"Oh, shit, here we go!" I exclaimed as I started rapidly reversing, so Claptrap would have the right angle to keep firing at the enemies in the sky.
I kept reversing as fast as our ride would allow, but it was evident that our flying foes would be upon us soon if I didn't do something. So I did the only thing I could and set the Outrider on cruise, summoned my legendary Bulldog shotgun and started unloading on the incoming swarm since shotguns were hands down the most effective weapons for dealing with Rakks.
My Bulldog shotgun boomed with each trigger pull and effortlessly shredded the Rakks themselves and their bat-like wings. Many of them did not die from the shotgun shot itself but when it turned their wings into sieves, they lost their ability to fly. Hence, they started dropping like flies and meeting the gruesome fate that awaited them when they crashed into the hard, arid earth that this region of Pandora was known for.
"Keep at it, friend! We're winning now, hahaha-" Claptrap cheered whilst he continued beaming the creatures out of the sky with increasingly greater accuracy.
Claptrap's doing well with the heavy MG up top, but he'd definitely be doing better if he had something like my shotgun... Maybe I should look into creating some sort of heavy shotgun, that would normally be mounted on vehicles but could be wielded by those of us with bigger and stronger frames. It would be rad to have something that could rapidly fill a zone with shotgun clouds of shot that would excel at dispatching weekly shielded and armored targets and if something with a bit more penetration power is required, I'm sure metal darts like flechettes could easily fill that niche.
My thoughts regarding future creations were on a bit of a roll, but we were in the thick of it so I tossed such thoughts aside and kept at it, dropping one Rakk after another alongside my companion. And when we nearly finished dealing with the swarm, the Outrider hit a pothole and jostled… Heavily. So the next thing I knew my companion went flying out of his seat as my ride kept accelerating backwards.
"AHHHH-, SAVE ME!" The bucket of bolts screamed as he flew through the air.
Everything had been going rather well all things considered, but now that old Claptrap got sent flying, this could reverse and turn into a dangerous direction, one that could have some rather serious consequences. I didn't wish to lose my first comrade this early on into my journey in this world, so I engaged the emergency brake, jumped out of the driver's seat, and went sprinting after my friend who had just crashed into a softer patch of the dry soil. The little guy was obviously discombobulated after taking such a hard and unexpected landing, but the creatures of this savage planet weren't exactly the merciful kind, especially when they caught sight of prey in distress.
"I'm on my way, buddy." I yelled whilst charging in my companion's direction.
Rakk were pretty much the fastest wildlife across all of Pandora to my knowledge, even when compared against my enhanced agility, so although I was fast as fuck by bruiser and human standards I was not in the league of aerial predators.
Shit, I'm not gonna make it in time at this rate.
Seeing as there was no way they were gonna give him a break to let him recover, I brought out the one gun I knew could save my and most certainly Claptrap's hide, my big Torgue Steel Helix Rocket Launcher. The instant I conjured the weapon into existence, I grabbed hold of it with my left hand, wielded it just like a bruiser would, and took aim at the densest point of the swarm. And as soon as I lined up the launcher where I predicted the Rakks would be, I activated the normally shoulder-fired weapon whilst I kept firing my corrosive Bulldog shotgun, that was procing a corrosive acid with nearly every trigger pull.
The rocket blazed out the large barrel of the launcher and traveled for a short dozen or so feet before it split into three separate smaller rockets. They then went on to travel the rest of the way in the spinning helical pattern that the helix launcher type was known for, and mere moments later the rockets reached their intended targets. The instant they did, they blew up nearly simultaneously and combined with the corrosive elemental effects of my high tier drum fed shotgun, which had been eating away at their flesh all this time.
"Haha, how do you like that, you flying rats?" I exclaimed at the sight of the cloud of Rakks getting turned into burnt, mangled fragments.
As I was busy admiring the sight of my work, a certain someone was still struggling. "Mm-mfphm."
Oh, right, Claptrap still needs my help.
Seeing my mechanical companion still continuing to struggle to extract himself from the ground, I wandered over to him, grabbed hold of his single wheel, which was standing straight into the air, and yanked him out the ground as if he were some random vegetable I came across.
"Haha, I'm free at last!"
"Uh-huh, but not free from demise if we don't deal with that big fellow coming over the hill there." I corrected whilst jutting a finger at the monstrous Rakk Hive roaring and lumbering over the hills in the distance.
"...Are you sure we'll be fine?"
"Mmm, pretty sure. Just get back in your gunner seat and keep firing at its head and eyes whilst I take on most of the aggro."
"Righty-o, let's murder that big bastard."
"That's the plan." I said last before I picked Claptrap up and dropped him back in his gunner seat.
The minute he was back on the Outrider, he grabbed hold of the turret's controls, turned the heavy machine gun turret in the massive alien's direction, and began directing his built-up frustrations at the poor thing's head whilst laughing maniacally.
Alright, time to put this beast down and move onto my next mission... Man, I can't wait till I can kick back and relax later.
Confident that Sparky would be able to handle himself just fine at this point now that the vehicle was parked, I turned my attention to the monster that was honestly closing the gap between us and it rather fast. Aware of the danger its colossal size posed to us, I swapped out my Dahl Bulldog shotgun for my primary weapon, took aim with both my weapons, braced them tightly, and fired. The rounds from my quad-barreled machine gun immediately impacted the monster that was even larger than my new three-story pad and caused it to release harrowing, pained cries that rang the ears. However, that only lasted for a couple of seconds because it was soon shut up when the three helix rockets rocked its head and sent it swinging to the side.
"How you like that, motherfucker, ahaha-"
Although we caused it a bit of damage, these beasts were basically biological titans, so it was going to take a lot more than a bit of machine gun fire and one round of rockets to put this walking building down. Therefore, I kept raining bullets on its head without pause, but when the smoke from the explosion had cleared some, I saw it had recovered from the rocket hit and was only missing two of its four eyes and had a busted lower jaw.
Shit, we pissed it off royally now.
The anger and rage dwelling in its glowing purple eyes were as clear as day now, so it renewed its efforts and started charging uncharacteristically for a creature of its gargantuan proportions. Feeling the shockwaves of its powerful movements through the very earth itself, I instantly turned and jumped into the driver's seat and peeled out of there to put some more distance between us. I wasn't looking to meet the Grim Reaper anytime soon, but if we stayed put, it wouldn't take more than half a minute for that titan to be on top of us and stomping the shit out of us.
Unwilling to be turned into a meat patty, I yelled over the constant gunfire. "Keep firing, Claptrap, I'm gonna lure it back to the road so we can get the hell out of here if we need to."
"Aye aye, captain."
The mountain of flesh behind us wasn't that far behind and was quickly barreling towards us, so I zoomed through the rough terrain whilst avoiding the bumps and divots in the unpaved earth as best I could since the last thing we needed was a repeat of earlier events. Claptrap kept pouring lead on the target's head as I sped through the environment and tried my damndest to tune out the echoing howls of pain coming from the monstrous creature, and soon we made it to the main route again and in one piece, thankfully.
I better put this beast down before it reaches here, otherwise we're gonna have to fall back again and hopefully take it down on the road. The only issue with the latter is that we'll have to deal with its massive body blocking the road afterwards because there's no way we can leave it there when my goals are considered. Putting it another way, I want to establish my base here in the Arid Badlands and look into getting a few ventures off the ground, like taking control of the local power grid from the bandits I saw roaming around the Zephyr Substation and reopening the Headstone Mine, hence I don't exactly want to be placed in a situation where I gotta move it, especially if I can avoid it all together.
I mean, a massive corpse that'd be blocking the main road isn't exactly the end of the world, but I have no desire to create anymore problems for myself at this junction. Plus, it wouldn't exactly be doing me any favors given my plans... Yeah, I think I'm good on that. I don't particularly wanna be put in the position where I need to develop some kind of method to move a body that weighs in the tens of tons. So what can I use to take this big boy out... Ohh; I know just the thing.
"Alright, I'm hopping out, don't stop shooting!"
"Roger."
With my robotic companion continuing to send hate down range, I departed from the vehicle once more with my Chopper in hand. The second my feet met the hard, compacted earth, I summoned one of my newly acquired weapons, specifically the one I remembered that did a remarkable amount of damage: the Rock-O Launcher. And before I could blink, the unique launcher of bandit make appeared in my left hand with two live rockets loaded and ready to nuke whatever I wish to see obliterated.
This launcher combined with my Chopper's insane explosive hellfire rounds should be enough to get it to kick the bucket.
Confident in my weapons' abilities as well as my own, I dual-wielded the two weapons together, took aim at the Rakk Hive in the distance, that looked a hell of a lot worse for wear due to the spicy little guy behind me, and opened up with both weapons. Streams of hot lead immediately left the barrels of my quad-barreled machine gun and assaulted the last unharmed eye it had left, causing the creature to cry out in horrifying pain as the bullets penetrated, exploded and burned the sensitive sensory organ.
"Man, that's gotta hurt." I thought aloud as the sound of intense gunfire blared throughout the area.
And not even a second after that thought escaped my lips, the first of the rockets I fired met the target's face and blew. The powerful blast from the Rock-O Launcher obscured the view of its face, sent flesh and bone flying all around, and silenced the beast. However, that only lasted a moment because before the smoke could clear, the monster roared and cleared the smoke all on its own. This would have been an intimidating and worrisome sight normally, but I had already sent a second rocket its way.
So just as it was going to enter a berserk rage, which would've left the local terrain scarred for ages, the second shot met its chest and rocked the shit out of it. This second explosion was equally as powerful and potent as the first, and the Rakk Hive felt it because the biological titan was brought to its knees. Seeing the weakness it was showing, I kept up my fervor with my Chopper and swiftly swapped out my rocket launcher for my OG weapon and used both machine guns as my tool of execution.
Between me and Claptrap, all one could hear was the sound of constant, overlapping automatic gunfire, and the little guy yelling about something having to do with the weakness of flesh and meatbags or something like that. But even with all the hate we were laying down on it, the beast was still alive and struggling desperately to stand and get back on its feet. Its resilience and resolve not to give up in the face of extreme adversity, although admirable, wouldn't change the outcome no matter how much it struggled.
"AHAHAHA, YOU LIKE THAT!" I roared somewhat psychotically, obviously being influenced by the maniacal hoo-haaing my partner was doing behind me.
Our shots continued to ring out under the cries of this titanic beast, but they slowly weakened as time passed us by and eventually they stopped altogether. When silence finally took its place, I stared at the mangled body of the Rakk Hive that was left marred with huge gashes, scorched burns and charred flesh from the incendiary effects of my weapons, and a completely destroyed head that was left as nothing more than a bloody, charred stump.
"WOOO, WE DID IT, BEST FRIEND!" Claptrap cheered when he realized we had finally put the titanic opponent out of commission.
"Yeah, we did, didn't we, ahahaha-"
Relief overtook my body and quickly rid the stress I had been bottling up unknowingly throughout this encounter. Thankfully, it didn't take more than a handful of minutes for me to return to normal, and when I did, I reloaded my nearly spent Chopper mag and the partially used one on my Atlas Havoc, refilled the grenades I occasionally tossed throughout the fight, and reloaded the rest of the weapons I used throughout this drawn out battle.
The minute I had completed all my necessary preparations, I turned to my mechanical brother in arms. "You ready to head to the next destination?"
"Where are we off to next, Vic?"
"I was thinking oughta pay a visit to the main gate at Fyrestone and take care of the little skag problem they've got going on over there before we make our way over to Skag Gully to rid the Badlands of yet another local bandit leader. You have any opinions about that?"
"Nope, not a one. You're in charge, boss man."
"Alright then, let's head to the next objective then."
With another bounty collected by yours truly, I boarded my issued Outrider once more and headed on home with an increasingly bloodthirsty Claptrap in tow.
[ Status Changes ]
Level: 46 → 48
Experience Points: +11,020
Total Experience Points Earned: 112,485 → 123,505
Health: 46,720 → 47,360
Health Regeneration: 1,233.6 HP/s → 1,251.8 HP/s
Stamina: 16,206 → 19,240
Stamina Regeneration: 34.6 SP/s → 34.8 SP/s
Skill Points: 0 → 2
Badass Tokens: 901 → 2,003
Shotgun: lvl 5 | Accuracy +6% - Damage +6% - Knockback +6% - Projectile Speed +6% - Recoil Reduction +6% - Reload Speed +6% | → lvl 9 | Accuracy +9% - Critical Hit Damage +9% - Damage +9% - Knockback +9% - Projectile Speed +9% - Recoil Reduction +9% - Reload Speed +9% |
Machine Gun: lvl 48 | Accuracy +48% - Cooling Rate +48% - Damage +48% - Magazine Size +48% - Recoil Reduction +48% - Reload Speed +48% - Stability +48% | → lvl 59 | Accuracy +59% - Cooling Rate +59% - Damage +59% - Magazine Size +59% - Recoil Reduction +59% - Reload Speed +59% - Stability +59% |
Rocket Launcher: lvl 29 | Accuracy +29% - Backblast Reduction +29% - Damage +29% - Explosive Radius +29% - Fire Rate +29% - Recoil Reduction +29% - Reload Speed +29% - Stability +29% | → lvl 35 | Accuracy +35% - Backblast Reduction +35% - Damage +35% - Explosive Radius +35% - Fire Rate +35% - Recoil Reduction +35% - Reload Speed +35% - Stability +35% |
Heavy Weapon: lvl 11 | Accuracy +11% - Cooling Rate +11% - Damage +11% - Fire Rate +11% - Magazine Size +11% - Recoil Reduction +11% - Reload Speed +11% - Stability +11% - Stamina +11% - Weapon Handling +11% | → lvl 30 | Accuracy +30% - Cooling Rate +30% - Damage +30% - Fire Rate +30% - Magazine Size +30% - Recoil Reduction +30% - Reload Speed +30% - Stability +30% - Stamina +30% - Weapon Handling +30% |
Explosive: lvl 71 | Crafting Speed +71% - Damage +71% - Element Effects +71% - Explosive Radius +71% - Shockwave Effects +71% | → lvl 75 | Crafting Speed +75% - Damage +75% - Element Effects +75% - Explosive Radius +75% - Shockwave Effects +75% |
Vehicle Proficiency: lvl 3 | Vehicle Damage +6% - Vehicle Shield Capacity +6% - Vehicle Speed +6% | → lvl 7 | Vehicle Cooling Speed +7% - Vehicle Damage +7% - Vehicle Handling +7% - Vehicle Shield Capacity +7% - Vehicle Shield Recharge Rate +7% - Vehicle Shield Recharge Delay -7% - Vehicle Speed +7% |
[ Loot Acquired ]
Ammunition: 12,177
Grenades: 15