World Master System

Chapter 1: The Transfer, the System, and Officer Jenny.

I opened my eyes a period of time after I felt should have already been hit by that truck. (All Hail Truck-kun) I found myself laying in the middle of a forest with my head still pounding. Suddenly, a screen appears before my eyes.

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Congratulations!

You have been selected as a suitable candidate of your world to ascend to a higher dimension.

Sensors had detected your soul possessed a useful innate ability:

'Infinite Relay'

- Mental and Soul Energy when fused contain natural law resonance. Can allow bodies made of fusion energy to ignore distance and low energy dimensional barriers. Traversing the world's unbounded by laws is possible.

Your personality and ability assessment shows potential for growth into a strong warrior under the established parameters and thus you are worthy of investment, a System suitable to your idealize growth has been supplied.

The System assigned to you is the "World Master" System.

- This system will allow you to utilize your innate ability to it's maximum potential and guide you onto an optimum growth route.

- To stimulate growth, your newly made body has reverted to an earlier age, condensing your natural energy and senses. Slight alterations have been made so as to help you adapt and grow to a form more appropriate for a warrior. Costs for this service have been recorded.

Please note that your current body is still from a lesser dimension. Your current Realm was picked as an Optimal Hub to move between realms and consolidate knowledge. However, your current state is very weak for this Realm's standards. Do your best to strengthen quickly.

Your system utilizes your Mental Energy as the basis and by utilizing spiritual energy you gain access to worlds or alternate dimensions by resonance with information stored in your memories. The system can tap into information from worldly energy of your previous world and the universe to fill in gaps of data as needed. The uses of the System will increase together with your Bodily, spiritual and mental energies.

Your system is an accessory system and can only assist in a limited capacity, the system is partially automated and will help you communicate with humanoids in any language or dialect to ease world navigations. To access world transfer assistance, focus on the point between your brows. Visualize an isolated space in that location, visualize a small spiritual version of yourself and enter the space to access the system.

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A drip of cold sweat rolls down my face, I really could die any moment again here, and very easily at that. Looking around I find some dense foliage with seemingly no animals crawling about in it. I crawl in it and begin to scoop up a lot of the dirt and seemingly benign foliage and pack it over my body for further concealment.

I began to realize my body seemed to have shrank by a good bit. I cant see my own reflection, but just from my bodily movements and the fact my whole body is almost hairless... it really would seem I'm no longer in a body that would belong to an adult of their early 20's, though the 'system' had already said that. This is not the time to dwell on this though, getting resources for survival is vital right now.

I pause my thoughts and try my best to enter a meditative state. Visualizing myself entering the space between my brows.

The next instant I was in a vast and empty space. I was no longer sitting in a meditative pose as I was before but was now standing. It would seem I cannot feel my actual body when I am within this space.

I begin to walk inside the space, looking for whatever I need for interacting with this system. Soon after I thought this a blue wall, stretching seemingly infinitely in all directions, appeared in front of me. I approached the blue wall and on it I read:

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Please select a world to begin your development. Your mental-spiritual energy body can currently solidify spatial coordinates on a single world for dimensional travel. All worlds chosen have a time progression rate equivalent to the current world. Current suitable worlds related to memories are displayed:

- Note: These are real worlds whose realities closely match existing realities models in your mind. Worlds with suitable threat levels for current capabilities selected. The system will set your spatial coordinates to a location suitable for your current growth stage on that world.

YOUR PRIMARY WORLD HAS A HIGH STANDARDIZED THREAT LEVEL. ADVISED TO AVOID CONTACT WITH INDIGENOUS FAUNA.

1) (Fable)

- World Resources: Atmospheric Mental Energy Stimulants, Basic Mental Energy Techniques, Low-Grade Mental Energy Formations

- Unique Natural Laws: Sorcerer Physique Refinement Laws, Sorcerer Mental Technique Enlightenment, Fate Laws, Alternate Reality Binding

2) (Pokemon)

- World Resources: Basic and (Incomplete) Low grade Mental Cultivation Techniques, Basic and Low-Grade Mental Energy Beasts, Natural Mental Energy Formations, Basic Mental Energy formations and Technology, Basic Natural Technology

- Unique Natural Laws: Mental Energy Consolidation, Mental Energy Technique Enlightenment, Mental Cultivation Enlightenment

3) (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

- World Resources: Basic Spiritual Meditation Techniques, Innate Spiritual Element Stimulants

- Unique Natural Laws: Spiritual Technique Enlightenment, Spiritual-Physical Dimension Binding

4) (Dragon Ball Universe)

- World Resources: Basic Qi Cultivation Techniques, Basic to High Grade Qi Genetics, Basic to Mid Grade Martial Arts Techniques, Basic to Low Grade Natural Technology Development

5) (Crash Bandicoot)

- World Resources: Basic to Low-Grade Mystic Tribal Arts, Basic Natural Genetic Modifications, Basic Tribal Energy Type Genetic Modifications, Basic and Low grade Tribal Energy Technology

- Unique Natural Laws: Tribal Art Enlightenment, Space-Time Tribal Energy Laws

6) (Sonic The Hedgehog)

- World Resources: Basic Chaos Energy Body Techniques, Basic Chaos Energy Type Genetic Modifications, Basic Natural Technology, Basic and Semi-Low-Grade Chaos Energy Technology

- Unique Natural Laws: Chaos Energy Condensation

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Looking at all of my options I feel like I am going crazy. All of these worlds are game or story worlds I was deeply into at one point or time. Additionally, from the benefits each world has stated, I can tell these worlds might have more to offer than the story worlds they are similar to.

However, on the down side, it seems I will have to leave my body behind to travel to these worlds. Currently being in a dangerous-looking forest with likely-supernatural beasts prowling, it seems just A BIT dangerous. However, I have no idea where I am currently.

Without strength, I may end up starving to death or being eaten in this place. Wasting my energy searching for a settlement (which may not even exist in this world) could easily spell death. Why should I do so when I have such a good option, given to me so blatantly.

Out of these worlds, there is only one option which would kindly allow a weak person to get strength easily. Although it is tempting to go to a World with higher Grade resources, they are not places I would be able to easily strengthen myself at.

My System Ability seems to be based off of Mental Energy first, and spiritual energy second. At least, that is what it says. I need to strengthen mental energy, which is the foundation of my ability, first and foremost.

I calmly think in my mind to choose the Pokemon World.

The blue wall begins to ripple like water from the raindrop, a black orb begins to emerge from the origin of the rippling waves. I feel a connection from the orb, it is linked to a distant place. I step forward swiftly, and go into it.

Entering through the black orb, I find myself in the middle of a forest again. Fortunately though, this time I can also see buildings in a clearing not far away. I begin to make my way towards the clearing.

Coming out of the forest I hear a strangely familiar voice yelling at me lightly.

"Hey, you over there! What are you doing there? Don't you know these are the grounds of the police acadamy? Why aren't you in Uniform?"

Somewhat startled I look over and smile.

"Apologies Officer Jenny, to be honest I've always wanted to join the force but I wasn't certain of the proper methods to do so. I ended up lost for a long time searching for the way to the academy to try and get in."

A suspicious look appeared in her eye,

"That's Instructor Jenny to you! And how on earth could you have been lost in the woods for 2 days, more like you skipped and finally decided to come in. I'm not sure how you know me but I'll let that slide, we'd best get you registered for classes."

Officer Jenny led me inside the main building and into an office. I spent about an hour doing paperwork.

"You are lucky that someone else forfeited their place here at the last minute, or we wouldn't have any spot for you at all. What were you thinking Grey, trudging your way through the woods with no Pokemon or no escort to keep you company! You could have died!

All you had to do was let an officer know at your hometown that you wanted to be a volunteer and they would have brought you here. Isn't that common sense? What sort of an airhead are you?"

"Well mam, to be honest there are a lot of weird things about myself that I can't explain properly, haha."

She narrows her eyes at me.

"Well, there are no requirements of any kind on becoming a volunteer policeman as you won't be a real officer. However we will need to issue you a new Identification Card since you don't have one. If I ever find out you've been using Pokemon for misdeeds I will track you down myself."

I immediately responded,

"I would never mam!"

Her eyes became a bit gentler,

"Well, I know you wouldn't but it's always best to warn against it just in case"

She hands me a miniaturized pokeball.

"Do you know how to use it?"

I instantly shook my head.

"Sigh, of course not. Look, it's easy. Focus your mind on the pokeball, this ball is ownerless so it will naturally guide your mental and essence energy into it, making a mental connection."

Following her instructions, I focus on the Pokeball. A small amount of the mental energy making up my body seeps into the ball and my body shrinks slightly. Realizing I just shrank at least an inch in full view of another person, I look up to see officer Jenny's expression.

The smile on her face is frozen, and the doubt of her own sanity is tangible on her face. I break out a conversation to make it seem like nothing happened.

"So, Officer Jenny is this the pokeball I'm going to use to get my first pokemon?"

She snaps out of her trance.

"Yes, of course. We have a small exclusive Pokemon Safari here on the Police Academy grounds. The Pokemon you could catch in the safari include: Growlithe, Riolu, Machop, Meditite, HootHoot, Mienfoo, and Lillipup.

There are also a few low level bug Pokemon and stray flying Pokemon as well, just like you would find anywhere. Those I listed are the best Pokemon for policing and all on the Police force will have some Pokemon from a police safari grounds."

She guides me to the gate of the fence surrounding the safari and let's me go in myself. I decide to aim for Growlithe as my first Pokemon. It is the only Pokemon here with elemental special attacks like ember or flamethrower. To be prepared for anything, it's the best choice.

Entering through the security gate I was checked for any excess gear that are restricted within the safari zone. After getting clearance the guard who searched me clapped my back hard.

"I saw you haven't brought any Pokemon food either for a lure. You'd have to be really lucky to catch a Pokemon in a safari like that. I know you students try to cut costs wherever you can, but this is one investment you might want to make. If your going to try anyways, good luck!"

I thanked him for his 'concern', and he opened the gate and I passed through. The instant I entered the safari I was surrounded by the tall grass. Luckily there is no need to fear poisonous creatures in the tall grass as they regularly patrol this place to keep them out, and regular bugs and animals in this world are much smaller in population and lack variety due to the suppressive nature Pokemon have on the ecosystem.

I wandered through tall grass for maybe a half hour before getting to a more forested area. A few minutes into the forested area I finally saw my first Pokemon, a Hoothoot. Gosh, it is somewhat embarrassing thinking of the naming for these creatures as an adult. Though, maybe that is just because I associate the names with it being an anime instead of an actual world.

So anyways, after I got out of the long grass I saw the Pokemon that looks like an owl. Now, I certainly plan to catch one of these guys eventually as it seems to be some sort of arranged destiny for me to do policing in this world. Not now though.

From what Officer Jenny said, I'm only capable of holding a single Pokemon right now. It took a decent amount of mental energy to just bind the one pokeball, and I have a feeling the energy consumption will be far worse when it comes to sealing an actual pokemon inside it.

I really need to hurry, every moment I am here my real body is just sitting defenseless in a forest.

As I walk through the forest I hear a rustle in the brushes. A humanoid Pokemon, a meditite, casually walks out of the underbrush. If this were the video game I would have gotten some intense background music and a 'Wild Meditite Appears!' Notice would have come up.

Then, since this is a safari, I would have the option to throw pokeblocks, approach, try to catch it, or run away. In this case, I would prefer to run away because I don't particularly want a Meditite. The instant I try to briskly walk away though, the damn thing threw a kick at me!

What the hell! There isn't supposed to be a 'fight' option in the safari! Furthermore, Pokemon should be good and not attack Pokemon trainers! Though I may not actually be one yet, the rule should still apply, though I suppose it never did in the anime either.

This particular Meditite, however, did not care to abide by that rule. If this were the game, I had chosen the option 'RUN!' and either god or this meditite would reply with a mwahahah evil laugh (in my imagination) and a notification of 'You Cannot Escape!'.

I had stupidly allowed my guard to be slightly down as I was moving away so the kick managed to strike the back of my ribs. The instant I felt the impact I shifted my weight to go with the blow and rolled to soften the impact. The pain from it coursed through me but I stood up as soon as I finished the roll and faced the Meditite.

As I steadied my stance and faced it the pain in my body died down quickly. However, oddly along with the pain dying down my body shrank slightly again as well. I was originally rather tall at about 2 meters but now I had shrank to about 180 centimeters.

I had a fair amount of experience in martial arts originally. I had never been able to stick in a single school though. A little bit of Tai-quan-do and Boxing as a kid, some Shotokan Karate, Jiu-jitsu and Muay Chaiya as a teen, and then Army Combatatives techniques and the more complicated Kung Fu styles I had just started to try and pick up when I had gone into college.

However, in every one of the schools I somewhat stuck around in I was told I had no talent for the martial arts. The reason was simple, I just couldn't bring myself to hurt others, even if I knew the other person was probably stronger I couldn't bear to bring out all my strength on a person I felt no threat from.

There were few occasions where I actually felt threatened by others in my life. The first time was actually when I was still a kid. I was not very social of a person and somehow I offended a few little punks by defending someone they were teasing, so they decided to act as bullies to me instead, in retaliation.

The four kids tried to jump me in the bathroom at the grade school. I don't remember what exactly they were trying to do pushing me around but I beat them up and made them kneel in apology for acting as bullies. I had to go to the principals office every day for the rest of that year as punishment but every one of those fellows grew up to be outstanding citizens after that, I think I did the right thing.

The time after that was when a man came into my home with a knife, I was unarmed but I managed to out-maneuver him and obtain my own knife, threatening the guy sufficiently and convinced him robbing me would end badly. Overall it just came down to intimidation so it was no actual fight, but it was still a notable serious encounter.

Another time was when I was ambushed by teen punk who disliked me in school, he punched from a blind spot in the middle of the hall. The hit landed and by instinct I flowed with the move and my fist hit his face. I managed to stop my fist after it lightly hit his nose so he wasn't badly injured, but it was close~

I almost got in trouble and would have probably been kicked out because it was High School. But because neither of us got badly hurt and it was glossed over with a stern warning to not cause a ruckus. I didn't exactly make up with the guy after that but we didn't have any problems after either.

Then the last and most recent time before traveling this world was when I was in my Basic Military Training. The people of a particular platoon had been breaking into rooms and filming the group of people beating others up for fun. Gotta say some people in the military have an odd sense of humor.

So, a group of people barged into our room one night. I, having heard the rumors of said fellows, was a little excited. At least I couldn't keep the smile off my face.

Even though I couldn't bear to hurt another person practicing in a gym. Those sort of jackasses who I was perfectly justified to kick the shit out of were perfectly fair game. Unfortunately it ended a bit too fast.

A few guys came up to me and came at me trying to pin me. I knocked those guys into the crowd of others and then I saw a guy out of the corner of my eye coming at me from behind. I turned quickly and the fool was flying at me in the air, so I elbowed him out of the air into a wall.

Everyone stared at me for a second and I got somewhat confused and asked if we were going to continue because I was getting kinda pumped. They said it was a misunderstanding though and even my roommates were looking at me with weird eyes.

So I just made sure to remind them to invite me if they felt like having fun fighting again. I kept reminding them after that too so they wouldn't forget, unfortunately there weren't any more occurrences of fighting again after that. I was sincerely disappointed.

Ah, I got sidetracked from the main story! Anyways, this little meditite could make me feel that it was actually a threat. I watched the humanoid critter intensely, awaiting it's next move.

Unfortunately, the little guy was inhumanly fast and strong! In addition, it was just too small, so I couldn't properly use many moves of my moves on it. In the end, I was only able trade blows with it and couldn't use my technique to gain any advantage at all.

However, the blows were insanely heavy! Although it wasn't to the extent of blowing a person away, I'm at least somewhat decent at fighting and almost four times it's size, and every blow of this creature was enough to cause some of the bones in my arms and fists to break.

There the occasional attempts at low kicks and the like as well but both of us had decent footwork and could easily evade a kick from the other side. After a short while I began to shrink rapidly as the different parts of my body made up of energy broke and reformed themselves.

It wasn't as though Imy blows had no affect on my opponent though, I could clearly see the slowing of it's movements and the sweat on it's brow.

This body made of energy would erode as I exhausted stamina but my abilities would remain relatively the same and the feeling of exhaustion was more mental than physical. However, this type of exhaustion was a lot easier to endure and gave me a big edge. Although I thought this body would be weaker because it was made of energy, it is strangely much more suitable for fighting.

The fight dragged on for what felt like a long time. Eventually my height had dropped to being only 80cm, just slightly taller than the meditite. At this point I actually began to gain momentum, because I could bring into play the techniques I would normally use on a person.

The meditite was already visibly extremely tired but it continued a formidable exchange blows with me. At a moment I felt a slight opening from the meditite. It had just thrown a right hook but it's center of balance was thrown off significantly.

I dove into the opening instantly. Sweeping and twisting my arm against the arm it shot out I knock it's fist away, shifting it further off balance while moving into it's space. Using the same arm I jab upwards into it's jaw, dazing it.

Finally, I shuffle my feet and use my right foot to knock it's left foot out from under it. Then shift my right arm from guard to attack it's chest and then grab and knock it to the ground with a throw. I follow up quickly and cautiously with a pin before I notice the complete lack of resistance.

Testing to make sure, I do a sternal rub, but sure enough it's knocked out cold. Keeping it in a pin, I look around again and realize it is almost dark. Having spent this long here, if I don't get back to my actual body soon I might have starved or died of thirst without realizing it.

I glance down again at the Meditite pinned under my knee. From what I could tell, this thing is actually pretty strong. Furthermore, if I recall correctly it should be both Fighting and Psychic type so it should also have the ability to fight the paranormal.

I sigh and take out the shrunken pokeball I have stored in the pouch Jenny lent to me. Putting a miniscule amount of energy into it, the pokeball swells in size. Then, I press the button on it down on Meditites forehead.

The moment it touched the pokemon's forehead it jolted awake. Simultaneously, an enormous amount of mental energy began to be sucked into the pokeball. The Pokemon tried to push me off but I held it down.

I began to shrink very quickly as my mental energy was absorbed by the pokeball, transforming into a type of red energy which engulfed Meditite. Meditite was absorbed into the pokeball and so ensued the stereotypical inside-the-pokeball struggle.

I could feel the inner chassis in the structure of the pokeball through a strange sort of mental connection. Meditite, still combined together with the red energy, used all it's remaining power to try and shift or collapse a part of the inner chassis of the pokeball so it could escape. The Inner chassis of the pokeball acted alike the legendary immortal array formations, trying to bind it with the red mental energy, but the array itself was actually somewhat delicate.

Whenever Meditite surged it's energy to a particular part of the chassis, I applied energy there to reinforce it and keep it from collapse. Effectively, after a short minute, the pokeball let out it's signature sound signifying that I had successfully caught the Meditite, as the formation stabilized.

Seriously, I would do a victory pose and go, 'Yeah! I caught Meditite!'. Except A: I'm a grown ass man (On the inside) and it would be creepy as hell. And B: I'm now the same size as the pokeball itself so a victory pose right now would at best be me leaning on the pokeball with a peace sign posing for a picture.

Since I caught a Pokemon, it was best for me to return to my real body. However, it would be kind of pointless to do so without bringing back my purpose in coming here. So, I approached the Pokeball and placed my hand on it.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus. Focusing my mind my sixth sense turned into a new kind of vision. However, there were only two things I could see using my new vision.

The first was the pokeball before me and it's contents. The pokeball shape itself was spectral, and within the pokeball chassis was an extremely complex arrangement of energy grid lines forming a sphere. Within the sphere was the red energy which ebbed and flowed very naturally here and there within it.

A spectral Meditite floated within the red energy looking completely at peace. The Meditite curled up in the red energy which looked like fluid made it seem as if it were just a baby in a womb. As though it being there was the most natural thing in the world.

The second thing I saw was a star, extremely far in the distance. It's light was very faint but familiar. I could tell that the star should be the location of my original body.

I willed myself to go there, together with the pokeball which was connected to my consciousness. At that instant my body vanished together with the pokeball, not a trace was left in the wake of it. As though I had never been there at all.

Chapter 2: Bottom of the Food Chain

Suddenly, I felt my legs were under me, instead of planted on the ground. The disconnect between how I was the previous instant and how I was this instant, made it feel awkward. It seems that my legs had also fell asleep from having been in an awkward sitting position for too long. Opening my eyes I could see.. well, leaves.

Of course, that's good because it means my body wasn't disturbed when I was in the Pokemon world. Grgrgrgret (sound that means your hungry), however, it seems my stomach has still been operating normally even without me. I began to feel both hunger and thirst the second I had returned.

Indeed, having an out of body experience is certainly a dangerous phenomenon. I have to be even more careful of the time I spend in that state in the future.

Focusing my mind again and closing my eyes in the way similar to before I tried to sense the pokeball, to see if I had managed to bring it with me. I found the pokeball in it's spectral form, floating inside the space between my brow, orbiting the spatial orb with the Pokemon World coordinates.

Using the small amount of my mental energy remaining on me, I try to 'summon' or 'drag' the pokeball out of that space and into the world.

The moment I attempted to do so the pokeball began to shimmer and shake apart, dispersing into energy. A small portion of the energy, which shined in a blinding light, condensed into a sort of magical seal on the blue wall. The remaining energy, dyed in red, seemed to exit the mental space and go outside.

I opened my eyes, and for a moment nothing happened. Then, a lightly shimmering spectral body of Meditite condensed in front of me.

"Meditite, we need to find some food and water around here. We need to try our best to avoid detection by any sort of creatures lurking about though. Any one of them could spell death for us right now. Do you have any sort of abilities to detect or avoid detection by others, abilities to locate food and water, anything like that?"

Meditite stared at me for a second then nodded it's head, sending a light mental signal that it can. Indeed, just like in the anime, most Pokemon are extremely intelligent and can easily communicate. Though, I suppose it would be expected for a humanoid Pokemon at least, but I still don't know about a Magikarp.

I got up out of my seated position and stretched my legs a bit to get the blood flowing. Ah~ More than a few things cracked getting up after sitting so oddly for so long. I looked at meditite whose spectral body had appeared in the physical world, it was giving me a blank and judging look.

Don't judge me Meditite, I still managed to beat you in a fight.

"Lead the way Meditite, but make sure to keep low, signal me if we need to find deeper concealment."

Meditite gave me the affirmative and we started slowly moving through the brush.

Luckily I'm able to sense Meditite with my mental energy or I could have easily lost him in this heavy brush.

I follow him at a short distance, and we move through the brush. About 10 minutes into our movement Meditite arm signals me to get down and I duck into some nearby heavy bushes as Meditite moves into some tall grass near himself.

Not long after the sound of something heavily impacts on the ground begins to resound over and again. It was like the stereotypical noise a large dinosaur would make in the movies. Except the noise is significantly more jarring in real life.

Not long after, although I could only somewhat make it out, I saw the enormous body that was causing that noise as it slowly. The creature appeared to be either a huge boar or a mammoth, or something like that? I can't make out most of its body through the brush and trees but from the body size and hair it should be something similar, or then again maybe not since this is a different world after all.

A few minutes after, it passed into the distance, Meditite gets out and signals me to get up. We continued moving through the brush and eventually came to an area where more light could be seen coming through between the trees.

The thick brush seemed to have been cleared in the surroundings around a stream which appeared about 9 meters in width on average and stretched out beyond sight in length in either direction. The waters in the stream appeared to be relatively calm but also rather deep.

Tracks could be seen all about the edge of the stream, indicating the lack of brush around it is likely due to the trampling of animals coming through this place for water. Meditite signaled me to hold and not move any further, and so I sank quickly back into some concealment.

A number of horse-sized creatures that looked akin to an Anteater came along in a small herd. The Anteaters shot long tongues out of their already long snouts, sinking them like straws into the stream. They spent a good amount of time simply staying there, moving about up and down the stream, flicking their tongues into the water occasionally.

After a short while one made an abnormal jerking action with its tongue in the water. The creature continued to jerk and reel back as though something had caught it's tongue. It would seem there are indeed some predators lurking in the water as well, these fellows adapted to avoid them, but the predator in the water is trying to pull it in.

At this time, two more Anteaters came over to join the fellow that was caught and similarly stuck their tongues into the water next to it. They began to all pull together and a large creature, looking akin to a long bodied catfish with jutting sharp teeth came out of the water.

Finally, I realized I was mistaken, these Anteaters were actually fishing this whole time. Their tongues appeared to be have hooked hairs on the end of them and all three of the Anteaters had lodged their tongues into the sides of the fish as it thrashed about but could not escape.

After they had dragged the fish out of the water for a good distance, they pulled out their tongues and began stabbing into it again in other places. A few other Anteaters came over to joining in on the fun. Some of them sank their tube-like spiked tongues into the water before sticking it into the fish.

It seemed as though they were pumping water into the fish's circulation system to make it easier to suck all of its blood out. Not too long after they all left the fish behind and it just laid there, slightly deflated and deformed, looking horrifying from all the blood being drained from it.

This repeated a few times as they caught different kinds of fish and drained them of their lives. Truly, you can't underestimate any of the creatures in this place.

After they all seem to have drank their fill of fish blood, they all began to leave, moving down along the riverbed. Earnestly, for a good while I was rather nervous some of them might have the intention of coming my way but thank goodness that didn't happen or I might look like a mummy already.

The spectral meditite moved out of the bushes and beckoned me along. It grabbed a long and sturdy looking tree branch and carved out a small channel on the ground, it should be meant for drawing a small amount of river water closer away to eliminate the risk of approaching too close to the river. I went over to the woods and similarly grabbed a branch and began to help.

Not long after we had made a long and narrow channel leading away from the river. Then, at the end of it, we dug out a small hole to allow the water to pool up once it was a short distance into the forest. Meditite followed up and made a separate channel and pool after.

It would seem one is primarily for washing and the other for drinking. We began to collect small stones and other sediment and made a few small permeable barriers on the two channels to the drinking pools. Although it wasn't perfect, using fire and creating a steam apparatus to thoroughly purify it isn't realistic right now.

At the least these basic filters should prevent unseen parasites and a few other things so I don't get too sick...

Meditite now has a body completely made of energy so I don't think this fellow even needs to eat or drink anymore. Or more like, he probably just gets all of his sustenance from the link to my own mental energy.

So at the very least, I don't have to worry about taking care of him much. Does that mean I am eating for two now? Ugh, that's a disturbing and twisted way of thinking about it, let's cease that train of thought.

After getting my fill of water, I turn my eyes toward those mummified fish... eating fish is generally okay raw, right? And I can't really cook anything because fire is bound to draw animals and kill me, so...

I went over and grabbed the dried out fish that were dragged further away from the riverbed.

I looked about trying to find a somewhat sharp rock, or perhaps a weak looking rock that could be splintered and used as a knife. However, before I got far, meditite approached me. Beckoning for me to hand the fish to him.

I handed Meditite the fish, and he dragged it over near the washing pool and set It down. Meditite formed a karate style knife-hand, and then a small purple radiant arc, flickering slightly, formed off the edge of his hand. Quickly, he brought that edge down on the fish.

The purple radiance smoothly cut through the fish, slicing off the layer of skin on one side and revealing the meat. In fact, this meat looked very healthy, as most all of the blood had been drained in advance there was no mess and only a slight fish smell to it.

Meditite began to shrink slightly as the radiance sliced through the fish. He slowly sliced off numerous very thin layers of meat. The size of the pieces were sliced suitably thin so that any sort of major parasites within would not be able to survive or hide themselves within.

I was somewhat confused on how Meditite knew this method. Do Meditites do such things in the wild or did he see people doing these things somewhere? Then again, he is a psychic type and has a open link to my mind as well so it might not be impossible he drew on this knowledge from my own memories.

From what I could tell, Meditite had used a weak form of the psyblade attack to cut the fish apart. Likely, he wasn't skilled enough to use it in battles and could only barely form a stable blade to cut through some things slowly. I was certainly thankful for this ability of his though, and the fact he did not try it on me.

After a few minutes, we had a decent pile of sashimi which had been carved off of this big and scary looking fish. I quickly threw the remains of this fish into the river so as to lower the risk of the smell of it bringing predators.

Not long after it began floating something akin to a gigantic eel reared a part of its upper body out of the water and swallowed the remainder of the fish whole. It's mouth seemed sufficient enough to swallow me whole as well. I was even more thankful of not approaching that river now.

We brought over the sashimi to the washing hole and I thoroughly washed the first piece before eating some.

Wow! Surprisingly, it tastes pretty good! I ate only 2 pieces of the thin sashimi before I felt full. It didn't seem like much, but even the fish here probably have much higher energy content than the most vigorous lion or tiger back on earth, so even a little meat goes a long way.

Unfortunately, this sort of meat will likely go bad in just a few hours given the weather, not even long enough to last to the next meal. So I went ahead and ate another piece and a half so that my stomach was basically bursting, as I don't know when my next meal might be.

The rest of the meat and fish carcasses remaining were all thrown to the eels~

After that, me and Meditite made our way to a spot where there seemed to be relatively few creatures about. With Meditite standing watch, I fell into sleep for the first time in this unknown land.

Chapter 3: Setting a Path

When I woke up in the morning, Meditite was still on watch. When I asked if he needed rest, I received a firm no. Apparently the reason I had been attacked was because I had woken up Meditite from his deep Meditation (sleep) and he wasn't happy about it.

So, I indicated my intent to go into the Pokemon world and asked Meditite to stand guard. Getting a positive response, I shut my eyes, reached for the spatial orb linking to the Pokemon world, and transported there.

...

When I opened my eyes again, I was in the same location where I had captured Meditite and left previously. It seemed as though the pokeball for Meditite had disappeared, and I was not likely to get it back. I started to make my way back to the safari checkpoint.

Safari Guard 1: "Haha, I told you it wasn't likely to catch anything. Although you had one of those Safari-tech pokeballs, it still broke on you, eh? Gotta make sure you find a weaker Pokemon to go for the next time you try, can't start out with a strong Pokemon cuz they have a strong will, and bringing stuff to satiate the Pokemon in a safari is also common sense. Do that next time, you hear me?"

Knowing he mostly meant well I grinned and beared it,

"Yes Sir, I will try my best next time."

Safari Guard 2: "And next time, don't get lost inside the park, we almost had to send people searching for you! Glad your okay though, classes are going to start soon, so go see Officer Jenny about registration."

I nodded to him and scurried away to avoid more lectures.

I found Officer Jenny in her office.

Knocking..

Officer Jenny: "Come in!"

I open the door and walk into her office.

"Hello! Again! How exactly did you manage to get lost again, and how did you even do so in that little safari?"

"Um..."

"Yes?"

"I have a very good excuse as to why I am lost often, I'm just uncertain if said excuse would be believable or acceptable.."

"Oh, really? This ought to be one of the most amusing things I've heard in a while, please tell me."

"Okay..."

"Yes?"

"I'm not really sure if I should, but I don't like being dishonest.."

"Yeah, to be honest I don't reall.."

"So actually, I'm an alien from a very distant planet who died once and then was brought back to life by some sort of powerful being, or group of them, which actually just happened yesterday a bit before I met you.

That being, or those beings, gave me a technique which together with my innate ability let's me make a body of mental and spiritual energy that can travel near infinite distances to other planets.

However, my actual body is in the middle of a forest filled with horrifying creatures far stronger than most of the Pokemon of this world and that would easily do their best to kill and eat me.

The greater beings more or less said I needed to travel to other planets to gain the resources and knowledge needed to survive. Also, as of right now this is the only planet I've been given access to. So I have to do everything I can to get stronger within a short time frame, as well as try to catch Pokemon who can help in my survival."

Officer Jenny stares at me with a warm and patient face,

"I understand, your probably around 12, and your at the age for Pokemon School without any Pokemon get to keep you company. Chuuni* is something a majority of kids your age catch. Please tone your fantasies to a level that they don't get people worried about you, and don't disturb your studies."

..about the reaction I expected.

"Listen mam', the truth is although my body looks this way now, we are actually about the same age. And honestly, I really need someone over here who understands the situation I'm in or it will be impossible for me to get what I need. So I'm going to give you a demonstration."

Before she can react, I take her letter opener off of the desk, pull up my sleeve, and drag the blade across the broad side of my shoulder. She totally freaks out, but for me it only stings a little because it is an energy body taking the damage. My vision of the room shifts to a slightly lower angle and the gash on my arm quickly regenerates without a drop of blood leaking out.

At this point, she had rum over and snatched the letter opener from me with shock and worry in her eyes. Then, she instantly went over and grabbed a first aid kit and rushed back over. After her hurried movements, she finally noticed the cut was gone.

A shocked and confused expression ran across her face.

"Because this body is made of mental energy, any injuries on it only results in a bit of energy loss and some headaches. Then the injuries will instantly regenerate, but because of the mental energy loss, the body will also shrink slightly until I can't maintain it."

A 'still sorta confused' and also 'pondering' expression spread across her face.

"Hmm.. I've heard of more powerful Psychic trainers being able to do all sorts of strange things, so I suppose it's not that strange~"

Yes! I'm so glad people are so easy-to-accept nonsense explanations in this world.

"So, will you help me?"

"Okay, sure! All that helping you means is doing my job as a mentor anyways right? Sorry to say, but I don't know you well and I'm not going to just lend you money either if you ask. I can show you some ways to earn money though."

Thinking this turned out pretty well, I bow slightly, "Thank you very much! What I really need right now is just an easy way to get some more pokeballs quickly. I think I'm going to need as much help as I can if I want to be able to survive."

She nods, "Okay then, there are a few things you will need to know that are either common sense or need to know for policing. The first class you should take would be on mental energy tempering, the more mental energy you have, the more Pokemon you can have with you. In order to become an official Pokemon trainer you must reach the minimum mental ability to link with 6 pokemon below level 15."

"Once you reach the Pokemon Trainer level, it is then important to learn how to do Resonance Mental Tempering. It is NOT something you should attempt until you are at the official Pokemon trainer level. The resonance tempering can carry you up to the level of a Pokemon master. Only as a Pokemon trainer would you be able to rely on resonance with your pokemon to defend your body in the midst of a battle."

"The method for a Pokemon master to train further is something closely guarded by the Pokemon League. Only those able to pass their tests of both character and capability would be shown the way forward from there. Only by defeating all of the gyms in a region and defeating all others in competition would one be allowed the opportunity to enter sacred grounds to raise their Pokemon levels to 100."

"At the time when your pokemon reach level 100, you must either learn the secret methods of the Pokemon league, or comprehend your own path. Those who seek comprehension usually choose only Pokemon of a single type.

By keeping your pokemon a single type your mental energy resonance will be more pure, allowing for faster growth and easier comprehension. However, if you have a mix of different types, your adaptability will give you better chances in battle. Those who aim to join the Pokemon League will do the latter route.

This is certainly useful because it allows you to adapt to any situation, but the chaotic mental energy your resonance will result in making it nearly impossible to approach the level of a true Pokemon master on your own. So, unless they have no ambition of advancing, even those aiming for the Pokemon league would have at most 3 pokemon types."

"Although it is not commonly known, a person who wins the Pokemon league challenge, as well as the following competition of champions, would only be called a pseudo-Pokemon master. Normally, they have Pokemon around level 80.

Only once the Trainer has a breakthrough in comprehension, causing their mental energy to change in overall quality, would their Pokemon have the chance to use the energy to grow beyond level 100 and have the chance to induce natural Mega Evolution. Bringing them to the same tier as Legendary Pokemon."

"This is all too far beyond you though, normally this would only be revealed when a person is a preliminary Pokemon Champion, which would be around level 60. This information is also disseminated among the policing forces though, as it is necessary knowledge when dealing with emergencies where the involvement of True Pokemon Masters are involved."

"Most regions have both an underground of criminals as well as different above ground organizations. In any region there will be a Policing force and a Pokemon league who manage the regions. The leaders of most of the Pokemon leagues as well as the larger Criminal Organizations are usually True Pokemon Masters."

"Unfortunately, any True Master cannot be defeated no matter how many normal enemies they are up against. Even in the case where they are overwhelmed, it is still a simple matter for them to escape, and it would simply result in massive losses. Only a legendary Pokemon or another True Master could ever hope to fight one and defeat them."

"This is why, when policing, one must be careful when selecting their target. It does no one any good if you die trying to do something impossible. Of course, even among criminals murder is very rare, but it is much more common to simply steal your pokemon. Which is the same as crippling your growth, and enhancing their own."

"Some good ways to earn money would first be doing volunteer policing duties, as assigned at different stations. Secondly, it might be good for you to learn traditional Pokeball crafting, which can be picked up rather quickly, instead of going into classes on modern Pokeball engineering. You would be able to get pokeball's much more easily, and you would be able to make money by selling them if you can grow to be good enough at it."

Ding!

-------------------------------------------------------------

You have uncovered sufficient vital information about this world.

From the analysis of the information discovered, an optimum growth route has been designated.

Obtain Pokemon of types:

Psychic, Neutral, Fighting, Ghost

Currently Obtained Pokemon Types:

Psychic (Meditite), Fighting (Meditite)

You are currently restricted from forming links with other types of Pokemon.

You are restricted from reaching Mental Energy beyond level 30 until you have formed a party composed of these Pokemon types.

Notice: Upon reaching the threshold of a level 1 Pokemon Trainer, you will be allotted access to a new world to further accelerate growth.

Suggestion: Learning to craft pokeballs may prove to be an extremely helpful skill in the future. The principles hidden deeper within are profound and rare in all of existence and closely related to the existence of the creatures known as Pokemon. The mental space can greatly assist you in extrapolation of their structure.

Notice: The lowest level of power for creatures near your true body is around level 30, you should hurriedly raise your abilities to survive.

Analysis method for Pokemon within the mental realm has now been generated.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Why! If I can't bring Growlithe back with me, will I have to manually create my fires instead! Well, if the minimum level is 30, I would just die if I made a fire and attracted attention anyways since Meditite is certainly under level 15.

Focusing back on Officer Jenny, I realized my cognition must be accelerated for these notifications, how convenient. So I just picked up where the conversation left off after the brief shock and I shook my head.

"Officer Jenny, the system seems to have placed restrictions on the direction of my growth. The only types of Pokemon I am allowed to capture are fighting, psychic, ghost, and neutral. At least, up until I can raise my Pokemon above level 30."

Officer Jenny leans back, appearing to be thinking about something. She looks back at me and asks,

"So you know what the different Pokemon types are? Do you have any idea of what different Pokemon you would want to go and try to catch in that case? Note that you need at least one Pokemon with a keen sense of smell, and one for transportation if your going to do police work."

She writes down a list of Pokemon on paper and hands it to me.

"Here are the Pokemon I would suggest to you."

Tracking Pokemon)

Riolu: Fighting Type

Lilipup: Normal Type

Smeargle: Normal Type

Eevee: Normal Type

Teddiursa: Normal Type

Pokemon that can be rode)

Girafarig: Normal and Psychic Type

Tauros: Normal Type

Bouffalant: Normal Type

"Additionally, it would also be good to get at least one pure psychic type pokemon. Although it may be difficult, but their senses can be especially keen in detecting and avoiding danger. As of right now, your mental energy could keep 2 Pokemon at once at best, but you could never have them both out at once.

Early stage cultivation is pretty fast though, so you should be able to get to the grade of three simultaneous Pokemon with 2 weeks of effort... also, psychic and fighting type trainers normally train their abilities as a fighter or as a psychic together with their Pokemon, I don't know anything about that so you will have to figure it out on your own."

"In my opinion, you should be catching a Riolu or a Teddiursa, which can be strong in low level fights. As well as a Tauros or a Bouffalant, who have both a high speed for escapes and the ability to carry heavy burdens."

I nod in understanding,

"Okay, for now I am going to go with capturing a Tauros first, then once I get the strength, a Teddiursa."

She sighs,

"Okay, now we have your short term plans figured out at least. The first thing you need to do is start learning pokeball crafting. You could catch a Tauros with a simple visit to a ranch. You should be able to get down the basics of pokeball crafting by the time your mental energy has grown enough to catch a Teddiursa."

"A simple Taxi ride can get you over to the Laramie Big P Ranch, it is in the Kanto region, just south of the Tohok region we are currently in. The hard part is, Tauros there are somewhat wild, and instead of a traditional battle, you can only catch them if they recognize your capabilities. You cannot catch Pokemon freely there, but you can still put in paperwork in advance and then capture a pokemon."

"The Teddiursa can only be found in the wild, and are normally protected by groups of Ursaring. So, having a fighting type to incapacitate and a transportation Pokemon to escape are both going to be vital. If you raise a proper Ursaring though, it will no doubt become a very powerful ally."

She sighed,

"I will assign you to a room of your own, so no one will question it if you disappear inside of your room so long as you keep it locked. Here is the room key, and here is a list of classes and an issue slip for your books. Good luck, and try to make it to all of your classes if you can."

I nodded and thanked her fervently, then wandered around before finding the room. I go into my new room and lock the door before 'logging out' of the Pokemon world.

Chapter 4: Psychic Powers

After I had returned, I noticed Meditite had brought me to a new location. Apparently some creatures had approached my body while I was away. So Meditite had Piggy backed / dragged me away.

I feel bad relying on this guy so much... I really need to catch more Pokemon soon so he can get a bit of help. Luckily, my Mental Space seems to act like a portable Pokemon Center.

I can simply expend my own Mental Energy to replenish the fatigue of Meditite, but that can only work for so long. It is mentally exhausting to have to be constantly vigilant, regardless of who or what you are. Somehow, Meditite seems to be perfectly fine regardless, but I don't want him to have to be.

I spent the night with Meditite, practicing different techniques from Modern Boxing, Shotokan Karate, Muay Chaiya, Xingyi Quan and Taiji Quan. Because of his Psychic Sensing Abilities, we had the confidence to do our practicing in a more open area.

Going over the motions for the body techniques of these arts would be second nature for me. However, for Meditite, these are all new to him. He is a fighting type as well, and it is easy to tell that he enjoys himself, learning all these techniques.

Meditite memorized the basic techniques quickly. If he were a human, his martial arts abilities would be at the level of genius. I was exhausted before long, yet Meditite was still perfectly fine.

As I practiced with Meditite I came to realize I'd grown rather accustomed to Mental Energy Sensing. As I've been tracking Meditite's body which could not be seen which cannot be seen with the normal eye casually, I suppose I should have noticed that sooner.

After we finished basic exercises in each of the arts we started resting, and as my consciousness began drifting a bit, I noticed the minute flows of the mental energy coming off of Meditite.

The mental energy radiated off his body in minute flares, spreading out and forming large but low density arcing currents. Eventually those currents spreading out became too indistinct to accurately sense. However, I could sense the energy currents as they re-approached and re-entered his body.

Is this how his 'Psychic' senses work? It is really just a special form or method of Mental Energy sense. This may be why the Psychic trainers in Pokemon world are known to be so powerful. Their cultivation method raises both psychic powers and their powers as a trainer simultaneously. The psychic type uses their mental energy in the most natural way, while others probably waste energy in a conversion process.

I just watch Meditite operating the Psychic Sensing techniques for a long while. Meditite, who most certainly knows I am staring at it, sits in a meditative stance and intensifies it's technique further. The flow of Mental Energy becomes even clearer in my view.

From what I can tell, Mental Energy senses work best, by far, when you are trying to sense things using your own energy. For me, it is probably also far easier to perceive Meditite's Mental Energy than the Mental Energy of another, due to our connection. However, it would be impossible for me to sense my surroundings using his energy as a medium. That could only be done using my own energy.

Now may be a good time to try and learn some psychic techniques, since Meditite is implicitly encouraging it anyways. Although it may burn a bit of my mental energy, it would be best to not rely on my Pokemon for everything. I focus on my mental space again, in stories the 'Mental Palace' there would always be the source of Mental Energy.

I am assuming that my mental palace is concealed behind the wall within the space. Considering I could use abilities and keep Pokemon, it should still be possible to draw out Mental Energy from behind the wall. I enter the space, focusing on the wall.

Closely inspecting the wall, it becomes more apparent that there are minute traces of Mental Energy within. Touching the wall would give off a small 'spark' of Mental Energy, drawing it into my Energy body.

I back away from the wall again. The Orb, the Energy Body, the Meditite Seal, all of them are more concentrated in energy than the wall, even if the wall is the origin, these all seem to be constantly draining the origin, making it pointless to draw from it. It seems it might be more efficient to just directly use the Mental Energy of the Energy Body.

Thinking this, I decide it may be best to experiment with using the energy body inside this space. I move far away from the wall and begin with trying to stimulate an arc.

Most all forms of energy or matter follow principles akin to electromagnetism or thermodynamics, flowing from areas of high energy or high concentration to area of low energy or low concentration.

The part that makes their flow complicated is material properties which disrupt and distort that flow. If only a particular object in an area is capable of holding the energy, then the instant the energy is forced out it will arc and recombine into another area of the same material, but in an area of relatively lower concentration.

In this case, the materials that can attract mental energy are my body, the wall, the spatial orb, and the seal. In the outside world those are all within my body, but here to stop the energy from being drawn towards those, I had to move further away. And now that my energy body is isolated, I should be able to mimic the actions of Meditite which are based on recombination principles.

I began with a simple experiment, my thumb and middle finger as a circuit, pulling energy from the tip of my middle finger and forcing an excess out from my thumb. A strange thrumming noise rebounds in the air as erratic white air flows briefly between my two fingers.

Well, that was pointlessly cautious. I threw aside my worries and just repeated the action, turning it from an instantaneous to a continuous motion. I continued on doing so for a while and then stopped as it felt strange, certain parts of my Energy body's hand felt numb.

Trying to move the energy through it again, I found that the energy could not move as easily anymore through that area. However, moving it through other areas there was still no problem. It seems that the movement of excess Mental Energy will still result in fatigue even if it is not actually expended by the process.

I expected there to be a loss of Mental Energy as I used it, but instead, a body made of Energy is actually fatigued? The concept of a body of Energy being fatigued is in itself contradictory. If the energy is fatigued then does the energy have subordinate energies within it that it operates off of?

In cultivation novels, the characters both cultivated energy to permanently strengthen themselves as well as used the same energy to exert their strength. At least, that was my impression. Perhaps it was instead that the cultivation energy and it's exertion energy were different?

In other words, the Mental Energy I use for the Energy Body and It's regeneration should be cultivation energy. The Mental Energy is more like a cellular structure that can double as energy. The cultivation energy is so flexible it can completely re-make my entire body, whereas the energy used by it to exert it's power is simplistic but can be much more easily produced the more cultivation energy you possess.

Maybe it is insignificant now to just use cultivation energy because my cultivation is still virtually non-existent. After all this body was just created the other day, and this much energy was produced in such a short time. Down the road, such losses may become more significant as cultivation becomes harder the farther you go.

Thus, for fighting it is best to rely on techniques that only result in fatigue, rather than those that burn my cultivation. To catch a Pokemon you have to use up a part of your cultivation, and the amount it costs likely increases for stronger Pokemon as well.

However, if you use resonance cultivation, you can potentially gain that energy back and grow even faster. So in essence, catching a Pokemon is like making an investment. In that sense, catching all kinds of random Pokemon would just be wantonly burning your own potential growth, though if you have high cultivation and they have low cultivation the energy might become negiligable or it may become possible to use

I end up hoping that this body is similar to a normal one, and my 'Mental Energy Muscles' will grow strong as I use them more. Eventually I can get to the same stage as Meditite, and by alternating which areas I use, I should be able to execute the Psychic sensing technique.

I practiced the technique until the body felt numb all over, and then after checking on Meditite again, I went to sleep.

...

In the morning I woke up and went to check out Meditite, he was practicing his Martial Arts Techniques again. Is this little guy not a bit too hard-working? It turns out, he is at a level where he can Meditate as a replacement for sleep, and remain fully lucid and aware in his meditation. Meditite is too amazing!

I thanked Meditite for the hard work, and went back into the Pokemon world.

...

I re-appeared inside of my dorm room at the Volunteer Police Academy. Looking at the time, it seemed the class on traditional Pokeball Crafting would begin in about an hour. I collected up some of the school supplies that had been left behind in the room, put them in a bag, and headed over to the class a bit early.

When I arrived at the class the Instructor was already there. A brawny looking fellow, seeming to be in his later 20's, was sitting at the instructors desk. In his hands was a book, and on that book was his face. A slowpoke curled up near his feet was sleeping with a look of contentment eerily similar to his supposed master.

I did not quite question it before, but who is this guy? In the books, only Kurt and those of his lineage knew the secrets of how to craft apricot pokeball's. Only with the development of Pokeball Engineering did they fall from their once lofty heights.

Maybe this guy the missing father? The 'mysterious' link between Maize and her well-known grandfather, Kurt?

Chapter 5: Negligence

"Hello Professor!"

The man on the book, startled, jumps to attention. In his startled movements he lightly knocks into Slowpoke, awaking it as well, and it stares up at him with a miffed expression.

"Ah! Hello young man, as you could see, I was just closely examining the contents of that book just now. Ahahaha."

"Oh? May I ask what it is on?"

Cough, cough. He glances at the title on the book cover.

"Ah, it is a book on Recent Human History, the wars and minor conflicts between The Pokemon League Alliance, the Psychic Association, and the Fighters Guilds."

I scratch my head a bit, I don't think such names were anywhere in the original Pokemon. Though, I already knew this wasn't actually the same World, it only has a few common points.

"Oh! Very intriguing professor, 'One must know where one has been to know where one must go.' I'm sure professor is full of wisdom and will go far in progressing the ways of traditional Pokeball Crafting."

The professor nodded his head vigorously.

"Indeed! Indeed! You understand my sentiments exactly! History can teach many things, and it is exactly because I know history well that I decided to spread the knowledge of apricot crafting! Traveling from school to school.

I am aware you missed your first class, but we are actually starting with Pokeball history. Ah! I am Professor Boru by the way. Well anyways, as you said class starts in a few minutes. Go ahead and take a seat.

Ah, sorry about that earlier slowpoke! I..."

Ignoring the seemingly eccentric professor, I went ahead and took a seat in the second row of desks. Before long the class had began, it seemed I had missed something from the first class but considering we haven't started crafting lessons I don't care much.

"Look at the History, dig sites unearthing ancient artifacts all seem to indicate old powerful civilizations also possessed the power to seal Pokemon. These sealing artifacts, unlike our modern pokeball's, could seal and control Pokemon in items of any shape or size! Even sealing a Legendary Pokemon was not uncommon!"

"What? Even Legendary Pokemon?!?"

Cross comparing the System's grade scaling, Legendary Pokemon should be Low Grade. Low Grade, judging from the Pokemon Storyline and legends, should be the rough equivalent of Xiantian Stage Cultivator.

One good example of the power of such Pokemon are Kyogre and Groudon. Although they could not outright destroy the planet, given enough time they could surely change it as they please! Truly moving mountains and flipping oceans.

"Yes! Even Legendary Pokemon! It is believed the latent aura in the atmosphere was far more dense in ancient times. Thus, Legendary Pokemon were also far more common."

"But if those artifacts were so powerful, why do they not exist today? Why would we use pokeballs if an artifact could do the job better?"

"Ah, this is simple. There were two issues that led to this knowledge being lost, though mind you it is mostly conjecture. The first is the complexity of making each of these artifacts, and the second is greed."

"So, people simply did not care to share this artifact knowledge? They kept it to themselves to hoard power?"

"Indeed. The strong ruled the weak, something common even in the modern day. It is almost certain they had a structure of nobility centered around those who developed the artifacts.

The previous generation would trap the Pokemon and the next generation would develop an artifact specific to that pokemon. The nobility held control over all the Pokemon at all times, but they also had to be scholars, as they needed to be in order to develop unique and highly complex formations for each pokemon."

Hm... but if they were so powerful...

"How could they possibly fall from such a position?" I asked

"Quite simple, they only passed down the methods through their direct lineage. All it takes is a single idiotic grandchild to mess up everything. They allowed the basic sealing techniques to be disseminated but kept the controlling techniques for themselves. Eventually, all that was left was the sealing technique."

"But then, if the control techniques were lost, where did the pokeballs come from?" I asked

Hahahaha, the Professor laughed.

"Pokeballs don't use any control techniques. How could you misunderstand something so basic? Pokeballs can be considered as a branch of the sealing techniques.

The seals on the Pokeball differ in that they create an additional seal that binds together the Pokemon inside and their master. Thus, as long as your strong enough, the effect of the Pokeball is similar to the controlling method."

I nod, "Right, that makes a lot of sense. Do you also study control artifacts then? Do you think they could be used to enhance Pokeball crafting?"

He snorts, "How could control artifacts possibly be better than Sealing artifacts? The only reason they used such things historically was they had no alternative. Control methods have long been rendered obsolete.

With a pokeball the Pokemon and Trainer can grow their strength together. With the ancient seal and control method you are merely imprisoning the Pokemon and forcing it to do things. The Pokemon will forever remain static, and will even degrade in power over time."

"Oh~ Understood. Then professor, does anyone in the modern day still research control method?"

"Hm, good question. I don't believe so, but if anyone does, it is likely in the Psychic Association's territories. Technically they use control technique still today, except theirs is a natural gift through psychic powers rather than something attained through understanding.

Hm... but I think we've strayed from the main point here. This is a class on the tradition of apricot pokeball crafting. Originally, it was passed down strictly within my bloodline, and that was a tradition held up until my father Kurt's generation.

Apricot crafting is a noble art, those mass produced pokeballs cannot stand toe to toe with our pokeballs! The only reason our art has fallen to the wayside is because it was never spread among the populous, and thus lacking in our numbers of talents, akin to the control methods of the past.

You all will be part of a new generation of Apricot Pokeball Crafters. Even if your main profession will be with the government in the future it does not mean your achievements in this field will be any less. Haha, if you truly enjoy it consider quitting the police to become a professional craftsman."

The professor continued to rant about how great Apricot Pokeballs are compared to Modern Pokeballs for several minutes more before the class ended.

When the class ended, I moved on to the next class. Walking in, I felt somewhat awkward. All of the people in this class, instructor aside, seemed to be very small children.

My own body, which had shrunk already from the original six foot two inches to six foot, I still towered far above the 10 and 11 year old children in this class. Most people here had assumed I was 12 because of my education level on Mental Energy but likely this body was closer to 14 years old.

Unlike the previous class which had desks, this class instead had mats laid out with a student sitting on each mat. With my face flushed red with embarrassment being an old fellow in a class with children, I moved towards the back and sat on one of the mats shamelessly.

Strength is everything in this world and all others, after all.

Not long after the class began, this time the teacher was the classical Oji-san instructor. A friendly Old man by the name of Theodore.

"I will go over the instructions for basic energy cultivation again. First, close your eyes, it will help with the visualization process. Something related to your desired Pokemon type is ideal.

The energy we use as Pokemon trainers is closely related to one's state of mind. This is why we call this energy Mental Energy. You need only clear your mind and focus, the rest is all in body positioning."

I close my eyes, and think for a moment on what I should visualize. Normal, Ghost, Psychic, and Fighting. Out of all of them the only thing I could really visualize is fighting, I think it would be against the point to simply daydream about fighting all day though since I would be in too lucid a state.

Bang!

"Ow!"

"Who taught you your posturing! You look worse than anyone here, and your most certainly the oldest one here. And it's too obvious your still Lucid, your facial expressions keep changing constantly! You should be setting an example, not slacking off!"

What the hell! Your telling me I'm slacking off by not daydreaming properly?!? Even if its true, you don't have to point it out you bastard!

"Cough, yes Sensei."

Well, it is not like I haven't acted similarly before. It may be his way of expressing concern.

I glance at some of the other students and adjust my posture a few times before it seems just right. Hands together but relaxed, legs crossed with right leg over left and feet flush with the sky. My back, as straight as can be.

When I close my eyes my Mental Energy 'Vision' instinctively takes over. So, since there is only one thing that occupies my entire view, might as well focus on that. I focus onto the distant star that is my original body, it still looks like a star so it should be good for meditation right?

I focus on the fake star and try to distance myself from all else. Sounds, stray thoughts, anything.

In place of all else I could only feel the connection between me and my star. The minute flux of energy between this body and the real body. I sank into that feeling and time flowed away.

...

When I opened my eyes again after what felt like a short minute, the clock read that almost 6 hours had passed... So long? I cannot believe I just let the time flow by like that.

"Ah, good! It seems you got onto the right track. It is not common to fall into such a deep state, I could practically feel the energy developing within you. I could not bear to wake you."

I nod, "Right, thanks professor, but I think I had best go now. Since everyone else has already left."

He returns the gesture, "Ah, right, well I will see you tomorrow." The man says with a smile.

I left the class in a hurry and went somewhere more private, I have been out of my body for a bit too long. I hope Meditite is still okay.

...

When I open my eyes the first thing I see is blood splattered on the ground and Meditite leaning against a tree. His arms look to be broken, while the enemy he faced seemed to have minor injuries. Small cuts and bruises at best, but it's large body made the blood flowing out seem more significant.

Meditite with his fists bloodied from facing it's foe seemed exhausted, it seems he had resorted to holding him off once he realized he was outmatched. The brown "Wooly Mammoth" paced back and forth in front of him, the minute cuts across it's body continuing to leak blood. It's eyes radiating intense hatred.

I feel a flood of regret for leaving so long like this. Was I so negligent? Should I not have just left things like this?

I look towards the creature that did this to him from my spot in the bushes. The regret was instantly washed over with rage instead. No need so much, I just need to kill this thing and it will be fine.

My heart beats with a heavy thump and power floods through my body.

I stand up and take a step forward.

Chapter 6: A Very Hairy Goliath

The beast turns to face me as I begin to move towards it.

Though it's body looked like that of a mammoth from the back to the side, it's face looked nothing like that of a mammoth. The words that come to mind would be, alien, abomination.

The whiskers on it's face like tentacles, spikes protruding from them on the side of them facing outward. The whiskers which curled up seemed to cover it's face like a mask, but it opened up the mask and took a threatening posture towards me, it's mouth filled with jagged teeth opening wide.

"Garoaaahheeee" a strange roar/trumpeting noise came from the creature, trying to threaten me.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, I throw as much power into my body and legs as I can. My body move much faster than imagined and already I was in front of the creature. I stopped myself with a foot on its chest.

Shocked slightly by what happened I froze for a split second, and in that split second the creature was already reacting. It reared its head and the spiked whiskers slammed towards me.

Catching myself again, I touch down again on the ground, shifting my weight and dodging their path.

I stomp down and fly through the air towards it again. It's tentacles, still in disarray, have left it's face wide open. I step with one foot onto the creatures chest again, shifting my charging momentum upwards. My other foot uses all of that momentum and slams into It's jaw.

The creature, on all fours, had no moves to soften the impact. "Graah!" It knocks me away, it diverts it's head to the side, and the flat sides of its whiskers hit me.

I crash into the ground, but the blow lacked significant weight so I was able to quickly recover.

The creature looks disoriented from the blow, and was obviously injured, but it also managed to slide the tentacles into place over it's face again. Forming a Protective mask of tentacles and spikes. With its jaw now protected, that attack won't work again.

I steady my stance to prepare for the next bout, watching it's movements closely.

The beast acted with caution similarly, crouching down and snarling from under it's mask. The hairs all over it's big body began to stand on end, creating a strange shimmering light. The beast casually began walking to the side, and dissapeared.

Fuck.

I backed up against one the trees, looking for hints of where it might have gone. How could a fucking mammoth be so light footed and stealthy?

Boom

What felt like a boulder hit me in the side and I rolled for several meters. I got up. I'm rather certain my left leg was broken on that impact, but that was unimportant as I needed to see what to do to survive this.

I heard a noise from behind me and turned, I heard it charging at me but still saw nothing. I could run but that could be even worse than getting hit in the front, I have no idea how to dodge though since I can't see how it moves.

I could feel the breath of the giant beast on me already, but just before the impact Meditite rushed in from the side.

Haah!

Meditite threw it's entire weight into the invisible creature, the shock rendered its stealthing inert. It lost its balance, and fell into a roll off to the side. The interruption of its momentum let me dodge it's path just in time.

I looked over to Meditite and saw it's body covered in holes. It had thrown itself into the spiked tentacles of the creature in order to save me. Energy began to leak out the holes until it's body finally collapsed, the Energy flew over and into my body, returning to the seal in my mental space.

I could feel meditite was still fine, it would just need time to reform it's body.

I looked back towards the Creature again, but once again, it had disappeared. How, how did Meditite manage to see it?

Obviously, it was through Energy Sensing.

My only hope to win this fight would lie in that ability.

But is it realistic to master something so complicated Energy Sensing so quickly? No, unlikely, a more familiar or simpler method is better.

I took a deep breath and put my hands together, creating a cycle of Energy between them. I pushed them forward and opened them in front of me, the irregular arc of Mental Energy sent out some pulsing waves. At first, I saw nothing.

Is the energy not strong enough? I upped the power. And finally I saw the vague form coming towards me. All I could see were distortions within the Energy vision, but I could get a vague sense of where it was.

To fight it hand to hand like this would be impossible though. Can I bluff it out of hiding? Or a weak psyblade might be possible.

I compress my hands together, the Energy being sent out compresses together with it simultaneously as I keep it focused on the creature. The compression becomes more and more difficult as my hands grow closer. The creature closed in on me.

Finally, I reached a critical point. The Arc curved inward and Energy converged and compressed itself into reality. The energy was only a small and incredibly thin sheet, yet it flew out with incredible force.

A split second after the first blade came a second, a third. A rain of Energy blades came down on the creature.

The weak blades caused wounds all over it's body. From the size of its body they were but scratches, but a swarm of ants can still swallow elephants.

The creature felt intense fear from the sheer volume of the blades and turned in its tracks, fleeing into the thicker woodland.

I looked into the woods for a moment, thinking how could it just leave so easily. I suppose even such creatures have fight or flight instinct, or maybe it just determined I wasn't worth the trouble.

...

The creature moved between the trees in the distance, abandoning it's stealth which it now deemed to be pointless. It's intelligent brown eyes betrayed a hint of hesitation, this was originally just hunting a little critter for food. He never imagined it would devolve into a battle that could actually threaten him.

However, thinking back, how could he possibly face others of his species, having failed at a hunt within their own territory?

Would he even be allowed to survive in the future? Even though he was still young, if he was treated as a weakling how could he keep his place in the pack?

His eyes were quickly covered by a cloud of embarrassment and anger. How could he let something so weak go, this small creature had only survived so far due to little tricks after all.

In the midst of the forest, his body began to emit strange cracking sounds. His muscles moved in his body like snakes and he began to rise up on his back legs.

Mud fell out from in between the crevices of his originally flat looking feet, and the feet became hands that used the tree beside him as a support to help stand up.

The muscles and joints on his legs and arms shifted as his back and neck straightened up. A 4 meter tall 4 legged creature transforming into a 12 meter tall Monstrous Humanoid. His labored breath formed clouds as he strained to make the transformation.

In but a few seconds it had already finished. It took a minute for him to recover and then he returned to the place where he had just fought with the little one, but it was already gone. He sniffed the air to search for his prey.

...

After ascertaining that the creature had truly fled, I started to make my way towards the river.

I would have liked to have finished the job but the thing was already long gone. Tracking such a predator in the forest would be both tedious and dangerous.

What concerned me most was I had no idea if it belonged to a group of social animals. Even if the injured one came back I'm unsure if I could handle it, much less if it came back with friends.

The best choice for now is probably to try and leave the area. Following the river as far away from here as I can. Being stuck in what seems to be endless woods is still not as bad as being stuck in endless woods with no idea where to find water. So following the river is safest, even with the Bloodsucking Anteaters.

As I was approaching the region near the river something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Something moving FAST. I dodged backwards the second before that thought.

I dodged backwards to see a ridiculously large rock fly by my nose. That was very close.

Looking to the origin of the rock I saw a brown shaggy figure in the distance.

No way...

This bastard was a fucking Minotaur, not a Mammoth? Wait, neither of those work as an apt description. What the fuck is this thing? How do I kill it properly?

The moment I think that I notice something. This thing lacks protection around it's neck like this. The fur that kept all our blows from causing damage is now practically non-existent.

There is even a huge bulging vein on its furless neck, just asking to be slit open. You should have just kept crawling on the ground, where you belong, fucking trunkless elephant.

I begun to move towards the Creature, moving in between the trees. My leg slows me down a bit, but it is not the first time I've had to move about with some broken bones.

The creature throws two more stones, but having missed the first time as an ambush it could only dream about hitting me. But, it's not like this thing changed forms just for fun. A human form is more suited for fighting because it allows the use of tools.

The creature picks up it's stick.

Now when I say stick, I just mean it is like a stick, relative to this thing's body. It just helps me thinking, you know, it's really just a stick. In reality, it's not a stick, it is basically a tree to itself, but this thing wants to whack me with it, so I will prefer to think of it as a stick.

Of course, I won't let that stick hit me regardless, so it doesn't matter.

I dive into the creature's range and it's stick is already swinging towards me. Having predicted it's move, I dodged to the side. I go in for the kill, but it backs off.

It becomes a repeating cycle. I advance, it retreats, and it repeats.

Had it been before, my body would have already died from exhaustion, if this thing hadn't killed me outright earlier. Yet even now I felt that I could continue moving, even if my body could not. After becoming more accustomed I could tell that with my 'Energy body' I could treat my original body like a puppet, helping me move and take actions beyond my limits.

Is this thing playing around? Or is it actually trying to exhaust my stamina?

If the latter is the case, that is really bad. And besides that, ending this sooner is more likely to turn out better for me, regardless. I hesitated for a moment, but decided I needed to try it.

I ran straight towards the giant, it noticed my action and seemed to purposefully hold its actions a bit, it's guard was up so it did not believe I could get through to it. Of course, it was right. There is truly no way I can think of that would let me bypass the guard of a giant wielding a weapon and kill it.

If it were possible to kill it from a distance I would, but those projectile psyblades could only annoy it. So I decided on this method.

I close in, determined to kill it in one quick strike. The power flowing through me, I push it all into my legs, flying through the air. The creature, with a stern expression, swings it's weapon straight in my path, a blow that was simply impossible to dodge.

So, I didn't dodge. I felt the impact of the massive stick, and at that instant, my consciousness shifted to my other body and I continued moving towards it. It took only instant to get within its range, and less than an instant to reach its neck.

My hand formed a blade, and into that blade, I poured every bit my remaining energy. And then, using my other hand as a support, I poured in even more. Until a gleaming energy sword formed, and it plunged into its neck.

"Guahe"

The creature stumbled and fell back, I fell off of it, but the job was already done.

It grabbed at its neck, trying to hold in the blood that was coming out all too quickly. It's eyes betraying it's disbelief, how could this have happened?

It uttered out one last cry.

"Goaaahhaaaaaaaree"

But I shut it up, quickly plunging the blade in again and again. I need it die, I need this to end.

It stops moving and I can see it stop responding to my actions, so I also stop.

"Garoaahheeerr""Garoaaahheeeer""Garoaaahheeeeiir""Garoaaahheeeerr""Garoaaahhiee""Garoahie""Groaaahhe""Garoaaah""Garoaaahhi""Groahhe""Gar"GAROAHERRRRRR"

From almost everywhere in the surrounding forests, there comes disturbingly familiar roars.

....Oh no.

Chapter 7: Many Many Minotaurs

..It is about time to make a quick escape, I'd say.

I return back to where my body is and look at it from the outside... I'm really not very good looking am I?

Half of my body seems to be covered in bruising and my leg, which was already broken, seemed to be even more-so broken. I am numb to my injuries for now, as my consciousness is in my energy body. Looking at my body's condition, I am also not looking forward to going back and feeling the consequences of my actions.

My escape trip needs to start now. From the earlier sounds it seems like I will soon have a horde of monsters tearing me apart soon should I stick around.

I decide to pick up my own body, using a fireman's carry, and make my escape while letting my physical form heal. Unfortunately, my Energy Body had shrank slightly as I burned Mental Energy when forming my energy sword. Now being about 1.5m instead of 2, which will make my escape a bit more tedious.

I began to move towards the river yet again.

...

"Goaaahhaaaaaaaree"

In the distance, he heard the distinctive death cry of pack member.

No.

Who would dare?

The cry had come from near the river.

This river acted as the border of their land, the Pilocai territory, and that of their competetitor's, the Therious. The river itself was also the Domain of the Creoti.

Although there are many ways a youth might die, not a single youth would release a death cry without good reason. The death cry is a warning, a warning of danger, of a potential threat to the tribe. If it were from a mere accident, if it were by the hands of a mere pray, the death is deserved and no cry could be uttered.

A weakling would, after all, only become a burden to the pack. All are raised to understand their place and duties.

If it is the Thareous, that is a major issue. Such a matter could easily result in a war.

If it was a wandering warrior or predator, it would be dealt with easily and they would clearly set an example.

The creature shifted from his original form, into his Humanoid state. Becoming a 45 meter monster which towered over countless trees in the forest.

It uttered a roar to respond to the call to rally, it's anger and rage mixed within.

"GAROAHERRRRRR"

It ran through the forest towards the murderer who had harmed it's kin. His roar echoed back the call deeper into the forest, calling more brethren to join the fight.

...

I picked up my speed as I realized I could hear the thumping of giant footsteps behind me. I know I am headed in the right direction, but now it seems pointless as I will likely not even make it.

Looking over my shoulder, I could see numerous looming figures approaching.

Is there really anything that could be done in this situation? Is my death here now set in stone?

The beings that gave out the system should at least somewhat care if I live or die, right?...

Well, I have a feeling that they would not. I am probably on my own here. Though I wish it were so, likely no chance encounter will save me this time.

Pht, a stone passed by my head, interrupting my train of thoughts.

I began weaving between the trees. Although running in a straight line is the most efficient, for this situation it is better to just ensure my head isn't smashed in by a rock.

The immediate results of the action could be heard. The rocks, which they continuously threw towards me, became horribly inaccurate. The instant they would see me I would already be disappearing from their vision, behind yet another of the vast tree trunks.

As some became impatient, they would just throw the instant they saw me without any thought. That was even worse, as they just hit air, not even able to hit the broadside of tree in the end.

Still, as some threw their stones others continued their advance. Although they are not as fast in their Humanoid forms as in their original, likely because they are so massive, they still are much faster than a normal person due to their long legs.

As with any group, there were some that are faster than others. Two particular minotaurs were the forerunners of the group, and had nearly caught up to me.

To reward those two enthusiastic fellows for their hard work, I turned around and sent a barrage of psyblades at their legs.

The actual damage was not much, but the shock from the impact together with how fast they were moving caused them to trip and fall over.

But although they were temporarily out, more and more of the hairy fellows came forward one after the other. However, I also did my best to run. So as the more skilled runners among them were knocked down upon approach, I managed to pull further and further ahead.

A body made of Energy was indeed much more suitable for an escape. The human body which was naturally made for sustained running was reinforced in terms of endurance by the lack of muscular exhaustion. So long as I had energy within me, I would be able to perform at full strength.

If it were not for the fact I had to keep shooting out psyblades at the fellows on the faster side, I would dare to say I could keep up the chase forever. At this rate though, I wouldn't be able to last long.

Luckily, I had already lasted long enough though. I could see the river, finally, in the distance. Ah~ my salvation, sweet glorious water filled with dangerous things.

I heard a roar of significantly higher volume just as I encroached on the side of the river. Albeit, I wasn't necessarily planning to do this originally, I think this may be the only way to escape this.

I cast out Energy waves to see what dwells beneath the water the instant I am approaching it.

What I see? Sparse fish, of the man-eating variety from the looks, and an enormous eel sleeping at the bottom of the stream.

I jump into the water.

The weight of my body on top of me makes me go down rather deep in the initial plunge. Once I submerged I could see the underwater world rather clearly even without the help of psychic power.

The sudden change almost made me lose my own body. I grabbed it by one arm, put it over my neck, and began to swim upwards.

Trying to swim through the water with my energy body, it took a lot more energy out of me. My energy body is not very buoyant at all, it took a lot to swim back up to the surface. When I made it back up, I heard my original body take a deep breath and cough out some water.

Well, at least it worked out okay in the end. Let's not try this again though. I pushed forward through the river and the nearby fish began to encroach.

One of the fish, curious, comes quickly to take a bite of me. I hit it upside the head each time it tried until it swam away.

I continued swimming through the river as quickly as I could, luckily the 'Minotaurs' had stopped themselves at the edge of the bank. One could tell my actions had confused them for a moment, but then they cleared their heads and began casting stones at me.

Noticing all of the stones landing around me, I begin to dip down sporadically underwater in evasion. Since I survived the first time, it should be fine?

Each time I re-emerge I can hear myself coughing crazily. I suppose this counts as self-abuse? Well, it is something I have always done anyways.

As I grew further away from the shore the stones were no longer even landing close to me. I loosened up on the submersion frequency to ensure my body had enough time to catch it's breath. Gradually it began to feel as though the threat from the many minotaurs was fading away.

However, the fish became more of a crisis the further I became from the shore. I managed to beat them away when they came one at a time. Yet now, they came in a group of three.

Bloodshed was now inevitable. There was no need for it to be my blood though. Submerged, I looked about and saw numerous fish swimming towards me from all directions. I looked and saw off to one side a lone fish further in the distance, and I launched a few psyblades towards it.

The psyblades seemed even weaker in the water, but they were just enough to draw blood. As it's blood flowed and diffused through the water it pulled the attention of every fish around. A large majority of the fish happily changed their path and headed over there instead.

I swam frantically, trying to get out of the river as quickly as possible. I created another fog of blood with a fish following closer behind me, managing to draw away another large portion of them.

When one would make it to me, I managed to clash with and deflect them away while on the move. For some, I attacked the eyes when I had the chance.

Eyes, which normally lack in blood vessels, bleed little even if badly damaged. So I could safely poke eyes so long as I didn't literally poke them out.

It was a long, tedious, continuous battle, just for the act of approaching the opposite shore.

I swam through the river, killing, fighting, scraping by. When the other edge of the river was still 600 meters away, I heard resounding war cries from of the minotaurs on the now distant shore.

Turning my head, I saw 12 enormous minotaurs, each towering above the trees. On each of their backs were bundles of giant throwing spears. Some already drawing one, some readying to throw.

I dove down in an instant, but one of the spears had already arrived. It slammed into the water next to me, the force from it as though it was launched from a cannon. Parts of the rough wooden spear splintered apart on impact, the water caved inwards.

It smashed into the water, sucking me in from under the water and smashing into me with a wall of water above it. I was knocked flipping backwards through the air. Numerous booming noises resounded in the air as water flew all about as the other 11 spears landed subsequently.

There was a short pause and things settled as the impacts became waves and the waves became ripples. Having no time to settle myself, having barely held on to my body through the impacts, I determined to escape regardless of cost.

I dove down again, dragging my body deep under the surface. I see the deep white fronts of the crazy spear impacts happening in water above me, and the spears that went down and deep into the dark depths of the river.

I started swimming forward again, heading towards the wall of earth I could see a small distance in front of me. I could still hear and feel the rumbling from the throwing spears, and it sounded like more spears were landing each volley.

I thought they were just throwing them randomly, hoping to hit me by luck, the scatter of the throwing spears rather far apart.

I realized that wasn't the case rather quickly though.

The spears that pierced into the depths of the water began to gain speed on their returning journey, their buoyancy propelling them back towards the surface. The new barrage of spears coming in, filled the gaps between them. Their impacts becoming greater, deeper, more intense than before.

The new impacts sucked you in, the surfacing spears pushed you away. As they occurred in combination, the magnitude of them all combined and formed temporary currents under the water.

The effects of this chaos extended deep down and all around, encompassing the entirety of my vision. The net of chaotic waters and erratically moving spears which cut off my path closed in around me.

I calmed myself and tried casting out a psychic wave with my free hand to read the flow of the waters, as they tossed me about. I followed the flaws in the cage of currents, and slowly made my way forward. I felt the world going black as I finally reached the wall of dirt.

Just as I reached it, the barrage of spears seemed to have stopped, and the waters calmed. I hesitated for a moment, but jumped out of the water regardless.

I would definitely die in the water, but it was not guaranteed I couldn't avoid the barrage of spears on the ground. Or at least, I convinced myself that was the case.

Jumping out of the water, I instantly turned back. Half expecting a sharpened tree to already be flying my way.

But what I saw was instead a battle between the minotaurs and a swarm of gigantic black river snakes. I cared not how it started, but it gave me opportunity to survive. I thanked the snakes in my heart, hoisted my body back over my shoulders, and ran into the forest.

Chapter 8: Journey to Nowhere

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.)