A five-year-old Pokemon Go player shattered the hearts of a subreddit after their relative posted a photo of a rare “legendary” they failed to catch.
A subsection of the massive Pokemon community is known as Shiny hunters. These fans dedicate hours, days, weeks, and months to encountering Pokemon with the hopes of finding one with a different colored sprite.
Some hunts are more dangerous than others as different areas in different games sometimes allow Pokemon to flee. Or, hunters may come unprepared with too few Pokeballs or a Pokemon with the wrong moveset.
However, Pokemon Go hits players with a triple whammy. Pokemon only appear on the map for a limited time, players can easily run out of Pokeballs, and some Pokemon are more susceptible to fleeing from players. But one unprepared player who lost a Shiny has broken the hearts of the Pokemon Go community.
Failed Shiny Wurmple is heartbreaking
On August 12, Reddit user bobduncanswerve7 posted an unfortunate tale to the r/pokemongo subreddit. They stated, “My little nephew of 5 years old ran up to me from the playground, and said: ‘I found a legendary. It’s like Caterpie but red but purple.’, and he has no Pokeballs”.
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The post was accompanied by a photo of a Shiny Wurmple with a groan-worthy zero Pokeballs available to catch it. With readers on the edge of their seats, users demanded to know the rest of the story.
Sadly, OP stated that they weren’t able to catch it. They stated, “No pokestops nor daily friend gifts, nothing. But, I promised him that I’ll make up for it by getting him either a shiny or a legendary, probably Zacian or Zamazenta.”
To make matters worse, players flooded the comments with helpful tips too little too late. Users pointed out that activating a Daily Adventure Incense gives players 30 Pokeballs if they are low. Others urged OP to whip out a credit card and purchase Pokeballs.
In the end, this “legendary” purple Wurmple is the one that got away. Many trainers were sad to hear that this rare encounter didn’t have a happy ending, but in the wise words of Sean O’Connell: “If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don’t like to have the distraction of the [Pokeball]. I just want to stay in it. Right here.”