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Chapter 3

"Giovanni Meets Ramzi"

Dr. Giovanni Sakami had been living in his mother's shadow since he was born. Now that she was imprisoned, he was the one who now was at the helm of Team Rocket. All the Pokemon that the organization had captured from their natural habitats, all the Pokemon stolen from their trainers, were now coming in under his watch. However, for the past five years, Giovanni wanted to go beyond the prospect of simply blowing up airplanes carrying Pokemon trainers. To this end, he needed to wait until his mother was deposed.

By the early 1990's, he did just that.

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It was in the summer of 1992 did a new recruit join Team Rocket, a recruit with an ideology and a belief that blood needed to be shed for the common good. Sitting in his office overlooking Viridian City, Giovanni heard the sounds of knocking on his door.

"Enter," he said firmly and in stepped a young man of Middle Eastern descent, a man of 20's in terms of years of age. But he had a look on his face, a look that he wanted to cause chaos for the greater purpose of Team Rocket. Giovanni could see from beneath the beard on the man's face was a smile, a smile of evil. "Are you the promising recruit that I've had my eye on for the past few weeks?"

"I am," replied the figure as Giovanni gestured him to sit down, a rare honor for newly minted Team Rocket recruits. "Thank you, Dr. Sakami."

"Call me Giovanni," he chuckled, stroking the head of his Persian. "You are Ramzi Yousef, the nephew of Khali Sheik Mohammed of Afghanistan? If you are, he has said great things about you."

Clapping his hands, Giovanni summoned a butler into his office with a teapot.

"Tea?" he asked.

"Of course," answered Ramzi and the butler poured the tea into Ramzi's cup. "Thank you."

Clearing his throat, Giovanni relayed his reasoning for bringing the young boy into his office and for that matter, into Team Rocket.

"Now Ramzi, my boy," Giovanni began. "I hear that you have a dream, a goal that aligns with what Team Rocket seeks, yes? What is that dream?"

"To go to America, blow up buildings and kill Pokemon trainers to steal their Pokemon," Ramzi unanswered in an unhesitant tone. "For the glory of Team Rocket."

"Indeed," Giovanni remarked, taking a sip of tea. "You've got a passion, a passion that I have been seeking for some time since my mother was imprisoned. If I am to make my mark as leader of my mother's organization, I need to go beyond simply using Pokemon to hijack airliners. What in America are you planning to target, my friend?"

Without very much hesitation, Ramzi issued his answer to an eager Giovanni.

"The World Trade Center in New York. Many Pokemon trainers work there."

"The World Trade Center in New York, hmm?" Giovanni wondered, seemingly interested greatly. "A symbol of power in the United States. And you say many Pokemon trainers work at the World Trade Center with or without their Pokemon?"

Ramzi felt taken slightly aback by this question.

"Um, I'm not sure, Giovanni," answered Ramzi, sheepishly. "My friend, Abdul and I, we've heard of Pokemon coming in and out of the towers on a daily basis. Some of them actually help their trainers during their workday."

"So you say?" remarked Giovanni. "Well, there is nothing easier that taking Pokemon from their dead trainers while at the same time, bringing Team Rocket's power to the United States mainland. Something that my dear mother failed to understand."

It was then that Giovanni got an idea…an awful idea. Dr. Giovanni Sakami got a wonderful, awful idea.

"Tell me, Ramzi," he asked. "How soon can you leave for America?"

"Well, I need time, maybe a few weeks maximum," the young Pakistani answered, slightly off guard. "I need to return to Pakistan to gather some men, some supplies…"

"Of course, of course, all the time you need, my boy. But, I will be the one to guide you on your first mission for Team Rocket…destroying the World Trade Center and killing every single trainer that occupies them!"

He then rose to his feet and brought Ramzi down from his office into the dungeons of Team Rocket's headquarters where they kept the Pokemon purposed to commit terrorism. They proceeded down the halls of the dungeon, looking over the Pokemon capable of exploding or self-destructing on command. Finally, they came across a Golem, a rock-type Pokemon whose body largely consisted of a dark green rock shell.

"The first thing you should do is to pick a Pokemon that seems like it won't explode to the outside world," he explained. "This Pokemon, Golem, has the ability to use explosion as an attack. The size of it's body is measured by the destruction it leaves behind."

Like a good student, Ramzi studied the Golem closely. He looked at it in the eyes and the Golem looked at him right back. Ramzi could see that the Golem had wires attached to it.

"And in case you are wondering about the wires, Ramzi," Giovanni said. "This is to ensure that it carries out the orders Team Rocket gives it. This Golem has the power to bring down a skyscraper like the World Trade Center…because we gave it the ability to do so."

Ramzi placed his hand on the glass barrier and gave the Golem a hard stare.

"If you want to prove yourself as a major contributor to the glory of Team Rocket," Giovanni said. "You will take this Golem and bring it to New York. You will command the Golem to destroy the World Trade Center and kill everyone inside of it. If it refuses, force it to or have it killed. It wants to go back to it's trainer, but when we steal a Pokemon, it is our property until it dies."

Like a sponge, Ramzi took in what Giovanni had commanded of him and four days later, Giovanni arranged to have him return to Pakistan aboard his private plane, Rocket One. Once on the ground, Ramzi went to gather the necessary people and parts he needed for his mission.

It was August 1992 and when the month changed, Ramzi would turn his attention to the United States of America, using a brainwashed Golem as his weapon.

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