Upon arriving in Pewter, Rust drops by the Pokemon Center first, before doubling back to the forest. Squirtle rides on his shoulders as Rust fumbles around, looking for Pokemon and getting close enough to get proper Pokedex readings of them.

He's allowed to add new data in as well, as extra notes he could send for confirmation to the Professor at the Pokemon Center. So he sits down in the middle of the forest, surrounded by curious Caterpie and Weedle, and just works. Squirtle tries to chase half of them away at first, but soon gives up, seeing as too many came by.

Eventually, Rust's half-covered in Bug Pokemon, a Butterfree is using his head as a perch, and a Beedrill is casually drawing patterns around him like a satanic summoning sequence.

(A Camper comes across Rust later in the morning and screams very loudly.)

-

Rust yawns, returning to the Pokemon Center once it's time for breakfast. He'll have to transfer all the Pokemon to Professor first... Bell's already gone? He has no idea how Bell is this energetic in the morning.

He stares at his hand. His thumb is a little numb, for some reason.

Well, whatever, it'll be fine soon.

-

"...Sweetheart, it's not okay," the Nurse Joy says in the most patient voice she can muster, but it's clear from her horrified face that she's exasperated.

She's inspecting Rust's hands, and apparently, it's bad enough she's actually heading back into the nurse's room to get things.

"Mind taking those off for me?"

She's holding what looks like a roll of gray cloth tape, and she firmly wraps them around his wrist, up to his palms, and halfway up his fingers. She works on the other hand as Rust squeezes his fists a little, noting it felt firm, and the mild resistance it brought sort of gave him resistance to indicate how far he could squeeze.

"Kinesiology tape," Nurse Joy explains. "Just ask any Nurse Joy for some wherever you go, we have plenty since hand injuries are common for Trainers. But it's better for you to wear them daily. You'll definitely need it if you don't want to worsen your motor functions."

Rust nods, pulling his gloves over them. It seemed redundant, but the extra protection felt assuring. It seemed the dislocation wasn't completely alright after all. A normal person would most probably still be feeling it. "Thank you."

Nurse Joy smiles. "Take care now. Your condition is a difficult one for a journey."

Rust knows that very well.

But he isn't going to let this stop his chances of finally leaving that suffocating town.

-

Rust enters Pewter City Gym in time to see utter mayhem, loud cheering, and Brock proudly bestowing Bell an emblem.

"Your first gym badge. Take care of it," Brock says.

Bell pins it carefully at the nylon of his bag, smiling up in gratitude. "Thanks!" he says. "I'll get going, then. It was good battling you, I learned a lot."

"You flatter me," Brock says. "Go on now, take care."

"Will do."

Bell turns around wheeling his own way out of the gym— and stops short when he crosses Rust. He raises a brow.

"Dude, you're so slow," he chides.

Rust doesn't answer that jibe. This wasn't a race or anything.

Bell scoffs. "Well, unlike you, I'm headed for Mount Moon, because I don't have all day to waste doing nothing," he says. "What were you even doing, dillydalllying so long?" then a pointed look at a very clearly exasperated Squirtle, "Squirtle, you don't have to tolerate his insanity if you don't want to."

Squirtle whines, apparently being fine with this babysitting job.

Rust considers that question. He decides not to answer it, because apparently, Bell has already completely forgotten that they set out on this journey to complete the Pokedex. But that was fine. Bell didn't want to be reminded of his grandfather too often, and Rust could respect that.

Rust steps out of the way. "Congrats," he says, gesturing toward the interior of the gym with his head.

Bell snorts. "Honestly? I handled this gym fine, but you're probably gonna accidentally die in there since you're such a doof," he snarks. "Try to make it out alive, at least."

Rust stares blankly. That was definitely some sort of cryptid warning disguised as being an overconfident dickhead, but Rust had no idea how to translate it into a language that he could understand.

So he looks inside the building, sees all the campers wearing miner's caps, and suddenly, he understands. Everyone was clearing the path now, so all that rockfall and debris must have happened during their battle, then. Wow, did Bell not get hit by those? Lucky him.

"I'll do my best," Rust says. How many hits to the head can an average human survive again? He doesn't know the answer, but maybe it's about three.

Bell huffs, almost upset that Rust didn't take the bait and argue back.

"Whatever," he rolls down the stairs with the temporary ramp that Jim set up for him. He turns back. "See ya in Cerulean, then. Bye-bee!"

He wheels off in a hurry, and Rust watches him go.

...well, someone's in a good mood.

-

"Bell's Rattata was strange," Brock brings up to Jim, once the audience has turned their attention from him. "It knew Counter... that's not normal at all. That's a sign of selective breeding practices. There shouldn't be any in the wild."

"I'll lodge a report to the Association, if you're worried," Jim offers.

"I appreciate it," Brock says. He hands him Onix and Geodude's Poke Balls as well to be dropped off at the Center, and Jim heads out, passing by Rust on the way out.

"Oh, another challenger?" he asks, and Rust nods. Jim turns around, hollering for one of the Hikers. "Gordie! Take over for a bit, would you?"

"Sure!"

"Another challenger already?"

"Woah! Brock's getting a workout today!"

The Hiker comes by, fixing his glasses before putting on his best customer service smile. Rust tenses, Squirtle in his arms as the man approaches him, asking for his trainer card and asking about his day and his badge count and— oh no, why do people never stop talking? They're not expecting an answer, are they? Rust doesn't feel like he can talk anymore.

"You're another challenger?" Brock comes by, "come on in!"

Brock's face is pulled firm, even as he hollers. It's like an order, so Rust finds himself hurrying over, worried to make anyone irritated.

"You've got a Pokedex as well," the Hiker says, "you and Bell are friends?"

Friends was a weird word to use. They are, technically, but it's not a word they personally associate with their own relationship. It's shaky, hostile, and tolerant at best. Of course they understand each other well, since they grew up together, but...

Squirtle chirps happily, and apparently, the Hiker takes that as an affirmative. Soon enough the entire crowd is happily telling him about the gym battle that's just happened, and how impressive that Rattata was, and other things.

Rust felt a spike of envy rise up. Well okay then, while Rust was busy doing their actual job, Bell's busy being the constant crowd favourite everywhere he goes. Good on him and his rising popularity.

"You can use up to two Pokemon," Brock says. Someone comes up with a box of Poke Balls, and he picks two out. "I'll only be using two as well."

...Oh no, I only have one.

"Anytime you're ready?" Brock prompts.

Rust sets Squirtle down on the ground, and nods. What they won't know won't affect them. He's trained plenty with Squirtle in the forest, so this shouldn't be difficult.

"Go, Geodude!" Brock declares.

Squirtle looks toward Rust and nods, resolved. Rust nods back.

"Rock Polish!"

A speed-boosting move, right off the bat?

"...Shelter, Bubble."

-

Rust was a much more composed fighter than Bell. They attack with a similar rush, but Rust pauses in long moments, allowing Squirtle free reign wherever he feels appropriate.

"Rock Throw!"

"Withdraw," Rust calls, but Squirtle's already doing it. Spinning back into its shell, the rocks ricocheting off it, pelting Geodude with a few. And Squirtle reemerges, landing on a rock for just a second— then, without any prompting, he launches forward once more, Bubble spewing out of its mouth and engulfing Geodude before Brock could react.

Bubble, one of the weaker water moves, didn't do much, though.

Brock frowns. Why wasn't it using a stronger one? This is inefficient. It's the exact opposite problem of what Bell had. Rust seems firm, though, his expressions unreadable as far as Brock can tell. He isn't panicking, or expending much passion externally, as if he was bored and simply being systematic.

"Rollout!" he commands.

"Tackle!" Rust interrupts, and Squirtle charges into Geodude before it can wind up for Rollout, crashing harshly into it, hitting the rock formations and kicking up dust.

"Geodude is unable to battle!" Hiker Gordie, also temporary judge, declares.

Brock returns it to its Poke Ball, sighing. Almost dumbly, he understands now— Bubble lowered speed. Rust must have realized Brock's tactic, then.

He has a feeling Rust is a very studious child.

A smirk worms its way up to his face, and he notices the way Rust tenses as he notices, like he's surprised Brock had expressions. His brows raise, just briefly, but fall back to stoic immediately.

And now, it's Brock's turn to be surprised. That's an alarmingly subtle reaction, even in Brock's humble opinion. What is with this child's solid demeanor? Is he a statue?

Brock really wants to know how this kid would react if he pulled the same underground Onix surprise, (Bell's reaction was so funny,) but alas, he can only do that once a day or Jim would get mad at him.

Brock chortles. "Alright then!" he says, "you're doing well, kid. Next up is Onix!"

The kid takes a very pointed step closer to his Squirtle when the giant rock snake sizes him up. Brock thinks he's able to understand this child's emotions a little better now.

"It's getting serious now!" Brock warns, "Run if you don't wanna get hit! Onix, Rock Throw!"

Rust looks ready to say something, but a huge rock comes directly overhead and Squirtle flusters , grabbing him by the pant leg and hurriedly dragging him away at the behest of his own trainer.

The rock shatters on impact, and from the debris, Squirtle leaps out, Water Gun bursting through its mouth, hitting Onix straight on.

Rust dusts himself off, looking uninjured.

"Stay near large rocks!" Brock hollers, when Onix and Squirtle chase each other, water and rock colliding at every turn. "It'll be a buffer so you don't become collateral damage too easily."

Rust sees his example, and nods, winding around immediately to somewhere safer.

Squirtle has managed to hike onto Onix's back, though it's not so much holding on as it is desperately finding balance like a clown on a big ball.

"Smack Down!"

"Bite!" Rust immediately says, then, when Bite doesn't manage to help Squirtle hold on, "Withdraw!"

To Rust's surprise, Squirtle doesn't stop at withdraw. Water churns from his mouth, following his spinning momentum into a spiral. Squirtle bounces off a wall, shell and all, and ricochets rapidly back toward Onix.

Water sprayed everywhere, and there was no way it could dodge that.

"Onix, Smack Down— what," Brock looks up when Onix groans, falling dizzily down against a wall to the side, as if drunk. Onix struggles to get up, but Squirtle knocks it in the head, sending it back down again, giddy. "It's confused?!"

Ah, I see. Rust realizes. He didn't command it, but Squirtle had used Water Pulse instead of Water Gun.

Squirtle lands on the ground, huffing victoriously. Onix heaves itself up one last time, but Squirtle is leaping already, readying his final blow.

The silence that takes over the building after that is full of incredulity.

"Uhm..." Hiker Gordie raises a hesitant hand, as Onix collapses without being able to retaliate any further, "well. Onix is unable to battle... The match is over! Leader Brock is out of usable Pokemon, Challenger Rust is the victor of this match!"

-

Brock sighs. "Well, that was awfully one-sided," he says, sounding mildly disappointed. "I don't think that was my luck, so you're not bad at all, kid."

Rust bows his head, wordlessly expressing his gratitude. He sets the badge in the badge case, calmly keeping it in his bag.

"...what, you're not happy?" Brock asks.

Rust's eyes widen, quickly waving his hands before him in denial. He's happy, definitely. Flustered, he looks to Squirtle for help, only to find Squirtle beaming very widely. So he points at Squirtle with both hands, hoping that translates over.

Squirtle calls out for him, raising a hand up. Rust crouches down, giving him a soft high-five, before letting him nuzzle up to his hand as praise for the well fought battle.

Brock bursts out laughing.

Rust whirls around, horrified. This guy can laugh?!

"You're an interesting kid for sure," Brock says. "Jim, get a load of this! I found a kid that's worse at emoting than I am! His face literally never moves!"

Rust looks over to the entrance to find the Gym Guide, frowning at Brock.

"Congratulations, you found kindred," Jim says, sarcastic. "Hey kid, don't take his words to heart. He's kind of a jerk. And once he gets laughing, he never stops. Good luck."

Why 'Good Luck'? Is it a bad thing?

Brock reaches over and ruffles his hair about.

Rust blinks, surprised. People always treat him like glass in Pallet Town, so this is the first time he's ever been patted so roughly on the head. Brock's touch is rough, and it nearly bowls him over.

Brock grins when Rust turns over.

"You got some time, kid? Wanna see something cool?"

-

Something cool, according to Brock, turned out to be the Pewter City museum, and the vast variety of stones, ruins, and fossils within them.

Rust couldn't help but gawk.

"I excavated this one myself!" Brock says, proudly over a fossil encased in glass. "The world's currently in the works to bring these fossils back to life. That technology's not perfect yet, but it'll be done anytime now."

(Reviving extinct Pokemon from nothing but its fossilised remains? That sounded so implausible to him, and yet... the world of Pokemon must contain so much more fantastical occurrences. Rust could believe it.)

They drop Squirtle off at the Pokemon Center for now, so Brock stays by his side, nearly boasting about everything on display.

And honestly, Rust is fascinated. He's always loved to learn more about Pokemon, from the way they lived, to where they come from, anything . He's never been able to explore that further than the library at Professor Oak's laboratory, so this was a magical opportunity for him.

"And these two, we've dubbed them Evolutionary Stones for now," Brock explains, when they come across two uniquely-shaped rocks, one encrusted with moss and cloudy crystals, the other, teal gems and lightning scars. "We're still researching its effects. We had another one, which was found on Mount Cinnabar, and it made a Growlithe evolve, even in a forest! Hence the name."

Up until now, people have been under the belief that Pokemon only evolved once they are trained hard enough, or when they are sufficiently affected by their surroundings. So it's commonly believed that fire types only evolve near volcanic areas, and Bug types, only around forests— that's the general idea as far as people understand

But this had defied it. And that, if anything, was definitely a scientific breakthrough. If they could commercialize these things, the general strength and standard of Pokemon trainers could rise so rapidly!

Though Rust hadn't realized, his eyes were twinkling with interest as Brock spoke.

Nothing else on his face shows excitement, but Brock, who's occasionally similar in his inability to properly show expressions, knows fervent enthusiasm when he sees it.

So Brock continues talking. "Wanna see some other things?"

Rust nods thrice and once more. Definitely.