Meet Rick.

He's erm... a 'large' one, hm?

Well, Rick is the guy Shadow Yoshi tasked with retrieving the Earth Elemental Gem from the Terranis sanctuary. Before Shadow Yoshi took over Yoshi's Island and pulled it under the sea, Rick was just a normal Yoshi living on the island. He was around his late 30's in age, but still had a bodily appearance like the one he has during the events of Yoshi Legacy.  He was nearing 50 years of age when he was called to arms by Shadow Yoshi. Sadly, and rather obviously, he's not really capable for that kind of job. One may wonder why Shadow Yoshi even picked him to do such a task in the first place, and there's actually a reason he was chosen instead of someone more capable.

Rick used to have a younger brother named Byron. Byron was around 15 years younger than Rick, and he was captain of King Yoshius IV's royal guard. When Shadow took over, he bewitched the entirety of Yoshius's guards, including Byron. Byron was originally the one Shadow Yoshi wanted to search for the Earth Elemental Gem, but he was killed by a certain someone sporting dark blue hair and a Ztar Wand...

After Rick is defeated by the heroes, he decides to work with Angus on his cargo transporting job. He will be seen again by the heroes later on.