"You sure?" Someone asks, for the fifth damn time.

Bell was honestly going to lose his temper at this rate. His Rattata certainly sympathizes, because he immediately turns toward the guy that asked and hisses in full hostility.

Bell takes him in his hands and holds the screeching rat back.

"Sorry about this," he says, though the Ace Trainer takes no offense. "But I'm really fine."

Mt Moon's interior wasn't accessible for wheelchairs (it just wouldn't fit through any of the stairs openings and tunnels,) so Bell has to go with the hiking group over the mountain instead.

The road there is a worn-down climbing trail, consisting of a daunting amount of stairs. And right beside it, a ramp that could be a slide, with how steep it was. There were handles and plenty of rests, but it's clearly more made for going down than up.

People used to need to physically climb over the rockface, and that was dangerous, so Bell's honestly relieved this was recently made, mainly for younger trainers like himself.

Bell had other options, that is to follow the older trainers to rent a flier Pokemon or head over on the tourist lifts. But that's dumb, he would miss all the training he could do along the way.

And thus brings him to this situation.

"Just give us a holler if you need help," they say. "We're going on ahead!"

Bell sighs, finally left in peace. Rattata huffs, resting in his lap. Pidgey had flown over to inspect the other side, and it came back a little miffed, realizing the route was longer than it'd thought.

Bell stares at the Machamp Guard, a rental bodyguard that's supervising the entrance of the climbing route today, and it stares very pointedly back at him.

"Don't help me," he warns. "I'll get the whole way up myself."

Machamp huffs, crossing one set of its arms. It snarks, like it's challenging him, and Bell stubbornly turns back around.

"If you help me, I'll hate Machamp forever," he threatens.

Machamp scoffs in disbelief.

As if to interrupt the argument, Bulbasaur gets out of her Poke Ball, huffing as she hops down from Bell's lap onto the ground. Raising her vines, she speaks to Machamp, gesticulating somewhat, like a very interesting presentation.

Machamp hums, leaning back, hearing her out.

Bell looks between them. What he would give to understand their language right now.

The conversation ends when Machamp finally relents a nod of approval. And then Bulbasaur grasps the sides of Bell's wheelchair, cheerfully stomping forward, and Bell suddenly realizes what's going on.

"Wait no, Fushi!" he hisses, "you are not pulling me up the entire way! You're not a Ponyta Ride! This isn't a Gallop-drawn carriage!"

Bulbasaur whines, turning around to voice her objections.

"Plus, if you're dragging me up, you can't train along the way," Bell protests.

Bulbasaur huffs, lifting her snout at him as Rattata and Pidgey, who were on his lap and shoulder respectively, simply call back in affirmation.

Oh, they want to train instead? So Bulbasaur can focus on this?

"...I don't think it's ethically encouraged to use your Pokemon as your personal wagon-pullers," Bell says.

They simultaneously stare at him in exasperation. Seriously, you're worried about that at this point of your journey? And Bell realizes he just can't win against them.

"Okay, fine..." he relents, "but let me do lifts and turns by myself. I'm not wearing out my wheels any more than I need to."

All three Pokemon cheer. Bell sighs longsufferingly.

-

Rust makes his way to Mt Moon later that afternoon. He nods at the Machamp Guard in greeting, Squirtle climbing up to his shoulder.

He stops by the Pokemon Center to rest and stock up on items. He refuses the video call from the Professor that comes for him, and gets ready to head out once more.

This cave is a place that no sane adult from Pallet Town would ever let him traverse. It's dangerous enough for normal Trainers, much less one that wouldn't even know if his back gets clawed open by a Persian.

So, obviously, Rust is enthused .

Squirtle, not so much.

Three minutes in, Rust is covered in Geodudes and Zubats and Paras, all staring curiously at his Pokedex and his notebook from various perches. Wild Pokemon are really supposed to attack more often than not, but Rust is moving so little and he barely has any expressions, so perhaps they just think he's an automotive statue.

Squirtle wants to just blast them all away with Water Pulse, but honestly, he's sick of this now, so Squirtle just sits down, resigned. At least none of them are giving him any actual injuries.

He sees several trainers pass by, catch the scene in the corner of their eyes, and stare in bafflement. They run out and drag other people in to gawk, pointing in a 'do you see this shit? Do you?' sort of manner.

Squirtle nods longsufferingly at them.

-

Coming out of Pewter Museum into Mt Moon is a treat, honestly, because Rust wanders around and finds unique rock formations that, according to Squirtle's instincts, are special in a similar way to evolutionary stones.

They're hard to come by, but they are certainly interesting.

"Hey, brat! Move along, stop gawking," the black-dressed teenager snarls at him, "you're in the way of business here."

Rust takes a moment to remember the uniform with the big red R. They're working here, scavenging, apparently, and overall creating a rather imposing atmosphere. Trainers are quickly passing them by, because they seem to know what they're doing, and they're keeping polite distances.

Rust stands there and tries very hard not to curiously stare, but he fails.

"What do you want, kid?" two of them are here now, standing much taller and looking down, trying to look intimidating.

Rust is holding Squirtle in his arms, and the Pokemon frowns at them skeptically. The guy is actually sneering back at it, though in a non-serious manner.

Rust looks over them to the group that's inspecting items. A few hold strange rocks, and shiny star pieces. A few gather mushrooms, as well.

"Oh, those?" the teenage girl says, following his gaze. She smiles, "you can find lots of them around, especially the mushrooms. They're a delicacy, so they'll actually fetch a pretty penny if you resell them at the Poke Mart."

Rust blinks in surprise. Pallet Town consists mostly of foragers and farmers, so he's surprised to hear that one could continue on that path even while traveling.

(Well, he was never allowed to do it, though, since the risk of getting little cuts was too dangerous for someone that wouldn't know if anything was infected.)

He bows his head as thanks for the advice.

He looks down to see the male grunt playing roar at Squirtle, who is very unimpressed. When Rust and the female grunt stare at him, he straightens, clearing his throat, pretending that didn't happen.

"What are you doing, Kojiro?" the girl asks.

"N- nothing, Musashi! Anyways!" he says, trying his best to recover his composure, hiding the slight flush in his cheeks, "you can go pick some of your own in your own corner if you want, just stay out of our way. We have a quota to fill."

Rust nods.

He has no idea how to feel about these guys. They're legitimately foraging. They're also kind of ruining the ambience of the cave, but it certainly isn't illegal, so it's fine. Maybe that redhead woman in Viridian had been the weird one.

-

She wasn't.

"You're the brat that was in Viridian—!"

The blue-haired man that was with Ariana was here, too. According to the others, his name is Proton, and he's the assigned leader of today's expedition here.

"You're going to get in our way again, aren't you!" he accuses, sending out a Golbat. The grunts around them tenses at his actions, but eases when Squirtle jumps out of Rust's arms, poised for battle. "We made a great loss back there in Viridian. You ought to make up for that!"

Oh dear, I guess we're doing this now.

"Did you really get in our way, kid?" the teenage girl from before, Musashi, leans down a little to ask.

Rust looks a little flustered. "Th–" he fumbles over his words, are they all going to turn on the heel and hate him now? But he's surrounded! "The. They were— scamming people. So..."

"Ah," she folds her arms, "well, if people get tricked, it's the fault of the people."

Rust sulks. Oh, so she's a bad person.

She side-eyes him, looking a little guilty. "But I guess," she clears her throat, "if Squad Leader Proton and Ariana got the police called on them, it's also their fault for not doing a good job, I guess."

Rust brightens immediately. She's a good person!

She stares at him, genuinely baffled. "Kid, are you happy or not? Your eyes say 'light of my world' but your face says 'nendoroid default face'."

Rust reaches up and pushes his cheeks up to make a smile.

"Ah, okay!" she beams. "That's a lot better!"

"Musashi!" Proton snaps, "stop getting chummy with the brat! He interferes with our workings and he's going to keep getting in our way from here!"

"Oh c'mon, Squad Leader, it's a kid," she returns, "you beat him in a Pokemon Battle and he'll go shimmying back home, no trouble. Won't you, sweetie?"

Rust nods.

"See? He's a good boy."

Rust nods again.

Proton gives a longsuffering groan. "If he promises he's not here to steal our fossils before we get it, I'll let him go."

Rust's eyes lit right up at the mention of fossils.

"He is!" Proton reacts immediately, reaching for his Golbat.

Rust meeps. His nonexistent expressions gave him away! That's never happened before!

"Forget it, we're battling! Hurry up, back off a bit." Proton says. Rust obeys immediately. "Golbat, Wing Attack!"

"Wha– hey! Sir, we're still here!" Musashi yelps, hustling away when Golbat dives sharply toward them, bringing Rust with her to a safer spot. Squirtle yelps, swung right off his feet at the attack. "Ugh! What are you, a monster?!"

"Quiet, you! Stay beside him and get hit, it's your own fault!" Proton snarls back. "Golbat, Crunch!"

Squirtle howls, when Golbat sinks its teeth into the side of his head.

Rust gasps, scrambling to his feet. "Rapid Spin!"

Squirtle jerks back into his shell, and roughly hoists the Golbat off in a furious spin. It backs off, but Proton doesn't let it hang for too long.

"Supersonic!"

"Protect!" Rust immediately says.

Proton clicks his tongue. "Wing Attack! You react quick, but my Golbat's faster!" The next attack hits, blowing Squirtle into the air, off balance, and tumbling right back down in a heap. "Crunch!"

Rust's frazzled. Are people supposed to use three attacks one after the other instead of respecting the turn orders? There isn't even any breathing room. Squirtle's getting thrown around roughly, in a nearly one-sided debacle.

(Then again, Professor Oak only ever taught them this way of fighting, as per official league rules. Rust hasn't had any problems with wild Pokemon thus far, but he supposed it made sense.)

Musashi throws her hands into the air in defeat, leaving the side of the child to lean by the wall with some other busybodying grunts.

Rust has lost a comrade. He feels betrayed.

For now... "Bubble!" he commands. He's got to lower that thing's speed.

"Whirlwind!" blows every water particle away, and Squirtle is left holding onto a rock for dear life.

"Hey Squad Leader, you're bullying a kid!" someone yells. Probably Musashi.

"Yeah, dude, go easy on him!"

"Kid! Do better! Need a Potion?"

"Beat up that tyrannical asshole!"

"Bully! Bully!" somehow a chant has started.

"All of you be quiet!" Proton yells, winding on the utter buffoons as they rapidly scatter for their lives. "Or I'll string all of you up the cave ceiling and leave you there!"

Rust sighs, unsure what sort of situation this even is. Squirtle comes back to Rust during the distraction, and Rust hurries to spray some Potion on him. Proton notices and bristles .

"Hey, that's not allowed!"

Rust jumps at the loud volume. It's not?

The battle continues. Water Pulse isn't doing much against Golbat, and Squirtle is only barely scraping by with nicely-timed Withdraws and Protects.

Squirtle launches out a furious Tackle, throwing Golbat back a few feet. The Golbat recovers, and jets forward on a gleaming Wing Attack once again.

"Ah– Shelt—!" Rust yelps. There's no time to Protect anymore, but Squirtle doesn't, and instead, he slips , sliding off a wet spot on the ground and rolling off, right out of trajectory.

Proton's jaw drops, but it quickly picks back up. Golbat turns back halfway, hissing at Squirtle— unaware that its weaponized wing is currently headed right for a loitering wild Paras.

Rust reacts first, since he was closer.

He dives for it, putting his own arm in the way, wrapping around the Paras right as Golbat squawks , realizing. The Golbat pulls back as soon as it can, barely scraping past Rust's forearm before it swerves away, winds around feet first— and unceremoniously crashes into all of them, sending them flying into the rocks.

Rust gets up first, covered in debris, the Paras stunned in his arms but unharmed. His coat and clothes are safe, that's good news, the wing hit the forearm, but uh, it probably didn't hit the bone. Bleeding super badly, though.

He holds it away from him, because he doesn't want to get his clothes stained. The Paras jumps at the sight of it, looking up and around, flustered. Golbat is dizzy and scrambling back upright, in utter panic.

Rust looks up to see every Team Rocket member staring slack-jawed at him.

Squirtle gets up from the rubble he's been punted into, dusts himself off— and then when he sees Rust, he drops right onto his knees, in complete despair.

"... I am okay," Rust says, worthlessly.

Then, Proton screeches.

"Are you a FUCKING IDIOT?!"

-

Maybe Team Rocket aren't bad guys after all.

"Dove in to save a fucking Paras of all the shit," Proton grumbles, still infuriated, watching impatiently, foot tapping as Kojiro disinfects, stitches, and firmly bandages the wound.

"But it'll get hurt," Rust says, directing attention to the Paras who's currently still seated in his lap, looking very guilty for all this. Golbat hovers beside him, also looking a little apologetic. Squirtle, sitting beside Rust, growls warningly at the bat.

"Yes, but that's why we have Potions," Porton snarls. "Are you a Pokemon? If you can't get healed immediately by a Potion you better fucking hope you don't get in the way of any more Pokemon attacks! I'll kill you myself!"

"Please stop swearing, Squad Leader," Musashi chides. "What are you going to do if he imitates you?"

"Yeah, you're being a bad influence, sir," Kojiro adds.

"I couldn't give a sh–!!"

Musashi sighs. "Don't take him seriously," she says. "But are you sure you're alright? Kojiro does have enough medical training to do emergency stitchwork, but we don't have any numbing medication..."

Rust nods.

Kojiro actually balks, taken aback.

"I... wonder if I'm doing it wrong," he mutters. "Even a grown adult would cry from this. It's pretty deep." But Rust hasn't even so much as flinched as he worked— either something is really wrong, or something is just really weird about Rust.

Rust shrugs. He isn't going to elaborate.

They seem serious about this treatment, so it should be fine as long as he gets a nurse to check on it in Cerulean later on. Team Rocket may be sketchy, but they sure as hell don't want a criminal record or unnecessary police attention, which is why they're making sure he'as fine, as a bare minimum. That's fair enough.

"Just treat his wounds and walk him out the damn cave before he does anything else stupid," Proton groans, stomping off. "Waste of our damn time, this brat..."

"What kinda attitude is that, Squad Leader?" there are more chides, and Proton winds right on them, yelling for them to get back to their damn work already.

"Don't mind him," Kojiro says, closing his first aid kit. Then, turning back to Rust with a smile, "wanna join us for lunch, kid?"