I can't believe I actually came back to this! Ha! It's been...what, a year now? Geez. I'm so sorry to any of you who've actually been reading this since the beginning. I just got really discouraged last year due to a bunch of different things and really couldn't find it in me to write much of anything, much less this.

I never stopped wanting to see it finished, though, so I hope that those of you out there who still remember this fic can forgive me somehow. I REALLY want to finish this properly. So, here's to good luck for this story in the future!

Thankfully, their trip out of the city was relatively uneventful. Chance noted that Saturn and the rest of the Team Galactic operatives that stole the Orbs had more than likely already returned to their headquarters near the mountain range.

Instead, most of their day was spent hiking through the small forest that separated Eterna City from Mount Coronet, during which time Chance explained his situation with Darkrai to Trey, though Darkrai himself didn't make an appearance as he had with Ash and May the night before. Oddly enough, Trey didn't seem to be too fazed by the idea of a human and a Pokemon sharing a body.

"Hey, wait, isn't Darkrai a Dark-type Pokemon?" May asked at one point, a short time after Chance's explanation.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, it is." Chance answered nonchalantly. "Did I forget to mention that? I guess it didn't really seem that important, given everything else going on."

"Hey, that's pretty cool, don't you think, Trey?" Ash chimed in, grinning over at their companion. "I mean, you still only train Dark-types, right?"

"What? Oh…yeah. That's cool." Trey replied airily, not looking at Ash.

Ash glanced over at May confusedly, who merely shrugged.

Pikachu, however, kept his eyes on the teenage trainer. It could tell that something wasn't quite right with him, that he wasn't his usual self. "Pii-ka…"

By nightfall, they had made it to the edge of the forest, with Mount Coronet in plain sight on the horizon. They decided to make camp there, and head on to face Team Galactic the next day.

"All right, Team Galactic's main base is near the foot of the mountain." Trey explained. The four of them were sitting around the central campfire they had set up, with Ash and May next to each other on one side, and Trey and Chance evenly spaced out around the rest of it. Pikachu was actually perched on May's head for a change. "I'll head there once we get close enough, and then you guys can keep going on up to Spear Pillar."

"What? You don't want us to come with you?" Ash questioned, looking over at his friend worriedly.

"How are you going to free Lily all by yourself? I thought that was why you asked us for our help!" May added, clearly concerned.

"Oh, uh, don't worry about it." Trey replied, deflecting the question. "I just wanted to go down here with you guys in case I ran into Team Galactic on the way."

Ash and May stared at him in confusion, and even Chance appeared slightly vexed by Trey's words.

"I'm with them…if you could free your friend all by yourself, why did you bother asking for our help?" Chance challenged.

Trey waved his hand in assurance, the light from the campfire casting a ghoulish shadow over his face as he did so. "Listen, guys, I'll be fine. Thanks for coming down here with me, but I can tackle that facility of theirs on my own."

The remaining three were silent for a moment as they considered his words, then Chance shrugged. "Okay then, if you say so. Now, Ash, May, listen carefully…Spear Pillar is near the top of the mountain. Team Galactic will probably have a whole slew of their men stationed between the foot of the mountain and the entrance to the Pillar. Make sure you and your Pokemon are ready to battle tomorrow."

Ash and May glanced at each other nervously before nodding.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Trey commented. "If I manage to get Lily out quick enough, we can probably come meet up with you guys and help you out."

Chance nodded. "That'd be great."

The next few minutes passed in relative silence as the four companions resorted to simply watching their campfire flicker and burn before them, with only the stray comment from one of them breaking the quiet.

After a short while, however, May noticed Trey's eyes had shifted from the campfire to herself. She caught his curious glance with a confused look of her own, and he quickly blinked and returned to staring into the fire.

Some time later, the campfire had withered away to nothing of its own accord, and the four had retreated into their sleeping bags, Ash and May once again opting to be nearer to each other than the others. Pikachu was curled up in a ball on the grass, next to Ash.

"Hey, Ash…?" May said softly, rolling over to her side to face him. "Did you notice anything…weird…about Trey today?"

"…Yeah." Ash muttered back after a moment. "He's been acting weird all day. I guess it's because of what happened to Lily…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…I just remember what it was like when Aaron and Will took you, back when we were staying in Petalburg City." Ash answered slowly, staring intently at the night sky as he recalled that painful memory. "I…I wasn't really acting like myself either. All I could think about was getting you back home."

"Ash…"

"…I'm just saying that's probably what Trey's feeling like right now."

"…I don't know…"

"Why? What's wrong?" Ash asked, turning the question back on her.

May thought back to when she noticed Trey watching her across the campfire. "…It's nothing. You're probably right…" She was silent for a moment. "I guess this means your Gym Battle with Gardenia will have to wait, huh? You told her you wanted to challenge her today."

"Oh, yeah…" Ash grumbled, remembering his conversation with the Gym Leader from the previous day. "I wonder if we'll be back in time for your Contest?"

"I dunno…" May admitted. "From the way Chance was talking about it, we should make it to Spear Pillar sometime tomorrow, but…"

Neither of them responded to that. They both had the same feeling that whatever was going to happen at Spear Pillar, it wouldn't all be resolved by the following night.

The two were silent for a moment. Then: "…'Night, Ash."

"'Night."

Trey lay awake in his sleeping bag, unable to sleep despite being surrounded by dark silence on all sides. He kept running over the events of the last few days in his head, unable to come to terms with what he'd done. "And…Ash and May don't even know…"

He sighed quietly to himself. "I almost wish I could say sorry to them now…no. I know what I've got to do. For Lily…" He stopped for a moment, allowing himself to think of his girlfriend for a moment, of her sweet, beautiful face, and of everything she meant to him. "…and for everyone else, too."

He continued staring up at the overcast night sky for a few more minutes before finally rolling over and drifting off to sleep.

Chance lay awake in bed as well, though his thoughts were more directed toward Darkrai than anyone else.

"Do you really think this'll work? I mean…it's kind of a long shot…"

"It is more than a long shot, Chance. But it is still the best chance we have at stopping Team Galactic. We cannot simply beat them with brute strength."

"I know…but still…"

"Do not worry. Believe in Ash and May. I have seen in them the bond that you spoke to me about. I do believe there is a chance of stopping Dialga and Palkia with their help."

"Well…all right. If you say so."

"Yes? What is it?" The large, emotionless man whom Saturn had reported to uttered. He had been lost in a deep thought merely a moment before, when a relatively loud knock on his door had snapped him back to reality, much to his dismay.

The automatic door slid into the wall as a red-haired female stepped through, a smirk apparent on her face. "Just coming to tell you that our little plan worked perfectly, just as you said. All three of the Lake Guardians are now under our control, Cyrus. Their chopper just got back a few minutes ago."

Cyrus grunted in approval. "Very good. Tell Charon to make the final preparations." He turned to look Mars in the eye. "Tomorrow, our new world shall become reality."

Gah, I'm not too terribly proud of this chapter as a whole...I don't even think this chapter was supposed to exist. I needed something quick and easy to get me back into writing this, though, so please don't be too harsh on it!