//------------------------------//
// Meanwhile: Vociferation 
// Story: Taismo: Discovering Equestria 
// by RockStarMLP 
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Dark Oak’s presence on Mobius was news spread fast since appearing in Synthesis, reaching all corners of the planet, and Team JAG Headquarters. Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles were doing the best they could to keep their enemy from causing chaos and destruction for his own disharmonic pleasure, going as far as moving the battle away from the Seedrian’s civilization. Even though the others were powerless to help with their own abilities, it didn’t stop any of them to keep eyes open for any given opportunity to strike back as they watched from the sidelines. 

The battle shifted from open fields to through dense forests, making its way around and around as if they were going in circles, to which it was somewhat true as they arrived at desolate land, opposite of the mountains that border part of Synthesis. The three heroes fighting, at the height of their power levels, were unable to pin their foe down, as he pointed out to them after striking each of them down into the ground.

“Pathetic,” Dark Oak called them. “You are all pathetic. Without the Chaos Emeralds and your friends, you are nothing compared to my strength, my abilities, and my will.”

“You’re one to talk,” Shadow argued, getting back on his feet, and taking off his inhibitor rings. “You’ve been hiding whatever Brotherhood army you put together before doing anything yourself. If anything’s pathetic, it’s that.”

“I think I can agree with you for once, Shadow,” Knuckles said, standing back up. Since he was using Kaioken to boost his abilities, his body looked and felt more damaged than the others, the overall fatigue showing well. “But still, we don’t need the emeralds, to fight his pile of junk.”

“Says the weakest of the three. Your confidence in yourselves has always made me cringe, and we’ve had enough of it. The time to break you down for good is near, and I’ll see to it this entire planet will be left as nothing but cosmic debris,” the Metarex said in evil vow.

“You’d wish, Metarex!” Sonic said back, dashing himself off the ground and spindashing right into the foe. 

He used all the speed he could in his fighting style to try and land some blows, but even at Super Saiyan 2, a form he’s had for over three years, his efforts failed. His fury for Dark Oak was strong, especially since his friends went missing, and he was no mood to deal with anything the foe had to fight back with. “You keep showing up, we’ll keep fighting on! You know that’s never going to change.”

“You tell that creep off, Sonic!” Amy cried out from the distance with the others as they watched it all transpire. “Make him pay for making Tails and Cosmo go missing!”

“That’s right! Enough is enough with that Metarex!” Cream added, with Cheese adding a loud “Chao!!”

It was then that Dark Oak began to laugh, and in his laughter began fighting back at Sonic viciously. Knuckles was first to race up and try to get the blue hero out of there, but he too got caught in the brutal blows being dealt. 

“Just face it, heroes of Mobius! You are nothing on your own, and you know it!” he exclaimed, and swung the two around and released them to crash near their group of friends, terribly damaged. “Compared to you, I am the overload of this galaxy, this entire dimension!”

“We’ll see about that!” yelled Shadow, and he tapped into his full power reserves and combined it with his Super Saiyan 2 form, becoming his strongest in the natural way.

“That’s a risky move you’re doing, Shadow,” Rouge thought quietly. “You better know what you’re doing or Maria’s going to be very upset.”

With a cry out for released power, the hedgehog charged into Dark Oak like a blast of pure energy. He unleashed a barrage of attacks, both physical and energy-based, using his speed to circle around and avoid any kind of counter. At the same time, he watched himself carefully to not use too much power or he’d shut down and be left for dead, drawing the line with one more charge at the enemy with a fist thrusting out and striking against the metallic body as hard as possible. 

Shadow jumped back to see what the aftermath turned out to be, and to put his inhibitor rings back on quickly to keep himself safe. When he saw from his blow was Dark Oak’s chest plate starting to crack, and it grew longer across him.

“You were saying about us being pathetic?” Shadow taunted his foe.

“I was,” replied the Metarex, “and you still are. Once again your best means nothing, and I’ve only begun to fight.”

In the group of watching friends, Kim and Ron were using the heroine’s wrist Kimmunicator to contact Wade, who was still at Team JAG Headquarters working with Dr. Eggman on the dimensional scanner. This transmission has gone on since the group left Synthesis earlier, both as visual screenings relayed back to the two’s genius friend, and audio recordings for easier forwarding to others. 

From his end, Wade said “They got the message, guys. The coordinates were forwarded and they’ll just be a couple minutes. Good luck.”

“You rock like always, Wade,” Kim replied, but quietly to not catch the enemy’s attention, and then shut off the transmission.

“You think they’ll still have the strength to keep up with that thing? They’ve been fighting nearly nonstop for days,” Ron whispered in a worried tone to his loved one.

“I hope so,” she answered to her beloved goof. “Without Tails or the other emerald, they’re our only option to save Mobius.”

The Metarex ruler, who was the last of his kind actually left, began to step forward to Knuckles and Sonic, who were both struggling to get back up on their feet. When he reached them, Shadow had stepped his way towards them as well, standing alongside his two allies, all exhausted and feeling drained. When their longtime foe stared down at them, he looked at the three proving what he’s been saying.

“Again, you are all pathetic. Again, you continue to fight when you have nothing left to use against me. No matter what has happened in the past, or what happens now, you’ll never surrender your pride in favor of your fate,” Dark Oak told them. He then lifted his head, and set his sights on all the others standing around behind the three. “If there’s anything I can do to prove this, then perhaps I’ll have to provide a substitute example, considering the White Seed is not here, to act as a new martyr.”

Immediately following his statement were the reactions of fear in some, angered bravery in others, and a dimensional portal of Darkness opening not far behind the villain. A voice called out from it, catching everyone’s attention, echoing loud and demandingly.

“ENOUGH!!!”

Coming out of the portal were the Master Four – Jason, Ash, Gohan and Yugi, the latter having using the power of the Millennium Puzzle to bring forth Atem – all in their strongest forms of fighting, the Super Saiyan 4 transformation. Each one took immediate action to put distance between him and those of Mobius and other worlds, with the dark warrior and half-Saiyan hero racing up to each side, the Pokemon trainer making a strike from behind as a diversion while the Pharaoh appeared in the front and landed a punch that sent the foe far enough back for the four to line up in front of their friends. 

Across their faces were very serious and livid glares, having just coming off the battlefields of other dimensions where conflicts were finally resolved. The chain of events that led up to this point, they all connected from the Metarex’s actions, not surprising but never acceptive.

“Dark Oak, we’ve had enough. What you and the Brotherhood have been up to the last several days has been nothing but a grievance to us. Your evil ways, as always, have dwindled down to you for us to handle,” Atem said.

“Is that so?” Dark Oak replied. “I knew most of those incompetent soldiers and peers were focused to have fun, but the least they could do was try and focus on the bigger goal.”

“Well you’re wrong. All fights are either done or are now finishing the remnants of what each battle has brought for Team JAG to handle,” Gohan said back.

“Which means that you’re the only one left causing any chaos that doesn’t belong,” Ash added.

Jason, his solid black eyes staring down at Dark Oak coldly, addressed the greater matter to his friends and allies. “Because of you, Tails and Cosmo are missing, and you know that it was your actions’ fault. Thanks to you, Galvatron, and the entire Brotherhood of Darkness, our search efforts have been severely cut down, but now, you’re all that stands between us and bringing them back home. I promise you this – I’ll sever your head with my scythe again and bite through your metal skull like a muffin.”

“So you say,” echoed the voice of another. “But we all know you will never do it.” 

Having passing through his own dimensional portal up the mountain, Galvatron had arrived as well, making this fight now nearly impossible to succeed in, not without their full powers put to use.