"Yaze! Come look at this!"
The young Linoone pelted across the desert to join his friend, a considerable feat in the scorching weather.
"W-what is it Regi?" He gasped, tongue lolling from his mouth.
Regi, a Wartortle, pointed behind him, waving his hand frantically.
"THAT, stupid! It's only as big as a Wailord!"
Yaze turned, and what he saw made his eyes grow round, despite the glaring sunlight. It was a huge, crumbling structure, but was still by far more impressive than anything he had ever seen before. He could see human machines inside, broken but still flashing defiantly. It looked mysterious. Dangerous. Yaze needed no more invitation.
"Well?" He asked Regi, excitement making his pelt prickle.
"I-I dunno," the navy pokemon answered uncertainly, "Father'll scold me something awful if he finds out we went into a human thing"
Regi and Yaze belonged to a society of wild pokemon, and the first rule was to never, ever go into anything made by humans. Yaze flicked his ear in frustration at his friend's caution.
"So? Do YOU see your father around here?"
Regi looked around and shook his head. There was no sign of life for miles.
"Exactly" Yaze turned towards the structure and began bounding forward. Regi looked about to object, then seemed to think better of it. He sighed, and ran after the Linoone.
* * *
Yaze swung his head around, making noises of admiration as he took in everything around him. Wires and support beams hung from the ceiling, creaking menacingly on occasion. He spotted a strange, crumpled ball on the ground. The bottom half was off-white and the top a formal red. He prodded it experimentally with his paw. The top part opened, allowing a beam of light to escape. Yaze and Regi squeaked in unison as the light engulfed the Linoone. Yaze thought it had the sensation of something pulling him, but time and damage had weakened it and it was not strong enough to move him. Instead the light returned to the odd ball, apparently given up.
"Cool" The boys muttered, then moved on.
Nothing else the boys saw was as interesting as ball that Yaze had found (A poke ball they called it, 'because it opens when you poke it'). Sure, the other machines flashed and looked pretty, but could they really DO anything? They were about to abandon the building and go home, when Regi caught sight of a tube. Inside was a glowing purple substance, and the outside was slightly cracked. He stalked towards it, eager to out do his friend.
"Yaze! Check this out!"
He sprinted straight for it, exercising none of the caution Regi had.
"Sweet!" He looked the tube up and down, whistling his approval.
"Yep" Grinned the Wartortle proudly.
Running his claw across one of the cracks on the surface, Yaze gave his friend a mischievous smile.
"Bet you can't smash this with your mega punch!"
Regi flexed his arms, sensing a challenge.
"Bet I can!" He boasted. He drew his hand back, and struck. This was the biggest and last mistake of his life.
The glass disintegrated quickly and easily, but the purple goop inside didn't slide out like it was suppose to. It gripped on to Regis's fist and began spreading up his arm, on to his chest. He only managed a muffled scream before it had covered his entire body. Yaze was frozen in horror, convinced his friend was suffocating. Then something jerked inside the violet mass. He could see the bones of his friend clearly, pressed against the sides of the purple prison. Suddenly, the Wartortle's skin gave way, and his skeleton launched into the air, with fireworks of scarlet blood.
Yaze fought back the urge to vomit. Terrified, he noticed that the substance was slithering away from his friend's mutilated corpse and towards him. He tried to bolt for safety, but his muscles would not respond. It leapt upon him and pushed itself into every pore of his body. It pulsated inside him until he was sure he was about to meet the same fate as Regi. He felt skin break, but only his gums and paws. His eyes burned painfully as the purple goop leaked into his skull. All at once he felt the pain and fear ebb from him, replaced with a surge of power. He felt as though he could win any fight, beat any challenger. He looked down at his paws and saw huge black talons. He grinned. Suddenly, the death of his friend paled in insignificance as he thought of all the things he could do. Gathering the remainder of the purple in the bottom of the tube, he loped out of the building.