Borderlands Gacha: Chapter 1

Ah shit ah shit ah shit. 

BANGBANGBANGBANG 

Bullets ping and ricochet off a nearby road sign. My face is pale, breath coming out in short pants as I dive into a small scrap metal building. 

'WHAT THE HELL IS EVEN HAPPENING?!' 

"You're gonna squeal before you die, pig!" One of the men shouts out as I slam the door behind me. 

I pat myself down, hyperventilating as it's almost like my life begins flashing before my eyes. 

I was a normal dude. Just had turned twenty. Went outside for a jog... 

Then someone hit me with a car. 

I... 

I think I died. 

All I felt was an instance of excruciating pain... then the next moment, I wake up in the middle of some sort of arid wasteland at the side of some cracked and destroyed road. 

I panicked for a few seconds- as a normal human would- before seeing some sort of broken down shit hole in the distance... and I begin to walk towards it as it's really the only thing I could see. 

Turns out... bad idea. 

A trio of people with guns showed up and tried to instantly kill me. 

I have literally NO idea how I lived this long. 

I pat across my body, peer around the room, looking for literally anything that I might have missed. 

Yet... 

Nothing... 

DIIIIING 

My body shudders, head pounding, a violent ring seems to echo out. 

You have been connected to the Chaos Gacha. Rolling starter pack. (One Golden roll, One Silver Roll, One Bronze Roll) 

Huh? What is- 

What is this? 

Rolling Bronze! 

The sound akin to that massive wheel in wheel of fortune seems to echo out in my head. 

It eventually comes to a halt. 

Ding 

[Novice Medicine]|Common Skill|You are about as skilled as a doctor in training, you know how to perform first aid, how to apply medicine, what most medicines do, and in a pinch improvise medical tools to perform basic surgery. 

Rolling Silver! 

The sound returns, this time with a slightly greater intensity. But it too eventually comes to a stop. 

Ding  

[Deception]|Rare Ability|Your words are imbued with the power of lies, making them sound more convincing or believable. The stronger a target is, the more energy will be consumed and the less efficient the ability will be. The more unbelievable your lie is, the less effective the ability is and the more energy it will consume 

Rolling Gold! 

Ding 

[Restraints and Amplifications]|Rare Ability|Novel's Extra - Allows you to put restraints on yourself to amplify your powers, you can sacrifice your sight to boost your hearing to daredevil levels, you can sacrifice an arm to make another arm much stronger. You can restrict other ability slots to make the others stronger. The amplifications are equal to the severity of the restraints you place on yourself. 

Suddenly... 

I have options. 

I clasp my hands together, eyes continuing to scan the box I find myself in. There's piles of trash, the crunching of sand as one of the people chasing me run up to the door behind me. 

I... 

Only have one ability slot and these things seem to take energy. 

'Restraints and Amplifications' are slotted in, I can feel a pool of energy deep within my body. 

I quickly shift to the side, back against the wall. 

I take a deep breath I can feel the energy deep within me ignite. A low whisper leaves my lips. "Restriction..." 

"You scared? You should be!" The gun-wielding murderer outside shouts. 

"I can only use my fists to fight..." 

Suddenly that pool of energy is completely empty, my eyes narrow as a boot connects with the door to my right. It swings along the hinges bouncing and slamming into the opposite side of where I am leaning. 

I can see a handgun push past the doorway. It's almost as if the world is moving in slow motion. 

I reach out, grabbing the wrist holding the gun and pulling the person it's connected to forwards, I begin to lash out at the man, planning to slam my elbow into his chest but I wince as pain begins to prickle across my body. 

Ah. 

That's not a fist. 

My arm pivots, keeping the momentum of my attack the back of my hand coming up and smacking into the man's face. Or it would had I not struck a hard face mask. 

"HRG-" 

His head snaps back, more so out of reflex or surprise than any sort of damage thanks to his mask as I step out, grabbing his collar with my hand and letting go of his wrist. 

My other hand comes forwards like a bullet, smashing into his chest with the force of a hammer.  I can feel the bones in his chest shift slightly as I repeatedly punch him in the sternum. Once. Twice. Thrice. 

A bullet slams into the wall beside me, causing me to grab the man and tug him back inside the shit shack I had found myself in. I kick- NUDGE the door closed with a foot, throwing the man to the floor as I rain a barrage of punches down on him, kneeling on his arm so he can't raise his gun. 

My breathing comes out in labored pants, my hands shake, I feel like I want to throw up as I look down at the battered and broken man under me. 

He is completely covered from head to toe, a red biker helmet-adjacent mask on his head, a black leather jacket on his body and black and grey padded pants on his legs. 

I-I... 

You have gained a feat! 

Take a life for the first time! 
Reward: 1 Bronze Random Gacha Ticket. 

I can hear that thing roll once more as I continue to stare down in horror. 

[Impact]|Uncommon Ability|You are able to amplify the physical impacts of your attacks by expending energy, making your punches and kicks, etc. deal more damage, but this does not amplify your stats, only the impact of your hits. 

The other two are still out there... I can still feel the power my restraint is giving me... it should last for... at least an hour or so. 

"Fucking hell! Just blow him out! Give me that grenade!" 

FUCK! SHIT! UHHHH- WAIT! 

Behind the trash, there's a hole in the wall! 

I reach down, grabbing the gun the man was wielding as I dive forwards. 

I can hear a thud against the metal wall behind me as I crawl out and under, pressing my body to the ground as- 

BOOM 

The house shudders, loud pings and dings echoing out from within the building as I can see pieces of shrapnel shoot through the wall above me. 

I can hear the two slowly walking forwards, seemingly going to check the bodies. 

I slowly rise to my feet, gritting my teeth as my back stings. 

"Did we get the bastard?" I can hear one of the two question. 

"Yeah." The other scoffs. "Got Steve too. Bastard kept stealing things from my lockbox. He got what he deserved." 

I can hear the door creak open and collapse to the floor with a thud, it seemed to be barely hanging on and whatever little nudge they gave was all it could take. 

"Ah hell, what a mess." I can hear the first comment. "Guess we can't eat him now." 

"Speak for yourself!" The second snickers. "I'm gonna make some meat patties-" 

I blur around the corner, punching one of the men in the side of the head. This one seems to merely be wearing a cloth sack with goggles sewn into it. 

He falls to the ground as I turn and attack the other, making sure to swap back to the first guy before he can so much as twitch. 

Punch punch punch punch. 

My knuckles crack, the skin on my fists tearing slightly. 

After beating the two bandits I am left panting and huffing, utterly exhausted. 

I'm... not built for this. 

My arms quivver as I glance up... seeing a room filled with red chunks. 

My breakfast is promptly hurled all over the dusty sand. 

[Split] 

 Well... 

I know where I am now... even got a role for it. 

I gaze down at a strange rectangular computer-like box thing... 

An Echo Device. 

Rolling Bronze! 

[Cool]|Trash Ability|Allows you to decrease the temperature of objects through touch. Does not decrease it particularly fast and it's certainly not enough to freeze then, but it will keep your drink or ice cream cool. 

That is... indeed kind of trash. 

I'd need to replace my singular 'ability slot' for it. 

A weary sigh leaves my lips as I rub my face, my knuckles aching. 

After this little computer thing connected to me I can see that... I'm not exactly in the best health. 

Overall Health: 79% 

I'm looking at a humanoid figure on the screen, I can see a bunch of little lines point towards my hands, listing that one of my knuckles are broken and I've got a large cut on my back from where a jagged piece of metal cut me as I was crawling out of that building. 

I... am in Borderlands. 

I have no real idea when exactly. 

The dull throb of pain that radiates throughout my body makes it a little hard to think. 

Judging from the lack of a giant H in the sky... I'm either before borderlands the pre-sequel... or sometime after it. 

Or... 

It's just simply on the other side of the planet right now. 

I rub my face with my hands, sitting within one of the destroyed buildings, back to a corner as I hunker down. Trying desperately to not be in any sightline from, well, anywhere. 

This world is one where I wouldn't be surprised if I randomly just get sniped from some dude on a nearby cliff for no reason except merely for funsies. 

I've... 

Given my situation some thought. 

Reasonably... I have some sort of Gacha power... so... it's technically possible... that eventually... I may get some sort of dimension hopping power. 

Then I can get out of this nightmare. 

But the question remains... 

Will I even be the same person? Or... would I become some sort of gun toting psychopath who shoots someone for being mildly annoying? 

I-I... 

Killed three people today. 

Three. 

The mere thought of that makes me sick to my stomach. 

Could... I have done something different? 

Could I have used my deception ability to get them to run away? 

"..." I sit there in silence, mind running a mile a minute, hands twitching every now and then. 

My powers... require energy. 

Reasonably, I might have just run out had I tried to bluff my way out. Or they might have just not believed me. 

My energy is recovering slowly, but that one use of restriction completely sapped my reserves. 

I'm sitting at about... thirty percent now, an hour later. 

My restriction has also worn off. 

They're temporary... which is good. 

I panicked a bit when I made that, but it definitely saved my life. 

I look to the gun in my hands. It's simple. A revolver with two shots. 

Two. Shots. 

The bullet cylinder is less a cylinder and more of a rounded rectangle that fits snugly along the side of the revolver. 

On the upside, it's pretty damn beefy. 

It's not one of those dinky revolvers some people might keep in their purse. It's a magnum. 

It's quite likely to kill whatever it hits in just one shot. 

Maybe. 

I've not seen a shield yet. 

Speaking of shield... I need one. Desperately. 

I should take stock of what I have now that I'm not under the threat of death. 

First off... Knowledge. 

Medicine... 

I know for a fact I hadn't originally had the faintest clue about medicine before now aside from some really basic- or random- things like 'you stuff guaze into bullet wounds' and 'don't pull out the knife unless you're prepared to heal yourself right away. 

Now... 

I have a lot more information... and some of it seems... 

Otherworldly. 

Insta-health should be stabbed near the wound it's supposed to fix. Don't stab it into a major artery. It requires nutrients to work effectively, etcetera. 

It gave me basic medical knowledge of this world. 

Which is... 

Probably far more useful than giving knowledge from my own world as technology here is, what, a good five hundred to a thousand years in the future? 

Now... for my powers... Deception... I have no idea how powerful it is. That'll require more testing. Preferably after I have some more things to ensure my safety. 

'Cool'. Completely useless. The only possible use would be to cool my clothing if I happen to find myself in a desert. But to do that I'd be forced to swap out an ability I could use for combat. Unlikely to EVER get used unless I somehow gain more ability slots. 

Restrictions and Amplifications? This is my bread and butter. 

The ONE ability that might keep me alive. 

It costs a lot to use, lasts maybe an hour, and if I word things just right, it may be enough to keep my heart beating in this shitty place. 

In fact... I do have an idea that I'm about to do the second I regain a bit of power, one that might just save me dying from infection. 

'I can't use Medi-Vials to heal and must do it naturally'. 

Reasonably... that should give me a mild form of regeneration. 

I'm not expecting anything ground-breaking... but my cut back and fractured knuckles might heal in a few days instead of several weeks. 

I mean, it turned me, some dude who was decidedly below average strength-wise strong enough to beat three people to death... that, while horrifying, is actually pretty impressive. 

Now, for my final ability? Impact? This one is more interesting.  

It doesn't specify melee only. Technically speaking I could apply 'impact' to the 'physical impact' of the bullets in my gun here. 

But even still I likely could have imitated what I did with my restriction quite easily. 

But I have no idea how good this increase might be. It's an 'uncommon' power instead of a 'rare' one like restriction. So by all means it should be less effective... but also require less energy. 

Or... 

Theoretically speaking... it might even be on par or better than restriction when it comes to that, as Restriction can be used for anything. 

Impact is a lot more limited in scope. It has a sole use... so theoretically it might be just as good or even better than restriction. 

It'll need testing. 

In fact, I should probably swap to it now. My energy reserves are still so low, it's not like I'll be able to use it any time soon. 

I feel a little click deep inside myself. 

Restriction is swapped out- and... 

The ability slot is locked... 

Shit. 

I clutch the revolver as my eyes narrow, sweeping around my surroundings. 

The broken husk of this building thankfully has most of its walls. The far corner just has a large hunk taken out of it where the roof was seemingly blown up by a RPG or something like that. 

My breath comes out in sharp pants, the cut on my back aching some more. 

Ah... 

Shit... 

I probably have tetanus. Things here are pretty rusty. 

I sit there, glaring around my surroundings until eventually my ability slot re-opens. 

"Huh..." I whisper under my breath. 

That was, what? Five minutes? I should count the next time I swap something out... 

But until then, I won't put another ability into the slot... I'll just wait and see if I have to... see if anyone else shows up. 

[Split] 

This place is fucking HELLISH. 

Like, what?! 

I'm soooo fucking hungry and thirsty. 

Overall Health: 88% 

I've used restriction like... three times at this point... all in attempts to heal myself. 

It's slow. 

Oh boy is it slow. 

But better than waiting weeks or more. 

Ping 

You have gained a feat! 

Survive on Pandora for 24 Hours! 
Reward: 1 Bronze Random Gacha Ticket. 

Rolling Bronze! 

2008 Menu #4 Cheese and Vegetable Omelette |Trash Item|The infamous MRE nicknamed "Vomelette" by the troops. It may not be palatable, but it is food, and it is digestible. Restock Timer: 10 minutes 

Trash? 

TRASH?! 

FOOD! It's fucking FOOD! 

INFINITE FOOD! 

HEHEHEH! AAHAHAHAHA! Things are turning up- 

"..." 

What... 

What is my name? 

FUUUUUUUCK 

[Split] 

You know, I think the gacha was too hard on the omelette. 

It was actually pretty damn good. 

Like, say what you will about MRE food, and don't get me wrong, it's trash compared to something like a pizza. But... 

It's actually quite good. Well, not the omelette, it was kind of 'meh'. 

Like, I hadn't eaten anything all day, and it was filling, but the flavor wasn't the best and the texture was bad, but I didn't like... Loathe anything with a passion. 

Except the Salsa Verde. That smelt and tasted like death. 

beyond those two I got granola and blueberries in milk powder, a cinnamon scone, some crackers, apple butter. 

Then some French vanilla cappuccino powder- which was actually pretty bad... I don't like coffee- and 'spiced cider' powder which was quite good. 

That was fairly nice. 

But the most important things came from the accessory bag. 

Some gum, toilet paper, a moist towelette, salt- which was helpful in making the omelet edible- and MATCHES. 

The matches were the best part. One hundred percent. 

It let me start a small fire to boil some water I found in a nearby metal frying pan... in said frying pan. 

It looks like things are coming up- uh- still haven't thought much on my lack of name... 

Uhhhh... 

Alex...ander? 

'That's pretty good.' I nod sagely. 'Alexander'. 

Anyways, I've fully healed, I had a... palatable meal... with some parts being quite good and now... I'm kind of just wondering what I should do with my life. 

Where I should go... 

What I should do. 

Ping 

"Attention all aspiring treasure hunters who want to search for the- Snrk Vault. I... am Markus and I will be offering transport to anyone who seeks to search. Please come to one of these locations so I can transport you to Fyrestone. Have payment ready! Five thousand dollars!" 

I watch as my little echo device beeps and shows a map of the surrounding areas. 

Quite a bit has been filled out, thanks to the person who previously owned this no doubt, but by looking at it I can see numerous little dots appear. One of which... is actually quite close. 

I fiddle with the device, looking over it in-depth for the first time. 

It has... ammunition and... money stored in it? How do I? I begin fiddling with the controls. 

With a blue shimmer and what looks like something being built from blue pixels a box of pistol shells appears. 

"Huh..." 

I should probably go and see if those other three had echo devices or if it was just that one guy... but at least I have a goal now. 

[Split] 

I sit against the wall of a gas station, shoulders slumped, a massive pile of MRE's at my side. 

I've been pulling one out every ten minutes and collecting the bits I want. 

Turns out that my Echo Device can store quite a lot. 

I had to dump a bunch of human limbs, sure, but it isn't like the game. 

Well, I mean, it is in some ways but it isn't just limited to healing kits, shields, grenade mods and guns. 

Basically I have a square-foot area, and every item I grab takes from that area. 

It isn't that large, about the size of a closet, but it's more than enough for the revolver, the two repeater pistols I have. 

Plus a few dozen cinnamon scones, apple butter, crackers, and every single accessory packet I can get my hands on. 

I jerk slightly as I hear an engine, eyes quickly scanning my surroundings. 

A large bus seems to streak down the road, it has been heavily armored, the muffler raising up like some sort of dune buggie. 

Its breaks squeak as it rolls to a stop at the bus stop, the doors hissing open a voice echoing out, the same one that I heard on the echo a few hours ago. "You a vault hunter?" 

"Sure." I shrug, face flat. 

I had to kill two more people on my way here. 

This world is so... 

So depressing. 

"Five thousand dollars." Markus demands. 

I walk forwards, a wad of dollars in my hand. I pass it to him as I step up on the bus, watching as he flicks through it briefly before smiling. 

My eyes stray to the back seeing a group of four, their eyes seem to look to me as I step inside and take a seat. 

Ping 

You have gained a feat! 

Become a Vault Hunter! 
Reward: 1 Silver Random Gacha Ticket. 

Rolling Silver! 

Cure|Rare Ability| 

You are capable of healing others and yourself by expending your energy. The scale of healing you perform is dependent on the amount of energy you expend; the more lethal a wound is, the greater amount of energy you need to expend. Healing effectiveness is dependent on the power difference between you and the target. 

I flinch, blinking owlishly. 

I... gained a new ability slot... 

Huh. 

Let's just place... cure in that for now. 

"So. New guy." A female voice echoes out. "You don't look like a killer. What's your deal?" 

I turn, a small frown on my lips. "I woke up here. On pandora. So I thought to myself after beating three men to death with my bare hands- very traumatizing- that I might as well look for the vault that I'm here. Have a story to tell when I possibly never make it back home." 

"Oh god. A tourist." The... Mexican? Guy with a bird scoffs. 

"Ah don't be like that, Mortie!" The big bulky guy grins. "He already beat some people to death! He'll be a Pandoran before we know it!" 

"So. What was all that garbage you were sitting beside?"  

"Food. Mostly." I shrug causing a silence to drop onto the bus. 

"You... left behind that much food?" Lilith gives me an unimpressed gaze. 

"Fuckin tourists, man." Mordecai growls. 

"Look. I get a new MRE every ten minutes and I was running out of space in my echo device so I just started taking the useful parts... mainly the accessory pack that has toilet paper, matches, a moist towlette, salt, and some spiced cider powder." I deadpan. 

"Speaking of which. It's been about ten minutes" I huff, causing another MRE to appear in-hand. 

I toss it lazily. "Boom. Food." 

"HELL YEAH!" The giant man suddenly booms. "Dibs!" 

He swipes up the packaged meal. 

"I can also heal, so. Like, sure. Keep insulting me. I'll remember that after you catch a bullet." 

"You can heal, huh? So... some sort of doctor?" 

"I dabble." I shrug, gazing out the window. 

"Why exactly do you get... food every ten minutes?" The woman of the group slowly asks. 

"Hah?" I look over to her. "Oh. I saw an ad online for 'Unlimited MRE's. I had thought that I'd be getting a selection for the price I paid, but as it turns out. Just one type." 

"DAMN! This shit's good, Slab!" Brick booms. 

You have gained a feat! 

Become friends with Brick 
Reward: 1 Silver Random Gacha Ticket. 

Rolling Silver!  

Flamethrower|Uncommon Ability| 

Allows you to unleash a constant stream of fire from anywhere on your body, the more energy you expend, the hotter and more potent the stream of flame is. 

Well... 

I don't really need matches anymore, now do I... 

Now I just need to figure out how this system works exactly. 

[Endsplit]