I get knockdown but I get up again, youre never going to keep me down ~ Chumbawamba
Ricky was back at his apartment in Chicago Illinois he stared out to the balcony at the night life of the city. He leaned against the safety rail and took in a deep breath. Ever since Rickys return to WZCW has been lackluster. Ricky thought he would take the world by storm, he thought he would be in the main-event on his own, but all that blew up in Rickys face. A disappointing loss to Steven Holmes and then an even more disappointing loss to Triple X. Even the overly confident Ricky Runn was starting to doubt himself.
Rickys agent, Rob walked up behind his client and his friend. Rob was carrying a rather large backpack, but Ricky failed to notice it with his focus out to the city.
Its been a while since weve talked bud
taken the past few weeks a little rough huh?
Ricky chuckled at his friends comment and said with a smile that started to grow on the face of the Daredevil.
"Heh, you're a lot of things Rob, never would have nailed you as the perceptive type."
"Is that a cheap joke at my glasses?"
Rob and Ricky then shared a glare before both of them chuckling. Rob and Ricky were two completely different people, yet seemed to click so well. Rob, stood next to Ricky and looked out to the city. Ricky then looked over to the city again and sighed.
"What happened man? These past few weeks... ever since I was attacked, I've just been in a rut, and I don't think I can crawl out of it this time."
Rob sighed and looked over to Ricky and said to him with a concerned voice.
"Ricky man... you've been in this business for a whole year. Hell a year ago, if you told me you found something you truly loved doing, and you had the drive to actually get it. I would have thought you were crazy... you've changed a lot man, a lot of it was good, but you lost a lot of what made Ricky, Ricky... you know?"
Ricky tilted his head and looked over to his friend and asked.
"Oh really? And here I am thinking you enjoyed me not sneaking into night clubs, jumping off of buildings or pissing off Vance Bateman and shoving me into handicap matches."
Rob smiled and nodded his head at the point Ricky made, Rob then responded.
"Well, as easy as you have made my job Rick, you just haven't been the same person. Austin Reynolds might have found that potential in you, but it's your turn to shine in your own way Ricky. You need to go back to what made Ricky the Daredevil."
A smile crept onto Ricky's face and said with a now devilish smile on his face.
"So you're saying I can plan my big 20th in Big Dave's office? I can get a big ass cake that Mikey can pop out of... actually, I think he might just eat the damn thing from the inside."
Ricky then turned his body to Rob and continued on his train of thought.
"So what are you getting at? If I go back to my old ways, I'll start winning matches again?"
"Not exactly... I watched Ascension Ricky, and quite frankly... you're going bonkers. You need to stay out of the gym, the film room, and the ring and spend more time enjoying yourself. All work and no play makes Ricky a very loopy monkey."
Ricky squinted his eyes at the comment towards the end.
"What did you just call me?"
Rob chuckled and shook his head and said with a playful grin.
"It doesn't matter what I called you man. Point is, you need to go out and enjoy yourself again. Once you're in the right state of mind, you can be as successful as you want to be."
"I want to be more than just Mayhem Champion Rob... I want the world title. I want to be known as the best, otherwise everything Austin and I accomplished as a team means nothing."
"You can win the World Title, one of these days Ricky, but like everyone who had contended for the world title, you have to earn it. There is no better way to prove you deserve a shot then going out and taking the Mayhem Division by storm. I don't know if you know this, but you are practically made for this division. If anyone knows what it means to put your body on the line for a thrill it's you Ricky. If I had to plant you in a group of anyone who had fought for the Mayhem title, you would be the one who would raise the bar on the amount of damage you would need to cause to win."
Rob then patted Ricky on the shoulder and Ricky turned and smiled to Rob. Ricky turned his back to the city view and said with a renewed confidence.
"Vega has really made a name for himself by being crafty. I'm not exactly the greatest ring general by any means, but Vega is going to need more than sly moves and a few submission holds to beat me. Austin and I faced Mind Over Matter for the tag titles. Not only were they crafty, but they were conniving. swindling, devious, deceitful, and would punch their own grandmother's in the kidney if it meant they would get a step up in the business. Not only did the gimmick of the match give them the obvious advantage, they had a ref that was for lack of a better word, a completely corrupt douche. In this match, Vega doesn't have any of those privileges. All he will have is the ring, me, and his stupid looking goatee. He can try and outsmart me, or try to use his wits to beat me, but I'm going to keep coming at him, and keep going at him until I have no more energy to continue, and even then I will keep going. The Mayhem Title is my ticket back to the top, and not a single goatee or an angry German won't change that... hey wait a second... what is in that bag?"
Rob grinned ear to ear and knelled down to pick up the bag and hand it to Ricky. Upon further inspection it was a parachute. Ricky's eyes opened wide and then shot up to his friend who said with a huge grin on his face.
"I got a helicopter ready to pick you up tonight. It can take you over the city where you can get a great view of Chicago before landing out in Lake Michigan. Go out, enjoy yourself. Get your head on straight, and then you can focus on your dream and be the greatest Superstar in company history. Just one step at a time."
Ricky smiled and nodded his head and made his way out of his apartment. He grinned and said with a smile.
"I guess you're not joining me huh bud?"
"Ricky, ever since last time I promised myself to never enter an aircraft with you ever again... so have fun."
Ricky rolled his eyes and gave off a salute before reaching the elevator. Once in the elevator, Ricky shared the rest of the ride with one of his fellow apartment members, an elderly lady who Ricky named affectionately Gran Gran. Gran saw the eager smile on Ricky's face, and the parachute strapped to his back and said with a surprised gasp.
"Oh my Richard... please don't tell me you plan on Skydiving at this time of night. I don't even know what you whipper-snappers find so great about those really tall heights, and wrestling. It's like you're 12 years old... why do you do the things you do Ricky?"
The question stuck a nerve to the young Superstar, but oddly enough Ricky had the answer. He took in a deep breath and looked up to the ceiling of the elevator and answered her.
"Why do we do anything in our spare time Gran Gran? Boredom, excitement, money, fame? More often or not when people asked me this same question I can never give them a straight answer. Thinking back now, I can tell you why I do the things I do. The parties, the stunts, the wrestling. I've done it all for attention at first... with my mom dead and my dad wanting nothing to do with me, I found solace at the center of attention from others. I didn't mind if people looked at me as the fool as long as I was looked at. Now though, after everything I've been through, after everything I faced, it became so much more then an attention seeker. People look up to me, they expect, no they demand I become the future of this business. I nearly drove myself to the brink of insanity trying to fit that image, that demand. Now though, I'm doing this for myself. I'm doing this because it is something, I'm good at, and it is something I just plain love wrestling. I love the attention, I love coming out to my music and the crowd cheers my name. You can look at the face of someone like Vega, and he doesn't have the same love, the same aspiration, the same drive as I do for this game. He does it for a paycheck, he does it because he thinks he's the king among squires. But really he's nothing more but a student of the game. Hell, I've been in WZCW for a year and I still have so much to learn, and so much to do before I can even consider myself on the same level or the same plane of legends like Ty Burna, or even Showtime for that matter. The Mayhem title means a lot to the fans. It's my golden ticket to the chocolate factory, and I plan on blasting through the glass ceiling with the Mayhem title wrapped about my waist."
When Ricky turned to look to Gran Gran for her views on the answer to her question, he realized that he had drifted off and Gran had left the elevator on the ground floor a long while ago. Ricky stood in the elevator and pressed the open button and said to himself.
"I really need to stop treating every question that comes my way like it is an interview..."