Phew! I thought I'd never get through this past week...three tests and one mid-term paper, along with my bosses at work going absolutely nuts. On top of that, my dorm's phones haven't been working, so I'm having to upload this update from the computer lab. My middle name has been "stress" for the past three days.

But I'm back, for better or ill. I don't really have anything for you guys other than the second part of the manga summary, so you'll just have to make do with it. You guys cool with that?

Ok, where were we? Oh yeah! Hiryu and Kain had learned from the Scientist that there was another Zain terminal in Africa, so they were heading there. But while they're in transit, Matic recieves word that Hiryu and Kain have destroyed the Zain research facility, and he is not happy about it. In fact, he puts out an APB for both of them.

Now there's a certain bishounen hanging out in Blue Dragon while Matic's throwing his temper tantrum, and for the life of me, I can't figure out who he is. I guess he's some high-level person associated with the Zain project, but I can't be sure.

Anyway, he and Matic have a rather involved discussion about the Striders as an organization, and they peek in on the Director, who's watching the news. Striders around the globe are attacking people at random, and there's no explanation for it. The Director's weeping over this, and Matic and the Bishounen back away, continuing to talk.

Bishounen

Director

Cut to Africa. At the apex of a tall mountain, a lone Strider sits, surveying the jungles below. He's dressed in an outfit not entirely unlike the Spider-Man villain Shocker's outfit, except that he doesn't have the shock-gauntlets or the hood. His hair and facial features remind me of Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z. Oh yeah, and tarantulas are crawling all over him...but not biting him. Creeepy.

He's approached by a guy who looks startlingly like Killer Croc, the Batman villain. The two of them are keeping watch over the Zain laboratory, and are shocked completely off their asses when they see it spontaneously explode. Killer Croc impulsively rushes into the jungle to catch whoever did the damage, while the Spider-Strider hangs back, preferring to lay a trap rather than confront the mercenaries directly.

Spider-Strider

Killer Croc

Meanwhile, Kain and Hiryu are speeding through the treetops. They come to an abrupt halt when they see a bird get bisected bilaterally, although it was flying through empty air. Closer inspection reveals a network of razor-sharp ultra-fine wires cris-crossed throughout the branches. The two of them look around cautiously, attempting to locate the one who laid this trap.

Then several strands float out from behind them, snaring Kain and pinning him against the trunk of the tree they were standing on. Hiryu leaps skyward, alarmed, and disappears into the treetops. The Spider-Strider then descends from a branch nearby, hanging upside-down from a strand attached to his ankle.

He talks to Kain for a bit, then calls out to Hiryu (who he addresses by name), probably saying that if he doesn't come back down, he'll kill Kain. Kain probably says something along the lines of "Get away! Save yourself!" But Hiryu doesn't. He appears on a branch not far from the other two, sans Falchion.

He raises his arms in the air and surrenders, and the Spider-Strider gets really cocky. But then Falchion comes whirling in from behind the Spider-Strider and either buries itself in his back or cuts the line suspending him in midair. It's hard to tell which, but probably the latter, as the next panel shows Falchion returning to Hiryu's hand.

Surprise Attack

Hiryu and Kain descend to the base of the tree, where the Spider-Strider is lying on his back. He's dying, bleeding from several places, and the tarantulas are crawling all over him. He and Hiryu have a lengthy conversation that I really wish I could read, because the next scene doesn't make any sense without understanding the dialogue.

The Spider-Strider dies, and Hiryu picks up one of the tarantulas and starts to weep. He's pretty choked up over this, and even Kain is wondering why. My best guesses are A) either the Spider-Strider was an old friend of Hiryu's, or B) Hiryu's torn up inside because he's just had to kill a fellow Strider again.

Either way, he's not able to mourn for long, because he and Kain hear a transport pass overhead, and they go after it. They come to a river and are deciding whether to cross, when Kain happens to look behind them and sees a large mass of crocodiles heading their way.

They both plunce into the river and start swimming across with the crocodiles in hot pursuit. To top it off, Killer Croc is lying in wait for them on the river bottom. He swims up to just below the surface and abruptly pulls Kain underneath. Hiryu's wondering what the hell's going on, he doesn't like the fact that the crocodiles are getting nearer or the fact that his partner's just disappeared.

Then Kain's head pops up a short ways off from Hiryu's position. Kain's unconscious, and Hiryu's fairly upset by that fact, so he swims over to Kain as fast as he can.

Killer Croc pops out of the water before he can get there, though, cutting Hiryu off from his friend. The crocodiles swerve away from Hiryu and head towards Kain's lifeless body as Killer Croc makes some standard bad-guy remarks to Hiryu. He leaps out of the water and lands on Hiryu's chest, throttling him and dragging him down to the river bottom while brandishing a knife.

Hiryu shakes him off and shoots out of the water, confusing Croc, who didn't see where he went. Croc surfaces, shouting at Hiryu to come back and fight, and he gets his wish. Hiryu drops from an overhanging tree branch and plunges Falchion into Croc's chest. He channels ki through Falchion's blade, and electrocuting Croc.

Croc fries, and his telepathic link with the crocodiles (?) is severed as well. The crocodiles get electrocuted through the link, somehow...and they all die just as they're about to descend upon Kain.

Electrified Crocs

Hiryu pulls Kain out of the water and gets the people in the transport to help him. They treat him for the injuries he sustained and Hiryu takes him back inside the wreckage of the Zain research facility. Kain wakes up at this point and Hiryu tells him the game plan: they knock out a couple of the guys who work on the transport and ride that back to Zain Headquarters, wherever that is. So they do, and here's what they look like in their disguises:

Disguised Heroes

They're disguised as repairmen, but the transport they're on is a military transport. It takes them back to headquarters, where they're asked to turn in their equipment. Now, Hiryu's got all of his and Kain's stuff in a locked metal toolbox, so he's pretty reluctant to just hand it over. They're waiting in line for a new assignment, and when they reach the desk, the guy tells them to go repair something in the main chamber of the building.

So, the two of them are feeling pretty smug as they're heading to the main chamber. Then an alarm goes off and Hiryu and Kain get primed for action. But it's just a warning that there's incoming news, so they relax and watch a vidscreen nearby. It tells of a slaughter of Zain-induced zombies by the military. Hiryu and Kain are appalled, but they're quickly given orders to move along.

They go to the central chamber of the building (which is huge, by the way) and are working hard on repairing the faulty mechanisms, when Matic and the Bishounen show up. They're inspecting the facilities, and the Bishounen is showing off a new Zain transmitter to Matic. They walk right by Kain and Hiryu without recognizing them, and are ascending a staircase when Kain gets totally pissed off at Matic.

He knocks his "toolbox" over on accident, and this attracts Matic's attention well enough, because the clatter echoes off the metal-lined walls. The supervisor chews both Hiryu and Kain out for the mishap, and they quickly go back to work, grumbling all the while.

Matic's still looking on, however, trying to figure out why those two seem so familiar. The supervisor walks up to Hiryu and whips him with the butt of his rifle, telling him to work faster. Hiryu glances sideways at Kain, and they jump him, knocking him unconscious. Matic watches in alarm as they quickly shed their disguises and reach into their toolbox to retrieve their weapons. Hiryu looks right at Matic and Matic panics. The Bishounen orders the guards in the room to attack the two Striders, but Hiryu and Kain carve a swath through the middle of the group as they make their exit from the room.

More guards follow them, firing round after round of blaster bolts at them. The two Striders duck off into a side hallway and attempt to regroup. Hiryu's all for attacking their pursuers head-on, but Kain reaches into his jumpsuit and pulls out a remote-control switch.

"Hmm, I wonder what this button does"? he asks, pressing it.

KABOOM! All those faulty mechanisms they were "repairing" explode, caving in the hallway and a good bit of the main chamber. Matic is livid with rage: he orders the rest of the troops in the chamber to find Hiryu and Kain as quickly as possible, but the troops just stand there. The Bishounen shows off his authority at this point, lending his commands to Matic's.

Meanwhile, Hiryu and Kain are cautiously exploring a corridor when a sliding door drops down from the ceiling and cuts them off from each other. The Bishounen shows up with a squad, cornering Hiryu and trapping him...or so they think. They set up their blaster rifles and open fire, but they can't even keep track of him. He bursts into full stride and leaves afterimages of himself all over the floor. They can't even see him, much less lay a hand on him.

Now You See Me, Now You Don't

He attacks the firing squad, decapitating them, causing their heads to roll, and just generally kicking everyone's ass. This gives the Bishounen an upset stomach, and he yawns in technicolor all over the shiny metallic floor. He begs Hiryu to have mercy and not to kill him, and Hiryu does, surprisingly.

He turns away from the Bishounen, but the minute he does so, the Bishounen pulls a handgun out from underneath his jacket. Hiryu's danger-sense goes off and he kills the Bishounen with a back-handed stroke.

Try To Trap Me, Will You?

He takes a nearby elevator to the basement. Matic shows up, sees the Bishounen dead on the floor, and wonders why Hiryu's going down. He takes his squad to the basement, too.

Meanwhile, the Director's door gets kicked in by a group of low-level Striders. They come at him with automatic rifles, and he's scared shitless. They tell him he's coming with them, then turn their back on him. He pulls a razor-sharp blade out of his cane (kinda like Splinter's cane, from TMNT) and just massacres the lot of them. A friend comes running into the room to warn him about the Strider flunkies, and is taken aback when he sees them all dead on the floor.

The Director says something along the lines of, "Gather everyone still loyal to us. We're going to Zain Headquarters."

Back at Zain HQ, Hiryu's reached the bottom floor. He enters a huge room with an enormous Zain terminal in it. The Zain Administrator is there, sitting in a throne-like chair. He tells Hiryu that this is the neural center for Yggdrasil, that it is the host for all the other Zains. Hiryu moves to kill the guy, but he's stopped by an extremely fast demon-like creature.

This creature looks kinda like the Hindu god Shiva, so I'm going to call her that. She's got four arms, is well over twelve feet tall, and moves like lightning. She has a blade, a staff with a skull on one end, and a whip in three of her four hands; Hiryu has serious trouble with this person. He can't even touch her, but she catches him across the midsection with her blade. The only thing that saves him is his mail undershirt.

He leaps back, but Shiva stays right in his face, pummeling him and wearing him down. Finally she whips his right ankle and whirls him around her head for a good bit before slinging him against a structural support. He hits it HARD and falls to the floor, on the verge of blacking out. Shiva's poised over him, ready to kill him, and Hiryu either has a flashback to his training under the Strider director or the Director contacts him telepathically.

The Director says something to him that gives Hiryu a second wind, and he gets up and cuts off all of Shiva's weapon arms. Then he dismembers the rest of Shiva's body, until she's nothing more than a pile of body parts on the floor.

The Zain Administrator looks on in horror as this happens, but he doesn't have too much time to be concerned about Shiva, as Hiryu plunges Falchion through his chest.

Matic shows up about this time with a firing squad. He's dressed in what looks like a cheap G.I. Joe Ninja force outfit, and he's acting awfully confident for someone who's facing off with Hiryu. He orders his men to fire at Hiryu, but they're shot from behind before they can obey his order.

It's Kain! He made his way to the basement, too! Matic's royally pissed at the loss of his men and moves to kill Kain, but Hiryu intervenes. Matic attacks Hiryu with a cipher that looks like a claymore, and Hiryu blocks easily. Matic tries to wear his guard down, and the two of them face off for a while before Hiryu finally leaps straight up. Matic's slash goes underneath his feet, and Hiryu comes back to earth with an attack that bounces off Matic's shoulder guard.

He steps back, and the two of them trade words for a bit. Hiryu finally refuses to fight Matic, so Matic says okay, if I can't kill you the hard way, I'll do it the easy way. He points to a gathering of flunkie Striders behind Hiryu and orders them to kill Hiryu.

They don't. The Director steps out from the crowd and says, "Sorry Matic, these are my Striders, not yours."

Matic panics and pulls out a remote-control switch similar to the one Kain used earlier. "If I die, everyone goes with me!" Presumably, the switch controls explosives that are wired throughout the building.

He never presses the button. Yggdrasil spears him with an arm and lifts him up out of the reach of everyone else. No one's sure what to do, but then Yggdrasil starts exercising its mind-control powers and Hiryu gets pissed off. He hurls Falchion at a weak point on Yggdrasil and pierces it through.

The Final Blow

The entire building begins to collapse. Yggdrasil crumbles and implodes, taking half a city block with it. The Striders hotfoot it away from the building and make it out okay. Everyone surveys the damage and the Director offers Hiryu his old position again. Hiryu declines and slowly walks away, leaving Falchion behind.

Kain and the director stand amidst the wreckage for a bit, then they too leave, thankful that Hiryu's on their side

...and that's it! We're done! If anyone has any questions, click the Contact button on your left and email me. I hope you enjoyed the summary, and I also hope you'll come join me next time. I'll be reviewing the PC-Engine Strider game in greater detail...so don't miss it. Later!

~Scion