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"Leave it to me!" said Lupin, puffing out his skinny chest proudly. Joli nodded, and... well, left him to it. They formed a line and made their way through the chamber, Nico in front and Joli in the middle, with Lupin bringing up the rear.

They'd designated him as a rear lookout, but in actuality the task didn't involve too much work. Since they were continually moving forward, threats usually came from the front, and it was only occasionally when they got stuck in a corridor that someone managed to sneak up on them.

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Normally, Acheron served as rear guard to deal with those situations, with Joli as support. But with the visibility being fairly good in this dungeon, Lupin would probably be able to see an enemy coming from a ways off, and Joli was supposed to be helping him out anyway. If things got too dicey, Joli was supposed to switch with him. Between the two of them, hopefully Lupin wouldn't be in that much danger.

After all, he was still a kid. They weren't going to force him to fight.

[crow]

Nico just hoped that Lupin would listen to them when they told him to stay between them. For all their planning, if Lupin was determined not to cooperate, there was only so much they could do...

Luck smiled on them for now, however. No one saw any Pokemon nearby. Nico led them to a place where the chamber branched off into a tunnel, and they proceeded carefully down the narrow passageway. As they traveled, Joli took something out of his bag, with the intent to explain something else to Lupin.

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It was a map. Joli was already jotting down the areas they'd seen so far. "Dungeons change layouts pretty often, so it's different every time. Keeping track of where you've been can be really helpful, especially if you get into trouble." He held the map out, along with his sketching tool. "Do you want to have a try at mapping the next little bit?"

"Huh?" Lupin squinted at the map, then took the sketching tool in his mouth. "Sure, I guess," he said around a mouthful of pencil.

[crow]

Joli held up the map for him to try his hand at, and gamely, Lupin scribbled in some lines with the pencil. After a moment, he stepped back, surveying his handiwork. His tail waved jauntily. Clearly he was pleased with himself.

"Great! Let's see what you got," said Joli, turning the map so he could survey it himself. He was smiling before, but now his smile faltered. "Oh, um... Hmm."

Nico glanced over, curious despite himself, and could immediately see the reason for Joli's awkward reaction.