Ch. 9 Blazing Sun

The team of Cody, Kayla, Andrew, Michelle, and Diego were all warped to their selected location in the Digital World, Sun Ridge. The region they were sent to was filled with tall mountain peaks colored in various shades of red with a terrain made out of mostly red soil and rock. Michelle and Andrew now wore their Digital World uniforms, Michele's in orange and Andrew's in grey.

"Feels good to be back" smiled Michelle.

"Looks like this place is still safe since it's still bathed in sunlight" examined Andrew while looking up to the grand blue sky above.

"Hey guys!" echoed a voice. The group turned to see Agumon and Lopmon running over to their partners.

"Hey you two" greeted Michelle.

"Hi Michelle, long time no see" said Lopmon.

"While you guys were home, we decided to find a few old friends of ours. They should be here right about…" began Agumon looking over to a few mountain cliffs.

"Andrew!" yelled one voice with excitement.

"Michelle!" added another voice with a tone of joy. The group directed their attention to where Agumon was looking to see two other Digimon sprinting toward the group. One of the Digimon resembled a raptor colored a bright red with white on his body. The Digimon had several black markings all over his body along with a set of odd symbols on his stomach region. The other Digimon had a yellow colored body with an egg like symbol on his chest and had large horn sticking out of its head. The Digimon wore a pelt on his back colored light blue with darker blue stripes.

"Guilmon!" cried Andrew.

"Gabumon!" exclaimed Michelle. The two ran over to their partners and hugged them tightly.

"It seems like forever since we last saw you guys" said Gabumon.

"Did you bring us anything to eat?" asked Guilmon innocently.

"Not this time buddy" laughed Andrew "Next time for sure"

Guilmon frowned for a bit then looked over the rest of the team. Once he noticed the new guy in the group, he began to sniff him like a dog "Who's the new guy?"

"Oh, this is Diego. He's one of the newer Digidestined" introduced Kayla.

"Newer Digidestined?" questioned Gabumon.

"It's a long story" said Michelle.

"Have you guys ever heard of something called a Digital Drive Core around here or a group calling themselves the Digital Reapers?" asked Cody.

"Never heard of the Digital Drive Core but we've heard about the Digital Reapers" answered Gabumon.

"Yeah, their nothing but bullies" growled Guilmon.

"What now bro?" asked Kayla turning to her big brother.

"We'd better start looking around and see if we can find anything useful" replied Cody. The group began to move through Sun Ridge, exploring its vast mountain peaks. The group kept on moving along the mountain sides until they hear a soft, beeping noise. They all pulled out their D-Dexes to find that they were the source of the sounds.

"This is a new feature" said Michelle looking over his D-Dex.

"The D-Dex is picking up a signal from a small temple up ahead" spoke Andrew.

"Think it's a drive core?" asked Agumon.

"Only one way to find out" answered Cody. The group began to travel to the source of the signal until they found a small temple embedded into one of the mountain sides. The temple was made from yellow colored stone and displayed the image of the sun along its surfaces in gold.

"The signal's coming from there" said Diego.

"Guys… I think something is up…" started Michelle looking upward. Many dark clouds began to appear over head blocking out the sunlight and covering the area in shadows.

"Oh great, they're here" growled Gabumon.

"Who's here?" questioned Andrew.

"That would be me" The group soon saw Fornax standing on one of the higher mountain sides wickedly grinning at the Digidestined.

"What do you want Fornax?" barked Cody.

"I had some business to attend to here and since I saw you brats walking through my peaks, I figured I'd teach you all a lesson for trespassing" spoke Fornax. Fornax then snapped his fingers causing a horde of Digimon to appear above him in a puff of black smoke. The Digimon appeared to be dragonflies but looked very vicious. They were colored a pale yellow, had sharp looking fangs and claws, with large green eyes, and thin wings that flapped rapidly to keep them afloat.

"Yanmamon, champion level, insect type Digimon with an attack called Thunder Ray" read Kayla from her D-Dex.

"Make a break for the temple guys and find out what that signal is. Me and Kayla will keep these guys busy" ordered Cody.

"Right" nodded Diego, Andrew, and Michelle along with their partners. They then took off running toward the mountain side temple.

"Stop them Yanmamon" commanded Fornax.

"You're gonna have to get through us first" smiled Lopmon.

Agumon Drive Digivolved to… Allomon

Lopmon Drive Digivolved to… Bucchiemon

Several of the Yanmamon began to swarm overhead with their wings glowing in a bright yellow color. They then released their attacks, striking Allomon on his head with several small bolts of lightning. Allomon let out a loud roar in pain then glared at the insects over head.

"You gonna pay for that one. Dino Burst" cried out Allomon sending a stream of flames flying through several Yanmamon. The Digimon that were struck with the attack turned into small blobs of black slime before hitting the ground with a loud splat.

"I hate to do this to you all but… Talon Arrow!" yelled Bucchiemon shooting down several more Yanmamon with her glowing pink arrows.

"Plenty more where that came from" sneered Fornax snapping his fingers and summoning another swarm of Yanmamon.

"We're gonna need back up pretty soon" growled Cody to himself. Fornax just grinned at the two Digidestined and their Digimon while the next swarm of Yanmamon began to charge for them.

--

"Signals getting stronger guys" said Andrew looking over his D-Dex. Andrew and his group had reached the sun temple and had begun to explore the interior of the temple. They soon came upon a small alter in the shape of a sun set in the center of a circular room. A clear orb with a golden rod yellow colored symbol hovering inside it sat quietly in the center of the altar. The symbol looked like a small flame with three vertical lines below it.

"That must be a Digital Drive Core" examined Andrew.

"And it must be yours" added Gabumon looking over at Diego.

"How do you know that?" asked Diego.

"It matches the same symbol on the back of your vest, D-Dex, and it's the same color as your vest." laughed Guilmon.

"Go ahead and pick it up so we can help the others. With this area being covered by shadows, our partners can't do much to help Agumon and Lopmon." said Michelle.

"Alright" nodded Diego walking over to the altar. Diego reached out and grabbed the orb, lifting it out from its resting place. Before long, the orb began to glow, releasing a ray of goldenrod colored light to dart around the room before hitting the altar and taking shape. The Digimon that began to appear resembled a small, lion cub like creature with red orange colored fur. The Digimon had a patch of yellow fur on its front for a mane and wore a set of wrist bands with a head band on its forehead. The Digimon's headband and tail had a small flame burning from them.

"The names Coronamon and you must be my partner. You got a name?"

"It's Diego, glad to finally meet you"

"Cool" said Coronamon. "So what do we do now?"

"I have no idea, I'm still trying to believe this is all happening" responded Diego.

"We need to go help out our friends" imputed Guilmon. The group nodded then headed for the exit to the temple. Once outside, they could see Allomon and Bucchiemon being attacked by a swarm of Yanmamon.

"Looks like your friends need help; I think you're supposed to say something to help me Digivolve though. What was it again…" said Coronamon in thought.

"Don't worry, I already know what to say" grinned Diego holding out his Digivice and holding out his drive core into the air. "Unleash, Digital Drive Accelerate!"

"That's it" smiled Coronamon as his body began to glow and change shape.

Coronamon Drive Digivolved to… Bullmon

Bullmon's appearance shook the entire region. The Digimon closely resembled a bull with brown colored fur and wore dark blue armor with a gold trim over his body and hooves. The Digimon had two long horns on his head along with a long red cape flowing from the back of his helmet piece. Diego now proudly gripped his new Digivice as he over looked his partner's new form.

"Another Drive Digimon?" questioned Fornax seeing Bullmon.

"Looks like Diego found his partner" observed Cody.

"Time to get to work" said Bullmon. He began to charge directly for the swarm of Yanmamon over head. Bullmon's horns began to glow brightly in white as he used the momentum from his dash to leap into the air and cut through the swarm "Matador Dash!"

Bullmon burst straight through the Yanmamon, destroying more than half the swarm with one single charge. Bullmon continued his attack and rammed his horns into the side of the mountain that Fornax was standing on. Fornax leapt off the mountain side and landed before the Digidestined team. He then smirked a bit and snapped his fingers, recalling all his Digimon.

"Well this was fun but I must take my leave. Until we meet again Digidestined" spoke Fornax and with that, both him and his Digimon swarm disappeared in a puff of black smoke. The Digidestined regroup while the Drive form Digimon reverted back to their rookie level forms.

"Looks like we have another cute Digimon to add to our team" giggled Kayla as she looked over Coronamon.

"I really like her" smiled Coronamon. "Anyway, I'm here to help whenever you need it Diego"

"Thanks partner" said Diego.

"Time to head back guys, it's getting late" said Cody looking at the time on his D-Dex.

"And we're coming with you guys. Not much we can do here without you guys helping us" said Agumon.

"So we're supposed to hide you guys how?" asked Diego.

"Trust us, you'll find a way" smiled Michelle. The group laughed then held out their Digivices to the sky, ready to head on home for the day.