Okay, this is a bit of a long one for me, a lot happens in this chapter, but my favourite part is when I got to play with the world of Pokemon Insurgence, and do a bit of World Building...

Also, I hate to ask this, but if you do read my story, can you leave a comment or a review, please? It would make my day, and while I am happy when I see that people leave Kudos, and they bookmark, and follow this story, getting to read a comment or a review would make me happy, and I want to know what you guys liked about this story so that I can know where I need to focus my energies, and what I need to work on, to make this story even better, for you, the Reader...

Shadow hummed as she left the lab, followed by the gang of Pokemon. "Okay, so to get to the cave where I can find the Rare Stone, I need to head into Shade Forest and go north... At the northern end of it, there should be a cave where we can find the Rare Stone, in the middle of the cave..." As much as she liked using the device to talk, when she needed to talk to herself, she didn't use it, and she would silently talk to herself, even if she didn't have a voice... It had to come back to her, one day, but until that day, she would take every opportunity that she had to actually use her mouth, to talk, so that she could not forget how to actually use it to talk.

Damian had gone on ahead, but before he had left, the Professor had given both of them a Pokedex, and Damian had challenged her to a battle, but they could only use their Eevees... Shadow had won the battle, and she had gotten some money from Damian. "I have to go to the Pokemart eventually. I did find some items in the Cult's base, before I left it, so I'm good, for now..."

She didn't see that the Pokemon were having a conversation with each other, a conversation that ended with the Squirtle climbing up to her shoulders. She blinked as he got comfortable on it, looking back at where they had come from. The Bulbasaur returned herself to her Pokeball, while the Charmander started to walk in front of her, like a bodyguard, and Searcher purred as she climbed into Shadow's arms.

Shadow tilted her head, where they talking about this? Did they just make a schedule on who would be out of their Pokeballs, and where they would be?

She had no idea that her Pokemon had actually made a promise to protect their trainer... It was clear to them that she was just like them... She was alone, and she was looking for somewhere to belong... And from the way that she had reacted to the Deltas, they knew that she would need someone to keep an eye on her, to stop her from getting into trouble.

Shadow shivered as she headed towards Shade Forest... She didn't want to go back in there, she had just escaped from a Cult, that had a base in that Forest.

"Okay Shadow..." She silently told herself. "You're not the same person that came out of the Forest... You have Pokemon now, and you look completely different from the girl that was their prisoner. You have a hood to hide your face, and something that makes a lot of noise... You'll be okay."

She shivered as she entered Shade Forest, and she noticed that while Searcher stayed with her, the other two Pokemon started to train themselves? "Did you guys work on a training plan, all by yourselves?" She asked them.

"Squirtle, squirt!" The Squirtle nodded his head, patting his hand on his chest, while the Charmander nodded his head.

"And Searcher is supposed to protect me while Bulbasaur is our back up if anything goes wrong?"

"Char." The Skeletal Pokemon patted her leg. Of course they had worked that out, and their little Trainer was very smart if she figured that out. He had a feeling that during this journey, the little Trainer would learn more about herself. He hoped that she would unlock what Bulbasaur had sensed deep within her. She had sensed that their was something special about the little Trainer... Something that would help them later on.

"Okay.. Just stay close to me, okay?" Shadow told them, as she continued to walk down the path, and the Pokemon nodded their heads.

Shadow hummed as she occasionally stopped to pick some wild vegetables that she would store in her backpack, she knew that she had to stretch out any Trainer food that she was given, because their was no grantee that you would reach the next town, village, or city, before it ran out. She was happy, even if she was walking in an unsafe forest...

Her Pokemon were training themselves, and Shadow would join them. She was happy to stretch and run with her Pokemon... She was living, something that she thought that she was going to lose forever...

There was Trainers to fight, and items to find, and Shadow laughed as she played with her Pokemon, but there was times when she would stop, and whimper, whenever she saw a Gastly in the Forest... It didn't matter to her that they were harmless, because whenever she looked at them... She saw a Pokemon that scared her... And when that happened, she would bury her hands in Searcher's fur, and she would let the feeling of the Eevee's warm, and soft, fur calm herself down... She was safe, she was free, they couldn't hurt her...

She headed deeper into Shade Forest, and eventually, she found the cave that she was looking for, after she crossed a bridge, but that wasn't the only thing that she found. Shadow had found something called a Dexnav, she didn't know what it was, or why it was lying on the floor of the forest, but she picked it up, and she put it in one of her jacket's pockets. She could find out what it was later, after she found the Rare Stone that she had been sent here to find.

But after she climbed several ladders, and she fought her way through some trainers, she ran into Damian.

"Shadow, you're so slow!" He cried. "That took you forever!"

Shadow sighed, and the Deltas frowned. This kid really needed to understand what patience was... It wasn't the little Trainer's fault that she was so slow, the kid had run ahead of them, and the little Trainer wasn't as fast as him!

"Anyway, I think that's the Rare Stone the mayor was talking about, over there!" Damian pointed over at the far right of the cave. "You can't miss it!"

Shadow nodded her head, and she was about to start walking again, when she heard something strange. She froze, and she quickly started to scan the area around them for the owner of the voice that didn't belong to her, Damian, or the Pokemon.

"He will not leave Telnor Town alive."

Damian almost gasped when he heard that voice, and his gasp would have made a noise if Shadow hadn't pressed her hand over his mouth, and she pressed one of her own fingers over her own mouth, as if she was shhhing him. She pointed at a bridge, where two people, a woman with white hair, dressed in blue and red clothing, and a man, wearing red and black clothes, were talking. The children, and their Pokemon, quietly hid under the bridge that the adults were talking on, being careful enough not to disturb the pool of water that was under the bridge.

"My agent is already in place. I assume yours is too?" The man asked the woman.

"Yes, and armed to the brink with the strongest of Pokemon." She answered him. "Rest assured, he will be dead before he leaves Telnor Town."

"Very good." The man nodded his head. "This Augur disgusts me. I could, at least, grudgingly respect the first one, but this one is just useless. He's practically brainwashed the entire region with all of this propaganda that he's spread about himself. Have you heard how ridiculous some of it is? He was born of fire, and lightning, and he rode Xerneas as a stead? This man has been Augur for a year, and already, the people are worshipping him!"

"Well, we won't have to worry about him after today, will we? Let's get going."

The two of them left, and Damian looked at Shadow. "Shadow..." He mumbled. "Those were cultists!"

Shadow's eyes widened... Those were cultists?! They couldn't be from the Darkrai cult... They weren't wearing their black, red and white robes... So, which cult did they belong to?

"Did you hear what they were saying?!" Damian asked her, and she nodded her head. "They're planning to assassinate the Augur when he comes to Telnor Town! I can't believe that we're caught up in the middle of this. We... we need to help! We need to go back and warn the Augur before the assassins get to him! We have to hurry! The Augur might have already arrived! Quick, let's go!"

Shadow nodded her head, again, as all three of her Deltas returned to their pokeballs, which Shadow kept in a inner pocket of her jacket, and Damian grabbed her arm, before they started to run, back through the caves, and the forest.

"Damian, Shadow!" Damian's father yelled, when they ran into the town. "You're late, the Augur arrived five minutes ago! He's waiting for you two in the Town Hall."

Damian's father left, walking towards the Town Hall, as Damian turned to look at Shadow. "We have to hurry! The Augur could be attacked any minute now!"

Shadow nodded her head, and then, they started to quickly run towards the Town Hall, entering it to see that everyone that lived in the Town was gather around a blond haired man that was wearing white clothing.

Shadow almost froze when he looked at them... Their was something about this man that didn't feel right to her, and she buried what she could of her face in her scarf, and she tugged at her hood, to make sure that it was covering what the scarf couldn't cover.

"Oh hello!" He said. "I'm Jaern, the Second Augur. It's nice to meet you all, you have a very lovely town. What might be your name, young one?"

"Umm, my name's Damian..." Damian mumbled.

"And I'm Shadow..." Shadow held Searcher close to her chest. "It's nice to meet you..."

"Mr. Jaern, I'm a huge fan, sir!" Damian smiled. "But while we were getting a gift for you, we ran into something that we need to warn you about... One of the guests here wants to kill you! We overheard two cultists talking about how some of their agents would be disguised as guests, and that they would try to kill you!"

"That's... a very serious accusation Damian." Jaern had a huge frown on his face as Damian's father spoke up.

"I am so sorry about this sir." He said, as he walked over to Damian, and Shadow quickly moved out of his way. "Damian, what are you saying? You're embarrassing us! You'll be punished for this!"

"Actually, I wouldn't worry about it." Someone else spoke up, as he, and his friend, moved closer to their small group. "He'll get enough punishment here as is."

"And who might you be?" Jaern asked them.

"We're cultists." The two men said, before they ripped off their disguises to reveal the uniforms of their cults. "And we're here to kill you."

"No! You can't!" Damian yelled as he climbed over a table so that he was standing inbetween the Augur, and the cultists. "In fact, you won't even get a chance to battle him! I'll stop you two right now! Shadow, let's do this!"

Shadow silently whimpered as she made her way around the table, instead of climbing over it, like Damian... Why did this boy keep on dragging her into situations like this?! Well, the moment that she could leave this town, she was going to put as much distance between her, and him, as possible!

"Kid... have you been watching too many superhero movies?" One of the cultists asked Damian. "We're cultists. We have strong Pokemon, and actual weaponry. We have only come here to eliminate the Augur. Step aside, and we won't kill you too... You're so desperate to be a hero that you even dragged your mute friend into this..."

Damian frowned, but he continued to speak. "No, I won't back down! This is my chance to prove myself!"

"Alright then, Kid. Just don't say that we didn't warn you..." The Cultist in the armour growled, while his blue coloured ally smirked at Shadow.

"And it looks like you're mine." He told her. "Feel the wrath of the Abyssal Cult!"

Searcher growled as she leaped out of Shadow's arms, landing in front of her, while Shadow switched the settings of the device that she was using to talk, from 'Free hand', to 'Auto mode', which was a list of phrases and commands that she just had to tap on, instead of typing what she wanted to say, on the touch screen, to make the device talk for her.

'Auto mode' was built for Pokemon Battles, so if Shadow wanted tell her Pokemon to use a certain move, all that she would have to do, would be to tap on the command that she wanted, and the device would say it for her.

Searcher dodged and weaved around the attacks of the Skrelp and Horsea that the Abyssal Cultist was using, crashing straight into the Skrelp with a Tackle, and getting soaked by the Horsea's Water Gun. She shook the water out of her fur, and she went for the Horsea with a Quick Attack.

Shadow breathed a quick sign of relief when both of the Abyssal Cultist's Pokemon was taken out, and a soaked Searcher ran over to her, to stand in front of her Trainer.

"Ugh..." The red armoured Cultist growled, as the battles came to an end. "It doesn't matter... I'll take you down with him."

"No, you won't." Jaern told him. "Trying to kill me is one thing, but threatening innocent children? That's one strike too many. I'm sending the two of you to Helios City for your trial... although after all that, I don't see a bright future for you. Vinculorum mortae!"

There was a flash of bright white light, and the Cultists disappeared.

"Did you just kill them?" Damian asked the Augur, while Shadow blinked a few times to get rid of the white spots in her eyes. That light had been really bright, and she was a bit dazed from it.

"Of course not." Jaern told Damian. "I've just taken them to Helios City. I'm sorry for letting you two fight my battles, but I was curious, and I wanted to see how you would do, and don't worry, if you had lost, I wouldn't have let you get hurt."

Shadow could feel the Pokeballs in her pockets rattling... Well, they would have to get pass all of her Delta first... And Shadow knew that thanks to the Fairy/Psychic Bulbasaur, the Ghost/Dragon Charmander, and the Dark/Fighting Squirtle, that wouldn't have been an easy battle for those Cultists...

"I'm very impressed." Shadow was pulled out of her thoughts when the Augur told them that. "You two are talented and responsible. If you ever pass through Helios City, why not stop by? I would love to see the two of you again, but for now, I should return to Helios City, I have a trail to attend to." He turned to look at Damian's father. "Thank you for hosting me. You have a very lovely town."

Jaern left the building, and Shadow rubbed her forehead as she turned the 'Auto mode' of her speaking device off... She didn't know what time it is was, but she was exhausted, and she just wanted to get some sleep...

"Did the Augur just compliment you?" Someone asked, and Damian mumbled as he answered that question. "I think so." He said.

"I think that your foster mother is going to have some trouble in making you stay here, if that's the case." His father told him. "Damian, this is your chance to go on an adventure! You got an invitation from the Augur himself!"

"Yeah... I guess that you're right." Damian smiled. "Well, in that case, I need to get going as soon as possible. All of my friends have already arrived at Midna Town, and they are training at the Trainer School! Shadow, we should race there!"

"No... I don't want to take part in that race..." Was it just her, or was the room around her getting a bit fuzzy. "I need to rest..."

"But..."

"Damian, when I get super stressed out, I tend to crash for a few hours, once everything is over!" Shadow yelled at him, as something clicked in her head. "I need to calm down, before I faint! It's happened to me before, and I have kept an eye on it ever since! Me and stress just don't get along!"

"But..."

"Damian." His father spoke up. "Leave her alone... There will be other times when you can challenge Shadow to a race. Let her breath, and calm down."

"Okay." Damian mumbled. "Midna Town is just on the other side of the cave that we went to, earlier... We can learn how to battle, and everything else, there! I'll see you there!"

Damian left the building, and his father looked at Shadow. "Shadow... Don't worry about helping to clean this place up... Just go and calm yourself down, and when you're ready, you can pick up some camping supplies from our local Nurse Joy. She normally gives out camping supplies to beginner trainers, and most Pokemon Centres have facilities where you can prepare, and buy, food for Trainers and Pokemon."

Shadow nodded her head, before she slowly made her way out of the building, and she ran towards the forest, and into the clearing where she had spent the night. She quickly got the picnic blanket out, and she spread it out, on the ground.

She carefully pulled the sleeping blanket out of her backpack, and she curled up underneath it, in a ball, on the picnic blanket. The pokeballs in her pocket rattled, and her Deltas let themselves out of their Pokeballs.

"Bulba?" The Bulbasaur nudged their little Trainer.

"Vee." Searcher chirped, before she started to explain to them what had happened to their little Trainer.

"Char." The Dragon growled as he sat down, next to the ball, as Squirtle settled down.

It took Shadow a few minutes to calm down, and to ground herself, but when she finally poked her head out of the ball, she saw that all of her Pokemon were there, waiting for her. She smiled at them.

"Thank you."

The Pokemon smiled and they happily climbed into her lap, and Shadow wrapped her arms around them. "... I think that I have the perfect nicknames for you..." She told her Deltas, and they tilted their heads.

"Venus..." Shadow gently patted the Bulbasaur's head. "Coal." The Dragon had a smug smile on his face as he nodded his head. "And Bowser." The Squirtle crossed his arms over his chest, and he had a huge smirk on his face.

Shadow smiled at them. "We can pick up what we need from the Nurse Joy later, but for now, I think that all of us could do with a bit of lunch, and a nap."

Her Pokemon cheered, and Shadow looked at the sky above their heads.

'If you could see me now, would you be proud of me?' She thought to herself, but who, and what, was she thinking about? And why would they be proud of her?

Jaern frowned as he flew away from Telnor Town... It had been a very interesting visit... And he wasn't talking about the Cultists that had tried to kill him. It was what he had found there that had interested him...

The boy could be useful in the future, it seemed that he believed what everyone else believed about him, but his friend...

His friend who was wearing the colours of the Oblivions... He could have thought that it was a coincidence, but Jaern knew what an Oblivion's scarf looked like... He couldn't forget that, and that boy's friend was wearing one of them... The Oblivions were a major thorn in his side, none of them believed the propaganda about him... And one of them was the Head of Police in Torren, the Chief Commissioner, but he wasn't the one that Jaern was worried about, even if he was in a position where he could cause Jaern a lot of problems... Because that man had married into the family...

It was his partner that Jaern was worried about, that person may be a stay at home parent, but that person had known the First Augur since they were kids, they had grown up together... The First Augur was the Godparent to their kids! And that person had never believed in Jaern's report on what had happened to the First Augur... And Jaern knew that if that person found out what he had done, he, and his plans, would be ruined...

So, what was an Oblivion doing in that small town? They may have gone there to start their journey, but during one of his festivals? They would never do that... Well, any Oblivion born in Torren wouldn't do that... But those born outside of the Region? The only reason that they would do that would be if they developed the special abilities that the Oblivions in Torren were well known for... In certain circles...

The Oblivions were Psychics, but they weren't just any Psychics... The main branch of the family, the one that lived in Torren, was different... After all, Deltas had been around for a very long time... Long enough for Human Psychics to be affected by whatever triggered the evolution of the Delta Pokemon... Everyone thought that Deltas were something new, but the truth was that it was only recently that efforts were made to learn more about them.

And the oldest line of these Delta Human Psychic were the Oblivions... In fact, they were the only line of these Psychics in Torren, the other lines had died out, or they moved out of the region, and away from the trigger of what was needed to become Delta Human Psychics, and so, they became normal Psychics, and while it was very rare, but not common, for those Psychics to develop some of the traits and skills of their Torren counterparts, it was even rarer for one of those Psychics to actually become a Delta Human Psychic.

There were some cases of humans that lived in Torren showing signs of being potential Delta Human Psychics, but most of those cases were false alarms, or they were snapped up by the Cults, and they disappeared. Jaern was guilty of making a few of them disappear... But only after they had caused enough trouble to get in his way, or they learned about something, or they had information, that would have caused problems for him... But some of those cases were confirmed...

So, if an Outside Oblivion developed the powers of a Delta Human Psychic, it made a lot of sense that they would move to Torren to get training on how to use those powers, but what he didn't understand was why they were in Telnor Town... It could be something simple, like they were about to start their journey when their powers showed themselves, and part of the agreement about them moving to Torren could have included a chance to start their journey in Torren, instead of their home Region... Or it could be something else...

Something that someone promised him that they would get rid of...

Jaern frowned as he called a certain someone...

"Jaern, what do you want from me?"

"Hello Per, it's been a while, hasn't it? How's my favourite Cult Leader?"

"Cut the crap Jaern, you don't call me just to talk to me, especially after that... I did say that we were done."

"As long as you disposed of something for me. And speaking of which, is it gone? I know that you wouldn't tell me if something went wrong..."

"... Just like I know that you wouldn't tell me if you found something that would interest me..."

"Exactly, so, let's just cut that out, and talk... I found something interesting... Something that appeared in Telnor Town... You're getting a bit lazy Per... The Land and Sea just tried to kill me."

"I see... Right in the middle of a festival?"

"Yes, and that's when I saw the interesting thing... It didn't know what I was... It could be from outside of the Region... But I needed to make sure that you kept your end of the deal... Before I can tell you what it was... So, did your Gengar enjoy it's feast?"

"It did, it really enjoyed nearly all of the personal parts, and we were working on the technical parts when something went wrong, and the feast was gone."

"I see... Well Per... Find that feast, and get your Gengar to finish it off. We can't let it recreate it's personal courses... Especially since the interesting thing had a red scarf, and I know just how much you're interested in those with a red scarf... I'll make sure that the interesting thing behaves, and you can have it, when I'm done with it, if you do a good job... After all, we can't let 'him' find out about it, or the feast... Because of what the feast means to him..."

"I understand Jaern... I understand... We'll start by searching the only way out of Telnor Town, that feast will not escape us..."

Trainer Profile

Name: Shadow

Age: Unknown

Birthdate: Unknown

Home Town: Unknown

Physical Appearance: Fluffy elbow length brown hair with silver streaks, blue eyes with silver flecks, pale skin, with freckles covering her nose and her cheeks.

Clothing: Fluffy knee length black sweater dress, plain black leggings, fluffy black socks, black and white hiking boots, and a white coat and cape combo with black fluff on the hood with a red scarf.

Pokemon: Eevee, female (Searcher)

Delta Bulbasaur, female (Venus)

Delta Charmander, male (Coal)

Delta Squirtle, male (Bowser)