Attention all Bladers, both young and old, you might want to sit back and relax because I'm about to tell you my favorite battle in all of Beyblade. I was too early to see the original series and too late to see the Burst saga but born just in time to see the glory of the Metal Saga. Across three very special series (and Beywheelz and Beywarriorz), we've seen hundreds of amazing battles.
Back in my day, if your bey didn't somehow mess with the natural laws of physics, you weren't anything special. Out of the literal dozens of characters, two that have always stood out to me were the mighty lion whose roar rivaled the deadliest of storms: Kyoya! And of course, I could never forget the dragon emperor that reigned over the world: Ryuga!
For those of you who don't know, Kyoya is the main rival to Gingka Hagane, the franchise's main character. He used to be the leader of many crooks called the face hunters, but after getting beaten by Gingka, he stops at literally nothing to get even with him. Ryuga used to be the main antagonist of the first series as the wielder of the parasitic bey Lighting L Drago; however, after his defeat, he soon became more or less an anti-hero to the main cast.
I love these two because they take the already insane concept of having metal tops destroying entire buildings in their battles to all-new levels. Kyoya has a legit shot his top at numerous tornadoes, and Ryuga is legit this teenager that somehow gets his way across the world whenever the plot demands it.
Ryuga and Kyoya have fought a couple of times, but for this match-up, in particular, I'll be talking about their first… well bout in the anime and why it is one of my favorites. Fresh off of defeating most of the allies for the good and bad guys Ryuga's L-Drago was on the cupse of conquering the entire country.
In the fateful Battle Bladers tournament to decide Japan's most powerful bladers, Kyoya is the only one standing in Ryuga's path before having to battle Gingka in the finals. Everyone believes that Kyoya doesn't even stand a chance, but he calms them all by stating that he intends to win this battle and finally beat Gingka in the finals!
The two combatants make their presence immediately known as the entire stadium gets wholly demolished before they even have a chance to fire. No one can walk out or retreat in this new battlefield until every last piece of their bey is destroyed.
The new environment is used to great effect as both opponents use the broken remains of the stadium to hammer into each other! At first Ryuga seemed to have the advantage, knocking Kyoya around like a ragdoll but Kyoya's spirit is literally so determined he not only braves the assault but forces Ryuga to use the power that he had made for himself instead of using the others he had stolen. Any ordinary villain would've said no, but Ryuga isn't exactly ordinary.
The battle that ensues is one of the most incredible exchanges in the series, with every clash causing another explosion to rattle the entire stadium! Even with Ryuga's handicap, his offense is still too much to handle, but every time Kyoya nearly falls, he comes back twice as hard.
As the fight rages on, both bladers get pushed to their upper limits, Ryuga keeps his ground. But before Kyoya can seize the win, L-Drago's power starts to take over him turning him into a vessel for his demonic power. In response to said power, Kyoya pours the last vestiges of strength into one last special move (that conveniently is never used ever again): King Lion Furious Blast Shot. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough with the battle ending in the tragic temporary end of Kyoya.
This battle, I think, really started to step up the scope of the series while at the same time showing prominent development for both. After this fight, Kyoya decides to travel across the entire world to test his skills, with Ryuga deciding to go down his path with his power. Overall I enjoyed this battle and the whole series, and I hope you get the chance to check out the metal saga after this.