I woke up ready for the battle. We battle trained for four hours this morning instead of the normal two. After that, we went for a walk through Lumiose City. It's a nice day. The sun is out, the temperature is comfortably cool, and a mellow breeze occasionally sweeps through the city, carrying the sweet scent of flowers and berries. I stopped at a park at the far end of Jaune Plaza.

I released Malamar and Ferroseed. As they basked in the sun, a few children and Pokémon came up to them in curiosity. They didn't seem to be accompanied by any adults, at least not from what I could see. Eventually, they all started a game of tag. I smiled at the sight, happy that they were all having fun.

I had never bothered giving nicknames to the Pokémon I caught or used when playing the games because I never really felt a connection to them like some people. Now, I felt like calling them by their species name was almost disrespectful. All the training we did together brought us closer as a group.

I'll ask them after the Gym Battle. For now, I wouldn't interrupt their fun. It was getting close to lunch time, so I started preparing a curry. I was surprised that there were quite a number of ingredients from my Earth here in this world, though I shouldn't have been because I knew Galar had potatoes and salad mix. I took out my cooking pot and fire pit to start the process. Prepackaged curry mix, MooMoo milk, Lechonk broth, chunks of Spoink, carrots, cauliflower, eggplant, and Cheri, Oran, and Leppa berries were all simmering together.

After a while, Malamar and Ferroseed noticed the smell and came over. Some of the children and Pokémon they were playing with followed them and stopped several feet away. They looked at me with shy eyes that couldn't hide the hunger they felt. I smiled and waved them over, including the ones that were observing from afar. I served them all some of the curry, deciding to share what I had.

The look in their eyes, the look of pure surprise that I was giving them some of the food, tore at my heart. This was something I had worked on while completing my MSW. Many of the students only ate what was served at school for breakfast and lunch. Homelessness and food insecurity ran rampant in many communities of my world. Being here, I felt more confident in my ability to tackle this problem.

From what I remembered of the games and what I read online, becoming a trainer was the single best way to earn money and rise through the classes. However, it was also a dangerous profession. Survival was key to earning money here. The stronger you were the more you could earn. This was why I made sure our training was as efficient as I could make it.

While we all enjoyed the curry, many of the kids began to whisper to each other. They were staring behind me, faces full of apprehension. I turned around, seeing a swirling mass of purplish gas roughly the size of a dumpster truck. I couldn't sense anything coming from it. There was no noise, temperature change, smell, absolutely nothing. Malamar and Ferroseed stood next to me, ready for whatever came out.

It began to swirl faster, spinning and converging at a tiny spot that soon began to shine a dull green. The spot of light began to grow larger and brighter until it was a bright lime green portal. I could feel a chaotic energy spewing from it, an energy that was somewhat familiar. I could hear murmurs coming from the portal but couldn't make out what was being said. The air cackled around the portal and began to get uncomfortably warm. All of the children were behind me as the Pokémon, though scared, surrounded them.

We were waiting for something to come out for almost a minute, with many others around stopping and shouting about the strange phenomenon. I could hear the sirens of a police scooter off in the distance. A figure jumped down from… somewhere and landed right next to me. A Gothitelle stood next to her.

"What is going on here?"

"Uh, I'm not sure. We were eating lunch and then the kids began to look behind me. That's when I noticed this portal here," I explained, "and the murmuring coming from it. I swear it was like-."

"Rip… We will… Rip… And… TEAR!" a deep, distorted voice said, starting as a whisper and ending as a rumbling boom in our ears, leaving us disoriented. The kids looked absolutely terrified and at least one of them pissed themselves. The lady seemed to be on high alert, her Gothitelle frozen while its eyes glowed blue.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The portal abruptly closed, leaving us stunned in place. The woman took a phone out of her pocket and called someone.

"Yes, there was a strange portal. Similar to the Ultra Wormholes, yes. Mhmm. Got it. No, he was not involved. Okay, I'll get it done."

She hung up and put away the phone. She then looked around at the kids and told them to leave the area. Once they did, she finally turned to me.

"A team of agents will arrive soon. I already told them you had nothing to do with the portal, but they will still check a few things," she told me. Sure enough, a few League trainers popped out of thin air after a minute. Each was accompanied by a Psychic-type. They immediately pulled out some recording devices, similar to barometers and energy meters except more high-tech. They started walking around the area, one approaching me. He tapped a few buttons and then poked me with one of the devices.

They kept doing their thing for about ten minutes. After that, they put away their devices and popped out of the area. No one batted an eye at them. Things are so weird here, though I don't even really remember what the government of my old world would do. Probably something like declare it a military test of some sort.

"Alright, looks like you're good. Be ready in the future. So far, not much has happened. In my experience, you never know what can or will happen. Especially when the League is concerned about a particular person, place, or Pokémon."

With that said, the woman and her Gothitelle also popped out of existence. I don't think I will ever wrap my head around that. After a few minutes of silent contemplation, I looked around at the kids and Pokémon that had not strayed too far. It was almost 2pm, which meant I had two hours until I needed to be at the gym. Two hours was enough time to give the kids a lesson in training.

If the portal had sent out an Ultra Beast, these kids would've been murked on the spot, and that did not sit well with me. I called them over, waiting for the few that were willing to come close to get comfortable. Each had a Pokémon with them but no ball as far as I could tell.

"Alright, are these Pokémon your friends?" I asked, receiving nods from all of them. "Did you catch them or did they just decide to stay with you?"

They all looked at each other, not wanting to say anything. I think children are not allowed to have Pokémon if they have not been caught, something about ensuring safety by returning a Pokémon to its ball if it goes berserk or something.

"It's fine, I won't tell anyone. I'm only asking because I thought I could give all of you a Pokéball. That way you don't have to worry about the Pokémon being taken away."

This got me hopeful and ecstatic stares from the kids.

"But, you have to promise me something. All of you," I said in a serious tone. "You all have to work hard to make your friend the strongest Pokémon. I can show you how to start. Got it?"

Their determined faces were actually really cute and inspiring. I still wanted to laugh at how serious they were all trying to be. I guess nothing like getting free shit to really make you happy and loyal. I wonder if this is how Team Rocket started. Oh well, not like I want to run my own organization. Just thinking about the number of people that I would be in charge of made me adverse to the idea. Add in all the other problems and you got a big fat case of fuck that.

Anyway, I spent an hour teaching the kids how to workout with their Pokémon and how to battle. That should be enough. Maybe they can actually defend themselves if something were to happen. Like that portal.

It was so freaky. That voice sounded downright demonic, and thinking about the message we all heard made me shudder. I've dealt with a lot of fucked up things and my fair share of threats while working with students, but that was terrifying.

After coming back from my thoughts, I decided to slowly make my way to the Prism Tower. I still had an hour left but I'd rather show up early than on time, just in case something happened. With my luck, even before coming to this world, something would happen.

As I strolled back from Jaune Plaza, I could hear many people talking about the portals that appeared out of nowhere. Portals? Were there more than one? I looked it up on my phone. Apparently, every region had portals open throughout their cities. Paldea, for some reason, has restricted the amount of information available to other regions.

I could already feel the clusterfuck forming. All the webnovels I've read and games I've played pointed to one direction: something was coming out of that portal and we're gonna be fucked if we don't find a way to stop it. I guess I'll be involved too since I'll be the prime suspect.

Anyway, that's for later. The League can handle stuff while I get stronger and collect Gym badges. The number of badges a trainer has changes the things they have access to and what they can do. Apparently, five badges are needed to start a business. This was set in place after the takeover business through the years like the Silph Co. building in Kanto and Goldenrod Radio Tower in Johto.

There I go again getting lost in my thoughts. I continued walking over at a leisurely pace, enjoying the last bit of daylight before it disappeared. It will probably be dark out after I'm done with the Gym battle.

I arrived at Prism Tower at 3:48pm, giving me 25 minutes to lounge around. It would be better to check in with the receptionist first though. After finishing that, I sat in the lobby while going through the news. At 4:10pm, I was allowed to take the elevator to the top floor.

The elevator door opened to a stadium-esque room with black tiling over the majority of the room. Green and blue neon lights were the main source of light, forming a nightclub atmosphere when combined with the battle music in the background. There were several rows of seats circling the perimeter of the room.

While most of the space was taken up by the black tiling and seats, there was a large, raised metal field with small tesla towers jutting out of the floor in a seemingly random pattern. Clemont was waiting at the far end of the field. I walked up the steps, anticipating a different experience from the battle with the Professor. As soon as I stepped onto the field, the lights changed and filled the entire room. An audience suddenly appeared in the seats, their shouts and movements adding more energy to the general feel.

"Welcome to the Lumiose City Gym!"