Amber: Team Aqua's Third Ace, Dropped by His Own Boss

He's the only Admin Archie takes all the way to the end, and the only one he abandons along the way. Amber rounds out Team Aqua's trio of lieutenants, alongside Shelly and Matt. His story fits into a handful of scenes, but they cover the organization's entire arc: a theft in disguise, a volcano put out, a Legendary awakened, then a door shut on him.

Contents

• The Third Ace of a Three-Headed Organization
• "Lombre Larceny": The Heist That Made Them Admins
• Mt. Chimney: Putting Out a Volcano to Raise the Sea
• Seafloor Cavern: The Blue Orb, Then the Door Slammed Shut
• Amber at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Third Ace of a Three-Headed Organization

Amber holds the rank of Team Aqua Admin, the tier that commands the troops without ever devising the plans. With Shelly and Matt, he makes up the trio the story nicknames the Three Aces, the only subordinates Archie keeps close at hand.

His territory is one of a kind: the manga adaptation is the only medium that documents him. Where other members of the organization move from game cartridge to anime, Amber exists only on paper — which explains how thin his profile is and, paradoxically, how dense his appearances are: he has just one storyline to get through, and he's in on nearly every dirty trick.

One of the creatures attributed to him has an unusual history, and it didn't even belong to him at first — the Nincada that Shelly handed over to him. The bug eventually evolves into Ninjask, and the shell it leaves behind comes to life as a Shedinja. One Trainer, one starting Pokémon, two Pokémon at the end.

"Lombre Larceny": The Heist That Made Them Admins

The trio makes its entrance with a theft in costume. The three pose as workers sent to deal with the water supply, a cover meant to get close to Mr. Stone and swipe a special part from him. The scheme is neat on paper, and the chapter that stages it is titled "Lombre Larceny".

The execution, however, goes off the rails. Sapphire foils the plan before it can succeed, and the three Team Aqua members need their Pokémon to step in to get away with the part anyway. They have the loot; the discretion, much less so.

Because the price is steep: Sapphire and two reporters, Gabby and Ty, have seen their faces. The higher-ups reward the result all the same — all three are promoted to Admin — but attach an order to the promotion that says a lot about the outfit: make the witnesses disappear. The Three Aces are thus born from a success and a blunder, in one and the same stroke.

Mt. Chimney: Putting Out a Volcano to Raise the Sea

Amber turns up again at Mt. Chimney, and not as a mere extra. With Shelly, he captures Flannery to be led to Sapphire: the Gym Leader serves as a guide under duress, a direct follow-up to the order to eliminate the witnesses received after the theft.

A little later, he's seen at the summit, apparently in charge of an operation the story keeps secret at first. The veil eventually lifts: Team Aqua wants to put out the volcano using the Meteorite, in order to raise the level of the oceans. Here, then, the organization's climate ambition goes through an extinction rather than a direct flood.

To get its hands on the Meteorite, the organization makes use of Professor Cozmo, an expert on the subject. The operation succeeds, and the group pulls out before Sapphire and Flannery can step in — one of the rare moments when Team Aqua reaches its goal without getting caught.

🌊 The giant Team Aqua wants to awaken has its own section: browse the Legendary Pokémon.

Seafloor Cavern: The Blue Orb, Then the Door Slammed Shut

When Archie goes down into the Seafloor Cavern to awaken Kyogre, Amber is the only Admin on board. Out of three lieutenants, he's the one the boss takes along at the decisive moment: the clearest sign of trust the character receives in the whole story.

The mission he's given on site is clear: retrieve the Blue Orb, then in the hands of Tabitha. Amber defeats the Team Magma man and brings the orb back to his boss, who thanks him in his own way: Archie sends him to the bottom of the sea along with his opponent, and without the submarine's special part. The object stolen in the very first chapter thus seals the fate of the man who stole it.

What follows is pure irony: it's Tabitha, the enemy he has just beaten, who saves him. Amber then joins Shelly and Matt against the Gym Leaders who have come to stand in Kyogre's way, and wins against Wattson, the Mauville City Gym Leader. Then he flees, and the story brings him back later.

Amber at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Amber in Pokémon?
  A Team Aqua Admin. Together with Shelly and Matt, he forms the Three Aces trio, the command tier placed just below the organization's leader, Archie.
• Which medium does Amber appear in?
  In the manga adaptation, the only medium that documents him. His story there covers the theft from Mr. Stone, the Mt. Chimney operation and the descent into the Seafloor Cavern.
• Which Pokémon does Amber use?
  The manga gives him a Nincada gifted by Shelly, as well as a Pelipper, a Carvanha and several Volbeat. That Nincada evolves into Ninjask, and the shell left behind during the evolution becomes a Shedinja.
• Why does Archie get rid of Amber?
  Once the Blue Orb has been handed over, Archie sends his Admin to the bottom of the sea with Tabitha, without the submarine's special part. The story shows the act without giving the reason.
• What becomes of Amber at the end of the story?
  He joins Shelly and Matt against the Gym Leaders, defeats Mauville City's Wattson, then flees. The manga brings him back later.

In short

Amber is the most low-key of the Three Aces, and yet the one Team Aqua uses up to the very end: he steals, he kidnaps, he wins his battles, and he ends up sent to the bottom like dead weight. His last victory, against a Gym Leader, comes after his own side has cast him aside. The story leaves him on the run for a while — before bringing back the man who played every one of the organization's dirty roles.