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Pokemon X/Y Players: Get Your Free, Limited Edition Vivillon Right Now

Starting today, Pokémon X and Y players can get themselves a free, special version of Pokémon Vivillon to celebrate a major milestone for online Pokémon trading.

A whopping 100 million Pokémon have been traded through the Global Trade Station since its launch, hence the previously announced giveaway of this bug/flying-type Pokémon. Vivillon–which is basically a butterfly–is a popular Pokémon for trading because it has a number of different wing patterns depending on the real-world location its owner resides in. For this giveaway, the special “Fancy Pattern Vivillon” you see above is being made available to fans for a limited time. It even comes equipped with an exclusive move, Hold Hands, which has no effect beyond showing a brief embrace between Vivillon and the move’s target. (Hey, at least it’s not Splash.)

To get your free Pokémon, you’ll simply need to go through the process of receiving a mystery gift in Pokémon X or Y. Instructions for how to do so, courtesy of Pokémon.com, follow:

  1. Connect your Nintendo 3DS system to the Internet.
  2. Select Mystery Gift on the main menu.
  3. Select Receive Gift, then Yes.
  4. Select Get Via Internet, then Yes.
  5. Watch as you receive Fancy Pattern Vivillon!
  6. Speak to the delivery girl in any Pokémon Center to receive your Vivillon.
  7. Be sure to save your game!

You’ll have until the end of the month to grab your very own Vivillon, so be sure to get it while you can.

It’s been a busy time for Pokémon fans recently: an orchestral concert tour will soon kick off, the Pokémon Online Store’s launch is approaching, the franchise got its own dedicated iTunes hub, and the Pokémon National Championships took place this past weekend (with the World Championships set for next month). That’s not all they have in store, either, as the Pokémon Omega Sapphire and Alpha Ruby remakes are scheduled for release on 3DS on November 21. In the meantime, they can be weirded out by fan reimaginings of various Pokémon.

Chris Pereira is a freelance writer for GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @TheSmokingManX
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