Is it because that I discontinued food that the number of orders last time also decreased?! No matter, I'm done with my spring term, so I'm free to write until September! I can't believe it's been a month since I've updated!

So, LEGAL-EAGLE53, take home one of Steven's wines.

Chapter twenty-three: Need for Sanctuary

Steven Stone anticipated the worst when his face made the front page of Lumiose Press.

First having an inventory of wine that didn't match up with the financial statements, now his company was victim to some sort of scandal now. Could it get that much worse? As a result, Steven had seen his business plummet over the week. He only saw a considerable drop in customers eating at the Stone Bistro, and earned only half the revenue that could deem his restaurant sustainable by the end of the week. The restaurant was getting a bad reputation.

It did not help that Lumiose Press had reported the incident either.

On the other hand, the bakery and the museum was holding out fairly strong. With the help of James, Steven had begun planning how to make his restaurant favourable again. The idea of expanding the restaurant to include a terrace was a choice, and from the looks of it, it was a good one.

And his Stone Open… His one best shot at clinging to some redemption. Boom. It had gone up in smoke. Unless he had a food critic to somehow miraculously drop by, he was backed against the wall. For the time being, it seemed that no food critic would dare to approach him ever again.

That morning. It happened that morning.

He slept restlessly that night. By the time he tried to leave his villa the following day, Steven realised that that was not possible. He found that a crowd of reporters had gathered at his villa. They not only surrounded the front door (which Steven didn't dare open), but had crowded around the windows and even tried to find a gap on the roof.

Depressed, Steven picked up his phone. He had to make a call now.

"Stone Restaurant and Bistro." He heard Laurent's voice come from the other end.

"Laurent," Steven said.

"Oh! Mr. Stone!" Now Laurent's voice became anxious. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I need to talk to James," he replied.

"Monsieur d'Arc has advised you not to do that," Laurent replied. "We're being swarmed with reporters and journalists right now. If you come, it'll be your funeral."

Steven merely hung up the phone and buried his face in his hands. For him, nowhere in all of Kalos was safe. Perhaps if he took a breather… If only he could! However, with the number of journalists trying to peek into his villa, it was impossible.

He needed to find a way to re-establish his reputation. Period. Where better to start than having a good review from a critic? Unfortunately, he questioned if his reputation for customer service had been badly damaged by the media, come to that.

The media.

If only there was some way to vent his anger at the media outside, but he figured that would do a lot more harm than good. As a result, Steven paced back and forth wondering what to do. His Pokémon looked equally worried for him, but in the end Steven chose to fix himself a cup of tea. He mixed it with milk and sugar just the way he liked it, and brought it to his lips after.

Oh what to do, Steven thought.

That wasn't the end of it. He had made absolutely clear to Wallace that he had nothing personal between himself and Cynthia. And how did Wallace repay him? By instituting that relationship to Lumiose Press. That did nothing to help Steven at all, and now everyone was certain the relationship was reality. It was like Apples and Oranges version 1.2. The next generation of media cover.

Wallace.

It was always Wallace.

Well, he had to admit that the newspaper company did cover a bit of Wallace's relationship with Winona, but compared to his own coverage with Cynthia it was nothing. The media had blown it completely out of proportion.

Walking around, and contemplating that outside was pretty much unsafe for the time being, Steven looked around his villa for something to do. In the absence of working at his restaurant, he was quite bored. He approached his desk, placed his cup on the space, and looked into the drawers.

It was then, upon opening one of the drawers, he saw his old explorer kit of which he had acquired on a visit to the Sinnoh region. Back in those days, around the time being Champion, he had that obsession for collecting rocks and stones. When he managed to get his hands on one of these kits, the kit basically became his 'best friend'. He took it wherever to get some digging done.

Even in this area of Kalos, where rocks were abundant, Steven had ample opportunity to look for new rocks. However, his business with the bistro wouldn't wait, and he had to sacrifice his time for the business' sake. Perhaps now was the time to get the explorer kit back into gear.

Sighing, he walked over to the window just to peek outside. Although there were plenty of people outside who looked like they were willing to break into the villa, Steven glanced at the window just to look at the weather. It was sunny, but not too hot. If he could get away from the business life for a while, now would be the time.

Eventually, he dressed up in his old hiking clothes. An orange collared shirt, a vest, combat pants, combat boots, and most importantly his bag. It felt like an eternity since he had been in this outfit, and as he put his explorer kit into the bag, he felt the whiff of nostalgia of wanting to excavate rocks again.

Food, he thought.

Chansey eggs, croissants, and LaBrie. Maybe a bottle of fresh water. Yes, that seemed like the ideal meal. Steven put on his cooking jacket and got to cooking straight away. He had two eggs fried, a handful of uncooked croissants placed in the oven, and chopped up some pieces of LaBrie to take with him. Perhaps a Slateport cake wouldn't hurt either.

Now, there was the matter of actually getting out.

"I'm going to be heading out for a while," Steven told his Pokémon. "Well, you're coming with me, Skarmory. But as for the rest of you, you have the house to yourselves."

His lunch was packed in his bag, along with his explorer kit, and he motioned for Skarmory to head to the door with him. He knew it wasn't going to be pleasant once he stepped out of those doors, but it had to be done.

"Please lock the door once I'm out," he instructed Metagross, of which the latter nodded.

Holding his breath, Steven sat on Skarmory's back and had his Armaldo open the door to let him out. The Kalos sunlight broke into the villa as it blinded his eyes. Unfortunately, the shock of the blinding light was overshadowed by the storm of questions that berated after. He could sense the number of cameras that were readied just for him.

But, as he had planned, he and Skarmory shot out of the villa and into the air, and above the crowd of reporters and journalists that had crowded in front. He heard the door slam shut as soon as he was in the air, and when Steven turned his head around to look down he was surprised at the sheer size of people that had surrounded his home.

Reporters, journalists, a news vehicle belonging to Lumiose Press, and a couple of helicopters had his home surrounded. Worse was the fact that the commotion had attracted the locals of Cyllage City, and now the villa was surrounded on every end imaginable.

Am I glad I got out of there, Steven thought. Hmm… and I might have to sell this villa like I did with the one in Sinnoh. So much for living a quiet life!

And what was to blame? The media. But something had happened yesterday that had demolished his reputation now. He needed to rest. He needed to get away. Truth be told, he was heading in the direction of the ocean which was where he did not intend to go, but it was good to mislead the people.

Unfortunately, the two helicopters weren't keen on letting Steven fly away. Instead, they turned about to pursue him. Steven, annoyed by the ruthless coverage, wished he could bring down the helicopter; but of course that was not an option. But there was no way he would be able to shake them off, and especially at how fast they were moving.

How am I going to shake them off without harming them?! Steven thought. It was near impossible, or at least alone. The flight carried further and further away from the mainland, and above the waters, Steven knew there had to be a way.

They went further and further away from the coast, but even then the helicopters were fast. If they were going to keep following him, he would have to outmaneuver them whenever possible, because it was pointless trying to shake them off.

"Dive, dive, dive," Steven urged. Skarmory dived downward such that he was right above the waters, and then sharply turned away to lose the helicopters. For a moment, he seemed to have lost them, but they quickly turned about to follow him.

What will it take to shake off these people?! Steven thought.

Rather than embarrass himself in front of the countless media present on the shore already, Steven sought to take the situation even further away. He had been in the air for five minutes already, which was disastrous in itself.

More drastic action was needed.

"Skarmory. Use Aerial Ace on their hulls," Steven instructed. "Just do it to give them a scare."

Skarmony questioned Steven's motives, but he obeyed nevertheless. Decreasing his altitude, he went for the bottom of the helicopter and struck it, which caused the machine the shake. Likewise, Skarmory swooped around and did the same with the other helicopter. If nothing else, it felt nothing more than a friendly bump. Even so, it was enough to send the helicopters off course, and gave Steven enough time to get away. He was glad they were far enough away from the villa that the public couldn't see what was going on.

"Come on! Let's get out of here!" he shouted.

Now, all Steven cared about was finding a nice place to do excavations. To do that, he would have to be on the ground. The thing about Cyllage City was it was located in an area that was rich with rocky areas, which gave Steven ample opportunities to do some digging. All around the city there were rocks, rocks, and rocks.

In the direction of Geosenge Town lay the mysterious Kalos Route 10, alias the Menhir Trail. It wasn't the best place to do excavations, but Steven hadn't intended to mess with the menhirs either. He was more interested in the mountainous area near Cyllage City, but for the time being wanted to take a walk.

"I'm not hungry yet, if that's what you're thinking," he said to Skarmory.

He landed on the grassy ground, recalled Skarmory, and observed his surroundings. Rows and rows of menhirs lined up amongst fields of green. For a moment, as Steven heard the gentle breeze and scent of the Kalos seaside in the air, he could relax. It felt wonderful to get away from the chaos, and if only – if only – he could experience this feeling every day.

He kneeled down to investigate the nearest menhir. At first, Steven thought about trying to break parts of it with the pickaxe in his explorer kit, but upon close examination he realised the menhirs were actually gravestones. Shuddering, Steven decided to walk along the route towards Cyllage City, where the more 'breakable' rocks were.

However, that didn't stop him from taking a close examination of the menhirs though. Steven did kneel down to look at one closely, albeit knowing they were graves. Although Steven was in no position to break the menhir, he did have to remark that they radiated some form of energy – which was what they were known for. More subtly, they were warm to the touch.

Elsewhere at the Stone Bistro, in the eyes of Martine Grenadine, business was relatively slow. Even though there were a handful of customers, they were all journalists. She suspected it had to do with the disastrous scandal that had happened the night earlier.

As for Diantha, she had been in the Pokémon Centre's care since last night. Up to now, she hadn't heard from the local doctor yet. What she did know about, in small part due to the news broadcast over radio, was that Diantha was still unconscious but was living and breathing at least. From the report, Diantha had a severe allergic reaction, and as a result the Stone Bistro was under fire for serving 'bad' food to a celebrity of all people.

What Steven did last night was he ended up throwing everyone out the doors, but that was another story.

The Pokémon Centre currently was blocked off by the gendarme. As the mass number of people were interested in seeing Diantha, fans and journalists alike, this proved to be a problem for the medical staff. As a result, the Pokémon Centre called on the gendarme to block off the area as a means to protect their patients. The only exceptions were for some radio news hosts and Lumiose Press.

It wouldn't be long before the lunch hours, where business normally picked up. But due to the slow business right now, Martine supposed she could extend her break a little more.

Since the restaurant was so quiet, she ended up talking with Sophie over lunch. For lunch, Martine stuck with a simple meal of onion soup with a croissant whereas Sophie had half a serving of the Stone Accolade. Between them, they were looking at a copy of Lumiose Press on the table, and the popular Kalos magazine.

"They suspect we poisoned her? That's so professional of Lumiose Press," Martine remarked.

"But they're blaming it all on Mr. Stone!" Sophie protested. "It could be Cynthia's fault!"

"You're only saying that because you love his looks," Martine sneered, as if trying to be sassy.

Sophie's face flushed. "No!" she said hotly. "It's not like that! It's – Martine, don't tell me you're saying that because you love his looks! Quelle fille!"

Martine held her breath, as if she was partly annoyed, but returned to looking at the paper. The article aside, the photos taken showed embarrassing moments of Diantha being hauled away by Steven. Additional photos showed her trying to clear the way, and the headline claimed Steven was responsible for knocking her out.

That wasn't the end of it, though, because Sophie was reading the popular Kalos magazine.

"And so they think Mr. Stone is having an affair with Diantha and Cynthia," she said, whilst shaking her head. "That is embarrassing. I mean, for him."

Martine turned her head to look out the window, and specifically below. There was a construction crew surveying the area with James. After what appeared to be a conversation between one of the workers and James, the latter nodded and walked back into the restaurant lobby. Odd. What would a construction crew be doing at the Stone Bistro?

"... You would be upset, wouldn't you, Martine?" Sophie asked.

Martine snapped back into reality.

"Uh, yeah, of course I would!" she quickly replied.

This made Sophie smile. "I knew you weren't listening. So, do you have anything personal between you and Mr. Stone? Like, personal?" she said.

Martine laughed. "No, no, it's nothing like that! We all know there's only one woman for him. Besides, what about you? Don't you have someone in mind too?"

Sophie wasn't willing to say anything on that, and then she had the perfect excuse not to answer. "Martine, I think there's a customer who wants to order."

Martine looked behind her, and indeed there was a customer. Scowling at Sophie's non-response to her answer, she got up to see to the customer. Sophie, on the other hand, brushed her black hair back for it to wrap behind her ear. She picked up her fork, speared a bit of the sautéed vegetables that made the dish so famous, and continued eating.

At the same time, Martine went up to the customer – a woman dressed in an orange dress with a white-and-orange hat to match.

Martine greeted, "Bon matin. What can I get for you today?"

"Je voudrais un 'Stone Open', s'il vous plait," the woman replied.

"Bien sûr," Martine replied.

It was a quiet day for Cynthia, but she didn't mind it at all. Furthermore, the sunlight felt great, and the weather was cool enough that she didn't break a sweat. Indeed, she was well away from her workplace at Vue sur la Lune, and she took the time to relax. The previous night had been chaotic for Steven, and Cynthia was very glad she had escaped the chaos that had unfolded in the Stone Restaurant and Bistro.

Especially when she had expected it too. Cynthia, thus, felt it was a time of celebration under normal circumstances.

"Well, what do you think, Garchomp?" she asked her partner Pokémon. "Care for a berry?"

Garchomp nodded, and Cynthia handed a slice of Razz berry to her. It was a brilliant day for a picnic, so dressed in her casual light-blue vest and black pants, Cynthia went out to look for a quiet place. Unfortunately, Cyllage City was all rocks, cliffs, and stones, so she had to look elsewhere. There was a rocky beach to the south, a cave to the east, and a field to the north. She went for the field.

Now here she was, camping on the grass near the berry tree, drinking a bit of wine in a miniature bottle she had packed for herself. Alongside, she brought a Bluk berry pie and a spinach and cheese pie for lunch. She had only just gotten here, and after sitting on the grass she contemplated eating already, but she waited. She had plenty of time.

Garchomp's head perked. Cynthia, knowing her Pokémon well enough already, didn't even need to ask Garchomp what she had detected, and instead Cynthia stood up to investigate the nearby area.

"Wait here," she said to Garchomp. "I'll be back."

Garchomp looked doubtful, but Cynthia assured she would be back to eat the pie later.

Now that she was really on her own, Cynthia took her time reflecting on the past night. Sure, the night was chaotic, but she didn't know whether to feel sorry for Steven or not. He was the one who had cut off her supplies, and now he was repaid with embarrassment for knocking Diantha unconscious.

Knocking out Diantha. The Kalos Champion. She wondered how Steven would be able to live with himself now. She smiled at the thought, as no one would have ever thought how Diantha had collapsed just like that, other than herself.

Speaking of which, she had to admit she hadn't counted on having a one-on-one with Steven last night, but she was fine with that. She had been to see her morning magazine and read about Steven basically was a victim of a scandal. As she passed the Stone Bistro earlier in the morning, the place was crowded by about twice the number of media from last night.

Despite Steven cutting off her supply line, she had to hand it to him, he looked extraordinary.

She took cover behind a cropping of rock, keen to see who or what Garchomp had detected. When Cynthia did look behind, she gasped.

It was him.

And he seemed to have heard her gasp.

And now he was walking in her direction.

"Qui est là?" he said, his voice partly uncertain.

Ooh... What will happen now? Review, and have a serving of Steven's lunch! Chansey eggs, croissants, and a slice of LaBrie. I admit, it seems more like a breakfast though.