Of Switches and Heroics

by Squeegeman

Gentaro Kisaragi never expected to have to transfer schools, and to an American school no less! Although Townsville High is certainly different, he will still try and make friends with everyone in this school, no matter what the hardship! But when Zodiarts start to appear, he will do whatever it takes to save his newfound friends! Look out Townsville, there's a new hero in town!

"Uchu...Kitaaaaaaaaaaa!" Came the shout from the computer screen, as the man and woman observed the figure on it. The figure looked like, for a lack of a better term, an astronaut themed superhero, with even a helmet that looked like a rocket. He was busy currently fighting what looked like a monster.

The woman and man were wearing what appeared to be business suits, and were of caucasian descent. The woman had brown hair tied up into a bun, along with bright blue eyes, and the man had his blonde hair cut short, and his eyes were brown.

"This is not good." The man said in a slight Russian accent "Fourze and the Zodiarts shouldn't be here on Earth. The projects for both of them were terminated after the destruction of the moon base."

"You don't think I know that?" The woman replied in an American accent "Just how did they get here anyway? There's no way to connect to the Moon, except…" The woman and man looked towards each other, silent understanding evident in their features.

"And then there's the other problem…" The Russian man then showed another video, this one of another monster, this one appearing to be a humanoid fish, with silver scales and bronze armor. Though this monster was in the middle of another location, in what appeared to be an American highschool. "From the cosmic energy signature of this Zodiarts, we can determine that it is in fact Pisces."

"The one sighted in Townsville?" The woman raised a brow as she looked towards her compatriot "What about those heroines? The Powderpuff girls, right?"

"I think you mean Powerpuff." The Russian corrected his colleague "Even as strong as they are, I don't know if they can handle a Horoscope." He then went back to the video of Fourze fighting a Zodiarts. Rewinding the video, it showed a young japanese man with a pompadour, open school jacket showing off a t-shirt, and sneakers putting on a white belt. He pressed the buttons on the belt and proceeded to do a pose.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Henshin!" With that declaration, the young man pulled the lever with a grin on his face, and was soon covered in blue energy. Once the energy died down, it showed the young man in the Fourze suit.

"Anyway, the person in the video is Gentaro Kisaragi.:

At the mention of the name Kisaragi, the woman's eyes widened "You sure he's related to Mitsuki and Ryunosuke?"

"I looked it up and yeah, he's definitely their son." The man continued "He's a transfer student to Amanogawa high school, founded by one of our guys, Mitsuaki Gamou."

"Gamou?" The woman blinked "Isn't he one of the only four survivors of the destruction of the base?"

"Yes, I don't know if Gamou has anything to do with the Zodiarts or Fourze." The man sighed "We've been in contact with him, and he says he's handling the situation, but I'm not completely sure he's being honest with me."

"So, what should we do?" The woman said as she began to walk around the room. "I know we have our orders, but can we really deprive that school of one of its only defenders?"

"Look, the orders come from higher up. Besides, from what I can tell, the boy likes making friends. What better way to make friends than transferring overseas?"

At this, the woman sighed, before looking towards her partner. "Let's just hope this works out, for all of us."

"OSTO is responsible for cleaning up any messes related to our research Vanessa." The man got up and closed the laptop "Fourze is just the means for us to fully accomplish such a task."

"You speak of Gentaro as if he's more of a tool rather than a boy Vlad." Vanessa leveled a glare at the Russian.

"He IS a tool for us." Vladimir replied with a glare of his own "Do not get attached to the kid, he's nothing more than an assignment."

The two continued to glare at each other for what felt like hours until the woman sighed "Fine, When does our flight for Japan leave?"

"Tomorrow." Vlad said as he picked up the laptop and put it in his computer bag, "Have you already packed your things?"

"Yes." Vanessa nodded her head "Best to be prepared early, after all."

At this, Vlad smiled "Exactly what I was thinking. Now, what do you want for lunch?"

"How about some burgers? I'm kinda craving fast food."

"I thought you were trying to lose weight, Ms. fitness nut?"

"Oh hush up you."

…

It was currently lunchtime in Amanogawa High School, and Gentaro Kisaragi was anxious. Today was the most sacred of days, after all.

"Oh man! I'm never gonna get the yakisoba pan at this rate!" Gentaro cried as he was stuck in line. "Why can't the line move any faster?"

"I feel you Gen-Chan." Standing behind him was a girl wearing a red shirt and skirt, the winter wear for Amonogawa High school. Her hair was in a hime cut and she was rather pretty. This was Gentaro's childhood friend Yuki Jojima, and she was sharing Gentaro's feeling of gloom. "The delicious taste of Yakisoba feels so far away now."

Looking at them from a table was the rest of their little group, the Kamen Rider club, each dressed in the winter wear for the school, minus one man who was wearing a black and red letterman jacket, identifying him as a member of the school's football team.

"They seem to be in good spirits." Shun, said as he watched the pair of endearing idiots fight their way for a piece of Yakisoba bread "I'm kind of glad honestly, he's been really depressed lately."

"I mean, can you really blame poor Gen-Chan" JK, the local party animal and informant for the Kamen Rider Club, "You can't get over a girl like that in a day!"

"A broken heart is often the cause of misfortune", Tomoko, the gloomy goth and tech expert, said as she mixed up some nato and dumped them into JK's Shrimp. " It's important to try new things and not get stuck in the past"

"Hey, stop that I'm not into this weird food combination like Yuki!"

"You people are overthinking things" Kengo Utahoshi said as he went over the notes of the last class "He'll be fully back to his idiotic self before next week."

"Ooops!" Miu, the president of the Club, said as she looked at the tech expert "And why would that be, Kengo-Kun?"

"Kisaragi is not the type of man to let himself be dragged down by those kind of feelings", he said as a matter of fact, "He is the kind of person who'd find the way to get out of a rut through some ridiculous means"

"Oh?" JK had a grin as he heard those words "Is our local tsundere finally accepting Gentaro's friendship"

"Never call me that again" Kengo said as he took a sip of his juice box "And no, I just know the idiot well enough at this point."

"…Tsundere"

Before Kengo could attempt to strangle the party animal however, the two local airheads came back with a bag full of Yakisoba Pan.

These are the Kamen Rider Club of Amanogawa High, living their youth to the fullest and seizing the day, while also hunting for the Kaijin that menaced the other students.

...

As Gentaro reached his house, he noticed that a black car was parked right in front of it. Although suspicious of the car, he brushed it off and was about to enter his house, when he heard voices on the other side.

"So, as you can see Kisaragi-san, we'd be honored to have your grandson attend the school year abroad."

"Geez...I don't know…"

This caused Gentaro to raise a brow. "A year abroad? I didn't sign up for an exchange program." Opening the door, Gentaro came face to face with the leather jacket wearing figure of his grandpa, along with a man and woman who looked to be foreigners. They were also dressed rather formally.

"Ah, you must be Kisaragi Gentaro." The woman bowed, the man following her lead "My name is Vanessa Williams, and this is my colleague Vlad Kuzmich." She then turned towards Goro "Ah, could you make us some tea while we talk to your grandson?"

"Oh? Of course!" With that, Gentaro's grandpa walked into the kitchen in order to make the tea, leaving Gentaro alone with the two strangers. Gentaro tensed as the two were now focusing entirely on him.

"Now that that's out of the way, we'd like to discuss a few things with you." Vanessa took out a folder and laid it flat on the table and opened it. Gentaro's eyes widened as it showed pictures of him transforming into Fourze.

"Who exactly are you people and what do you want with me?"

"We're agents of OSTO, the people who made the Fourze driver and astroswitches." Vlad said as he showed Gentaro pictures of his parents "As were your parents, Mitsuki and Ryunosuke."

Gentaro eyes widened further as he beheld the photos of his parents, "You knew my mom and dad?"

"Actually, your mom was actually Vanessa's old partner." Vlad pointed to the woman, who nodded "Damn shame that they're dead. They were some of the best agents in the business."

"We actually came here to tell you that we do need Fourze's help." Vanessa then showed a picture of the Pisces Zodiarts "This monster was sighted in America, about a week ago in a place called Townsville. From the energy that was coming off of it, it's definitely a Zodiarts, and a Horoscope at that. Since it's in America, and you're in Japan, well…"

"You're transferring me abroad." Gentaro then shook his head and narrowed his eyes at the two. "Look, I'm sorry but I just can't trust you yet. You just show up to my house and want me to transfer? Leaving the school defenseless?"

"We thought you would say that, so we decided if you weren't going to believe us…" at this, Vanessa took out a laptop and opened it up, revealing a figure that made Gentaro's eyes widen. "then maybe you would believe him."

The figure was clad in silver and black insectoid armor, with red eyes and antennae. Though what was most striking about the man was the belt around his waist, and the red scarf that was wrapped around his neck. Gentaro's eyes widened as he beheld the man.

"Hello Kisaragi." The figure spoke. "You may not know me, so allow me to introduce myself. I am Kamen Rider Super-1. I heard about you from my comrades, and from Vlad and Vanessa as well. First off, I wanna say thank you for helping Stronger and the others."

Noticing now that he was openly gaping at Super-1, Gentaro bowed before the veteran hero "It's nice to meet you as well, Super-1!"

"Skipping past the honorifics?" Super-1 chuckled a bit as he beheld Gentaro's face pale "Relax kid, I see no need for such a thing. We're all Kamen Riders, aren't we?"

"Oh...right." Gentaro blushed a bit as he scratched the back of his head.

"As a Kamen Rider though, you need to be there for when evil strikes." Super-1's tone turned serious "Like you, I was made for space travel, and I still have connections to a lot of major space organizations, including OSTO. These people are the real deal, and they need your help."

"But...What about Amanogawa High?" Gentaro said as he looked at the two agents "I just can't leave the guys to defend themselves against Zodiarts,"

"We noticed that during your last fight that another Kamen Rider appeared." Vlad reassured the teen. "We normally wouldn't send you somewhere if we didn't feel that this place was in good hands."

"Remember Kisaragi, you are a Kamen Rider. You must go where people need you the most, and that place is in America. We will surely meet again. Until then, farewell." At this, the video chat ended, leaving Gentaro with the two agents.

Gentaro remained silent for a while, his expression unreadable. Suddenly, he smiled, his expression full of cheer. "Very well, I'll help you guys!" He then held out his hand, causing the agents to blink at the gesture.

"What exactly are you doing?" Vlad asked as he looked at the hand, unsure of what to do.

"The secret friendship handshake! All my new friends and I do this handshake to symbolize our friendship!" At this, Vlad scoffed as Vanessa smiled and obliged, her following the handshake to a T.

"Alright!" Gentaro suddenly blinked, as a thought came over him. "But...I don't know any English."

This caused Vlad and Vanessa to blink, which they then followed up by sighing. "Better get to learning now, buddy boy, because you're going to America in about a week." Vanessa said.

"A WEEK?!" Gentaro yelled.

"Is everything OK back there?" came the voice of Gentaro's grandpa.

"Yeah, everything's fine!" Gentaro then looked at the two and bowed "I'm sorry! I'll get to learning English! It'll be difficult, but I'll do it!"

At this, Vanessa smiled "That's good to know, kid." She proceeded to close the folder just as Gentaro's grandpa came in with the tea.

"I've got a week to prepare. But I can do it. After all, I can't let my new friends down."

…

In the middle of what looked to be a temple, there appeared to be an armored figure. The figure had a blue helmet, with eyes that appeared to glow purple, and a blue pauldron on his right shoulder. His body was as black as the night, and decorated with stars, and on his waist was a belt with an orb in the center, and on his wrist was what appeared to be some kind of mechanical weapon.

This was Kamen Rider Meteor.

Currently, he was in the middle of what looked to be training, as he was kicking and punching the air. Each of his movements was precise and to the point, showing that he was obviously well trained in the art of fighting. Suddenly, the light on the belt began to blink as a sound rang out. He then took the switch out of the belt and held it up to his face.

"Ah, Tachibana-san. I was wondering when I would hear from you." The voice was clearly warped, possibly to hide his identity.

Up in space, there appeared to be a rectangular space station, and on its side was a singular word: M-Bus. The sole inhabitant of the station was a man in a metal mask and wearing what appeared to be a blue space suit, floating in zero gravity.

"I wish I could come with good news, but there appears to be a slight change of plans. Tachibana's focus was on a screen in his room, showing Meteor's masked face "It would appear that there are Zodiarts in America, and OSTO has taken notice of this. No doubt they're going to send Fourze to deal with the problem."

Meteor stiffened as he looked towards the switch "So what happens now?"

"I've already taken the necessary measures. The Zodiarts have generally appeared in a city known as Townsville, and I have successfully managed to pass you off as an exchange student. You will be leaving in about a week. Make sure you make contact with Fourze."

"What about Aries? What if he appears while I'm overseas?"

"I have already taken care of that. I've sent Kisaragi a little present that will help you infiltrate the Rabbit Hutch. With that, you can move between Japan and the United States with ease."

"Thank you, Tachibana-san."

"Remember, you must not let anyone know you are Meteor. If you're found out, you won't be able to transform again. Do you understand?"

"I do." With that, the call ended, and Meteor proceeded to cancel his transformation, revealing a young man with short brown hair wearing a black uniform.

"This battle is mine…" The young man declared "I won't let anyone get in my way."

…

"YOU ARE GOING TO THE U.S.!"

"ON AN STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGAM?!"

"HOW?"

This were the questions that Gentaro had screamed at him when he announced his sudden transference. The Kamen Rider Club was all there, though the ones who'd reacted the loudest had been Yuki, Miu and JK.

"Yup!" Gentaro said in his usual free spirited demeanor, "It'll only be for a year or so! I'll be back before you know it!"

"That's not the problem here!", Yuki said as she walked closer to Gentaro "We are supposed to be the Remedial Classes team, but you need good grades to get into an exchange program! have you been lying to me about your grades, Gen-chan?!"

"That's also not the problem!" JK said before pushing Yuki out of the way and putting an arm around Gentaro, "Hey, so Townsville huh? There's some people there who are pretty famo-"

"That's not it too!" Miu finally said before pushing JK off and getting in Gentaro's face "The problem is that you are leaving Amanogawa unprotected against the Zodiarts! Why would you do that?"

"Well, uh…"

"There's Zodiarts in the US, aren't they?"

The eyes all turned to Kengo, who was sitting in front of one of the computers with a stoic look on his face.

"Tomoko sent me some videos of the American Zodiarts" Kengo then put up some videos on the screen all showing the Kaijin walking through different parts of the city. "I was actually gonna talk to you about it but someone must have contacted you after figuring out you were Fourze, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much it!" Gentaro said with a serious expression before remembering the events of yesterday "They were these guys in black suits or something, pretty shady but Super -1 vouched for them so they are trustworthy!"

Kengo sighed at the delinquent's relaxed response, something he should have been used to by now but it was still aggravating.

"Gen-chan's a secret agent now?" Yuki asked, confused by the prospect of her best friend now technically being considered a spy.

JK already began imagining the scenarios "Immaculate suits, elegant parties and all the babes you could ask for?"

"It's only an exchange program, JK" Kengo said.

"Don't ruin my fantasies!"

"Doesn't the Fourze Driver need regular maintenance? How are you gonna get it?" Miu inquired of Gentaro.

"Oh! Actually this appeared in the mail too, it had a note that said it's for that reason." Gentaro said as he put a hand into his pocket and took a yellow Switch.

"That is…!" Yuki gasped, recognizing the device. Kengo widened his eyes as he snatched the Switch out of Gentaro's hands and put it on a scanner.

"A Gate Switch, the same kind that first opened the Gate to the Rabbit Hutch…" Kengo said as he watched over the results "Just where did these guys come from?"

Gentaro couldn't answer, as he was also confused by the whole ordeal of yesterday.

…

Next Week

"Do have your toothbrush?"

"Yep!"

"Your hair gel?"

"Obviously!"

"How are you with your English?"

"Emmm…"

Outside of the airport, the Kamen Rider Club had gathered to give their last goodbyes to Gentaro before his airplane left. Miu, as self declared president, had to make sure her under-classman was absolutely prepared for the wild jungle that was the American Education System.

"G-G-GEN-CHAN!" Yuki wailed as he clung to her best friend, unable to prevent the waterworks as she was faced with the prospect of her friend leaving for a year.

Usually Gentaro would try to keep a brave face but the welling up of his emotions soon began to burst forth, "YUKI!" He cried as he reciprocated the hug, tears falling down his face as well. Of course, the other members wouldn't have it any other way.

"This is an amulet for safe travel…" the gloomy Tomoko said as she put a doll that looked like him in his hand "I wrote some magic words inside the jacket to make sure your flight was safe…"

Gentaro, while kind of weirded out at the realistic sensation of the doll's hair, gave Tomoko a hug for thinking of him.

"Yo! While you are there mind doing me a favor?" JK asked as he got his phone and showed him a picture of a green skinned man, with black hair and wearing sunglasses. "They say the bassist for a really popular band lives there, his name's Ace D. Copular. Mind getting me his autograph?"

Gentaro then raised a brow as he inspected the picture "That guy is human? Why is his skin green?"

"You know how celebrities are, he probably dyed it or something!"

Shun gave him a pat in the back, before giving him a football "I've owned this since I was a kid, so be sure to get a lot of autographs on it if you meet anyone whose a big time football star, OK?"

"This is useless." Kengo said with his arms closed as he stood a few feet away "With the Gate Switch you'll be able to visit the Rabbit Hutch like normal, it'll be like you never left."

"It's the part of the experience Kengo!" Gentaro cried out passionately as he got closer to him "No school exchange is complete without at least one tearful goodbye!"

Kengo just looked at the teen quizzically before being enveloped in a hug.

"See ya later buddy"

As Gentaro got on his flight, he didn't notice Kengo break out into a slight smile.

"Yeah…see you later" The boy muttered. He was sure nobody had actually heard him until he turned around and saw JK standing awfully close to him.

"…Tsundere"

The Kamen Rider Club had to prevent another strangling that day.

XxXxX

Up in the plane, Gentaro looked out the window as the land proceeded to give way to sea. He was actually leaving his home country to go abroad.

"First time flying?"

Gentaro looked at the youth beside him, "Ah no, it's just, it's kinda my first time going this far away from home."

"I get what you mean, having to upend your whole life isn't easy but that's the point of long trips, not being easy."

"I guess, uh…"

"Ryusei Sakuta" the teen gave his hand for a shake.

He took his hand firmly and shook it "Nice to meet yah, buddy"

"So this is Fourze? He doesn't seem like much. Doesn't matter though. All that matters is finding Aries. But those heroes Tachibana told me about, the Powerpuff Girls, they'll surely get in my way. They won't stop me though, because I will do anything to help Jiro. Anything."

…

In a darkened room, there sat a man. The man was middle aged and wearing an impeccable suit and ascot. His hair was nicely trimmed, adding to his air of gentlemanliness This was the chairman of Amanogawa High School, Mitsuaki Gamou.

Currently, in his lap was a laptop, and on its screen appeared to be the Pisces Zodiarts. Gamou's face was etched into a frown as he contemplated the news that had reached his ears

"Master Gamou, what is going on?" The Pisces Zodiarts inquired of her superior, her voice clearly identifying her as a female.

"It would appear that OSTO is onto our efforts in the U.S. They've already contacted Fourze and he's on his way there."

"Dammit, if he comes here everything I've been working towards will go up in smoke. Are you sure about this?"

"I am absolutely sure." Gamou's gaze then hardened "If we are to achieve our goal, then we need to make sure all 12 apostles appear."

"And that means taking out Fourze." The PIsces Zodiarts then nodded "Very well. I will see to it myself."

"Please do not let me down, Pisces."

"I will not, Master Gamou."

"That reminds me. How are those superheroines doing? The Powerpuff Girls, I believe they were called?"

At this, the Pisces Zodiarts chuckled "Not to worry. Those girls are strong, but they will not stand in our way. I am making sure of that."

Gamou smiled "I'm glad to hear that from you."

"Thank you, Master Gamou."

"You're welcome." With that, Gamou closed the laptop, and looked towards the ceiling. But where there should have been a ceiling, there was instead a starry sky, filled with constellations, the five brightest being Scorpius, Virgo, Libra, Leo, and Pisces. Gamou smiled as his eyes turned a blood red.

"I hope for your sake, Pisces, that you do not let me down."