Clean Up

The next morning I woke up to the general sound of many people starting their morning, yawns, groans, complaining about sore muscles, and murmured conversations. I left my tent, had breakfast at the mess hall, and assembled with everyone else for the morning briefing.

"Good morning everyone."

"GOOD MORNING COMMANDANT!" A loud call came from many voices.

"I have some good news for everyone and an apology, but first I need to call someone up here. GREEN, FRONT AND CENTER."

Shaking my head to myself I made my way to the stage knowing full well what was coming. I was going to be used as a Hero figure.

"Many of you may know Green, he first participated in Ranger activities during the Onix subjugation eighteen years ago when he was still just a civilian. After his Pokemon adventures he joined us and worked his way up to the position of a Squad Captain, and just yesterday he performed a mission for all of us that will make all of our jobs here much easier."

After that introduction he told everyone exactly how many Pokemon were predicted to be in this nest and explained what I did.

"I made the decision not to tell everyone about the number of targets we were up against until we knew whether or not Green was successful, and for that I apologize; but now, after hearing back from the scouts I can confirm that Green's mission was entirely successful. 90% of the nest is dead, all that's left is the clean-up."

At that a roar of appreciation and cheering broke out among the crowd. I had watched their faces when they were told there could be billions of Pokemon in the nest and many faces looked terrified. Now seeing those same faces cheering and full of joy I was glad I had done my job well. After letting the cheering continue for a few minutes the Commandant raised his hands for quiet.

"Green did the hard part for us, now it's time for the time consuming part. We need to sweep the caves for surviving Pokemon, tally up the corpses for a final count, and properly dispose of the bodies. The scientist we brought with has also asked for a number of corpses of various sizes to be set aside for further study. I expect this part of the mission to take several days so let's not waste to much time here. Your Squad Captains have your orders, get to work."

As the Commandant left the stage Red and Blue jogged over to me.

"What are our orders boss?"

"Yeah Green, what job have we been assigned?"

"Honestly guy, I have no idea. I have not received orders from anyone, follow me and we will ask the Commandant."

As a group we headed over to the command tent where I could see the Commandant and the scientist having what looked like an argument.

"No. I have already told you, we will recover the bodies of the Totem Pokemon and the Sovereign when we get to them. I'm not sending a group down there just to make your time here more enjoyable."

"It's not about my enjoyment, the faster we can get those bodies the better condition they will be in and the better preserved we can keep them. Rotting bodies will not offer much use for study."

"Commandant, sorry to interrupt but my Squad has not received any orders. Did you have a job for us?"

"Your perfect! Commandant have these three recover the bodies. They don't have orders yet so they are available."

"Commandant what's this about recovering bodies?"

"It's nothing. This idiot wants me to send someone down to specifically retrieve the bodies of the Sovereign and Totem Pokemon."

I turned to the scientist and gave him a logical response for why his request was not currently possible.

"Sir, currently the bodies you are requesting are at the bottom of a three thousand foot deep chasm. The Sovereign Totem Pokemon is roughly two hundred feet long and probably weighs close to three thousand pounds. The only way to get it up here would be with a crane which will not be possible because it's underground or with a cart, but because of the length and weight of the body we would need several carts working together to bring it up. Now add on that we would be zig-zagging up a cliff face that is slick with blood and has bodies strewn all over. A cart or even multiple carts could end up sliding off the path and taking the body crashing down the cliff, mangling and destroying the body in the process. We will recover the body when it is safe to do so so that it makes it up here in one piece."

"I..I understand thank you for explaining your reasons and taking care to bring it up in one piece. I am guessing that it is a similar situation with the other Totem Pokemon?" I gave him a nod of confirmation. "Very well, in that case could I be escorted down to examine the bodies until they can be brought up Commandant?"

"That is a reasonable compromise. Green, you and your squad will act as escort and guard for the scientist."

"Understood. It's a long hike down, if you need anything make sure you bring it with. My squad will carry food and camping gear, we will stay down there until the path is safe to bring the bodies up."

"That is acceptable, I will go and pack what I need. Commandant I will take my leave."

The Commandant nodded and the scientist left.

"Red grab enough provisions for four people for a week. Blue we'll need a tent, four cots, and a portable kitchen."

The two of them nodded and left as well.

"Damn Green, I was about ready to wring that idiots neck and you got him to back off in seconds. Good work."

"It was nothing George, I know the conditions of the path going down you didn't. If you had seen the only way to get down there you would have known exactly what to tell him."

"During your speech earlier you said the scouts had looked through the nest. Did they see the Sovereign?"

"Yes they did and I owe you an apology. I didn't believe you when you told me how big it is. The scouts brought back photos. I'm glad we didn't have to fight that thing."

"Me too sir. When I triggered the gas bombs it's roar was so terrible, I lost my mind for a while, the only thing I was able to do was run in fear. I only recovered when I made it to the top of the chasm and heard all the gunfire."

"I can only imagine. Take some extra lights with you when your escorting the idiot down the cliff. Mark the way to make it easier for the crews coming behind you."

"No problem Commandant, I can do that easily."

As I was leaving the tent I noticed Red and Blue were heading this way.

"You both have everything we need?"

They both nodded in confirmation so we went to find the scientist. After asking a few people if they knew where he was we finally found out where his tent was. When we got to where he had set up his field lab we saw him trying to pack a rather large piece of equipment into an already bulging pack.

"You do know that it's a long hike down steep cliffs, right? If you pack that much you're going to end up falling."

"It's not like I have much choice. Every piece of equipment I brought with is indispensable for examining and analyzing every specimen I can get my hands on."

"Alright we'll think of something to get it down there so stop trying to bust the seams of your bag. Also we haven't been properly introduced, I'm Green and these two are Blue and Red, what's your name?"

"Oh, yes, of course. My name is Professor James Taylor, I am currently working as an assistant Professor for Professor Oak."

"Well James, can I call you James? We need to get going soon, we'll be using a small cart to carry lights as we have been ordered to place them along the route down so we can see if there is room for some of your equipment as well, if not you'll have to do without for now."

After making a rough plan with James I got a cart nearly all the way loaded with portable and rechargeable lights leaving just enough space for two of the small machines James had been trying to cram into his bag. After a bit of convincing we were on our way to the bottom of the chasm. Every once in a while we would pass crews working on either transporting corpses, counting the dead, or sweeping the side passages for leftovers. Now that I didn't have to sneak around we made quick progress down the cliff, it only took us an hour to reach the first Totem Pokemon I had passed.

James requested we stop for a moment so he could measure and document the size for his records. It took him about twenty minutes to be happy with the collected data, we only went a couple hundred feet farther down the path when we got to the end of the lights. Starting from this point we would be placing lights every one hundred feet or so all the way until we either ran out or got to the bottom. We had to move a lot slower because there was not a clear path anymore, bodies of both Ekans and Arbok lay stretched across the path.

Red and Blue led the way clearing a small path ahead while I pulled the cart and occasionally place a light as needed. It took us an additional seven hours to reach the bottom and we still had a quarter of the light left. I started to place lights around to illuminate the area and the others were finally able to see the massive size of the Arboks down here. I led the way to the tunnel leading to the chamber where I had seen the Sovereign and there it was. It had left the chamber and had made it half way out of the tunnel before it fell.

Looking at it again from up close it was even bigger than I had thought, not only was it bigger but it's aura, even in death, was still enough to make my knees shake a bit. If the subjugation squad had had to fight this thing I'm not sure how many would have made it out alive.

The first thing we had to do was set up camp, Red and Blue both called out Machamps and had them move some of the Arbok corpses out of the way to give us a larger work area. After two short hours of work we had our sleeping tent set and ready, a small cook tent with a table and chairs, and the science area set up just how James wanted it.

James was eager to start examining the Sovereign but I stopped him for now, for some reason I was uncertain about him poking around the Sovereign. I recommending that he start with the Totems that were spread around the chasm floor to keep the data in order of discovery, after all he had examined all nine Totem Pokemon we saw on the way down in order. He seemed reluctant but eventually agreed that saving the best for last was a time honored tradition.

I gave Red and Blue instructions to pile all Pokemon corpses except the Totems and Sovereign in a couple of places to make clean-up easier later as well as to give us more room to maneuver. While they did that I went to make sure the report I gave was accurate, after all I had to remove the Item Shop dispenser from and place ten spent gas canisters in the chamber where the Sovereign was sleeping.

I slid past the Sovereign corpse and into the chamber, the twenty-three Totem Pokemon were still in here along with one additional albino Totem Pokemon in the center where the Sovereign had been, all of them were most definitely dead, foam was apparent near their mouths and blood was coming from their eyes. I quickly fixed the scene to match my report and turned to leave, but something was tugging at my mind. The blood and foam. There was no blood or foam anywhere on the Sovereign when I looked at it earlier.