Rain gently tapping upon the top of her strawberry-designed umbrella, the pink-haired idol would peer with her azure eyes in hopes to catch a glimpse of a pokemon she had never seen before. Desiree hadn't strayed too far from her new home in the treehouse city just yet, only a few times to go to the store and once to meet with an old friend, but god did this downpour feel disorienting. Reaching into her purse to grab her pack of pink cigarettes, starburst flavored of course, she would slip one in between her lips before beginning her dig for a lighter.

"Oh, damn it," she would sigh, ".. i left it on my desk, damn it! ♡"

Continuing her walk, pokeball ready in pocket to attempt a catch on anything that would cross her path that screamed adorable, her hair would flutter within the winds of the subsiding gale. Not having her lighter on her was a bit of an annoyance, especially as she had yet to catch a fire type pokemon. Now was the time to be annoying and ask for a light from a stranger, how exciting. Keeping an eye out for any pokemon that would pop out, her Doublade circling her as the rain would completely cease, she would instead notice a man wearing a dark colored raincoat with dark colored hair walking a bit ahead of her in the other direction. Running up toward him, facing him, her white boots splashing in the puddles that had manifested on the path, she would call out softly.

"Um, excuse me sir! Sorry to interrupt your leisure but, ah, you wouldn't happen to have a lighter I could use, do you? ♡," her bubbly voice would sound gentle but the tiniest bit awkward, "Oh uh, is everything alri- nevermind on that. You look familiar, but I can't quite place where I've seen you before."

Her hesitation came from the scar she noticed upon his face- she wanted to ask about it due to her curiosity, but she knew just how rude that would be. After all, all of the scars she had received from the incident looked just as unfortunate if not worse, and she hated when people asked about them before she had them covered up with floral tattoos. But just where had she seen that face before? She was in Hoenn, after all, not Kalos.

---

tags: Thomas Benoit
notes: WEEEEE

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A voice would call out to Thomas, bringing his attention. She sounded Kalosian, with a thicker accent than his.

"I got something just as good.", he'd tell her, slowly reaching for a Pokeball.

"Don't be alarmed, I'm gonna bring out my Ceruledge. He can light your cigarette.", he'd tell her.

The former Elite Four would bring out Mordred, who looked around. "Mordred, she needs a light.", he'd tell the Ceruledge.

At first, the dark knight looked at him with disbelief. With a sigh, he relented, kneeling down, and allowing her to light her cigarette on the flame plumage coming from the back of his helmet.

The fact that she was lighting up brought up old cravings. It had been two years since the last time he smoked.

"I get that a lot, to be honest.", he'd tell the pinkette.

Though his face had changed since the last time he was seen, his voice, height, and build would've been a giveaway, if she was familiar with the Kalosian Aristocracy.

An Oinkologne would pop her head out of the tall grass for a moment, before quickly retreating back, upon spotting the fearsome-looking Ceruledge.

---

tags: DESIREE BLOOMS
notes: Skipping

Desiree had never lit a cigarette with flames produced by a pokemon before, so the tiniest bit of anxiety was creeping in when she neared the Ceruledge's flame with her face, the cigarette between her lips. What if its flame were to flicker and ignite her eyelashes once she made contact with it? Well, she had been through much worse, so fuck it.

"I've never met a Ceruledge before, they are such a beautiful pokemon, and thank you for that," she would begin to speak, blowing smoke out as she continued, ".. you have a bit of a Kalosian accent, are you from there as well, or did you just live there for a little while? ♡"

Looking around for any wild pokemon that would come her way, during her talk with the once-hooded stranger, she would notice a pair of blue and white pokey-like ears(?) sticking out from the tall grass. But her Doublade was quicker to notice; unsheathing itself from the resting points of the blades that encompassed its body, it would quickly begin to spin through the air towards the approaching pokemon. Jumping out from the brush of the wilds, now recognizable to be a Greninja to the idol, Doublade would use SACRED SWORD against her target, leaving the wild pokemon exposed just in time within the air for Desiree to throw a pokeball at it. An overprotective pokemon Doublade indeed was, especially due to the training it received in order to protect the idol from any more experiences like the one she left back in Kalos, it was to no surprise Doublade was alert enough to protect her against the Greninja. As the pokeball ticked away, she would passively await the results of her catch as she would continue the conversation she was having.

"I completely forgot to introduce myself, so sorry for that! ♡ My name is Desiree Blooms, do youuu have a name?" she would smile, taking another puff, "oh, and you are more than welcome to have a cigarette if you wish, but no pressure! ✩"

It was bugging the pinkette that she still couldn't place who this mystery person was. Maybe she just saw him in the crowds at one of her performances, or maybe even as a barista somewhere. The possibilities were endless, but with the number of faces she saw both in the media and in her encounters, it wasn't very surprising she could not recall to her.

---

tags: Thomas Benoit
notes: catch attempt on GRENINJA.

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Once the woman gets her light in, the Ceruledge stood back up. He would look at his master, clearly annoyed with such a frivolous request. Thomas didn't seem to be too bothered. He knew that blade-wielder would quickly get over it.

"You're welcome.", Thomas told her.

"Born and raised in Kalos, actually. Though after my tenth birthday, I started to slowly travel the world.", he'd reveal to her.

Thomas watched as she dealt with the Greninja with her Doublade. He was impressed with how well trained the haunted pair of swords operated. No doubt her bodyguard.

"Nice to meet you, Desiree. I'm Thomas Benoit.", he'd finally introduce himself. "I appreciate the offer, but I shouldn't.", he'd politely decline.

A Braviary, Honing his Claws, swooped down to attack the group with a Crush Claw. Mordred quickly stepped in, Bulking Up while allowing the attack to harmlessly grab at him. Thanks to his Ghost-typing, the claws phased through him.

The Fire-type glowered upward at the bird, who squawked in disbelief. He would Leer at the Ceruledge, before attempting to smash down on him with a Superpowered strike. Again, the attack did nothing to the Ghost-type.

A single Bitter Blade was all it took to strike down the Braviary, and allow Thomas to toss a Pokeball at it.

"Still a waste of your time, Mordred?", Thomas called out to the Ceruledge teasingly. The black knight huffed a bit.

---

tags: DESIREE BLOOMS
notes: Cap attempt on Braviary

Smoke fluttering out of her lips like an array of white butterflies, Desiree's eyes would glimmer in fascination once the stranger confirmed his Kalosian origins- he would be the first person she had the pleasure to meet in Hoenn that was from the same place she was, which made her ultimately feel much more comfortable within her foreign surroundings. It didn't bother her one bit that he declined the cigarette, it was respectable, even. Listening to his introduction as she would quickly wander a bit outwards to retrieve the pokeball that contained her newest addition to the party, of which she would name 'Azure' after one of her mother's personal fragrances, the idol would slip the pokeball into one of the sections of her bag that contained the rest of the pokemon she had brought with her.

"Hmm, Thomas Benoit..~ ♡," she would think aloud, turning back towards her new acquaintance as her Doublade would levitate to rest behind her, resheathing its twin blades, "..so you were born and raised in Kalos, but started traveling when you were ten. Maybe I've seen something about you on television, perhaps? Or maybe we passed one another in the street on one of my tours to Johto or Kanto~! If I'm being honest, I have no idea why you look so familiar." ✧

It was bugging her more than she could ever imagine just where she recognized this guy from. Maybe the painkillers she used to take blocked out her memory of where she first saw him? But her wandering brain filled with curiosity soon became distracted by the surrounding pokemon that would soon appear out of nowhere. Focusing on the Braviary that was approaching in an attempt to attack with its claws, Desiree would flinch at first but would gaze in awe as the attack would phase through the Ceruledge; it was seemingly immune to the attack, and as it would pursue the wild bird pokemon that seemed to be cloaked in disbelief of the ongoing events of the battle, she could not help but be impressed with how strong Thomas' pokemon could be perceived to be.

Behind the bird would manifest an extremely adorable pokemon that seemed to be doing the wobble- it was a Spinda, a pokemon that would fit in flawlessly with the few pokemon Desiree had brought with her to Hoenn that had talent in the artform of dance. Noticing this, Divine the Doublade would once again unsheath its twin blades from its body, pink ribbons flowing in the wind as it would quickly fling towards the panda pokemon.

"Doublade, be gentle with the baby~! ♡" the pinkette would shout toward the twin blades, observing for a quick second that Thomas was attempting to capture the Braviary.

Sprinting with all its wobbly might, the wild Spinda would use FEINT ATTACK on Doublade, jumping into the air and twirling around, effectively pummeling the twin swords with dark energy. Even though it visibly did quite some damage against the defender of Desiree, she could not help but smile due to its overwhelming cuteness factor, especially as it stumbled a tiny bit upon landing back on the ground. Reacting to this ferociously, as if it were offended by taking such prominent damage from such an unserious foe, Doublade would utilize IRON HEAD, causing its sharp tips of the blades to briefly illuminate with white light as they would slam into the sides of the Spinda. Retracting itself quickly as it possibly could, Doublade would flutter back towards the idol it was sworn to protect, bearing its blades proudly if the Spinda attempted to attack once more in their general direction. Though, it did look pretty worn out after its initial attack and taking the iron head 'head on'.

Removing another pokeball from her bag, she would raise it upwards and throw it underhand in the direction of the Spinda, encasing it with light as it would be consumed by the pokeball in an attempted catch.

"Great job Divine, you never fail to impress me, ♡" the idol would smile towards the sword pokemon, anticipating for the pokeball to click in success as she would continue to smoke the strawberry-flavored cigarette.

---

tags: Thomas Benoit
notes: capture attempt on SPINDA!

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"Let's just say that two years ago, I sparked controversy back home. It involved alcohol, and throwing away everything in rage.", he would tell the woman.

There was a lot more to the story than that. About how his resignation was planned from the start. About how Uncle Patrice was in on it, and his disownment was all a part of the plan. How he was a lot more in control than he seemed that night, or on the livestream that followed the news of Sootopolis being taken over by Rocket.

"Not one of my proudest moments, that's for sure.", he'd admit.

As Desiree dealt with the Spinda, Thomas would spot a Malamar floating in. If she got close enough, she would attempt to Wrap her tendrils around one of them, before inducing Hypnosis to enthrall them.

Realizing how dangerous the species were, Thomas quickly tossed Ripper's Pokeball towards the Malamar, into melee range.

The hulking Scizor, upon being deployed near the Malamar, would lunge at the squid monster, his pincer opening up to deliver a devastating Bug Bite. The Malamar attempted in vain to Constrict the Alpha Pokemon with her tendrils, only for the pincer to violently clamp down on her body. The attack caused the Malamar to let out a disturbing shriek of pain, before quickly losing consciousness.

Thomas walked over, seeing that the Malamar was still breathing.

"Good work, Ripper.", Thomas told the Scizor, before tapping the unconscious Malamar with a Pokeball.

Thomas would turn back to Desiree. As he thought about her name, he realized that hers seemed familiar to him. Though he wasn't quite in tune with the music scene, he had heard her name.

"Your name is familiar, too.", he'd admit to her.

---

tags: DESIREE BLOOMS
notes: Cap attempt on Malamar

Picking up the successfully caught Spinda that would remain contained in its pokeball, Desiree would drop it into her purse, making the mental note that she had to name it 'Wobble' due to its adorable characteristics. Thomas would begin to finally give her a further chance at his recognition from her past- but, even with his subtle detailing of the controversy he had been a part of, she could still not quite remember. After all, if she were to have heard of it from the news, little details of strangers like that didn't seem to have an impact on her mind quite like the ones that would hit closer to home. He said it wasn't one of his proudest moments, and all she could think is that she had been there, done that, and felt for him.

"Well, I'm not gonna let that define you in my eyes, so don't let it define you in yours, ♡" she would smile, her eyelashes fluttering in the subtle wind as she would take another hit of her cigarette and blew, ".. I've had a few unsavory articles written about me in Kalos too, but I try not to think of them anymore. Tabloids and paparazzi will be tabloids and paparazzi, after all~!"

A wild tentacle-bearing pokemon would flutter into range, and with that, Desiree would walk backward a few feet, guarded by her Doublade if it were to attempt any harm upon her. But it had been a seemingly teamed-up affair; at first, there would be the most unnoticeable bit of tugging at her purse, which she presumed to simply be the wind, but as it got stronger she would notice that rather than the gale it would be a wild gremlin looking pokemon attempting to unlodge it from her side. But it was pink and adorable, even if it was trying to attempt routeway robbery!

"Hey, you silly little thing, quit it~! ♡" she would exclaim at the top of her breath, her Doublade flipping around to peer at the Impidimp with its overbearing pink eyes as she would pull the bag away from its grasp. It did not look happy at what it was witnessing, and the wild fairy pokemon seemed to grin upon absorbing its negative feelings. As for Desiree, she knew that she had to try to capture it and allow it to atone for its ways, as all she wanted for it was a redemption arc, as it was so adorable and pink!

Unsheathing itself from its resting position without command, Divine the Doublade would quickly flutter towards the wild gremlin, which seemed to be backing up for a little one-on-one sparring session, fairy versus ghost. A brilliant shine of pink and grey would manifest upon its twin blades as it would crash down upon its sides, utilizing its art of SACRED SWORD in an attempt for it to leave its trainer alone. Grinning through the pain, which seemingly would cause it to limp due to its type advantage in this category, it would retaliate; flinging itself toward the twin swords, embuing itself with dark energy, it would use ASSURANCE, effectively punching the swords on the flatter parts of their sharp blades. Quite effective, especially due to a similar type-advantage, Doublade would fling backward and collapse at Desiree's heels, drained of its health and put into an unconscious state.

While shocking, it was not the first time Doublade had insisted to push itself until it couldn't anymore; noticing this, the baby Impidimp would grin in excitement and attempt to run away, though with its weakened state from the battle it would seem to only be able to limp as fast as a baby turtle waddling to get to the sea for the first time. After absorbing Doublade into its pink-hued pokeball with a brilliant white light, allowing it to rest, Desiree would walk toward the escaping imp, readying a pokeball for its attempted capture. She would have ran, but boy was it slow.

"Time for you to have the ultimate redemption arc~!" she would exclaim towards the pink thief, doing a little twirl before throwing an adorable pink pokeball toward the wild Impidimp. Upon becoming retained in the pokeball, it would tick just as all the others would, effectively taking its time to confirm a success or a failure.

Rejoining Thomas' side as she would wait for the outcome, Desiree would twirl her hair and made sure her bag was firmly secure on her shoulder. He made the statement that her name sounded familiar too- maybe he was a fan without realizing it, or maybe it was another one of those moments of hearing it on the news. If it was the latter, she wouldn't bring up the breaking news tabloid that had her name plastered nearly everywhere at the beginning of June.

"Maybe you've heard some of my music or seen me on tv, that could be it~! ♡" she would smile, attempting to mask the bigger picture and probable recognition of her name in her attempted murder case, ".. I have a little bluetooth speaker if you wanna listen to some of my jams while we encounter these pokemon, because damn, they just keep coming! And they are all so cute~!"

It wouldn't be long before she'd realize she'd need to send out a replacement guard, as the overwhelming urge to catch the Impidimp would be rather distracting, but for now, she'd lay all that trust in Thomas's.

---

tags: Thomas Benoit
notes: capture attempt on IMPIDIMP!

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"Thank you. I try not to, but sometimes it's easier said than done.", he'd admit to her.

Especially what he was up to following his little stunt. Few people knew just how far the man had fallen. And if they knew, he'd imagine they'd be mortified with what he became.

The fact that she had brought up her own history with the press caught his attention. But before he could inquire any further, a Bombirdier flew overhead, Tormenting the group with the threat of dropping a nasty payload on top of their heads. Mordred and Ripper both readied themselves to handle the avian, with the Ceruledge Bulking Up, while Scizor Calmed his Mind.

Instead of dropping a payload on top of them, the Bombirdier instead charged the Ceruledge, battering the grudge-filled spirit with a Dual Wingbeat. In retaliation, the Ceruledge slashed at the bird with a Bitter Blade. The Bombirdier let out a squawk of pain, dropping its end of the apron to reveal that it didn't have anything solid to drop on them from above.

Angered, the Bombirdier attempted to Knock Off the Ceruledge's helmet, only for the black knight to narrowly dodge the attack, before assailing the avian in Close Combat.

With their attacker weakened, Thomas tossed a Pokeball towards it, hoping for a quick capture.

He would then turn back to Desiree. "Wait, now it's coming back to me. My mom tried to scout you as a potential client about five years back. She was pissed that Cosmic Records got to you first.", he'd reveal to her, chuckling at just how much his mom was fuming over the lost opportunity.

Admittedly, he did not hear about what happened with her self-defense case, being more worried about Hoennian matters, as well as personal matters.

---

tags: DESIREE BLOOMS
notes: Cap attempt on Bombirdier

Picking up the pokeball that retained the newly-caught Impidimp, the idol would smile and slip it into her strawberry purse, trading out the ball with her Tropius's just in case a pokemon would pop out that she would need to defend herself with- and perhaps catch if it was cute and/or pink! A gentle clack of her heels against a few jagged stones upon the ground of the Route as she would walk back the short distance, she would station herself near Thomas and twiddled the occupied pink pokeball within her fingers, scanning around in fascination.

A bird had appeared overhead, which appeared to have an interesting appearance that Desiree had yet to witness before. Fluttering with giant white and black wings, it was not the span of its flappers that had intrigued the pinkette but an attachment of skin and feathers that connected its lower half with its beak, almost like something it could hold things within. Maybe it was a new form of Pelipper native to Hoenn?

The allied pokemon battle would soon ensue, its charge upon Thomas' bipedal pokemon marking the beginning of a quick end. As the pink-haired girl watch the fight ensue, the attachment looked almost like an apron when it was closer, and before she knew it the wild threat had been taken care of- clean. She would clap with the pokeball in between in enthusiasm, her eyes on the prize that her new friend was attempting to capture. Stars felt as if they were dazzling in her eyes as she was motivated to view the man within her presence as someone she wished to follow as an example, in terms of pokemon training terms at least, as he seemed to be cloaked in a confident and strong aura alongside those that he trained. Inspired thoughts would ensue, so much so that she didn't notice an adorable baby Zigzagoon run across the route a bit farther down with a berry in its mouth- but her thoughts would become distracted by Thomas' words of recognition of her presence.

"Oh, is that so? What's your mom's name, does she share a last name with you? ♡" Desiree would ask intently, curious as to if she would recognize his family member's name and title if he were to share it. She'd hoped that her temporary PR team that she got from being on Kalos' Got Talent hadn't weeded it out from what they had notified her of in scouting news.

Brushing her free hand through her hair as she funneled the inhaled nicotine, a fluctuating puff would emerge. "Still though, tell her I'm sorry~! If I knew how dogshit Cosmic Records had become back then, I would have definitely inquired with her myself. ♡"

---

tags: Thomas Benoit
notes: skipping spawns!