Author's Note: And this time's the last time. As usual, I'll leave the big comments for the end; here's the chapter.

Epilogue: Conclusions and Promises

The next few days were…weird, Claire thought.

She kept waking up and half-expecting to see Darkrai there in the bluff. Then, when she didn't see him, she'd worry for half a minute that he'd run off and was planning something again. Finally, Claire would remember that they'd taken care of him, and she'd sigh in relief before waking everyone else up.

At first, Team Shadow simply decided to relax. After that whole mess, no one really wanted to do anything big. They'd gotten drinks at Spinda's Café with the Guild members a couple of times—Team Lightning had been their most frequent guests, as usual, but they'd also gone out with some of the others once or twice.

"You'll have to come along with us on an exploration sometime," Heliona said excitedly on one of their visits. "I bet that'd be fun! Ooh, maybe you could take us to the Sky Peak place you visited a while back—"

"We can't go anywhere in groups bigger than four, Heliona," Sydney reminded her.

"Um, duh, I know that! We're not breaking any rules if we go as separate teams. We can just happen to go to the same place, and it's okay!"

Leon shook his head, but he smiled and nodded, indicating that he liked the idea, too. That had, in fact, been what Team Shadow did, too—broken into two groups who 'just happened' to go to the same place. Besides, getting back into a regular schedule would be nice, anyway. A big group exploration sounded like a good way to do that.

"Maybe if you guys can get a break from Chatot soon," Felix agreed. "So let us know when you've got the time!"

They unfortunately hadn't had the chance to work out more details beyond that, but Team Shadow had taken some small jobs the next day. Claire yawned when they arrived home, tired despite the relative simplicity of Apple Woods. Things were getting back to normal now, though, and she appreciated that.

The morning after that, something caught her attention. There was an odd bristling in the air when everyone arrived outside. It was the now-familiar sensation of a Dimensional Hole forming—and Claire again wondered if something bad was going to happen. Darkrai hadn't broken out after all, had he?

Fortunately, it was just Celebi and Leaf, and Team Shadow breathed a collective sigh of relief. Celebi fluttered over to Claire, her voice anxious as she started babbling at her.

"Claire, dear, how's everything going? We tried to give you a few days, so hopefully you've worked something out by now—"

Claire shook her head and laughed. "Don't worry, Celebi; we've actually got everything solved by now. I can tell you guys all about it once we get back."

"That would be nice, yes." Leaf nodded. "You did tell us what was going on, but…I'd like to know how you managed to wrap this up."

Claire nodded as well before looking back at her teammates. They didn't have anything too big planned for the day; they'd just been thinking of grabbing a few more jobs at the Guild. And while she was certainly capable of helping out with those, Claire knew that they could handle themselves without her, too.

"So, you guys don't mind if I head back, right?" she asked, just to be sure.

"No, of course not," Felix replied, nodding and waving in Leaf and Celebi's direction. "I mean, I'd love it if you were here, but—"

"We'll be fine," Bruce finished. "So don't worry about it!"

"Yeah! And maybe next time you come back, uh…" Iris looked unusually sheepish for a moment, but she was back to her boisterous self soon enough. "…we'll have something a little more 'normal' to do!"

Rin sighed and shook her head. "Well, phrasing aside…yes, I hope so, too."

"All right, then! I'll see you guys soon."

With that, Claire waved and headed towards the Dimensional Hole with Celebi and Leaf. The two Grass-Types nodded and followed her, and Leaf reached up to grab her hand with his claw. Claire knew there was no real worry of them being separated this time, but the gesture was appreciated.

"I expect full details once we get back," Celebi chirped. "In fact, maybe we can meet up with our dear Dialga and Dusknoir! I'm sure they'd love to know, too."

"That sounds great," Claire agreed. "I'd love to hang out with everyone again, anyway."

With that, they stepped into the Dimensional Hole. Claire closed her eyes as the tunnel started whirling around them, but she smiled despite how hard they were spinning. She was glad to be going back, and she did want to fill everyone in on everything.

Besides, Iris was right—everything should be normal from now on, and neither of her home worlds should be facing a threat any time soon. They really had fixed things up, and that alone was enough to put her in a good mood.

By the time they stepped out at Dusk Forest, Claire was decidedly optimistic. Perhaps it was a little too idealistic to have her hopes so high, but she thought she deserved it at this point. Their biggest threat was gone for good, her 'real' home was on the mend, and she didn't have anything to worry about in the past, either.

"Should we head to Temporal Tower or go home first?" she wondered aloud. "Either one is fine with me."

"Perhaps stopping at home would be nice," Celebi suggested. "We can grab some treats to take along if you want! How does that sound to you, dear Leaf?"

The Grovyle snorted. "You make it sound like we're heading out to a party or something, Celebi. But that sounds good to me, too."

Claire grinned and nodded. "Yes; let's go with that!"

And, as Celebi rested her hands on the other two and teleported them home, Claire decided she was right to be so hopeful. They really were lucky, in so many ways, and there was no reason not to celebrate that.

Author's Note: And there we go! The end of the fic. This was an interesting little challenge to me, since, while I have nothing against Darkrai role-wise, it was difficult coming up with how everyone would realistically react to him. I also wanted to try getting into his head and explaining his actions without going too far on "excusing" him, either. Overall, I think it worked out pretty well, though.

Also, while I feel like there are a handful of things about my verse I could compile into a super-short fic, I feel like Distorted Space wraps up its own plot points well enough, so this is currently the final thing I have planned for the Darkened Skies verse. Hey, there's always the chance for a mini-sequel or a standalone one-shot or two, but I just need a break for the time being. As such, I also really wanted to make sure this ended on a positive note, hence the really optimistic ending.

Once again, thanks to everyone who's read along to this fic, especially if you've been here since the first one in the series! Hope to see you guys back here again sometime.