#honestly not posting much becaue I've been filling my free time with Pokemon

[sapphire-strikes]

♡Some Pokémon Headcanons Pt. 2!♡

Doing a part two, this one's all about some villains. For reference, I do combine the events of Emerald with characterizations of ORAS, because I love the redesigned Team Magma and Aqua but am sad they didn't play into the more solid story of Emerald. Same thing with Yellow and the Let's Go Series. (This also plays into that whole "consistent MC" concept I talked about in Pt.1)

Part. 1 Part. 2 Part. 3 Part. 4 Part. 5 Part. 6

Giovanni: One of my favorite things about Giovanni is that he's oddly respectful. Still obviously selfish, evil, and power-hungry, but he's never even surprised by your strength and isn't one to dispute his defeat, even neglecting to go all out if he knows it won't be of any use.

• After his defeat in the Kanto region by this unknown trainer, Giovanni actually offers you a position in Team Rocket. He'd been beaten after all, and while he could most likely predict your answer, there was certainly no harm in putting the offer out on the table, even as a sign of respect to your potential.

• When you inevitably refuse, he acknowledges your decision and disappears, leaving his gym badge for you to claim.

• His whereabouts afterward were unknown and still are, with a warrant out for his arrest. Even with the revival of Team Rocket later on, supposedly during his absence, he was still considered one of the main suspects for their continued activity and even now is suspected to be controlling things from the shadows as the organization has yet to fade out completely.

• Perhaps you'll run into him again in the future, his offer still stands.

Archer: Being closest to Giovanni, most consider him Team Rocket's second in command. Archer is endlessly loyal to Team Rocket to the point that his reasons for sticking around actually exceed more than just that of money and power. He truly believes that Giovanni has built something great and found purpose in life working to keep it alive, even at the detriment of Giovanni's wishes sometimes.

• Even Giovanni himself, a man purely of business and unburdened by sentiment, is enamored by his loyalty. He's learned the power of strong conviction alone can be truly astounding and has granted him total command of Team Rocket's assets on the condition he continue to use that conviction to grow Team Rocket even stronger.

• Archer's initial option of the player was prudish, looking down on you as some kind of thug for the way you so brashly made your way into Team Rocket's hideout. Normally he wouldn't even bother battling someone so insignificant himself but thought it appropriate to teach you a lesson for your disrespect. When you beat him the first time his condescending attitude grows extremely bitter; angry and embarrassed to have been made a fool out of by this nobody.

• By the next few times you cross paths, he manages to be much more composed, acknowledging your strength and yourself as an obstacle and having simply grown determined to take you down in the name of Team Rocket.

• When you defeat Giovanni, you'd think he'd be outraged at you for being the reason the great Team Rocket fell but he's not. Giovanni acknowledged your strength and surrendered his gym badge willingly, even offering you a place among them. And in doing so, Archer gains something akin to admiration for you, accepting his leader's decision and even sincerely congratulating you on defeating the Pokemon league. Escaping after with the promise that he'd see Team Rocket rise to its former glory.

• And that he did.

• When Giovanni disappeared after his defeat, not only from the eyes of the law but his underlings as well. It was Archer that took over Team Rocket later on and those that managed to avoid arrest after their base was raided happily followed him in Giovanni's sted.

• When you run into Archer later on, during the revival of Team Rocket and the takeover of the Goldenrod Radio Tower, his attitude is very different, playful even as he seems happy to see you and gushes about the return of Team Rocket and their plan to find Giovanni.

• This change in attitude comes from the fact that he sees you as someone that was recognized by Giovanni, making you someone truly worth, believing that you'll come around eventually and join them when you realize their real glory regardless of what you might say now.

• Even after his second defeat and the second disbandment of Team Rocket, Archer doesn't lose hope, retreating to the shadows in search of Giovanni on his own.

• After that, Team Rocket falls out of the spotlight for a significant amount of time, with only rumors and speculations of crimes being by them with no certain proof to trace it back to the organization in particular. Though a few eyewitness reports have aligned to a sighting of a teal-haired man escaping the scene of crimes ranging the whole way from Kalso to Alola.

Archie and Maxie: Out of all the team leaders (with the exception of Team skull, of course), I feel like these two fall the least under the category of villain. They both have good intentions they're just absolute morons when the other is involved. I like to think they knew each other before founding their teams, perhaps just friends or colleagues in pokemon research until stumbling onto the legend of the weather trio. Eventually coming to an argument just at the idea of how these ancient pokemon's power could be used. What started as a simple discussion turned into a fight that made them part ways, delving into more research on their own and forming their respective teams with the goal to bring their vision to fruition before the other. Individually, they're both very capable people.

• Maxie is incredibly academically gifted, book smart to put it more simply, even if it does come off like he's got a stick up his butt. He likes the quiet and drinking tea and has a soft spot for helpless people and pokemon.

• Archie is loud, boisterous, and good in a brawl. He's incredibly loyal to his crew and would sooner meet a watery grave than break his word. Gets along better with Pokemon than he does people just because he tends to scare other people off with how brash he can be.

• When the two of them are together, all sense goes out the window and the only thing they can think about is one-uping the other. I genuinely feel like if the other wasn't involved, you'd have much more easily been able to talk them out of their respective plans. But they were blinded by their rivalry and the desire to be right.

• Even when their actions almost lead to the end of the world, they begin fighting all over again. Blaming the other for summoning their legendary and starting the world-ending fight. Only when they see you fighting to fix their mistakes do they snap out of it and put their differences behind themselves to help you, ashamed to see someone so young risking their life because of them.

• After Rayquaza is awakened and the legendaries are quelled, Archie and Maxie as well as their respective teams are arrested by the International Police. However, if you're willing to vouch for their character they can avoid jail time.

• While their intentions weren't evil, they did break the law and almost cause an insurmountable disaster, so they won't be allowed to just walk free, but if you can convince them to cooperate they'll instead be placed under parole and house arrest at one of the international police's headquarters if they can vow to use their knowledge and skills to help human and pokemon kind unbiasedly. And since you were the one that vouched for them, it will most likely be whichever headquarters you and Looker frequent with the intention of letting you keep an eye on them.

• They have matching ankle bracelets that go off if they leave the headquarters without an escort and they were ironically forced to bunk together (Archie gets top bunk obviously), so it's certainly not ideal for them. They're stuck together now, in the same facility at least, but it's better than prison. They've both acknowledged their mistakes and take it with dignity. Well, some dignity, they still bicker constantly, but with good behavior, they'll be free men in no time.

• Also! Thanks to the two of them taking full responsibility for the events in Hoenn, their grunts got off on parole as well, with a lot of community service. Anywhere you go in Hoenn you can find Team Magma or Aqua grunts picking up trash; with Aqua grunts favoring the seaside and beaches and Magma grunts taking care of the parks and cities. And yes, they do still wear their uniforms while on duty.

That's all for this one! Only gonna cover a few at a time but I hope to get through all the baddies of them eventually.