Anyways with the mission with the Mismagius taken care of I left the pokecenter again though this time with a different destination in mind, the gym. Canalave's Gym leader was an unusual individual as far as Gym leaders were concerned. See most Gym leaders stayed at their gym or at the very least in the city itself for most of the time but Byron was different. He instead spent most of his time living in a small shack on the nearby Iron island. This meant he was one of the most out of reach Gym leaders in the world as you couldn't just mosey on into the gym and find him there most of the time.-
There was a bit of a controversy regarding this in fact as it also meant that while he rushed over whenever an emergency required his attention he wasn't exactly timely with his job mandated assistance. More than a few people weren't happy about this fact but Byron was sitting right on the line between negligence of duty and upholding his responsibilities so he was technically not in the wrong. Personality wise he was one of the most approachable people as he was the sort to strike up a conversation with anyone without any hesitation or reluctance at all.-
As a trainer he also was easily one of the more competent ones in the elite level with his team being close to champion level due to mostly residing on iron island that was for all intents and purposes a wild zone. The place was a sort of paradise for steel type trainers as nearly every species there had that typing and had this rather unique ecosystem as a result that revolved around the typing. The island was a sort of preserved area that humans were heavily restricted from interfering with due to this unique ecosystem.-
Byron as a steel type trainer had made it his mission to protect the island from poachers, pirates and people who weren't supposed to be there. While his presence was tolerated by the pokemon of the island after being there so much he still had to deal with challengers form both the gym as well as the local pokemon that were close to champion level or even possibly at that level. Most wild pokemon had this drive to dominate an area as I've said before so he and his trained team were seen as the "dominators" of an area on the island and thus subject to being overthrown if defeated.-
In a manner of speaking Byron's way of training his team by having them deal with powerful wild pokemon was quite similar to my own training. This had me curious to meet him in person to try and get a feel for what that point in my own journey might look like. The gym was not difficult at all to find in Canalave as it was one of the largest buildings and due to the style it was built in also vastly different than the surrounding buildings.-
It had trainers coming in and out as they had come to schedule their challenge so I was easily and immediately spotted on approach. There were whispers and and awe filled looks but only a single trainer actually stepped forward to challenge me. It was a girl about five nine with medium length black hair and green eyes wearing a full set of Devon brand all weather travel gear. "I refuse." I answered her challenge calmly. "What!? Why!?" she demanded loudly.-
I sighed "Because you would only get stomped if I accepted. Look I get wanting to make a name for yourself but you clearly have no idea who I am or you'd know that I ONLY have elite level pokemon currently set as battlers. In other words a trainer going through the circuit normally like you would be massively outmatched in a battle to the point there wouldn't even be any chance for you to learn from the experience." I said honestly. Canalave gym was by tradition the sixth gym one would challenge in the league circuit which meant level seventy-ish pokemon.-
That was on the lower end of ace trainers so trying to challenge my on average one hundred ten leveled pokemon was asking for humiliation or trauma. I may not be the nicest guy around but I don't bully those so much weaker than me if I can help it, minus criminal but they don't count. There was quite a bit of nodding from the small crowd of trainers watching this go down after I spoke. The girl turned red from anger and before she even opened her mouth again I knew she wasn't going to let this matter drop here.-
Oh I knew her type well enough, a rising prodigy, a show out, the next big thing, it was all the same as it meant an overinflated sense of self worth and confidence. Gregory who had won my tournament last year was this sort of person and had been headstrong even while I was training him. That was despite him knowing that I was just so much better than he was since I was still a fresh and hot topic in Hoenn. Not only was I NOT in Hoenn at the moment but i also had been effectively inactive for the last half a year so this girls reaction and lack of understand was not all that surprising.-
"He's right you know." I male voice spoke up from the doorway of the gym as a dirt middle aged man in sweat stained clothes walked through the crowd. "Leader Byron, sorry about the commotion." I said honestly. He waved it off though while the girl looked conflicted at the mans interruption, a mix of frustration and confusion according to her aura. The man waved his hand dismissively "No need to apologize this ones kinda on me, I knew you were in the city and should have expected something like this when you eventually showed up here."-
"This season has been particularly interesting as we've gotten several rising stars and as you likely guessed Miss Wataru is amongst them." Byron said casually. "Wataru? That explains the pride and hot headedness then. Dragon trainers tend to be rather impulsive after all and that clan is no different." I said understanding where the girl got her attitude from. "Hmph! If you know then I demand that you accept my challenge!" the girl said haughtily. I sent Byron a questioning look and he just sighed "Try not to destroy anything." he said as his answer to my unsaid question.-
"Hades show time." I said patting my pocket. Black smoke billowed out and dozens of "eyes" opened to glare balefully at the girl who paled as the ghosts bloodthirsty madness rolled over her. "I tried being nice about it but you dragon trainers need a more forceful method to understand when to back down. It's rather annoying to be honest. Anyways that's enough Hades, I think she gets the point." I said and the ghost hissed and howled before slowly retreating back into it's keystone in my pocket.