"Of course I knew." Xia You calmly met his gaze. "I knew from the moment you first went out of your way to show me Bronzor's Heatproof Ability."
Byron was naturally taken aback. "Then why did you still...?"
"Because I didn't fall for it." Xia You waved a hand, cutting him off. "When you deliberately showed me its Heatproof Ability, you just wanted me to stop using Fire-type moves on my own. Unfortunately, I'm not some beginner. I'm not going to be fooled by the name Heatproof."
That was right. Although Heatproof halved Fire-type damage when attacked, given the original type matchup between Chimchar and Bronzor, it merely brought Fire-type attacks back to normal damage. It did not make them barely effective.
It would be one thing if some other Pokémon had this Ability, but for Pokémon that were already weak to fire, even with this Ability...
That was why Byron had deliberately made Bronzor fly out of the sparks at the start. He wanted to show that Bronzor seemingly did not care about the flames at all, hoping to fool Xia You.
This was undoubtedly Byron's trap.
Someone unfamiliar with the situation might really have thought Fire-type moves had little effect on this Pokémon, effectively tying one hand behind their own back by giving up one means of attack!
This also showed that, as expected of someone who had raised his own son into a Gym Leader, beneath Byron's scruffy exterior lay plenty of calculation!
He really was no simple opponent!
Unfortunately, Xia You had already seen through his trick.
Although the flames could no longer deal super-effective damage, they could still be used normally. He knew that perfectly well.
Seeing that he had failed to fool the young man opposite him, Byron laughed heartily and thought nothing of