The Tiger

Backstory:

Breas was raised in a predominantly human settlement. Being a half-orc, he never fit in at school and he was made fun of constantly. He was a frail boy; even though his grandfather was an orcish warrior.

The only entertainment that there was in Braes’ community was the carnival just outside of the settlement. Braes was skipping school one day (unbeknownst by his parents) because he was afraid of being picked on by the other kids. He decided to visit the carnival for the first time that day.

All over the place there were clowns, magicians, and entertainers of all types. But the main attraction (where all the people were flooding into) was the wrestling tent. As Braes approached the entrance he admired the posters. Today the two combatants were ‘Domino “Green Dragon” Domez’ vs. ‘Zod “The Tiger” Numash’.

Braes was able to slip through without paying the entrance fee, and he took a spot on the benches as he waited for the two combatants to enter. First to enter was the Green Dragon, who entered the ring to a person strumming a lyre very aggressively. When he got into the ring he jumped up onto the ropes and threw his hands into the air. The crowd cheered in response. Breas smiled and clapped along. He admired how much the audience loved him.

But then suddenly there was a loud, ear busting drum beat that silenced the crowd. The audience turned their attention to the opposite side of the room.

A large muscled man stepped out from behind a curtain dressed in a tiger’s pelt, and wearing an orange and blue mask over his face -it was the Tiger. The drum beats became quicker and more intense as he walked closer to the ring. The crowd was going wild as he entered.

Once he got into the ring he paced back and forth, keeping his eyes fixed upon the Dragon. Then the drum beats stopped as the Tiger stopped as well. And when the drum beats halted, the Tiger let out a bone-chilling “ROAR!!!” that filled the arena. The crowd went crazy in response. Braes had the biggest smile he had ever had before upon his face as he stood up and cheered for the Tiger.

And then the match commenced. The two wrestlers circled around for a while, sizing each other up. Then the Dragon pounced towards the Tiger and tried to grab him, but the Tiger twisted around to behind the Dragon and suplexed him into the floor. The Tiger got back up, but the Green Dragon did not. As the Dragon slowly picked himself back up the Tiger engaged the crowd -and they cheered intensely for what he just did.

Once the Dragon got back up, he was met with a stunning punch straight to his face. Once stunned, the Tiger took this opportunity to throw him to the ground. The Tiger then picked the Dragon up onto his shoulders -completely in control of the match, and brought the Dragon crashing down onto his knee. This brought the Dragon down for the count. Victory by KO!

The crowd were completely enticed by the Tiger’s performance. Braes cheered and yelled out louder than he had ever done before. He usually was a very quiet child.

Then the tiger exited the ring with a glorious bow, and the people flooded out of the tent. Braes exited as well, but then spotted some school bullies that were watching the carnival performers. He turned to walk away in a different direction than the crowd, but the bullies spotted him and followed him to behind the wrestling tent.

Braes was jumped by the bullies as they kicked him, spat on him, and called him names. Then from behind the bullies, there was a deep “Ahem…”. The bullies turned around and spotted what they thought was a giant towering above them. It was actually Zod “The Tiger” Numash -still fully in costume, standing there with his arms crossed. The bullies ran away in fear, and Braes looked up at his savior with tears running down his face.

The Tiger knelt down and wiped the tears from Braes’ face. He then gave his mask to Braes and told him to wear it. He told Braes that it would give him strength. And when Braes put on the mask that was too large for his face, Braes felt a warmth rush over him. He suddenly felt stronger than he had ever been before. Then the Tiger took off without another word, and Braes never saw him again.

From that day forward Braes wore the Tiger’s mask every day -whether he was at home or at school. His parents loved to see him be so happy as he jumped around the house and tried to wrestle his father to the ground. But whenever Braes took off the mask to clean it or for something else, he would lose all the confidence that it gave him.

Braes eventually bulked up and trained himself as a fighter. He also started fighting in ameteur matches at the wrestling tent. He went by the stage name “The Tiger”, out of respect for, and to take up the mantle of the Tiger that he met in his youth. He dropped using the name Braes completely and introduced himself to everyone as The Tiger.

He loved all the glory that the fights gave him, but eventually he decided that he would take off away from the settlement to see the world. He wanted to make an international name for himself, and see what glory the outside world might bring. He was sure that there would be fighting arenas in other places that he could compete in, or perhaps there would be some monsters that he could test his skills against.

Eventually he came upon a bulletin board in a nearby town. On it there were numerous bounties placed on witches. Unbeknownst to him, there was actually an epidemic of sorts with the amount of witch’s terrorizing the nearby area. An idea came to The Tiger. He would tackle this epidemic face on to the best of his abilities -freeing the people from the terror of the witches, while also bringing glory to his name!  