Rick Wheeler

In the Japanese version of the F-Zero anime, his real name is Ryu Suzaku. A champion racer and a detective hailing from New York in 2051, Rick's life came to a tragic end, not before he was awake from cryo-sleep for 150 years. Now a member of the Galaxy Mobile Platoon, Rick now competes in F-Zero races, but vows to bring the one who nearly killed him to justice, Zoda. His vehicle is the Dragon Bird, which later upgraded to the Dragon Bird EX. He's the main protagonist next to Captain Falcon and Jody Summer. His greatest rival and best friend is Jack Levin.

F-Zero GP Legend in the Multiverse
In TheIkranRider's fanfics, Rick goes through tremendous character development as he was first captured by Dark Million, along with the rest of the Mobile Task Force, and later falls for Tinsel Steelus, the pilot of the Silver Comet. He also becomes the late Captain Falcon's (Douglas Jay Falcon's) successor, as well as the savior of the galaxy. He does meet Tinsel's former Duelist friends, Yami, Yugi, and Joey.

From there, Rick met the trio as they volunteered to join in on the war against Black Shadow/Deathborn. They met him on an old Mute City track along with other fellow pilots. But they had a larger role as the Championship in Lightning was coming around, after they thwarted a 10,000-year curse and awakened the Dragons. The guys fought off the defenses at Dark Star using their Trap cards, then infiltrated the base in an attempt to save Tinsel and the universe. Rick and the others were successful, but at a price when Falcon sacrificed himself to draw Deathborn down as the Reactor Core was being obliterated. Rick then swore to carry on Douglas' legacy as a champion and bounty hunter.

His first mission as a bounty hunter was an altered universe crossover featuring the Resident Evil Universe in "Man of Destiny." He went to the core of the Umbrella's Hive Building underneath Port Town while destroying numerous zombie legions and disabling the Red Queen's defenses. Then he detonated a bomb made by Clank and the Mighty Gazelle which was set for three hours destroying the facility. He met some survivors including Alice, Rain, and Kaplan cornered by Spence who was driven by greed. He shot him and led the escape, although he was later bitten by a nearby horde. Using the power of his Reactor Mights, he managed to lead the trio to safety before he gave into his injuries. The Galaxy Platoon arrived, apprehending the cohorts in the Umbrella Corp. including Dr. James Marcus himself. He soon recovered from the T-Virus infection thanks to some Reactor Mights of light, as well as Capt.. Falcon urging Rick to live on. From that moment on, the survivors vowed to keep the Young Falcon's identity a secret, and occasionally watch him race.

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version, his real name is Ryu Suzaku.
 * His name, Ryu, means Dragon and Suzaku means the Vermillion Bird; his machine is related to that fact as its name is the Dragon Bird.
 * He pilots three machines, the Dragon Bird and later the upgraded Dragon Bird EX. Then pilots the Blue Falcon GT taking up Falcon's mantle.
 * His birthday is July 28, 2032. Although Ikran's timeline says it different. He's currently 23 years old. His blood type is A. Being born in the summer, and in Boston, is significant to his personality and fiery capabilities.
 * In one of her fics, The Power of the Falcon, he obtains similar abilities to the late Falcon; each of them are made of electricity instead of flame, as is his Dragon Punch, Dragon Kick, Dragon Kiss, and Dragon Knuckle. This was inspired by that idea at the Fantendo Wiki.
 * In the anime, his girlfriend was actually Haruka (later known as Miss Killer), but in Ikran's fics, it's Tinsel Steelus.
 * He's the F-Zero equivalent of his Street Fighter counterpart, Ryu. This makes him the second F-Zero pilot to reference a video game character owned by a 3rd party company. The first pilot that does this is PJ from Crazy Taxi in F-Zero GX.
 * He's voiced by Greg Abbey from the 4Kids dubs.
 * In Lap 46. it's known in the anime that Rick's father was a racer, much like him.
 * Rick's machine number is 00 due to his unlimited potential; even though it's coincidentally the same as Deathborn's.
 * It's likely that Rick has a Japanese heritage, as shown that he trained with Samurai Goroh later in the anime, and he once wore a white dogi with a black belt, much like Ryu.
 * While his main timeline starts in 2201, Ikran's timeline started in the 26th century one year after the events in GX. That was when Rick was awakened from cold sleep in 2574.