Ringo

"I can't believe I lost" I sulked in front of the campfire quietly watching the flickering flames.

"Oh, don't be such a big baby" Yoruichi slapped my shoulder "You only lost by one point it's not that big a deal."

"Says the woman who won by cheating" I snapped!

She just shrugged "It's your fault for not being careful enough."

"You literally tripped me while I wasn't looking and ran ahead to clear the other springs while I was catching up" I yelled!

"Hey" she defended herself "The only rule was to kill as many enemies as possible. No one ever said we couldn't mess with each other."

"She's right" Sunny chimed in while stirring a strange mixture in a pot above the fire "There were no rules against what she did. Just take it as a lesson and don't drop your guard so easily in the future."

"Whatever" I huffed before sighing softly and looking over at the horizon.

The sun was starting to get a bit low and we only had another hour or two until it got dark but, we hadn't started back to town yet because Sunny wanted to teach us some basic survival skills. She'd already showed us how to skin and gut the Geckos earlier after we finished clearing the springs and was now teaching us how to brew up Healing Powder from the ingredients I picked earlier.

Sunny took a sniff from her pot and nodded satisfied "Once the mix starts smelling sour, you'll know it's done and should take it off the fire. After that all that's left is to wait for it to harden and grind it into powder. To use it all you need to do is mix the powder with water and smear it on any wounds."

"How well does this Healing Powder stuff actually work" Yoruichi asked?

"As long as the wound isn't too big it can heal up most injuries in a day or two. Of course, a Stimpak will always work better but, you don't want to waste something valuable like that on a small injury when some simple Healing Powder would be enough."

"Wow" I raised my eyebrows and eyed the brown sludge in her pot "That stuffs a lot more effective than I thought it'd be."

"Yeah" Yoruichi agreed "It's hard to believe that gunk can heal wounds."

Sunny laughed "From what I've heard Healing Powder has been used for centuries even before the Great War, apparently this stuff was actually the inspiration for Stimpaks in the first place. Though that's just a rumor."

"Hmm" I nodded feeling that might be possible.

While Sunny continued to lecture us about some other stuff and finished making the Healing Powder. I sneakily opened the cooking panel which showed up the moment I sat down in front of the fire. and sneakily cook all of the Gecko and Mantis meat I had collected until now as well as made an extra dose of Healing Powder since I still had some spare ingredients which gave me an extra +22 Exp.

That combined with the +110 Exp I got from killing Gecko earlier and the +50 from completing the Back In The Saddle quest was more than enough to push me well into Level 2.

I hadn't actually Leveled Up or picked a Perk yet, since I wanted to make sure I made the right decision. Because Fallout New Vegas was fairly limited when it came to Perks and most of the early game ones weren't very good. So I was debating whether or not I should get a lesser Perk now to help protect myself while I'm weak or take the risk and wait until I'm a higher level when I can get better Perks.

Once Sunny finished her lesson it was finally time to head back to town because a lot of the deserts more dangerous creatures became more active at night.

Before heading back however Sunny gave each of us a few caps for helping her clear the springs and said she thought we were good enough to head out on our own whenever we wanted.

"But, we won't leave before Joe Cobb and his thugs are dealt with" Yoruichi crossed her arms.

"Figured you'd say that" Sunny smirked "But, that's for tomorrow you've both had a long day and deserve some rest."

"Speaking of which" I spoke up "Where exactly are the two of us supposed to stay?"

"I hadn't thought of that" Sunny held her chin "The Saloon isn't an Inn and doesn't have any rooms for guests and most of the other beds in town are already spoken for."

"We could ask Doc Mitchell if we could stay at his place" I thought.

"No, he's already done enough for us and I wouldn't feel right asking for more" Yoruichi shook her head.

"Besides" Sunny added "He wouldn't have enough room anyway since one of the idiots from town decided to go out to the springs all by their self this morning and almost got killed by Geckos and is resting at Doc's house. Which is actually the reason we even came out here today."

"I guess we'll just have to find an abandoned building somewhere and sleep on the ground" Yoruichi sighed.

"Oh, I know" Sunny snapped! "Yoruichi you can stay in Victor's old shack!"

"Victor" Yoruichi tilted her head? "Isn't that the robot who saved me?"

"Yep" Sunny said "That's him he dragged you out of that shallow grave and dropped you off at the Doc's house."

"I haven't actually seen him yet" Yoruichi responded "I'll have to thank him when we get back to town."

"Sorry" Sunny apologized "But, he hightailed it out of town earlier today not long after the two of you woke up. So you'll have to thank him another time."

"Do you know where he was headed" Yoruichi asked?

"Not really" Sunny shook her head and gestured to the glowing lights far in the distance "But, if I had to guess I'd say he was headed back to New Vegas. That's where Securitron's like him come from after all."

"It really does look beautiful from here doesn't it" I sighed looking towards the towering figure of the Lucky 38 in the distance.

"New Vegas" Yoruichi whispered as the lights from the distant city reflected in her golden eyes.

"It's the Jewel of the Desert alright" Sunny added "The place is like a beacon attracting anyone and everyone for miles around."

"More like moths to a flame" I scoffed.

"Can't argue with that" Sunny agreed "As beautiful as that place is it's a monster that eats folks up and spits out the bones. You go in with dreams of striking it rich and come out capless with only the shirt on your back and massive debt."

"I think we got a bit off topic" Yoruichi reminded.

"Right" Sunny remembered what she was about to say "Now that Victor left his shack is completely empty and from what I know has got a pretty nice bed in it. So you can stay the night there Yoruichi."

"What about me" I asked?

"You got that nice sleeping bag don't you" Sunny pointed to my backpack?

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I don't want to sleep in a bed if I can" I argued!

Sunny shook her head "Sorry but there really aren't any other beds in town."

"Crap" I slumped over and decided to accept my fate "At least I do have a really nice sleeping bag."

I examined it earlier and it was actually super soft and seemed high quality.

Yoruichi started laughing and decided to tease me a little "Maybe if you're good I'll let you share the bed with me."

"Yeah, right" I rolled my eyes too frustrated and tired to fall for her obvious teasing.

Not long later we finally made it back to town and Sunny pointed Yoruichi towards Victor's shack before suggesting I stay the night in the abandoned gas station with Ringo. Which wasn't a bad idea since if I was going to fight a gang to save his life I might as well meet the man first.

Before that however there was something I needed to do first.

Taking a seat on a bench outside the schoolhouse I brought up my Pipboy since I'd decided it would be best to get a Perk now to help defend myself. Even though most of them weren't very useful there were still a couple good ones available and worst-case scenario I'd just get the Intense Training Perk and increase my Special Attributes which was always a good choice.

Plus, hopefully Leveling Up would help me figure out what was going on with my Skills.

I closed my eyes and focused for a moment and felt something pop into existence in front of me. but when I opened my eyes, I was shocked by what I saw.

It wasn't the plain old New Vegas panel I was expecting instead it was the one from Fallout 4!

I was stunned for a moment before it all clicked into place, I wasn't playing New Vegas when I got thrown into this world! I was playing a New Vegas Mod in Fallout 4!

That explained why I could open the safe and hack the computer as well as fix the radio! In Fallout 4 you didn't need any Perks or Special requirements to pass easy level skill checks! It also explained why my Pipboy didn't have a Skills Tab since I didn't actually have any Skills!

My heart started hammering in my chest.

This was good, this was really really good!

Unlike in New Vegas the leveling system in Fallout 4 didn't have a level cap and would let me pick whatever Perks I wanted right at the start as long as I met the requirements! Even better was the fact that I could completely max out my Special Stats and even break the 10 point limit on Special Attributes!

Without wasting a second I started looking over the Perks available to me thought about what kind of build I wanted to do.

In the games I always went with a stealth sniper build since those could be pretty overpowered but, eventually dismissed that idea.

My main goal right now was just to survive and every Perk I picked should be to further that goal. Damage output and utility didn't really matter right now since I could always get those Perks later as long as I survived. Especially since I didn't actually have a level cap.

So, with that in mind I decided to focus on the Perks under the Endurance category since those were the ones that would make me harder to kill, not to mention it was also my highest Special Attribute right now. Looking over the Endurance Perks there were three of them that interested me but, I wasn't sure which I should pick.

They were the Toughness, Lifegiver, and Adamantium Skeleton Perks.

Toughness gave +10 to Damage Resistance which would reduce incoming damage by a certain percentage though I wasn't sure of the exact amount.

Lifegiver would give me and extra +20 to my Maximum Health which again I wasn't sure what exactly that would do since as far as I knew I didn't have a Health Bar.

And Finally was the Adamantium Skeleton Perk which reduce all damage to my bones by 30%.

These were of course only the first ranks of the Perks so they weren't that strong yet, but I was still a bit unsure about which one would actually help me the most in the firefight tomorrow.

In the end I decided to just go with Toughness since I couldn't make up my mind and hoped for the best. I was going to try and max those three Perks out as soon as possible anyway, so it probably didn't matter too much what order I picked them in.

After entering in my selection, I felt a strange warmth enter my body similar to what happened after I changed my Special Attributes using the Vigor Tester. This time though the warmth was quite a bit weaker and only hung lasted and instant before vanishing a moment later.

Once it was done, I closed the panel and looked down at my hands and clenched my fists. I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination but, I felt stronger than I did a moment ago.

Deciding to test my new defenses I pinched my forearm and was surprised to find that no matter how hard I pinched I didn't actually feel any pain. My sense of touch still worked just fine and I could feel everything perfectly and my skin was still soft and elastic. It was just that I couldn't actually squeeze hard enough to hurt myself anymore.

'Perfect' I grinned!

This was exactly what I wanted!

I was now much more confident about facing off against the Powder Gangers tomorrow. My new defenses combined with the Leather Armor I was wearing should be more than enough to protect against some small arms fire. It would probably still hurt like hell but, it should definitely be enough to save me from being instakilled. So, the only thing I needed to watch out for was their dynamite.

With that finally out of the way and the sun already setting below the horizon it was finally time to head to the old gas station and meet Ringo.

As I walked up the towards the decrepit building, I couldn't help glancing at the giant sign labeled Poseidon Energy towering up next to it. And wondered what choice I should make if I ever made to the Archimedes power plant on the other side of the mojave.

'Problems for later' I shook my head and entered the dimly lit building.

"That's close enough stranger" a stern man ordered and leveled his revolver at me. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

"Whoa there" I raised my hands as a bit of sweat started soaking my back.

Even though I'd already been in a couple fights since I woke up this morning this was the first time, I've ever had to stare down the barrel of a gun and it was honestly terrifying.

"Relax" I said trying not to let my panic show "There's no free beds in town so Sunny said I could stay up here for the night."

"Oh" he lowered his revolver "Sorry about that you just caught me off guard. I've been holed up in this stupid gas station for a couple days now and I guess I'm a bit on edge."

"No problem" I let out a sigh of relief "I'd be jumpy too if a group of angry powder gangers were after me."

"So, you know about that" Ringo frowned "I'd have thought the people around here wouldn't talk about that kind of stuff with outsiders."

"How'd you know I was an outsider" I wondered aloud while looking around for a place to set up my sleeping bag?

He huffed "Obviously, you wouldn't be looking around for a place to sleep if you were from around here."

"Duh" I slapped my forehead at how obvious that was and decided to try raising my Intelligence in the future so I wouldn't make stupid mistakes like that again.

After finding a good spot I cleared the debris from the area and laid my sleeping bag down just out of sight of Ringo in between a couple aisles. After setting my area up I decided to go talk to Ringo for a bit and bring him up to speed on what was going to happen tomorrow.

I found Ringo sat down on the dirty old mattress he'd using as his bed cleaning his revolver and munching on some dried meat.

"So" I awkwardly approached "Did you know that Joe Cobb guy came to town today looking for you?"

Ringo looked up and snorted a bit before focusing back on his gun "Doesn't surprise me. Cobb's known I've been up here since the beginning but, is too afraid to come up here himself to do something about it. He's scared I'll snipe him from one of the windows the second he gets close, and he's right to be afraid.

I'm more worried about his friends, I'll have a much bigger problem once the rest of his gang shows up. I could handle two maybe three people in a gunfight but, there's no way I could deal with a dozen of 'em."

"So, what are you planning to do then" I asked?

He sighed "I'll lay low as long as I can. Assuming the town doesn't throw me too the wolves. I've got absolutely no chance of escaping since the path to New Vegas is blocked by Deathclaws and everything south of here is ganger territory."

"Sounds like you could use a couple of hired guns" I hinted.

"You offering" he raised an eyebrow? "Because if you are I'd be more than happy to hire you. I've only got a couple caps on me at the moment but, if you help me out I'll make sure to pay you back once I make it back to the Crimson Caravan. You have my word."

"Alright deal" I stuck my hand out and we shook. "My friend and I have already convinced Sunny and Trudy to help so we can count on them to round up a couple of willing townsfolk to join in when the Joe Cobb and his gang attack tomorrow. And we're also going to try and get some Dynamite from the Easy Pete gut along with some Leather Armor from the General Store and some Medicine from the Doc. So as long as we play things right we should be able to get the drop on them."

"You seem to have things handled" Ringo widened his eyes slightly surprised.

I shrugged "We were planning on helping the town out regardless and protecting you is just extra."

"I see" he accepted that answer.

After that we settled into an uncomfortable silence since neither of us really had anything to talk about and I didn't know how to break the ice.

"Do you want to play Caravan" he asked? "I've been bored out of my mind the last couple days and would kill for something to do."

I rubbed my chin in thought for a moment before nodding.

I never really played Caravan much in the game since it was kind of complicated and a bit too slow paced for my taste. But, figured that now that this was a real world I'd have a lot of down time between adventures so it wouldn't hurt to learn how to play if only to kill some time.

"Sure" I replied "But, I've never played before so you'll have to teach me how to play and give me a deck."

"No problem" Ringo grinned "I have an extra deck you can use."