Chapter Text
"Master, are you really sure this was the right move?" Mob questions, as he blankly stares at the darkened trees passing by his passenger window.
"Of course it is Mob! If anything, I'm actually suprised you're even this worried about this. Whatever we might encounter shouldn't be something TOO dangerous." Reigen responds, taking his hands off 10 and 2 to look back at Mob for a second, before quickly but nonchalantly going back to the more safe position.
Even with the knowledge of Mob's extensive abilities and talent at exorcising spirits, he still couldn't help but be a little nervous about the job. He had always heard the ancient tales about Mt. Ebott, and how apparently at some point in history, humans and "monsters" lived in peace before getting into a bloody war, which ended with the humans winning, and casting the beasts deep underground. Reigen remembers scoffing at such a story once upon a time, especially considering the lack of evidence that it even happened, but ever since he met Mob, and witnessed his power he's been looking at quite a few things differently. Nevertheless, Reigen still presses on anyway on. Even more so because of the half a million in the yen the guy who even asked them to do this gave him upfront and the sob story about supposedly losing a kid there recently, so now Reigen feels obligated to look for them.
Dimple idly floats my Mob, before moving to the front passenger seat to talk too Reigen.
"Look, I'm usually not to type to agree with the kid, but even I must say, I'm not so sure about this Reigen. The energy of that place is freaky to say the least. Even I keep my distance." Dimple says, which Reigen scoffs at.
"It'll be fine Dimple. And besides, we're too close to the mountain to just straight up back out now. You and I both know Mob can handle this. He's handled everything else so far." He whispers to Dimple.
Dimple shakes his... head(?) before going back to next to Mob, saying something just out of earshot for Reigen. Not like he cares anyway.
The rest of the ride stays relatively quiet, as the trees start to lessen and they near the clearing, which leads to the path up to the side of Mt. Ebott. Supposedly, the place became somewhat of a tourist spot for it's malevolent nature, with there being a small sign near the path, point to Mt. Ebott. Neither Mob or Reigen have ever had the fortune, or misfortune, to ever visit the mountain, but they could imagine the place is most likely less creepy during the daylight. They get out of the car, and begin their journey up the mountainside. As they reach the halfway point up the side of the mountain, they see a small missing poster nailed to a tree. On the poster is a low quality image of some little kid, with a scratched out name adorning the bottom, as well as pull able number cards on the bottom. So far, none of them have been pulled.
"Damn, guess the guy wasn’t lying about missing a kid." Dimple blurts out, breaking the relative silence they had looking at the grim image.
"Yeah. I just hope the kid's not dead, but with a forest like this, there's no way to be sure. Nevertheless, it’s best to keep going." Reigen says, but he hesitates to go, pulling out his phone and comparing the number to the one on the poster. As expected, it's the same.
They continue going up the mountain, seeing the occasional poster every now and then. But some of them aren't the same as the other ones. They seem to get older, the closer they get to the mountain, one of them looking almost over a decade old, maybe even more. Mob can't help but feel a pit in his stomach at the sight, and Reigen can obviously notice this. He stops his stroll, turning around and looking down at Mob.
"Don't worry too much Mob. If it's messing with you this much, you can just head back to the car? Your master's got more than enough energy to handle this." Reigen says, hoping his reverse psychology works. Last thing he wants is for there to really be some dangerous creature in there.
"N-No. I w-won't go. Trust me, I have this under control." Mob answers, slightly flexing his arms to convince himself that he's got this.
"That's the spirit, kid!" Reigen remarks, turning around again to continue walking. Thank God for Mob.
Finally they reach the entrance to the cavern, with nothing but pure darkness lying in front of them. While Reigen sees and feels relatively nothing, Mob and Dimple feel the pure energy radiating from the entrance. It's like something they've never felt before. This was no ordinary spirit they were about to face. Mob almost feels compelled to want to back out, but seeing his master’s nonchalance in the face of such pure energy fills him with courage, albeit it being a bit shallow.
"No point in wasting time then. How about you go first Mob? Scan the area for me?" Reigen asks, gesturing to the entrance at Mob.
Mob leaves the group first, slowly and methodically making his way through the darkness, with nothing but the light of his aura keeping him from tripping on anything in his wake.
A minute passes, then 5, then 15. Not a peep can be heard from the cave, which starts to make Reigen tense up. "Why isn't Mob coming out, or at the very least, texting me?" He thinks, as he idly taps his foot on the ground, before checking his watch again. Reigen couldn't help but feel scared- no, terrified, that Mob could possibly be in danger. Even though some part of him says it's better to wait it out, and that Mob is doing just fine, another part of him knows it's better to check. The last thing Reigen wants is for his underage worker to go missing in a cave that he WILLINGLY took him into.
"Dimple, I'm starting to get worried here. We should probably... check on Mob, right?" Reigen says, pointing his thumb to the entrance.
Dimple just sucks air through his teeth.
"...Sorry, no can do." He replies, which makes Reigen squint his eyes in confusion.
"What do you mean, "No can do"? For all we know, Mob could've gotten killed in there, and you're just straight-up saying nuh-uh?!"
"That's... not what I meant. What I mean is that I literally can't enter in there. The spiritual energy is much too strong for me to get past in my current state. Guess you'll have to be the one to go and save Shigeo. You up for it?" Dimple remarks, the smallest bit of remorse in his voice.
"Great. Just my goddamn luck." Reigen mumbles, facepalming at the realization he'll have to go it alone.
Reigen sits staring at the black hole of an entrance, before audibly gulping. "You got this Reigen. Mob's fine. You won't die. YOU. WON'T. DIE." Reigen repeats in his head, as he treks on, pulling out his flip phone and turning on the camera light to illuminate his area.
"You got this Reigen! Two thumbs up!" Dimple says in an overly cheery voice, as Reigen continues to walk until out of view.
Reigen doesn't have to walk for long, when he sees two diverging walkways on his path. One going right, and the other left. Reigen can't help but audibly sigh at his predicament, when he sees a flicker of light at the end of the left tunnel. Finally a sign that Mob’s alive. And funnily enough, it’s a literal light at the end of a tunnel.
Reigen quickens his pace, almost running down the tunnel in hopes a catching Mob before he could possibly be in danger. But as he finally teaches the end, he’s met with the sight of a a large gaping pit on the middle of the open cave. No Mob, and no more unnatural light.
“That can’t be right. I swear I saw him. There’s no way I was wrong?” Reigen says to himself.
He walks around the small room, and as expected there’s no other possible places Mob could’ve gone. No holes, no other diverging paths, nothing.
Well, except for the giant gaping hole that’s currently sitting in the middle of the room. Hesitantly, Reigen walks in the direction of the hole. He takes a couple of steps, and bends over to look into the hole.
“Mob! Mooooooob! You… uh… down there, kid? You’ve been gone for quite a bit.” Reigen yells to the bottom of the hole.
Reigen ever so slightly moves closer to the hole, when he feels the ground shift. At first, it just seems like the dirt is just moving around his feet, but before he knows it, the ground gives out and he’s sent plummeting down into the ground below. The last he sees before he hits the ground, is a small patch of golden flowers.