[crow]

She didn't know what he was so proud for, knowing something like that. Did he think everyone wanted to be in a rescue team, working for stupid Pokemon who got themselves stuck here because they were too dumb and weak to get themselves out? If so, then he could suffer that delusion on his own. She wasn't going to be a party to it.

Still, they did need to get out of here, so maybe she would use that to her advantage.

[crow]

"If you're so clever," she said, her voice suddenly syrupy sweet, "Why don't you find us a way out then?"

"Yeah, right! As if I'm going to fall for that! You just don't want to do any work," said the Zorua. Tomoe bared her teeth at him. So much for trying to be nice to the brat. If he didn't respond to anything but threats and force, she was happy to indulge him in those, of course. She didn't have to be nice.

[crow]

"My lady, please just be patient. I don't believe this is a very deep dungeon, judging by the lay of the land. If we keep making our way forward, we'll be able to find the way out soon." Acheron was doing his best to pacify her, Tomoe knew. She considered his words for a moment. Acheron wasn't the type to say something simply to pacify someone, so he meant it when he said he thought this was likely not a very deep dungeon.

[crow]

But he also didn't sound as if he knew that for sure, which wasn't terribly reassuring considering she wanted to be out of here an hour ago, not 'some time later'.

She really was going to give that awful little Cubone a piece of her mind when they got back. Just see if she didn't.

Both the Zorua and Acheron had more or less said the same thing though, which was that there was no way out without going deeper in first.

[crow]

She sighed, and resigned herself to her fate. She really didn't want to, but nothing would change if she just sat here, and she didn't foresee it becoming any less miserable if she only waited and did nothing. "Fine," she said, throwing as much spite as she could behind the word, to demonstrate how little sh eliked this. "Let's just go then." And without waiting to see whether the two of them were following, she set off in a random direction.

[crow]

It was a 'mystery dungeon' or whatever, so no one ever knew where they were going anyway, right? She could just pick a direction and go. Acheron would follow her as a matter of course, and if the Zorua wanted to go his own way, well, good riddance. In fact she actually hoped he would just leave, so she didn't have to deal with him anymore.

She did sort of doubt that she would be so lucky as to have it solved that easily.

[crow]

But at the very least she wasn't going to go out of her way to wait and coddle him, or encourage him to stay.

"Lady Tomoe, wait," said Acheron, and sure enough, he was following along. She cast a glance over her shoulder after all, and her ears flattened again when she saw that the Zorua was also trotting alongside him.

"Gee, lady, why do you think you get to be in charge?" he said. His ears were back too, so the feeling was definitely mutual on that front.

[crow]

His high, reedy voice dug at her ears. "You've got the least experience out of all of us, and you really think we should be the one listening to you?"

"Less experience? Than you? How many summers have you even seen?" said Tomoe, drawing herself up to her full height. It really wasn't as impressive with her fur flattened to her body, but he was in the same predicament, so it wasn't as if he could do any better.

But he didn't budge.

[crow]

"When it comes to mystery dungeons, yeah! You didn't even know how to get out," said the Zorua. "And anyway your fire's not gonna do us any good til we get to a drier floor, so you should stick to bringing up the rear."

"I beg your pardon," she said.

"Lady Tomoe... Many of the Pokemon here will be Water or Ground types," said Acheron. "It would be best if you remained in the back as lookout and support. I will handle the bulk of the fighting, and Lupin will assist me as he is able."

[crow]

When Acheron said it, it sounded a lot more reasonable. And it wasn't as if she wanted to do any fighting or heavy lifting to begin with, so in theory that suited her just fine... But it was also the same thing that the Zorua just said, but repackaged. She wasn't born yesterday, so even she could recognize that much. It didn't please her, the knowledge that this was true, but..

After a moment's deliberation, she deigned to accept.

[crow]

"Very well. I will assume the role of a general, guiding the operations." She could satisfy herself with an arrangement like that, she supposed.

The Zorua, that brat, rolled his eyes. "Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night," he muttered under his breath. She had heard him, and the little snide comment was annoying, but on this occasion she was determined to ignore him. He wasn't worth her time, she reminded herself, and if a fight came to pass, it would be him in the fray and not herself.

[crow]

And there was no shame in that, she told herself firmly. It wasn't the place of a lady to put herself in harm's way anyway, even if she did have a great deal of power at her disposal. She stepped back to let Acheron take the lead, which he did so. Lupin darted in front of her as well, trotting at Acheron's heels. He seemed... oddly focused, for a brat who had seemed dead set on making as much of a nuisance of himself as possible just scant moments ago.

[crow]

She hadn't thought it was actually possible for him to do any useful work. He definitely didn't seem like he had the disposition to do anything but get on someone's nerves. But she was watching the transformation happen in real time, and now the Zorua was looking around him on real alert, his big ears turning this way and that.

Acheron, for his part, focused on the route ahead of them. He didn't seem to hesitate as to where he was going either.

[crow]

It was remarkable, if only because they certainly didn't have a map, and he was thus plotting out their course on either memory or intuition... Though maybe she was also right, and it really didn't matter which direction they went in, because the place apparently rearranged its layout every so often anyway, so there was no point in trying to plot a permanent map of it with rooms and corridors and all that.

What kind of reconnaissance they could do under such circumstances, she'd like to know.

[crow]

It just reinforced her conviction that the Cubone had been blowing a whole lot of hot air when he had sent them here. And besides, it was a swamp, so of course there would be a lot of Water and Ground types here. Couldn't that Cubone have sent them to a place where she could show off her prowess, like a forest full of Grass and Bug types or something? That sounded like a better time than this place, where it was always raining.