Return of the Paragon (For Maxy)

Since losing that title match in Ueno the UK Elite had lost and new Tension tag champs had been crowned in the form of Sion and Daisuke of WhiteGale, winning in a brutal and hard fought ladder match. Since then the master of creation John Carnaby had been sidelined with an injury, that much was known. The UK Elite had pretty much dropped of the current scene in Tension, and there was something that hadn't been answered.

Where was the head of the UK Elite? The paragon of Britain Ryan Knight?

No one knew.

Well that was sort of untrue, Ryan himself knew where he was. And so did his girlfriend Anampo Yatgra, given that he had been ringside in her most recent match. What had been seen of him showed a man that looked pretty ragged and fallen on hard times, though he hadn't been seen since.

He was actually staying in a forest to be honest, not too far from Kyoto. Mr Knight had been training there, the loss of the titles had said to him that perhaps he had let the fame go to his head. Hence why he resided in this place, to rough it up and regain his edge. While John stayed and healed up, that and Ryan blamed himself for the loss.

Sure Mr Carnaby had been the one who fell, but he had performed above and beyond his duty. And as the head of the UK Elite in Ryan's mind the blame fell on his shoulders. Anampo visited him often, bringing him cleaned clothes and food. Everything else was up to him.

Ryan was dressed in black sneakers with a pair of black jogging bottoms wrapped with white tape, and a white jersey shirt on. His once regal blonde hair had become dirty and ruffled with scuffle marks on his features, the paragon was currently charging into a nearby large tree with ropes around it. This was the second part of his training regime, the first had been running through the forest. Now it was strength testing.

"Hragh!" Ryan shouted as he rushed into the tree, slamming his back into the ropes. Birds flew from the scene in a loud drove, that was the fifth charge in a row. After doing this one Mr Knight would stand upright and wipe the sweat from his forehead, he felt that edge returned to him. Bit by bit.

Not too far away from where he was, Lita was also in the forest. She needed to do some thinking about some important things going on with her. She was recovering nicely from Casimir's 'batting practice' during their match last. She's able to do things on her own again but just to be on the safe side she tries not to do things for very long if she can help it. With how things have been progressing with the group, as well as with Yamato, she wondered if it was time for her to move back to her birth country. She owned property here so she always had somewhere to stay, and put up Daisuke and Sion when ever they were around as she wanted to give them more spaces than the apartments that were available to the roster if they wanted. If it wasn't for the fact she had kids being looked after by their grand parents back in Canada, she would have found it easy to pack up and move back to Japan for good. She wanted to so she could progress things with Yamato more, but she didn't since she didn't want to keep the young ones away from their father. With what has been going on with him lately though he's been here a bit longer than normal due to capturing half of the tag team championship. She knew she they could talk and figure something out but she still had a lot on her mind as she wanted to do what was best for everyone both personally and business wise.

As she moved around she began to hear some out noises. At first she thought it might an earthquake or some other type of natural disaster brewing as she heard some yelling and the sound of trees making contact with something. She decided to head in the direction of what she was hearing and soon she could see someone. She came in time to see Ryan strike the tree for the final time before stopping, though she did not know how many times he had done this.

She wonders who it is, though she gets a slight feeling it might be Ryan but she isn't completely sure. She takes a moment to look at him more closely as she came up from behind and she moved over a bit to get a partial side view while still keeping her distance. As Ryan was recovering she called out to him, still not exactly sure if it is who he thinks it but feels like she should say something. "Hey!" She calls out. "What did that tree ever do to you?"

Ryan's gaze looked up at the sun above him, even at this time in the month he had thankfully been blessed with positive weather. The heat meant he had better exercise and no colds, still the days were getting less and less warm. He sighed before feeling the stubble he had grown over the course of his wilderness sabbatical, indeed it was quite the contrast to how Ryan had looked in the ring. This day had made Ryan believe that perhaps it might be time to conclude this little break, he could pack up and go within 30 minutes or so he estimated. There wasn't much the young man had with him besides the essentials.

Still he heard a voice nearby, Ryan's ears perked up before he turned to face the location of it. Mr Knight looked and saw it was that Lita woman, he knew her vaguely. More by association, she was a member of the group WhiteGale. Sion and Daisuke belonged to it, and they were now the current Tension tag titles. Ryan knew this because he was one half of the former champs.

Lita inquired as to what the tree ever did to Ryan, in response Ryan smirked and nonchalantly shrugged before saying "Well I'll just give it a hug." actually doing so with the Brit wrapping his arms around the tree as best he could before looking at Lita again.

"So. Lita right? Well guess I've been found, how's things? Sion and Daisuke doing okay?" Ryan leaned on the tree, Mr Knight was hardly looking the part he used to be. But he'd shed the rich life in this time, to better himself.

She shakes her head for a moment after he explained to her what she was doing "Running into it is a weird defintion of a hug...or is that a 'british thing?' She saw him actually hugging it though but did let him know he saw some of what he was doing. Not all of it but enough that it was concerning.

"Yeah they're fine." she nods at him when he asked how the others were doing and that he remembered who she was. "Though to be blunt, what the hell happened to you." She looks him over from where she was. She could make him out but this felt way off. "Banging yourself against trees is one of the last things I'd expect to see you doing." She didn't want to come off rude sounding to him, but she had trouble believing what she saw. "Does John and Lucy know you've gone off the deep end or about to?"

Ryan truth be told couldn't recall having a conversation with anyone recently aside from Anampo, who as mentioned earlier brought him food and clean clothes. And they'd have walked from time to time and talk about the future, aside from her though Mr Knight hadn't seen a soul in ages. Ironic given the amount of time Ryan spent in the spotlight back in Tension, where with the UK Elite he was the clear head of the group.

Lita spoke of how Sion and Daisuke were doing good, Ryan dusted his right shoulder with his left arm and nodded to the woman. In spite of the fact that WhiteGale defeated the UK Elite for the titles Ryan legitimately held no ill will towards them, the better team won after all. Still Lita got to the point, and asked about what happened to Ryan. And the other members of the UK Elite as well.

Ryan simply smirked and gave a little chuckle. Indeed he looked a far cry from his former appearance, he trained a suit for jogging bottoms and a jersey. Regal features for messy hair and stubble. Mr Knight scratched his hair and said "Well it's kinda simple. I reflected on the loss, watched the match after it. And felt it was time for the group to take a break. Told them I was going out for a bit, didn't say where though. John wasn't gonna be doing much and Lucy would watch him."

"I came here to regain my edge, roughing it was the answer. I'm feeling like I got it, clean air and all that is a good aid. Still guess I've been found out, maybe it's time to start heading home now." Ryan said after cracking his neck and massaging his shoulders, given that someone other than Anampo located him. Which meant it wasn't a secret anymore.

She wasn't sure what he might by 'a bit,' as to her it looked like he's been out here for quite some time. She was able to get the part of him wanting to be outside, but just his appearance, and what she saw him doing when he arrived, still made her wonder if there was more to this than what he's saying...unless if his training methods really are that out there from what she's use to.

She didn't want to press it too much however, and if he was thinking about heading home she'd taken him there. "Well if you think it's time to head out I'll come with." Looking again at the set up he was working with then back at him, she tried to avoid giving him a look that would make him think that she thought he was nuts, but this was still a surprise to her. "If you say you're alright I'll take your word for it...Though before you go should you apologize to that tree, unless the next time you're here you want to to get revenge and slam itself against you." She chuckles a little bit, the thought of that sounded a little bit amusing. She didn't hate him, just the mental image of a tree banging him around compare to him banging himself against it was a funny one.

"Let's get going, unless you want someone else to find you and start spreading rumours."

Ryan indeed had a bit of an eccentric side to him, this manifested itself usually in proximity of those he viewed favourably. This even extended to his training regime with him using odd methods in it, the infamous truck tire was a notable one. Still the results spoke for themselves considering how the paragon of Britain was clearly at his physical peak with the gleam of sweat coating his bare arms.

Lita spoke of how she'd come with Ryan now that he was heading out, in response the young man smiled and nodded and stood upright. Cracking his neck a little he said "Well it's feels good to know I'm gonna get back into the swing of things, you finding me here was probably a sign. Normally I don't believe in the whole fates and stuff, but sometimes you gotta."

The woman said Ryan might want to apologise to the tree that he just smacked into, the paragon of Britain turned and then bowed politely to it. He was joking in response to Lita's words, though he then said "Before we go though I need to get my stuff, there's a small shack I bought a stone's throw away. My girlfriend came every so often with clothes and food, haven't seen her recently though. Hope Anampo's okay."

Mr Knight walked to it and a short while later he had a large duffle bag slung over his right shoulder and said to Lita "Righto then, you take the lead and I'll follow." locking the shack door and sticking the key through the window it was now clear that Ryan was prepared to make his way back to civilization....

"I'm guessing you don't recall which way you came." She could lead him out of there, but it would have helped if he had somewhere specific in mind, unless they got somewhere noticeable he'd continue on his own, she didn't know what he was thinking other than leaving the place.

A few seconds after starting she shakes her head "Gonna be a jerk and not apologize to the tree eh?" Regardless if he stopped to do that or not she'd continue on. 'Hopefully this doesn't turn into one of those annoying escort quests' she thought to herself. "So...once we get you back to civilization what's next for you?"

Ryan had shrugged in response to Lita's comment about the tree before remarking with "I have bowed to it, with nature actions can speak louder than words. I am convinced of this, such as the case with wrestling. Promo skills only go so far, you actually need to back up the words once all is said." Mr Knight in spite of his social standing knew that nature abided by a different set of rules. There was definitely a more rugged look to the paragon of Britain, the stubble and grown hair was indicative of this. No doubt he'd probably get himself polished once again, at the very least that animal like tint to him would be gone.

Lita though did ask a good question, what was Ryan going to do once he actually got back to Kyoto? Mr Knight shrugged his shoulders, shifting the bag about as he did so. Though Ryan would say "Well it's a bit late in the year for doing grand things, I think it's getting close to the end of the year. Which is my favourite as it turns out. But I'll be sure to check on John, see if he's still interested in staying a team. It'll be good to see him and Lucy again."

"Y'know something though? I've kinda gotten accustomed to life outdoors, maybe I'll make a yearly excursion. Or I'll go to Canada, could be a nice change of pace! One thing at a time though, I believe the way I came here was this one. I actually really enjoyed that match I had with Sion and Daisuke, we tore the house down there." Ryan said, it had been some time since he'd actually spoken with another person save for his girlfriend. So he was kinda saying everything on his mind at the moment.

"I know I saw" Lita tells him, catching part of his gesture to the tree, though she still wanted to bug him about it a little bit while she still had a chance to."  "I hear you on that, though sometimes nature doesn't give a fuck."


"Hard to say if it's my favourite" she tells him after he comments about the later part of the calendar is a preferable time of year for him, "but it's one I like, gives me an excuse to back more and try new things to make and eat."  It was no secret to those who knew her that she could out cook anyone they know.

"I'll admit that was a rough one.  Not to rub it in but I'm glad it ended the way it did.  At least John didn't die from that fall.  How's he doing by the way?"  She felt the need to ask, even though Ryan hinted a little bit to John's condition.  "Part of me is still curious to see what might happen if I were to mix it up with Lucy.  Nothing against her but with your and John's involvement with Daisuke and Sion it kinda sucked not having a dance partner myself, so wanting to see out her during all of that felt natural."  She was a competitive one, but had nothing personal against either of the three UKE members.


As they continued walking she wanted to know more about Ryan the person than Ryan the wrestler, even if a good chunk of it was the same guy.  "Have you ever had any thought of starting a family?"  She mentions how she has two kids with Sion, even though he has some with Dai and those two were together.  "Let's just say the night the deed was done I didn't take no for an answer, and being forgetful and dumb I forgot those special pills I paid for it nine months later.  Neither of us feel bad and we worked it out, but with my boyfriend living in Japan and me only seeing him when I'm on tour here does make things harder.  I plan on moving back and staying at some point, I just don't want to take the kids and leave, nor would I want to abandon them and have them be their dad's problem." She then shows him a couple of small photos she had on her of the two kids that was taken a few months ago. "I'm assuming you've met Daisuke and Sion's kids before."

Not long after that she mentions that she heard Sion say recently that Daisuke and him were thinking of packing up and moving up here, but aren't too sure about it.  She is confident everything will work out for them all, and she credits their friend Lina for her help in organizing things both in and out of the ring for them. On that note she asks Ryan if he ever thought of having someone manage his in-ring career.