The First Night

“‘The Bachelor: Italia Amore,’” Matori spoke up, pushing up her glasses. “…Or that’s what they want to name the season,” his secretary said seriously, like this whole thing wasn’t a joke.

 

Giovanni contemplated ignoring her.

 

“They were thinking of other variations, such as ‘Amore Italiano’ and the likes, but they settled on that, as they felt it was catchier.”

 

“Can I pass? Do I even have a say? Forget it, I don’t care,” Giovanni pinched the bridge of his nose. “Besides that, I need the reports from the field units that have been moving through the regions.”

 

“Yes, sir. Would you like me to put JJM’s reports to the back of the pile as usual?”

 

Giovanni thought about it. When it came to that unit, he either got a kick out of their reports or got headaches. It depended really. But…reading about that Ketchum kid always did amuse the hell out of him, no matter whether the group’s antics ended up giving him a headache or not…

 

“No, put them to the top,” he decided. “I need something to entertain me right now.”

 

“Right away, Giovanni sir.”

 

He wondered how much he’d make off of a reality show based off of Jessie, James, and Meowth. Better yet, a show based off of that Ash Ketchum brat.

 

He chuckled to himself.

 

When Wesley Feller appeared on her doorstep, all of Ash’s hopes of being rejected from the show and this whole thing being passed over and forgotten was lost. Instead, she invited him in with a twitching smile and told him to make himself at home.

 

“Good news or bad news?” she asked, though she knew ‘good news’ would actually be bad news for her.

 

“Good news, though it doesn’t look like you consider it to be,” Wesley noted, grinning slightly.

 

Ash grimaced. “I didn’t exactly sign myself up for it. My mother submitted my name. I’m pretty skeptical of this whole process, but I promised her I’d give it a try or at least go for the experience.”

 

He nodded. “Most of the women come in skeptical –by the way, try not to use the word ‘process’ on the show. Most of us prefer the word ‘journey,’ and 5 out of 10 times we’ll end up reshooting the scene to replace the word. In any case, most of the women will be skeptical going in –to be honest, we come up with and need only about half of them to be genuinely there for the guy.

 

“We cast a group of women based on what our Bachelor has told us is more or less his type, and some or more outside of that –especially if they request it.  Out of that group, we need at least a handful to be there and interested in our Bachelor, while the rest are usually there for the experience or to somehow find a way to promote themselves. We generally don’t want those types in there or don’t approve of having them there because we want the most amount of chances for our Bachelor to find the right person, but at the same time we make sure at least one or two do for the sake of the show and drama.

 

“It’s fine if you want to come on for the experience. Some of the women eventually realize they genuinely like our Bachelor and fall in love, while there are those who realize they have nothing in common and have no chemistry with him, and either stay on until they are kicked off or make the choice to leave themselves once they realize that.”

 

Ash raised her eyebrows. “Huh…Do you guys really assign roles to the women?”

 

Wesley swirled his coffee and frowned. “We don’t generally talk about it, but for a certain few of the women, we assign archetypes. We find a trait in them and magnify it through the show, so if you end up being vain or judgmental in some way, we do end up focusing in on that and casting a more villainous role.”

 

Ash tapped her fingers nervously on the table. “Do I have a role?”

 

He smirked a little. “Now why would I reveal that, if you do?”

 

She tried hard not to pout, but she probably failed.

 

“Anyway, our show tends to shoot for 7 weeks, a little longer than normal to shoot a regular reality show. It’s because we try to foster and develop real feelings and emotions and relationships in that time, so we isolate the cast and the environment becomes more intensified and the situation becomes more charged than usual. It’s why we have the contestants go through a comprehensive psychological exam before casting them –we have to make sure, along with being sure they’re mentally capable, that they can withstand the atmosphere and being isolated and cut off from the outside world for that long, as well as standing up to the sudden celebrity status and instant fame.”

 

“W-wait, cut off from the outside world? And being isolated?” Ash had to backtrack and laser in on that.

 

“For 7 weeks, we usually keep the contestants isolated within the Bachelor Mansion. They’re not really allowed to go out. They’re also not allowed any cell phones, books, TV, etc. unless we require them to talk to someone on the phone on film or something.”

 

“What about pokémon?” she asked in a panic, and that’s when Pikachu made his appearance, popping his head over the table with a disgruntled look on his face.

 

“Pika!”

 

Wesley was a bit startled, but composed himself quickly. “We don’t allow pokémon either, sorry. If you make it to Hometown Dates though, he can certainly make an appearance and star a bit.” He grinned a little at Pikachu, who looked slightly pacified and contemplating it. Ash was still unsure about that stipulation, given she’d always had Pikachu come with her somewhere.

 

“So, just to let you know, all the women have to buy all of their own dresses for the show –the network just provides dresses for the two finalists to wear during the finale. The same goes for the professional styling –we do that for the contestants during only the first night and for the finale. On the rest of the nights, they do their own hair and makeup. That means if you don’t know how, it’s probably best you learn before coming to the Bachelor Mansion in a week.”

 

This sounded crazy. Instead of regular dating, this whole thing sounded like they jump up the intensity and speed with the process, especially because of the extreme dating and isolation.

 

“It can be emotionally taxing,” Wesley admitted. “People don’t always get or realize how fast emotions get involve. And that’s the thing about the show –if you’re not willing to be vulnerable and to discuss every event and share every emotion, to him and even to the camera –despite the cameras –there’s really no point in being there. So remember that once you’re on the show, alright? The key point is vulnerability.”

 

Vulnerable? Ash was an emotional person and shared her emotions easily, yeah, but vulnerable? She couldn’t remember if she’d ever been really vulnerable before, and wasn’t sure she could now, especially to some stranger. The Bachelor wasn’t likely to make her just bare all in seven weeks.

 

“I also wanted to make sure you’re okay with the fact that he’s 37 and much older than you,” Wesley gave her a questioning look.

 

She blinked. “Really? Huh. Well, like I told my mom, age difference doesn’t bother me.”

Wesley clapped his hands. “Fantastic! So in a few days, head to Viridian Fall again. You and the other women will have to be stuck in the hotel and your rooms until shooting begins. Once in the mansion and after passing the first night, you’ll be moved in and your phone and all will be taken away for safe keeping. From then on though, you’ll be stuck in the house and the surrounding property.”

 

Ash huffed. “Who says I’ll even go passed the first night?”

 

He smiled widely at her. “Let’s just say I’ve got a gut feeling.”

 

Raising her eyebrows, she didn’t get an answer to that.

 

When it was time to start shooting, Ash was relieved to be out of that hotel room. She had started to feel slightly claustrophobic, which was understandable. From the moment she’d arrived at the hotel, she’d been put into a room and was stuck in it for days, unable to go outside of it for any reason. She had plenty of room service at least, and she was allowed to watch some TV, which was something. She hadn’t been out of that hotel room since they had made her shoot her introduction video for the show.

 

But then there was now the fact she had to get ready and had chosen one of the fancier dresses she’d brought along to wear for the first night. Two of the professional stylists had come in earlier and helped her, and she tried to remember how and why the makeup artist and the hairstylist did so and so to her face and hair, and asked plenty of questions so that she could try to replicate it in some form later on.

 

At least, when she’d complained about her troubles to Serena and Aria before returning to the hotel, Serena had gone on and on about makeup tips, while Aria somehow managed to expedite a shipment of warm and cool casual clothes to her, while Valerie (somehow or other, the Kalos gym leader had caught wind of all this going on) sent over a load of dresses for her to wear. She’d gotten off lucky with that, considering she saw how pretty and fancy the dresses they had to wear on the rose ceremonies looked like, and she doubted she had any money to cover even one dress for them, much less a variety of them and regular clothes.

 

But now she was being put into a limo and was sitting nervously in it. Soon enough, other women began to pile into the limo as well and they all looked at each other awkwardly.

 

“Hello,” Ash waved, putting on a smile. Well, hell, if this was how it was going to be in the house, there was no way she could survive the stiff silences.

 

A chorus of hello’s, hi’s, and hey’s greeted her back, and everyone began to introduce themselves.

 

“I’ve seen you before, haven’t I?” the one she remembered being named Rue asked her, looking thoughtful.

 

Ash was surprised. “Really? I don’t think I would be known anywhere. I mean I’ve competed in a bunch of Pokémon tournaments through the regions, but that’s nothing special –”

 

“Oh! You’re that Ash,” Meghan, one of the other women in the limo, exclaimed brightly. “My brother loves you. He personally saw you compete in the Sinnoh Tournment and thought you should’ve won.”

 

Ash blushed slightly. “Really? Ah, well, I ended up losing though. My competitor had stronger pokémon.”

 

Meghan huffed. “Only because he had two legendaries on him…both of which you managed to defeat before you lost!”

 

Ash gave a rueful smile. “Well, it was a good match at least.”

 

Still, it gave the others a thoughtful mood, and half were either giving her either considering or impressed looks, while the other half were looking at her jealousy.

 

The ride on the limo continued on until it stopped and one of the producers and a cameraman came into the limo, seated in the back and giving them a friendly smile and thumbs up.

 

“Shooting starts, ladies! Get your game faces on. How about we start talking about our lucky Bachelor, huh?”

 

“Oh, he’s so handsome,” one of the ladies giggled, hiding her mouth. “I can’t believe he gets to be the Bachelor this season!”

 

“I know, right?” Meghan chimed in. “I thought it was going to be Derrick or at least Chad, since they were in the bottom four of the last season of the Bachelorette and really popular, and they usually start filming straight after. Announcing him all of a sudden! No wonder it took so long to announce the new Bachelor and why they didn’t at the ‘After the Rose’ special!”

 

Ash just kept smiling, nodding along. To be honest, she didn’t even know who the Bachelor was, which was a huge oversight on her part. She hadn’t really thought to prepare herself or look anything up.

 

“Okay ladies. This is the order you’re going to be exiting the limo once it stops. We’re the last limo, so make sure you guys are ready. If you have prepared lines you want to deliver, say a joke, or whatever –go for it! Don’t be shy, try to stand out, do your best to catch his attention, alright? Don’t be afraid to get out there,” the producer gave them a reassuring look. Then he began telling them who goes out first and Ash was unnerved to find she was the last one out.

 

She sat stiffly at her seat, waiting her turn as the women exited out and had their small bit of introduction to the Bachelor (whoever it was), and then it was her turn.

 

“Hey,” the producer stopped her. “I’m Zachary. Just wanted to let you know –usually the first and last person out of the limo are important. Traditionally, the production set up the order so that the first and last contestants out of the limo are who we think have the best shot with the Bachelor or Bachelorette. So…you’re being rooted for, alright? We want the Bachelor’s first and last impressions to count, so make that impression big, sweetie.”

 

That made Ash swallow nervously and she faced the door. She took a deep breath before exiting out of it, starting to walk out. Then she lifted her head about halfway and her mouth dropped.

 

She stumbled and fell flat on her face as she saw that the Bachelor was none other than Giovanni Rocketto, boss of Team Rocket.

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