What a day... After everything that had happened back home on Eden-5 and escaping to Pandora with nothing but her school uniform and a hoodie jacket to her name in order to lay low, Gaige felt like things couldn't possibly get worse. That was before she stowed away on a train she thought was safe enough to travel on just a few hours after arriving on Pandora. And then it was somehow blown up and Gaige herself wound up face down in the snow amongst the wreckage of the train she was previously on.
Her head was still throbbing as she tried to crawl forward when she heard an annoying sounding voice a few feet in front of her.
"Hey, you're not dead! Claptrap, your metaphorical ship has come in!"
Gaige looked up to see who it was that was speaking and saw a small robot in front of her holding a shovel. The robot continued to speak as Gaige tried to shake the cobwebs from her head. She gathered that the robot's name was Claptrap from what she heard but not much else.
"Anyway it looks like you weren't the only one to survive that crash," said Claptrap as he pointed a robotic arm at a figure stirring next to Gaige. It was only until the person stood up that Claptrap began to panic. "Oh no, it's a bandit!"
Gaige looked over to see a huge bare chested man with a mask covering his face looking down at her. He did fit the look of one of the many bandits of the planet that she had read about on her way to Pandora. Her first instinct was to summon Deathtrap, but when she tried to do so her robotic arm began emitting sparks.
"Oh, crap, the digistruct module must be busted!" she said as she looked nervously up at the bandit. She didn't even have a gun and with only a few tools within the tool belt she was wearing, she was pretty much at the man's mercy.
"I'M NOT A BANDIT!" shouted the man as he looked at Claptrap and Gaige. "I KILL BANDITS AND BAD HYPERION PEOPLE, NOT GOOD PEOPLE!"
"You-you don't say?" said Claptrap as he slowly wheeled up to the man.
"I SAID I WASN'T! THE OTHER VOICE WOULD SAY THE SAME THING BUT YOU CAN'T HEAR IT!" boomed the man. "ONLY I CAN!"
Claptrap paused for a moment before giving a robotic shrug. "Eh, he didn't kill us, so I guess it's good enough for me!" He then wheeled over to a pair of frozen corpses and began shuffling around them.
Great, a not-bandit psycho, Gaige thought as she nervously watched the man next to her as he stared at Claptrap rummaging through the dead bodies.
"Okay!" said Claptrap as he handed Gaige and the not-bandit next to her some kind of compact device. "Take these ECHO communicators that I totally didn't rip off these dead guys!"
Gaige activated the device and a heads up display appeared in front of her.
"Huh, it shows my vitals and even a mini map of the area," she said as the ECHO communicator booted up and initialized.
"MINE'S NOT WORKING!" shouted the man as he began shaking his ECHO device.
Gaige sighed. "You have to press this button," she said as she walked over to the man and turned on his ECHO device.
"OH..." The man stared at the heads up display that popped up. "SO...MANY...ICONS..."
"Well, now that that's over with let's get you two inside!" said Claptrap as he turned around.
Gaige suddenly realized she was nearly freezing with the environment around her as frigid as it was.
"G-good idea," she said as she shivered a bit.
"I'LL FOLLOW THE ROBOT AND LITTLE GIRL!" shouted the man next to her. "LET'S GO!"
Gaige began following Claptrap as he began rambling on, and a few moments later a young woman's face appeared in front of her HUD and began speaking to her.
"Don't say anything, I'll explain everything later, but know that you're alive for a reason, and I am here to help you."
The woman's image disappeared afterward and an even more confused Gaige followed Claptrap to what looked like an igloo surrounded by piles of junk.
"Good job! Your ability to walk short distances will surely be Handsome Jack's downfall!" said Claptrap.
"I'M GOOD AT WALKING!" shouted the man as Claptrap stopped in front a door.
A sensor on the door scanned Claptrap and a moment later the door opened.
"Just a little security," said Claptrap as he lead the others inside. "Gotta keep those Bullymongs away or else they'll rip your eyes out!"
"IT'S TRUE!" said the man as they traveled down a narrow hallway lined with discarded dead Claptrap units. "I'VE SEEN IT HAPPEN!"
"Greaaat," sighed Gaige as she followed Claptrap into a large room that was filled with dead bodies and more dead Claptrap units.
"Sorry about the mess!" said Claptrap as Gaige headed over to the large lit furnace that was on the other side of the room. "Everything Handsome Jack kills, he dumps here! Bandits, Claptrap units, Vault Hunters like you..."
"SAD ROBOT SOUNDS HAPPY!" said the man as Gaige warmed herself up in front of the furnace.
"That's because my programmers made this my default tone of voice!" replied Claptrap. "I'm actually quite depressed!"
"Uh, huh," muttered Gaige as she sat down and looked around the room. To say it was rather macabre was an understatement with some of the dead bodies seemingly posed on couches and a trio of dead Claptrap units sitting around a card table. "So the owner of Hyperion did all this huh?"
"Well most of it," said Claptrap. "Bullymongs did get their fair share too. Actually, just about all the wildlife on this planet can be just as deadly! So you two should be extra careful, uh, whatever your names are..."
"I'm Gaige," said the young girl. She briefly wondered if giving him her real name was a good idea, but considering this planet was full of bandits and other criminals, it probably wouldn't matter."
"KRIEG!" shouted the man.
"Righto," said Claptrap. "Anyway, outside it's pretty dangerous, but in here we should be pretty safe!"
As soon as those words left Claptrap's speaker, a loud roar came from the open rooftop. Moments later a huge bullymong dropped down next to Claptrap, picked up the robot, held him upside down and ripped his eye out.
Gaige watched as the huge beast then tossed Claptrap aside crawled back up and out of the building.
"GIANT THING TOOK THE EYE!" shouted Krieg as Claptrap fumbled around blindly.
"There's a gun in the cabinet on the left side of the room," said Claptrap as he tried to make his way to the other side of the room. "Go get it..."
Gaige nodded and went over to the cabinet and opened the small box that was sitting on it. Inside was was a plain looking Dahl pistol, and her HUD scanned the weapon and confirmed the information. It certainly wasn't anything special but it was better than nothing. The only question now was who was going to keep it...
"LITTLE GIRL SHOULD TAKE THE GUN," Krieg boomed from behind. "I CAN PUNCH THINGS DEAD UNTIL THEY DIE FOR NOW!"
Gaige wasn't about to argue with him, and picked up the weapon. It was somewhat heavy for a pistol, but it was a Dahl-made one and they were usually pretty solid from what she had read. Hopefully it would be enough to deal with whatever monsters outside awaited her.
A moment later the young woman's image appeared on Gaige's HUD and began speaking again.
"Once upon a time, four Vault Hunters changed Pandora forever. Their time has passed – thanks to Handsome Jack. Pandora needs a new Hero- you."
The woman's image disappeared and Gaige watched as Claptrap fumbled his way to a nearby gate.
"Other than the intense pain I'm feeling, this is great!" the robot said. "I've been waiting for a mighty Vault Hunter to help me get to Sanctuary! I will be your wise leader and you two can be my faithful minions!
A few moments later the gate opened and Claptrap blindly led Gaige and Krieg down a path, occasionally bumping into a random object.
"So that thing that took your eye was a Bullymong huh?" said Gaige as she continued to follow Claptrap.
"Yep, an especially mean one called Knuckle Dragger!" Claptrap answered. "But don't worry! I know my way around this glacier. I'm sure we'll find my eye in Frostbite Crevasse, so just follow me!"
Gaige and Krieg followed Claptrap as he fumbled his way down the path until they reached a large area. Guttural roars and grunts could be heard from ledges above them and Claptrap began shaking.
"Oh, no I hear bullymongs!" he said as he retracted his arms and wheel into his body. "Get em' minion! Protect me Squires!"
A few bullymongs leaped down from the ledge in front of them, though they were tiny compared to the one that stole Claptrap's eye.
"I guess this will have to do for target practice," said Gaige as she took aim at a midget bullymong. A few pulls of the trigger was enough to put it down, leaving Gaige satisfied with the gun's performance. She took aim at another one charging at her, but Krieg ran in between them and began pummeling it with his fists.
"BLOOOOOOD!" Krieg shouted as he pounded the bullymong to death.
Gaige watched as the Psycho tore through the rest of the bullymongs with reckless abandon. If there was a living version of Deathtrap, Gaige figured Krieg was the closest thing to it.
"THAT WAS FUN!" said Krieg as he tossed aside the last bullymong corpse.
Claptrap popped back out and began to lead the group once more. "Let's go everyone! If we don't get my eye back, we'll never make it to Sanctuary!"
"Whatever that is..." Gaige muttered.
"It's the last stronghold of the resistance against Handsome Jack and Hyperion," said the young woman's voice as her image appeared in front of Gaige. "And it is the only place you will be safe."
"Jeez what are you, a guardian angel or something?" Gaige hissed quietly.
"In a way, yes," replied the voice.
Gaige was about to respond when the ground started shaking violently.
"An earthquake?" she asked.
"Yeah," said Claptrap. "They say Jack's drilling operations are what's causing all these earthquakes. That or your mom just got out of bed. ZING!"
"Har. Har." Gaige groaned as she followed him. "Very funny."
"Glad you liked it I- waaaaaa!" Claptrap's response was interrupted when he suddenly tumbled off a steep ledge and wound up upside down in a snow pile.
Gaige sighed and jumped down after him, with Krieg following up and picking Claptrap up from his unfortunate position.
"I, uh, I knew that ledge was there," said Claptrap. "Just making sure you guys knew, that's all!"
Gaige rolled her eyes and noted that more wreckage from the train was scattered around the area. She began to wonder how she actually survived that train wreck. But before she could, Claptrap spoke up.
"Hey, my eye just switched back on!" he said. "I see an incredibly handsome robot and a pair of tough looking minions! Which means that whoever has my eye..."
The rest of his sentence was cut off as a loud roar echoed throughout the area and the giant bullymong known as Knuckle Dragger appeared, with Claptrap's eye tied around its neck, and the husk of a vehicle in it's two larger hands. It was the biggest living thing Gaige had ever seen in real life.
Knuckle Dragger threw the vehicle towards the group, but overshot them and the wreckage was sent tumbling behind them.
"I'M GOING TO RIP OUT YOUR EYEBALLS SO YOU CAN WATCH ME KILL YOU FROM THE OUTSIDE!" roared Krieg as he charged towards the beast.
Glad he's on my side, Gaige thought as she began shooting at the beast. Most of her shots landed, but the beast seemed more affected by Krieg bashing at it with his fists.
"I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT A REAL BADASS IS!" Krieg shouted as he continued his attacks. Knuckle Dragger responded by shoving Krieg away and leaping back to the top of the ledge.
"Look out!" Claptrap said. "More bullymongs are coming out of the wall sphincters!"
Ew, Gaige thought as she watched several small and medium sized bullymongs crawl out of various holes in the cliff side. She began opening fire on the smaller ones while Krieg engaged the larger ones. A few bullets was enough to put a small one down, and it didn't take long for Gaige put down all of them.
Krieg proved to be more than a match for the larger ones as his blood soaked self proved as he stood over the pummeled corpses of dead bullymongs. Gaige turned to give the man a thumbs up, but was suddenly struck on the head by a large chunk of ice that Knuckle Dragger had heaved her way, and then dropped her gun and collapsed to the ground.
"Ugh," Gaige's vision had become blurry and she was trying to shake the cobwebs from her head when she felt the ground shake next to her. When her vision cleared she saw Knuckle Dragger standing over her with his two large fists raised in the air, ready to crush her skull in. Gaige gasped and shut her eyes as Knuckle Dragger brought his fists down. When the killing blow didn't happen, Gaige opened her eyes to see Krieg holding back the huge bullymong's fists.
"YOU DON'T DIE TODAY LITTLE GIRL!" he shouted as the Psycho pushed the monster back and away from Gaige, who grabbed her weapon. "BACK ON YOUR MEAT HAUNCHES!"
Gaige stood up and began opening fire on Knuckle Dragger as Krieg traded blows with the beast. After emptying a full three clips into the beast, it finally collapsed to the ground.
"Whew," Gaige let out a relieved sigh and lay down on the ground in order to catch her breath. Wow, what a way to spend your first day on Pandora. Dad would never believe this...