Welcome to Gaia! ::

The first thing Luke became aware of was the scent of earth, followed quickly by the dull throb of pain. He opened his eyes to darkness and thought for a moment that he had been blinded, but memories of falling assuaged that fear before it could escalate into panic. He pushed himself into a sitting position, displacing rocks and dirt as he did, and dazedly attempted to regain his bearings. He remembered running ahead of Asch, and he remembered the ground suddenly lurching beneath his feet, and he remembered hearing a scream--

Though it had been eased away before, panic would not be so easily placated this time. Had he stopped to consider why the hell he cared so much, he probably would have been quite offended by his own actions. As things were, though, he understood one thing about the situation: His brother had fallen ahead of him, and Luke could not see where he was.

"Asch!" His voice was hoarse, his throat choked with clay dust. He coughed to clear it and repeated the call. How was he supposed to find anything when it was so damn dark...?

The pokemon's call summoned Luke's attention skyward where he found an unknown form silhouetted against the bleak sky - presumably the pokemon Asch had sent ahead earlier.

"Hey, you!" he shouted. He raised his arms to wave and better attract the thing's attention but quickly abandoned the effort at the sharp complaint of his right wrist and forearm; they had probably sustained damage in breaking his fall. Damn. At least his dominant hand and the arm it was attached to seemed to be functioning all right. Well, whatever. The pokemon could probably hear him okay anyway, "Could use some help down here! I don't see your trainer!"

The most important matter at the moment, however, seemed to be the illumination of the black pit; finding Asch would more easily follow that. Fortunately, Luke was struck with inspiration. A moment's passage found an Umbreon at his side, evaluating their surroundings with concern and confusion. Tenebrae's human explained, "Hey, you know that thing you do when it's dark? That whole glowing thing. Think you could give that a shot?"

The dark-type scoffed defiantly. Glow? And dispel that warm, elegant darkness? Perish the thought!

But Luke was impatient. "Come on! There's someone else down here and I can't even find him because it's so dark, yet here you are being stubborn!"

A dramatic sigh. Oh, very well. The purple markings scattered on the Umbreon's body gave off a subtle lavender light - just enough to bring visibility to the dark earth.

Luke instinctively sidestepped as the pokemon descended, watching in a daze while it sniffed and scouted and suddenly started digging. A dull dread crept into the pit of his stomach. Earth and stone weren't renowned for being the lightest nor the most merciful of materials. His breath shallowed at the thought.

The Zoroark's bark snapped Luke out of his haziness, and he became aware of the unearthed hand Tenebrae illuminated. He felt for a moment that his own heart had stopped, but he knew this to be untrue as soon as he became aware of his own movements: He was suddenly working alongside the diligent pokemon to remove the debris. The pain that raked through his arm was of no significance now. What would he tell Natalia or Guy or his mother or father...?

The small movement did not go unnoticed, and Luke doubled his efforts, moving now with more determination than panic, on the realization that the buried Asch still lived. With the Zoroark working even more diligently, the other boy was eventually uncovered. Luke leaned backwards and sat on his heels, taking in the dimly-lit scene with lightly labored breaths and a muddy hand holding his injured arm rigid. He was definitely alive - somewhat protected, even. Crisis averted.

The painful groan that answered the pokemon's efforts at assistance were a sudden reminder that it was not yet time to relax. Luke pushed himself to his feet and stared, trying to evaluate the situation as calmly and quickly as possible. "Uh..." Arceus, it was so hard to think straight. An idea came before too long. He unhooked his sheathed sword from his waist and moved to one of the boulders, carefully positioning the tip of it between the stone's surface and the ground and looking to the Zoroark, "Here, if I get some leverage on this thing, do you think you can move it?" It was a worth a shot in theory, at least.

He pushed all his weight onto the sword, and with the Zoroark's strength the boulder was finally removed. The task expended Luke's energy as well, and he stood swayingly for a moment, fighting away his overwhelming wish to just lie down for a few moments. He was tired, sore, and plagued by the sharp, fleeting pains in his arm - but at least he was conscious. At least he was able to stand.

The hand that lingered against the surface of the repositioned stone fell away as Luke approached his brother and crouched beside him, carefully rolling the fallen tree branch aside; Tenebrae joined his human dutifully to provide an ample light source. The boy searched cursorily for blood or other signs of dire injury before attempting to find any indication of wakefulness in the other redhead's expression. Thus far there didn't seem to be any.

He leaned backwards with an expulsive sigh. What was he supposed to do in this kind of situation? Ah, his poketch. He raised his wrist to utilize the little device's functions, but the screen was cracked and unresponsive. Damn. Maybe the pokedex he'd gotten, then. He pulled the thing from his pocket and was disheartened to find that the charge on it had run out. That was what he got for using it so infrequently...

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" His rhetorical question attracted Tenebrae's cynical gaze, as if the Umbreon felt he were being trusted to produce an opinion.

The sudden words caused Luke's breath to catch, and he refocused his attention on the wounded. He was silent for a moment as he absorbed the swelling sense of relief, and when he responded, it was in a murmuring voice, "I guess the ground caved in. You were buried. Your pokemon got you out."

Hearing the other boy's words reminded Luke of his identity, and he was suddenly confused and offended by his own actions. Asch was a criminal responsible for the deep sadness of his own close friend. What was he so worried about him for? In fact, he could probably just use Leste and escape on his own - let the thief find his own way. But the thought of leaving him behind was even more objectionable than the thought of helping, in spite of all bitterness and disbelief.

A sigh. "Are you all right? You've been unconscious for a while." He could figure out why he cared once they were both safe.

"H-Hey!" He started at the exclamation of pain, only relaxing when Asch lay down again of his own volition. At least he wasn't going to be stubborn about it. "Jeez... Just take it easy, okay?" Leave it to me, in other words, but Luke wasn't sure he could handle the matter of their safe escape on his own. In fact, he was summarily unsure. If not for his arm he might have stood a chance at climbing out - yeah right - but his actions were extremely limited by the circumstances.

He sat quietly for a time, deeply in thought as he tried to surmise some means to get out. If they could send up some kind of signal that would reach high enough into the sky to draw attention... Luke had no pokemon that could produce such a signal, though, and he certainly didn't wander about with emergency flares on his person. He breathed a weary curse. "Do you have any idea how to get out of here? I thought maybe with a beacon or something, but..." There was no way it was hopeless, but it sure did feel that way.