Rohner the Hedgecat

Rohner the Hedgecat is a bounty hunter commonly hired by G.U.N. to perform tasks that they feel that their agents could not.

Appearance

A yellow hedgehog with tanned skin from his days in the sun, Rohner is reasonably slim, although he has muscle definition on his chest. He has reasonably long black hair, and pink eyes, which are often the butt of jokes from other bounty hunters.

Attire

Normally, Rohner dresses in black. A black vest, jeans, leather belt, leather boots and gloves gives him a reasonably shadow-like appearance at night, while he often ties back his long hair with a burgundy bandanna.

History

Early Life

Rohner was born in the lands around the Forgotten Tomb, where his mother had lived for many years, lost to the outside world. That is, until the Extreme Gear racers found it and a track was built. Of course, Rohner was only three at that stage, but it was too late. People would flock to the Forgotten Tomb a couple of times a year to watch the races and explore, then leave again. His mother, as a descendant of the ancient race, was depressed by the mess left behind, but Rohner felt that his true place was with his father in the capital of House Thunda, the government that controlled the lands around the Forgotten Tomb. His father was rarely home, as he was a high-ranking cavalry officer for the Thundan Army. As such, despite being homeschooled by his mother, Rohner planned to join the Thundan Army and become a cavalier like his father.

Death in the Family

Soon after Rohner's thirteenth birthday, disaster struck the family. Bandits attacked the Forgotten Tomb during and off-peak period for tourists, and when the young hedgecat's mother fought to defend her home, they killed her. It was revealed that G.U.N. had put money on the heads of these bandits for similar attacks across various signatory lands. Disheartened, the teen was collected by his father. However, far from encouraging the boy to move on and find a normal path for his life, Kriess instead encouraged his boy to learn to fight and eventually hunt down his mother's killer as a bounty hunter. He admitted that he was bound by the government's orders, and because of that he couldn't bring these bandits to justice, nor could he go rogue. He'd been busy with government business, but he took it upon himself to train his son to fight in his weapon of choice - after all, he was an axe paladin, so axes it was.

Three years later, and Rohner was unusually well-trained in axes, and similarly skilled with his psychic powers. His father then gave the boy his first "real" axe - a Paladin Silver Axe, the weapon he had carried himself for a long time. Despite needing regular maintenance more than any other kind of axe and the fact that it was designed for mounted use, the weapon was a natural fit for the young hybrid. With one final prod towards joining the Bounty Hunter's Guild, Kriess left his son to his mission.

Rise of the Hunter

When he entered the Guild's main hall and began the registration process, most of the more experienced hunters were intrigued by the black-clad hybrid. The boy bore himself with the stance of an experienced axe-fighter, and carried the weapon of an axe-wielding mounted soldier, and yet was still in his mid-teens. None hurried to offer to join him, or test his skills, but a few did move to observe his actions, including an undercover G.U.N. agent.

Rohner found the bandit's trail towards the coast in the Pyranic Empire, and slowly followed them over the better part of the year. When he did finally find them, the bandits were in the process of raiding a coastal village in the Empire of the Scarlet Moon. The raid didn't last for long. On his own, using the factor of surprise to his advantage, the hedgecat brought down three in quick succession, before fighting off two more protecting the main bounty target, the leader of the band. While a compentent fighter, he could do very little when faced with a fighter skilled in Psychic powers capable of throwing and manipulating his axe with telekinesis. With the death of the leader, the other bandits fled, although most ran head-first into the G.U.N. agent. The man was impressed, and offered to help the teen carry the body of the final fighter, but the teen declined. Then, the next thing he knew, a G.U.N. team arrived, and took both Rohner and his killed opponents to a nearby base.

Offer of Employment

When he arrived at the G.U.N. base, a few elite agents were waiting for him. They admitted that they had been following his progress, and were interested in recruiting the teen as an agent, to do the work of G.U.N. and help the general public. To their immense shock, Rohner declined, instead saying that he would take any offered missions from G.U.N, but he wouldn't sacrifice his freedom to do the missions that he wanted to, and get paid better than any G.U.N. agent for it. Since that point, the young hedgecat has made a name for himself in the Bounty Hunter's Guild as a hunter who helps the United Federation on jobs that they don't wish to be publicly connected to, but also as one who watches for bandits like those that killed his mother, in order to stop such a killing from happening again.

Finding and Losing a Friend

Soon after the early bounties, Rohner was sent another bounty set for bandits in Soleanna by G.U.N, as these bandits had been raiding the war-torn Terran League as well as the Soleannan area. However, these bandits had an unusual second trait - in order to get a larger bounty, he had to bring the three leaders in alive. To do this, he acquired a handcart, because he figured such a job would be reasonably easy.

Upon arrival, he discovered that they had taken control of a castle-like building. As he had done before, he stormed the castle, using the axe to it's fullest in cutting down bandits and opening doors alike. Upon opening one door, however, he found a prisoner bound - a former occupant of the castle. He freed her, but she panicked and attacked him with a rapier imbued with lightning. Unusually, she struggled with him, whereas most experienced sword fighters could best an axe and land at least one hit on him. Instead, she couldn't even do that. Finally, he introduced himself and left her in the room for a few moments while he knocked the three targets he wished to take alive out with his psychic powers. When he returned, the girl was back in shape, and more interested in hearing what he had to say.

He offered to take her with him - she seemed to intrigue him, especially her lack of fear. If he could train her, she could make a good student for him. She accepted the offer, and packed a small bag. However, she burst out laughing at the handcart, despite the three men lying unconscious on it. As they walked, they shared stories and company. The girl revealed her name was Rebecca, and her parents had both died fighting bandit hoards who were going after the wealth of their home area. As Rebecca spoke, she took off her swordbelt and left it on the cart.

However, this ended in tragedy as one of the three men woke up after he stopped for a break and managed to stab Rebecca through the torso, up from the lower levels to into her chest with her own sword. Rohner was furious and killed the man while he called for a G.U.N. medical team to help, but Rebecca refused to let him remove the sword.

The young girl was severely injured to the point of being airlifted to Central City for proper medical attention. Rohner arrived soon after, and offered all the money he made on the bounties for her medication, feeling partially to blame. Unfortunately, after surgery, it was stated that they couldn't stop all the internal bleeding. As such, she was put on pain medication, but both were told that she only had a few months left, if that. Over that next month, they bonded. She admitted she viewed him as she would a brother. However, there was no stopping fate - the girl passed away in her sleep later on that month. Rohner built her memorial himself, back at her home, and swore never to fall into the trap of a live capture again, as he lacked the technology to keep them restrained.

Abilities

Rohner has the potential to trigger a permanent transformation through physical training. However, despite his intense training with his father, and his role as a bounty hunter, he hasn't reached the point of transformation as-of yet.

The son of an Axe Paladin of House Thunda, Rohner is a highly skilled axeman, with his father's old axe his main weapon. A Paladin Silver Axe, this axe saw his father through a number of battles. Aside for it's history, it is a standard example of the type, one which is commonly modified. Of note is the sharp stabbing blade connected to the back of the axe head, and the grip style, more suited to a mounted fighter than one fighting on his own two feet, as well as the stainless steel construction of the metal parts of the blade. This shiny metal looks like silver, hence the name, but is cheaper and stronger than the precious metal.

However, just because he is an axeman doesn't make Rohner defenseless at range, or leave him unable to take targets alive. To support his powers, the hybrid possesses psychic powers, which he has grown incredibly skilled with. These powers range from telekinesis and telepathy to the ability to sense the auras of other people, a trait that has become one of his signature skills when tracking. These powers are also used to restrain targets he wishes to take alive until he can knock them unconscious.

However, Rohner really struggles when pitted against Chaos-wielders, as their powers make them immune to his Psychic skills, while his axe-based combat can be bested from range by Chaos techniques.

Psychic Abilities

• Light Screen
• Mind Crush
• Psych Channel: Mind Cutter (Rohner channels Psychic energy into his axe, before launching a Psycho Cut through it to increase the width of the attack)
• Psychic
• Psychic Snap
• Psycho Cut
• Psycho Thrust
• Synchrodraw
• Telekinesis
• Zen Booster

Elementless Abilities

• Charm
• Destructive Jaw
• Double Scratch
• DoubleSlap
• Heal Bell
• Howl
• Influence
• Inquire
• Mirror Coat
• Selfish Draw

Personality

Rohner is driven to protect others from ending up in the same position he was in as a child, after his mother was slain by bandits with bounties on their heads. In order to do this, he keeps his eyes open for bounties on bandits, which are typically issued by the United Federation if the bandits strike multiple countries. He is also noted to be protective of orphans, making sure that part of his bounty for the next hunts goes to them.

Relationships

Friends

• Rebecca the Fox - a young girl Rohner saved from bandits. However, in the process she was badly injured and passed away a few months later.

Allies

Rivals

Enemies