Ethan led Cynthia into his humble home and placed Shuckle down onto the kitchen counter as she took a seat. Shuckle wiggled his arms and legs in excitement as Ethan grabbed one of the, first, and probably expensive bottles of Enigma Berry Wine. There were two ready from the very first batch, and he grabbed the one with more Shuckle Juice, as was planned, for Garchomp’s gift. The bottle itself was unadorned and simple, with only a white sticker painted by Smeargle stuck on labeling it and one of the spare corks from Shuckle’s Christmas gifts—the Enigma Berry cork, of course. He handed it to Shuckle and physically turned his bug around one-hundred and eighty degrees so he was facing Cynthia and—Where was Garchomp?
Looking over to the still open door, Ethan watched as Garchomp twisted her neck and tested the boundary of the door, seeing if she could squeeze through. He flashed Cynthia a look, seeing if she was going to help out her pokemon, but she seemed unconcerned. Shuckle was watching as well, tilting his head as his excitement dimmed to mild confusion, bottle wrapped in his limbs.
Eventually, Garchomp managed to find the correct orientation of her body to squeeze through the door. With a gnarly toothy grin and a deep throaty dragonic rumble of satisfaction at her success, she finally stood at her full height inside. Ethan’s kitchen, dining room (if you were generous enough to call it a room, as there wasn’t a wall separating them), and living room didn’t have a flat roof. Instead, there were thick wooden support beams, enabling taller pokemon to move around much ease.
He could probably add a loft of some sort, if he really wanted to.
“Alright, Shuckle. It’s time.” Ethan gestured Garchomp over as Shuckle nodded. As the massive dragon sauntered forward, eyes on the bottle, Ethan whispered to his friend. “Remember to set expectations… we don’t actually know how this is going to taste.”
Shuckle hit him weakly in the back with one of his noodle legs, then flashed him a very brief cute glare. Shuckle wasn’t going to have any bad mouthing about his berry juice in this household.
“Shuu-Shuuuuuckle!” Shuckle began a long winded pokespeak explanation while gesturing to the bottle, Ethan, and the window, which showed his berry fields. After thirty seconds of childlike rambling, he unrolled his yellow arm and offered the bottle to Garchomp, who took it as best she could with her… dangerous limbs.
Seeing the problem before it could arrive, Ethan took a step forward and helped Garchomp remove the cork and held it for her to drink from. Cynthia laughed at the awkwardness of her pokemon, which Garchomp obviously heard and ignored, going by her squinted eyes. Garchomp opened her mouth wide as she leaned forward and tilted her head back, ready for him to pour.
“We don’t know how strong this is, or what it tastes like. Shuckle wanted you to have the very first one. Let us know how it is.” Then, not keeping the giant dragon waiting, he tipped the glass bottle into her mouth.
The bottle let out the signature glug sound as air surged into the bottle as its contents emptied, but Ethan didn’t pay much attention to that… He was more focused on Garchomp’s reaction. Quickly the bottle was supported by Garchomp’s own limbs, freeing Ethan from his impromptu job of holding it for her. Garchomp practically shook the bottle, emptying every single drop from inside the normal sized bottle of wine into her gaping maw, even going so far as to try and stick her thick tongue into the very small opening to lick what little droplets struggled to flow.
Shuckle cheered a happy ‘Shuuu!’ as Cynthia laughed and joined her pokemon’s side. She ran a hand over Garchomp’s fin fondly. “Should probably warn someone when giving their pokemon alcohol, but thank you for the gift. What was it, specifically?”
In hindsight, warning her of what she was giving her pokemon would have been wise. “A wine me and Shuckle made. Our very first batch! This one is made with Enigma berries. Very rare, very special, very… different taste every time you eat one.”
Finished with her drink, Garchomp expertly used her bladed limbs to gently place the glass bottle onto the counter, then scooped up Shuckle into her arms as he squealed from her obvious joy from her gift.
It was a bit early in the day, but Ethan decided that the Champion probably deserved some stress relief. “Let’s grab the softer version and give it a try, shall we?” He grabbed two of his finest (only type) of cups and the spare diluted bottle from the first batch and popped it open. Not being a wine guy, Ethan had zero expectations on what he was getting into, but Cynthia probably was a fine connoisseur of vintages, knowing his luck.
He hoped it didn’t suck.
He poured them both glasses, then handed one to Cynthia. She twirled the dark, nearly black looking wine in her cup and watched the liquid closely. He wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she smiled—hopefully that was a good sign? “Cheers,” he said, holding his glass up
“You don’t typically cheer for wine, but amongst friends? Sure. Cheers.” They clinked glasses and he took a sip... but Cynthia paused and gave hers a sniff as she smirked, waiting for his reaction before she took a sip herself.
Betrayal didn’t come from your enemies. It came from your friends.
The first thing to hit Ethan’s senses… was confusion. At first, the wine tasted sweet and fruit-juicy with the obvious tint of alcohol. It was smooth—smoothier than he imagined it would be… but it shifted? Not a half second later, the sweetness was gone, replaced by a tart, almost shocking brightness that tingled the tongue and popped in his mouth? Was he drinking liquid pop-rocks? Then, once again, the flavor shifted to a cool, minty, refreshing wintergreen flavor. As he finally swallowed, it liquid felt… wispy? Like, it was obvious that he swallowed, but it felt lighter than any liquid should be.
Was this magic wine? It was, in all honesty, pretty good tasting once the shock wore off. Only, it was good in a very unique, party-trick way.
“Alright, you’re not gonna believe me when I try to explain. Give it a sip.” Ethan spoke in baffled disbelief, face going through a mixture of emotion.
Cynthia took a sip, and of course, Ethan watched her face travel through several different stages of shock and bafflement. After a few seconds, she took another sip… then pinned Ethan with a stare. “Does it taste different every time?”
Ethan took yet another sip, and instead of sweet smooth fruit juice, he was hit in the mouth with a spicy sludge. Blessedly, a half second later, the spicy vanished and he was tasting a dry floral wine. It seemed that Enigma Berry wine was… a toss up. The thing that worried him, was that he wasn’t sure if the smoothness, bitterness, dryness, was his mind playing some hallucinogenic trick on him, or that the liquid was somehow physically changing characteristics. His wine shouldn’t pop in his mouth like candy if it didn’t actually do it… right?
Cynthia and Ethan shared a glance with one another… then both took a third sip at the same time with smiles. When Cynthia was the first to recover from her random bash of flavors and gave the bottle a look of appreciation. “It’s definitely unique. Not something you’d have at any dinner parties, but a good experience.”
“Shuuu!” Shuckle was wiggling his arms, clearly asking for either ups or a sippy. Considering Shuckle himself made the juice that went into the wine, he decided his young pokemon could have a sip. Once Ethan lowered his glace to Shuckle’s height on the counter, Shuckle dipped his head into it and lapped up what Ethan would call three drops worth.
“BLEGGH-ACHK” Shuckle’s face shrunk and wrinkled as he gagged. It appeared that Shuckle only liked his juice, not the wine.
Garchomp saddled up to Cynthia’s side and… gave her puppy-dog eyes, begging for a sip. She rammed an elbow into her pokemon’s ribs without a care in the world—not that it even made the pokemon flinch. “Back off! You had an entire bottle! This is mine.”
“We have some other berry flavors as well. These were only the Enigma Berry ones. She can have an Oran berry bottle if she really wants to.” Ethan offered, causing Cynthia to shoot him a look of betrayal as Garchomp quickly abandoned her trainer to give him puppy-dog eyes.
“If you’re willing to deal with a drunk dragon, then feel free.” She shot Garchomp a warning look. “No fighting.”
Garchomp waved her off and followed Ethan as he made his way to the cellar to grab one of the more normal bottles of wine. Once he returned and Garchomp was settled onto his kitchen floor with her new bottle of booze with Shuckle, Ethan decided that if they were going to party, then he’d need to invite the rest of his friends.
After a few texts and a few minutes' time, Joyce, James, Meowth, and Jessie strolled into his home as if they owned the place. It had become a common occurrence and Ethan didn’t really care if people came by unannounced to relax… but sometimes they walked into things they weren’t expecting.
Such as the Garchomp that haunted the Rocket’s nightmares.
Jessie, James, and Meowth froze like deer in the headlights as soon as they noticed the giant dragon sitting on his floor. Garchomp had her feet out straight with her tail curved, smacking against the wall behind her as it wriggled. When Garchomp noticed the stares, her giant toothy smile sent the trio right into the living room to escape with their drinks in hand.
Ethan saw Jessie down her glass in a single go, like taking a shot, as she sat on the couch. Which, judging by her face, told him that was a mistake. Who takes a shot of wine anyways?
Joyce was catching up with Cynthia at the kitchen table as Chansey set-up a small radio to play some music. He sent her a nod of thanks which Chansey returned by waving enthusiastically with joy. Hearing the commotion, many of his pokemon wandered back home to join in the abrupt party, yet Ethan didn’t allow them a taste of the wine. If Ursaring showed up, she could have some… maybe Smeargle too…
Maybe once tipsy, Ethan would see if he could put on an impromptu concert!
Settling in with Joyce and Cynthia with drink in hand, he joined the conversation—or was dragging into it. “Ethan,” Cynthia locked onto him. “I heard you’ve been training your pokemon? As in, real training?”
He knew this was going to be brought up sooner or later. “That’s right. I’ve spent the last few weeks teaching them new moves and making some strategies. They all know Protect, and others learned more.”
“Wanna battle?” She instantly asked, the battle junky in her coming to the forefront. You didn’t become Champion if you didn’t enjoy battling. That’s for sure.
“Hmmmm” Ethan pretended to think for a moment, taking the chance to sip his drink.
“Nah.”