First off, I'm sorry for the mini hiatus. I was on vacation and I was really uninspired to write. Now that I'm home, I was able to finish this today! It's the longest chapter yet! 3,570 words, w00t w00t! I hope you guys like this chapter, it reveals a lot. And Yoko has her first "romantic encounter" It was kind of hard to write. ^^; I don't want her in a relationship... yet! Enjoy the chapter and REVIEW!
Noodle's arrival at Kong brought a happier atmosphere. Russel and Murdoc were getting along, Murdoc wasn't beating 2D as much, and Yoko had a little girl to look after every day. Noodle developed a special relationship with everyone in the band, but Yoko's relationship with her was different. Whenever she had any issues, she's report right to her older sister for help. The girl was learning some broken English quite fast, but when she needed to go to the bathroom or was hungry, Yoko took care of it.
Currently, it was November 4th, 1998. Noodle had just finished her guitar part for Ghost Train. "Good, Noodle-chan!" Yoko said. Yoko no longer needed to speak in Japanese to the young girl; people were teaching her English every single day. Noodle skipped out of the recording booth with her yellow gold Les Paul still around her neck. "Thank you, Onee-san!" the girl squealed and ran off to her room. The way little Noodle acted confused everyone around her. As Yoko started mixing the completed track, the sound of clacking Cuban heels became apparent in the room. The girl spun around in the desk chair to find Murdoc Niccals leaning on the door frame. "The track's done." Yoko said. "I' better be. We 'ave a gig tonight and some bloke from EMI is comin' to see if we can ge' signed. Noodle knows 'er par', yeah?" the man asked. "Accordin' to this tape, she does." she replied. Yoko played back the tape. Noodle's loud, glorious guitar riffs filled the room. "She betta do tha' tonight." Murdoc grumbled. Before the man walked out of the room, Yoko still had one more question. "Muds, yew do know tha' my birthday's comin' up, right?" Murdoc turned around. "So?" he asked. "It's December first, in case yew forgot." Yoko said. "I'll be fifteen." She sighed. She didn't want to grow up. "Wot do yew wan' me to do abou' 'i?" The bassist asked. The girl looked down. "I-I need to finish mixin' this." she mumbled. Murdoc stepped out of the room and marched to his Winnie.
"Are we there yet, Murdoc?" Yoko and Noodle whined. Noodle had a habit of copying what Yoko said and did. That was her way of learning English. "Would yew two shut your traps?" the man screamed. "Yo, Muds, pipe down! We're here!" Russel boomed. Sure enough, the group had pulled up to the Camden Brownhouse. The place was run down, old, and full of drunks. Even though she only gave the place a glance, the building was a faint memory for young Yoko. The Camden Brownhouse was her father's favorite bar. Everyone jumped out of the car, got their gear and went inside. Nobody was there yet, but that didn't stop Murdoc from waving like a big celebrity to the sleeping drunks. One of the drunks was awake, however. He had greasy blonde hair and was the lead singer in a now broken up metal band.
After setting up, the band chilled in the barren backstage. A few lawn chairs provided the uncomfortable seating. Noodle turned on her Gameboy. An hour or so passed by, and the bar was filling up rapidly. Yelling and clapping was now very apparent from the other side of the curtains. The barmaid was getting slow at filling the orders. After about two hours of mindless chatter, 2D brought up a decent question. "Murdoc, wha's our band called?" Murdoc looked at the blue haired singer. "Don't yew mean my band? We're called… eh…" Before Murdoc could continue, Noodle called out in frustration over her video game. "Gorilla! Gorillas!" she yelled. "'Ow about Gorillas?" Yoko asked. Murdoc stroked the stubble on his chin. "D'yew know, tha' ain't such a bad name, luv. Maybe pu' a z at the end or somefing." Russel raised his eyebrows. "You're right, it ain't too bad, Muds." Murdoc stood up to go and notify the bar owner of his band's name change. He had them originally booked under "Murdoc Niccals and the Bass Slayers", but the name Gorillaz was definitely an improvement. As the Satanist walked off the stage, he felt a pair of eyes following him. Murdoc turned around and saw nobody but the normal drunks that were sitting around big circular tables waiting for their drinks. The man grumbled and slithered to the owner's puny office. Meanwhile, the rest of Gorillaz were nervously awaiting their first live gig. "Anyone see a bathroom?" Yoko asked. She really, really needed to go. "I saw one outside. Be careful, though." Russel pointed outside the curtained stage. The lead guitarist hopped off the aging chair and slowly skipped off to the restroom. The thought of performing in a bar again made Yoko shiver. As she made her way over to the bathroom, many of the younger men whistled at her or made faces. She was fourteen, but she oddly resembled a seventeen year old due to her height. Yoko made her way into the bathroom. A short girl was smoking crack, which made Yoko shudder. After quickly doing her business, she washed her hands and scurried out the door, only to come face to face with a menacing man. Yoko turned her head away, not wanting to see who it was. If Yoko had looked, she would have seen a tall man with greasy blonde hair. His icy eyes were covered up with dark glasses and his breath was permanently stained with the smell of hard liquor. "Where do yew fink you're goin? You aren't leavin' me again." The man smiled evilly. The girl turned to face her own father, who was cowering over her like she was a helpless animal. "I'm no' goin' anywhere with yew." Yoko stared into his eyes with confidence. "I wouldn't be too sure about tha', luv. I've had some men out lookin' for ya. They found yew easily, bu' I felt tha' I should come an' ge' my own daughter." he snickered and put his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Don't touch me!" she screamed. "Don't talk like tha' to your father!" the man yelled before he slapped her over the head. Yoko's body hit the bathroom door. "Wot do yew want from me?" she asked. Yoko rose from the ground, sweat starting to make its way down her face. "Wot do I wan'? Wot do I want!" the man chuckled. "Yoko, yew shouldn't even be on this Earth! Yew were an accident! Nobody wants yew 'ere! I jus' wan' yew back so I can teach yew a lesson for leavin' your father!" He picked up his hand to slap her again. She caught his hand before he could do any damage. Anger was welling inside the girl. She thought of all the things her father had done to her and her mother. He couldn't be forgiven. Yoko wanted this man off the Earth, even though he was her own father. She had never felt such a burning passion to hurt anyone ever before. The girl closed her eyes and saw dark red figurews. Voices chanted in her head telling her to hurt him. Although Yoko was not an extremely violent person, she couldn't hold it in any longer. She opened her eyes again, and they flickered red. "Wot's wrong with yew, girl? Am I scarin' ya?" he laughed. Yoko no longer had control of her own body. After mumbling a few inaudible chants, her father collapsed to the floor, unable to move. He twitched as he became possessed by the demon inside of his daughter. Yoko could no longer control herself as the anger left her body. The power surge inside her had died down, and she was no longer possessed by the demon that had been inside her since birth. Yoko fell to the floor, sweating and in pain. It made no sense to her. Her head was thumping as she rose to see her possessed father. No matter how much she had hated this man, she would have never done something so severe to him willingly. "D-Dad? Are yew awright?" she asked. There was no response. She tried to find something in her mind that would fix what she had done. If she could make her father like this, she knew she could make him normal. After minutes of thinking, she came up with nothing. Yoko broke down and cried. She couldn't do anything. She put her head against the wall. "Wot's happened to me!" she screamed. The scream was just another noise to everyone else in the loud, obnoxious bar. Her fist pounded against the old wall as the familiar sound of Cuban heels entered the room. The sinister man was quite familiar with demonic possession. He muttered an unrecognizable sentence of supposed nonsense. Yoko stopped crying and turned around. "M-Murdoc?" she squeaked. "Since when did yew learn to possess useless blokes?" he asked, jokingly. "I-I don't know… is 'e awright now?" Murdoc chuckled at the panicky state of his guitarist. "He's fine, luv. Jus' go backstage again before yew make anotha scene." He shooed the girl away. Yoko's mind was aflutter with questions once again. She had no idea what had happened in that deserted hallway, but she knew what she was going to do about it. Yoko made the decision to forget everything. To her, nothing had happened in that old, moldy hallway. She had just gone to the bathroom and left. Nothing else.
"Ok, folks, we've got, eh, a grea' lineup for ya tonight. We've go' the bes' band in town, eh, Gorillaz, or somefing, 'ere. So, that's i'. Enjoy the shoooow…" the bar owner moaned into the old microphone. He took a swig of his beer before stepping off the stage and letting Gorillaz take the spotlight. As Murdoc, 2D, Russel, Noodle and Yoko stepped out on stage, they really only had the complete attention of one man. Mr. Whiffy Smiffy was sitting at the main bar watching as the band walked out from behind the curtain. In his hand was a small shot of vodka, and a small pistol was in his pocket. He was fully aware that other record companies had showed up to try and sign the small band. To him, it didn't matter. He was able to pull any string he wanted so Gorillaz could be his. The man snickered while another shot was placed in front of him. The band took only a minute to set up before the melody to Ghost Train pumped through the entire bar. The EMI representative was taken out of his intoxication; the music was the best he had ever heard. The melodies continued for about a half hour, and by then, the man was mesmerized. He needed to meet this man who had told him to come here. All he knew was that his name was Murdoc Niccals. He sighed and took out a contract that would get them signed to the Parlophone label.
The band walked off the stage with people clapping and hollering for more. Murdoc had finally hit the jackpot. He sauntered off the stage behind everyone else, taking time to bask in his short fifteen minutes of fame for the night. The rest of the band had walked over to the bar. 2D sat up on the stool beside Russel. "Yo, can we have two beers, please?" he called out to the bartender. Two beers were chucked at them almost instantaneously. Yoko pulled herself onto the stool next to 2D. "Where's this man Muds said was comin' to sign us?" Yoko asked as she pulled Noodle into her lap. "Dunno. Doubt 'e even came." 2D mumbled. Yoko looked around for her father. He was nowhere to be found. She did, however, spot an older man looking at her from across the bar. She turned away before the man got up and made his way over to her. "Oi, aren't yew the guitarist for Gorillaz?" Yoko turned around. "We both are." she replied, pointing to Noodle. "I'm Mr. Whiffy Smiffy from EMI… wot d'yew say we make a little contract 'ere? Gorillaz'd be a grea' asset for EMI, an' we'd…" The man rambled on and on until Noodle interrupted. "Noodle bored!" she yelled. The representative looked down at her, trying to prevent exploding in rage. Noodle hopped off of Yoko's lap. "I-I'm really sorry, she's very new to English and she's jus' so young." Yoko tried to explain Noodle's short attention span. "'Ello, Whiffy." a voice said from behind her. "So, you're Murdoc Niccals, eh? Nice to meet yew." Mr. Smiffy stuck out a hand, which Murdoc didn't shake. "Jus' gimme a contract." Murdoc said. Yoko glared at Murdoc for being so rude. "Oh, sorry, and a rum!" he added. A whole bottle of rum was tossed down the bar and landed in Murdoc's hand. The other man took out the contract and a pen and handed it to the bassist. "Jus' sign 'ere, initials there, and then we can plan your signin' party!" Murdoc grabbed the pen from the sketchy man's hand. "Muds, yew have to read a contract before yew sign i'!" Yoko scolded him and stole the contract from his grip. "Wot are yew doin, yew bloody rugrat! Hand 'i ova!" Murdoc screeched. Yoko could barely read the contract because of the flailing she needed to do to keep it out of Murdoc's reach. She could make out, however, that it was a five year contract and that they would have Damon Albarn overseeing all of their projects. The girl stopped flailing at the sight of the Blur frontman's name. "D-Damon Albarn? We're workin' with Damon Albarn?" she asked. The rep shook his head. "Muds, sign the contract!" Yoko screamed. "Then hand the bloody thing over, yew git!" Yoko threw the paper at him, grumbling. Murdoc signed and initialed, and Gorillaz were officially signed to Parlophone, the label of the Beatles.
After shaking a few hands, the newly signed Gorillaz piled onto the car and drove back to their beloved Kong Studios, where party preparations had already begun. When Murdoc pulled into the car park, people were lingering all around Kong. Decorations were hung up, animals were running wild, and vodka flowed like Niagara Falls. As everyone stepped out of the car and went upstairs, hundreds of people were partying already. It was nearly midnight, but little did Yoko know that the night had just begun.
YOKO'S POV
I had no idea that we were going to have a record signing party that night. I figured that that Whiffy Smiffy man wanted it to be tomorrow, but apparently not. Kong had been turned into a bigger party pad than it was before, and everywhere you looked, you could see mobs of people. Murdoc headed away to a group of ladies instantly, while Russel went to the food table. Noodle saw a man in a bear suit, and ran to him. 2D obviously had no idea what was happening. "'Ow can someone invite so many people to a party within a few hours?" I thought out loud. "I-I'm no' sure why we're even havin' a party, anyway…" he said while staring off into space. "'Ey, cutie, you're comin' wif us!" A small group of girls whisked 2D away, causing him to blush intensely. I laughed until I realized that I was all alone in a sea of people. I scoured the overwhelming crowd for people I knew. I was getting angry knowing that everyone had left me, so I headed to my room. Guys who were considerably older than me followed me with their wandering eyes as I ran into the lift. A man was sleeping up against the wall. I went to my room, slightly disturbed about the many people that currently inhabited my domain. Shuddering, I walked out of the lift. There weren't as many people on the third floor. Relieved, I walked into my room to find two teens kissing on my bed. I was once again, slightly disturbed. The boy looked up to me, frightened. "Go away." I hissed. "Yew act like yew own this place! Yew don't live 'ere!" the girl growled at me. "I'm the Gorillaz guitarist. This is my room, so get out." I hissed again. "Prove i'!" the snobbish blonde girl asked. I looked at her. She had an excessively short miniskirt on, along with a pink cut off tank top. Her hair was in a high side ponytail, and you couldn't see her real face under her mask of makeup. The boy was modestly dressed in jeans and a band logo shirt. I couldn't think of any way to prove my position better than to go and pick up my favorite green Les Paul. "Wot the 'ell are yew doin?" the girl continued in a shrill voice. I plugged my guitar into the amp, turned up the volume all the way and started belting out Ghost Train as loud as possible. The girl screamed, slapped the boy, and ran out of the room. The boy flopped onto the bed, holding his hand to his face in pain. I put my guitar back in its stand and went to the boy's side. "Are yew ok?" I chuckled. "I's no' funny!" he yelled. "Relax!" I grumbled. "W-Would yew min' getting' out o' 'ere? I kinda wanted to ge' away from the party." I avoided his gaze. He looked at me with a vicious smile. "Why would yew wan' me to leave now, luv?"
AUTHOR'S POV
The boy snaked dangerously close to Yoko. "P-Please, leave me alone." she said with a twinge of anger in her voice. "Why should I?" he asked before sloppily pressing his lips to hers. The girl was petrified. "Stop i'!" she yelled before kicking him straight in the stomach. The boy looked up at her, outraged. "You've go' problems!" he yelled. "Really… big… problems!" he continued, struggling to breathe. Yoko felt familiar images flashing into her head. "I'm sorry… I really am, i's just tha' I… I don' know wha's wrong with me." she sat beside the boy, who was now sitting back in his place on the bed. After minutes of silence, Yoko confronted the boy. "You're a womanizer, aren't yew?" she asked. He took a strand of the guitarist's hair and twirled it. "I guess yew could say tha'." he replied. "My dad works for Parlophone, so I come to all of his groupie parties." Yoko just looked at him. "Oh." she said. The boy put his arm around the girl. "So, can we, eh, start this over again?" he asked. Yoko looked at him. "I'd rather no', because yew know I can kick your lazy arse. So, could yew please leave now? I don' want anyone in my room when I'm no' there." The boy looked terrified of the half Japanese girl. "A-Awright. I'm assuming you're leavin' too, then?" he asked. "Yeah. Don' come findin' me, because yew won't." Yoko strode out of the room, the boy following straight behind her.
"A-A-An' I'm goin' to thank m-my band ova 'ere. They've h-h-elped me ge' this r-r-reallly big check. Bu' no' much. So, uh, thanks for the giant check… and I'll see yew blokes a' the bank! Huh-huh-huh! Now sod off, everyone!" Murdoc warbled to the crowd. He was standing on the food table with two women holding a bottle of tequila and the monstrous check that EMI had made for him. The Satanist was over the moon with the popularity he was getting. 2D was getting quite some attention from the ladies, Russel was asleep on the couch, and Noodle had been zipping around like a Japanese bullet train all night. The crowd applauded and soon most of the people had filed out of the building. Murdoc took his dates to the Winnebago, 2D watched a zombie film and Russel continued sleeping. Yoko was tucked in her bed sleeping as well, even though it was 6 AM. However, at Kong Studios, it was almost always rainy and dark. Yoko tossed and turned in bed. She was exhausted from the gig, the party, almost everything. Just before she fell asleep, she heard her doorknob turn gently. Tiny footsteps were apparent on the cold mahogany floor. Yoko cracked her eye open to see a pajama clad Noodle carrying a stuffed panda into her room. "Noodle-chan, why're yew in 'ere? Is the thunder scarin' yew?" she asked. "Hai, Yoko-sama. It scare Noodle. Noodle sleep with Yoko-sama? Murdocu-sama in Winnebago, 2D-sama asleep on couch, Noodle don't know where Russel-sama is." She looked afraid. "Sure, Noods, climb in." Yoko patted the empty side of her bed. Noodle threw her panda on the bed and jumped onto the mattress, causing the bed to shake. "Night, Noods." Yoko mumbled. "Night-night, Yoko-sama."
Was that a good chapter? I hope so. Yoko's got a little attitude, doesn't she? Just so you guys know, I really don't like writing with cuss words, which is why I don't use them a lot. Heehee, this is just getting more and more fun to write. I'll have the next chapter up in a day or two. See ya!