Rust is remembered around Pallet Town as a child who once peeled his own fingernails off for a girl who envied the manicure his mother had done for him.

The girl's not around anymore, and Rust hasn't made another friend since.

"Now, get along."

"No, I don't wanna! He's creepy!"

All things considered, Bluebell Oak was very often and unfortunately saddled with the duty to 'watch' Rust. His mother was capable, but very busy. And so was Professor Oak. So the two children, who just happened to be of the same age, were often brought together to keep each other company.

And, heavens forbid, Bell couldn't run away, either. Not when his legs never understood how to work. Or, worse yet, sometimes Oak leaves him on the living room carpet, sprawled on the ground, away from his wheelchair, and at the mercy of Rust's bright, blank, but clearly enthused eyes.

Yes, that sentence didn't make sense, but even Bell could tell that Rust reeked with the energy of a thrill seeker. It was the main reason he was never allowed to stay home alone, to begin with.

"Nope! Don't come near me! I'm warning you!"

Rust picks up an armful of Pokedolls, standing majestically over Bell for five dominance-asserting seconds before dropping it all like a sack of cotton bricks, eliciting a shriek of terror from his ground-bound childhood friend.

Bell would be half-flailing, half-panicking, and Rust would start gaining distance before Bell manages to grab one of them and pitch it across the room in retaliation.

That was pretty much what all their 'playdates' amounted to.

"What are you looking so smug for?!" Bell shrieks, bristling furiously, trying to get out of the plushy burial he'd been subjected to. He grabs a Poke Ball-shaped plushie, readying it to be his next projectile.

Rust peeks his head out of the table, blank-eyed.

"...I do?"

"No," Bell affirmed. Rust has never been able to make proper facial expressions or express himself externally well, that's one of many reasons why he's 'the creepy kid', other than the fact that he's quiet. "But you are! I can tell, you asshole!"

Rust blinks in surprise.

But if Bell was so sure, then it must be true.

-

They weren't hostile to each other in any way, not at all.

It was on one such playdate, except it was outdoors this time, that changed everything. Bell had insisted on having Rust push him all the way up the hill beyond their house, since Professor Oak would claim his old bones didn't have the strength.

And Rust acquiesced to that request eventually, because effort aside, he, too, was never allowed up there.

So they snuck off, and the older village kids found them.

Rust vividly remembers the shellshocked look on Bell's face when one of the older kids held Rust by the collar. That threatening hold was the only thing between him and gravity, and the cliffside to the rough grass underneath.

It'll be fine.

Rust was physically incapable of feeling pain. It's not high enough up here to die unless he falls badly. Some broken bones might be inevitable, but as long as they call an ambulance, he'll be fine. It won't hurt.

His hands clench tight against the wrist of the one holding him, and he bites down on his bottom lip, eyes darting around for anything that could be an aid.

...It won't hurt, but he still doesn't want to fall.

"Again with that blank, unbothered, face," the older boy sneers. "You think you're above us just because your father used to be some hero or something!"

"You think we won't do it?"

"If you don't want me to let go, you better start begging, you creep!"

"Just look at him! He's not the least bit scared."

Bell grasps one of them by the elbows, "W– Hey, don't actually do it, alright?" and he sounded worried. His hands were clenched on the armrests of his wheelchair, but he couldn't come any closer.

Unlike Rust, he'd gotten along with them before. Surely, Bell could convince them to not do it. Surely—

"Stop being a goody-goody, Bell!"

"Yeah. It's not like anyone actually cares about Rust, anyways. We won't get in trouble."

"Don't worry!" mocking laughter. "It's not like this brat can feel pain, anyways."

They did, in fact, get in trouble, and Bell ended up taking most of the blame. He wasn't supposed to even be out of his room, but he'd snuck out, gotten in trouble, and of all people, it had been Professor Oak that found and rushed Rust to the hospital.

Those older kids have moved out over the years, currently on their journeys across the region or another, no one really knows.

And yet, Rust couldn't help but bear an unfair grudge against Bell. It was, after all, his demand to sneak out, go up the hill, and his former friends that he enabled.

Bell's relationship with his grandfather shattered from then on, and in the midst of Professor Oak's scathing criticisms and overbearing warnings, Bell's feelings for Rust eventually bred into spite.

Logically, they knew that neither of them were to blame. Both of them knew that.

But it wasn't something either of them wanted to acknowledge.

-

"Bluebell! What do you think you're doing?!"

Entering the lab, Professor Oak is unpleasantly surprised to find his grandson already inside, inspecting the three Poke Balls on the desk. He'd been in a good mood when Rust delivered his parcel to him, but now, he's furious at the uninvited guest.

Bell jumps at the loud volume.

"Gramps!" he spins around, still seated on his wheelchair, "oh, I... was just looking..."

"Just looking?" Professor Oak retorts in disbelief. "I've told you many times, you're not allowed in my lab without my permission! If you can't follow a single rule like that, how do you expect me to trust you with a Pokemon to go on a journey?"

Saying so, the Professor inspects the three Poke Balls, making sure the Pokemon inside were fine and untampered with. He scrutinizes each one skeptically, especially the Bulbasaur that Bell had been looking closely at when they came in.

"Wha— I," Bell stumbles over his words, looking away, "I didn't do anything."

"Let's hope so," Professor Oak says apprehensively, setting the balls back down. "If you weren't guilty, you wouldn't be sneaking around behind my back."

Bell's fist tightens over his knee. The Professor takes his wheelchair by the handles, pulling him back a fair distance from the desk.

Rust stands offishly beside Bell, glancing over, but never once getting any acknowledgement back. It's not like he expected any.

Today, the day Rust turns eleven, would be the day they were finally old enough to go on their own pilgrimages. They were the only two of this age in this town, and they were also the only ones to get such special treatment from Professor Oak, since they were intended to be his personal field assistants.

"I've briefed you two about the Pokedex system," he says, handing Rust and Bell the devices. "Be careful now. It's the only one of its kind in the world."

Alongside those were some Poke Balls and a Town Map for each of them.

"Then you just need to choose from one of these three Pokemon I've prepared, and you'll be set to go!" Professor Oak says, cheering up a little in his explanation, returning to the desk. "Rust, how about you pick first?"

Rust kept a side glance on Bell through the entire explanation, but never once did Bell lift his head to look at his grandfather. Noticing that as well, Professor Oak simply rolls his eyes. Forget that stubborn child , those words were unsaid but clear. He's just sulking because he got scolded. You know him .

Rust turns to Professor Oak and nods, stepping up to the desk.

In the corner of his eyes, Bell exudes a clear sigh of relief when Rust reaches for Squirtle.

-

They don't give each other much of a glance. Bell makes his way up the Route as soon as they're sent off, and almost as if he was trying to hide, he'd tucked himself behind some trees before letting Bulbasaur out.

"Alright... your moves are Tackle and Growl for now—" he frowns down at his Pokedex when it doesn't display much more.

He's distracted when Bulbasaur climbs up his legs onto his lap, and digs itself a spot under the Pokedex, peeking up at him with a sleepy smile. Bell puts the Pokedex aside to consider the creature silently.

Then, "...are you trying to act cute?"

Bulbasaur makes a cheerfully affirming hum, and Bell couldn't help but smile right back.

Then, back to business.

"Cuteness won't win gym battles. Let's start training."

Bulbasaur whines, but it hops off him obligingly, and huffs in determination when they come across their first wild Pokemon in the grass.

-

Rust starts off saying goodbye to his mother, and then getting his essentials. He shows Squirtle around, avoiding people as Squirtle calmly watches him fumble.

"Take care of him, alright, Squirtle?" his mother smiles as she bids them goodbye, and Squirtle's confused. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

It is, as it turns out, not the other way around.

Rust's constitution is strange— he's completely incapable of feeling physical pain of any sort, and that leads to a whole lot of things that, though 'common sense' to an average person, is completely inconsequential to him.

Say, for example, he picks up a screeching Rattata with his bare hands, and though it's chewing down on his fingers, he doesn't let go of it. Instead, he puts it on the ground, and while it's baffled at itself, he lets the Pokedex properly scan it.

And then he spends a comfortable moment in the middle of nowhere just inspecting how the Pokedex works.

Squirtle has to walk up to the Rattata and thank it for not breaking any bones with its teeth. It had only bitten Rust as a warning, so it wasn't as bad of an injury as it could've been. Thankfully. Rattata scoffs, dismissing the event as an eccentricity of humanity, and then scurried off back into the grass.

And then Squirtle, who had learned Bubble by sheer exasperation alone, pelts his stupid owner with enough water to imitate heavy rainfall.

Rust yelps, flabbergasted by the sudden assault. He holds the Pokedex out of reach, just to make sure it didn't get wet.

He ends up having to sit on his knees as Squirtle starts screeching out a lecture at him. He understood exactly nothing it said, but it seemed really mad, so Rust obediently stayed in that spot to listen until it was done.

-

It's noon when Rust makes it to Viridian City.

He sends an email to the lab, containing his new research notes. Professor Oak pages him an approving word of thanks, which makes Rust wonder if Bell didn't do the same.

He entrusts Squirtle with a Nurse Joy and overhears travelling Trainers muttering about the absent Gym Leader.

It wasn't exactly news to him.

Viridian wasn't too far from Pallet, though it's about ten times more frequented by outsiders. Most of the children came by frequently for the trainer school, following the working adults when they left in the morning and coming back with the evening group. The same routine went for anyone that needed to do trade, get groceries, or for the clinic.

Rust through the entry log, finding Bluebell Oak listed a few names before his own. He wasn't in the reservations log, so Bell probably wasn't planning on staying the night, then. Maybe he's already gone ahead to Viridian Forest.

Rust'll have to catch up.

It's okay, he's used to that.