Rai Gherba

**Rai** is the main protagonist of Tai Chi Chasers. He uses the fire Tai Chi card Hwa and the sword Tai Chi card Geom. His mission was to take revenge upon Luka, the Dragonoid who supposedly killed his mom. He is the team's co-captain, and is the only Part Tigeroid/Dragonoid on the show.

## Design

### Appearance

Rai is a young boy with tan skin, red hair and dark red eyes, inheriting his father's looks. His outfit consists of a red t-shirt with an orange section and white lines and collar with red and orange shorts and red shoes.

When he transforms into a Tigeroid, his hair takes a more of a wild flare. His eyes become more narrow and he grows tiger stripes on his arms and under his eyes as well as fangs in his mouth. The fangs and His anger also seems to be more fluent in his actions as he attacked Luka automatically after his first transformation.

### Personality

Rai is a kind and thoughtful young man with a strong love for his mother, who seems to have been the only member of his family that was with him currently. Before leaving home for the Thump Tower contest, he asks what he should get for her birthday, which was on the day after the contest. Even though she tells him that he is the best gift she could ever want, he still believes she deserves a great gift.

He seems to have a long running rivalry with Kyo, another kid from his town. They seem to have a fierce rivalry with one another as Rai continues to boast his victories against him when they meet for a contest.

Rai's personality takes a big change after his first encounter

   with Luka, resulting with his home being destroyed and his mother gone, Rai now is a bit of a stubborn headed boy, not wanting to believe his part in the fight between the Tigeroids and Dragonroids. Though he is with the Tai Chi Chasers, it took him a while to truly accept the others as his friends (which he does after a much needed talk with the Masked Warrior-His Mom). He has a competitive rivarly with Finn, and possibly has feelings for Sena. He seems close with Tori and Donha the most.

Rai never thinks before he takes on a challenge, and never thinks of the dangerous consequences at risk before continuing on. Extremely athletic and talented with a long winning streak throughout his life with his mother, Rai developped a more and more competitive nature throughout his younger years, and always had the confidence to take on anything, always coming out victorious.

Though Rai refuses to admit it, he does care for the original dragonoids (Luka, Ave Jahara, and Garnia). This is evident in episode 19 when he wonders if Luka made it out ok. In episode 20 he said he'd even help Ave resist the hideous card if he could. In episode 22 after the avalanche he went back to make sure that Jahara was ok. Lastly in episode 24 he did several things. He first tried to warn Garnia that the Luftdrake was about to explode, after Garnia died he asked Luka if he and an unconscious Jahara would get out ok. He later wondered if they did. He is also easily grossed out by Jahara's dream about dating Luka.

### Abilities

Rai, who rarely ever fails at challenges, is quite skilled due to his competitive and confident nature. He is also an exceptionally fast learner, learning how to use a Tigeroid surfer quickly, and how to use Tai Chi cards. All of this is from his long-lasting winning streak. It is seen as he uses Gum for the first time.

Rai also possseses the master ability to form new Tai Chi with normal cards.

Rai can use Dragonoid Cards.

Rai is also able to use cards without an activator.

Cards come to him if he is in need, and he can cause their power to activate even without holding it.

## Tai Chi Cards Found

* Hwa / Fire (2) Activates When He's angry or Remembers his Mom
* Po / Aggression
* Gek / Bend
* Cue/ Ball
* Chum / Slice
* Sa / Hot

### Allies

* Sena (Partner in Combat, Possible Crush)
* Tori (Best Friend)
* Donha (Best Friend)
* Finn
* Hak
* Komorka (Teacher)
* Hannah
* General Aidan
* Asty
* Cloda
* Straw
* General Zushen
* Phoebe (Friend, Possible Crush, Adventures In Suhn)
* Luka (A Fleeting Freindship, Operation Dragon Strike!, Part 2, Adventures In Suhn)
* Jahara (Adventures In Suhn Only)
* Duran (Adventures In Suhn Only)
* Random People in A double twin

### Fusions

* Hwa + Po = Pok / Explosion
* Hwa + Hwa = Yum / Flame

### Combos

* Cue + chun with Finn (Pool table effect)
* Yu + Hwa with Straw (Fiery Oil efect)
* Geom + chun with Finn (Electric Sword effect)
* Hwa + Pong with Sena( Windy Fire effect)

### Given

* Geom / Sword (inside his Activator)
* Myun / Army (from Masked Tigeroid)
* Whoo / Wings (from Masked Tigeroid)
* Hap / Together (from Komorka)
* Gok / Discover (from Masked Tigeroid)
* Pok/Explosion (Full Card)

### Temporary

* Sweep character
* Su/Water

### Likes

His Friends and Family, Hang Out with Tori or Donha, Proving that he's stronger than anyone, Elder Komorka, Sena (In General Mishka's Threat), His Team, Hannah, General Zushen, Tigeroids, Battling the Dragonoids, his face fround (sometimes), Phoebe, Challenging Finn

### Dislike

Dragonoids (However, he eventually stops treating them like monsters, and like regular people. This may be due to him learning that he's part Dragonoid.), Sena (In Rise Of the Tigeroids), Finn (up until "Opposite Day"), Sena boss him around, his friends in danger, losing against Finn

## Trivia

* Rai dreams of his mother.
* In the middle of Oppisite Day, Rai's activator screen turns on without purpose, then turns off a minute later.
* He is the only Dragonoid/Tigeroid hybrid to appear so far on the show.
* He is suspected to be the Tai Chi King.
* He believes the Masked Warrior to be his mom. Aside from perhaps Komorka, Rai is the only one that seems to think that.
* In the Korean version, Rai's name is Lai; in the Cantonese version, his name is pronounced as Rai-ye.
* His Last Name Is Gherba