Sunlight filtered in through the interwoven leaf-work of a dense forest. The small lake in the very middle of the forest let the gentle rays make dappled spots on the water, glimmering with each ripple. Somehow, the whole forest seemed... alive, breathing rhythmically. Even the lake carried a feeling of peace and serenity. It was otherworldly.

"Let it Rip! "

Oh - it's this world all right. Free mused as he watched Fafnir circle the beystadium for a while, then settle down and start spinning in the centre.

He was back at the old beystadium in the forest near BC Sol, the place where so many of his memories lay. He had gained, he had lost - and the crumbling beystadium had seen it all.

~Flashback~

"What is your name, son? "

"Free De La Hoya. "

Free Of The Valley - a unique name.

"Where do you live, Free? "

The kind-looking man smiled at the young child as he clutched his beyblade protectively.

"There." The child pointed far into the forest. In the forest? The man was bewildered. Maybe there's some village after crossing the forest, he reasoned. But still, for such a small child to cross a big forest on his own...

He had seen that boy come to the dilapidated beystadium before also. He just came, practiced quietly and went away, everyday. Yet, there was something about him that made the man curious about him. He looked at the child, who seemed pretty uncomfortable at being caught beyblading there. After all, the beystadium was BC Sol property and was not open for public use. Usually. The only time he had seen the boy show expression was when he was beyblading, so...

"Would you like to battle with an opponent? "

The boy looked up in surprise. He had not expected to get allowed to use the beystadium, let alone get invited to battle with an opponent. Everywhere else, they had told him off because he was 'unworthy', according to them. His face lit up.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The pink beyblade slowed to a stop.

"Wow... you're a genius! "

The brown-haired girl clapped her hands together. Free was thunderstruck. He had not expected her to react like that. Usually, in the village he came from, the older boys whom he always defeated in beybattles would scream and swear and try to beat him up. Likewise, he had expected his opponent to stomp her foot and complain to her grandfather.

"You are right, Chris. Free, you have great potential." The old man beamed at him,"We are extremely lucky to have you in BC Sol."He, on the other hand, was totally confused by the feelings going riot in his heart. He had never been praised by anyone. He didn't say it, but a single resolve worked itself into his mind.

He will make Jinbei Kuroda proud.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Seems like Edel has taken a liking to you."

The old man remarked merrily from his chair by the old beystadium as the buck nuzzled Free's hand. The blader smiled but didn't say anything.

"Listen boy." The man beckoned him to come closer, "I have something important to tell you." He coughed. Free narrowed his eyes in concern. His health had been slowly deteriorating for some time now. The doctors had advised him against moving out of his bed, but he refused to listen.

"Don't worry about me. I'm an old man, and old people don't matter much because they have already lived a life - good or bad. It's you young people who matter now, for you have a full life left ahead. See, Edel trusts you." He guided Free's hand to touch Edel's head, then stroked behind his ears, "So do all of them." He nodded towards the forest vaguely. "Never betray them."

Free could understand what the wise man meant, and nodded in understanding. The old man smiled at the laconic blader.

"Want to beybattle? I won't be hard on you. "

"Take proper rest, Mr. Koroda. Besides, where's the fun in defeating an old man?"

"There's fun in everything, my boy."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"How is he? " 

The doctor shuffled uneasily. He looked away from the pair of eyes staring expectantly at him.

"Answer her question, Doctor." The words almost seemed like a friendly suggestion if not for the dead serious tone they were spoken in. The doctor briefly met the vacant eyes of the world-renowned blader, then looked down again, shoulders drooping.

"We tried our best, but... we couldn't save him." He sighed in dejection, "I am sorry. Mr. Kuroda has passed away."

The pity in the doctor's voice hit him like a sledgehammer. He looked sideways at Chris. She looked as bad as he felt. "Can we see Grandfather? " Her voice was quiet. The doctor nodded.

She was handling it much better than he was, he noted as he saw Chris hold her Grandfather's hand and whisper softly at the old man's ear. As for him, he was sorely tempted to box the doctor's ears. The words he had said echoed in Free's ears. The bey in his hand heated up, sensing its master's anger and frustration.

That old man had no right to go away just like that, without any proper warning or farewell. "Life is like this only boy - unpredictable." He would have chuckled and said this. But now he was no longer there, and Free's emotions were going haywire, and Chris was crying uncontrollably, and...

It was chaos, threatening his sanity.

When did that old man begin to matter in his life? He looked over to Chris, his heart aching to comfort her. When did Jinbei Kuroda and his granddaughter become the family he never had?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Free asked BC Sol's new team owner, his voice laced with concern.

"I am."

"Are you really ready for such a huge responsibility? I mean, it too soon... "

"Free - are you actually worried? Don't be. After all, grandfather would want me to take on this role, don't you think?" Chris smiled sadly, "He wouldn't want us to mope around and leave the team to fend for itself."

"Right."

Chris managed a grin, "Hey, what would I be worried about, huh? After all, I have you here with me. As long as we are a team, everything is going to turn out just fine."

Free felt his throat constrict. He didn't reply and just walked away into the forest, head bowed. He had no idea as to where he was going but when his foot hit stone, he looked up to see the old , crumbling beystadium in front of him. This was where it all had started years ago, and this was where he had came back that day. Hot tears, held back till now, fell unchecked from his eyes. The beystadium had been silent witness all along.

Edel looked at him from a distance but didn't approach him. His head was tilted to one side, as if curious about what Free was doing. As if he wanted to know which path the lone blader was going to walk on now.

Free had no idea himself.

~End of Flashback~

He had become even quieter and more focused on winning after Jinbei Kuroda's death. It had served his reputation as the World Beyblade Champion, but... something had been off about him, as Chris had put. The game lost its hold on him. He began to consider all of his opponents... boring.

Then the turning point called Valt Aoi joined the team.

He couldn't understand that guy's behavior, always cheery no matter what. Even when he was clearly losing the match, he would grin and get pumped up. He was always having fun in the beybattles. Free believed that a person with such a strange attitude could barely even clear the Nationals, let alone grab a high rank in the World Championship.

He had no idea how wrong he was.

When he had watched Valt battle Red-Eye in the final round, Jinbei Kuroda's words had come back to him.

There's fun in everything, my boy.

He had not understood what the old man meant then. But as he saw Valt help his friend up and talk to him as if they were not having a nail-biting battle a few moments ago, the meaning had gradually dawned on him.

That's why he had come back to Spain and was now standing there.

To play real Beyblade and have fun... to know what Beyblade really is.

"You're late. As usual." He spoke aloud, sensing a certain presence lurking behind him. He heard a frustrated groan and the rustling of leaves and twigs as the person he had addressed emerged from behind the trees.

"I am not your servant, so I'm not at all obliged to be on time." The green-haired blader bit back, then huffed at Free's don't-care attitude.

"I challenge you to a beybattle." He proudly displayed his beyblade, Kinetic Satomb.

Free shrugged. "You were the one who called me here anyway."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Silas Karlisle. May I ask you why did you start stalking me after joining BC Sol? " The former World Beyblade Champion asked his opponent as their equally matched beyblades clashed in the beydish. Silus almost lost his concentration in the match as his face grew red. "N-no! I wasn't stalking you! " He protested at the accusation, "I was just... curious about where you disappeared to when we practiced inside in the beytraining room. I never saw you there, unless we were battling each other." Free just smiled in response.

"What? Can't I be wanting to know more about the habits of the then World Beyblade Champion?" Silus was decidedly getting uncomfortable under Free's hollow gaze.

"Nothing. Only that, Satomb is balanced at the very edge of the beydish."

"What?! Oh..."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The black and purple beyblade lay outside the beydish.

"I can't believe I lost to YOU, again... "

"You did."

"Don't get on a high horse just yet, Free De La Hoya. Satomb and I shall never give up. I challenge you to a rematch! "

"Did you have fun? "

"Eh, what do you mean? " Silus seemed angry now, "Are you making fun of me? Because you won this round and according to you, winning is fun."

Free tilted his head to one side, "Beyblading IS fun."

Silus laughed, "Did you hit your head or something? Last time your opinion was definitely different. What caused the change of heart? "

Free picked up Fafnir, "Do you want a rematch or not? "

Silus smirked, "You're on, Free. "

You don't get stronger by accepting how everyone else does things. You get stronger by finding your own path. That's how champions are made. Free smiled. He had finally uncovered the path he was to walk on - the path he was uncertain about, when he had stood at the same beystadium after his mentor's death.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Well, at least this time it was a tie. " Free remarked as both of their beyblades slowed to a stop. Silus scoffed, "That's not enough by any standards. "

"Did you have fun this time? "

"Why are you asking that stupid question again and again..." Silus broke eye contact. "No, the match was not fun at all. Happy now?"

It was around that time that all sorts of strange things started to happen, starting with Edel suddenly rearing up and running back into the forest. Silus arched his eyebrows, "Hey, is that deer of yours supposed to do that? "

"He's a stag, Silus, and no - he usually doesn't do that. " Free remembered Jinbei Kuroda once telling him that Edel was the guardian of the forest, not that he believed it. But, the stag had run away into the forest as if he was suddenly afraid of something, or had sensed something potentially dangerous in close vicinity.

Free had the most unsettling feeling, as if something strange was going to happen. The forest had grown quiet in a heartbeat. The usual chirping of birds and scurrying sounds of small animals were all gone. Flustered, he looked up to the sky, searching for any signs of disturbance in the bird traffic.

He hadn't expected to see what he saw there. "I am sure as heck that this ain't right. " Silus mirrored his exact thoughts.

The sky had taken the most impossible colour they had ever seen in their entire lives. It looked like a crazy mix of fluorescent orange and green and yellow and little bits of purple scattered all over.

"No kidding." Free agreed.

"Is it just me, or does the sky really look as if someone had put a rainbow in a mixer, mixed up the colours and then splashed the mixture across the sky? "

Free almost laughed aloud, "It definitely is the second option. "

Free's senses were sharper than the average human being, on account of him spending most of his time in the forest. His eyes picked up a peculiar structure forming in the sky. It looked like an upside-down tornado. There was not a single cloud in the sky, yet lightning cracks appeared, seemingly from the structure.

"Is this a natural occurrence in Spain? I mean, I'm not a native so... "

"I don't think that this is a natural occurrence in any part of the world, Silus. " Free retorted.

This world, at least.

As his mind tried to come up with an coherent explanation, their surroundings went dark without warning. Free felt his head swim as Silus sat down with a grunt, holding his head. Dizziness flooded him as he sat down as well, and he quietly mused about how he had been thinking about the forest looking 'otherworldly'.

"I guess, " he heard Silus mutter, "the match was somewhat fun, Free... "

The forest swam out of his vision as he plunged into darkness.