Summary: A one-shot taking place between Chapters 1 and 2 of the Mystery Dungeon Heartache RPG. After suffering a brutal knockout from the corrupt mayor Ignatius in the climax of the gala skirmish, Corey was sent to the Doctor's office to recover, though in the midst of said recovery, he finds himself in a strangely familiar place... and with an equally familiar body briefly returned to him... all to set the stage for a meeting with the very entity that roped him into this very situation to begin with.
Disclaimer: This story has a few harsh words in it. If you don't like reading such profanities, I recommend skipping this one. Also, prior knowledge of Corey's dealings in the Heartache story is somewhat important... With that said, if you're still interested, enjoy!
Poor, pathetic little Corey, nothing but trouble. Nothing but a burden. Nothing but a problem for those more deserving of heroics to rightfully toss aside.
“GODDAMMIT, ENOUGH!” Corey shouted, trying to silence the plague of thoughts, if only for a little while. Even in his injury-induced dreams he was hearing his own warped voice of self-hatred beating him down. To think that entity was trying to claim that he wasn't expendable... What a laugh, Corey thought. That talking cloud probably still had no idea that he wasn't supposed to be brought to this place to begin with. If it did, he'd have been brought back by now... or left to rot and have his soul wander off to whatever sad afterlife awaited failures like himself.
For one brief, fortunate moment, the voice of negativity ceased, and he figured his subconsciousness would slowly fade into a forgettable sleep, but such was not the case, not at all... In place of hateful voices in the dark, he heard something else... the faint sound of knocking against a wooden door.
The darkness gave way to a decently lit room. It seemed to be a cabin of sorts, nestled within what appeared outside to be a brutal blizzard. The snow was coming down with such intensity that Corey couldn't see a lick of the environment outside, yet he nonetheless found himself recognizing this cozy little abode...
“...This was my room... While I worked at the Crown Tundra...” he murmured, slowly sitting up and moving to leave the bed he'd found himself lying in, only to notice... hands... and feet... and distinctly human ones at that! His Ralts body was, for whatever reason, gone, and his original human body had returned in its place. Such was the nature of being in a dream, he'd figured, yet there was something about said dream that felt far too real... literally speaking; he could feel everything around him... the mattress, the carpet at his feet, the slight chill from the frigid cold that crept inside the otherwise well-heated room... It was as if he were right back in the very place he'd once lived in some odd years ago...
The bewilderment he felt from this experience was nearly enough for him to forget that someone was still knocking at the other side of the door just up ahead, and indeed, the knocking increased as the individual evidently grew impatient.
“Knock knock! Come on! Wakey wakey kid!” came a voice from the other side. It had the sort of rough yet lively sound of the average dockworker in Castelia, yet no specific individual seemed to pop into Corey's mind. Slowly he rose up from the bed and cautiously hobbled his way over to the door, having to readjust to his human body once more, as just a few weeks of life as a Ralts had managed to throw off his sense of balance a bit... Not to mention, the fact that this still almost certainly had to be a dream was enough to keep him just that extra bit wobbly.
“Uh... Who is it?” Corey called over to the other side.
“Who is it? What do you care, kid? Don't you wanna know what the hell's goin' on?” replied the voice. Well... he certainly had him there...
“Y-yeah I... I guess so...” Corey murmured as he let out a sigh and went to open the door... Yet, as he did so, he found no trace of anyone or anything awaiting on the other end... and by that, quite literally he found nothing awaiting from the door... All that stood there was a deep void, one that seemed to swirl about with cosmic patterns and colors, yet what he saw seemed far too distorted to pass as any kind of star or planet, much less any other cosmic body he could fathom.
“...Uh...” Corey tried to put a statement together, but he was coming up with nothing. What the hell was he expected to say to this psychedelic portal? Would it even have anything to say back?
“Not every day you see somethin' like this, huh?” Well, with that response he supposed he at least had one question answered... to a point.
“What're you... what're you supposed to be?” Corey finally found the voice to ask.
“Oh, just a curious traveler, you could say. Love to journey all over the multiverse, see the similarities, the differences, the reactions when one clashes into another for a time. Sorta like what you do! Experiments, research, that mess, but unlike you and your fellow wet-blanket humans I actually have fun with it! Honestly I can't see how you humans can just watch and listen and accept things the way they are! Where's the fun in not changing things up a bit?”
“Okay, okay, woah there... With all due respect, please, slow the fuck down...” Corey interrupted, as it seemed this mysterious voice was on its way into some kind of tangent. A bit aggressive in his wording? Maybe, but the young man wasn't in the most chipper of moods. “So you're a... dimensional traveler? Am I getting that right? Why can't I see your face?”
“Well, I'm saving that for a moment. Fellas like you always freak out a bit when I show off. Can't say I understand why, my face is as lovely as the rest of 'em. Even better if you ask me! Ah, but no accounting for taste, huh?”
Corey could only run a hand through his hair incredulously. What in the world was this... thing... going on about? Had it sent him into this strangely nostalgic space just to make zany remarks? Hardly seemed very productive for this supposed warper of reality... if this wasn't all just a clever illusion, which, to Corey, was very much still a theory on the table.
“...Alright, well, can you explain to me what I'm doing here at least? I mean, god, one moment I'm getting blasted into oblivion by that pissy old Empoleon and the next I'm back in Galar? As a human? What're you trying to pull here?”
The mysterious being seemed to let out a strange giggling sound at that.
“Pull? I'm not pullin' anything! I just wanted to have a chat with you, pally, and I figured while that puny Ralts body of yours is still recoverin', I'd take your soul somewhere more on the familiar side. See here? Well, in this reality, you took on your employment in Galar much later on... Bad timing, by the way. You see that blizzard out there? It's only gonna get worse according to the weather broadcasts, y'know, if you believe your human reporters... But that's a problem for this Corey to deal with. I just dropped your soul into his body for a bit, since I figured you wouldn't be a big fan of conversing while stuck as just some floating orb of amorphous energy. Thank me later.”
Soul transferral? Now Corey's doubts were greater than ever. There was no way any of this could be real...
“...Okay, come the fuck on... This is too weird, you're just bullshitting me. This is all just a really... real-feeling dream, and you're just a funny little voice in my head... You can't tell me that doesn't make more sense than the crap you just tried to make me believe back there... Seriously, how the hell could any Pokemon do any of that?”
At that moment, Corey finally had a chance to look at who he was talking to... and almost immediately he found himself having to eat his words when he saw exactly what arrived from the portal...
Here was visual proof of a creature that was little more than the product of bedtime stories, fairytales, and the occasional horror; a grey, floating spirit with pink highlights along its arms, chest and face, with no shoulders connecting its only two limbs that seemed to float along with it in perfect harmony nonetheless; golden rings loosely hung along two horns sticking out of its head, atop of which its pink hair was kept in a wispy ponytail, whilst one more ring was firmly wrapped around its torso like an inner tube. Its face had yet another golden ring as a marking along its forehead, and it had the overall loud expression of a clown or a jester... apart from one jarring difference. Legends always told of the creature's impish, toothy smile... but Corey saw no smile at all, rather one very clear frown.
“You want to know what I can do? Are you really so sure about that, big boy?” Its voice had lowered considerably, almost gravelly in tone. It shouldn't have been scary, this tiny imp, but when one knew what the mythical Hoopa was storied to do... well... looks didn't factor in so much.
“Alright, let's talk about what I can do. I can drop you through one'a these hoops and send you spiraling out into the vacuum of space, or hell, how 'bout a planet with an almost inhabitable atmosphere where you'll slowly suffocate? You want that? 'Cause I can do that...”
The void at the door suddenly shot forward, and Corey could feel himself getting sucked toward it, trying to grasp at the door but finding the force far too strong for him to resist. He closed his eyes as he awaited the horrible, agonizing end that an uninhabitable planet, or the merciless void of space had waiting for him... yet... just as quickly he found himself falling right back on the bed. Forced to gaze upward, he saw the golden hoop above him float back to Hoopa's grasp.
“Not a fan of that? Hey, if that's not really your speed, how 'bout I bring Arceus itself over here and have it squish you like a bug? It'd only take me a second to fetch it, and you know it ain't the type to happily be disturbed!” It proceeded to hold the same hoop from before out, and within the opening, Corey witnessed the face of the very creature the people of Sinnoh, and many even beyond, believed to be the god that shaped their world. It let out a cry so loud and intense that it launched him backwards like a crumpled piece of paper. As he struggled to clasp his ears shut, the roar ceased, and the Alpha Pokemon was gone, once again little more than a ring in Hoopa's grasp.
“Too much? Well, hey, you studied in Hoenn right? Why don't I bring Kyogre and Groudon over here and watch 'em have it out! Or even better, let's just drop 'em off in your homeworld! I'll even send that wet-blanket of a green noodle off to some other galaxy so they don't get interrupted! Let's watch your whole, insignificant little planet blow itself up because those two morons can't behave themselves when the other's in the room! You want that, pal?! Because I can make it happen, y'know! I can make any number of those things happen, right now!”
Having already seen plenty of proof already, Corey really didn't need another example.
“OKAY! You made your point! I believe you!” The human cried out, looking pale as a sheet.
Silence passed between them for an incalculable moment, and then the creature's mouth turned up into its well-storied devilish grin, which, if only ever so slightly, appeared more comforting to its mortal guest than its frown.
“Heh... That's all I wanted to hear! Oh, come on, don't look like you're gonna piss yourself! You think I was gonna let any of that actually happen? Hah, lucky for you, I don't want to do any of those things. Why? 'Cause then I'm stuck without my favorite new playmate!” It reached over and playfully tugged at Corey's cheek just to drive the point home.
“Besides, if I blow up your world, I've gotta go find another one to call my 'base', and then I risk runnin' into another one of me, and that ain't so fun. I like bein' an individual, kid. I've seen worlds where more than one'a those floating pink cats are milling about, and that just ain't my style... and don't get me started on that purple abomination your sort keep clonin' up from it! Hah, yeah, no thank you, you can keep that one!”
Corey still had little to say, hugging himself and shivering for a moment as he tried to piece all that he'd just witnessed together. This may not have been a dream, but it was feeling very much like a waking nightmare.
“Alright, come on, snap out of it! We've only got so much time before that Indeedee back there starts believing you're dead, and your work ain't done in that place yet!”
This seemed to finally snap Corey back to... well... “reality” if one wanted to use the term, as much of a cruel irony as it felt at that present moment. His expression seemed to shift from terrified to miserable as he allowed the memories of the gala to settle back into his mind.
“Yeah, you say that... but somehow I doubt my work is the sort those fellas would appreciate any more of...” he muttered.
“That so? Why, pray tell?” Hoopa asked, though its voice betrayed the sort of fake curiosity of someone who already knew the answer.
“Like you wouldn't know... considering this all seems to be your fault in the first place... but fine... I got humiliated in front of everyone in that damn gala, all because I happened not to know the rules of that world... and all because that damn cat decided she didn't have the time to explain what the hell she was doing crashing that place without acting all snarky and crass and... just goddamn unpleasant.” His words seemed to briefly lapse into lingering rage as he brought up the Floragato rogue, but before he could really simmer in that hate, the Hoopa suddenly flew right up into his face, nearly knocking him over once more.
“So a little kitty told everyone you were a dumb human and that made you sad. That all? Really? You're not more bothered by the fact that you nearly got murdered by that Empoleon? Seems to me that's the more problematic issue at hand!”
“Yeah, yeah, go on...” Corey grumbled. “You think I didn't know something was wrong with that damn penguin from the start? I swear you and the rest of them must think I'm a complete moron! Of course I could tell! What's that got to do with the cat though, huh? She can't be a danger too, just because she doesn't like the mayor either? What's this black and white shit!?”
“No one said anything about things being black and white, kid! Calm down before you give your other self a damned aneurysm!” Hoopa said as it floated back slightly, arms crossed. “Look, bud, even with the limited information you were privy to, I think you can figure out with that big melon of yours that, at worst, this Floragato just has an attitude problem. Comes with trauma or whatever, I dunno, but the point is, you gotta let this grudge you're building pass! Sure she's an outlaw, but really think about it... An outlaw under whose establishment?”
Corey took a resigned breath before answering with a quiet “Ignatius'”
“Ding ding! We've got a winner! Oh, wait, hold on a second...” Briefly Hoopa disappeared into the door portal and arrived with a whole cacophony of party favors, launching them in one noisy mess like it was a holiday.
“That's right, and who did you ultimately face down with all your power when you were on your last legs? Who did you know you had to take on and defeat because his evil reign had to be put to an end before it could continue to grow further?”
“...Ignatius...”
Hoopa appeared ready to go get some more party favors, but Corey quickly rose up, arms outstretched.
“No! Please, I get it!” he shouted, and the Mischief Pokemon floated back with exaggerated disappointment on its face before letting out a giggle.
“Alright so... what're you trying to get at? I knew Ignatius was the bigger threat, of course... and what... you're saying Sonora wasn't a problem?”
“I'm saying things are clearly more than how they appear with her and her little posse, that's all... Look, kid, you don't have to like her, alright? I get it... you've got some kinda issue with them outlaw types, and I ain't here to play therapist and have you mull on how that messed you up in your formative years, or whatever... I'm just dropping by to remind you to keep your damn head in the game. Don't let your human emotions muddle your inquisitive mind, which is plenty impressive for a meat-bag like yourself, even I can admit that much.”
Was that a complement? Well, it seemed like the Hoopa meant it to be... and admittedly, Corey could understand the message it was trying to give in its... unique way.
“Yeah, well... Still, none of this changes the fact that I was never even supposed to be-” before he could finish, he found himself reeling from a surprisingly firm slap at the Hoopa's expense.
“Please, ENOUGH with that 'I'm not meant to be there' shit! Kid, I get it, I'm a trickster and I like to fuck around with your kind a lot. No shit, it's how I get my kicks! But did you think I was just replacing one of those 'chosen heroes' with you... because I thought it was funny? Come on, that joke is overplayed! I saw something in that determined little stunt you pulled finding that island of mine! Believe it or not, you got some real heart when you're willing to get off your ass and do something with your life! That world out there is a lawless one, and damn if there aren't gonna be more corrupt types, but you're gonna have to adapt! You've done it before, time and again, I've seen the kinda life you lived before I decided to mess around with ya! Just do what you know you gotta do! You can't trust any authority figures down there? Then abide by your own code! Nothin' more Cowboy-like than that!”
Corey took a second to ponder this whole rant, all whilst lightly rubbing at the cheek still burning from the slap he'd just taken. Seemed strange to hear this mythical trickster speak with such sincerity, but he supposed even with strange creatures like this, reality was far more than the stories could ever reveal on their own.
“So you really believe I belong there, in that place with those heroic types...?”
“Don't matter what I believe either way, sport... It's up to you whether you belong in that company or not. All I did was open the door... Speaking of which, I think it's about time we get you back there. Hate to have you reawaken in some coffin 6-feet under! I mean, that'd be kinda funny at first, but, eh, the dying part, not so much...”
Before Corey could even comment on this grim remark, Hoopa had its golden rings floating towards him, and as a plethora of colors seemed to emanate from each, he found himself feeling a somewhat familiar sensation of being quite literally pulled out of his body... An instant later, the cabin being buried in snow within the Crown Tundra was gone, and he once more drifted in a subconscious state. The last thing he could recall thinking with any clarity was that he knew for certain he'd be awakening back in... well... the world that had become his new normal...
...but perhaps he'd be returning with a slightly more refined outlook.
Disclaimer: This story has a few harsh words in it. If you don't like reading such profanities, I recommend skipping this one. Also, prior knowledge of Corey's dealings in the Heartache story is somewhat important... With that said, if you're still interested, enjoy!
<><><><><>
Poor, pathetic little Corey, nothing but trouble. Nothing but a burden. Nothing but a problem for those more deserving of heroics to rightfully toss aside.
“GODDAMMIT, ENOUGH!” Corey shouted, trying to silence the plague of thoughts, if only for a little while. Even in his injury-induced dreams he was hearing his own warped voice of self-hatred beating him down. To think that entity was trying to claim that he wasn't expendable... What a laugh, Corey thought. That talking cloud probably still had no idea that he wasn't supposed to be brought to this place to begin with. If it did, he'd have been brought back by now... or left to rot and have his soul wander off to whatever sad afterlife awaited failures like himself.
For one brief, fortunate moment, the voice of negativity ceased, and he figured his subconsciousness would slowly fade into a forgettable sleep, but such was not the case, not at all... In place of hateful voices in the dark, he heard something else... the faint sound of knocking against a wooden door.
The darkness gave way to a decently lit room. It seemed to be a cabin of sorts, nestled within what appeared outside to be a brutal blizzard. The snow was coming down with such intensity that Corey couldn't see a lick of the environment outside, yet he nonetheless found himself recognizing this cozy little abode...
“...This was my room... While I worked at the Crown Tundra...” he murmured, slowly sitting up and moving to leave the bed he'd found himself lying in, only to notice... hands... and feet... and distinctly human ones at that! His Ralts body was, for whatever reason, gone, and his original human body had returned in its place. Such was the nature of being in a dream, he'd figured, yet there was something about said dream that felt far too real... literally speaking; he could feel everything around him... the mattress, the carpet at his feet, the slight chill from the frigid cold that crept inside the otherwise well-heated room... It was as if he were right back in the very place he'd once lived in some odd years ago...
The bewilderment he felt from this experience was nearly enough for him to forget that someone was still knocking at the other side of the door just up ahead, and indeed, the knocking increased as the individual evidently grew impatient.
“Knock knock! Come on! Wakey wakey kid!” came a voice from the other side. It had the sort of rough yet lively sound of the average dockworker in Castelia, yet no specific individual seemed to pop into Corey's mind. Slowly he rose up from the bed and cautiously hobbled his way over to the door, having to readjust to his human body once more, as just a few weeks of life as a Ralts had managed to throw off his sense of balance a bit... Not to mention, the fact that this still almost certainly had to be a dream was enough to keep him just that extra bit wobbly.
“Uh... Who is it?” Corey called over to the other side.
“Who is it? What do you care, kid? Don't you wanna know what the hell's goin' on?” replied the voice. Well... he certainly had him there...
“Y-yeah I... I guess so...” Corey murmured as he let out a sigh and went to open the door... Yet, as he did so, he found no trace of anyone or anything awaiting on the other end... and by that, quite literally he found nothing awaiting from the door... All that stood there was a deep void, one that seemed to swirl about with cosmic patterns and colors, yet what he saw seemed far too distorted to pass as any kind of star or planet, much less any other cosmic body he could fathom.
“...Uh...” Corey tried to put a statement together, but he was coming up with nothing. What the hell was he expected to say to this psychedelic portal? Would it even have anything to say back?
“Not every day you see somethin' like this, huh?” Well, with that response he supposed he at least had one question answered... to a point.
“What're you... what're you supposed to be?” Corey finally found the voice to ask.
“Oh, just a curious traveler, you could say. Love to journey all over the multiverse, see the similarities, the differences, the reactions when one clashes into another for a time. Sorta like what you do! Experiments, research, that mess, but unlike you and your fellow wet-blanket humans I actually have fun with it! Honestly I can't see how you humans can just watch and listen and accept things the way they are! Where's the fun in not changing things up a bit?”
“Okay, okay, woah there... With all due respect, please, slow the fuck down...” Corey interrupted, as it seemed this mysterious voice was on its way into some kind of tangent. A bit aggressive in his wording? Maybe, but the young man wasn't in the most chipper of moods. “So you're a... dimensional traveler? Am I getting that right? Why can't I see your face?”
“Well, I'm saving that for a moment. Fellas like you always freak out a bit when I show off. Can't say I understand why, my face is as lovely as the rest of 'em. Even better if you ask me! Ah, but no accounting for taste, huh?”
Corey could only run a hand through his hair incredulously. What in the world was this... thing... going on about? Had it sent him into this strangely nostalgic space just to make zany remarks? Hardly seemed very productive for this supposed warper of reality... if this wasn't all just a clever illusion, which, to Corey, was very much still a theory on the table.
“...Alright, well, can you explain to me what I'm doing here at least? I mean, god, one moment I'm getting blasted into oblivion by that pissy old Empoleon and the next I'm back in Galar? As a human? What're you trying to pull here?”
The mysterious being seemed to let out a strange giggling sound at that.
“Pull? I'm not pullin' anything! I just wanted to have a chat with you, pally, and I figured while that puny Ralts body of yours is still recoverin', I'd take your soul somewhere more on the familiar side. See here? Well, in this reality, you took on your employment in Galar much later on... Bad timing, by the way. You see that blizzard out there? It's only gonna get worse according to the weather broadcasts, y'know, if you believe your human reporters... But that's a problem for this Corey to deal with. I just dropped your soul into his body for a bit, since I figured you wouldn't be a big fan of conversing while stuck as just some floating orb of amorphous energy. Thank me later.”
Soul transferral? Now Corey's doubts were greater than ever. There was no way any of this could be real...
“...Okay, come the fuck on... This is too weird, you're just bullshitting me. This is all just a really... real-feeling dream, and you're just a funny little voice in my head... You can't tell me that doesn't make more sense than the crap you just tried to make me believe back there... Seriously, how the hell could any Pokemon do any of that?”
At that moment, Corey finally had a chance to look at who he was talking to... and almost immediately he found himself having to eat his words when he saw exactly what arrived from the portal...
Here was visual proof of a creature that was little more than the product of bedtime stories, fairytales, and the occasional horror; a grey, floating spirit with pink highlights along its arms, chest and face, with no shoulders connecting its only two limbs that seemed to float along with it in perfect harmony nonetheless; golden rings loosely hung along two horns sticking out of its head, atop of which its pink hair was kept in a wispy ponytail, whilst one more ring was firmly wrapped around its torso like an inner tube. Its face had yet another golden ring as a marking along its forehead, and it had the overall loud expression of a clown or a jester... apart from one jarring difference. Legends always told of the creature's impish, toothy smile... but Corey saw no smile at all, rather one very clear frown.
“You want to know what I can do? Are you really so sure about that, big boy?” Its voice had lowered considerably, almost gravelly in tone. It shouldn't have been scary, this tiny imp, but when one knew what the mythical Hoopa was storied to do... well... looks didn't factor in so much.
“Alright, let's talk about what I can do. I can drop you through one'a these hoops and send you spiraling out into the vacuum of space, or hell, how 'bout a planet with an almost inhabitable atmosphere where you'll slowly suffocate? You want that? 'Cause I can do that...”
The void at the door suddenly shot forward, and Corey could feel himself getting sucked toward it, trying to grasp at the door but finding the force far too strong for him to resist. He closed his eyes as he awaited the horrible, agonizing end that an uninhabitable planet, or the merciless void of space had waiting for him... yet... just as quickly he found himself falling right back on the bed. Forced to gaze upward, he saw the golden hoop above him float back to Hoopa's grasp.
“Not a fan of that? Hey, if that's not really your speed, how 'bout I bring Arceus itself over here and have it squish you like a bug? It'd only take me a second to fetch it, and you know it ain't the type to happily be disturbed!” It proceeded to hold the same hoop from before out, and within the opening, Corey witnessed the face of the very creature the people of Sinnoh, and many even beyond, believed to be the god that shaped their world. It let out a cry so loud and intense that it launched him backwards like a crumpled piece of paper. As he struggled to clasp his ears shut, the roar ceased, and the Alpha Pokemon was gone, once again little more than a ring in Hoopa's grasp.
“Too much? Well, hey, you studied in Hoenn right? Why don't I bring Kyogre and Groudon over here and watch 'em have it out! Or even better, let's just drop 'em off in your homeworld! I'll even send that wet-blanket of a green noodle off to some other galaxy so they don't get interrupted! Let's watch your whole, insignificant little planet blow itself up because those two morons can't behave themselves when the other's in the room! You want that, pal?! Because I can make it happen, y'know! I can make any number of those things happen, right now!”
Having already seen plenty of proof already, Corey really didn't need another example.
“OKAY! You made your point! I believe you!” The human cried out, looking pale as a sheet.
Silence passed between them for an incalculable moment, and then the creature's mouth turned up into its well-storied devilish grin, which, if only ever so slightly, appeared more comforting to its mortal guest than its frown.
“Heh... That's all I wanted to hear! Oh, come on, don't look like you're gonna piss yourself! You think I was gonna let any of that actually happen? Hah, lucky for you, I don't want to do any of those things. Why? 'Cause then I'm stuck without my favorite new playmate!” It reached over and playfully tugged at Corey's cheek just to drive the point home.
“Besides, if I blow up your world, I've gotta go find another one to call my 'base', and then I risk runnin' into another one of me, and that ain't so fun. I like bein' an individual, kid. I've seen worlds where more than one'a those floating pink cats are milling about, and that just ain't my style... and don't get me started on that purple abomination your sort keep clonin' up from it! Hah, yeah, no thank you, you can keep that one!”
Corey still had little to say, hugging himself and shivering for a moment as he tried to piece all that he'd just witnessed together. This may not have been a dream, but it was feeling very much like a waking nightmare.
“Alright, come on, snap out of it! We've only got so much time before that Indeedee back there starts believing you're dead, and your work ain't done in that place yet!”
This seemed to finally snap Corey back to... well... “reality” if one wanted to use the term, as much of a cruel irony as it felt at that present moment. His expression seemed to shift from terrified to miserable as he allowed the memories of the gala to settle back into his mind.
“Yeah, you say that... but somehow I doubt my work is the sort those fellas would appreciate any more of...” he muttered.
“That so? Why, pray tell?” Hoopa asked, though its voice betrayed the sort of fake curiosity of someone who already knew the answer.
“Like you wouldn't know... considering this all seems to be your fault in the first place... but fine... I got humiliated in front of everyone in that damn gala, all because I happened not to know the rules of that world... and all because that damn cat decided she didn't have the time to explain what the hell she was doing crashing that place without acting all snarky and crass and... just goddamn unpleasant.” His words seemed to briefly lapse into lingering rage as he brought up the Floragato rogue, but before he could really simmer in that hate, the Hoopa suddenly flew right up into his face, nearly knocking him over once more.
“So a little kitty told everyone you were a dumb human and that made you sad. That all? Really? You're not more bothered by the fact that you nearly got murdered by that Empoleon? Seems to me that's the more problematic issue at hand!”
“Yeah, yeah, go on...” Corey grumbled. “You think I didn't know something was wrong with that damn penguin from the start? I swear you and the rest of them must think I'm a complete moron! Of course I could tell! What's that got to do with the cat though, huh? She can't be a danger too, just because she doesn't like the mayor either? What's this black and white shit!?”
“No one said anything about things being black and white, kid! Calm down before you give your other self a damned aneurysm!” Hoopa said as it floated back slightly, arms crossed. “Look, bud, even with the limited information you were privy to, I think you can figure out with that big melon of yours that, at worst, this Floragato just has an attitude problem. Comes with trauma or whatever, I dunno, but the point is, you gotta let this grudge you're building pass! Sure she's an outlaw, but really think about it... An outlaw under whose establishment?”
Corey took a resigned breath before answering with a quiet “Ignatius'”
“Ding ding! We've got a winner! Oh, wait, hold on a second...” Briefly Hoopa disappeared into the door portal and arrived with a whole cacophony of party favors, launching them in one noisy mess like it was a holiday.
“That's right, and who did you ultimately face down with all your power when you were on your last legs? Who did you know you had to take on and defeat because his evil reign had to be put to an end before it could continue to grow further?”
“...Ignatius...”
Hoopa appeared ready to go get some more party favors, but Corey quickly rose up, arms outstretched.
“No! Please, I get it!” he shouted, and the Mischief Pokemon floated back with exaggerated disappointment on its face before letting out a giggle.
“Alright so... what're you trying to get at? I knew Ignatius was the bigger threat, of course... and what... you're saying Sonora wasn't a problem?”
“I'm saying things are clearly more than how they appear with her and her little posse, that's all... Look, kid, you don't have to like her, alright? I get it... you've got some kinda issue with them outlaw types, and I ain't here to play therapist and have you mull on how that messed you up in your formative years, or whatever... I'm just dropping by to remind you to keep your damn head in the game. Don't let your human emotions muddle your inquisitive mind, which is plenty impressive for a meat-bag like yourself, even I can admit that much.”
Was that a complement? Well, it seemed like the Hoopa meant it to be... and admittedly, Corey could understand the message it was trying to give in its... unique way.
“Yeah, well... Still, none of this changes the fact that I was never even supposed to be-” before he could finish, he found himself reeling from a surprisingly firm slap at the Hoopa's expense.
“Please, ENOUGH with that 'I'm not meant to be there' shit! Kid, I get it, I'm a trickster and I like to fuck around with your kind a lot. No shit, it's how I get my kicks! But did you think I was just replacing one of those 'chosen heroes' with you... because I thought it was funny? Come on, that joke is overplayed! I saw something in that determined little stunt you pulled finding that island of mine! Believe it or not, you got some real heart when you're willing to get off your ass and do something with your life! That world out there is a lawless one, and damn if there aren't gonna be more corrupt types, but you're gonna have to adapt! You've done it before, time and again, I've seen the kinda life you lived before I decided to mess around with ya! Just do what you know you gotta do! You can't trust any authority figures down there? Then abide by your own code! Nothin' more Cowboy-like than that!”
Corey took a second to ponder this whole rant, all whilst lightly rubbing at the cheek still burning from the slap he'd just taken. Seemed strange to hear this mythical trickster speak with such sincerity, but he supposed even with strange creatures like this, reality was far more than the stories could ever reveal on their own.
“So you really believe I belong there, in that place with those heroic types...?”
“Don't matter what I believe either way, sport... It's up to you whether you belong in that company or not. All I did was open the door... Speaking of which, I think it's about time we get you back there. Hate to have you reawaken in some coffin 6-feet under! I mean, that'd be kinda funny at first, but, eh, the dying part, not so much...”
Before Corey could even comment on this grim remark, Hoopa had its golden rings floating towards him, and as a plethora of colors seemed to emanate from each, he found himself feeling a somewhat familiar sensation of being quite literally pulled out of his body... An instant later, the cabin being buried in snow within the Crown Tundra was gone, and he once more drifted in a subconscious state. The last thing he could recall thinking with any clarity was that he knew for certain he'd be awakening back in... well... the world that had become his new normal...
...but perhaps he'd be returning with a slightly more refined outlook.
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Yeah, no, Corey's right to be suspicious of this guy. Hoopa are baaaaad news. (I am biased.)