A Troubling Situation Guide: Team Rocket Special Research

“A Troubling Situation” is the new Team Rocket themed Special Research quest line that comes in four stages. The quest line follows Prof. Willow, Spark, Candela and Blanche while they investigate the shady characters known as Team GO Rocket. Throughout the quest line you will power up your Pokemon, Purify Shadow Pokemon and defeat Team GO Rocket grunts in Team Rocket Invasions and save as many Pokemon as you can from Team Rocket’s clutches.

A Troubling Situation infographic with tasks and rewards per stage:

A Troubling Situation

Stage 1 of 4

Hi, %PLAYERNAME%, I’m glad to see you! Can I get your help with investigating something? I’ve noticed an alarming number of reports from Trainers who have found PokeStops that look…discolored? Some Trainers have even spotted people wearing shirts with a big letter R on them who are guarding these PokeStops. These shady characters appear to have Pokemon with a mysterious dark aura around them! As I investigate this with Spark, it might be best to power up some of your Pokemon. You never know what we might encounter…

Special research tasks

Evolve 2 Pokemon	Murkrow
Power up Pokemon 5 times	Sableye
Stage rewards	1000 Stardust 2000 XP

Stage 2 of 4

NOTE: TEAM ROCKET GRUNT FIGHTS ARE DIFFICULT.

Great job strengthening your Pokemon! After visiting one of the PokeStops with Spark, we were challenged to a Trainer Battle by someone who belongs to an organization called Team GO Rocket! Turns out that Team GO Rocket has been stealing resources from PokeStops with the help of Pokemon that are cloaked in a dark aura. They’re called Shadow Pokemon! Luckily, we won the battle, and afterward, Team GO Rocket carelessly abandoned their defeated Shadow Pokemon! Help us protect local PokeStops from Team GO Rocket, Trainer! As you do so, please save any Shadow Pokemon that Team GO Rocket abandons!

Special research tasks

Catch 2 Shadow Pokemon	Ekans
Defeat 3 Team GO Rocket Grunts	Koffing
Stage rewards	2000 Stardust 2000 XP 5 Golden Razz Berry

Stage 3 of 4

Thanks for all your hard work, %PLAYERNAME%! Candela and I have done some research on Shadow Pokemon and learned some very unsettling things. While Pokemon naturally become stronger through training, these Shadow Pokemon seem to have been overpowered through unnatural means. As a result, their bodies painfully struggle with not knowing how to control this strength. But don’t worry! It looks like we can help them harness this strength through a process called purification. Can you help me purify some Shadow Pokemon, %PLAYERNAME%?

Stage 4 of 4

WOW’ Thanks for helping us learn more about the Shadow Pokemon that Team GO Rocket uses, Trainer! After observing the purification process with Blanche, it’s clear that the Pokemon’s gratefulness to you for purifying them causes the move Frustration to be replaced with Return! Now that you have this knowledge, we need your help with saving as many Shadow Pokemon as possible by taking back PokeStops that are under Team GO Rocket’s control! The world is under attack! Can we count on you to help protect it? l do hope there’s nothing more to this…

A special thanks to our Discord Server Members and NathanH96 for all his help with completing the tasks and his reports!!