My friends and I were keeping a close eye on our gear, watching for any sufficiently rare or strong quarry. As we did so, a small rodent-like creature with purple fur crept across the hood of the car we sat in. My companions immediately dismissed it, but I considered adding it to my collection. However, I ultimately wound up agreeing with the others since the bounty on the fully-grown versions of these creatures was not nearly enticing enough to use one of the few capsules I had left. A few minutes later, we decided to leave in search of greener pastures.

As the driver handed off his gear to the person sitting next to him, he told us that there was good hunting to be found in a nearby park. As we drove past the park entrance, we immediately started seeing signs of nearby creatures. We were driving down the path when the hunter in the passenger seat suddenly screeched "stop the car!" The car jerked to a stop and I was about to admonish him for scaring off anything nearby when I looked out the window and saw it. The creature was approximately a meter and a half tall and covered in brown chitinous plates that shifted as it moved. It was bipedal, with the two average looking arms but with a mouth that seemed meant for devouring disabled or dead prey off the ground. Of course, how it would go about disabling or killing prey was no true mystery. The thing had a set of pincers positioned directly atop its head, snapping at the air as though tasting it. I climbed out of the car and slowly approached it. but the creature immediately started snapping its pincers in my direction. It wouldn't go into a capsule without a fight. Or maybe a bribe. As it nuzzled on the berry that I provided, I was able to successfully coax it into the capsule.

After we had all secured the beasts, we piled back into the car and set out for a nearby lodge where we could get some supplies. On the way there, the same friend who had demanded we stop the car earlier did so once again. He had an egg in his possession and it was hatching. We all watched as the egg cracked and shook to eventually reveal a creature that looked almost human if you ignored its purple complexion, over-sized lips and eyes and stark white hair. My friends had had never seen anything like it in the wild and neither had I. As we congratulated him on the rarity of the find, the egg's owner just complained about how ugly it was. We eventually made it to the lodge and as we arrived, we saw that a few other hunters had already taken up residence. Luckily for us, they had set up a device that was luring nearby creatures to the vicinity of the lodge. We sat there for a while before setting back out onto the trail, bound for a nearby outpost.

We had to be careful. While lodges are recognized by the three hunting chapters as accorded neutral ground, outposts are under no such protection. We crept closer and realized that members of a rival chapter had been there already. They had not left the outpost unprotected. A small cat-like creature paced in front of the lodge. It was also on fire. Its mane was the bright yellow of flame and the grass burned wherever it stepped. I motioned to my friends and we all cautiously surrounded it. Then we released our own monsters. The defender was no match for our combined attack and we cheered as it was forced to retreat to its master. Before we left, I made sure to leave a guard of my own, a creature that took the appearance of a giant tropical tree with three heads that resembled coconuts. As we walked back towards the car, a nearby boulder started levitating. Oh, my creature had psychic powers. Sadly, we didn't even make it out of the park before my gear told me that my monster had been defeated. However, as my friends and I drove off to search for ever more elusive creatures, I couldn't be any less bothered.

For those of you that haven't figured it out, this is a super serious description of real life experience I had with my friends while playing Pokémon Go, the latest craze that's sweeping the nation. I've been playing video games for as long as I can remember and I've never experienced something like this. It's a brilliant concept, a blast to play, and a great way to get these darn kids to go outside.