Team Aqua/Manga

Team Aqua were portrayed as more influential than their counterparts Team Magma. Their leader Archie, as the director of Hoenn TV, was able to orchestrate a cover-up of Team Aqua schemes and the identity of the team itself, while reporting Team Magma schemes and airing anti-Team Magma propaganda whenever they could. This was how Gabby and Ty seemed to be unable to tell the full story of what happened to Mr. Stone on Route 104, or the ending of volcanic activity on Mt. Chimney, a successful scheme led by the s. In addition, Team Aqua's headquarters in Lilycove City was able to house countless aquariums of Pokémon.

Team Aqua's influence on the media eventually became too much for one man - Magma Leader Maxie, who went to Lilycove to confront Archie. Archie eventually settled on a truce with Maxie which involved the two teams combining forces to reach the same destination together, as while Team Magma held the submarine built by Captain Stern, Team Aqua had control of the Devon Parts they stole from Mr. Stone, which enabled the submarine to reach its destination.

The ending of volcanic activity was expected to bring the conditions necessary for to quickly gain areas of influence once it awakened. However, this was not the case, and Archie sent over to investigate. Once Archie obtained the Blue Orb, he trapped Amber in the submarine they took to get to the Seafloor Cavern, as well as the Blue Orb's previous holder Tabitha. Moreover, Archie took out the Devon Parts from the submarine and put it on auto-pilot so that it would burst. Despite surviving this event, Amber swore his allegiance to Team Aqua and joined forces with his fellow Admins to confront the Hoenn Gym Leaders who were also impeding Kyogre's advance.

Archie disbanded Team Aqua shortly after assuming his new guise.

Archie returned at the same time that Neo Team Aqua (Japanese: 新生アクア団 Neo Aqua Gang) were formed by new incarnations of and Shelly, to cooperate with Zinnia.