LORE: Jikennews.info V1.0 part I

I’ve been playing Pokémon Go since the day it was it released in Canada. (The US had it a month before we did.) Lately, I’ve been playing more aggressively than the first summer I had started playing. I remember the first year, I had found someone on my team and we’d spend long hours catching little invisible monsters all around town. We used the Pokémap until was taken down. Once we watched the sunrise after playing all night, driving around and meeting other players. After he stopped playing, the game became lonely. 

Even though I had lost my team, I was never discouraged to stop playing entirely. Even in minus 30 degrees (Celsius), I’d stand there, trying to take down gyms or trying to catch a fire type. I’d hatch my eggs while walking my dogs, wearing a full snowsuit. Sometimes, when I was really motivated, I’d brush off my vehicle and warm it up for 30 minutes so I could take down gyms without freezing. 

As it warmed up the following year, I got more and more into it. Then the legendaries were released. I headed to my favorite gym and prayed there were enough players to help me defeat an Articuno. I couldn’t defeat a Charizard raid by myself when I tried so I hoped there would be some help if I waited. I wouldn’t have to wait. There was a huge group of players already there and some I recognized. One I recognized as my rival. 

He was the highest level player in my area. He had been playing consistently since day 1. I had met him last year once, and it was the first time I had seen him since. He had been knocking me out of the gym, almost ritually. If I tried taking down his gym, he’d drive up and heal them. Doing it at a distance almost guaranteed the gym to bug. In such case, I’d have to restart the App, wait a moment and try again. Once I had even remained at the gym for hours trying to get a Pokémon in there. As suborn as I am, I’d wait until he had enough or until he fell asleep. 

On the day the legendaries came out, I decided to confront him and the blue team about it. I needed to know what his problem was with me. Getting his attention was too much of a pain in the ass though. This player had really taken up the role of leader for Mystic. He was always greeting other players, giving them the latest info, tips, or recounting tales of his conquest against spoofers and other problem players in our community. 

So I did the next best thing. I scolded his father about keeping me up all night with their antics. (His father also played the game, and actually kicked ass at it.) They eventually told me that they thought I was a spoofer. They never saw me sitting on the bench, wearing my black hoodie while lighting smoke after smoke... I assured them I was there, rain or shine. I told them where to look for me and why I was so sneaky at night. 
They ended up giving me a break and informed me about the ones on my team who were being targeted. This was the start of our peace talks which ended in an unspoken Entente. If the gyms of opposite teams were up, other members would leave them up until after they’ve been there for 8 hours to ensure that those players can collect their 50 coins a day. These coins would go raid passes which would allow these players to contribute when legendary raids up. This would allow each one of us to have a better chance of gathering a large enough group to defeat these majestic birds. 

Almost a year’s worth of rivalries had to be put to rest however my team had done things that were beyond forgiveness and the rest were discouraged from gyms after all this time. The city would always be a sea of blue after this but speckled through our small community, were a few other gyms where players could finally gain some coins. With a stable in-game economy, and a strong sense of community the future looked bright but there would always be some bad apples...