The banquet was coming to a close. It was late, everyone had eaten, everyone had drunk, and most importantly, everyone had had a good time with Luna. All of the champions and Kahunas were scheduled to leave the next day, some earlier than others. So Luna bid goodbye to almost everyone retiring for the night. Luna caught sight of Steven having a chat with Red, who was about to release his Charizard.

"Steven! Red!" Luna called out to them. They turned, she jogged over to them. "I just wanted to say thank you for coming. Unfortunately, I won't be able to accompany you to the airport" She looked at Steven, "Nor the train station tomorrow," She said looking at Red. "So I wanted to say goodbye, and of course, safe travels." She gave a slight bow to the both of them. "I hope to work together again soon." Red chuckled and gave a bow of his own.

"Well Luna, it has been a pleasure to welcome you into your championship title. Farewell. And to you Steven." With that Red released his Charizard and the pair walked off outside the great hall. Steven turned to her.

"It was an honour to be invited to Sinnoh, Luna. Thank you." He gave a curt bow.

"Oh nonsense. Let me know if you're ever in Sinnoh again for Grand Underground expeditions." Luna said.

"Of course." The two looked in each other's eyes. Luna slowly drowning in the steelish-blue irises of Steven Stone. "Goodnight Luna."

"Goodnight Steven."

The man turned and closed the door to the great hall behind him, leaving Luna in the empty room.

A week had passed since the Champion's Dinner party. Luna was in the yarn shop bright and early, serving plenty of customers from the elderly home down the road. Luna was busy helping customers when a certain someone walked through the door, bell ringing as she entered.

"My my, I didn't know crafts stores were this busy!" Cynthia laughed.

"Oh, excellent choice Mrs Reale, this purple is the last of its batch. That'll be 2500 poke dollars please." Luna looked up, "Oh Cynthia!" Luna was glad to see her, she had some updates for the Sinnoh Centre project in Veilstone city. Luna put the money away into the register then served the next customer. Cynthia had checked her poketch for the checklist she had written.

"Floaroma town is good for all the flower decorations, Ribbon syndicate is good for decorations as well. I think that should be enough, no? I also talked to some of the artisans in Sunnyshore bazaar, they'd be happy to work some stalls with their merchandise. Oh! I nearly forgot, in terms of food, Hearthome catering services said they approve the budget you gave them for the stalls around the region." Cynthia read off the list from her poketch, everything seemed to be going well. "Jubilife TV got in contact with Lumiose press and Mauville news, for publicity. They said we should expect big crowds. The Castelia travel agency hasn't replied yet. I'm sure they will soon."

"Excellent. That is good news… thank you for coming, have a nice day!" Luna called after the last customer who left. "whew, good…well, I talked to Byron, he said we might as well demolish the Galactic building and rebuild from zero. What do you think?" Luna said.

"Sounds like a waste of resources to me, but… to be fair, tearing down the building and the history attached to it does make sense. The decision is yours." Cynthia tapped her chin, debating the two options.

"I agree with you, it does make sense. I talked to some architects, and they said if we want to build a multi-use arena, the structure just wasn't built for it, the most we could do is make it into a research centre or a school, but to have open spaces it's better to start from scratch." Luna explained.

"So you'll give Byron the ok to demolish?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I just hope it's done before spring. Probably won't be though." Luna sighed. There was so much to do, and so little time. She was grateful for Cynthia's help though.

"Don't worry about it. Even if it's not ready, we have plenty of other attractions in Veilstone, like the mall, or the casino. What about Eterna?"

"About that, an organization contacted me about the purchase of the Eterna building, apparently, they want to use it for a historical database, or something like that. Kind of like a lab, and a library at the same time. I was wondering if you knew anything about that?"

"If you're referring to the Celestic Historical Organization, then yes, they also told my mother about that."

"I'd be happy to just give it to them, I mean, it's an abandoned building anyways, they ought to save their money for the remodelling of it." Luna said. Cynthia clapped her hands in glee.

"It seems as if everything was coming together!"

Late February. Luna was running, Skitty hot at her heels through town, she was late to a council meeting in Pastoria City. She burst through the Gym's door.

"AHA THERE SHE IS!" Crasher Wake's booming voice echoed around the walls of the gym. "Come come, this way." Wake led her and other 3 men down the hall to his office around the side of the gym. "Here we are then, Champion, any updates?" Luna straightened herself and faced the three men.

"First of all I wanted to thank you for coming, Ranger Kite of Pastoria's safari marsh, Dr Footprint and Ceo of Valor Lakefront resort. I thank you for giving your resources to the Spring festival, I just wanted to finalize some of the details taking place at the beginning of April. I have approved the mass production of Safari balls from Fuego Ironworks, so the shipment should arrive mid-march, it was the best I could do. Meanwhile, regarding the Footprint activity, I have organized the festival tent that is to go on route 213, between the resort and Pastoria city, any visiting tourists will be able to check their Pokémon given the Doctor's unique services. I've also organized fishing tournaments and cliff diving tournaments on this route as well, for the visitors of the lakeside resort. Route 213 is well kitted out for the spring festival."

"Wonderful Miss Luna, we are ever grateful for your hard work!" The safari ranger said.

"The only thing is we're going to have to be careful of the weather, I heard from Jubilife meteorology centre at JubiTV, that spring should be dry, but if we have rains we've got to keep an eye on visitors going into the sea, I'll need extra lifeguards from the resort to extend their watch into the route." Luna explained. The man dressed in the suit nodded and took note on his Poketch.

"Got it. Will do."

"Perfect! Are there any other details to iron out?"
-

Beginning of March.

"A little to the left!" Luna cried out as the stage was being set up in the Resort area on Battle Island. "There! Perfect!" Two thumbs up shot from her arms at the team of Machamp on the stage. Fanny turned to her friend.

"C'et Parfait, mon Cherie! Yes, simply perfect!" She twirled in delight. "Our performers will love it once it's all decorated!"

"I'm counting on it, Fanny." Luna sighed. It was all so overwhelming. These past 3 months she had thrown herself into work, travelling across the region and back again to get everything ready for the festival, which started in two weeks. "How many musicians do we have each night again?"

"4" Fanny replied.

"And on the first weekend?"

"5"

"Hm, perhaps we could add a few more, but on such short notice…I'm not sure who would accept."

"Nonesense Cherie! This is the most anticipated event of the year! People will come from all over the world for this, let me make a few phone calls, Faites-moi confiance!" Fanny whisked herself away.

"I could ask Roxie…"

Everything was ready. Absolutely everything. After days of sleepless nights, piles of documents and allotted budgets to approve, thousands of emails to dig through, everything was ready. The festival was from Sunday to Sunday. It was Saturday night, and all the gym leaders had invited her to a dinner to celebrate the beginning of the festival. Luna was currently dead to the world, asleep on her desk at the Pokémon League. Batuffolo, her Purugly swatted at her hair which was scattered across the many pages on the desk. Batù whacked her on the head, and she finally awoke. And her phone was ringing. She didn't even bother to look at the caller Id as she replied groggily.

"Hello?" Her voice croaked out.

"Hello… Did I wake you?" Steven's smooth voice laughed out. Luna immediately straightened, STEVEN? What's going on?

"Oh um, hi. I didn't see it was – never mind. Hi." Luna ordered the papers on her desk, Steven laughed again.

"Are you around?" He asked hopefully.

"Like, where's around?"

"Resort area?"

"Yeah…Yeah I'm around."

The two paced down the road near the Pokémon centre in the resort area.

"The stalls aren't officially open till tomorrow, but I'm sure we can sneak in for some food." She suggested. Steven smiled.

"No need, I went grocery shopping in Veilstone before I arrived." Luna laughed.

"So what? we're just going to eat raw potatoes out here in the cold?" She asked, jokingly.

"I was going to suggest we cook them and eat them at my villa." Steven replied with a smile. Oh. The villa. Luna felt stupid, she had completely forgotten about that. Steven stone… was inviting her to…his house…. for…. dinner…question mark. Her mouth made an 'Oh' form as she nodded absent-mindedly.

The villa wasn't too far. It was on a small hill, and boy oh boy, was it nice. Complete with a rooftop terrace, an outdoor private swimming pool, and a flower and berry garden. Luna tried to keep her shock to herself but something on her face gave it away as Steven chuckled. He unlocked the door and lead her inside.

If the outside was impressive, the inside was absolutely unbelievable. With glameow statues and a grand piano at the entrance, the villa was fully furnished, with a kitchen living room and multiple bedrooms Steven gave her a tour of the house. It was massive. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of ingredients from the fridge.

"What are you in the mood for?" He asked, taking off his coat and suit jacket.

"I don't know. Depends on what you bought." She replied, picking up Batuffolo to observe the glameow statues in the other room.

"Have you ever tried Hoenn cuisine?" Steven asked in the kitchen doorway.

"Nope." She replied, putting the Pokémon down. Steven grinned.

"Perfect."

While Steven cooked, Luna explored the house, inspecting it. it seemed brand new and unused. She wondered why he had even decided to buy it. Steven's room was the master bedroom, she didn't want to go in to respect his privacy, so she came back downstairs to the kitchen, where a delightful aroma diffused in the air.

"You know, I never took you for a cook. But that smells really good." Luna said, watching him stir the sauce simmering in the pan. It was only at that moment that she noticed his back muscles through his tight white dress shirt. Oh shit.

"We'll I do live alone, so I know how to get by." He said, not turning from the stove. Luna's thoughts were racing. The man was doing nothing and yet Luna's thoughts went to running her hands through his hand and his lips on hers…wait what. Oh yeah, she was definitely crushing on Steven Stone.

"What are you making then?" She asked, shaking her thoughts away.

"Rindo berry Pasta. It's a Mossdeep favourite." Luna didn't know what or who Mossdeep was. "Can you put a timer for 9 minutes please?" the man asked. Luna whipped out her poketch and did as told. "So have you explored the house?"

"Yeah, it's very nice. You don't seem to spend a lot of time though here, do you?" Luna asked.

"No." He replied. "Do you know how to play the piano? I don't. I'm not sure why it's there," he gestured to it.

"I do. I learned guitar, bass and piano since I was younger." She said.

"Play something." Steven asked, a shine in his eyes. "Anything."

"What? No way?" Luna scoffed.

"Why not? It's not like I haven't heard you sing before." He said nudging her. "Come on." Luna took a seat at the piano and lifted her hand to her chin in thought.

"What can I play for you? Hmm…" The first thing that came to mind was a song her mother had written, back in her contest days. It was a sort of lullaby, the story of their farm in twinleaf town. "Ah... maybe…" Luna tested out some of the keys on the piano. It was perfectly tuned. She begun.

[A/N: hear 'The last great American Dynasty – Taylor swift']

There was a brief silence when she finished, last note ringing out across the foyer. Then Steven clapped. He had a huge smile on his face. Luna was blushing hard and tried not to look at him. She was utterly embarrassed.

"You're an amazing musician." He said, still clapping.

"Oh stop…" She waved him off.

"No really. I can't wait to see you perform at the festival." She froze. He'd remembered. This is a problem. In reality, she'd prepared three songs for the festival, all of which weren't this one. But now that Steven said he would be watching, UGH. She buried her head in her hands, red as a tomato berry. "Luna, hey, it's fine. There's really nothing to be embarrassed about!" Steven fretted.

Luna's poketch squeaked and buzzed on the kitchen table. "Come on, let's eat.

Luna was grateful for the change in topic and was actually really looking forward to trying out Steven's food. She sat at table while he finished preparing and served in the plates. It looked amazing. "Dig in!" Steven said, placing her plate in front of her. She did, and it was delicious.

"This is really good, Steven." She said between mouthfuls, "Like I mean, really good." Steven chuckled.

"Thanks" He said.

"So how come you're in Sinnoh?" Luna asked. She genuinely was curious but assumed it was on some work business, Steven looked at her funny, as if it were obvious.

"For the Midspring festival, of course." Luna nearly choked. He had taken time out of his champion duties and Devon duties for, a festival? "I'm not sure whether you know, but everywhere is buzzing about the Battle frontier seasons and the Sinnoh Spring festival. It's kind of the hottest thing right now." Steven chuckled. "I thought you knew…isn't that what you wanted?"

"Well…yeah but…Well I didn't really know it was headlining in other regions." She admitted.

"Are you kidding? It's viral." Steven said.

Luna's phone buzzed. Someone was calling her.

"Sorry, one second." Luna said, picking up the phone. It was Gardenia. Shit. The league dinner. She answered, standing up. "Shit Gardenia. I…I completely forgot."

'Girl where are you!? Everybody is here! You better not be in your office still!' Gardenia chastised over the phone. Steven leaned in, he could hear whoever was talking due to their proximity and volume of the phone.

"I…I'm at the resort area on battle island." Luna chewed her lip. Should she tell Gardenia she was with Steven Stone?

'Luna! We're supposed to be celebrating! You worked you're butt off for this for four months! Everything will be fine! Now stop working and get your ass to Veilstone city.'

"I…" She looked over at Steven, then at her plate. She swore softly and ran a hand through her hair. "I'll be right there."

'Good. Hurry. Everybody's waiting for you.' Gardenia put down the phone and Luna's eyes flew shut. Shit.

"That didn't sound good." Steven chuckled and took another mouthful of Rindo berry pasta. "If you have to go, I don't mind. Really." Luna sighed deeply.

"It's just…we'd planned out this dinner for weeks and everybody worked so hard on the festival…I really should be there. And I completely forgot about it. I'm sorry Steven." Luna apologised.

"No worries. Really. It's fine." Steven lifted his napkin to his mouth. "I'll see you tomorrow, at the inauguration of the festival?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm sorry again, Steven. Thank you for um, dinner." Steven smiled warmly and shooed her away.

"Get going. They're waiting for you."

As soon as Luna's feet touched down in Veilstone she shot off like lightning towards the restaurant. The waiter at the entrance guided her to the reserved long table at the back of the place, all 12 leaders and elite four were waiting.

"I'm so sorry guys." Luna immediately issued a flurry of apologies to everyone seated and took her own seat at the head of the table.

"Hey. It's ok, we know you have been stressing over this for a long time, but trust me when I tell you, it's gonna be incredible." Candice said.

The Sinnoh league toasted to the festival and dug into their food once it arrived, but Luna only glumly picked at it. All she could think about was Steven Stone. He had cooked her dinner, and invited her to his villa.

And then it dawned on her.

He had cooked her dinner…and invited her to his villa.

"Um hello? Earth to Luna?" Flint waved a hand in front of Luna's face. "You good?" He asked.

"Oh yeah… I'm fine."

"So, what were you doing in the resort area? Isn't everything already ready for tomorrow?" Gardenia asked, taking a sip of her wine.

"I…" Luna hesitated. "I was with Steven Stone."

Silence graced the table. And then, Chaos.

Fanny burst out laughing, Crasher Wake also, with his booming voice. Byron chuckled and nudged his son, Roark who turned red. A droplet of Gardenia's wine trickled down the corners of her lips. Candice and Maylene yelled at each other. Only Volkner and the elite four were calm.

"I KNEW it! I so knew it. I told you!" Maylene yelled.

"OH COME ON, technically She didn't say she was screwing him." Candice crossed her arms.

"Enough!" Bertha shouted. The room silenced. "How is he dear, I didn't know he was in Sinnoh." Bertha's voice was warm and genuine. Luna relaxed.

"He's well. He actually came for the festival apparently." The table murmured and whispered. Luna's face was bright red. It was sweet of him to come for the festival, he didn't have to, but something was strange about it. Why would he just take time off like that? He didn't really seem like the man who would enjoy a festival anyways, he seemed like a workaholic.

"Ah, that was sweet of him." Bertha replied. Luna took a bite of her food and swiftly changed the conversation.

But that night when the dinner was over and everyone said their goodbyes, Luna thought. He couldn't have come just for the festival,

Right?