A few days passed, and there was no sign of Zowie. Either he left for Planet Gitaroo, or he's trying to find his way out of the junkyard. The TV had a channel that looked out to a security camera near the front door, so I kept it tuned at all times. Sure enough, Zowie was back.
I enjoyed punching the lights out of him the other day, so when Zowie was in the vicinity of the camera, U-1 played his gitaroo into the intercom. As soon as he went towards the door, I pressed the PUNCH button, and it worked again.

That made me wonder if E-Gor knew about this so-called Planet Gitaroo. You remember E-Gor, from Chapter 3? Anyway, I picked up the phone can dialed.
"E-gor? Tom. I'm in Chicago."
"And I'm in my lab!" he said jokingly
"Listen, what do you know about Planet Gitaroo?"
"That place is home to this crazy ancient musical weapon."
"Do the words Emperor Zowie ring a bell?"
"I think it's pronounced 'Zoe'. Just by coincidence, I happen to have a dossier of him. Let me check..."
There was a pause. I peered over to the TV, and U-1 gave me the Not-Yet gesture.
"Here it is. Emperor Zowie is greedy, rich, and his lifelong dream is to own all the gitaroos in existence so he can rule the planet. He can't resist listening to Jazz music and J-pop."
"That's all I need to know. Thanks!"

I hung up.
"He's just woke up!" yelled U-1.
I turned to the intercom and sang a bit of "Minnie the Moocher". I pressed the PUNCH button, but the Emperor was smart enough to dodge the attack. I also noticed a TRAP button on the intercom. This apartment building seems SO sophisticated!
U-1 spotted Zowie turn to leave, so I missed my chance.

Later at the studio, I met up with Teriyaki Yoko and the others at our booth. The next "Tommy" songs on the agenda were "Champagne" and "Smash the Mirror", the former being a song made for the movie version. I wanted Egg-yolk to sing on these. It's been a while since the last time she sang solo, and I wonder if her singing has improved. But I stayed and did the "See me, feel me" bits.

Me, U-1, and Egg-yolk went to Windy Tacos for lunch.
"These burritos aren't quite like the ones they make in California," she said, "Still it's good."
"I'm starting to miss Chipotle." I murmured.
"Listen, Hon, I wanna return the favor. I sang your song, now how about you do one of mine?"
"Which one?"
"Maybe 'Taste of Teriyaki'. You know. Wild and violent flame?"
"That's your highest charting solo single, but it only reached #40-something."
Big mistake! Egg-yolk zapped me.
"No offense. But I'd be happy to do it."
"Which version? The album version, or the radio version?"
"Which one has 'devil' in the lyrics?"
"The album version."
"I'll do the radio version."
We shook hands and went back to the studio.

Our version sounded like R&B rather than J-Pop, but that's what we were aiming for. Egg-yolk was impressed, then left with Slim Guy. I was left with U-1, Wayne, Garth, and the house band. We spent the rest of our studio time doing the Wayne's World theme, and then St. James Infirmary, then called it quits.

When I got back, I looked out the window. Zowie was making his way across the street to my side. I phoned Egg-yolk and told her to sing through the intercom to lure Zowie. I turned on the TV, and waited for him to stand by the buzzers. I went to the intercom, alerted Egg-yolk I was going to lower the boom, pressed the TRAP button, and that sent Zowie down a trap door.

I doubted he would escape. Who's the wild and violent and flame now?

I went back to the building where another single was about to be cut. It was "Taste of Teriyaki" backed with "St. James Infirmary". U-1 got a cell phone call from Pica, and we got invited to another rent party. I turned to Egg-yolk, standing near Slim Guy.
"You wanna come?"
"No thanks, Hon. Me and Slim are gonna do something else tonight."
"Are you two having an affair or something?"
"NO!" she gasped. Denial at its best, I thought.

I'm not sure If I told you yet, but If there's one thing I like about Teriyaki Yoko, that ought to be the fact that she calls everyone 'Hon', as if she was a waitress in a greasy diner. I bet that must be a summer job she had as a teen. I'll have to ask the next time I see her.

I walked back to get my guitar, and gitaroo just to show off, then hailed down a cab. As soon as I got in I saw Zowie on the corner, but I took no notice that he started to follow us in another cab.

At the rent party I got on the bandstand with U-1 and the Gitaroo Men. I heard a familiar yell of "GITAROO MAN!" and I turned around to see Zowie, coming closer and closer.
"WOW!" I squealed.
Remembering his weakness was jazz music, me and U-1 donned out gitaroos (with robotic getup and all), and we jumped into "St. James Infirmary". That did the trick! He climbed onto the stage and, with his own gitaroo, played along.

U-1 tapped him on the shoulder.
"So what do you say? Can we make friends with you and forget about ruling the world for a while?"
"Well..." he started "All right."
Me and U-1 gave a high-five.
"BUT..." continued Zowie, turning to me, "Don't ever call me 'Zowie'. I know the spelling seems to fool you, but it's pronounced 'Zoe'."
"It's a deal, Zoe" I said, shaking hands (I had my fingers crossed on my other hand).

I walked off stage and, still in gitaroo garb, found a couple of arabian dancers. I don't know what type of rent party Pico had planned. A dancer in pink dress, pink mouth cover, pink turbin, and black hair, came to me.
"Would you care to dance?" she asked.
I agreed, and we did so. She sounded a bit familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
"Have we met?" I hesitated.
"I don't know, but I could guess by any friends you have."
"Well, there's Teriyaki Yoko to name one."
"Teriyaki Yoko?! AHA!" she yelled, pushing me.
My gitaroo strap broke and the gitaroo fell (but didn't break), and I flashed to my normal self. The dancer took off her turbin and mouth cover, revealing an unfortunately familiar head.

RAMMY!

"I got you now, VILLAGE BOY!" she yelled.
Everyone gasped. What was Rammy doing here? I turned around and saw MilkCan on the bandstand, but I was so chicken. I grabbed my gitaroo and made a break for it.
With gitaroo in hand, I turned into a ghost (first time I used two transformations at once) and flew back to the pad. I think I lost her.

Then the light flashed before my eyes, and I woke up. It was all a dream, and I was still at the rent party. The dancers weren't there anymore, and I sighed. I pulled out a postcard and began to write.

Dear Reb,
Having a wonderful time in Chicago. Good friends, good galactic stuff, and good songs. Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Tom

I flew back to the pad and tossed the postcard in the mailbox and called it a night. U-1 was, at last, safe to go home.