Beyblade - Episode 01

is the first episode of the Beyblade season and the first episode of the Original Series, overall. It first aired on January 8, 2001 in Japan and on July 6, 2001 as a one-hour special with Day of the Dragoon in the United States.

Plot
Tyson Granger, a twelve-year-old, is in the middle of a kendo training session with his grandfather, whom he calls Grandpa. As they are training, Tyson speaks with his grandfather about the possibility of leaving the session in order to exchange other interests but the latter rejects this offer, citing the mythical beast of the Dragoon to be embodied into a sword for Tyson's upcoming birthday. Ignoring this, Tyson manages to distract Grandpa by quickly escaping into his bedroom, where he changes from his kendo attire to his usual outfit. Now equipped with his own Beyblade, Tyson dashed on to his soon-to-be battle, much to Grandpa's dismay.

As Tyson runs along the sidewalk, he is sidetracked when he bumps into Billy, another Blader with his two friends. Although Tyson apologizes and attempts to leave them, Billy reminds Tyson that they made a deal to have a Beybattle earlier, something that Tyson forgot. Although he exclaims at how he is proving to be late for his Beybattle, Billy brings Tyson against his will to complete their promise of a battle. Billy and his friends bring Tyson to a BeyStadium and lets go of his grip on Tyson. Now left with no choice but to complete his opponent's request, Tyson loads his Beyblade onto his Launcher and with the sound of "Let it Rip!", launches his Bey into the centre of the Stadium as it clashes with Billy's Bey. As the two Beys battle each other in close combat, one of Billy's friends explains to the other about the objective of Beyblade. Stating that the Bladers' goals are to launch their Beys in an effort to defeat the other. When a Bey is launched out of the Stadium by a knock-out, they immediately lose with their opponent declared as the winner, as they watch in awe at the Beybattle. Not too long, Tyson manages to command his Bey to uppercut Billy's which causes it to fly out of the BeyStadium and land right into Tyson's hands.

Shocked and confused by his loss, Billy's Bey is returned by Tyson. Tyson reveals Billy that the key to Beyblading is not only about strength, but it is how "you perfect your strategy". Tyson reveals that he has had his Beyblade for quite a long time, and with enough time, effort, and training, has been able to perfect it to his best ability. Subsequently, Tyson bids his farewell to Billy and leaves off to the actual battle he was focused for.

Meanwhile, Tyson's destination of the battle shows a rooftop with a gathering of Bladers sitting on benches as an audience to await Tyson's arrival with the Blader known as Andrew. Although a couple of Andrew's friends are beginning to believe that Tyson will not show up, Andrew assures them that he will. Subsequently, a mysterious Blader enters the gathering of Bladers, much to Andrew and the others' surprise. Demanding to know his name, the Blader introduces himself as Carlos. Being an esteemed member of the local Beyblade group known as the "Blade Sharks", their goal is to find and defeat random Bladers across the neighborhood and steal their opponent's Bey if the Blade Shark member wins. Andrew is not too sure about this claim, but that is until Carlos drops his large laundry sack to reveal a swarm of Beyblades that Carlos "collected". Now waiting for a chance to fight Andrew, Carlos demands a Beybattle to which the former accepts. Just as they are about to fight however, Tyson finally shows up to his would-be battle, only to see the scenario of Andrew fighting someone other than him.

Confused and irritated, Tyson demands to know what is going on. Andrew tells Tyson that Carlos has come to steal everyone's Beys and is about to fight him in order to prevent Carlos' wrongdoing. Surprised by this, Tyson tells Carlos that he has the wrong impression of what Beyblades are meant to be. Bladers are meant to take care of their Beys, even when they win or lose and fix them together; not just used as some sort of object that are to be taken against their will. After this, a person who was spectating the would-be match approaches Tyson and introduces himself as Kenny, also known as "The Chief", of which he is called so because he has a vast amount of knowledge of the sport of Beyblading. Kenny also shows Tyson his laptop, the equipment that he uses to study Beys, even revealing that a Bit-Beast is trapped in his computer, by the name of "Dizzi", which alarms Tyson. Dizzi is amused to meet Tyson and even calls him "cute", which causes Tyson to blush. However, Carlos is amused by Tyson's speech and gives a maniacal laugh to bring Tyson a deal; especially due to Kenny's "stalling" of his match with Andrew. He states that the next day, at 3:00, they will exchange themselves a Beybattle. If Tyson wins, then Carlos will end his stealing of Blader's Beyblades; however if Carlos wins, he gets to steal Tyson's Beyblade whether Tyson prefers it or not. Tyson greatly agrees and promises to meet him on the next day as Carlos leaves with another maniacal laugh.

Later on, Kenny shows Tyson, Andrew and some other Bladers on what would have happened, had Andrew and Carlos' Beybattle gone through. After distinguishing whose Bey was whose, Dizzi shows that Carlos would have defeated Andrew's Bey, regardless. Citing its weight as a major point, Tyson expands this when he reasons that a heavier metal alloy or Weight Disk on the Bey would give it better stability to defeat the opponent. Dizzi congratulates Tyson as he stated that and Kenny tells Tyson that if he is to defeat Carlos, he must reconstruct his Beyblade to match the skill that Carlos has. Eager to do so, Tyson calls for an agreement to end the Blade Sharks' goal once and for all, while the others are not as eager as Tyson. Tyson quickly dismisses this and dashes back to Grandpa's Dojo to follow up on Kenny's advice.

As the day turns to dusk, Tyson quickly eats the dinner that has been served to him whilst eating at the dinner table with Grandpa. He simultaneously remembers Kenny's advice to make his Beyblade "four times stronger" to defeat Carlos. While Grandpa is not so satisfied with Tyson's thoughts, commanding him to eat more, Tyson gains an epiphany and quickly leaves the dinner table to retreat upstairs to his bedroom. Changing into his Beyblade attire, Tyson believes that if he makes the ripcord of his Launcher twice as long, that would give it even more power to defeat Carlos. As he does so however, Tyson discovers that it only makes the Bey spin twice as fast; and yet not enough to defeat Carlos. Very irritated by this, Tyson looks outside his window and to his shock, finds an azure-hued dragon with a bright aura, flying into the clouds of the night sky. The dragon then appears to be heading towards Tyson, which frightens Tyson and causes him to collapse, addressing it as the Dragoon. After getting up, Tyson finds Dragoon burst through the windows once again and it gives Tyson an idea. He steps outside for some Beyblade training but finds it difficult when he is thrown back in a collision. Steping up to do it again, he jumps high in the air to "Let it Rip!" with as much power as he can. What he does now know, is that Grandpa is spectating Tyson's match and although he wished Tyson would be up to something else, is just satisfied to see his "little dude" committing to something that he takes and loves very seriously.

The next day at noon, Andrew, Kenny and a couple of other people wait for Tyson's arrival with the Blade Shark, Carlos, who is also there. Tyson finally arrives to complete the promise of his Beybattle, ready to take Carlos on in combat. While amused by this, Carlos takes his stance and loads his Bey but finds Tyson wielding a longer ripcord than before; and lets Tyson know that he is not the first to have tried that, nor to make him think that he will win. Ignoring this, Tyson takes some distance away from the Stadium to form part of his strategy. This also amuses Carlos, who believes that Tyson is thinking up a strategy that will ultimately end up in the latter's own loss. Kenny and Dizzi still put their trust in Tyson when the sound of "Let it Rip!" commences. As Carlos furiously launches his Beyblade, Tyson immediately uses his distance to sprint at the BeyStadium then hop forth and launch his Bey from the high distance. When the Bey successfully lands in the BeyStadium, everyone is surprised to see that due to Tyson's running strategy, it has gifted his Bey with an incredible boost of speed to ride at amazing speeds around the Stadium. Carlos attempts to make his Bey stay at the center of the Stadium, not wanting to lose; even with Tyson's surprising aptitude. Despite this, Tyson gives it his all when he uses all the power he has to have his Bey clash with Carlos' that essentially ricochets Carlos' Bey out of the BeyStadium for good; marking Tyson as the winner and Carlos as the loser. Everyone who has been spectating it are cheerful and rejoice at Tyson's victory, with Kenny, Dizzi and Andrew the most happy.

Despite the happiness of everyone around him, Carlos does not hesitate to grab his Bey and place it inside the sack of stolen Beyblades that he contains, attempting to retreat. Tyson, however, does not fail to miss this and commands him to commit to his part of the bargain. What he does not know however, is how Carlos is shivering in distraught and fear when he finds a mysterious person who has their eyes aimed at Carlos. Very saddened and invoked with much fear, a couple Beys fall out of his sack to the ground, of which the person comes to approach Carlos. Disgusted and disappointed by Carlos' sudden loss, he tells him that he is an insult to the Blade Sharks, the Beyblade team that has never lost a battle until now. While Carlos attempts to reason and apologize, Kai rejects it when he smacks Carlos across the face, causing Carlos to collapse onto the ground with the sack of Beys being dropped.

Very alarmed by this, Tyson demands to ask the person why he did that and who he is. This person however, revealing his name to be Kai Hiwatari, states that Carlos has brought shame to the Blade Sharks' reputation and what had to be done, had to. As he turns himself to leave, Tyson yells at Kai for a Beybattle between them, to avenge Carlos and show Kai what he had done. Amused, Kai accepts Tyson's challenge and plans to use his Bey, Dranzer S in fight. They both ready their Beyblader gear and with the sound of "3... 2... 1... Let it Rip!", Tyson and Kai launch their Beyblades into the BeyStadium.

Major Events

 * Tyson Granger meets "The Chief", Kenny; an esteemed expert on the sport of Beyblade.
 * Tyson challenges Carlos, a member of the Blade Sharks, to a battle in order to reclaim the Beys that have been stolen by the latter.
 * Tyson upgrades his Beyblade to match the strength of Carlos' and defeats him.
 * Tyson and Kenny encounter Kai Hiwatari, leader of the Blade Sharks.
 * Tyson begins his first battle with Kai.

Characters

 * Tyson Granger
 * Ryu Granger
 * Billy
 * Andrew
 * Kenny
 * Carlos
 * Dizzi
 * Blade Sharks
 * Kai Hiwatari

Beyblades

 * Grip Attacker (Tyson's)
 * Generic Bey (Billy's), resembles Death Driger
 * Generic Bey (Andrew's)
 * Generic Bey (Carlos'), resembles Kid Dragoon
 * Dranzer S (Kai's)
 * Various Generic Beys

Featured Beybattles

 * Tyson Granger (Generic Bey) vs. Billy (Generic Bey) = Tyson and Generic Bey
 * Carlos (Generic Bey) vs. Andrew (Generic Bey) = Carlos and Generic Bey
 * Tyson Granger (Generic Bey) vs. Carlos (Generic Bey) = Tyson and Generic Bey
 * Tyson Granger (Generic Bey) vs. Kai Hiwatari (Dranzer S) = Continued in Next Episode

Quotes
[to Tyson] The name is... Kai. I'm the leader of the Blade Sharks, kid.-Kai,introducing himself to Tyson.

Trivia

 * Tyson Granger and Kai Hiwatari's surnames are never mentioned in the episode.
 * When Kenny tells Tyson that if he does not modify his Beyblade to match that of Carlos', Kenny makes a reference to the Titanic.
 * Prior to their informal meeting, Kenny is revealed to know Tyson's name although Tyson did not know of him.
 * Similarly, even though Tyson never revealed his name to Kai, as they battled, Kai seemed to know Tyson's name already.
 * In Japanese version, Kai only stated that he is the member of Blade Sharks, as Kenny reveals to everyone that Kai is the leader.