"Can you keep going on the story about Ria?" Joey asked his grandmother. It was the night after he had gone to sleep, dreaming of the girl whose parents were murdered by Team Rocket.

"Oh, honey, it was too scary for you," his grandmother sighed. "I think I should just read Pikachu's Adventure to you again."

Joey's little Rattata squeaked loudly and shook itself. Joey scratched its ear. "Rattata's right, Grandma. I know that old book by heart. Please? I wanna hear about Ria!"

The old woman gazed at Joey with a faraway look. "Oh, alright. Get under the covers, now…that's it…."

Ria left her house, telling herself that she would never return. She would not be a Trainer after all; just someone who wandered and wandered over all of Johto. If being a Trainer caused innocent girls' families to be brutally murdered, then that was not the career she wished for any longer.

She decided to start on her lifelong wandering at the caverns; the caverns that her parents had promised to take her to. Her parents were dead, so she would have to go alone.

Should she bring Poke Balls? No, she decided; if she had Pokémon, then she was legally considered a Trainer.

Her small hand hitched her bag of supplies higher up on her shoulder as she headed towards the caverns' entrance.

The bag containing her mother's severed head was still clutched tightly in her other hand.

When Ria got to the entrance of the caverns, she breathed in deeply before entering. It was very, very dark inside. She fumbled around in her bag of supplies, but alas: the objects she had thrown in at random had not, sadly, included a flashlight. Ria briefly considered turning around and going home, but concluded that a lifelong wanderer of Johto would have to be brave, and what better way to prove bravery than by making it through these caverns by herself?

Ria walked for what seemed like ages. Her eyes, used to the brighness of the beach and the sun sparkling off the water, had trouble adjusting to the darkness. She constantly stumbled over rocks, twice injuring her knees. When she felt them scrape against abrasive rock for the third time, she reached down to touch them and found that the merest touch stung her knees and left her fingers wet. She swiped her fingers with her tongue and caught the metallic tang of blood.

Suddenly, as if they had scented the girl's blood on the air, a swarm of wild Golbats descended upon Ria. Their gargantuan wings beat at her head, tangling her hair, while their unearthly, high-frequency cries filled her ears. Screaming in sheer terror, Ria tried to beat them away, but her thin, frail arms were no match for the Golbats. Images of her father's murder flashed in front of her eyes as the Golbats repeatedly dive-bombed her from above. One Golbat's wing caught Ria's back, leaving a long slash mark. Another sharp wing caught the bag containing her mother's head, and it tore, dumping its precious cargo onto the floor of the cave. Ria cried out before diving like a football player to catch the fallen head. She clutched it tightly to her chest, like a teddy bear, feeling the dried blood in her mother's hair leave residue on her fingers. She ducked to the floor, covering her head with her remaining hand and rocking back and forth, but even this did not deter the Golbats from their attack. Finally, Ria stood up, abandoning her pack , and ran as fast as she could away from the ferocious pack of Pokémon.

She did not know for how long she ran, stumbling and falling, taking random turns; she only stopped when her lungs gave out. She collapsed to the floor, trying to force air into her chest, trying to breathe. The attack had terrified her beyond any terror she had ever known. She could still hear the wings, the screeches. The wound on her back oozed blood, as did both of her knees and her elbows. She still clutched the head of her mother tightly. Holding it in both hands, she stared into her mother's dead face, frozen forever in a scream. Seeing such pain on her mother's face made Ria's eyes wet with tears again. Gently, she closed her mother's eyes and attempted to shape the face into a more peaceful expression. When she could bear to stare at it again, she tucked it back into the crook of her arm and began walking again through the caverns.