Endurance ( Remastered)

Chapter 9 - Roller Coaster

**Roller Coaster was potential song for the self titled 1994 album that never came to fruition.

**Name changes -

Tommy's friend, the bass player from Armored Saint, has been renamed Jimmy.

Nikki's girlfriend Kimberly is introduced. She's falsely know as Nicole in both The Dirt and Heroin Diaries. Kimberly was her real name, so I'm using that. But I did fudge her last name in this chapter.

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January 1985 -

The year started in a lackluster fashion. While Vince was dealing with the press and pending litigation, Nikki was commissioned to start writing songs for the band's next album. The only problem was that Nikki found it easier to cope with the stress brought on by Vince's accident with drugs, and the drugs weren't conducive to songwriting.

"Nikki, how's the album coming along," Doug, their manager, asked.

Nikki pulled the phone receiver away from his face to snort up a line of cocaine that his roommate Robbin laid out on the table. "Uhh, I got like five songs, maybe four."

"Do you have demos completed?"

"Uhh, like maybe two, or one."

"What's the holdup? Tom Wellman is looking to get you in the studio as soon as possible," Doug relayed.

"Yeah, um... I got some stuff going... I just. I mean, here's the thing. What if we're in the middle of recording and Vince gets thrown into jail halfway through? We don't know-"

"Doesn't it make sense then to record now, while the case is pending?" Doug reasoned as he cut Nikki off.

"I guess. Um... I got, like, some ideas. Uhh... by next week I'll have more songs," Nikki garbled.

"And demos, Nikki! Tom Wellman wants to hear your demos."

"Right," Nikki snickered, for no apparent reason. "Dem hoes cumming yer way," Nikki laughed incessantly.

"Okay, Nikki you got 'til Wednesday to pull songs together," Doug gruffed.

"You got it," Nikki replied, hanging up.

"Who was that?" Robbin asked.

The bassist sat at the table with his hand mushed into the side of his face. "Gimme another line, Robb... these fucking assholes are beginning to piss me off. They won't leave me alone for five minutes. You can't rush perfection."

"But I thought you wanted this..." Robbin questioned, ignoring Nikki's woes, holding a rig up to show him.

"I do, but I gotta get these songs done... I can't do it on that sh-... You know what? To hell with it, it's only Friday, I got 'til Wednesday," Nikki resolved, laying his arm across the table for Robbin to tie it off.

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Later that day, the phone rang again at Nikki's and Robbin's apartment.

"Lo?" Robbin answered.

"Hey, man. It's Tommy. How are you? Is Nikki there?"

"Duuude," Robbin chuckled. "I'm cool. Uh... Nikki, uh... he's taking a break. Like, me and him have been trying to write some songs, you know. Songs."

"Yeah? Songs... you mean together?" Tommy questioned.

"No, man. RATT is working on something new too. We wanna get the album out before summer."

"Oh, 'kay. Well, that's why I'm calling. I've come up with something cool for one of Nikki's songs for our upcoming album. I want him to hear it."