Burst Finish My Heart: Free de la Hoya x OC | A Beyblade Fanfiction

Chapter 42: Brilliance

"Hey!" Valt said, dashing toward Rantaro. Ferox followed closely behind, and she attempted to suppress a giggle as Valt yelled, "Can you teach me the Stamina Launch?!"

"When you're ready to learn, my young apprentice," Rantaro said with a wink, and he whirled around in a theatrical circle.

Thank you for your blader's compliments, Roktavor said, practically glowing.

No, thank you for being my comrade, Valtryek said.

Zmaj sighed and smashed her wolfish face into the ground.

"Woosh!" Valt said, similarly whirling around. "Roktavor could have spun for days!"

"Valt, your Beyblade is an attack type, so it isn't suited for a launch that works for Roktavor," Ferox said. She was unable to resist pointing out such a thing. Yu Tendo had been like that, too. Even though he was an adult, she remembered how he would blurt out things and refer to the Legendary Bladers with silly nicknames.

Rantaro chuckled, and he smiled, staring at his Beyblade. Clutching his fingers around his prized friend, he whispered, "I'm really proud of my Bey for toughening out."

I'm proud of you, too, Roktavor said. We will accomplish many more great things together.

Ferox was about to congratulate Rantaro when Trad called out, "Rantaro Kiyama!" He pursed his lips in the manner of a father advising their son. "Don't get full of yourself just because you won. You still have much to learn."

With that, Ferox's eyebrows raised. She wanted Rantaro to enjoy his victory, yet at the same time, she did not disagree with Trad. Ferox recalled her conversation with Stan and smiled wistfully. Sometimes, you have to be tough on people to help them grow, Ferox thought.

Rantaro rose his hands defensively and said, "Yeah, but--"

"It takes more than confidence to truly connect with your Bey and master it," Trad continued before turning around to attend to others. He said what he had to--nothing more, nothing less.

"But there's nothing wrong with faking it until you make it! Am I right, Trad?" Rantaro said and grinned, holding up his new launcher. "Thanks for letting me borrow this."

"Ah, so that's where you got it?" Ferox said, looking at Trad with a new light in her eyes. She thought warmly, He must collect Bey parts and launchers to help improve the team's blading practices and techniques. He's like my mom. My mom used to analyze Beyblades like that and gave my father a new launcher when his broke in a battle--

"Yes," Rantaro said. "I saw it in his office, and he let me have it!"

"Yeah," Ferox echoed.

She felt a bit off-balance now at the thought of Yu and now her mom. People always said the phrase 'out of sight, out of mind,' but Ferox always found that people she could not see haunted her in seemingly innocuous thoughts. She did not understand it. She had a heart-to-heart with Free, so how could she be feeling like--

It's not Free's fault that I'm hung up on the past, Ferox thought, rubbing her forehead and wiping her eyes. She hoped that she was going crazy because the alternative that this overwhelming grief made sense terrified her. Yet simultaneously, she had rejected the clinical psychologist who had looked down their nose and said, "You have post-traumatic stress disorder."

Silas Karlisle paced in the front of the Beyblade gym; although he could not hear Satomb, he subconsciously felt his Bey spirit's displeasure with the loss. His forehead scrunched up, and he said, "I can't believe it! I never lose to amateurs like him."