Out in the woods of Route 101, Prof. Birch is busy doing his field work on wild Pokémons. Pulling himself up to a big oak tree with the help of a rope, he is just in time to witness the evolution of a Wurmple, which has started to release silky threads out of its tiny mouth. Digging out his Pokédex from the big side-strap bag he's carrying, the professor is somewhat baffled to see the Wurmple evolve into the white Silcoon instead of the purple Cascoon he saw last time. He wonders if the worm Pokémon is of another species. Just then, his Pokégear starts to beep and he answers to hear a call from his old friend, Norman, reminding him about the arrival of his family to the neighborhood that day. Birch puts away the gear and begins planning on a big welcoming dinner for the night at his own place. What he doesn't know is that two Mightyenas have slowly lurked behind him, gleaming their hungry fangs.

Back in Littleroot Town, Norman's family continues to unpack after their arrival earlier. Ruby sees a box wrapped in fancy paper on his desk with a note on top, and opens it to find a pair of running shoes from his father as a birthday gift. He chucks it into the trash bin without a second thought and recalls just how different he is from his father. While Norman has taken up the path to excel in Pokémon battling, Ruby has no intention of following him and even disregards the honour of being a gymleader. The boy dreams to be the master of Pokémon contests instead and has always groomed his three lovely Pokémons, Nana the Poochyena, Coco the Skitty, and Ruru the Ralts to their top conditions. Ruby has known for long that his pushy father is more than likely going to force him into the road of Pokémon battles, and thus has already planned on a runaway from home upon their arrival in Hoenn.

Stuffing all his necessities into a bagpack, Ruby withdraws his Pokémons and creeps downstairs to catch a final glimpse of his mother, then quietly lowers a rope outside the window of his room. But something tugs at his heart just as he's about to climb down. He takes another look at the discarded running shoes his father gave him, hesitates a little, and decides to take them with him afterall.

The sun is starting to set and Ruby is making his way through the woods of Route 101. From a distance, he sees a stodgy man swinging back and forth on a rope hung on a tree branch and decides to go up for a look. The man turns out to be Prof. Birch who is trying to escape from the two Mightyenas that lurked on him earlier. Just then the rope snaps and he falls hard on the floor. The professor quickly tells Ruby to help him fend off the wild Pokémons but the boy refuses and says the mud there would make his Pokémons dirty. The two black hyena-like creatures hop down from the tree and gleam their teeth. Ruby gasps in shock and Birch gets troubled that his hope to find help ended up bringing him another burden to care about. But the boy immediately surprises him by walking up to the Mightyenas with starry-eyes. He marvels at the wild Pokémons' shimmering black fur and exclaims that such kind of beauty would prevail in any Pokémon contests in no time.

The Mightyenas, however, don't seem to appreciate Ruby's enthusiasm and start chasing the boy as Birch yells out in horror. The professor's Pokédex lying on the floor starts to beep and Ruby curiously picks it up to find data of the Mightyenas shown on the screen. The name Mightyena strikes a resemblance to something in his mind and he realizes that his attackers are the evolved forms of his Poochyena, Nana. He happily calls out the little black hyena, which gracefully struts in front of the awe-struck professor, and orders a leer from it. This, however, further aggravates the Mightyenas and they continue to give chase after the boy and the professor. Ruby picks up Birch's bag and turns to marvel at the elegant movements of the wild Pokémons, only to be slammed by the professor for his frivolous comments during troubled times. Just then, Ruby accidentally activates something in his running shoes and he begins to dash away without control. Birch immediately recognizes the shoes but he trips on a stone and falls flat on his face before he could say anything.

Ruby realizes he is heading towards a steep cliff but couldn't seem to stop his shoes from thrusting him forwards. He lets out a cry as he and his pursuers start falling off into the canopy of trees below. Out of nowhere, a human-like creature covered entirely in leaves leaps out from the trees and rescues the boy from the Mightyenas. Ruby's world then blacks out and the next thing he knows, he is lying in a cave somewhere in the woods and Nana is trying to wake him up with its licks. He realizes he is still holding Prof. Birch's bag when the Pokégear inside starts to beep again. He answers to find the professor himself calling, and is shocked to be addressed by his own name and learn that the professor is a close acquaintance of his father. Apparently, it was Prof. Birch who delivered the running shoes purchased from the Devon Corporation personally to their house earlier.

Ruby is about to make up lies to cover his own identity when the leaf-covered creature reappears all of a sudden and asks the boy if he's okay. This freaks Ruby out and he immediately orders a bite attack from Nana. The creature leaps back in pain and angrily reveals itself to be tarzan-like girl with a Torchic...

Thanks To Coronis For Writing this for us