Due to Culinary Rivals (yes, THIS story) reaching a record number of views for me in two weeks ago (a combined 339 views, and that doesn't count the days after!) I decided to try to a new chapter uploaded immediately. Unfortunately, work and school does pay a price. But hey! I'm uploading a chapter in two weeks! That's better than the past once-a-month chapter upload!
Therefore... This is a rapid update!
For SelfiesWithSprinkles, LEGAL-EAGLE53, the three honoured Guests, and TolazytosignIN (well, I'd be interested in knowing your account name), have a chocolate-vegetable smoothie on Cynthia. Sprinkles, if you really are jealous, then have two!
LEGAL-EAGLE53: your concerns are taken into consideration. Also, there is one thing I'd like to point out regarding "nous nous". In French, there is a certain preposition which must be accompanied with subjects and certain verbs. In the case of the word se battre, it must have the preposition je me, tu te, il/elle se, nous nous, vous vous, or ils/elles se. Otherwise, the word se battre would never make sense.
For the Guests: I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Here's this rapid update!
TolazytosignIN: am I really a lady...?
Chapter twenty-nine: These Eyes are Serious
The fateful encounter, inevitably, happened. In the Great Hall, Laurent ran into his friend, Sophie. A standoff ensued with Hawlucha and Clauncher locked in a battle of somewhat impressive proportions.
In the end, it came down to strikes of equal force between the two Pokémon. The two co-workers once in a while locked into each other's' serious eyes before they focused on beating each other again. Throughout the battle, Hawlucha and Clauncher exchanged blows as they passed each other.
"You've gotten better, mon amie!" Laurent complimented.
"You've gotten worse, mon ami!" Sophie fired back.
With a smirk, Laurent ordered Hawlucha to take it to the air for an airborne assault, but was in for a surprise when Clauncher merely hopped forward to outflank Hawlucha. All of sudden, Clauncher shot a punishing blast of water against Hawlucha's back before the latter had a chance to land. By the time Hawlucha had landed, he could barely stand.
In short, Laurent blinked before he realised what had happened.
"You – you –!" he stuttered, in which this earned a smile from Sophie. "Hawlucha! Keep at it! We can still win this! Pull it together!"
"No you don't!" Sophie shot back, except that she suddenly felt the whiff of uncertainty when Hawlucha somehow managed to flawlessly evade the next attack from Clauncher despite barely standing. It felt like Hawlucha had, in some sense, regained some fighting spirit.
And at some point, he managed to outflank Clauncher again and prepared to deliver what would look like the final blow –
"ARRÊTEZ!" a voice shouted. "The clock is up! We have no time left! Stop battling, maintenant!"
In that instant, Hawlucha had no choice but to stop the attack. It took some effort to halt, and as a result he collapsed on the ground. Laurent looked quite disappointed that he couldn't finish the battle – at the last second no less.
So it ended up with Hawlucha unable to finish Clauncher off. Hawlucha, hanging his head in disappointment, walked back to retreat to Laurent. Subsequently, Laurent and Sophie recalled their Pokémon into their Poké Balls before the two of them met up face-to-face.
"You did well there," Sophie commented.
She extended a kiss to Laurent's cheek, pressing her lips against them. Laurent, on the other hand, felt reluctant to reply, but he returned the kiss on Sophie's cheek after.
"You weren't so bad yourself," he said finally, with a small smile. Was that a shade of pink on Sophie's cheek? She must have been exhausted from the battle.
Afterwards, he and Sophie followed the usher through several other rooms of the château where apparent battles had been stopped. It wasn't before long that the two co-receptionists were in the foyer of the building, where plenty of others from the fan club had gathered to see the supervisor.
I just hope I got enough points, Laurent thought. If he managed to beat enough opponents during the session, and certainly faster than Sophie, he just might get a good shot at winning the trophy. Unfortunately, that would depend if he managed to beat more opponents than Sophie, of course.
Everyone was standing, since there were no seats in the foyer (nor was the Battle Château prepared to accommodate tens of seats in the first place).
"Well done. Well done," the supervisor commented, with her voice unusually quieter than it normally was. "In light of the completion of today's writs, this marks the finale of today's fan club session, and hence I am proud to present the club trophy…"
In an instant, everyone's eyes swarmed around for the trophy, as if it were nearby. As it happened, the trophy – a metal replica of the Battle Château with a glass exterior on a pedestal – was being brought in by fellow club staff; two, to be specific. At once, Laurent and Sophie became excited to even see the club trophy.
Whispers could be heard all around as the trophy was settled on a table beside the supervisor.
"Ooh, Laurent," Sophie whispered. "This better be good!"
"And to make this meeting special, the club trophy will be presented by the honourable earl Royan," the supervisor added, inviting the said earl to stand beside her. While the supervisor herself normally did the honours, this was different. To be presented the trophy by one of the earls, and a particularly popular one come to that, was a special honour. It also helped that he was practically fangirled by everyone in the Château Fan Club, so this made things super tense.
After Royan had taken position, the supervisor cleared her throat. "Okay, so now we have the results of today's session, and therefore the winner will be the one who has accumulated the most points from our activities!" she announced. As it happened, a fellow staff member handed the supervisor an envelope.
At once, Laurent and Sophie held their breath. Between them, it was fine if they didn't win under normal circumstances, but to have the trophy presented by an earl, Royan no less, was a special honour. This was certainly something they wouldn't want to miss out on.
"Le voila," she said, opening the envelope. "And… after all the events we've had in today's session, before I announce the winner, I would like to thank all of you for attending the session. Now, without further –" She opened the envelope to read the chart. "– our winner… is Sophie!"
Laurent's heart sunk.
It wasn't as if Steven had forgotten about Winona telling him about Cynthia stealing his wines, but he couldn't believe it. But then again, that was a possible explanation of how he had missing wines, despite the shipping invoice saying things were in order. How was he going to deal with this now? He had no evidence, but it did make things suspicious. Perhaps he ought to pay Diantha a visit just in case…
Aggron put a paw on Steven's shoulder as if to congratulate him, which brought Steven back to his senses.
"Ah yes, well done, Aggron," Steven said. "Well, so we've finally done it, eh? The terrace looks very nice too." Indeed, the terrace looked as cozy and comfortable as it could be, and it helped that there was the view of the glittering Kalos coast that complimented the terrace perfectly. Steven wondered
It sometimes worried Steven after all that had happened so far. If anything, he was going to need more information. Plus, he still owed Diantha a proper apology. With the terrace clear of safety inspections, it seemed like now was a good time to do that.
"I'll leave the restaurant into your hands for the time being," Steven said.
"Oui, chef," James replied. "Where are you off to, may I ask?"
"Uh…" Steven muttered. "The Pokémon Centre."
Without further ado, Steven was out of the Stone Restaurant and Bistro. With his cook jacket removed and stored in his office, he was prepared to stop by in his usual attire (a suit, basically). But before heading out, he took time to head to his kitchen to prepare something.
On the way out, he completely ignored Martine's questions – questions that pertained to where he was going of course. Even so, the sticking points she said included claiming he was off to meet up with Cynthia in secret. The reaction Martine got was another death glare, but Martine was so used to it by now that she even took it as a sign of affection for Cynthia!
"Booooossss!" she shouted. "Who's the gift for? Oh! Is it for Cynthia?"
But Steven completely ignored her again.
Even after the trophy presentation by the popular baron, Sophie could tell Laurent was feeling somehow bitter. As she carried the club trophy with her (with a stern warning from the supervisor to have it returned in a week), she and Laurent walked in silence back to the club tents where refreshments were being served.
For the most part, Sophie was smiling the entire way through, and Laurent had that vibe of… sadness? He looked emotionless, for sure, but it looked like the life had been drained out of him. In addition, Laurent kept his head down, like he was very disappointed.
"Come on, Laurent! Don't be such a stick in the mud!" she said, giving her co-worker a light nudge with her shoulder, as both her hands were holding the trophy. "Come on, I know you're happy. Right? Right? Right?"
Laurent sighed, which earned a laugh from Sophie. "You know, Sophie," he said. "That sounds exactly like something Martine would only say."
"Aw… Laurent, don't tell me you're jealous?" Sophie nudged him again. "At least you get to see the trophy up close. Heck, I'll even let you hold onto it! But before we even do that… I want to get some things from the club. I'm craving dessert, so let's celebrate together."
"I'm not in the mood," he replied.
"But you know, I'm in the mood for buying a few things at least…"
Laurent turned his head to look into Sophie's eyes, and suddenly felt that something was suspicious of her. It was like… she had this suspicious innocence she was trying to communicate. As they approached the tables, they could see plenty of merchandise for sale, and it was then Laurent made the connection with Sophie's behaviour and the merchandise.
"Wait, Sophie, did you even remember to bring any money, with you?" he asked sharply.
But instead of replying, Sophie thrust the trophy into Laurent's hands before running to the tables to examine the merchandise. Jewelry, fan hats, posters, and even full-bodied costumes fit for any duke or duchess were up for sale. Whilst Sophie eagerly looked at each item, Laurent stood where he was awkwardly holding the club trophy. He would be anything that Sophie had forgotten to bring money with her.
Still after, Laurent watched Sophie pick up posters and look at them; each one showing a different perspective of the Battle Château. As well, they were coloured in different times of the day. One showed a blazing sunset, and another showed a crystal clear sunrise.
Afterwards, Laurent watched what seemed to be an argument between Sophie and the clerk. On one hand, Sophie was clutching the posters and on the other hand, the clerk seemed intent on seizing them back. Sighing, Laurent approached the scene to listen in and, evidently, there was a dispute.
"Cette fille ne paiera pas," the clerk said.
"I'm sorry," Laurent replied, dragging Sophie away with one hand to the side. When they were somewhat further away, Laurent stared at her in the eyes. "Que fais-tu?! Let me guess, you didn't bring any money, did you?!"
"But Laurent…" Sophie pouted, flashing her eyelids at him, "I might have forgotten, but I really need these posters! And those earrings! And that necklace! Laurent, pleeeeeaaaaase?"
"No," Laurent's response was short.
"But I'm totally serious!" Sophie pouted again, this time is was a whine, and brought her face closer to Laurent's. "See that?! See it?! These eyes are serious! These are the eyes of serious fan."
Laurent stayed silent.
"These are the eyes of a girl who simply needs this stuff!"
More silence.
"These are… SERIOUS EYES!" Sophie added, and not to mention trying to charm Laurent at the same time.
Soon enough, Sophie left the table a happy girl. With her arms full of posters, bracelets, and as well as a fan hat, Sophie looked just like the Battle Château fan she made out to be, hence the fan club. Plus, it helped that she was the recipient of the club trophy.
But Laurent… Poor Laurent had to carry the trophy and as well as a lighter wallet. Sophie just had to make him spend, didn't she? At least on the plus side, Sophie was happy.
Soon enough, they were seated at one of the free tables in anticipation of the promised refreshments. The club trophy was placed on the table in front of Sophie, with her purchased goods close by.
"I can't believe I just bought all this for you…" Laurent said as if it were a complaint.
"But it was well worth it, wasn't it?" Sophie replied. "Oh! Look! It's the chef! It's –"
Her words stopped dead and her expression froze. Curious at that, Laurent turned his head around to look at where the chef was supposed to be preparing food for the club. So far, there was only one person there managing an entire outdoor kitchen. Laurent's eyes had widened.
Cynthia.
"So yes, please welcome our special guest," the supervisor announced. "If you are joining us for refreshments, that is. Tasty desserts will certainly be the highlight of today's end-of-session. I present to you, the head chef of Vue sur la Lune, Cynthia!"
Instantly, a round of applause was given to the said chef. Cynthia, dressed in a white cooking jacket, simply waved at everyone in front of her before she turned her attention to the food in front of her. First, she preheated an oven conveniently set up behind her, whereas Cynthia herself began making something of a chocolate-like batter.
Meanwhile, Sophie leaned closer to Laurent, whispering, "You don't suppose we could bring one of those – whatever she's making – back? I'd love to try two of them!"
"Well, we'll just have to see, won't we?" Laurent added, smiling.
Cynthia in the meantime began shaping the batter into cakes for everyone to see – which almost certainly looked like brownies, and it wasn't before long that they were placed in the oven too. Within moments, the familiar aroma of cocoa could be smelt everywhere. Truth be told, anyone would have been attracted to the smell.
Afterwards, Cynthia took the liberty of cleaning up her work station and whatever else was necessary as the brownies were being cooked and baked. Within minutes, she had everything cleaned up and then she took out an abnormally huge bucket of ice cream.
It happened somehow that Steven managed to sneak into the local Pokémon Centre unnoticed when there were plenty of others who were trying to get in to see Diantha. Thankfully, as it happened, only a fraction of them were paparazzi.
Only the nurses were surprised at the unannounced appearance of the Stone Bistro's head chef. Nevertheless, Steven was allowed in by all means. He found Diantha in her respective hospital ward in the end, where she looked much better than before, two days ago. Diantha was sitting upright on the bed and was reading a magazine.
"Do you mind if I come in?" Steven asked, as he opened the door.
Diantha put down her magazine to look at Steven. At first, she was surprised at his spontaneous appearance, but she was nevertheless smiling as if greeting an old friend. It appeared she was happy to have any visitors at all.
"Of course," she replied. "You're always welcome to visit, and it's much better than having crowds trying to score a picture of me. Besides, how did you get in here?"
Steven bowed his head. "You don't even want to know, but I called in a favour from my Pokémon. That's enough said."
Closing the door behind him, Steven walked over to pull up a nearby seat beside the bed. As he sat, Diantha noticed he had a basket with him as he went in – which had a selection of fruits and cheese. Almost immediately, Diantha blushed.
"Is that for me?" she said. "Wow, friend. That's really thoughtful!"
"Well, it's the least I can do," Steven said back, albeit sheepishly. "I figured I owed you an apology for causing you an allergic reaction. You could say a gift would be appropriate and, plus, I made this myself! On behalf of my restaurant, my staff, and especially me, I would like to apologise."
Diantha gratefully accepted the gift, although she wondered if it was really necessary. She had a close look at it to find a small cake of LaBrie, a healthy serving of De Cyllage, a bunch of Persim berries and several apples, oranges, and grapes. It looked marvelous.
"Apology accepted, Steven, but I think you might have pushed it too far with a gift like this. I'm flattered!" she said, and looked pleased all the same, as she put the basket to the side table. "By the way, if you're wondering how I'm doing, I'm feeling great. It's only been a couple days, but I've recovered."
"I didn't even know you were conscious," Steven said. "How long have you been awake for?"
"Oh, since this morning," Diantha replied. "One moment, I was in your restaurant, and the next, I'm in the Pokémon Centre. Just how random can things get?"
"Has Cynthia dropped by, by any chance?" Steven added.
Suddenly, Diantha raised a suspicious eyebrow against him. "Well, I wouldn't know myself, seeing as you're practically my only visitor. I'm more surprised she hasn't dropped by either. Oh wait, would you have spent some quality time with her, by any chance?"
At once, for the briefest instant, Steven's memories flowed back to Route 10 where he was supposed to have some alone time but was interrupted by Cynthia –
"No," he coolly said, pushing his thoughts aside. "Not at all. There's nothing between us, and for better reasons."
But Diantha, apparently, was showing just how much she was enjoying teasing him. "Are you sure? I'll have you know that she looked at you pretty often that night, so doesn't that mean something? Otherwise…"
Steven had to hold up a hand for her silence. "Just no, no, and no," he quickly said. "Besides, am I not spending quality time right now? Avec toi?"
Diantha shook her head, whilst smiling. "Don't try to change the subject, friend. Oh, are you trying to flirt with me? I'm flattered enough as it is already, but I'm sure there's always a special someone else in your life. That's none of my business, of course. That doesn't change the fact that you probably saw more of her these days."
Steven's smile faltered and he refused to say anything more. However, Diantha was fine with that. Despite having been in hospital for days, it was worthwhile to have this conversation with Steven. True, she supposed she might be jealous of Cynthia, but she had to admit they were perfect for each other. Cynthia and Steven.
Why was it that Steven failed to notice? Or perhaps Diantha was wrong, that Steven might harbour no feelings at all. But even if Cynthia didn't catch his eyes, he certainly caught Cynthia's.
"Anyway, I should have been warned about your allergies in the first place," he said, moving onto a different topic. "But you didn't notify me about anything! Just what are you allergic to?"
"Oh," Diantha said. "Coconut. Before you say anything, Steven, I hope you didn't have your foods anything near coconut, otherwise, I would have probably collapsed."
"No! That's not possible," Steven denied. "I don't think we've prepared any food that night that had anything near coconut and what not –"
He stopped short, as if something popped into mind. Something familiar. Something rash. Something that required more information.
"Excuse me, Diantha, but I have to go," he said, standing up. "You know, that might be the case that my food was near coconut, and I'm sorry for that. It won't happen again. Plus, the next time you drop by, your next meal is on me."
Diantha looked very touched by Steven's offer and nodded as he left the room. After he left, Diantha picked up her gift basket to examine the contents. Cheese and fruit… She had a craving for fruit right now! Only a minute later, she was eating a few grapes and Persim berries. They were surprisingly fresh.
Steven was really kind and generous, wasn't he?
Was it a coincidence that Wallace, Winona, and Lisia happened to stop by the Battle Château? Perhaps it was, but it was no coincidence they decided to check out what was going on, anyway. After they had their fill from Vue sur la Lune's café, they all agreed to go on a walk. It was just the commotion in front of the facility that caught their attention.
So they ended up checking it out.
"It seems like something's happening. Is there anything special about that building?" Wallace said, as he pointed at the château and the number of tents and stalls set near it.
"That's the Battle Château…" Winona groaned, shaking her head at Wallace's lack of knowledge.
"And I smell brownies!" Lisia piped, with her eyes lighting up. "Oh gosh, it's… coming from over there…"
She drifted away into following the strong smell of chocolate, and only to find a group of people seated at set tables and watching the chef do the cooking and baking. From the smell of it, it seemed like the cooking was almost done.
"I see Sophie…" Wallace said, gazing at the tables and seeing Sophie's black hair. "Yup, and it looks like she's on a date. Ha! So my hunch was right after all!"
"And mine too!" Lisia added. "I knew she had someone! Ooh, but wait, uncle! I see Cynthia!"
Thanks to Wallace's professional skills at charming others, he managed to sneak a table via one of the fan club staff and it wasn't before long that Winona and Lisia were seated too. Lo and behold, there was Cynthia furiously working away at creating a dessert.
And Steven is far too busy doing his own thing when he could have been here all this time, Wallace thought. Cynthia's making brownies, and he might have enjoyed this!
But there was an alternative to Wallace's desire for bothering people. Laurent and Sophie were right there, so why not make easy? Wallace ended up walking over to Sophie from behind, and he definitely took her by surprise.
Especially right at the moment when she was talking to her co-worker – it was that handsome co-worker of Sophie's that Wallace saw once every so often at Steven's restaurant.
"Ah, Sophie, my friend!" Wallace greeted cheerfully, so cheerfully such that he caught the attention of other fan club members nearby. "How are things? Oh, am I interrupting something?"
Sophie did express some shock at this sudden appearance, and it only got worse when she realised Wallace caught her talking to… Laurent. As a result, Sophie became very flustered and she was at a loss for words.
"Oh I see. It's fine, Sophie. You needn't say any more," Wallace went on, never minding Sophie's current state. "You could have told me all this time that you found a boyfriend! I would have never guessed it was your co-worker!"
But Sophie simply had to bury her head and arms onto the table to hide her boiling emotions. Tears of embarrassment flowed from her serious eyes and it seemed like there was no end. Laurent, on the other hand, edged closer to Sophie unsure of what to do at first – but pat a hand on her shoulder.
Unfortunately, Laurent took into account of the number of fellow club members who were talking indistinctly amongst themselves. Some commented with respect to Sophie, while others were smiling and giggling at the interaction. Laurent wondered if he and Sophie would ever be perceived the same again.
"Calm down, calm down," Laurent whispered.
"Ooh… So there IS someone after all!" another voice, Lisia's, chimed in. Laurent looked back to see her talk directly to Sophie. "You know, you ought to talk to your boyfriend more often. After all, he's the only one in the whole wide world who really 'gets' you."
"ARRRRGH!" Sophie screamed, suddenly on her feet and throwing her hands up in the air. The tears continued to fall. "You are so annoying!"
At once, she stormed away from the table and left everyone else behind. It just so happened that while Sophie was leaving in a fit, Cynthia had finished creating her desserts and had the fan club staff serve them. Sophie's outburst caught her attention, though Cynthia had no idea for what reason Sophie would be so angry about, but the food mattered more.
Eventually, before Laurent made up his mind to go after his co-worker, a plastic plate was served before him. What was it? A very, very, very, hot brownie topped with vanilla ice cream and bits and pieces of fudge. It looked like that if it wasn't consumed immediately, the ice cream would simply melt into the brownie – which incidentally wasn't a bad idea.
He hesitated for a moment, but then Laurent opted to bring the brownie with him. "Excusez-moi. Je dois partir," he said to Wallace, and soon enough Laurent was gone. Where did that leave Wallace? He got to have a plate of the appetising brownie with ice cream and fudge – and Winona and Lisia too.
"You know, if only Steven or Cynthia was that easy to crack – they'd be married already. Don't worry, what we have done will be a favour for Sophie and her boyfriend! This looks good…" he muttered, reaching for the spoon to get a fill of chocolatey taste.
Winona looked very much like she was in the mood to have some too, but before she could reach for her spoon, her plate was swiped away! Alarmed, Winona looked up to see Laurent taking her rightful dessert away from her!
"I forgot. She wanted two," Laurent said with a grin. He walked away.
Winona looked very disappointed, but was surprised when Wallace pushed his plate before her eyes. In a sudden, her disappointment disappeared, but was replaced by confusion. Even more so, Wallace scooped a bit of brownie and ice cream and held the spoon up.
"What is this, Wallace?" she said.
But to her astonishment, Wallace edged his face closer to her as well as the spoon. "It's for you, my dear," he whispered, lightly poking Winona's lips with the spoon.
Winona blushed, and then took a mouthful of brownie. One thing was for certain, she was pleased as punch. On the other hand Lisia had a brownie for herself but couldn't eat it, since she was distracted by watching her uncle and Winona. At first, Winona looked flattered, but then she fed Wallace a bit of the brownie too. The two of them were looking like they were on a date!
And just like someone I know, Lisia thought, glancing at Cynthia who was serving desserts nonstop.
When her brownie arrived, Lisia grinned and started eating straight away. Sure, it may be slightly fattening, but it was Cynthia's cooking. How would it be not worth trying?
I could never get over Sophie's outburst, ever. Review, and you could try a bit of the gift basket Steven had prepared. It is a good combination!
Am I not generous by not giving you a brownie with fudge and ice cream? Rest assured, that comes later.