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Chris Chaos · (03-16-2018)

The opening avatar came on the screen--dark and bleak, showing a man in a full trench coat walking down an alley, with shots of Chris blending in and out.

Then the scene cuts to pristine Clearwater Beach, Florida. It shows Pier 60, the cocaine white sand, the greenish hue of the Gulf rolling in. Arial view. It took us over the city of Clearwater and over the Courtney Campbell Bridge, into Tampa.

The skyline of Tampa is now visible as music plays in the background, light enough to be notice but soft enough not to distract the viewer from what is going on in the picture. It passed by some historic buildings in Ybor City, one of the oldest and most stories districts in the entire city.

It circled around the city as THE X-TREME WRESTLING FEDERATION PRESENTS: shows up on the screen. Street signs from inner Tampa are shown as it moves away from the city, towards Pasco County.

Finally, it cuts to Chris, taking off his sunglasses and looking into the camera as the scene fades to black.

THE CHRIS CHAOS SHOW

EPISODE 6

Wednesday March 14th, 2018.

The sun was beating down on the strip, but that is nothing new in Clearwater, a place that set the Guiness Book of World Records for the most consecutive days of sunshine at 331. It was always bright as hell outside--you could see everything. Everyone. People's features, good and bad, were on full display. It was spring break, so there were mostly college kids out and about. Ever since Clearwater was ranked the #3 beach nationally and #1 in the state, it has been a tourist haven. He hated it, but what was he going to do?

His white mesh Nike's pressed down on the concrete sidewalk as he walked out of out his gated condo community and into the sea of people that were currently inhabiting his space. People of all walks, none of them as good looking, as in shape, or as athletically gifted as he was, but there they were sharing the same space. They reminded him of Pestalance.....in his space, where they didn't belong. He paid them no mind, as his polarized Oakley sunglasses hid his eyes and bounced the suns rays off into various directions. He wanted to take a walk today, to think, to reflect. This was a walk he had done thousands of times before, but today felt different.

Today he felt loose, calm, confident. He felt like he has been reborn. This was his strip and there wasn't a single person that could take it from him. The college kids could swarm all they wanted, but he would bat them off like nats on a warm summer night. He would swat Pestalance down like the pest he was....because that is what pests to.....they pester. Pestalance is a thorn in the side right now, but he would be exterminated. Chris could have very well walked down the main drag and soaked in all of the envy from people who want to be him and can never be. Not today, today he would walk down the side streets, the part of the strip that people didn't see as much. The side that people don't want to.

The buildings on this side are older, not the multi-million dollar condo's and 5 star hotels. This side of the strip has the paint chipped porches and dive bars where scruffy looking people sat drinking their sorrows away in the day time. This side of the strip that had overgrown weeds and chain link fences with flags that were faded from being out in the sun.

There were two sides to every strip, and two sides to every person.

But on this side, most of all, there were pests. Rats, bigger bugs than you've ever seen, the occasional snake, and seagulls picking from the trash. This was the side of the strip that Chris loved, because it was so real. Those people out there, they reminded him of Pestalance, but this side of the strip.....reminded him of himself. There was a beauty to it that people didn't understand. There was a beauty to Chaos that people didn't understand. He was the trashy side that people wanted to overlook for the glamour and glitz, the convience, of the other side. He has been overlooked....but he was once looked up to. This side of the strip was all people saw when they chose Clearwater to be the new Florida hot spot. Now, they forget it exists. As he walked further down the strip, he steps on a cockroach that wandered out into the street. The crunch, the splatter, the death of another pest. Just like on Saturday when he would kill another pest on his way to see beauty.

As he got to the end of the "darkside" he came out at a traffic circle that led cars into the fancier part of town. He had gone this far, he might as well turn around. Back to the trash, back to the downside, back to being overlooked.

It is where he felt most comfortable.

It was his home.

Friday March 17th
Los Angeles
10:30 PM

Another hotel....another travel. The jet lag became part of his routine now. He looked down at his drink, and the rapidly melting ice that sat within it. He had sent Jenny up the room to "get ready", and he knew he was going to have a good night. That wasn't his main concern, he could have that whenever he wanted.

His phone buzzed on the table. Bruce.

"Bruce.....I appreciate the call."

Bruce didn't make the trip to L.A. He has been in bad health. The COPD from 30 years of smoking was beginning to take its toll and he was watching his former mentor wither before his very eyes. Bruce would watch Savage from the comfort of his home.

"Remember our old phone calls....the pep talks? You used to get butterflies in that stomach of yours, for no reason."

Chris blushed a little.

"I never once doubted myself."

"But you told me you did. You were getting in your own head, pumping yourself up because you have A-L-W-A-Y-S been the underdog. But you have always risen to the occasion. Remember before that last boxing match you had?"

"Yes....Bruce, I remember it like it was yesterday." Bruce's voice sounded raspier than usual, and it unnerved Chris.

"You remember what you asked me?"

Chris sat there for a second, then said in a quieter tone....."I asked you, 'what if I lose?'

The old man didn't miss a beat.

"And what did I tell you?"

"You told me losing isn't an option."

"What was the outcome of that fight?"

Chris sat there again, bringing back memories of days long since past as they ran through his head like a freight train.

"I........I won."

There was some cracking in Chris's voice this time.

"And you will win tomorrow......."

Chris thanked Bruce and set his phone down. He couldn't talk about this right now.

His phone buzzed again. Jenny.

Naked pic.

"I'm ready" was all it read.

He left a wad of cash in a pile and pushed away from the table.

CURRENT TIME

"The moment of truth is here. Savage is tomorrow night and I have to say I am as excited as I have ever been for this show. The reason I like the idea of holding this belt is because I like being able to push myself, to test myself. Pestalance wants to talk about how this is big chance, but it is a big chance for me too. There will be a lot of people with egg on their face when I win this match because there are a lot of people who are counting me out. I know I still have what it takes to be a top caliber threat here, but I am going to have to prove it. I have never been one to back down from a challenge. At this point, the way things have gone and the way things have been as of late, I have to prove myself just as much as Pestalance does. I know what I can do, and I know I am the best in the world at what I do, but now I get to rub it in the faces of my doubters. I get to come out and beat Pestalance into the canvas, dominate him, and show the world that when I open my mouth, only truth comes out. I am Chris fucking Chaos, and I am treated like Drezdin around here. Well, the buck stops here. No more will I stare in the face of this disrespet, I will spit in it. Pestalance, I am going to show you why I am still the Chris Chaos of old, the Chris Chaos that people used to fear being in the ring with. You said I am dangerous? You have no idea. I enjoy hurting people. I enjoy demoralizing them, especially those who are still green with a big head. I'll be happy to deflate that dome for you. There isn't much inside it but air anyway....consider me the pin prick that sends it flying across the room.

You just aren't ready to be at this level. XWF management is testing you putting you against me and Mandii on successive shows, but that is what they do. They bury the young talent here and wonder why people don't stick around. I would treat it as an opportunity if I were you, consider it tough love, and the fatc that you CAN be good down the road, but you have to take your licks. Knocked down then back up, and I will be the one to knock you down. I have knocked down many before, and some have risen up to be greats here. Others have fizzled out. What you do with your loss in this match is up to you and you alone.

You've been working your entire life for this match? Good. But you are going up against the best, there is no way you could have prepared for this. I do not doubt that you will push me to the limit but in the end I will walk out still the champion. I always do.

I did some reflecting, Pest, I did some soul searching like you said. I looked back to before all of my titles. What did I say you may be asking? I saw a five time freestyle champion in PWR, a 5 time tag team champion, the longest reigning armored core champion in the history of the company........before that, I saw an underground boxing champion and before that a star football player at the University of South Florida. I have always been a champion, Pest, and I will always be one. You aren't going to pull that emotion card on me. But, for the sake of argument, lets look further back than that, even. I wasn't shit, true. But for all the times I got knocked down, I got back up. I never let my hardships get the best of me. I never had true doubt in myself. I always thought--no fuck that--I always KNEW I was going to come out of the shit pit smelling like roses.

You have that same fight, that same drive, the difference is that I have been doing this for a lot longer than you have. I have been successful at this for a lot longer than you have. I don't care what you think of my TV show intro, because I have earned every second of these airwaves. You haven't. You may, but you just aren't there yet.

I see what you are trying to do, though. Make yourself look like me. Pestalance being the Chris Chaos come up story, from rags to riches. I get it, and that is adorable, but you aren't me. I am better than you from your doo-rag to your probably ill-manicured feet. I am the man, the myth, the legend around here, and you are just the new kid on the block hoping for a shot at the top dog. Well, your shot is here, but the only thing getting shot is you---probably not far from the truth---when I shoot your hopes and dreams out of the sky and watch them crash and burn in a flaming ball.

But hey....its nothing personal right?

It never was. It is business and in this business I am everything you strive to be. I am the older brother that you look up to and want to be just like when you grow up. Being what I am here takes work, it doesn't take being a one hit wonder. It takes grit, determination, and will. You may be good enough here to win a title, but not to defend it each and every week. You aren't prepared for the target on your back that comes with being a champion. So at Savage, I look forward to a great match but just like the American Government has been doing to your people since the industrial revolution........I will push you out of the picture and take the spot for myself.

Because I always do.

END SHOW

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