The new Pokémon Go battle challenges have arrived. By completing these challenges, Trainers can unlock other Pokémon that appear during the Pokémon Go Event Fest 2020 from July 25-26 weekend. During the battle challenge, developer Niantic has predicted a battle-themed event that will take place on July 12 from 11am to 14pm in the local time zone. Many instructors speculated on what it could be, but quickly realized it was going to be a Team Rocket invasion due to the newly added Team Rocket balloons. These will be the focus of the game and the Team Rocket invasion for July 2020 will revolve around the trainers encountering these balloons.
Team Rocket balloons work in a similar way to PokéStops, except that trainers don't have to interact with them. Team Rocket balloons appear next to the trainer in the sky near them, and all the trainers have to do is interact with them to start the battle against their Team Rocket member. It can be a Grunt, one of three leaders who have new Pokémon to fight, Sierra, Arlo, or Cliff, and if Trainers have a Super Rocket Radar in their bag, they can potentially fight Giovanni. Balloons normally show up every few hours, but during invasions there will be far more opportunities to fight them.
There's also the added surprise that there may be a Meowth balloon appearing, and the dynamic duo, Jessie and James, are available for your battle. You have to fight them against each other and receive Ekans and Koffing's shadow Pokémon.
The Team Rocket invasion will only last three hours, but it should be an excellent way for trainers to wrap up their battle challenges before the event ends on July 15th. One of the Elite Challenge goals for the event is for players to take down Team Go Rocket Boss, Giovanni, which suggests that another Giovanni-related event may come in the future. However, Niantic has stated that these won't show up until the end of September. The final stage of the three Battle Challenges rewards players with a Super Rocket Radar, which is what you need to find Giovanni's hideout.
