Chapter 1 — Before the Storm
Ryuuga remembered the sound before anything else.
Steel screaming against steel.Plastic grinding like bones under pressure.And the wind—always the wind—howling through the stadium as if it already knew what he would one day become.
But back then, none of that existed yet.
Back then, Ryuuga and Shu Kurenai were just kids.
They grew up in the same quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of Tokyo, where the streets were narrow and the rooftops close enough that you could jump between them if you were brave—or stupid—enough. Ryuuga and Shu were both. Every afternoon after school, they met at the empty construction lot near the river, launching their Beys until the sun dipped low and the streetlights flickered on.
Shu was calm. Focused. Always thinking three moves ahead.
Ryuuga was fire.
He didn't calculate—he trusted. Trusted his instincts. Trusted his Bey. Trusted the feeling in his chest that told him to push harder, spin faster, hit stronger.
"Again," Ryuuga would say, grinning as he picked up his Bey.Shu would sigh, adjust his glasses, and launch anyway.
Those days felt eternal.
Until the day they weren't.
Ryuuga discovered the truth by accident.
He had gone to Shu's house unannounced, Stormless wind rattling the trees as he climbed through the open window like he always did. Shu's room was empty—but the sound reached him instantly.
Clash.
Ryuuga froze.
That wasn't the sound of practice launches. That was a real battle.
He leaned into the hallway and saw it.
Shu, standing in the living room, eyes sharp and unrecognizable, launching his Bey with a precision Ryuuga had never seen before. The stadium was scarred, cracked—used by people who didn't play for fun.
"Shu…?" Ryuuga muttered.
Shu turned. For a split second, fear flashed across his face.
And then the door exploded inward.
They came in wearing dark jackets marked with jagged symbols—BeyRaiders. Illegal bladers. Street enforcers who stole parts, crushed dreams, and left broken Beys behind them.
"Found you," one of them sneered. "Red hair. Just like they said."
Ryuuga didn't hesitate.
He grabbed his Bey—his first Bey, the one that had carried him through countless battles—and stepped forward.
"Get away from him."
Shu's voice shook. "Ryuuga—don't—!"
But it was too late.
The stadium was set. The launches were violent. The BeyRaiders didn't play clean.
Ryuuga fought like a demon, trusting his Bey with everything he had. Sparks flew. Cracks formed. His Bey screamed under the pressure—but it didn't stop spinning.
Then Shu ran.
Ryuuga saw it from the corner of his eye.
Shu Kurenai—his best friend—turned and fled through the back door.
"Shu!" Ryuuga shouted.
No answer.
The final hit came moments later.
A brutal collision.A sickening crack.
Ryuuga's Bey shattered.
The stadium went silent.
That was the beginning of the end.
Ryuuga rebuilt. He trained harder than ever, pouring his soul into every battle. He forced his way through the ranks of Japan's underground scene, relying on nothing but extreme strength and blind faith in his Bey.
It carried him all the way to the top.
To Lui Shirosagi.
The Japanese Number One Title Match.
The crowd roared as Ryuuga launched with everything he had. His Bey spun like a dying star, pushing past its limits—past his limits.
Lui smiled.
One strike.
Total destruction.
Ryuuga's Bey was erased from existence.
And with it, his will to continue.
He quit Beyblading that day.
Or so the world thought.
Months later, alone, broken, and drifting through an abandoned shrine high in the mountains, Ryuuga felt it.
A presence.
Something ancient. Something furious. Something waiting.
Buried beneath stone and dust lay a Bey that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Storm Dragoon.
A Balance Type Bey with power that refused to kneel.
A Bey destined to surpass them all.
Ryuuga reached out.
And the storm answered.