Team GO Rocket's Aerial Attacks

Team GO Rocket, the "mobile branch" of the traditional Team Rocket, is an inventive lot. They first devised ways to hack into PokéStops and invade them, bringing with them their legions of Shadow Pokémon, sometimes in an undercover fashion. Yet it seems to them that that's not enough, particularly with the world the way it is today, and lately they've undertaken a new, additional way to conduct their invasions: through what could be called "aerial attacks" in hot air balloons, which in some ways is a characteristic vehicle of theirs. This new method is fairly unique and innovative even for the likes of them.

A hot air balloon in black with the familiar "R" emblem of Team Rocket in general will appear every few hours on the overworld; this will be noticeable as a circular shadow that upon zooming out will reveal the balloon. Tapping on the balloon will then prompt whoever is inside the balloon to a Pokémon battle, and the rest occurs as if one were to be facing them at a PokéStop; one may earn a Mysterious Component and a chance to capture a Shadow Pokémon afterwards. Likewise, if one takes too long to defeat them or just doesn't care for them, they'll eventually disappear, so it may still be in the best interest to battle against them.

If one has a Rocket Radar of any kind, then one will find a different kind of balloon rider when one has the radars equipped: for the regular radar, it would be one of the Leaders (Cliff, Arlo, or Sierra), and for the Super radar, it would be the boss himself, Giovanni. There is also no real difference in battling any of these riders (except their Pokémon); the radars are consumed after a successful victory and one gets to have a chance at capturing a select Shadow Pokémon that is potentially Shiny, or a Shadow Legendary Pokémon. For as long as the radars are present, one may stand to battle any of them in any of their different configurations.

There is also another kind of balloon. A Meowth balloon may appear instead of a black balloon (without a radar equipped) and they have two riders familiar to those who watch the Pokémon anime: Jessie and James - no Meowth, perhaps he's off. In terms of battle style, they are much like the Grunts, but the Shadow Pokémon they leave behind are always the same (for now at least), being Ekans for Jessie and Koffing for James, and they're potentially Shiny. They're also a two-for-one deal, as one battles Jessie and then James, with a capture chance following each. They require twice the effort, but the reward is also doubled.

It seems that in the past few months when Trainers hadn't been going out much, Team GO Rocket had gotten somewhat bored with their usual modus operandi for invasions, particularly in waiting for Trainers to come to them. To relieve that, they've decided to be proactive and come to the Trainers as well - with hot air balloons as "aerial attacks" - to reaffirm their presence and bring about lots more Shadow Pokémon, as well as a couple more familiar figures to complicate the situation. Of course, any well-prepared Trainer will surely be able to continue to fend them off in any way and thwart their continued plans for world domination.

One year ago: The State of Nominations

Two years ago: The Eevee Identity

Three years ago: Only One Save File