Fumiya jittered. "It-it-it-its him."

"Free De La Hoya in the flesh," Ichika added.

"Yeah," the spiky blonde replied, about to confirm his entry and Beyblade.

"Wait," Ichika yelled. "Could you fight Free with Geist Fafnir?"

That left the announcer confused, checking to see if it was possible in the rulebook, and those not sure about either one asking about her and Fumiya's intentions.

Valt chimed in. "It's a personal thing. Let's just say some bladers are inspired by others."

Hikaru finally saw why. "Wasn't Geist the bey Free had when Aiga started?"

"And I started training Delta, and that was before him and Drum went out on their own. Right, he was the one at the Bey Carnival with the Fafnir blade."

Hyuga scratched his head. "So he copied Fafnir?"

"No dummy," his brother replied. "He must've made his Fafnir based on him. So why didn't he upgrade it?"

Ichika answered for Fumiya, but he got his nerves back and cut her off. "Wizard Fafnir and I have wanted to fight you and Geist Fafnir for years. Please, let me fight the Free who made me the blader I am today!"

Free pondered the thought, and took out a rebuilt Geist Fafnir.

"Alright, fine."

"Really?"

Lane scoffed. "He's really going to fight with a weaker system?"

Benkei offered his new protege a burger. "Nonsense. Back in my days, I've fought against world champions level bladers with stronger blades and came up on top."

Yu laughed. "Ben-Ben, what are you talking about?"

Masamune disagreed. "Take him down, bird head!"

Lui yawned. "This should be amusing."

Fumiya prepared himself, tightening his glasses and goggles, holding his beyblade in striking pose while Free lined up his launcher.

Both teams' hands could not stand still, waiting to see what would happen. And yet Amane remembered one of the training sessions.

—

"I studied Free for most of my blading career! The only way I can win is to beat him at his strongest," using weights, watching Free's matches, and practicing procedures and launches. "As my rival, you're going to help me."

"I have my own training to work on."

"You had your chance when you beat Arthur. Now it's my turn for the spotlight. After all, if you didn't perform, I would have to take your place. So as the next in line, you owe me."

As much as Amane hated his logic, Tango and Drum encouraged it.

"Sounds nice if all of you are stronger by the time of the tournaments."

"Uncle's right," offering Fumiya to try out using a table and vase to practice his shooting skill. "We're gonna help you best Free."

—

Amane yelled. "Fumiya, don't make us look bad out there!"

"Watch me!"

The countdown began. Fumiya changed his pose with each number while Free channeled his focus.

"Three, two, one, Let it Rip!"

Both launched their beys into the stadium, heading straight towards the center.

"Haven't used this in a while, Geist Spin!"

Fumiya slapped his fingers together. "Go Wizard Spin!"

Both beyblades channeled the upper centrifugal forces surrounding them. Neither one managed to completely push the other back, maintaining a dead heat.

"Ichika, we're doing it! We're matching blow for blow!"

"Free can't spin steal as much as usual! Is that all he can do?"

"Not bad," as Geist got pushed back, using the momentum to ride on the upper deck and swiftly climb back down. "Now Geist Claw!"

His blade's metal layer ripped at Wizard with a powerful claw swipe, breaking Wizard's special move away.

"Is that all? Go, finish this with Geist Claw. "

Geist followed after Wizard, who stole up on the upper ridge on the stadium.

"How's he gonna get out of this one," Pot asked. "That's a strong move for a stamina bey, right?"

Fumiya snapped his fingers. "It'll take more than that to stop me. Ratchet Through!"

Wizard's Ratchet Disc glowed, high enough to catch Geist's layer and blow it around and away from them, striking back. The next time Free tried it, Fumiya activated Ratchet Through, struck Geist's non metal parts, deflecting it away. Free's eyes spelled concern as his partner hit the wall, but continued to swoop down to find any opening.

Wizard maneuvered around to find any angle to deflect and throw it's predecessor back time and time again. Fumiya kept his breath steady while Ichika watched over her brother. Maybe he could pull this off.

Delta nodded. "Fumiya has the perfect counter to Left spinning blades."

Tsubasa wasn't convinced Fumiya had it in the bag. "There's a strategy to defeat Left-Rotation Beyblades but you need more than that to seal the deal."

Kyoya shook his head. "Strategy means nothing if you're not putting everything he has into it."

"My Ratchet Disc stops all those who think they can just brute force their way into blading!"

"True, you're definitely skilled, but it'll take more than that."

After Geist got countered again, Free exerted enough force, and it's blade stopped itself from crashing into the wall, going to strike down Wizard again.

"Your magic won't work on me again! Ratchet Through!"

Wizard deflected Geist again, sending it straight into the rising slope and spinning as it was able to fall down to the stadium.

"Is Free De La Hoya finished?"

Phi shook his head. "He's only just getting started."

The rest of BC Sol shared the same sentiments as Free started to smile, shaking Fumiya to his core.

Drum yelled. "Fumiya, watch out!"

Ichika joined him. "He's right, Free has more than one way of absorbing attacks!"

Amane popped up. "Absorb Break?"

Delta shook his head. "There's a move he only used once before against a Kerbeus user from Brazil. Before I left BC Sol, I tried to get strong enough to make Free use it, but I never pulled it off by the time I practiced mastering Diabolos."

Free's aura emitted, leaning his head.

"Fafnir, finish this. Geist Counter." Geist landed on the Proof Frame, titled itself back up and rode around the slope of the Hyper Double Stadium with more speed and power.

"Wizard Fafnir, counter it!"

Geist struck Wizard and powered through its absorption, sending it flying into the air.

"Fumiya!"

"Is it over for Wizard Fafnir?"

"No way, I won't let it end like this! Fall on your rim and power up!"

Wizard landed on the upper deck of the Hyper Double Stadium and dashed around the top, flying over Geist and landing on the other side before channeling the energy of its Rise Tip and flying at Geist straight from the center. None of his teammates saw it coming.

Delta thought of the possibilities. "He's going for it now?"

Amane gasped. "But what about Absorb Break?"

Drum cheered him on either way while Ichika's split feelings lead her to joining their captain.

"The triumph of my greatest victory, surpassing my inspiration is here. The Fafnir owned by Spark Devils will win this!"

Wizard Fafnir was about to drop on Geist Fafnir, but landed above the Layer.

It was only then Valt, Phi, Rantaro, and Drum figured out what he was doing.

"Fafnir's got more than one weakness."

"The opponent's blade needs to be able to repel with enough force to prevent Fafnir's blades from absorbing the hits or overwhelming them from both sides."

"But if someone targets them from above the layer, aha, like Synchro Lightning!"

"Fumiya can burst him from above without targeting the layer before Free can use his Break attacks!"

"Will it work?"

"Only one way to find out! Go Fumiya!"

"Don't need to tell me twice," waving his hands and slashing it down like a claw. Wizard Blow!"

The golden dragon flapped its emerald-yellow wings before slashing down as Wizard crashed into Geist Fafnir. Free powered up, unleashing his aura, holding back and commanding Fafnir to endure and absorb it all. Sparks flew as neither one backed down. The tension and sweat from Fumiya's mind endured, imagining Wizard Fafnir was by his side.

"You inspired us to get to this point. I won't let our hard work go to waste!"

Orochi could hear the Burst layers dropping. Both bladers were down to two when the avatar of both dragons clashed at each other, and one Beyblade flew out from the collison.

"Which one is it?"

Everyone was on the edge of their seat as Geist Fafnir popped out of the explosion.

"Is Free De La Hoya going to lose this one?"

"Fafnir!"

Geist returned to the stadium and the spring pushed down completely, boosting Fafnir's speed to even more ridiculous levels.

Ichika rushed to Fumiya's aid as Free's veins tightened and her brother backed up in shock in awe at the face of their idol's strongest move.

"Fumiya, you can't let it end like this!"

Terror and the pounding of failure beat throughout his chest.

"Is this it? Is that really all I can do?!"

Fumiya found himself in the gold void where the Fafnir with a blue horn, golden body with emerald green wings, a crystal armor on top of it's chest, red horns across the wings and blue tails.

"You're Wizard Fafnir?"

"Yeah," sounds similar to him. "Are we really going to lose like this? You're a genius? You made me after all."

"But my genius strategy failed."

"But you're a genius because you're so hard. If those Asashi kids could rival Free after working so hard, so can we, right?!"

"Right, this is our big moment. Fafnir," scratching the air to reach out to the dragon. "Our spark won't flicker out!"

Wizard reached out, and a sphere of power enveloped them both.

In the center of the stadium, Wizard Fafnir glowed yellow.

"Fafnir! Freeze him in his tracks. Wizard Spin!"

A golden field of energy expanded even wider. Fumiya felt the frontal force of his idol's avatar blasting a massive stream of fire as his spinning partner began repelling Geist Fafnir's mighty attack even as the mental flames pierced his body. His glasses were slipping off his face, when Ichika reattached them onto him.

Drum, Amane, Delta, and Pot were also cheering him on, and he recalled his battle with Drum.

"Back then, I wanted to crush all of you," laughing in the face of his potential loss. "And here you all are getting me to this point," as the same field wrapped around him. "Free De La Hoya! Ichika and I have idolized you for so long! You helped us become the bladers we are today! This is my answer!"

Wizard's force matched Geist Fafnir, defense for attack, and both blades blew each other away to both sides of the Hyper Double Stadium, charging up power from both their Rise and Absorb Tips again, charging at one another.

Free smiled. "You're holding out pretty well. Show me how strong your Resonance is!"

Fumiya retained his cocky grin. "Don't regret it when I Burst your Fafnir!"

The two Fafnir's golden auras teared through the stadium floor onto the slope of the upper deck and flew towards one another!

Lightning flowed from Free's hand as he hurled it forward. "Absorb Break!!"

Air soared through Fumiya's hand as he slashed it down. "This time it'll be golden!! Wizard Blow!"

The two Fafnirs smashed into one another in midair. Both their teams cheered on the other in shock in awe as the crowd roared in amazement.

"FREE! FREE! FREE!"

'FUMIYA! FUMIYA! FUMIYA!"

Ichika could see her older teammates watching in the stadiums cheering them on, reflecting on how far her brother had come. Fumiya and Free fought hard to maintain while Joshua grew agasted.

"I thought only Valt, I, and Phi could push him that far! Don't lose this Free!"

Orochi couldn't tell who was going to win. The two beyblades exploded and sprung out into the air.

And both Beyblades burst.

Free raised an eye while Fumiya's eyes widened.

"Who won!?"

The referee, unsure, announced a play by play of the events, recording the footage to see what happened. When the time rewind, one burst before the other, and Free nearly dropped to his knees.

"Wizard Fafnir burst first. Therefore, Geist Fafnir is the winner with a Burst Finish! With a score of 3-2, BC Sol takes the round."

Fumiya's eyes went white. Ichika waved her hands in front of her eyes, but worked to no avail.

Free took a deep breath while Kristina rushed to his aid. "You performed so well."

"That ended up being more fun than I thought."

At the same time color returned to Fumiya's eyes while his sister helped him come to terms with what happened.

"I burst Fafnir? I burst Fafnir," leading to her face palming, while he gloated about his greatness. Amane wasn't as keen.

"Should we tell him that he lost?"

"No need," Delta said, giving him the shoulder. "It'll motivate him to get even stronger."

Pot laughed. "I wonder who'll master Gold Turbo faster."

Drum pumped his fists. "That means you two will be even stronger in the future."

Fumiya was busy parading around as usual when Free shut him up, handing him Wizard.

"So you based this off of Geist huh. Would you like to fight me with Mirage or Vanish next time?"

"All of them! Can I!?"

"Get stronger, and we'll see."

He almost cried from admiration while Ichika thanked him for their request. As he walked away, he turned to Kristina.

"They're siblings, right? She reminds me of you."

Her heart skipped a beat. "Well, I'll always look out for you, no matter how distant we are."

"It's a good feeling."

Returning to the bench, Sisco crossed his hands. "You could've lost that you know."

Sasha elbowed him. "He was being nice. Free, you do have a heart."

"Too bad we can barely see it from his eyes sometimes," Cuza joked.

Free wasn't sure how to respond beyond a nonchalant shrug.

"That may have flown over his head," Kit added, leading to them laughing.

Kristina pulled him into the group. Even if he didn't get them all the time, at least BC Sol were his friends.