It’s been a few months now since Team GO Rocket invaded Pokémon GO, sending in their grunts to take over Pokéstops and steal items for Giovanni. Well, apparently the boss got tired of his Rattata-wielding minions losing to every trainer who challenged them, because he’s sending in the big guns. That’s right, Team GO Rocket’s leaders are coming to Pokémon GO, along with new powerful shadow Pokémon.
Pokémon GO released a short video teasing the new Team GO Rocket leaders that are coming to the game. The first is Cliff, a man in a blue sweater and a flat cap, with a Pokéball-patterned goatee. His shadow Pokémon is the powerful Tyranitar. The second leader is Arlo, a trainer with glasses and a red hair streak whose shadow Pokémon is the Bug/Steel Pokémon Scizor. The third leader is Sierra, a woman with a yellow hairpin and earrings, with her shadow Pokémon Houndoom.
Finally, the video showcases Giovanni, the big boss himself. The classic Pokémon villain will be entering Pokémon GO as well, along with three new shadow Pokémon, the legendary birds Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. These are the first legendaries to appear as shadow Pokémon in Pokémon GO.
The video ends with a call to trainers, charging them with the task of finding and defeating Giovanni. It didn’t specify how trainers would go about defeating the villain, but there are several possibilities. Defeating Giovanni might be the end goal of the Team GO Rocket special research “Looming in the Shadows” that was released today.
Not much else is known about these Team GO Rocket leaders that have invaded Pokémon GO. Cliff, Arlo, and Sierra have blue, red, and yellow color schemes, respectively – the same colors as Team Mystic, Team Valor, and Team Instinct. Could they be evil foils to the teams’ leaders, or even former members of the teams? How did Giovanni manage to turn all three of the legendary birds into shadow Pokémon?
The video hints at more questions than answers, so it seems like we’ll just have to play through the special research and challenge the evildoers ourselves to find out more.