Hunter and Prey: Felix Vulpini (D) vs Tam Tenderpaw (D)

Match Type: Standard
Victory Conditions: Pinfall, Submission, or Knockout

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She had always heard stories about the Amphitheater but hearing about it didn't do it real justice. Tam came from a society of tree folk, most of the city she grew up in was even built among the treetops but this was something to behold. They build buildings around and through the trees but this was a building fully within a great tree, large enough to fit thousands of people, let alone an entire facility for Sovereign Reign's purposes.

Peeking out curiously from behind the curtains of the waiting area she could see the ocean of faces waiting for a show, a countless number filled with unique traits and features that she couldn't even place them all. While aware that Sovereign Reign brought in spectators from all over Gaia and wholly different realms through the waygates, she had never seen a more diverse gathering of people in her life. They were here to watch her fight… well, her and others. But this was her debut, so especially her tonight. Her fluffy tIl swooshed side to side in excited anticipation, hardly able to contain her excitement. Tonight was the first night on her long journey to show this world and all others that the Scurio people were just as capable in combat as anyone else.

Theme:

Tam Tenderpaw:

Brushing aside the black curtains she strutted out onto the stage at the swell of her music, chest puffed out proudly and head held high. A stranger she might have been, but the crowd was already giving her a cheer. It could have been her look or her confidence, but she liked to think it was simply what she represented for her people that already had them on their feet and excited to see what was to come. With a spring in her step, she took a darting lunge forward, throwing a blindly fast combination of punches into the air, showing off her pugilistic prowess. It ended with a swing of her hips, the fluffy mass of her tail whipping around to deal with what would have been the knock-out uppercut in her mind to end it all off. Tam held the pose, giving her rear and tail a wiggle for the crowd… They loved it!

Bounding down the length of the rail she sprang into acrobatic action, leaping high into the air up to the ropes. She caught the top one in her hands, swinging herself up and over in one fluid motion to land gracefully on the balls of her feet. Totting forward she gave a jog around the ring, keeping her blood pumping while her music died down. She was super psyched to get started, her first match here at Sovereign Reign. Who was her opponent going to be?

The Sovereign Reign Amphitheater...All the stories he'd heard about it in his travels, all of the things he imagined...and it was a giant building in an even more giant tree. Felix honestly wasn't sure if he should be really impressed...or really underwhelmed.

Still, he was finally here. He had traveled for months to make it this far, hiding from other, less civilized species, stowing away on boats to travel underseas and stealing food whenever he couldn't find anything naturally growing. If this whole insane plan of his worked, if he came back home with a championship belt and proved he had passed the rite of ascension...the first thing he was doing as the new Chief would be to move their community closer to civilization and teaching them how currency worked.

Sitting backstage, cross legged on the floor, the shirtless fox pup's ears twitched at the sound of thousands of people, of possibly as many species, from literally anywhere, if what he had heard of these "waygates" was even half true, all cheering and awaiting the fights for the night.

He sighed and focused, engaging in the meditation that the elders of his village had taught him, that he had to put up a block, not removing the noise or deafening himself, but tuning it out so it wouldn't overwhelm him. It was just background noise, that was all. Nothing more, nothing less.

He had to be ready for this. This was his debut fight in this league, and he would need all his skills for this. He had combat training back home, of course, as everyone was given, and during his brief weeks here in Tsubar, had been given proper wrestling training and taught about the rules by the Wardens that populated the place...when they weren't chastising him because he had been caught stealing from a food vendor, as apparently he got paid money for wrestling. There was...a lot of stuff about Tsubar he'd have to get used to while he was here.

Finally though, he was informed it was time for his match, and so the Fennic "pup" went out through the backstage area, through the curtain, and got his first glimpse of the ring. Ropes made out of strong looking vines, gnarled and twisted wooden posts., and a crowd, a massive crowd of thousands, all surrounding the ring, cheering and yelling as they eagerly watched to see what new fights they would see tonight.

Nervous, Felix, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, going shirtless and shoeless as he usually did as he entered the ring, sniffing around the place in curiosity, as he tended to do, while looking over at his opponent.

While his people weren't exactly cut off from the world, and did engage in trade with other tribes, he had to admit, he had never seen anything like his opponent before. A bright fluffy tail, and an absolutely gorgeous body, the fox pup found his tail wagging a little just at the site of the happy looking woman.

"H-Hi there!" he said aloud, speaking in the common tongue he had been told was the most used on Gaia by the various races that arrived on Gaia daily. "My...name, that's the word, is Felix. Felix Vulpini! It's...nike...no...nice! It's nice to meet you!"

The young Sciuro came to a pause in her trot around the ring looking to the entryway when the crowd's focus started to shift. Peering at the curious person making their way down to the ring she couldn't help but he was slightly lost. He certainly did not carry himself like a warrior even despite what she assumed was some sort of canine heritage. Her family dealt with all sorts and often those types were brimming with bravado. Not this one, however. She found herself staring and curious. It wasn't as if she hadn't known some strange sights would be here in the league, but her first opponent ever being an enigma was a slight surprise.

Her own tail lazily swished from side to side as she sized the little fuzzy boy up, unable to hide the smirk on her face. His big ears were kinda goofy, but she liked them. They reminded her of Shin's but far wider, fluffier. It took her a moment to realize he was looking her over as well, his tail visibly flitting from side to side. She stopped her own from swaying, trying to not look as though the two mirrored one another. She couldn't help but feel a bit bad she was about to pound this boy into oblivion, he looked so cute with those big eyes and an excited wag of his tail.

"Hiya." Tammy chirped back in response, a bit surprised by the youthful voice that came from her opponent. It didn't seem as though he spoke the common tongue well so she stood by and listened, hands on her hips, trying so hard to be patient. The scurio girl wasn't known for being kept waiting though and idly began to tap her foot as he struggled to form his sentence. "Nice to meet you. You can call me the winner, or Tam. Both work fine for the match tonight." The young scurio girl remarked cheekily, stepping in closer to extend a fist towards Felix for a fist bump.

Felix blinked at the rather cheeky response from his lovely opponent, but shrugged it off, stretching his arms while walking up to her and extending his arm to bump his fist against her own before stepping back, making sure she wasn't about to cheap shot him, just in case. As he stretched his legs though, he blushed, unable to resist asking this "Tam" a question.

"Umm...if you...don't mind...after this match...could I hug your tail? It just looks so...what's the word...floofy?"

Those in the front row who heard him couldn't help but laugh at his innocent question, but he brushed that off. They wouldn't be laughing once they saw just what he could do in the ring and took this beautiful girl down for the count!

...and then he'd cuddle that tail...

Tammy made no false moves, casually bumping knuckles with Felix. His immediate shift away however got a small raised brow from her as she withdrew her own fist. Her head cocked slightly, trying to decide if he was being cautious or if she was intimidating… She sure hoped it was the second one. She puffed up a bit, standing tall with a wide grin, exuding confidence in spades at the thought someone might be scared of her. Her mind started to wander, envisioning growing to absurd proportions and bursting out of the massive tree arena. Stomping around the city like some giant monster that had spawned from the sea.

What Felix and the audience saw was her staring off into the sky, narrowed-eyed in deep thought, chuckling softly to herself. It wasn’t until his word reached her that she suddenly snapped out of her daydream, blinking her crisp brown eyes in confusion. Had he just called her floofy?

She glanced around her, some people in the audience were laughing? Were they laughing at her?! Her attention shot back to Felix, eyes narrowed into thin slits, cheeks puffed out and slightly rosy with embarrassment over a perceived insult she hadn’t even heard, totally misunderstanding the situation. She let out a haughty huff, cranking her shoulder back a few time, warming up her good old punching arm.

“I’ll show you whose floofy, you fuzzball.” As soon as the bell sounded she was charging forward, cartoonishly windmilling her arm wildly behind her. She stomped a foot down, planting her body to snap her arm around in a wild haymaker with all the momentum she had generated, trying to knock Felix right out of the socks he wasn’t wearing!

Fuzzball? Felix blinked rapidly, turning his head in confusion as he tried to translate the word in his own tongue. The word was a new one, but based off of her tone, it sounded rather...harsh, perhaps he had offended her by calling her floofy?

The sound of the bell and of rapid steps had him turn his head, his eyes wide in surprise as he caught Tam charging straight for him! Having let his guard down far too soon, the young warrior-to-be let out a pained cry as the Sciuro's fist slammed directly under his chin!

The surprising strength of the woman more than what her body type would indicate, and the blow would not only lift his feet off of the mat, but send his entire body sailing upwards, actually raising above the top rope...which he promptly sailed over, falling several feet onto the padded wooded floor below, getting a loud gasp, which quickly turned into a roaring cheer, from the crowd as the young fox was knocked clear out of the ring by that blow!

The moment Tam's fist made contact with the underside of Felix's snout, she turned her head to look away. Not because she couldn't handle the sight of pounding the poor pup. No, she did it so when she followed through with the strike and held her arm high, she would pause it there taking a dramatic pose as her opponent sailed off into the stratosphere… or just over the ropes. Either way, her primary concern had been to look awesome after knowing the blow landed. Never mind the throb in her knuckles, she could ignore it. Once she had posed for a few seconds straight, she finally returned to a more natural state, hands on her hips peering around for where the other fighter had landed.

She let out a soft cocksure huff at Felix sprawled out along the outside, strutting her way to the ropes. The Scurio girl folded her arms the top rope leaning up against them with a smug smile plastered on her face as her tail swished behind her idly. "Still think I'm " floofy?" Because I can serve you up a steaming plate of knuckle sandwiches all night if you are going to keep ordering them buddy boy."

Ow.

That was pretty much all Felix could say or think at the moment, mainly due to the severe stinging in his muzzle and his back, having crashed hard on the padded wood outside of the ring.

Oh wait, there was another word he could say.

Ow.

The referee, once she had finished laughing along with the crowd, raised both arms, holding up one finger, calling out "ONE!" to begin the ring out count.

Took the foxes credit, Felix did manage to get back to his feet and crawl back under the ropes to get back into the ring. Granted it took him until a count of "SEVEN!" to do so, but he did make it back in the ring, rubbing his jaw.

"Ok...uh...I won't make that mistake again...but I'm still ready to fight!" he said with gusto...though also really hoping he wouldn't have to take another punch like that again!

Tammy couldn't keep the grin off her face as she watched Felix having trouble on the outside. She was more or less along for the ride now, waiting to see if her first match ever would end in less than a minute if he failed to return to the ring. To her, that seemed as good a victory as any, knocking someone so senseless they couldn't even get back to the ring? Pretty cool actually. The Scurio girl lowered her chin to rest on her arms as she waited patiently to see what would happen next.

When he managed to get himself back to the ring and start to crawl under the ropes, she frowned slightly as she stepped back to give him room. It wasn't a generous amount though, while she was being sporting by leaving him to collect himself, she was itching to get back to the fight. The Scurio girl wasn't really known for her patience, a fact that became readily apparent when Felix had the poor judgment to say he was ready. The moment the word left his muzzle, Tam's ears perked up, and body tensed as if he had just given her full permission to pounce again.

With a lunge, she came in fast, throwing a wicked left hook aimed directly at his snout. She hopped up off the mat, leaning her body back as her tail pushed up off the canvas, lifting her up so she could thrust her legs out roughly to kick her heels at his chest with all the power of a dropkick while keeping herself suspended in the air so she wouldn't need to get up off the mat after throwing the move out. "Plenty of time for new mistakes though!"

Oh crap. Why did he ever say things?

As soon as the words left his mouth, his opponent pounced upon him, the fox just barely managing to back-step to avoid her swinging hook, her gloved fist coming all too close to bloodying his snout as it passed by, the warm wind from the quick blow brushing against his nostrils instead.

Unfortunately, he wasn't nearly far enough into the ring to have any room to back up, as his back hit the ropes immediately behind him, giving him nowhere to go as the woman with the cute tail used said tail to balance her self and kick both feet into his bare chest, with enough force to send the pup falling in between the ropes, bouncing off the ring apron and landing on the matted wooden floor once again, to the crowds delight!