Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Tutorial

I opened the door to Goodsprings, and immediately, the hot breeze of desert air entered my nostrils. The hot air of the Mojave Desert was no joke. It was something that I didn't get during the playthrough, particularly because the temperature wasn't exactly a gameplay element. 

 

The people of Goodsprings suddenly directed their gazes at me. Did they really take me for a good-for-nothing Vault Dweller? Nevertheless, I walked to the saloon. As usual, Victor, that securitron was roaming around in front of Mitchell's house for unknown reasons. 

 

I approached him, "Hey."

 

"Howdy, partner. You are one hell of a lucky guy, for someone who was shot in the head."

 

"What happened? Do you know?"

 

"Partner, let me tell you a story. So, Sunny was roaming around the Goodspring source to look for Gechos when you suddenly showed up on the main road. She said you were followed by a Gecho, and she took the shot. Well, you can figure the rest." He let out a clear sigh sound. 

 

Gecko, how to say it? It was a creature quite common in New Vegas. It varied in size, but most that were found in Goodspring were small enough that they didn't become a threat, even for the weakest player. It was basically a bipedal reptile whose size varied from a little child to that of human adults. 

 

"Basically, the bullet accidentally hit my head?" 

 

"Yup."

 

"I see. Later, Vic."

 

"See you again."

 

Weird, so, I wasn't exactly dug out of a grave nor I was a courier carrying something important. It was just a little bit of a friendly accident. How should I respond to it though? Should I be angry? Should I be emotionless? Or should I be kind?

 

I walked to the terrace of the saloon. Easy Pete was on his usual spot, sitting down on a chair. He didn't greet me, why should he? I was just a random stranger after all. I opened the door of the saloon, and oh man, let me tell you something, it was breezing with cold air in there. 

 

Looking around the ceiling, the air conditioner was still working, pretty impressive. I couldn't imagine anyone surviving the Mojave's heat without any air conditioning whatsoever, it was just nuts. 

 

Sunny was sitting down instead of standing near the chair with her Varmint Rifle on her back. Beside her was her dog, Cheyenne. I approached her and the dog immediately barked at me. "Cheyenne, stay! Sorry for the dog, she won't bite, unless I tell her to."

 

"Ok, understandable. Doc said you wanted to meet me."

 

"Yeah, please, sit down," Sunny said. 

 

I sat down right in front of her. She was wearing his usual leather armor, which was pretty much a leather jacket patched with more leathers that would probably protect her from basic bullet or melee attack. However, with a rifle round, I had my own doubt about it. 

 

"So... what are you going to talk about?" I asked, simply because I didn't find enough reason for me to talk with her. 

 

"About two weeks ago, I'm sorry," she said. 

 

"Don't worry, I'm fine with it," I answered simply because I didn't know what the owner of this body would probably answer. He would probably be pissed, but to put it simply, I didn't. 

 

"Thanks. So, what can I do for you? After all, I have a few own favors for you. Hey, perhaps, I can teach you how to shoot a gun. I have two extra varmint rifles," Sunny said. 

 

I'd love to shoot, but to be entirely honest, was it really reasonable to ask someone who missed a Gecko and landed it on my head instead? I could tell that a Varmint Rifle wasn't the most accurate rifle around, but why did she miss by that much of a margin? 

 

"Did you shoot me using the rifle on your back?" I asked. 

 

"Yes, why do you ask?" 

 

My knowledge of guns was quite good, I knew how to use several kinds of weapons in real life, and in this case, New Vegas wasn't that radically different for me either. 

 

"How far did you shoot me from?" I asked again. 

 

"At least, 200 meters or so," Sunny answered. 

 

"No wonder."

 

Varmint Rifle was not a sniper rifle, even in New Vegas. The round that it used wasn't particularly powerful nor accurate whatsoever. However, was I that weak that a bullet to the head was all it took to take me down? Perhaps, it was one of the more situational death, eh?

 

"Yeah, a Varmint Rifle is not the most accurate rifle around. What do you say about my initial offer? Do you want to train shooting with me?" Sunny still asked that question. 

 

"Fine by me."

 

"Alright, follow me behind the bar, I'll set it up," Sunny said.

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She stood up from the chair where she was sitting and walked to the door located behind her. Of course, I followed her since a varmint rifle was a Varmint Rifle. It was still a weapon, and I doubted I could survive being bitten by a Gecko.

 

There was something about going out of Goodsprings when you were level one, it just meant that fighting enemies would be a task instead of a nuisance. That was because skills like Guns, Explosives, and Energy Weapons increased a weapon's damage quite significantly. Even an increase by one point or two would be pretty worth it in my own opinion. 

 

Eventually, we arrived at the back of the saloon. Sunny was standing at a little bit higher point in the saloon. In front of her was a row of empty Sunset Sarsaparilla bottles. She would use it to train me to shoot, I guess?

 

She wasn't lying though, she indeed had an extra varmint rifle and she gave the rifle to me. It was a bolt-action rifle without any scope and it also had mediocre accuracy and very low damage, at least in New Vegas. In here? It might be different because the bullet was still a bullet. 

 

Sunny then gave me a box of 5.56 bullets. I put the bullet in my pocket and began to put the bullet inside of the magazine of the varmint rifle. I put it one by one, but the varmint rifle's magazine could only store 5 bullets at the same time. 

 

"See those Sunset Sarsaparilla bottles over there, I want you to shoot them," Sunny said. 

 

"Ok."

 

"Try aiming down the sight and slightly hold your breath, it should stabilize your aim," Sunny commented. 

 

I did what she said. I aimed down the sight of the varmint rifle and shot one of the bottles. The bottles shattered into small pieces as the bullet went through the bottle. I then pulled the bolt of the rifle and shot it at another bottle. 

 

"Try crouching, your foot will help you to stabilize your aim," Sunny added. 

 

I crouched on the ground and aimed at a bottle. It was true, the wobble that I created from the tremor in my hand was much less than when I was standing on the ground. 

 

"Good shooting. Try laying down on the ground for a very stable aim, be warned though, I don't recommend this for anything other than long-range shooting," Sunny said. 

 

Hmm, prone position? Alright. I laid myself down on the desert floor. Not the most comfortable position by a certain margin, but certainly felt better to lay down the rifle on the ground and aimed it. 

 

In real life, I had shot one or two times in my lifetime. The 5.56 bullet never had that much recoil in real life, and New Vegas wasn't that much different either in this regard. The recoil felt like a snap, and it was rather soft. I pulled the trigger and another bottle splashed into shrapnels. 

 

"That's it that I can teach to you. If you want to, you can help around Goodsprings," Sunny said.

 

"Well, anything else you can tell me?" I asked. 

 

"Ah yes, Doc said you have a very extensive memory loss. Here are bottlecaps that you can use for trading. Don't spend it all at once, though, you feel me?" Sunny handed me a plastic bag filled with bottle caps. The bottlecaps then disappeared into thin air when I retrieved them. 

 

"Huh? Where the hell did my bottlecaps go?" I asked as I patted my vault jumpsuit pocket for my bottlecaps, but there weren't any. 

 

"Ah, yes, Doc Mitchell gives you a pip-boy, doesn't he?" Sunny looked at the pip-boy that I wore on my left hand. 

 

"What's wrong with that?" I asked. 

 

"Robco designed Pip-Boy to store items inside of its storage. I don't know how it works, and neither does Doc, but it involves a pre-war science, just open your Pip-Boy, you can find your caps there," Sunny said. 

 

"Huh, what? Are you joking?" I said as I put the Pip-Boy in front of my face. 

 

The Pip-Boy automatically displayed my whole information on its screen. From what I could see, I was in the status menu. It displayed my HP, my Level, and my condition. 

 

Level: 1

HP: 200/200

XP: 10/200

 

There were three buttons on the bottom of the screen, displayed as [Status|Items|Data]. I pressed the [Items] to see what I had in my inventory. It had multiple menus such as [Weapons | Apparel | Aid | Misc | Ammo]. In the weapons, I was equipped with Varmint Rifle. I had 100 Bottlecaps in my inventory, it should be enough to buy me a box of bullets or two. 

 

Sunny then intervened as I fiddled with my Pip-Boy, "See, I told you that Robco makes some funky stuff."

 

Couldn't say I disagree with that. I would immediately think that this was pretty much one of the many mechanics that I wasn't sure how it would be implemented in real life. However, now I knew how the Pip-Boy was able to make the player carry 200 kilograms of equipment out of nowhere.

 

"Yeah, I agree."

 

"Anyway, is there anything else I can do to help you?"

 

"Yeah, give me a tour around Goodsprings."

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