That Iris champion battle was a surprise for sure. It was actually quite exciting, because back then, the only time I found out about new pokemon and information about games was when I played them.
I've grown up with 3 sisters, just recently a fourth was born, so I have been around girly things for a long time. I think it has finally started rubbing off on me.
I was never really into online battling, mostly since I didn't have internet until recently.
Myself, I can't remember any character I was attracted to, until I played X of course, and saw Korrina.. XD Maybe it was because I was just at that age. Wow, that was 6 years ago. Strange.