[CENTER][h1][color=EB054D][b]RICO[/b][/color][/h1][/center][hr]“Oh god please, I’ll pay you back, honest, just spare me!”

Rico looked down on the begging man, his hair long and clothes ratty. His cheeks were puffed out slightly, his look vacant. In his hand was a simple flintlock pistol. Turning over his shoulder to the two Solar Triad thugs who’d roped him into this.

“Just finish him off and you’ll get paid,” insisted Hong.

[COLOR=EB054D]“I’m gonna be honest fellas, I did not sign up for this.”[/color]

Jingyi balked. “What!? That’s not what you said before! Just hurry it up and off him so we can be neatly removed from culpability.”

Rico’s eyes wandered, perhaps drifting back to what he said before.

[i][COLOR=EB054D]“Have I whacked a guy before? You betcha. No one in the West can whack like me. I’m the whackiest freakin’ whackjob you ever met. I whack out the wazoo. My whacking is [b]cracked[/b], jack. Talking smack wearing black BAM, I whack. Whacked so hard I broke my back, once. From the rack with a crack, I’ve got a knack for whack.”[/color]

“...I kinda want to hit him,” Jingyi grumbled.

“I wanna see how far he can go with this,” Hong said.

[COLOR=EB054D]“Please help I don’t know how to stop.”[/color][/i]

[COLOR=EB054D]“I think I misunderstood you guys, must be a local thing,”[/color] Rico suggested.

Hong took the gun back. “Well, we’ll salvage this somehow.” Twirling it about, he pointed it at Rico and fired. But Rico didn’t fall, his face reforming with a fizz of sparks, his eyes narrowed in anger. “What the sho-” Rico grabbed him by the face, bending a knee and bringing him down, smashing him into the stone alleyway ground effortlessly. Cracks formed about, Jingyi and the debtor letting out cries of shock.

[COLOR=EB054D]“That was really rude you know!”[/color] Rico growled. Stomping towards Jingyi, he demanded, [COLOR=EB054D]“What the heck is even going on here!?”[/color]

Jingyi tried to retreat, only managing to back into the wall. “H-Humex over there is late on his debt repayment!”

Rico paused. [COLOR=EB054D]“I have debts to pay too, how the heck can we pay if we’re dead?”[/color]

Jingyi became indignant. “Hey, if we go soft on you guys it’s over for our rep! That’s worth more than the rest of the debt, so-”

He stopped when Rico glared. Trying to slip away, he failed, Rico grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt. Using his other hand to flip the man around, Rico brought him down, slamming him into the ground with another cracking of stone. [COLOR=EB054D]“That’s stupid! You’re stupid!”[/color] He grumbled. Turning to Humex, he noted, [COLOR=EB054D]“And if [i]I[/i] think your plan is dumb then you’ve got another thing coming!”[/color]

Humex stared, before mumbling, “It’s n-not that stupid, really. The Solar Triad are feared around here for a good reason, and you just knocked out-why are you going through their pockets?”

Rico stuck out his lips as he pulled some beri out of Hong and Jingyi’s wallets. [COLOR=EB054D]“I whacked some guys, just not the one they wanted. Besides I need to get to Shuffle Island somehow.”[/color] Pulling together about 10,000 beri, he muttered, [COLOR=EB054D]“How much is a ship? Like a ride? To a place I wanna go?”[/color]

Humex thought for a moment before answering, “Er, depends on where you want to go. Shuffle Island...maybe 50,000? A bit more?”

[COLOR=EB054D]“Sweet!”[/color] Rico cheered, pocketing the cash. [COLOR=EB054D]“Anyway, you should probably run, they’re gonna be mad when they wake up. We both gotta find a way to earn some money. Any ideas?”[/color]

Humex balked, “If I knew I wouldn’t be in this situation. You have bigger things to worry about though! You don’t want to be on the Triad’s bad side. What’s your name, anyway?”

[COLOR=EB054D]“Meh, I’ll figure it out, they don’t seem so tough. Anyway, I’m Rico. Can I crash at your place?”[/color]

[i]This guy is going to get himself killed, so Helios no![/i] Humex thought with a wince. “Er, there are some good places to stay right in Phoenix Beach if you have the cash.”

Rico pouted. [COLOR=EB054D]“I need the money though, dang, this is gonna be hard.”[/color] 

“Tell me about it. Anyway, thanks for the help pal, but we better get before the Sootstriders come.” Humex skedaddled, leaving Rico behind. The young man looked to the two bodies, wondering aloud, [COLOR=EB054D]“I don’t know how ash is gonna help but see you later bro!”[/color]

As the two parted ways, Humex felt his heart pounding. He had a ray of light, finally. It wouldn’t be enough to remove his debt, but he had something that could be worth a lot in the right circumstance: information. This Rico kid, with a weird power and crazy strength, who the Triad could be gunning for within the day...he just needed to offer the right words at the right time for the right price.