Dan and his crew discover a real game hiding inside a fake one, and the friendship forged through competition becomes the actual prize. The story structure is straight from the trading card playbook, but the writers know exactly when to pull the rug out with twists that reframe everything you thought you understood. What keeps you coming back is watching a group of internet strangers become a real team, one brawl at a time.

Mysterious cards fall from the sky one day, and kids around the world turn them into a hugely popular battle game called Bakugan, with the best players competing in a worldwide ranking. None of them know the cards correspond to Vestroia, an alternate world whose creatures they can summon. Dan dreams of topping the rankings, but during one match he sees a vision of a clash in Vestroia, and he comes away with Pyrus Dragonoid, a talking fire Bakugan. Vestroia has been invaded by the White Dragon Naga and his servants, the Doom Beings, and as dimensions begin to merge, players realize the game is far more than a pastime. Dan and his friends Marucho, Runo, Shun, Julie and Alice form the Bakugan Battle Brawlers and set out across dimensions to restore balance in this action fantasy series.