So sorry for the delay! Life has been super tough for many reasons! It's been over a month since the last update! And yes, I had a very nice vacation!
And then my computer faced a ton of problems, which gave me a writer's block, and then I'm trying to balance part-time study and part-time work. It takes time to adapt! And then I've realised I'll finish my degree by the end of the year! Not to mention that aside from this chapter, I've been writing the most difficult chapter of the story, and that is really really hard.
So, forgive my delayed orders! A serving of a Stone Accolade goes to DaX0315 and StRAngE ToASt!
And now... Here is the final round of the cook-off!
Chapter sixty-five: Croute Climax
Apparently, Cilan had recovered from the spicy shock of Cynthia's salad from the other day. Now that he was back on his feet, he was ready to resume his duties. He sat beside Siebold at the judges' table, who was watching the match unfold in front of them.
The theme today would provide the final verdict on who was worthy of Richissime Star recognition. Of course, this was only a recommendation given to Hotel Richissime, but increasing the fame of a restaurant was plenty reward already. Regardless of how many matches each chef won, it was up to the judges to decide who would be the final victor.
Pastry was the main theme and, at Cilan's suggestion, an accompanying drink was required.
Nevertheless, things weren't going so well for Cynthia. It was evident that her eyes were a little swollen as she cooked. Although the speculation was immense, everyone knew better than to say anything. She had just put her pastry into the oven, and incidentally, Steven had just done the same.
But they weren't finished yet. On Steven's part, he began working on the accompanying sauce. Yes, there was red wine involved in making the sauce, and flames shot into the air as Steven used it (wowing the audience). However, it looked pretty thick, like a cream sauce.
"But he can't be making a Stone Accolade, right?" Sophie scratched her hair. "This is a pastry theme! Oh… Maybe he might substitute the rice flour for puff pastry?"
"But did you see the size of the pastry he put in the oven?" Laurent replied. "It's a completely different dish. I'm more interested as to what it might be. And, he's got to make three of them."
Sophie knew that Laurent had a point. The Stone Accolade was Steven's signature dish, after all. What good would it do if he had made the same dish? As well, the size of the one pastry suggested that it was no Accolade he was making. The sauce also stuck out to her too: it was a cream sauce that Steven was mixing red wine into.
The pastries were still in the process of baking and at the same time, the chefs were hard at work working on their sides. The drinks weren't a problem – on the whole, they weren't really important to the dish, but if there was to be a deciding a factor, the drink could pair with the dish and make the difference.
"Feeling better, by the way?" Siebold said to Cilan.
"Much better, though I'm sorry I couldn't stick around." Cilan hung his head.
"Hey, not a problem. Wallace already had a backup plan in case something happened." Siebold smiled. "He got Chili to fill you in."
Cilan's eyes became as wide as apples. "He WHAT?"
"Don't worry! Chili evaluated it in the most unbiased manner, or so Wallace claims." Siebold chuckled. "At least he could handle the heat, unlike you."
Cilan sighed.
"She looks unhappy." Martine whispered into Lisia's ear. "I mean, Cynthia looks a little different, doesn't she? She looks unnaturally serious today."
"I know, right?" Lisia replied, her eyes showing a little confusion as to what was going on. "She looked pretty tired the other day when she made the Poffins, but today she looks worse."
As it happened, Cynthia was working relatively slowly. It was as if she was being extra careful with her steps in case if she made a tiny mistake. To certain eyes like Martine's, though, that wasn't a good sign of a good chef. Normally, they could cook quickly with having only one error out of thousands of attempts. It really appeared that something was holding Cynthia back.
On Cynthia's part, she had done a lot preparation work before stepping on stage. Had she not prepared her ingredients before coming, this dish of hers would have taken a few hours. Now, she could only hope to finish it in forty-five minutes.
Cynthia checked the oven for the doneness of her pastry, and then she started making lots of cream and caramel. There could be no doubt: Cynthia was aiming to make a dessert. How was that going to fare against Steven, who was making an entrée? Once again, it would be up to the judges' decision, and it would have to come down to this.
She stopped for a bit to catch her breath, but ended up leaning her hands against the counter. Her eyes were shut.
"What's going on?" Martine whispered, alarmed.
"Stage fright? It happens, you know." Wallace suggested. "I'll check it out."
Steven looked very much indifferent to what was going on beside him and instead continued with what he was making. With one eye on the clock, and the other eye on the preparation, he was almost through with making his accompanying sauce. Now he could focus on making the drink as the pastry was still cooking.
As invested as he was into cooking, he did notice Wallace come onto the stage to Cynthia's station.
"What's going on, Cynthia? Now's not the time stop!" Wallace cheerfully said as if to lift up her mood. He looked right into Cynthia's dead eyes, even though one was covered by her hair and they were red. Cynthia looked the other way.
"It's nothing." She sighed. "I'm just a little worried if my pastries will cook in time." In truth, her mental state was entering breakdown.
"You've got this! There's no need to worry." Wallace grinned. "Seriously! Don't worry. If you don't keep it up, you will lose this match! And then you'll never get to Steven, try as you might if you stay like this, you know."
"Great. That makes me feel so much better." Cynthia rolled her eyes. She went about her business and continued working. In spite of her heart and stomach feeling heavy, Cynthia willed herself to do the best she could and put this pastry together.
A minute later, Wallace's words had sunk into her more than she realised at first. What did he mean by that she would never get to Steven? Wasn't it important that he should have noticed her cooking in the first place? Those were two of a handful of questions buzzing in Cynthia's mind as she kept an eye on her pastries. Her pastries in question were choux balls, and were reminiscent of the same ones she had made all that time ago. That is, when she first met Steven as she had moved in to across his restaurant.
Sighing again, Cynthia turned her attention to making the accompanying drink. She hadn't thought of the exact strategy, but she knew nonetheless what she was going to make. Out of her basket she had pulled out two bottles of alcohol onto the counter: Ambrette liquor and Razz berry liquor, to be exact. She also pulled a Pinap berry onto the counter and began to peel it. By the time she was done preparing the ingredients, she could assemble her dish. Since the drink had to be served cold, Cynthia thought it best to leave it last.
It hurt Cynthia again to think about what the Pinap berry peel meant to her, though. It represented, figuratively, much of her despair for the past while.
Martine watched the timer hit zero, and by then the chefs had finished plating, and their dishes –three of them – were covered with cloches. Coincidentally, the drinks that were served alongside each of them were red in colour, albeit Cynthia's looked more complex than Steven's. That was certain.
"Steven. You may go first." Siebold waved.
Steven brought his covered dishes before each judge. After doing so, he personally placed a glass of his accompanying red drink beside each cloche. Afterwards, the judges uncovered the cloches.
The audience 'oohed' in wonder. An strong aroma filled the air within the Prism Tower gym.
They were greeted with the sight of a massive pastry that was almost as wide as the cloche itself, were it not square. It was also about three inches in height, so it was just as intimidating to eat it. Beside the pastry, there was a creamy looking sauce served in a miniature black bowl. The pastry was baked nicely and looked crisp, and was seasoned with a bit of parsley on top.
"It's hard to describe it if you don't cut it open." Steven gestured the judges to do exactly that. "You have a reincarnation of my old favourite dish, the Stone Accolade, now presented as Accolade en croute. Inside the pastry you will find the principal ingredient as roast beef cooked to medium rare. Mushrooms, peppers, onions, and garlic are baked within the pastry to give it a fine flavour, and it's laced with Bleu de Sud-Est within to intensify the flavour. There's also a side of red wine sauce cooked in cheese fondue to complement the dish."
Cilan cut his pastry in half. With ingredients bleeding out of the Accolade en croute, the flavour looked as packed as Steven had promised.
"And finally, you have a glass of sirop de grenadine." Steven finished. "Served with a Pomeg berry."
Martine stared, her mind in a state of surprise and shock. So! Steven had opted to use her favourite drink to spice up his dish. Maybe Steven ought to pay Martine a royalty for doing so. Eh, who was she kidding? Martine thought it must have been a coincidence, but then again, Steven knew Martine well enough that he did opt to use grenadine? In a way, Martine could see that this was an effort by Steven to have weaponised grenadine, figuratively speaking.
The pastry itself was neither thick nor thin. It was thick enough to keep the ingredients inside contained, but thin enough to be easily eaten and taste great, and stay crispy.
The judges picked up their forks and knives and started to eat. Either eating with or without sauce would work, but then again, the sauce was a part of the dish and it mattered. They ate, chewed, and were lost in thought over making their opinions. On top of it all, they tasted the sirop de grenadine alongside the Accolade en croute.
"This is extremely good." Chef Bordeaux said. "To have all this flavour packed inside this pastry shell was a smart move since you're partly cooking the ingredients stuffed inside the shell, which infuses the flavour inside and outside it."
He cut another piece of pastry but with some ingredients inside, and held it up on his fork. "You see this? The spices, the cheese, the peppers, the garlic… There are as they were melting into the pastry itself, so it's as if you're enjoying the ingredients in the pastry alone. Combined with the grenadine, which refreshes your mouth, you would want to eat this again and again."
"Not that the grenadine complements the food entirely." Cilan held up his glass that was still full of the red liquid. "However, it acts like a moment of relief after facing all that flavour."
Siebold kept on eating. "I find the sauce you made alongside to be very addictive too. You know, using Bleu de Sud-Est already produces a strong flavour within the meat. Now that you have a red wine sauce cooked as a cheese fondue, the flavour is overwhelming! Steven, you really are digging deep." As he spoke, Siebold cut another bite of the pastry and dipped it into the sauce. He held it up for the cameras to focus on, and the cheese – as white as it was – glinted in the light.
Steven smiled. This had to be one of his greatest works yet, and it was a reincarnation of the Stone Accolade! If nothing else, the Accolade en croute was at least homage to his earlier work. Now that he thought of it, how did it come down to this? He figured he might have a good shot at taking down Cynthia now.
Cynthia, still having swollen eyes, got up and placed the cloche-covered dishes before the judges. Despair, for lack of better word, was written on her face. Even though her hair was covering one of her eyes, and it had been tied back as per hygiene reasons, Siebold was quick to notice.
"Something the matter, Cynthia?" Siebold asked. "Don't tell me you thought this had turned out bad."
Cynthia did not respond. Instead, she went ahead and placed three identical cocktails before each judge, each with a thin slice of Pinap berry peel. "Bon appétit," Cynthia said.
A little confused by Cynthia's behaviour, Siebold instead turned his attention to the cloche and, alongside the other judges, lifted it off the plate.
Cynthia's dish looked like a mountain of gold. The appearance wowed the audience, with a bunch of 'oohs' echoing through the atmosphere and indistinct chatter following after.
From the back, Martine recognised instantly what Cynthia had made. With all that caramel drizzling over a mountain of choux balls, peaches, and apples, there could be no doubt as to what it was. It was a croquembouche, the very same one that Cynthia had created a couple weeks after she first opened her restaurant. It was also the very same one that Steven had tried out himself. However, this croquembouche looked a little different than before: the caramel was unusually shiny and it was as if it was liquid gold. In short, it made the croquembouche look incredibly pleasing.
"That's… bold." Cilan muttered. He then used his utensils to slice one of the choux balls in half to test the doneness of the pastry. The outside layer was crisp, but just barely, and the choux within was loaded with plenty of pastry cream. Cilan tasted one of the choux balls in the end and found the pastry cream was a blend of vanilla extract and chilled Yache berry. "Yache berry, huh? You would rarely find these used in a dessert. But then again, it tastes yummy, and I expected no less from you, Cynthia."
Chef Bordeaux and Siebold seemed to have noticed the exact same thing. They ate the dessert and sipped a bit of their cocktails too.
"Indeed, the Yache berry's dry and sour flavour is well-balanced as it naturally is." Chef Bordeaux remarked. He held up the cocktail too. "You know, I'm amazed at how many flavours you are firing at us. Dry, sweet, and sour on the plate, and you have a sweet and spicy flavour in your drink here. But the flavours don't clash. Instead, they blend together to make a tasty dessert, and the Yache berry's flavour is surprisingly gentle. If you could say they could be taken separately, and they can, they taste just as great together."
It appeared Siebold couldn't have enough of the dessert and had happily eaten a quarter of it. "It is very, very, refreshing and somehow does justice to both the vanilla flavour and the choux. Thanks to the sweet flavour of the pastry itself, there was a delicate balance achieved that brought out the sour and dry Yache flavour as a welcoming dessert. The appeal of the caramel helps too."
He sipped the cocktail again. "Was this shaken, Cynthia?"
"Yup." Cynthia nodded. "Three measures of Ambrette liquor, one of Razz, shaken until ice-cold, and served with –" She paused, as if she struggled to say it. "–a thin slice of Pinap berry peel."
"I never had a cocktail like this before, Cynthia." Siebold said. "Nevertheless, it works well with your croquembouche. Very nice." He sliced another choux ball in half and looked at the inside again. The Yache filling made the appearance pleasant too, along with the caramel. "On the whole, your croquembouche tastes great."
They had to taste it several times in order to make their decisions, and it didn't look easy. While deliberating, their dishes were taken away, and it still took some more time.
Cilan made the announcement this time.
"This decision has proven very difficult for us. Not only because you presented to us two kinds of flavours in a savoury and a sweet dish, but also because the two flavours worked too well together. One after the other, it is like being served a two-course meal. Entrée on one hand, dessert on the other." Cilan bowed his head for a moment. "But, as we have mentioned before, there can only be one outright winner."
The two dishes faced off against each other like football players at a tournament final. A world-class stadium, a field, two nets, and seats filled with raging fans made up the setting. The two sides had played through many rounds to get to this moment. After kickoff, things were underway. Steven's players wore blue-and-white shirts, while Cynthia's wore orange-and-black.
It was nighttime, but the stadium floodlights made the field appear as if it was day.
Much of the attention was focused between captains Steven and Cynthia. They were the stars of their teams, leading the charge. Steven, having possession, kicked the ball to a passing teammate who then advanced forward.
However, a sliding tackle from Cynthia intercepted the pass and knocked it out of the way. Cynthia then quickly got back on her feet to change the direction of the game. But before Steven could react, Cynthia had passed the ball to one of her defenders.
Not sure what to do, Steven slowly advanced toward the defender in order to make some space. What could he do? He could attempt to tackle the defender, but she would like pass the ball to someone else. But then again, pressuring the defender would help.
Yet the ball was lobbed into the air of which several strikers and defenders collided in an effort to catch the ball, either with their chests or their heads. As it happened, the ball was caught by one of Cynthia's strikers, who made a centring pass to Cynthia herself. Not one of Steven's defenders reacted in time to block the ball.
Cynthia delivered a hard strike…
The ball was narrowly caught by the keeper's gloves. So, the ball didn't go in net. As a result, the save earned a round of cheers from the fans.
The football was eventually thrown from the keeper to one of the midfielders. It was then passed before one of Cynthia's strikers could tackle the ball. Soon enough, the ball was advancing towards Cynthia's end, with plenty of cheers erupting from the crowd. Steven was already leading a charge, with his fellow strikers also in position to attack.
Another sliding tackle from Cynthia caused the ball to deflect sideways, but it was caught by another of Steven's strikers. With the stadium fans raising their voices, the striker kicked the ball towards Steven, who was in the penalty area. Having only a fraction of a second, Steven made the most of it and shot the ball towards the goal.
The ball struck the net from the inside.
Cheers erupted from the crowd, and Steven leapt in the air in celebration, with a fist raised.
2-1, in favour of Steven.
Seeing the score displayed like that brought about a sinking feeling in Cynthia's stomach. It wasn't just because she had lost the round, but she also wondered about the implications. This would mean that the odds were slightly in favour of Steven, and if that was the case, he had likely won. What about the Richissime Star? What about her efforts to impress him? Was it possible?
Would she never measure up to his cooking, forever? Doubts started to fill her head, as if her mental state wasn't broken down already.
"We will need a moment to discuss the final outcome." Cilan said. "In the meantime, please clean up your stations."
Cynthia glanced at Steven, who looked back. She wore an unconfident expression that caused Steven to raise his eyebrows. From what Steven could see, Cynthia was looking tired, and her eyes were slightly red. He looked the other way.
"How can you argue with that?" Wallace said. "Now we all know that it's at epic climaxes like these that love finally blossoms between our two protagonists."
Winona really, really, wished she could have punched him in the face again. Her boyfriend, in her opinion, was clearly being too optimistic. Unfortunately, even deep down, Winona knew that Wallace was more motivated to make romantic ends meet than anyone else. How else would he have convinced her to date him?
"You know, I thought this was all because there was a hate-fueled rage between them." Winona shook her head. "I had coffee with Cynthia a few days ago and she tells me Steven putting her through lots of trouble. You would think they want to sever ties between them, and it's a wonder that their restaurants are located across from each other!"
Wallace was as enthusiastic. "Don't be ridiculous, Winona! Of course they're causing a lot of trouble for each other. This is a competition, and we know that at the end of the day, there will be a confession of feelings from at least one of them to the other!"
Lisia struck a stationary pose, since she was sitting. "And we're still at chapter number four of Steven's love story!"
"Wait. What love story?" Winona said. "This isn't fanfiction!"
Lisia giggled. "Relax, Winona. It's just a mini-series I made up from the first day we visited Steven's restaurant. I've called this chapter "Signs of Love Overshadowed by Dreams!" That reminds me, I should really start on a fifth chapter…"
Time passed, and by then, the stations were cleaned. Steven and Cynthia stood before the judges' table in anticipation of the final result.
Chef Bordeaux made the final declaration. He stood in front of the table, with Cilan and Siebold standing right behind him. "Chefs Cynthia and Steven: you two have fought valiantly, displaying culinary skills of the highest level Kalos has ever seen – publically – so far. You two have done an amazing job altogether. Some dishes you created for us are those that we all know and love, and others that are simply unconventional. In all of this, your efforts and diligence ought to be acknowledged."
Applause rang throughout the Gym.
"Before going any further, I want to acknowledge that this match would not have been possible without our host – Gym Leader Clemont – for using this Gym as our battlefield. Special thanks goes to Hoenn Champion Wallace, who for reasons unknown made a big deal out of this competition." Chef Bordeaux almost sighed as he said this.
He looked up again. "But, as you all know very well, there can only be one winner."
Not really a spoiler, but "Culinary Rivals" is approaching its climax! There's an order of a Stone Accolade en croute on the line, and croquembouche dorée as well, for you as you read this chapter!