Enerjak


 * For Enerjak's counterpart from Dark Mobius, see Dark Enerjak.

Enerjak is a character that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series and its spin-offs. He was a malevolent Chaos demigod whose essence was scattered across the Chaos Force, and whose spirit has taken over a handful of echidnas bearing great hubris and manifests as a villainous alter ego.

Appearance
When Dimitri initially became Enerjak, he simply glowed green; however, when he reappeared he had gained the more recognized Enerjak armor since the spirit had fully manifested itself by then. The ornate blue-and-gold outfit is somewhat Egyptian in appearance, resembling that of Egyptian pharaohs and gods, the face plate in particular, and typically consists of a menacing mask covering all but the lower jaw bearing a red gem on the forehead, a chest plate, blue skirt, gold adornments on the arms and legs with blue clothing between, and boots with rounded gold toes. However, there are some variations in the design between Dimitri's version and that of Knuckles. As Enerjak, Dimitri's face plate was open at the back, allowing his long, wrapped dreadlocks to flow out, while the version worn by Knuckles featured a studded partial helmet over the top of the head. Dimitri's had a round red gem; Knuckles, a more angular one. Dimitri's gloves had thin gold strings wrapped between the fingers; Knuckles retained his usual gloves (though sometimes coloured blue rather than white) and his boots featured rounded studs. He also gained two blue belt-like pieces ending in gold triangular pieces at the waist. Both carried a golden, eagle-headed staff sometimes used as a weapon.

Birth of Enerjak
Enerjak was originally a Chaos energy scientist who lived and worked in Albion with his love Aurora-La. They progressed in their work to the point where they attracted the attention of the Ancient Walkers and were allowed to ascend into the Chaos Force to gain greater knowledge. However, Enerjak became corrupted during his transcendence and turned against Aurora and the Walkers. He was too powerful to be destroyed, so they scattered him throughout the Chaos Force. His dark spirit lingered on, destined to eternally manifest through future echidnas.

Possession of Albion scientist
The second incarnation of Enerjak arose during the Forgotten War between the Order of Ixis and the Templar Knights of Aurora. Apparently a researcher like his predecessor, he sought a means for his people to defeat the Order, but in the course of his experiments he was corrupted by power and possessed by the spirit of Enerjak. So great was the threat posed by this Enerjak that the two warring factions temporarily put aside their hostilities in order to stop their common foe. Exactly how this Enerjak was overcome is unknown.

Becoming a god
Enerjak’s third known incarnation was Dimitri, a scientist from Angel Island who worked with his brother Edmund to return Angel Island to the surface via their Chaos Syphon by draining energy from the island's twelve Chaos Emeralds so the landmass would descend safely. However, the High Councilor, Menthor, rejected the plan as it interfered with his own ambitions, and the Theocracy denounced it out of resentment towards the Technocracy. Enraged by this, Dimitri used the Chaos Syphon without authorization, but the device overloaded, destroying eleven of the Emeralds, and transferred their energies into Dimitri, making him into a nearly omnipotent being. Maddened by the power flowing through his body, Dimitri planned to conquer Mobius, and briefly conquered Echidnaopolis using his powers to reprogram the Mechanauts and enslave the echidnas. He was only stopped when Fire Ants ate through the foundations of his Dark Tower, causing it to collapse and bury him. The burial site became known as Mount Fate.

Though believed dead, Dimitri survived and reached out to his son, Menniker, using a form of telepathy. Menniker then founded the Dark Legion, a technocratic group of Echidnas devoted to following Dimitri's example and return Angel Island to its original landsite, as well as restore their society’s advanced technology which had banned after Dimitri's use of the Chaos Syphon. While the Legion succeeded in killing Edmund, they were banished into the Twilight Cage by his son Steppenwolf. They continued to thrive, each new generation of Dimitri's bloodline taking command.

Enerjak's escape and next defeat
Over the centuries of being buried alive, Dimitri's knowledge and insanity grew as the spirit of Enerjak inhabited and empowered him. This lead him to take on the name of the legendary evil until he eventually escaped from his prison as a fully-realized Enerjak and created the dark city of Nekronopolis. Dimitri then battled with the great descendant of his late brother and distant nephew, Knuckles the Echidna, as well as the Chaotix, brainwashing the latter against the former. Dimitri at first banished Knuckles and Archimedes to die in the Sandopolis Desert, but when they survived the trek to his city, Enerjak took a sadistic pleasure in pitting his nephew’s own friends against him. When this failed, rather than simply use his limitless power on his great nephew, he resorted to just his sheer strength in hand-to-hand combat with Knuckles. This proved to be his downfall, as it bought Knuckles' father Locke enough time to launch Enerjak's Citadel of Darkness into space with him still on it. Enerjak remained trapped inside the tower due to an energy matrix, preventing him from escaping as Nekronopolis vanished.

Return and Vengeance
Enerjak did not stay gone long, as he was unknowingly summoned back to Mobius by a magical beacon from Mammoth Mogul, where he took command of the Dark Legion from his great-great grandson, Grandmaster Kragok. Before he made any large scale moves however, he took calculated steps to ensure his enemies would not stop him a third time. He immediately imprisoned Archimedes and his grandfather Deo Volente to prevent them from teleporting around and warning Knuckles of his return. Then he captured the Chaotix, and finally set his sights on Knuckles himself. He first offered him the chance to accept Enerjak as his master and serve as his underling. When Knuckles refused, he forced him to endure numerous hardships while teleporting him from the moon to the bottom of the ocean, as well as sending him to the tip of the planet's atmosphere. When his final offer to join him was declined, Enerjak literally took Knuckles apart, atom by atom. His descendant survived solely due to divine intervention by the Ancient Walkers, who had prophesied that Knuckles had a destiny yet to be fulfilled and thus saved him from destruction.

The end of the third Enerjak
Believing the Guardian to be dead, Enerjak summoned a bridge leading out of the desert and launched an attack with the Dark Legion against Echidnaopolis. As the battle began, Enerjak protected his aircraft from enemy fire with a force field bubble. Although the combined might of the Dingoes and the Echidna Security Team was effective against the Dark Legion forces at first, Enerjak simply disabled their weapons. He then ordered the city to surrender, but was caught off guard in mid-speech by the arrival of Mammoth Mogul.

Using the magical Sword of Acorns, Mogul drained the eleven Emeralds’ power from Enerjak, and the persona disappeared to leave a decrepit Dimitri in its place as four hundred years caught up with him, thus ending the third Enerjak's reign for good. Though he had existed as Enerjak for centuries, his multiple imprisonments had made him rather ineffective. Mogul did not retain his powers long, as a battle with Hyper Knuckles, Super Sonic and Turbo Tails, resulted in his own defeat, and Dimitri's Chaos Syphon was used to convert the energy of Mogul's Emeralds and the two that still held Angel Island aloft into the Master Emerald.

Finding the fourth Enerjak
While Dimitri was no longer Enerjak, he still retained desires for domination. However, as time went on, his ancient body began to fail him despite being overhauled with cyberntics from the Dark Legion, and he sought to rejuvenate himself with Chaos energy. Originally, he saw potential in using Knuckles (who had evolved a living Chaos Emerald) as a power source, but his nephew’s temporary death and subsequent powerlessness left Dimitri without a way to return to his Enerjak form.

Dr. Finitevus, an Albion scientist within the Dark Legion, had his own plans for the Enerjak legacy while the Dark Legion splintered in civil war between Lien-Da’s Flame Legion and Remington’s Frost Legion. Finitevus researched to bring Enerjak back to end all life on Mobius under the pretense of re-unifying the Legion and crushing the Dingo Regime’s control of Angel Island sponsored by the Eggman Empire, which had driven the echidnas to near-extinction. Recruiting a group of criminals-the Destructix, Scourge the Hedgehog, and Fiona Fox-he convinced Locke to let him guard the Master Emerald while he searched for the Brotherhood of Guardians. Dimitri, reduced to a head in a floating glass orb, resented Finitevus taking him apart to keep him alive, and soon left to warn the inhabitants of New Mobotropolis – and hopefully Knuckles - about Enerjak's return when he learned it would not be him. Finitevus did not care for the former Enerjak, and was actually looking for a descendant of his to take on the identity.

Dimitri's warning came too late, as Knuckles left for Angel Island before he came to the city and subsequently vanished-captured by the Destructix upon arrival, and brought to the Chaos Chamber. There, he found Finitevus, Remington, and Lien-Da, the latter pair being other candidates Finitevus had considered for the new Enerjak before settling on Knuckles. Finitevus manipulated Knuckles into making contact with Master Emerald that he hexed, reawakening his Chaos powers. Now under Finitevus' influence, the new Enerjak was brought forth by the power of the Master Emerald right in front of Scourge the Hedgehog and Fiona Fox.

Enerjak's cleansing
Enerjak immediately proceeded to reshape Angel Island as he saw fit - banishing the Dingoes to Sandopolis Desert and disintegrating General Kage Von Stryker with their capital city, Cavem Canus. He then confronted the Legions, restoring Remington's memory and reverting all the Legionnaires’ cybernetic implants. Disappointed with the reactions of some, he moved on to the village housing the survivors of Echidnaopolis, whose residents he teleported to Albion along with those Legionnaires that were grateful to be fully organic. Now finished on Angel Island, Enerjak arrived at New Mobotropolis, dispelling their force field and revealing his identity to the stunned public.

Despite the pleas of his friends, Knuckles remained set on his goal to reshape Mobius by ridding technology and forcing peace upon the inhabitants, and attempted to make Julie-Su fully organic just like the Dark Legion. Sonic arrived to stop the act just in time, and Shadow the Hedgehog also got involved in the battle soon after. Despite Shadow becoming Chaos Shadow and Sonic's speed and insults, Enerjak overcame both hedgehogs. Sonic was shocked after one of his blows removed Enerjak's helmet to reveal Knuckles, but he joined the people of New Mobotropolis in a charge, only for Enerjak to trap everyone in a force field until he was bombarded by the Egg Fleet and transported to the Egg Grape Chamber. Despite knowing Enerjak's identity, Sally Acorn was hesitant to rescue him and risk unleashing his threat upon the world again. Locke intervened, kidnapping Julie-Su and Sonic to help him defeat the Destructix and reclaim a weapon made by the Brotherhood of Guardians to destroy Enerjak.

After Enerjak was sent to the Egg Grapes, Dimitri arrived at New Megaopolis and tried to convince Dr. Eggman to use this opportunity to drain Enerjak's power. Dr. Eggman thought everything was under control, but it cost him. Enerjak broke free, leveling New Megaopolis and destroying the Egg Fleet, as well as most of the Badnik Horde. However, the Egg Grapes had still drained Enerjak much of his power, and he returned to Angel Island’s Chaos Chamber where Dr. Finitevus started using the Master Emerald to repower Enerjak. But suddenly, Sonic (who had just got back from destroying the very weapon that could stop Enerjak) interrupted the process, using the opportunity tap into the Master Emerald's power and become Super Sonic.

Ultimate Sacrifice
Enerjak and Super Sonic then battled in a display of raw power so great that it could be seen not just on Angel Island and in New Mobotropolis, but in Albion as well. Super Sonic’s invulnerability enabled him to hold up well against Enerjak's assault at first, and Knuckles’ limited imagination hindered him from using his full ability to be rid of the hedgehog with ease. All the while, Super Sonic taunted him and did his best to bring out Knuckles' old self, but these efforts proved futile as Dr. Finitevus had "locked" the hex placed on Knuckles, making it so that only the sacrifice of someone's life could break the spell. Julie-Su and Archimedes were both willing to do so, but it was a guilt-stricken Locke who finally took on the responsibility while the other two fought off Finitevus. With the spell broken, Knuckles was returned to normal and Enerjak ceased to be once again.

Though free of Enerjak’s influence, Knuckles remained guilty over his actions while in that persona. The guilt led him to isolate himself from the Chaotix for a time and the other surviving Echidnas, as well as apologize to Helmut Von Stryker for killing his son and ruining his people. It also drove Knuckles to act against the Dark Egg Legion, who turned to Dr. Eggman after Enerjak removed their cybernetic implants. Knuckles' regret even led to tension in his romantic relationship with Julie-Su, though he eventually managed to come to terms with all this. Later on, he was surprised to learn during a fight with Finitevus, that he and Dimitri were only the latest in a series of Enerjaks.

Personality
The original Enerjak was originally a benevolent scientist. However, like most of those who his spirit eventually possessed, he was corrupted by immense power, which led to his downfall. When Dimitri was in the role of Enerjak, he retained his genius but displayed a clear lack of respect for any other intelligent beings. Others were simply there to amuse him, which he was quite willing to do on a regular basis. He felt completely justified in all his actions, and was also arrogant, boastful and vindictive to the extreme.

The most recent Enerjak, his persona supplied by Knuckles, was similar to previous ones but with noticeable differences. While still brutal and unforgiving, he retained the feelings Knuckles had towards his closest friends and family-in particular, his love for Julie-Su and his compassion towards Remington, the latter of whom was first to be restored to a normal Echidna state in place of his Dark Legion parts, and restored his memory that was lost when he was trapped in the egg grapes. Rather than acting as a conqueror, Knuckles/Enerjak saw himself as a deliverer, a savior and bringer of peace to the people of Mobius, whether they like it or not.

He also had Knuckles' general dislike of technology-no doubt born from years of living without it and fighting those who relied on it for power blown completely out of proportion. In addition, he thought himself to truly be of divine nature, and thus irrevocably in the right to do as he saw fit. Dr. Finitevus' hex appears to have had a disruptive effect on his sense of right and wrong: he had many of Knuckles' desires but seemed utterly uncaring how he went about achieving them or whether they were moral or not.

Powers and abilities
The abilities of an Enerjak are highly varied, all derived from the use of the Chaos Force. Functionally, Enerjak has nearly unlimited power, limited only by the imagination of the avatar. In comparison to most beings, anyone who assumes the mantle of Enerjak is a near omnipotent, making him one of the most powerful being on Mobius to ever exist. Enerjak has been shown to be capable of teleportation, telepathy, mind control, levitation, control over matter and energy at a molecular level, becoming a giant and super strength. Knuckles' version of Enerjak also utilized Chaos energy in a fashion similar to Shadow's Chaos Spear attack, in a move called Thunder Arrow.

These abilities make Enerjak seem somewhat similar to various super transformation attained by other Mobians, though the form itself has more in common with Chaos Knuckles, a similar state of being reached by Knuckles. Like Chaos Knuckles, Enerjak is permanent so long as no extenuating circumstances -- such as death or being subjected to a magical artifact or siphon device -- result that drain Enerjak's powers and revert him to whomever he was before becoming Enerjak.

Trivia

 * The Thunder Arrow, used by the second Enerjak, was the name of an attack Knuckles the Echidna could use in the multiplayer mode of Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.
 * Archimedes made reference to Enerjak as the "Great evil of legend!" in Knuckles #1, suggesting that Enerjak was a figure in echidna history and that Dimitri merely adopted the persona after centuries of madness. Further evidence supporting this was Dimitri himself referring to it as a persona in Sonic the Hedgehog #107. Dr. Finitevus confirmed in Sonic Universe #12 that in fact there had been Enerjaks throughout the ages, and Dimitri and Knuckles were only two of them, even suggested there was a cycle and that he had rushed it this time.
 * In the Q&A section of Sonic the Hedgehog #211, the editor revealed that Knuckles's body was inhabited by the "spirit of Enerjak" thanks to Finitevus's help, indicating that becoming Enerjak involves more than the absorption of immense amounts of Chaos energy. Dimitri's centuries long isolation and resulting madness, along with Knuckles' brainwashing and the "dark whisper" in the back of Jani-Ca's mind suggests that the host's personality is suppressed and manipulated by the spirit.
 * Enerjak is to date, the only major villain never to have been actually defeated by one of the main characters in the comics. In each instance it was circumstances and outside forces that brought the threat of Enerjak to an halt.
 * Pir'Oth Ix was mentioned in the letters at the end of Sonic Universe #16 as an unlikely candidate for an Enerjak predating Dimitri and Knuckles.
 * Remington and Lien-Da were mentioned by Finitevus as Echidnas who could have become Enerjak. This was an indication that Enerjak is not limited to possessing male Echidnas, which would later be illustrated by the Jani-Ca incarnation of Dark Enerjak.
 * Enerjak's overall appearance resembles the Predator alien from the 1987 thriller film Predator.