Pokemon GO Player Has Unexpected Zorua Encounter

gamerant.com:

A Pokemon GO player has an unexpected surprise when playing the game, with a Zorua appearing out in the open for the player to capture. The beloved monster-catching mobile game from Niantic features a litany of creatures from throughout the history of the franchise, allowing fans the opportunity to pick up all their favorites. Pokemon GO has consistently added new Pokemon to the game since its launch in 2016, recently introducing Charcadet, Armarouge, and Ceruledge to the game. Now, a fan has found a strange quirk with one of the game's most unusual encounters.

While many of Pokemon GO's roster of creatures can easily be found by going out and exploring, certain Pokemon within the game are not so easy to find. Popular classic Pokemon Ditto boasts a special mechanic based on its appearance and playstyle within the main-series games, transforming itself into other Pokemon until captured. Zorua also shares a similar mechanic, disguising itself in the game's overworld as a duplicate of the player's Buddy Pokemon. Now, however, one fan's recent discovery of a wild Zorua bucks the Pokemon's normal mechanics.

Reddit user -Catsofmany showed off the unusual encounter on the Pokemon GO subreddit, showcasing the strange overworld Zorua. Unlike the Pokemon's normal disguised appearance, the player's screenshot shows a Zorua taking its original form on the in-game map. In a normal situation, the Zorua would have taken on the appearance of the player's Buddy Pokemon, shown within the image to be a shiny Gourgeist. Some fans in the replies of the post jokingly suggested that the in-game Zorua may actually be a Ditto, disguising itself as the other transforming Pokemon.

The unusual encounter saw plenty of other Pokemon GO fans speculating about what could have caused the Zorua's appearance. Several fans suggested that swapping Buddy Pokemon multiple times can cause a wild Zorua to glitch into its original form, unable to keep up with the changes. Others questioned how an in-game Zorua