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Chapter 10
"February 26th, 1993"
In the months since he arrived in the United States, Ramzi Yousef and his band of Team Rocket comrades were testing and building the ultimate Pokemon controlled bomb to bring down the World Trade Center. Back in Viridian City, Giovanni and his Persian eagerly awaited the news reports that the World Trade Center was destroyed.
"It's only a matter of time, Persian," he said to himself while sitting in his office. "It's only a matter of time."
A few moments later, Giovanni's ally Steven Jordan stepped into the office.
"Giovanni, they've left the hideout and are en route to the World Trade Center. Is there anything else that needs to be done?"
"No, Steven. The Pokemon they will use should be powerful enough. In a matter of moments, both towers will fall and the Pokemon belonging to the dead will be ours to control."
"Do you think," Steven asked. "That you might send a message to your mother with this?"
Unhesitantly, Giovanni turned his chair around towards Steven with a glare in his eyes.
"Yes," he said firmly. "Yes, it will."
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Back in New York, Ramzi and two other Team Rocket agents were driving a rented Ryder truck towards the basement of the World Trade Center's north tower. Seeking a parking spot, they parked the truck into an empty space near the very heart of the garage.
Getting out of the truck, they opened the back of truck and looked at the explosive Pokemon, Golem along with two Electrodes and Voltorbs, chained to prevent escaping and with mind control stickers on their heads.
"They look to be in place, Ramzi," remarked one of the agents. "No resistance needed."
"Good," Ramzi replied, before turning to the controlled Pokemon. "You are about to make history today, my friends. For you are the ones who will destroy the World Trade Center and bring Team Rocket the next step towards greatness!"
Laughing in a mocking tone, Ramzi and the agents slammed the door of the truck leaving the Pokemon alone inside. Once outside, Ramzi set a timer to go off in 10 minutes.
"All right," he said. "In 10 minutes, the brainwaves will force them to use explosion. There's no escape for anyone now."
"Why is that?"
"Because, you idiot, explosion is much more effective than self-destruct when it comes to destroying buildings."
Quickly, the agents ran as fast as they could out of the garage. Hailing a taxi cab, they left the World Trade Center and ran back towards Jersey City, across the Hudson River. No sooner did they leave Manhattan did the 10 minute timer hit under 60 seconds. Activating the stickers, the mind controlled Pokemon began to charge themselves up to carry out the attack. 30 seconds later, they began to flash and 30 more seconds later…
BOOM!
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It was 12:17pm as the truck detonated and sent a wave of explosives through the garage. Almost immediately, those in the towers began to evacuate when they heard the rumbling, fearing the towers would collapse.
"This is CNN coming in with breaking news," said a CNN commentator as Giovanni watched eagerly. "We are getting reports that about 20 minutes ago, an explosion was heard in the basement of the World Trade Center. Reports are coming in that smoke can be seen billowing from the towers."
However, when Giovanni saw the towers, he couldn't believe what he was seeing before him. The towers were still standing.
"What?" he remarked in rising surprise and anger, rising to his feet. "Why are they still standing? Didn't they use explosion as instructed?"
"Both towers as a precaution are being evacuated at this time while an investigation will immediately commence."
"The foolish boy," Giovanni cried, slamming his hand down on the desk. "He just needs more time to learn and develop, Steven. That's what needs to be done."
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Back in Jersey City, Ramzi and his fellow agents were watching the plume of smoke rise over Lower Manhattan. All of them knew that they failed, the bombing was not powerful enough.
"So now what, Ramzi?" asked the agents. "The Pokemon didn't use explosion."
Without giving it another thought, Ramzi knew that he and his band of misfits needed to flee the United States.
"We retreat and regroup," Ramzi declared, trying to maintain a sense of calmness under his stress. "At least I will."
"Ramzi…"
Turning back around, Ramzi retreated back to the hideout and quickly packed up a few items to put back in his suitcase.
"If they come," Ramzi urged as he threw his suitcase in the van. "Destroy any evidence that might be used against us. As for the Pokemon inside…kill them all."
Slamming the door, Ramzi quickly backed away and left his comrades bewildered and confused as to what just happened.
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Driving as fast as he could, Ramzi raced towards JFK Airport. As he drove, he couldn't help but wonder what went wrong? Did one of the mind control stickers come off either by the Pokemon in the Ryder truck or weren't one of them placed on tightly? Was there something else involved? Either way, he suffered a setback and wondered what Giovanni would say to him.
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Once at JFK, Ramzi immediately went to a payphone and prepared himself for the criticism he would get.
"What happened?" Giovanni asked in an angry voice.
"Giovanni, I can assure you that everything was planned accordingly," Ramzi pleaded. "Please, our calculations weren't very accurate this time. But, I promise you that next time we will be successful and the Trade Center and all the Pokemon on those occupants will be ours for the taking."
"I typically don't give second chances," Giovanni said, calming down a little. "However, despite this setback, I can see you still have some promise in our ranks. Perhaps we might use my mother's method and combine it with yours. I shall have one of my executives meet you in Pakistan."
Grateful to be given a second chance, Ramzi hung up the phone and bought a first class ticket back to Karachi, Pakistan. Later that night, the plane took off and Ramzi disappeared into the night as Investigators scoured the destruction the truck caused in the basement. The Pokemon used in the explosion were miraculously still found alive, but badly injured and six people including a businessman, a secretary who was seven months pregnant and four Port Authority Police Officers were all dead.
But this attack would bring us full circle to what happened aboard Philippine Airlines Flight 434 as our investigation would soon discover…
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