Free De La Hoya

is a character appearing in the anime/manga series, Beyblade Burst Evolution. He was initially the leader of Spanish team BC Sol until he left and became a member of the American team, the Raging Bulls. He eventually returned to Spain and rejoined BC Sol as its leader. Currently, he is a member of the Big Five. His Beyblade is Fafnir F3 8 Nothing. He was the world's Number 1 Blader until he had his first loss to Lui Shirasagi. However in Episode 47, he defeats Lui Shirasagi in the God Blader's Cup to regain his title. In Episode 50, he forfeits his match with Valt Aoi due to the injuries in his right arm.

Appearance
Free has a fair complexion, and spiked and messy orange hair with a red streak running through it. His eyes are dark and his pupils aren't visible. Free dresses casually with a loose yellow tank-top and light brown jeans, showing how he doesn't care much about what he wears. On his left arm, he wears a long, dark teal finger-less glove that is fastened with a brown belt and golden buckle. Attached to the belt of his pants is a small brown satchel, as well as his yellow launcher with a white and black grip.

Personality
Free is very lazy and carefree. Because of this, he doesn't do much of anything in Beybattles. Free also doesn't use his launcher against the other members of BC Sol very often, preferring to use his hand; although he uses his launcher when facing skilled bladers.

As the strongest blader in the world, he has the knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of beyblade. This is shown when he points out what Roktavor R3 is capable of doing, and suggests ways to improve Rantaro Kiyama's skills. Free is often seen with a bored expression and his head tilted to the left slightly, and is uninterested in most things since he is the most powerful blader and doesn't see them as challenging. He is very popular among other bladers due to his skills.

In his spare time, Free often sits around throwing his beyblade up and catching it, or visiting an old bey stadium in the forest with a deer nearby. He has a noticeable fondness for animals, as he smiles more often when he spots the deer curiously watching him. He also noticeably smiles more later on in the series.

Free is noticeably more fit and athletic than the other members of BC Sol, and is able to do 100 sprints without breaking into a sweat.

It is noted by Rantaro Kiyama and Valt Aoi that Free can be sarcastic or rude occasionally, ignoring what his teammates are saying or throwing slight insults towards his opponents. He also doesn't care about being late to important events. When he doesn't find anyone worthy of his time, Free is not afraid of simply leaving, even if he is team captain.

Free is shown to have never shaken hands with anyone until his battle with Shasa Guten, showing how his attitude about blading is slowly changing. This may be because his loss to Lui Shirasagi made him realize the importance of treating bladers with respect.

Free is shown to train very hard to have a stronger launch and fight more fiercely. In his battle with Valt he pushes himself to get enough streangth to battle at 100% strength. However, he uses too much energy, and ends up injuring himself, making Christina pick up Fafnir due to the pain in his right arm.

Biography
Free appears in episode 2, watching over Valt, Rantaro, and the rest of BC Sol for their recruitment and practice selection for the upcoming World League. In episode 3, he battles Valt and Rantaro, easily defeating them with Drain Spin, his special move that absorbs their attacks. He later defeats the rest of BC Sol.

In episode 34, he battles Silas in the third round. At first, he's stunned when Silas nullifies Drain Spin, but relaxes once Fafnir's layers are slowly damaging Satomb and wins with a Burst Finish. Lui shows up, exciting his battle aura from the stands. He offers to battle for the Raging Bulls again after Valt defeats Joshua in the fourth match. Joshua's attempts to be in the fifth round slowly enrages him and he randomly tries to pick himself before Joshua pushes him to the side. In episode 35, he's considerable angry with Joshua for losing the match and leaves.

In episode 37, he battles Lui again. The two tie seventy times. In the seventy first match, Lui's Metal Dragon Crush eventually overwhelms Fafnir, causing him to lose and suffer his first ever defeat in the series.

In episode 38, he returns to BC Sol after losing to Lui after Trad conventialy shows the group the battle footage of his seventy battles against him. However, an angry Shasa calls him out for leaving the team after he lost with the Raging Bulls. The rest of BC Sol's antics end up causing him to exit before he can get involved. At his training spot, he catches Valt practicing and offers to be his partner. Naturally Valt accepts but Free easily wins. However, the training helped shape Genesis Valtyrek's tip, and Valt thanks Free, who is genuinely flabbergasted by Valt's actions. The next day, Shasa demands a battle with him. He accepts and continuously wins against her as well. Inspired by her dedication, Free advises her to improve her launch skill. It works, and her Gaianon G2 is able to last longer against his Drain Fafnir before she loses again. This time, she thanks him and offers a handshake. Valt steps him to guide him, but Free's inability to understand has the rest of his teammates facefaulting and then laughing. Happy, he places a earnest smile. Afterwards, he hides in Chris' office as the rest of BC Sol search for him.

In episode 41, he enters the God Blader's Cup. Offscreen, he defeats Ren Wu 2-0 and in episode 43 he faces off against Joshua, his former teammate. Joshua uses a new special move to counter Free's Drain Spin, shocking him as his bey runs out of stamina. However, Joshua's overconfidence spikes in the next match, but an uninterested Free watches as Fafnir survives Joshua's Cyclone Counter and causes a Burst Finish instead.

Special Moves

 * Drain Spin: Fafnir takes the opponent's attack and absorbs it with its rubber on its layer giving it more speed and power while damaging the opponent.
 * Nothing Breaker: Free launches with so much power Fafnir's rotational speed creates a gravitational field deflecting attacks. Then the base of the Nothing Performance Tip pushes in, making the base flat, giving Fafnir a big boost of speed and power to attack with serious force.

Christina Kuroda
As kids, Christina and Free were close to each other. They always used to battle each other when they were kids. Christina always cared about Free. An example of this is when Free had injured himself in episode 50 and Christina helped him retrieve his Bey.

Valt Aoi
Free never thought much of Valt when he was first introduced. Christina explained how he held his own against Lui Shirasagi in the final battle of the Individual Tournament, but Free explained "a loss is a loss in my book." However, after seeing Valt's Spring Attack, Free noticed that Valt isn't as bad as he thought. The two remained on good terms with each other since then; and before leaving for America, Free gave Valt permission to use his special beystadium hidden in the forest. It was later revealed that Free believed Valt had the potential to make BC Sol a better team.

Joshua Burns
When Free and Joshua met, they were good friends. They were also on the same team, and remained on good terms. However, when Joshua lost to Silas Karlisle and then Valt Aoi, Free was disappointed and left the team. When they battled later on, Joshua's new move, Guard Twist stopped Free's Drain Spin, much to Free's shock. However, Joshua was overconfident and lost the battle.

Silas Karlisle
Silas had the most potential of beating Free but never won. Free also noticed Silas's skills and thought he was a good blader. After the God Blader's Cup, Silas was promoted to the Big Five, along with Free, Valt, Lui, and Shu Kurenai.

Shasa Guten
Free had never shaken hands with anyone until Shasa Guten. When Shasa called him out for abandoning his teammates, Free demanded for a battle with her. Although Shasa lost, Free congratulated her and shaken hands with her. He fixed her launch skills as well. It is also revealed that Free was the one who observed Shasa's match with Royals in the World League.

Lui Shirasagi
Both bladers share a long rivalry between them. After Free lost to Lui, he worked hard so he can get his revenge, ultimately beating him in episode 47 or 48.

Shu Kurenai
Shu and Free were also rivals with each other, though Free beat him in a flashback. Shu also called out Free for leaving BC Sol. When Free defeated Shu in battle, this was the driving force that caused him to change into Red Eye.

Trivia

 * Free is a variant of Freyr (which was later modernized to Frey) who was a vanir from Norse mythology and the god of agrarian culture in some communities and also the god of fertility like most vanir. Free is also a shortening of the old English name Freeman.
 * His name is named after Oscar De La Hoya, a professional boxer that nicknamed "The Golden Boy", fitting Free's nickname.
 * He is not only the No. 1 Blader in the world, but he also won the 1st place at polling about the most favourite character in the series.
 * Free, like Kai, is often depicted as a bored, yet skilled Beyblader with a strong sense of leadership, a high regard for honor, and an appreciation for nature. They both even share the trait of being popular among Beyblade fans. Unlike Kai however, Free doesn't take Beyblading as seriously until later on in the series.
 * Free's habit of launching his bey with his hand may be a reference to Ryuga from the Metal Saga, who also tended to launch his Meteo L-Drago LW105LF with his hand as well, especially in Metal Masters.
 * Coincidentally, both Free's and Ryuga's Beys are dragon beys that use reverse rotation and the spin-stealing technique.