After a moment's thought, Xia You ultimately decided to send Chimchar out first to test the intensity of this match.
Although Byron gave him the impression of being formidable, sending out only a Bronzor at such a low evolutionary stage made it seem as though he had no real intention of testing Xia You's strength.
Rather, it felt as though Byron was following his usual Gym routine, sending out his regular team in the prescribed order.
Xia You's guess was indeed very accurate.
In terms of strength, Byron was certainly not the strongest among Sinnoh's Gym Leaders, but he was far from weak. He ranked above average and was very formidable in his own right.
But formidable or not, he was getting on in years, after all, and had gradually lost his old passion. His attention had long since shifted to other things, such as... digging for fossils like mad.
So even when he encountered a Pokémon Trainer whose strength seemed "rare to come across," he had little interest in measuring himself against Xia You.
No, that was not quite right either.
Perhaps Byron simply had his own Gym routine, and maybe he only wanted to use the first battle to test Xia You's strength.
After all, no matter what, as a Gym Leader-and a Steel-type Pokémon Trainer at that-the "soul of steel" within him surely still existed.
It was just... unclear how much remained, or whether he was willing to bring it out.
Of course, these were all Xia You's guesses. He would only know the actual situation after the battle, judging by Byron's demeanor.
In any case, as Chimchar on his side flipped through the air and landed steadily on a rock, both sides' lineups for this battle were fully confirmed.
The referee glanced at both sides. Seeing