What do the glowing portals on Gyms mean in Pokemon GO?

The Season of GO has finally arrived in Pokemon GO. With it comes the first major content update to the game: Ultra Beasts.

Another addition to the title comes in the form of these mysterious portals showing up at Gym spots across the globe. This has ignited a bit of concern in the game's community.

The release of the Season of GO comes hand in hand with the release of GO Fest 2022. This has understandably brought lots of eyes to the game, which is especially true for some players who do not play the game as much, let alone keep up with updates. Everything added in the new content update may bring a few questions.

As many users know, eggs will spawn at the top of Gyms frequently. This egg is accompanied by a timer that counts down. Once that timer reaches zero, the egg hatches, and a Raid Boss spawns where the egg once was.

These eggs have different designs depicting what level of Raid Boss will spawn.

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Case of Pokemon GO's Mysterious Portals

An Ultra Wormhole as it appears in official Pokemon GO artwork (Image via Niantic)

These mysterious portals are called "Ultra Wormholes." These phenomena are critical in the Pokemon franchise and require a bit of explanation.

Ultra Beasts are Pokemon from different dimensions. In the main series, they are brought to the world gamers inhabit through these wormholes.

As we learn in Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Alola's Legendary Pokemon, Solgaleo and Lunala, are capable of opening these wormholes. However, in these titles, the abundance of wormholes is the doing of the strongest Ultra Beast of them all, Necrozma.

Enter the Ultra Recon Squad, a group of characters also appearing in Pokemon GO. This task force is sent from their home in Ultra Megalopolis to investigate Ultra Wormholes, Ultra Beasts, and find a way to take back the light stolen from their world by the dastardly Necrozma.

With no Solgaleo or Lunala in sight, it can be inferred that Necrozma will be mentioned at the very least as the season goes on. After all, someone has to be opening all of these Ultra Wormholes.

But what about these wormholes in Pokemon GO? Why are they showing up all over the game's Gyms?

Having Ultra Wormholes in the game is strictly a stylistic choice as of writing. As Ultra Beasts originates from a different dimension, it would not make any sense for there to be an egg that hatches into one in Pokemon GO.

These wormholes only serve as a visual change to the eggs players are familiar with.

Though Nihilego is the only Ultra Beast to be brought into the title as of writing, more are surely on the way. With this in mind, the implementation of Ultra Wormholes in the game will be a staple detail for announcing an Ultra Beast's arrival to a Raid.