Book about a young man in high school who is approached by a warrior woman and travels to alternate dimensions

Question

I need to figure what early 2000s book this is!!

This book details a young man in high school who seemed to have a talent for everything, especially basketball. One day, he's approached by some warrior woman who is described as dark haired/dark skinned, and together they travel to alternate dimensions. I don't know the details on how he became a dimensional traveler; all I remember is that there were certain physical portals they would have go through in certain secret locations. The whole premise is that he travels to another universe with its own species and dialect, and they are in some type of crisis. This boy can understand their dialect through his "powers". Every dimension traveler has their own buddy system, where a native provides them with clothes and advice. Almost like a sidekick that's native to each dimension.

Unfortunately, that is all I can remember. There is an evil figure that tries to sabotage them and keep them from trying to save the species. Each book took place in a different dimension, like it's own episode. I specifically remember that the boy was there to save the native peoples, and that towards the end of the series, the several dimensions start to collapse into one another and the boy starts to see stuff from different worlds in his own world.

Answer 1

This sounds like the Pendragon books by D.J. McHale.

The series chronicles the adventures of Bobby Pendragon, an American teenager who discovers that he must travel through time and space to prevent the destruction of the ten "territories": critical times and locations throughout the universe.

The enemy who is destabilizing each of these territories is a shapeshifter called Saint Dane. In the first book, Bobby is a high school basketball player whisked away by his uncle through a portal hidden in an abandoned subway station to the planet Denduron. The warrior woman that you remember is called Loor and if I recall correctly is a major character throughout the series.

The Wikipedia page for the first novel, The Merchant of Death, has an extensively detailed summary that seems to match my memories of this novel, so you should be able to figure out if this is the series you're looking for.