I ran into the forest and continued to run onwards, up until the approach of night.  Along the way I noticed various caves and burrows.  With the onset of night, I decided to find one to hide out in.

  I stopped by one of the burrows, just large enough to stand up and walk about in it just a little, but still somewhat well covered by the greenery.  I waved my hand and sent out a wave of energy to make sure nothing was inside, then went inside and propped my body up against the burrow wall.

  I covered the entrance with some light foliage but made sure to leave a enough gaps for air flow.  I took a deep 'breath' and finally returned to my body.

  Phuugh, I felt nauseous, tired, every possible negative bodily feeling hit me in an instant.  My vision blacked out for a few moments before my senses came back to me.  Gradually, I recooperated and managed to force my broken body back into a meditative stance.

  Going out right now was not a great idea with my injuries, so the best thing to do was to cultivate and regain energy.  That way I could heal Meditite and have more help around.

  I get into the proper stance and begin to search for the 'star' again.  I look within myself with a sweep of mental energy.

  However, even if I try to 'look within' using mental energy normally, it isn't that simple to determine details.  Basically the result is, yeah, I can definitely see myself sitting in the correct position.

  That is about it, not quite like the 'perfect x-ray vision' like in movies.  If I went to figure out or find leads on how to replicate the star, this won't do.

  The star was something likely produced by the system, but I should also be able to replicate or initiate it somehow.  To do so, it still requires me to better understand how all this is working.  Taking a few risks in the name of science might be necessary.

  I bring out mental energy instinctually and channel it back into myself through my eyes.  Following the optic nerve, the Energy travels to the stem of my brain.  

  From the stem of my brain it then begins to slowly diffuse through my entire brain as well as down my spine, traveling more quickly and efficiently through some additional unknown channels within them.

  Channels, conduits of mental energy, with widths far smaller than a nanite, hidden within and between the neural synapses in an ethereal state.  In myths they existed for Qi, body energy, etcetera.  They were often closely associated with blood flow, but these channels are not in the physical plane, they penetrate even into completely avascular areas.

  I had sent the energy in to do a simple search, but once it went inside of the channels the Energy took on a will of its own and began this rapid saturation process.

  After diffusing throughout my brain it went further down the spine to the base of the skull, spreading throughout three vertebrae.  It then diffused out into the smaller nerves and nerve endings in their immediate surroundings.  The more minute channels in the spine assisting the process.  At the point it hit the fourth vertebrae it stopped.

  It then instead began to feed back up into the brain, the concentration of the energy swelling once the maximum capacitance was reached.  At the moment the feedback occurred, the star began to appear.  The energy flowing through the channels began to replicate and overflow.

  The overflowing energy funneled into and concentrated together just in front of my frontal lobes, forming into a small glowing bead of energy.  A miniature star made of Energy.  It just happened to be just beneath the skin, in between my brows and up near my forehead.

  The star, in truth, just a visual illusion made from the overflow of energy, its appearance was from the excess energy dancing on the surface of the spatial node which held the Mental Palace.

  This time the star was different though.  The star from before was calm and natural, a byproduct of the system exercising it's abilities.  The light coming off of it was calm and ordered, like the drawn sun where each stand of light is like silk, smooth and straight.

  The star formed now was alike looking at the natural Sun, a star in it's true splendor.  The energy roiled about over the surface of the spatial node, energy arcing in perfect chaos, akin to Solar flares.

  I was filled with a sense of euphoria, the radiating energy flowing about my body filled me with strength.  I felt as though my strength had greatly increased in but an instant.  As though my torn and ragged nerves and body were soaking in the energy and becoming one with them.

  I quickly felt the problems in this sort of cultivation though.  Not too long after I had formed the star my entire body felt as though it had been lit on fire.

  Not just the normal sort of fire.  Sort of like that Hell fire, mixed with glass dust, acid, poison, all trickling down every wrong place.  An unbearable sort of pain you would do most anything to stop, but you can't.

  I stopped the cultivation process very quickly once the pain set in, but the pain just became more intense as time went on.  Despite my very brain being on fire, I could not even pass out to mitigate the pain.

  Perhaps, it was exactly because it was my brain and not my body, that made it impossible for me to pass out.  The burning of all my nerves making we twitch constantly, left me unable to scream or shout out, though I'm unsure if that is a good or bad thing. 

  Time slurred together, I endured the pain in silence through the night.  At some unknown time during the night Meditite must have recovered, as he was standing over me when I had finally come to.

  The dim light coming in from the opening to the burrow indicated it was already mid-day.  I went out of the burrow and continued my journey through the woods.

  My wounds were still there, but my body was at least being held together well from my energy.  I felt I had likely healed a great deal overnight.  Though to what extent, I've no idea, at least it is enough to not hinder my movements.

  We moved so long as there was daylight, and took shelter in one of the numerous scattered burrows each night.  When I had the chance during the night, I had returned to the World of Pokemon and requested a leave of absence from most of the classes.

  It was permitted, albeit begrudgingly by Officer Jenny, and I was given permission to do my studies on my own using books in the library.  The slight difference in day/night cycles allowed me to still attend the class on Pokeball crafting at the least, and for the rest I did mostly self-study.

  Meditite accompanied me in my Journey, we headed forever in the direction I believed was away from the river.  The further we journeyed the more the forest thinned.

  As we traveled away from the river we had troubles over water for a time, but experimenting a bit we found that particular types of trees in the forest withheld water very well.  Which we could easily extract using psyblade technique.

  Animals also became much easier to spot, when compared to pokemon they would only be around level 10-15, they could be easily hunted by Meditite and I for food.  However, we would still have to run when encountering a horde of them.

  As we moved and the forest thinned more and more, the sky was no longer covered completely by overcast leaves and vines.

  Being able to now see the sky somewhat, I gradually noticed the strange fact that no sun ever appeared in this world's sky.  Nor did the light seem to originate from any particular direction.

  This means there are two possibilities.

 One is that the star(s) only ever appear just on the Horizon.  A peculiar orbital system resulting in them never rising above it, at least for this season of the year.

  The second, there is an alternate physical phenomenon that is acting in the place of a star, acting as the light source for this planet.  Certainly not an impossibility considering it is such a fantastical and strange world so far.

  Either being the case is likely of little matter.  'Maybe, if I have the time later, with the use of some *Starcharts, I may be able to determine just how large this world is.  At that time it would come in handy to know what I'm dealing with.'

  Each night, as we Journeyed, I would alternate between studying in the Pokemon world and cultivating in my original world.

  I attempted the original method of simply visualizing the star again, and after cross-examining, I found it to be slightly less effective than the deviant method I created.  Although the deviant method resulted in it's fair share of discomfort, it was far more efficient.

  I found that using the deviant method my body in addition to my energy would also grow stronger each time by a small margin.  Whereas with the original method my body would not strengthen no matter how much I used it, and the energy cultivation was also slightly slower.

  Excessive use of the deviant method would leave my entire body tense and sore afterward.  In fear that overuse might cause damage to my body, I would use the original method on my off days.

  A week passed as I made this Journey and my body completely recovered, stronger than ever before.  One morning I asked Officer Jenny to try testing my strength and she said my energy had reached the threshold of three pokemon.

  Still a long way to being a proper Pokemon Trainer, but still significant progress considering most spend years to get there.

  Every night I stayed in a burrow, and every night they were empty.  Luckily enough, every burrow I entered would be empty upon arrival.  Not even a bug could be found loitering about in them.

  It allowed me to always rest my body in relative comfort.

  At the close of every night I went through the different fundamental arrays for Pokeball crafting in the class.  To practicing the different arrays we would inscribe on the bark of the apricot trees.

  The apricots which contained the most concentrated properties and energy of the trees were the only part that could be used to make a pokeball.  However, any part of the tree could still be used to carve out the formations.  It is only that you must carve out larger formations for them to be effective, due to the lower energy density.

  The Nine fundamental array types:

  Essence Isolation Arrays

     - Isolates the essence of the Pokemon and analyzes it, retains the data and enables the other Arrays to perform operations and conversions without mishap.

  Essence-Energy Conversion Arrays

     - Converts a Pokemon from physical form to energy form and vice versa, can be broken down into three more arrays two for conversions in either direction, and one for compressing the two together.

  Establishment Arrays

    - Establishes a temporary array in the Trainer's consciousness that allows the trainer to bond with and utilize the pokeball.  This temporary array can be safely returned back into the original by the trainer at any time.

  It can also be tampered with to eliminate their connection, which harms both pokemon and trainer if they are still bonded, it can reset Ownership Array and allows a new person to take ownership.

  Ownership Arrays

    - Registers the Mental Energy of the Trainer and maintains a connection between the trainer and the Pokemon.

  Containment Arrays

    - The active seals that retain the energy-form Pokemon within the Pokeball.

  

   Reinforcement Arrays

    - Utilizes the energy flowing through and into the pokeball in order to reinforce or alter the physical structure of the ball.  This prevents the other Arrays as well as their foundations from chipping or weathering and allows for the Pokeball to shrink in size as needed.

  Synchronizing Arrays

    - Allows for the trainer and pokemon to intermix their energy in a cyclic manner, allowing for various cultivation methods.

  Imbuing Arrays

    - Refines and imbues Mental Energy of the Trainer into the Pokemon.  This imbuement of energy makes the Pokemon instinctually loyal to the trainer, and also allows for the intemixing of energies to occur more smoothly for the trainer.

  Conduit Arrays

    - Concentrate energy and generate greater energy flow through desired areas.

  Using these nine arrays in combination, one can make essentially any Pokeball.  Of course, this is much easier said than done.

  In the creation of any array one must be familiar with both their tools and their material.  The Mental Energy must be channelled and diffused into the material with precision, the diffusion process must occur at the instant the incisions are made such that the surface is not saturated with pollutant energy radiation.

  Too much energy put into the material at that instant and the material will be warped.  Too little and the energy will not linger long enough to complete the array and make it self sustaining.  The energy will slowly disperse after the initial incision.  If you take too long then the energy will be too thin, allowing in pollutants, which again results in failure.

  The standard pokeball requires at least 300 of these arrays interconnecting with each other in order to function properly.  No mistakes can be made on any one of those arrays or the entire pokeball would be ruined.  This level of difficulty seems ridiculously high!

  It is not as though I thought making something that defies all logic would be easy, but I also did not think it would be so difficult?

  Another matter is the pricing.  At a General Store any lowest grade apricot ball can be sold for about 150 Poke-dollars.  On average tha purchase price for a pokeball is double its selling price.  Poke-dollars hold roughly equivalent value to the American Dollar, meaning buying any pokeballs are similar to purchasing a large household appliance or a television.

  It is neither cheap nor too expensive, it costs just enough money that you have to save up a bit to purchase it.

  Unfortunately, I had basically no way to earn that money.  Unlike as-advertised by officer Jenny, it seems entirely impossible for me to start making my own pokeballs any time soon.  I had half an impression that she was conning me into it because she felt bad about how few students he had.

  Fortunately though, this fool was actually rather desperate for students.  After the first week of class many students realized how difficult this subject truly was and dropped out.  Something that had apparently happened many times before.

  I appealed to the professor about my dire need for pokeballs and he happily agreed to draw up and accept an agreement in exchange instead of money.

  I signed an agreement stating that I would work my hardest and master Apricot Crafting, and pass down the knowledge to students in the future.  In exchange, he would give me a stipend of two pokeballs.  Since it was on-request I managed to get a Fast Ball and a Moon Ball, the first meant for Tauros and the second for Teddiursa.

  Mind you, this is basically giving approximately $500 - $600 for a pupil, actually rather generous if you think about it.  Getting a pokeball in the pokemon world isn't truly as easy as in a game.

(*Starcharts -> Charts used in Astrology to record the movements of stars and planets in the night sky, was used hundreds of years ago to determine the rough size of the earth.)