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

Background

	Team Aqua grunts
Team Aqua
Prominent; Members	Matt, Shelly
Founder	Archie
Debut	Pokémon: Ruby and Sapphire Versions

Team Aqua was formed by Archie as a group that revered the ocean and believed that expanding the world's oceans was the key to allowing people and Pokémon to thrive. Their ultimate goal was to revive the legendary Pokémon Kyogre so that it would expand the oceans, although it is unknown how much of this ambition the Ruby version of this team had.

Ruby/Omega Ruby

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

In Omega Ruby, their role was similar to the original, but it was made clearer that they still had their own villainous intentions. At the end, Archie and Maxie considered working together to create a world were everyone could coexist peacefully.

Sapphire

Team Aqua 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 Kyogre 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 Aqua 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 drain the lava from Mt. Chimney, which ultimately would aid an expansion of the ocean. Team Magma showed up in an attempt to stop their plan, but Archie was still free to operate the machine until Brendan/May arrived. This trainer was able to defeat Achie, and Team Aqua retreated in defeat. Part of Team Aqua then attacked the Weather Institute to find information on Kyogre and attempted to steal Castform. This group was also defeated by Brendan/May, but they continued to make progress in their attempt to revive Kyogre. They attacked Mt. Pyre, and although the trainer tried to defeat them once again, Archie was ultimately able to steal the Blue Orb. They also hijacked Stern's Submarine Explorer 1 from Slateport City upon its completion.

Brendan/May managed to infiltrate the Aqua Hideout, but they reached Archie just as Archie escaped in the submarine. At the Seafloor Cavern, Archie finally revived Kyogre, 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, Archie reformed, and Team Aqua seemingly disbanded.

Several elements of their plan were altered in Alpha Sapphire. They specifically wanted to revive Kyogre and make it undergo Primal Reversion to make it more powerful. They also wanted to destroy all life by flooding the world, so that civilization could start over. Their actions at Mt. Chimney were changed into an attempt to turn the meteorite into a Mega Stone. Additionally, Team Aqua managed to steal the Blue Orb instead of the Red Orb, which was said to be the key to Primal Reversion. After the events of their storyline, a reformed Archie and Maxie decided to work together to make the world a better place for everyone, and Team Aqua also helped Brendan/May during the events of the Delta Episode.

Emerald

In this version, Team Aqua was still based by Lilycove City, and the main difference in their plan from Sapphire was that they did not target Mt. Chimney. Several Team Aqua agents made attempts to steal the Devon Goods as in Sapphire, and they also helped to fight off Team Magma at Mt. Chimney to stop their plan to explode the volcano, as it would threaten to expand the land instead of the ocean. Some Team Aqua members then attacked the Weather Institute to take Castform and were defeated by Brandan/May. Team Aqua attacked Mt. Pyre after Team Magma was there and managed to steal the Red Orb that was needed to revive Kyogre. They then stole the Submarne Explorer 1 from Slateport City and used it to reach the Seafloor Cavern. Although Brendan/May fought their way through various Team Aqua members followed by Archie, the Red Orb was still used to revive Kyogre, who then proceeded to rampage and battled Groudon while ignoring Archie's orders until Rayquaza broke up the battle.

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

Members

Team Aqua consists primarily of grunts who wore blue bandannas and pirate-like attire. They usually used common Pokémon that were tough but ultimately weak like Zubat, Poochyena and its evolved forms as well as Water-types such as Carvanha and Sharpedo.

Matt

Matt was one of the Team Aqua Admins and considered himself to be a cut above the other grunts. In Sapphire, he stole the Meteorite from Meteor Falls and delivered it to Archie at Mt. Chimney, at which point Brendan/May showed up to defeat him. He later battled the trainer again at Aqua Hideout to stall while Archie escaped in the submarine. In Emerald, he only appeared at Aqua Hideout. In Sapphire, he used two Carvanha (one of which becomes a Sharpedo for the second battle) and a Mightyena. In Emerald, he only had a Golbat and a Mightyena.

Shelly

Shelly was one of the Team Aqua Admins. She led the raid on the Weather Institute until beaten by Brendan/May and later battled the trainer at the Seafloor Cavern to stop them from preventing Kyogre's revival in both Sapphire and Emerald. In Emerald, she possibly teamed up with an Aqua Grunt in a double battle. After being beaten, she regretted that Brendan/May was not a Team Aqua member and thus could not experience the world that Archie had promised them. In battle, Shelly uses a Carvanha (in the first battle), a Sharpedo (in the second battle) and a Mightyena.

Other Appearances

Other Media

Team Aqua appeared in several episodes of the Pokémon anime during the Hoenn episodes. First, there were two subsequent episodes where a Team Aqua grunt infilitrated Devon to steal "Creation Fluid", ultimately failing after competing with Jessie and James. Another episode showed a feud between members of Team Aqua led by Shelly and members of Team Magma led by Tabitha. Team Aqua was also shown trying to steal the Weather Institute's Castform in one episode. Their final appearance was in the two-part episode in which Groudon and Kyogre both revived and battled.
In the Pokémon Adventures manga, both Teams Aqua and Magma appeared as antagonists in the Ruby/Sapphire arc. Archie secretly was head of Hoenn's media corporation, so he used this position to hide Team Aqua's criminal activities and pin everything on Team Magma. Shelly and Matt were both utilized in this adaptation, as well as a new admin named Amber. Team Aqua crossed paths with Ruby and Sapphire several times, but they were ultimately only successful in stealing the prototype submarine engine as well as the Red Orb. Archie and Maxie had to make an alliance in order to reach the Seafloor Cavern together and awakened both Kyogre and Groudon. Even after Kyogre and Groudon's fight was broken up, the influence of the orbs caused Archie and Maxie to become inhuman and bent on killing everyone around them. In the end, they both wound up trapped in the Cave of Origin while both of the teams seemed to be disbanded. Although Team Aqua as a whole never returned, Archie wound up menacing the world again in the Hoenn arc with an artificial construct of Kyogre that was ultimately foiled by all the Pokédex holders.
Team Aqua was featured in an episode of Pokémon Generations that was centered around Team Aqua reviving Primal Kyogre at the Seafloor Cavern.

Trivia

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pichu can wear a Team Aqua bandana as one of its alternate costumes.

Team Aqua

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