For Juan, it had been a few weeks since the worst day of his life. Thinking back on it, the taste of defeat still sharply lingered in his mouth like a bitter sweet.
He had to admit—he had underestimated Team Aqua. Of course he had heard of them before—just a group of small-town pirates, raiding ships that could barely even defend themselves and stealing their items.
They had popped up on the news from time to time, but had largely been overshadowed by the constant coverage of the previous Champion's mistakes and errors, and now the never-ending coverage of Wallace's reign. The news covered what was popular and what would sell, and some jewellery being stolen here and there wouldn't.
Even he had been in the news quite a lot—he made sure they used a good picture—after he had been appointed Gym Leader.
Wallace had told him about representatives from Kalos arriving shortly before the day. Juan himself was quite curious about the Water-type Pokemon they would be bringing as a gift for Wallace. He was curious to see when it got here, but not curious enough to wake up early in the morning and disrupt his beauty sleep to get on the ship in the cold chilly air.
No, the main reason he had gotten on there was because of the small possibility that Team Aqua would be there raiding that ship, and if that small possibility happened, then he would beat Team Aqua and put a stop to the crew once and for all—and he could prove that Wallace made the right decision making him Gym Leader.
That would be newsworthy: Juan the gym leader defeats pirates from attacking a ship from Kalos.
Defending the ship would also be a show of strength for the region, to show that they were improving and getting stronger and appointing the right people.
That was how it should have gone. It was how it had gone in his dreams. Instead, the opposite happened. He was extremely confident—way too confident. That confidence led to an astounding defeat. Team Aqua's leader—Poseidon, they called him—was much stronger than he initially believed.
Juan's underestimate of Poseidon's strength, and his overestimate of his own strength had caused his loss. There was no other way around it. No silly excuses or complaints which would help him sleep at night— he and his Pokemon had been dismantled from top to bottom.
It had caused him to tuck his tail and leave in disgrace while Team Aqua robbed the people on the ship and stole the Pokemon meant for Wallace. The ride back on his Pokemon was quiet and embarrassing— the silence of the seas allowed him to stew in his defeat quietly—and it was even more embarrassing to tell Wallace the news himself.
They had manipulated it of course, for as much as Wallace complained about being the region leader and the politics of it all, he had a very good knack for it.
They manipulated the news, mentioning no news of a stolen Pokemon, or an astounding defeat, just an attempt. This thankfully managed to save Juan some face, for if the public knew of his loss he would be ripped to shreds, and his ability to run a gym and give badges to the next generation of promising trainers would be called into question.
He himself had been questioning it. Juan had won the conference league a few years ago. After that, he had grown lacklustre, less frequent training sessions, less battle analysis and less slowly shedding the weaknesses his team had just because he won the trophy. The fame and connections got into his head. He partied and mingled with the Hoenn elite, riding the coattails of victory even years after his triumph, clinging onto it like it was a life raft and he was drowning at sea. He was drowning for sure—in compliments and drinks. The fire that once led him to victory was now dwindling to a quiet ember.
Pathetic.
Ever since he had lost, the only thing in his head was embarrassment and doubt about his skill as a gym leader. He could've decided right there and then to just quit—to let that fire go out—,but at the end of the day, he still was a trainer. He had gone through tough periods and losses before, this was merely another setback.
In the gym training room, he stood atop a platform, overlooking a large pool of water.
He had worked up a sweat, and his throat was dry from commanding his Pokemon so much. He took a few gulps of water.
Below him, six of his Pokemon—his main team, the one he would use for challenging those who already had seven badges—were below in the training pool.
His slight exhaustion was mimicked by his team, who had just spent the past hour training. Just like him, they were disappointed in the defeat they suffered a few weeks ago. It hurt even more that it was from a fellow water-type trainer. Losing to someone with a type advantage was less of a blow, but losing to someone with the same type specialty was like a punch from a Machamp—with each hand.
Juan withdrew his Pokemon and left the training room. Just as he closed the door, his assistant strode up to him.
Her name was Samantha. She was Wallace's assistant before he became champion. In his words, she was good at her job—he even offered the job of a champion's assistant, but Samantha preferred the quiet and easy life of a gym leader's assistant. Smart girl.
"Leader. I've got the report for the end of last week. Would you like to hear them?"
Juan nodded.
"This week we had 70 challenges at the gym, spread mostly evenly across all eight different levels. Of those 70 challengers, you gave a gym badge to 10 of them—meeting the minimum quota of gym badges handed out."
Ah yes, the minimum quota. If the champion was responsible for guiding the region, and the Elite Four served as key political advisers, then gym leaders were responsible for nurturing the next generation of trainers. Although it was common belief that gym leaders were the hurdles in a trainer's journey to make it to the conference league, it was much more nuanced than that.
These gym challenges were not obstacles, but learning experiences, and ultimately, losses were a part of that learning experience. They were tests, but you didn't need to win to pass the test. Only trainers with lots of potential and previous experience typically beat all eight gym leaders on their first try, and if that was all they accepted into the conference league then it would be quite a barren tournament.
With this system in place, it checked all the following points:
Kept gym leaders and their Pokemon fresh and improving, rather than getting rusty by constantly holding back with tactics and their Pokemon. The only measures set in place were level dampeners for gym leaders Pokemon.
Implemented more of a challenge for the trainers—the bigger the obstacle, the higher they will climb. Trainers who could thrive when all the odds were seemingly stacked against them. The government wished to create and nurture these people into future positions of power and influence.
Gave gym badges to promising trainers. For example, a trainer may have lost due to an unlucky status condition, a bad set of type matchups, unfamiliarity with an opposing Pokemon or its moves, or lack of experience—which is expected as these gym challenges are put in place to get experience. In cases like these the gym leader may or may not decide to give them a badge. It should be noted that these fights have to be relatively close in order for a gym badge to even be considered.
Minimum quota of 10 gym badges given out a week. This allows for a steady influx of new trainers to keep progressing through the gym challenges and/or make it to the conference league qualifiers. This number may or may not be increased or decreased due to external circumstances such as if the region is going through a drought or a surplus of trainers.
The gym challenges prepare the challengers for the real deal: the conference league. This is where nothing will be held back and your entire capability is put on the front stage.
Gym challenges, and much more notably the conference league—hosted annualy—were highly televised events which made the government lots of money—this practice was firstly adopted in a far away region known as Galar. The more people who underwent these gym challenges as well as the more people who made it to the conference league typically meant more money for the government.
The politics of it all was rather complex—he felt sorry for Wallace dealing with this everyday.
"What have we got next? Another gym challenge?"
Samantha nodded.
"Good," Juan said. "I've been testing some things with my Pokemon. What badge is he looking for?"
"He's looking for his eighth badge."
Juan smiled even more. "So I can use my best team. Even better."
Weeks before he couldn't imagine being excited about battling, it had been years since that feeling. Back when he became Gym leader he tackled the challenges with a "get the boring stuff over and done with." mindset. Now it was the thing he was most looking forward to.
This was what he had been missing in his life— no amount of alcohol or flattery or praise could amount to the steadily building emotion that came with training and improving with your Pokemon—improving as one. It was euphoric. This was why he had become a trainer in the first place rather than dealing with contests like his parents did.
Newly equipped with his sharpened mindset, Juan had promised himself he would never suffer a loss so humiliating again. He would never allow another challenger to do what Poseidon had done to him and his Pokemon. Especially his main team.
"And what's the name of this challenger?" Juan asked absentmindedly.
"Steven. Steven Stone."
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"The only way to know if you're truly alive is if you are touching the earth. It means you are bound to the it and all it has to offer."
Maxie smiled as he remembered the words his mother used to say to him.
He knelt down, digging his fingernails through the earth and picking up a handful of dirt. He let it slide through his fingers, feeling the texture and roughness of the dirt and small rocks. He felt the ground on his two feet, stabilising him.
Maxie had always been a hygiene freak, but for some reason, the dirt and grass never bothered him— the earth never bothered him. It was natural, pure, from Mother Nature herself. It was the very thing we stood on, and the very reason we could exist.
Humans weren't aquatic creatures; they were bipedal creatures who walked on two legs on the ground—on the earth. It was their home, and it was because of this very ground they now stood on which civilization was built—houses, power plants, energy centres, everything—it was all built here, on the earth.
Ever since he was a kid, he always had an obsession with it. Maxie never liked going outside to play with fellow humans and Pokemon—he preferred the indoors with his books—but there was a feeling he got, a special feeling, when he walked on the earth with his bare feet.
It was as if he were connected to it, as if he were the earth itself—as if he were its conduit.
He was beginning to feel more and more like that recently.
The earth was slowly running out of space. It made sense. Humans and Pokemon had been procreating and breeding for millions of years, and it was just about now that the consequences of that breeding were starting to show. Billions of creatures walked the earth, but the earth wasn't big enough for all of those billions of creatures.
She was crying out to him for help, crying out to be saved, and it seemed as if he was the only one who could hear her. His bare feet stood on the dirt. His toenails curled in anger. Why could no one see the truth? Why could no one see what he saw? Humanity was running out of space and soon it would be overcrowded and overpopulated and spiral into worse and worse problems.
He tried to bring up the issue with who he believed were like-minded people, but no one seemed to care— they even had the audacity to laugh at him and make fun of him for caring about an issue as "trivial as this". It was as if everyone's eyes were wide shut. They only cared about themselves and no one else— it was disgusting, the earth didn't deserve people like them.
Maxie was special—he knew that—but he took no pride in it. It was more of a curse that he knew this knowledge and cared for the Earth so much, because it compelled him to act and do something—no matter how horrible his actions seemed to outsiders.
Water covered over 70% of the earth. It was far too much. So, he simply came up with a solution—and with that solution, a team to help him achieve it.
And so, the legend of Team Magma began.
Its goal was simple: to expand the landmass of the earth and help civilization use that extra space to develop and prevent overcrowding. Along the way he would take care of the more…ungrateful people and simply free the world up some space.
They would expand the landmass, and Maxie would control every step of bringing the world into the new age, and he would consolidate his rule to ensure the earth remained safe and clean all the while progressing the human race and ensuring it was peaceful and prosperous.
Now, the question was—how would he do it?
Maxie lifted his head up to the sky. The clouds had disappeared by now. The bright sunlight shone on his face and bounced off his spectacles. It was such a sunny day, even his lips were parched as if Hoenn were going through a drought.
Water is the least of Hoenns problems…but it's at the top of mine. This region has too much water. Maxie thought. This world has too much water, and I'm going to fix it.