THE MAGIC BALL PEN

THE MAGIC BALL PEN is an episode of Flukey Fred.

Plot
Two weeks to go before the dreaded final maths exam and though lessons are over, there’s not a soul to be seen in the park or in any of the playgrounds. All the kids live in fear of TRESCATORCE, the planet’s toughest teacher and lock themselves in their homes to study. FLUKEY FRED tries, but maths is not his thing. He asks himself : Why break my back to solve a problem when I can get an A+ without moving a finger? After a brief debate with his conscience, FLUKEY FRED closes his book and walks out the door. Meanwhile, ALI OLI is having fun in the Theme Park with a bunch of Japanese Tourists he’s just met. FRED arrives and joins in the fun trying to bury his guilty conscience. The genie ponders how FRED is always in a rush, asks for a wish and runs off again. When FRED asks for his wish “ I wish to pass my maths exam” ALI OLI immediately understands and tells FRED to forget magic, go back home and study hard as everyone else. But FRED will not take advice from someone like ALI OLI who spends all day having fun and demands he undertakes his responsibility as a genie. ALI OLI, unwillingly grants the wish and gives his “Master” a ball pen which looks normal but hides incredible powers. One only has to pose a question, however difficult it may be, and the pen comes to life and writes the answer on paper, at amazing speed. FLUKEY FRED is convinced that he will pass the exam with such power at his disposal and goes in search of his friends to join in the fun. But TRICKIE and NORA ignore him, they fear TRESCATORCE too much. FRED, decides to go in search of BRAIN, convinced that he doesn’t need to study for the exam. He already knows everything. The maths exam is a walk in the park for BRAIN, he is busy with a very important matter. BRAIN is sweating it out to answer a 500 page plus questionnaire called “Operation Super brain”. It´s a kind of scientific mail order exam, for super brainy kids. BRAIN has been working on it all afternoon and still hasn’t got past the first page. FRED, for fun, asks his friend for a copy of the exam and defies him to see who can finish it first. BRAIN accepts just to get him off his back and hands him a copy. FRED takes his pen out, and having made sure his friend can’t see him, he starts writing. In a matter of minutes the pen has done its job. BRAIN cannot believe it. A few hours later, BRAIN finishes his paper and both friends run off to the Post Office. BRAIN runs with his fingers crossed hoping his answers are correct, as this exam means a lot to him. FRED pretends to be interested as well, but he is secretly having a whale of a time. A couple of days later, when FRED has already forgotten all about the exam, he turns up at school as normal. To his astonishment, the jury of “Operation Super brain” appears with a TV crew. It looks like BRAIN has been the only child on the entire planet to answer the exam correctly. At the last minute we find out that the winner hasn’t been BRAIN but FLUKEY FRED. FRED turns out to be a Super Brainy Child. His family, the headmistress, the teachers, all celebrate this and congratulate FRED. His popularity is at its peak. Even SUSIE, his sister´s exuberant and unobtainable girlfriend, speaks to him for the first time in his life. BRAIN, on the other hand, is suffering. He had swotted hard for this test and his dream has fallen apart. When FRED realizes his friends state of mind, he tries to tell everyone the truth but why should anyone believe that the test was filled in using a Magic Pen? FRED´s conscience bothers him, but he continues with the charade. FLUKEY FRED, says goodbye to family and friends, and is whisked off to the home of the Super Brains: A secluded and paradise spot in the middle of the countryside with Brainy kids from all over the world. To begin with everything is great. The food is great. There’re swimming pools, play grounds, Jacuzzi….Nothing is missing. There’re even loads of video games you can play whenever you want. But good things never last. Very soon, FRED finds out how play time is reduced to a minimum and that work in the laboratories is getting longer and more tiring every day. FRED has also got a serious problem. He isn’t one of those Brainy kids and doesn’t understand a word about the experiments and jobs he has to do. Anxious and plagued by his conscience he decides to run away. But its not an easy thing to do. The compound is surrounded by a wire fence and heavily guarded. FRED will discover that nothing is as it seems. “Super Brain Operation” is no Charity Foundation, but a terrible organisation where Super brainy kids are exploited as scientific slaves by DON ANGELO, FRED´s father’s ambitious and unscrupulous boss. Kids are easier to handle than adult scientists and don’t question the purpose of the experiments. DON ANGELO uses the children for his terrible and selfish plans. When he discovers the plot, FLUKEY FRED will have to convince his collegues of captivity (true square head scientists) and escape with them from the compound’s guards and sophisticated security measures. In the end FLUKEY FRED succeeds thanks to his magic pen and DON ANGELO has to face justice. FLUKEY FRED returns to his town as a hero. All the newspapers and TV channels talk about him. FRED plays up to the cameras, stating that from the beginning, he smelt a Rat with the whole “Operation Super Brain”. This is why he pretended to be a “Brainy Child”, simply as a ruse to sneak into the organization and uncover the truth. FRED completes the lie by saying that he is not, and will never be a Super Brain, and that the true Super Brain. In fact the most intelligent kid in the world is his good friend BRAIN. The festivities soon draw to a close. The date for the maths exam is set and FRED can do nothing but take it. FRED takes out his pen and hesitates for a moment, before throwing it out of the window and completing the exam with a borrowed pen. FLUKEY FRED fails the exam. But before the results are pinned on the school notice board the headmistress advises the teachers in the board room. She is convinced that FRED hasn’t been able to study because he has been too busy exposing the whole Operation Super Brain. FRED is given a second opportunity. But this time he will have to study.