Vigor

In most Battle Comics, there's always some kind of spiritual fighting energy that helps amplify the action and stakes. Dragon Ball has it's Ki, JoJo's has Ripple/Hamon, Sea Tiger has the electro-magnetic waves in the air, Kinnikuman literally has Friendship Power. The list goes on.

As Tough Breaker is fueled by many Shounen Battle Comics, it has its own fighting energy. It goes by many names, with many origins. It can hurt and heal. And in the hands of the right person, it can turn an average human into something approaching godhood.

In the Toughverse, it's only known as...VIGOR.

Stages

The way Vigor works is that the user goes through various 'Stages' that represent power or mastery of Vigor. There are three 'main' Stages that user can go through. Starting with...

Human Stage

Technically not a Stage, but it's something that everyone starts at. This is you at your most human. You have the capabilities and promise as any other average Joe or Joan Q. Public.

But everyone has the ability to get stronger. If you put in enough work and have noble intentions, you might just unlock...

Potential Stage

The embers of Vigor have finally begun to light up in your soul and now you're able to draw the energy fourth, as well as gaining an overall buff across the board.

However as the name implies, you've still got a bit of ways to go. That's because you haven't worked on your...

Core Stage

Once you have finally broken through and realized your potential, your Vigor will begin manifest properly as a 'Core', basically a designated power or ability tied to it's user and their personality.

For example, Kidd's Cores are based around his upbringing as a Clown from two different Clowning families.

From mom's side of the coin, he gets his elasticity. From dad comes enhanced strength. And from being from Circus families in general, he gets enhanced athleticism.

And along with one's Cores comes smaller abilities tied to said Core. To use Kidd as an example again, he can not only stretch and inflate like rubber, but he can change and take shape of objects and other people around him. But because he wasn't fully trained in the Bello way, his mimicry isn't as good as it could be, so he tends to have notable tells whilst still transformed.

But let's say you've completely strengthened your Core. Is there anything more to learn? Why...yes..there is.

If you have a Core, you're already pretty strong as is. But THIS. IS TO GO...FURTHER BEYOND.

Extra Stage

This is it. The top of the mountain, my friend. You've mastered you Vigor control, your Cores are rock solid and you can now give yourself a little edge in the heat of a battle!

But don't worry! It's not just super forms and endlessly stacking said forms like a certain carrot named alien warrior. Vigor's a bit more nuanced than that, as Extra comes in three varieties.

Burst - Surge - Excel

Burst is essentially an EX Mode. Burn through your Vigor for a quick BURST of power~! Where as Burst is an overall buff, Surge is more specific to one's Core. Once again, the Kidd example. His Extra State is Surge which can amplify his stretching, not too dissimilar to Luffy when he goes Gear Whatever. And Excel...yeah it's just a super state. I can't front. Some characters can tap into their Cores to gain a temporary powered form specific to them that adds a few new moves along with the over all buff.

The example this time is swordswoman Rosette and her Muse of Blades form. Due to her strong connection to her blade, she can melt her sword which will then envelope her entire body in metal bio-armor, with which she can generate Sea Tiger Hell-styled arm blades and more.

But as mentioned, Extra is all temporary. You'll eventually return back to your neutral Core Stage, but you're gonna be gassed as hell. As for how long it can last, anywhere from three to ten minutes. Playing on Ultraman and Ben 10 rules here. You can extend your duration if you focus enough, but that can be dangerous and can damage you permanently if you're not careful. Which nicely Segways into...

Negative Stage

As with your own natural body, if you abuse fail to take good care of your Vigor and abuse it like a power mad god, there are serious repercussions you may face as a result of your carlessness.

Locked > Broken > Corrupted

Vigor is not a toy. It's a life energy that you have to work for. You can't just force your body to will it, otherwise you might find yourself Locked, unable to progress further in your Vigor. However you can escape the Lock if you take your time and let your body just do it's thing naturally, but plenty of folks don't have that patience.

They'll try to force themselves out of the Lock, which can only make things worse. In that case, congratulations, you putz. Because you couldn't wait, your body will now suffer the results of the Broken Stage, where your Vigor will actively harm you if you try to use it.

But surely, you can break through this too. Right?

Hahaha. WRONG

Welcome to Corrupted Stage. You've abused your Vigor one too many times and now the life energy that flows through you will now kill you if you try to do anything about it.

It's worth mentioning it's possible to get out of Broken and even Corrupted Stage. But depending on the severity, it could literally cost you an arm and a leg. And a Vigor user can land into Broken if they really take a brutal kicking.

To give an example of someone who was Broken comes from Kidd's family. Giuseppe Bello, from Kidd's mom side of the family, was A former Clown turned professional bowler. At the height of his career, he was one of the top bowlers in the country. However, he used to be something of a lazy schlub and would use his elasticity for the smallest of things.

As one could imagine, all that Vigor abuse finally caught up to him.

One day he stretched his arms out a little too much and PERMANENTLY damaged his limbs in the process. His arms now forever twice as long, along with much of his natural strength gone.

Slowly but surely he was able to recover and continue his career. Through rehab, he was able to regain his natural strength to the point he could lift his ball again without issue. However, he still can't lift anything above 50 pounds and he has to be very careful with himself on days he has a game lined up.

Sub-Systems

Oh we're not out of the woods just yet! Far from it! Because while those are the two main aspects of Vigor to keep in mind, because like with any fighting game or Shounen-style power system, there's a lot more intricacies going on under the hood! So now let's talk about the Sub-Systems of Vigor! There's a lot to cover, so let's not waste any time!

Bonds

Basically Friendship power from Kinnikuman. Having friends who support you and your ideas will give you a passive buff. But if you have a truly special bond with someone, that gives you a super buff, even when they're not around, be it speed, strength, defense or even some of their Cores rubbing off onto you in some cases.

Sealing

The act of fixing Broken, or even Corrupted Vigor by imprinting your Vigor into someone else's. Can only be done by those of a passive/pacifist nature, but even then it's not guaranteed to work. It's a total crap shoot and even if it does work, there's another 50/50 on if it'll even hold.

Inheritance

Speaks for itself, Vigor you gain from your parents. Or rather their Potential. Very rare. About 1 in 1500 people will inherit their parents' potential in some way, shape or form. Such as our story's protagonist. Strap in, it's time for some deep lore.

After being involved with an accident that would prove fatal, the late Julian Torres was surrounded by his wife Ivonne and their son Tiago in the hospital. As Ivonne left the room to discuss something with the doctor, Tiago walked up to his father's death bed and held his one free hand.

Clutching his hand, Tiago vowed to his father that he would turn his life around for the better, promising to leave his dirtbag ways behind him and be the upstanding fighter his father raised him to be.

Feeling his son's genuine emotion as his life began to slip away, Julian gripped Tiago's hand as hard as he could before giving out. At the peak of the grasp, Tiago swore that his father's grip was so strong that it felt like his hand was burning after. Little did he know that Julian's final act was passing his Potential down to his son as a way to give him the boost to overcome the obstacles that would be coming his way in life.

And lore knows he was right on the money about that.

Imprinting

As a life energy, Vigor is all encompassing. Humans, animals, even objects can harbor Vigor. But for the latter, that requires user input.

This act of Vigor control is known as Imprinting and is common amongst those who have a weapon or item that's very special to them.

Our example is Markus Schaffer. Fukatsu student, self-entitled Swordsman and general dickhead who'll be the first villian Tiago goes up against in his freshman year.

Schaffer is a massive fan of Chinese Wuxia works. High fantasy works from the likes of Jin Yong to the movies of The Shaw Brothers. To truly have that Wuxia feel in his kit, Schaffer inprinted his Vigor onto his main sword of choice, Dragonbane.

With his Vigor imprinted into Dragonbane, Schaffer is able to summon his blade from afar, while also being able to do plenty of Wuxia sword type attacks and tricks. And because of his connection, only he can wield Dragonbane. Should someone try to wield Dragonbane without his blessing, the grip of the blade feel as if it were on fire, burning your hand in the process.

Minmaxing

The act of focusing on one Core over three. It may seem like intentionally gimping oneself, but there are benefits to having one Core: Better control and retention of one's energy during a battle, and having better focus on one Core means you can really boost the power and skills that come with said Core.

Maximum Potential

Once again, it's right there on the tin. This is the most one can reach in their Human Stage before breaking through with their Core. In fact, some choose to stay at Max. Potential as some cases have shown that those with MP could rival those with a Core. Notably in the cast is Dean Masakage Fukatsu the 2nd, a former pro wrestler and mixed martial artist turned Dean of his late father's namesake school.

With his encyclopedic knowledge of grappling and martial arts, he feels his athletic prowess are already on another level. Taunted in jest by some of his associates, he'd prove to his naysayers having won the Campus Clash two years in a row for his school. Breaking through would surely double his incredible natural strength, but he’s as strong as he needs to be to run his school.

And there! All you need to know about Vigor! But just incase you need it, here's a visual aid to explain all this hobnobbery!

Misc.

Rapid fire round. I got plenty of ideas but no way to visualize them like everything above. SO:

• Artifacts that amplify one's Vigor (or in some cases GIVE you Vigor) and the like do exist, but they're extremely rare and tend to be held onto by groups who oversee Vigor the world over. Tough Breaker won't really go into this save for one mini-arc because I want TB to be more like Dragon Ball and less Dragon Ball Z.
• On that note, there are Vigor inhibitors. They're typically used for non-powered sports like regular old Baseball, football and so on. In fact many Vigorous fighters tend to train with said inhibitors to boost their natural strong and body. Inhibitors are also worn by those with Broken or Corrupted Vigor as a way to negate the pain caused by their disfunctional power.
• Just to be safe here, the visuals on this page are not properly representative of Vigor and how it looks in Tough Breaker proper. I just needed SOMETHING for this page..