Team Magma

Team Magma grunts
Team Magma
Prominent Members	Tabitha, Courtney
Founder	Maxie
Debut	Pokémon: Ruby and Sapphire Versions

Team Magma is one of the two potentially criminal organizations featured in the third generation Pokémon games, along with their opposing rivals Team Aqua. Their exact role is different depending on the version, as Team Magma acts as the primary antagonists in Ruby, while they and Team Aqua share secondary antagonist roles in Emerald, and in Sapphire they have a minor and seemingly benign presence. They are associated with the earth and fire.

Background

Team Magma was formed by Maxie as a group that revered the earth as they believed it allows humans and Pokémon alike to grow. Their ultimate goal was to revive Groudon and cause the expansion of the land, although it is unknown how much of this ambition the Sapphire version of this team had.

Ruby

Team Magma had a base hidden within Lilycove City's cove. Their first plan revolved around obtaining the Devon Goods, which contained the blueprints for Captain Stern's Submarine Explorer 1, so that they could use it to access the underwater cover where Groudon was sleeping. A grunt was sent into the Petalburg Woods to steal the Devon Goods from a Devon researcher, but Brendan/May was able to fight them off. At Rustboro City, a Team Magma grunt was able to steal the Devon goods from a different researcher only to be caught and beaten within the Rusturf Tunnel by the same trainer. Two grunts showed up at Slateport City and attempted to get information out of Captain Stern about the Devon Goods until Brendan/May fought them off as well.

They also launched a secondary plan based on the local volcano, Mt. Chimney. They manipulated Professor Cozmo into bringing them to a Meteorite at Meteor Falls and then took it for themselves. They used this Meteorite to power a machine at Mt. Chimney that would trigger a massive eruption, ultimately resulting in expansion of the land mass. Team Aqua showed up in an attempt to stop their plan, but Maxie was still free to operate the machine until Brendan/May arrived. This trainer was able to defeat Maxie, and Team Magma retreated in defeat. Part of Team Magma then attacked the Weather Institute to find information on Groudon and attempted to steal Castform. This group was also defeated by Brendan/May, but they continued to make progress in their attempt to revive Groudon. They attacked Mt. Pyre, and although the trainer tried to defeat them once again, Maxie was ultimately able to steal the Blue Orb. They also hijacked Stern's Sunmarine Explorer 1 from Slateport City upon its completion.

Brendan/May managed to infiltrate the Magma Hideout, but he reached Maxie just as Maxie escaped in the submarine. At the Seafloor Cavern, Maxie finally revived Groudon, but he could not control it, and it went on a rampage. Brendan/May ultimately had to subdue the creature by defeating or catching it. In the aftermath of this, Maxie reformed, and Team Magma seemingly disbanded.

Sapphire

Team Magma is apparently benign in this version and has a helpful but ultimately minor role. They make several appearances working against Team Aqua and their attempts to revive Kyogre. They were first seen at Meteor Falls, where they failed in an attempt to prevent Team Aqua from stealing the Meteorite. They then tracked Team Aqua to Mt. Chimney and battled them there in an attempt to prevent Team Aqua from draining Mt. Chimney with their weapon. Team Magma wound up distracting all of Team Aqua's grunts while Brendan/May defeated Archie and stopped the threat.

Emerald

Within Emerald, Team Magma was instead based within a cave at Mt. Chimney's Jagged Pass, with a long Magma Grunt as the guard. Groudon was imprisoned within the volcano, and Maxie had made his base there to watch over the sleeping Groudon. Maxie first had Team Magma steal the Meteorite from Meteor Falls and used it in a special device which amplified its power, which would in turn intensify the volcano's activity. However, Brendan/May engaged him in battle (at Archie's urging) and defeated him. Maxie conceded to this defeat and decided to pull back for the time being.

Team Magma sought the Blue Orb next. After stealing it from Mt. Pyre, Maxie brought it to Mt. Chimney and used it to rouse Groudon from its slumber, only for Groudon to retreat. Maxie was confused by this and seeing Brendan/May nearby, thought they were somehow responsible and battled them again. After being defeated again, Maxie retreated. With Groudon not heeding to his demands and having no more use for Mt. Chimney, Maxie led several Team Magma members in a raid on the Mossdeep Space Center to steal rocket fuel for use in igniting the volcano. However, this time Brendan/May and Steven Stone were able to defeat Maxie and Tabitha in a double battle. After being defeated, Maxie began to think that he was misguided in his notions of attempting to expand the land mass, and that Team Aqua was equally misguided in their own quest, so he left to think this new epiphany over. They somehow found their way to the Seafloor Cavern later on, where Maxie scolded Archie for making the same mistake that he had.

Maxie and Archie were last seen returning their orbs to Mt. Pyre, both apparently reformed, and Team Magma was seemingly disbanded afterwards.

Members

Team Magma consists primarily of grunts who wore red hooded uniforms that had ear-like protrusions. They usually used common Pokémon that were tough but ultimately weak like Zubat, Poochyena and their evolutions, as well as a variety of Fire-type Pokémon such as Houndour and Numel.

Tabitha

Tabitha was one of the Magma Admins who chuckled softly at most things. In Ruby and Emerald, he supervised the theft of the Meteorite at Meteor Falls and battled Brendan/May at Mt. Chimney shortly after he had delivered the Meteorite to Maxie. In Ruby, he was at Magma Hideout and battled Brendan/May a second time, at first planning to pulverize the trainer, but he ultimately wound up just stalling Brendan/May while Maxie escaped in the submarine. In Emerald, the second battle was instead at the Emerald version of Magma Hideout while Maxie was awakening Groudon. This version also had Tabitha among the Team Magma members attacking Mossdeep Space Center, which led to Brendan/May and Steven Stone defeating Maxie and Tabitha in a double battle. In Sapphire, Tabitha mostly several minor appearances amongst Team Magma's ranks.

In Ruby, Tabitha had two Numel and a Poochyena, and by the second battle one Numel and the Poochyena had evolved into Camerupt and Mightyena respectively. In Emerald, his roster was the same except that a Zubat was added. During the double battle, he uses a Camerupt, Poochyena and Golbat.

Courtney

Courtney was one of the Magma Admins who had a tendency to break out into laughter and rarely seemed disappointed. In Ruby, she was in charge of the attack on the Weather Institute and was later battled again at the Seafloor Cavern. She considered the player character to be so cute they were disgusting and considered them fearless or ignorant to be challenging Team Magma. After being defeated the player the first time, she re-evaluated Brendan/May as disgustingly strong and retreated. After losing the second battle, she expressed disappointment that Brendan/May was not a Team Magma member and could not enjoy the fabulous life promised to Team Magma by Archie. In battle she uses a Numel that evolves into a Camerupt for the first battle and Mightyena.

In Sapphire, Courtney is only briefly shown as a Team Magma member during Maxie's confrontation of Archie at the Searfloor Cavern. She is not seen at all in Emerald.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In the Pokémon anime, Team Magma made several appearances throughout the Hoenn episodes searching for a way to revive Groudon. Along with Maxie, only Tabitha made appearances, and a new member named Brodie also being introduced. Team Magma clashed with Team Aqua several times, which built up to a two-part episode in which both Groudon and Kyogre were revived and clashed. The fight was broken up and, as Maxie learned the error of his ways, Team Magma presumably disbanded. Additionally, the villain of one anime movie was a former Team Magma scientist named Butler.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Team Magma appeared throughout the Ruby/Sapphire arc. They seemed to be more lower-class compared to Team Aqua, as Archie controlled the media and made sure Team Magma was blamed for the criminal activities of both teams. Courtney and Tabitha were both used, and a new Admin named Mack was introduced, with the three of them also being known as the FireHeads. Courtney seemed to be infatuated with Ruby and tried to get him to join Team Magma. Tabitha also worked alongside Flannery to stop Team Aqua's attack on Mt. Chimney. During the latter portion of the arc, Maxie and Arcie revived Groudon and Kyogre to make them clash, and even after Groudon and Kyogre were stopped, Archie and Maxie continued to fight each other as well as everyone around them in an inhuman rage due to the orbs' effect. Tabitha became crazed as a result of touching Kyogre's orb, while Courtney wound up being killed by Maxie. After Celebi saved everything, Courtney was restored to life. Tabitha went missing for a while afterwards but turned up seemingly reformed at Flannery's hot springs. As for Maxie, he wound up trapped in the Cave of Origin with Archie, but Archie was implied to kill him in order to earn special armor from Sird.