*pokes head out nervously and slides chapter over to you*

Hehehe

Okay, this has been ready for months, but I had an art piece I wanted to attach to it that I still haven't gotten around to finishing.

Y'all have My_Broken_Memories to thank for this update, they're the one who made me want to update this.

"I thought I'd find you here."

Free De La Hoya looked up from the forest stadium, just in time to see you emerge from the treeline.

"You're back." He observed, giving you a small smile.

"Landed about an hour ago," you said, moving to embrace one of your two closest friends as he stood up to greet you. "You weren't hanging with Kris or in the mess hall, so I figured you'd be out here."

"Not in the gym?"

"With other people? You?" You mock gasped. "Never?"

"Shut up," he ordered, giving you a light shove, and you darted back laughing.

"Just admit it, you missed me."

"Never," he mocked, and you poked your tongue out at him.

"So what have you been up to?" You asked him, pulling the taller teenager to sit down beside you on the stone stairs that led up to the stadium.

"Not much," he shrugged, easily taking his place beside you and allowing you to lean with your back against his shoulder.

"Translation, training and sleeping." You mocked him, snickering as he nudged you, not bothering to protest when he knew you spoke the truth.

"How's your shoulder?" He wondered, as soon as your amusement had died down.

"It still hurts sometimes, if I'm not careful." You admitted willingly. "But it is getting a lot more better than it was, I even won a few battles back home."

"Nice." He said simply, slouching beside you.

"Hang on a sec," you sat up bolt upright, suddenly remembering something. "I can't believe I forgot, you're gonna love this."

"Oh?" Was his only response, reluctantly sitting forward and watching with interest as you fumbled with your belt for a moment.

"I met up with an old friend back home and thanks to her, we got a whole lot stronger." You smirked, getting ahold of your Bey and showing it to Free, pride shining in your eyes.

"It evolved?" Free tilted his head, leaning forwards to carefully inspect the piece of coloured plastic more closely.

"Yep," you nodded in excitement, happily handing over your Bey. "Check it out, Astra Nova!"

"Wow." He genuinely complimented the two of you with a pleasant closed eye smile.

"It took me ages to get things just how I wanted it," you confessed, rubbing the back of your neck.

"And are you happy with how it ended up?" He inquired, passing it back to you when he was satisfied with his short appraisal.

You looked down at your new Bey with a thoughtful frown toying on your face. Then, just like back in Madoka's shop, the light seemed to hit Astra Nova a certain way. A feeling of utter contentedness washed over you, and you smiled, knowing that this was Astra trying to communicate with you.

"Yeah," you finally decided, switching your gaze back onto Free. "I really am."

"You know what this means then?" He asked, standing up and stretching in the warm sunlight the filtered through into the forest clearing.

"A battle." You grinned, taking his hand when he extended it to you, accepting his help in using it to stand.

"Are you going to be okay?" He wondered, even as he was walking up to the usual side of the stadium that he preferred to use when battling.

"It's not like we're going full out for a title match or anything, I should be fine." You assured him, bounding over to your own side and getting out your launcher. "Besides, I'm itching for a good battle. I haven't had one in days."

"Have you fought with Nova yet?" Free wondered, gesturing to your Bey as you attached it to your plain black launcher.

"Not against another person," you said, deciding on going with a basic launch. "I've done a few simulations though in this stadium we have in our backyard."

"This should be good then." Free murmered, adopting the same stance as you. "I haven't had a decent Battle since you left."

"The others aren't so bad," you shook your head, fully aware that he wasn't going to believe you.

"If you take all of them on at once maybe."

"God you're arrogant," you snorted. "I can't decide if it's funny or frustrating."

"Almost six years and you still don't know?"

"Fight me," you challenged, eyes twinkling with excitement as you started to get pumped up for your rapidly impending battle with your orange haired friend.

"Let's see what you've got then. First to get a point wins."

You tightened your grip on your launcher and bent your knees slightly, a wide grin flourishing on your face.

"Three!"

You had missed this sort of battle.

"Two!"

The unpredictable struggle over who would come out on top.

"One!"

You never knew who would win, but this time you were determined that it would be you.

"Let it, rip!"

You tore out your ripcord and fired Astra Nova into the old stadium, which bore marks from all the battles it had played host to for you and Free over the years, ignoring the slight twinge your shoulder gave in protest.

As usual, Fafnir took the centre without so much as a word from Free, and began to rotate there in a lazy manner reminiscent of its owner.

"Let's light it up Astra Nova!" You shouted to your partner, amazed by the newfound speed it spun with, still unaccustomed to the drastic change your Bey had undergone. "Go for it!"

It was like a sense of déjà vu surrounding you, as Astra hurtled towards Fafnir. Unlike your first battle now years ago, there was a method to your order as opposed to just a head on attack.

"Hit it now, up and under!"

Astra spun at Fafnir, bobbing down at the very last second before popping up and striking it from beneath, lifting the yellow Bey and throwing it back a few paces.

"How do you like Astra's new performance tip?" You jeered, clipping your launcher back to your belt and holding your hands on your hips.

"It's good," Free acknowledged. "Is that all it can do?"

"I'm not showing you all my tricks that easily," you rolled your eyes, immediately catching on to what he was trying to do. "But just remember that the two of us are always full of surprises."

"Yeah, like what?"

"Don't watch the mouth, watch the Bey." You told him with a grin, nodding down to the stadium, where Astra had forced Fafnir to circle the walls, continuously swerving to chase it about the stadium and throwing its opponent around the place.

"What?"

"Finish it!" You demanded, balling your hands into fists and banging them together. "Astra Nova, Orbital Assault!"

Without missing a beat, Astra Nova  bounced so it was airborne, and a faint click reached your ears. When your Bey landed again, it began to spin back the other way, leaving a bright trail in its wake.

"GO!"

Free watched, dumbstruck, as Astra attacked in the same direction as Fafnir, speeding up to pass it. Astra struck once, becoming faster after the first strike, and completing another circuit to strike Fafnir and speed up again.

"Get out of the way Fafnir!" Free ordered, but even as his Bey tried to move, Astra merely swayed along to move along with it.

"That won't do you any good," you sang, enjoying the feeling of betting one over on Free for once.

"What's happening?"

"I made up this little move with you in mind specifically, Free De La Hoya." You informed him cheekily, flicking a strand of hair that had fallen loose out of your face.

"Orbital Assault allows Astra Nova to switch up its spin direction so it can attack from whichever way it wants." You explained to him, smiling down at your Bey as it attacked relentlessly. "Ten loops, speeding up each time, just like each planet in our Solar System."

"But not all planets orbit counterclockwise," he pointed out sweat dropping. "And there are only nine planets."

"If you were paying attention, you would have noticed by now that twice Astra has switched back and forth from clockwise to counter." You suppressed the urge to smack him. "And the final rotation is for the star that burns brightest in the sky!"

"Wait–" Free tried, eyes blowing wide open, immediately sensing that you were about to attack again.

"NOW!" You bellowed, punching the air as the mental count you had been keeping track of up until this point reached ten.

Astra, having completed it's ninth hit  flew past Fafnir and is it made it onto it's tenth, little more than a blur at this point. Hot white sparks began to get thrown up from your Bey's tip, caching on Astra, and mere seconds later, the entire Bey ignited into dark blue flames.

Free swore loudly, and you threw your head back and laughed. There was no need for you to watch, the out come inevitable, but you needed to see your victory against Free. There had been countless times over the years, where you and your best friend had tied, and others where you had managed to beat him. But when it came to official title matches however, Free De La Hoya was always the one who came out on top, and even in your other battles, he would always be able to snag his title back from you soon after. In the back of your mind, you were well aware that after this, Free would use the battle to grow even stronger, and surely beat you again.

But there was another part of you, one that was taken by the thrill of the moment, that wouldn't let you cheapen the flavour of the sweet victory you were about to taste, by the worries of what the future might bring. And so you looked back to the battle, E/C eyes sparking with the dark blue aura of your Blader's Spirit, watching as your Astra Nova, alight with flames, rushed Drain Fafnir and Burst it into three.

"All right!" You exclaimed, opening your hand for Astra to jump back to you as a stunned Free collected the pieces of his Bey. "You did great Astra!"

Your Bey was still warm, what having just been lit on fire, but you fancied that it heated up just for a brief second when it caught the light.

"You and Astra Nova really are something, but we'll win next time." Free promised, holding out a newly reassembled Fafnir.

"We'll just have to see about that," you threatened, bumping your Bey against his. "And thanks for being our first real opponent."

"You know what this means, right?"

You shook your head stubbornly. "I said at the start that this wasn't a title match, hell, we don't even have an official witness. I might have beat you Free, but you're still number one."

"The deer."

You turned your head, expecting to see the majestic stag that lived in the forest, but you were let down when you found that it was nowhere to be seen.

"Free, it isn't even here."

"But Y/N, didn't you know?" Free asked you, his eyes wide. "The deer is always watching."

You snorted at his statement, and Free smiled as your snort turned into full blown peels of laughter.

"You make it," you struggled to maintain a coherent speech. "You make it sound so creepy!"

Free widened his eyes again. "Always."

"Free–"

"It's everywhere."