Aspen found Venus in an official match on TV against Cynthia and promptly decided to do research on her. Seeing as she grew from a criminal to a person that was spoken about fondly and positively while also holding her own against legendaries and organizations, they chose her as their role model.

Upon meeting Venus in Paldea they immediately approach her and talk her ear off, which she doesn't mind although she's busy. Venus had received a hisuian Sneasel egg from Ingo (who she took back to the future with her after the Hisui adventure) and since Aspen is desperate to start out with a Sneasel and hers is kind of... not a fan of other Sneasel, she gives the hisuian Sneasel egg to them, which becomes their starter. They aren't too interested in the gym challenge and end up running around with Arven more and doing the Team Star bases, as they figure that's what Venus would do and they end up having lots of fun with it.

Their storyline mostly follows the events of Pokemon Scarlet, with them meeting Koraidon and all but there's alterations to the storyline as it's a mix of both games + Venus gets to do her own thing in this region and Aspen constantly runs into her.

After graduation they'll join Venus in the gym to be properly mentored by her.