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Cora-Louie

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Scrooge once told Louie that he took after him in one crucial way: he was "the sharpest of the sharpies", capable of seeing all the angles and figuring out the best path to victory. But that was before Della reentered their lives and promptly made clear that she didn't approve of her youngest son's scheming, telling him in no uncertain terms that if he didn't shape up, he'd stop being part of their family.

So he stopped. Stopped trying to analyze and theorize, because what was even the point when nobody actually wanted him to do that anymore? All anyone saw when they looked at Louie was a shiftless, scheming layabout, and all his efforts to read between the lines just made him all the more acutely aware of how much they all seemed to despise him.

...More's the pity, really. Maybe if he'd kept honing his instincts, he would've sensed something amiss about that strange doll they brought back from their latest expedition.

Cora-Louie is a Fusion Fic by Simply Another Writer that combines the world of DuckTales (2017) with that of Coraline, as Louie finds himself drawn towards another world. One where he has another mother, another Uncle Donald, other brothers and more counterparts to familiar faces. Even if they all have black buttons sown over their eyes...

Another work by the same author, An Adventure Too Weird For Words, offers another interpretation of the same general concept, though the Coraline elements are interpreted in much looser fashion there.


This fanfic includes examples of:

  • Accusation Fic: Downplayed heavily, especially when compared to its counterpart; while Louie still feels unloved and unappreciated after how severely he was punished for the Timetub incident, Della and the others are much more aware that something is wrong and actively trying to reach out to him, even if their efforts are falling victim to his Theory Tunnelvision.
  • Armor-Piercing Question:
    • Donald hits the Other Donald with one, only to receive one in reply that makes Della flinch:
      Donald: Louie will never feel loved or cared for here. You failed before — what makes you think you can win now?
      Other Donald: [flinches backwards, smile wavering and wilting before returning] Because with you gone, he won't have any other options — will he? After all, he already thought he lost you; what makes you think you can win?
    • Near the end, Louie asks one of the Other Mother that throws his whole family for a loop: "Because; even if you've convinced me that my family doesn't love me, why on earth would I believe that you did?"
  • Armor-Piercing Response: When Scrooge proposes that they play a game to determine Louie's fate, she tries taunting him, but stiffens in her seat at his retort:
    Other Mother: Hmm, it sounds too... easy. After all, there's only one place he could be, hmm? Tell me, Scrooge, why on earth would I want to win him fair and square, when he's already mine?
    Scrooge: Ah, but you haven't really won him, have you? At least, you haven't won him over.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: After accidentally Saying Too Much in front of Webby, Louie desperately hopes that she'll keep her promise to not tell anyone, as he needs her to stay silent. Upon returning to the Other World, he learns that the Other Della sewed the Other Webby's mouth shut, much to his horror.
  • Blackmail: Louie once attempted to convince Donald that he could use the fact his boss was secretly having an affair as leverage to get a raise. Not only did Donald refuse, insisting that was illegal, he proceeded to quit that job and inform the man's wife anyway.
  • Call-Back:
    • The Other Donald speaks in the same voice that was given to Donald by the Barksian voice modulator. AKA, he sounds like Don Cheadle.
    • Louie's side of the triplets' expanded bedroom in the Other World features various golden trinkets from several of their past adventures proudly on display.
    • During one of his visits to the Other World, Louie spots a green Persian Tabby that reminds him of his dream form during "A Nightmare On Killmotor Hill!"
  • Calling Parents by Their Name: Louie tries to avoid openly doing this regarding Della, though he stumbles several times.
  • Caring Gardener: While the garden of the real McDuck Manor has been neglected, the Other Scrooge personally cares for the grounds himself in order to Invoke this image.
  • Carnivore Confusion: Louie has absolutely no problem with digging into some roast chicken in the Other World.
  • Creepy Doll: The story opens with Scrooge and the others finding a strange, button-eyed doll that looks uncannily like Louie while on an adventure without him. They bring it back as a souvenir, unaware of just what it signifies...
  • Curse Cut Short: When he sees the grey mouse dive into the well, Louie thinks 'What the actual fu—' before cutting himself off by groaning.
  • Cynicism Catalyst: The severity of his punishment for the Timetub incident, coupled with the Trauma Conga Line of events that followed, left Louie convinced that everyone around him secretly despises and wants nothing to do with him, and that there's nothing he can really do to change that aside from disengaging and telling himself that he doesn't care about anything.
  • Disney Death: One gets inflicted upon Other Webby; after the Other Della is defeated, Lena and Violet are able to use the remaining magic from the Other Realm to bring her back in the form of a kitten.
  • Downer Beginning: By the time the story opens, Louie is convinced that nobody else actually wants him around and is willingly staying behind during adventures, trying to avoid 'being a burden' to the point that he's subsisting on snacks rather than sharing meals. The others want to include him more, but clearly don't know how to approach him.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: After all of the horrors Louie, Lena, Della and the rest of their friends and family endure, everyone manages to escape the Other World before it collapses in on itself. Lena also manages to bring the Other Webby back to life, albeit in the form of a green kitten rather than a duckling.
  • Exactly What I Aimed At: Violet employs this against the Other Brother, expecting him to dodge her flashlight so that it hits the rats at the bottom of the massive structure behind the Other Brother instead.
  • Food Chains: Lena realizes that this is why the Other Mother was feeding Louie — even if he retrieves the doll, she could potentially pull him back into the Other World using the magic she'd snuck into his body.
  • Fusion Fic: Basically serves as a Ducktales spin upon the events of Coraline.
  • Hammerspace: The jumping mice in the Other World are able to employ this, as one demonstrates by pulling a flashlight out from behind its back despite said flashlight being far bigger than the mouse itself.
  • Innocently Insensitive: Della unwittingly strikes a nerve when she suggests Louie stop wearing his "old and plain" green hoodies, unaware of just how much comfort he draws from their familiarity.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: This is how the Other Mother disposes of the Other Webby.
  • "It" Is Dehumanizing: The Other Mother describes Lena as 'vermin' and offers to 'take it off your hands' while greedily reaching towards her.
  • Lethal Chef: Louie's startled by finding the Other Della in the kitchen, as he recalls how the cake she made for him on the day they met appeared to be sentient.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Discussed when Louie turns down a chance to join his family on a trip to the mall. Della tries sweet-talking him into coming along by pointing out that he always wears hoodies and suggesting he should look into changing up his attire.
  • Meaningful Rename: During the denouncement, Lena suggests that the Other Webby needs a new name, even if she's now a green kitten rather than a copy of Webby. They settle on Englabeth, the code name Webby had used with Lena before, calling her Beth for short.
  • Neglected Garden: One of the reasons why Louie doesn't question the existence of the magic well in the backyard is because of how heavily neglected the manor grounds are, to the point said well is covered in poison oak. This also helped hide the existence of said well from the other residents of the manor at first.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: The others unwittingly enabled the Other Mother to target Louie in the first place by bringing her doll back with them and giving it to him. She even thanks them when they first meet:
    Other Mother: Oh! You mean my little darling? Oh, thank you so much for him; truly, I wouldn't have been able to win him over like I did if you hadn't all seemed so bored of him.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!:
    • The Other Mother decides to taunt the ducks by sending the doll back through the well after Louie's failed escape attempt. In doing so, she inadvertently gives them just what they need to enter the Other World themselves.
    • As the Other Webby explains, the Bedlam gave her emotions so that she could serve as a proper confidant for Louie and empathize with him... which led to her Heel–Face Turn.
  • Or Was It a Dream?: Following his first visit to the Other World, Louie gradually realizes that it wasn't a dream after finding the photograph he'd gone to retrieve stuffed into his hoodie's pocket, as well as fading signs of the poison oak rash he'd gotten on his hands.
  • Poor Communication Kills:
    • Della decides that Louie's scheming and savviness is just him trying to be lazy and slack off, and Louie in turn decides that everybody has decided he's not a worthwhile member of their group, fueling his growing apathy and detachment from the others.
    • When Webby and the triplets discover that there appears to be an extra member of the team of jumping mice Huey is training for the Senior Woodchuck tryouts, Webby suggests that Launchpad put it there, since he's Huey's scoutmaster and might have thought it was necessary/would add to the challenge. None of the kids think to ask Launchpad about this, even after the topic comes up at breakfast and he denies adding anything.
  • The Power of Apathy: Louie coped with the notion that he was secretly Hated by All by becoming apathetic, telling himself that he didn't care about how nobody else cared. This also comes into play when he's captured by the Other Mother, as his lack of love for her means there's nothing for her to feed upon.
  • The Power of Love: This turns out to be why the Other Della wants Louie in the first place: she feeds on magic, and there's no magic more powerful than that of love.
  • Shout-Out:
    • When he notices that the pictures in the Other World appear to be moving in small loops, Louie mentally compares them to the Harry Potter movies.
    • Lena compares the Other Mother feeding Louie to how Hades trapped Persephone in the underworld by tricking her into eating several seeds from a pomegranate.
    • When preparing the others for the rescue operation, Lena declares that the Other World is "basically a mix of 9, It and Monster House."
  • Social Media Before Reason: After finding a motorbike that previously belonged to their mother, Dewey immediately attempts to pull off a stunt with it, all in the hopes of "Dewey Dew Night" getting a bigger following.
  • Stopped Caring: By the time the story starts, apathy has become Louie's primary way of dealing with the others' apparent lack of care for him. He's stopped looking for the angles, stopped going on adventures, and keeps telling himself that it doesn't matter if everyone secretly despises him.
  • Tap on the Head: Averted; Louie gets a grade 2 concussion from smacking his head into the side of the well during his failed escape, which heavily impairs his ability to move and concentrate on anything.
  • The Tell: Louie knows all of Dewey's, and informs him of several at one point, combining it with Sherlock Scan:
    Louie: Your voice raises about two octaves when you lie. Also, the angle which your body is leaning in as well as the heightening of your shoulders and brows shows that you have something exciting you want to tell me and you most likely want me to do something concerning it. It's most likely outside since you're already dressed before eight o'clock and you have my clothes set on the end of my bed. It's something the adults know about since you're practically vibrating and jumping in place and not trying to badly hide it by not answering the question and instead answering it with a different question. Case in point: someone got you a thing and it's most likely too dangerous for you to use but you don't really care and are trying to convince me to tag along in using it before Uncle Donald finds out about it at breakfast.
  • Tempting Fate:
    • As he heads to bed in the first chapter, Louie hopes that he doesn't wind up having any nightmares. Naturally, the very next line reveals how he just woke up from a particularly bad one.
    • When he first meets Other Webby, Louie thinks that he's starting to get used to how everyone has button eyes and isn't as creeped out anymore... right before learning why Other Webby is being so quiet.
    • Louie tells himself that everything is fine after he slams his head into the side of the well. It's immediately made clear that everything is not, in fact, fine.
  • Theory Tunnelvision:
    • Louie's tendency to look for all the angles is misinterpreted as a sign of his greediness and supposedly Skewed Priorities — namely, that he'd put profit over whatever's best for his family.
    • Ironically, Louie also suffers from this: having concluded that everyone around him secretly hates and resents him, he interprets everything the others say and do accordingly. Even honest efforts to reach out and bridge the growing gap are treated as insincere and something they're only doing to 'keep up appearances'.
  • Trap Is the Only Option: Averted when the rescue team realizes that Louie is in the Dining Room — Dewey suggests that the fastest route there would be through the Kitchen, but the Other Webby bluntly asks if they really want to do that before showing them another way around.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Louie isn't especially alarmed by finding a well filled with constantly swirling, luminescent blue and violet waters in the backyard, figuring it's just par for the course for McDuck Manor.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Louie tries to save the Other Webby, a sentiment shared by the rest of his family and friends once they meet her themselves. While she suffers a temporary death, Lena and Violet manage to bring her back as a kitten.
  • Year Outside, Hour Inside: In Chapter 10, Louie learns that a full week had passed without him realizing after he entered the Other World for the last time.


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