Players who want to get a free Shiny Celebi in Pokémon GO have one month left before the elusive pink 'Time Travel' Pokémon, along with Jessie and James, will be blasting off again. Shiny Celebi was added to Pokémon GO in December and can be caught by completing a special limited research storyline, and players will only have until the end of February to catch it.
While the player only had to complete nine challenges in Pokémon GO to claim their free Shiny Celebi, one of the last challenges requires the player to defeat Jessie or James four times. Both Jessie and James, alongside their talking Meowth, are the main antagonists from the animated Pokémon series. While players can encounter Team Rocket grunts and leaders year-round, Jessie and James appear in a special balloon only during in-game events. With a single balloon appearing every six hours, and Jessie and James' balloon having a 25% chance of appearing, this challenge easily takes the longest time to complete.
Players who have yet to complete their Shiny Celebi special research tasks will want to get moving as they only have until February 28th until both the special research storyline and Jessie and James are gone. While Jessie and James are sure to return in the future, Shiny Celebi likely won't. And it's unknown as to when Jessie and James will show their faces again as they can take several months off from terrorizing players before returning to Pokémon GO.
This limited-time research is the easiest way to legitimately get a Shiny Celebi as the only other way is soft resetting in Pokémon Crystal. That kind of hunt can take several hours, days, or even weeks to complete, whereas a Shiny Celebi could be found in Pokémon GO in a day if a player is lucky. As well, Jessie and James are easy battles to win and are a great way to collect Mysterious Components. Not to mention that both Jessie's Scyther and James' Pinsir have the chance to appear Shiny giving players even more of a reason to battle them every time they appear.
There may only be a month left before for Shiny Celebi, but the research storyline isn't too challenging. Plus, Pokémon GO plans to hold a Team Rocket event sometime in February that will make finding Jessie and James balloons a breeze. All the player has to worry about is hatching a few eggs, playing with their buddy, and catching the Pokémon necessary for getting a free Shiny Celebi.
Source: Pokémon GO