Free raced to the people as fast as he could. His curiosity got the better of them but he had a bad feeling about the situation.

Peering over the edge was a group of tourists cowering in fear. Above some of the rocks had fallen which had caused a big boulder to block the tourists path.

Free quickly made his way down there climbing cautiously but fast at the same time. When he came close to the ground he jumped down landing on the other side of the boulder.

"Stand back" Free yelled

Getting a semi-decent grip Free started lifting the boulder up into the air. As he held it high in the air Free soon realized he had never lifted this much weight before. His arms started shaking and his hands started hurting. His arms wavered when a small voice called out: "Go Free I believe in you!"

A small boy with red hair and blue eyes stood in the front cheering on the older boy. Free cracked a small smile and kept lifting, he threw the rock off the side of the trail. Free watched out of breath as the boulder crashed down.

The little boy let out a small breath and told Free thank you. But then as the moment had passed the ground started shaking. Rocks from above came crashing down. People started running around going away from the avalanche.
As Free looked around in the chaos he heard a small voice: "Help!"

Free whipped his head around and saw the same boy from earlier. His foot was stuck and rocks were still falling. Letting his instincts take over Free somehow dodged the falling rocks and made his way over to the kid. Using his strength he pulled the kids leg out of the rocks just in time. Giving the kid a piggyback ride they both made their way back to the group.

Free set down the kid. All around him people in the group started cheering for Free. A medium sized woman stepped out from the crowd. She had darker red hair but she had light blue eyes to contrast. Based on her appearance Free could tell she was the boys mother.

"Thank you, whoever you are." The mother said quietly.

"That's not just anyone mom! That's Free De La Hoya! One of the top bladers in the world! At one point he was the world champion! Anyways what are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere practically?"

"Training."

"All by yourself? Doesn't that ever get lonely?"

"Not really. You see, you get into this rhythm where you don't even think about stuff like that. You forget about where you are or what you're feeling. Your mind becomes a blank slate which allows you to focus on the task at hand. You'll understand when you're older."

"Huh. Oh I know where you can train!" You see that peak up there. I've heard rumors of a stadium up there but it's pretty old."

Free looked up at the peak tilting his head.

"Alright then I guess I'll check it out later." Free said walking off.

For the rest of the afternoon Free continued his training. Hauling rocks, running, or climbing here and there. Thankfully there were no more avalanches to interrupt. And even if there was an avalanche Free probably wouldn't have noticed it.

For dinner he snacked his way through BeyBread and eventually he fell asleep.

Free didn't really remember his dream that night but he did remember Aiger being in it. There was something dangerous about that kid. The way his resonance looked worried Free. In fact he woke up several times that night.

By the time the morning came around Free had just enough energy to get through the day.

Packing up his bag and having breakfast Free made his way up the peak. It wasn't as long as Free had initially thought. Keeping his mind at the task at hand he made his way up the mountain only with his bag.

******

The mountain was beautiful at this time of day. The sapphire sky contrasted with the brown and orange rocks from below. The whole scene was just beautiful, it was a wonder how nobody came up here. Perhaps it was the heat or the hike itself? But neither mattered to Free; he just enjoyed the view.

By the time he had made it to the top it was high noon just in time for lunch. A single stadium stood in the center. It was well worn based on feeling the sides. Free could tell this stadium had been well worn and loved for years. But he couldn't help but wonder why it was up here. Sure the desert wasn't the ideal place to blade, not to mention the hike and the blistering heat.

Free practiced for a while using the weight. It was interesting, whenever he used the weight it was a bit harder. But after launching for a while his arm began to feel weighed down and tense. After a while he took off the weight and felt the difference. Sure his arm was tense but his launcher felt lighter. So light he could barely even feel it in his hand.

3...

2...

1...

"Let it rip!"

He could feel the power the light launcher allowed him. It felt great but Free knew it wouldn't last forever. The more he launched the more the weight eventually returned. It almost felt like a power up but in order to use that power he'd have to practice.

Eventually Free took a break for lunch. Dangling his feet over the cliff he took a bit of his sandwich leftovers from yesterday. Unlike the beautiful scene behind him this side was a bit more unsettling.

Dark purple clouds cover the sky casting a shadow on the rocks below. Out in the distance was a large building or figure. There was something sinister about the building, almost as if it were hiding more than it was letting on. From there Free couldn't really tell what it was but something else caught his eye. Two brightly colored figures were walking towards the building in the distance.

Digging in his pack Free dug out some binoculars. He focused them onto the figures into the distance.

Aiger and Ranjiro stood in front of the Dread Tower. Free didn't need the binoculars to know it was Aiger because his yelling and banging could be heard from far away.

Focusing on Aiger, Free ignored all distractions around him. His eyes turned golden and the land became a light shade of grey. All around Free he could see tiny bits of energy all with their own unique color. But that's not why he was looking, instead he looked at Aiger. His eyes were blood red reminding Free of Shu. But unlike Shu his aura told another story.

Surrounding him was a red colored aura with bits of blue and orange here and there but the colors were unusually dark.

The whole situation set off a red flag for Free. Aiger, a young kid slowly falling to the darkness going to the dread tower which gave off an even darker presence.

Free could see right through the situation. He knew the game Hyde was playing and he didn't like it one bit.

His vision returned back to normal and the aura was gone. Sure Free De La Hoya had better things to do like train and practice but for his curiosity's sake why not go and see what they're up to?

Finishing up his lunch Free started going back down the peak and thought to himself:

I guess I'm taking a detour oh well... good thing I have nothing better to do at the moment...

A/N: whew another chapter, the next story is called...
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Dread Tower Stakeout!