[ action | Orthworms everywhere! ]

[tempredmental]

Who: Keith, OPEN
Where: Ecruteak and the surrounding routes
When: Throughout the Orthworm crisis and shortly after
Summary: Keith is doing what Keith does... being a dumb hero that likes to take risks
Rating: G mostly, I'm sure

Log:

Battling and Catching

[Keith could be found getting involved in trying to help stop and catch Orthworms all around Ecruteak and the surrounding routes. Need a hand? He's got his team there to help out. Fighting and fire types made a good portion of his team, so he was ready to go with moves and strengths against them to help bring them down and catch them for the Safari Zone.]

=====

Exploring the Tunnels

[He really couldn't resist. Keith was way too curious for his own good, probably, and headed down into those tunnels from time to time. For the most part, he did fine, but didn't find anything but piles of dirt and long stretches of hollowed out rock. And, no... they definitely weren't stable, so he tended not to stay very long.

He kept exploring them until a slip down one of them landed him back in the ER. Don't mind him. He was still having trouble reconciling his lack of Galra durability.]

Comments

Tunnels

[crystalmaster]

Radley comes to the hospital to see Keith, moving slowly after having been hit by an Orthworm tail while protecting two of his baby Pokemon.

"So how did this happen?" he asks in concern.

[tempredmental]

"The hole left behind by the Orthworm I just caught was kind of deeper than I thought." Keith sounded frustrated and annoyed. It had only been since February, and he'd sprained his ankle at that point pretty badly thanks to bad Snorunt luck sending a Pansear to chase him all month while it used Fling to throw flaming poo at him. Jumping down a really deep hole less than six months after that probably hadn't been the best idea. But, he hadn't had any issues with the holes he'd been exploring... until the most recent one since that one had been deeper than the rest. All it took was one botched landing on a weaker ankle.

[crystalmaster]

"You went down the hole?" Radley frowns. He doesn't add "even though they warned us not to," but he's certainly thinking it. He hasn't had any desire to look into the holes he's seen.

[tempredmental]

"Yeah." Keith shrugged, sounding somewhat annoyed that his judgement was being questioned. "I went down a lot of 'em. I wanted to make sure there weren't going to be any other Pokémon coming out and causing problems." Which was honestly a fair assessment of a situation, and definitely the reaction of someone who'd spent a few too many years fighting a war during a formative stage in his life. He was clearing the zone. He had to confirm that it really was actually clear.

[crystalmaster]

Well, that does put a different spin on it than just reckless exploring. Radley relaxes a bit and nods understandingly.

"That was good of you to think about that. There's been those weird birds around now."

[tempredmental]

Keith nodded.

"Yeah. I saw a bunch of them." He winced, shifting his leg to try getting more comfortable. "So, how'd you end up here?"

[crystalmaster]

Radley smiles easily. "Me? I'm just visiting you." He sobers. "Although I know I probably look like I belong here. I came out on the wrong end of an Orthworm fight. I was protecting Heidi and Peter." He shows a picture of two baby Eevees. "They wandered out trying to help and bit off more than they could chew. Me too, apparently. But Cosmo fixed me up. She used Heal Pulse on me and evolved into a Kirlia doing it. I've been taking it easy since then."

[tempredmental]

Keith lifted an eyebrow at the visiting comment. Dude, please.

"Heal Pulse, huh?" He was going to have to find a Pokémon that could learn that at this rate. Funny how being raised thinking he was fully human left him taking all his Galra traits for granted. How did he not think he wasn't normal when he managed to avoid getting badly hurt for most of his childhood?

"Sounds like you got lucky, then."

[crystalmaster]

Well, it's true. He's not a patient, so he wouldn't be there otherwise!

He nods. "I never knew it could work on people. Of course, it's not a complete healing, but it's pretty amazing. I'm sure I'd be laid up here if not for Cosmo."

And that would be bad. He has so many darling Pokemon to look after.

He's definitely still weak, though. He leans against the wall while trying to make it look casual and not a necessity.

"So, are you just being checked out or do you have to stay?"

Tunnels

[heartofalioness]

Keith, are you sure--KEITH!

[SIIIIIGH she married this man. OFF SHE GOES AFTER HIM. Thankfully she's loaded her team with Fire and Fighting types for this- plus Chumirra for fending off Rock- or Ground types and for knowing how to Dig- so she can at least run after her VERY IMPULSIVE HUSBAND as he charges first down a tunnel.]

[tempredmental]

It's not the first one we've done.

[Which was true. He'd gone down a few of these already. Why would this one be any different? He had the Orthworm in question tucked away in a PokéBall after their joint battle to bring it down, and, really... a long tunnel? With possibly other Pokémon? He had to at least look.

It was fine.

At least, it had been until he realized a bit too late that this hole was deeper than any of the others had been so far. He realized it when he made his way down, landing harder than he expected, and his ankle rolled hard just like back in February on the beach. Not quite as badly, but enough to hurt, considering it was a bit more sensitive to these things still.

He fell to his hands and knees when he landed, unable to hold back a small pained yelp.

A choice had been made. Regrets were had.]

[heartofalioness]

KEITH!

[Well... guess she's going down too. Carefully, thanks to Chumirra's Dig, but then sprinting towards Keith as fast as she can.]

Keith, are you all right?

[tempredmental]

Nnng... [Yeah, that hurt. And it felt like it was starting to swell already.] There's a lot of rock debris over here. [Figured. That was how his foot rolled, apparently.] Be careful.

[Using the tunnel wall, he managed to get himself upright, at least. And, while it was definitely a limp, he could sort of walk. Gingerly picking his way through the loose rock was a challenge, though, but he still managed to get part of the way towards Allura before she reached him.]

I definitely did something to it again. [He was... resigned. Yeah, it had been dumb. But he'd wanted to make sure the tunnel was truly clear before they'd moved on. It was a thing, going back to making sure a zone was clear before moving on in battle. Those instincts were hard to let go of.]

[heartofalioness]

[SIIIIGH, loud enough to echo through the tunnels.]

Of course... [Urge to hug round humanoid ears rising, but even so, she still reaches out easily to catch him and then wrap one his arms over her shoulder.] Next time, at least take one of your Flying Pokemon down. Or Kosmo's Rock Climb, or use climbing gear.

[tempredmental]

Eh-heh... [He let out a tense breath, not fully leaning on her, but not turning down the support for balance.] Yeah. [Okay, so he definitely felt pretty dumb. But, he was at least able to put some weight on it this time... maybe it wouldn't be quite as bad.]

[heartofalioness]

[Yet another sigh as they start moving, softer this time.]

I love you. [She turns her head enough to press a kiss to his temple.] I do wish you would take better care of yourself.

[tempredmental]

[Keith let out an answering sigh.]

I didn't do it on purpose.

[The response was muttered, almost a little petty and defensive. But he shook his head.]

I thought it was gonna be fine. Something like that... I probably could have handled it normally.

[But things in this place weren't normal for him. Sure, it was a great place to live and they didn't have an intergalactic war hanging over their heads and he didn't have to worry about... well, either way, he had some adjustments he was having trouble making thanks to being physically different. And, sure, he was fairly certain Allura could understand on some level. He didn't put it past her because she didn't have her Altean strength here, or her quintessence abilities, or any of that. But there was this disconnect Keith was having trouble with, because he'd thought he was fully human for so long, and he was only now realizing that there might have actually been some things that were different about him after all thanks to being half-Galra without knowing it.]

s'up bro

[shiro2hero]

What are you in for?

[It just figures that they find each other in a hospital. Banged up, but all right, in the end. It just figures, though.]

[Shiro's left arm is in a sling, and despite looking like he crawled out from under a building, he seems pretty much okay otherwise.]

[tempredmental]

Orthworm holes.

Some of them are a lot deeper than you'd think.

[Keith sounded... tired.]

What happened to you?

[But he still had the energy to be concerned for Shiro's well being.]

[shiro2hero]

... You didn't.

[And in that sentence, Shiro also sounds tired.]

Oh. The observatory was starting to fall in. So... I made like that sculpture for a while. The Greek one? With the guy holding up the world?

[tempredmental]

I was making sure there wasn't anything else down there!

[He was being a good Paladin! Making sure the coast was clear after the battle!

And maybe being a little bit of a dork about jumping down a hole in curiosity...]

Wait... the Observatory fell? [Keith shook his head.] Shiro, please tell me you didn't try to hold up a building.

[shiro2hero]

Next time, man, just send a pokemon...

[Probably what he should have done, but. Oh well.]

[Shiro grimaces. Shrugs his good shoulder.]

Not the whole thing. Just... a piece of it. [He tried to hold up a piece of it.]

[tempredmental]

.....

[Keith stared at Shiro for a second.]

Send a Pokémon. I could say the same thing. Just have a Pokémon hold up the 'piece' of building.

What piece?

[shiro2hero]

The big guys were out fighting the worm. All I had on me was Nebula.

[The Umbreon. Who would have also gotten hurt.]

[He grimaces.]

Looked like part of the telescope.

[tempredmental]

[Keith sighed. Honestly, he shouldn't be surprised.]

I guess we're both just overachievers.