Ahoy, in this post I'm sharing the "Search for Zarude!" Special Research story line and tasks. Then we round it up with my Zarude encounter and showing its stats. I'll throw in a Hive SBI giveaway at the end of the post too.
SPOILER WARNING: If you haven't gone through the complete Special Research story yet yourself, be warned that this post contains spoilers for the story and tasks. You can scroll past them then if you only wanna check out my Zarude's stats.
Let's get to it.
For this Special Research we get greeted by Professor Willow again where he addresses us as the Trainer and says perfect timing!
"Come look at this. See that there, in the dirt?"
"That's right--footprints! Though not human ones, I'd wager."
"You'd be hard pressed to find shoes that would fit whatever feet made these, I think! There must be a Pokémon responsible, though I'm not sure which one..."
"I'm going to stick around and see if I can't learn a bit more from these footprints, so why don't you follow them and see where they take you?"
"Make sure to snap some photos of your findings!"
After completing all of the tasks in the first step we get a Drilbur encounter.
Drilbur gets mentioned in the 2nd part as we had it for the completion encounter. The full 2nd part text goes like this.
"Hey there, aThunderstruck! That Ground-type Pokémon you caught looks spectacular."
"Did you know that Drilbur, the Mole Pokémon, can dig through the ground at incredible speeds?"
"In the Galar region, Drilbur often leave farmers in a tizzy because they damage their crops. Sounds like mole that they can handle, eh? Haha!"
"Anyway, while you were out, I received reports that the Pokémon we're looking for has vines on its body."
"How about you search the bushes nearby to see if you can find any vines? Don't forget to snap some photos, too!"
That was it for the 2nd part. Then for the 3rd part I sadly didn't get to see any of the text with Professor Willow as it somehow didn't show up at all. Only the things we have to do. Which were the following.
If you have screenshots of it that I made included let me know.
This steps completion encounter was a Nuzleaf.
For the 4th part the Professor tells us:
"Welcome back, aThunderstruck! Sweet Nuzleaf!"
"I believe the Pokémon we're after tends to live deep in forests--much like Nuzleaf does--so we should be on the right track."
"Ah, look--your Nuzleaf just started playing its grass flute!"
"The sound of it is said to make its listeners uneasy. I wonder if it's trying to lead the Pokémon out into the open..."
"Wait, what was that?"
"Look there! A dark shadow just dashed across the sky! Keep your eyes up, aThunderstruck, and chase after it!" Let's GO!"
Completing this 4th step leads to a Rufflet encounter.
For the final part of the Special Research the story with Professor Willow goes like this:
"Great job out there, aThunderstruck"
"The photo you sent me speaks to your efforts. And I see you made a new friend in that Rufflet!"
"Did you know that Rufflet will challenge Pokémon stronger than itself, even if it might lose? That's how it pushes itself to grow!"
"Pretty brave, huh? I think bravery is exactly what we'll need as we prepare to encounter the mysterious Pokémon we've been tracking."
"Thanks to all the information we've gathered, I'm certain that we're dealing with Zarude, the Rogue Monkey Pokémon."
"The Mythical Pokémon Zarude tend to live in packs in the forest, but it looks like the one we've been following is all on its own."
"Sounds like the perfect chance to catch it, don't you think?"
"With everything we've learned--and all the Pokémon friends you've made along the way--I'm sure you'll succeed!"
After that we can claim the rewards for the last step immediately and get into the encounter with Zarude.
That wraps up the full Search for Zarude! Special Research story.
Here is my encounter with Zarude and the Zarude Pokédex registry.
Now let's see those stats.
Damn the stats are terrible 😅
In the story Professor Willows mentions that Zarude tend to live in packs. Combining that with only receiving 10 Zarude Candy from the Special Search makes me think that Zarude will be coming to Raids sometime in the future just like the Mythical Pokémon Genesect.
What do you think about this? Did you catch your Zarude already? Tell me about either or both of these things in the comments and have a chance to win a Hive SBI after this post's payout date.