A/N: Okay, getting a bit on track with the YGO 5D's storyline (for a little bit; there's still a few flashback episodes that will pop up every now and then; mainly to sort of show the important parts).

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's nor Pokémon. Both go to their respective owners. I only claim my OCs. Also, prepare the soap for Ren's potty mouth.

Chapter 2:

(Ren's POV, New Domino)

Eric, Jazz, and I stepped through the ring. As soon as we touched ground, the portal vanished behind us. We staggered a bit from the jump through, Eric and Jazz taking a bit longer to recover than I did (hey, this was my third time jumping between worlds at this point).

"Oh oh Arceus. That was so weird!" Jazz gasped, gripping her shoulders and shivering.

"That...that was, an experience," Eric added, shaking his head. "So that's what it feels like jumping between the worlds."

"Am I still me? It felt like my soul left my body for a second." Jazz held her hands out in front of her. "Okay, yeah. Still whole."

"How in the world did you manage this not once but three times, Ren?" I didn't reply. "Uh, Ren? What's wrong?"

"This...This isn't right," I whispered, looking around.

"What's not right?"

"Ah shit, don't tell me we took the wrong turn," Jazz muttered.

I whirled around to them, my eyes wide in terror. "This isn't Satellite. I-I have no idea where we are!"

"Buddy say what now?"

"You're certain, Ren?" Eric put in.

"Yes, I'm certain! I don't recognize any of these buildings!" I started pacing around, looking at the scenery. "This can't be right. I-I thought we'd be near the hideout, or even the old Enforcers' place, or-"

"Ren, breathe." Eric grabbed me by my shoulders, stopping my pacing. "Take a moment to breathe. In through your nose, out through the mouth." I did as he instructed, my eyes closing at the end. "Okay, good. Now focus. You told the ring to take us to near where your friend Yusei is, right?"

"Yeah."

"So that must mean he's nearby, yes?"

"Uh-huh."

"Okay, so, can you think of any other place he could be at other than Satellite?"

"Um..." I wracked my brain, trying to get back to when I last was here. It got a bit hard at times when remembering things due to my old memories leaking back in. It got bad enough that I had to write some things down when it happened, even if I was fast asleep and woke up from it (yeah those notes were fun to shift through). Then it hit me. "New Domino. That's got to be where we're at!"

"Satellite and New Domino? This place is full of strange town names," Jazz said.

"Well, this New Domino is a start. Should we try asking around?"

"No, no. Bad idea. If I remember right, the people in New Domino City didn't think too highly of Satellites. Besides, I doubt they'd have heard of him," I responded, pulling out of Eric's grip. "Our best bet is to just avoid any big areas and the security around here. They might drag us off and we'd never get anywhere then."

"Well, nice to know there are assholes here just like at home. We'll fit right on in," Jazz joked.

"Gee, thanks for that," Eric retorted with an annoyed look. "Really needed to know that."

I winced when I felt a small shock coming from my wrist. I brought the arm with the bracelet up, noticing that the once shining gem on it shimmered and then faded in color. Right, Palkia said that there's a limit with this. If I had gone to the Satellite, I could easily hop back to my world for anything. Now if something comes up, we're stuck no matter what, so this is no time to screw up, I thought as I let my arm drop.

"So...where to first?" Eric asked me.

"Uh, why ask me?" I replied.

"Hey, you're the one who's been to this world. We don't know shit about it," Jazz retorted with a shrug.

"Jazz, did you not hear me a bit ago? I said I've never been to New Domino. I wouldn't know the first thing!"

"Well, I dunno, use those instincts of yours. The same ones that led you to Palkia and getting their favor."

"Yes because it was totally by instinct and not the several months of digging through so much ancient text it's ingrained into my very brain. That couldn't possibly be it."

"All right, stopping the sarcasm war before it even starts," Eric cut in. "Let's focus on just finding the guy so we can plan another course of action. We'll also need to have a place to crash while we're here anyway."

Assuming Yusei doesn't think I pulled what Jack did... That thought caused the tightness in my chest to return. Maybe that was why it took me so long to even try to find a Lustrous Orb in the first place. Would he be happy to see that I was safe and okay? Or would he be mad at me? Could I even get a word in? What do I even say? Would anything I said help my situation or just make it worse or- I shook my head to clear the anxious thoughts. No no, focus. I can't get so lost in my emotions that I shut down. I'll...figure out something to say when we can find him. First things first... "We, uh, we better get a bit away from here. Might not be a good idea to be so close to the docks. Someone might think we're up to no good."

"All right. Lead the way." I gave him a nod.

And I thought I had a bad enough time when trying to navigate Satellite on my own, I thought as we rounded another corner. We had spent what felt like at least an hour trying to at least find a lead or something to point where we could rest or locate Yusei. We passed down one alley and found what seemed to be a Duel field where a large group of people were currently using it. That was a fun experience as I had to keep Eric and Jazz calmed down and explain that the monsters on the field weren't real (I mean, yeah we come from a world of 'em, but some of the Duel Monsters would be enough to make even Champions get scared).

"Arceus, Giratina, and everything in between. This place is a lot harder to walk through than Lumiose!" Jazz growled lowly under her breath.

"Maybe we should call it a day and find a place to collect ourselves," Eric suggested. "I know I needed one after running into that little battle."

"Yeah, no kiddin'. How in the world did-" Jazz stopped as she ran into my back. "Oof!"

"Ren, what is it?"

"O...Over there," I said, pointing ahead. They followed where I was motioning. Several feet away I spotted Yusei wheeling his Duel Runner (looks like the new one he was working on was complete) into a garage.

"Oh, is that Yusei? Great! Now we won't have to worry about a place to stay the night!" Jazz said cheerily.

"Seems like our wandering aimlessly paid off," Eric added.

While they were feeling happy, the anxiety crawled back up on my end. All that practicing in my head over every sort of scenario with meeting back up flew right out the window. My heart started racing, my arms and legs were shaking and locking up, and I felt my breathing pick up. I can't do this. I can't do this! My mind and body were going too hay-wired. There was no way I could face anyone in this state.

"Yo, Yu—ack!" Jazz yelped when I grabbed the back of her and Eric's shirts, managing to pull all three of us back around the corner.

(Yusei's POV)

I looked up, confused at hearing someone yell. I turned toward where the voice came from further down the street, but it was empty. That was weird...

"Hey, Yusei! You almost done down there!" I heard Tanner call from the stairs.

"Yeah, hold on. I'll be there in a second," I replied, getting my Runner in. Maybe I was hearing things.

(Ren's POV)

"The hell was that for, Ren?!" Jazz cried. "He was literally right there, why did ya pull us out of view?!"

"I...I couldn't..." I tried getting out, but it was a struggle since I was both attempting to calm myself down and talk.

"Couldn't what, Ren?" Eric asked in a calmer tone to Jazz.

"I...I can't face him. Not yet."

"'Not yet'?" Jazz repeated, a bit softer. "What do ya mean by that?"

"It's just...I didn't exactly full explain things when I mentioned about my returning to our world. I-I had no way of telling everyone that I had found my way back, so I have no earthly idea if they think I got lost or pulled something like what Jack did or-"

"Whoa whoa, slow down, Ren." Eric stepped up to me, placing a hand on my back. "It's okay, just breathe and try to keep focus. What do you mean by pulling what this Jack did?"

"Well, I mean, not quite like what he did. I didn't send Rally out on a boat with no way of getting it back to shore in the middle of a storm, but I just mean like...leaving! Abruptly! And just leaving them all behind!"

Jazz held up a hand to catch my attention. "Wait a minute, but you said a second ago that you had no way of letting them know, right?" she said.

"Yeah...?"

"And from the sound of what this other guy did, he put someone in harm's way before leaving, yea?"

"Yes."

"So that's not the same thing. You had no choice in that matter, he did. It's not at all alike."

"But-"

She wagged a finger and shook her head. "Uh-uh, but nothing. We're going to go right up to Yusei..."

"Jazz," Eric attempted. He had his eyes closed with a slight annoyed look on his features.

"...and you're going to-"

"Jazz!"

"What?"

"Enough, okay? Are you really not seeing it?"

She blinked, confused. "Seeing what..?"

I caught Eric's head tilting at me (mostly the edges of his hair in the corner of my eye). I started shrinking in on myself, almost having my head in the confines of my vest. "Forcing Ren to confront his fear isn't going to help him or us. Not in this state, anyway. We'll have to take a step back and let things chill before we go forward with anything."

Jazz sighed, relaxing her body. "All right, yeah. Sorry 'bout that, Ren."

"I-It's...okay," I replied in a squeak (or that's what it sounded like anyway to me).

"Now that that's settled, we better start thinking of a good spot to set up for the night. We may have to pull out that camping kit you got in Galar." He directed the last bit at Jazz.

"Yeah, I figured. Guess it helps that I have a hoarding problem, huh?"

"If it gets any worse, I'm dragging you into therapy myself. I do not want to see you on some reality TV show."

We finally found a spot out of sight to set up the tent. It wouldn't be able to extend to its full length (since we just found a dark alley corner that no one else was hiding in), but it would work for the time being at least. Since I was still a bit frazzled, I offered to keep first watch in case Security came around. I sat at the entrance of the alley, still in the shadows, and thought over what all had happened...including my freak out.

Arceus...the hell is wrong with me? I wondered, burying my face into my knees. All that preparation for when we meet up, and for what? I got cold feet and became a coward. I'm sure if Jack hadn't turned backstabber, he would be laughing his ass off. I pulled my head away, fishing out Riki's Poké ball and staring at my reflection in it. I can calmly face off against a god dragon of space, but when it comes to the guy that helped me? Turned tail and ran. I placed my forehead against the ball, making sure not to accidentally hit the button. Dammit all.

A noise caused me to break free from my thoughts. Keeping hidden, I saw a robed figure take off with Yusei close behind. I couldn't tell exactly from my vantage point, but was there glows coming from their arms? I slid back to my position. I shouldn't. I really shouldn't. I got the jitters before, what's to say this time would be different?

A moment passed. Then another. Finally... Screw this! I leaped to my feet, clipping Riki's ball back to my belt and racing off in the direction I saw Yusei run to.

A/N: And there we go. So, not quite catching up yet but at least they're in the same world again. How will the reunion go? Will it go badly or smoothly? Guess we'll have to see next chapter (don't worry, it's no flash to the past...yet; might have to make a side story to fill with the stuff that couldn't fit in or weren't relevant enough).