Yesterday was a pretty busy day for Pokémon GO. Niantic announced three new characters, a new event, and the addition of a new Shiny Pokémon. Here's a rundown of it all:

TEAM  GO  ROCKET

The mystery about Team Rocket's presence in the world of Pokémon GO continues! After not hearing about Team GO Rocket for a while, Niantic tweeted a tease about some corrupted files on Professor Willow's computer. Many Trainers were theorizing this may be related to Rotom, but partially-decrypted images confirmed that the tease was related to Team GO Rocket.

Those images were fully decrypted yesterday, and showed three new Team GO Rocket members named Cliff, Arlo, and Sierra. Many theorize they may be admins and/or counterparts to the three Team Leaders. These three characters can also be seen in the latest update's new loading screen, which also shows Giovanni and many Shadow Pokémon in a building resembling the anime's depiction of the Viridian City Gym.

STARDUST  BLAST

The Stardust Blast event is set to recur starting today at 1:00 P.M. PDT. This event will double the Stardust rewards for hatching, catching, participating in Raids, and defeating Team GO Rocket Grunts. The event will end on October 10 at 1:00 P.M. PDT.

SAFARI  ZONE

The Pokémon GO Safari Zone in New Taipei City has begun. Attendees of the event are experiencing special spawns, such as Unown and Heracross. Meanwhile, around the world, Shiny Oddish has been released as a tie-in to the event.

Thanks for reading, Trainers!

SOURCE, IMAGE CREDIT: Niantic