The doctors didn’t say it was going to be easy. He had suffered a broken arm, a traumatic brain injury, and a severe laceration across his brow, all caused by the man known as Violence.

Cory slowly steadied himself on the bar with his one good arm and made small steps with his feet. He was still in the hospital trying to get himself well enough to go home.

“Good, good!” Cory’s physical therapist exclaimed. “You got this!”

The last couple of weeks since he awoke were tough, to say the least.

He had been humiliated on TV, in front of his family and in front of his friends. He couldn’t remember the match at all and had only watched the replay once.

Once was enough.

Thank God they blurred out that move so he didn’t actually see the three impacts that put him in the hospital for the past few weeks.

Cory earnestly grunted with effort; his legs were feeling a little better, and his mind wasn’t as foggy anymore, but he just still felt sluggish in his big body.

I can do this Cory thought to himself.

After a few more stops, he reached the end of the bar and slowly leaned to sit in the awaiting chair. The physical therapist came by and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

“Good job, Cory! We’ll pick back up tomorrow at 10 a.m.”

“Thanks, I appreciate all the help,” Cory replied, halfheartedly smiling.

The two of them got Cory up and into his wheelchair and the physical therapist rolled him toward the door to return to his hospital room. When they emerged from the door into the hallway, a tall man with golden hair was waiting by the wall.

“Mind if I take you the rest of the way?” asked Golden Ben Miller, grinning at the sight of his younger friend.

Now Cory genuinely smiled. Ben was basically his big brother and had come to visit him almost every day. If anyone seemed to care about Cory more than his own parents, it was Ben.

“Sure thing, Ben,” the physical therapist said before giving up the wheelchair handles. “And, by the way, awesome stuff last week. You really gave Violence something to think about! Cory, catch you tomorrow!”

The PT walked off and let Ben and Cory go on their own. By now, Ben already knew the route from the physical therapy center back to Cory’s room.

“How you feeling today, Cory?” Ben asked.

“Ah, you know, Ben,” Cory replied. “Getting a bit better every day. I probably watched the recording of Gold Strike 3 about six times now. It never gets old watching you drive the Golden Knee down on Violence through that table!”

“Haha, I could replay that in my mind a hundred times, and it wouldn’t get old,” Ben laughed.

They reached the end of the hallway and got into the elevator. Ben pushed the ‘6’ button instinctively; the hospital had become his second home since Cory got here.

“Hey, Ben?” Cory posited. “You and Violence are the final four now, and if you each win your next matches then it’ll be down between you and him for the title at Gold Rush.”

“Yep,” Ben confirmed back.

The two exited the elevator on the sixth floor and continued down another long hallway. Ben was careful with the wheelchair and the big young man sitting in it. Friendly nurses smiled at them as they rolled past.

“Well, I was just thinking… if you win the Pure Gold Championship, I’m going to have a pretty big decision to make.”

“Oh yeah?” Ben asked as they approached Cory’s door.

“I’m going to have to figure out what’s more important; getting revenge on Violence or taking the belt from you first!” Cory playfully laughed to himself.

Ben was glad to see that good natured sense of humor coming back.

“Yeah, bud, that’s quite the decision,” Ben laughed back. “You need any help with the room?”

“Nah, this is good enough,” Cory replied, while Ben walked in front of the wheelchair. “I’ll take it from here, but thanks for stopping by again.”

“Of course, Cory. You let me know if you need anything, alright?”

“You got it, Ben. Thanks.”

Golden Ben Miller bent down and gave Cory is light hug, careful not to press on his firmly casted broken arm.

As Ben walked away down the hallway, Cory thought about how fortunate he was to have a guy like him to look up to. A moment later, Cory rolled into his hospital room to get some rest.

Tomorrow was another day of physical therapy, but soon he would be out of here and eventually training again.

He still had Season 2 to look forward to.