The old man is an elderly person who Rusty encounters after his path is blocked by a tree. He gives Rusty advice on how to get past the troublesome plant by using Hidden Moves, also known as HMs.
History[]
Ever since he was a young man, he searched for the secret Pokémon hidden moves, or HMs. He spent majority of his life, 60 years, trying to find them.
One day on his travels, he comes across Rusty about to give up on his Pokémon and go home because his path is blocked by a tree. He tells Rusty about the HMs, but Rusty stops him, saying that he bought the HMs from a vendor at the Celadon Mall. Taken aback by this information, he heads to Celadon City, sighing about the 60 years he wasted searching for the HMs.