At that moment...
Deep in a forest somewhere in the Mountains...
A crowd of Rattata had gathered around one of their own, hanging on every word as he reenacted his latest brush with disaster.
He'd spotted cheese in a human's hand and was just about to make his move. Then an Ekans slithered up behind him, ready to swallow him whole.
And then, out of nowhere, a Rufflet dropped from the sky.
The Rufflet snatched up the Ekans in its talons and vanished into the canopy.
Given that Rufflet preyed on Pokemon like Ekans, that snake was almost certainly done for.
The other Rattata buzzed around the storyteller, thrilled and wide-eyed, chattering excitedly over the close call.
But off in the far corner of the territory, away from all the noise, lay an Audino with soft cream-and-pink fur.
Its ears flared like butterfly wings. Its eyes shone like polished sapphires.
The Audino sprawled lazily on the ground, staring up through the thick web of branches overhead.
It had been about a month since he'd arrived in this era.
Closing his eyes, Julian still saw flashes of the life he'd had before becoming Audino.
Ten millennia ago, he had been a Trainer...one of the old League's greatest. He was the kind of champion who never needed a title.
Then came the battle against Yveltal.
It was a disaster.
At the very edge of death, his partner Audino unleashed an overwhelming surge of psychic power and pulled off something that could only be called a miracle.
Julian still didn't understand everything that had happened between them in that final moment, but he knew two things for sure.
First, he hadn't truly died. Somehow, he had become Audino, then slept for ten millennia before finally waking in the present age.
Second, Audino hadn't died either. But with Julian's consciousness now housed inside this body, the original Audino had fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep.
When he first woke, Julian realized that the body's strength had reverted to that of a newborn.
So he made the only sensible call.
Find a group strong enough to keep him alive.
A weak Pokemon trying to survive alone in a forest packed with wild predators was a pipe dream.
After witnessing several brutal hunts firsthand, Julian made his way to the Rattata colony.
If he wanted to last more than a few days, he needed the protection of a pack.
He still hadn't seen any human cities in this era, so he had no idea what the wider world looked like now. But one thing was obvious in this forest, power ruled.
And nearly every Pokemon here accepted that without question.
Given his current strength...or lack of it...Julian had investigated the territories of Caterpie, Weedle, and Rattata.
All three species sat near the very bottom of the local food chain.
The Caterpie and Weedle colonies, being weak themselves, had at least been willing to tolerate him.
Their evolutions, though...Butterfree and Beedrill...had taken one look at him and kicked him out without a second thought.
Only the Rattata colony had let him stay.
That was mostly because the adult Raticate who used to protect them had recently been killed by an Ekans, leaving the colony leaderless and vulnerable. Thanks to that chaos, Julian was able to settle quietly into a corner of their territory and... well...serve as decoration.
Yeah.
"Decoration" was really the only word for it.
The moment he arrived, Julian's cute, harmless Audino face won over the female Rattata completely. They treated him like an honored guest, which left the grumbling males with no room to argue.
Every day, food was set aside for him.
Every day, the females refused to let him help gather or hunt.
He spent his time lying around doing absolutely nothing...
and somehow still had food delivered to his mouth and water brought right to him.
Living like this, entirely off Audino's charm, Julian couldn't think of any better description than pretty little mascot.
....
The sunlight grew harsher as morning rolled on.
Julian rolled onto his side and pushed himself upright.
Breakfast time.
"Ratta."
"Ratta, ratta."
"Ratta...ratta...ratta..."
Five female Rattata approached him, each carrying a blue berry.
Eating was, without question, the most humiliating part of Julian's day.
He lowered himself to the ground and opened his mouth.
One by one, the berries rolled right in.
So yes...breakfast was literally served mouth-first.
From what Julian could tell, they were Oran Berries. For most Pokemon, five or six were enough to feel full.
For him?
Five only got him halfway there.
That was another reason the male Rattata complained so much.
He ate a lot.
He was clueless.
He was lazy.
And somehow they were all expected to support him.
One male Rattata swallowed his own berry, jabbed a paw at Julian, and barked out an angry "Ratta!"
The female Rattata clustered around Julian, slowly turned to look at him.
Their expressions were dangerously sweet.
Oh, so that's how it is?
Ladies, get him.
Without another sound, the females launched themselves forward in white blurs and slammed into the offending male.
Ack-ack! Ack-ack!
The male Rattata coughed up a spray of sour spit mixed with half-digested berry pulp and went flying backward into a tree before sliding down in a limp heap.
"Ratta!"
The females turned and glared at the rest of the males, openly daring any of them to try the same thing.
A whole pack of male Rattata immediately started laughing nervously and waving their paws, insisting they'd never meant anything by it.
Naturally, they dumped all the blame on the unlucky guy who'd spoken up.
At that point, he was already down for the count. One more hit or one less hardly mattered.
The unconscious Rattata broke out in a cold sweat.
Judging by the twitching in his face, he was probably having the worst nightmare of his life.
In this colony, the females were clearly valued more highly than the males.
Not by a little, either.
The social gap was enormous.
Julian felt genuinely sorry for what the male Rattata had to put up with.
Even so...
He had to admit there was something deeply satisfying about knowing someone couldn't stand you... and still couldn't do a thing about it.
His eyes narrowed in amusement.
Then he stretched like a lazy housecat.
Boring as this routine could be, there was no denying it.
This kind of life was comfortable.
Of course, good times never lasted.
Breakfast was mealtime for the Rattata...
and hunting hours for all other activities in the forest.
All around them, the self-styled predators of the woods were already waiting for an opening.
As a small Normal-type mouse Pokemon, the Rattata had several natural enemies.
But the most dangerous by far was Ekans.
The poison snake's territory surrounded the Rattata colony on all sides. Its burrows, dark and hidden, were scattered everywhere like warning signs.
Ekans had predators of its own, of course.
Aside from Rattata, Oddish, and some of the weaker Bug-types, there wasn't much it could push around.
Oddish had the natural advantage of blending into the grass, making them hard to find.
The Bug-types had powerful evolved forms watching over them, and even Flying-types found those guardians a headache to deal with...never mind a grounded Poison-type like Ekans.
Only the Rattata were exposed.
With their Raticate guardian dead, they were isolated.
And thanks to the type and physical advantages Ekans already had, its hunts here rarely ended empty-handed.
Which meant the Rattata colony was living on borrowed time.
Right now, though, they were still basking in the lazy calm that comes after breakfast.
Just beyond the edge of the territory...
A smooth purple head slowly emerged from a snake hole.
Its pale yellow eyes gleamed with quiet menace.
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