The sun rose that morning, just like it did for any other day. All around the world, people were getting up and going along with their routine. Just a normal day, same old same old. But this was hardly routine for the WWE superstars. The Rock had gotten to the arena early, everything was already set up and ready for the house show that night in Charlotte. He stood in the center of the ring with his arms folded across his chest. This was an odd house show, not only did it have superstars from both brands, but it was only one match, the huge championship battle royal. Ric Flair was against having cameras be there to tape it for the following Raw and SmackDown, but because of such the huge amount of hype, courtesy of The Rock, they were required, just like he'd wanted. The gang knew Rocky wanted to expose them, he wanted to intimidate them with that factor so he could win the title. But he didn't know them all too well, they were willing to risk that to defeat him, to save Edge's title, to save quite possibly, the world.
"Chris? Chris, get up!" Lita's voice ran upstairs into the guest bedroom. Chris Jericho groaned, still asleep in the bed.
"Yea come on bud, wake up and get ready!" Edge's voice followed.
"Chris?" Lita opened the door. Chris groaned and pulled the cover over his head. "Come downstairs."
"I don't wanna."
"Breakfast is waiting for you on the table."
"I'm not hungry."
"Please Chris, you sound like a child on a Monday morning."
"It's Friday morning."
"And you should be happy."
Chris sat up, letting the sheets fall off of his chest, "You'd think, but not this Friday." Chris slid out from under the covers and stood up, shirtless. Lita sighed, she'd forgotten about Rocky's challenge that night. Chris put on his shirt, "I'll be out in a sec, ok."
"Alright." Lita nodded and went out of the room, shutting the door behind her.
Chris went over to the mirror on the dresser and started to brush his hair, after feeling satisfied enough, he took a deep breath and pushed it out. He opened his eyes and turned to leave the room. Going downstairs, he made his way into the dining room. Edge and Lita were already finishing their breakfast.
Edge looked up, "Hey there sleep head, rise and shine."
"Morning." Chris muttered as he sat down.
"Would you look at this guy Li? Still half asleep!" Edge laughed and ruffled Chris's hair. He made a slightly disgruntled sigh and shoved some breakfast into his mouth. Lita frowned and looked down at her eggs. "Eat your breakfast, then we'll head on over to Flair's after a shower ok? Gotta have strength for today, plus looking good and smelling nice might be a plus for in the ring on tv." Edge cleared the table and got up, going into the kitchen.
Chris sighed again, Lita turned back to him, "Chris, don't play with your food."
"I'm not hungry."
"Look, I know something's wrong."
"I'm fine."
"No you're not. I know Edge does too, he's just thrilled about the match today."
"Why should he be?" Chris stood up, starling Lita. "We could die on tv out there!"
"I'm sure that won't happen."
"Oh? And how are you so sure?"
"Trust me Chris, I know." Chris lifted the tough guy charade and slumped back down. Lita grew worried, "What's the matter?"
"It's nothing." Chris's voice choked. "It's just that… I'm scared." His puppy dog eyes met her shaky orbs. "I don't wanna die out there."
"I know you won't."
"No, no you don't." Chris sniffed to force back the tears trying to pop out. "I'm not as strong as Edge, if he can't win, what difference will I make? Edge says I'm the difference maker, but how could I be if I don't even match him in the Super Star state?"
"Look Chris, Edge knows what he's doing. Maybe he's just…"
"I don't care if I die out there defeating Rocky, I'll have done my part. What I don't want is to have everyone out there get slaughtered by this madman, and being able to do nothing about it. I'm not strong enough Lita, this is all my fault."
Chris stood back up and walked out of the room back upstairs. Lita sighed. Chris went up to the guest room and went into the bathroom. He turned on the light and sighed as he looked at his face in the mirror. His sleepless eyes had faint bags under them, his eyes were red from trying to hold back the emotion from the incident earlier. He shook his head, trying to get rid of it all as he grabbed his toothbrush and turned on the water. Just then there was a knock at the door, Chris stopped from putting the toothbrush in his mouth, but a voice spoke up before he could answer.
"Chris? Hey bud, are you in there?"
He sighed, it was Edge, "Come in."
The door opened and Edge went inside, he saw Chris through the open bathroom door brushing his teeth. He walked in and stood next to him, looking at him through use of the mirror.
"Hey."
A garbled, "Hey." Was his reply.
Edge smirked, "I'll wait until you're done, don't want you to bite your tongue or chip a tooth." Chris spit when he finished and rinsed off his face, checking the back of his tongue in the mirror. "Done now?"
"Yea. What's up?"
"Look." Edge sat down on the closed toilet. "I don't want you to worry about this match tonight, I've got everything taken care of alright? We can handle this."
Chris rolled his eyes, Lita must've talked to him, "Just forget it ok?"
"I want you to have trust in me Chris."
"It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that, I…"
"You, what?"
"I don't trust me." Edge frowned at Chris's comment, he continued. "I know I'm not strong enough, I don't match you. If Rocky is stronger than you, what chance to I have? This whole time, everyone thought the purpose of your chamber training was to have you surpass Super Star, yet that's all that you made me, you did nothing to yourself. You say I'm your ace in the hole, I'm the all star set to win this fight. How could I possibly be the difference maker in this predicament?"
Edge blinked and stood up, "Just trust me alright? You do trust me, don't you?"
"Yes, I do Edge. I'm sorry."
Edge smirked and patted his shoulder before heading to the door, "It's ok, we're all a little nervous about this." He paused before exiting. "Even me."
Chris sighed to himself after Edge left and looked up in the mirror. He looked at himself. He was a different person than he was this time last year. He'd survived that radiation explosion and was gifted with these super powers. He'd learned to harness them and even fought to save the company. Now it was time for him to step to the challenge and defeat the most powerful enemy of all, facing his fears, defeating the demons within himself.
"Rocky's going down, we can do it. We've been through so much. I laughed in the face of death and now I'm a Super Star. Who knows what else I'm capable of, who knows how much farther I can go. Maybe there is a state beyond Super Star, and if there is, I will find it. I'm the difference maker, it'll be all up to me." Chris took a shower.
Meanwhile, Ric Flair was standing outside the training room waiting for Chris Benoit to finish his session. Chyna, Eddie Guerrero and Jeff Hardy had just arrived, Rey Mysterio and RVD had been there for a while. Just then, Crash flew out of the sky and landed panting as he dropped Oolong onto the ground.
"You fat pig, making poor Crash work like that." Chyna pouted.
Oolong blushed, rubbing the back of his head, "I'm sorry, Mick Foley's cooking is just to die for!"
Eddie growled before speaking up, "Old one, is Benoit finished yet?"
Ignoring the comment, Flair looked at his watch, "He should be done any time now."
"Hey guys!" Everyone looked up to see Edge drop out of the sky, followed by Lita and Chris. "You didn't start the party without us did you?"
The sound of the door opening, Flair smiled, "Nope, looks like your just in time." They all looked over as Benoit came out.
He looked up at the awaiting crowd, "Hey. Is it Friday?" Edge nodded.
Eddie growled, "What, you don't look any different? What a waste. Can we just go to the arena now and get ready?"
"Yes, let's do that." Flair nodded and turned to Lita and Chyna. "Are you guys coming?"
"Of course, I want to be there for them." Lita nodded.
"And you're coming with us too." Chyna smirked as she picked up the protesting Oolong.
RVD turned to Puar, "How about you?"
Puar hugged him, "Oh I'd never leave your Rob."
Edge smirked, "Ok guys, let's get a move on. Oh! I got a call from Kurt yesterday, he said he was going to be there to support us too. He's already waiting there for us."
"Sounds good." Flair dug in his pocket to pull out his keys. "Now shall we hover or drive to the arena?" He looked around. "Guys?" He looked up to see them all flying and laughing in the air. He smirked, "Hello, are you forgetting someone?"
"Yes your highness." Rey Mysterio picked him up and they flew off.
Edge noticed Crash looking over his shoulder, "What's the matter?"
"Where's Nidia? And The Big Show?"
Edge blinked but Jeff nudged him, "Hey, is it just me, or does he have a thing for what's her name?"
"Hm? Oh who, Nidia?"
Crash gulped at Edge's remark, "Come on guys, we should hurry!" He flew ahead, causing Edge and Jeff to laugh.
RVD pointed, "Not to worry, looks like the cavalry is coming in." They all looked forward to see Nidia and Big Show joining up with their convoy.
In the back, Benoit flew by Jericho, "I want you to know that I'm proud of you."
"Hu?" Jericho turned to him. "No, please, don't say that, don't be."
"You don't say that." Benoit lowered his brow. "I remember when we first me, I knew you were champion material, you had it, the right stuff, you were enough. Then when the explosion in Roswell happened and we got powers, I knew you would rise up to the challenge when we learned how to harness them and use them to fight off our foes. And now look at you, a Super Star. I never expected you would rise up and look like this, you look so much stronger and agile with these powers, you're quick to learn Chris. You even cheated death, you've helped us all so many times. And I know that Edge wants you to be his main man in the battle tonight, but I just want you to know that we'll all still be there for you, and always will, just like you were there for us."
"I don't want to let you down."
"Don't worry Chris, I know you won't." Benoit looked back forward. Jericho sighed and gulped as he looked up, the arena was coming into view. Judgment Day was upon them.