NOTICE: This is a Recap page, so all spoilers will be left unmarked, per wiki policy. Read ahead only with caution! You Have Been Warned.
Ninjitsu; originally created by farmers to kill their oppressive samurai lords, the ninja has become one of the deadliest killers in history.
Like Ryu Hayabusa, the ultimate dragon ninja. And Strider Hiryu, the high-tech mercenary.
The setup behind the third episode of the second season, these two ninjas, having slayed entire armies and other ninja single-handedly, are now pitted against each other. In a clash of unbreakable steel versus weaponized plasma, ancient ninpo versus robotic defenses, Ryu Hayabusa and Strider Hiryu have their weapons, skills, histories, and flaws all put under the microscope to find out if they dueled to the bitter end, who would win a death battle.
Wizard and Boomstick's analysis of the ninja combatants begins with Ryu Hayabusa, born into the lineage of the Dragon Ninja clan. Trained in the ways of the ninja throughout his life, Ryu became one of the clan's premiere ninja as he matured, defeating demons and cults alike, all before even laying his hands on his father's Dragon Sword, an indestructible katana capable of mass destruction, though it's quickly pointed out the Dragon Sword will consume the soul of any non-Hayabusa who attempts to wield it, ensuring Ryu always has at least one weapon available to him.
Speaking of his weapons, Ryu has more than his Dragon Sword available to him. Staves, kusarigama, shuriken, bow, scythes, tonfa, and even a gatling gun are all available for him to use, compounded by his ways in the ninpo arts. Ryu uses his strong-willed spirit to perform supernatural feats, from creating a doppelgänger of himself to summoning a dragon made purely out of fire, to generating a blast of energy capable to destroying fighter jets, to, much to the hosts' confusion, turning into a peregrine falcon, his spirit animal of sorts. Tough enough to survive a 300-meter free fall, fast enough to survive automatic gunfire, Ryu has also developed the ability to sense dangers around him and act accordingly, for example, if a woman asks him if she looks fat in a new outfit.
However, despite all the tricks and training he has in his arsenal, Ryu is not a perfect ninja. He prefers to charge into the opposition, blade at the ready, which, combined with his self-healing ninpo (which, while allowing him to survive fatal blows, requires much time and focus to use), means he faces danger at a greater scale than a ninja who works quietly. But throughout all the dangers he's faced, none have ever stopped him. Ryu has survived curses that could kill any ordinary ninja, fought all manner of armies of fiends and demons by himself, slain an incredibly strong dragon fueled by hate and death ("twice, somehow" as Boomstick is quick to point out), and slain the devil... and somehow, he managed to find time to duke it out in the second Dead or Alive tournament and become its champion. Ryu has earned his legacy, all the many feats he has performed, most other ninja could not; he may well be the greatest ninja born to the legacy of the Dragon Ninja clan.
- Ryu Hayabusa: Such selfish arrogance... I cannot allow this! (draws the Dragon Sword and runs off to fight)
With the study of Ryu Hayabusa complete, Wizard and Boomstick move on to his opponent, Strider Hiryu. As an orphan, Hiryu was adopted into the Strider program, an organization designed to train ninja mercenaries, and become the youngest initiate into the force to become a Special A-Class Strider, leagues above a C-Class Strider. Sent on a mission to kill a rogue Strider who killed a battalion of trainees, Hiryu was deployed to stop the Strider, only to learn his target was his elder sister, the A-Class Mariya. Hiryu defected from the organization, though still forced to kill her, living in solitude ever since.
The weapon Hiryu used to kill Mariya was his weapon of choice, a cypher titled Falchion, given only to Special A-Class Striders. Though not with as many weapons as Ryu, Hiryu can use store energy in the Falchion to temporarily extend its blade, generate plasma arrows, deflect projectiles, and carry a plasma aura capable of cutting steel, giving him some alternative uses to work with. While Ryu has his collection of weapons and ninpo arts, Hiryu has several advanced tools at his disposal beyond the cypher; the varja teleporter, an assortment of abilities called tricks that range from increase the height of his jumps to creating miniatures earthquakes to releasing fireballs and electric energy from his cypher. Capping off his own arsenal are three robotic support droids known as options; option A satellites that shield Hiryu with laser guns, option B panthers that attack in teams, and option C hawks that attack with bladed wings and grenades.
Much like Ryu, Hiryu has received nothing but the best training from his mentors, and also much like Ryu, Hiryu tends to neglect putting it to good use, rushing towards his foes without fear of retaliation. Fast enough to dodge shadow tag bullets (the equivalent of anti-aircraft fire for Striders), strong enough to slice through a human with his bare hands, Hiryu has fought entire armies of robots and dinosaurs, destroyed moon-sized space stations, and feels no fear from taking on fleets of warships. With training like his, Hiryu is capable of destroying the creator of the world (again, "twice" as Boomstick notes), and is without a doubt one of the finest ninja in the history of the Strider organization.
- Strider Hiryu: There is no escape. Begone! (summons options to attack his foes before riding an option C out of the battlefield) No place for amateurs.
With the combatants thouroughly studied, there are no more preparations to be made (beyond an advertisement for Lumosity for those watching the fight on YouTube). It's time for a death battle!
The fight begins on an oil platform in the dead of night. A lone guard stands watch over his surroundings. Then, Ryu and Hiryu drop in and, with Dragon Sword and Falchion unsheathed, cut through the poor soul, his body exploding in a shower of gore. Both ninja take a jump back and assume stances.
FIGHT!
Ryu is the first to make a move, leaping into the air and tossing shuriken at Hiryu, only for the Strider to duck them. Hiryu gives chase, and the ninjas begin a clash of their signature weapons, both furiously swinging swords and blocking blades with a kick here and there until Hiryu leaps back and attempts to end the duel with a charged cypher strike, but to no avail. Ryu too faces troubles in defeating his foe, a Windmill Shuriken circling Hiryu repeatedly until the weapon is carved clean in half by the cypher. Ryu goes back on the offensive, a frenzy of sword strikes ended with a kick into the air and a piledrive towards the ground. Ryu brings out the Eclipse Scythe, swinging it into Hiryu, but the varja saves the Special A-Class at the last minute, who cuts the blade off another of the Dragon Ninja's weapons. Leaping back, Ryu tries with the kusarigama, but a series of swings with the cypher reduces it to chunks of heated metal flying across the battlefield.
Ryu switches strategies, using his ninpo arts to create a doppelgänger of himself. For a brief moment, Hiryu is overwhelmed by the two ninjas, but a swing of Falchion gives him the breathing room he needs to deploy a set of option A drones, their laser fire dissipating the doppelgänger, but not Ryu himself, who blows the satellites up with a pair of shuriken. With Fiend's Bane in hand, Ryu unleashes a volley of arrows at Hiryu at lightning speed, with the Strider dodging them at equal pace. Hiryu stares down an explosive arrow, but having been charging Falchion in secret, swings his laser blade, destroying the arrow and taking the bow with it. As he rushes forward to deal the killing blow, Hiryu sees Ryu is nowhere to be found, before the Hayabusa teleports in front of the Strider and Hiryu is met with a Torn Sky Blast to the face for his trouble, knocking him deeper into the platform. The ninjas begin a chase, Hiryu using the Climb Sickle to scale the wall as Ryu follows after him. A fierce midair battle ensues, with the two again crossing blades as they vault the walls. Another Torn Sky Blast knocks Hiryu into the air, landing him on the platform's room, with Ryu still maneuvering up the wall. The Strider uses this time to activate a medical trick, healing him of his wounds. And his timing couldn't be better; seconds afterward, Ryu lands in front of Hiryu. The fighters give each other a brief reprieve as they prepare their own attacks; the Dragon Ninja readying the Art of the Inferno, the Strider a spark trick. Both ninja fire their blasts of energy at each other, knocking each back but killing neither.
Now, it's Hiryu's turn to go on the attack. "There is no escape. Begone!" A horde of robotic panthers and hawks rush the Dragon Ninja, but Ryu uses the Art of the Hurricane in conjunction with the Dragon Sword to destroy Hiryu's assortment of options, much like how Hiryu himself has been breaking much of Ryu's arsenal. With much dodging of the cypher's plasma waves, Ryu manages to take the fight to the top of a crane on the platform, though Hiryu faces no difficulty in dodging his enemy's Art of the Fire Wheels as Ryu leaps onto the crane.
A familiar melody begins playing
. The two ninjas stare each other down, before they rush towards their adversary with nimble footwork. They leap into the air, blades readied once more and exchange slashes as they touch down. Silence fills the arena for a brief, fleeting moment... as a torrent of blood rushes from Ryu while he begins to fall. Hiryu spots the opportunity and seizes it.
"Time to end this! Ragnarok!"
With varja at the ready, Hiryu charges towards his foe, slashing through Ryu numerous times faster than the Dragon Ninja can follow, culminating with Hiryu rushing from above, smashing Ryu down through the many floors of the platform until they crash onto the floor. Hiryu leaps off his foe, eyeing Ryu's corpse before turning his back towards the fallen ninja and using the varja one final time to teleport out of the battlefield.
K.O.!
Hiryu's victory earned, he stares at the city surrounding the oil platform. Sending an option C drone to Ryu's location in case the ninja plans on healing himself, the grenade the hawk carries destroys the former Dragon Ninja's body, before the Strider takes hold of a glider and flies from the battlefield. At the end of a very close fight, Wizard explains that Ryu's ninpo could match Hiryu's tools blow for blow, but the vast array of Ryu's arsenal could be easily destroyed by Hiryu's cypher, with the sole exception of the Dragon Sword. Even then, the Dragon Sword can slice clean through people, the same thing Hiryu can perform without a weapon. Comparing the firepower the two can evade, it's seen that the anti-aircraft analogue of shadow tag bullets Hiryu dodges are over a third faster than the automatic fire Ryu can avoid. With their special techniques cancelling each other out, Hiryu barely, but quite noticeably outclasses Ryu in speed, strength and weaponry.
- Boomstick: Looks like Strider just floored Hayabusa!
Wiz: The winner is Strider Hiryu!
Ryu Hayabusa vs. Strider Hiryu contains examples of:
- Call-Back: Wizard, while describing the "security system" of the Dragon Sword, brings up how the blade will devour the soul of a non-Hayabusa who attempts to wield it, before Boomstick alludes to a prior battle where his car got smashed up by one of the combatants:Boomstick: I need that kinda tech for my car! Teach those damn caddy-smashing raptors a lesson...
- Leitmotif: While analyzing the two combatants, the music playing during Ryu's rundown is an arrangement of the opening theme from the first Ninja Gaiden; while Hiryu has the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 version of his first game's first stage theme.
- Magic Versus Technology: Downplayed, Ryu's ninpo arts and Hiryu's technological abilities negate each other, leaving it up to Hiryu's plasma blade to tip things in his favor.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Before the killing blow, as one ninja faces the wounded other:"Time to end this! Ragnarok!"
- Shout-Out: Wiz notes that, despite Hiryu being in retirement for over two millennia, he's been called out of that retirement "more times than John McClane."
- Single-Stroke Battle: Done as an homage to the opening of Ninja Gaiden in the climax of the battle.
- Walking Armory: Ryu's immense arsenal sees some good action in the fight, and during his analysis, it takes up two pages worth of listing just to describe some of the tools he has in his arsenal. Shame most of them can't stand up to the Falchion.
