Rick Shades

“	Wonderful, in that case, please, my new friends...do not let me die.	”
—Rick Shades, "Prison of Plastic"

Toidei "Odi" Gourami, also known as Rick Shades, is a former Ocean Country wizard who escaped the Colosseum with the help of his fellow combatants and friends. After being found by The Neo Trio on the Sweet Jazz City beaches, he helped in the three's rescue of Naven Nuknuk from Lorelai Blyndeff's dream bubble. In return, Rick was given housing and work by Naven at the STEM Building.

Rick's Epithet, "Soulmates", allows him to copy the powers and abilities of anyone who becomes friends with him, including those of other Inscribed.

Physical Appearance

Rick Shades is a lanky man with a dusky complexion, a pointed nose, pointy ears and deep neon purple hair with bright red strands coming from the parting. He wears jet black sunglasses, a red scarf, and a dulled purple jacket with a red heart-shaped patch over his right breast (the wrong side) worn over a yellow shirt and black trousers. He also wears dull purple shoes and red finger-less gloves. When Molly finds him on a beach, he's covered in sea water and has some seaweed and a star fish on him. His eyes glow like a candle in the dark out of his shades.

Because of his clothing and unkempt appearance, he is said to give off the appearance of a drifter, or some strange purple hobo who might travel by boxcar.

He also has a great smile! But he doesn't blink.

Personality

Rick is very mysterious, but in a comedic way. He does casual stuff in a very formal, but off-putting, matter, like saying "The Pact Is Sealed!" when he becomes friends with Phoenica Fleecity. He also has a habit of cackling maniacally and screaming (though the latter is due to the fact that his default response to feeling an emotion is to scream). Despite these quirks, Rick seems to be very polite and friendly (albeit a bit too friendly). Because of his Epithet, he is obsessed with making friends and insists that he'll eventually become friends with Molly and Trixie as well, the same way he became friends with Phoenica.

Being an ocean dweller, Rick is ignorant to concepts from the surface world, such as something as simple as "schoolwork", and tends to rely on his allies' powers and abilities via his Epithet to perform tasks which are related to said concepts.

Often he seems to have some conceit in himself, but is overall delightfully incompetent.

History

Past

Born in Ocean Country, Toidei Gourami made many friends and became a powerful epithet user. This led to the supreme leader of Ocean Country, an ancient warlock named He Who Hungers Endlessly, to take notice and harvest him at the age of 12. However, due to his epithet relying on friendship and not wanting to hurt his newly found friends, he became weaker as the Colosseum battles continued on. Eventually, he decided he would throw all his battles under the persona, "Rick Shades". This way, he would both regain his power and keep his friends.

However, after years of his friends dying and, as a result, him becoming weaker, Rick realized that he would soon be disposed of. At the age of 20, he planned an escape with the help of his remaining friends and their epithets. After evading the Colosseum guards, breaking through the sea dome, and swimming away with the shared epithets, Rick successfully escaped from Ocean Country. But, after some time of navigating the ocean, Rick ran outside the range of his friends' soulmate bond and he passed out in the water.^[3]

Prison of Plastic

"You see, the trick of this challenge is figuring out what to do with an incomplete recipe."

This article or section is in need of expanding. You can help the Epithet Erased Wiki by finishing it! (visual edit)
This notice may be removed when this article/section is completed.

"Yeah! Those are... words!"

This article or section is in need of a rewrite. You can help the Epithet Erased Wiki by rewording it! (visual edit)
This notice may be removed when this revision is completed.

Three days later,^[3] a little girl, named Molly Blyndeff, finds Rick, who assumed his slumped over form to be a dead body. Her two other friends, Phoenicia and Trixie catches up to her and they argue about what to do. Before, he stands up and introduces himself. They scream before arguing about what he could be, before the Rick says he is a wizard. Phoenicia then introduces herself and explains she needs to assemble of group of magical girls to save the world, and asks if he would like to be one. This leads to an argument about if you need magic to be a magical girl between Trixie and Phoenicia. Molly, thinking Rick is likely dangerous, grabs her friends and attempts to drag them away from the strange man.

Rick manages to catch up to them and gets Phoenicia to shake his hand, forming a 'pact' by becoming friends, in a swarm of black lighting. Molly and Trixie attempts to get Phoenicia to flee but instead she stayed and he attempts to explain his epithet after some confusion. He says it's "Soulmates" and Phoenicia gets flustered by his epithet's name before he explains it simply means keeping his friends in his soul. And then, explaining by example by using Phoenicia's book-smarts on her homework. Phoenicia is then appalled because he used her knowledge to complete his homework, which is cheating, due to this she no longer considers him her friend, breaking the 'pact'.

After Rick shared his past and he apologized, Phoenicia forgave them , reforming their 'pact'. He then attempted to learn the other two's powers, and after failing, he simply declared that he'll befriend them eventually. He then recalls them discussing winning, and asks about it. Trixie explains, what he is talking about. He then explains he has not eaten in days, prompting the three to try and find some food, failing, only finding some lip balm. He goes to do the task to win. Molly explains what Lip balm is and gives it to him, before he eats it. Everyone panics looing for a solution, as lip balm is likely poisonous, as they also learned he had drank nothing but sea water for the last three days. Trixie finds a potion in her bag and Rick goes to eat it before they stop him. Rick confirmed that they were friends before he collapsed.^[4]

Relationships

to be added ):

Unique Abilities

"You see, the trick of this challenge is figuring out what to do with an incomplete recipe."

This article or section is in need of expanding. You can help the Epithet Erased Wiki by finishing it! (visual edit)
This notice may be removed when this article/section is completed.

Epithet: Soulmates: Rick's Epithet is Soulmates. Despite the implications, his power has nothing to do with romantic soulmates. Whenever he makes friends with someone, he can generate black electricity that can be spun together into a single string that spears his friend's heart and his own, allowing him to not only regain his own magic (said black electricity), but also gain the abilities of his friend (for example: Phoenica's book smarts). Strangely, if Rick is under the false impression that a soulmate has an ability, he is still able to preform said ability, even though it seems impossible, like how Rick can make potions because he thinks Trixie can make potions.^[5] His power works like a "switchboard", with each ability coming as a whole but he is able to turn each ability on and off separately.^[6] He'd also be able to have the upsides of an ability and not the downsides, if he is unaware of the downsides.^[7] If a friend decides they no longer are friends, the pact is broken.^[4] The pact is also broken if Rick moves too far away from a friend.^[3]

Black Lightning Manipulation: Rick appears to be able to manipulate Black Lightning to some capacity. It both being used in relation to his epithet, manifesting when pacts are formed^[4] or broken,^[8] or when an attempt is made.^[4] It can also be used as an attack, only known time is when he tried to attack Lorelai Blyndeff with it when he first entered her Dream Bubble.^[9]

Former Abilities

Former Soulmates Power
- Glass-Breaking: One of Rick's Coliseum Friends had the power to break glass and used it to break the dome they were trapped in, so he could escape the Coliseum.
- Fast-Swimming: One of Rick's Coliseum Friends had the power incredibly fast, using it to outswim the sentries and escape the Coliseum, however, his powers gave up before he reached the surface.
- Underwater-Breathing: One of Rick's Coliseum Friends had the power breathe underwater, allowing Rick to breathe, however, his powers gave up before he reached the surface and ended up being pulled by current before landing on a beach in Sweet Jazz City.
Lizard Form: to be added

Trivia

His last name may be a reference to his choice of eye wear, that being sunglasses, or otherwise known as shades.
Rick appears as the protagonist under the name "Viafble", in his creator's randomizer of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.^{[Citation Needed]}
Along with Phoenica, he appears as a player character in a Pokemon Tabletop Oneshot, played by Jay Barrett, who played him in "Winner Take All".
He is "Ocean Race" which, despite the name, do not have any fish abilities besides their hair looking like poisonous fish. Instead, they wield Dark Magic.^{[Citation Needed]}
His height is 6'2".^[1]
His birthday is June 6.^[1]
His favorite animal is the anemone.^[1]
His favorite food is Karmal^[1]
- "Karmal" is an undersea treat used by wizards to fuel their magic, It is not eaten and instead sacrificed for power.^[1]
He likes friendship, arts & crafts, and nice socks.^[1]
Rick once raised a shark as if it was a dog.^[10]
- Sharks aren't kept as dogs in Ocean Country, he was just being weird.^[10]
On Twitter, Jello made a tier list of how well liked in the fandom each character is, placing Rick in "Well-Liked (w/ Rare Exceptions)"^[11]
On Twitter, Jello made a tier list of Stardew Valley spouses, Rick being paired with Abigail because "Trixie and Rick are here for the weird magic girl who likes ghosts."^[12]
His favorite flavor is black licorice.^[2]
On Twitter, Jello retweeted a promotion for "Rick Steeps", a chocolate chai pu-erh & watermelon cooler tea with Rick's likeness on the tin, after having been sent another Epithet Erased inspired tea collection from the same creator.^[13]. The tin's caption reads "The Only Thing Darker Than The Cocoa And Anise Mix Is The Deep!"^[14]

Adaption from Anime Campaign

In Prison of Plastic, his epithet is "Soulmates." In Anime Campaign, it is "Companion."^{[Citation Needed]}
In Prison of Plastic, he was found by Molly Blyndeff, Phoenica Fleecity, and Trixie Roughhouse. In Anime Campaign, he was found by Stan Goldstein.^{[Citation Needed]}
In Epithet Erased, his original name was Toidei Gourami. In Anime Campaign, his name was Oblivious Obsequious.^{[Citation Needed]}