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Chapter 24

"The Mind Control Formula"

Not far from where we were at the Manila prison, Ramzi and his friend, Abdul were in their apartment as a Voltorb was perched on their kitchen table, forced down to the table with duct tape to keep it from moving.

"Hold still, you piece of crap!" Abdul snapped to the Voltorb in Arabic as he smacked it on the back of the head. At the oven, Ramzi had a syringe in his hand as he absorbed a sickly green liquid from the stovetop. "Is it ready to be administered?"

"It is," replied Ramzi in the Arab tongue. "Ensure it holds still."

Taking the syringe, Ramzi aimed the needle at the back of the Voltorb's head and stuck the needle into the Voltorb as the green liquid entered the ball shaped body. Once all had been administered, Ramzi removed the syringe and turned around to face the Voltorb.

The explosive Pokemon struggled to accept the green liquid as it tossed and turned. After a few moments, it closed it's eyes.

"Maybe it didn't work," remarked Abdul.

"Wait," said Ramzi as the Voltorb slowly began to open it's eyes only that they were now a sickly green color. For a moment, it seemed that the formula would work. "Voltorb, Voltorb!"

The green eyed Voltorb looked at Ramzi and Abdul almost as if it commanded.

"Do you know who we are?" Ramzi asked as the Voltorb stared down at both of them blankly. "Do you know who your trainer is?"

Again, the Voltorb stared blankly at the two men.

"Well, whatever trainer you were under is no longer your trainer. You serve Team Rocket now and Team Rocket alone! Now, use explosion!"

Weakly, the Voltorb charged itself up, but before it can explode, it suddenly stopped and the eyes wore off. This caused Ramzi and Abdul to sigh in disgust.

"Useless Pokemon!" grunted Ramzi, picking Voltorb off the table and throwing it down on the kitchen floor in frustration. "It didn't work! It's been three weeks and the formula still hasn't worked."

Grunting, Ramzi went over to a cabinet and pulled out a pistol, pointing it at the Voltorb and firing, killing the explosive Pokemon. Once the Voltorb was disposed, he threw the gun back onto the table.

"There is no way we are going to be ready at this point in time, Abdul," Ramzi sighed, sitting down at the table. "What are we doing wrong? Giovanni expects us to be ready for the ultimate plan of Bojinka, but look!"

"Well, we keep trying, Ramzi," suggested Abdul. "Giovanni would want nothing more than to ensure that everything is perfect."

Sighing, Ramzi agreed with his friend. Taking the dead Voltorb out of the kitchen, Ramzi threw the Voltorb into the lake outside their building.

"Perhaps we reduce the hypnotonic slightly," suggested Abdul. "We had too little, so it makes sense to add a little more."

"Everything has to be balanced, my friend. If the previous tests have any indication."

So they went about once again perfecting the mind control formula. But looking back at the calendar on the kitchen wall, both men realized that time was of the essence if they were going to carry out their plot before World Youth Day.

Later that day, we left the Manila Police Station and were looking forward to a good rest before continuing the investigation tomorrow. Suddenly, Tim saw something floating in the lake.

"Hey, stop the car for a second!" he called and so we did stop. Getting out of the car, Tim ran down and stepped into the frozen lake water. "Oh my God."

"Tim, what is it?" I asked and there in his hands was a Voltorb, already dead with a gunshot wound to the back of it's head. "Jesus Christ."

Once again, it was too late to save another Pokemon from the fury of Team Rocket. But there was still time to save the next Pokemon, however we needed luck to be on our side.

But where would the luck come from?

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