"Hey. Hey! Are you okay?" An unfamiliar voice called out to Yuya. Yuya opened his eyes a bit to see big brown eyes staring at him. Yuya screamed and backed away from the boy. He was a short kid who had big, spiky blue hair. He was wearing a red shirt with a V on it. On top of that he wore a a off-white no-sleeve jacket with blue trimmings. On that too, there was a small V on the left.. He had black fingerless gloves, blue jeans, blue sneakers, and he had a brown belt around his waist with what looked like a card case.

"Hey there! I'm Valt Aoi!" He greeted. Yuya however was busy examining his surroundings. It was night, and he was on the sidewalk. To his left, there was what looked like a bakery. But this wasn't the Action field! What had happened? Where were everyone?

"Uhh... hello?" Valt waved his hands in front of Yuya's confused face, which jolted him back to attention.

"AAH! Uh, hi, my name's Yuya Sakaki, nice to meet you!" Yuya laughed nervously, and then remembered the card case. "Uh, by any chance, are you a duelist?" He asked.

Valt looked confused. "Um, do you mean Blader?" He questioned.

"No, I meant Duelist." Yuya answered, feeling perplexed. Who didn't know what a Duelist was? "A Duelist duels using a deck of cards, like mine-" Yuya stopped short as he looked into his card case. Instead of being met with the sight of his Entermate Deck, he saw what looked like a very colorful top. "Huh?" He looked for his Duel Disk, but it was nowhere to be found. Instead, on his belt, he had a strange red device with what looked like a ripcord. "Where's my deck!?" He frantically searched as Valt watched in confusion.

"Uh, that all fine and all, but for now you need to get off the street. It's freezing out here!" Valt said, handing Yuya a jacket. "My mom can make you some warm Beybread!"

What's Beybread? Yuya wondered as he followed Valt into his mom's bakery, which he found out was Valt's home. As soon as they entered the kitchen, two small kids charged at them. They tackled Valt to the ground and hugged him. "Hey- ow Toko, that hurts- what's up?"

"The woman kneading bread at the table in the center started shouting. "WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG? WE WERE SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU! WE THOUGHT MAYBE YOU WERE KIDNAPPED, OR-"

"Geez, take a chill pill Mom. I was late because I was practicing at the school!" Valt complained.

"Well, that does make sense…" The small girl said.

Yuya saw an opening. While the Aois were having their reunion, he tried to slip out the door, but Valt caught him. "Hey, you can't just run away! My mom's making us bread and everything!"

"But- oh fine…" Yuya mumbled as he followed Valt back into the kitchen.

"Yuya, this is my mom. She's making us Beybread!" The woman who was previously shouting smiled and welcomed Yuya. "These two are Tokonatsu and Nika. Tokonatsu is the one with the blue hair, and Nika has the pink hair." The two twins simultaneously waved at Yuya, who waved back. "Mom, Toko, Nika, this is Yuya!" Valt exclaimed, pointing to Yuya.

"Hi there!" Yuya greeted. His stomach growled very loudly, causing him to blush in embarrassment.

"Don't you worry!" Valt's mother reassured Yuya. "Dinner's almost ready!"

There were cheers all around the room. "And plus, a special guest is supposed to be joining us tonight!" Valt's mother added with an extra cheer to her voice.

"Wait, you don't mean-" Valt gasped. He was interrupted by the sound of the door creaking. His face held the biggest smile that Yuya had ever seen. "SHU!"

Valt ran to the door. Yuya laughed as he looked at Valt's foolish smile and twinkle in his eye. He followed Valt to find out what all the fuss was about.

He found Valt jumping around a boy who was much taller than he was. The boy had white, shaggy hair that hung down and partly covered his face, including half of one of his eyes. His eyes were a deep red color. He wore a pink shirt and a black no-sleeve shirt and tie on top. He also had a red fingerless glove on one of his hands. The boy wore black pants and boots, along with a black belt that also held the card-case shaped box. Yuya assumed that this was the Shu that Valt was screaming about.

Shu stepped in the house and put down a red bicycle helmet in his hand as Valt continued talking."And then, after I won the match, as I was coming home, I met this kid sleeping near the bakery! Oh, here he is! Shu, this is Yuya...uh…"

"Sakaki." Yuya offered.

"Right!" Valt exclaimed. "Yuya Sakaki! And Yuya, this is Shu Kurenai, AKA my best friend and my rival!"

"Pleased to meet you, Yuya." Shu greeted cooly as he extended his hand. Yuya shook it and surprisingly found it extremely hot and sweaty. This Shu must have exercised a lot before he came! But his voice didn't show it. Yuya wiped his hand on his shirt.

Shu laughed. "I know, it's sweaty right?" Yuya looked up in surprise. He wasn't embarrassed?

"What kind of exercise did you do before you came?" Yuya inquired.

"Shu always trains with his Bey whenever he is free!" Valt explained happily.

"Bey…?" Yuya pondered. "What's a Bey?"

"WHAT?" Valt yelled in surprise.

"You don't know what a Beyblade is…?" Shu seemed to be concerned and confused at the same time. Luckily, Valt's mom broke the tense moment by greeting Shu and bringing him, Valt, and Yuya into the dining room for dinner. Toko and Nika were already there, and they happily swarmed around Shu as he played with them.

Valt's mother served dinner. There were noodles, salads, and a basket of weird, circular-shaped breads. Everyone got what they needed and started eating.

"Yuya, I have a question." Valt started.

"Fire away," Yuya said in between mouthfuls of bread.

"OK, well, what's a Duelist?" Valt inquired.

"HUH?" Shu, Valt's mom, Toko, Nika, and Yuya exclaimed in surprise and confusion.

"When did you hear this term?" Shu asked Valt.

"Yuya asked me if I was a Duelist when I first found him." Valt answered. "At first I thought that he meant Blader, but he doesn't even know what a Bey is!"

"Duelist...that's a strange term," Valt's mother remarked. "Would you mind letting us know what it means?"

" A Duelist is a person who Duels." Yuya stated in confusion. How did these people not know what a Duelist was?

"And what is a Duel?" Toko asked.

"Is it like when two people fight with spears?" Nika added excitedly.

"No!" Yuya laughed. "A Duel is what you call a round of Duel Monsters. Duel Monsters is a card game. You play the game on these contraptions called Duel Disks, and you need a deck of around 40-60 cards to play. Here, I'll show you mine…"

Yuya opened his card case, expecting his deck to be there although it wasn't there before. Instead he found the same colorful top. It was circular, and there were scales lining the perimeter in a pattern of red and magenta. There was a blue stripe running down the inside and ending at two yellow orbs on opposite sides of the perimeter. There were purple and blue inner scales, and the rest was red. In all, it reminded Yuya of his Odd-Eyes Dragon before it became Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Below that was a galaxy-like metal ring, and below that was a red and blue pointed tip. But he was still pretty confused. Where were his cards? He put the top on the table to look in another pocket, and everyone simultaneously gasped.

"Is that…" Toko started.

"A Bey!" Nika finished.

"Oh, so you're a Blader too?" Valt's mom asked. "Great! I'm sure Valt would love to battle you! He's a Blader too, you see."

"Yeah, yeah!" Valt agreed. "I'm getting better at Beyblading too! I'm in the District Tournament, and-"

"Hold your horses," Shu interrupted Valt's excited chatter. "He has a Bey so you immediately claim that he is a Blader. But a Blader would definitely know what a Bey is. This Yuya sure doesn't."

"Yeah, I don't. Would you mind explaining it to me?" Yuya requested.

Shu sighed. "Bey is short for BeyBlade. A Bey is made up of 3 different parts: The Layer, the Frame, and the Driver." Shu took out his Bey to show Yuya. It was bright red, and was a bit elliptical. It was very jaggy too. It had a metal ring below the extreme redness that had some bumps in it that made it look like a knuckle. The tip was red, but the bottom was white, with a small red point sticking out of it.

Shu shows Yuya how to Burst a Beyblade and how to put it back together. He also showed Yuya what the Layer, the Frame and the Driver were. Yuya also learned how to launch a BeyBlade and how a Beyattle works.

At the end of the demonstration, Yuya yawned, causing Valt's mother to remember that it was bedtime for Valt, Toko, and Nika. But Valt also remembered that Yuya was found on the street. Yuya probably didn't have a place to stay. Yuya asked is he could stay with the Aois, but Valt's mother answered that they didn't have any more room. Shu stepped up and said that since he had lots of room, Yuya could stay with him. Yuya got worried that Shu's parents would scold Shu, but Shu revealed that since Shu's parents were almost always out on business trips, Shu stayed alone in the house.

During the walk to Shu's apartment, Yuya suddenly remembered about his own family. His mother must be worried sick since he was dragged into that dark crack. His dad was still missing from 3 years back. And what about Ayu, Tatsuya, and Futoshi? He was pretty sure he saw Yuzu being dragged in too. Principal Syuzo must be worried sick! Thinking about all these things made Yuya start to tear up.

Shu noticed a tear fall off Yuya's cheek. "Yuya, do you think your family is worried for you?" He asked quietly.

His throat too choked up with emotion, Yuya could only manage a nod.

Shu smiled in a reassuring way. He laid a hand on Yuya's shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll definitely find them."

As the reality of the situation sank in, Yuya broke down sobbing. He didn't have his cards nor his Duel Disk, as he found out at Valt's house that it was replaced by a launcher that looked like Shu's launcher, except it was green. He was probably in a completely different world without dueling. How could he adjust to not relying on his cards to help him in every situation?