This was worse than being escorted by KGB.

Llewelyn was friendly enough, but Pierre was very hostile towards them like a very hateful Doberman pinscher on jutes.

"Does he HATE us?" Takao whispered, looking anxiously at the still rabid Pierre, who by now was emitting a very powerful battle aura.

"No, Takao, he ABHORS us." Max sighed. "I wonder what we did…"

There were 4 other guys waiting for them outside the disembarking area. Asaya cried even harder upon seeing them.

One of them had curious honey-colored eyes and regarded the Blade Breakers Team like they were a bunch of interesting bugs under a microscope. "So. You're the BBA Team."

"Y-yes," Takao answered.

"It's a good thing we won't be seeing each other in the tournament, we'd hate to see somebody very talented as you go down in Bey Blading history as the 1st team ever to suck at prelims without even trying too hard."

"He's not a VERY proud guy, is he," Professor muttered under his breath.

"Go easy on them, Giovanni," Llewelyn told him. "They're here upon the Guild's invitation."

"Oh, is that so? Then I must be extra gracious to THEM." The young man nodded. "Giovanni di Santi, at your service."

"Hi, I'm Alphonse," the dusky one with maroon eyes said, shaking Takao's hands. "Very delighted to meet you."

"All of us are," still another spoke up, his green eyes dancing with mischief.

"Yep. We're really glad you met up with the little squirt here, we were all beginning to worry," the last one said, smiling. He had unusual eyes of silver ice.

"O…OK." Max blinked.

"That guy over there is Alphonse Monteluna, the green-eyed one is Sigurd Belfast, and the silver-eyed one is Kieran McConnaughey," Giovanni di Santi said with a nod. "Welcome to France."

"We're honored to meet you," Takao said. "Uh…you're Asaya's best friends…?"

"You could say that," Llewelyn said with a smile. "We've been together ever since we were all babies. We're that close, so to speak."

"…" Lei was just quiet.

"Listen, there's a limousine right outside that would take you to your hotel," Llewelyn continued, looking at them all. "We would be very glad to accompany you, but…we still have to take care of some…tournament 'business'."

"That's OK. The chauffeur will drive us to the hotel," Takao told him. "Besides, my friends and I are ready to drop down dead on the floor any second now."

"Of course. Jet lag." Llewelyn smiled tenderly at Asaya. "Why don't we come pick you up later, when you've rested enough? You look like you need extra rest yourself."

"OK," Asaya said, sniffling.

"OK! See you, squirt." Llewelyn nodded at Takao and the rest of them. "See you all later. We'll go café hopping, or some restaurant hopping if you're feeling very hungry after you've all rested. Jet lag drains EVERYTHING, I should know."

"…we'll keep that in mind," Kai told him.

"Alright." Llewelyn gave Asaya an affectionate pat on the head. "See you later, squirt. Be a good little girl."

"Y-yes!"

Giovanni, Alphonse Monteluna, Kieran McConnaughey, Sigurd Belfast, and Pierre all went off, talking among themselves. Llewelyn waited until Takao, Tsukiyo, Professor, Max, Kai and Asaya went away before he talked to Lei.

"You look well. Please take care of yourself."

"?" Lei blinked. "Uh…OK. Thanks…"

"See you, Lei Kon." Llewelyn went off with a wave.

"???" Now SD Lei was confused. He ran after the rest of the Blade Breakers Team, sneaking a glance at Llewelyn before they all boarded the limousine. How the heck did he KNOW his name when Asaya hasn't even introduced him yet?

OK.

This was going to be one VERY interesting tournament.