Part One

Chapter One: The Stranger

Deep in the Caribbean…LeChuck’s Underground Ice Fortress

LeChuck, now mutated into a horrifying ice demon, paced his dim new throne room. Nothing was on his mind except the merciless destruction of his nemesis, Guybrush Threepwood. In fact, that had been all he could think about ever since what was left of his skeletal army had defrosted him. Before, he had simply hated Guybrush. Now that he had been told that Guybrush had married Elaine, his only emotion towards him was utter loathing.

“I swear Threepwood,” He vowed. “I will destroy ye, and take back what rightfully belongs to me!”

By “What rightfully belongs to me,” he meant Elaine, of course. But he was torn away from his thoughts of revenge by one of his solders, Robbie, barging into the room.

“Cap’n LeChuck sir!” Robbie said in an important tone. “We have captured a living boy trying to break into the fortress. He claims he’s here to see you.”

LeChuck was in no mood to put up with some idiot boy, but then again, he was eager to try out more of his newfound powers on someone that wasn’t already dead, but there was a problem with someone alive being here. The only living person that had ever dared to confront LeChuck had been Guybrush. LeChuck thought about Guybrush trying to find him again, to kill him for good this time, but quickly dismissed the idea when he realized he had not sent out any signs that he was back.

“Send him in.” He ordered finally.

Robbie motioned for two other guards, Melvin and Larry, to bring the prisoner in. It was a dark room, but you could easily make out a gleam on his shiny, jet-black hair, and a slight glow from his pale skin.

LeChuck studied the boy a moment, who didn’t move a single visible muscle, and muttered, “Leave us” to the guards. After long moments of starring at each other, the boy broke the silence between them.

“So you’re this ‘LeChuck’ guy I’ve heard so much about, huh? I have to say this is kind of a disappointment, I was expecting a whole lot more than a pirate popsicle.” The boy said with a clear tone of insolence in his voice.

LeChuck smiled. He could tell this boy was brave to have insulted him like that, either that or very stupid, but that wasn’t why he had smiled. He sensed strong, healthy, evil vibes coming from him.

“Who are ye?”

“I am simply a man that has heard of your evil deeds and has traveled a long, long way to follow you.” The boy replied.

LeChuck could see the evil in him flicker even brighter for a moment. The amount of pure evil in him alone was enough to earn LeChuck’s good side, but he wanted to hear more. He was able to see some of the outline of the boy and it wasn’t very impressing. From his point of view, if the boy looked any more helpless and pathetic, he would be three years old.

“You,” LeChuck began. “Servin’ ME? HA! Havin’ ye around would be an embarrassment! Ye wouldn’ even make a decent skeleton! What could ye possibly offer me?”

“Information,” the boy said simply. “About Guybrush Threepwood.”

That got LeChuck’s attention!

“What do ye know about him?”

“I think it’s safe to say I know more about Guybrush Threepwood than any living, dead, or undead, person on the face of the earth.” He said casually.

This caught LeChuck’s interest more than anything had in a long time. This strange boy comes sneaking into his fortress, telling him that he could give him information on the one person he hated most of all; Information that could even allow him to finally kill Guybrush Threepwood. LeChuck was beside himself with evil glee, but he didn’t dare show it. At least not until he knew this boy was trustworthy, and it took a lot of loyalty to be labeled trustworthy in LeChuck’s book. At this moment he couldn’t even see the boy, let alone trust him.

“Come out of the shadows,” he ordered. “Show me yer face, boy.”

The boy shrugged and walked into the light, finally revealing his entire figure. It took all of LeChuck’s self control to keep his jaw from dropping to the floor.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The celebration had been going on for three days now. Ever since Guybrush and Elaine Threepwood had returned to Melee Island from their honeymoon, there had been an enormous party all over the island. Everybody was congratulating them on (finally) tying the knot.

But Elaine and Guybrush hadn’t been doing much partying themselves. The more important things had to come first (much to Guybrush’s annoyance). Such as the mansion, which hadn’t been lived in for about two years, having to be cleaned up. And their things had to be moved inside of it.

Another was helping Wally, who came with them when they got him out of the Roller Coaster of Death, get his cartography business up and running again. Luckily the rubber-chicken-with-a-pulley-in-the-middle shop had been closed down because people finally realized it was useless, so Wally was able to move into it.

But now their work was done, and they could finally enjoy the party. While Elaine stuck to talking with some of her prestigious friends, but occasionally running into an ex-suitor that was still puzzled over the ‘Dad made me promise not to fall in love with a pirate’ thing, Guybrush decided to meet up with some of the people he met on the island when he was first trying to become a pirate. Such as Carla the Sword master…

“Hey Carla, you and the storekeeper still going at it?”

“Shut up.”

Captain Smirk…

“How appropriate, you fight like a cow!”

“Beat it!”

The men of low morale fiber (pirates), who were now stranded on the roof of the house at the dock…

“Hey, have you guys got that circus up and running yet?”

“Get bent Shneephood.”

Meathook…

“Hey Cannon Ball Head, how’s it going?”

“Bite me!”

Otis…

“Hey Otis, how’s your Aunt Tillie?”

“Get lost!”

The storekeeper…

“Hi, I…”

“Get away from here you thievin’ little hoodlum!”

And after dodging a low blow to the groin by the angry old man, he decided to visit the pirate leaders. He found them in their usual spot in the bar (which was presently being renamed).

“Hi guys! I guess you remember me, the mighty pirate who defeated the ghost, zombie, AND demon pirate LeChuck!” Guybrush said smugly.

The pirate leaders looked at each other for a moment before the one on the left responded.

“Oh we remember ye alright,” He said. “But there’s one part of yer story that we know is a lie.”

All Guybrush could do was stare at them. What could he possibly be lying about? Seeing the confused expression on Guybrush’s face, the pirate in the middle clued him in.

“You’re not technically a pirate boy.”

“WHAT?!” Guybrush shouted. “How could I not be a pirate? I did the three trials, I destroyed LeChuck three times, I went on loads of adventures, and I even found the so-called ‘treasure’ of Big Whoop! You guys must be out of your drunken minds!”

“Ye never drank grog with us.” The one on the right said simply.

At this point, Guybrush was totally lost. “Huh?”

The middle one looked slightly exasperated over this. “We said you were supposed to master the sword, thievery, and, um, treasure huntery. Then you were supposed to drink grog with us.”

“Well if that’s all I have to do, let’s get it over with.” Guybrush said in a casual tone. But in reality, he wasn’t looking forward to this at all. The fact that the grog served here had the power to eat through a cast iron lock on a jail cell in about three seconds was enough to keep him away from it. And since he was probably the only pirate left who actually had taste buds, he wasn’t looking forward to the flavor either.

“Alright, our mugs are startin’ to melt again so we’ll have to make this quick.” The pirate on the left said as he pulled a mug of grog off an unseen section of his body and handed it to Guybrush. The three pirates shouted “GROG!” in unison and drank deeply from their mugs. Seeing his chance, Guybrush poured the seething contents of his mug into a large crack in the floor.

“Boy,” Guybrush said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. “That really hit the spot! Well, I’ll just be going now…”

“Hang on a second,” the middle pirate said as Guybrush got up. “You’ll be needing your license. Every official pirate has one. We’ve had this a while and were planning on throwing it away if you didn’t show up again soon. Just write your age in and get it renewed every year. But just keep in mind we’re normally not nearly as considerate. So don’t go expecting us to be nice to you all the time fancy-pants!”

He handed Guybrush a card that simply said “Pirating License. Name: Guybrush Threepwood. Age: (blank).” Looking up from the card, he saw the pirate leaders fidgeting slightly and looking around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping. Guybrush realized that these guys probably hadn’t helped another pirate out in a long time, so he figuring that it would be a good idea to thank them quickly and leave before they decided to lynch him to make up for their moment of niceness.

About ten minutes later, Guybrush was absent-mindedly wandering around the crowd. He never thought it was possible for this to happen, but he was bored out of his mind in the middle of the biggest party he had ever been to. He was so caught up in his boredom he ran dead on into another person, knocking himself and the stranger onto the ground.

“Sorry, I…” He began to apologize awkwardly, but the other pirate cut him off talking in a strangely familiar voice.

“No, it was my fault. Sorry.”

Guybrush finally recognized the voice…it sounded just his own! He looked up only to see an exact mirror image of himself looking up at him with an equally shocked expression. Everything from the skinny build, to the large, blue eyes, to the blonde hair tied up into a ponytail was the same without any visible difference. Without thinking, Guybrush did the first thing he would do in any startling situation, and so did the identical stranger…

“AAAAAHHHHHHH!”

“AAAAAHHHHHHH!”

They stared at each other for about two more seconds then screamed in unison. Then, again without thinking, both of them turned and ran off in the opposite direction at break-neck speed. After running about sixty yards Guybrush stopped to catch his breath and think about what had just happened…that man back there was me!

Normally, Guybrush would have just thought it was his overactive imagination acting up again, but how often did his imagination project a solid, talking, form that looked exactly like him? Just then, something grabbed his shoulder, causing him to jump three feet in the air.

“Whoa! Take it easy! It’s just me!” Elaine said, slightly startled by his reaction.

“Sorry.”

“What just happened to you? Everyone heard you yelling, and then you went pelting through the crowd.”

At that point Guybrush became aware of how many stares he had attracted. But as soon as he looked up everyone turned their heads to avoid making eye contact. Then he looked back to Elaine, who continued to stare at him with a puzzled expression on her face. Guybrush thought about telling her for a moment, but if he did she would think he had lost it.

“You would believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.” Elaine said in a tone that clearly said she wasn’t going to leave him alone until she knew exactly what happened.

After about a minute and a half of roasting underneath Elaine’s glare, Guybrush sighed in defeat. “Alright, but not here.” He was becoming all too aware of people beginning to stare at them again. When he led her over to the empty alley between the church and the general store, Elaine continued her interrogation.

“Now what was it that caused you to run through the streets screaming like a baby?” She said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

“I wasn’t yelling while I was running!” He said indignantly. “I screamed fifteen seconds. Tops. Then I ran.”

Elaine just waved this information aside impatiently. “Whatever. Now what was it you saw that freaked you out?"

Guybrush paused for a moment trying to take as long as possible. Now that he looked back at exactly what happened, it all seemed kind of silly. But Elaine just kept giving him a piercing look until he gave up.

“I saw myself.”

He realized that must have come out the wrong way when he heard Elaine stifle a laugh.

“Oh come on, Guybrush!” she exclaimed, still struggling to control her laughter. “I know some people wouldn’t exactly consider your looks prefect, but your not that ugly!”

This slightly got on Guybrush’s nerves. “I don’t mean I saw myself in a mirror or something, I mean I saw a living, breathing, person that looked exactly like me…what a minute…You think I’m ugly?!”

At this point, Elaine couldn’t contain herself any longer and burst out laughing. Half shocked and half insulted, Guybrush stared at her with his best hurt look. Elaine cleared her throat and held back, or at least tried to hold back, her laugher.

“I didn’t say that! I said some people might not think your looks are perfect!”

“Bullsh…”

Before Guybrush could finish Elaine pulled him closer and kissed him. “Now,” Elaine said softly. “Would I have done that if I thought you weren’t hot?” Both of them paused for a moment, and then laughed.

Elaine looked up at the now pitch black sky. “It’s getting late, we can talk more about this ‘Second You’ tomorrow. Why don’t we go home and have a party of our own?” She said, giving him another kiss and walking out of the alley towards the mansion.

Guybrush stood still for a moment, still staring at the place where Elaine had just been. Then punched the air with his fists. “All RIGHT!” After another moment though, he paused and stared out into the audience.

“Come on, like there’s never been an innuendo in the series?!”

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Guybrush walked outside in front of the mansion. He was in a better mood than he had had in a weeks. After last night, there would be nothing in this world that could snap him out of his state of bliss…except for one thing nagging him from the back of his mind. Who was that person I ran away from in the streets? His mind snapped to one immediate decision. It was my twin!

We can’t be related, all the family I ever knew about is dead. And besides that, I was an only child…right? He thought, trying to solve the mystery of this “twin”. But his mind could only come to that one explanation, and no matter how ridicules he told himself the idea was, it made sense. The man had to have been his twin. An argument between his logical side and his imagination was going on inside his brain.

His logical side told him, you couldn’t be twins! You would have known about something as major as this!

But his imagination kept telling him; well maybe you were separated at birth! That’s always a possibility!

The silent battle raged on like that for another five minutes until a man in a uniform that was carrying a package, walking up the path to the mansion, distracted him. He stopped short when he saw the poodles, which had just been tied back up, glaring at him hungrily.

“’Ay! You Guybrush Threepwood?” He called.

“Yeah.”

“I gotta package for ya here that’cha need to sign for.”

Guybrush walked past the dogs to the delivery guy and signed the note on the little clipboard he had with him. The delivery guy looked surprised by the fact that the piranha poodles hadn’t attacked Guybrush. “Elaine has to tell them you’re all right.” He explained.

As the delivery guy left, Guybrush examined the small package. It was no bigger than a hatbox and somebody had clumsily written FRAGILE on top of it. He shifted it around in his hands for a moment, and then heard something that he could have sworn sounded like a giggle. Guybrush grinned evilly, and started to shake it. HARD. After three solid minutes of shaking, the giggling was replaced by a soft moan. Guybrush opened the box to see that his suspicions were correct.

“Hi Murray.”

“Ooooooohhhhh…How did you know it was me?”

“Why else would a hatbox giggle?” Guybrush said with a small smirk on his face. “So I suppose you’re going to have your ‘revenge’ on me now?”

Murray moaned again. “Maybe later, just give me a little while to recover. Sometimes I think you can be even more evil than me.”

“Ok, but while you’re at it, you might want to get revenge on the dogs to.”

“Why?”

Guybrush flashed another evil grin. “Because you’re gonna be really mad at them when they’re done playing with you!”

With that, Guybrush tossed Murray over to the poodles, who started pawing and kicking him around like a soccer ball. For a split second he felt tiny pang of guilt shoot throw him as he listened to Murray scream in rage. Or was that a scream of pain? Maybe he shouldn’t pick on him like that anymore. After all, he had gone through all the trouble of mailing himself back here all the way from Monkey Island just to get his long awaited revenge for Guybrush blowing up his dinghy.

But then again, he had never seen the poodles look so happy. They always looked like they had spent their lives attacking intruders and never got a chance to play. Before he could do anything else, a pair of hands grabbed him from behind and dragged him behind the mansion, then spun him around so he could face his attacker.

“Hi Guybrush.” He said casually. It was the identical stranger, grinning like an idiot.

Guybrush nearly dropped a load right there. He couldn’t explain it, but he had a strange feeling of unease around this guy. “Who are you?!” He asked in bewilderment.

The stranger laughed. “I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out by now Guybrush! I’m your brother!”

Guybrush still didn’t want to accept that fact so easily. “That’s impossible, I’m an only child!”

“I thought I was too,” The man said excitedly. “But look at us! We’re exactly the same, and we have the same name! How could we not be related?”

“Well…” Guybrush began, but the last part repeated in his head. “Wait a minute, what do you mean ‘we have the same name’?”

The stranger’s grin widened. “Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Coren Threepwood.”