Chapter 462

"Ready To Fly"

That night, after the lights of the tavern darkened, Seth kept his word. He offered no transport or favor. He kindly accepted two of the legendary Pokémon from the former president. "Off you go," Seth waved. Steve Harvey and his 'massa' Trump disappeared into the night.

When the Swords awoke, they completely ignored the rejuvenated city of Regole's confused population. They found a map of the island and day-after-day and one-by-one the towers of Atlantis fell. Sasha's Fury towards Seth diminished over time. She was unaware of the deal Seth made. The absence of President 45 was a monkey-wrench in her overall plan but not enough to derail the entire scheme, so she advanced forward into the next phase of her plot.

Some of the towers fought back with trickery but were toppled. Others offered no resistance. As their Captains and guardians had grown weary of the duty suddenly forced upon them.

In less than two weeks' time, The Swords had retaken all 50+ towers. Each city resurfaced through fields of pure flies. And then scores of people emerged onto the newfound land, confused but jubilant.

As the new souls emerged, each member of the swords desired intensified but pointed in different t directions. The Fiend's influence drowned the inhabitants into a spell of willful Bliss city-by-city.

Rihanna's words were blooming into reality as the mind of Prince transformed from billionaire mercenary to aspiring ruler of the new world.

Sasha and Sonya traveled across Atlantis together, deepening their bond. Sasha's mind seemed to be on her perception of what the new world should be, and each time she shared her vision, Sonya smiled and nodded happy to be a part of it.

Eva retreated into silence, distant from the swords but in tow for the journey.

Ash, Brock, Misty, Alexa and Roman happily smiled. All under the spell of The Fiend and were powerful pawns in spreading his spell of happiness across Atlantis.

All that remained for the Swords was the resurrected Atlantian Palace in the capital city of Zeig.

Together, the Swords approached the palace doors

The Atlantian Castle of Zeig was massive. The three-pronged trident-like towers gave off a mythical aura. The Swords entered the central tower, the largest of the three. The brick walls, marble floors, pyre-fly lit castle hadn't been touched by strife or war. It still remained intact as if a cloak of invincibility had protected it from time and erosion over the years. The marble floors and brick walls were still decorated with exotic rugs and paintings.

"It's like something out of a fairy tale," Seth remarked as they ventured deeper in the castle.

"This way," Sasha, guided by her memories, led. There was something important that needed to be resolved. Something she'd have to be held to the fire for. (All in time, all in time), Sasha repeatedly told herself as they approached the royal chambers.

For the Atlantians, the sea was a staple of their life. From being a source of food, transport, mythology and nearly every aspect of their lives centered around the sea. For the royal family of Atlantis, it was also there escape passage. There was no panic room for the Atlantian royalty, only passages and tunnels that led to the sea.

As an interim regent of Atlantis, Sasha learned the passages well. Within the library, she pulled a tome from the shelf, causing a soft clunk as a switch was activated. A door behind the far shelf opened. The Swords pushed the shelf aside and progressed deep into the passageway until they reached a small room where an escape boat awaited.

"Why are we here?" Seth turned to Sasha.

"We're here," Sasha hyphenated, gesturing to herself and Sonya, "to make amends for something I did long ago. You all just followed me us here because you have no idea where you're going."

The tunnels were deep underneath the castle, a grotto that led to the Atlantic Ocean with currents that seemed to split down the center due to reefs below. An easy getaway either East or West for royalty should the castle fall. "A water pokemon would be great to have in this situation," Ash commented.

Sasha nodded, "Well, now that you mention it," smiling at Ash and turning to the others, "And since you're all here," looking at each of the trainer's, "I could use a hand if you'll let me borrow your water pokemon for a minute."

Rihanna stood by Prince's side, neither Sasha nor Eva were both not happy that she accompanied him. She spent much of her time whispering in his ear. Was he Rihanna's puppet now? Where were his balls? Sasha wondered.

Ash smiled, "Sure, Sasha." He tossed his pokeball into the water, "Greninja, let's help out."

Sasha then turned to the other Swords, "Since you're here, give me a hand."

Most of the Swords with water pokemon offered their assistance, some declined and turned away.

"What do you need us to do?" Ash asked.

"There's an anchor at the bottom, it needs to be lifted up here, to the dock." Sasha explained.

"An anchor?" Ash gawked. "A really strong water pokemon would be really helpful for that." He looked over his shoulder at Carlito, who had a Gyrados. However, the pharaoh of Madagascar had declined to help Sasha. "That Gyrados would be real useful right about now."

The pokemon submerged, and for a while, nothing happened. The Swords stood on the dock, in silence.

Then, with herculean strength and power the pokemon surfaced, dragging a rusted anchor to the water's surface. Chained to the anchor was a man, a pearl white glow radiated from his skin.

The Sword's looked over the man's body in awe.

"That looks like some sort of magic, right?" Ash deduced, studying the glow of the man.

"He's breathing," Brock noted, "And since he's chained to the anchor, he's been down there for a long time, right? Maybe that magic protected him and kept him alive the whole time."

Sasha flinched, backing away from the man. Part of her wanted to drift into the background, the other part was intrepid and could care less of what came from resurrecting the soul of the lost king.

"We need to break that chain." Alexa pointed to the shackle that caged the man to the anchor, "The pokemon can't hold the anchor up forever."

Alexa drew a pokeball, "Clefable, use xxx to break that chain."

Sasha bit her lip as the fairy appeared, wound up it's small arm and with a single-punch, shattered the steel chain.

The Swords watched as the chain that once bound the man, uncoiled and sank into the water. The man's glowing body floated on the surface, free from it's shackles.

"Should we pull him onto the dock?" Ash questioned.

The group nodded, and collectively the grabbed the limbs of the man and pulled him onto the dock.

As the water on the body of the man rolled off and dried up, the white glow faded until his facial features were revealed. He had a beard, neck length brown hair, porcelain skin and was of average height.

"Who is he?" Ash wondered.

"Maybe he's a criminal," Brock theorized, "For him to be chained to an anchor and sank to the bottom of the ocean, he had to have done something really bad."

"He's not a criminal," Mandy interrupted, "He was the man who would have been the new king of Atlantis', the pharaoh-queen's long lost lover, AJ Styles."

Everyone gawked.

"But why was he chained up at the bottom of the ocean?" Misty asked.

Mandy shook her head, "No idea. All the people knew was that he mysteriously disappeared days before he was supposed to take command of Atlantis because the pharaoh-queen wasn't well enough to rule." Mandy continued, "When he disappeared Atlantis became a revolving door of rulers. The various pharaohs took turns throughout the year assuming control and dictating the course of the nation."

Suddenly, the man known as AJ Styles blinked his eyes and sat up, "How? How did I get back here?"