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The knights had started slashing, stabbing, and casting. The two knights with staffs were casting opposing spells, when one cast fire the other cast blizzard. The 'king' remained where he appeared, with his hands on the pommel of his sword, which had the tip on the ground between his feet.

Everyone was watching the knights 'fight' the Adamantoise. The knights could not cause any real damage to the massive creature, and were being pushed around by its constant use of earth magic.

Cloud was getting really annoyed that the legendary Knights of the Round were failing to kill the beast. They had destroyed everything else he had sent them against but they couldn't even injure that damn mutant turtle.

"Well they certainly LOOK powerful." Fang chuckled, causing Vincent to smirk again and Cloud to come within inches of losing control of his anger.

Some of the knights could no longer take the hits and retreated to the king. Cloud could not take this embarrassment any longer. He stepped forwards, stabbed the Buster Sword into the ground beside him and decided to find out what would happen.

"Knights!" Cloud shouted and the knights turned to face him "We fight as one!"

The knights capes disappeared and then they started to transform. The knights with mountains on their capes had transformed into a pair of lower legs, the knights with chocobos transformed into upper legs and the groin. The knight with the cuirass, the biggest of the knights, transformed into a torso. The knights with the behemoths became the upper arms, the two with fists became the lower arms and the king had become the head with a crown. The spell casting knights had turned into something that resembled a jet pack. The final knight, the one with the sword on his cape, had transformed into a large version of the Buster Sword.

Everyone was staring at the thirty foot plate mail wearing mech, which had a large Buster Sword replica. Hope turned to say something to Cloud but saw that Cloud eyes had gone blank, no color, not even the pupil.

The giant knight then took on the stance that Cloud used. It ran forward jumped up in front of the Adamantoise and did an overhead swing.

Vincent identified the move as the one Cloud named Braver and instantly knew the other move the thing would use. All the moves that Cloud named were the things attacks; Braver, Cross Slash, Blade Beam, Climhazard, and Finishing Touch. Vincent knew how Cloud was going to finish this creature and it would not be with Finishing Touch.

The knight stepped back from the creature and held the sword in front of it, the blade started to glow and then it launched into the air and charged forward. When it met the creature the knight started slashing. Slash after slash, faster and faster, until everyone could no longer keep count of how many slashes. The knight then flew above the Adamantoise, lifted the sword above its head, a large ball of energy grew on the sword and then he did a downward slash. Slicing right through the massive creature, a very bright light appeared and everyone had to look away to avoid being blinded.

When the light vanished everyone looked back and were astounded. The knight and the Adamantoise were gone and Cloud just spun his sword and put it on his back. Cloud looked down to reattach the red orb to his armlet and noticed the orb turned a dull red,cracked and reduced itself to dust. He could not believe what he just saw, the most powerful summon materia had just died from overuse. Cloud had to actually fight back tears. When he decided he could trust his face, he turned to the group, made eye contact with everyone then turned around again and started walking.

The sun had started to dip and the sky was starting to change.

When the group of nine got around the plateau they were in awe because of the natural beauty. There was a pond almost the size of a public pool, surrounded by fruit bearing trees and a short walk away was a cliff that overlooked a huge expanse of land and they could just make out the remains of what used to be a very tall tower. Cloud was at the back of the group and let the dust, that was the Knights, drift away in the slight breeze.

After marvelling at the view for a few seconds Tifa turned around, ran and dived into the deepest part of the pond.

The splash had broken everyone's attention and they wordlessly agreed they would camp here.

After camp is set up

Cloud had started his daily maintenance on the Buster Sword right after he finished eating. Vincent had given his cape to Tifa to cover up while her clothes dried (she had undone the buckles and used it like a towel) and he was sitting by the fire.

Lightning wanted to get more information on these strangers but didn't want to be nosy, that's what Vanille and Serah did. She was hoping someone else would ask the questions.

"So Cloud, How the hell do you move that sword so damn quick?" Snow asked while finishing what was left of the dinner Tifa made.

"It's made of a very strong and very light alloy." Cloud lied with a straight face.

"That's a load of shit." Lightning commented, remembering how much it hurt to block the damned iron surf board "That thing is made of iron, is there AMP tech in it?"

Lightning rolled her eyes at the questioning look she got from Cloud and thought They have high calibre revolvers but don't know what AMP tech is. Where are these people from?

"AMP tech can make things like your sword lighter." Lightning explained to Cloud.

"Oh, well then, no. But you were almost right when you said this is made of iron." Cloud commented back to Lightning "It is made of a strong alloy that makes it almost indestructible. That would most likely change if I let it rust."

"How heavy is it?" Hope asked.

"It probably weighs more than me." Cloud replied not attaching emotion to his words.

"Could I give it a try?" Snow asked while cleaning his hands.

"Sure."

Cloud and Snow stood met each other on the side of the fire where no one was sitting. Cloud held the handle of the sword towards Snow and Snow wrapped both hands around the handle that could have four hands on it at once.

"Brace yourself." Cloud said before letting go of the blade.

Snow was not expecting the sword to weigh so much so he almost dropped it. The tip of the Buster Sword bounced once as Snow let it fall. He still had the handle of the sword and he knew his back was not going to forgive him for this. Snow gathered all his strength and lifted the sword and put the blunt side on his right shoulder.

"Holy hell, that is heavy." Snow panted as Cloud stepped up to Snow to take the sword back.

"Not to me or the previous owners." Cloud stated as he took the sword with one hand and calmly tossed it near where he was going to sleep.

Lightning admitted to herself that she had some respect for Cloud. He was half Snow's size but had, most likely, double his strength. But the question of how that was possible came up.

"How do you have inhuman strength?" Lightning finally asked "And what do you mean previous owners?"

"My friend, his mentor, and I were part of a military faction called SOLDIER. All SOLDIER operatives were made to be stronger, faster, and smarter than normal troops. My friends mentor gave the Buster Sword to my friend before he died. When my friend was dying he passed it on to me." Cloud said his voice getting slightly shaky at the end.

"You said you were first class." Sazh thought aloud "How many classes were there?"

"Three. Third class was the lowest but no one in their right mind would give them trouble for it because all SOLDIER members were considered elites. Second class was for those who performed better in squads and first class was the best of the best. Each of the five first class members was one man armies, if you were to face one alone there would be no chance of surviving, unless you were also a first."

"There were only five first class members?" Vanille prodded.

"Myself, my friend, his mentor, a man named Genesis, and one named Sephiroth." Cloud's expression turned dark at the last name.

"What happened to Gen and Seph?" Fang asked genuinely interested now.

"Dead. Genesis rebelled against the 'government' and my friend had to 'stop' him. Sephiroth lost his mind during a mission to a malfunctioning reactor. He became a mass murderer and almost destroyed the world with a meteor about the size of Cocoon. Vincent, Tifa, myself and our other companions killed him."

"What did Sephiroth look like?" Vanille asked thinking the story sounded familiar.

"Silver hair, black cape, and a seven foot sword." Cloud stated, anger being prominent in his voice "At one point he had one large, black, feathered wing on his right side."

"The One Winged Angel." Hope said with his eyes wide.

"The Nightmare." Lighning stated instantly remembering the majority of her history lessons from school "You guys are from AVALANCHE?"

"I thought there was something familiar about you." Vanille stated

"You know the story?" Cloud questioned back.

"Of course we know the story, it's part of history class!" Hope shouted.

"What?" Tifa gasped.

"How long has it been?" Cloud thought aloud.

"About five hundred fifty years." Lightning said her mind reeling, she was sitting with legends. The people who provided a chance for everyone on Cocoon to even be alive.

Ten minutes went by without a sound from anyone. The information was sinking in. The l'Cie were actually taking those 'useless' history lessons seriously and the heroes were glad to know that Meteor was stopped. But some things bothered Cloud, Did Meteor become Cocoon? What happened to Shinra? Where are my other friends?

Snow finally broke the tension.

"So does this mean you three aren't l'Cie?" Snow said in a completely serious tone with a completely serious face.

He knew the question was stupid, he knew the answer was 'no' but was happy when everyone started laughing.

Authors Note: Take that Square Enix