There are “real-life” pocket monsters roaming around popular destinations in the city, so better “catch ’em all.”
An athletic and agile rodent was seen treading an escalator in a shopping mall in Quezon City, and social media couldn’t help but associate the creature with a virtual rat in the viral smash-hit game Pokémon Go.
Facebook user Bryan Mangahas, whose account name is Kru Bryan, posted the 15-second clip on Facebook on Saturday with the playful caption, “Look at this! This rat knows how to exercise. Sa #Trinoma pa talaga, beshhh? Kalerkey.” Trinoma is a popular mall in Quezon City.
The hilarious clip racked up 630,000 views, 5.4K likes and reactions, and 7.7K shares as of Tuesday morning. A notable number of netizens pointed out that the creature might be “Rattata,” a normal-type rat Pokémon that is considered one of the “most common” creatures caught by players. A lot of them even tagged their “beshies,” a slang for best friends, and advised them to “catch” the common Pokémon at Trinoma.
Some players praised the creature for its physical strength and speed in “exercising.” Probably, it could compete with other animals in an Animal Olympics.
“Talo ako ng daga sa [pag] exercise,” one user commented.
In a brief interview, Mangahas, a volunteer teacher, said that the rodent had sprinted through the automatic doors of the escalator, noting that some areas of the mall were “slightly flooded.”
“At that time kasi, medyo [bina]baha na sa vicinity ng Trinoma kaya siguro naghanap ng malalabasan,” he explained. The rat was bashed and eventually died.
Moreover, Mangahas never expected that his short clip would end up as a social media frenzy for Pokémon Go “trainers.”
“Not a big fan of Pokémon eh.. hindi ko nga siya kilala. Tapos nag-start mag-comment ang mga tao na nagkaroon daw ng Pokémon event sa Trinoma at nabuhay si Rattata,” he said. Gianna Francesca Catolico