Free De La Hoya: Hunters of the Forgotten (Book 1) [Completed]

Ep 16: Corrupted Art! Going to the Met!

Since Free was visiting New York Shu let Free stay in one of the dorms just until he left. He didn't really mind since he had a room to himself.

By the time morning had rolled around he was already gone. It was strange how empty and quiet it was.

Raiding the kitchen and pantry Free grabbed a couple of snacks for the day. Closing his bag up tight he made his way back downstairs.

In a way it was kinda creepy. All of the training equipment was dead silent and the TV was off. Once the sound of Beys filled the air instead of distant honking of cars filled it instead. After checking his map Free exited the building.

It was another beautiful morning, the sun was high in the sky and there wasn't a single cloud. Luckily the buildings provided shade when there wasn't.

Instead of walking through Central Park Free decided it was faster to jog along side it. He decided to enjoy the park later.

Another thing Free enjoyed about New York was how close everything is and how it encouraged getting exercise.

Most people here didn't even own cars they could just walk because everything was so close. It's not like Free needed a car anyways. Since everything is so expensive, Free found it easier and better to walk anyways.

Running along the stone path Free got closer to his destination. He could tell by the line of artists selling their artwork outside the Metropolitan Art Museum. He wasn't really interested until something caught his eye.

It was one of the smaller stands, Free could tell it was less popular than the other ones. A young boy stood in front trying to reel people in with his art. He had short purple hair, blue eyes and had a green shirt and brown shorts. Free could tell the boy was trying too hard.

Quietly sneaking past the boy Free made his way into the stand. The drawings were quite interesting. Some of them he recognized as big beasts he fought before. Others were beasts he had never seen before. He even smiled when he saw Fafnir.

But as he got deeper into the stand he saw Achilles but it was the darker version. At the bottom it said "Shadow Achilles." Looking through all of the beasts he only felt worse. Free didn't recognize all of them but noticed a few like Luinor or Phoenix but overall he had a bad feeling. Nearby he assumed the boys father was setting up more paintings.

"Where did you find the inspiration for these?"

"Oh those? Yeah my son Blindt, surely you saw him out there selling paintings. He loves Beyblade but he loves painting even more. He'll take inspiration from the bit beasts in battle."

"Hmmmm."

This still concerned Free but he decided not to press on. Looking through these shadow or dark beasts, Free counted about 15 or twenty of them. As he walked back out to the street he made his way up the stairs into the Metropolitan Art Museum. Buying tickets didn't take that long but the lines were still impressive.

The museum was large, they had at least 40 foot ceilings if not bigger. But Free didn't really care for most of the art, normally Free would have gone outside and looked at the gardens but they said something about a private event.

So instead Free took his time looking around at all of the nature paintings. Every now and again he'd poke his head out the wind and look outside. His favorite was The Water Lilies in the Impressionism section.

As he walked around he couldn't help but think about those paintings he saw earlier. There was something about them that worried Free. Phoenix and Luinor being dark made sense considering their bladers but others made zero sense.

Maybe they were just a fluke or something. Free felt like he should've asked whether they were real or not but the boy's father probably didn't know what was really going on. Besides even if Free did ask him he'd probably look at him like he was nuts or something.

After walking around for a little bit Free found a room full of cool armor. Going inside it was really cool. Most of the pieces reminded him of past opponents like Achilles.

Moving onto the next room Free looked at more armor. In the center of the room was a large stuffed horse with an armored knight sitting at the top. Both of them looked like they were ready to charge into battle. Free smiled, looking at this piece it reminded him of Valt and Valtryek.

I wonder what he's up to....

At the end of the trip Free started walking back to the Raging Bulls hideout. The armor reminded Free of the Dread tower and Liam. Sure Liam had been a little annoying here and there but it was nice to have company. Free wondered if he'd ever see him again.

The city was busy this time of night and more grown ups were out than kids. But Free didn't mind, he had his thoughts to keep him company. In a way the cities lights served as the stars since the buildings were covering the sky.

Free did miss the sense of freedom, at BC Sol he could go anywhere and do whatever he pleases. But here he was confined by the limits of the buildings, people and weather.

That night getting into bed Free had a dream. Free normally doesn't have nightmares or dreams in general but tonight was an exception.

In his dream he was back at BC Sol in the forest. The deer led him to the stadium but instead Aiger was there. But there was something wrong with him.

To Aiger Free seemed like a ghost. Aiger kept launching and launching and launching until he started to notice something. It was his eyes they were turning purple.

Free kept watching Aiger get worse until he felt something in his hand. Fafnir was glowing faintly as if something were holding it back.

"Is this a warning?" Free tried asking Fafnir but he couldn't hear anything.

"Hey Free."

Free turned back to Aiger. Aigers dark resonance was surrounding him at this point making him look more powerful.

"Want to battle? Shadow Achilles is waiting."

That's when he woke up.