Among them were five trainers from Altoona who flew out of the Pittsburgh International Airport to attend Pokemon Go Tour: Kalos — Los Angeles and the new mega night event, which was a separately-ticketed experience that took place Friday, Saturday and Sunday after the main daytime event at the park.

Each of us did our own thing once we were at the Rose Bowl — from battling the new mega Victreebel and Malamar raids to catching exclusive Pokemon that spawned in one of three unique habitats spread throughout the park.

For me, the best part of the event was getting to see my friends who live throughout the country. Although we talk fairly regularly, we only get to see each other during these in-person events, and getting to share time with them is more rewarding than anything I might catch in the game.

But don’t get me wrong — I grinded Pokemon Go while I was there and managed to get a few shiny Pokemon with the Los Angeles location card background that appears on a Pokemon’s summary page.

Pokemon Go trainer MoneyShua, of Altoona, (at left) battles in a raid with content creator Tony TM (second from right), who was livestreaming the game Saturday, Feb. 21 at the Santa Monica Pier. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

I swapped a shiny background Honedge in a lucky trade with my friend, Moneyshua, who essentially organized the trip to California and invited me to tag along with his group.

I later witnessed him catch a shundo Malamar with a background from a mega raid in Gloria Molina Grand Park, the same location where I caught my shiny background Xerneas.

But he wasn’t the first friend of mine who managed to catch a background shundo over the weekend.

During mega night on Friday, mega Dragonite was introduced to the game and my friend, AyyyLexa, caught the world’s first shundo Dragonite with the Los Angeles background.

It honestly couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person because Dratini and Dragonair, the preevolutionary stages of Dragonite, are her favorite Pokemon.

Pokemon Go content creator AyyyLexa explores the coastal laboratory habitat during the in-person Kalos Tour Friday, Feb. 20. The event was held last weekend at the Rose Bowl Stadium and the nearby Brookside Golf Course. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

Earlier in the day, she and I did our lucky trade near the exact same tree where we met each other for the first time last year. We swapped shiny XXL Grookey caught from January’s community day, each with the same height of 0.46 meters.

Although the trade didn’t yield shundos for either of us, there was a lot of potential with this trade.

Thanks to the lucky trinket, a limited-time item in the Go Pass that instantly makes you and another trainer become lucky friends, we’re already set for our next lucky trade together.

Mega night itself was a fun concept that I hope Pokemon Go brings back in the future.

It was basically a rave, with DJ GlitchxCity performing electronic dance music while thousands of trainers battled raid after raid for two hours straight.

Mirror staff writer Matt Churella at the Rose Bowl Stadium for Pokemon Go Tour: Kalos in Pasadena, Calif. Courtesy photo

I bought a ticket for all three mega nights and overall had a good time.

On Sunday night, a total of 2,496 trainers participated in a single raid to take down one last mega Dragonite at the stadium before the event was over. Every Dragonite caught from that specific raid is tagged with the statistic at the bottom of its summary page, which is cool because a part of the game’s history is now in my account.

On Saturday, however, I experienced service issues and wasn’t able to battle any mega Dragonite raids for the first 15 minutes because my game kept crashing.

Upon moving to a different area of the park and restarting my game, I was able to clutch up in the final minutes and catch a 98% IV mega Dragonite, with an attack and defense stat of 15 and an HP stat of 14.

All was forgiven once I caught my functional hundo with a background.

A group of Pokemon Go trainers hang out together in the Central Village habitat of the in-person park experience at Pokemon Go Tour: Kalos - Los Angeles. In the Central Village habitat, trainers could purchase food at a food truck vendor, meet notable trainers at a special tent (pictured in the background) and catch exclusive Pokemon in the game. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

Out of the 91 shiny Pokemon I caught during the in-person Go Tour, nine of them had location card backgrounds — three Dragonites, one Malamar, one Victreebel, two Altarias, one Xerneas and one Honedge.

Last year, I left Los Angeles with only four shiny background Pokemon. So, overall I would say this year’s Go Tour was a success, and I’m excited to play the global event this weekend at the Penn State Altoona campus.

As my friend, iKrisM95, said to me in California, although Pokemon Go is all about trying to catch little pocket monsters, it’s really all about unity. I couldn’t agree more with that statement.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520 and mchurella@altoonamirror.com

A line of trainers catch Pokemon and battle in raids together as they wait to enter a display in the Mountain Manor habitat during Pokemon Go Tour: Kalos - Los Angeles. Mountain Manor was one of three unique habitats where trainers could catch Pokemon exclusive to that area of the park experience. Mirror photo by Matt Churella