Fourze/W Crossover funtimes wherein Lance takes massive liberties with a show she hasn't finished

[tanteiotaku]

Shotaro had finally fallen into a routine. He had gotten used to teaching by now, and even that it was math was becoming less of a problem. Once he knew it himself, teaching it to these kids was easy. Things had gotten quiet at Amanogawa High School, and he didn’t like it. That meant that whatever forces were at work here were working on something behind the scenes. But they had nothing to go on.

Philip seemed to be enjoying himself. He was brilliant in all of his classes, and his grades easily outstripped everyone’s. They were perfect, of course. He had all of the knowledge of the Earth in his brain. And, more importantly, he was getting that normal high school life he’d never been able to have. It was bittersweet, Shotaro thought. He just hoped it didn’t hurt too much once they finally found a way home.

It was these thoughts that were running through his head when he was suddenly standing before one of the Horoscopes. Libra. He just stared.

“Ah, I see you have a desire for more in your life,” Libra began. “You want to go back to how things were. I can give you the power to change that.”

It took a long moment for Shotaro to find his voice. “No way!” How had he known? There was no possible way.

Libra raised an arm up from under the mantle. In his hand was a Switch. He took a couple steps toward Shotaro.

He didn’t really know what rooted him to the spot, what kept his hands away from the Double Driver under his jacket, and what even made him open his hand to accept the small device. “All you have to do is wish upon a star.”

Shotaro stared down at the Switch in his hand. Was this really happening to him? Had he slipped up somewhere? No, he couldn’t have. If he had, Libra would be trying to kill him right now, not giving him a Switch. The fact that he had been worried about something had probably been too obvious. But what he’d said…

By the time he came out of his thoughts, Libra was gone. He tucked the Switch into his satchel and went on his way across campus.

He needed to change his plan. For Philip’s sake, and for the Kamen Rider Club’s. As he came around a building and faced the storehouse that housed the entrance to the Rabbit Hatch, he stopped. The light breeze made him acutely aware of how much he was sweating. No. He couldn’t go back in there yet. He needed a plan.

He pulled out the Stag Phone to call Philip. No, he was in class. He could take care of this himself.

To call class 2-B surprised when a substitute arrived for math class was an understatement. Never in his life had Philip been so confused. Kengo jumped up. “Sensei! I’m not feeling well. I’d like to go to the nurse’s office!”

“Fine, fine… someone go with him…” the old man didn’t seem to care much. He sat down at the desk and seemed to be preparing to take a nap.

Philip caught on to what Kengo was getting at, and they left together. Once they were in the hall. “Did Hidari tell you anything this morning?”

Philip put his fingers to his lips, deep in thought. “No. Everything was normal.” That Shotaro would have been acting alone without telling him was something he’d never considered before.

That morning, Shotaro had left the apartment and went to a local park. At this time on a school day, it was mostly empty. He pulled the Switch from his satchel, and the Joker Memory from inside his jacket.

“Oh, there you are.” He turned. There stood Philip, arms crossed, giving him a fond smile.

“Philip,” he smiled. He tossed the Switch up in the air and caught it like a baseball. “I guess I caught the attention of the wrong person.”

Philip looked confused, and tilted his head. “Don’t you mean Sonozaki-kun?” He started walking toward him.

“Yeah, you’re right. Can’t teach an old dog new tricks, huh?”

“This is Amanogawa High School, isn’t it?” But something changed on Philip’s face. Shotaro’s stomach jumped into his throat. He swallowed hard. “Where we encourage young minds to wish upon the stars?”

“Wish upon…” that phrase. “No way…”

Philip grinned in a way he never had before. Shotaro felt a bit like the mouse cornered by the cat. A swirl of black haze and suddenly Philip was Libra. “You’re just too easy, Hidari. Did you think we wouldn’t notice the fact that you two appeared here at the same time? And what’s that in your hand?”

Shotaro looked down at the Joker memory in his right hand. “It’s what I’m going to use to kick your ass!” He stuffed the Switch into his pocket and pulled out the Double Driver.

“Oh?” Libra sounded amused. But he didn’t make a move right away.

On it went. In the hall, Philip had been running with Kengo to the Rabbit Hatch. He was quick to pull his uniform jacket out from under the strap of the belt to help hide it. He stopped running. “Kengo.” He pointed down at it.

“Got it.” Immediately he crouched and opened the Switch case. He started dialing Gentaro.

“Shotaro, where are you?” Philip asked through their shared consciousness.

“Staring down Libra. I’ll explain later. It’s time for Luna.”

“Right.” But no sooner did Philip pull Luna out of his jacket pocket than something small and white flashed across their sight and snatched the Memory out of his fingers. “Fang?”

“Fang came with us?”

“Fang just took Luna.”

“Why the hell would it do that? Fine! Heat!”

Philip had some misgivings, but Fang’s only attempt at interference was some small chirps.

When Heat finally appeared in Shotaro’s belt, he shoved it down into place. Joker joined it.

Just as he spread the two parts of the Driver apart, Libra was in his face. He staggered backward. He could barely react. How was he breaking through the transformation field? It had stopped bullets and other enemy attacks before. There was a hand in his jacket. No. This was bad. He struggled to get away from him, and his hat tumbled off his head.

Out came the Switch. Shotaro tried to take a few steps back but Libra was still on him. He pressed it into Shotaro’s hand as the two colors of Double began to wash up his body. Libra took his thumb and made him press the switch.

Everything had seemed normal on Philip’s side, at first. “Shotaro!” he shouted as Libra came at them. He tried to get them to move out of the way, but he and Shotaro weren’t synchronized. Something felt off in Shotaro’s mind.

Where had Shotaro gotten a Switch? Why didn’t he tell him? Why was he hiding like this? All of a sudden the questions were washed away in a haze of black. Once it cleared, Philip screamed out in pain. This was worse than anything they’d taken before as Double. It wasn’t a hurt in the body, it was deep in his soul. A hard, agonizing throb.

Philip’s limp body curled in on itself and clutched at his chest. If he wasn’t asleep, he’d be screaming in agony by the looks of him. He looked like he was having a terrible nightmare. Kengo glanced from him to the screen in the case. “Change of plan, Kisaragi. Get everyone into the hall.” He put the headset down and slammed the case shut.

First they had to get Philip out of sight. Then they could do what they could with Fourze.

Philip wasn’t sure if the pain had relented or if he’d gotten used to it. How long had it been since it started? He could see just moments, only flashes. People’s faces looking at him in horror. Screams of pain from students in uniforms like his. That girl was in his class. Double was hurting people? No! That was impossible! Shotaro would never do that!

But Shotaro wasn’t beside him. His partner was gone. It was as though a wall had been put down between them, and Philip could only come along for the horrific ride. There was something there through the dark fog. But he was in too much pain to reach it.

Libra had forced Double to press the Switch in the middle of a transformation. To break through the energy field during the transformation was nothing short of a miracle. But how was he going to stop Double? He knew he should be able to assume control of Double when he wanted to. If, maybe, the Zodiarts part was only Shotaro’s half…

He tried to stop Double’s stride by not moving the right leg. Excruciating pain shot through it and he screamed anew. As he did, the face of the girl he was approaching changed. Did she hear him?

No, he didn’t want to hurt her. The right arm was engulfed in fire. “No!” he screamed. “Shotaro! You have to help me stop this!” He pushed his will into that arm. He was rewarded with more pain, but the had to push through it. Double was not a fighting machine. It was not a demon. He was a Kamen Rider, and Kamen Riders were supposed to protect people, not hurt them.

The arm stopped. The flames dissipated.

Kengo, Gentaro, and Shun arrived to see the horror that Double had become. It was still half red, half black, but the edges were blurred, and mixed over that were the constellation markings of the Zodiarts. Double’s front crown had grown larger, and had two of the stars of the constellation Phoenix within it. The split in front had grown wider, much like the Xtreme transformation, rimmed with bronze and filled in with black. Great claws arced forward from the top of his wrist guards. It was from those claws came the fire that wafted toward the student he had backed up against a bench.

“No way…” Gentaro muttered when he saw what Double had become. “Kamen Rider Double is a Zodiarts?”

“When did they get a Switch?” Shun asked out loud. “I knew Hidari-sensei was acting seriously weird.”

“Even Philip had no idea,” Kengo told them. “Go, Gentaro!”

Gentaro darted toward the student in trouble. He didn’t have time to transform.

Just as the flames wreathed around Double’s arm faded, Gentaro got to the girl. He blocked her with himself, and braced for the burns, but they never came. He looked back over his shoulder and saw Double’s arm shaking. “That’s right!” he grinned. “There’s still Kamen Rider in there!”

He gave the girl a nudge toward the others. She ran past them and far out of sight.

The switch case began to chime. Kengo opened it and put the headset on to answer. “JK, what is it?”

“It’s Philip. He’s seriously in trouble!” JK’s face bounced on the camera. The view swirled as he pointed the Burgermeal toward Philip. The driver threw off black and red sparks and wafted a thin haze of black smoke. “I tried to pull out the thing but it burned me!” He showed the wound on his hand for evidence. “And now the dinosaur won’t let me anywhere near him!”

“Let us know if his condition worsens. I have a feeling Philip is our key to solving this. The body half of Double has been turned into a Zodiarts but if Philip’s mind stays uncorrupted, we may have a chance.”

Everything went black again for Philip. Just stopping that had taken a lot out of him. But Fourze was there. He would make sure no one else got hurt.

“It’s space tiiiiiiiiiiime!” heralded the end of Fourze’s transformation. But battling another Kamen Rider was going to be a lot for him to take.

The battle was a constant barrage of different Astro Switches, and each one was thrown aside by Phoenix Double as though it were nothing. Gentaro’s strength was flagging.

“Don’t worry, Gentaro! Backup is here!” Shun said from the cockpit of the Powerdizer. He lowered into his classic stance, as though he were ready to tackle him. While Fourze changed to Fire States, Phoenix Double turned to face the Powerdizer. Even though Double was no larger than he normally was, he stopped the Powerdizer dead in its tracks. The wheels spun in the dirt, leaving giant ruts.

Phoenix Double completely wreathed itself in flame. Somehow, that cleared the haze enough for Philip to come back to where he could see what was happening. No. He knew what was going to happen. The Zodiarts was going to cook Shun alive in there. “Get out! Get away!” he shouted. Again, there was the pain down in his very soul but he had to fight it. He couldn’t let this beat him-- beat them.

“Shotaro! He’s going to kill the Kamen Rider Club! He’s going to kill our friends!” Philip begged. “Please, don’t let it do that! Shotaro, I know my partner would never let this happen! Shotaro!” All the while, he pushed out to take control of Double again. He could feel the heat. But he had to do it.

The Powerdizer slammed a fist into Phoenix Double. The flames travelled from the Zodiarts to the machine, quickly engulfing it. “Shun! Eject!” Kengo shouted from his cover.

“He can’t, he’ll get burned!” Philip screamed.

The way Fourze looked at them, they must have finally heard him. “That’s it!” Fourze jumped back into the battle, focusing on extinguishing the flames on Powerdizer. “Hang in there, Shun. I’ll get the heat off!”

“Seriously, this is no time for puns…” JK complained over the comms. He could only be heard, he kept the Burgermeal pointed at Philip. Blood ran down out of Philip’s nose from the strain.

“Don’t let us hurt anyone! Please!” Philip begged desperately. “I’ll take care of Shotaro. Just don’t let anyone get hurt!”

“Got it, sempai!” Gentaro said with a big grin inside Fourze’s mask. While Philip was his age, they were still his sempai Rider. “I’ll trust in the ultimate friendship: Partners!” He pounded his chest and pointed.

Hearing Gentaro say that was strangely energizing. It was a sensation he’d never felt before. “Did you hear that, Shotaro? Partners, the ultimate friendship.”

For a brief moment, that familiar feeling of Shotaro beside him broke through. “Shotaro! That’s it!”

While it faded nearly as quickly as it came up, it returned again, stronger than before. Purple and red sparks began to crackle over Phoenix Double’s body. It froze in place.

Shun safely escaped the Powerdizer, and Kengo was making sure he wasn’t hurt. So the sudden appearance of Libra caught them all by surprise. “Ah ah ah,” he said, as though they were naughty children. “You’re not going to destroy my greatest creation that easily.”

He thrust his staff into Phoenix Double’s stomach. “Last One,” came from the Switch. Shotaro’s body dropped out, covered in netting. “Aaaah! Kengo! Look at Philip!” JK wailed. Philip was the same way. Fang was busy trying to chew him out of it.

“Last One so soon?” Kengo thought out loud. He never knew such a thing was possible. “Without ever deactivating the Switch?”

A glow emanated from one of the star points on the crown of Double’s head. Philip could feel the surge of strength. They had already been too much for Fourze to handle, there was no way they could defeat them if this went any further.

Finally, Shotaro’s voice broke through. “Come on, Partner. Let’s break this open from the inside. Disconnecting my body from this was a mistake for him.” Philip could hear that determined grin on his partner’s face.

“Shotaro!” Philip said. There was some relief in his voice. His partner wasn’t lost. “Right.”

“Gentaro!” They shouted together. “Right here!” The right arm swung up and pounded the chest twice, and pointed at him. Just as he usually did.

“Yes!” Gentaro cheered. He quickly set to work activating the Limit Break for Fire States.

“Are you ready for this, Partner?” Shotaro asked.

“Absolutely,” Philip replied.

Each hand went to the Driver. It was slow. The Switch was fighting them. All at the same time, if they pulled the Memories when the Limit Break hit, they should be able to break free.

“3!” said Philip

“2!” came Shotaro.

“1!” finished Gentaro.

Suddenly Philip could feel their synchronicity come back. They were one again. The Limit Break hit, and it was painful. But they wrenched the Memories out of the Driver.

Phoenix Double exploded in a great fireball, taller than the school buildings around them. But the switch tumbled to the ground with the Double Driver and the Heat and Joker Gaia Memories. They were blackened, but intact. Gentaro jogged up to turn off the Switch while the others ran to extricate Shotaro from the netting.

“Where’s Philip!?” was the first thing Shotaro asked once he was free. He was weak and pale, and his face showed the same characteristics a Switcher did once they were set free. He started to push himself to his feet.

“In the Rabbit Hatch,” Kengo said. But he grabbed hold of Shotaro’s arm before he could go after him. “How did you get that Switch?”

Shotaro looked at all of the kids surrounding him. “Kengo, it doesn’t matter, he--” Gentaro started, but Kengo cut him off.

“It does matter!” he shouted. “We brought you in and trusted you! You’re a Kamen Rider! Why would you use a Switch like that?!”

Shotaro pushed his grip off. The movement caught him off-balance and Shotaro fell back onto the ground. He just stayed there. He glanced around idly for his hat. “I didn’t use it.” He held up a hand to stop Kengo’s protests before they started. “I guess I’ve had a lot on my mind lately. Libra caught up on that. He gave me the Switch yesterday. I wanted to check up on a few things before I gave it to you. He found me first. I guess the long delay between being given one and using one was unusual.

“Libra pretended to be Philip. I think he knew we were connected, but not how. When I called him Philip, he corrected me to ‘Sonozaki-kun’. When I began to transform, he somehow broke through it and made me press the Switch.”

“Shotaro!” Philip called across the courtyard. He was leaning heavily on JK’s shoulders.

“He wouldn’t listen to me! He would have crawled here if I didn’t hold him up!” JK told them, heading off any questions.

Philip pushed off of JK and stumbled over to Shotaro. He fell in a heap beside him. “Philip, your nose,” Shotaro told him once he came close enough.

Philip reached up and touched his upper lip. He looked at the blood on his fingers quizzically. “I guess fighting that took a toll on my body even if it was only my consciousness in the Zodiarts.”

Kengo still looked suspicious but he didn’t put voice to them. “You two need rest. The fact that you’re actually walking and talking is a miracle in and of itself.” He put the rest of the Astro Switches away and snapped the case closed.

JK and Gentaro lifted a pair of cots from the nurse’s office while Yuuki kept her distracted down the hallway. They set them up in the Rabbit Hatch for the pair of detectives to sleep it off enough to be able to get back home.

Philip took a few minutes to examine the Driver and the Memories involved, to make sure nothing was broken. “What drew Libra to you, Shotaro?”

Shotaro rolled over to face Philip. “Everything was different. The wind. Where we live. I was getting comfortable. I wasn’t a detective. I was a teacher. And you weren’t Philip. You were Raito Sonozaki. High school student.”

Philip considered all of these things. “Something like homesickness?”

Shotaro chuckled a bit. “I’ve been homesick before. This was different. I thought everything was gone. But I was wrong. You’re still my partner.” He reached over and patted Philip on the shoulder.

He chuckled. “How half-boiled.” Shotaro smiled, and settled in to sleep. Philip set the Driver and the Memories on the floor under his cot. “Come here,” he hissed at the Burger Meal robot. It hopped its way over. He opened it and pointed the camera at himself. “Record this for me.” It chirped a response and a red light lit up. “From now on, just call me Philip. I’m not Raito Sonozaki. Until we can go home, we’ll stay here at AGHS. We’ll help you fight until we find the Zodiarts that brought us here. Stop. Go find Yuuki and the others so they can get the message,” he told it. It chirped again, and hopped toward the entrance to the Rabbit Hatch.

“And turn off the lights,” he finally added.

“Oi, you Foodroids,” Shotaro added. He wasn’t quite asleep yet. The other two in the room hopped toward him. “Go find my hat.” They smiled at each other, and finally dropped off to sleep.