Chapter 1: Where Am I

*Ahhwa-aw* "Damn, that was a great sleep." I thought aloud in the midst of beginning a nice big stretch.

As I was flexing and opening my eyes, a completely foreign and unknown scenery entered my vision, one I clearly remember not falling asleep in.

"Where the fuck did I wake up at???" 

What I saw were walls that were made completely of darkish rusted orange fabric that looked to belong to some sort of tent and bare light khaki colored ground with all kinds of random junk strewn about. Examining my surroundings closer in an attempt to figure where the fuck I ended up at, my gaze passed over a large broken mirror fragment hanging right above a red chest, a specific type of chest I'd opened tens of thousands of times before.

Not paying any attention to the familiar object, I ignored it and rushed over to the reflection of the strange figure within the mirror piece.

…

There's no way this is happening right, right... Yeah, this has got to be a dream, definitely!

I tried to convince myself desperately as I stared into the reflection of an absolutely massive Bruiser who had surpassed at least 7 feet in height. Fixated on the figure in the mirror, I found the extremely muscular caucasian with sun-kissed skin and unique ruby colored eyes mimicking my every action and facial expression. Unwilling to accept what was happening just yet, I moved my thick and callus developed hand and pinched my new but foreign body's built forearm that had obviously grown both massively and unnaturally under the influence of performance-enhancing substances.

"Fuck, that actually hurts." I commented in a voice that was quite a bit deeper than my original whilst rubbing the area I had just pinched for my impromptu test.

Knowing the pain I had just felt was way too vivid, it only further cemented the fact that I had somehow ended up taking over a bruiser, a type of elite bandit in the world of Borderlands. If all I had to go off of was the body I was currently residing in, I wouldn't be so sure of where I ended up. But how could I ever forget the loot chests of Borderlands after opening them up, god knows how many times back in the day.

How in the hell did I get here? It's not like I died or something in my original world or something... At least I don't think I did and even if I did pass in my sleep, that wouldn't explain fuck all about how I arrived here in the Borderlands universe of all places.

Playing back my most recent memories in my head, I remembered going to bed as usual, noting nothing out of the ordinary. I kept replaying my memories over and over again in a desperate attempt to find out how and why, but no matter how closely I studied what I could recall, I just couldn't find anything to explain my current circumstances.

"Haa, whatever man. There's no point in even trying to find a reason why I'm here, of all places. It's not like I'll be able to do anything with that information regardless, so why bother."

Begrudgingly returning to the ratty cot I woke up on, I plopped my ass down again and started thinking.

What am I going to do now, now that I'm here with no way of returning home... At least none that I can think of. There are the sirens and their magical powers, I suppose, but I don't think any of them would be powerful enough nor have the ability to travel to different verses, let alone do it for me a stranger even if they could.

That aside, would I even want to return. I mean, it's not like I was close to my family or anything and life wasn't anything to write home about back in my previous world. So why bother trying to go back when I've acquired a body that's one hell of an upgrade from my previous 5 foot 7 one. Plus, there's a world full of opportunity lying out there ready for the taking... 

Playing with the idea in mind, I thought back to intro cinematic with the arms dealer Marcus narrating about the benefits of conquering the mythical vault of the first Borderlands game.

Advanced technology, infinite wealth, fame, power, and women actually doesn't sound too bad now that I'm giving it some thought. In fact, I think I might just give vault hunting a try. As for where I should start, I guess I should see what I can scrounge up from this bruiser's possessions. After all, I can't be venturing through Pandora without a means to defend myself.

But before I could get up and begin going through all the crap lying around this relatively spacious tent, a semi transparent holographic screen popped up within my vision, looking remarkably similar to the one from the games.

[ Pick A Character Class ]

1. Berserker

2. Gunzerker

3. Hunter

4. Random

[Additional Information: All skill trees within a character class must be maxed out before another class can be taken.]

I guess conquering the vault won't be such a monumental task if I get a class and its skill trees to utilize.

Pumped that I was going to be able to power up the longer I live in this world, I began deliberating on the options that were presented to me and weighing the pros and cons of them.

Random is too iffy for me, hence I'm going to remove that one from the list right out of the gate even though there's a possibility I could potentially gain siren powers through it. Berserker has a solid amount of health regeneration, explosive and shotgun specialization and the ability to enter a rage that increases melee damage substantially. That's cool and all, but I'd much rather avoid danger up close and keep my distance and attack from afar, thus I'll pass on that class.

Hunter could be a decent pick because of the damage dealing bird that can be influenced by elements and the sniper and pistol enhancements its skill trees provides. On the other hand, when compared to Salvador's Gunzerking class, you really can't beat the insane sustain it has nor its ability to dual wield two weapons accurately and with next to no recoil. The 50% damage reduction it gets while gunzerking is pretty nuts too if you think about it... Alright, I think I have my decision.

Pretty much decided on which class I wanted to go with, I spent a minute more deliberating on it before I decided Gunzerker was the best class for me given what I could choose from. Selecting the class the next second, I pulled the trigger and locked it in and as soon as I did; the screen changed again, this time showing a kind of status page with a plethora of stats and information displayed.

[ Status ]

Name: Victor Atlas Colt

Age: 21

Lifespan: 100

Height: 7 Feet 3 Inches

Body Weight: 375 lbs

Race: Human

Classes: Gunzerker

Level: 0

Experience Points: 0/100

Total Experience Points Earned: 0

Health: 1700

Health Regeneration: 1.7 a second

Stamina: 1700

Stamina Regeneration: 5.1 a second

[ Attributes ]

Agility: 4

Intelligence: 5

Strength: 13

Toughness: 17

Vitality: 100

[ Skills ]

Actives: | Gunzerking |

Passives: 

[ Weapon Proficiency ]

Pistol: 

Submachine gun: 

Shotgun: 

Combat Rifle: 

Sniper: 

Machinegun: 

Rocket Launcher: 

Heavy Weapon: 

Eridian Weapon: 

Alien Weapon: 

[ Badass Rank 0 ]

Badass Tokens Available: 0

| Bonus Stats |

Agility: +0

Intelligence: +0

Strength: +0

Toughness: +0

Vitality: +0

Critical Hit Damage: +0%

Elemental Effect Chance: +0%

Elemental Effect Damage: +0%

Fire Rate: +0%

Gun Accuracy: +0%

Gun Damage: +0%

Grenade Damage: +0%

Maximum Health: +0%

Melee Damage: +0%

Recoil Reduction: +0%

Reload Speed: +0%

Shield Capacity: +0%

Shield Recharge Delay: -0%

Shield Recharge Rate: +0%

This status is quite different from how I remember things, but I'm not gonna to lie, it looks a hell of a lot better compared to what I got in the games.

More than satisfied with what I was seeing thus far, I discovered some navigational tabs and changed it from the main screen to the skill tree one just to give it a look-see.

Good shit, I already have my action skill unlocked. Let me see if it's any different from the Borderlands 2 actions skill.

| Gunzerking |

Go nuts! While Gunzerking you instantly regain 50% of your Maximum Health, gain 50% Damage Reduction against enemy attacks, and constantly regenerate health and ammo. Also, gain the ability to dual wield weapons at all times regardless if Gunzerking is active or not.

That's one hell of an upgrade compared to the vanilla skill.

Happy as can be right now, I tried to see if I couldn't gather anymore information from the system screen.

[ Ding! Not Enough Skill Points ]

Well, I already knew that, so that's of no help.

Trying a few more ideas I came up with on the spot, like asking the system questions vocally. I found all my ideas bore no fruit and were entirely unsuccessful, so I navigated back to the previous tab and played around with things there before figuring out how to close the aquamarine blue colored screen. Once it had disappeared, I fumbled around and eventually figured out how to recall it after some time.

Nice, all I have to do is think about it and it will pop up.

Swiftly getting rid of it once more, I moved my attention to my previous task I was about to perform before I was suddenly interrupted. I went around the dark rusted orange colored tent and sorted through the various objects and junk and eventually located an ECHO communications device, which was basically Borderlands's version of a smartphone.

Sweet, another good find.

Picking up the blocky electronic that was full of retro vibes, the system came again

[ ECHO Communications Device Acquired ]

[...]

[ Loading H.U.D. Elements ]

[...]

[ H.U.D. Elements Loaded Successfully ]

[ Backpack Unlocked ]

Once it was done integrating, I had Borderlands signature H.U.D. appear within my vision along with a few additions like a green bar for my stamina. The moment I was done inspecting each of the elements, I moved my attention to the device in my mitts for hands.

I have no idea where I am in the Borderlands timeline, so it would be wise to see if I can't find out via the ECHOnet to know for sure whether I've arrived too late to the party. Wouldn't want to go on a pointless endeavor hunting down the vault if they've already been hit.

Set on finding out where I was in the story, I began scouring the ECHOnet, although only once I figured out how to work the device. It took an hour of hard work wading through the overwhelming amount of information available online, but I eventually had a good grasp of where I was in relation to the game events and that was a month prior to the story... I think so at least.

I mean Fryestone hasn't been overrun by bandits just yet, hence I'm certain I've made it here before the original vault hunters Brick, Lilith, Mordecai, and Roland rolled up to the bus stop and began their adventure. Besides that, I've also discovered where I'm at and that's the Headstone Mine of all places where the first piece of the vault key is located. Lucky me right, except I have to get through Sledge if I want it, meaning I'm going to have to kill the big bastard to take it.

I've never killed anyone in my past life, so I don't know how I'll react when I do the deed for the very first time. That said, I've always been fond of and a subscriber to the eye for eye, tooth for tooth way of thinking, so I don't believe I'll have much difficulty nor many mental dilemmas when it comes time to take a life.

Putting myself in an increasingly ruthless and vicious mindset that I was certainly going to need if I was going to achieve anything in this crazy and fucked up world, I returned to rummaging through what were now my personal possessions. I waded through the stuff and even though I tried my best in my scavenging efforts, I didn't find much of value besides rifle ammunition that all looked the same, various types of grenade shells that had a slot for a grenade mod, healing kits, and dollar bills.

I was hoping to find a shield but I suppose it makes sense since it would be odd if a bruiser had one seeing how they don't use them and rely entirely on the toughness of their bodies, stupidly.

Throwing what I found into my "backpack" after I figured out how to do so, I looked to the only thing left to loot the fat reddish loot chest.

Looks like it's time to open this bad boy... I wonder what I'll get from it.

Approaching the chest, I prayed to whatever god who would listen and pressed the obvious button located on the midsection of the loot container. The instant I did, the chest whirred to life and opened up, revealing a decent spec Atlas machine gun with five large box magazines, 1 already loaded in the gun and 4 spares.

"Not bad, not bad. It definitely could've been a lot worse."

Picking up the hefty machine gun that was sporting no optic and a signature matt white silver finish, I inspected the weapon from stock to muzzle, unloaded the magazine, and racked the charging handle and looked inside the weapon's chamber for any jammed rounds just in case. Not finding anything of the sort, I reloaded the weapon with the full magazine I had removed mere seconds ago and sent the bolt forward, loading a round into the gun's chamber.

Content with my find, I moved the spare magazines to the conveniently placed pouches on my worn pants. As soon as I was done with that, I walked back over to the cot and sat down to work on getting myself into a specific mental state.

There's a not so small chance I might need to kill my way out here, so I need to prepare myself.

I spent the next several minutes doing that and thinking things over and the moment I was good and ready; I picked myself up and moved for the tent's only exit, intent on making something of this new chance at life I was given.

[ Loot Acquired ]

Weapons: | Rare || Atlas | Stock Pearl Havoc Machine Gun

Meds: Light Healing Kits (6) - Light Insta-Health Vials (3) - Insta-Health Vials (1)

Ammunition: 674

Grenades: 8

Dollars: 3,473

______

Just a heads up, I'm working on 3 different webnovels right now, so I'll be using power stones, chapter favorites, comments, ratings, and other such things on the various sites I post to gauge what people want me to be working on. Meaning, whichever work is getting the most support through those means is probably the one most of my free time will be focused on.