Again, right as Finn was about to swing his sword down on a shrub, he was interrupted by another cry - this time, a croak from near the bank. Turning his sun-warmed brow to the sound, Finn saw a little blue frog eyeing him warily, curious but apprehensive.

"Go back home, buddy." Finn tossed a small twig at it; the Froakie burped out a few bubbles and sprung back into the water.

As Finn prepared another swing of his sword, he heard a buzz and crackle amidst the leaves of a tree his height. Prying the branches apart with his sword gingerly, he saw a Chargabug inside, minding its own business. Slowly, he lifted the creature with the broad side of his blade and tossed it back into the wild.

Shnick! Another tree fell to the ground.

Finn had an interesting hobby, but perhaps it wasn't unusual for people who spent an inordinate amount of time with swords. Whenever he could - and more than usual recently, because he's had a lot on his mind - he would fly out on his Skarmory's back to a faraway wood and chop down some trees.

Finn grunted as his sword sank its blade into another tree. Behind him laid a small trail cleared into the woods of small shrubs and plants strewn sideways on the grass. He was new to this spot; who knows what he was disturbing in the area?

Finn settled himself on a cushion, trying to make sense of his new prospective student. With skilled decorum, Finn folded his sleeves back and poured them some hot tea, giving Kazuya’s Bewear - who was now pawing at the mat - a cup as well.

Kazuya seemed to carry himself with a gruff, faded and self-effacing sense of humour, and Finn appreciated that. He didn’t seem to carry the sort of self-importance that some other students came in with, their heads clouded with impressions of what they wanted their learning to do for them. Far from that, Finn suspected that Kazuya had a sense of how the sword transforms the wielder.

”Teacher Yang. Shifu. Maybe even Mister Yang. Just not Finnegan -- for now.” Finn said with a smart yet gentle smile.

The name was not the point. The name signalled a relationship. How you are perceived, how you are regarded by the caller.

Finn took a small sip of tea.

”What brings you here to Flying Sword?” Finn asked. He leaned in slightly, bringing his attention softly but surely onto Kazuya.

Kazuya Yoshida

Finn mirrored the spark in Cain's eyes with his own. He had never been to Paldea before; in fact, he'd scarcely been out of Hoenn his entire life. A gentle wind rustled, softly ruffling through Finn's green hair.

A small commotion became a larger one as a Grimmsnarl and Phanpy gamboled through the bushes, snapping Finn out of their conversation. Cain made short work of the Grimmsnarl with another well placed attack, setting the Phanpy free. Relieved, the silly tot lost its balance and tumbled right into Finnegan's shins.

"Are you lost, little friend?" Finn asked, reaching down to help the Phanpy back on its stubby feet and coaxing it back into the trees. His face, usually stoic like a warrior back in Flying Sword School, was now warmed by a rare smile as he watched the creature roll back into the wild.

"Why Hoenn, of all countries?" Finn's voice brimmed softly. What breeze guided the traveller's wings? Finn wondered what it was like to be so free to move, relocate. The tethers that he himself felt around his heart - a force only felt by him?

Briefly, a vision of his bird Pokemon dashing through the clouds flashed in Finn's mind.

Cain Stille

Finn looked up from the stump he was sitting on. A stench had descended upon his garden. Sticky, rancid, and somehow sweet like an overripe fruit. Finn sniffed about, settling quickly on a purple horizon oozing across the grass - a Muk!

Hopping up onto his feet, Finn directed his willpower to the trees bordering Flying Sword School, focusing his thoughts like he was adjusting the focus of a camera. One, two... click! Raptor eyes, teal and violet, blazed back at him in his mental vision.

"Come quickly!"

Shao, Finn's Hisuian Braviary, cawed.

A rush of feathers tore through the trees, bursting out into the garden with blazing psychic light. With another ringing cry, Shao rushed at the Muk, his wings shining bright - Braviary used Esper Wing!

Finnegan took some time off to, as they say, rediscover himself. For him, that meant finding out who else he was beyond the sword. The past year challenged his perceptions of who he was and what his life's purpose was - and if he even had a purpose. A sword is sharp... But at the finest point of the sword where the blade gets sharpest is also where steel meets nothingness.

It took a while for Finn to even think of releasing his grip on his sword's hilt. Allow his fingers to let go, relax, unwind.

And if Finn were to look beyond the school, the school had to look beyond him too.

Finn was still the master of the school and chief of the clan, but if the school were to fly, his associate teachers had to sharpen the blades of their experience. Finn had released most of the beginners' classes to their capable hands, reserving his time for his inner circle of closer students, ones in whom he saw the potential for mastery and nobility of spirit. But one day, one of his clerks caught him as he returned from a stroll in the woods to say --

"Erm, Master Yang? I think you should take this student yourself."

Kazuya was a known name amongst the circles they walked in. Finn knew the basics of it - this new student had a violent past and did some time in prison. But that had no bearing on how Finn would engage him at the school. In fact, Finn relished the opportunity. Where was the fulfilment in practice if all your swords were already sharp?

That's the thing Finn wished his school would pick up - the true art of the sword isn't just the drill. It's in the sharpness of the mind.

Finn nodded smartly in response to Kazuya. "Nice to meet you. I'm Master Yang, or Master Flying Sword. Welcome to the school. Tea?" Finn gestured towards a tea set on a side table, his green kimono sleeve fluttering serenely.

Kazuya Yoshida

Finn listened in earnest. He liked how Kaz spoke of a familial connection with Honedge, and how they tempered their natural instinct for psychic vampirism with the bonds of trainership. It reminded Finn warmly of his own family's connections with the Pokemon that lived in the area and how they brought out the best of each other.

"Let me show you something real quick."

Putting his apple, now chowed down to its core, Finn hopped up on his feet and strode towards a corridor off the side of the main square. With a flash of his green eyes and tilt of his head - magnetic and heated like a sword in a forger's flame - he invited Kaz to follow him. Past halls of students running their drills and Taillow squawks, Finn brought them to the hut containing his office. He dipped inside by himself for a bit and emerged, releasing his sword from its leather sheath.

"Blade formed from the feathers of a Skarmory. Handle sculpted from the black Augurite of a Kleavor. Forged with a drop of my blood.". The sword caught the sun as brightly as his crown.

"It's not just muscle memory. It's the memory of lineage and blood."

Finnegan eyed Kaz again. He looked like he was worth the investment.

"Before we get into the swordplay, why don't we check out the way you and your Pokemon work together?" Kaz seemed like someone who would understand that the true blade was the friendship forged between trainer and Pokemon.

Kazimir Wynter

Once these future paradox Pokemon got started, they really left mercy behind. Spited by that super-effective attack, Iron Hands flung itself at Jiangjun with astonishing speed. The metal fairy blipped in what sounded like alarm, and a blitz of steel-laced blows smothered it. If Jiangjun were made of blood and bone, it wouldn't have stood a chance, but being inorganic had its benefits too. Somehow, it crawled out of that melee explosion dented but alive.

Now, it was Jiangjun's turn to get angry. Electricity danced across its blades - blades that it detached and formed into a spear-like, double-bladed weapon.

Oh god. This was fearsome, but also really cool.

Finn was getting really into this.

"You're doing great! See if you can get back in -" - and the Iron Valiant improvised on that theme, like a maestro and his instruments of pain. Jiangjun danced around Iron Fist, looking for a blind spot, and then shot inwards, its blades glowing purple - Jiangjun used Psycho Cut!

noah faber

Finn saw many would-be students wander in and out of the school's gates, and most of them got what they wanted - some kind of self-defence, fitness and mindfulness. But what Finn really wanted to see was someone who saw not just power, but power for others; using the blade as an extension of the heart.

Did this guy have that potential?

Finn chuckled mildly. This newcomer didn't look like he had any problems protecting himself at all. The guy was built well, and clearly had at least some knowledge of how to wield a sword. Finn imagined he probably had some strong Pokemon too.

So...

"Why the sword?" Finn asked, curious. He wiped a smattering of apple juice off his chin. "Why not Pokemon - heck, even a gun. What about the sword attracts you?"

"I'm Finnegan, by the way. And you are?" Finn tossed his apple into his left hand and offered his right forward.

Kazimir Wynter

Noah's Iron Hands moved much faster than a Hariyama would, so blistering quick that Finn almost recoiled instinctively. But if the mecha Hariyama was fast, Jiangjun was almost faster - the cyborg fairy stepped to the side so cleanly, elegantly - a cold algorithm that calculated, like scissors over paper, the optimum distance to avoid compromise.

But what happens when you get two killing programs pitted against each other? Iron Hands managed to land a blow after all, leaving a blemish on Jiangjun's shoulder. From its new position, Jiangjun's red gaze zoomed in on Iron Hands. Electricity crackled around his blades.

As much as Finn was wary of the Paradox Pokemon's merciless nature, he had to admit it... when paired up with a partner so finely tuned for battle, he did feel the cogs of battle grind inside his gut.

"Keep your distance!"

Finn could feel that same electric energy spinning inside him.

Jiangjun took his advice. It kept a careful distance from Iron Hands, but that didn't limit its options. The engine in his chest glowed an explosive pink and unleashed a radiant blast - Jiangjun used Dazzling Gleam!

noah faber