Rust's the village weirdo, and Bluebell's his wheelchair-bound childhood friend that's unfortunately stuck with him. Pallet Town's a lot quieter once they leave on their journey.
"...Squirtle, you don't have to tolerate his insanity if you don't wa...
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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.
