The First Cocktail Party

He nearly balked because he hadn’t thought that he would ever see such a large group of ravenous women, some of which were scarily looking like they were willing to devour him. Usually, as the boss of Team Rocket, he wasn’t scared of anything or fazed by much…but this was just ridiculous.

 

“Ladies! Welcome, Giovanni, and welcome to the mansion, everyone,” Topher continued on with his welcoming speech, but Giovanni was discreetly scanning the women. Of course, he managed to idly see a few of the ones that he specifically recalled and was memorable to him, but there was the one particular young woman –

 

There she was. Ash Ketchum was sort of fidgeting in the back, looking uncertain and ready to bolt. He mentally frowned. Now that won’t do. He truthfully wanted her to be there; if he was going to have to suffer through this show, someone familiar and almost kindred going in with him would be a relief, even if it was her.

 

There was also the fact that he had been surprised to find how much he’d enjoyed her company, in the brief time they spent together without having to be in a middle of some conflict.  The last time they’d come face to face, she had been very furious at him over Meloetta and the whole trying to take over Unova and all. But the facts were that he had unexpectedly had a more than civil (even flirty) conversation with her, and he had genuinely enjoyed himself and being around her.

 

His thoughts had distracted himself thoroughly enough that he almost missed his cue when Topher ended his speech and then just handed the attention over to him. He let a smile grow on his lips, deciding it was time to turn on the charm.

 

And then his night began and it wasn’t like anything he expected or thought would be like. At times, it was a little dreary and he felt half bored, though he did his best to listen to the current woman he was with (it might’ve been something important or useful later on –and well, he was used to doing things like that; how else did he get blackmail after all?) Then there were other times where he was actually engaged and didn’t mind the talk, and a few of them he even felt interested in. There were even a few he felt attracted to, and decided then that those were definite picks.

 

But he had yet to find Ash anywhere.

 

“This girl’s up,” Zachary, apparently one of the producers, quickly held up a flashcard with a picture and name on it since said woman in question was coming over.

 

“Leigh Hart,” he mumbled, glancing at the card. Well, at least he didn’t have to search around for help identifying a girl this time, since most of the other times he had to discreetly find one of them and they’d hold it up for him.

 

Most of the time, one of them was around to tell him who it was he was talking to, but in the case they weren’t, he had to look around for one of them and hope they had flashcards to help him out. Aside from those things being useful tools to get him to start memorizing names and faces, they were useful “cheat sheets.”

 

Before Leigh could close in on him, he turned to Zachary at the same time that Wesley came over.

 

“Have you seen Ash Ketchum around?” he asked bluntly and both producers stared at him in shock.

 

“No, I haven’t,” Zachary admitted, while Wesley blinked slowly and replied, “Um, I think I saw her around the front of the mansion, sitting by the fountain.”

 

Giovanni frowned, glancing at Leigh, who was waiting by the side while he finished up with the producers. He gave a quick glance to where the entrance was and sighed, but walked a little closer to Leigh.

 

“Hi, um, can I talk to you for a bit?” she asked, smiling widely and blushing a little.

 

Giovanni put on a smile. “Of course.”

 

When he went off with her, the two producers kind of stood there, still surprised and a little shocked.

 

“He…he remembered her name. Right off the bat and he hasn’t even seen her a second time or had a talk with her,” Zachary blinked.

 

Wesley grinned smugly. “I told you he would connect with her the most.” His grin faltered though. “I guess I didn’t expect just how much he’d be interested in her or would immediately be drawn to her just yet.”

 

“I underestimated your pick,” Zachary shook his head. “I mean, I was on board with her after I went looking her up, since you first brought her up and was adamant about her inclusion in the show, but this…”

 

Wesley hummed in thought. “That definitely makes her Bachelorette material, right?”

 

Zachary nodded. “Oh no, I knew that already. I kind of wish I could sign up!” He laughed a little.

 

Wesley shook his head, but he did glance at the entrance, thinking about the girl that he’d seen looking like she might run away at any second.

 

Ah well, she’d signed on and he’d already noted security to the flight risk.

 

Giovanni finally made it out of the mansion and looked around. Thankfully, it didn’t take him long to find the young woman he’d been looking for, and he found her sitting on the water fountain and using her hands to weigh something.

 

She didn’t exactly have anything in her hands though.

 

“It’s a little cold out here, isn’t it?” he spoke up and she jumped up, looking startled to find him there in front of her. He smirked. “I don’t bite,” he held up his hands.

 

“You sure about that?” she blurted that out, though thankfully it was absent of any mistrust or wariness. He was sure this was being filmed after all, and there was no need to get anyone suspicious, even those around them right now.

 

The cameras came out a little more in view and he could see she was struggling not to stare at them or panic too much. He walked closer, still smirking, and took a seat next to where she had been seated moments before.

 

“Are you okay?” He dropped any charm, any acting (she’d probably react negatively to it anyway), and waited patiently for her.

 

Ash sat down again, unable to help herself by glancing at the cameras.

 

“Getting used to this,” she confessed. “And getting used to the fact I kind of stumbled into this blindly. And not just literally,” her eye twitched. “I guess it doesn’t help that my childhood idol is apparently the Bachelor.”

 

Giovanni found himself grinning. “Did you have a crush on me?” he teased and he was amused by the squawk she let out and the adorable blush that covered her cheeks.

 

“No!” she denied. But then she looked embarrassed. “Maybe a little.”

 

Giovanni laughed lightly. “I’m flattered and rather lucky then.”

 

She got a little more comfortable, taking advantage of the loose skirt of her gorgeous red dress (he completely approved of the color) to bring her legs up and sit cross-legged.

 

“You’re not weirded out or nothing?” she asked curiously.

 

“A bit,” he actually said truthfully. “This isn’t really something normal and definitely not something I would normally do. You can’t really prepare for it or know what to expect.”

 

She frowned. “I don’t really know if I’m cut out for this. I told my mother I’d try it out and all, but it’s so strange and I admit I’ve been skeptical from the start. I don’t think I should be here or that it’ll be for me.”

 

Giovanni straightened up, almost even panicking, which was definitely not like himself.

 

“What if I want you around?” he asked suddenly, catching her off guard. Her eyes widened as she stared at him. He hesitated, but pushed through. “I would like it if you stayed around and be part of this. Would you?”

 

Ash stared at him again. She looked uncertain, but replied calmly. “I’m not sure,” she told him honestly. “I’ll think about it.”

 

It wasn’t quite the answer he wanted, but it was good enough…for now.

 

“Alright,” he agreed. “I’ll give you as much time as I can. As you need.”

 

Her lips quirked up slightly and he liked the look on her face.

 

“You know, it drove me crazy when I missed you when I came to Viridian for a badge four years ago,” she laughed and shook her head. “I swear to Arceus, I ranted to my friends about it for like forever after I ended up having to face someone else for the badge. Hmm…I still do actually,” she ended thoughtfully.

 

“So sorry to inconvenience you,” he grinned, almost bleeding smugness and mocking that wasn’t malicious.

 

“Yes, All Mighty Businessman,” she rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you were busy getting rich while I was dorkily sobbing my heart out at missing a pokémon battle with you.”

 

“Aw, poor baby,” he teased. “And I’ll try to drive myself poor to the ground, if that makes you so happy.”

 

She snickered. “Sure, go for it. We can be broke bums together, if you like? We can find a tent and sleep in a forest, and I’ll have pictures of my mom while you can hoard what little money you have left.”

 

He burst out laughing at that. “I’m sorry, but if you’re hoping I have some sort of circle of family members that can turn into animals, you’re mistaken.”

 

She gave him an ecstatic look. “No way! You’ve seen Fruit Baskets?”

 

He sighed in exasperation. “I have an employee that is…more or less an otaku.”

 

Ash giggled. “Well, we can still be broke bums together. And a tent in a forest isn’t such a crazy thing –now that I think about it, that was basically my sleeping setup all throughout my pokémon journey...”

 

“Speaking of, I’m curious –which was your starter pokémon? I heard from my colleagues, who are extraordinarily fond of talking about you, that you had all three starters in your set, which surprised me because that doesn’t really happen.”

 

She coughed and blushed for some reason. “Um, that’s a funny story actually…”

 

Giovanni raised an eyebrow curiously.

 

“Well…I was overexcited the night before I started my pokémon journey and ended up staying up all night. Sometime before it was time to wake up, I somehow ended up waking briefly, threw my alarm clock at the wall, thinking it was a pokéball, fell back asleep, and then ended up oversleeping. I ran to the Professor’s Lab in my pajamas the next morning, and then I was horrified to find out I missed out on all of the starters.”

 

He looked at her in surprise. “But how then did you manage to set out? Did you have to wait a day or something, while they got more starters?”

 

“Oh no,” she shrugged. “Actually, he had another pokémon in the back that he was saving and who was a little bit of a troublemaker for them. That’s how I met my partner Pikachu! Ever since, we’ve been practically together. He’s gone with me to every region I’ve been to so far, and he’s practically my best friend.”

 

Ah, so that’s how those two met and became stuck together. It was unusual and almost sounded fated.

 

“How did you end up with the starters then?” he asked, becoming more curious the more she talked.

 

“Those are actually some strange sort of stories too,” Ash furrowed her eyebrows. And then she told him how met her Charizard (Charmander back then), her Squirtle, and her Bulbasaur and where those three were now.

 

It was kind of amazing and crazy. This girl really did end up in some strange and lucky (and unlucky) situations.

 

“What about you? What was your starter?” she asked, sounding as curious as he was.

 

“I had a Charmander,” he answered her after a moment. “I eventually managed to evolve him into a Charizard like yourself, though I named him Maximus.”

 

They talked a little more about pokémon, eventually ending up on his Persian, who he told her how he’d met him and that he’d rescued him and took him in. By that time though, they’d been found by one of the producers.

 

“There you two are,” Wesley blinked, seeing the two together.

 

Giovanni withheld his sigh. “I’ve been gone too long?”

 

“A bit,” Wesley said apologetically. “But not too long. It’s just edging there. I think you’ve spent almost a little over 10 minutes out here…But I wasn’t looking for you. Actually, I came out here to look for her and make sure she hadn’t run away,” he sent a teasing grin to her and she looked sheepish. It made Giovanni frown briefly. “I also wanted to get you inside, Ash. You can’t hide out here forever, and you’ll need to get inside and mingle a bit. Wine?” he offered a glass to her.

 

Ash accepted it hesitantly, while glancing at the two of them.

 

“Alright, in I go,” she laughed lightly. “Goodnight, Emperor of the Night. See you inside.”

 

“I’ll escort you in,” Wesley said.

 

Then Giovanni was left there feeling like he just wanted to drag her back there and make her just stay with him for the rest of the night.

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