The Canalave City Gym was located at the base of a cliffside right on the edge of town. The paved sidewalks faded away into rocky terrain, although there was still a defined road that led right up to the entrance. The building itself looked like a featureless metal cube lodged into the rock, except there was an obvious Pokéball decoration and an automatic sliding door that marked it as a Gym.
With me were Azumarill and Florges, who I hadn't sent back just yet since Whimsicott and Carbink weren’t scheduled to return until this afternoon. At the same time, I had a sneaking suspicion that my visit to the Gym wouldn't just be a simple visit. It didn’t hurt to have two of the strongest members of the team with me.
When I entered the Gym, I got a look of the interior, and it was just as bland as the outside. The entrance room contained just under a dozen trainers sitting around and waiting for their turn, the crowd having lessened now that the first month of the season had already passed. Without an appointment, there was a decent chance I would be joining their ranks among the moderately uncomfortable chairs.
I approached the front counter to speak to the receptionist.
"Hello, I was asked to come here? My name is Alex."
I slid my trainer ID over to a beefy man in a dirty tank top that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a steel mill, and he quickly typed some info into his computer before sliding my ID back to me.
He then glanced at a clock hanging on a side wall.
"Byron should be on his lunch break right now, but he was pretty insistent on seeing you, so you might as well head on in," he said in a gruff voice. “Just go through the door to the right and down the hallway. Byron is waiting."
A little nervous at the implications that the Gym Leader might be cutting his lunch break short just to talk to me, I quickly thanked the receptionist and made my way into the door he pointed out.
Once I was down the hallway, I slowly pushed open the double doors that led to the room only to pause in surprise at the man standing before me.
“So you’re the one that beat my boy, hm?” Byron said.
Byron looked like a man who had lived inside a mine for his entire life. He wore the pants of a miner’s outfit, except the bottom was torn and there was no thick jacket around his chest. Instead, he had a thin white shirt that looked to be worn from years of repeated use and an old, brown cloak wrapped around his neck and hanging down his back. His burgundy hair stuck up in every direction and looked like it hadn’t been combed for quite some time.
He must have seen the look on my face because he immediately threw back his head and laughed.
“Gwahahaha! I’m not actually upset, just messing with you. Come on, I was sitting on that bench over there when I was told you were here.”
I hid a sigh of relief and quickly followed.
The room we were in wasn’t any special room meant for discussion, but rather, it was the main battlefield of the Gym. It was just as featureless as the exterior of the place, but it at least still held the classic dirt battlefield and seating off to the sides.
Byron walked over to a bench situated off to the side of the battlefield, and sat down to resume eating the sandwich he had set down before.
“So you want to train on Iron Island?” he asked with his mouth full.
I purposely looked away to not view the sandwich mush in his mouth.
“Yes, I wanted to go there for my team to—”
“Your team isn’t strong enough to handle it,” he interrupted. Thankfully, he swallowed before he spoke this time. “I practically live on Iron Island when I’m not in the Gym, and I know what strength is required to handle the wild Pokémon on the island. Simply dancing around and dodging isn’t enough, you have to be able to take a hit.
“I watched your battle against Roark. I’m not going to say your team isn’t strong, but Iron Island isn't a place to fool around. Your Pokémon are fragile.”
“What?” I replied, a little annoyed at the accusation.
“Fragile. They can’t take a hit,” he said, as if that explained everything.
He stared at me while he finished off the last bite of his sandwich, then wiped his hands together to clean off the crumbs of his fingers.
“Your team excels in turning direct blows into full misses or simple grazes, but Steel Types only need one hit to win,” Byron said. “Iron Island requires sturdy Pokémon to survive it. Your team would not last.”
“That’s the point. We need to challenge our weaknesses to shore up our strengths. We have to get stronger.”
Byron leaned forward, putting a hand on his leg to brace his upper body, then rested his head on his fist as he tilted up to look at me.
“Why so desperate?” he asked. “Why Iron Island, of all places? You have plenty of time to train in the much safer routes across the entire region. Heck, just the snow around Snowpoint City provides a good training environment.”
“It’s because they’re too safe,” I responded.
Byron raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t get me wrong, I want my team to be safe, which is exactly why I want to put ourselves in danger here. Ugh, that sounds bad. I mean, Pokémon grow from adversity, and Steel Types are one of the toughest foes that Fairy Types can encounter. Iron Island would provide us with the environment and challenges we need to prepare for the future.
“We’ve been through danger multiple times, and every time it’s been close. If we encounter danger again, I don’t want it to ‘just be close.’ I want us to win with a crushing victory.”
I stared Byron in the eyes as he stared back, and after a few moments of silence, his face broke out into a grin.
“If you want to go to the restricted areas of Iron Island, you’re making a compelling argument. That kind of determination is what’s going to let you succeed.”
He slapped his knees and pushed himself to his feet with a slight groan, then flexed his arms to show off his rippling muscles while pointing to his face with his thumbs.
“The name’s Byron, fossil lover and defensive specialist! Iron Island is my home away from home, which I denied you from thinking you couldn’t be able to handle it! Battle me, Alex, and prove you have the glint of a true trainer!” he yelled.
Somehow, he was now holding a shovel. I had no clue where he got it from.
He didn’t even wait before his face broke out into a grin.
“If you want permission to train in the dangerous parts of Iron Island, prove your worth to me! Come, Alex! Test yourself against the mettle of my impenetrable Steel Types!
There were only a handful of people in the audience, waiting around for the next battle to start, and they all looked over to Byron with that explosive declaration. The room was sent into an awkward silence as I just stood there and stared at him as he held a dramatic pose.
“...Why are you giving me that look?” he mumbled, suddenly losing that boisterous edge he had suddenly gained.
“Just wasn’t expecting that kind of turnaround,” I replied.
Byron looked a little downcast but returned to his previous excited demeanor as he strode over to the Gym Leader’s side of the field. I mimicked him by walking over to the challenger’s side as well.
“How many of your strongest do you have on you?” he asked once we were both in position.
“Four. I had a feeling something like this would happen.”
Byron called over one of his Gym Trainers to quietly discuss amongst themselves for a brief moment before the trainer rushed out of the room. Rather quickly, they returned to exchange four of Byron’s Pokéballs and took up a spot on the side of the field to act as a referee.
“This will be a four on four battle between Gym Leader Byron and Challenger Alex,” they announced. “Each trainer will send out one Pokémon at a time, and each side will battle until an active Pokémon faints. Upon the end of the matchup, both trainers will return their Pokémon and exchange them for another one. The victor of the battle will be the trainer who faints the most Pokémon, and in the event of a tie, the victory will go to the challenger.” Byron winked at me. “There will be no switching permitted during the individual battles.”
“And this’ll count as your Gym Battle, too!” Byron shouted.
I did a double take to process what he just said. Byron nodded to confirm.
“Then trainers, are you ready?!” The referee shouted.
Byron affirmed his team’s condition immediately, whereas I needed a moment to think.
While I half expected a battle due to Byron wanting to talk to me in a Gym, I hadn’t expected the battle to actually count as a Gym match. I had wanted to train on Iron Island before taking on Byron, but it seemed like I wouldn’t have a choice if I wanted to go through with my plans.
My issue with Byron was that he was a Steel Type specialist; he used a Type that was super effective against Fairy Types. When it came to Poison Types, another Type super effective against Fairy Types, my team already had a counter strategy in the form of Misty Terrain combined with dodging to avoid their attacks and poisoned condition (it’s simple, but it works).
However, when it came to Steel Types, dodging worked well, but a single hit could potentially end the match. I had wanted to work on better countermeasures once my team was on Iron Island.
I looked to Byron to shout a question.
“What Pokémon are you using?” I asked. “How many stars?”
He shot me a grin.
“I’m using my personal team, of course! Last I checked, they were measured at ten stars.”
I cursed. This would be an uphill battle.
Getting my mind in the right place and quickly going over what the four members I would be using could do, I turned to face the referee to tell them I was ready.
With that, the battle started.
Coming out first was Florges on my side and Bronzong on Byron’s side. Bronzong was a large, blue-metal, bell-like Pokémon. It levitated in the air and spun for a moment with its flat arms held out to its side, then finished the spin and stared at Florges with its saucer-like red eyes from across the field.
Byron and I gave out orders at the same time.
“Misty Terrain!”
“Iron Defense!”
The field pulsed with pink energy as mist started to leak from the ground, and Bronzong waited back to enhance itself with Steel Type energy. Florges unleashed a Magical Leaf attack towards Bronzong, choosing to use a weaker move to test its defenses since all of her attacks would be resisted anyway.
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The leaves clanged off of its metal body. Not only did it resist the attack, but its Iron Defense meant Florges did practically no damage at all.
“Trick Room,” Byron then ordered.
I didn’t need to give Florges any commands for her to know that would be bad.
Quickly, Florges sent several puffs of Fairy Wind forward to try to throw Bronzong off, then followed those up with a singular Moonblast that glowed so strong it almost looked white. I could tell she was putting what she learned from Xerneas to use.
Bronzong, however, paid those little mind and took every single attack head on. The Moonblast did manage to tilt it in the air, but it was a hardy creature that willed itself through the damage. Psychic Type screens started to surround the field and locked in place next to each other like a cube-shaped puzzle. Florges's attacks meant nothing to the floating tank as the Trick Room came into effect, slowing down Florges significantly while speeding up Bronzong even more.
“Finish this off,” Byron said, to my shock. “Steel Roller and slam.”
Taking advantage of the current state of the field and its active buffs, Bronzong dropped to the floor and landed on its side, then spun around rapidly towards Florges. The Trick Room let its normally slow speeds reach insane levels, and the Steel Roller move sucked in the mist from Misty Terrain to remove the field effect from play.
Empowered by the energy it had just absorbed, Bronzong continued its movement forward, now glowing with empowered Steel Type energy, and jumped up into the air, slamming into the slowed Florges and sending her to the ground. She managed to cleverly yank herself back with a Grass Knot to avoid it landing on top of her, but its red eyes glowed with Hypnosis, and Florges fell asleep.
With free reign over its movements, Bronzong reactivated its Levitate ability for a single moment before crashing down on top of her to finish her off with a Heavy Slam.
Florges had been completely shut down, her speed and terrain used against her, letting Bronzong finish her like it was child’s play.
This was not how I wanted this battle to start.
I returned Florges without a word, but Byron spoke up as he returned Bronzong.
“I watched your battle against Roark, which taught me most of your team’s weaknesses,” he said. “Florges, while strong at ranged battles, is easily handled if her movement is shut down. Trick Room is one such counter, so when you train in the future, that is a weakness you need to fix.”
I nodded silently. At least he was giving advice after beating Florges senseless.
For the next battle, we waited for the Trick Room to wear off. That was at Byron's suggestion simply to make sure the battlefield would be reset between each matchup. A similar occurrence would have happened if Misty Terrain was still up.
Coming out next were Ninetales and Steelix. The metal snake was about a dozen heads taller than Ninetales, appearing to be a larger member of the species.
As soon as both sides were given a go, hail started up from Ninetales’s ability, and she leaped forward to hide within it with Snow Cloak. Byron just frowned and called out to me.
"Staying out of sight is fine, but you'll find that the strategy has its flaws. For example, how can Ninetales dodge an attack that hits the entire field at once? Steelix, Earthquake!"
The massive Pokémon slammed its wide metal chin into the ground to cause the entire field to shake and break apart. Ninetales's position in the snow became obvious when she had to hunker down to withstand the attack, allowing Steelix to see her immobile form stick out among the moving landscape and snow.
I cursed under my breath.
"Aurora Veil! Change tactics to weatherless!" I yelled.
Drifting, weaving bands of light wrapped around Ninetales as an Aurora coalesced into a defensive screen around her. Ice from the Hail stuck to it to provide her defense right as Steelix swiped the lower half of its body at her position, an Iron Tail attack catching her in her side.
The resistance from the Aurora Veil let Ninetales tank the damage, but her dual Ice and Fairy Type physiology meant the Steel Type move almost brought her to the point of passing out from how much damage it inflicted. Her legs almost buckled underneath her after Steelix pulled back its tail, but she was still able to fight.
"Good," Byron said. "Now that's a proper defense."
With Ninetales so injured, I decided it was best to pull out the high damaging moves to see if we could end this quickly before she fainted from exhaustion.
"Blizzard!" I yelled.
A smaller storm spun around Ninetales and sailed forwards towards Steelix, the snow coming down around it significantly enhancing its speed.
Steelix, seeing the attack coming, dug its head into the ground with Dig, but its lower half remained exposed as its slow movements meant it was still caught by the frigid tempest.
Unfortunately, Steelix managed to withstand it despite its low defense to special moves like that, then it disappeared into a large hole in the ground that collapsed behind it.
Ninetales looked around and waited for Steelix to reappear. With only a flat dirt battlefield, there wasn't much she could do to prepare herself.
"Freeze the field,” I said quickly. “Try to hurt it when it comes up.”
Ninetales began to use Ice Beam to cover the field in ice, specifically focusing on building it up underneath her. However, Byron just grinned as, unexpectedly, Steelix appeared a far distance away and used the rubble that burst out with it to send a Stone Edge at Ninetales.
She dodged, but the damage from before acted up as her movements weren’t as agile as they usually were. The majority of the stones missed their mark, but a few of them clipped her in the side, and one that had gone wide found itself digging into Ninetales’s chest, in the exact position she had just dodged to.
It was a dumb mistake that had come into play due to her tiredness, but it was also a dumb mistake that ended the battle. While running, Ninetales fell to her knees and collapsed into the ground, too tired and injured to continue to fight.
I returned her as the referee called the second match in Byron’s favor. I felt my hands clench as I returned her to her Premier Ball.
Byron returned Steelix and spoke while we waited for the hailstorm to dissipate.
"Ninetales has the potential to be a tough Pokémon, but she doesn't have the vitality to support her defense. Continue training Aurora Veil and you'll find her capable of withstanding much more powerful hits. Stamina training might help as well."
I nodded.
So far, this battle had left a bitter taste in my mouth. On one hand, we were in an unexpected fight against a team that completely outmatched us, but on the other hand, Byron was helping us by pointing out weaknesses my team could improve on.
Despite Byron being on the verge of victory, with his generous rules, I still had a chance to win if both Azumarill and Mawile pulled off successes. Deciding that it was better to not tire myself out before the end of the battle (and potentially interfere with my decision making), I sent out Azumarill next, with the hope that her raw brutality could begin to turn the fight around.
Of course, Byron sent out Magnezone, a floating UFO-like Steel and Electric Type. Due to that Electric Type, Azumarill was at a Type disadvantage against a Type I hadn’t expected. Despite my familiarity with that Pokémon from my battle with Wally, seeing it here made me grimace.
"I suppose you're already aware of Azumarill's main weakness. She's bad at range."
“But she’s good at making up for it. Azumarill, I trust you,” I said.
Azumarill turned around briefly to shoot me a mad grin before turning back to properly face her opponent. As soon as the referee called for the battle to begin, neither Byron nor I spoke, letting our Pokémon act on their own.
To start the battle, Azumarill narrowly dodged a Thunderbolt with Aqua Jet while setting up an Aqua Ring to heal herself. I was worried that a layer of water around her body might mean Electric Type moves would more easily hit her, but she currently had her Life Orb around her neck, requiring healing to offset the damage she would take from becoming empowered by the orb.
With its initial attack failed, Magnezone shifted strategies to move up into the air. Using Magnet Rise, the Steel Type’s hover height became far higher than what it normally stayed at. Azumarill would have a much more difficult time reaching it with her melee attacks.
She seemed unphased, however.
I still didn't give any orders since Azumarill seemed to have a plan. Using Work Up while Magnezone began charging up its next attack, she eyed where it was currently and seemed to be judging where exactly it was directly over the ground.
Byron and I stayed silent. Neither of us had different commands for our Pokémon.
Azumarill rushed forward, moving quickly with Aqua Jet and dodging several attacks sent her way—not Electric Type moves, but Normal Type Tri Attacks: spinning triangles of ice, fire, and electricity. As they slammed and sizzled into the ground, Azumarill quickly arrived directly underneath Magnezone. She then looked up to aim, bent her legs, then jumped.
Azumarill's normal jump height wasn't that high, but when she combined it with Aqua Jet, the added velocity let her soar high into the air toward Magnezone.
Magnezone, seeing the incoming Azumarill, charged up and released a Discharge all around it to try to throw her off. However, despite taking that super effective damage, she pushed through, stretched upwards, and just barely grabbed the edge of the floating Steel Type.
Then, in a move that defied physics, Azumaril flexed her arms to twist Magnezone above her head, then spun around and threw it towards the floor.
Magnezone’s magnets weren’t to be underestimated as it righted itself and leveled off before it actually impacted. The impact that did hit, however, was Azumarill’s body slamming into it from above with a Liquidation that carried the two of them downwards, into the floor, due to the momentum.
Magnezone let loose a weak bolt of electricity, not aiming to hurt, but aiming to paralyze. Stunned and slowed, it looked like Magnezone would be able to take out Azumarill due to her proximity to its powerful Electric Type attacks, but instead, she pushed through and slammed both of her hands down into Magnezone with Superpower.
That super effective move managed to faint it.
When Byron returned Magnezone, he had an amused grin on his face.
"I take back what I said about Azumarill. She clearly knows how to make up for her weakness at range.”
Once more, Azumarill turned back to me and gave me an absolutely murderous grin. I just shook my head in what was a mixture of amusement, exasperation, and pride, then returned her to her Dive Ball.
"You're a monster in the best way possible," I whispered to her in her ball.
With Azumarill having demonstrated her true power, she had done what I expected and wished for, turning this battle around. If Magnezone had been a bit more active in its defense, or had managed to land more than just that one Discharge, it would have been Byron’s victory, but Azumarill had managed to surprise everyone with her vertical jump and use of Huge Power.
For the fourth match, my last Pokémon wasn't a choice, and neither was Byron's. I sent out Mawile, while he sent out Bastiodon.
Like Roark’s Rampardos, Bastiodon was an ancient fossil and a revived Pokémon. It had four legs and an armored body, except its head resembled a wide tower shield with a pair of horizontal horns and exposed, pointed teeth on the lower portion. Its horns and teeth were chipped from years of experience, and overall, it looked just as gruff as Byron did by default.
Byron commented on Mawile’s presence as she stretched her jaws and prepared to fight.
"Your Mawile, hm? It's always interesting how other Type specialists raise Steel Types. I disagree with your focus on her speed, though. Steel Types should know how to make up for their sluggishness with defense."
Mawile bristled at the implication she’d been trained wrong and sent him a dirty look. Even if the Steel Type specialist’s words were true, Mawile was also a Fairy Type, and despite being slow, I had seen how she enjoyed running alongside Ponyta. It would be a mistake to have her battle in a way she didn’t like.
"Ignore him, Mawile. Let's show him how wrong he is instead."
Holding up my Key Stone, Mawile’s mouth opened up into a cruel grin as she began to glow and increase in height. That grin split into two as her two jaws formed, and as the light faded, Mega Mawile was up and raring to go.
Byron eye’s glinted with excitement as he saw her transform.
"A Mega? Maybe I should have saved Steelix for this, but I still believe in you, Bastiodon. Show them why you're my strongest Pokémon!" he roared.
Bastiodon roared as well, then positioned itself to face Mawile as the battle started.
Mawile immediately rushed forward at the ancient Pokémon as it waited for her to approach.
A clang rang out at the Huge Power-boosted, Sheer Force-enhanced Iron Head clanged off of Bastiodon's face, the Pokémon unaffected by an attack straight to its head. Undaunted by its surprising defense, Mawile tried again with her other jaws only for Bastiodon to barely react at all.
At most, it slid back a few inches in the dirt. Its head was far more defended than it already obviously was.
“Try to get around its side. Attacking head on isn’t going to work,” I told Mawile.
Mawile began to make use of her speed that Byron had implied was a mistake by dashing past the side of Bastiodon. However, despite being slow, it was still able to shift itself to constantly facing her, meaning its shielded head always blocked the rest of its body.
Mawile used Iron Head again against its face. It didn’t do much, but it let her work out a bit of her frustration from the lack of progress.
“That’s enough playing around. Send it back,” Byron ordered.
Playing around?! Mawile is Mega Evolved!
As Mawile paused to try to find an opening, large stones were compressed from dirt and coalesced from Rock Type energy as Bastiodon used Ancient Power. The glowing rocks were sent at Mawile, who used one set of jaws as a shield, and the other to knock them away.
Unfortunately, that meant she was forced to temporarily stop moving, which let Bastiodon lumber forward and suddenly bash its head forward with an Iron Head of its own.
While she didn’t take much damage, the sudden impact did send Mawile stumbling back. She glared at her opponent.
"See if you can latch on to get a better angle. Fire Fang should be effective,” I suggested.
Mawile, hearing what I’d just said, lashed forward with a red-hot glowing maw. Bastiodon was forced to take a more active defense to tilt and angle its head for the jaws to not latch onto its side, but Mawile didn’t just have one mouth to attack with.
Right when Bastiodon bashed one mouth away, Mawile was able to grab onto the very top of it and clamp down on the tip of Bastiodon’s shield head. Using that solid grab as leverage, she hoisted herself over Bastiodon, with it being unable to stop her, then bit down across the back of Bastiodon’s body with a second Fire Fang.
Both mouths glowed with heat. Bastiodon let out a low moan of pain.
Despite taking that burning damage, Byron seemed unconcerned and gave a one word command.
"Up."
Standing up on its back legs, Bastiodon tried to stand but stumbled instead. Mawile clenched her mouths even harder to deal more damage with Fire Fang, but Bastiodon just purposefully began to fall.
The entire bulk of Bastiodon's body twisted as it fell, maneuvering itself to have Mawile to be right underneath it. She was unable to release her attack in time to move out of the way as the large Steel Type crushed her under its entire bulk with Heavy Slam.
It wiggled, adding insult to injury, then twisted back to its feet to reveal Mawile in a small crater underneath it. While the attack hadn’t finished her off, Bastiodon had already lifted its front legs up to fall with a Heavy Slam once more.
Mawile lunged forward to strike it in its undefended belly with a Sucker Punch. While it was a solid hit, she didn’t have any other option as Bastiodon was simply too heavy to stop from crushing her (even with Huge Power), and her position in the pit meant she didn’t have room to dodge out of the way.
This time, when Bastiodon landed on Mawile, it wasn’t on its side. With the Mega Evolution stuck underneath it, I thought Bastiodon had perhaps exposed its soft underside to Mawile a little too easily. I thought we had a chance.
Its legs were splayed out, but it was still able to partially lift them out and slam them into the ground for an Earthquake. Since Mawile was pinned, she took the full brunt of the damage and even more due to Bastiodon’s weight.
I felt the weak, constant drain on my vitality disappear.
We'd lost.
"I've never seen a Mega Evolved Pokémon lose to a non-Mega," I said in shock.
Byron just laughed.
"You better get used to it! Mega Pokémon are strong, but there are always going to be Pokémon stronger! Expect the trainers without Mega Pokémon to try even harder to catch up. You can't let yourself get complacent."
Bastiodon pushed to its feet and walked back to remove itself from Mawile’s unconscious body. I saw that it was wincing with each step, signifying that Mawile had at least pulled off an attack or two underneath it, but it simply wasn’t enough to take out the incredibly tanky Pokémon in time. Considering her position meant she was unable to draw back her jaws to make full use of her strength, it wasn’t a surprise her attacks had dealt little damage.
Returning Mawile, I had a frown on my face as the implications of this battle set in. I hadn't been planning on trying to earn the Gym Badge today, but failing to earn it still hurt. Also, since I lost, Iron Island would be off limits as well.
It was like a punch to the gut after a punch to the gut.
Unaware of my feelings, Byron strode onto the field, stopped in front of Bastiodon, and punched its shielded head as hard as he could.
The unexpected action stunned me out of my unhappiness.
Bastiodon, the subject of the Gym Leader's sudden attack, didn't seem upset at all and returned the hit with a light head bash against Byron. He tried his best to not be knocked back, but he still ended up stumbling a few feet.
He moved back to slap Bastiodon on the shield head a few times affectionately.
"Great job today! Get some rest," he said, returning his ace.
"And you." Byron turned to face me. "What you showed me here today is exactly what you'll need when you train on Iron Island."
The face he used "when" was telling.
"...Please don't tell me this was a set up just so you could fight me yourself," I groaned.
"Okay. I won't."
I purposely didn’t respond to that.
"No, I’ll be honest, I wanted to battle you, but my denial of your application still stands. However, I have a solution where we both will win.
"Iron Island isn’t broken up into a single safe and a single restricted area. Rather, it's broken up into multiple areas with increasing danger levels. For you, I can allow you in the first of four off limits areas: the weakest of restricted zones there.
"However, from what you showed me here today, you and your team have potential. There are others training on the island, and if you feel as though you're ready, get their approval and you can enter the tougher zones. While you only have permission to train in the first for now, you can potentially work your way up in the future.
"My challenge for you is this: from what you have available now, earn permission to access the fifth and most dangerous zone. Once you do, come back here and challenge me again. I'll make sure you can fit right in my schedule, no need to wait at all when you’re ready."
Byron then put his fists on his hips in a dramatic stance and gave me a big grin.
"So. What do you say?” he asked. “Do you accept my challenge?"
I hummed.
"I have a question, first."
"Hit me," he said.
"Why are you doing this?"
Byron just chuckled.
"Well, if someone beats my son in such a public match, it'd look worse if they went up and lost against future opponents of similar strength. Just pretend I'm being entirely selfish here."
The logic wasn't what I expected, but honestly, my decision was already made when he first started to describe it. It'd be tough to achieve with my impending deadline of a show battle against Maylene soon, but I had two full months in a harsh environment to make great strides in our strength.
"I'll do it," I said.
Byron smiled.
My plans for the next few months were now sealed.