Sand-dune City, a town near the texan coast. it's not particularly big but there is a lot to do since it's main industry is tourism. one of such events is the Sand-dune city spice tolerance competition. it's quite simple really, the contestants are presented with really spicy food, made with the hottest of the hottest peppers. much hotter than your typical red chilis. they tend to be so hot that people have to sign a contract stating that the city is not responsible for any incidents that happen during the competition as people have been hospitalized before from eating these insanely hot peppers. therefore competing in these contests has become a way to show off masculinity. the current unbeaten champion being Victor Eady. a muscular bald man with a short temper who takes great pride in his status as spice champion.
Ronald Pepper was someone who was new to sand-dune city. he was a chubby man, slightly overweight. he was never the most successful young man, he just moved into sand-dune city as he found a cheap Appartement and it wasn't far from his parents who lives in San-antonio. Ronald Pepper, as nice as he was was kind of a loser. on his first day in this brand new town the first thing Ronald decided to do was explore. he felt the sun kiss his face and the ocean breeze blow in his hair. the constant sound of his flip-flops on the hot pavement, the smells of nearby restaurant combined with the fumes from cars. it wasn't much but for Ronald it felt like a brand new world ready to be explored. he entered a fast food restaurant called Tic-Tac-Taco and awaited his turn patiently. Ronald was a big fan of spicy food and he wanted to try the hellblaze taco that he heard so much about. after a bit of waiting it was his turn to order, 'one hellblaze taco please' he said in a friendly tone. the cashier asked 'are you sure? these things are incredibly spicy.' 'yes I'm sure' Ronald replied. 'I always loved spicy food, the spicier the better' the cashier looked at him and said 'maybe you should consider joining the spice tolerance competition if you like spicy foods so much' Ronald then asked her 'what is that? I'm sorry, I'm new to this town and I haven't been around much yet' the cashier handed him a promotional flyer and she said 'I have other customers waiting, here's a flyer with all the information you need. and I'll call you when your taco is ready'
Ronald began to read the flyer 'Prove your masculinity by resisting the most intense spices, join the sand-dune city annual spice tolerance competition. the winner gets a thousand dollars. can you beat our current champion Victor Eady? come to the town square on August 6th and find out. sponsored by Tic-Tac-Taco' Ronald thought to himself 'thats tomorrow, maybe I'll compete, see if I can get to know some people.'
the day of the competition broke out, all the competitors signed their contracts and sat down on a stage with big plates in front of them. they had all kinds of peppers. Jalepeños, Red Chilis, all the standard stuff. but also more extreme peppers such as the devils tounge, the ghost pepper and the infamous Carolina Reaper. Ronald heard a dark voice beside him 'who are you punk' 'I'm Ronald he nervously replied. 'I'm Victor the man said 'and don't even think about trying to beat me. I am the champion, always have been, always will be. there's now way a new guy like you could ever take away my title of spice champion and my thousand dollars.' Ronald asked 'and what if I do win?' Victor simply replied 'you won't'
then, a countdown started
'five, four, three, two, one' a buzzer sounded and everyone started eating. not long after two contestants quit, then a few more. there were over Twenty different peppers and most contestants couldn't the even finish five of them. Victor and Ronald however didn't give up so easily. not long after they were the last two contestants left, Ronald looked at Victor's plate and noticed that he was eating just as fast as him, however Victor's face started to become really red. both of them only had three peppers left, so Ronald grabbed all of them at the same time. Victor said 'dont even think about trying that, you won't make it. not even I can do that' but Ronald went through with it, so victor, in order to protect his title decided to quickly do the same but as the peppers hit his tounge he started crying, but unfortunately for him, he couldn't keep it in. Ronald was victorious, and Victor embarrassed himself in front of the whole town. a buzzer sounded and an announcer yelled 'Ronald pepper has won the spice tolerance competition! tell us ronald, how do you feel?' Ronald put his arms in the air and yelled 'I feel like a king!' victor looked at him in anger and yelled 'NO, I'M THE KING. YOU WILL NEVER BE CHAMPION, YOU CHEATED' victor looked at him and calmly said 'I can assure you I did not. I have foods this spicy all the time.' 'YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!' Victor yelled right before passing out.
Ronald looked at the crowd that was watching the whole thing take place and yelled confidently 'LETS GO TO THE BAR, DRINKS ARE ON ME!' and everyone cheered.
the whole crowd went to the bar and started drinking, singing and just having a good time. A drunk guy put his arm around Ronald and said 'y'know... y'know what... you you ate that pepper. the carolina reaper... I'm gonna call you that, reaper... my name is Devin by the way... do you want my phone number?' Ronald who was also drunk said 'you know what Devin... I'll give you my number, lets go drinking more often... you are funny' Ronald took another sip of his beer and said to Devin 'you know Devin... you look funny, you ever noticed how... funny you look...' and then Ronald fainted.
the next day Ronald woke up in an alley, naked. lying in a pile of ashes, his phone was still working but the cover was slightly damaged. his clothes were nowhere to be seen and it appeared to be noon. he grabbed his phone and called devin 'hello?' Devin said 'hey Devin, do you have any idea what happened last night?' 'yo reaper what's up man? last night was wild!'
'listen Devin, I woke up naked in an alley. please tell me what the hell we did' 'I don't know man' Devin said 'Shit I don't know man I went home early, last thing I remember is that that Victor guy came in'
'victor? I see, thanks. I have to go now. thank you devin.' Ronald hung up.
he wandered out into the streets buck naked, the summer sun was quite harsh as he just woke up. he got all sorts of weird looks and he felt a tap on his shoulder. it was a police offer 'excuse me sir, what on earth are you doing out here' he said, ronald replied 'I am so sorry officer, you see I woke up naked in that alley over there and I'm just trying to get home' the police officer said 'I see, it's not every day this happens. but unfortunately we'll have to take you to the station' Ronald said 'I understand but can we stop by my apartment first so I can put some clothes on' the cop said 'fine, but you better not run'
The officer took Ronald home and he did as promised step back into the cop car fully clothed. he was taken to the station and explained his situation to the other police officers. 'you must have gotten really drunk' one of them said and Ronald replied 'not more than I usually drink sir' 'did you do any drugs?' 'no sir' 'do you mind if we take a drug test?' 'not at all sir' 'alright then, until we have the results you'll have to stay with us'
Ronald took the drug test and was then put in jail.
two days later Ronald was still sitting in his cell, when all of a sudden a cop opened his cell door and said 'ok buddy, you're free to go but first we gotta have a chat.' Ronald asked 'did I pass the drug test?' and the cop replied 'no but we did find Flunitrazepam. roofies. you didn't do this, someone did this to you. do you have any idea who it could be?' Ronald replied 'I'm not sure, I don't remember all too much from that night, but my friend Devin did tell me that Victor, that guy from the spice tolerance competition was in the bar that night and he was pretty mad at me earlier' then the cop said 'well, you're in luck kid. the alley you woke up in. it had security footage, come I'll give you a lift since we need to check that footage out ourselves too. the names Hal Bay'
and so Ronald and Hal got in the car and drove to the store that had footage of the alley. 'were here' Hal said. and they got out of the cop car and entered the store. an old man in his 70s with grey hair and squared glasses wearinf a blue polo shirt and jeans said 'why hello there officer, to what do I owe this visit' 'we need to check your security footage' said hal. 'oh my did something happen?' replied the man. 'this man here woke up in your alley and was robbed of his clothing. we need to see what exactly happened' hal explained 'well right this way then sir' the old man said calmly and he led Hal and Ronald to the back office. 'I do have surveillance installed but I rarely check it. you see, just having a camera already makes your shop a lot safer because criminals wont even dare break in, anyways here's the footage you were looking for, I'll leave you to it'
after a bit of searching Hal found footage of the night Ronald got drugged and left in the alley. and what they saw baffled both of them.
they saw footage of Victor Eady dragging Ronald by his feet into an alleyway with a Jerry can under his arm. then he poured gasoline all over Ronald who was sound asleep, made a trail and lit it on fire. Ronald was engulfed in flames and the fire went on for at least half an hour. Ronald laid there, being grilled like a ribeye. not a part of his body not on fire and yet, once the flames stopped. Ronald was fine, nothing happened to him. but his clothes were reduced to a mere pile of ash. Hal looked at Robert and he said 'what the hell did I just watch' robert looked Hal straight in the eyes and said 'honestly man, I have no clue' then hal, still in schock by what he just saw but with a calm and collected voice said 'alright man, I'll go arrest Victor for attempted murder and drug possession. would you like to press charges?' Ronald said quietly 'i suppose so, just call me if you need a statement. I need to go now and figure out what the hell is going on with me'
Ronald then stormed out of the store and went home where he first grabbed a match and put it to his hand. he didn't feel a thing. then he turned on the induction stove on max heat and put his handpalm right on it. he didn't feel a thing. then he boiled a kettle full of water and poured it over his head. and yet again, he didn't feel a thing. all of a sudden he heard an unfamiliar voice behind him. 'Ronald Pepper' he turned around and saw a tall redheaded man with a beard in a red suit. 'my name is Nathaniel Wolf. CEO of Wolf security. I know about your abilities. you may come in useful to us how would you like to come work for me.
