Raijū

The raijū is a species of supernatural creature on Teen Wolf.

The raijū is a shapeshifter with the power of electrokinesis or electromagnokinesis. They are known as the Japanese "thunder beast."

In Season 5, Josh Diaz is one of the Chimeras of the Dread Doctors whom has traits of a raijū.

## Powers and Abilities

Like other shapeshifters, the raijū can shapeshift into a human-animal creature at varying degrees. Alongside the traditional claws, superhuman strength, speed and agility and an accelerated healing factor, a raijū can manifest overlarge front teeth, akin to a weasel or an otter and their eyes glow a royal blue.

Similar to a Thunder kitsune, the raijū's spark of power is electrical-based, they can sense and use electrokinesis. They can draw electricity from sources like an electrical tower, cables or electrified structures and store it within their body. Once they have siphoned power, a raiju can then electrify anything they touch an object or a enemy.

In Required Reading, Josh bites down on cables at the high school and the hospital. Later in Damnatio Memoriae, Theo electrocutes Josh who is handling cables wired to a car battery, feeding and empowering Josh to his thrill, then in Lie Ability, Josh draws power from Kira Yukimura who is unconscious from her electrical power overload, but the overwhelming electrical causes him pain because of his undermined skill.

Using their electrical abilities, a raijū is able to tap into electromagnetic sources.

* **Super Strength**: As a Chimera, Josh has superhuman levels of strength, enough to allow him to break through locks, deadbolts, and chains, as well as throw a grown man across the room with little effort. He used this ability in his fight against the Eichen House guards and against Jordan Parrish/The Hellhoundby breaking the arm of a guard and by snapping a metal pipe off of the wall of the closed unit.
* **Super Agility/Reflexes**: As a Chimera, Josh's agility was extremely heightened, allowing him to move swiftly and easily, jump high into the air and across long distances, and perform gymnastic and acrobatic feats. He used this ability in his fight against the Eichen House guards.
* **Accelerated Healing**: As a Chimera, Josh's body regenerates its cells at an incredible rate, giving him an immunity to all human illnesses and conditions as well as allowing him to heal from mild to moderate injuries within minutes. As a result of this healing factor, he is unable to get drunk on alcohol or high on drugs, a side effect he greatly resents. It is assumed that this healing ability also includes extended longevity.
* **Shapeshifting**: Josh has the ability to extend his fingernails into claws, and can extend his teeth into very long, thin, and crooked fangs. These fangs have an appearance of being somewhere in the middle between Werewolf fangs and Kanima or Wendigo fangs. He can also make his eyes and claws glow bright purple, which usually occurs when he is siphoning electricity.
* **Electromagnokinesis**: Josh possesses the ability to not only absorb electricity from any source, but can also transfer it and store it within himself. He can use this stored electricity as a defensive weapon at will by creating lightning balls in his hands or by transferring electricity from a source to an opponent who is vulnerable to electricity, such as Werewolves. When Josh siphons electricity, it appears to give him a high of some kind, which he was pleased to learn he could do after finding out that he could no longer get high on drugs. He has used this power to absorb electricity from electrical cables, car batteries, cattle-prod tasers, and even from the Thunder Kitsune Kira Yukimura after the telluric currents at Eichen House caused her fox spirit to lose control. Additionally, this power also allows Josh to sense electricity around him, such as the electrified doors of Eichen House or Kira's lightning-infused body. This ability also extends to electromagnetic energy, such as the electromagnetic fields in the Dread Doctor Mask that Theo Raeken wanted him to put on to find the identity of the Beast. This suggests that he may share some similar powers to the Dread Doctors themselves, who gave him his powers in the first place, and that he may have been able to manipulate magnetic energy in addition to electrical energy, though he was ultimately unable to test this theory before he died. This power was ultimately stolen by Theo Raeken.
	+ **Electricity Immunity**: Josh's power of electrokinesis also affords him an immunity to electricity, and as a result, it is difficult for him to be harmed by it, though he did appear to feel discomfort when he was siphoning the electricity from Kira's body due to the overwhelming amount of power she possessed. This power was also stolen by Theo Raeken.
* **Mountain Ash Immunity**: Like all Chimeras, Josh is immune to the effects of mountain ash and rowan wood, since Chimeras were technically scientifically-created rather than supernaturally-created. This means they can not only not be trapped within circles of mountain ash, but they can also use it against supernatural creatures like any other human.