The Forgotten

Chapter 32: The Ultimate Buster.

The metal glowed a fiery red in the burning furnace as the weapons maker pulled it from its oven and began pounding away with a large hammer. Sparks flew around them as the weapon verged on finished, its glow now all but gone and the strange metal formed in the shape of the broken Buster sword. After a few more minutes the sword was finished, wide and thick with tape wrapped around the handle for comfort. Stratus and Gale stared in wonder at the newly created Ultimate Buster, as Stratus had decided to name it. The metal was a dull black that anyone would get lost in if they stared to long.

"Here. It is yours." The blacksmith handed the sword to Stratus, who quickly took it and marvelled at it. The sword was as light as a feather, despite its large from.

"Test it out." Gale put in anxiously. Stratus nodded and left the room, he spotted a large rock to his left and approached, followed closely by Gale and the blacksmith. Stratus held the sword above his head, both hands on the handle and with one swift movement that amazed his audience he cut the rock in half, the blade passing through like a hot knife through butter. Gale could not form words in her mouth; she just stared in sheer shock at the sight before her.

"I think. I like it." Stratus mumbled to himself, he had never expected the sword to be this good and could hardly keep his excitement from erupting. The sword was light, strong and would easily even the odds with him and Piper.

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Cloud and Rain quickly released everyone from their cells until only Barret was missing. Cid was carrying Yuffie whilst Lance held Vincent up in his semi-conscious state. Cloud and Tifa took charge of the situation and left to find the rogue Barret, who had seemingly escaped from his cell and wandered off. Cloud veered round a corner at the end of the hall of cells and kept going for a few more minutes until he came to another broken apart door, with an ease he peered round the edge and saw Barret ruffling through a pile of weapons that was obviously theirs. Ignoring the three unconscious guards to his left he entered the room with Tifa in tow.

"Thanks for breaking us out big guy." Cloud laughed as he approached the large dark skinned man.

"Your welcome. Grab a few of these will ya." Barret's gruff response came with a shove of weapons at the blonde haired swordsman. Tifa moved closer to grab the remainders and the trio left the room and headed back to the others. Cloud, Barret and Tifa handed the weapons to their respective owners before deciding to find a way out of their unknown prison. Cloud lead the way, the others not far behind him as he raced down the long corridors, turning left and right, not knowing which way to go. He came to a dead end at the end of a very long corridor that was bare of anything and growled in frustration.

"Dammit!" He spat, kicking at the wall at the end of the corridor, which radiated an echoing clunk.

"What's wrong honey?" Tifa asked as she approached from behind.

"It's a dead end that's what!"

"A dead end? That doesn't sound right to me." Akira said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. You'd think this pointless corridor would lead somewhere." Red put in with his own raised eyebrow.

"I know but." Then it hit him. "Wait a damn minute. This wall. It's fake!" He sent his arms back and the crowd stepped back on his silent orders. He reached for his Ultimate Weapon and unsheathed it from its sheath. With uncountable lightning fast strikes he swung his Ultimate Weapon and tore a huge hole in the wall. True to his words the wall was fake and lead to a ramp leading into a bright light. Wasting no more time they ran up the long ramp leading them to the bright sunlight in the middle of the desert in which they had slept the night before. Unfortunately they where not alone, as it seemed a huge war was unfolding in front of their eyes between Ranish guards and some unknown creatures that seemed to be made of nothing but sand.

"What the fuck?" Cid shouted over the roaring battle cries and gunfire, only to get hit on the arm by Shera.

"My thoughts exactly." Lance shouted back, moving to stand in front of Luna, shielding her from harm.

The group had so far gone unnoticed by the two forces battling it out in the middle of the harsh desert. The Ranish guards mounted on Gold Chocobo's and firing at the sand creatures, who seemed to just absorb the shots.

"We need to get out of here!" Tifa's voice carried over the noise with a tinge of concern.

"Agreed! Lance and Barret, stay with Yuffie, Vincent, Shera and Luna, guard them. The rest, try to get some Chocobo's but stay out of trouble. Mosey!" Cloud ordered and receiving the regular nods they dispersed into the battle.

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After leaving the old weapons smith, Gale and Stratus headed north over the high mountain and towards Stratus home of Costa Del Sol. After hours of walking they decided to set up camp for the night at the foot of the snow- covered mountain. The night passed without a disturbance, which was very rare in the wild and as morning dawned they continued their journey in a northeast direction. The sun was low in the sky as Stratus peered out onto the horizon to his left, the outline of the desert just in sight.

"Stratus?" Gale's voice broke his trance and he turned to face her. "You okay?"

"Fine." He replied. "Why you ask?"

"You just seem distracted."

"I'm not-" A whirling sound caught his attention and he roughly shoved Gale to the side as a huge golden axe came crashing down between them, barely missing his withdrawing arm and turning up the grass beneath them. Stratus rolled to the left and looked up to see a huge brown furred creature brandishing the giant axe, behind him stood a tall skinny green man with a faint blue cloth strewn around him as clothing. Next to the skinny man was a black dog that looked remarkable like RedXIII.

"Get them!" the dog barked in rough horse voice.

Stratus drew his newly forged sword and held it out before him, readying himself for an attack. The giant was the first to charge, swinging the great axe with ease and bringing it down on Stratus, who raised his Ultimate Buster above his head in desperation. He closed his eyes in anticipation and when nothing came, apart from a loud crunching sound he opened them. The huge axe had hit his blade and shattered on impact, leaving the giant unarmed and stock still in shock.

Gale was dodging fists left and right; using her speed to he advantage she dodged to the right and jumped over the green skinned mans head, coming down behind him and giving him a quick kick to the back of the knee's he crumbled to the floor with a hiss. With a swift movement she brought out her Freedom boomerang and stabbed the man in the back with one pointed end as he cursed and let out a deafening squeal that made her wince and cover he ears.

Stratus swung his Ultimate Buster in an arc and with its sheer speed it sent out a shockwave that rippled through the air and hit the beast square in the chest. It roared in pain and stumbled back, Stratus staring at his blade in a slight shock at what he just did. That however didn't last as a smirk waved across his face and he prepared to send another shockwave at the giant when the deafening squeal brought him to his knee's, and he covered his ears in an attempt to stop his ears drums from bursting. After a few moments the deafening noise stopped and Stratus felt a huge fist collide with his chests, which sent him soaring back through the air.

Gale used her last bit of strength to defy the squeal and she gripped her boomerang and brought it up through the scaled creatures body, tearing up the insides of the beast and sending blood into her face. She cursed in Wutain and wiped at the blood.

"Yuck!"

Stratus clutched at his chest as he recovered from the punch, he opened his eyes to see the huge furred creature heading towards him in mid air. With a 'yelp' of surprise he flipped to his feet, flipping in mid air as the ground below shook with the beast ungraceful landing. He landed on his feet and looked head on at the huge beast before him, a huge toothy grin on his face, showing his yellow rotting teeth as he blew out a long drawn out breath into Stratus's face.

"Eww! Ever heard of toothpaste!" Stratus wrinkled his nose and with a gesture the beast looked down to see the Ultimate Buster placed firmly through its body and with one last pull and spin he took the beast's head clean of its shoulders.

"Nice moves. Look's like the other one ran off." Gale shouted over as she continued to wipe the blood and tissue from her face.

"Looks like it." Stratus murmured back.

"Think it was those forgotten things." Gale tossed back as she finished her clean up job.

"Yeah. Sure is a lot of them around here isn't there."

"Yeah. Thanks for the save by the way."

"And you said I was distracted." Stratus snorted as they continued their journey.

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