GO Pokémon GO Adventure Log & Stories Thread!

[Zexy]

New Medal: Fisherman (silver)
Raids: 2 Kyogre, 1 caught, now 6/13
New 2000+ CP Pokemon: +Rhydon 2889/2850, +Flareon 2460, +Jolteon 2376, +Omastar 2292, +Kyogre 2265
New 100% IV Pokemon: Gloom 1037
+1 Silver Gym Badge

Monday
Went to the seaside park with some friends, weaather was Partly Cloudy most of the time, caught some Wonder Rhyhorn which I evolved into Rhydon 2889/2850 (I only evolve Wonder ones now but there are still way too many, I should figure out if/which I should transfer as I have almost 30!), a few nice CP Eevee that became Flareon 2460/Jolteon 2376 (thankfully both with great movesets, Jolteon's already seeing use in Kyogre Raids) and Omastar 2292. Also got the Fisherman silver medal off the Magikarp I caught (I'm hunting them down as I have plans of evolving the 100% Level 35 one soon).

Later in the day, before going home, I stopped at the city centre in hopes of getting one Kyogre Raid, but there was nothing Not too bad, I could still do two the next day.

Tuesday
Focused on Kyogre Raids, found two and did them easily, missed a 2297 one, probably my highest IV so far But did catch the Kyogre 2265 of the second Raid. Also got a Silver Gym Badge on the second Gym thanks to the Raid. But in the meantime, a 100% Oddish spawned in the city centre in a nearby nest, so I went there and grabbed it, caught some more as I plan to turn it into Vileplume, but for now it's just Gloom 1037.

Nothing else much today, headed back home.

I now have plans of hitting the seaside park once again tomorrow, to get a headstart on the newly released species. That should be fun

 

[Almonds]

Caught Aron, Lairon, Baltoy, and Numel.

Sparky says that all of them suck, though ._.

 

[Zexy]

New species (caught): Numel, Trapinch, Baltoy, Anorith, Aron, Whismur, Loudred, Crawdaunt, Marshtomp, Swampert
New species (seen only): Lunatone
New 3000+ CP Pokemon: Dragonite 3187
New 2000+ CP Pokemon: Alakazam 2593, Exeggutor 2519, Swampert 2381, Tyranitar 2051
Raids: Kyogre, Tyranitar. Failed on Kyogre (6/14), caught Tyranitar

Wednesday
Seaside park
Went to the seaside park again with some friends to hunt down the new species and because the weather was Windy (so more, boosted Dratini). Registered all of Numel, Trapinch, Baltoy, Anorith, Aron, Whismur there and started making progress towards their evolutions, too. Also finally got enough Candy for the following evolutions: Loudred, Crawdaunt, Marshtomp and Swampert. The last one was on a Level 35 82% Mudkip which became Swampert 2381. Also saw a Lunatone in a Gym there.

Caught 11 Dratini (most with Pinap), the best of which is Level 35 71%, which I evolved into Dragonite 3187, my new #4 and #1 non-legendary (after Groudon/Ho-oh/Raikou). I also have 300 Candy spare still, and hope to get even more as well as better bases in the following Community Day, when I should probably decide on my third Dragonite ever. Still glad I finally got my second, this was long overdue really as I did have the Candy but no base I felt comfortable using it on.

Also caught several Abra and Exeggcute, including some good ones which I evolved into Alakazam 2593 (my best one so far) and Exeggutor 2519 (second best, got lucky with the moveset, immediately useful in Kyogre Raids without TM investment).

City centre (Raids)
After several hours I: 1) almost ran out of Poke Balls, 2) got my Pokemon Storage almost full and in dire need of figuring out what to transfer, 3) was feeling more cold by the sea as it was getting late, 4) was also worried I might not get a Kyogre Raid in time, so I decided to leave that area and head to the centre for a Raid.

Found a Kyogre and enough people to do it easily, but I didn't catch it and it was in the 2290s

And then, close by, a Tyranitar Raid spawned, and I was in a dillema; is it worth spending a Premium Raid Pass on non-boosted Tyranitar? I decided that, yes, it is, as it's quite rare to find one alongside the people willing to do it, and the potential base/Candy gain is worth the shot. So I did that Raid too and thankfully managed to catch it, Tyranitar 2051, unfortunately its IV is somewhat bad. Still glad to have a 6th one +10 Candy though!

 

[Jacensolo66]

My Kyogre luck has been horrible lately. Did 2 Wednesday and both were 2255. Thought it couldnt get any worse but tonights was 2244. Using Pinaps, caught 1 fo 3 so now 9 of 21.

Also added Numel, Cacnea, and Baltoy to the dex.

 

[Zexy]

New species (caught): Armaldo, Lileep, Cradily, Nosepass, Cacnea, Lairon, Aggron, Camerupt, Exploud, Claydol
New 2000+ CP Pokemon: Vaporeon 2660, Aggron 2405, Jolteon 2350/2348, Houndoom 2278/2177/2166, Armaldo 2271, Kyogre 2267, Walrein 2249
Raids: 2 Kyogre, 1 caught, now 7/16

Thursday
Seaside park
Once again had free time so I headed there to keep filling the Pokedex. This time the weather was Partly Cloudy and it was full of Rock-type Pokemon, so not only did I catch Lileep and Nosepass, I also got enough Candy for Cradily and Armaldo 2271. Got some more nice Eevee, evolved them to Vaporeon 2660 and Jolteon 2350/2348, the latter got the right moveset and sees immediate use in Kyogre Raids.

City centre
On the way back I stopped by to get my daily Kyogre Raid done, didn't catch unfortunately.

Friday
City centre
Got done with my class, headed to the city centre, found a Kyogre Raid and enough people to do it, this time I caught it albeit in the last throw. Kyogre 2267 it is, nothing too good IV-wise, but I'm still glad I got my 7th. I then decided to hang out in a cafe with 3 Lured PokeStops with some friends instead of heading to the city centre all over again as it was Partly Cloudy and all we'd get is more Fossils we were done with.

Thankfully the city centre's different biomes (more mountain/desert) paid off as I got enough Aron Candy (with the help of Buddy and a hatch) to evolve my best one into Lairon and then Aggron 2405. Got enough Whismur for Exploud too. Also got enough Spheal (for some reason they're quite common despite being Water type) to evolve my best one (saved from the good old Rain weather I'm afraid we won't see again for a long while, bye bye boosted Kyogre /rant over) Walrein 2249 (needs Charged TM to get Ice moveset, might deal with that later especially if Rayquaza shows up as the next Legendary Raid).

And even better, a while later the weather pulled a switch, to Sunny (and as it got night, Clear). And this is how I got Cacnea and enough Candy for the Camerupt and Claydol evolutions. Plus 3 awesome 900+ CP Houndour which I evolved into Houndoom 2278/2177/2166, 2 of which got the perfect Dark moveset immediately, and one which needs a TM (although I doubt I'll need to give it that even if Mewtwo shows up with all the Tyranitar I have; still a keep in case specifically Dark/Fire becomes relevant in the future).

The surprising/annoying part is that I didn't see a single Trapinch (even though I hatched one from the 10km Egg), unlike the seaside park. I'm also not done with Lunatone yet, and Cacturne has a long while to go as a single Cacnea only got me to 6/50 on the Candy thanks to Pinap. Otherwise, I'd say I'm pretty satisfied with how quickly I wrapped up most of the new group. 18/22 (available here as Torkoal seems to be regional) already is very good.

 

[Almonds]

Caught plenty of Oddish today, and now I'm left deciding which to evolve my Gloom into.

Oh wait, I have three Sun Stones. Bellossom it is.

 

[Vulpix037]

Yesterday I caught a CP1905 Lunatone and a CP10 Nosepass (it's almost cute ). Today I got enough candy to evolve an Aron into a Lairon.

 

[Zexy]

Raids: 2 Kyogre, 1 caught, now 8/18
New 2000+ CP Pokemon: Kyogre 2277

Saturday
Only played very little on my way on doing several chores outside, pretty busy day IRL so no time for GO. I did the very least Gym-wise and managed to get all 50 Coins at least, plus the daily bonuses/saving the Raid Pass for Sunday.

Sunday
Did 2 Kyogre Raids in the city centre.
The first had only 6 people and it was a bit close and tense, but I got all 14 Premier Balls (first time I get +3 personal damage wow). Thankfully the charge move was Thunder and the weather was Clear, basically the easiest possible scenario. It was 2299 CP too but unfortunately it just wouldn't stay in despite I had 14 throws at it GRRRR -_-
For the second we got some more people so I only had 9 Premier Balls available, yet I did catch it on the third throw. Kyogre 2277 it is, 82% 12/13/12. Meh, not terrible but not too good either, still glad it was a catch

And with this I hit quite a milestone in the Kyogre Raid month as I got 18 Raids in, the exact same amount I had for Ho-oh and Groudon. Although I got 9 catches on each of them unlike the 8 catches here; a bit annoyed I couldn't keep up at least that 50% ratio still, yet considering how hard it was to connect the throws early on, I guess it is fair if not better. It's also amusing to think that I still have lots of time ahead of me to do even more Kyogre Raids, thankfully this time I've got the full month unlike Ho-oh which had a shorter period or Groudon which had the holiday break in between. I'm probably getting more close to my Raikou ratio again, which would be 12/31.

 

[TeaWest]

Now at level 34! Added Baltoy, Cacnea and Numel to the Pokedex Also went for a second Kyogre, it had ??? CP so I don't know what it was. I wasn't able to catch it anyway Other than that, still working on getting candy for Gardevoir, Aggron, Wailmer and the three starters.

 

[Zexy]

New species (caught): Grovyle, Sceptile, Vibrava, Flygon, Cacturne, Lunatone
New notable* 2000+ CP Pokemon: Kyogre 2302/2263, +Sceptile 2238
*does not include Rhydon/Houndoom/Golem as I've got way too many of them
New 100% IV Pokemon: Claydol 967
Raids: 3 Kyogre, 2 caught, now at 10/21

Monday
Seaside park
Hatched a Treecko that gave me enough Candy to evolve my strongest one into Sceptile 2238, which is already very useful in Kyogre Raids thanks to Leaf Blade. I use it as the Grass-based team's 6th slot, as 3-bar charge moves are preferrable in order to round out the end damage (get the least possible energy wasted if you need to rejoin or the boss goes down while on your 6th attacker). It is replacing Victreebel, which did in turn replace a Seed Bomb Exeggutor, but that's how the DPS survival of the fittest works...

Went to the seaside park alongside a friend in hopes of getting Cacturne and Flygon done. I was afraid the former would be a pain too, as on Friday when in the city centre Lures there was only one Cacnea spawn in hours of Clear weather. Thankfully, the park proved us wrong, if not on overkill mode to the point it got annoying; I guess that because it has much more Grass biome spawn points, Cacnea were EVERYWHERE, I got done with Cacturne almost immediately and by the end I was fed up of having to catch them lol. Had no luck with Trapinch or Feebas, though. As for non-Pokedex useful Pokemon that I do have, I did get some more Magikarp which I need to evolve my Level 35 100%, but there were no Dratini (not too big of a problem as the Community Day is coming, but some more Candy is always nice). Overall, other than getting done with Cacturne just to be safe, it was a dissapointment.

City centre Raids
So I got fed up, besides I'd like to do my daily Kyogre Raid, so headed up for the city centre, where I met some more friends. Did a Raid there, Kyogre 2263 spawned, I managed to catch it relatively easily, hitting 9/19. We decided to hang out by the Lures for a bit and see if any Raids would show up, even though I wasn't particularly intrested in doing more.

But then a Rank 5 Egg spawned in one of the few confirmed EX-available locations, I was still reluctant but gave in to peer pressure, especially since everyone was like "it's the last day before invitations go out, come on give it just one chance". So eh, I gave away one more Premium Raid Pass. Didn't catch the second Kyogre, 9/20.

Tuesday
City centre
The plan for today was to just do the daily Kyogre Raid and hunt down any Trapinch I could in the city centre, as they apparently spawn more there (Desert biome, I guess). First arrived after a Discord post asked for people to gather at a specific Raid and enough people said yes, but figured like checking out if the popular farming spot was Lured as I had time. It was Lured indeed, so I grasped the chance to farm a bit and hopefully convince the people there to join us for the Raid, which I did.

And poof, Vibrava spawn from the Lure! It's pretty annoying to catch as it has Yanma-like movements, which make it even exit the screen and make it show the arrows that are normally only used in AR mode. But the few moments it would stand still, I managed to catch it with Pinap, registering it and getting enough Candy to evolve it into Flygon as it was Wonder too (albeit mediocre level). A second one spawned later which I caught with Razz, mostly for the Dragon medal.

We then did the Kyogre Raid, and I got Kyogre 2302! Thankfully I managed to catch it, highest IV yet. 91% but 14 Attack, still my best though 10/21

Spent some more time on the Lures alongside friends to gather up Stardust/Candy (especially on Houndour -_-) and we called it a day. But... on the way home I came upon both a 100% Baltoy (which I then immediately posted in Discord and waited for the people interested to come, also evolved it into Claydol 967) and about half an hour later, a Lunatone, which I got registered, finishing up the (currently available here) Desert Wave of Gen III for good (Torkoal's regional, Solrock I'll have to catch when it shows up).

Now I gotta focus on the final remnants of the Water/Ice Wave, Ludicolo (Lotad's on Buddy and about to grind the last few Candy needed) and Milotic (I just need to keep checking out the seaside park until I get 96 Candy, then walk 20 km -_-). And the Ralts/Slakoth lines of course that are gonna take a while, plus Wynaut whenever I'm lucky enough to just hatch it.

 

[Jacensolo66]

My battle with my nemesis continues. Did 3 Kyogre raids yesterday. Saw a 2257, 2306, and 2292(seen several of these the last week). Ended up using Golden Razz Berries for all 3 and only caught the 2306 on the last ball. Not the greatest stats, 13/15/14, but 93% so if that ends up being my best so be it.

Also got another Mewtwo raid pass for Feb 8th.

 

[Zexy]

Raid: Kyogre, caught, now 11/22
New notable 2000+ CP Pokemon: Kyogre 2286
+1 Gold Gym Badge

Wednesday
Didn't do too much, but I checked out the city centre, did a Kyogre Raid, caught Kyogre 2286 and finally got back to a 50% ratio. Then I sticked around with some friends by some Lured PokeStops and just caught everything, including even more Golem/Rhydon/Houndoom...

Also finally managed to get my second Gold Gym Badge! It's in a Gym on the subway station next to where I live, so I pass by it every day, it's great for boosted spins. Took me a while to do as the Mystics of my neighborhood claim it as their own, but it did happen finally I actually did it by putting in a Shiny Magikarp (which is golden) as a defender, for the irony

 

[TeaWest]

I saw an Anorith the other day but it was too far away for me to go after I hope they do an event or something that makes them more common like they did with the other fossils. I also got enough candy for Lairon, but I'm holding off on evolving until I can catch a better/shiny one. Only 5 more steel types to go for the gold medal too! Also getting pretty close to a Claydol.

 

[Zexy]

New species: Ludicolo
Raids: 3 Kyogre (of which 1 Rain-boosted), 2 Tyranitar (Partly Cloudy-boosted). Caught the Boosted Kyogre and both Tyranitar and a non-boosted Kyogre. Kyogre ratio stands at 13/25
New 2000+ Pokemon: +Kyogre 2856/2290, +Tyranitar 2543/2529, +Exploud 2013

Thursday
1st Raid: Did a Kyogre Raid in the city centre, caught it (Kyogre 2290).
2nd Raid: Did another as it spawned in an EX eligible Gym, used a Premium Raid Pass on it. Didn't catch.
3rd Raid: Weather changed to Partly Cloudy after being Clear for days non-stop, Tyranitar spawned nearby, we had enough people interested, so I felt like using yet another Premium Raid Pass to get a shot at it. Caught it at the first Premier Ball (Tyranitar 2529), unfortunately kinda bad IV but it doesn't really need powerups to be useful VS Mewtwo thanks to breakpoints, only TM.
Meanwhile I got a good Whismur thanks to Partly Cloudy and evolved it into Exploud 2013 just so I can add it in my high-CP collection.
Nothing else notable, but 3 Raids of which I used Premium Raid Passes for 2 isn't something I do regularly nonetheless.

Friday
City centre a bit earlier than usual as I was busy later and a friend of mine was busy as well, no Kyogre around, but it was Partly Cloudy and another Tyranitar spawned, another person was interested and we 3-manned it. This one was a pain to catch but thankfully it did stay on the last Premier Ball, I'd probably be pretty annoyed had it escaped. Still, it was somewhat better IV-wise than the other one; Tyranitar 2543.
Elected to not do any Kyogre since I did a few more than the schedule the past few days anyway, saving up on Premium Raid Passes would be wise in this case.
My Lotad Buddy gave me enough Candy to evolve Lombre into Ludicolo as well, so I've now switched to Ralts Buddy.
Nothing else as I was busy for the rest of the day.

Saturday
I plan to visit the seaside park with a friend who got an EX Raid Pass later today, but we actually got Rain weather for an hour earlier today! Made a group at the last moment, went to a Gym pretty far away and barely made it on time, but we managed to do a boosted Kyogre Raid. And I caught it relatively easily, Kyogre 2856! A bit worse IV-wise than my other one (82% vs 84%) but 6 CP higher thanks to its +2 Attack IV, so it's a very solid powerup candidate

There's more I plan to do later today, but since I didn't get any time for an update yesterday being busy and all, felt like doing so now that I can, will cover the rest later.

 

[Jacensolo66]

Nothing too exciting. Havent been able to do too many Kyogre lately but I usually miss them anyway. Did catch yesterdays, CP2293.

In more exciting news got another Ex raid pass. Now have one this Thursday and Saturday.

 

[TeaWest]

I got the gold steel badge recently, and added Anorith to the Pokedex! I've been unable to play a whole lot because of all the cold and snow, but I'm going on a trip to San Diego today. so hopefully I'll be able to find some cool stuff where it's warmer

Too bad I won't be close enough to find a Heracross

 

[Zexy]

New species: Absol
Raids: Absol, 5 Kyogre (2 weather boosted); all caught! Now at 18/30
New Medal: Hoenn (Gold)
New 3000+ CP Pokemon: Tyranitar 3052/3035
New notable 2000+ CP Pokemon: +Kyogre 2873/2835/2281/2312/2249, +Hariyama 2469, +Pinsir 2388, +Scizor 2006
New 100% IV Pokemon: +Azumarill 293
+2 Silver Gym Badges
... and an EX Raid invitation!!!

Saturday
Seaside park
Picking up where I left off the previous update:

I plan to visit the seaside park with a friend who got an EX Raid Pass later today

This I did. Upon arriving there the weather was Windy which is great, because it means there are a lot weather boosted Dratini around. I did indeed catch a good bunch and one Dragonair too, all bad level/IV though so no new solid Dragonite candidate, still some useful Candy though! Also got a few Ralts. Meanwhile the weather changed to Cloudy as the EX Raid took place (with the participants being annoyed they lost the chance on weather boosted Mewtwo). But that's not directly my business so I won't say more on it, what did matter is that thanks to the Cloudy weather, during the EX Raid, as said here:

I found a low CP 100% Marill (don't remember if it was 82 or 84 tbh) which I evolved into Azumarill 293. This was in the middle of the seaside park and spawned during an EX Raid, so A LOT of people got it

And there you have it, Azumarill 293 100%

Cloudy weather paid off once more soon after with a high level Makuhita which I evolved into Hariyama 2469.

We (me and aforementioned friend) were starting to get bored there as the EX Raid and its hype finished and all the cool Windy spawns were replaced by the rather boring Cloudy ones, planning to leave for the city centre soon after in hopes the weather would change to Rain again the next hour and we'd get more chances on boosted Kyogre, but a Rank 4 Raid Egg was almost about to hatch in a Gym nearby, so we were like "If it's Absol, we'll do it." as we still needed the Pokedex register. And well, you probably can guess what it hatched into lol, I wouldn't even talk about it here otherwise
Lots of other players who were all around for the EX Raid were interested too, so we all got to the Gym together, split groups based on teams (good old habit to maximize Team Contribution Premier Balls for everyone, but honestly Absol is so easy to catch, getting a full green circle after Golden Razz, it doesn't really matter). Anyway, I entered the Raid with my 6 Machamp team (using a Premium Raid Pass), but being Cloudy, I didn't even need to get to the third before the boss was down, and needless to say I got +3 Premier Balls for personal damage too (my maxxed out 100% is my pride and joy ). And, well, as I said earlier:

Absol is so easy to catch, getting a full green circle after Golden Razz

So of course I caught it, and there's the register! Not just that, with it I finally got 90 Hoenn species registered, so Hoenn Gold Medal is in order too!

The next hour, Cloudy was replaced by Rain, as we expected. That can only mean one thing... rush to the city centre!

City centre
Took the first tram back available, took a seat and checked out our local Discord. Found out where the next Kyogre Raid would hatch, scheduled that we'd gather about 30 minutes later. Made it there, did it (had to use another Premium Raid Pass but it is worth it for weather boosted ones, although I'm down to 3 now so a bit stingy and antsy about using more), went down easily. Kyogre 2873 appeared, and with a little luck, I caught it! Yay for 3rd boosted! My best one too, 87% with 15 Attack IV.

After this was done, we finally called it a day. What a day it was...

Sunday
Ended up taking this day off Pokemon GO for several reasons. One, I was hoping for more Rain but it never happened, which bummed me out and made me hope for Monday to bring it back sp I could use two daily Raid Passes there and avoid using more Premium ones. Two, a lot of the city centre was closed off because of protests, so getting there and finding people was quite harder than usual. Three, I had a finals exam Monday morning, albeit it would likely be easy, it needed a bit of last-minute revision studying, which I would manage to pull off anyway, but a bit more time never hurts. So I only did the daily bonuses.

Monday
University campus
Well I don't even regularly bring the campus up here because even though it has 4 Gyms and sometimes I manage to get defenders in some of them, there's nothing else really notable there. 3 of these Gyms I had a Silver Badge for a while now, but at this point I finally managed to put a defender in the fourth that would stay enough to get me the Silver Gym Badge for it. This fourth one is a bit "out there", furthest from the area I usually have classes in, so I'd reach out to it a bit more rarely than the others, which is why it took so much longer. So with the exam done, I went back to the city centre for some more Kyogre action.

City centre
Just the usual stuff here, thanks to some Discord scheduling I managed to find 2 Kyogre Raids and do them; there was no Rain after all, but I still had to get done with my dailies. First one was Kyogre 2249, and I caught it for the Candy even though the IV is bad. Second one was Kyogre 2281, and I caught it too (well, I caught them all 5 Kyogre mentioned in this post!) with its IV being slightly better but still quite bad.

Nothing else notable for the day.

Tuesday
City centre
I had lots of free time and some friends were interested, so I felt like going downtown for a Kyogre even though I could pass and get a chance for two the following day. I was mostly motivated to do it because it would spawn at an EX-eligible Gym (as of the park system) honestly, hoping they'd give out invitations (with the Mewtwo's birthday theory and all) and that other theory of increased chances of getting it if you Raid in the chosen Gym the final day. Anyway, I got lucky enough here as I got Kyogre 2312 which I caught, highest IV so far! 93% 15 Attack IV, best powerup candidate as of now (I've decided to power this up instead of a boosted one as I've got way more than 44 Candy at this point, which is the amount required to get a Level 25 Pokemon to Level 30).

We had plans of sticking around for some Lured PokeStops farming, but the server disconnects for Android users messed this up, so I got back home.

A fateful night...
It was just another boring Tuesday night at home when the @everyone tag from the local Discord hit my notifications. "EX Raid Passes are out, and this time it's crazier than ever before!" they said. I open up Pokemon GO, and I see:

Spoiler: A very big Yes when I saw this

Just to be clear, the first line translates to "February 11 1:00 PM - 1:45 PM" although it might be obvious enough.
The line after the Gym name translates to "Athens, , Greece"

There you have it, EX Raid Pass! FINALLY!!!!11!!!1!!!111
... a few moments after I calm down and realize that 1) that Gym is NOT a park. It is a church. and 2) I've only Raided once in that Gym ever, and it's from the Entei days all the way back in September! Actually for amusement's sake and since I do use quotes of other posts of mine in this post, I did backtrack to find out and quote that months long post about the Entei Raid in that very Gym:

Second day's Raid was a bit more stressful, we got 6 people but people would keep crashing and get network errors etc. so we were unable to do it without timing out and were afraid we'd lose the Pass, but at the nick of time (less than 10 minutes left) a 7th one appeared and it went smoothly.

So yes, according to my post's timestamp, that Raid took place on September 13th... and I should've been glad we did manage to do it, although apparently even spinning the Photo Disc made people eligible, I don't even know what's going on with this system!

ANYWAY, after calming down some more and discussing it with other people in Discord who got Raids in all sorts of weird places (we later did figure out that it is related to S2 Level 10 cells, and my Raid location is the only one picked in its cell which covers a vast majority of Athens, so I was very lucky wow! Could've as well got one in my homeland of Ancient Olympia, where not only would be inconvenient for both me and my family to visit back this Sunday, but I might've got trouble finding people) I organized the gathering of all players who got an inviation for my Gym location in a single chat so we could coordinate. When I confirmed (with sharing of screenshots) that we had enough people for Mewtwo to easily go down (i.e. that I did not end up with a dud invitation ), I finally got to a moment I've been waiting for a good while; preparing the counters:

TEAM TYRANITAR
2 Level 25 Tyranitar I got from recent Partly Cloudy Raids: to Level 30. Cost about 90.000 Stardust and 88 Candy. End result, Tyranitar 3052/3035, the new additions to the 3000+ squad, which actually has 5 Tyranitar now. I got lucky with movesets too, only having to use 1 Fast and 1 Charged TM. These 5 3000+ Tyranitar all have Bite/Crunch, and are complemented by a 6th 2915 CP (bad IV Level 30) Tyranitar with Stone Edge as the all-star Dark team.
TEAM FOCUS BLAST
1 Level 20 98% IV Pinsir from an Egg: to Level 30. Cost 75.000 Stardust and 66 Candy. To be honest Mewtwo may not end up having Focus Blast, but I feel like this is too good of a Bug attacker anyway, so it's not really a waste of resources. End result, Pinsir 2388, which surpassed my Rock Smash/Submission Pinsir in CP (which I shall still keep because of legacy move and sentimental reasons, it was my only "reliable" Blissey counter in the old Gym system when I was a Machamp-less below Level 30 newb).
1 low level Scizor to as little as it needed to reach 2006 CP, don't feel like reaching Level 30 or the breakpoint (which is even further) with it as its IVs and level are nothing really remarkable. But still better than nothing. So I just invested very little to reach the 2000+ squad with it. End result Scizor 2006. I've got one other better Scizor ready anyway, 2105 CP.
And finally, not shown here, 100% IV Gengar up a few levels to reach the breakpoint, it now stands at 2301 CP. Also used Charged TM on it to get Shadow Ball.
This team of 3 Bug attackers and Gengar is rounded up by 2 Bite/Crunch Gyarados which are ready since a long while ago.

And with that I called it a night.

Wednesday
City centre
Today we got an hour of Rain so I rushed downtown, scheduling through Discord in the subway, made it to the targett Gym in time, did it no problem (using daily Raid Pass), Kyogre 2835, caught. 4th boosted, this is going great; a Level 30 93%, them 4, and the soon-to-be Level 35 (eventually 40) 100% Gyarados make a great Water Top 6. I don't mind the bad IVs really, these beasts are ready in their 2800s and better than my current Gyarados.

The rest of the day was just us hoping we'd get Rain again... BUT NO! Despite the weather being like completely overcast and even getting a few droplets at some point, the game insists for 15 hours straight (and maybe more, we'll soon know) that the weather is Partly Cloudy. As of now, it's still partly cloudy and fully annoying -_-

The real clouds are not gone, though, so for all we know we might get that coveted Rain again tomorrow. I'm also accompanying another close friend to his EX Raid in the seaside park tomorrow, so it's certainly going to be an eventful day.

... And with this, somehow (I still have trouble believing it ) this HUGE post is over! Wow

 

[Jacensolo66]

Yesterday did first of my 2 Mewtwo raids. Caught it but low Cp.

Today did a Rayquaza but he ran. Did add Surskit, Swablu, Minun, Tailow, and Castform to the dex. Swablu takes 400 candy to evolve but shouldnt be too hard to finish before event is over. When I first logged in after update 6 were standing there.

 

[Zexy]

New species: Castform, Swablu, Beldum, Kirlia, Gardevoir, Plusle, Swellow
New 3000+ CP Pokemon: Dragonite 3081/3064, Gyarados 3070
New notable 2000+ CP Pokemon: +Aggron 2565, +Gardevoir 2471, +Blaziken 2422, +Charizard 2371, +Piloswine 2007
+2 Silver Gym Badges
Raid: Kyogre, didn't catch, up to 18/31
... and another EX Raid invitation!

Thursday
City centre
Made it to the city centre for a Kyogre Raid, did it fine, it was pretty bad IV-wise, but it just wouldn't stick around no matter how many Golden Razz Curveball Great Throws I'd get at it Meh, 5-catch streak ended there. Ratio is 18/31, still way better than the Raikou one (12/31)... and it might end up being the final one (unless we get any more Rain until it's gone, which is certainly possible). We'll see.

Eventually the friend we'd go to the seaside park with for his EX came by, we did hang out by the Lured PokeStops for a bit, the weather was Clear and a Charizard appeared in the tracker nearby, so we felt like checking it out in hopes it would be high level, and oh well it was! Charizard 2371 with perfect moveset, caught armed and ready Its IVs are not terrible either.

Seaside park
We headed there a bit later to make it in time for the EX. I did get one Feebas (very slowly but steadily getting closer to Milotic) and several Magikarp, so I managed to evolve my 100% Level 35 one (it hit 3046 CP as Gyarados) and then power it up once too, so Gyarados 3070! Got Crunch/Hydro Pump upon evolution, so only a Fast TM away from optimal.

Sometime after the EX and as we were debating what to do next, the announcement about Rayquaza and the accompanying event hit us. We did discuss it a bit before heading back to our homes.

Preparing for Rayquaza
Upon getting home, I did what I elaborated upon here:

>Get counters for Rayquaza. After checking around some breakpoints, I decided to evolve 2 high level mediocre IV Dratini into Dragonite; of them, one has Dragon Tail/Outrage and the other Dragon Tail/Hurricane, which I decided to keep for Machamp solos. I also powered up my 100% Piloswine all the way from Level 9 to Level 31.5 which is the highest breakpoint, not only is it useful now but it's going to be even better as a Mamoswine when Gen IV comes. I also had to TM a Walrein, and am ready with Jynx and Cloyster, and even Golem for Partly Cloudy (I also evolved an Aggron for it in case it would get Dragon Tail/Stone Edge, but it didn't). In any case, I'm pretty set on the counter department now, even though I never got Articuno.

The high level Dratini became Dragonite 3081/3064, with the former replacing a Tyranitar as the #6 of the Top 6, although Kyogre (and later hopefully Mewtwo) is soon going to top them both.
The level 31.5 100% Piloswine is Piloswine 2007. The Aggron is Aggron 2565, better than my previous one although the moveset is pretty bad (Thunder, might bother fixing it eventually but I'm running low on Charged TMs and it's only about to get worse -_-).

Friday
City centre
So I was hyped to get started on Rayquaza... but it actually starts tomorrow, that part bummed me out a lot At least it means I can save the daily Raid Pass and get a headstart of 2 on Rayquaza. That said, being Friday evening, there were still interesting things to do, that is just going for Lured PokeStops in order to grab the last bunch of non-Gen 3 Pokemon for the next few days. The only really notable thing to come out of this though is Gen 3-related, I got enough Torchic to evolve my Level 35 93% one into Blaziken 2422, which thankfully got optimal moveset (I really didn't feel like giving even more Charged TMs at this point).

And... second EX Raid invitation! I was the very first person to get it (for some reason it just appeared immediately on my phone, not needing any restarts etc.). I showed it to everyone around, most of them got Passes too after their restarts, some in the same city centre Gym as me too. Looking forward to that second attempt in February 18th, although the one in the 11th I'm much more hyped for of course.

We did part ways soon after the event started (11pm) as it was getting late, calling it a day. Got back home around midnight, catching my first Castform (normal form) along the way, made sure to get my Gyms set up in order to get the 50 Coins for Saturday, made it home. I'll just call the following section Satruday as it's past midnight, even though it's a direct continuation and I'm only about to go to bed after it (and this post).

Saturday
Around home
As I was just hanging out online, I noticed that there was a Swablu, a Beldum and a Ralts all on the same PokeStop! The latter was what motivated me the most to go get them, as I only needed one for Gardevoir. I caught them all with Pinap, then evolved my best Ralts into Kirlia and immediately Gardevoir 2471. The Buddy timing was great too, as I had to take off Ralts, and the replacement was the newly caught Swablu, that's probably going to hang around for a good while, although Feebas is certainly going to intervene soon for its 20km triumph ride (as it's very common in the seaside park with the removal of Gen 1-2 spawns apparently, so I'm definitely going there once to get done with it and Pelipper).

Anyway, after getting done with Gardevoir I'd head back home but I noticed a shadow on the tracker... it looked like, Plusle?! After taking a few seconds to digest that the event has threw this curveball at us, I headed straight for it, afraid it might be very rare or gone as soon as it did appear etc. anyway I caught it As I get back on Discord from my phone to report one of the very first Plusle catches here, I notice that the announcement for it was made minutes ago. Still a cool one-off register, and about as easy as that Minun one that very first day Gen III hit too.

To finish this "just get out of home and catch whatever shadow's around the tracker" stroll, there was a Swellow. Thinking that Taillow might actually be a bit rare (our biomes don't favor Flying-types, I had already seen reports of people in other areas seeing tons of Swablu when we barely saw any), I did not abandon the chance of saving up on those 50 Candy and caught it. And with it I'm back home.

Now it's past 5am, the weather is Rain, my tracker is taken over by Plusle/Minun -_- but I am hyped and hope that Rain will stay at 6am, when the first Rayquaza will hatch here and people equally hyped as me will rush to them but also elect to do a few final boosted Kyogre if they can! Still hoping on a Top 6 of those Level 25s, only got 5 now

 

[Jacensolo66]

Didnt start out well but turned into a good Pokemon day.

Took a half day from work to hit my 2nd Mewtwo raid this week. About 50 people were there. Didnt think the odds were good I could get worse then Thursdays 2212 77% but I managed and got a 2211 75%.

After that did my 2nd Rayquaza raid and caught a 2078 97% so that was good.

While waiting for more raids, did some hunting and added Illimunise, 2 Beldum, Shelgon, rainy Castform, and more Swablu(now around 125 candy), Tailow, and Surskit.

Later in day did a weather boosted Kyogre and caught a 2877 91% on first ball. Not bad but unfortunately both my 91 and 93%s have 13 attack Did a 2nd later that was 2828 and also caught it on the first ball.

Went to a 2nd Rayquaza after that and at the base of the gym was a 97% level 30 Carvanha which I caught. Need 9 more candy to evolve to another Sharpedo tho. Rayquaza was 2043 but missed it throwing straight balls on wet screen.

Finally stopped at local gas station and caught about 10 Wurmples. One of the last was 95% and actually evolved into Beautifly(got 2 97% Dustox). Low level but was never planning on using it for anything other then my 90% collection.