Chapter 446

"No Filter"

Sasha and Sonya were the first group to land at the camp site. Then, Ash, Alexa, Roman and their group returned. After that, Carlito and AJ came back. Prince and Mandy were the final group to return. There was a scowl of anger on the face of Prince as he landed and Sasha sneered up at him for losing their race.

The landscape of Atlantis had changed from when they had left hours ago. Through the pyreflies a city had emerged. As each group had returned, they watched as one-by-one, through the glow of the pyreflies, people, The Atlantians, emerged through the neon glow of the mystical pyreflies. Thousands of reincarnated souls were reawakening to the spot that their previously lives were anchored to. The lost souls were shocked and awestruck by the new world they were reawakening in.

Suspicion and paranoia toggled the minds of some of the Swords. Could these reawakened souls be pawns of Sithis? Had the Spiritomb properly filtered them onto the land? It hadn't been able to filter President Biden properly, so why would it be able to filter new Atlantians?

The only way to be certain was with the use of Zap Cannon. So, at first, the Swords took to individual-after-individual. Restraining them and firing the Zap Cannon attack to attempt to purge their bodies of Sithis. However, nothing happened with each blast. The individual was the same before-and-after the blast.

"So," Ash looked at Pikachu, Prince's Manelectric, Raiden, and then the group, "They're not brainwashed?"

"It doesn't look like it." Alexa checked the pulse of the Zap Cannon's latest victim, "I think this is the last one we should do."

Prince leered at Alexa, "You can't be serious."

"I am," Alexa protested, she stood on her feet and looked Prince square-in-the eye, "We can't treat people this way. Are we just going to say The Atlantians are guilty until proven innocent?"

"Do you not understand what we're up against?" Prince countered. "If we let a spy in-"

"Umm," Ash raised his hand, "The spy already got in, Prince." Ash reminded Prince. "The President came in and Sithis just left."

Seth crossed his arms, "They do have a point. Maybe Sithis saw whatever he wanted to see. Which is why he hasn't really made a move yet?"

Prince stubbornly stared at Pikachu and Raiden, "All it takes is one moment of us slacking off and-"

Eva cautiously strode forward, "They do have a point, Prince. We've tested a lot of people already and none of them were infected." She leaned over the recovering victim, "Maybe they're cleansed and purged when they reawaken here."

"Do you really want to take that chance?" Prince questioned.

Sasha pointed to an elderly woman, who was glancing around curiously as she emerged through the neon glow of the pyreflies, "Hey Prince," Sasha called, "You wanna zap her too and risk giving her a heart attack?"

Prince turned away, "Fuck it," He hissed, "You guys forget we're at war. This is survival. It's not about being nice. It's about winning and surviving."

Eva approached Prince and tangled her fingers with his, clutching his hand, "We understand you just want to protect everyone but we can't realistically check every single person. We don't even have a record of who we've already zapped. We'll end up going in circles sooner-or-later. And that'll cause nothing but anger among the people."

Prince, frustrated, yanked his hand out of Eva's grasp, "Do what you like," He said before marching away, his Manelectric following him into the city.

Eva stepped forward to go after him, paused, as if she'd thought better of it and returned her attention to the rest of the group, "So," she exhaled, "No more zap cannons for a while?"

Everyone nodded.

Sasha looked at the group, "Yeah, until someone starts running around talking that 'Hail, Sithis' garbage, we're not going to check anyone."

"So," Ash looked at Brock, Misty and the group, "What do we do now?"

"It's been a long day," Roman noted, "And, now that we've got supplies, guess what else is back?" Kicking a barrel. The sound of sloshing indicated it was likely full of liquid.

"What's in there?" Brock asked.

Roman peeled off the stopper, a powerful odor wafted through the air.

"Wine?" Sasha instantly recognized.

"Anyone want a drink?" Roman offered.