Tournaments

As we've already discussed/alluded to/beaten you over the head about it, fighting is an everyday part of life in the Toughverse. Someone honing in on your partner? Fight em' off in a 1V1. Someone threatening to take over the local community center to build a shopping mall? Fight the developer in a big Yakuza type boss brawl on the roof to assert the community dominance. Getting unfair and unjust rent hikes? You'd better believe that's gonna be settled via a strongly worded, written letter...that leads to a fight.

Alright. I admittedly exaggerate things, but the Toughverse IS founded on fighting games and shounen battle logic which does dictate a lot of fighting. Worth repeating that a social media platform for finding fights exists, but I digress. So given a world of fighting, it goes without saying that tournaments exist and are aplenty, across all skill levels and age gaps. Here are a few to keep an eye out for that might get mentioned in Tough Breaker.

Mall Masters: Youth Combat Tournament

Once again this is one of those things that looks kinda fucked when you look at it out of context. But IN context Vigor usually pops in one's teen years, meaning there's plenty of hot blooded young guys and gals with that newly found fighting spirit. So why not give them a tournament of their own?

The Mall Masters tournament is held across the US at a regional, statewide and national level, usually hosted inside, where else? Shopping malls! Like Youth League Sports proper, things begin at regionals where combatants will fight to earn the rank of county champ. This is followed by State where all county champs will square-off to become the State rep, and so on and so fourth to Nationals which is held in the Mall of America. Naturally

Other countries have their own takes on the format as well, such as the Canadian Rising Cup or Japan's Y1GP. But most everyone only talks about Mall Masters, as many global luminaries came from it such as current dean of Fukatsu University, Masagake FukatsuThe 2nd who won nationals three times in a row.

FUN FACT: Mall Masters' name is cribbed from a previous story concept that would later in turn become Tough Breaker as it is now!

Campus Clash: Collegiate Fighting Tournament

Held every year is a tournament that spans the globe. From the purple mountains majesty of the United States, to the outback wilds of Australia. College campuses from the world convene to settle the score: Who is the King of University?

What more do I need to explain? KoU is this world's KoF and Tough Breaker's reason to have a tournament arc. Minus the tournament being held with ulterior motives...most years anyways...

Something worth noting is that in the past, participating schools were represented by their Deans. As such,Dean Fukatsu the 2nd repped the school year after year, having a winning streak of 2 wins in a row at the time of this writing.

Rarely did students participate, but this coming tournament is going to have a change of rules in that regard. Word has it that going forward the tournament will adopt a team format for 3 student fighters and 1 replacement per school, with faculty members barred from participation. To build this team, campuses will be required to hold prelim tournaments to form the squad.

Regardless, Dean Fukatsu the 2nd wants that Triple Crown status. And he's gonna get it for his school by hook or by crook!

BCGP: Backyard Combat Grand Prix

Of course, not every tournament needs to be legal. If you're a kid out in the sticks who wasn't good enough to make Mall Masters regionals, what are you to do?

If you said train harder, that would be technically correct...But it's much easier to buck the system and do your own thing!

An icon of the Eastern United States backstreets fighting scene, the BCGP is the most [citation needed] prestigious tournament of its ilk.

It started out in Philadelphia as the by-product of a group of Vigorous wrestling fans who couldn't crack it at Mall Masters. Turns out imitating ECW without proper training can only get you so far. Feeling they had the cards stacked against them, they decided to hold a tournament of their own. An invite only shindig for those whose dreams of grandeur were crushed by someone who was stronger than them.

One hastily made ring and a toy wrestling belt later, the first BCGP was held in 1996 and saw organizer Jeff ‘The Ref' Spearmint take the plastic gold home in what was certainly not an act of collusion. Despite its low-budget nature, this small backyard event would amass a cult following as it would stay a Philly centric 'event' up until 2001, mostly circulating via word of mouth and tape traders. After then current champion, Dick 'The Cock' Johnson, moved to Paxton in Stonehale County, NY with the belt in his possession, the event would travel to wherever the belt moved with the tournament being organized by the then current title holder.

As of this writing, the BCGP has bounced around the East Coast, namely Maryland and Virginia. But the current title holder is one Higgins Hickenbottom, better known by his fighting name, B.J. Maxx. However, Hickenbottom is currently enrolled at Fukatsu U in Bright Plains, NY, and is unable to drop the title. He claims that his College life is so busy that it prevents him from organizing the next BCGP, but popular consensus believes that Hickenbottom refuses to drop the title because he's extremely egotistical and wants to latch onto the only good thing that's happened to him in his combat career.

Hickenbottom has been known to flaunt his status around, so that popular consensus is more than likely true.

Because It Is.

Dude's a friggin' bellend.