Team Skull (Japanese: スカル団 Skull-dan, literally Skull Gang) is a villainous team based in the Alola region.
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In the games[]
In Pokémon Sun and Moon[]
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Team Skull appears in Sun and Moon. As revealed by some of their members, Team Skull is composed of misfits who failed the island challenge. They steal Pokémon from people, but unlike previous villainous teams, they do not have a specific goal other than to cause trouble and acquire enough money to support themselves. In a stark contrast to other villainous teams, they do not pose a serious threat to the wellbeing of Alola and its residents, the majority of whom consider them thuggish nuisances at worst.
Team Skull originated from a group that coalesced around one of Alola's kahunas. This group provoked the wrath of the four island deities and was struck down. The survivors became the first members of Team Skull. At some point, Team Skull took over Po Town on Ula'ula Island, driving away the original residents, vandalising the buildings with graffiti and structural damage along with generally preventing others from entering the town and hindering the flow of electricity.
The group is known to highly value kinship - many of the grunts are close friends with each other, the team's admin Plumeria treats her underlings like a caring older sibling and in return is respected by them for it, and several grunts mock Gladion for lacking friends in the team and technically not being a true member of Team Skull as hired work.
At some point, Lusamine became the secret benefactor of Team Skull, and they, in turn, started to carry out her orders. Not all of the members were aware of her influence - while Plumeria knew that Guzma respected Lusamine as she was the only older figure to acknowledge his strength, Lusamine's estranged son Gladion was only aware that Team Skull was after Cosmog without knowing of their ties to the Aether Foundation president. Following Team Skull's kidnapping of Lillie and Nebby, Gladion immediately severed his ties with them and joined with Hau and the player to infiltrate and rescue them from Aether Paradise.