Journey Towards Greatness

Julian approached the four horrified cipher members and noticed the difference between their uniforms and the ones he has seen worn by the other cipher members he has encountered in the past.

He approached the scared bunch as they looked around in fear. Seeing the look on their faces, Julian could tell that Gengar had done a number on them.

Julian looked back at Gengar for an explanation and got one. Gengar told him how these four had cornered Marshadow and tried to capture him.

Knowing the danger that Cipher put pokemons in, Julian was glad that Gengar found them before they could do anything to Marshadow, or he would have turned out just like the berserk Volcanion that he still holds on to, hoping he would fix it someday.

He squatted down in front of the four captured cipher members tied up by Gengar's shadow tentacle so there was no escaping it.

The leader was the first to calm down and look at Julian. As soon as he saw Julian, he recognized him. Being an elite hunter group working under Cipher, they were told of people that they should run from as soon as they even sense the hint of their presence, and Julian is at the top of that list.

Cipher is very aware of Julian's existence. After their failed experiment going berserk in the Kalos league, they found the video recording of Julian taking down a berserk legendary with ease, and that made them wary of him.

They also know that he is in possession of the Volcanion.

Cipher is in a very crucial stage of development right now and they don't want any trouble, especially from trainers like Julian.

Even a single champion-level trainer delays their operation or even brings it to a complete stop if they don't take carefully measured steps, so every elite member working under Cipher is informed about trainers like Julian and how they should always keep their distance from them.

The leader is stunned seeing Julian here. He didn't expect he would be unlucky enough to get captured by someone he never wanted to get involved with.

He had no idea that Julian was here on Akala island. He cursed his bad luck and looked at the monster that captured them, the Gengar standing beside Julian, who was giggling and watching them.

He felt another chill run down his spine as he recalled the cold and dark place they were trapped in. There was no light there, only darkness. It was so eerie quiet that he was hearing sounds that didn't exist in the first place.

His ears felt stuffed by the nothingness, he was slowly losing his sense as he couldn't even feel the surrounding atmosphere. He had always ignored the weight of the atmosphere on his body his whole life, and for the first time when he felt it not being there. He started to panic.

He felt as if he could breathe. He knew that wasn't true because he wouldn't have been alive for so long if he couldn't breathe, but that didn't help. The feeling of suffocation destroyed his mental resistance.

He felt lost in this endless darkness. He tried to call out his team members, but he didn't hear back anything.

The emptiness of his surrounding slowly started to eat through him mentally. It was hell. He couldn't tell the time, his sense was all over the place so he couldn't tell the direction, and he couldn't figure out where the ground is and where the sky belongs.

It was horror, and he didn't want to experience it again.

His teammates also suffered the same fate, but they had it much worse than him. They were not as mentally tough as him. They passed out from fear, woke up, and experienced the same thing over and over again, passing out from fear, waking up.

The empty dark void broke them.

They would rather kill themselves than go back to that hell they were trapped in.

Julian watched the four carefully and noticed that only one had recovered from the torture that Gengar has put them through.

Julian wondered what level Gengar imprisoned them for them to lose their mind like this.

Just like the nine levels of hell, Gengar has already created 9 levels in his shadow realm, and the deeper the level, the scarier the experience.

The level that Gengar had trapped these four is level 7, the void.

Julian then brought his attention back to the man, who seems to be doing a little better than the others. He also noticed the shock on the man's face as he was staring back at Julian.

Julian "From the look on your face, you should know who I am, right?"

Julian asked with a smile.

The man just nodded his head to answer. He doesn't know what Julian wants, but that smile on his face was not helping the man calm down. He just hopes that Julian doesn't send him back to the hell he was just pulled out from.