A/N: Heyo, welcome to something possibly crazy, wild, and entertaining! I've always wanted to do a long Pokemon fanfic, but never really had any ideas til recently that seemed… Interesting enough.

This is basically like, what if Pokemon champions were kinda the worst people ever, like the superheroes in Amazon's 'The Boys'? But expect a lot less gore in comparison to that show, but just as much craziness.

TW: There's supposed to be some upsetting stuff in this story, it's kind of the point. So don't be surprised to find themes of mental and physical abuse.

Let me know what you think! Drop a Review for sure~ Thanks for reading!


Orphans of the Champion's Dream

Lumiose city. The busy, shining heart of the Kalos region. Surrounding the large and luminous Prism Tower are hundreds of businesses, where tourists and taxis move about to experience everything that this historical region had to offer.

It was all incredible to take in for the denizens of Kalos as well. So many interesting faces amongst the millions of visitors every year, and yet…

The city looked much duller to Calem than it once had.

"-and today, we have our region's very own champion, Miss Diantha, visiting the wonderful city of Lumiose to open up the city's very first Hall of Fame!"

Calem stopped in mid-stride, looking towards the mounted TV that hung near the outside seating area of a cafe. A couple of coffee-goers sitting down also looked and chatted excitedly, while the boy, once full of bright potential, gazed with tired eyes towards the screen– Especially towards the image of that woman appearing there.

Champion Diantha. It had been a year now since Calem's fateful encounter with her. Back then, he and his friends had managed to stop Team Flare and their Ultimate Weapon, before he climbed his way to the Pokemon League and got his chance to challenge her. Unfortunately, after a hard-fought battle, he had fallen to the Champion, and left only with a mark of honor for making it that far.

Well… That was the "official" story, anyways.


Chapter One

Dreamers


In truth, as Calem had watched the Champion's Mega Gardevoir fall and cheered alongside his Pokemon, the woman had calmly approached him and placed her hand on his chin, lifting it to look at her. This had embarrassed him, and left him frozen in place– After all, such a powerful figure in the region, so full of stardom, was getting this close to him…!

"How about… we talk about this?"

Remembering those words made Calem shiver a bit, pulling his blue jacket a bit tighter as he finally looked away from the screen. A few people ran past him, and he watched them go as they nearly ran right into him.

"She's here! Over at the Whitemane Cafe!"

"Hurry!"

Calem's eyes widened as they rounded the corner out of sight. He clutched his jacket tighter, and before he could even consider, his legs had already started moving him in that direction.

What's the point? He thought to himself as he headed towards what had once been the Lysandre Cafe, but had since been rebranded by the Champion as her own official spot. Something that had always been odd to Calem, especially after she and Lysandre had worked so closely together, only for the man to get outed as a criminal…

She won't even remember you.

It wasn't hard to spot the crowd beginning to form at the luxurious establishment. Luckily, it seemed there wasn't yet an organized line or anything to stop Calem from getting closer. He did so, getting up onto his tip-toes and scanning along the many waving hands of the cheering fans.

"Diantha! Over here!"

"Please sign my Pikachu!"

"Can I battle you? Please please!"

Following the many calls, Calem finally managed to see the woman, and he felt his chest tighten up. Diantha looked as elegant as ever– Even more so, in his opinion. That day that he had defeated her, he had been swept up in boyish feelings of pride and affection… But looking back, there had been a lack of that glow the woman usually had, a darkness in her eyes that held intense loathing for the poor, stupid boy.

"Nobody ever has to know…"

Gulping, Calem was about to turn to go, but was greeted by another wave of fans pushing him into the crowd. He yelped and barely managed to stay standing, now sandwiched in the crowd, trying his best to push his way out.

"Everyone please be calm," he heard Diantha's voice call out, quelling the crowd's noise a bit, but not much, "Soon we shall have today's festivities set in motion. I will love to meet every one of my region's precious trainers in due time."

As the crowd erupted again, the woman smiled and waved to them again. Calem, frustrated by his thoughts and being pushed around, stood tall and raised his hand into the air, staring right at the woman through a hole in the crowd.

"D-Diantha! It's me! I…" He trailed off as heads moved into position to block his view. He scowled and moved to another window, waving again and shouting, "Diantha!"

The Champion had turned to head into the cafe, but at his last call, she stopped. The woman looked over her shoulder, eyes scanning the crowd, but never quite finding Calem, if that was her intention. He lowered his hand and slunk back, eyes wide as he recognized that look…

She… hates me…

Finally managing to stagger out of the crowd, Calem fell to his hands and knees on the pavement, wincing a bit before managing to stand and dust himself off. He took a deep breath and was glad that nobody was bothering to look his way… After all, the tears were coming, and there was no way for him to stop them.

There was no relief for what he felt. Intense shame, stupidity, longing… That crowd could have been cheering for him. Instead, he threw it all away… And for what? A fruitless promise delivered by the devilish lips of a woman he could hardly even look at now…

"It ain't right," a voice spoke. It took Calem a moment to break out of his slump and stop, looking over towards an incredibly suspicious-looking man sitting nearby, wearing a hat, sunglasses, and trench coat to conceal most of his features. "What she did to you."

Blinking at the tears in his eyes and wiping them at his jacket sleeve, Calem looked around to make sure the man was speaking to him.

"Er… What?"

"Are you just gonna live your life like that? Bawling and moping?" The man looked up at Calem, who could see a bit of yellow-blonde hair peeking out under his hat. "Or will you do something about it?"

Calem shook his head and turned away, cold breath shuddering as he wondered if he was just going insane. After all, nobody knew about what had happened… Well, nobody except for his neighbor, Serena.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about, sorry," he muttered, before starting to walk away.

That's when he noticed that a white van had silently pulled up onto the street right behind him. As the sliding door opened, he could only let out a yelp as two hands reached out from the van and pulled him in, before he was left in darkness as the door closed.

"We got him! Hurry up," a girlish voice spoke, one of those who had taken him.

Trying to yell for help, Calem tried to thrash about, before a hand covered his mouth and the two assailants clung tighter to him.

"Just… Calm down! I know how this seems," a boy's voice spoke, "But this was just in case they were–"

"OW!"

Calem bit down on the hand over his mouth, which elicited a yell of pain from the girl. He then spun around and kicked at where the boy had spoken from, making him grunt as he fell backwards. Calem backed up, feeling the front seats against his back as he reached for his Pokeballs– However, an arm suddenly grabbed him around the neck from behind.

"Take it easy kid," the same man's voice from earlier spoke. "What are you two even useful for?"

Panicking, Calem couldn't find his Pokeball at his side, but instead pulled out his phone and managed to shine it forward. There, he saw the two that had taken him into the van– A girl with darker skin, and a pale-skinned boy, both probably about his age. The girl was nursing her hand and glaring at him, while the boy shook his head and sighed.

"Well, now he's already seen us," the boy spoke, "So just drive and we'll explain things."

Grunting, the man slowly released Calem, who slunk forward a bit and coughed, rubbing at his neck, before holding up his phone towards the two, and then looking towards the driver's seat, where the shady man was starting the van.

"I… Don't have any money on me," Calem lied. "Okay, maybe a bit, but trust me, I'm not worth anything."

"That much seems about right," the driver said with a chuckle. "You've given up just because a pretty face duped you. Guess I can't blame you too much."

Confused, Calem tensed as he saw movement from the corner of his eye. He watched as the boy flipped a switch, and suddenly, dim inner lighting turned on in the back of the van. Blinking at the sudden light, Calem's blue eyes took in everything he could tell about the two in front of him…

And he inhaled sharply, pointing at the girl.

"Wait.. You're… Iris? The Unova Champion?"

The girl with wild, dark hair growled at him and turned away, still obviously sore about being bitten.

"Guess it isn't fair for only Iris to be outed… I'm Lucas," the boy spoke. Calem got a good look at him, seeing his very uppity, proper jacket and scarf that almost seemed too prim even for a denizen of Kalos. "And the guy driving is Volkner."

"Hey, what happened to code names?!" Volkner threw his shades away and glared back at Lucas, then at Calem. "Nothing leaves this van, alright?"

"Uh… I…"

"Another thing– Crap," the man paused as he looked ahead again just in time to avoid a parked taxi. He sighed and kept looking at the road as he drove. "This little ragtag group of ours… We call ourselves the Dreamers. Pretty catchy, right? We've just need to get some info from you."

Questions? Dreamers? A Champion? And… Calem thought for a moment, wondering why the name Volkner sounded familiar. Isn't he a… Gym Leader?!

Lucas began to type on a mounted console on the inside of the van. Calem watched him, then took notice for the first time just how technological it was inside. Besides a few things flung off during the earlier thrashing, there were several monitors, keyboards, strange devices, and wires running all around. In fact, something was pressing into Calem's butt that he hadn't bothered to notice til now. He reached to grab it and held it up–

"Agh!" He tossed the spherical object away and ducked, covering his face with his arms.

Lucas caught it and did something with the device, before sighing and placing it safely away from Calem.

"That was… close."

"Eh? What's going on back there?" Volkner peered at them in the rearview mirror.

"W-Was that…a grenade?!" Calem finally peeked out, wondering if he was still alive or not.

"Just a smoke bomb, nothing that dangerous back here, except you, it seems," Lucas commented with a small grin. "Can you just… Calm down a bit until we get back to our HQ?"

Iris, seemingly out of her stupor for now, stood up and held onto the wall of the van to keep herself steady, moving over to Calem. The boy sat up straighter, expecting some kind of retaliation for biting her, but wanted to appear as confident as he could. As the girl slunk down to sit beside him however, he felt his face grow hotter, and the big smile she gave him didn't help.

"You nearly took my whole hand off," Iris said, flexing her hand out before him to show the mark. "You're totally like the wild dragons I've fought! Just bite first, ask questions later."

He could only stare at her for a moment, wondering why she sounded so cheery despite everything that was happening. Lucas looked to them and seemed to notice Calem's confusion.

"Don't worry, Iris isn't one to hold a grudge, I think."

Calem nodded slowly, looking down at the floor of the van, reaching to his side to grab his Pokeball. He never went anywhere without his starter, the once Fennekin that had started the journey with him over a year ago, but inside of this cramped van, what good could the large fox-like Pokemon do?

"It's alright," Iris assured him, "Like the grumpy guy said, we just need to talk a bit. It's really really important."

Unsure of what to think, Calem stayed within his own mind for the time being, ready to fight his way out of his crazy van if he had to. Just stay calm for now, he told himself, Once we get wherever the heck we're going… That's when you escape!

While he was lost in his thoughts, some pain jolted him and he jumped in surprise, looking over to see Iris chomping down onto his shoulder. She pulled away and snickered as he rubbed at his shoulder, amazed at how bad that had hurt even through his jacket and everything.

"Shows what I know," Lucas muttered as he continued typing at the console he was looking at, before he leaned back a bit and looked towards the front. "We should be fine, seems like we lost them somewhere in Lumiose."

"Great… Wait, what about the kid's phone?" Volkner waved a hand back to them. "Once we leave the van, that thing will be dangerous."

Calem clutched his phone tightly in his hand. "I… need it though–"

"For what, sad-sack?" Volkner looked back at him. "You want the crazy asses of the Champion's Circle finding you? Even if you don't tell us anything, they'll come for you if they know you met with us."

Unsure of what to say to that, Calem flinched as Iris opened her mouth as if to bite him again, showing her surprisingly teeth. That's when she swiped his phone from his hand and tossed it to Lucas.

"H-Hey–!" Calem was about to jump towards Lucas to snag it back, but the boy examined it for a moment, then tossed it up towards the front seat.

"Looks alright, just fry it."

"Gotcha," Volkner said. Calem reached over the front console to grab his phone, only for a yellow arm to suddenly reach over and touch it, sending a powerful jolt of electricity into the device, making it smoke and spark, the glass screen cracking.

"Ah–!" Feeling his wallet suffering at the sight of what was supposed to be a Pokemon-proof phone being destroyed, Calem looked into the passenger seat, surprised to find an Elekid sitting there for the first time, looking at him with a satisfied expression. "You people are all crazy!"

"We've been called worse," the gym leader said with a grin, before suddenly cutting the wheel and slamming on the brakes, making Calem slam into the wall of the van, dazed for a moment. "Alright, we're here. Let's be quick about it."

Lucas and Iris, who had obviously been ready for this reckless driving, had held onto straps on the walls to stop from doing what Calem had. They slid the door open and helped get him out, and once outside, the boy came to a bit, shading his eyes from the Sun above with a hand as he gazed at a run-down looking cabin ahead of them.

"Where… Are we?"

"As if we could tell you that," Volkner said as he exited the van and stretched his back a bit, groaning. "If you're quick enough, maybe you can make it back to gawk at your precious Champion a bit longer."

The man smacked Calem on the shoulder before walking towards the cabin. Remembering his plan to bring out his Pokemon and escape, the boy reached towards the Pokeball at his side, glad to find it still there. However, he paused as Iris moved into his view, smiling at him.

"It'll be fine, ya know? I wouldn't be here if this wasn't for a good cause!"

"I… Why are you here?" Calem looked towards Lucas, who was packing up some gear before heading inside. He leaned in a bit closer to the Champion girl. "Do you need help?"

Iris laughed and grabbed his wrist. "Me? Need help? You've got a lot to learn, Carl!"

"It's Calem–" He gasped as he was tugged along with Iris towards the cabin, his plan to escape crumbling from his mind as she did so.


These people really are insane, Calem decided. It had been a short while since arriving at this strange run-down cabin in the forest, which was full of strange tech, junk, and a variety of Pokemon-related items and tools, as well as maps and drawings all over that made it clear how much of conspiracy-nuts the Dreamers really were.

"Elek!"

Calem jumped a bit as the small electric-type Pokemon walked past, holding a toaster of all things in its arms. It entered the nearby kitchen, where Iris made a noise of delight.

"Hey, you found it! Good work Elekid," she said, which elicited a happy noise from the Pokemon.

Calem had been sitting on a rickety chair in what must have been a dining room for a while. Lucas was nearby, switching between looking at a computer screen and looking into documents before tossing them away. Volkner had disappeared for a while, which Calem could only assume meant he was getting up to some nefarious activities.

At first, Calem had decided to stick it out to get more information on these obvious lunatics, but now… He was just bored.

Luckily, the smell of food roused him a bit, and soon Iris entered to drop off plates for both of them, which were jam-packed with a variety of foods. Calem raised an eyebrow at it, then looked up at the girl, who was beaming.

"I made plenty, so eat up!~"

The food didn't look or smell gross by any means, but it was… Unsightly, to say the least. The plates were a jumble of what looked like pureed berries, a toasted sandwich of questionable origin, leafy vegetables, and… Some kind of meat with a bone sticking through it.

Lucas seemed to not question it at all, and without looking, shoveled a spoonful of the smooth berries into his mouth, before chasing it with a bite of the sandwich.

Calem looked back to Iris, who was looking closely at him, making him feel a bit anxious.

"T-Thanks," he said, hesitantly grabbing the sandwich and taking a small bite of the corner, giving her a nervous smile.

Satisfied with that, Iris left the room again, just as Volkner suddenly barged in from the other direction, his blonde head even more disheveled than earlier.

"Were you guys just gonna let me nap the entire day or what?!"

That's where he went this whole time…?! Amazed, Calem watched as Lucas chuckled and tossed the slab of meat from his plate towards the man, who barely managed to catch it.

"Eat something and wake up, we've got to get to business."

Grumbling, Volkner began to devour the meat and sat down at another of the chairs, leaning back a bit as he tried to blink tiredness from his eyes. Iris entered again, just as Lucas shot up from his seat and turned his monitor towards Calem, pointing to it.

"Do you know much about the Champion's Circle?"

"I-I mean, who doesn't?" Calem looked around at the three, before nervously eating more of his sandwich before continuing. "It's the strongest Champions in the world, unified together."

"That's just the surface level," Lucas explained. "They've got a lot of influence on the most developed regions in the world. It's become a big problem, one that Volkner and I realized a while ago."

"I've been feeling it for way longer than that, kid," Volkner commented with a sigh. "These Champions… They've been in power so long, that they'll do anything to hold it like the scumbags they are… No offense." He nodded to Iris, who shrugged.

"It's true," Iris said, eyes downcast. "Alder taught me better… When I took over as Champion, I joined the Champion's Circle to try and help the others, but they'll never listen!"

Trying to process all of this information, Calem was surprised that he had finished the entire sandwich, noting to thank Iris later. He leaned closer to the table and peered at the monitor, seeing a sort of connecting line between the regions and their Champions that are part of the Champion's Circle:

Lance - Kanto and Johto

Steven Stone - Hoenn

Cynthia - Sinnoh

Iris - Unova

Diantha - Kalos

Leon - Galar

"Wait… Are you saying that every Champion on that list is, what, corrupt or something?"

"Exactly," Lucas stated.

Calem rubbed his temple. "But… That's insane. Just because I have my own problems with Miss Diantha, doesn't mean–"

"Miss? Jeez…" Volkner groaned. "What did she do to you to make you so blind? Scratch that– I don't even want to know. Calem, you've gotta see the bigger picture. This goes way beyond you and your little crush."

"I-I don't have a–"

"Lucas here? He was helping Professor Rowan of the Sinnoh region for a while," the man continued, interrupting him, "Til his friend suffered the wrath of our dear Champion. Now she's never been the same, and he wants answers, like all of us do."

Calem looked to Lucas, who was gazing down at his lap solemnly. That was true pain in his expression, wasn't it?

Don't start believing them, he told himself. Just keep playing along, and–

"They'll do anything," Iris suddenly chimed in sadly. "I've seen it… It isn't about Pokemon battling anymore, it's about staying in control!"

Looking around at the three, Calem could tell instantly that they weren't crazy. Well, not as much as he had thought, at least. They were actually suffering, whether what they were saying was actually true or not. He instinctively clutched at his jacket, remembering that day, how blissfully unaware he was of any malicious intent.

Was it all on purpose? To keep herself in the spotlight?

Champion Diantha came into his mind again. Her soft hands and lips, her aroma, her heat… Why was it that when he thought of her, even in a negative light, that he felt his face grow hotter?

"We want to know some things about Diantha," Volkner stated, a bit softer than his usual, gruffer tone. Calem blinked away the vision of the woman and looked to him. "We know enough about what happened when you battled her a year ago, but we need to know what makes her tick. Anything that can be exploited to expose her."

Calem's lips quivered as he fought off a response. It was hitting him all at once, all of the regret of wasting the past year of his life, and for what?

A hand touched his own, and Calem looked to see Iris' on top of his, as she gave him a reassuring smile. Something about that helped to disperse the dark feelings inside of himself, even if just a little.

"You're… not trying to hurt anyone," Calem questioned, "Right?"

Iris and Volkner shook their heads, then the three looked to Lucas, who was still downcast. Noticing their gaze, he bit his lip and shook his head, peering up at Calem.

"We just want to make sure that nobody gets hurt again," the boy spoke, voice a bit hoarse, eyes glittering with tears. "So they can't… Take anything from anyone anymore."

Something about the look in the boy's face settled it for Calem. He was just like him, except he had found a way to fight back against the suffering.

Taking a deep breath, Calem had to put aside his own troubles

"She took everything from me," he admitted out loud for only the second time ever, "She… Exploited me… And…"

Calem took a moment, sharply inhaling as it became painful to recall that night. He grit his teeth, fighting away tears as he glared at the table, letting the anger swim through his mind to override the shame.

"It wasn't fair. Diantha used her position to… Keep herself in power," he continued. "And I don't want that to happen to anyone else…"

He thought about his good friends. Shauna, Tierno, Trevor… They'd all gone off into their own things over the past year, leaving him to his own self-loathing. However, Serena, his neighbor and best friend, had stayed for him. Despite having her own potential as a strong Pokemon trainer, the girl was the only other one who knew what was happening, and stuck with him through it.

Because of Diantha… Because of me being stupid… That made Serena suffer too.

Suddenly, Calem slammed his hand down onto the table, making Iris jump, the other two looking at him in surprise.

If there's any chance to help others, to make sure nobody has to go through this ever again…

Then what else am I gonna do?

Calem stood and nodded to the three, grabbing his Pokeball from his side and holding it upwards, clutching it tightly.

"Fuck Diantha, and everything she stands for!"

That outburst shocked the three, before Volkner suddenly burst out into laughter and stood up, raising a fist into the air.

"Well said kid, I can cheer to that one."

Lucas, wiping tears from his eyes, stood as well, though his raised fist was a bit less enthusiastic.

"I wouldn't use that kind of language but… I feel the same away about Cynthia," he said. "Something has to be done."

Iris shot up suddenly and raised both hands into the air. "I know I can barely say anything, but… I'll do my best to help!"

Calem managed to smile at her. "That's more than the other Champions are doing, right? So you're doing fine."

The girl grinned at that, and Volkner nodded to Lucas, the boy typing some things to make a new screen appear on the monitor. They peered at it, seeing a profile that had been pulled up with a picture and all.

"Since you seem to have some eagerness for change," Volkner began, "I might as well tell ya' what we're planning. This guy right here is Raihan, one of the strongest Gym Leaders of the Galar region."

Accompanying the information on screen was a battle between a large, Steel-type Pokemon and what appeared to be a giant Charizard of sorts. Calem had never seen these Gigantamax battles in person, but recognized that it must be what he was looking at, since that was the Galar region's claim to fame.

"Champion Leon's got some dirty secrets, as if that's surprising," Volkner continued. "Raihan's agreed to tell us a bit about it, because he's tired of it too."

"This isn't without risk, however," Lucas chimed in. "The Galar region practically worships their 'undefeatable Champion', so any negative moves against him will cause a stir."

"Leon's totally scary," Iris stated, shivering for effect. "He's always so… Commanding, even when he just looks at you!"

Calem looked down at the Pokeball in his hand. He wondered if all of those hard-fought battles he used to do, and even saving the region from a crazy villain would be useful at all for this sort of thing. After all, battling could only get you so far when the Champions themselves were seemingly roadblocking anyone from progressing further.

"That's why we'll need an escape plan, just in case." Volkner tapped the computer monitor. "We're heading to Galar tomorrow, and we want to meet in Hammerlocke by the day after. I planned on meeting Raihan by myself while these two are nearby to support, but… Calem, will you go with me?"

Calem didn't need any time to think about his answer. This was the first time in a long time that he felt like he could take back control over his life. He looked at the Gym Leader confidently and nodded.

"Of course I'm in."


To Be Continued

Next Chapter: Legion