Two students chattered away amidst the screams and cheers around them.

"Coach is really going all in," the one with short spiky hair commented as Bawang growled and thrashed.

"Yeah... who is this guy?"

"I don't know, but he's good!"

Magical Leaves burst into the air like a Beedrill swarm and as if Finn's face was a honey pot. Rainbow blades shredded the air in a cyclone around Finn, forcing him to bring one hand to his eyes. Thankfully, Reverb didn't enchant the leaves to hurt, just annoy, but the little cuts that grazed Finn's skin still stung. Bawang, however, roared in pain as the Magical Leaves scratched against his scales. Jets of blue flame - little Dragon Rages - whooshed from his nostrils, burning off some smatterings of leaves, but the grass-type attack manoeuvred around them like little ninjas.

Finn, Ran and Bawang were so thoroughly trapped by the Magical Leaf that they only realised something was amiss when they heard the crowd's screams swell. Finn's eyes narrowed, looking beyond the dazzling leaves. Isaac had made his way up Bawang's back!

The swordsman burned - and he found stillness in that heat. Any idiot could burn a forest down but it took a true fighter to channel that flame.

Finn thought.

He didn't want to injure Isaac. He also didn't want to jeopardise Bawang, whose body they were fighting on. He had to get Isaac off with as little damage as possible.

"Bawang, make it rain. Ran, scream at them."

Bawang roared, scaring the sky itself into releasing its waters over them, sending rain cascading down his scales. Finn hooked himself around Bawang's trident horn. But more importantly, he covered his ears.

Ran let his lungs loose in a terrible, primal Screech. Finn blocked out his ears tight, and his grip on his wet crown grew tighter.

Isaac Merlo

Clones of Josh and Aslan encircled Finn like a dizzying merry-go-round. Some part of him thought of egging Josh on, perhaps even putting Simba's own Double Team to the test, but this was enough excitement for one day. Finn squinted and shook his head, and then laughed weakly.

"Alright, I get the idea."

Finn slipped off Simba's back. The grass and soil felt wonderful and whole underneath his shoes. He put up a hand, his first two fingers slightly straighter than the rest, as if to get Josh's attention and to stabilise himself.

No more being a fool for a cute boy that wasn't even real. It was time to become Master Flying Sword. Josh had more than shown Finn his skill and his blistering speed. What Finn wanted to know was if Josh dashed so quickly that the only way for him to swerve was to crash.

"You're skilled, Josh. You're the fastest person I know." A light wind breezed over them, changing Finn's motion-sick expression into a sage smile.

"But to wield a sword requires more than speed. It also needs you to be still."

Gently, like a Swanna stretching its fine neck to drink, Finn plucked a long blade of grass off the ground.

"Hold this in front of you for a minute. Breathe, but hold on to its reins; don't let the blade move. If you succeed, we start training tomorrow."

To be so still that even heaven and earth can't move you, as light as the air itself - a sword can only be slashed well by a mind that turns clear as a flower.

Josh Devlin

Finn winced when Ran socked Isaac across the jaw. Oh, man. That's gotta hurt. Sympathy wrinkled Finn's eyes but the man recovered his hard glare in an instant. Isaac made a choice, and it was his fallout to bear. But somehow, Isaac pulled through. Finn's gaze narrowed approvingly at how Isaac and Reverb worked together with so much unspoken trust.

Gasps from the crowd pulled Finn's awareness back into his body, and he noticed it getting darker beneath his feet even though the sun glared on. Finn's mind raced like slicing blades and spurred him into action. Think later; do something first.

"Take this and go." Finn slipped his crown into Ran's paw and the monkey tumbled off just in time to avoid being lanced by an Aegislash. The hem of Finn's robe beat in the dark wind that rushed from his side.

Finn locked eyes with Isaac.

"What happened to one on one?" His expression was unreadable, impossible to place - was he mad or did he appreciate Isaac's magic trick?

Seems like the same mischievous streak ran in both Zev and Isaac. But, unlike the previous applicant, Isaac seemed to have enough good inside him for Finn to brush this off. Totally unflappable, Finn slipped his hand into his robe, his indeterminate expression settling into a crooked smile.

"Remember, you started it."

Bawang, a Gyarados, roared like the gates of hell flung wide, and Finn's students recoiled and shrieked. Finn rarely called upon Bawang, and his students knew that he meant business whenever he appeared. Like a Swellow, Finn hopped onto Bawang's car-sized head, where Ran joined him too. Up on his blue dragon, his crown in one hand and his sword in another, Finn looked every inch like his title - Master Flying Sword.

"Try sneaking up on me again!" Finn laughed. Surprisingly, he was taking all of this very easily. Mentally, he'd already accepted Isaac - and, if Isaac managed to get one up over him, then he'd absolutely have to take him in.

Isaac Merlo

After the Clobbopus slinked off, Finn settled back into a meditative silence, which was then disrupted by yet another quiver in the grass. What was it this time? Finn thought, almost brushing this instance off as another nuisance before two pointy blue ears poked out from the jagged green horizon.

Finn's jaw dropped. It was almost too good to be true. Was it really... a Lucario?

Finn gawked as the handsome creature emerged into the open. He had always longed for one of his own. It seemed every bit like a Pokemon made in his own image - a sleek, noble fighter who fought with fist and steel. Glowing with gratitude for how the universe aligned their paths, Finn took a step forward, his gait shifting slightly.

"Hi."

Lucario's ears twitched as she made eye contact with him. Her eyes brightened, attuned to a strange energy only she could perceive. But it seemed like whatever she saw in Finn pleased her, as she opened her stance towards him.

"Would you like to come with me? I promise I'll raise you well. I mean, I'll take care of you. Look at all the Pokemon I have!" Finn gestured at the Pokeballs on his belt. "And I could teach you what I know, but I'd also like to learn from you."

Finn extended an empty ball to the Pokemon's paws.

And they were off.

Finn didn't actually need to conduct trials like this, but he felt the call of a good battle in his blood. A hundred eyes weighed down on the arena. Finn felt that attention keenly; he knew Isaac could too. And so far, Isaac was showing promise.

Isaac and Reverb flashed in and out of sight, near and far. Finn's students gasped as their eyes zig-zagged across the arena, trying to discern some pattern to their teleports. Conversely, Finn and Ran stood still. They broadened their focus, their senses rippling out from the borders of their skin. Isaac and Reverb were certainly adventurous in strategy, but the Ralts was still young. Teleporting was an art of precision. Shunt yourself between dimensions too brusquely and air rushes in to fill the vacuum your body leaves behind.

Pop. Pop. Pop. Finn might not see them, but he could hear them perfectly. Right within arm's reach, he could feel their arrival in his hair.

"Ran, now! Make the ground dance!"

Finn's Primeape bellowed and drove one foot deep into the ground, sending shock waves exploding out across the square in circles of crushing force. Finn himself swung out a sword and stabbed it into the ground, anchoring himself to the spot as the earth shifted around him. Primeape used Stomping Tantrum!

The crown was safe for now!

"Listen with all your senses! Now, Ran - Rage Fist!" Finn couldn't help but make use of this chance to teach his students something. Veins popped in Ran's skull as his fists ignited with ghostly power. He leaped into the air, crashing down towards Reverb!

Isaac Merlo

Finn scrunched his eyebrows. He wasn't sure why Josh was making such a big deal out of his riding experience. He'd ridden his Gyarados over water and in the sky, and the many large birds that the School had in its nests. How hard could a big cat be? The two Pyroar nuzzling their warm, soft snouts into Finn's sides seemed hospitable enough, too. They made Finn wish he had a big cat of his own.

Deja vu struck when Josh came over to get on top of Aslan. Finn tilted his head downwards ever so slightly, reminded of his video game fantasy as Josh slid one thigh over the side of Aslan's glossy fur. He watched in admiration of Josh's skill as Aslan zipped across the field. It was a rugged ride for sure, and Josh's stability spoke much of his skill. Finn tensed up for a bit; could the cats sense the way his desire shifted the breath in his lungs, the heat under his skin?

"Yeah, that looks good. I'm game."

Simba purred welcomingly as Finn climbed onto him. He tried his best to look like he knew what he was doing - and he did, so far, anyway. This was like climbing on the back of a Pidgeot.

And then, Simba took off. This was where reality diverged from Finn's experience. Simba moved slowly, at first, but his gentle pitter-patter rolled into a rapid gallop and knocked Finn's butt up and down like a drum. Finn's fringe flapped about in the wind like limp grass. His hands gripped rigidly onto the saddle. Still, he kept his jaw up. He refused to look incompetent in front of Josh.

Finn smoothed out his hair as Simba came to a rest beside his trainer.

"I see what you mean now. This ride requires so much work stabilising your core. It's probably harder for us than for the Pokemon." Finn folded his arms, trying not to let on that he could feel his stomach doing flips inside him. "I think I have a good picture of how we can weave sword work into this." What he really meant was: oh god, please let's stop.

Josh Devlin

From another patch of grass, a little orange-white blob scuttered out, glove-like arms bobbing with each step. It was a Clobbopus, a Fighting Pokemon that Finn did not really care for. Finn preferred Pokemon of a more... agile, direct build. Perhaps his martial arts had framed his thinking in a very specific way, but Finn saw no interest in the terrestrial fish, letting it crawl away undisturbed.

Skip!

Finn was growing fond of the Route 110 undergrowth. Its shade let him vanish and go unnoticed, even if just for a while. It was a new routine for him: sailing over on the head of his Gyarados and traipsing onto the matted, shadowed grass. The tall grass tickled his thighs over his track pants. He wondered what sort of Pokemon he'd see today.

Isaac's words felt like a Taillow's gust, a fresh wind of openness and possibility. Finn nodded deeply as he listened in admiration of Isaac's courage; in embarrassment that he'd judged Isaac by association. Isaac had everything Finn wanted to see in a student. Not only was he brave, he was compassionate too. The sword work can be taught. What takes a much longer time to develop is the state of the student's heart. 

Finn's smile was sincere, humbled. He felt like he was proud of Isaac even before he'd properly enrolled. 

"If I measure a teacher by his student, that means Zev has depths that I have not understood. Or, perhaps, you should teach him instead." 

Now that he knew the man's heart, he had to know his skill.

"There's just one thing left I want to see." 

Finn spiralled to face his students and raised a hand with such simplicity but so much assuredness that he could have parted a cloud in the sky. His footsteps, soft but crisp, sounded like a drumbeat.

"Students, to the side!" 

The air shifted. Static tingled around them as students in grey training uniforms scattered from the centre of the large, earthen square. Shocked exclamations rustled amongst them in response to this sudden change in lesson plan, and at Isaac's impressive team of Pokemon. Finn strode across the arena, addressing all of them at once. 

"Class, this young man stands a chance of becoming one of you. Watch respectfully." Murmurs broke out amongst the trainees, but Finn's sharp action drew them to a weighted, awed silence - with the slicing certainty of a Gallade's shadow, Finn took his steel fighter's crown off his spiky green fringe and held it towards his challenger. 

"Take this off my hands and you may enter my school."

And then, impulsively, as memories of nearly having his neck crushed by Zev flashed across his mind, Finn threw his other hand out in an uncharacteristic break and interjected himself. "But please try not to kill me in the process." Having allowed himself this brief moment of spontaneity, Finn composed himself again, holding his crown in front of him like a bullfighter's red flag. His students' eyes zoomed back and forth between their teacher and his challenger, examining them both. Some of them had found themselves in this situation too, not too long ago. They rooted silently for Isaac, but they also wanted to see if he was worthy. 

"Ran! You're up!" Finn's voice rang as clear as a Flash.

Ran, Finn's Primeape, answered Finn's call, charging to his trainer's side.  

"One on one. Three Pokemon maximum. Remember, your aim is not to win a battle - it's to get this from me." 

Finn's eyes glinted like his steel crown. He was itching to see how Isaac would fare.

Isaac Merlo