Enerjak Reborn Saga Episode 7: Struggle of Recovery

During the night, The Master Emerald glows as Eve is glowing a golden color and she along with the three Guardians perform the rites. Sonic and Shadow watch as Enerjak, who was once their friend, glow gold as well. Sally and the others are stunned to see what is happening. The Master Emerald's magic changes Eve and Knuckles back to their original selves.

Still in the sky, the Chaos Bubble disappears and the glowing vanishes. Soon, Knuckles the Echidna is back to his original self. Sonic quickly holds Knuckles as he wakes up and feels a bit dizzy. The echidna groans and holds his head with his left head.

Sonic says, "Easy, Knux. I've got you."

Sonic and Shadow then lower themselves down back to the Master Emerald Altar. At the altar where the Master Emerald is, Eve is reverted back to normal as well. Eve pulls the sword out of the Emerald, and there isn't any mark of the sword ever been stabbed in it. The three Guardians also fall to their knees and take deep breaths performing the rites. Eve slowly climbs down the emerald and almost collapses.

Luckily, Sally and Fiona hurry up the stairs and help her stay on her feet.

Sally asks, "Are you okay, Eve?"

"Yeah. That was once a crazy stunt you did," Fiona adds.

"I'm alright… but I'm worried about Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles," Eve replies.

Sally and Fiona help Eve down the stairs and sit down. Then Julie-Su along with Nic and Maria help the Guardians down the stairs and sit down.

"Are you all alright?" Maria asks.

"I believe so. I only hope that it worked," Locke says.

"They guys," Sonic's voice calls out.

The group look to see Sonic and Shadow lowering themselves down to the ground with Knuckles in Sonic's arms, and the two hedgehogs reverting back to normal.

Sonic helps place Knuckles down as he says, "Easy does it, bud."

"Thanks Sonic," Knuckles says.

Sonic shakes his head, "It's Eve you should be the one thanking. She was the one who did all she could to save you. She went after you first. And well, she turned into some kind of Enerjak and fought you. And whatever she did, changed you back to normal."

"She turned into Enerjak?" Knuckles replies, confused and tired.

"Knuckles!" A voice calls out.

Knuckles turns his head and suddenly, Julie-Su jumps to him and wraps her arms around him.

"Julie-Su…" Knuckles says, sounding happy and hugs her back.

Then saddens, "Su, i'm so sorry. I… what happened."

"It's okay Knuckles! I'm just glad you're back," Julie-Su says, practically in tears.

Knuckles simply hugs her back with a smile. He's relieved to see her unharmed from this ordeal. Locke simply walks over to Knuckles and places his hand on his son's shoulder. Knuckles turns his head and simply smiles to see his dad, and Locke feels the same as well. At the same time, Sonic, Shadow, and the rest of the Freedom Fighters are with Eve, who is still feeling a little tired from using her sword.

"You okay, sis?" Sonic asks.

"I'm okay. Just feeling a little tired," Eve says.

"We're glad that you're okay after what you've been through," Shadow says.

"Chao Chao," Jazz happily says, hugging Eve.

Eve hugs Jazz too, "I'm glad you all are okay, too."

"Chao Chao," Jazz happily says.

Sally crosses her arms with a firm expression, "Still, you, Fiona, and Nic shouldn't have run off to Angel Island without permission like that. You had us all worried."

"I know. I'm sorry, but I feel that I need to go to Angel Island to find Knuckles as soon as possible. I know that we need to plan on what to do, but who knows what will happen to Knuckles if we wait too long," Eve says.

"Yeah. I'm actually with Eve on this one," Fiona says.

"Same here. That's why we decided to go with her… and so Eve wouldn't have to do this crazy plan alone," Nic says.

"Well I'm glad Eve didn't do this on her own, but you had us all worried," Sally says.

Sally then calmly smiles, "But I'm glad you girls decided to take action instead of waiting for a long time, or we'll never know more than what we found out about Finitevus and his intentions."

"Speaking of Finitevus, where is that creep…" Eve angrily says.

"Chao Chao," Jazz angrily says.

Suddenly, they hear a raging roar, causing everyone to turn their heads in shock. They see Finitevus has returned thanks to his Warp Ring and can tell why he is furious.

He says in rage, "The meddling fools did it! All that research and casting for nothing! At this rate, his brat will remember some of this farce…"

Suddenly, someone says, "I remember…"

The next moment, Knuckles punches Finitevus in the face with full rage, "EVERYTHING!"

Finitevus crashes on the ground and lifts his head up to see Knuckles cracking his knuckles. Soon, the rest of the Freedom Fighters and Guardians surround him. Finitevus stands up and still has a scowl expression on his face.

Sonic angrily says, "Alright Finitevus... you're gonna pay for everything you've done!"

"You've caused a lot of trouble for us, including your own kind," Sally angrily says.

Shadow steps forward, "You're going to pay for what you were planning to do with my sister!"

"And what you did to Knuckles!" Julie-Su adds.

"Chao Chao," Jazz angrily adds.

Finitevus continues to stare at the group surrounding him, but suddenly, he makes an evil smirk on his face.

Locke notices it and sternly says, "What's with the smirk on your face?

"Even though my plan didn't go right, I have been able to... gather a good amount of information. Even when your fire ant friend sent me to another location, I was able to see a rather interesting event," Finitevus says.

Then makes an evil smirk, "I'm specifically speaking about you, Eve. Able to transform without my Hex corrupting you, and to use your sword to remove it is quite unique and fascinating of you."

Eve flinched in shock and irritation.

"That is just so..." Fiona angrily says.

"You're not even ashamed of what you did," Nic angrily says.

"What about all the Dark Legion and the Guardians you used you for this insane plan?!" Eve demands.

"Hmm, I knew that you, your brother, and your Freedom Fighter friends would be a bother to this plan, but didn't expect you to show up to the island sooner than I anticipated. Of course, after you and Sonic were able to defeat Chaos and Enerjak, I should have suspected that you would meddle to this affair as well," Finitevus says.

"Chaos? What does he have to do with it?" Sonic asks.

"It's quite simple, Chaos' power is tremendous despite its emotion is out of control. However, I do require some assistance to break him out, and to have the Master Emerald disable until all the Chaos Emeralds are brought to him. However, you ended up saving your enemy a bit of trouble by finding the emeralds so that Chaos can absorb their power," Finitevus says.

"How could you know that..." Sally says.

Then becomes stunned, "Wait... don't tell me..."

"What are you talking about, Sal?" Sally asks.

Eve soon realizes and says, "I get it. So that's what Eggman said when he said that 'he told him that he can control Chaos'. And what Tikal that someone is watching us... they were talking about you."

Knuckles glares at Finitevus and says, "That means... Eggman destroyed the Master Emerald because of you!"

"You could say that. The fool, Eggman wanted to have a powerful weapon to take over, so I gave it to him. The only thing I didn't mention was that Chaos will transform when all the Chaos Emerald gather and will go beyond anyone's control," Finitevus says.

"How could you... why would you do this?! Tikal and Chaos suffered because of that mess!" Eve demands.

"You all know this. I wish to cleanse this corrupted world so that life may continue, but that did not go as planned, thanks to you and your Freedom Fighters' meddling," Finitevus says.

"You're twisted, you know! Did you stop to think that there are many people and Mobian who were caught in the crossfire were innocent?!" Shadow angrily says.

"In order to have this world cleansed by fire, sacrifices had to be made. It is possible that many will survive from the situation. However, that will have to wait for another time," Finitevus says, and secretly tosses a Warp Ring off the edge.

Knuckles angrily says, "Get back here!"

"Another time, perhaps," Finitevus says.

He then jumps off the edge, leaving the group shocked. Sonic, Eve, Knuckles, Shadow, and Sally hurry to the edge of the island to see a Warp Ring floating in mid air. Soon, it disappears in a flash.

Knuckles fall to his knees in anger, "He got away... after everything he did."

Then slams his fist to the ground.

The next day in New Mobotropolis, Sonic, Eve, Sally, and the others have returned. Locke allows Knuckles to return with them, even though the young Echidna isn't sure about it at first. Now the group is in Freedom HQ for an important examination. Nicole uses a few machines to scan the three hedgehogs and the young Guardian.

Nic asks, "So remind me what Nicole is doing?"

"Nicole is checking on them for any strange side effects. Remember when Knuckles touched the Master Emerald, he became Enerjak. Same with Eve, but she wasn't affected by the hex. Sonic and Shadow were also able to use the Master Emerald's power without any sort of side effect." Sally says.

"What kind of effects?" Fiona asks.

"Well, uh, I don't know. Anything is possible with the Chaos Force. I'm just glad that no one was hurt so far," Sally says.

She sadly says in a soft tone, "But for Knuckles, even though his body doesn't appear wounded, I'm afraid that his heart is. Knuckles ended up sending his kind to a far away place called Albion including his family, stripped the Dark Legion of their cybergentic, and hurt all of us who are his friends. His heart is deeply wounded."

"I'm afraid you're right, Sally. Knuckles is going to need all the support he can get," Julie-Su sadly replies.

In the examination room, the three hedgehogs and echidna are still laying on the examination table as the scanner scans them.

Sonic asks, "So how long is this going to take, Nicole. I'm bored."

"A little bit longer Sonic. I'm just making sure I didn't miss anything," Nicole says.

"Hope so. I'm so bored," Sonic says.

Shadow says, "You're the only one who gets really bored if you don't move on your feet."

"Now Sonic, you should be more patient. Nicole needs to make sure that tapping into the Master Emerald's power doesn't give us any effets," Eve says.

"Especially you and Knuckles, since you both were more affected by that Hex. And since we brought that up, how is it possible that Shadow and I were able to tap into the Master Emerald if it's power is locked," Sonic replies.

"Hmm, that is something I don't know. I'm not an expert on the Chaos Force," Eve says.

"Unlike Knuckles here," Sonic says.

He then turns to Knuckles and asks, "Yo Knux, do you have any idea how we weren't affected by the Hex?"

However, Knuckles has his head turned in the opposite direction and isn't saying a word.

Sonic turns to Eve and asks, "What's up with Knuckles? He hasn't said a word since we got back."

"I… I think he's still upset about what happened when he was Enerjak. I think it will be best to give him some space for now," Eve whispers.

Eve and Sonic both turn to see Knuckles and unknown to them, he is looking very serious. And yet, deep down, Knuckles is very hurt by what has happened. Sometime later, Eve is sitting in the living room of her home with Maria, baby Shun, the twins and Jazz who are sleeping beside them on a blanket. Eve sadly sighs and doesn't know what else she can do. She can tell that things in her life are becoming harder.

Eve then turns her head to see the photos of her friends and family from when she lived on Mobius and when she lived back on the ARK. To her, there are so many precious memories, but that doesn't mean there are the times that life ends up crumbling down her feet. Soon, Eve begins to remember many of the good times.

Eve Hedgehog:

I remember when a smile was just enough

Things were simple then, Life was not so tough.

Eve remembers back when she along with Shadow, Maria, and Abe used to play together like tossing a ball to each other and pretend.

Eve Hedgehog:

I miss the times when you would say,

C'mon and dance another day.

Then remembers when Eve and Shadow sit with Maria on the bed and tell them a story about a mermaid who fell in love with a prince and changed into a human to be with him. Unknown to them, Cloud-Ra, Obsidian, and Professor Robotnik are watching them with a smile on their faces.

Eve Hedgehog:

If you could trust yourself to see;

And if you could give yourself some room to run free

Then the memories of when Sonic, Eve, and her friends play and have fun together when they were kids. Before Dr. Robotnik took over the city. Then after that, and the pain they had to go through, they are able to cheer up and they stick together.

Eve Hedgehog:

For a moment, remember when.

Eve's flashback comes to an end to hear baby Dimitri waking up and getting a little fussy. Eve softly smiles and picks the little guy up and pats him on the back. Soon, the little guy calms down.

Eve smiles and says, "I'm guessing you're hungry. I'll get you something to eat."

Eve then gets up and walks to the kitchen.

Eve Hedgehog:

I know that you would come back again.

"I know me and my families and friends' lives have been tough,

but I do hope we can get through the troubles that continue to come at us," Eve says, walking to the kitchen.

She opens the fridge and takes out a bottle. She then holds the baby in her arms and feeds him the bottle. She then lets out a sad sigh with a calm smile on her face.

"Hello Eve," A voice says.

Eve turns her head to see Shadow along with Cloud-Ra walking into the kitchen.

"Hi Shadow. Hi dad," Eve says.

"How are you feeling?" Shadow asks.

"I'm okay. I guess. Still a bit… um," Eve says.

"Shook up about what happened," Cloud-Ra suspects.

Eve nods her head, "Yeah."

"I would be surprised if you weren't, it was… shocking. Especially on what happened to you," Cloud-Ra says.

"Yeah," Eve says, and walks to the living room with Dimitri in her arms.

When the baby boy is finished drinking from his bottle. He soon falls asleep. Then Eve places him sleeping on the floor with Maria and the others. Eve then sits down on the couch to see them all sleeping.

"So dad, how are uh, you and your mom handled everything that happened?" Eve asks.

"I must admit, your mother and I were upset that you snuck away to Angel Island on your own with Fiona and Nic. But I can understand why you did it. Enerjak is someone that you shouldn't take likely," Cloud-Ra says.

"Yeah," Eve says.

"What I want to know is where on Mobius did you get a reckless streak?" Cloud-Ra replies.

Shadow rolls his eyes, "I think she gets that from Sonic, considering that he is also very reckless."

"Oh Shadow," Eve says.

"You know I can hear you out here," A voice says.

The three turn their heads to the door. Cloud-Ra walks to the door and opens it to reveal Sonic with Sonia and Manic.

"Hey guys, how are you doing?" Eve asks.

"We're doing fine, cuz. We came to see how you're doing," Manic says.

Sonia walks over, "We were very worried about what happened."

"True, but I'm alright now. Still feeling a bit tired," Eve says.

Then asks, "So how is Knuckles and the Chaotix?"

Sonia, Manic, and Sonic look at each other with concern.

Sonia sadly says, "Knuckles left a while ago. More like, well, just want some time to himself."

"He left?" Eve says, confused.

"Yeah. Julie-Su and the others tried to get him to stay, but Knuckles said that he preferred to be alone for a while. I guess he still needs some time to think and get some space, release some stress," Manic says

Then Sonic says, "The point is that Knuckles is still feeling… upset about what happened when he was Enerjak."

"I had a feeling Knuckles isn't going to let this go, not that I can blame him. After everything that happened," Eve says.

"That's true, but none of this is Knuckles fault. In fact, Finitevus used him," Sonic says.

"Not only that, but he used the Dark Legion and Dimitri for his evil plot," Eve says.

"I still can't believe Finitevus was responsible for what happened with Chaos and Tikal. Why would he do such a thing?" Sonia says.

"From what we got, Finitevus thinks this world is so corrupt that it needs to be destroyed so that it can be reborn. If you ask me, that's just plain crazy," Sonic says.

"I think that guy is plan crazy. After what you told me about everything he did, it's like he played the Legion, the Guardians, Dimitri, and Knuckles like saps! That creep!" Eve angrily says.

Then says, "When I find him, I'm going to make sure he answers for what he did."

Suddenly, Eve feels something tugging at her jumper. She looks down to see Shun and the Echidna twins are up. Jazz is up as well. Maria is the only one who isn't up.

"I guess our discussion woke him up," Sonic says.

Eve then picks up the twins and Shun. Then Jazz flies up and sits on Shadow's head. Sonic and Manic cover their mouths, trying not to laugh. Sonia then takes little Ichigo while Sonic also takes Shun.

"At least we got things back to normal. Well, as normal as it can be," Sonic says.

"Normal as it can be. However, there are still the matters of Dr. Eggman and other dangers around Mobius," Shadow says.

"You're right, and Dr. Finitevus is still out there. Not to mention the other bad guys that are still out there on Mobius," Sonia says.

Then Eve wonders, "There is also something I'm worried about. I have to wonder what happened to the Dark Legion? From what you said and saw, Enerjak was able to defeat all of them and took away their cybernetics. What's more, some of them were sent to Albion while the remains are stranded on the island."

"Yeah. It's like they disappeared. We didn't even have time to find them after the Enerjak Reborn fiasco," Sonic says.

The group begins to wonder what happened to the Dark Legion and what could they be doing now.

Back on Angel Island, Lien-Da and the Dark Legions who stay are looking very sad and depressed. Lien-Da is having an important meeting with someone.

The Kommissar says, "My name is Lien-Da, Komissar of the Dark Legion. I am the one who contacted you. Thank you for agreeing to meet on such short notice. I… we didn't know where else to turn."

Then Lien-Da begins to explain what has happened to them, "It hasn't been a day since Enerjak ravaged my people. He used his magic to remove all our cybernetics and make us completely… Flesh."

Then explains the Legion's history, "Hundreds of years ago, our ancestors were forced into hiding for our devotion to the technology that gave us our supremacy. We were driven into the darkness just so we could lay claim to what was rightfully ours. We organized into a Legion of justice. We fought against the oppressors and their champion… the Guardian… and we were exiled to another zone. Out of synch with the normal flow of time, we struggle to survive in the barren void. Only through the technology that was banished did we scrounge a meager life and mount attacks to reclaim a small hold on our green, warm island."

She then turns her head to see some of the Legionnaires are not taking their technology stripped very easily. Others are trying to comfort them.

"Our way of life has been stolen from us. The Dark Legion will do anything to recalims our birthright," Lien-Da sadly says.

Then turns her head forward in a serious tone, "And I will see to it that they're loyal to you. Just make me Grandmaster of the Legion. They will follow me, and I will follow you. My time as leader is due. My late brother took command when our father passed away. When Great-Great-Grandfather Dimitri returned, he assumed command until he disappeared."

"We have similar expectations in obedience and discipline. If Enerjak got to you, you'll need a new ground force. What do you say?" Lien-Da questions

"I say…" the familiar voice says and holds out his hand.

Then Lien-Da takes the person's hand.

"Welcome to the Eggman Empire!" The man, reveals to be Eggman says.

He then turns to the ship, "Right this way, my new Dark Egg Legion! I'll see to it you won't have to worry about those nasty, squish insides!"

"Many of the Legionnaires begin to head to the ship.

One of them asks Lien-Da, "Are you sure about this, Komissar?"

"It will be worth it. Trust me and it's 'Grandmaster' now," Lien-Da says.

"No actually, that position is already filled," Eggman says.

"What? But why?" Lien-Da questions, shocked.

Suddenly, someone walks over, but it seems to be tentacles of gran and red, and a familiar robotic head in an orb is attached to them. Lein-Da becomes shocked, because she never expected him to be here of all places, especially of what he's been told of the fate he's supposed to be in.

"Why… your dear grandfather Dimitri! What can I see? He came to me first," Eggman says.

With a grin, Dimitri says, "Hello, Lien-Da, dear. Welcome to my legion."

Dance another day: Mew Mew Power