Helmno!

This is a commission for my good friend  Alfyn, about a tired artist taking a hike through a scenic park to recover some lost inspiration, but comming back with more then that!
Nothing crazy here, it's a pretty sweet and calm story that i enjoyed making, just like the drawing that goes with it :3

Have a nice read!

Both of the main characters belong to  Alfyn

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Sun shone above the slightly cloudy sky, warming up the land below it, a state park, a habitat for wild pokemons of all sorts, home of tall, lightly snowy peaks and luscious green trees, a landscape as varied and massive as it was breathtaking and awe striking. Through it, almost splitting the region in half, winded a long and wide river, a home for many aquatic and semi-aquatic pokemons. Lying and playing along the coast of one of the rivers was a small group of pokemons of all kinds, resting after their meals of berries and other nutritious foods, they simply laid in the sun, half of them perhaps sleeping, while the other half runned lively, playing some sort of game.

As they enjoyed their time however, someone was watching them, holding a sketchbook and a pencil, raising and lowering them in a sort of weird rhythm. The man’s hand moved slightly, every move made the tip of the pencil strike the page, adding another line, another shape on the canvas, he just wished the more rowdy pokemon would sit still. The one that held the pencil was nor a trainer before, but an artist named Arden, a guy with top of his head white as if he was a seasoned and retired pokemon trainer, and yet he was only in his twenties, he also sported a pair of eyes with bags under them showing many sleepless nights he had endured. Arden was not the type to wander the park such as this with friends; however, he was alone, only carrying with him his backpack filled with rations and drawing equipment. As an artist, Arden had fallen into hard times, he felt as if he was lacking some inspiration in the confines of his home, leaving him often sitting in front of a blank paper for hours, and so he decided to change it. He went to wander through the lands untouched by cities, left to display the beautiful sights of an untouched land, he wanted as little intervention from other humans as possible, and thankfully the park was perfect for it. So far, after 3 days of his travels he came across only two small groups, though they didn’t pay much attention to him, for the most part he was alone, allowed to peacefully sketch the sights and pokemons.

With more strokes he suddenly heard a quiet snap, and saw the lead tip of his pencil falling to the ground, ofcourse, just as he was getting accustomed to tracking the pokemons down the cliff. Breathing heavily, he put down his notebook and pulled his backpack closer to himself, his hand inside rummaging through it, looking for his sharpener, but instead he felt something else, something soft and a bit long. His face went a bit pale as he looked inside, only to see a wurmple slowly climbing up his hand, non threateningly, it must have crawled inside out of curiosity, but the sight still frightened Adren. He shook the bug off and tried to get up, but in his panic, he tripped on his own leg and fell from the cliff he was sitting on, diving straight into the river below, creating a large and loud splash that scared most pokemons. He began to sink slowly, still trying to calm himself, before finally coming to his senses, thankfully the bug didn’t sting him in any way, he then looked up and moved his hands in order to resurface but somehow he found himself stuck in one place. felt a bit of panic coming back as the surface didn’t seem to get any closer, no matter how hard he was moving his arms and legs, before his eyes darted around and saw the slight movement of the water, an invisible force that was easy to miss, but he knew it was there, he was stuck in an undertow. Realizing the danger he was in, his eyes opened wide, his heart began to beat faster, he moved even quicker, managing to somehow move a touch closer to the water, but it was as if invisible hands kept pulling down onto him. So close, so close to escaping the water trap, his arm breached the water and made a massive splash, but yet, he was too weak. Not being physically strong, soon slowed down and was pulled back down, exhausted, with little oxygen left in his lungs, he was still panicking, eventually opened his mouth to let out his breath, only to get a mouthful of the water. He closed his eyes in fear.

However, as he thought that the stream would grasp him harder and throw down the stream, he felt someone’s arm embrace his chest and pull him up. He didn’t know who but the person felt… soft, similar to a pillow in a weird way. He shyly cracked an eye only to see himself moving up, towards the air, his head then turned and he saw his savior. His body was covered in blue feathers, with a pale yellow beak and a red gen in his forehead, Arden recognized the pokemon: it was a golduck! He recalled seeing one sleeping among the other pokemon, but… why was it helping him, how did it know?

For now it didn’t matter, he was glad to be saved from his death, especially once their heads were out of the water. Arden began to breath heavily, clearly terrified still panicking, but once he was back on the land, on the green grass and stable ground, the human calmed down, enough atleast to wipe his face and look at his savior, who stood over him with tilted, confused head “Gol duck?” it clearly asked, and while Arden didn’t have a way to know for certain, he felt as if he knew what the question was.

“Tha… thank you, I thought It would be my end there… ugh…” Still a bit shaky, he managed to sit up and shook his head, before turning to the golduck… he only now realized that the pokemon was special in a way, for one thing the pokemon was much bigger than most, over 6 feet tall, recalling his first sighting of the pokemon he didn’t though that the duck was a bit too big considering were it sat, made the whole sketch look a touch off, but also that it had a hefty soft pouch around it’s stomach, hanging gently, it showed an appetite that matched if not outdid his appearance “If not for you I would be a sharpedo food now… hm… Oh… great…” Arden sighted loudly and shook his head, seeing his backpack hanging on the edge of the cliff, located quite a distance away from him “Guess I better get going before someone steals it…”

“Golduck? Gol duck!” the pokemon said cheerfully and extended forth his arms, before his gem began to gently glow, with the human’s belongings soon enveloped in a similar glow. They then slowly began to move down, pulled by the telekinetic powers of the blue duck. It was quite a show for Arden. After a short while golduck was holding both the backpack and the sketchbook, which he certainly found interesting as he looked at it in awe “Gol duck duck?” He seemed enthralled to look at the notebook, flipping through it’s pages, even if Arden wasn’t too keen on sharing his art, he allowed for it, afterall, the pokemon saved him, he could do atleast that much for him.

“Yes, these are mine… now, where is it…” Arden moved his hands between the art supplies and repellents he used on more dangerous pokemons, before grabbing the two things he needed: a towel to dry himself, but also a pack of something wrapped in brown paper, which he handed to his savior “Here, I can see you like food so… um… sorry if it sounded rude…”

“Golduck?” The duck gently unwrapped the package and sighed in excitement, as he saw that it was full of cookies of all kinds: chocolate chip, with berries, plain, oat ones, it was like a rainbow of sweets! Golduck mumbled something as he ate one with a wide smile.

“Glad you like them, it’s the least I can give you…” The man said and got up stretching and shaking as he looked at the river again. It looked so calm, but he knew what was beyond its surface. “Well, I better get going, thanks again!” with that Arden packed his sketchbook into his bag, took off his wet shirt and put on the backpack, leaving slowly, only to notice the steps behind him. He saw the golduck cheerfully catching up to him “Oh…”

“Golduck!” the duck said it with such happiness as he reached for another cookie, it appeared as if he was going to follow the man for some reason, maybe thanks to the gift. Arden never had a pokemon companion, his mother and father both had some, but he simply never took to it, even if it made him stick out from his peers like a sore thumb. “Gol duck gol?”

“Uh… sure…” Arden said, not really knowing what the duck really could have wanted.

The two walked for a longer while, with the white haired human looking around, clearly in awe of the place, leaving the duck a bit confused. For him it was just an everyday sight, something he went to sleep and woke up to, it was nice, but nothing special in his eyes. They traveled further however, reaching a clearing in the middle of the forest, with a wooden pavilion and a campfire circle lined with stones, allowing Arden to finally take a break, away from the water and high cliffs, he still saw something worth sketching, and so his artistic process began again. He sat down, looking at the wooden structure with the background of a mountain, some small, moving splotches on the sky, arial pokemons enjoying their freedom on the massive blue background… it was just perfect. Raising his sketchbook to create some rough shapes, his eyes were fully fixated on the paper, on the gentle strokes of his freshly sharpened pencil, he didn’t knew what was going around him, not until he lowered the canvas and look another sight at the mountain, instead noticing a new element to his view.

“Gol duck!” The blue bird smiled brightly and straightened his back as much as it could, sitting with legs crossed, and arms on his lap. He looked pleased to be in the view of the human, keeping his position as a model would. Yes, he wanted to be a part of another artistic piece, hje even put his snacks away. Arden could only chuckle, the dumb smile on the pokemon could cheer up anyone, it was just so warm and radiant.

“Well, I suppose it could be more than just a view… sit still, ok?” The human smiled back and continued his work, afterall, it wouldn’t hurt to draw another sketch with the pokemon. He continued as before, with the motions of the sketchbooks replacing his view now and again, his hand transferring what he saw onto the paper. Each look from the pages showed him the golduck, still smiling, still overjoyed to be a part of another drawing, so much so that his eyes almost shimmered. It took a longer while, perhaps half an hour but Arden finally lowered his sketchbook, more than before and took a deep breath, before his gut growled loudly “How about we’ll finish this a touch later? I haven’t eaten since morning…” He almost closed the sketchbook but the webbed hand of the duck stopped him, he looked giddy with excitement, like a kid at the candy store “Oh, well it isn’t finished so… yeah” half reluctantly, Arden opened the sketchbook to reveal the drawing, the rough shapes that were being slowly and carefully shaped into the parts of the scenery, still with guiding lines and occasional stray line, or something else that wasn’t perfected, yet the reaction of his companion was simply ecstatic.

“Gol duck duck!” the duck leaped forward, embracing the artist in a tight hug, perhaps a bit too tight, as the man let out a pained sigh, before being let go “Gol duck…” with an embarrassed tone, the avian rubbed his head and simply continued to smile.

Arden only petted the duck on his head and got up to prepare himself his meal, taking out a can labeled ‘rations #1’and reading them, and then gathering the sticks around the camp, he wanted to make a nice fire to both warm up his food but also illuminate the world around during the night, allowing him to draw more, he wanted to give his 150%, he wanted to draw as much as he physically could in a day, not the healthiest way to go with it, but he treated it as a challenge to himself. After gathering enough wood, he made the fire quite easily, just in time even, as the sun was slowly creeping down, painting the world warmer, but considerably darker. He sat there, watching the flames slowly glow bigger, before feeling his golduck companion scoot over to him, still as cheerful, curiously looking at the small, collapsible pot the man had, and the weird food in it, something that the pokemon never had seen before. Long strands of something, with cubed veggies and drenched in dark-brown sauce, he simply watched as the liquid began to boil and gray strands of steam rose up from the pan, delicious, mouth watering smell following suit. The savory scent made golduck’s stomach growl loudly, his eyes closing as he smelled more of the weird food, soon leaning back onto the grass and laying down. After a bit Arden was enjoying his meal, savoring the enoki mushrooms while looking up into the sky, seeing it change color, he simply looked and slowly chewed, somehow he was thinking of so many art ideas but nothing special, as if all the ideas were on the outskirts of his mind. He lost himself in the thoughts so much that he didn’t notice the stare of the blue bird, clearly interested in the dis the human was enjoying “oh… hungry?” He asked and skewered on a mushroom and held it for the pokemon to eat. Golduck definitely was a fan of it, ate the whole mushroom in one go, munching on it with a smile and wagging his small blue tail.

Golduck in response grabbed one of the cookies from his gift and re-gifted it to the human, not wanting to lack in any gifts himself. It was maybe not the most prestigious of gifts, but it was quite a sweet gesture from the pokemon. After finishing the meal, Arden grabbed his sketchbook again, going back to work, sketching more and more, trying to make the most out of the natural light, but there was simply not enough time. Eventually it was too dark for him to continue his practice, leaving him with a bitter feeling, perhaps he spent too much time sightseeing and too little actually practicing? He tried to shake the feeling off, looking for another thing to draw, but the world was getting darker, showing the stars which were finally allowed to glow without the sun dimming them. “Gol duck?” he heard besides himself as he noticed his companion, now sitting even closer, looking at him before yawning loudly.

“Yes… sleep… I am not feeling tiered yet, I usually sleep much, much later, but don’t worry about it” Arden said as he felt golducks head resting on his lap, before he let out loud snores “Ah…” with no other choice, the human also laid back, after putting down a small matt to not hurt his back, falling asleep as the fire began to slowly die down, the crackling of the woods and the feeling of the duck’s head on his lap helping him fall asleep.


For the next five or so days, the two traveled further into the park, all though Arden never wished to travel the full length of the roads there, he wasn’t that much of a hiking fan, he just kept to more leveled and easy to traverse paths. As they traveled Arden sketched more and more, page after page, and nearly all of them included his duck companion, always cheerful, sometimes doing something special like levitating a rock to show off or simply clear the view for his new friend, or sitting among the branches of the nearby tree, munching on a berry or three, he wanted to be on as many pages as it was possible, and the human didn’t object, it was actually refreshing to work with a model in such a varied environment! As the night would fall they would sit down, talk a bit, enjoy more rations that Arden happily shared with his friend, who perhaps didn’t always understand his intentions. Sometimes Arden would curse under his nose, feeling drops of rain fall down and poke his nose from above, like a light tap to tell him that his work will have to wait, not the most pleasant of signs, but after a movement he didn’t notice any more wet drips hitting him, his clothes were dry, his backpack too. He looked around, unsure what was going on, trying to see if maybe it was just a little drizzle, but no, the rain was pouring heavier, yet all around him the world was dry, even though the water fell from the sky all the same. Confused, the artist looked at the golduck who simply stared up, the gem in his forehead shining a bit, before looking at his friend and holding up his thumbs with a radiant smile.

The blue avian was prone to certainly weird interpretations of the needs and wants of his friend: lifting them with his strength when he gets on his tippy-toes to look somewhere over his line of sight or gifting the human a tight hug whenever he noticed his face dipping into sadder expression, but none of the actions meant any harm, they were all commign from a place of worry and care. It was weird for Arden at first, they traveled mostly in silence, but soon they were no strangers, not afraid to speak to each other, even if they had trouble understanding most of the word.

The company of someone else also proved important, as the road winded around a large park, often running near the river, the same one that nearly meant Arden’s demise, he felt a certain unease stepping closer to it. He wanted to keep as far away as possible, even if the water was shallow and others were crossing it at such a point, he felt his heart beat faster just looking at the people doing so. However one can run from unpleasant things, but never escape them, and so, at one point, Arden had to cross the river, again, at shallow point, perhaps only deep to his knees, and while outside he looked fine, on the inside he felt as if his heart was going to simply explode. He stood still, just looking at slowly running water, not brave enough to move forward “Golduck?”

His companion snapped him out of the mindless thinking, stepping into the shallow river himself and smiling, all though now the smile was not returned “I’m sorry I just… you understand right?” he asked, not knowing what to expect, looking down at his own reflection in the water, trying to push himself to make that step forward, but he couldn’t, as if his legs were bolted to the ground. Just as he thought that his whole day would be renegaded to simply trying to cross the water, he felt someone grab his hand, pulling him forward gently. He saw the hand of the blue duck grab his with a smile, reassuring him that it was safe, giving him just enough strength to step forward, feel the cold water and the mud under his feet, slowly make his was through the river, still scared, but with help of the golduck he managed to get to the other side, trembling like a platter of jello, but he did it!

“Gol duck duck!” Blue avian patted his friend on the back and smiled brightly, sitting down by the stream with legs still in the water, patting the grass next to himself “gol gol duck?” His friend joined him, the two just sat there, soaking their feet, looking up onto the high mountains, without a care in the world. Golduck leaned back and simply relaxed, not carrying much about what happened, only glad he could help.

Their travel continued, and soon enough they set camp, but it had to be the last time they did so, as in the distance the two could see lights of the small city, the artist’s destination, the golduck looked at the shining buildings far, far away, his eyes reflecting the light lightly as he looked almost hypnotized by them “Oh, yeah, guess our travel is going to end soon, huh?” Arden said and took a deep breath, flipping through unpacking another meal he put over the fire to warm up, before laying back, still a tad tense from the day. He then saw the duck lying next to him, confused “What? Everytravel have to end eventually, right? I can’t just wander all my life, I need my desk and supplies to draw.”

“Gol gol duck?” the pokemon asked as he used his powers to summon the sketchbook and point to it, even more confused, flipping through the pages, looking at the beautiful sketches of pokemon, nature, or food, all made with care and attention.

“I have a whole studio back home, with all supplies I need to make those into full fledged drawings, in color,” Arden said, looking up at the stars and chuckling, “Spent quite a bit getting them so… yeah, can’t let them go to waste, can I?” He yawned loudly and fiddled with his thumbs, thinking if the travel helped him in any way, he didn’t really knew, he still felt the same, he expected the same kind of enlightening feeling the people online talked about in their videos, but… he was still himself, he still thought the same way. He stayed positive however and discarded the thought, before closing his eyes “goodnight…”

Next day seemed short, as if it happened way too quick. The two woke up and enjoyed the usual breakfast, protein bars with chocolate, perhaps the most loved food of the golduck so far, before getting up and setting off to travel once again, enjoying the sights and sounds around, they reached the border between the park and the outside world, with other travelers walking in or leaving as well, all though with such a large palace with so many entrances, there had to be no more than six other folks at most. Golduck looked around, he never really been to that part of the park, he usually just kept around the central area, along the river where he could spend his days laying belly side up with no one interrupting him, not that anybody would want to disturb a giant like him “Gol… duck?”

“Yeah, I have to go further, you don’t have to follow me though, I really enjoyed all of your company this past week, but I understand if you wish to stay here… oh, that gives me an idea!” The human said and took off his backpack, opening it and rummaging through it again, before taking out 3 packs of cookies, all wrapped in paper, all with official stamps of the park’s management. Arden smiled and handed the packs to the webbed hands of his companion “Here, you can have them, I overpacked and will be making a resupply anyway so enjoy them. Thanks again for all the help it was… important for me”.

The eyes of the avian opened wide again as he could smell the goods even through the paper, his mouth salivating already, his arms embracing the baked goods, before also embracing the man before him “Gol duuuuuuck! Duck duck gol!” the pokemon seemed ecstatic again, filled with joy, already taking out a cookie and munching on it, before looking at the human with a bit of a sad gaze “Gol duck…”

“Who knows, maybe we will meet again, at least I hope so!” Arden said and gave the golduck one last hug before turning around and leaving, still looking back and seeing the duck waving at him. He felt a bit sad, a bit lonely for not having a companion to his side, but he couldn’t do much, for now he had to book himself into a hotel and take a hot shower.

He spent a moment at the store, gathering supplies again, bags of enoki in sauce, goulashes, salads and something sweet to drink, since he found himself wishing for something else than just water for the duration of his travels. Later, after he cleaned himself thoroughly, Arden sat down and looked over his sketched, laying on the comfortable bed, wondering if maybe now he will finally feel that feeling of ‘artistic unblock’ as some in those videos called it, but he was still the same, maybe a bit more eager to draw landscapes and with more real world examples. In his pondering, flipping through the pages he saw the blue pokemon again, in various poses, doing various things, from almost every angle, Arden wondered what was the duck doing now: maybe he walked back to that spot? Maybe aided another traveler? He smiled thinking about the kind soul, as he stretched and closed his eyes, turning off the lights as well and swiftly falling asleep.


Next morning started early for him, it must have been 6 am or so. Artist got up and gave himself a quick shower, preparing mentally for another week or so of slowly traveling through the scenic, but still a bit rough on the body, park. After that he enjoyed a quick breakfast offered by the hotel, some scrambled eggs, veggies and scold cuts, stuff he often didn’t make for himself out of pure laziness or lack of culinary skills. He enjoyed a plateful of the food served there, alongside a cup of strong black coffee, all though he did feel a bit weird, not having a friend to talk to or share all that food with, he imagined that the duck would probably clean the buffet with his appetite, but what could he do? He simply finished his food, looking around at other pokemons, happily munching away alongside their trainers, making him only slip more into his thoughts. Finally he got up and left, grabbed his backpack and checked out of the hotel, taking one last, small tour of the city, grabbing a tiny bit more of rations, just in case.

He walked out of the city, though the road that he came from, with the sun already slowly bowing towards the horizon, thinking of just turning around and booking another night, but no, he already spent perhaps too much on that place, besides he needed to get going, he had projects to finish, sketches to fulfill, he was a busy person, hs eyebags were a proof of that. Stepping further and further, he finally got to the entrance of the park, the large open space where groups gathered before leaving to hike. Looking around, Arden didn't see anyone else at first, but looking out at the road ahead of himself he saw someone leaning against a rock, a blue someone. Taking a step forward and squinting his eyes he smiled as he confirmed it, yes! It was the same golduck, there was no way to confuse such a tall and chubby avian. He still couldn’t believe it, the pokemon waited there, perhaps for him? It must have been so, since Arden could see the empty packs of cookies, as well as the way the duck behaved, sitting there and wiggling from side to side, his eyes half open, closing for a moment, causing him to lean perhaps too much to one side and nearly falling flat on his face, before opening his eyes and straightening up, clearly skipping a whole night of sleep. For the artist the scene was goofy, as almost any involving the blue bird, but in it’s silliness there was something adorable, seeing that he waited for him, not even knowing if he would come back, heck, by all he knew Arden could have stayed in town for months… and yet golduck was there, still smiling and trying to be as awake as he could to simply greet his friend… it was adorable, and perhaps the nicest thing anyone have done in a while for the artist.

Arden came closer, waving at the pokemon, who took a moment to realize that the wave was directed at them, and another one to recognize, or maybe open his eyes wide enough to see who the waving person was, but once he realized, he couldn’t be happier. Golduck raised his hand and waved it back “Gol duck!” he managed to say a bit louder before yawing. Their reunion was however cut short, with a hit of grass blades to the back of the avian “Gol… yawn… duck?” He turned around and saw a man wearing a black shirt near a treecko, his hands expended, both briefly exchanging looks.

“Now treecko, strike him again!” The man said and prepared something in his hand as his pokemon whipped his arms and sent another attack forward, in the form of a pair of leaves as strong as steel, but thankfully golduck avoided the attack “Aim lover, don’t make it easy for him to doge the attacks!” Treecko grunted and prepared to strike again, all while the blue duck groaned softly, not in the best shape to fight.

Seeing his friend being attacked, Arden moved faster forward, before straight up running, wanting to save his friend from the unnecessary battle, in which the avian had little to no will of fighting back, instead he simply jumped away from the danger, hoping to simply bore his opponents and deter them away, but they were quite stubborn it seemed. The barrage of the attacks just kept coming and coming, faster and faster it seemed, vine grappling his body, leaves trying to hit him, occasionally the gecko would simply try and tackle his opponent, sometimes the hits missed, other times connected, and when they did, they would make golduck just a bit slower and easier to hit again.

Eventually the golduck was down to the last of his strengths, a bit bruised, half awake and leaning against the same rock he was waiting on, looking at the two, at the smug look of the trainer “good job treecko! Let's catch this one and get him to the pokecenter.” he closed his arm and soon in it appeared a black pokeball, making the duck just a bit more worried.

“Wait! Sto.. oh arceus… stop…” Arden finally managed to get there, as his previous yells were muffled by the sounds of the battle, standing in front of his companion, his arms extended, his breath short and heavy “don’t do…. do it, please, oh my heart…” Arden breathed heavily.

“What? Dude, we are kinda in the middle of a fight here, I want to add that golduck to my team, that giant sure looks like he could fight… all though he keeps dodging” the man said and threw the pokeball gently into the air with a smile.


“You can’t, he’s my friend. I… I wanted to ask him to join me too. We traveled for the last week and he really helped me, hell, he saved me from drowning” Arden took a deep breath and looked at the duck, smiling softly “I know it might sound stupid, but I would appreciate it if you would just leave my friend alone, ok?”

“Treecko?” the green gecko rubbed his head in confusion, but his trainer simply rubbed his chin and nodded.

“I see… well, I am sorry to interrupt you two, Honestly, no harm meant, uhm… want a potion or some spray maybe for your friend?” Revelied, Arden nodded and came forth to grab the potion, only to be handed a black pokeball as well “Listen, next person might not be so kind… just catch him yourself ok? Just to be safe.”

The two left soon, leaving the artist with the pokeball in his hand, with a choice. He could do it now, have it been over, but… he just pocketed the sphere and turned to his friend, kneeling down next to him “Hey there bud… waited a long time to see me again, huh?” he handed him the potion, before sitting next to the avian, smiling gently “Say, I was thinking… I could use a travel companion, and a friend at the studio to keep it clean and you know, not empty, so… yeah, want to join me as my friend and assistant? Or at least for the road to the other end of the park?”

He didn’t have to wait long for a response, as he soon felt a strong hug from his friend “Gol duck duck!” The two chuckled and leaned back, looking at the setting sun, both of their stomachs growling quietly.

“Good thing I grabbed some extra rations.”