Watching the afternoon sky above, Lero noted another one of those Ariocasters with fire igniting from behind zoom past him, creating a temporary cloud of mist behind, before letting off a loud boom. Bloody great, he was furious, as his own Ariocaster stayed idle, creaking with every movement. It had been a week and a half, and Jamal had yet to return back to him. No parts for him to repair meant no chance of leaving, and Lero was not having it.
Tired of waiting another day, he walked up to the front of the vehicle, before quickly downing the rainwater he had been collecting last night in a small tin cup, like usual. Without hesitation, he threw the cup across the floor, before forcing the door open. The wind was calm this time of day, as Lero heard several men behind his Ariocaster, speaking a bit too loud for comfort. He quickly dove into the bushes, as he hoped his suspicions did not let him down.
"Is it me, or is that an Ariocaster down there?" one of the men had said, to which Lero saw was a group of soldiers.
"No way, that thing looks too old to even be the earlier models. It's not 1937, you know." Another soldier joked around, to which the entire group was laughing.
"Well regardless, I think we should check it out. Just to make sure we aren't missing anything of value. Plus with the annexation ending already, we should take advantage before we have to go back to Yodenia." the first person spoke back up, sliding down the ditch, and began to look around.
Why were they near my Ariocaster, my bloody piece of work, Lero wanted to curse them out. He could only watch, as they entered through the front door that he didn't bother closing, with them being careless inside. On my mighty powers, please don't go into the back, Lero hoped, as he was tensing for what they would find. Welp, they found it anyway.
"You guys got to see this! This could be major!" one of the other soldiers spoke, to which they all went by the door to see what it was.
The men were holding a pair of Lero's underwear, and one of them held his nose back in disgust. If only he had supplies, it wouldn't smell so bad, Lero wanted to scream out, but kept silent. At least that wasn't the thing though, he calmed down, until the soldier pulled out a large piece of paper.
"Do you know what this could possibly be?" the first soldier to speak asked around.
"I don't really know or care to be honest. This just seemed to an extremely old Ariocaster from the raids, and probably just a temporary home for some low-life bum, and the map it appears you're holding is probably outdated for several years now." the last person within the five of the soldiers finally spoke up in frustration, while pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up.
"You should probably quit doing that. You know the military bans those tha-." the first soldier began to go stickler on the other man.
"Yeah, well they aren't here right now." the man puffed into his face, forcing the soldier to cough, "Just like how the owner of this garbage isn't looking at us through the bushes."
Lero stopped moving even the slightest, as the rest of the soldiers looked at the man confusingly, before he held the cigarette tightly to his lips. Lero could see he was staring right in his direction, as he pulled off the rifle he was carrying on his back. He couldn't bloody see him, Lero had to figure he was bluffing, until he heard a click of a magazine being inserted.
"You might as well come out now, you coward. I can see you hiding, about 5.90184 meters away from the tree. You're currently wearing a burgundy shirt, and a black set of trousers on, while also having a set of-" the man began to ramble off, while aiming the weapon at him.
"Okay, you bloody got me! You wankers sure found me alright. Man can't be left alone like a Mersiuan in a Canuil!" Lero was agitated, almost rushing the men, before the cigarette man fired a warning shot, causing him to crouch on the ground.
"You see guys, this is what I'm talking about. People like him act tough, but the minute you assert dominance, they fall back like the primitives they are. Ain't I right?" the man grinned, spitting the cigarette onto the ground, and crouched in front of Lero once he stopped in front of him.
"You wish." Lero grinned back, his teeth discolored due to the conditions.
"Are you sure I'm wrong?" the man looked confused, before shoving the barrel of the weapon down Lero's jaw, "I think you must of misspoke."
Lero hissed in frustration, knowing what he had to say but only giving them ammunition to take advantage of him even more.
"You bloody right, mate. Okay, I give up!" Lero put his hands up, to which the man backed away, before demanding something from one of the other soldiers.
Lero didn't know what was happening until they pulled out cuffs and began to approach him. In fear, Lero got up and started his sprint, causing the rest of the soldiers to be alert at his speed for being in a fragile state. Living in Anertila surely trained his body to still be in condition, Lero grinned, as he climbed the hill, and made his way toward Jamal's place. He could hide out there, and be saf-, he began to process. That was until a shot rang out, and a searing pain traveled across his entire body. It quickly forced him down, as he could hear the other soldiers yelling in surprise and worry at the collapse.
Lero knew they wasted no time cuffing him, as the berating soldier continued to insult him at every second possible.
"You just had to give up, and none of this would have happened." Lero began to fade out the noise.
He just stayed flat on the ground, as he felt them heaving him up, before the world blanked out, and no longer avoided detection.