U-1 woke up in a room, pitch black, unable to see anything. He felt a helmet on his head and knew instantly he was Gitaroo Man, but why? He groped around, trying to see with his hands, until he bumped into something that appeared to be glass. He followed the glass wall with his hand on it so he did not lose track of where it was. Suddenly, he heard a familiar yelp.

"U-1! U-1! HELP!"

"Puma!" he let go of the glass wall and ran as fast as he could, following the whines of his beloved dog. He knew he was getting closer when the crying got louder, but as soon as it got loud enough for him to know he arrived, he heard a metallic clank.

"P-Puma?"

Suddenly, a spotlight flashed on Puma, in his AC30 form, on the ground motionless. Horrified, U-1 walked to his side and picked him up. He was deactivated, everything erased.

"Puma! Puma, wake up!" U-1 sobbed, "Wake up...please..."

He heard the sour note of a Gitaroo and immediately felt a Gitaroo beam hit him right in the head, any harder and it would have rendered him unconscious or worse. He got up, afraid knowing that his pal was gone, and probably his Gitaroo along with it, but...if he was "deactivated", he should have turned back to his regular self, unless...

He saw his Gitaroo flash in front of him. Nervous, he reached out to grab it, and battle whoever messed with Puma, but as soon as his hand touched his weapon, he felt a burning shock, and drew back his hand in pain. He saw a silhouette on the neck of the Gitaroo that looked like a hand. Someone was holding it.

"Hey, you!" U-1 exclaimed, "Who are you? Show yourself!" his voice trembled, but he tried to act strong. The Gitaroo got closer and the figure kneeled down. The light on the Gitaroo flashed and U-1 saw who it really was.

"Zowie? No...NO!"

Zowie aimed the Gitaroo at U-1, and strummed another sour note, the light was blinding.

"AAAAHHHHHH! AH! AH!"

"U-1, wake up!"

"AHH! AAAH!"

"Hey!" U-1 felt a paw bop on his head, cold with sweat, "Wake up!"

U-1 opened his eyes and got up, he was in his bed, in his room, both he and Puma alive. It was a dream.

"Had another bad dream again?"

Well, this felt awkward, "...Yes."

"Was Zowie in it?"

"...Yeah."

Puma sighed, "Well, I don't blame you, his ugly mug can give me nightmares sometimes..."

"Puma, it wasn't about his 'ugly mug', this week is the first time in years that I actually had a dream like this. The last time I remember was when I was sleeping with Kirah under the tree, ever since then, it's been alright until now."

If Puma could shrug, he would, because he had no idea himself, "Well, maybe a visit to Pico's flower shop will get this anxiety out of ya. C'mon and get dressed, it feels wrong to see you with a shirt off."

U-1 blushed at that comment, but did as he said.

After getting dressed and eating breakfast, he and Puma leisurely walked to Pico's flower shop, the Gitaroo hero trying to get that dream out, once or twice, Puma would step on one of his toes to get him out of his head, it would work sometimes, but other times it would just cause pain to his feet.

"I know you're kinda nervous about what happened yesterday and last night in your dreams, but rub it off for now. Last thing you want is for Pico to worry."

"I know, I know," U-1 replied, knowing full well that, if Pico worries, she gets a little clumsy trying to help with whatever you needed or wanted, and they were going to her flower shop, and God knows the ways you could utterly destroy a store like that through being a klutz.

Though this was being thought by the same person who still could not stand on a skateboard after years and years of trying, and at one point almost took down a few plants up on top of a shelf when he was trying to catch himself. Needless to say, Pico was not exactly cheerful about that event.

"But we're only going to be there for a short time," U-1 said to Puma, "then it's straight to Planet Gitaroo." He smiled, "I can't wait to see Kirah, I miss her so much!"

"Miss who?"

U-1 gulped, in seconds flat he found his favorite hat swiped from his head, the sound of a skateboard zooming past as it happened.

"Hey, Kazuya, give me back my hat!" U-1 exclaimed, a little startled about the sudden intrusion.

"Or what, you gonna air guitar me to death?" he tossed the hat back at him, "now, who's this Kirah that you're missing and such? Someone I should know about?"

Oh boy, how was he going to get out of this one? He sure wished Kazuya knew Puma could talk, because he was on his own right now.

"Kirah...she's my... Older cousin! Yeah, I haven't seen her in years. She and I do everything together!"

That was the worst lie Kazuya had ever heard, but there was no use in trying to be nosy, so he just nodded his head, "Where're you heading off to at this time?"

U-1 felt cold, Kazuya was older than he was, and his voice was deeper, too. He sounded almost exactly like Zowie, and it was making him nervous, "T-t-to Pico's of course! I figured I should pay her a visit and...stuff."

Kazuya laughed, "What a coincidence, I was going over there myself," he smirked, "How about we walk together, pal?" he said as he skated right next to him and slapped him on the back. Yeah, great, it was like walking with Zowie over to Kirah's house, it felt wrong.

"Yeah, sure."

He was so glad they only had one more block to go until they reached Pico's shop, and when they arrived, they were greeted with happy J-pop and a strong scent of flowers everywhere. On the door it had the sign "Come in on other side." Doing what they were told, Kazuya, U-1, and Puma were sprayed with hose water.

"Oh, I'm sorry, boys!" Pico said while turning the hose off, "I wasn't thinking, just listening to this wonderful music."

Kazuya attempted to block that spray with his skateboard, but failed miserably, "It's alright, Pico..."

U-1 had nothing to shield him with, and was more drenched than the skateboarder was, he groaned, now freezing cold and glaring at the dry and happy Puma who used his own best friend as a shield, barking at him as if to be a tease.

Pico gave them both towels, "So, what brings you guys here? Not to buy flowers, I'm sure," she giggled.

"Well, I saw this," at 'this', Kazuya put a hand on U-1's head, "roaming around the streets attempting to navigate to your shop without my help, and Lord knows I'm the only one who knows how to get to your shop blindfolded while walking backwards, so I decided to drag him over here."

U-1 was not amused and rolled his eyes, "I know my way to her shop, thank you very much."

"Sure you do, I bet you're good at skateboarding, too."

Pico sprayed Kazuya and U-1 with water again, "Hey, enough, you two. You're acting like kids."

The doorbell in the shop rang, a customer arrived.

"Hey, Kazuya, could you get that, please? I would, but I'm all muddy," Pico giggled sheepishly. Kazuya did not want to be sprayed again, so he obeyed.

U-1 could not believe it, he and Pico were actually alone! He was going to cherish this moment until Puma threw a rock at him to get his attention. His head now hurting, he glared at Puma as the pup motioned him to come closer.

"What is it?" U-1 whispered. Puma smirked and gave him a letter.

"It's for you, Mr. Charmer."

Confused, U-1 opened the letter and read it.

Dear Gitaroo Man,

I don't know if you'll get this, maybe you're too busy with things on earth or whatnot, but I'm just writing to say that I miss you, I know you're only going to come over here if there's trouble. If that was the case, then I wish that something would happen just so you can leave for Planet Gitaroo. The people here think you've forgotten about them, and I feel I'm the only one who still has some hope left in them that you'll return.

Well, don't worry about it too much. I know you don't have a lot of time on your hands. Goodbye, Gitaroo Man, please reply.

Lo- Sincerely,

Kirah.

U-1 noticed that she scribbled out the word "love" out and chuckled, but he did feel bad.

"Hey, Puma, we gotta go."

"Well, we would if the Woofer-Jet stops screwing around on me when I try to turn it on. Last time I did, I shook, I heard laughing, and then I blacked out. When I woke up, I realized that the jet spat me out like chewed gum. Since that's our only ticket to Planet Gitaroo, we can't go until it stops."

U-1 sighed, "Oh well," he whispered an apology to Kirah and went back to Pico, where he saw something very unusual happen.

"Oh dear," Pico knelt down to get a closer look at a wilting flower, "what's wrong, little flower? Don't die on me now, I just watered you."

U-1 saw Pico close her eyes, she looked like she was concentrating, then suddenly the withered flower brought itself back up again. Pico opened her eyes again and giggled, happy that the flower was back to normal again. U-1 and Puma, on the other hand, were flabbergasted at what just happened.

"Did she-, I just-, she..." U-1 stammered and then shook his head, "It's best not to ask."

Kirah was practicing her Gitaroo, the same as always, trying to get stronger. She sounded a little off-key, and once she noticed this, she stopped. She looked at her Gitaroo, it was glowing dimmer and dimmer, a sign that she needed to rest to recharge her Gitaroo. She sighed and wiped any sweat off of her brow, then looked at her Gitaroo again, what was wrong with her? Why was she not getting stronger? She trained as hard as humanly possible, there should be no reason that she should not be getting better.

Maybe it was because she had no one beside her to play with her.

She looked up at the starry night sky, it was a full moon out tonight, and billions of stars were out tonight. She wondered if one of them was where Gitaroo Man lived.

"Wherever you are, Gitaroo Man," she said sadly, "I hope you're happy, that's all I ask. There's no use in wishing for something that will never come."

The former Gravillian warrior saw a black dot out the corner of her eye. She turned around and saw the black cat heading towards her.

"Ming Ming?" she said in surprise, she had not seen the kitty for a long time, and though she looked a little happy to see her, Ming Ming was not happy at all.

"What do you want?" the cat asked as she glared at her, "I have no use talking to a traitor like you."

"I want to know what you're doing here and why." she replied, "It's been years since anyone has seen you, and you can't just randomly pop up like no one's business, especially in a place like this."

"And why not?" the cat hissed, "It's not like you have any part in what I'm doing..."

"What are you talking about?" the Kirah asked.

Ming Ming rolled her eyes, there was no use escaping her when she started to ask questions, she might as well tell her. She really wanted to keep it a secret, too.

"Fine, if you're so nosy that you want to know...I plan on bringing my master back."

"WHAT!" she was shocked, "Are you insane?"

"Maybe," the cat replied with a grim smile that showed her sharp fangs, "anything to win the affection of my dear master, who was so distracted in YOU and..." she whipper her head to the Great Cathedral ahead, "...HIM, that he almost had no time for me, and the time he DID have was short, like a small pet or something. But when I finally resurrect him, he's bound to give me all the affection I need!"

Kirah was confused, was this all a plan so she can just get affection? Nonetheless, she was planning to bring back the biggest threat to happen on Planet Gitaroo, and she would not let that happen. She aimed her Gitaroo at Ming Ming and fired a small note at her, once it made contact, Ming Ming was knocked into one of the prison's walls.

"Oh, so you wanna play that way, huh?" Ming Ming growled, "Well, take this!" she retracted her claws and slashed the air at Kirah, creating a scratch-shaped Gitaroo beam that Kirah dodged, but barely. She was too tired to fight, but she had to stay alert.

"I am a warrior..." Kirah whispered, "I am a warrior..." she fired another beam, but Ming Ming dodged that as easy as anything. From there, she ran towards Kirah and fired another Gitaroo Beam at her, this time, the cat got a direct hit at her face, and, while Kirah was still stunned, she started to scratch the living daylights out of her. As soon as she realized she was too weak to fight, she got off her.

"What warrior loses to a cat?" Ming Ming spat, "You're just as pathetic as Gitaroo Man..." she took one last look at her and walked away, smiling at her first victory over the most powerful Gravillian warrior.

Kirah sighed; the last thing she saw before she went unconscious was Miranda rescuing her. She was relieved that she was now safe and sound, but sad that he saw her humiliating defeat. What would Gitaroo Man think of her now?

"I'm sorry...Gitaroo Man..." she said before she finally closed her eyes and slipped into unconsciousness.