Team Magma

Organization Name: Team Magma
Region of Operation: Hoenn
Leaders: Magma Leader Maxie, Magma Admin. Tabitha, Magma Admin. Courtney
Current Status: Active
Legendary Pokémon involved in past operations: Groudon
Criminal behaviors: Theft, kidnapping, reckless endangerment and public endangerment
Overall societal impact: Exceptional


HISTORY

Alongside Team Aqua, the origins of Team Magma are somewhat of a mystery, though the impact they ended up making in the Hoenn region more than makes their existence worth noting. Issues over the protection and destruction of the environment have always been of great importance in the modern day and many are willing to risk a lot in order to prove their point, though none perhaps risked as much unintentionally as Team Magma. The members of this organization, led by their leader Maxie, despised the loss of terrestrial habitats and technological/societal progress that had come from the irresponsible use of land for crops (involving practices such as slash and burn) and the destruction of valuable, plant-sustaining land through the pollution of groundwater and soil. While the group originally did nothing different from other protest groups and sought justice though group effort and petitions, things changed drastically one day when Maxie learned of a legend concerning the legendary Pokémon Groudon. According to Hoenn mythology, Groudon is the beast responsible for the revealing of the land by evaporating the sea many eons ago and in its Primal state was effectively the living embodiment of the early Earth, its tremendous power being capable of drying up any body of water within its vicinity and even beyond to unfathomable limitations as demonstrated by current climate models (which in turn is reflected and classified as the Desolate Land Ability, a much more intense version of Groudon’s normal Drought Ability). After months of research, Maxie managed to locate where Groudon was likely resting, and began his journey to bring back the land that the human race had so mercilessly wasted.

His journey, however, was impeded by the actions of Team Aqua, whose interests were the opposite; Archie, the leader of the organization, knew similar information and sought to resurrect Primal Kyogre in order to expand the reach of water across the globe. Furthermore, Maxie would end up coming up against a young trainer who, though seemingly insignificant, would end up changing the course of both Teams’ histories completely 11 years ago. In order to reach Groudon and awaken him, Maxie used the expertise of his right-hand man, Magma Admin. Tabitha (a former member of the Devon Corporation) to produce a suit that could withstand the temperatures one might expect in the heart of an active volcano (to make getting close to Primal Groudon humanly feasible) and tried to replicate the powers of the Red Orb, an ancient artifact hidden somewhere in the region that was believed to be the only object capable of awakening the sleeping beast and providing it the energy needed to revert to its Primal state. In the meantime, Maxie moved the organization out of their original base in Mt. Chimney to a larger and more secluded spot within the harbor of Lilycove City (unbeknownst to Team Aqua, who had a base in the exact same area) and decided to work on a side-mission while the scientists on his staff tried to recreate the Red Orb, which they ultimately failed to do, its strange power far beyond anything their technology could ever have hoped to create. In an attempt to put themselves ahead of the game, Maxie attempted to create a new Red Orb using a stronger source of material than before, and as it turned out, Professor Cozmo of Fallarbor Town had just discovered a meteorite with just the right amount of power to be a viable candidate for the forging of a new Red Orb. Determined to have things his way, Maxie attacked the Professor at Meteorite Falls, stole the meteorite, and went to the peak of the volcano, where he had constructed a device that could utilize the meteorite’s power to create the pseudo-Key Stone he sought. His efforts, however, were in vain, as Team Aqua was quickly at his door and attempted to take the meteorite for themselves, planning on using the device to instead create a new Blue Orb for the purpose of awakening Primal Kyogre. The two fought each other fervently until a young trainer managed to defeat both of them to stop their potential actions. While they were infuriated over their loss, both team leaders received information that the Red and Blue Orbs had been located; both of them left promptly for the sacred ground and stole the respective orbs from their keepers at the top of Mt. Pyre. While Maxie and Archie were busy stealing the orbs, they sent their right-hand assistants to the Weather Institute to steal their data and climate models to properly verify that their climate data on the effects of Primal Groudon’s Desolate Land Ability and Primal Kyogre's Primordial Sea Ability were accurate. Both Magma Admin. Tabitha and Aqua Admin. Shelly attacked the Hoenn Weather Institute, but they were ultimately defeated by the same trainer from Mt. Chimney. Moreover, they learned to their surprise that their data on Primal Groudon’s and Primal Kyogre’s power was far, FAR greater than any of their tests had shown…great enough to completely destroy the planet’s climate and kill every living creature in turn. Unaware of the danger that they now posed to the world, Maxie and Archie made their move to explore the Seafloor Cavern of the eastern ocean Routes to awaken these creatures, with Team Magma stealing the Submarine Explorer I from Slateport Harbor and Team Aqua creating their own vessel from plans that Team Aqua Admin. Shelly had stolen previously. Although the young trainer managed to pierce the hideouts of these two groups in Lilycove City and defeated most of the organization in the process, both leaders were able to make needed modifications to the vessels in time to escape.

The young trainer mentioned previously followed the two leaders into the depths of the Seafloor Cavern and was shocked to see what awaited all three of them. There, sleeping in plain view, were the legendary Pokémon Groudon and Kyogre, pacified long ago and stuck in a state of stasis. The young trainer fought valiantly and managed to defeat both Maxie and Archie at their best, but before the trainer, Tabitha or Shelly could stop them, Maxie and Archie used the Red and Blue Orbs to awaken the two and provided them the energy to undergo Primal Reversion…but when the two leaders went outside to see their work, all they saw was a looming disaster that could not be comprehended. One moment, the heat of the sun was unbearable and blinded all that looked to the sky…while at other times, massive, torrential rains dropped down and drowned anything that may have once been visible. These weather disasters were only the beginning, though, as neither Groudon nor Kyogre had fully undergone the process of Primal Reversion; instead, they ran off to the Cave of Origin in Sootopolis City, where they would be able to find the energy they needed to finish the violent transformation. Both Maxie and Archie realized that they had made a grim mistake, and if the two beasts fully regained their powers, the world would not last for more than a few days before their violent clash would destroy all life. Determined to stop the apocalypse at any cost, the young trainer used the technology developed by Team Magma and Aqua to hunt down the two raging beasts and, through some miracle of luck and talent, calmed the Primal beasts and forced them to return to the wild in their normal forms. Regretful and disgusted at what they had almost done, both Maxie and Archie promised to cast off their extremist ways to make something more out of the organization…something safer and more considerate of what the other side of the argument had to say.

It was not too long after this, however, that both organizations played a part in the Delta Incident. At this time, a turncoat within both groups revealed herself as Zinnia, the Lorekeeper of the Draconic heritage who had actually been the source of most of the technology that both Team Magma and Aqua had used to find and summon the beasts Groudon and Kyogre; she knew full well that their awakening and clash would attract the legendary dragon Rayquaza, whom she was convinced was the only way to save the world from an asteroid fragment hurtling towards Earth. In the confusion, however, Magma Admin. Courtney and Aqua Admin. Matt attempted to steal keystones from others to replace the ones taken from their leaders by Zinnia and ultimately tried to destroy the world by redirecting and detonating the rocket that the Mossdeep Space Center was trying to launch to redirect the pathway of the asteroid fragment. The young trainer from before managed to stop them while they were struggling with each other and forced them to return to their leaders with their heads hung low in shame. Thankfully for them, Maxie and Archie forgave their actions and assured that no more trouble would come from them in this mess, realizing that the impending disaster was something that they simply were not equipped to deal with. Following the end of the Delta Incident, both organizations agreed to stop fighting and pursue their work independently under safer standards, though they seemingly left the possibility of a joint-action possible sometime in the future.


CURRENT/FORMER LEADERS

Name: Magma Leader Maxie
Pokémon: Mightyena, Weezing, Crobat, Camerupt (and Mega Camerupt)
Bio: Maxie’s past is a bit of a mystery, but judging by the enthusiasm he often shows for his work, it is safe to say that he has always been a man concerned more about the environment than anything else in the world. Though he remained nameless in the news for most of his life, Maxie has always been an avid protector of the natural world and holds an especially important connection to the land, supposedly because he and a few of his friends managed to prevent a wild Camerupt from dying after it fell down a sharp slope created from advanced soil erosion (due to the removal and/or destruction of tree life whose roots would have otherwise held the soil together) when he was still a young child. While he likely would have ended up as just another environmentalist if things in his life had gone normally, a rare encounter with the legends of the Hoenn region radically changed Maxie’s view on life and gave him the ultimate hope of saving the land of the world from the destruction of the human race. With knowledge of the legendary Pokémon Groudon in his mind, Maxie banded together with other local environmentalists and formed Team Magma, an organization with the power and resources to bring his dream to reality. Maxie himself is a highly intelligent, confident man that believes fully in what he is doing and is willing to do whatever is necessary to justify and accomplish his goals, even if it meant stealing and hurting others in the process in the past. This has led to some problems, however, as Maxie has a tendency of putting himself in radical situations he thinks he can handle but is otherwise incapable of controlling, most infamously his ultimate action of awakening Primal Groudon with the stolen Red Orb. Following that particular disaster and the events of the Delta Incident, however, Maxie has managed to cast off his extremist ways and has turned both himself and his entire organization around, finally putting his considerable intelligence to great use where his foresight and conscience were once lacking; even so, he is still a powerful trainer and can more than prove to be a serious opponent thanks to his Mega Glasses and Mega Camerupt.

Name: Magma Admin. Courtney
Pokémon: Camerupt (also Mega Camerupt)
Bio: As part of Team Magma, Courtney serves as third-in-command (second only to Tabitha and Maxie) and is the woman in charge of keeping the troops in line and ensuring that the menial tasks of the organization are kept on schedule; unfortunately, this is to the extreme displeasure of most grunts, as she is extremely cold, calculating and seemingly heartless when it comes to interacting with most people. In fact, just interacting with her is a bit of a problem, as she tends to speak and seemingly think more like a robot than a human being, showing the occasional bout of insanity whenever she is really agitated or angry. This inhuman behavior, however, merely exists to hide the fact that the is actually quite insecure and is so loyal to Maxie that she will do just about anything to impress him, even if it means risking the lives of millions as she did in trying to use the rocket at the Mossdeep Space Center to destroy everything in revenge for Maxie’s loss at the Seafloor Cavern. Courtney admires Maxie a tremendous deal, so much so that most of the grunts are convinced that she has a crush on him, and whenever she feels like she has hurt Maxie or let him down, she instantly starts bawling like an infant. Despite this, Courtney is a decent person that cares more about getting the job done than her life, a sense of loyalty that few leaders ever get to see among even their closest of underlings.

Name: Magma Chief Admin. Tabitha
Pokémon: Koffing, Camerupt
Bio: As part of Team Magma, Tabitha serves as second-in-command and is responsible for planning all of the major activities and operations that the Team conducts on a regular basis. Though his large frame might not suggest him to be much of a threat, Tabitha is an extremely intelligent officer who once worked at Devon Corporation, only leaving to join the ranks of Team Magma to purse a goal of creating more land for the otherwise overcrowded human population. While he loyally follows Maxie when it came to most of his plans, his loyalty is also tempered by wisdom and a cautious attitude, willing to accept information for what it is even if it goes against what he is supposed to work towards. This was especially the case when he learned of the true effects Primal Groudon’s power would have on the global climate, as he realized that Maxie had severely underestimated the true power of the monster; he left the organization for a time after this revelation, only returning to Maxie at the Seafloor Cavern to try and stop him from awakening Groudon (though it was to no avail). Tabitha was quite critical of Maxie afterwards, but he ultimately forgave his leader on behalf of the organization and vowed to continue following him as long as he cleaned up his act, which he thankfully did. It is unknown how long exactly Tabitha will continue to follow Maxie’s lead, but it can at least be said that his presence is a welcome one, serving as the only true counter against Maxie’s opinions in the entire organization.


CURRENT ACTIVITY/INFLUENCE ON SOCIETY

Team Magma is still very much active today in society, and while they are nowhere near as much of a threat as they once were, it goes without saying that many people have a stigma towards them and their activities. Both Team Magma and Aqua are seen as examples of what can happen when extremism is carried too far, and while being an environmentalist is a role with great societal benefit, there are still some lines that you don’t want to cross. The forces of nature that helped shape the world are revered and honored as embodied in Groudon and Kyogre, but it took these groups to remind us that while the forces of nature are to be respected and revered, they are also to be feared for the sheer destructive potential they can have in their capacity to end life of all types. Today, Team Magma is actively working with the Weather Institute in studying climatic patterns across the globe and in turn tracking the movements of the partially-awake Groudon (via the occasionally intense climatic shifts that follow it as it gets close to the surface of the ground), making sure that it never comes even remotely close to Kyogre lest another clash occur between these two monsters. It still may take a lot more time before the efforts of Team Magma are appreciated once again, but it goes without saying that they have managed to turn their act around and in turn should be thanked for their willingness to start over and do everything in their power to make up for the wrongful deeds they have committed.

Professor Wormwood