DIZ’S ORIGIN STORY (written by @DisneyNerd26) Part 1: The Portal (Music: Iris - The GooGoo Dolls) “Solego’s Circuit.” Huey Duck snarled, staring into the swirling vortex. “The last time this thing was running, our enemies took hold of it, and we nearly got erased from reality.” “The time it was running before that, we were actually thrown in, don’t forget!” Louie Duck exclaimed, elbowing his oldest triplet brother. “Good thing it wasn’t set to ‘erase’ that time…” “Remind me again, what does it even do?” Dewey Duck mumbled, scratching at the back of his head. Huey stared hard at him, bewildered. “You should know me well enough by now to realize that I dosed off during your nerdy lecture this morning.” “Ugh-“ Huey huffed. “Basically, according to a theory by Dr. Solego from the early 1900s, every single work of fiction opens a door to a new reality, a new dimension, so to speak. Whether it be a comic, or a TV series, a novel…” “Ohh yeah, I do remember something like that.” “Mmhm. Gosalyn’s grandpa, the scientist who created this device based on Dr. Solego’s theory, was pulled into a vortex from it nearly 7 years ago now.” He nodded towards their friend Gosalyn Waddlemeyer Mallard, who was madly typing at the controls to the circuit, searching dimension after dimension for her grandfather. “Except, unlike when we were pulled in the first time, nobody was around to get him back out.” “But we know it wasn’t set to ‘erase’ then. Lab data from that day confirms that. So he’s somewhere out there… Just in another dimension.” Gosalyn chimed in, her eyes darting around the screen. “Only problem is, there’s an infinite number of dimensions he could be in. And every portal we open, tears the fabric of our reality a little more.” “That’s why we had to stop looking for him, all those years ago. That’s how our enemies got it, because we shut it down.” Dewey realized, facepalming. “I remember now.” Then he glanced back at the vortex. “So why exactly are we opening portals again?” “Our reality has stabilized after a few years. It’s time to look for Dr. Waddlemeyer again.” Scrooge McDuck said firmly as he walked up beside his teenage nephews. “We have people all over the city monitoring stability, we’ll be alerted as soon as the slightest instability arises. Then we’ll shut it down again, at least for a few more years.” “I just hope Grandpa is still alive…” Gosalyn sighed, and Dewey walked over to squeeze her shoulder. “If your grandpa is half as resourceful as you are, he’s just fine, Gosalyn.” Dewey murmured, and she gave him a timid smile…
(Meanwhile…) “Here duck, ducks! Coop time, my feathered kiddos!” A teenage, human girl called loudly, shaking a canister of duck feed as she walked out into her yard. The sun was setting over the pond where her large flock of ducks spent most of their day. Their coop was all the way across a large field, and so the girl went out every night to escort her flock back to their roost. “Disney, make it quick, dinner’s almost ready!” Mrs McCallister called, and the girl smiled broadly. “Yes ma’am! I’m on it! I just have to find Scrooge!” “That old duck wandered off again?” Her mom sighed, and Diz shrugged. “That’s what I get for naming him after Scrooge McDuck! He’s always off on an adventure!” Diz laughed, shaking her head. “I’ll find him, don’t worry!” She ran to the coop with the rest of her birds, doing a headcount as each one went in. Sure enough, one duck was missing. Disney’s personal favorite, Scrooge. He was a duck that showed up in the McCallister family’s yard several years ago. Nobody knew where he had come from, but he was the one who inspired the family to buy a whole flock of ducklings. He was elderly, but gentle, with deep blue eyes that could only be described as wise. Diz had no idea where the duck’s profound wisdom had come from, but she often found herself sitting beside him on the shore of the pond, talking about her day, explaining her plans, venting, that duck been there for her through it all. As kind and knowledgeable as he seemed, nearly every evening, right before it was time to coop, he wandered off from the rest of the flock. Diz found him every time, sitting in the hayfield alone, staring up at the sky. This time, that wasn’t the case. Disney searched for her bird until it got completely dark outside, then went inside to grab a flashlight and stuff her dinner in her mouth, chest tight. She ran back out without a word to her parents, she was terrified. He’d never been missing for so long. “Scrooge?! Scrooge!?” She called loudly, walking through the fields with her light, hugging her queasy stomach nervously. What if a hawk grabbed him…? Or a fox…? Finally she heard a loud “quack” from the woods that bordered her field. “Scrooge!” She cried, running towards the trees with all her might. “Dude, are you hurt?” She yelped as she came across him in a small clearing, dropping to her knees to look her beloved duck over. He was perfectly fine. She met his eyes, and sighed. He held her gaze for a moment, then looked away from her, back at the sky. “Okay, fine. But you don’t get to stargaze alone, you crazy duck.” She puffed, laying down in the grass and rolling over to her back to stare up at the sky. He nestled down beside her, and they both watched the sky a while. *WHOOSH* Diz sat straight up, looking behind them. “What was that!?” Diz stared into a swirling vortex of brightly colored light. She scrambled to her feet, snatching Scrooge up into her arms. The duck began to excitedly kick his feet, quacking loudly, even as Diz slowly backed away from the vortex…
