Well, readers. I am back from my vacation! However, I have to admit that this chapter was still in development at the time of THIS upload! But because it's been a month since the previous chapter (blame my vacation...), I've decided to upload the first half of the chapter-in-progress so you wouldn't have to keep waiting. To be brutally honest, though, I think it's long enough. For DaX0315, Immi, and Thatoneguythatshipseveryone, have some ice cream from La Lune de Chocolat!
DaX0315: You're going to have to wait for the fateful encounter just a little longer...
Immi: You know, curry is a great idea! I did think about it, but I just might implement it!
Thatoneguythatshipseveryone: (Man, you need a shorter name... Just kidding! But seriously though) Am I seriously the only Darksteelshipping writer out there?! You know, I was hoping "Serendipity" would be done (since I started "Culinary Rivals" while it was in progress), but come on. Seriously?! I'm the survivor, eh? I may or may not write more Darksteelshipping, since I have tons of other ideas relating to my other stories I want to write. It's costly when you're a third-year university student. There's a bit of Darksteelshipping in my "Inception" story, though that has yet to be finished.
Seriously, though. Am I really the last active Darksteelshipping author out there?! Nooooooo...
Chapter thirty-eight: Rest and Relaxation
Wallace, Winona, and Lisia eventually walked out of the new ice cream shop that had been set up beside Cynthia's café, or rather it was an expansion of the La Lune de Chocolat chocolatier. With ice cream freshly made served on waffle cones and the hot sun burning on them, it felt like they had everything they needed today. What could be better?
"Thanks, Wallace," Winona said as she gave licked her ice cream fiercely. Even though the ice cream wouldn't melt for the next half hour, it was too delicious for Winona. "That's one debt you have paid now. Now all we have to do is head to the beach."
"Alright… alright," Wallace said. "It's a good thing I don't need to change, yeah?"
Indeed, before going to the new ice cream shop but after Winona made it clear they needed to go to the beach, Wallace was conscious that his girlfriend hadn't brought anything to change into. After they had left the Stone Restaurant and Bistro, they went to the local boutique to shop for the appropriate clothes.
But what Winona hadn't counted on was that Lisia would be handling the shopping, since as a Contest idol and coordinator, she claimed to have 'expertise'. Whether Winona liked it or not, Wallace liked it, so that was the final say. It was something to compensate Wallace for being dragged to the beach. This was the result.
It's a good thing that the beach isn't too far off from here, Winona thought as they left the paved sidewalk and began walking on the warm sand of the beach.
"Oh, what do we have there?" Wallace said. "It seems like there's some kind of party… Hmm… Why don't we check it out?"
"Aw… why can't we get some time together?" Winona complained. By the time she, Wallace, and Lisia had made it to the shore, Lisia gave her uncle a shove.
"She's right, you know! I'll go check out that party for you, uncle!" Lisia said.
As it happened, Lisia's choice of clothes for the beach was nothing more than custom swimwear that looked practically identical to her stage costume, minus the fluffy accessories and skirt she normally wore. If there was anyone here who looked comfortable, it was probably her. Moreover, it looked like that nothing had changed for her!
Wallace neglected to change as he argued his choice clothing was enough, but Winona wasn't having any of that and forced him to "stop looking ridiculous". But unfortunately, Winona gave in. Wallace's clothes today (the ones he usually wore) practically doubled for swimming.
"It's fine, my dear," Wallace insisted. "I was the water-type Gym Leader of Hoenn after all. You would really think that I wouldn't have thought of clothing that I could wear all day and swim in?"
"That sounds… wrong," Winona muttered as she walked into a distant changing post to change. "It's a wonder how your clothes haven't been destroyed already." Before walking in, she had to finish her ice cream, of course, and so did Wallace and Lisia.
Minutes later, Winona walked out of the post wearing a swimsuit that was the colour of Wallace's hair. She looked sheepish, as if changing into something like this was the last thing she wanted to do. She could have picked her own, but Lisia…
Wallace nodded approvingly, although Winona seriously figured he was mocking her. "You're looking pretty good in that, Winona."
Regardless of how Winona felt or how she expected the reaction, nothing could have prepared her for Wallace's remarks. Instantly, her cheeks went red as a Cheri berry and her gut reaction was a gasp. But Wallace was perfectly fine with that, because the colours matched her hair, and that forced Winona to turn away and walk to the beachhead first. Her clothes were in her bag, along with her helmet.
It also helped, come to that, that because Winona no longer required wearing a helmet today, her hair wasn't in a long ponytail either. Rather, it was loose and down, which helped make her look more attractive – at least in Wallace's eyes.
Lisia nodded approvingly, just like her uncle. "Now doesn't she look dashing? Uncle! This is your chance to make things right again!"
But Wallace playfully brushed his niece's head. "I'll decide on what happens then!"
"I can hear you, you know!" Winona called back to them hotly.
As he and Lisia got closer to the shore and catch up with Winona, Wallace could see some Pokémon playing near the waters. Among them was… Metagross?!
"Oh, lo and behold, look who it is?" a familiar voice called out to them.
Wallace, Winona, and Lisia looked to see, in a red and green sundress, Martine. She was waving to them enthusiastically. "Bon matin, mes amis!" she greeted. "What brings you here? Or rather, how did you know we were here?"
Wallace could think of so many ways of how to respond to that question, but he was beaten – quite literally – by Winona who pulled off a surprise attack by pushing him into the sand. Her face was still red, like she was embarrassed. Martine smirked.
"Ooh… You're not looking too bad today, Winona! Especially without your helmet," she 'complimented'. "I had no idea you liked going to beaches too! Plus, where did you get that swimsuit? Or why? You know, it looks suspiciously like Wallace's hair colour –"
Winona held her breath and looked in the other direction, but not before putting her hand over Martine's mouth. Her own face was as red as a Razz berry. "I don't mind the beach," she whispered, "it's just that I'd be wearing a sundress instead. Oh, and we're here because…"
She glanced at Wallace's body in the sand. "…because I'm just hoping time at the beach will help him get over his obsession with Steven's love life today."
Wallace pushed himself off from the ground and dusted off the sand from his face. "Anyways, I'm not surprised you're all here. We were at the Stone Bistro earlier and found it was closed, and nevertheless what a coincidence to see you here! And – (He looked to see Steven building sand castles) – is that Steven building castles over there? How fun! It's like a side of him I have never seen before! What's the motive? Everyone else is building castles too."
Martine's smile widened. "Oh, it's nothing. Monsieur Stone is simply trying to save 70,000 Poké from his account. We've made a competition that whoever builds the best château will win the 70,000 Poké devoted exclusively for the boutique – or any boutique."
Suddenly Wallace was dragging Winona to the shore. "This is too good of an opportunity to miss, my dear! We'll get 70,000 Poké worth of new clothes –"
"– that I will be keeping for myself if we win," Winona interrupted. "You owe me after making me wear this! Oh my gosh, Wallace."
"What? It looks great on you! You have never looked better!" Wallace said, at the least innocently. "Let's get started!"
They picked a clear spot that wasn't too far off from where Laurent and Sophie were working. The opportunity was too good for Wallace to resist when he and Winona passed them, but then again, Wallace also knew that 70,000 Poké was also too good of an opportunity. Instead, he and Winona got down to work and started building their castle.
Meanwhile, beside Wallace, both Sophie and Laurent were making good progress with their castle – but it looked to be too easy since they were aware of every detail that needed to be done. The only reason was because their castle was an exact replica of the Battle Château! Between them though, Sophie – in her trilby hat and blue swimsuit – was distracted with Laurent's handsome physique that she clumsily destroyed one of the waterways she was digging, which earned a facepalm from Laurent (albeit he didn't notice the many gazes he was getting from her, since he was guilty of checking her out too).
Their glances at each other did not go unnoticed by Wallace, and he would have jumped the opportunity if Winona wasn't there for him, or if he risked losing a pleasant spending reward. Every time he looked at them, though, he would nod approvingly at how well their relationship was going. The only thing that was missing was a kiss.
While other staff members, waiters, cooks, and waitresses alike, were busy with their own projects; Steven was working slightly further away from them. Truth be told, he didn't have a good plan of what to build, so he simply used buckets, shovels, and – dare he try it – a pickaxe to ensure he was getting things done right. Shortly after, a shadow covered his castle, and he looked to see Lisia staring down at him. From the looks of things, she was wearing a swimsuit that looked no different to what she normally wore.
"I take it you're not playing?" he said.
"I take it you're having fun, right?" Lisia asked back whilst striking a pose. "What kind of a château are you building?"
Steven looked back at his work. It was looking solid, but also slightly conventional with hollowed windows and a large entrance at the front. There was no need for doors, as the hollow entrance was good enough. He could thank his pickaxe for getting that work done. There were five towers on the castle that made it stand out. "This château is inspired by… uh… some design I saw in my outings away from Hoenn, I –"
But Lisia interrupted him. "It looks suspiciously like the Sinnoh Pokémon League! Hey, wasn't Cynthia supposed to be Champion of that –? Oh… Okay, now I see where this is going, Steven –"
"I – It's not like that!" Steven said hotly. "And don't mention that name!"
"Whatever!" Lisia replied with a smile. She turned around and skipped away to look at the other works. But for Steven, when he tried to work on his castle again, he couldn't touch his work anymore. He was almost afraid he would destroy it now.
"And that will do for time!" Martine announced. "Arrêtez, maintenant! We will start judging!"
Everyone was done at this point, and by then they stepped back to marvel at the works they had created as well as those around them. Winona looked almost afraid to do so, but Wallace dragged her along to look at it.
Meanwhile, Metagross, Skarmory, and James began looking around the castles built everywhere. They went to some of those built by the waitresses, and found castles of many shapes. Some looked like conventional castles, while others looked like palaces, and some even resembled factories. What kind of imagination was this?!
At the same time, Laurent and Sophie were standing side-by-side admiring their Battle Château sand replica. But from the looks of things they seemed more interested in admiring each other, and at the moment they caught each other's' eyes, Sophie was the first to giggle and look the other way. Laurent only reacted by blushing, as if ashamed of his admiration.
"What do we have here?" James said when he, Metagross, and Skarmory approached one waiter's work.
"It's a… bastion, you might say," the waiter replied.
However, that replied was deemed by Metagross to be insufficient. Bastion was an understatement for this work, as it seemed more like a military fortress complete with walls and watchtowers. Truth be told, this might qualify as a castle, but this was pushing it. There were even miniature cannons and catapults!
They moved on to Wallace and Winona's castle.
"What…?" James muttered. Skarmory even dipped down to ground level to inspect the creation carefully. If Steven was the one judging, there wouldn't have been any surprise. At first it looked like a conventional castle, if it weren't for the wings that were sticking out from the tower. Of the three judges, Skarmory was the one who looked at it the longest.
They moved to meet Laurent and Sophie.
"You two just can't let go of that château, huh?" James said amusingly.
"What can we say? We are from the same fan club, after all," Laurent replied. "We even tried making the river to go with it."
Neither James nor Metagross nor Skarmory had been to the Battle Château a lot, if at all, but just looking at the effort put into this sand castle meant Sophie and Laurent knew what they were doing. It would be appropriate to call them fanatics, perhaps.
At last, they moved onto Steven's castle, and for anyone who cared (which was practically everyone) they also gathered around to see what he had built. It looked impressive to be honest, with all its towers and many windows, but Steven didn't what to look at it for his own reasons.
"It's not bad, I think," James said.
"Of course it's not bad!" Lisia piped. "It's the Sinnoh Pokémon League! And where you'll find the Sinnoh League you would have found Cyn–"
Instantly Steven covered Lisia's mouth with his hand. "Okay, okay, we get the point." Thankfully, everyone looked as if they were confused by Lisia's words. Had they made the connection? It didn't seem so, and even Wallace didn't catch it. The only one who nodded and seemed to understand, unfortunately, was Martine.
After what felt like an hour of evaluations, Skarmory looked to Metagross shortly after, and Metagross nodded to James, who said, "Alright. We'll discuss who will be the winner by lunch. For now, I think we all have some downtime. Oh, what am I saying…? We all have time!"
After that, everyone went about their own business. Some of the waiters and cooks set about raising a net – for volleyball from the looks of it. Whatever the case, they were sweating by the time the net was set up and some had to remove their shirts. Some waitresses opted to relax against the seashore while others went to do surfing. As it happened, Wallace's Milotic joined swimming in the waves as the waitresses grabbed their surfboards but she bumped into Armaldo on the way. As that happened, Wallace even dragged Winona to play volleyball with the waiters and cooks.
Martine, though, went to rejoin Steven.
"So, boss? What do you think? Enjoying your time so far? You must be! But hey, is your château really a Sinnoh League replica? That speaks many things, you know," she said, hoping she might make Steven crack.
"I think I just want to take a rest from the competition already…" he said.
"No! Come on! We can play a game of volleyball! Besides, I'll get Laurent too," Martine insisted. "Okay, maybe playing in a sundress isn't the best idea for me, but it works!"
And somehow, somehow, Martine dragged Steven along to the volleyball area where a game was underway. Lo and behold, Wallace and Winona were already there; along with Laurent and Sophie, and not to mention the cooks and waiters who were bent on playing a game.
Is there enough Receptionistshipping in here? Don't worry. There will be more next chapter! Review and have an ice cream sandwich from La Lune de Chocolat - it's basically ice cream in a waffle. Simply, everyone's too busy in this chapter to get something to eat!