The very next day, I was at work, inbetween sites, hunting in the company truck. and I got Gleeok the shiny Deino. after only 174 encounters!! In total, It was 19742 encounters before I found Gleeok.

Phase 5. Another ant for the ant hill, named Pardon (randomly generated, but apt). The very next day after only 176 encounters. This was a slap in the face, to be honest! How could I be so lucky, and yet so unlucky? but, it was comical, at this point. I kept my spirits up and kept going.

Phase 4. Another durant, named Dump (randomly generated, but apt). a terrible way for a stretch of 10786 encounters to end. Now I was discouraged. it was august of 2024, over three years since I had gotten cobalion, and still no deino. But I was close. So I kept going.

Phase 3. A durant, named Hurl (randomly generated, but apt). 3968 encounters, on July 3 2023. I wasn't exactly pleased, but it was a shiny I didn't have, so I wasn't too discouraged. Now that I had most of the other pokemon in the area, I used a repel trick to increase my odds of getting a deino.

A few months later, after only 1078 encounters, another shiny. I found Ori the Mienfoo on January 8 2023. But I still wasn't worried, I'm sure it wouldn't go on for much longer, right?

But I wouldn't actually start this hunt until 2022, due to burnout and life in general. Once I started though, a shiny came quick... but not deino. After 3560 encounters, I got Gaia the shiny boldore on October 1 2022. Oh well, call it phase 1 and keep going.

May 12 2021 was the 2-year anniversary for the hunt, so I spent the whole day hunting. and finally, after EXACTLY 2 years, I found Satori the cobalion. a whopping 33274 encounters (over 4x odds). Getting Satori was the end of an era. it felt unreal. It was a historical moment for my friend group.

I didn't know what to do next, so I hunted in iccirus until I got a shiny. The lack of interest and general burnout caused this hunt to go for 7 months. After 10732 encounters, I found Heqet the Palpitoad on May 12 2019. A nice shiny, but I had 6 pokemon on my team already, so I put it in the PC.

On October 10 2018 I found Lunar the shiny Litwick, after a measly 1470 encounters! I remember getting this on the way to visit family I hadn't seen in a very long time. This remains my favourite shiny pokemon to this day, and my second favourite pokemon in general.

On September 7 2018, and after 1741 more encounters (total 8773 encounters including phase 1), I found Mortality the shiny Gothita. I remember being on the bus with a close friend when I got it, we were both excited!

After beating Elesa it was time for my next hunt. I wasn't super enthusiastic about this one, so I just hunted in route 5, happy with mostly anything. On August 30 2018, I found Bast the Liepard after 7032 encounters. It's a very nice shiny! it was also the one pokemon on the route I didn't want.

My next target was Archen, using the fossil I found at relic castle (though I eventually ended up trading 4 more fossils in). I remember very little about this hunt, but it took me 8 months and 12444 encounters before Horus the shiny Archen appeared on July 24 2018. Happy to be done, I moved on.

When I finally got Sobek the Sandile after 14502 enc. my friends celebrated with me! This one took 4 months (captured on December 18 2017, much longer than the previous two). This hunt gave me a big confidence boost - and a bit of burnout. So, I decided to do a more interesting hunt for my next one.

I set my eyes on my next target: Blitzle on route 3. I don't remember a ton about this hunt, other than doing encounters while I watched fireworks with my family. Another two weeks later on August 17 2017, I found Tempest, after 5773 encounters.

I started hunting for a shiny Oshawott. It was my first 1/8192 hunt, so I was very quickly impatient and frustrated. But luckily on August 2 2017, I found Poseidon the shiny Oshawott, after 779 encounters. I was on a family camping trip, I remember trying to explain shiny hunting to my dad.

This was shortly after launch, and when I first realized how badly they messed up stamp in the transition between games

Went from being stoked about Nintendo Music to being sad there’s nothing Xenoblade on there yet :(

This isn't my first time listening to it I just really like xenoblade