When Ren was a child, he wanted to be a Ranger, and his parents adored the idea, pushing him towards it often

Before Ren was old enough to enter Ranger School, he noticed a teal Banette following him every once in a while. He'd lost a teal doll recently, but when he told his parents about the Banette, they didn't believe him.

• One day, after about two weeks of seeing the Banette, it ran up and hugged Ren's leg, shaking. There was a small tear on its arm, with a bit of stuffing coming out of it, and a few other injuries. Ren quickly looked up at where it had come from and saw a Luxio prowling towards him and the Banette.

• Ren looked up towards his parents, who were both shocked and had already scattered away from him, and he felt hurt at their reaction. He looked back at the Luxio and then the Banette clutching to his leg. After a few moments, he took a deep breath and asked the Banette if he could command it in a battle.

• When the Banette nodded nervously, he tried to think of some moves it might know before he commanded it to use Shadow Sneak a few times.

• After defeating the Luxio, at which point the Luxio ran off back to Vien Forest, the Banette hugged his leg again graciously. Ren's parents decided to let the Banette live with them, so he named it Zipper, eventually being shortened to just Zipps as a nickname