A Matter of Sapling and Rice

Sapling Burgh was a town that reached the heavens. Or, perhaps it didn’t, but the idea was the same to Jude. Most trees just vibed like that, and for whatever reason, the wondrous Dew Tree was the tree-est of them all. It was enough so that a whole colony of Pokemon had made it their home. Buildings jutted from its trunk like pimples gone wrong and glorious lanterns shrouded in paper hung from its higher branches- not illuminating much, mind you. They were there for the aesthetic.

“Lotta noise, don’t you think?” Next to Jude, the de facto leader Raphael, a cowboy hat wielding Rowlet, fluttered about, sort of skipping along the ground and air both. “Somethin’ bout doing hoedowns so high up doesn’t sit pretty. Just makes it the place to be, huh?”

“I suppose.” Jude shrugged, having to lean back just a tinge to see the whole damn thing.

“Oh, it’s so wonderfully close to the sky, don’t you think!” Next to him, Lily the winged Sewaddle. She blinked her three little eyes as she tried in vain to see the whole tree- a futile task, as she was born Short. And as a Bug. And that was, arguably, the worst sin one could inherit. “It’d stand to reason it’d be easier to stare into the cosmos from up there, doesn’t it?”

“Nope,” replied Raphael. “But I bet you’ll find a point. Maybe that’ll cheer up our clientele, here, jabs-for-brains. You’re good for that, yeah?”

For a moment, Jude shot his holy gaze, freshly cast from the flames of his soul at Raphael. This came in the form of a wiggly, one-eyed glare, one that the owl didn’t pay any mind. The fat monk was in the process of furthering the point when Lily spoke up, completely uncaring of the audacity.

“Yep!” Lily even wiggled her third eye- and her other two, because she hadn’t mastered moving them independently yet. “I’ll show them that it’s all alright! That with a little out of the box thinking, it's perfectly feasible for one to eject themselves amidst the stars above, to ride the spine of time and cultivate the nerves of the temporal stem and-"

"Yeah, kid. Work whatever magic it is that you got," Raphael interrupted. He flung himself forward like a pigeon trying to sprint- which was frankly ridiculous considering he was an owl. Jude could sprint better than he could- and he could walk faster, too. Which was why he was leading.

"Okay!" The immovable totem she was, Lily continued to chirp. "But could you tell me again, uh, who we're meeting? I kind of forgot."

"Ought to get that checked out, not listening to authority," said Raphael. "But, we're meeting with a Pawniard not happy with their lot in the world. Wasted talent, or they simply don't have the chops to pay the bills. We're gonna cheer them up.” With a blast of feather ruffling, the ground groans as he pokes into the mud, the three now nice and close to the base of the town. “Not much sense trying to encourage everyone. S’not like we know the fella.”

“Oh, okay!”

“Okay indeed, huh,” Snorted Raphael.

“If we’re doing that, though, why is Jude here?” After desecrating earth as she scuffled over to the Rowlet’s side, she took a moment to flick dirt-slop off one of her many legs. “You told me he was the muscle, didn’t you?” The young lady was absolutely infatuated with the secret code-name of the adjective-turned-noun.

“Can’t tell you for sure, honestly. Different strokes for different folks or something like that.”

“Hm.” Not even bothering to open an eye, Jude prodded the back of his own head. “An old friend of mine works at the tavern. I’m going to see her for a bit, once we find our client.”

“Thinkin’ we need a babysitter?” Raphael asked.

“I do.”

~

Reaching Sapling Burgh proper greeted the three with a century’s worth of split bark screaming in agony. The platforms they walked upon were built deep into the trunk, visceral discus using wood not even of the tree itself held by latch and rope and probably super glue and tape. These painted the town in a plethora of shades of birches and mahogany- something that was jarring to Raphael. Tress didn’t tend to grow all in the same spot, after all, and it only furthered how fucked up the world he lived in was.

For Jude and Lily, however, it was nothing new. They walked up a way, pushing that copious history down deeper into the wood. The world at large was held at gunpoint from that roost city, and there was much to behold. The forest below was standard, devoid of any trees that could quite match the might of the Burgh. Beyond that, however, a plethora of fields surrounded the town from all angles- save for a particularly risque side harboring a lake and its rivers. The fields were clumps of arable land, growing crops that the trio couldn’t possibly comprehend aside from the likes of rice and wheats. Foreign techniques of crop-rows and clusters were decidedly human in make, proving that mankind was kept around for a plethora of reasons.

The town's folk were rampant enough, delivering cargo and goods by rope along to the different levels. The sweet musk of sap baked into all manners of dish also wafted about, positively infatuating Lily who fluttered her wings in appreciation of the arts.

Jude nudged her with an arm after noticing this, gesturing to the town above.

"This town started as a bakery, few decades ago. One just built at the base of the town, using the syrup from the tree. When the Mystery Dungeons started springing up, a traveler came upon the bakery and informed its owners that they had a dungeon growing in the tree's roots. This caused the family to panic and they decided to simply rebuild the house a ways off of the ground, hanging from the tree." 

Lily blinked in parse.

"They didn't Just leave? Why?"

"I reckon it's the sap. Was their secret weapon, wasn't it?" Raphael inputted, having flown to a stake fence. 

"It was. They couldn't justify leaving their livelihood behind. The remains of their shop were made into the greeting gate and they built stairs going up. Other travelers saw this and started to build on the tree too. See, they were convinced that the root dungeon couldn't reach them. Wasn't long before a proper community started, with communal trading making use of the wood's bounty.

"Few years later, a human Pokémon arrived. Taught the town how to make ale out of the sap. That's the town's main export now," Jude gestured to the boxes being lifted about by chain and rope. "Lots of claims of stat boosting elixirs here. But I wouldn't buy into it."

"Booze doesn't do anything but soothe the head, anyways. And ale's the worst of it. Child's drink." Raphael's comment got Lily's eyes wide and hopeful, and Jude bristled at having to shoot her down.

"Stuff's not good for kids. You're not responsible yet."

"Huh? No, I'd be fine. I can navigate the psyche differently, like an adult!" Lily's protest didn't gain much traction.

"Nope. Don’t even know what that means.”

Forging from the sun a distant look bordering the state lines of constipated and determined, Lily huffed and defiantly waddled forward. A way ahead further, a bout of tomfoolery caught her attention and she bore witness to the heavier half of a Sunflora’s boot punt a Pawnard off of a crate.

“Told you to shove off! Ferrine's got no place here!" A flower bloomed in the sickly spit of hell, the Sunflora's grizzled face looked etched right out of granite. The fact that he was normal did not at all quell his steam. "Prickling around the glass with your nubbed hands. What are you even hoping' to accomplish?"

Sputtering like a blender with a fork in it, there was no hope for that Pawniard wrapped in a scarf.

"Reckon that's our man?" Raphael skipped over the wood, clinking his talons once he reached the piece's side. He looked to Jude who was currently looking at the Sunflora, who was currently looking back at Jude and then at Raphael because a chain of looking was akin to brother bonds.

"Paul." Jude said with a nod. The flower's sour look vanished.

"Buh! Big Jude!" Paul flopped over the side. "What's up! Fresh from the guild, my man!"

"It's good. On business now, actually," Jude responded, vaguely gesturing to the Pawniard.

"Oh, huh? Guy's just being a fly eater, no reason to arrest him."

"At his request, actually."

Paul's confusion only grew. He sort of leaned over, abandoning all manner of balance to look at the Pawniard. And the Pawniard looked back.

"Ope. Guess I'll leave you to it. You gonna see Kera later?"

"'Course."

"Hell yeah, man. I'll catch ya if I can, we have a shipment to move." And with that, Paul slunk back onto his cargo, wrapping a petal around the freight rope.

"Friends in high places, huh?" Hopping back when Paul's package began lifting again, screams of orders and commands filling the air, Raphael shook his head. "Nothing to it." He looked to the Pawniard, then, and Lily sidled up to him. "Well, Blender, name's Raphael. Captain of Team Hierophants. Heard your request of this town's foul."

"Well, uh." The Pawniard squinted with a warbled view. "It's not just here, actually. Everywhere! They keep calling me Ferrine, but, clearly, I'm Anthony. Anthony the Great! Traveling Hero!" His knife hands clinked against his thighs as he posed.

Somehow frowning through his beak, Raphael considered the delusion.

"Yeah? Shoot, you look as much a hero as anyone I've seen."

"I agree!" Lily chirped. "Bedazzleded fingers, perfect for piercing the night to sew it to an end, damning the stars for ever determining your fate!" With each declaration of star-shitting extraordinaire, she inched ever closer to Anthony, until she was looking straight up his chest.

"Uh? I don't know about all that, but, uh." And Anthony's 'Uh's were accompanied with a frantic step backwards, an uncomfortable clinking of his armor.

"I can tell you more soundly of your fate, if you want! We'd have to stare into the sun, but-"

"I'm not going to-!"

"Oh, it wouldn't take long in the slightest! Come, Anthony, and we can communicate with the void!"

Completely unsure of what he was looking at, Raphael intervened, jumping in between the two.

"Jesus, Lilith." Jesus? Lilith? "Lay off a bit, huh? Man doesn't need to look into the sun to be worth more than spit."

"I'd prefer not to!" Anthony bristled, a third wheel of sorts.

"Huh? No, that's not what I meant, just-"

"Listen, kid, you ain't got it this time." Swiveling around on a foot, Raphael addressed Anthony again, using his wings to professionally guide his hat into a standard position. "You fancy yourself a traveling hero? Lemme have this chat, I'll tell you why that'll always be possible. Getcha a few easy tricks to boost your funk, doctor's hate me."

"Uh? Cool, but I don't think-"

"Hey." As the Pawniard and Rowlet did their dance just feet away, Jude prodded Lily with a big fuck-off feather finger. The younger girl, so upset over such a measly mess-up, jumped, panicking backwards. Jude went with it though. "Let's go do something else. I still have a friend to meet, and he's better at people than me. Nothing to worry about."

Without waiting, the blubber bird took off in another direction. Lily had a pitifully forlorn mug as Raphael and Anthony also started moving away, with the Rowlet performing wild flapping and Anthony receiving them with a mix of confusion and appreciation. Surely, he had him on the ropes and that left Lily useless and if she was useless then she was wrong, and-

At some point, she started walking with Jude.

~

The tavern was more or less on the other side of the town. Hung over a forest made of watercolor all shades of spring, it had far too large windows for the view- and its own balcony. The loser that he was, Jude picked a seat closest to the cook. Such a choice had Lily questioning his authenticity even further, but who was she to complain.

During their trek to the building, Jude attempted to understand Lily's woes. It hadn't went well, as her starscape gospel went the way of Jude's blackhole brain and he didn't make fine conversation in the first place. Eventually, he settled on the meaning of everything being connected to some space god that he just wasn't tall enough to see.

"I just don't get it, though. I've tried to explain it to so many people! Raphael seemed like he got it, but-" Jude pushed through the restaurant's doors, holding one open just far enough to let the little Sewaddle lady in. "But he didn't get it. He thinks it's weird!"

"Nothing wrong with that," Jude said over the cacophony of the room. A feast of rice and various vegetables were being shamshayed in various pots and pans and thanks to their location, they could hardly see past the steam into the actual kitchen. "Nothing wrong with weird or not getting it."

“Bwuh. Huh? How does that make sense Jude!”

“You barely even had time to talk to Anthony, to make your point clear. Ralph’s impatient and this is business. You shouldn’t take it personally.” Jude shrugged, drumming his fingers on the table. As uncomfortable as a dumpling cooked in toilet water, he looked in every direction but Lily’s, absolutely allergic to tackling this as head on as he intended. For a moment, at least. “What do you know about him? Raphael, I mean.”

“Why does that matter?”

“It will, I think,” Jude responded.

“Well. When I met him, he saved me from a hoard of Weedle, and that was because they were bothering me because they were jerks.” Jude’s raised brow was ignored. “And then he helped me out of the dungeon, and asked me about how I thought of everything, and why I let those bugs bully me. I told him that I was just trying to help them with their path, because I’m special!” She wildly wiggled her third eye- and her two eyes, too. “I can see things when I try really hard, and so I was talking to them. They weren’t really special and wouldn’t do anything when they grew up, I thought. So they took me into the dungeon! And Raphael helped me. He’s destined for greatness, too, I saw that! Oh, and he’s human! Top of the echelon!” She didn’t quite get the grasp of that saying, but a human said it so it certainly had its weight.

“Those are the thoughts you have of him, aren’t they? What do you know for sure?”

Lily scrunched her face.

“Um, he’s… from the guild. Team leader! And he’s a human. But that doesn’t matter, because-”

“It does, Lily. You can see the path ahead? I think it’s important to understand the person before you can do that. Raphael is a bum who can’t fight. So he finds those who can do the fighting for him. You and me, for starters.” He bristled at her befuddled face. “Nothing wrong with that. He’d appreciate being called special, I think. Or he thought you’d stand out to people. You don’t have to do that, though. Because…” Jude’s brow scrunched. A clattering of pans broke through the turmoil of scents and sounds as a newcomer, a Morpeko with a plumed tail, took a seat next to the two. 

Lily, both infatuated with the attempt at a motivational speech and horrified by Jude’s inability to reach a point when he was normally so punctual, completely missed the hamster as well. Until she spoke.

"Nah, see, I think you should fuckin' walk up to this guy, and pummel him until-"

"Kera!" Both a greeting and a command to stop, the hacksackduck flubbered around.

"Sup' Big Jude! You're still ass at being motivational and shit."

"She's twelve, Kera."

"I'm like fifteen!" Lily corrected aghast.

"Fifteen is a perfectly great age to understand and wield the word ass." The hangry menace nodded sagely.

"Such a human mindset," Jude sighed and Kera shook her head, entirely leaping up to the counter to pace to the front of the two.

"Yeah, but I can back it up. With the motha' fuckin' gunshow." Kera flexed for the point, naturally. "What's your deal though, Moth? Sick digs, by the way, love it when guys just have wings." She even wiggled her peacock tail to emphasize.

Still utterly bamboozled, flabberghasted, beat over the head with a shovel in a Burger King's parking lot, Lily sputtered like a dying Hotwheels toy.

"Uh. Um. Thanks!" And then the Sewaddle fluttered her own plumage, uncurling its impressive wingspan. "They're my special attributes! And my eye."

"Hella' cool. Tons of stuff you can do with a third eye," Kera said.

"Yeah! I can communicate with the night with it!"

"Bruh!" Dancing on her foot, Kera turned to Jude who still seemed lost and found. "The night, Jude? Why the hell wasn't she in our gang?" Before he could answer, Lily continued.

"You're uh, Jude's friend right? Do you work with Raphael?"

"Nah. Sounds like a bitch name. Name like Ralph is cool, though."

"Oh," Lily blinked. "Well, even still, I tried to talk to Anthony earlier and he got scared when I started getting passionate- You're a guild member, right? Officially? I'm not, cause I just started, but since you know Jude- Do you think I can make it? And help people? With my ability?"

Kera shared a look with Jude. A look of disappointment or something of the sort, one that left the both of them shrugging at the exact same time.

"Nah, I'm not with the guild. And Big Jude here's only been there a week or so." Shrugging again, because what could one do but throw their shoulders up, she scritched at her chin. "But I am a badass. So is Big Jude- We used to be criminals."

"Huh?!"

"Yeah! Man, that shit was sick. Used to follow our boss named Joshua, and we held up Limestone Creek for years and years. Wasn't until Jude wanted to turn a new leaf that we were captured. And, frankly, gurl, you only need conviction to make it in this world. Confidence. Whatever it is that you believe in, just work on it. It'll click," she snapped her fingers, "and when it does you'll be all the better for it."

All that and Kera barely had any idea of what Lily's issue actually was. Satisfied, Jude let out a breath.

"Yeah. You're with us, now, Team…" He squinted his brows. "Hierophants. And even if the name's tacky, I'll still watch out for you."

"Sheesh, that name sucks. But Jude's good for it. And he's big. Which is cool, cause he's a healthy eater and an ass beater."

"Thanks, Kera."

With a breath that absorbed many different specks of the universe at once, Lily nodded, riding on the tail of their banter. "Oh, kay. Okay! If you think so, uh, I'll work on it!" Her wings fluttered and, snorting, Kera joined in with her own tail.

"Good! I have to get back to work again cause this job sucks, but is that all you needed Jude?"

"Nope." Jude shuffled in place and drummed his fingers against the table, concocting a quick simple request. Something to Raphael's liking. "Leader of my team eats shit. I think I can get him to improve. But he's recruiting gullible people to get his way and I'm losing track of it. Could you join us? Guild pays well enough."

"Pfft," retorted Kera. "Yeah, I'll join you. You're the dumbass who tried to get better by himself. And cooking here sucks. They're trying to get me to stick to a menu!"

"Pft. They suck at food. Thanks Kera."

"Yeah, no deal. Gimme a sec to get my stuff." Ker spun about and leaped from the table, flipping in the process. Into the smoke she went, shouting this way and that obscenities. Like 'fuck you guys!' and 'suck ittttt!'.

"Woah. Jude how'd you do that? People joining the guild is supposed to be like… dramatic!" Lily wiggled to the side, fawning over the fatter man. Something about having notoriety and then also joining a guild. It just had to be impressive, and his fate just had to be great indeed.

"Nah. We're family, me and her. Everyone in the group. Suppose that's what a team is supposed to be like. Kera's strong, too. It'll help if Ralph ever tries to send one of you into a dungeon unprepared and I'm busy. That's why I came today. This town is a ways away from the guild."

"Huh. If we go to a dungeon, could you teach me how to be strong?" Lily furrowed her brows. "In that way?"

"Sure. There's some other guild humans out there who I tried to teach, too. Some Nora, and Odette. And Diamond. But if you ever meet Diamond, she might try to shake you down. She's a Ralph type."

"Mhm mhm, okay…"

From the back of the tavern, a plethora of clanking utensils smashed about and the shouting of forbidden obscenities followed. The door behind them swung open, too, and Anthony and Raphael both flooded in.

"Ah, Enourmous Jude!" Anthony called, catching the attention of about half of the room. Those who recognized Jude's name looked to the duck while those who didn't looked to the Pawniard in disdain. Like the troublemaker that he supposedly was. "Is it true! The word! That you were a famous outlaw?"

Raphael tipped his hat to the Makufetch'd like he solved some crime case, and the breath that Jude released rivaled the steam of the sizzling rice.

"Sheesh, Raphael, don't go spreading my business around." Jude fell from his chair like a sack of potatoes. "Yeah kid. It isn't important."

"But it is!" Anthony proclaimed next to a laughing Ralph. "You're a hero! A swashbuckling bandit who doesn't let anyone tell him how to live! I hear you even, uh, have a giant sword!"

"I have. A leek," Jude verbally frowned out.

"Oh, but he is the stuff of legends!" Lily chimed in, trapping the fighting type between a sandwich of flattery. "He even knows the… Ass-Spouting Kera of Limegold creek!"

Gasping, Anthony waved the Sewaddle down.

"Oh, you know tales! I thought you were weird!"

"Well, I'm not!"

"Oh!" The Pawniard clapped his blades together. "Wonderful! You said you could see the stars? Erm, that you could-"

"Calculate your path! I can! Cause I knew you were going to say that, that's proof!"

"What in tarnation…" Jude rubbed his head, clicking his beak here and there. Just after, Kera returned accompanied by a pan that whizzed through the air cluttering a ways off. 

"Aight! Jude! Gurl! I'm good to go!" Newly strapped to the Morpeko's back was a wok, one that was more or less her size. Larger, maybe.

"Pardon? She's good to go?" Raphael said through the shouting, caught off guard. "Jude, you can't just-"

"Sure he can, Ralph." Kera snorted.

"She'll be good for us. Great cook, even better fighter."

"Well, shoot. Guess it doesn't matter, a man's a man."

"I'm a woman, dumbass." Kera huffed before erupting into laughter.

"Oh! Is this the Great Asstropho Kera? That you spoke of!" Anthony yelled and Lily nodded frantically. "Fantastic! Allow me to join you as well, Enormous Jude!"

"Sheesh, you guys get more invitations than a frat party in a volcano." Kera snorted. "Let's hit the road, though, yeah?"

"Hm." Jude fully stood, completely aware of the fact that he didn't even have the chance to answer the question before Ralph was working his scamming charm. The topic was settled, and in the end, their task had been completed. "Right. Glad you have you both along."