It was the middle of April in Essex. A heavy rainstorm showered the trashy city which covered the afternoon sky in thick, dark gray clouds. The rain poured hard on the roof of Kong Studios, loud enough for the residents within the mansion to hear. The usual murder of crows that flew over the graveyard/landfill fled for shelter before the storm came. The zombies slumbering in their graves would still rise after the sun set, no matter the weather over their undead heads.

Within the depths of the mansion, each male member of Gorillaz kept themselves in their rooms. This left Noodle all alone and yearning for some attention. She couldn't go outside and explore without one of the boys watching her. And the weather didn't look like it was going to let up any time soon. So, she was trapped in his godforsaken mansion with nothing to do. Everyone was too busy to give her some kind of entertainment.

Busy, busy, busy; it was all she heard come from the men's mouths these days. This made Noodle upset. To express her anger towards them, Noodle began a vow of silence and had ignored them for a day and a half now. They never noticed her sudden quietness. This had Noodle steaming with rage. She stomped off to the lobby to get as far away from the men. She plopped herself on the couch, propped her feet on the cushions (without taking off her shoes), and pulled her Gameboy out from her jacket pocket. She turned on her Pokémon game and mashed the buttons furiously through battles. How dare they ignore her like she didn't exist. A wave a sadness hit her, replacing her burning rage. She just wanted a friend to play with and talk to. Though the language barrier kind of made all sorts of communication difficult.

The monotone ring of the doorbell echoed through the still air of the lobby. Noodle unglued her eyes from her game at the sudden noise to look at the dusty, glass double doors. There was a young adult man outside the door, progressively getting wetter with each passing second, wearing a white uniform. He had a clipboard in his hands, trying to keep it dry with his arm. What Noodle noticed was the large crate on a red trolley next to him. She wasn't supposed to open the door for strangers but what he had looked important. Noodle hopped off the couch and pushed the door open outwards, letting the man hurry himself and the crate inside the dry mansion. Water droplets dripped off the man and the wooden crate onto the tile floor.

"Sweet bullocks," the man commented, wringing the water out of his shirt and waving the clipboard to dry the papers on it. "This rain in bloody murder, ain't it?" He knelt to Noodle's eye level. His eyes glanced over at his clipboard once then twice then returned his sight on the girl. "Alright, girlie, I'm going to have you sign these papers because there seems to be no adults around and I want to get the hell outta here," the man said. He flipped the clipboard around to face Noodle and removed a ballpoint pen from the rim of his hat, handing it to her.

Noodle didn't say a word and took the pen in her right hand. She signed the dotted line at the bottom in Kanji then handed the pen back to the man. He didn't check over the papers and shoved the pen back on his hat. The man dumped the crate onto the floor with a heavy thud. He took the trolley and exited the building, driving off into the rainy afternoon. Now, Noodle was face to face with the unknown crate.

The crate was a tall as Noodle was and labeled by the same company her own crate was delivered by: FedEx. There was no return address on the label from what she saw. Her reading English wasn't the best, but she could read well enough with practice. On the damp, plastic covered label, the name that the crate was delivered to was Russel. This made Noodle think for a bit. She was curious as to what the man could have ordered. He always talked about getting more rare records to add to his collection. Perhaps it was those records inside the crate?

It made Noodle's interest grow and a mischievous smile pulled on the corners of her mouth. He didn't have to have these records, did he? The lid of the crate was on too tight for her fingers to pry it off and it was too heavy for her to lift it. How could records be so heavy? A plan popped into Noodle's head at that exact moment.

Noodle hopped into an attack stance and gave the crate the hardest crane kick she could muster with her strength. The crate fell over on its side with a loud crash against the tile. A piece of broken crate plank flew off the lid and hit the door leading to the basement. Noodle bit her tongue; that wasn't supposed to happen. She ran over to the front of the crate and frowned at the sight. There was good sizeable horizonal hole in the lid. Curious, Noodle crouched and peered through the hole with one eye. She could hear shuffling inside and saw something moving the shadows. Was it an animal? It wasn't strange for Russel to order exotic animals online. She gently knocked on the crate twice.

There was a knock in reply.

Noodle squinted her eye to see little better. Suddenly, a white eye peered back at the girl. She gasped in fright and fell on her backside. There were giggles coming from the creature and Noodle pouted. They did that on purpose! But that meant a person inside, just like she had been several years ago. Noodle's fingers gripped the broken plank and she pulled with all her might. The plank easily ripped away from the crate and the person kicked another plank, which Noodle jumped out of the way as it hit the basement door also. Noodle dropped the board to the floor and waited in front of the crate.

A young boy, no older than Noodle, wiggled himself out of the hole they together created. He fell out the crate when his whole body escaped the confines of the box, rolling over and landing on his backside. He was naked except for a pair of black spandex shorts. His hair was a messy bird's nest of black hair that reached the middle of his back. Noodle could see his ribs poking out through his brown skin from malnutrition. Blueish-black bruises and track marks decorated his arms and back. A yellow cattle tag was attached to his left earlobe with the number 23 written in faded black ink. The boy had a black simian tail connected to the base of his spine. His milk white eyes wandered, looking at everything in the lobby with curiosity.

Noodle edged closer to the boy. "Um, hallo?" Noodle greeted in broken English nervously. She waved her hand to get the boy's attention. Was he friend or foe? Noodle was unsure and kept her guard up.

The boy and his tail perked up at Noodle's voice. He smiled wide, baring his teeth at her and his eyes narrowed with contentment. He looked at his hand then mimicked the motion that she made. "Hiiii…" he said, stretching out the word. The boy raised his arms over his head and yawned. His joints and bones popped and cracked as a result. He got to his feet and looked over at Noodle. He was about a head taller than the girl. Without warning, the boy began to circle Noodle. He raised her arm and sniffed at her skin. He lifted the back of her jacket and fitted his head under the jacket next to her back. Noodle squealed and snatched her jacket away, glaring at him. He then lifted her radio helmet off her head and put it on his own head.

"Give back!" Noodle whined, reaching on her tiptoes for her helmet.

Seeing the frustration on her face, the boy put the helmet back on her head. He frowned and tucked his tail between his legs. "Sorry…" he said, lowering his head. "No mad at me…?"

Noodle fixed her helmet's placement and brushed the hair out of her eyes. She gazed at the boy and realized that she never even introduced herself. She waved her hand again, grabbing the boy's attention once more. Noodle pointed to herself. "I am Noodle," she said.

"I am Nudill?" the boy repeated, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

"Hai!" Noodle agreed happily. "I am Noodle!"

Noodle then pointed at the boy. "Name?" she asked.

The boy turned his sight away from Noodle and scratched at his cattle tag, not saying a single word.

"Noodle, you okay?" the voice of 2D called out from the basement stairwell. His footsteps became louder as he drew closer to the door. "I thought I heard something break up there…"

The sound of a different person's voice frightened the boy. He fled and wiggled himself back into the familiar confines of the FedEx crate. He watched the door across the room open and a man emerged from the depths of the basement. His skin was pale like his stayed inside too long, short purple head on his head, and his onyx eyes were never-ending black holes in his head. The man was tall, which intimidated the boy and he crawled further from the hole in the lid.

2D walked over to Noodle. He was immediately barraged by fast pace Japanese from the girl. Noodle could barely contain her excitement.

He covered Noodle's mouth and said, "Slow down, Noodle. I can't understand what you're saying."

Grabbing the man's hand, Noodle pulled 2D over to the partially open crate. She made him bend down so he could look inside the gap in the lid.

Noodle knocked on the crate twice again then paused for a moment. She didn't know the boy's name, but she was quick on her toes as she always was. "Zero," Noodle called into the box. She knew nothing about the boy, so she picked a name that reflected the unknown.

Zero's fingers curled around the wooden board below the hole and his eyes stared at the two people in front of him. He was confused by the name. "Zero?" he questioned.

Noodle nodded her head quickly and pointed at him. "Hai! You are Zero!" she said with a smile on her face.

"I am Zero…" he said, still a little confused. Then he proudly declared, "I am Zero!" Yet, he hadn't left the safety of his box home.

"Zero," Noodle called his new name again in a cheerful tone to coax the boy out of hiding. "2D friend, no scared."

There was a moment and Zero gradually crawled out the hole but kept his eyes glues on 2D. In worry, the boy clutched a greyish stuffed cat close to him. The cat was worn and grimy yet, it had a happy smile on its face. It was also missing a black button eye. Zero's tail wag to and fro; the sight of it amused Noodle but shocked 2D. He had never seen a human with a tail before, only in movies and the like. 2D glanced over to the damaged FedEx then back at the bizarre child. A thought began to form in 2D's vacant mind. It caused the little hamster in his brain to wake from its slumber and it started running on its wheel. Then it hit him like one of Murdoc's many punches to the side of the head. His eye widened and he blinked several times.

He looked similar to Russel.