Frontier Meets Everyone Else

by rika195

Digimon Frontier kids get to be interviewed by other characters from other shows and animes and movies and books. Sometimes, they get to do the questioning! Ridiculous and just for fun. Hope you enjoy. latest chap: A surprise!

21. Rurouni Kenshin

Frontier Meets Everyone Else-----------------Chapter 21

The Journey Home Continues

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Thanks so much to these reviewers:

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The Deimon Commander from Hell

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You were the few, the brave, the excellent, who stayed with me through thick and thin, and who are still reading this story even though it has been paused in continuing for so long. I owe and dedicate this chapter to you. Thank you so much!

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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the shows or characters that are portrayed in this chapter.

And first, a short recap…

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Tommy cried and cried, and cried, and cried, and cried…all the while being forced to walk toward an old-fashioned looking abandoned dojo by a mean man with a big sword.

"Shut up!" the man yelled again, kicking Tommy and sending him sprawling. Of course, it only made Tommy cry harder.

"You're mean to me!" Tommy wailed.

"Only cause you're so annoying!" the man yelled back.

"Will you both be quiet?" a new voice hissed, walking forward out of the shadows. He was a sinister, scary-looking man with dark eyes and sunken cheeks. He too, carried a blade, and yet he looked much more threatening than the ugly man who had captured Tommy. "I'm trying to think."

"I found this little nuisance spying on us in the trap we set up. He fell from the ceiling." The capturer kicked Tommy again, who just started crying even harder.

"I wasn't spying!" he wailed. "I'm not even from this show! I'm Tommy! From Digimon! I've been sent here by a bad guy! It's not my fa-ha-hault!!" he sobbed, choking on his own tears.

The sunken-cheeks man raised an eyebrow. "Oh yes…the Digimon Kids. Rumor says our enemy Battōsai and his puny little friends are supposed to have an interview with you sometime in the future. How interesting that you should end up here." He smirked evilly. "This just might aid us."

"What do you mean?" Tommy sniffled, suddenly quieting. He looked up helplessly at the scary man.

"I mean, little brat, that Kenshin will probably come rescue you if I tell him I'm going to kill you. I am trying to lure him into a trap, you know. He is so honorable, that he probably wont be able to ignore it." He sneered, and then turned to the other man. "Lock him up. I'll see to it that Kenshin learns of his plight."

"No wait!" Tommy wailed. "Let me go!!"

But they gagged him instead, and locked him up for the trap.

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The story now continues…

In the world of Rurouni Kenshin…

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Tommy struggled against the ropes that bound him, sniffling and crying, and wished they'd take the gag out of his mouth. He was sitting with his back against the wall in an old-fashioned dojo with polished wooden floors, while a tall and angry-looking warrior stood guard over him. How long he'd been here, he didn't know, but it felt like forever! He was hungry, tired, sore, and was starting to get a headache from all his crying.

There wasn't really anything to do besides sit there, and wonder if this Battōsai Kenshin person was really going to come and rescue him. What if the trap didn't work, and they just got bored and killed Tommy instead? Or what if Kenshin did come, but was then killed for coming? No matter how he looked at it, Tommy couldn't see any good way out. It all ended poorly.

Beside him, his guard stole a glance at him, looking bored. "Hey kid," he snapped, making Tommy glance up at him pitifully. "You said you're from that kid's show, right?"

Tommy nodded, wondering why it even mattered. Would they decide to send him back?

"Huh." The man shook his head in disgust. "What do you think of that. Some lame kid's show no one's ever heard of is suddenly all over the news, the main characters gone missing. And then one of you turns up here. Why?" He peered down at Tommy suspiciously. "What are you kids up to?"

Tommy tried to yell out that it wasn't his doing, and that someone was doing this to them on purpose, but with the gag in his mouth, he couldn't really say much. After a few minutes, he gave up and leaned his head back against the wall, exhausted. This was so lame…

"What was it you said?" the guard continued, still bored. "That a bad guy sent you here? What a lame story! Is this you kids' way of getting an interview with stupid Kenshin and crew earlier?"

Tommy shook his head slowly from side to side, also feeling bored. The ropes were making him stiff, and he hurt all over.

"Pssh. I don't care. All I know is that nothing is happening, and I'm stinkin' bored!" He pulled out his sword and twirled it expertly around, as though imagining he was about to impale someone with it. "Ever since this series finished, nothing has been going on! Kenshin's all happily married, got himself a stupid little kid, and now there's no one to fight. What are we, the minor characters of the series, supposed to do anyway?"

Tommy really didn't care. He didn't really know much about the manga and anime series Rurouni Kenshin, except that it was about a samurai with an x-shaped scar on his cheek who fought without killing anyone with a backwards sword or something, and that it was really bloody and he wasn't allowed to read it. And if this random character was so bored, why did he take it out on Tommy? What did he ever do? Except land here by accident!

The guard beside him let out a string of swear words, sliding his sword back into its sheath angrily. "This stinks!" he finally proclaimed. "There is no way Kenshin is going to come over here!"

Tommy gave him a pointed look that asked why he was even being locked up then.

"And if that egotistical freak-head Kurogasa Udou Jin-e wasn't so bent on trying to get Kenshin to turn back into Hitokiri Battōsai…" the guard sighed and shook his head. "This is all pointless. I don't even follow Kurogasa! I just thought he'd be doing something more interesting than what I was doing!"

Well, Tommy didn't know who Kurogasa was, neither did he care, but he did want the gag out of his mouth. He tried to ask a question, making his voice sound like he was really interested in what the guard was saying.

Sighing, the guard reached town and ripped the gag off. "Yeah, yeah," he mumbled. "Not like you could call for help way out here. But if you start crying again, I'm going to tie it right back on!"

Tommy nodded. "I was just wondering what you do want to do," he said quickly, sighing with relief. "Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm a nobody," the man snapped. "I only appear once in the manga and the anime, and then never again." He crossed his arms and swore under his breath. "My name is Satō. Or Saburo Kazusaki, if you're going by the anime."

"Well, you appear in both the manga and the anime, so that's good," Tommy said, hoping to soften him up a bit. "And you show up once and then your story is finished. That means that you can do whatever you want now. Don't you have the freedom to be whatever you feel like?"

"It doesn't work that way," Satō complained. "I appeared and left in disgrace, a lame guy who used to take lessons from Kaoru's dojo, and then Kenshin made me promise to never wield a sword again. How lame is that!"

"Lame," Tommy agreed carefully, "but pointless. You said Kenshin is married now and has a kid. And you're older too. Who cares what he said back then? Just…say you've learned your lesson and do stuff! Like…" he tried to think of something he could do, and couldn't come up with anything. "I dunno…stuff!"

Satō gave him a look, then half smiled in amusement. "That's what I've been doing, kid. When Kurogasa asked for some hired blades to help him lay a trap for Kenshin, I said sure. But now…it's boring as heck. For all I know, he probably wont even come! This thing is probably all just a waste of time!"

"Then just ignore Kurogasa." Tommy said this hopefully, as though he was counting on Satō to let him go. "In fact, what if you just took me over to Kenshin's now! Things would look good in your favor, see? You get noticed, I get home, you get rid of an annoying kid from a lame kids show, and then you can do more interesting things with more main characters!"

Satō narrowed his eyes. "You just want to go free," he pointed out.

"And you just want to do something fun," Tommy grinned at him. After all, he spoke the language of fun, and knew better than anyone how to spot the desire for it. "Up for a game of ignore-Kurogasa-and-play-with-fire?"

Satō glared at him, but after a moment, the glare turned into a sneaky grin. "Play with fire," he repeated with a laugh. "I like the sound of that." Swiftly, he slid out his sword and cut Tommy's ropes in the same movement, then pulled Tommy to his feet. "Come on, kid. Let's see how exciting we can make this."

Hoping he hadn't gotten himself in a worse situation, Tommy stuck close to Satō's heels as they bolted out of the dojo into a dense forest.

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Later...

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"You alright, kid?" Satō asked, laughing. He skidded to a stop and let Tommy slide off his back, where he'd been clinging for the last hour and a half. "That was one tough fight, eh?"

Tommy nodded shakily. The second they had left the dojo, horde after horde of bored minor characters that had been hired by Kurogasa to lay a trap for Kenshin had attacked them. If Satō hadn't let him ride on his back, he'd have been killed, left behind, or recaptured in a heartbeat. But somehow, Satō had defeated enough of them and ran fast enough to leave them all behind.

"Why didn't they follow us here?" Tommy asked, hoping he didn't sound as scared and wimpy as he felt. The second they had entered the city, they were left alone by their attackers. It didn't make sense.

"Oh you wouldn't know," Satō said, still grinning with excitement. For a minor character, he sure had a lot of skill. "This city is where the main characters live, like Saitō Hajime, Sagara Sanosuke, and Himura Kenshin. They get annoyed when us minor characters, or when villains come here and cause trouble."

"Well it's good that you're not here to cause trouble," Tommy said hopefully. "I mean, you're taking me to meet Kenshin to make yourself look good, so then you can tell him about the trap and maybe he'll think better of you than last time."

"You're such a manipulator," Satō shook his head. But he was still in a good mood. "Although… this has been the most fun I've had in years," he amended. "Let's go, and then we'll see what I want to do next. Those other guys wont admit it, but you and I just gave them the most interesting fight they've had in a long time." He started walking, Tommy close next to him.

As they walked, people would stop what they were doing to stare at them, looking anywhere from mildly interested, to absolute confusion, to anger. "What's up with these people?" Tommy asked, worried.

"Oh, they're just wondering what I'm doing here with such a foreign-looking character. You really don't belong in this world, you know."

"I know," Tommy agreed, shivering. Would the main characters be annoyed? He really didn't know what to expect. "Where are we headed now?"

"To the edge of town, where the Kamiya Kasshin-ryū dojo is. That's where Kenshin and Kaoru live, with their dorky little son. They'll be able to contact your agent, I'll bet." Satō frowned and glanced down at Tommy. "Say, what is going on with you and your show, anyway? How'd you get way out here?"

"I don't know!" Tommy said, distressed. "See, we had this interview with a bunch of Star Wars action figures, and some guy named Crycheck was mad about our publicity. Then when we tried to leave, we ended up in the Lord Of The Rings world. And when we tried to get home from there, we ended up in the Danny Phantom world. And when we tried to get home from there…" Tommy paused and sighed loudly. "We all got separated. It just never ends!"

Satō scowled. "Sounds like it might be that Crycheck guy's doing, if you ask me," he said. "And what the heck… Star Wars action figures? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life!"

"You're telling me," Tommy huffed. "It makes me so frustrated I want to…to…to turn that guy into a pillar of ice!" He raised his voice at the last moment, and as if he was ordering it to happen, freezing cold air whooshed out of his mouth and turned the ground in front of him to ice. He halted, his mouth dropped open in shock. "Did I just do that?" he blurted.

Satō cursed loudly and stepped back. "Wasn't me," he blurted back. "Dang, kid, how'd you do that? And why didn't you do it back there when I was fighting?"

Tommy shook his head with a shrug. "I didn't know I could do it," he admitted. "I'll be sure to pitch in though, if it comes back to fighting…" he felt a smile spread over his face, and couldn't stop it. "You know…I thought I'd lost all of Kummamon's abilities when I left the Digital World. But it looks like I still got em!"

"I have no idea what you just said, but let's hurry and get to Kenshin's place." Satō shivered. "I'm starting to get really worried about all this. The last thing I want to do is get stuck in your disturbing adventure."

"I'd be super interesting, no doubt about that," Tommy said, "but I wouldn't wish this adventure on anybody." He continued following Satō to the dojo, unaware that his guide had suddenly begun thinking very seriously about how the adventure was 'super interesting'.

They arrived several minutes later. "This is weird," Satō murmured, standing at the door. He fidgeted nervously. "Last time I was here, I was just a kid, and I left in disgrace being told to pretend I never learned fighting from this dojo, and to never pick up a sword again. Now I'm back…wielding a sword. Something tells me this isn't going to go very well…"

"Playing with fire," Tommy shrugged. "But don't worry too much. You've got ice on your side." He grinned at his dumb little joke, unable to keep himself from either saying it or grinning in response.

And the door slid open wildly.

Tommy blinked, having expected to see a scary samurai with an x-shaped scar on his cheek, but found himself looking at a kid about his age with a mop of messy red hair. This wasn't what he expected at all. "Um…hi there," he said shakily. "I'm Tommy from the Digimon Show, and I got stuck here by accident. Can we talk to…" he suddenly realized that this kid must be Kenshin's son, and finished with, "your dad?"

The kid crossed his arms and scowled. "Why do you want to talk to him?" he asked. "Why does everybody always want to talk to that loser?"

Satō blinked in absolute shock. "Loser?" he blurted loudly, then grabbed the kid's shirt furiously. "How can you say that about the one character who is anything but a loser in this whole stupid series? He's your father for Pete's sake!"

The kid wrestled himself free. "Yeah, yeah, he's got a series named after him, and he supposedly did all this great stuff like defeating Shishio the mummy guy and making Enishi stop spiraling down into despair and what not. I don't care. He does absolutely nothing now, except smile and write stupid haikus! I hate haikus!"

Satō and Tommy glanced at each other, both thinking that this was really not what they had expected. Finally, Satō sighed. "Look, just let us in to talk to him, okay? This kid isn't from this show and he wants to get home. And if you stand here and delay us he'll turn you into a pillar of ice with his breath alone. Now get moving!"

The kid jumped back, surprised, then nodded and ran down the hall out of sight. Satō and Tommy followed him in. As they were entering, remembering to take their shoes off at the gaikan, they heard a female voice asking, "Kenji, what are you stammering about? Did you leave guests waiting at the door?"

A young black-haired woman walked down the hallways, followed by Kenji the kid, wearing a flowery yukata. She smiled and bowed to welcome them. "How can I help you?" she asked.

"We're here to talk to Kenshin," Satō said quickly, already sick of explaining. "This kid is from that Digimon show, and he's stuck here. He wants to go home, and we're hoping Kenshin can help by calling his agent or something."

The woman blinked, glancing at Tommy and noticing how strangely he was dressed for their world. "Oh!" she blurted. "Well wait here. Kenji, go get your father." She turned back to her guests. "Well, I'm Kamiya Kaoru, and this is my dojo. Do you two want some tea?" As she led them to the next room, she kept staring at Satō like she'd seen him before and couldn't figure out where.

Tommy smiled about that. Just as he got seated, Kenji re-entered the room, followed by… Tommy blinked in surprise. The man who followed after his son was nothing like he'd expected him to be. He was short, with a thin but athletic body that was nearly completely disguised under his yukata. His hair, like his son's, was reddish orange, tied in a ponytail, and yet somewhat of an unruly mess. He smiled pleasantly, as though he were nothing but a peaceful man enjoying his peaceful home, but his eyes were so sharp and deep that Tommy felt like he could take one look at someone, and see straight into their soul. It was creepy. And just as he was known to have, an x-shaped scar still lingered on his left cheek.

"I see," Kenshin said as he entered, and bowed politely. He smiled at Tommy encouragingly. When he glanced over at Satō his eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

"I was hoping…" Tommy began, feeling a little awkward in the presence of such a mysterious and famous warrior-gone pacifist, "that you could help me contact my agent and get home. I'm stuck here, you see."

"Apparently," Kenshin replied, seating himself. His wife, Kaoru, began serving tea to them, and Kenji plopped down with an annoyed sigh in the corner. "Do you mind if I ask a couple questions?"

"Not at all," Tommy said, hoping that he knew how to answer them.

"Very well then." Kenshin cleared his throat. "How long have you been here?"

Tommy frowned, finding the question a bit odd. "A couple of hours," he said. "Why?"

"Apparently, there are six of you kids stranded all over the fictional universe," the samurai responded calmly. "We've just received word that there are other fictional worlds, like yours and mine, that are being closed off and isolated, one by one. That means that someone, somewhere, with a lot more control than they should have, is blocking exits you kids could possibly take."

Tommy frowned, trying to think about what that meant. "Are you saying that we're getting trapped into these worlds we don't belong in?" he asked.

Kenshin nodded solemnly, growing more and more serious as he spoke. "And not just the places where you kids have been transported. Everything everywhere is being shut down. That means my world too." His eyes flashed, and the room began to feel tenser with each second.

Kenji frowned, lifting his head to stare at his dad like he was trying to appear like he wasn't. He seemed confused to hear his dad use such a hard tone of voice.

"Then, we don't have much time," Tommy blurted, standing. "I've got to get out of here before your world is blocked too! I don't want to be the one that makes your whole world suddenly shut down!"

"I don't think that it has anything to do with just you," Kenshin shook his head, once. "And besides, we have no way of transporting you anywhere. I hate to tell you this, but you're stuck here until someone solves the problem."

Tommy felt his heart sink into his gut. "For how long?" he asked quietly.

"However long it takes. I wish it wasn't like that, but it is." Kenshin sighed, then turned his attention over to Satō. "As for you…I thought you promised to never pick up a sword again."

Satō grimaced, clearly annoyed. "Yeah while I was a kid. You said I was to forget I ever studied at this dojo. I did. Now I'm an adult, and I'm not making stupid decisions."

Kenshin's cold stare made him cringe. "You're not?" he asked gently. But his words were sharp. He seemed to be implying he knew about Satō's working for Kurogasa. After a moment, he sighed and shrugged. "It doesn't matter anymore. The story is over, and you can be whatever you like to be. Just as long as you don't needlessly put people's lives in danger."

"I don't think you have to worry about him," Tommy spoke up quickly and determinedly. "He's not a kid, and he's not being stupid or rash. He rescued me you know, when someone else would have left me tied up in those woods with that Kurogasa guy. So I don't think you should be so hard on him!"

Kenshin smiled, his eyes amused.

At this point, Kenji in the corner had become overly bored and sick of sitting in silence, and he stood up to walk over and glare pointedly at Tommy. "This guy says you could turn me into a pillar of ice!" he accused. "Prove it!"

Tommy couldn't help chuckling. "Maybe we just said that to make you hurry up and get your dad," he said, grinning at Satō. He answered with a smile of his own that bordered on surprise and distraction. He was probably wondering why Tommy would stand up for him so easily, even as he was thankful for it.

"I don't think so," Kenji argued. "Prove it or I'll hit you!"

"Kenji!" Kaoru snapped, whacking him across the back of his head. "Be polite! These are our guests!"

"Yeah well I wanna see him make me a pillar of ice!" Kenji complained, rubbing his head. "He shouldn't lie about something like that! Bragging about skills you don't have only leads to disaster. That's what dad says!"

"He's right," Satō affirmed, smiling half-heartedly. Kenshin simply studied him with an unreadable expression.

"Well, we weren't lying, but I don't want to right now," Tommy sighed. He really just wanted to get home, and knowing that he was stuck here was making him depressed. "Do you think we could try and call my agent to let him know where I am before we get trapped here?"

Kenshin nodded. "I did," he said simply. Everyone stared at him in confusion, so he took a breath and explained. "About an hour ago, I received word that Kurogasa had you captive and he was going to kill you. So I placed a call to your agent to let him know that you were here, and that you'd be staying with me. Before he could respond, our contact with the outside was cut off. I was thinking about going out to get you, when I received word from our friend Yahiko that someone had already taken you and escaped with you, and that you were on your way here." He lifted his cup of tea and sipped from it expertly. "And here you will stay until we can regain contact with your agent."

For a moment, everyone simply thought about everything he said and wondered how he could be so calm about it. Then Tommy held his face with a groan of despair. "How can you be sure that someone will come?" he moaned. "We're all trapped, and no one can do a thing!"

"Are you so sure?"

Tommy looked up, finding Kenshin's expression baffling. He was smiling gently, but his eyes were so deep and mysterious that it seemed like he was trying to tell him something important.

"You are only one of six characters," Kenshin explained. "You, the youngest of them all. And yet you have fought battles, defeated impossible foes, and have never given up. Do you really think that you, let alone the rest of your friends, are going to sit and do nothing?"

Tommy's mouth fell open. "But how did you…" he shook his head quickly and asked a more important question. "You said I'm stuck here. What can I possibly do?"

"What you do best." Kenshin sipped from his cup once more, and set it down. "The impossible." Then standing, he bowed and excused himself, informing his two guests that he'd be preparing their rooms.

That left Tommy with the others, wondering what that could possibly mean.

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Incredibly late, I'm sorry, but that's how it goes when time is a luxury you just don't have. But I did my best, honest! Here's hoping the next chapter will come sooner.

Don't worry, I've written all your requests down in a huge-long document, and I'm trying to get them all done. Someday. Maybe I'll do several in one chapter or something. And have no fear, you'll see the other Frontier characters soon. Everybody gets a turn! :D

Anyway… I hope you enjoyed it, and please let me know what you think. Your reviews keep this story going, as well as help me to portray characters accurately. I couldn't do it without your help.

Thanks! That's all. God bless you guys!

-rika195