Hello my lovelies! Long time no see! I know the MI section of ffnet is kind of dead and I'll most likely not get many reviews for this but this fic has been in the making for a reaaaally long time, I mean I started writing this after I played Escape (better late than never I guess? *nervous laugh*) during a time when no one was really sure there'd ever be an MI5, and I wrote the majority of it before playing Tales. That being said, it does NOT have anything to do with Tales though funnily enough you might find some similar concepts here and there (one of the reason I loved Tales so much - it had almost everything I could ever hope for in a MI sequel! ^_^)
Why did it take me so long to start posting this? I have a tendency to go on hiatus and abandon projects for long periods of time, didn't want post anything till I was sure I'd finish it. :P A word of warning though, I'm going to do something incredibly silly waaay later (this is me trying to continue on a story idea I had like a decade ago when I was like a decade younger lol)
Anyhoo, I'd like to give a special shoutout to my fan, friend and beta reader KissMeHardyA113 for her input and for pushing me to finally post something! You rock! :*
And without further ado, may I present my alternate continuation to Escape from Monkey Island :)
Mêlée Island
Here is where it will begin again.
The island was quaint and thriving, full of pirates on every corner of the island drinking, stealing, swordfighting, generally merrymaking and doing what pirates do best. It was everything an island full of pirates should be like, for now at least. It would not take long for her reputation to spread she knew, and that was exactly the plan.
The dark-skinned woman looked once more around the little store and sighed. This was where she was needed, where her next encounter would be. She had managed to move everything she needed into the humble emporium and now she was done setting up shop. All that was left now was to tell them of the news.
The full-figured woman made her way past the shelves of chicken bones, bat droppings, monkey bladders and other such ambiguous jars and pots to the back room. She sat at the small wooden table therein and the candle atop it flared to life magically. She picked up the fountain pen and poised it over the enchanted parchment. She hesitated, closing her eyes, the most recent failed attempt still painfully fresh in her mind, making her eyes water if only for just a moment. Brushing it off sombrely and composing herself, she finally put pen to paper and wrote.
It failed again. His name is Guybrush Threepwood.
A few years later.
Deep in the Caribbean, a ship floated lazily with the currents of the sea. Guybrush's latest ship put his current count of number of ships seized from the ever looney Mr Fossey to two. It was a fairly big ship, the sails were a little worse for wear and the banisters could do with another coat of paint but what really set it apart was the figurehead. The atrocious monkey figurehead was a sight to behold, having hypno eyes and a mouth that had been carved to be permanently screaming froth.
The Rabid Monkey in all its glory... was pretty ugly. Okay actually it was butt-ugly. And creepy to boot. In fact it was the second creepiest ship he's ever... no, no this would be the creepiest. But that was okay, it meant it was the most intimidating ship Guybrush has ever owned, and it was seaworthy enough.
It was also under attack.
By two ships at that.
"You're as repulsive as a monkey in a negligee!"
"I look that much like your fiancée?"
The double peg-legged pirate was pushed back a few more steps, only to step on a loose board Guybrush recognized all too well.
"Ha HA!" Guybrush triumphantly stomped his foot on the other end of the board. The end the enemy pirate was on tilted up and with a startled "Aargh!" he lost his balance, tripped over a pile of rope and toppled backwards over the banister and into the sea with a satisfactory splash.
"Score!" Guybrush fist pumped. He took out his captain's log and flipped it to the back, adding another tally mark under his name.
Looking good, even if he did say so himself!
"HONEY! Could you give me a hand here please?" Called out the familiar British accent of one Elaine Marley-Threepwood, the most beautiful woman in the world.
Guybrush looked up. It was a very one-sided battle – their crew was ridiculously outnumbered, a number of them already raising their hands in surrender and another few abandoning ship when an opportunity presented itself.
In the fray of enemy pirates pummelling his rapidly failing crew, Guybrush saw his wife, a blade in each hand, just manage to push back three pirates in an impressive feat of will and sword-mastery. Guybrush grinned and clapped his hands in applause.
Elaine didn't have the chance to roll her eyes as she parried another attack from an enemy pirate, blowing a bang of hair out of her face as she did so. "Not exactly what I had in mind, dear!"
"On it, honey!" Guybrush was about to go to his wife's aid when a man twice his size stepped in front of him. He was a huge burly man who looked more ape than human, muscles tensed and ready, a lower tooth sticking out of a mouth on a head that appeared too small for his body, and Guybrush was unfortunately standing in his shadow.
Guybrush gulped and raised his sword. The giant of a pirate reached out a gorilla-like hand and snapped it in two.
"Aw nuts."
Elaine only glanced briefly at the sight of Guybrush running and screaming like a little girl as a huge pirate took chase around the ship before she turned back to the fight at hand and sighed inwardly. Looks like she was on her own for this one.
Guybrush picked up a knocked out sword as he ran and turned; the giant punched through it, breaking it in half, and Guybrush ran again, finding another sword, only to have that one break too. "C'mon gimme a break!" He cried exasperatedly, picking up another sword and continuing to run around the deck, pirates of both crews ironically pausing long enough to get out of the way of the bulldozer of a man, before resuming the fight.
Without realising it he ran onto the same loose board he used to topple the balance of the peg-legged pirate before, and with the ginormous man close behind, the guy unknowingly stepped heavily onto the other end of the board, sending Guybrush flying high and away from the ship.
"WAAAAAAH oomph!" Guybrush landed rather ungracefully on his face on the deck of one of the bully ships. He got up quickly and grabbed a rope with the intention of getting back to his own ship where the real fight was, but then something caught his attention.
The deck of the bully ship was, for all intents and purposes, empty – everyone both enemy and ally was now fighting tooth and nail on his own ship. Or so he had thought anyways.
There was someone tied to the main mast of this ship. Well 'tied' wouldn't be the word for it. The dark-skinned woman was blindfolded, gagged and chained to the mast for whatever reason and it didn't look like she'd be leaving any time soon. Black hair was weaved into hundreds of skinny braids to be neatly pulled back and kept in a bun with a couple of creepy looking skull hairpins that looked suspiciously like voodoo pins; skull patterns were carved into the mismatched seashell earrings hanging from her ear lobes; matching strings of what looked like fangs were tied around one of her sleeveless upper arms as well as one of the ankles of her bare feet and around her neck. The white top matched the pantaloons that flared at the bottom, a pink border at the hem with white skull patterns printed on it.
She seemed vaguely familiar.
More out of curiosity than anything, Guybrush untied the blindfold. Hazy dark brown eyes met his. Her pupils contracted from the sudden light and she shut her eyes again, then blinked a few times to get accustomed to the light, then finally looked at him. Her eyes widened with surprise as she straightened with a jolt. She stared at him, taking in his appearance from head to toe, an expression of shock ever present on her face. A moment of silence passed between them before she snapped out of it and tried to say something.
"Mmm! Mmm mmf mmmf mmmph!"
Guybrush cocked his head in confusion. "What was that?"
"Mmm mm mmph mmm mmmph MMPH!"
"I can't understand you, you're mumbling!" Guybrush said, perplexed.
She rolled her eyes and then her eyes glazed over as at the same time, the gag inexplicably fell loose. She fixed him with a glare.
"Are you serious?"
"What?"
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
"Okay! Geez, no need to yell!" His sword couldn't cut through the chains.
The woman groaned. "On second thought, you'd better release the good captain and the rest of the crew first – they're down in the brig and will know how to get these off."
"Right." he turned to leave, then paused. "Wait, how come they're down there and you're up here?"
"NOW please!"
"Okay okay!" He ran off in the direction of the brig. "Touchy." he murmured when he was out of earshot.
"Helloooo? Anyone down here?" This ship being fairly big had a fairly big brig too, he noted as he tread a little carefully on the creaky wooden floor of the short hall, looking back intermittently. Never know who might be sneaking up to knock you out from behind after all.
"Eh? Oo's that?" A voice asked from behind the last door in the hall. One curious hazel eye peered at him from behind a barred window.
"I'm Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirateTM!" Guybrush proclaimed. "And I'm here to help!" Some shuffling and murmurs could now be heard from beyond the door at these words. Looks like the whole crew was in there. "Where's the key to the door?"
"It be with the scallywag with the two peg legs!" Someone informed.
The one he managed to knock overboard not five minutes ago? Whoops.
"Uh... are there any spares around here?"
"No laddie, that be the only key." another man said.
Guybrush thought. "Any chance any of you have a lock pick set on you?"
"Sure." groaned an Irish accented female voice sarcastically. "Why else would we be sittin' here waitin' to be rescued fer days now?"
Guybrush remembered something. "Okay, uh, be right back! Don't go anywhere!" Guybrush ignored the comments to that last line as he made his way back to the woman chained to the mast.
"Hi again!" He said cheerily, "Mind if I borrow this?"
"Borrow wha- hey!" the woman protested as her neatly pinned up weaves came flying into her face.
"Thanks!" Guybrush clutched the big creepy looking hairpins and made his way down to the brig again and proceeded to pick the lock with the pins, tongue sticking out in concentration.
"How'd you guys get in here anyways?" Guybrush asked, tinkering with the lock.
"Arrr them cowards done caught us off guards they did! Not followin' the rules of pirate law of' engagin' in a proper fight but attacking us while we was sleepin'!" Someone complained.
"Arrrrr!" Other pirates agreed distastefully.
"Aye, even managed to catch the Voodoo Girl off guard, don't even know where they're keeping her." Said the hazel-eyed man.
"I think she's the one chained to the mast, and those pirates are kind of bullying my crew..." There was a satisfying click and the lock fell away with a clang. "Think you can give us a hand?"
The hazel-eyed man wore an eyepatch over his other eye, had a short brown stubble covering his prominent chin, was considerably shorter than Guybrush, and happened to be wearing a captain's hat.
"Lad," he grinned as he stepped out, "it'd be our pleasure."
"Ya har! You're okay!" Laughed the captain a few moments later when the whole crew was out in the open after retrieving their weapons.
"Depends on your definition of 'okay'." Grumbled the chained woman. "Do you mind?" She rattled the chains for emphasis.
"Of course." He grinned, procuring an ornate little key from within his hat. "Pinched this off the swab when John 'ad 'im distracted!" he unlocked the chains and they fell with a clatter. "Guess these voodoo cuffs are really their gold's worth then, eh?"
"Hardly." said the woman, shaking her hands free in relief. "They are resistant to voodoo themselves but don't suppress it at all – that's why they had to cover my eyes and mouth to stop me hexing anything I could see!" From the tone of her voice her annoyance at the simplicity of the act was clear.
"Well, no harm no foul! For the record though, that was some real entertainin' mojo you tried back there!" he seemed in a very good mood now that he wasn't in the brig.
"Yeah well, I try." she shrugged. "Ah, pappapishu..." she murmured, rubbing her sore wrists. "I'll take that." She stated, spotting Guybrush's hand and snatching back her hairpins to do up her hair again. Even with the majority of it bunned, her long braids still managed to reach partway down her back. "So, what now Captain Smink?" She asked.
The captain smiled. "It be payback time, lass!" He declared to 'arrrr's of agreement.
End of chapter 1!
I'll be pleasantly suprised if I find anyone still around to review this! XD Please pleasantly surprise me! :)