"I Left Disaster In My Wake, A Story On How I Became A Mini Pokemon Go Celebrity In My Small Town"

#PokemonGO: tl;dr I like Absol. I take 12 gyms at night and drop Absol on all. Do this for about a month. Became Cryptid. Got identified at EX Raid. Gained Friends in a town that I never had before. The Legend lives on.​Reading a few stories here encouraged me to write my own experience with Pokemon Go. Like many, I started the day that Pokemon Go Launched, but never really interacted with other trainers too much. When raids started, I'd see a few faces that I recognized, but for the most part we'd do the raid and part ways without saying anything. Until the day when Absol's started to pop up in Raids. Absol is my favorite and as we know are not able to be solo'd. So I'd started diving into the Discords and the Facebook Groups, practically begging for one other person to help me take it. Most wouldn't because why use your daily free for a 4 star raid? Occasionally I'd find someone who hasn't gotten one yet, or someone who took pity on me. It wasn't until 20+ clears that I got my first (and only) shiny (from a research task no less).​It was some time before it dawned on me that in the town dominated by Mystic, there was 12 gyms within walking distance. So as a joke, I decided to take them all one night and drop an Absol on each one. The next day I saw someone take a screen shot about it and joke of a incoming disaster. That made me laugh a bit and decide that I was going to do it again. And again. And again. Days turned to weeks where every night each gym would be filled with Absol's. (Occasionally some kids would wait and take them back so it wouldn't stay over night, but still). Funny thing would be though is that even with all my begging, I don't think people remembered who was the face behind the trainer name. That is until one EX Raid after a Community day.​There was a massive group for the Mewtwo Raid, easily 50+ (Large for our town when normally it'd be 18-ish?). As it would be easy clears, people were throwing on their joke Pokemon, or just having fun pokemon battles. I threw in my Shiny Absol because of course I would. While mid battle, someone pointed it out and asked who's it was. Not thinking about it I said it was mine. They were gushing over as apparently they didn't know what color it was, and someone else was asking how long it took to get it. It goes quiet for a moment before someone piped up, "Are you [Username]?" It dawned on me that I was caught, as claimed ownership. Surprisingly, quite a few people laughed. Apparently there was a discussion on the Discord about who was the "Walking Disaster". We laughed, and shared some stories. I ended up trading a few Absol's away to some people who never got the chance to try raiding for it. I remember that it was at this moment, that I was truly happy to be part of this community.​After that day, when I was just walking around town hatching eggs, I would hear my name being called. It felt strange being recognized. We show off our recent catches, talk about raiding times,etc. These people would be my first friends that I've ever made in this town in the 12 years I've been living here. People would start messaging me on Facebook about raids and I would go help them. I'd meet up with other people and get food together. It was really strange but a great feeling.​I recently moved out, (I got married, yay!) and live in a different town. This one is a lot larger, so I've settled with only taking the park gym. Occasionally when I go to visit my parents, I'll swing by an old gym and drop an Absol for old times sake. It's weird though months after I've moved, out of the blue I get a message from a complete stranger asking if I had an Absol for trade. Apparently one of my old friends told them about me pointed them in my direction as they didn't have an Absol. So I guess the "Walking Disaster" lives on! via /r/pokemongo https://ift.tt/2UA1nXh