Welcome to "Pains of Identity".

This is a sequel to another story of mine, "Reverse of Arcadia", so if you haven't read that, I'd suggest going back and giving that a quick read first. Though if you're familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's and haven't read "Reverse of Arcadia", you should still be able to pick things up relatively quickly. The story takes place after the end of the Dark Signers arc.

Special Thanks to 2dayIsUrDay for helping out with basic notation in the preliminary stages, AnimeAndMangaFan for assisting with Chapters Three, Four, Thirteen and Fifteen, and ProcrastinationIsMyCrime for assisting with Chapters Seventeen and Twenty.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy the story.

"So, Mr. Nochi. Are you going to lie down or sit up this time?"

I brought my eyes away from the floor as I moved to the back of the couch, straightening myself up before facing the man in front of me. "You know what? I'm gonna mix it up a little and sit up." I replied cheekily, before I tittered and the psychiatrist joined me in, what I perceived by him to be forced laughter.

"How have you been?" he asked me seriously.

"Great. Great! Um… You know, Taze and I…" I sighed, drawing a blank as I tried to think of stuff that Taze and I had done. When there was of course really only one thing that we had done. "We've done stuff for the band…" I muttered, the tone of my voice showing that I was less than enthusiastic about that.

The psychiatrist nodded. "Do you still play Lowercase music?"

"No, we switched it up again. You know how we went from Mathcore, to Showtunes, to Lowercase? Well now we've gone from Lowercase to New Age Neo-Classic Cowpunk… Whatever that is…"

"And how does that make you feel?"

"Uh, fine. I mean, it's his thing. I don't really care to be honest."

"Okay. How do you think you would feel if you… had recollection of these past events and your former friendship with Taze?"

"I'd probably be more willing to go along with things than I am now. I don't know what I was like. I don't know what he was like in comparison to how he is now. He keeps telling me about the kind of person I was, the kind of music I liked. Some of the things that he's said I've done, that we did together, I find it hard to believe that I'd even go along with most of it."

"I can see that you're moving down the path of being who you were before the, uh, accident. Is that a fair thing to say?"

"I guess… I mean, I'm not trying for me. I'm trying for him. No one wants to hang out with someone when everything that comes out of their mouth is negative."

The psychiatrist nodded again. "When you first came in here, you said that you felt distant and detached. Do you feel that, now that your relationship with Taze has strengthened, you're not only being the person he wants you to be, but the person you want to be as well? Are you happy with how things are going?"

"Well things could always be better, right? I'd love to have memories that go back further than a year, you know? But… I am happier than I was six months ago, and Taze is probably a big part of that. I know that I'm probably not what he wants me to be but… I'm happy."

"If you're happy, I'm sure he's happy too." The psychiatrist straightened up a little before asking me another question. "And… What about everyone else? Have you spoken to them at all?"

My heart skipped a beat. The others. Yusei. Jack. Crow. Akiza. Leo. Luna.

Truth be told, I hadn't actually seen much of them since moving into my new apartment, though I'd heard that Jack was now living with Carly. Yusei and Crow on the other hand were rather unsuccessful in finding places to live, and so they had been living in the garage behind a clock shop called Poppo Time. Yusei and Crow were apparently happy with this arrangement, which I personally found a little weird. But at least they had space for their Duel Runners, which is what they cared most about. Yusei had become a freelance mechanic, and Crow a freelance delivery boy. Jack… Jack was focusing on his Duel Runner, which he kept at Poppo Time along with Yusei's and Crow's because he apparently didn't want people around the apartment touching it, which is what he was legitimately afraid of.

Akiza, Leo and Luna had enrolled at Duel Academy. I'd heard that Leo was struggling a little in class but that Akiza and Luna were doing fine, academic-wise. I'd only heard all of this from Yusei, as I hadn't seen Akiza since defeating the Dark Signers, or the twins after spending that night in their apartment. This was, of course, all intentional on my part.

"No, I haven't. The last time I was with them, I almost ruined everything. I want to talk to them… It-it is a little boring just having Taze… but I'm afraid… that if I screw up, I'll drive them away for good." I sighed. "I know what I need to do. I need to focus; I need to get into a better state of mind. When I'm able to do that… I think I'll be alright…"

"Okay… okay…" the psychiatrist muttered to himself, writing down notes on a tablet. "I want you to keep taking your medication. Two of each, three times a day. But really, with how you are now, I don't think there's any reason to have these weekly, uh… conversations… You seem to know now what you need to do and how you're going to go about it. We can organize another appointment in, say, about a month? Just for a check-up. When are you free?"

"Um… All the time. I'm flexible, whatever you think is best."

"Okay… how about a Tuesday?"

"Yeah, that's cool…"

"The first in the month?" the psychiatrist asked. I nodded. "Alright… how's nine thirty sound?"

"Fine, yeah. Nine thirty. Okay."

"Listen, you've done really well. And you've come a long way."

"Thank you for saying so."

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it." He smiled. I looked towards the clock he had hanging from the wall.

"It's almost lunch time." I observed.

"So it is. Have you got somewhere you need to be?"

"Oh, no-no-no." I backpedaled. "It was just… I… I have no idea what I was getting at. I'm sorry…" I muttered as I began to laugh.

"That's okay. Actually, we could wrap this up now if you wanted."

"Yep." I said, calming down.

"Alright, well, again, if you need to talk, call me."

"I will." I nodded, getting up and standing in silence as my psychiatrist got to his feet as well.

"Good luck." He smiled.

"Thanks." I muttered, before letting myself out. As the door closed behind me, I sighed. I knew what I needed to do.

I just wasn't sure if I could do it.

"Well, this sucks…" Taze muttered, as he continued to flick through channel after channel, his unblinking hazel eyes focused intensely on the television set in my apartment.

"What sucks?" I asked, sitting down next to him on my couch.

Taze sighed. "Every single channel's doing something about the Grand Prix, even the Comedy Channel…"

"Well it is a pretty big deal…" I noted. After all, the World Racing Grand Prix was a celebration about the completion of the Daedalus Bridge, which successfully intertwined the Satellite with the mainland of New Domino City. Apparently, the old bridge that I had seen when I last visited Satellite was still there, and they just built a new bridge adjacent to it. "Come on. Think about it."

"It's only important if you're into Duel Monsters." Taze argued. "The rest of us would like to watch South Park without all the interruptions…"

"If there wasn't something on the Grand Prix, there'd still be commercials. At least they're not showing those depressing Life Insurance commercials at all hours of the day now."

"I guess you're right…" Taze murmured, turning to me. "So, what have you got planned for the afternoon? Because I was thinking maybe we could work on our songs a little more…"

I turned away. The last thing I wanted to do after getting back from a therapy session where I talked about Taze and music and all that stuff was focus more on that. That was practically the only thing we had been doing together anyway, and to be honest, I didn't really care about it.

The unfortunate thing, for both me and Taze, was that I hadn't told him that.

"Actually, I was thinking of heading to the Library. Get a couple books."

"Oh yeah? On what?"

"Well… I dunno… just… fiction…" I murmured.

"We've only got a little bit more work we need to do on the songs! C'mon, man!"

"Alright then… Fine…" I muttered.

"Awesome!" Taze smiled, getting up off the couch as I reached to my side, getting my bottle of pills. I opened it up, tipping out two, which I took together just as Taze returned with his acoustic guitar. "All the songs need two guitars to really take off though…" Taze began to play something which sounded familiar, but ultimately got lost on me. "See? You have to have the lead as an intro, and then have the second come in as the rhythm…"

"Well wouldn't you need an electric to play the lead?"

"Nah, man. We get you an acoustic so that you can play the rhythm. Neither will overpower one another that way."

"If you say so, but you know I'm not that good…" I stated. With the work that we had done, it might've been my lack of effort, or just the blatant fact that I suck, but it wasn't as if it was unknown to him. Still, every time he'd start off like this, I'd have to remind him.

"You just need to have a little faith in yourself, that's all." Taze sighed.

"You sound just like Explosivo…" I muttered.

Taze looked at me sternly for a couple seconds before turning away. I had told him that I was able to communicate with Duel Spirits, though I don't think he really understood what it all meant. I didn't expect him to understand it, but I really wanted him to. All I really had was these brief memories that were more or less like puzzle pieces that I could never figure out where they were supposed to go, and Taze didn't really know that much about the new me.

"By the way, how's it been trying to accumulate the rest of the set?" he asked.

"It's been going great." I answered truthfully, knowing exactly what he meant. "Maybe I'll actually start playing again."

"Are you thinking of entering the Grand Prix?"

"I'm not sure. The rules say that you need at least two people, and you compete as a team. Apparently, there's a maximum of three on a team. Yusei, Jack and Crow have probably promised to compete together, so that makes me the odd one out."

"That's just an assumption, isn't it? Why don't you ask if you can compete with them?"

"Well I don't want them to have to choose between two people. And it's not right if Yusei had already promised Jack and Crow that he'd ride with them, and then I come in and ask if I can be on the team. It would just be awkward." Plus, I couldn't even talk to them yet anyway, not until I had sorted myself out.

"Alright. It was just a suggestion…" Taze sighed. "Okay, how 'bout this: Worst comes to worst, you don't get to ride on a team. What if I managed to book us a gig playing at the Stadium during the Grand Prix?"

I threw my head back, thinking to myself how ridiculous that would be.

"I probably wouldn't be up for it, even if you were. I'm hardly comfortable singing in the shower, so there's no way I'd be able to sing in front of pretty much everyone in New Domino." I stated, trying to coax Taze into dropping the idea.

"You do realize that it's just a Duel Monsters Tournament, right? Not that many people will come to watch that sort of thing…"

"Dude, New Domino City was deserted during the Fortune Cup. Everybody in the City was at the Stadium watching what was going on…"

"Of course they were. There was a crossdresser as one of the contestants… How would you not go to see that?"

"What?!"

"Yeah, apparently someone dressed up as his sister and took her place in the tournament."

"Who'd do something like that…?"

Taze laughed. "I know, right! But that's beside the point. You really shouldn't be worried about performing or anything. Your voice is fine. It's got good volume, you're on pitch. You're just… straining it a little."

"It's kind of hard not to strain my voice when I either have to belt or scream everything out. There is no pitch. Last week, after we ran through most of our songs, I lost my voice."

"Alright, fair enough…" Taze sighed. "Maybe we don't need to do any more work today then. I'll finish the songs myself, but the next time we meet, we'd better get started on planning out a setlist."

"Okay fine…" I muttered.

Taze nodded, getting up off the couch as he put his guitar back in its case. "I'll call you in a couple of days then…" With that, Taze left my apartment and I shrunk back on the couch. I wasn't sure that what I was doing was the right thing to do, going along with what Taze wanted. Unlike before, there was no supernatural force or 'assigned guardian' around to dictate what I did or how I did it. I was in complete control of my own destiny, yet I still felt pressured to go along with what Taze wanted because it occurred to me that it was also what 'the old me' probably would have wanted too.

Right at that point though, I didn't care what 'the old me' wanted. I just wanted to get on my Duel Runner and hit the road, which is exactly what I did.

Retrieving my Duel Runner from the underground parking, I then took to the streets of the new Daimon Area, which had since experienced a dramatic change in its look, thanks to the devoted people at the Public Security Maintenance Bureau, which was a recent amalgamation between Sector Security and the New Domino Public Administrations Bureau. New buildings had cropped up around town as well, such as the Daimon Square Public Library, copious dance clubs, and an unnecessary amount of fast food joints, mostly just McDonald's and MOS Burger.

I went down to the Library and spent the better part of the day reading books about personality, as well as some non-fiction on how to correctly manage stress. Whenever I'd go down to it, I'd almost always find the Library filled with school students who were either supposed to be studying, but were on Facebook, or who actually were studying. The latter was very rare to see.

I stayed at the Library until a few hours before closing time, at which point I took a drink from a nearby fountain along with another two pills. I got onto my Duel Runner and was ready to head on home until I got a call from Taze.

I still hadn't got used to it yet. I had to get a new phone because my mom supposedly canceled the phone plan she had me on a few days after I called her. So I managed to get a really crummy phone on a limited plan for a really good price, and I got to keep my old number, so that was pretty good.

Ringtone or not, I found it surprising to be getting a call from Taze, especially since he said the next time he'd call would be in a of couple days. Usually whatever he had to say could wait until then, and so he wouldn't call. Nevertheless, I answered, fully expecting him to be wanting to talk about the band when I did so.

"Hello?"

"Dude! You gotta get over here now!" Taze shouted. "There's some freaky shit going on!"

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down…!" I cautioned. "Where are you?"

"Just outside the city. You know where the old park was? There's like this crater, and a ton of cops are around. Something crashed here… I can't explain it, you'll just have to come and see."

I put my phone to my chest and looked down at the floor slowly, almost aimlessly. I heard Taze call my name, asking if I was still there, his voice muffled from my phone against my body. Silently, I raised my phone back against my ear.

"I'll be right there."

I drastically decreased the speed of my Duel Runner once I saw the sheer number of vehicles that were parked near the curb protecting the sparse grass which receded further towards the crater. To be honest, I wouldn't have actually noticed it if it wasn't for the bright yellow tape surrounding it that read 'Access restricted. Do not cross' along with the horde of people around, most of them members of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau, and all of them making noise.

As I treaded the ground, I found myself recalling that moment six months ago, where I had stared into a crater almost like this one. The site of the Original Momentum Reactor. Although the depth of the hole wasn't the same, the feeling that accompanied it was. Uncertainty.

The wind howled, tugging at my clothes as I slowed my breathing. I walked unhurriedly, silently making my way over to where Taze was standing. Members of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau were occupied with holding back some of the nosier members of the crowd.

"What do you think could have made this?" Taze asked, not even looking at me.

"I don't know…" I muttered, my eyes scanning the ground ahead for some sort of debris, but there was nothing. Just a crater surrounded by yellow tape.

My body started to shake. I could feel that something dark and sinister had come from the crater. Something had been here, and we'd missed it.

But I knew that this was just the beginning.

A sign of things to come.