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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"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.
