Phase 3*

Noodle stares at the newly released article about ... A new Gorillaz album? What is this? She is confused about how they could have possibly decided to release a new album without her.. Plastic Beach, was it? Well, the name is catchy. As she lays in the cruise ship bed trying to research more into this new development, (maybe it's just a rumor), a realization hits her. Who is playing guitar? Surely her boys could not have found another guitarist... Right? Russel wouldn't have allowed it.. Right? Shaking her head, Noodle shuts her laptop, stuffing it into a bag. Standing, she goes over to the window to gaze out at the endless sea, a strange sense of dread eating at the back of her mind. Her eyes narrowed as she thought she could make out the faint outline of... Were those jets? Out here? That's not right. And there's two of them, too, she realizes. Well, maybe there's an aircraft carrier this way that they're flying to? What else could it be, right?

Grumbling, Noodle begins to assemble all of her things, just in case. She learned a long time ago that she needs to follow her gut instincts whenever she got them. After learning years ago that she had been created to be a super soldier, she had decided that she would listen to any instinctual feelings of danger, just because she hasn't been when she has feelings like that before.

After having packed all of her belongings, (a small bag full), and double-checking that her guitar is safely in its case, Noodle prepares to locate a lifeboat to set her things in. Pulling her mask over her face, she grabs both bags and opens the door to her suite, stepping out into the corridor. This particular cruise ship is sailing to a destination she can't pronounce, (she has tried, definitely,) and she has no clue why there are no other passengers going to said place. Hell, even *she* doesn't know why she is going there. The coordinates of the destination are interesting, but other than that, she has no reason to.

As Noodle rushes down the corridor, she keeps an eye out for windows. The jets are fast approaching, and she is now convinced that the people piloting the aircrafts are definitely not friendly. After all, why would bomber jets be flying around here if they weren't preparing for some sort of attack?

Once Noodle locates the part of the ship where lifeboats are stored, she sighs. Trouble always seems to make its way to her, and quite frankly, it's frustrating. Then again, the ship ride up until this point has been awfully dull, she thinks as she inflates the boat. Placing her things in once the rubber is completely filled, she decides to wait just awhile longer before pushing the raft into the ocean due to the possibility that her suspicions are wrong and the planes change their courses. She is definitely hoping for it, as she would rather not have to deal with ... Whatever it is the pilots are planning on doing.

When the planes don't change course after five minutes, the teen decides that enough is enough and pushes her raft in, praying to whatever higher power exists that nothing gets ruined by the seawater. That guitar was expensive, damn it!

Noodle watches the raft drift for a moment before noting the direction of the wind and then quickly rushing back to her suite. Slamming the door behind herself, she sits down on the booth seat to catch a breath. The jet engines can be heard, now, and are nearly close enough to be flying overhead. Noodle is scowling, now, again wondering why shit like this always happens to her.

The entire ship shakes, now. Noodle supposes that the planes have begun firing at the enormous ship. There's a frantic knock on her suite door. With no immediate answer, the door opens. "Madam! The ship is under attack for pirates! I've been sent to escort you to the lifeboats." A man with a strange accent says urgently.

A split second later, Noodle is on her feet and taking a silver briefcase down from a shelf. ".. Madam?" There's a tone of nervousness in the man's voice.

She opens the case, revealing a machine gun. "Oh!" The man says with surprise. Noodle cocks it, storming out of the room. "Um, I.. Oh dear."

Once she is on the deck, Noodle, still scowling, begins firing up at the planes, littering the metal with holes. She finally manages to get some of her bullets into the cockpit of one of the fighter jets, causing it to immediately crash down into the ocean. Unfortunately, Noodle has her attention directed at the downed aircraft for too long. Hearing a strange whistling coming from above, the Japanese teen looks upwards to see a strangely familiar metal cylinder falling from the sky. "Screw you!!" She screams up at the remaining plane, abandoning her gun and leaping down over the edge of the boat.

The impact of water hitting her body after leaping down from a hundred or so feet in the air shocks Noodle, stunning her momentarily. Once she can move again, swimming away from the sinking vessel as quickly as she can. Seriously, though, she can't figure out why pirates would attack a mostly-empty cruise ship and not.. Pirate anything. Nothing had been taken, all the two planes had done was sink the boat. Now far enough away from the descending wreckage, Noodle treads water and looks around for the lifeboat she had sent off before the attack. Spotting it, she begins swimming to it.

Upon arrival, she lifts herself into the raft and immediately collapses with exhaustion. "Where do I go from here..?" Noodle asks aloud.

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Hello, again, world!

This scene will probably be familiar to practically everyone who reads it. Most of the dialogue is from the "On Melancholy Hill" video.

Thanks a lot to the reviewers who reviewed my first chapter. I was ecstatic when I saw them, I knew I had to write another chapter! Keep up the good work, friends! ;)

Hope your day has been well.

Until next time,

Liz