Meeting Gold

“Why should I tell you? ACK! Ow, ow, ow! Quit doing that!” The Golduck quacks out after you flicked a finger against the cracked jewel of his head. With vines that Jackal gathered from the murky portion of the forest, you had bound the duck to the tree you pinned him against, questioning him for local information. If he lived near the swamp, perhaps he knew of the Toxicroak. However, he wasn't cooperating with you at all. He just keeps insulting and ranting at you, even when you hadn't done anything to him once he was tied up.

With an annoyed sigh, you thought it best to try and start fresh.“Let’s make this a bit easier for all of us. My name is Lace…” You say to the arrogant duck before pointing to your companion. "And that's Jackal."

"Yeah, the guy you shot at." The Typhlosion growls.

The Golduck growls in return, kicking his short legs about from above-ground. His back was practically glued to the tree to have him eye-level with you. “Gold. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

You furrow your brow. Gold? Was that slang for 'good, understood' or something? Jackal however picks up on it, "Wait, what the hell, your name's...Gold?" A smile stretches on the fire-type's face. "Gold the _Gold_uck? P-Ppf...PFFPFpfFpff...!" There and then, his cheeks puff and his teeth bite his lip to contain laughter. "Your parents ain't the cleverest bunch, huh~?"

The Golduck snaps back into flailing madly in his tied position. “No! I named myself! To hell with my parents!” The Golduck barks out. "They fuckin' left me here before the plague or whatever even started. I’ve lived in this lake by myself for years, and kept my territory safe from roamers like you! You're all the same, playing all nice and shit, but it all goes to shit sooner or later. Next thing you know, you're beating me down or even taunting how you're gonna eat me. I tried pleading. I tried runnin'. But your kind aaaalways wants to pick on an easy target. Oh yeah?! Well I've trashed every single one of you, and it ain't gonna stop today! You’ll rue this day, Face and Jaqcuel, or whatever the hell your names were!” He continues his ravings, beating the back of his head against the tree.

Through encounters with strangers, it appears to you that he's grown to distrust anyone and everyone. The isolation and lack of raising certainly didn't help matters either. You begin to understand why he is the way he is, even if it wasn't entirely justified to start blasting at anyone and enjoying it. You shake your head and assure, “Relax. We're only doing this cause you struck first. You think a guy lazing on the dirt, and me washing an injury posed a great threat?"

Jackal mumbles with arms crossed, "...I was just laying for a second. It ain't like I'm lazy or somethin'..." He wasn't picking up on what you were doing.

You keep your attention to the riled duck and add, "Just...calm down. We just want to know about the swamp up ahead. No one's gonna threaten or eat you. Alright?"

"Eh...?" The Golduck huffs. "The swamp? Right, you're just here to talk, huh? That's why you've tied me up and made fun of me, huh?" He then grins, as if testing your words to your actions.

"You're only tied up because you wouldn't sit still, and you attacked us, remember?" You retort, putting your hands to your hips. You shake your head. "We'll untie you if you just answer me. I'm searching for any clues about the infection going on, and we heard there’s a Toxicroak that was last seen in these parts who might be able to help. Can you verify that?”

Gold seems to stifle his struggles amidst the vines and glares at you. The moment you had mentioned the Toxicroak, his expression changes to a disgusted look, recognizing who you were talking about.

The duck at least didn't even try to lie about it. “...Yeah, I know the frog you're talkin' about. Met him several months ago I think; a complete weirdo. He’s just some damn homo that tried flirting with me while I was minding my own business, doing my business no less!” You wince at his rather heinous mention of that. While plenty of people had rather open sexualities and it was a common practice of regular society to respect individuals' orientations, being an anti-social and angry duck trapped in isolation seems to have made him very homophobic; and that was just ignoring his mysoginist comments from before aside. While you didn't mind others' preferences, it seems like the Toxicroak may have teased the wrong individual.

Gold continues, “I haven’t heard from him since, but I plan on keeping it that way! Has this world gone mad?! Do women not exist anymore?”

"The Toxicroak, did you ever get his name?" You get the subject back on track. "Or maybe know where in the swamp he lives?"

"No, I didn't bother askin' the freak." Gold growls with even more disdain. He flicks his head to the side. "And ain't no way in hell did I ever bother explorin' that swamp to find out where he lives. As far as I know, he got the message when I told him to buzz off. Maybe he's dead, maybe he ain't. I dunno where he is anymore."

Damn. Oh well, it was barely a lead, but a lead nonetheless, and you'd accept that. "Alright...can you remember which direction he came from, when he approached your lake? It'd give us some kind of angle to explore first when going through the swamp near here."

"Uhhh..." The duck didn't seem to want to answer first, but his anger was subsiding...at least...mostly. The scowl on his face was still evident, though his struggles were at least gone. And he wasn't even insulting you anymore, so that's some progress. Gold tosses his head in a direction. "That way, I think?"

You glance to Jackal, "We'll start there then." Bringing your attention to Gold, you explain, "See? That wasn't so bad. You've actually been a help, Gold."

The Golduck didn't appear satisfied. "Yeah. A real blast. Can you un-fuckin'-tie me now?"

"After the shit you pulled?" Jackal snarls. He wasn't very keen on that idea. "I'm lucky to have all my limbs after that explosion, you little tw-"

"Jack." You rupture his nickname to snap his attention. "If I recall, you did something similar when I ventured into a certain house."

"Wha?! Y-Yeah, but that was dif-" He attempts to defend his action, but you shake your head. Jackal peers off with some self-disappointment and agitation towards the duck. "...ghh."

You tell Gold, "...As long as you promise not to go berserk and attack us, I'll let you down. You helped us in the end, after all."

The Golduck leers his gaze to you and the Typhlosion, seemingly to debate the idea before eventually, he rolls his eyes and mutters, "...Fine. I promise. Just get off this stupid tree."

With a sigh and an assuring pat to Jackal's back, you venture around behind the tree and flare your palms with your flaming aura. The vines wither and burn away, loosening the duck to collapse on his front before he flails to get the bindings off. Jackal keeps an eye on the duck to ensure the bird doesn't get up to any trouble.

"Yeesh!" The Golduck growls when stumbling up off the ground, slapping off the final vine clinging to him. "Could've warned me when the things would snap off."

Jackal grits his teeth, "We can arrange for you to be tied back up and just leave ya, if that's what you'd prefer."

Gold, with his newfound position, confidently challenges the hot-head with a staredown, even stomping up to the Typhlosion for them to nearly butt heads; well, if Gold wasn't shorter than Jackal, then they would be physically. "Whuzzat badger? You want me to hit you directly this time?"

"Let's see you try with that crumbled rock on your head." He snipes back.

"Boys." You step in between them and have them part aside. You felt like you had to be the parent of the situation regrettably. "We're done fighting, remember? Jack, let's just go. Save the energy for the infected."

Gold crosses his arms and swings his head away, "Yeah, yeah. You two better get outta here before I reconsider our deal. I went easy on you two earlier."

"Why you-" Jackal starts up again with his mane flaring up. A simple glance to you and your perked brow has the fire fizzling out, however, and the hothead tries to cool his temper. "...Fine, whatever. Just consider yourself lucky Lace here is as nice as he is. It'd be a different story with me, but we have better things to do." And with that, Jackal just moves away from the pair. You watch him simply stop at the lakeshore to subside his anger for the time being, which leaves you and your parting goodbye with Gold.

"Don't sweat about him. He's easy to anger, but he's a good guy." You tell the Golduck, trying to appeal to him. He could very well be a threat later if you turn your backs to him, or if you needed to come back through here on your way out from the swamp. Plus...the whole reason you were venturing out this far was to help people. Because of the infection, you couldn't help but see Gold's situation as something that happened to a lot of folks around the continent. If you villified and attacked every single person struggling to survive, what kind of world would there even be left to save?

You wanted to set an example, and even if it didn't seem right or fair...that meant being empathetic to someone like Gold too.

The duck simply scoffs, muttering to himself, "...Eh, the hell do I care if he's good or not? Don't y'all have a place to be?" He was still rejective. You wanted to at least help fix that before you left.

"We do, but I wanted to thank you. Specifically for what you told us. You could've easily lied to spite us, but you didn't. You helped us, Gold, and in turn, I think that's going to help a lot of people if we figure this whole pandemic thing out." You smile to him, genuinely. "You're a good guy yourself, even through all that huffing and puffing."

Gold's face actually blushes somewhat, despite his face twisting up into even more anger. "Q-Qweh?!" The quacking sound of disgusted surprise was pretty enjoyable for a reaction. "...F-Fuck off, don't talk down to me. You're actin' like that damn Toxicroak now. I ain't interested in you."

To spite him, you squat down with your elbows on your knees, talking slightly up to him now considering that you were taller than him at a full-stand. "How's this then?"

"Fuck you." He grunts with his eyelids lowering down half-way. His face was still blushing though.

You grin, but you flick your ears and try to adjust the conversation again, "I meant it though. We didn't know about your parents. Must've been hard being here by yourself with all the monsters around, infected or not. So I get it. I'd defend my home too if I went through that kind of hell." You were actually preparing for an apology.

"Wh-What is this?" The duck stammers however as he starts to grip at the arms still crossed at his chest, clearly twisting with nervous stress. He didn't know how to react to kindness. "Why you talking to me like I'm some kid?! I'm probably just as old as you dammit, I'm an adult! You trying to get on my good side or something? I don't need your pity! My gem's broken cause of you! Ohh, but I know. It's myyyy fault, cause I blasted at ya, huh?"

It was his fault, but you shake your head. "No, I'm not asking you to apologize. I'm apologizing to you, Gold." You rise back up to be as serious as possible. You put a forepaw to your chest and tell him straight, "I'm sorry for how we treated you. You deserve better." While it would be nice to get an apology back for his attack, he clearly felt guilty for it. The look on his face to when you said sorry made it all too apparent.

"...Th...That..." His eyes struggle to figure out what expression he needs to make, whether he should twist his face in anger or try to look unphased by it, unimpressed. But sadness wells up in his eyes, and you could tell that really got to him. "Wh-Whatever. I forgive you or whatever." He swallows a weight hard in his throat. You smile. While the goal wasn't to make him feel bad, at least now he'll probably reconsider attacking everyone or try to eat them. Today was a lesson of empathy.

"Thanks Gold~" You answer. "If Jackal and I need to backtrack our way, we might come through here and the lake again. Is that okay?"

The Golduck simply turns away from you, managing to collect himself and stifle his feelings on the side. "As long as you don't wake me up from a nap or bring that frog here, yeah, fine, sure."

"I think I can settle with that." You state before heading off to the lakeshore to fetch Jackal. You couldn't help but smile however to feel like you've done a good deed today, even if it was for an asshole. Gold certainly appreciated it, even if he didn't want to admit it. "Hey, ready to go?"

The Typhlosion grunts, "Yeah, I'm good. Sorry 'bout earlier, that guy's just such an asshole though."

"Yeah, he was, wasn't he?" You mention before flicking your head, "Let's head out then." Together, you and Jackal get your satchels and head out in the direction the Golduck stated; Gold himself standing by the tree to watch you two vanish within the brush of the murky forest. He huffs and curls his tail in shyly.

From saving the canyon village, to helping Redeemer's Grotto, to potentially making this lake area now safe from Gold; it looks as though you're doing a grand job so far on your adventure. Even if you never found a cure for the infection, it did leave a warm feeling in your chest that you still could help people. Who knows what you'd come across next?

1. You arrive at the swamp!

2. An infected attacks you on your way! *