revenge.

Upon regaining his sanity, Dimitri became a smoother operator. Other beings remained pawns in his operations, but he was more subtle about how he used them. In addition, he began to desire a more unified existence, from making peace in his own family to reuniting the Echidna people, a goal made difficult by opposition on both sides. As time went on, Dimitri abandoned his goals of world domination, and even became repentant. This is particularly evidenced in Mobius: 25 Years Later, when he clearly laments all the things he did as Grand Master of the Dark Legion, as well as his attempt to unify Echidna society through peace talks with the Mitre-despite the fact that few among the Legion appear to agree with this plan.

Dimitri's goals continue to shift, as he became focused on perpetuating his own existence while aligned with Dr. Finitevus. On the flip side, he later left Finitevus and came to warn Knuckles that Enerjak had returned as a different Echidna despite Dimitri's opportunity to become him again, indicating a more noble change of heart.

Abilities

For information on Enerjak's abilities, see main article.

As a cyborg, Dimitri initially had impressive physical strength, as well as control over electricity. However, his immobilization left him unable to move, which only slightly improved after he took on the form of a floating head. Later, however, he is equipped with a set of tentacles that could possibly grant him some combat abilities in this otherwise unequipped form. In any of his forms, Dimitri's genius has been a great asset to the Dark Legion.

References

• Archie Sonic Super Specials.
• Archie Knuckles the Echidna comics
• Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics