Team Magma

Team Magma grunts
Team Magma
Prominent Members	Tabitha, Courtney
Founder	Maxie
Debut	Pokémon: Ruby/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 and Omega Ruby, while they and Team Aqua share secondary antagonist roles in Emerald, and they have a minor supporting presence in Sapphire and Alpha Sapphire. 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 an expansion of the world;s land masses.

Ruby/Omega 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.

Some elements of the story were altered in Omega Ruby. Team Magma not only wanted to revive Groudon, but they also wanted to make it undergo Primal Reversion. Their actions at Mt. Chimney were changed into an attempt to turn the meteorite into a Mega Stone. Team Magma also stole the Red Orb instead of the Blue Orb, as it was the key to triggering Primal Reversion. The rest of the story played out similarly, with Groudon just being revived in Primal form instead of its original form. After the events of the storyline, Maxie and Archie decided to work together to make the world a better place for everyone, and Team Magma also helped Brendan/May during the events of the Delta Episode.

Sapphire/Alpha Sapphire

Team Magma played a helpful but ultimately minor role in Sapphire. They made 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.

In Alpha Sapphire, 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.

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.

Led by Maxie, Team Magma also had two prominent admins who appeared throughout the storyline: Tabitha and Courtney. In Omega Ruby, Zinnia also infiltrated their organization as a Magma Grunt and procided Maxie with information on how to awaken Primal Groudon.

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 Blaise 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 Archie 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. Team Magma was later reformed during the Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire arc, where they worked to awaken Primal Groudon.
• Team Magma was featured in an episode of Pokémon Generations, where Brendan infiltrated the Magma Hideout and battled Courtney while Maxie and others retreated on the Submarine Explorer 1.