Dimitri

Dimitri is one of the oldest living Mobians alive, having been fused with the power of 11 Chaos Emeralds hundreds of years ago and becoming the functionally omnipotent being known as Enerjak. After the loss of his power, Dimitri had the majority of his body replaced with cybernetic parts, and was in control of the Dark Legion for some time, until his health took a turn for the worse. His life was partially prolonged by Dr. Finitevus, at the cost of his entire body. Despite his apparent change in in ideology, Dimitri reverted back to his villainous ways after Finitevus' betrayal by allying with the Eggman Empire, becoming Grandmaster of the Dark Egg Legion.

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. (StH: #34, #35, KMS: #1)

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 "heresy" 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. (KtE: #23)

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 that would come to be known in the present day as Enerjak, after a legendary but otherwise unknown evil force. (StH: #35, KtE: #1)

Enerjak

 * See: Enerjak

As Enerjak, Dimitri became an Echidna with a massive superiority complex and no compunctions about harming others. Using his powers, Enerjak created Nekronopolis, 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. (StH: #35, #36, KtE: #1)

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. (KtE: #2)

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. (KtE: #7, #8, #9, KMS: #1, #2, #3)

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. (KtE: #9)



Dimitri's Return
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. (KtE: #22, #23, #24)

Later, he transported 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 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. (StH: #99, #100, #101, #102, SSS: #14)

Failing Health and Changing Policies
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. (StH: #107, #108, #109)

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". (StH: 115, #116, #117, #118, #139)

New Alliances
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 a Kragok lookalike who was in fact Kragok's son Remington-back into one group. 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. (StH: #171, #177)

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. Realizing he arrived too late, Dimitri goes on to inform the Acorn monarchy and the newly created Acorn Council about the history behind Enerjak and why he poses such a threat. Later, Dimitri watched the new Enerjak's rampage through Angel Island, which included ridding the Dark Legion of their cybernetics. Getting more angry and impatient, Dimitri then argued with NICOLE about using the nanites that make up New Mobotropolis as a weapon against Enerjak. But Dimitri then decided that coming to the Freedom Fighters was a mistake and left the city, deciding to "throw in his lot with the more powerful side". (StH: #179, #180 #181)



It later turned out that Dimitri went to none other than Dr. Eggman for help. But Eggman had already captured Enerjak and sent him to his Egg Grapes. Dimitri tried to convince the doctor that this would be the perfect time to strip Enerjak of his powers, but Eggman thought everything was under control. This was disproven as Enerjak broke free and proceeded to destroy New Megaopolis and the Egg Fleet. Dimitri then suggested to Dr. Eggman and Snively that they get to Eggman's bunker, which they did. Following the defeat of the new Enerjak, Lien-Da, desperate to restore her power and the Dark Legion to its former state, went to Eggman to form an alliance. She was suprised to see that Dimitri had already alligned with Eggman and was promised Grandmaster status over the rechristened "Dark Egg Legion" which shocked Lien-Da. Additionally, Dimitri was provided with bionic tentacles, removing his need to constantly float around. (StH: #183, #184)

Sometime later, Sonic, Knuckles, and the Chaotix launched an attack on the partly destroyed New Megaopolis in an attempt to destroy a control tower of Dr. Eggman's. Lien-Da and the Dark Egg Legion troops tried to stop the group, but proved unable to do so. Dimitri decided to step in with a giant, robotic insect-like body that his tentacles had plugged into. He showed up at the battle in a pod of some sort, and took command of the operation from a resentful Lien-Da. Dimitri then told the Dark Egg Legion to not hold back against their foes as Knuckles and the Chaotix looked on, while Sonic left due to the fact that the Suppression Squad were attacking Freedom HQ. The Chaotix found themselves faced with breaking through the Dark Legion lines and defeating Dimitri himself in order to reach the tower. (StH: #189, #190*)

Personality
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 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. (StH: #108, #114, #118)

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. (StH: #171, #179)

When the Mobians failed to heed his warnings about Enerjak however, Dimitri paid a visit to Dr. Eggman. Although Eggman's city was totally destroyed, Dimitri suddenly changed his alliances again, allying with Dr. Eggman and becoming Grandmaster of the Dark Egg Legion. (StH: #183, #184)