Free de la Hoya was laying down on the ground in the middle of a forest throwing his bey up and down. The silent sound as it rose up and fell down as the metal shifted. It was satisfying, but Free ignored it and instead thought about other things.

Free never really had a plan when going on these trips, sure in the beginning he had a destination. But now he just had a purpose and that purpose and motivation was to get stronger. He had a couple ideas but he didn't really have any concerte ideas. Getting up he started walking not knowing where he was going. After walking for a little bit Free started walking into a rocky like mountain terrain. The searing heat didn't really bother Free considering he was wearing his classic tank top.

The place reminded Free of when they were competing for the championship spot. Looking back on it now it all felt like a distant memory, something that had felt like an eternity ago. And yet it was only a couple of years ago.

Free sat down digging stuff out from his bag. The items clattered onto the ground echoing among the boulders. He searched until he found exactly what he wanted: a rope. It was a thick rope that wasn't special or anything. It was the type of rope that got the job done.

Tying the rope against a small flat rock he connected the other end of the rope to his body. He pulled with all his might, at first it wasn't so bad. Out of all the labor this was nothing.

He propped it up so it was standing on its side. He continued pulling flat rocks until he had a makeshift cave without a roof. Looking around he spotted a rock a few feet away. Unlike the other rocks this one was a bit heavier than the others.

Dragging the rock over to the cave he got it to a spot he liked. He lifted the rock into the air using his bare arms. His arms began shaking and his veins started popping out. Drops of sweat began dripping down everywhere. Finally he placed the rock on top of the other rocks. The cave wasn't perfect but it was certainly bigger than he had originally thought it would be.

******

After settling in, Free had somehow managed to get a fire going. While he had been picking up sticks for the fire he had found a long and fat stick. After digging through his bag again he had found a semi sharp butter knife from Amanda. He sat down on another rock across from the fire and he began sharpening into a long wooden stake. As he sharpened the stake his mind began to wonder drifting onto the subject of Amanda.

So far they had only talked a little bit since Free had left. They had occasionally emailed saying hi to each other. But unlike Free, Amanda gave him the full update on what's happened since he was gone. Recently Amanda had gotten a new bey: Gallant Ariel. She had been blading for fun as her hobby but her true talent was her baking.

Right now Amanda had entered a contest in hopes to win the cash prize to put towards college and possibly a future bakery. On top of all of that her brother was rising up among the ranks and Amanda and her dad were getting along better. Free was happy for her but he didn't know how to respond.

It had only been a couple of days since they had seen each other and yet so much had happened. Free hadn't really done anything productive other than training and other things. Eventually he got the wooden stake to a place he had wanted it.

Taking a break Free looked out onto the land. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds but out in the distance was a dark storm cloud. Free could tell by how the wind was blowing the storm was nearing. His stomach tumbled reminding him that he was still human and that he required food. Getting the stake ready he held it next to him like it was his walking stick.

"Well I guess I'll be hanging around for a while."

A/N: Whew it's been a while, change of plans instead I'm not going to do the golf story but instead it'll come after this. I hope you enjoy this chapter *winks*