Maxie felt almost embarrassed to admit that he did not help with the selection of Team Magma's uniforms. He was the leader, and yet he could do nothing, because…

Well, because he couldn't see color.

Courtney expressed that Team Magma needed a uniform with a color to match what they stood for.

"It wouldn't make sense if Team Magma marched out into the open, wanting to erupt volcanoes and kill the ocean, in green outfits," Courtney said matter-of-factly. "Team Magma has to wear red, because fire, magma, anger, your hair… they're all red." Of course, this didn't mean anything to Maxie. "Green" and "red" were just different shades of grey to him.

So, Courtney put together the apparently red uniforms, while Maxie recruited people with similar ways of thinking. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to find recruits. His nephew, Tabitha, stumbled into the hideout and asked to be part of the group. That was how he found his second admin.

All of his life, he was told that finding your soulmate was one of the most important things in the world. His mother told him that finding your soulmate would be the most wonderful experience. All you had to do was make eye contact with them, and your world would be filled with color.

She used to describe all the colors to him. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and everything between. He used to be so excited to meet his soulmate… to be able to see color.

Then he became an adult.

Soulmates usually meet in their teens, or at the beginning of adulthood. A lucky handful meet while they're children. A very small amount meet when they're older, or even not at all. There are very, very few instances where someone has multiple soulmates.

Maxie's hopes died as he got older. At this point he believed his soulmate probably died, but he didn't care all that much, anymore. Living was so much more important than waiting for a person that might be dead. He set his focuses on making more land for people and Pokémon to live.

After months of recruiting, Maxie's plans finally were put into action. He sent some grunts to Meteor Falls to retrieve a meteorite. He wasn't expecting to hear what they'd reported when they came back, though.

Courtney teleported into his bedroom. "Maxie! I'm sorry to bother you, but the grunts have come back with the Meteorite!" She didn't sound joyful, though.

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" he replied, concerned.

Courtney nodded. "However, they reported that there was another group… One like ours. Team Aqua. They seem to have the opposite goal that we do. Their leader, Archie, was there. He and his grunts tried to keep our grunts from taking the meteorite."

Maxie looked at her pointedly. "This is not acceptable. We need to head over to Mt. Chimney, now. Leave Blaise in charge of the base. Gather Tabitha and half of the grunts, and let's leave."

Archie could still remember the worst day of his life.

Everything was going fine that day. The dark blue ocean sparkled from the light of the bright yellow sun. He was in Slateport City, in a group of other water-type Pokémon lovers. He'd been challenged by a fisherman, and he'd sent out his Poochyena.

They were in the heat of the battle, surrounded by other trainers that were eagerly awaiting the outcome. Archie had his eyes trained on the fisherman's blue Wailmer… when it suddenly turned grey.

He looked around. The sky… grey. The ocean… grey. The concerned faces staring at him… grey.

That could only mean one thing…

"Rosemary!" he cried out in desperation. He quickly returned his Poochyena to its Poké Ball and let out his Pelipper.

He and Pelipper left the group of trainers behind, flying to Devon Corp., where she worked underground, moving around boxes.

"Hey, we're not done with our battle!" the fisherman yelled into the sky.

"What was that about?" a small girl asked.

"He looked so devastated…"

There was a lot of murmuring for a few moments about the trainer that randomly took off on a Pelipper.

The flight to Devon Corp. was a blur. He'd rushed into the building, past employees, following the weakening link between himself and his soulmate down the stairs.

He froze when he caught sight of her body. He could no longer see her dark red hair, or her deep blue eyes, or her tan skin… he just saw grey. He knelt down on his knees, looking into her lifeless, unseeing grey eyes. He could faintly hear the footsteps of the employees that chased after him.

Her skin was cold. Her heart wasn't beating. She'd been gone for a while. If only I'd been faster…

Rosemary had been having heart problems for a while, but they weren't severe. As long as she took her medicine, she should have been fine. But here she was, lying dead on the ground, most likely from a heart attack.

The rest of the memory was almost completely gone. Medical professionals had arrived, but she was dead. No one was down there with her, and no one had gone to check up on her. She would have been there even longer if Archie hadn't been connected with her through a soulmate link.

He didn't go to the funeral, instead shutting himself off from everyone. He stayed in his house for months and months, rarely going outside.

One day, he found a piece of paper taped to his front door.

"JOIN TEAM MAGMA TODAY!

"Are you interested in creating more land for people and Pokémon?

"Do you just dislike water type Pokémon and the ocean?

"Well, COME TO THE BEGINNING OF ROUTE 119 FOR A RECRUITMENT MEETING WITH MAXIE!"

There was a picture of the outfits Team Magma wore below the text.

Archie became a bit angry. Why would someone want to be rid of the ocean? The ocean, and all of the water Pokémon in it, were beautiful.

It was that moment that he decided that he must start a group to oppose this so-called "Team Magma".

He'll be the leader of… how about… "Team Aqua"?

Archie and his team arrived at Mt. Chimney to find that Team Magma was already there. He frowned. They appeared to be outnumbered. He ordered his followers to challenge any grunt they could find. Amber and Shelly were the first ones to react, going straight into battle like the faithful admins they were.

After the mixing of Team Aqua and Team Magma, Archie ended up by himself in a triple battle, and all three Magma grunts threw out Poochyenas. Archie rolled his eyes, sending out his Mightyena. Mightyena happily destroyed its pre-evolutions.

Archie weaved through Pokémon battles, and saw what appeared to be the leader of Team Magma over by a machine. The leader of Team Aqua narrowed his eyes and made his way around the pit of lava.

He stopped in front of the other leader, who seemed to have little interest in him. He was fiddling with the machine and the meteorite.

Archie cleared his throat. "For the love of Arceus, what do you think you're doing?"

The Magma leader stopped his current task, and slowly looked over to Archie.

The leader of Team Aqua was met with a familiar jolt of electricity. The other's grey eyes suddenly turned a bright red. His shocked face became less pale, his hair turned the same red as his eyes… and his turned the same red. Well, Archie supposed that was fitting for the leader of Team Magma.

Oh, Arceus…

His soulmate… his other soulmate... was the leader of Team Magma.