First Impressions

“Okay, ladies and gentlemen,” Wesley looked at the rest of the production team. “In half an hour, they are going to start bringing the limos around to the front of the mansion. What we need to do is pick and choose which one of these ladies come out in what order. We’ll decide on who is first and last right now, so that the others just fall into place.”

 

Lisa held up a photo of a gorgeous red head. “Janelle Torrence should be first. She’s his physical type –Giovanni’s said he tended to lean towards red heads. She’s also younger than him, but not too much, so there’s a good middle ground with them. She’s around his age, but still young enough to be pretty on his arm. I think they’d fit well together and I’d bet more than anything that she’d end up in the final 2.”

 

There were a few others who tossed in their suggestions, but in the end Janelle was decided on. Wesley held up his pick.

 

“I want her as last,” he said firmly, holding up Ash’s picture. “I stick by the fact that I think she and Giovanni are a good match and she’ll make it to the final 2 even.”

 

“You think they’ll end up together?” Roger raised an eyebrow.

 

Wesley frowned. “I think, at least by that time, the age thing might finally become an issue and everyone will be hesitant to move forward to the next step. He might start having second thoughts and end up choosing the other woman, whoever she is. Personally, and the Casting Director and his panel agrees, Ash will probably be the heartbroken sweetheart and end up being the next Bachelorette.”

 

There were surprised murmuring at that. Zachary stepped further into view.

 

“No kidding, eh? Huh. She is definitely pretty and I looked her up more and passed the background results that were given. I’m sure the ones in charge of that managed to find out everything, but they left a lot out, like the interesting stuff. I can see more of her appeal now, and I think that she could even really make a good Bachelorette.”

 

“So it’s settled then?” Wesley made sure. “She’s going to be the last one of the girls?”

 

“Alright, she goes last,” Zachary agreed for the rest.

 

Ash felt his hands touch her and try to help her up, and didn’t know what to say or do. They were being filmed too, and she knew her reaction had been shot.

 

Why in the world was Giovanni here though?! And Arceus knew how they managed to convince him to do this. What was he doing here anyway? What would he benefit from starring in this show?

 

“Careful now,” he said, voice obviously amused. “You might hurt yourself. Well…considering that fall…”

 

Ash took a deep breath and stood up with his help, reluctantly accepting it from him. “T-thank you,” she thanked him, trying to keep her voice steady.

 

‘You’re on TV, you’re on TV, you’re on TV,’ she chanted in her head. At least it wasn’t live, and hopefully they’d edit that out.

 

“Um…you’re the Bachelor,” Ash stated blandly.

 

Giovanni smirked. “I am. Didn’t you know that?”

 

“…Honestly? No,” Ash winced. “My name was submitted into this. Then I decided to go for it and just try it out.” But she wasn’t going to talk about him being there and who he actually was, not in front of the camera. She had to keep going and act like nothing was wrong. “I didn’t know you would be the Bachelor until I apparently came out of that limo and fell flat on my face at seeing you,” she said self-deprecatingly.

 

“I should be flattered at such a strong reaction,” Giovanni teased, and it was kind of strange and Ash truthfully wasn’t sure how to handle it (but she damn well was going to keep trying like she could).

 

She shrugged. “Well, I never got to meet you during my Kanto journey, even though I really wanted to. So…hey! I guess I’ve got another opportunity,” she laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head, mentally a little weirded out that she was actually somewhat sincere. But then again, that would have been true back then, back before she’d found out he was the boss of Team Rocket. She remembered bemoaning the fact that she’d missed out on battling against Giovanni for the Earth Badge to Brock and Misty, instead having to face off against Jessie and agitated at that and the fact they’d dared take over the gym of her favorite pokémon trainer. “Maybe it’s fate,” she teased back.

 

He chuckled. “Could be. I guess I don’t have to introduce myself.”

 

She mocked-curtsied. “Ash Ketchum, at your service. I guess I should head in?”

 

“You’re the last one. Mind if I escort you in?” he asked charmingly, and she could understand how he made a good choice for the Bachelor.

 

“Not at all.”

 

He held up his arm and she briefly hesitated, slipping hers around his finally.

 

“You look lovely,” he complimented her as they began to walk.

 

“Thank you,” she thanked him again. “I would say the same, but I’m sure you know that. You know, what with the 20 something women that had just said it to you before I popped out of the limo.”

 

He laughed fully and grinned at her. “You’re quite the character, aren’t you?”

 

“Depends,” she took her arm from his and walked a few steps backwards, raising an eyebrow at him. “In any case, this is where I leave you, so we don’t enter together and I end up with objects being lobbed at my head by jealous women. See you in a bit, Emperor of the Night!”

 

“Emperor of the Night?” he questioned as she walked away.

 

She turned slightly, but kept walking. “I highly doubt you’re Prince Charming.”

 

She left him then and he was left grinning at the unexpected development.

 

“So, don’t be nervous,” the substitute host, Topher Harris, told Giovanni with a reassuring grin.

 

“I’m not exactly nervous,” Giovanni frowned. “Though unsure about juggling so many women.”

 

“30 of them,” Topher whistled in admiration. “There was a lot of women that wanted to be on your season. We managed to limit it to 30, but that’s still a lot.”

 

Giovanni raised his eyebrows at the number and finding out about the women wanting to be on his season. That was news. He hadn’t exactly wanted or cared to be on the show, but it still threw him off to know that apparently he was sought after.

 

“I’m not sure I can remember all of those names in one night,” Giovanni admitted. Thirty women was a lot.

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Topher waved it off, still grinning. “You’ll have one of the producers nearly constantly by your side to help you out, and will also have flashcards with the contestants’ names and pictures on them. During the ceremony, you’ll just be saying a few names at a time –once you say maybe at least 3 to 4-5ish, depending on how many you can remember, then you can leave the ceremony room and get the next few names, then come back to call those out. The first Rose Ceremony is always hard, so we’ll probably break shooting up into 3 to 5 people at a time to make it easier on you.”

 

“No microphone? Cue cards?” Giovanni questioned.

 

“Nah. We try to do this as natural as possible,” Topher said honestly.

 

“Do I or even the women have any choice what gets put onto the air?” he asked, inwardly worried about this. If he needed to forcibly handle things…

 

Topher shook his head. “Standard for any reality show, really. Anyone who comes onto the show has to agree to allow the producers, as in the contract, to reveal information that ‘may be embarrassing, unfavorable, humiliating, and/or derogatory and/or may portray him or her in a false light.’”

 

Giovanni wasn’t too happy about the sounds of that.

 

“Hey, so things are about to start,” one of the producers, Wesley Feller Giovanni believed his name was, came over.

 

“Yeah? How long do we have?”

 

“15 minutes. They started driving the first limo 15 minutes before that, so it’s probably going to take each limo 30 minutes in total to get here,” Wesley informed them.

 

“How’s Chris doing? It sucks he got sick right before this season,” Topher asked.

 

“Ah well…you know him. He’s Chris Harrison. He’s invincible. He’ll bounce back soon enough,” Wesley chuckled. “We all good here?”

 

“I think so,” Topher answered hesitantly before they looked to Giovanni, who forced on a smile.

 

“Good, good,” he lied smoothly. “Probably a little nervous after all,” he lied even more.

 

“It’ll be alright,” Wesley went on to reassure him as well. “Just a warning though. Some of the girls had some strange entrances planned –most of the production either encouraged and cheered them on to do them, while some others in production tried to prod and suggest some stuff to other contestants. You’ll be getting more than a handful of strange gimmicked entrances to greet you.”

 

Giovanni decided on a rueful smile. “Ah well. It’ll make for good TV, right?”

 

“Correct,” Wesley said succinctly. “Now show time, you two. Camera’s on in 3…2…1!”

 

He moved out of the way and Topher began the introduction, and then Giovanni and he casually bantered. Topher wished him luck and left him to deal with the first batch of women, and then soon enough the first limo pulled in.

 

Giovanni dealt with it as casually and relaxed as he could, charming the women that came one after the other, limo after limo, and he was actually finding quite a few of the women attractive and interesting enough to hold his attention. Of course there were the ones with the gimmick entrances, most of which made him inwardly cringe, but a few actually amused him enough or were actually quite good.

 

Then came the last limo, which he was very thankful for. He was getting exhausted, and he hadn’t even gone through the first cocktail party. Hell, the Rose Ceremony was a long time away too, and he’d heard that those take forever to shoot.

 

He made himself pull through the last group of women, taking care to remember that one named Rue and that other one named Meghan. Then it was the last woman to come out, and he waited as patiently as he could, already dying to just get inside and gulp down a glass of brandy or something.

 

She came out with her head down, walking rather stiffly. Her short hair covered her face since she was looking determined down at the floor. Halfway to him though, she finally looked up and he blinked in surprise to see none other than Ash Ketchum, bane of his Team, and who looked equally surprised (though he was sure his was more covered up) to see him.

 

Then she promptly tripped and fell flat on her face.

 

He had to promptly choke back a laugh as he quickly strode over to her and then helped her up. He hadn’t expected this development at all, but it was definitely a pleasing twist, he decided. And oh, what glorious back and forth banter they exchanged, strangely absent of any animosity that was expected and managing to be entertaining and witty. And she was hilarious, something he managed to appreciate now, since they weren’t on opposite ends of a battlefield.

 

He was delighted and amused with the nickname she’d bestowed upon him, and definitely enjoyed “Emperor of the Night” over “Prince Charming” anyway. He was just disappointed, again rather strange, at having to separate from her.

 

As he was getting ready to join the others finally, Wesley stopped by his side for a second time.

 

“Again, don’t be nervous or worry too much. You’ll always have one of us around, okay?” Wesley clapped a supportive hand on his shoulder. “Try to stay open-minded, yeah? You’ll do yourself a great disservice if you just end up picking your final four the first night.”

 

“I see,” Giovanni muttered. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said a little louder.

 

Then he stepped into the room and was greeted with thirty excited women.

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