3081-ZX-11-1/01 Saddle Up Space Cowboy Laying low in this wasteland seemed like a good idea four years ago, but I got too much tumbleweed in my blood to stay put for long. I craved peace and quiet... until I had too much of it. I reckoned it was high time to head back to the ship and try my luck getting off this rock. It seems now that even fresh air ain't enough for this here fancy gunslinger. Well, I knew the ship wasn't meant for a solo pilot, but I gave it a go anyway. Only to crash pretty hard on the other side of the planet. I got what I wanted: peace and quiet don't linger around here. Every moment of calm has been followed by a nasty sandstorm. Been holed up in this busted ship for a few days now, studying Mother Nature’s whims and letting my cyborg horse ride out its slumber down in the stasis bay. I found myself a goal, though. On my way down, I spotted something bright and unnatural, and I reckon that's where the action might be. If I ain’t mistaken, the next calm before the sandstorm should last a while. Time to saddle up, space cowboy.

3081-ZX-11-2/02 Outride The Sandstorm I must have picked the right career, 'cause meteorologist sure ain't it. These angry clouds don't give a damn about my nice weather predictions, and they're rolling in to make sure I'm proven wrong. I reckon that thunder’s gonna fry me alive if the sand doesn’t shred me first. And here I was having a blast riding on these dunes. Time to shine, girl. You've got the cyborg horse speed. We gonna have to outride the sandstorm.

3081-ZX-11-3/03 Approaching Neon Tumbleweed City Well, I'll be damned. A whole damn city! Well, a town? It’s gotta qualify to be an outpost at least. Hell if I know, been riding solo for too damn long to tell the difference anymore. But I'll be damned again if this place ain't something else. Let me tell ya, it's a sight to behold. The sand disintegrates on contact with a huge energy shield, making all sorts of crazy patterns on the sphere. Some of the grains burn reaaal slow, carried by the winds up into the sky to join the stars. My neural link’s offline database tells me this planet is officially inhabited, so hopefully I can refresh that nonsense while I refresh with a nice drink. I make out a sign on the way “Stranger, you’re approaching Neon Tumbleweed City, where the dunes glow purple, and the girls are gritty."

3081-ZX-12-1/03 A Gunslinger’s Entrance Even a fool like me knows better than to get too caught up in the beauty of things. I decide to wait until morning before entering Neon Tumbleweed City, to improve the odds of keeping my wits about me. This city’s the kind where first impressions can either get you the peace and quiet you so rightfully deserve - or enough bullet holes to make you see-through. So, I straighten my hat, make sure my gaze sends shivers down folks’ spines, and slowly ride in. Steady like a rattler about to strike. In the morning light, the Neon Tumbleweed dispenses with grace and reveals loosely organized chaos. Rowdy markets clash with neon-lit alleyways, casting colorful halos on the worn down streets. Old vintage storefront give way to towering modern structures, each one telling a little bit of the story of this unlikely city. The graffiti tell a story too. I reckon not everyone's a fan of the Mayor, and there's mixed feelings about something called "The Crow." In the center of all that chaos, a massive tower looms, basking in ominous light like a predator digesting after a hunt. There’s even an arena, apparently for duels and fights. I’m not interested in that kind of rodeo anymore, but mentions of a racetrack have caught my ear. But first things first! Let's get a taste of this city’s finest joints.

3081-ZX-12-2/05 Vaporwave Saloon After wandering around town for a while, I find myself in a cozy, neon-lit saloon. My nerves start to settle after a few rounds of glowing vapor shots, just as the locals begin to open up. This city was once an oil drilling outpost for Sankoshima Mining Corp. When the company pulled out, most folks were left to fend for themselves. That's when the Mayor took over. He's got a grip on this town tighter than a snake’s squeeze. Rigged his own bio-signals to the energy shield's self-destruct mechanism. If he goes, the shield goes with him, and this city would be buried in sand within hours. The storms would take everything. But the Mayor's not the only power player around here. The Crow, his right hand, is a fearsome gunslinger controlling bionic crows that serve as her eyes and ears. Folks say she's as tough as nails and can shrug off bullets like they're a breeze. I don't like the sound of either of those two, but as long as they don't mess with me, I won't mess with them. I'm just here to joyfully spend my advance payment from that botched mission and get some maintenance done on my horse. Heck, maybe even try to snag an energy core upgrade for her come morning. This night could be unforgettable...if only the glowing plasma drinks didn't mess with my memory so much! For now, I'll settle in the moment and let myself soak in the warm neon glow. Been a while since I let myself be so careless around folks. Ain’t nothing but good vibes down at the Vaporwave Saloon, partner.

3081-ZX-13-1/04 Horse Core Upgrade: Mk IV Despite nursing a bad hangover, this day was shaping up just shy of perfect. Scored the Mk IV energy core upgrade for my horse, and I was itching to test it out in the desert, eager to see what kind of power we could unleash. But things went south real quick - our rhythm was way off! I could feel her frustration with my hangover, the way she bristled at my handling, and it was messing with my head. She craved precision, and I wasn’t delivering. After a while, she had enough of my fumbling and decided to take the lead. But I couldn't mesh with her mechanical rhythm. It's too rigid, clashing with the natural flow of the sand. It doesn't feel right, like we’re fighting the very dunes we used to effortlessly drift on. We both had our flare-ups, but eventually we realized it wasn’t about who was right. It was about finding a way to work together, accepting we were both doing our best in bringing what we could bring to this moment. It's a delicate dance, like a pendulum keeping a loose beat amidst gusts of wind. Never truly losing track of center. We finally got in tune, and unlocked the true potential of that horse core upgrade: Mk IV. We were humbled - turns out we didn’t know everything about speed yet!

3081-ZX-15-1/07 Neon Desert Raceway With the shiny new Mk IV horse core upgrade installed, I reckon it’s high time to enter one of these races I've been hearing about. I'm told the Neon Desert Raceway is a dangerous track, snaking through the desert, weaving through the city, and diving underground like a neon rainbow on an acid trip. The race kicks off, and I have to admit I'm impressed by the competition. Some of these rigs pack serious punch! At these breakneck speeds, everything turns into a blur, and sensory overload hits hard. Most racers experience a mix of hallucinations and euphoria. It's a dangerous combo when one bad snap-decision could flatten you in the blink of an eye. But my horse and I? We're rock solid. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, and plenty have tried. After a while, it feels like we have the track to ourselves, and we’re making short work of the Neon Desert Raceway.

3081-ZX-15-2/08 The Crow Comes Knocking Damn it! I'm dumber than a sack of rocks! Got too wrapped up in showing off that new upgrade. I got careless... Now I caught The Crow's eye. Gotta hand it to her, she didn't waste no time. The Crow stole my horse while she was getting some well-deserved care after the race... Now she's stalking me with some hellish crow-bots. Those things give me the creeps. First, I noticed one tailing me on my way to the neon saloon, then a few more... then the whole damn flock. Before long, I was cornered, and she stepped out of the shadows. "So you can ride," she says, "but can you fight? I'm looking for qualified personnel, you hear? There's a job that needs doing outside of this town's usual idiots' capabilities. Got my flock's eye on an armored train that is due for some good old-fashioned holdup'. And you ain't like the rest of these sheltered fools. If I read you right." If she reads me right, she knows I'll put a bullet between her eyes the first chance I get... But she's got my horse, and she looks even tougher than the stories say. Gotta tread carefully. "I arranged a little rodeo for you, gunslinger, and the whole town's rounded up to see you at the arena. You'll follow me if you wanna see that horse of yours again. Or maybe you'd rather show me you're even dumber than you look?" Gotta agree with her on that one... Can't believe I was dumb enough to get myself into this. Forgot how dangerous folks can be. She leads me through a town that looks like it's been hastily abandoned. After all, it seems most folks around here got better survival instincts than I do.

3081-ZX-15-3/09 Into The Fight Pit The Crow wasn’t lying. The whole town's here, having the time of their life at my expense. But I’m not the only poor soul drawn to this mess. I’m getting too old and too soft for this. Sure, I’ll punch mercenaries full of holes, and the crowd will cheer. Heck yeah, I can sense, find, and kill the neural implant hackers trying to catch me distracted, and the crowd approves. I’ll almost enjoy killing the wannabe-warriors in exoskeletons and blowing up your average killer robots, and the crowd’ll get real noisy. But, kids in mech suits—that’s where I find my new limit. Can’t be more than fifteen years old... Killed my first one in self-defense. It was me or her. The crowd cheered. The second one was more of a snap decision...a boy trying to sneak up on me with a cloaking device. It was me or him...I think. The crowd cheered again. The third one came at me in a 20-foot humanoid machine, and the crowd went nuts. He must be some kind of local star. I aimed but couldn’t bring myself to shoot. He did not hesitate. The crowd cheered once more. Guess I’m not the only one who can make that happen. My vision became narrow, then narrower. I’m losing blood. Is this how I die? The cheering intensified, and everything else started fading away. I could just stop living. End the suffering. I always end up here anyway. Halfway between despair and anger, wondering why the world is so violent and why I’m struggling so fucking much. I’ve tried to be like them, I’ve tried to be unlike them. It’s futile, and I think my time has come. Remarkable, how when push comes to shove, something within me always kicks in to keep the Reaper away. Can’t rightly say why, but I just can’t truly stop wanting to live, no matter how bad things get. So, I slip back into the groove, and bring my A-game into the fight pit.

3081-ZX-20-1/08 The Train Robbery With my worth proven to The Crow, I get the royal treatment and I’m back on my feet in no time. She’s got me lined up for a good old train robbery.||but what mighty train! This armored beast has been zipping through the wasteland on autopilot for decades since the Sankoshima mining corp packed up and left. The train’s been slowly sipping power from some mysterious energy reactor the Crow wants to nab for Neon Tumbleweed City. The train’s guarded by an army of tin soldiers that don’t have a clue their mission’s long past its expiration date. The Crow’s got the muscle, but what she needs is speed. Someone who can catch up to that speeding hunk of metal and bring it to a stop long enough for her crew to board. We both know she has to give me my horse back for that to happen, and that’s enough to have me accept. I’ll stop that runaway train, but first chance I get, me and my girl are high-tailing it back to the desert. Maybe being around folks ain’t for me after all.

3081-ZX-20-2 A Score To Settle The Crow didn’t take too kindly to me bailing out of sight, and she’s hot on my trail. She’s got a small army of roughnecks I’d rather not wrangle with and a flock of biomechanical crows whose eyes can cut through you like a laser. But even her crows' gaze pales in comparison to hers. Her eyes tell a tale of a thousand kills, like staring into the heart of the desert’s deadliest secrets. Eyes that seem like they were kind once, but now hold no mercy. Eyes I’m scared I’ll see in the mirror if life keeps throwing bullets my way. She sends shivers down my spine, but I can’t run forever. If I want off this rock, I’ll have to go back to the city to get organized. Ain't no avoiding the unavoidable. I set up an ambush, taking out a few of her men, then lead the rest to a ruined village. If I can single out The Crow and take her down, maybe her flock will scatter. Turns out, it’s easy to get some alone time with her. She wants this duel as much as I do. We’ve got a score to settle.

3081-ZX-23-1 Wounded But Not Broken I thought I was fine, but that was just the adrenaline talking. After a few days, I noticed my hand-eye coordination slipping ‘cause of my wounds, so I had to pull back. Hiding in the desert is second nature to me now, and it sure feels easier than being a city dweller. Got hit pretty hard, but I can bounce back. I can heal. Better myself through training. Rebuild my trust. In the world. In myself. In you, my fellow human. In us, in humanity. I'm wounded, but I ain't broken yet. My run-ins with the fight pits and the Crow put an end to my honeymoon phase with Neon Tumbleweed City. The idea of leaving this place as it is don’t sit right with me anymore. I’m fixing to meet the Mayor and make this city regret sending kids after me in the fight pits.

3081-ZX-30-1 Storming the Mayor’s Tower. Shame I gotta spoil this peaceful night, but I aim to kill the Mayor tonight. The people of this city are like caged animals with him around. I take a long, good look at my gun, till I can almost feel it staring back at me. I get into the zone. How you doing, old friend? I need to team up once again. I need you to speak my mind, better than words can. Of all the things I can’t control, I wish I would wield charisma as well as I can wield a gun. I wish I had the skill to speak in a way that my fellow would keep an open mind. I wish I would avoid the same pitfalls I am preaching against, and I wish I could untangle fear that is woven so deep inside us that we can be controlled and divided. I wish I could protect us from each other. But I can’t do any of these things, and these people are owed their freedom. Let’s make sure the mayor hears us, old friend. Make up a storm the Mayor can't shield from. I know how persuasive we can be.

3081-ZX-30-2/14 Swallowed by the Sandstorm I lead whoever’s got the grit to follow out of Neon Tumbleweed City. With the Mayor’s fall, the energy shield is down. This city’s about to be swallowed by the sandstorm. But these folks still have a fighting chance. Freed from their gilded cage, they’ve got a shot at something new. I’ll teach them to read the desert winds and dodge the deadly storms. I’ll show them the ways of survival out in the wastelands. Maybe, just maybe, I can guide them to the other side of the planet, where peace and quiet tend to stick around a little. This ain’t the end; it’s a new beginning. Time to trade neon lights for starlight and city walls for endless horizons. This caravan has a trail to blaze through the desert.