[hider=Ronin][Center][B]Name:[/B] Chad Yoshida

[B]Alias:[/B] Ronin

[B]Powers:[/B] Athleticism from martial arts training. Kendo expert. Enhanced strength and fighting prowess, but only while armored. Possesses a family katana capable of donning him in powerful samurai armor.

[B]Weakness:[/B] Much of his strength and skill and granted by his sword and armor. Remove those, and you remove much of what makes him super.

[B]Experience:[/B] While he's been practicing Kendo and Judo most of his life, Chad is still new to the armor and its abilities.

[B]Appearance:[/B]
[url=http://www.comicbookreligion.com/img/s/a/Samurai_Toshiro_Kimura.jpg]Normal[/url]
[url=http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs4/i/2004/246/1/e/Samurai.jpg]Armored[/url]

[B]Age:[/B] 27

[B]Brief Bio:[/B] Chad's grandparents immigrated to America from Nagasaki in 1939, just before the Second World War. From Japan, they brought with them a sword passed down in the family for generations. The sword, called Ryuuken, was the blade wielded by Ryuunosuke Yoshida, a samurai of the early 12th century and ancestor of the Yoshida's. They settled in New York, eventually having a son named Katsuo. When he grew up, Katsuo left New York for Millennium City, where he eventually married Chad's mother, Ellen Eriksen. When he was born, Katsuo honored Ellen's request to name their son after her late father, Major Chad Eriksen, a US Army Officer who was killed in action during the war, specifically the Invasion of Normandy.

Having grown up in Millennium City, Chad grew to know the streets and districts like the back of his hand. He also grew up pretty well off, his father having started a successful business empire known as YoshidaCorp, which specialized in medical research in response to the rise of people with superhuman abilities. Katsuo had made it his passion to study these individuals and use that knowledge to push the boundaries of medical science. Chad had been pressured into following his father's footsteps, but found himself more interested in his ancestral history, spending many weekends and summer vacations in New York where his grandparents told him many stories of Ryuunosuke Yoshida, and even teaching him the same martial arts styles Ryuunosuke had been famous for. When they passed away, the Ryuuken was left to Chad, whom they described as "a more suitable holder for the sword". Chad's father grew mysteriously more distant after this, though Chad never could figure out why. He soon got his answers.

One night while handling the Ryuuken, the sword to glow with an eerie light. Chad then heard a voice in his mind, "You who wield the Ryuuken, do you accept its power?" the voice seemed to emanate from the blade itself. Bewildered, Chad said the first thing that popped into his head, "Yes..." he responded, and with that the blade flashed a brilliant light, and Chad suddenly found himself wearing the armor of a samurai. Once this happened, the voice from the sword became more clear. It was Ryuunosuke, or rather his spirit, that he said had been sealed into the sword long ago. He explained to Chad that he once wielded his sword in the name of justice, and that he believed Chad to be a worthy successor to his power. Chad also realized that this must have been the cause of his father's change. Katsuo must have known about the sword's power and wanted it himself, only for Chad to get it instead. Chad took up the sword, and has since used it to fight crime and evil as a masked warrior called Ronin.

[B]Notes:[/B] Chad is a decent fighter, but is by no means a master. If the situation is bad enough, Ryuunosuke's spirit can temporarily take control of Chad's body to fight in his place, though this apparently is a costly maneuver, as the sword becomes temporarily depowered after the act is finished and mush recharge before the armor can be donned again.

[B]Commitment:[/B] I'm willing to post as often as needed to keep the RP going.[/Center][/hider]