Robyn was the third child born to a low income family on the Eastern side of Castelia City. Her father was a construction worker, helping build the skyscrapers that towered over the city while her mother stayed at home and looked after her and her three siblings. Despite not having much money, Lisa Springs always looked after her kids before herself. She made sure they each were given the tools to make successes of their lives. Robyn identified her chosen path earlier than the other children, after watching a production of Swanna Lake on TV when she was 4. She wanted to dance.

Robyn's entertainment budget went into ballet classes at a studio down town starting at five years old. She showed a natural talent at even the more complicated moves executed at that age, and was a rising star in the field. But as she progressed further in levels, she started to realize that there was a ceiling to ballet that the prevailing culture in Unova would not care to raise while there were dancers gyrating their hips in music videos and behind the stars du jour. She was a bit dismayed until she travelled with the family to one of her younger brother's basketball practices when she was 16.

While basketball did not hold her attention for a minute, she roamed the halls of the East Castelia Community Center, and found something that did pique her interest. In one of the side rooms, a group of kids her age were dancing, but also doing flips and performing moves that displayed a lot of acrobatic and technical skill. She entered intrigued, and they explained how they were a dance crew, looking at eventually performing stage shows on Mode Street. Robyn was interested because it looked like she had found a way to put her dancing skills to use on a more fame-attractive path. The group was interested in having her because it finally meant they had a girl in the squad. So after finishing her final couple of ballet classes, she left the organized dance world and joined her first and only crew, Rock Sturdy.

The crew met and practised often over the next two years, making extra money by busking on Unity Pier. Robyn was able to combine the positioning and technique she gained from ballet with the raw athleticism and energy of the crew to become one of the star dancers in Rock Sturdy. They did very well with the street money but still weren't getting any closer to a Mode Street show. However, fate brought another way. Unova was getting it's own regional version of Dance Crew Dance Off, and the auditions were being held in Castelia. This was the shot. Rock Sturdy doubled the practices to get ready, and they were granted an audition in front of the celebrity panel.

They knew the routine they were going to do, although Robyn was a little worried about her part, since she was going to be sent skyward in order to stand out from the other crews, and she had never attempted anything above what she could normally jump. However the training runs went well, and the double back flip she was going to attempt to land was rehearsed multiple times with in the gymnastic center's sponge pit. She even got pep talks from the crew's leader, Rolla. He assured her, "Springs, we're gonna be there for you. Solid. You won't get hurt." Famous last words.

The time came, and the audition went smoothly, up until the big finale. Golem was going to be the one tossing Robyn into the air, he was the strongest member of the team, and they had work to make sure he would be able to control his toss to give Robyn enough time to rotate properly for a landing. Maybe the pressure of appearing on stage got to Golem. Maybe his hands had gotten a bit too sweaty. But when the time came to make the toss, something went wrong and he was light. Too light.

Robyn knew something was wrong when her foot left his hand, but she tried to make it work. For the team. She got the first flip in fine, but with the poor throw, she didn't have near enough time to get the second one in. She was coming around on the second rotation when she saw the floor coming too quickly. She tried to break her fall with her hands, but her legs got there first. Just coming out of the tuck, her right knee slammed into the concrete floor they were dancing on, doing the wrong kind of popping and unlocking, followed by her arms. She crumpled in a heap, and the audition was suddenly over.

Robyn was rushed into surgery where it was discovered that not only had her ACL and MCL been torn, but the patella had dislocated so badly it had torn that tendon as well. Doctors spent six hours reconstructing Robyn's knee, and then that's all her family's flimsy HMO would cover. It had gotten to the point where it was now technically together, but it was so unstable that one wrong step was liable to knock her knee right out again. The family's meagre savings could only buy a clunky brace that was fitted to keep Robyn's leg intact, but it was clear her dancing career had come to an abrupt end.

Rehab was painful. Robyn spent the first month just learning to stand again on her leg, complicated by the broken wrists she sustained. It was the first time in her life that she actually felt shaken in her belief, that she could do whatever she was asked to do. It took a couple months before she could finally walk at a pace to match her siblings again, at which point, the insurance company said that was good enough and stopped paying for it. Robyn was sent home at approximately 50% capacity.

She spent the next week moping at home, in the deepest funk when her mother had finally had enough. Lisa told her that she had spent too much time working on her talents to just give up on them so easily. She made her run every errand, do every mobile chore, to try and build her leg back up. When she didn't come back in a respectable time, Lisa berated her. This continued for a few months, until finally, Robyn couldn't take it any more. There was a massive fight and Robyn took off, just wanting to get away from the oppressive atmosphere.

She took off down towards the pier, then reaching a dead end there she turned east and ran across Skyarrow Bridge and into Pinwheel Forest. It was in the tall grasses that she finally collapsed in a fit of mental pain and physical pain. She sat there crying, cursing the world that had taken her freedom away, wallowing in her own despair until something came out of the grasses and collapsed against her. Looking down, she saw a Petilil, looking like it was in worse shape than she was, with scrapes all over its body, purple stuff dripping out of the wounds, missing chunks of the leaves on its head. Robyn forgot about her own problems for a moment and picked up the injured Grass Pokémon. Knowing there was a Pokémon Center near the pier, Robyn headed back towards Castelia to try and see if there was help available for the little Petilil.

As she walked back, Robyn realized exactly what she had done in her fit of rage. When she was brought home from the hospital, she could barely walk around her block without feeling a great deal of pain. Now, she had been able to run all the way across the towering suspension bridge before stopping. Once back in Castelia, she got the Petilil to the Center and they were able to bring it back almost to full health, the middle leaf not healing the missing chunks in it. But still, it was bouncing up and down on the counter, happy as could be. Almost like it was dancing. Robyn smiled at seeing the previously battered Pokémon back to seemingly full health, for the first time since the accident she was uplifted by the turnaround. She thanked the nurses and brought the Petilil back home, intent on taking it back to the forest the next day.

Plans change though. In the night hours, Robyn watched the Petilil roam around her room, seemingly grateful to be out of the forest. As Robyn played her music, Petilil tried to move to it, but it seemed to be on its own beat. By the time morning came around, Petilil was now Nina, and Robyn was intent on keeping her new friend around. She just had to convince her mother. Lisa had dismissed Pokémon training for years, saying it was a fool's errand to go around on it, and that it was too expensive. But when Robyn emerged in the morning, Nina in tow to plead her case, Lisa did see something she hadn't seen in Robyn in months. Her drive was back, and that alone outweighed the potential costs of caring for the Petilil. So, with some of her savings, Robyn purchased a Poké Ball and Nina was officially part of the family.

A few days later, Rolla and the rest of Rock Sturdy dropped in on one of their usual visits. They had more good news for their fellow member. There had been progress made on an experimental new surgery to use Solosis cells to regenerate human limbs and tissues and they had begun taking up a collection to try and pay for it, since it was Golem's error that led to Robyn's current state. However, like most surgeries it was very expensive, and the cut they had raised had not even reached 1% of the funds needed. It was still a touching gesture and Robyn thanked them for the ray of hope. However, the money never seemed to flow into East Castelia, so it was likely a pipe dream.

A few weeks later, just as it had in her youth, TV served to inspire Robyn once again. Tired of being in the shadows of the other regions, Sengun was putting out the word that their League was up and running, and would be paying out handsome sums if Trainers could beat their cadre of Gym Leaders. This was the Golden Ticket Robyn had been looking for, and it was paying out far more than the Unova League was. Plus the whole lack of walking from place to place thing was far more attractive than hiking through Twist Mountain. It took a long discussion with her mother, but eventually she was given the go-ahead to try and make this work. After gathering what money she could, she bought a few supplies and headed out with Nina from her home port to Port Fae, intent on conquering the land in order to get back on her main path and to get her independence back.