After months of waiting, Niantic is finally ready to deliver on the promise of a Legendary Summer for Pokemon GO players. After rolling out the new Battle Raid system earlier this month, it was only a matter of time before Legendary monsters would start to appear. The time has almost arrived and it seems like Pokemon Silver's Lugia is going to be the face of Legendary Battle Raiding.

The first look at Lugia comes from yet another datamine of Pokemon GO's assets. The leak, courtesy of PokemonGoHub, reveals Lugia, along with the three Legendary birds from Gen 1 (including Legendary shiny variants). It seems like a safe bet that these will be some of the first creatures to show up in Level 5 Battle Raids.

Here's a look at the Lugia assets that have been found in the game's code...

In addition to being a Battle Raid boss, it seems like Lugia is also going to be the face of the Legendary launch in Pokemon GO. The monster was featured prominently in the Legendary reveal trailer and its face will also be used as the icon for Legendary Raids within the game.

One big fan theory is that Lugia will be the enemy during the epic Legendary Battle Raid during Pokemon GO Fest in Chicago. The global community is counting on the crowd in Chicago to take down whichever Legendary appears, because a successful battle is supposed to trigger the opening of other Legendary Battle Raids around the world. Keep your fingers crossed that the crew in Chicago is well-equipped with lots of Golem squads and ready to take down the world's first Legendary.

Pokemon GO is available now in select regions on Android and iOS devices.

Source: PokemonGO Hub