[Kalos Branch Pokémon League HQ]

[Calem's POV, night of the portals]

"No! You know why I can't do that!"

"It doesn't matter. These portals are starting to open again. This time, there's something different. We need to find out what."

"What we need to do is send someone in. That way we can deal with what's in there."

"Oh yeah, just send in a team blind and hope they aren't immediately ambushed, or used to come through to this side."

"It's better than sitting on our asses and waiting for a new trainer, who just popped into existence, to figure it out!"

"Does it matter if you're going to be sitting on your ass anyway?"

"Listen here you little we-"

"Enough!" I yelled out. Ever since the portals appeared, Elio and Ethan had been butting heads over what to do. They were getting very annoying, like always.

So far in our search, we hadn't found much. The Alola region was heading any and all research relating to Ultra Wormholes ever since they dealt with the Ultra Beasts not too long ago. However, we do know they coincided with the events in Galar, when the chairman of the Galar Pokémon League decided to recreate the Darkest Day.

"Elio, you said they are different from the original Ultra Wormholes. What is different?" I asked.

"It's hard to explain," he began, "but they have a different energy to them. The Ultra Wormholes that we dealt with were very chaotic, but there was no malicious or evil aura or aspect to that energy. This time, at least in Alola, the energy from the portals felt like it would harm others that touched it. At least, that's what Necrozma told me."

"Hmm, ok. We also have a report from an agent following Marco that the portal that opened near him gave a message. Was that the case for anyone else?" I asked everyone.

"Yes," Lyra said. "We have reports of people hearing the phrase 'rip and tear' coming from the portals."

Most of the others confirmed they received similar reports. I turned to Elio, who seemed to understand what I wanted to ask.

"No, the Ultra Wormholes don't allow for messages to be heard. All they do is provide passage from here to the Ultra Space dimension. As far as we know, nothing has crossed over from these portals. Though, who's to say they didn't open up deep in the wilds," Elio said for everyone to hear.

That was a terrifying thought. An unknown threat disturbing the ecosystems and delicate balance of Pokémon colonies. One of the legendaries would definitely be involved then.

"If that were to happen, the Legendaries would get involved. Speaking of Legendaries, Satoshi. Any news from Mewtwo? Or Celebi, Ethan?"

"Mewtwo said that there has been a lot of activity between many of the Legendary Pokémon. He's preparing himself for something. While he was unsure of it himself, he said to expect a war of some kind."

"Hmm. Ethan?"

"Celebi said she was not able to go back to the exact time Marco showed up. Some force prevented her from being able to scout out that location in the past."

"So, Mewtwo is preparing for war and Celebi cannot investigate that specific location and point in time. Maybe it is a different dimension, similar to Ultra Space. Maybe it is some unknown Legendary Pokémon we've yet to interact with," I said before continuing with caution. "The representatives of Paldea, as always, are not here to inform us of any developments in Paldea. We don't even know what their Legendary Pokémon are."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Are you suggesting that Paldea may be responsible for this?" Gloria asked, a little shocked.

"I'm suggesting that until we are able to communicate with Paldea about this, we have to consider their involvement as a possibility," I answered her. I didn't like it, especially because I actually got along well with Juliana and Florian the few times I interacted with them.

This was getting worse, and we had no idea what to do.

[Sycamore's Lab, Marco POV]

"I see. So, you think I should go to Alola," I said.

"Yes," the Professor replied. "I think it would be a good way for you to build trust with the League. They get to keep tabs on you and you get to learn more about your own situation without much worry. Besides, Alola's climate is very nice year-round. I think you'll find yourself enjoying the trip. Also…

"Alola is closer to Galar than Kalos. Galar is the closest region to Paldea. And of course, you have the closer Unova, Orre, Sinnoh, Hoenn, Johto, and Kanto. Just a thought in case you wanted to visit other regions."

"Hmm, thank you," I replied. We continued talking for a bit longer, mostly learning more about each other. Turns out mans had a whole ass family that had never been mentioned before. I had figured him to be a single ladies' man, but he's been married for the last six years and has a two year-old daughter named Noémie.

After leaving the lab, I decided to finally go out to catch a Fletchling. It was currently 1pm, which meant it was time for a quick lunch. After giving the two their Pokéfood and scarfing down a few sandwiches myself, we went out to hunt. We had just under five hours to catch the Pokémon and investigate the Beedrill. I would probably camp out for the night unless something really weird or dangerous happened.

Since Fletchling were rather friendly, I decided it would be best to talk to one before battling and catching it. That way I could explain its future and make it easier for the girl to bond with the Pokémon. After 30 minutes, I found a group of Fletchling eating with a Fletchinder. The Fletchinder was very wary, but after offering a few berries it was willing to let me interact with them.

After making my whole spiel about catching one of them for a girl to bond with and take care of, the whole group ignored me and the Fletchinder flapped its wings at me with attitude. I guess they weren't a fan of that. So I wandered for another 20 minutes before finding a lone Fletchling.

I told this one the same thing I told the others and got a very different reaction. It eagerly flew towards me and landed on my shoulder. Guess it was abandoned by its group or something. Well, it'll be fed and taken care of, so I guess this was a good opportunity for it. I caught it without resistance and messaged the woman, who confirmed I could give the Pokémon to her later tonight.

Now, I had about four hours to investigate the Beedrill. This was going to be tough. After accepting the mission, I got more details about it. The invading colony of Beedrill initially numbered around 25 Beedrill, 16 Kakuna, and 38 Weedle. They settled in a Vivillion territory that didn't seem to mind sharing the space initially. After a week, the Beedrill began to drive out the Scatterbug, Spewpa, and Vivillion and even expand the territory, getting into land claimed by Pangoro, Butterfree, and Wormadam colonies.

This was causing many fights between them, which disrupted the local ecosystem by the number of wild Pokémon being killed or running away and relocating, which further disrupted other ecosystems. If it kept up, it could result in wild Pokémon attacking Lumiose or Santalune cities.

I was heading towards the affected Butterfree colony first since they were the friendliest and weakest of the three. The closer I got, the more agitated and aggressive the Pokémon became. At least those that weren't fleeing. Malamar and Ferrothorn were already knocking any Pokémon that rushed us to the side, though it was getting more difficult with how many were moving.

A few minutes of dealing with that and we eventually arrived at a clearing where a few Beedrill were duking it out with several Butterfree, Metapod, and Caterpie. It was no surprise to say that the Beedrill were winning. Once a Pokémon was down, the Beedrill would immediately move to decapitate it. At the moment, there were 8 Beedrill taking on the dwindling Caterpie line.

I ordered Malamar and Ferrothorn to go and start attacking the Beedrill. Ferrothorn used Gravity to suppress the Beedrill, while Malamar went in with Peck and Psycho Cut to bring them down and put them to sleep with Hypnosis. They worked quickly and efficiently, getting them all down within a minute. We left one Beedrill awake, though with Gravity and its wings bent the wrong way, it couldn't do much. I asked the Beedrill why they were attacking.

Though I couldn't fully understand what it said, I was able to get that their queen was ordering everyone to go and gain more territory. It wouldn't tell me where the queen was, which I expected. I guess I would have to go looking for the queen. I made sure the Butterfree were healing okay before I decided to go to the Vivillion colony next. I left the decision of killing or sparing the Beedrill to the Butterfree, though I was pretty sure what they would choose.

I spent 15 minutes walking before I came across the Vivillion colony. Once again, the Beedrill had the upper hand. This time, however, I saw a few Beedrill corpses spread throughout the area with the dead Vivillion, Spewpa, and Scatterbug. Once again, I had Ferrothorn use Gravity and Malamar take out the Beedrill.

I didn't find any new information, which meant I would probably have to visit their nest if I wanted to deal with the queen. I let the Vivillion kill the Beedrill, deciding, once again, it would be better to let them make the choice of venting their rage on the attackers. It might also earn me some brownie points with them, though I would be more likely to use that with the Pangoro colony than Vivillion' or Butterfree's.

Anyway, 30 minutes later I ended up at the Pangoro colony. This time, it was a fucking massacre. There was only a lone Pangoro and two Pancham fighting 12 Beedrill. The rest of the Pancham and Pangoro were all over the place. Organs, arms, heads, they were ripped apart and torn open. And the same was about to happen to the last three.

"Ferrothorn, Gravity over all of the Beedrill. Malamar, Hypnosis on those that slow down. Once they're asleep, Flash Cannon and Psycho Cut. Go," I hurriedly told them. I am not really sure why I wanted to save them so badly. Maybe it's because I enjoyed having Pangoro on my team during my Ultra Sun run. Maybe I hated seeing people and animals being picked on and attacked by groups. Or maybe I had enough of all the slaughter and was ready to end it. Either way, something changed.

The two immediately got into action. Gravity immobilized 9 of the 12. Hypnosis put those nine to sleep, while the other three grew drowsy and slow. Psycho Cut and Flash Cannon tore through them. I guess my tone made them take this group of Beedrill as more dangerous, using deadly force to leave the giant hornets a mangled mess of blood, guts, and stingers.

The Pangoro turned to us warily, ready to fight. Malamar and Ferrothorn began to talk to it, calming it down. They continued to talk for a few minutes until the Pangoro turned to me and nodded before turning and walking away. The two then came to me. From what they were trying to tell me, I think Pangoro gave them the general direction of where to find the main colony of Beedrill.

It was currently 3:34pm. While a planned sneak attack on the Beedrill sounded mighty fine and dandy, my Pokémon are tired. I decided we would find a clearing out of the way of an open clearing like this, hopefully a spot with a lot of bushes and trees for cover and avoiding detection.