Kain
Stats
Japanese:	カイン Kain
Debut:	Manga: Chapter 1 Game: Strider (NES)
Profile
Gender:	Male
Hair Color:	Blonde
Eye Color:	Blue
Nationality:	Unknown
Affiliation:	Striders
Strider Rank:	Special A[1]
Weapon:	Cypher, various firearms
In-Game Information
Hit Points:	1 HP

Kain (カイン) is a character exclusive to the Strider Hiryu manga and its NES adaptation. A stylized "C" can be seen on his clothes, which indicates his name is intended to be written Cain. Though the NES game is an adaptation of the manga, his role and fate is notably different between them. The manga treats him like a sidekick, and gives him few times to shine, being mostly witness of Hiryu's fights. The NES game gives him less on-screen time, but also shows him as more competent, being the first one who discovers Matic's betrayal.

Special A-Rank Strider and Hiryu's best friend since their time in training school^[2], Kain appears to be optimistic, ignorant and a bit weak, but in truth his skill level is on par with Hiryu's. He's shown to be disrespectful and playful while on duty^[3], but he knows when to take the situation seriously.

Kain's primary weapon is the Cypher, though he has also been shown capable of handling a variety of firearms, including a grenade launcher^[3] and the hi-tech machinegun Shadowtag Bullets^[4].

Contents 1 Story 1.1 Manga 1.2 Strider (NES) 2 Skills and Abilities 3 References

StoryEdit

MangaEdit

Kain, together with Strider Sheena, were assigned to support the Kazakh ressistance. After being discovered by the Kazakh Secret Police, they are forced to defend themselves. After a valiant fight, Kain is taken off guard by an armed child and shot down. Falling unconscious, Kain is captured by the enemy. During his imprisionment, he's subjected to the ZAIN Project and succesfully brainwashed.

Hiryu is taken out of retirement for a rescue mission, which he fulfills with Sheena's assistance. On the way out Kazakh, they are forced to stay in a small cabin due to a blizzard. While there, Kain recovers consciousness. With a sudden change of personality, Kain picks his Cypher and attacks Sheena, wounding her in the shoulder. He then fights Hiryu violently. Sheena tries to stop the fighting, but Kain fatally injures her. Enraged, Hiryu throws several kunais at him, one striking his neck (where the mind-control device is found) and knocking him out.

Kain recovers a short time later, and discovers Sheena's dead body. Upon realizing he was responsible, he becomes deeply saddened, but Hiryu is able to talk him out of it. After hearing about Enterprise's ZAIN Project from the captured Secret Police Chief, they swear on Sheena's grave to stop their plans.

Kain remains at Hiryu's side during most of their adventure, but is unable to do much. During their fight against Striders Arana and Kubira, he's first trapped by Arana's web wires and later almost eaten by Kubira's crocodiles. Both times he's saved by Hiryu's quick actions. During the final showdown in Enterprise's headquarters, he implants bombs while disguised as a repairman, and once their cover is blown by Matic, he activates them to help their escape. He splits up from Hiryu there, and reunites with him just as he was fighting Matic, in time to shoot down the soldiers backing Matic.

After Matic's defeat and the destruction of ZAIN, he's last seen talking with Director Kuramoto about Hiryu, who refused Kuramoto's offer to rejoin the Striders and has abandoned the place.

Strider (NES)Edit

Kain is captured by enemy forces while investigating on Kazakh, and Strider Matic calls Hiryu out of retirement to kill him, citing that once he's discovered by the enemy, there's no point on a rescue mission. Hiryu refuses to kill him and, after some investigation, finds and rescues him. He's unconscious, so Hiryu brings him back to the Blue Dragon. Through a recording, Kain reveals concerns about something known as the ZAIN Project, and considers Chief Kuramoto may know something helpful.

When he returns from Japan with Kuramoto's information, Kain awakes and suddenly turns on Hiryu, attacking him violently. Hiryu knocks him out. Having learned from Kuramoto about ZAIN's mind-control abilities, he swears to take them out and ask Sheena to take care of Kain. While Hiryu is out destroying the various ZAIN terminals, Kain sneaks out of the Blue Dragon when Sheena was not looking.

Now in his right mind, Kain starts to chase after Matic, knowing about his involvement on the ZAIN Project. His attempt to capture Matic fails, however, and he's fatally injured. With his last strength, he sends a message to Hiryu revealing Matic's location: the Red Dragon.

Skills and AbilitiesEdit

Being a Special-A rank agent, Kain is among the strongest members of the Striders, with Matic claiming that no current member outside Hiryu would have a fighting chance against him^[5]. While Kain wields a Cypher much like Hiryu, he's also good at handling firearms. During missions, he seems to prefer a more tactical approach, awaiting for the right time to strike at his targets by exploiting any weakness he finds. He has a good eye for details, as he noticed the ultra-fine wires from Arana's wire trap, which are almost invisible to the naked eye.^[6]

Kain is also a good strategist, seemingly coming up with some of the duo's plans, like finding out the ZAIN laboratory by checking for high expenses of electricity and phone line in the Kazakh area^[7]; or destroying the Amazon Institute to get a trip to Enterprise's Los Angeles HQ, having correctly guessed medic aid would arrive to take the injured back to HQ so as to keep them from revealing any important information^[8]

During his time under ZAIN's mind control, Kain fought on par with Hiryu, seemingly matching him in both strength and speed. While in this unrestrained state he appeared unstoppable, in the end he was instantly knocked out by striking the ZAIN implant on his neck.

ReferencesEdit

Strider Manga/NES Series
Main Articles	Strider Hiryu (Manga) • Strider (NES) • Moto Kikaku • Tatsumi Wada • Masahiko Kurokawa
Characters	Arana • Commander • Faceas Clay • Hiryu • Kain • Kubira • Kuramoto • Matic • Police Chief • Sheena Game Exclusives: Badger • Dragon Fiend • Flash Blade • Kodiak • Ryuzaki Manga Exclusives: Captain Keith • Kazakh Institute Scientist • Mariya • Rin • Yuri
Stage Enemies	Doberman • Egypt Soldier • Giant Robot • Hunchback • Machine Cannon • Mechanical Snail Robot Frong • Russian Infantryman • Scuba Soldier • Sharkman • Sky Wing • Spark Machine
Technology	Cypher • Kali • Phantom Train • Shadowtag Bullets • Stealth Chopper • T-48 • ZAIN Project • Yggdrasil
Locations	Africa • Australia • China • Egypt • Japan • Kazakh • Los Angeles • Red Dragon
Groups	Enterprise • Kazakh Secret Police • Striders • Strider Matic Unit