After battling with a series of annoying illness, I can finally finish this chapter! YES!

And thanks for Nhag10 for the review, glad you enjoyed the story!

EDIT: forgot the separators, AGAIN!

Wishes, Dreams, and Memories

Chapter 26 – Fishing Trip

"Frey," The hazel-haired Earthmate suddenly called out, breaking the silence in the dark cave, "When we were fighting Ambrosia, did you see anything strange? Like… memories?"

"Memories?" Frey replied with a question before she realized what he had meant, "Oh, you mean that."

"I saw them too, you know," Pico chimed in, "It's almost like Amber's memories before she became a Guardian."

"They might look like it, but they aren't actually memories," Frey looked up at the ceiling, which was covered with dark clouds, "It's more like… dreams… Amber was sleeping when the monster attacked us and Amber's dream somehow had poured out for us to see."

"Are you saying that light was Amber's dream pouring out?" Lest asked, getting a nod from Frey.

"Most likely."

Pico was paying attention to the conversing Earthmates until she noticed how the area had become wider and brighter, "Hey, look!"

The three of them stopped in a small room in the cave with the room's source of light standing in the middle of the room. The light came from the bright blue mane of a horse-like monster, which noticed their presence and let out a cry. The monster ran towards the three as they were getting their weapons ready, but it couldn't hit any of them as they moved out of the way in time.

"Thunderbolt," Lest recognized the horse-like monster, "It's Dylas' monster form."

"We'll do the same to it just like we did with Ambrosia," Frey aimed her spear at Thunderbolt's head, "We have to defeat it to bring Dylas back."

"I can help you too!" Pico joined in, "I think I can use my magic now."

"I hope you're right with your ability in magic," Lest aimed his short sword at Thunderbolt's head as well, "If not, we're going to have a hard time with it."

Thunderbolt let out another cry before sending out a barrage of wind cutters followed by a three-way laser from its horn. Lest managed to block the wind magic attack with his shield, but the laser went through it and created a scar on his arm. Frey moved away from the attacks and towards the cave wall before slamming it lightly with her palm to summon some earth pillars from under the monster.

Thunderbolt was stuck between the pillars with one of them barely missing its side of the neck, leaving it vulnerable for Lest to attack with his shield instead. The Earthmate hit it with his shield before turning his body and landing the first slash on its body. Lest jumped out of the way as Frey charged in and sent Thunderbolt free from the pillars with a single punch. The scar left by Lest's sword had made some dark energy to come pouring out, followed by a spot of light.

"It's your turn to fish, Dylas," A man spoke up from a small group of three men standing beside the river, "Are you sure you're gonna be fine?"

"Why not?" Dylas, who had his long blue hair tied up into a low ponytail, "What can a fish do to me?"

"Well, you know what? Don't mind him," Another man spoke up with a laugh, "Do your worst, buddy! Let's see if you can catch a lot of fish without a single tool!"

"Heh," Dylas scoffed proudly, "You better prepare what I asked once I get the number of fish you requested."

"Sure thing, buddy. Just get down there already," The man responded with a half-hearted nod as Dylas rolled his pants before jumping down the river.

Thunderbolt's sudden cry snapped the three from the dream as the horse-like monster had begun charging towards Lest. Lest tried using his shield to use the monster's impact and send himself to the side, but its tackle was too powerful for him to handle and he was thrown back towards the cave wall behind him. The monster was about to stab him with its horn, but the dark balls from Pico's magic had turned its attention to Pico instead.

Pico sent out more dark balls at the charging monster, but the balls could barely hit the fast-moving horse monster. Just as it was only a few inches apart from the ghost girl, Frey knocked the monster away with her trusty hammer. Thunderbolt was thrown to the other side of the room where Lest was waiting with his shield and long sword.

Lest put a bit of momentum as he used his shield to attack the monster once more to push it back to the other direction before swinging his long sword down. Due to the heaviness of the sword, the attack only hit Thunderbolt's horn and damaged a bit. The sword became stuck into the ground, which required Lest to put an extra effort to pull it out.

The shockwave coming from Thunderbolt slamming its front legs could be avoided as Lest clung to the hilt of his sword and jumped. The grip on his sword became tighter as he tried spinning himself to land a kick on the monster before using his weight to pull the long sword out and swing it across Thunderbolt's chest.

Lest was vulnerable from Thunderbolt's attack as the sword's weight had ruined his balance, but the barrage of fireballs and dark balls from Frey and Pico had pushed the monster against the wall. More dark energy poured out from the slash wound as the entire cave became engulfed with bright light once more.

"Oh, come on!" Dylas dived down the river with a spear, only to have himself half-drowned in the river with his targets swimming all over the place.

Dylas tried getting up from his position, but a sudden passing fish had surprised him that he fell back into the water in a sitting position. His spear was broken and stuck underwater as he watched himself being surrounded with smaller fish, looking at him as if they were mocking him for failing to spear them. He let out an angry growl before forcing himself up, scaring away all the fish around him.

Dylas came out from the water with his clothes completely drenched and empty handed. He noticed a blur of green beside him and turned to the side, where a big green dragon had her tail partially in the water. The dragon was winking tiredly and let out a yawn, but suddenly went completely awake as something was pulling her tail. A single fish was pulled out from the water along with her tail before the fish was put back into the water.

"Hey, wait!" The dragon turned to Dylas, "Why did you lure it in if you're gonna put it back?"

"Is that not how humans do it?" The dragon asked calmly, "I saw how you released the fish you caught by hand a few weeks ago."

"It's too small so I had to let it go," Dylas responded, before noticing what the dragon had just said, "Wait, how the heck did you see me that time?"

"It is not important," The dragon turned back to look at the water, "How you tried fishing moments ago seemed unique, albeit inefficient. Would you like me to teach you?"

Dylas looked at the dragon from head to toe, "How? You're not even human."

"So what if I'm not?" The dragon's tone had completely changed, surprising Dylas. The dragon noticed the surprised look on his face and coughed, "Excuse me. If you desired so, I can teach you the proper method for fishing. I can tell you from what I have seen in other humans who do the same fishing activity."

Dylas looked at the dragon doubtfully for a moment before shrugging, "Fine, you can try and teach me. Just not the same method that you did, because humans don't have tails."

The dragon's serious expression changed into an annoyed one, "Fine, just… go get the materials I told you."

Another cry broke the silence in the room, but the three were ready to counter.

"Everyone, spread out!" Frey gave out the command and the three of them went to different sides of the room.

The shockwave couldn't hit any of them as they were a bit too far from Thunderbolt, but the incoming wind cutters might hit Pico at the entrance of the room. Pico hovered to the side and landed a few kicks to the sides of the monster's head, before she was tackled out of the way. Little did it notice that Pico was to cover Lest and Frey as they both charged in with a short sword.

The attacks hit and formed a cross-shaped scar wound on its chest before it slammed its front legs to create a shockwave to push the Earthmates back. The two landed on the ground safely and countered with their magic attacks. Lest tried pushing Thunderbolt back with some water lasers, but Frey's explosion magic was more effective as a single shot had knocked it across the ground.

With a scar wound dealt on it, the three expected to see more of the dreams before Thunderbolt managed to stand back up. Much to their dismay, only a little of dark energy poured out from the wound and Thunderbolt was lying motionlessly on the ground. Lest had already expected another outcome after seeing the monster's reaction, but Frey had expected otherwise.

Just as the green-haired Earthmate was approaching, Thunderbolt quickly went back to its feet before slamming Frey away and towards the wall. The hard impact had caused part of the wall to collapse on Frey, but Pico quickly teleported to her and out before they were buried under the pile of rocks.

Thunderbolt let out an ear-piercing cry before quickly charging at Lest, who was completely unguarded. Frey quickly got in the way before Lest could take the hit, sending her body to hit the ceiling. More of the cave walls started collapsing but Frey had managed to move away from the falling rocks.

"Lest! Its dark energy is increasing!" Frey told Lest through the cloud of dust formed from the falling rocks, "It's absorbing the dark runes from this place!"

"Then we have to…" Lest let out a cough from inhaling some of the dust, "beat it quick…"

"Keep attacking it! Only your hits that actually effective!" Frey replied from the other side.

Before Lest could respond, Thunderbolt had come out from the cloud of dust to attack him with its powerful horse kicks. Lest blocked the kicks by stabbing his long sword in front of him until the impact had dug the sword out from the ground. A quick swing managed to put a long scar on the base of its neck, which was enough to let a lot of dark energy pour out.

"Hey, Venti," Dylas called out without taking his eyes off his fishing rod.

"Huh?" Ventuswill shook her head awake, "Yes, did you catch something good?"

"Nah, I just want to ask you something," Dylas looked at the tired dragon, "Are you sleeping enough?"

The dragon god turned to look at Dylas, "W-What do you mean?"

"You look more tired than usual. I know you don't really like being patient in fishing, but-"

"Hey, I'm patient enough to fish!" Ventuswill's protest had cut off Dylas in the middle of his sentence, "I'm just… Well, waiting for a fish to bite takes a while so I like taking a nap while waiting for one to come."

Dylas looked at the dragon in disbelief before turning his attention back to his rod with a smirk, "That's just the same meaning."

"Shut up, you," Ventuswill protested as she pulled her tail out from the water, "I'll be leaving now anyway. Don't stay out too late as well, Dylas."

"Whatever," Dylas was slightly smiling as Ventuswill took off in annoyance, but the smile soon turned into a frown, "I know your condition, Venti."

Another piercing cry was heard before the ground started shaking as Thunderbolt charged towards anyone standing near it. Pico could dodge Thunderbolt's horn attacks by teleporting around while Lest and Frey simply gained some distance away from it. A barrage of wind cutters and a barrage of lasers were aimed at every direction in the cave as it went rampage and dark aura started to appear around its body.

"No good," Frey shortly commented as she dodged the incoming wind cutters and lasers.

"Its attacks are getting stronger and faster," Lest added before turning to Frey, "What's the plan now?"

Frey shook her head, "Sorry, I've got nothing now… Watch out!"

Lest noticed his sister's shocked look and turned to see that Thunderbolt was standing on its back legs behind him. Lest quickly rolled out of the way before countering with some fireballs, which barely had any effect on it. The horse monster charged quickly at Lest, leaving no opening for him to fight back.

Pico saw as Thunderbolt was running around trying to stab either Frey or Lest using its horn before an idea struck her, "Leave it to me!"

Pico quickly hovered towards Thunderbolt, but sat on the monster's back instead of attacking it. She reached for its neck and hugged it tightly, preventing it from butting any of the Earthmates. Thunderbolt reacted with a loud cry before trying to push Pico off its back, leaving Lest and Frey an opening for the final strike.

"Lest, I'll leave it to you," Lest looked at his sister in confusion.

"Huh?"

"Did you forget already?" Frey turned her attention to the scars on the monster's chest, where the scar from Frey's side was bigger and deeper than Lest's, "No matter how I attack it, I can't make the monster to pour out the dark energy within. Only yours can."

Lest looked back at the time when his slashes had caused dark energy to pour out from Ambrosia and Thunderbolt, but Frey's couldn't. He switched to his dual blades and took a deep breath before charging towards Thunderbolt, which had managed to knock Pico off its back. The distance between them was too close for Thunderbolt to duck down and butt him, leaving his chest open for Lest's combination strike with his dual blades.

"Tell me," A young man with short light green hair spoke up in front of Dylas in the heart of ruins, "Why did you choose this path? You may be Lady Ventuswill's closest friend, but why did you choose to leave?"

"You want to know my answer?" Dylas looked at the young man with a serious look before turning his back at him, "Because she's a friend, that's all. I don't think this as a mission or a silly bet, but just a trip. A fishing trip away from the kingdom and in my dreams."

"You can still run away. You have more than plenty of chances to do so," The young man added.

Dylas shook his head, "I like this era. I enjoy hanging out with the people here. But staying here would be betraying myself, because I wanted to save her. I want to save my friend."

The young man nodded in understanding, "If that is your decision, I take it that you will not regret it in the future?"

Dylas let out a small laugh, "I trust you that you and your family won't make me regret this. Just do your thing and I'll be fine."

"Very well, young man."

"Dylas."

"Hm?"

Dylas looked at the young man over his shoulder, "That's my name. I want you to call me that."

The young man nodded, "Dylas, the third Guardian. You will have my word that your dear friend will be saved."

Dylas turned away once more, "Thanks."

The monster let out a pained groan as its body glowed and formed the familiar human figure. The other two approached them as the blue-haired Guardian slowly opened his eyes and looked around.

"Where…?" Dylas asked weakly.

"Somewhere under Sechs' territory," Frey replied as she knelt down beside him, "We can't explain anything now, but I'll let you know that it may be too dangerous for you to leave this place in your current condition."

Dylas slowly sat up, "Well, my body feels too stiff to be moving around anyway," Dylas noticed that Lest was looking at him, "What?"

"Were you just dreaming of Venti?" Lest's question had surprised the Guardian, who gave him a nod.

"Yeah, but how did you know?" Dylas asked in confusion.

"Just a guess," Lest replied with a smile.

Dylas let out a chuckle, "Yeah, I do dream about the past every now and then, but…" Dylas looked at the three with a smile, "I don't mind being in this era. I'm done with the past."

"I see," Frey nodded with a smile before helping Dylas back to his feet as well as standing up herself, "We'll be going for now, but we'll be sure to go back to fetch you Guardians when we're finished here."

Dylas nodded in understanding, "Right."

Dylas saw the three leaving the room through a dark pathway before letting out a tired sigh. His mind slowly went white and found himself standing on his own in an empty space.

"Hey, buddy," A familiar voice called out to Dylas, "Ya feeling alright now?"

"Huh?" Dylas looked around the empty space until a horse-like monster came into sight, "Wait, I think I know you!"

"Well, duh! We met back then!" The monster responded, "Just not in a pretty nice situation though."

"Why are you here?" Dylas asked.

The monster let out a sigh, "Ain't ya one heck of a guy who doesn't like to chit-chat for a bit?"

Dylas growled angrily, "Hey, I asked you a question!"

"Fine, fine," The monster looked at Dylas in guilt, "Sorry man, I didn't wanna do what I did. I'm only here to apologize for hurting those new friends of yours. I guess I was kinda weak to go into the dark side."

"Oh," Dylas didn't really know how to respond, as he himself never actually know what had happened, "Uh… so, are you going somewhere else after this?"

"The Forest of Beginnings," The monster shortly replied.

"Then I want you to give a message to two people," Dylas requested, "Tell them that I said thanks."

"Got it, buddy. And I know who you mean by 'them'," The monster replied, "Well, catch ya later!"

The monster slowly disappeared, leaving Dylas by himself in the empty space.

"Later, old friend."

The AO3 and Tumblr version might come a little bit later, so please be a bit more patient!