Chapter 3: Rumble, IT’S A RUMBLE!

"Leave us alone Thomas, or else." Bucky squinted though Thomas and his friends simply laughed.

"Hey Ricky, hear what happened to you, how's your head?" Thomas asked with a carnivorous smile as Ricky frowned which only made Thomas sneer widen.

"So you did get the piss knocked out of your shorts, ha!" Thomas laughed, but Ricky frowned not at this particular lame insult, but at these really old timey insults.

Ricky could guess that this Thomas kid, who looked to be around twelve, was a bully, which only made Ricky sigh internally. 

Bullies were always annoying, but the worst were kid bullies, since kids didn't understand consequences or that their actions have repercussions so they usually go to crazy extremes in the heat of the moment.

"Shut it orphan." Ricky suddenly spoke without any filter, causing all the kids to widen their eyes. 

He glanced around the place before shrugging, indifferent to the reactions since to him, it was funny if a little twerp got made fun of.

"Wha-"

"I mean you got no dad and no mom, yet you're raising your head up high as if people actually like you." Ricky looked back at the taken aback Thomas as his other friends started rubbing their arms, becoming slightly uncomfortable.

"S-SHUT UP!" Thomas pointed as Ricky scratched his chin without any concern.

"Or what you gonna do, tell on me? You'll still have no parents." Ricky laughed at his own insults since this wasn't the first time he made fun of an orphan.

"I-"

"And for god's sake tuck in your belly fat. No one wants to see that sh*t." Ricky pointed to Thomas's belly which was sticking out of his shirt.

"SAY ONE MORE THING AND I'LL KICK YOUR ASS RICKY!" Thomas looked around at the morale of his friends, dampening as he pointed menacingly at Ricky who simply scoffed.

"Oh yeah." Ricky scoffed as he drew his hands from his pockets.

"Yeah!" Thomas yelled as he snarled at Ricky.

*Crack*

'Guess I gotta beat the sh*t out of some kids, again.' Ricky cracked his fist as although he was a middle aged man trapped in a boy's body, it didn't mean he was some saint who let himself be bad mouthed by some tubby fat boy.

Hell, Ricky slapped a baby one time in an accident but instead of apologizing, he simply laughed.

"You want to rumble or something?" Thomas scoffed at Ricky's supposed intimidation as the other goons behind him laughed.

"Wanna see some sleight of hand?" Ricky suddenly asked while putting his hands together as everyone including Bucky and Steve looked at him weirdly.

"Look how there's nothing in my hand, correct?" Ricky gestured as a magician would as the kids started looking at each other before Steve leaned closer to Bucky.

"I think he was hit a little too hard." Steve whispered as Bucky reluctantly nodded.

"Yeah but we still need to get his back." Bucky quietly whispered back as they both started rolling their sleeves.

"Tada!" Ricky moved his hands before revealing the sight of the brass knuckles from the system as Thomas was shocked.

"How did you do that-"

Thomas' eyes filled with stars as the amazement was almost immediately interpreted by Ricky quickly putting on the brass knuckles before unleashing a punch right into his cheek.

*BAM*

*SPLAT*

Blood splattered out of Thomas' mouth as a baby tooth was launched into the air, the force causing him to lose his balance as he fell with the dislodged tooth.

*Thump*

*Dink*

Thomas fell to his knees, his eyes gazing confusedly at the tiny tooth rolling on the ground until it settled on the curb with the crazed amount of pain registered in his brain.

'The only way to stop a bully is not only to instill that look of fear he's currently about to have, but his little dumbass friends too.' Ricky's smirk slowly turned carnivorous as he couldn't help but laugh at the nerve of these kids wanting to bully him.

It was becoming excessive, but Ricky knew from his many beatings that bullies wouldn't listen unless you pushed back even harder.

"AHHHHHH!" Thomas wailed while holding his newly bloodied mouth as Bucky gritted his teeth and launched forward with the goons standing in shock behind Thomas.

Ricky didn't know much about the 1920s, but he knew a lot about reality. He wasn't going to be someone's punching bag, whether it be from his last life or now. He wasn't one to be pushed around by someone lesser than him.

*BAM*

*SPLAT*

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Thomas let out another pain riddled scream that caught the attention of the other orphans as Ricky threw another punch with his brass knuckled fist.

*BAM*

*CRACK*

Ricky landed one more punch, and this time, Thomas' consciousness finally gave out as he collided with his jaw, causing it to dislocate.

*BAM*

"URGH!" Bucky let out a pained grunt as one of the older kids was holding him in a full nelson while another punched his stomach.

Ricky turned towards the scene and, without missing a beat, barreled forward at the kid who was about to punch Bucky, tackling him to the floor.

*BAM*

Bucky seeing this knew he had to act fast as he recoiled his head backwards causing the back of his head to collide with the older kid's nose.

"ARGH!" The older kid stumbled back, but Bucky didn't hesitate to fly towards him, tackling him to the ground.

Ricky started hitting the kid with his brass knuckles while the latter tried to cover himself.

However, the kid had been covering his face with his forearms, which slowly turned purple under Ricky's wrath.

*CRACK*

"AHHHHHHHHH, MY ARM!" The kid screeched out as Ricky finally fractured the kid's forearm and right as he was about to bring down a punch to his face he was tackled.

*BAM*

"YOU LITTLE SQUIRT!" The older kid screamed, tackling Ricky with his utmost intent to stop the barrage of punches onto his own friend, immediately wailing Ricky with as many punches as he could muster.

But the kid was relentless and way too reckless.

Ricky gritted his teeth, knowing the right moment would appear while instinctively gazing to the side, seeing Steve moaning and grabbing his side, his lip spewing blood, clearly busted as Ricky's eyes immediately darted back to the kid, who was supposed to be beating him up, but instead taking a deep breath to regain himself.

"BUCKY!" Ricky yelled, gritting his teeth and as if on cue, Bucky tackled the kid who was wailing on him.

"GET OFF OF HIM!" Bucky yelled with bloodshot eyes and once the older kid was tackled to the ground, Ricky got to his feet.

"BASTA-"

*BAM*

*Splat*

Ricky didn't hesitate to kick the kid square in the face as some blood splattered from his mouth that allowed Bucky to punch him into submissions.

Steve was trying to limp away, but a battered kid yanked his hair back only for Ricky to superman punch him into the wall.

"Boys? BOYS!" The headmistress, Ms. Conwell screamed in horror, rushing over and having to pry both Bucky and Ricky off of the older orphan.

"WHAT IS THAT MATTER WITH YOU TWO!" Ms. Conwell screeched as Ricky jerked away from her along with Bucky.

"They were hassling us and-"

"AND YOU BEAT THEM TO A BLOODY PULP?" Ms. Conwell lectured Bucky who tried to stand up from himself which shut him up completely.

"What were we supposed to do, let our asses get beat?" Ricky gave her a dumb look, not understanding the stupidity of this old hag-

*SLAP*

Then out of the blue, Ricky was reminded that this wasn't his era, with his introduction into his current one being a good old fashioned slap by the head mistresses.

"No supper for you, go to your rooms, NOW!" Ms. Conwell pointed to the stairs as Bucky and Ricky both looked at each other then Steve before sighing as they walked over to him to pull him to his feet.

"I'm guessing this happens a lot, right?" Ricky asked with a bloody lip, rubbing his cheek as Bucky nodded with an apparent black eye.

"Yeah, we have a habit of finding trouble and Mr. Patriotic over there doesn't help us as he's too busy getting the snot beaten out of him." Bucky sighed in distress, though even so, he always had Steve and Ricky's back as they were his best and only friends.

Walking to their room at the end of the hall, it wasn't the last door but a broom closet located right next to them which was made into a bedroom to house more orphans.

Three beds were squeezed into the broom closet along with a single dresser and one lone desk.

"He's the bottom bunk." Bucky informed as Ricky nodded before helping Steve into the bottom cottage.

"Man, I'm beat." Ricky grimaced in pain as the accumulated injuries started hitting him at this moment as Bucky nodded his head.

"Yeah, let's get some shut eye." Bucky nodded as he climbed onto his bed before Ricky climbed all the way to the top where the pleasant sight of a topless girl met his eyes.

"Nice~" Ricky nodded to himself while looking at the busty brunette plastered on his ceiling while Bucky rolled his eyes.

"Golly, some things never change." Bucky muttered before chuckling since Ricky always said that when he saw his poster.

"I'm sorry for not pulling my weight guys." Steve suddenly said in a dejected tone but before Bucky could say anything, RIcky beat him to it.

"At least you weren't a sissy and ran away but instead took those punches like a man." Ricky complimented in his own way as Steve instinctively smiled.

"Really?" Steve asked with a hopeful look as Bucky was quick to chim in.

"Yeah Steve, as long as you give it your all then it doesn't matter cause we'll always have your back." Bucky eased his worrisome friend as Rickey pulled up the sheets.

"Unless you get into a gun fight then you're on your own." Ricky joked as the two immediately laughed.

It had been a while since Ricky had friends; all his previous friends had stopped talking to him after he borrowed money and never paid them back.

Ricky stared at the topless women for a while before slowly closing his eyes, drifting off into his first sleep since coming to this world.

Next Day,

"That's not happening." Ricky crossed his arms after hearing what Ms. Conwell had just said. 

Even Bucky was surprised, holding in his laughter, though Steve couldn't hold it in.

"YOU ARE GROUNDED AND THAT'S FINAL!" Ms. Conwell demanded but Ricky simply leaned back in his chair.

"Just because we got into a fight-"

"BECAUSE YOU DISLOCATED YOUNG THOMAS'S JAW AND HOSPITALIZED FOUR OF YOUR FRIENDS!" Ms. Conwell roared in rage, though Ricky wasn't frightened in the least.

"First of all, that twit deserved it and secondly, friends, really?." Ricky held up two fingers with the first one being his middle finger as Bucky heisted at the actions which made Ms. Conwell furious.

"TO YOUR ROOMS, THE THREE OF YOU, NOW, NOW, NOW!" Ms. Conwell demanded in a childish way and after breakfast they were sent back to their rooms once more.

Ricky rolled his eyes but hopped to his feet with Bucky and Steve following him as they walked upstairs.

"Hey Bucky, you still want to play baseball today?" Ricky asked as he decided to relax for a while.

"But we're grounded-"

"So?" Ricky raised an eyebrow since he wasn't about to be grounded with the mental age of forty eight.

"So if that old broad catches us then we'll go two days without eating supper-"

"I'll cover for you." Steve suddenly said and Ricky smiled widely while gesturing to him.

"See, Steve will cover for us so there's nothing to worry about." Ricky gestured to Steve as Bucky showed an apprehensive expression.

"I don't know Ricky-"

"Then I'll just go by myself." Ricky said while looking around before seeing a window.

Walking over to it, he saw a tree conveniently placed right next to it as he opened it up while stepping on the window still.

"Bucky go with him, what if Thomas's friends from school jump him?" Steve tugged on Bucky's shirt since they were all homeschooled until middle school.

*Sigh*

"Fine." Bucky sighed before following Ricky out but not before Ricky waved at Steve with a smile.

"Thanks Steve, I'll bring you something from outside the slammer." Ricky joked, Steve laughing before watching them jump onto the tree then climb down it.

Walking on the road, Ricky saw the old scenery of Brooklyn in its olden days as he gazed around with wonder.

Although it couldn't compare with New York today, Ricky was still amazed by the old scenery. It gave off a familial warmth that the cold skyscrapers could never hope to emulate.

"How's your head Ricky?" Bucky asked while Ricky was taking in the surroundings as he gave him a smile.

"It doesn't hurt anymore but I still can't remember anything." Ricky shrugged without a care only for Bucky to frown before Ricky nudged him.

"What are you, my mom? Stop being such a worry wart." Ricky laughed, speaking in a 1920s dialect as Bucky started to smile at this.

Their conversation afterwards was lighthearted as they arrived at an old field with a bunch of kids gathering.

Both of them played with the older kids as they were very skilled at baseball only for the kids to turn towards them in haste.

"Bucky, Ricky, you fellas need to get out of here." An older kid by the name of James ran up to the both of them while urging them to run away.

"Thomas's palley's have been lurking around here and-"

"THERE HE IS!" A kid yelled as Ricky and Bucky looked over to see around twenty older kids rushing forward at them with livid expressions.

"GET OUT OF HERE, WE'LL HOLD THEM OFF!" James shouted, shooing them away as their teammates formed a wall and rushed at the oncoming brutes with Ricky and Bucky both looking at each other before running off.

James and the baseball team weren't really close with either Ricky or Bucky, however since they were one of their own, they were going to have his back whether he was in the wrong.

"WE JUST HAD TO GO PLAY BALL RICKY!" Bucky yelled at Ricky hurriedly once they turned the corner.

"I DIDN'T THINK THERE WOULD BE THAT MANY RUGRATS!" Ricky yelled back at Bucky as they hurriedly ran towards a fence.

Ricky might have been confident about beating up a couple of brats, especially with brass knuckles. 

However, those kids continued to pour in, and Ricky stopped keeping track after twenty.

"HE WENT THIS WAY!" A shout sounded behind Ricky and Bucky as they hopped the fence yet when he turned his eyes, they shook violently.

Around fifteen kids were running after him like rabid animals, which baffled Ricky before arriving at a two-way split, unsure which way to go.

"LET'S SPLIT UP!" Ricky pushed Bucky to the side while going in the opposite direction in hopes that a couple stranglers followed Bucky.

But they didn't, literally all fifteen rabid kids charged after Ricky as continuous beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

'This is what you get Ricky, this is god's atonement for beating up a kid-URGH, HE F*CKING DESERVED IT I DON'T REGRET IT!' Ricky yelled at himself before becoming livid of him reprimanding himself.

As Ricky was running, he saw another man booking it from the side, though right as he was about to keep running straight, he saw the kids close his ticket to freedom as he changed course around the nearby building before Ricky tucked down into an alleyway.

"Oh sh*t." Ricky muttered upon reaching a complete dead end only to turn around to see the kids at the entrance of the alleyway.

Gazing around, Ricky saw a lone door with its sight conveniently right next to a nearby dumpster as he booked towards it.

"DAMMIT!" Ricky yelled, jerking the handle only to find out it was locked and wouldn't budge as he jigged the knob that continued to be immovable by Ricky's childlike strength.

"Ha, you're so dead." A freckled face kid hissed while hitting his fist against his hand with Ricky sighing and pulling out his brass knuckles before gritting his teeth.

'I can't believe I'm going to get my ass kicked by a bunch of kids.' Ricky thought that although he always considered scenarios of how many kids he could take in a fight, he usually imagined himself in his adult body, not as a nine-year-old.

"Listen I know we've had our differences but-"

*BANG*

*BANG*

*Crash*

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a window perched about two stories high burst open with two gunshots. 

In the next second, a body fell out of the window before falling right into the dumpster next to Ricky making him flinch.

Everyone in the alley froze, the gravity of the situation sinking in for these young children. The bloody event was too much for them to process, except for one.

Ricky didn't run immediately as he gazed up to see a couple of cops looking down before rushing out from the window's view, not even noticing his existence.

Now, if Ricky were a normal or decent person, his thought process might have been different upon seeing the dumpster before him. 

Yet one thought persisted in this deadbeat's mind.

'Maybe I can loot the body of any cash.' Ricky thought as this hadn't been the first time he's looted a dead body though most of his victims were homeless people who had OD'd.

Rushing over to the dumpster, he pulled the bloody body of a seemingly young man though his features were covered by the glass shards sticking out of the left side of his face.

Ricky was quick in his efforts as his small hands patted down the man's body as they traced through his gray suit.

'Here we go-' Ricky thought as he felt a money clip only for the man's hand to grab onto his wrist.

"HOLY SH*T, YOUR ALIVE!"