Spirit Sojourn
by Kari

Note: Best viewed in maximized window. ^^;;

A/N: Hm... new font. Good, century gothic was boring me... err...anyways...

Okay guys, this is the beginning of a REEALLY long fic here. It's my biggest project I think I'll EVER take on... novel-sized. You want an idea of the length? I don't plan on finishing it until sometime close to this summer, if that. It'll probably take even longer than that. . Oy... This is just the prologue, so it's not a fair introduction to the really long chapters I like to write. *grins at TK* I'm not going to tell you what the fic is about, but when you read the prologue, you'll have a pretty good idea. ^_^ To quote my editor, this fic "has the potential to become longer than 'Yesterday/Winter/Ashes' combined. Longer than 'Genesis'. Longer than anything ff.n has ever seen." I plan on spreading it WAY out though, so I hope you guys either have a LOT of time on your hands or you plan on keeping up with me while I write it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon... and I suppose you could say I don't exactly own the plot basis either... even though I kinda do. You'll understand what I'm saying when you read.

Dedications:
First, to God, who without His help and divine guidance I could NEVER have come up with something like this, much less WRITE it!
Second, to my editor, TK Takaishi (Get to know him! And read his fics, they're incredible). He agreed to the job a WHILE back, and has helped me immensely *every* step of the way on this. I honestly don't think I could do this without him, and I'm truly grateful to have him in my life. *laughs* You poor thing... having to edit 26-page chapters... AGAIN... ^_~ Thank you SO much!
Third, to Brent Warren, Ash, Whit, Steph, and Logan (the family ^^), Robster80, Jen, hikari (onee-akuma-chan, however many titles we can come up with for you, lol ^_~), TS (tachi! It's tachi!! I swear I'll remember how to pluralize one day...), Dreamwalker (ototo-kun ^^), Raine, Caspian, Daisukefire, and Phawx (did I forget anybody?): I cherish each and every one of you more than you know! Thank you guys for always being there!
Also, to Kale and *again* TK, whose writing and spirit has encouraged me to not be afraid to include SO much of my faith in my writing.
And last, but definitely not least, to everyone else I know but can't name for the time being... I care for each of you, and all of you are always in my thoughts and prayers! Never think that no one cares for you, because I do.
To the readers, as well... because GEEZ, this is going to be long! ^^

Well, I think I've rambled on enough, whadda you think? ^_^ That's it for now, on to the prologue! R&R, please! God bless!

Kari :)
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Spirit Sojourn
Prologue: Where, Oh Where Have The Digimon Gone?

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With her usual catlike grace, Gatomon jumped from tree to tree, swinging on the occasional branch and effortlessly landing on her feet wherever she fell. She was on her way to meet up with her longtime friends, Patamon, Wizardmon, Biyomon, and Agumon. More of her friend Digimon were supposed to meet up with her and the others, but for reasons unknown to her, they were unable to make the gathering. She did know, through Gabumon, that the other "chosen" Digimon not in attendance were going to have their own meeting later on that day to make up for missing this one.

Very unlike her, Gatomon was running late at the moment. Wizardmon had told her that the meeting time was right after the sun had cleared the eastern edge of Infinity Mountain, and it had passed that edge around five minutes prior. "Hurry, hurry, hurry!" she chanted to herself, her tail ring bouncing in time with her steps, signifying each second as it quickly passed by.

A few more minutes later, Gatomon jumped down from a high branch and landed in the center of a group of small Digimon. "A little late, ne?" Wizardmon chided, a teasing grin on his features... at least, what appeared to be a grin. Wizardmon's long cloak shielded all but with which he saw the world, and no one had ever seen his smile. He had no need for the rest of his face though... his large, green eyes accurately expressed his every emotion.

Gatomon growled playfully in his direction. "Hai, a bit... I had a little crisis to take care of with a Gotsumon and a Unimon," she explained with a secretive grin, straightening herself a bit more. "And I dropped my Seisho on the way and I had to stop to go back and get it."

Patamon smiled. "Well, now that you're here, we can start our Seisho study meeting!" he squeaked, revealing a small brown book and flipping to a page. Gatomon pulled out her own small book, black as opposed to brown, and turned to the page Patamon was on. Wizardmon, Agumon, and Biyomon followed suit with their navy blue, orange, and red books respectively.

"Uh... where did we leave off again?" Agumon asked, searching through the rear section of his book. Biyomon laughed and reached over to him. With a few quick flicks of her wing, she turned to the correct page and pointed to the part the group had left off at. Agumon sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and thanked her. She giggled graciously at the orange Digimon and told him she was finding him a bookmark as soon as possible.

Wizardmon smiled again and looked around at his friends. "Who wants to read first?"

"I will!" Patamon said eagerly. The others turned their eyes onto the pages in their books and settled down to listen and read.

He began:
" 'And now the word of the Lord is ringing our from you to people everywhere, even beyond Server, for wherever we go we find people
telling us about your faith in God.' "

He then paused, cueing someone else to continue reading aloud. Gatomon took him up on it.

She continued:
" 'We don't need to tell them about it, for they themselves keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned
away from idols to serve the true and living God.' "

" 'And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God's son from Heaven - Jesu, whom God raised from the dead,' "
Biyomon recited after taking over for Gatomon.

" 'He is the one who -will- rescue us from the terrors of the coming judgment,' "
Wizardmon finished.

Agumon looked around at his companions with a content grin on his reptilian features. "Good thing," he said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, you wouldn't make it through the judgment if you paid God to save you!" Patamon teased. Agumon huffed in a mock indignant attitude while the rest of his friends laughed.

"When do you think Jesu will return?" Biyomon asked suddenly, after the laughter had died down.

"No one knows... it says in 1 Thessalonians that the return will be unexpected, as a thief in the night," Wizardmon replied thoughtfully.

"Specifically... 'For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying "Peace and safety", destruction will come upon them suddenly, as the evolving process comes upon a digital monster for the first time, and they will not escape.' 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3," Patamon added.

"Yeah, we all know that verse... but just because we won't know until it happens doesn't mean we can't take a really good guess!" Gatomon said cheerfully. The small group of Digimon happily continued their conversation, so consumed in it that they didn't take notice of a young man, accompanied by a Demidevimon, walking near them.

The young man was tall... around six feet or so, with piercing, almost cold blue eyes and straight pure brown hair cut just below his ears. He was skinny, but had a nice build to him so he didn't look as scrawny as he really was. His complexion was clear, and his features were somewhat juvenile in appearance, yet he looked beyond his years. He had pleasantly tanned skin, a result of many years on a swim team. One would think by looking at him that he had many girls that found him very attractive.

"What are they talking about, Demidevimon?" the 19-year-old asked the small, bowling-ball-like Digimon flapping next to him.

"I think they're talking about the second coming of Jesu," Demidevimon answered as he landed on his partner's shoulder to relieve his wings of work. The young man scoffed.

"Jesu??? What is that, like Jesus or something?"

Demidevimon looked confused. "Jesus? Who's that?"

"Some guy that these people called Christians," the boy spat out the word, "believe was the son of God," he explained flippantly. "Personally, I think it's a load of BS."

Demidevimon cast a surprised look in his partner's direction. "Well, if you say you don't believe that, how do you know about it in the first place?"

Nicolas laughed sarcastically and crossed his arms over his chest, shifting his weight to his left foot simultaneously. "You've never met Christians, have you?" Demidevimon looked pointedly into his eyes, and Nicolas grinned maliciously. "Of course you haven't. Unless these Digimon are kind of like them. Christians have this really annoying thing they do that they like to call witnessing, or evangelizing. They walk around and go places far from where they're from just to talk about Jesus, thinking that they're the best thing since sliced bread or something. They all wear these smiles like they're really trying to do people some good, but you can see right through it."

Nicolas paused and looked again to the small group of happy Digimon in the clearing. "Those Christians are such hypocrites... they go around preaching, telling people to be good and obey all these laws that their God gives them, and then they go around breaking them all the time! I'd rather go to Hell, like they're telling me I'm going to, than become something like that."

Demidevimon remained silent for a moment as he and his human friend watched Patamon, Gatomon, Wizardmon, Biyomon, and Agumon chatter away happily about this Jesu. He decided to ask his friend the question that had been swimming around in his tiny mind. "................Nicolas, what do you believe?"

"Hm..." Nicolas thought a moment, then replied, "Dunno... but I DEFINITELY don't believe in G..."

Nicolas stopped when he felt the sudden release of pressure from his shoulder. Huh? he thought. He looked up to see if Demidevimon had flown off of his shoulder, but saw nothing but lush green.

He has come...

He couldn't have flown off though... I would've heard him, or felt air blown from his flapping... He thought a moment, completely baffled. Nicolas then looked down to search the ground for his friend... but that too showed no sign of the small Digimon. A slight fear stirred in the pit of his stomach, but Nicolas tried to ignore it. He strained his ears to try and hear his friend, but heard nothing. And now that he was paying attention, where before there had been so many background noises you couldn't differentiate the sounds, he noticed that now... now he didn't hear anything at all...

The coming will be silent...

Thinking that maybe Demidevimon had joined that other group of Digimon that was talking about the Jesu guy, Nicolas looked to where they were... or, as he soon saw, where they had been. What the hell?? Nicolas ran into the clearing and saw five small books sitting next to or in front of five small indentions in the grass. There were blades of grass still setting themselves upright from being sat on. One of the books, the orange one, had a page in mid-turn before it slowly fell to the side.

"What happened here... and where are those Digimon??" Nicolas wondered aloud. He cupped his hands around his mouth and called out for his friend. "Demidevimon?" He broke into a light jog as he went into the forest to look for the small Digimon. "Demidevimon!?"

There will be no sound, for God's chosen
will have been returned to Him...

As he ran, he spotted a pair of tracks imprinted in the ground... probably made by a Tortomon or a Monochromon, he assumed. Nicolas followed them for a bit, hoping to find somebody, until suddenly, the tracks ceased to be. The last track looked strange though, compared to the others... Nicolas bent down closer to investigate and discovered that instead of a whole track, there was only half of one... only the heel had hit the ground, apparently. Nicolas's eyes widened and he backed away from the path of the missing Digimon.

The return of His chosen will be sudden...

Feeling panic in the pit of his stomach, Nicolas again began his jog... which unconsciously grew into a run... and then into a sprint... to look for not only Demidevimon, but for ANY Digimon that could help him. His icy blue eyes darted frantically from side to side, searching for any sign of the Digimon. All he found was unfinished meals, incomplete tracks, signs of missed attacks, and NO sign whatsoever of a struggle of any kind... just the familiar, exotic plant life of the Digital World.

There will be things left undone,
for the Chosen will not hesitate in returning
to the Father...

Nicolas ran, blinded by panicked tears, until he emerged from the forest and stumbled upon a vast clearing. It was in the shape of a circle, and surrounding it was forests, mountains, and streams. The clearing seemed so... empty... where normally it would've had many Digimon in and around it, there was nothing but tall grass and scattered wildflowers. Everything he normally saw... all those Digimon he had laid eyes on earlier that day... had somehow vanished.

Not one will see them disappear...
They will just cease to be on Earth.

He numbly dropped to his knees, his mind spinning with confusion... and worry... and dread. Blindly, he stared straight ahead of him, his eyes wide and glazed over with shock. His mind called helplessly for his Digimon partner, since the words just wouldn't sound from his mouth...

Demidevimon...

Demidevimon...

"DEMIDEVIMON!!!!!"

His scream echoed throughout the empty clearing, yet nothing stirred...

Nothing but his echo returned his cry...

Nothing sprang to life in response to his scream....

Not even the wind blew.

**********************

"For you know very well that the day of the Lord
will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying,
"Peace and safety",
destruction will come on them suddenly,
as labor pains on a pregnant woman,
and they will not escape."
1 Thessalonians 5:2-3

To be continued...

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A/N: So what do you think? *shakes head* I just set myself up for a LONG fic, ne? I hope the prologue gave you that vague idea of what the entire story is about. All my other chapters are around 20 pages... give a lot or take a lot. I think that's just the average... yeah. ^^;;. Since, as all of us know, author alerts are gone, I'm setting up a mailing list for my own author alert, as many other authors have already done. If you'd like to be on that list, either say so in your review (please leave one! ^^;;), or email me, and you'll be on it! Likewise, if you are on it, and would like to be taken off, just tell me and I'll do that too. ^_^ Hope you liked!

Kari :)