Hey guys, next chapter here. Sorry it took so long, but the Xmas shopping has begun! It is madness, dem dealz. Dem feelz. Yeah, I was a little greedy this year. But I'm giving back! I swear!

Uh yea, I don't own anything... in this really strange how the F did this crossover happen anyway... thingy.

Just to clarify, all the phrases in the brackets are the lines shouted by the equipment that interacts w/the Astro Switches. It's super cool. Go check out Kamen Rider Fourze! And stare... at how pretty Ryusei is... and Tomoko. Yeah, I have a lot of feels.

So, uh, enjoy!

Stage 5 - Ignited

"Kamen Rider Meteor! Omae no sadame wa ore ga kimeru!"

Kendall stared in awe as Meteor assumed a fighting stance, the Dustards charged in and with a flurry of punches, were knocked back. Each move accented with a Bruce Lee "Whatchaa~!" More Dustards advanced on him and Tomoko. Meteor pressed one of the switches on his gauntlet, the Meteor Galaxy.

[SATURN! READY?]

"Get down!" Meteor yelled. Tomoko and Kendall ducked as Meteor sent a volley of ring projectiles at the Dustards attacking them, reducing them to dust.

"This next one's for you!" Meteor announced, pressing another switch.

[MARS! READY?]

"WHATCHAAA!" A small burning red planetoid appeared on Meteor's fist which he rammed into Dustard, which crumbled into dust.

"Meteor!" Tomoko called. "There's more coming right at you!"

"I'll make this quick then." Meteor said, pulling out the Meteor Storm Astro Switch and plugging it into his driver.

[METEOR STORM!]

The black, star speckled armor transformed into electric blue. What was once blue now became gold. Meteor Storm's weapon, the Meteor Storm Shaft, materialized in his hands, and the Kamen Rider removed the Meteor Storm switch from the driver and plugged it into the staff, the top device of the switch spinning rapidly.

[LIMIT BREAK!]

The Dustards were closer and Meteor began waving the staff around his head, drawing power in.

"Take this! METEOR STORM PUNISHER!" The spinning top on the staff's end went flying, zipping around the approaching Dustards before running through them. The top zig zagged back to Meteor's staff; the instant it locked back into place, all the Dustards hit by the attack exploded into glittering dust that blew away in wind.

"That was SO cool." Kendall breathed in awe.

"Are you two alright?" Meteor asked he walked back over to Tomoko and Kendall.

"It's not over yet." Tomoko said, pointing a finger behind them. Walking across the school grounds towards them was the white masked monster with the Lyra constellation pattern on it's body. In it's arms lay an unconscious James.

"JAMES!" Kendall screamed as the monster advanced, it's mask glowing white.

"Is that a Zodiarts?" Meteor asked.

"It… feels different from all the other Zodiarts we've seen." Tomoko fell to her knees, clutching her chest. "Overwhelming sadness… rage… all from that one being."

The three of them gasped as James began to levitate out of the monster's arms, surrounded by orange light. His body flipped right side up till he was hovering, back to the Zodiarts, eyes glowing orange.

"Kendall…" James' voice choked out, begging, tears streaming down his face. "Make it stop... Please…"

"James!" Kendall cried out, as Meteor moved into attack. "Please, save him!"

Meteor raised his staff again, ready to strike, but the Zodiarts made a high pitched laughing sound and wrapped it's arms around James' waist, pulling the boy back down to the ground. Meteor froze, the Zodiarts was using James as a shield.

"Damn coward." He cursed as the Zodiarts laughed again, caressing James' body as it advanced towards Kendall.

Kendall felt his legs losing strength as the creature approached. James' eyes were still glowing, the light almost blinding. He was frozen in place, unable to move or speak.

"We're so close again." The Zodiarts snickered, its arms pushing James into Kendall's.

The instant James came into contact with his skin, Kendall felt a rush of something pulling him down. When the vertigo subsided, he was standing in a candle-lit room. He blinked and shook his head, trying to get his bearings. The soft light of the candles danced on the drawings and paintings that plastered the pale blue walls. Kendall walked closer and discovered that the subjects of the art were all the same person. The same boy. The boy who looked like James. All the drawings reflected that the artist was incredibly fond of the boy, who was smiling or laughing in each one. Kendall moved on to the easel standing in the center of the room, finding the painting from the museum sitting on it.

"You painted that." A voice said, causing the blonde to jump. Kendall turned and saw James, still wearing his sports jacket and jeans walking toward him.

"I … what?" Kendall stammered, completely confused.

"You promised… you promised that we'd be together. That you'd love me more than anything." James said, his eyes flashing orange as he gripped Kendall's shoulders.

"I don't remember promising you that, James." Kendall said nervously.

James' eyebrows furrowed, face frustrated.

"Well, you did." He said stubbornly, pulling the orange stone ring out from his shirt where it glowed softly. "I've waited so long for you to come back, Kendall."

"But… we just met the other day." Kendall stammered as James leaned in closer. The glow from his eyes and the ring pulsing. Lips inches apart and moving closer.

"We've known each other for much longer than that."

WHAM!

Kendall blinked. The room full of paintings was gone. He was back outside at school. He glanced down at his arms, where James lay, eyes normal again, breathing shallowly, dried tears on his face.

"Thank goodness." Tomoko exclaimed. "Meteor finally managed to get James away from the Zodiarts."

"Wha… Meteor?" Kendall said, still in a daze, looking around.

"It got away." A frustrated voice said from behind him. "Disappeared into some shadows. Never saw anything like it."

Kendall turned, and watched as Meteor's armor vanished in a shower of lights, revealing a Japanese teenager with windswept styled hair and sharp eyes.

"Kendall, this is my…" Tomoko paused. "friend from Japan, Ryusei Sakuta."

"We can exchange pleasantries later. Let's get these two inside." Ryusei said, kneeling down besides Kendall and James, helping Kendall support James as they walked back to the school building.

When they got inside, Kendall could feel the stares of students and teachers through the classroom windows and doors as they walked slowly to the nurse's office. James was silent the entire time. Ryusei helped Kendall get James onto one of the cots, and after insisting that Kendall lie down as well, Ryusei and Tomoko were escorted out by the nurse. After ten minutes of routine examination and instructing them to lie down and get some rest, she left the two alone and closed the door.

"James?" Kendall turned on the cot to face the other boy. "You… wanna talk?" James was silent, but he turned to face Kendall, his expression pained. "Did… did you see all those things too?"

James nodded. "I've been seeing them in my dreams since I was a child." he whispered. "I couldn't always see the other guy's face but after you showed up… it was like it was always you."

"What?"

"I know. After I met you on the ice and then… I don't know. I didn't want to freak you out because you seem really cool… and I really…" James stopped rambling, his eyes now staring at the floor.

"You really…" Kendall repeated, face starting to feel hot.

"Wanted you to try out for the team." James said quickly, giving a quick laugh. "Hah, just because I'm in the nurse's office, don't expect me to give up captain just because you skate a little better than me."

"Oh." Kendall's face fell a little, whatever warmth that was there had now been shot clear out of his system. James obviously wanted to avoid talking any more on the subject, not that he could blame him. How else could one describe… what had just happened anyway? He was feeling incredibly confused himself. Sure, James was attractive, athletic, played Kendall's favorite sport, and was fun to be around, if not a little insensitive… but Kendall never felt like he'd fallen so hard for someone before, especially for someone he'd only known for a little over a day. He had no idea what was causing these hallucinations of him and James together, like they were in love. In fact when these incidents occurred, James seemed like a completely different person.

"There's something dangerous about that brown-haired boy." Ryusei said, gazing out over the small town. He and Tomoko had gone up to the roof to plot out their next move. "It felt like a lot of cosmic energy was moving from him into the blonde."

"There is something strange about him, but he can't be the Switcher. We saw him and the Zodiarts together at the same time." Tomoko said looking up from her tablet. "I'm sending all the collected data to Kengo now."

"You forgot something back home." Ryusei interrupted.

"I did?" Tomoko said, curiously.

"Yeah." Ryusei held out what looked like a hamburger. "Yuuki told me to bring it."

"Burgermeal!" Tomoko exclaimed, reaching into her bag and pulling out Astro Switch 6, Camera, and plugging it into the Foodroid.

[CAMERA]

The Foodroid sprung to life, transforming into a mini camera on wheels. Tomoko cuddled it for a second before placing it on the ground.

"Go see if you can find that Zodiarts." she instructed, and Burgermeal took off to patrol the school grounds. Once it was out of sight, Tomoko looked back at her tablet to see her files had been successfully transferred before turning back to Ryusei, who was looking at the sky with a troubled look on his face.

"Everything OK?" Tomoko asked, putting her things back her bag.

"Yeah. Hopefully we solve this case, and fast." Ryusei said. "You go ahead and check on Kendall, I'll catch up after I check in with the principal."

Tomoko nodded, and disappeared into the building. Ryusei turned and looked at the cloudy late afternoon sky.

"I might not be able to protect you for much longer."

TBC

Whew, so that took a while. Man, totally wrote this while listening to T.M. Revolution's "Ignited". So, how'd you guys like it? I love feedback and reviews! PLEASE?! I know people are reading this! =P Hope to have another chapter up before Christmas, but until then, stay merry, happy holidays, and EAT CHOCOLATE!