"A wee family story"

#PokemonGO: My 2 kids got big into Pokémon this last year, I've been a fan since the Game Boy games so, for me, it's been awesome to see them get excited about all things Pokémon. When their birthdays came in the past few months they got tablets and me and my wife get them hooked up to our hot spot so we can go out hunting in Pokémon Go together.It's been amazing. My oldest kid is quite a recluse, possibly autistic as we are waiting for diagnosis etc. Since playing this game he's been much more excited to get out and about. We go walks regularly now, something that was not possible before, and quite often he wants to then go off and play in the parks we are in after spinning some stops etc.Tonight was the best night we've had as a Pokémon playing family. The kids accounts were getting powered up to 25, my wife hit 29 and me 31. We have struggled to beat level 4 raids having never beaten one. As a result we gave up trying about a month ago. Tonight though, with our new level increases, we were out looking for raids!We walked around the local park hitting stops and gyms. We smashed a level 2 Cloyster in about 15 seconds and though that would be us for the night. Then a level 4 popped up for an hour's time. We decided to hang around to see what it would be. It was right next to the park and the kids had a great time there while we waited.I checked poketool to see what we could end up facing. I was confident we could beat anything...but Tyranitar still seemed like it would be out of reach. I recently got 2 Rhyperios, a high IV Hariyama and Toxicroak so I was feeling good about it. It would be a challenge, but it won't likely be a Tyranitar that will spawn...right? The timer ran down, the smoke form the egg dissipated and there stood a mighty Tyranitar! We were ready...we hoped.Raid passes used, we were ready to battle. As the timer ticked down my oldest, in his excitement managed to some how click out of the app and on reopening the app it started to relaunch. We all backed out. Off to a false start but we were not deterred. Another 120 second wait wasn't going to stop us stomping this Tyranitar into the ground...fingers crossed...Recommended teams picked, and off we go. Our collective Machamps and Hariyamas went to town. By the time they had fainted, Tyranitar had lost about a quarter of its health. We were excited but had been here before previously. It did not end well those times, so we battled on.After my above Pokémon had dropped, my new Toxicroak went into the fray, bashing away at the 33k+ monster that stood before us. After it fell it was Rhyperior time. Both Pokémon can single handedly take down a Master level Team Leader battle. I had high hopes for them and they performed valiantly.The rest of the family we fighting hard with Brelooms, Vaporeons and the likes. My youngest first team had died and I helped him back in as my last Rhyperior bit the dust. We had 40 seconds on the clock and Tyranitar health was red. One last push and we will have it down.In for me is my lowly Infernape. It was only just over 1.5k CP. Oops, maybe anything else would have been better. Maybe picking the recommended team was a mistake at this point. I had no choice but to battle on and my family were all now onto their next team. The DPS was drastically less and time was running out. We bashed those screens like out lives depended on it. My Infernape may be lacking in CP, but it attacked fast and had double fighting attacks. And then, with 10 seconds to go, Tyranitar winces in pain. Admitting defeat, it starts to shrink down. We had done it!Out first level 4 Raid boss defeated and it was the hardest one we could have faced. We were all ecstatic! My oldest said he was so happy he could cry. It was rough going catching the Pokémon as it chained attack after attack and jumped up and down like a maniac. But in the end we all came away with a High IV Tyranitar and for the rest of the family, their now strongest Pokémon.It was a rollercoaster ride for us and we had an absolute blast. This game has brought us closer as a family and given us a new joint experience that we can embark on together. We will remember this night for a long time and hope to build on it with more Raiding this summer.If you made it all the way to the end I hope you enjoyed our wee family story and share yours below! via /r/pokemongo https://ift.tt/2NnGvDw