In the previous chapter, I did say my school term has been eating a lot of my time. But at this point, I realise that my school term has been eating ALL of it. I haven't been able to update this story as much as I want to, because it's making things literally impossible to do anything else. I've already pulled three all-nighters the past week. That's as literal as it can get! Breaks of any kind are a luxury right now.

However, it's also my birthday tomorrow (the 13th). So in light of that, I thought I'd treat you viewers with a present: another chapter!

But don't expect another update for a couple months until the term is finished. That's how bad my school term has been treating me! I have papers or projects due every Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, with double the workload on Monday, so there goes my weekend.

Ha... so anyway, here's a serving of Cynthia's salad with Oran berry chocolate fondue to DaX0315, skelereaper13, the honoured Guest, Shardstar8, LEGAL-EAGLE53 (or not...), and Anon (or not...). Enjoy!

I'm glad everyone who's 'dining' is enjoying the fluff...

The honoured Guest: if you're still wondering why Wallace is still in Cyllage City, you only have to ask him. It's in the "Croquembouche" chapter. He won't let go of Steven that easily!

LEGAL-EAGLE53: I don't have a stance on Clemont and Korrina, but I can see how it would work! It's not bad, I admit. Oh, and Martine doesn't have any Pokémon. She was afraid of them at first, but she grew used to them later. That didn't mean she would want a Pokémon, though!

skelereaper13 and DaX0315: if you thought the previous chapter was intense, then read this one!

Now, without further, enjoy this interlude chapter. I actually really like it, because it's pretty emotional...

Chapter thirty-six: Moon's Reprise

The sun had mostly gone down over the oceanic horizon across the distance of Cyllage City. The sky, clear as it was, had turned into its deep midnight blue as the last of sunlight decorated the distance. The sky was cloudless, which left the moon and stars in its wake.

Cyllage City itself had quietened down after the events of Steven and Cynthia's fondue fight. However, that didn't mean that that fight was the most popular topic on anyone's mind in the city. From boutiques to the dinner table, from Grant's Gym to the terrace of the Stone Bistro, everyone would be talking of the same time. Oh, and it helped that the fight caused everyone's appetite to whet, which meant that every restaurant in and around Cyllage City was enjoying a temporary boom in business.

The square plaza at the end of the Stone Bistro's block was empty, of course. La Lune de Chocolat was closed at this time, and so was Cynthia's café. Moreover, the public began to notice that as a better way to market the café, Vue sur la Lune (or rather, Cynthia) had named it Le Café Sinnoh. How appropriate, seeing it bared the name of her home region.

For Steven's case, he would have liked to have continued cooking for his business at this time, but he was smart enough to know that media coverage would be on his heels. As a result, he retreated quietly to have a silent dinner at the restaurant bar – À la Mer – so no one would notice. The tension he felt had left him exhausted and he was thankful James was there to take the lead.

Normally, Vue sur la Lunewould have been headed under the watchful eye of their chef, Cynthia, in these busy times. But that was not the case tonight, for Cynthia made her way to where she resided – a private villa in the outskirts of the city.

Upon entering her villa, Cynthia slammed her fist against the wall. Some tears flowed down her cheeks and some even drenched her hair, but she didn't mind.

"I…" she sobbed, out of breath. "I lost."

Garchomp didn't know what to make of it and so motioned to Roserade, who was unofficial housekeeper, to get something for Cynthia. Roserade understood immediately and set about preparing a cup of hot tea fashioned from her own leaves. Both Pokémon were well worried for their master, and it worried them at how… frustrated she looked.

Cynthia hadn't even bothered removing her chef jacket by the time she had gotten to her kitchen. Her mind felt pretty heavy after all that had happened with the fondues and Steven.

She brought a hand to where he had kissed her cheek.

In her mind, it burned to think about it. About him.

Steven.

Just the mere thought of him brought anguish and a burning anger to her mind. For no reason, at least to her Pokémon, Cynthia slammed her fist against the freezer. The result was a painful sensation in Cynthia's fist on one end, and the freezer door shook and flew open on the other end.

I lost…

She slammed her fist against the freezer door again in an effort to close it, but it rebounded and flew open again.

Some tears started to trickle down Cynthia's cheeks again, but when she looked into the freezer, she did one thing which made sense to her. She took out – lo and behold – a tub of vanilla ice cream, went over to grab a spoon, and then walked over to sit on her couch. For a former Champion living alone, Cynthia had a great deal of space for herself in this villa.

Slowly at first, Cynthia helped herself to one bite of ice cream, then another, and then another. With each bite, Cynthia felt better momentarily, but the feeling would go away right after, so she would have to eat more bites of ice cream. Seemingly, Cynthia decided that wasn't enough. She fired up her television and turned on her streaming program. Maybe there was a good anime she could watch!

As she was browsing the available shows on, one particular anime caught her eye. It was called 'Vulpix! On ICE'. Supposedly, it was a figure skating anime that was all the rage on the streaming website, so why not watch it?

She opted to watch the first episode, and with her tub of ice cream close by, she watched the opening credits start up as she helped herself to more ice cream.

Roserade eventually showed up with a cup of tea for Cynthia, but the bouquet Pokémon looked even more concerned upon seeing Cynthia in this state. Cynthia had eaten through a quarter of the vanilla ice cream already! Not wanting to question her troubled state just yet, Roserade put down her prepared tea on the coffee table and retreated back to the kitchen.

At the same time, Cynthia finally put down her ice cream like she had her fill of it. If she ever needed more, as she watched her anime unfold, the ice cream was only an arm's reach away. Moreover, she could do with tea right now. It was fortunate Roserade had one prepared for her, but before Cynthia could even think of thanking, her Pokémon had already left.

Cynthia felt guilty. To ease it off, she helped herself to more ice cream and watched her anime.

The moonlight's rays shined through the windows to give a comforting glow into Cynthia's dark room. At this point, watching a popular anime in the dark, eating lots of ice cream, and doing nothing else, just how much more could Cynthia ask for right now?

"How could you be asking me this right now?" Steven questioned.

"But boss…" Martine whined. The Stone Restaurant and Bistro was facing an unnatural volume of customers who had shown up at the restaurant. While this was good news for business, Martine suspected this must have been an effect of what the public just witnessed just hours earlier. "You owe the entire staff one day off ever since you made that exception for Diantha! You made us do overtime! We're all dying to get time off! Plus, when was the last time you've gone to the beach?"

Before Martine could get her answer, she was interrupted by one of the waitresses who had popped into the kitchen to place a few more orders for the cooks. In addition, that waitress said, "One table is missing a whole set of forks. I need you to get some out there, Martine."

"Aw… you better come up with an answer, boss!" Martine said. She went on her way to help see to the customers and their missing forks, and meanwhile Steven was left thinking of Martine's words.

He could simply disregard Martine's regard for going to the beach, but the reality was that he really owed the staff an extra day off. The idea of going to the beach was the last thing he had in mind too, since Steven never thought of himself ever going there. In the worst case scenario, the entire staff would pressure him to go to the beach. All it would take was a big push.

"But you know, Steven, my friend," James said as he took the next order – another serving of the Stone Open. "Heading to the beach isn't a bad idea. Why, I might even head there myself on our day off! The restaurant does have a day to spare."

Steven only needed to look at Martine, who was giggling suspiciously. Of course. This had to be her fault that he was being pushed to going to the beach.

He felt a cold nudge at his hip and Steven only had to look down to see Metagross look up into his eyes. "Meta," Metagross said, and from the look in its eyes – a curious stare, it seemed to agree with what Martine had said.

"Oh no, not you too," Steven said, bewildered. "The answer is no! You know how busy we've been since… a few hours ago."

"Oh! Oh! Boss!" Martine said excitedly. "So? How did it feel? What was it like?"

"I…" Steven trailed off, and his voice instantly became shaky. "That I – uh, no it didn't feel… It was like…"

"Oh, let me guess, you wanted that to happen! You know, that's what your friend Wallace was there for after all. Now, all you had to do was move your lips a little more towards hers –" Martine started.

"Martine, arrêtez maintenant," Steven ordered quickly before the redhead could speak any further. He could already predict what would happen if he didn't stop her.

"But boss! That's so sweet of you! You know, I bet she'll be smiling every day because of that!" Martine added. "It's only a matter of time before you will call her ta chérie."

Speaking of smiling, Martine was definitely the one doing that, between her and Steven. Now that she had managed to put him in a mental corner, Martine began to walk away to the kitchens to leave him in his misery. As she did, she turned her head to him once more.

"But we still need to go to the beach! If you're not going, I'll tell Sophie to force you!"

"Martine, I've already made my point about this," Steven said coldly. "I'll take her down if it's the last thing I'll do to keep this business alive! As well as your job! Besides… Viola never made a sound decision, did she? She said she would say something tomorrow, but I think I might have lost this one. Cynthia won't lay down her arms yet!"

Now Martine made a face, which Steven ignored.

"Until then," Steven continued, "we both know that she is no longer welcome here."

"Dommage," Martine replied. She came out with two plates of the Stone Open for serving. Whatever Madame LeBlanc had written in her review, it was having a positive effect on Steven's business. Plus, the terrace was a smashing success, because when Martine brought the two servings of the open-faced sandwich on baguette, the customers were clearly enjoying themselves against the waterfront. Plus, the sight of the moon helped.

Weren't there other ways to convince him?

Before Cynthia knew it, she had finished her entire tub of ice cream and was craving another. Episode one of 'Vulpix! On ICE' took no time at all to finish and Cynthia was also readying to watch the next episode. While the episode was loading, she went over to the kitchen to discard her finished ice cream.

What Cynthia found there, though, was that Roserade and Garchomp appeared to want to cook dinner. Whether they were capable of cooking to Cynthia's standards, Cynthia had no idea, but she didn't want her Pokémon to potentially cause her villa to burn down.

"It's fine…" Cynthia muttered. "I can cook for you."

But I lost, she thought, as she shooed her concerned Pokémon away from the kitchen. However, the prospect of tasty desserts might have perhaps compensated for that. When was the last time Cynthia had made creamy matcha Poké puffs for them? Or soft-centred Poffins? Or something surprisingly better? It seemed worthwhile to wait for them! But the way Cynthia was taking it to the kitchen, she didn't seem right.

Cynthia boringly grabbed a handful of berries and began grinding them into powders and pastes, and at the same time started up a Poffin-making pot. She added the same batter necessary for all Poffins and soon added whatever berries she had on hand into the mix and kept stirring. The powders and pastes she had just made earlier would be essential.

I lost.

"You are who you are, and I don't change that," he said, she thought to herself. What am I doing right now?! I'll show you, Steven, I will! I promise!

"Rose?" Roserade appeared in the kitchen concerned. She furiously waved at Cynthia to warn her that her Poffin batter was going to spill. "Rose!"

"Agh!" Cynthia cried, seeing some of the batter leap over the pot's edge. She slowed down the stirring and sighed, and turned off the element at the same time. "Sorry, Roserade. I'm just not… thinking right for the past hour. I'll be fine."

Roserade frowned at Cynthia's state of denial, but she shrugged. Maybe Cynthia would come to her senses later. While stirring the batter, Cynthia continually added Nanab berries for a refreshing sweet and bitter taste and let the battle work on its on for now. It was a matter of time before it could burn, so she had to fast.

In a separate pot, Cynthia added powdered Nomel berries, chunks and chunks of Magost berries, and Grepa berries into a milk base. If things turned out well, it would form a nice cream which she would add to the Poffin batter later.

In truth, Roserade and Garchomp were highly looking forward to what Cynthia was preparing for them, and had told the other Pokémon about what was to come. Even so, they shared the same concern that Cynthia wasn't being herself as of late. What had she been doing for the day?

Cynthia continued to stir the Poffin batter the way she liked it. She kept the heat level high as an effort to make the batter expand faster, but it was a delicate act – the minutest error in timing would force the batter out and spill, which was something she was not prepared to do. Rather, Cynthia would have to stir the pot as slowly as she could and keep the timing right. The real trick was to make the outer layer solidify first, so she had to keep an eye on where she was stirring the batter and with how much strength she was pouring into it.

"He will know what I'm cooking, you hear me? He will KNOW!" Cynthia shouted furiously at the Poffin batter.

"Rose? Roserade!" Roserade cried anxiously.

To Cynthia's mild shock, more Poffin batter splashed out of the pot and nearly, nearly, onto her hand. Frustrated, Cynthia tried to calm herself down but her mental state meant that she wasn't performing the way she wanted to.

"I just… want a break," Cynthia admitted. She tried to refocus and stirred the batter again, and she briefly closed her eyes to relax. In the next moment, she was grimly putting the Poffins together. In truth, she should have made more, but could she really manage that at this time?

She added the berry and milk mix as scoops into the batter. Happily, as she expected, the cream landed onto the batter but did not melt immediately. This was what Cynthia was hoping for, and quickly as she could she poked a larger spoon into the batter to toss the Poffin into the air. The batter wrapped itself around the berry cream and landed on a plate Cynthia had on her other hand.

Now that's more like it, she thought.

Completely unsurprisingly for all Steven knew or cared, Wallace was once again in the foyer of the Stone Restaurant and Bistro.

"You're looking pretty grim, my friend," Wallace greeted. "So tell me, how did it feel?"

Didn't Martine just ask the same question?

"I don't know what you're talking about," Steven denied as he puffed his cheeks. Was it anger that was making his cheeks boiling red, perhaps? Well, it always had to do with her, didn't it?

"Your face is going red already! Don't worry, Steven, it takes time to get used to those feelings," Wallace said. "I can tell you probably enjoyed that."

"WHAT?!" Steven shouted. "You pushed me!"

"It would have happened anyway!" Wallace replied smugly. "Don't tell me you did not enjoy it! It was like it was one of your lifelong dreams!"

"Yeah, a lifelong dream of mine that you made up!" Steven fired back. "I have nothing to do with HER! She's NOT who you think she is! Do you have ANY idea what she's done?! I was going to tell you –"

"The stress must be getting to you," Wallace said, discarding Steven's retort. "Well, when was the last time you've ever had a break? You may be a chef, but you should consider things… like asking some girl out. Heck, Steven! Considering how many women you've met…"

Steven just didn't know how much more his mind could take. He was tired and burned out from the duel he had with Cynthia today, and his mind weighed pretty heavily too…

"I can see it in your eyes. Literally," Wallace said, as he pointed at under his own eyes. "Have you looked in the mirror recently? You're getting dark circles forming, and besides, if I had the chance, I would have introduced you to some more women… but if you really enjoyed what I helped you with…"

He pulled out a copy of the yesterday's Lumiose Press. "… with THIS! You see, you have to keep things moving along! At this rate, you'll win her over in no time."

Steven pulled at his own hair. What Wallace was showing him was an old headline with a photo of… Cynthia and himself. Steven could assume the article was implying something seriously romantic, but that was not what was on his mind now. He quietly coerced Wallace into leaving the restaurant, but it had no effect. So what Steven did was pull Wallace outside as a matter of throwing him out.

"What are you doing?!" Wallace said. "This will not help you! You were already getting a good start –"

"I don't need your help!" Steven interrupted roughly. "I have nothing to do with her! Besides, you know she and I are in an arms race now – we must fight to keep the advantage. I'm not going to fall for this illusion of yours, my friend."

Thankfully, Winona was there to take control, as she had even harsher words for Wallace for abandoning a romantic dinner they were having. From what Steven thought he heard, Winona wanted Wallace to make it up to her by treating her to ice cream – and Wallace, finally defeated, promised her.

Once Wallace was gone, Steven took a long look at around the foyer and sighed. Martine wasn't the only one who was suffering – Steven admitted he himself was in need of some rest, but that really wasn't on his mind. Sure, he might have owed everyone a break, but why wasn't he willing?

The answer was simple. It all had to do with Cynthia.

"Un moment, Monsieur Stone!" Laurent said from across the foyer the moment Steven walked back inside. "Did I hear that right? You actually kissed Cynthia? For real? I thought I would never see the day."

"Mm-hmm!" Sophie nodded in agreement. She crossed her arms and wore something of an approving grin. "It makes me wonder how the media hasn't published this yet! But you know, when we saw that article yesterday…"

What Steven did next was cover his eyes with one hand. This was simply too much to take. Sophie was answering a phone call at the desk (the words "Bonne idée," could be heard from Sophie), while Laurent wore a chuckle as he kept working. The next moment, Sophie pulled Laurent close and started whispering something in his ear.

Steven shook his head. He knew that Laurent and Sophie had been very good friends even before they started working here, given they were part of the same club and coincidentally ended up working at the same place. However, what he never counted on was that at some point in time – a very recent point in time – their workplace relationship had developed into some sort of workplace romance. Now Steven had no idea what to make of it. On one hand, this might be a reason why his two receptionists seemed motivated to work at the desk lately, but on the other hand, Steven worried that such relationships could tear his business apart. But what could he do? He couldn't just interfere, but this was happening at the workplace under his supervision!

The thing was that if workplace romance happened at his restaurant, Steven could already envision office politics occurring here. Manipulation and workplace conflicts could overrun his restaurant and it would start to fall apart.

It sort of reminded him of his situation with Cynthia. Argh… and this is how she'll be using manipulation, backstabbing, and whatever means – even a relationship! – to gain an advantage…

He was just about to enter his office until he felt his arm being pulled from behind. Steven turned around and saw Sophie looking right at him. She was smiling, although thankfully it wasn't akin to the suspicious smiles Martine wore. Now that Steven thought about it, it had been a while since Martine had actually done that.

Sophie's grasp was gentle at least, so Steven turned his exhausted, embarrassed face at her.

"Okay, Monsieur Stone," Sophie said as if there was an ultimatum going on. "Are you going to the beach on your day off?! I want to go too! Even Laurent says it's a good idea, so he'll go!"

How much more exhausted could Steven be right now? There was just so much going on in his mind, it was burning him out. He would have just dismissed the idea on the grounds that it was a work day they were giving up an extra work day.

Normally, in place of the regular weekday staff such as Martine and Laurent, there were staff to cover weekend shifts because the weekday staff would be having breaks. Unfortunately, with Diantha's dinner, an exception had to be made to force the weekday staff into overtime so –

CLAAAAANNNNGGGGG!

A sudden force struck his head. Steven blacked out.

"Well," Cynthia announced, "le dîner est prêt."

It was a combination of treats that would have been fitting for any given meal. In the past, Poffins usually took the form of large cookies, and even had the same texture of cookies. But in the Cynthia-style Poffin, while retaining the iconic shape, the texture and styles often differed. Some were hard, some were soft, some were chewy, and some even had kinds unexplainable.

Exhausted, Cynthia set aside a large plate of her handmade Poffins for her Pokémon as she set a plate for herself. She took a bite of a Poffin made with a Nanab berry exterior and a very creamy centre of Nomel, Magost, and Grepa berries. The outside Nanab shell attempted to whet her appetite with a blend of sweet and bitter, but the inside struck a fine balance of sweet, sour, and bitter that melted in her mouth. Oh… if only she could have more. She sighed and helped herself to another Poffin.

Garchomp wasn't the only Pokémon here who was concerned for Cynthia. Besides looking and acting miserably, was her so-called 'loss' really that bad? Watching a second episode of 'Vulpix! On ICE' was bad enough already. What they did notice was that she had eating her Poffins pretty quickly too. What Garchomp did was give Cynthia a nudge midway through the episode.

"What is it…" she said tiredly.

"Gar…" Garchomp said, pointing at the window to where the glimpse of ocean was visible.

It took a quick moment for Cynthia to process what Garchomp was getting, and it took a longer moment for Cynthia to make a decision. Was it a good idea? Did she need the time to go out there? Maybe it was, since it was an opportunity to get away from… all this mess.

"I could visit Diantha," she suggested. "I haven't really seen her since… that day."

Cynthia brought a hand to her cheek once more where he had his lips on that spot. No… If she went to see Diantha now, the only thing she could think of was what happened on that night.

It hurt to think about him, and the memory of his accusations against her… He guessed the truth somehow. He couldn't exactly prove it either, but for what mattered now, he was certainly a threat. But still, after the fondue fight, where did that leave her?

She lost, even though Viola had yet to make her decision. That's exactly how it felt, to put it plainly.

In a minute, Cynthia started to feel tears welling up in her eyes once more. That was so unlike of her. Why did she feel this way?! Being cool and collected had been something she was so used to… She needed to go somewhere, somewhere where she wouldn't be reminded of him.

Tomorrow is a Thursday, she thought. The next instance, she reached for her phone to call her workplace at Vue sur la Lune ("I'm taking the day off tomorrow," she said). The following instance, Cynthia finished up watching the second episode of her anime before heading to her bedroom to pick out some appropriate clothes. With Garchomp's help, she prepared bringing a sort of barbecue grill with them.

By the time she walked out of her bedroom, her Pokémon minus Garchomp and Roserade stood or sat together staring at what Cynthia had in mind. Milotic and Spiritomb didn't know what to make of it, while Lucario and Togekiss were conversing with Roserade for details.

"Well, what do you say we head to the beach?" she suggested.

The four uninformed Pokémon stared at her. Cynthia helped herself to another Poffin before adding, "I think it would be a great place to cool off for everyone, and me, of all people."

That part with Steven blacking out always gets me! That idea was actually given to me by one of my friends.

The next chapter will be served... Probably during May. It's just that I've been too busy. If I've got downtime, I'll write, but no promises!

Until then, would you care to review and treat yourselves to a plate of Cynthia's homemade Poffins with berry cream centres? Plus, would you believe that that idea was inspired while I was eating a bowl of oatmeal?

Plus, I have a poll on the tastiest dishes of Culinary Rivals on my profile page. Check it out and vote for your top 5!