Scatterbug.

0:00You can always tell when someone didn't grow up where they live now.

0:03There's a word they still say wrong for their new zip code.

0:07A flavor they get nostalgic about that nobody else has heard of.

0:10Something about them that was printed somewhere else, and it never really washes off.

0:13Meet Scatterbug.

0:16Tiny fuzzy caterpillar Pokémon, looks almost the same no matter where you find it.

0:20Same gray coat.

0:23Same quiet little face.

0:26And for its whole Scatterbug stage, it looks generic.

0:29Totally unremarkable.

0:33Except for the one thing that's already happening, invisibly, inside it.

0:36The Pokédex entry for its final form — Vivillon — says it directly.

0:39The patterns on this Pokémon's wings depend on the climate and topography of its habitat.

0:42Which is a clinical way of saying: the place this Pokémon was born is already printed on its body.

0:46At the Scatterbug stage.

0:49Before it has ever shown anyone what it looks like.

0:52The pattern is already decided.

0:56Twenty different wing patterns exist in the world, each one tied to a real region — snow country, coastline, monsoon, meadow, sandstorm, jungle.

0:59Not based on how hard it trained.

1:02Not based on how strong it became.

1:05Just based on where it happened to start.

1:09And when it finally evolves, the place it came from is right there on its wings, bright and impossible to miss.

1:12You know where a Vivillon is from the second you see it.

1:15Which, honestly, is how it works for the rest of us too.

1:18There's a phrase you use that places you instantly.

1:22A flavor that still tastes like home no matter how long it's been.

1:25You can leave.

1:28People leave.

1:31But whatever got printed on you when you were small doesn't wash off.

1:35It just waits to be seen.