"You don't need to be so upset about this task I just gave you, Koushiro. In the end, you'll find in that mountain what you seek for."
Chapter 4: Trust me
"What are you thinking so deeply about, Koushiro-han?" Tentomon questioned. He, who was already able to fly, was bothered by the boy's serious expression. I never saw him so concerned before. What can he be hiding from me?
"No big deal." Koushiro replied vaguely. I wonder what the Merchant meant by what I seek for... I have the worst feeling possible about that "task"... but there's nothing I can do about it. It's the price I have to pay, for Tentomon's sake.
Suddenly, when they approached the bottom of the mountain, little fire balls were thrown against Koushiro and Tentomon, who dodged them in time. From the mountain in front of them, a tiny black Digimon ran toward them and jumped in Koushiro's direction, but Tentomon grabbed him in the air before he reached the boy. Both Digimon fought on the ground.
"Why are you attacking us?" Tentomon asked.
"You can't get any closer to this mountain, LEAVE NOW!" The other yelled.
"Tentomon, off him, please." Koushiro asked, Tentomon agreed reluctantly. The boy approached the other and questioned, "Who are you?"
"My name is Impmon." He replied.
"Why do you want us to leave?"
Impmon stood up and cleaned the sand he had on his body. He gave Koushiro and Tentomon a serious look and said, "If you don't want to die, leave this place."
Koushiro and Tentomon were astonished, Impmon walked back to the mountain.
"Wait!" Tentomon shouted, "We're looking for an old man called Gennai, do you know anything about him?"
"I'm the only one here," Impmon replied, turning to the others, "Whoever you're looking for, you won't find him in this mountain!"
But I must go to this mountain. What should I do? Koushiro wondered, nervous.
"We're tired and hungry, my friend has just recovered from an injury. Could you please at least let us stay with you for the night?" Koushiro asked, bowing. Tentomon decided to bow as well. Koushiro-han must be really tired and hungry... he has carried me, after all. Impmon, in the end, let them stay in his little house at the mountain's bottom until the next morning.
"Do not touch anything!" Impmon ordered, when the three of them crossed the old wooden door of a poorly preserved yellow hut. The hut was almost totally empty inside. There were just some books spread on the floor. At a wall at the opposite side of the place, which Koushiro realized it was actually part of the rocky mountain, there was a large drawing of a shadow inside a circle surrounded by hieroglyphs. The shadow, that seemed to have the form of some mysterious Digimon, was restrained by chains.
"What is that drawing? It's scary." Tentomon commented.
"That is the reason why this place is dangerous." Impmon replied, taking a seat among his books, "You can say it's like a gate to a terrible place. Everyone who tries to decipher the code and goes there, ends up dying."
Dying... That word bothered Koushiro deeply, which Impmon noticed.
"This code is extremely difficult to be deciphered, though. My master took a whole year to break it and she was the most intelligent Digimon I ever met." The tiny black creature said, thoughtfully, staring at the drawing.
"Where's your master now?" Tentomon questioned in a friendly tone. Impmon merely looked down.
"Can't you explain better what is there at the other side of the gate?" Koushiro asked, putting all his effort in making his voice sound calm. Impmon studied the boy for a while. What's up with him? I have the feeling he's going to do something stupid with the gate. What am I thinking? These two will only stay here tonight. There's no way they could break the code in one night.
"A long time ago, in a period known as 'the Dark Age,' the Digital World was in the middle of a terrible war." Impmon began to narrate, "A group of powerful Digimon, known as Demon Lords, was behind the catastrophes that took place in that time. According to my master, one of those Demon Lords was sealed in a separated dimension, accessible through a sanctuary. The gate in the wall leads to the sanctuary. And everybody who went there died."
"Why would someone go to a place where a demon is?" Tentomon asked, shivering, "It's nonsense, right, Koushiro-han?"
Koushiro was looking at the void, lost in his own thoughts. The worry in his face alarmed Tentomon. Impmon didn't talk about that anymore, preferring to ask about his guests' adventures. When the night came, Impmon shared a vegetable soup he had prepeared with the visitants.
"I think it's kind of late. We should sleep." Impmon suggested, after they finished the dinner.
"Are you just going to sleep and leave us without supervision?" Koushiro asked abruptly.
"I don't see why not. Nobody can decipher that code in one night." Impmon said, lying on the floor. The others did the same. Koushiro turned his back to Tentomon, which made him face the wall of the drawing. Tentomon was looking at the boy's back, feeling his heart tight.
"Koushiro-han..."
"What is it, Tentomon?"
"If you had a problem, you'd tell me, wouldn't you? Because we're good friends, right?" Tentomon's voice was almost cracking, "You... you always say that you're fine... that I don't need to worry, but..."
"Tentomon, do you trust me?" Koushiro asked in a whisper.
"Of course I trust you, Koushiro-han... why are you asking me this?"
"Never mind... it's better if we sleep now." He replied. Koushiro stayed quiet for a long time, until he was sure the other two were sleeping, and stood up. He went to the wall and touched the drawing
"I'll tell you this until you decorate it, Koushiro. When you find the drawing in the mountain, you'll be able to break that code. You cannot make any mistake, am I clear?"
Koushiro began to whisper a sequence of words and the circle of the drawing started to glow. Soon, the red light involved him as he continued to whisper the words.
"Huh?" Impmon heard the human's voice and woke up. When he saw what the boy was doing, he jumped in his direction, yelling "NO!" but some sort of invisible barrier didn't allow him to reach the boy.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP THIS!" He cried in despair, punching the invisible barrier. Tentomon woke up due to the noisy.
"What's going on?" He questioned, before seeing, in horror, the scene.
"Someone taught him how to break the code! He's opening the gate to the sanctuary!" Impmon screamed, still punching the invisible barrier. After Koushiro finished to whisper, a dark hole appeared where the drawing had been before.
"Koushiro-han, what are you doing? Why are you doing this?" Tentomon asked in despair, trying to reach his partner somehow. Without turning his face to the insect, Koushiro spoke:
"Tentomon, I'm so sorry... I promise you everything will be okay at the end. So, please..."
The red light took the shape of chains and began to pull Koushiro into the hole. Before being completely dragged into it, he looked at Tentomon. Tears were falling from Koushiro's eyes, but he forced a smile to his friend and added "... trust me."
And then, the boy vanished and the hole disappeared. The drawing was back to the wall. Impmon began to punch the floor in pure fury. Tentomon stared at the drawing, in pain.
"KOUSHIRO-HAN!"
A little far from there, Yamato, Takeru, Tsunomon and Patamon were walking towards the mountain, following the signal of the digivice. They had met with Taichi and Jyou and had separated, so each group could follow a different signal. However, the signal vanished mysteriously at that moment.
"What is this?" Yamato asked worried.
"What happened, Onii-chan?"
"The signal disappeared. I'm with a bad feeling. Let's hurry up!"
Where am I? Koushiro asked himself when he was thrown into a light blue room. It was a circular room with 12 glass doors on the wall. In its center, there was a ten meters tall black door, connected to nothing, closed with red chains. On the white floor, around the black door, many symbols formed six concentric circles. Koushiro didn't have time to better examine the place, someone pointed a gun to his neck.
"So another fool showed up here." A voice said behind the human.
Koushiro lifted his hands and replied, "I assume you're Vademon. A Digimon with tentacles and a big brain, according to the one who sent me here."
"Who sent you here, kid?" Vademon was a bit nervous. Koushiro turned to him before answering.
"I was allowed to inform you that the one who sent me here was the Merchant."
Vademon's eyes widened in pure shock. "The Merchant sent you here? Why?"
Koushiro took a breath, he was trembling a little. I have to do this.
"The Merchant told me to tell you... that I'm here to help you to free the Demon Lord of Greed, sealed since the end f the Dark Age: Barbamon."