Canalave City Pokémon Gym Leader: Byron
The Man with the Steel Body!
The Canalave Gym is a four-story building made of fixed steel platforms, lifts, and moving metal platforms. Trainers must ride the lifts and moving platforms in a certain order while battling other Trainers in the Gym to reach the fourth floor, on which Byron waits.
The Canalave Gym debuted in Sleepless In Pre-Battle!, where Ash went to the Gym in order to challenge it, only to find out that the local Gym Leader was off training at Iron Island. In Ancient Family Matters!, Ash returned to the Gym in the hopes of challenging the newly returned Gym Leader. To his and his friends' surprise, they found out that the local Gym Leader, Byron, was the father of Roark, and the two were arguing over which one of them loved Fossils more. To settle their differences, they decided to have a battle, with Roark's Rampardos facing Byron's Bastiodon. By using Iron Defense multiple times, Byron was able to turn Bastiodon's defensive tactic into an offensive one. However, before they could finish the battle, an alarm broke out, signaling that someone had broken into the Gym's Fossil room, forcing the two Gym Leaders to abandon their battle. The thieves turned out to be Team Rocket, whom Roark and Byron battled together, successfully recovering the stolen Fossils and even settling their previous argument in the process.
In Dealing With Defensive Types!, Ash had his Gym battle against Byron. Ash had the lead in the beginning, defeating Byron's Bronzor with his Chimchar after getting past Byron's defensive strategies. Byron then regained the advantage by easily knocking out Ash's Buizel with Steelix. Ash sent out Chimchar again and defeated Steelix with Flame Wheel after weakening it by caving in the ground with Dig. Byron finally sent out his Bastiodon and knocked Chimchar out with Metal Burst. Ash then sent out his last Pokémon, Gliscor. Bastiodon seemed to be winning in the beginning with repeated Flash Cannons and Iron Heads, but Gliscor managed to use Fire Fang on Bastiodon's back where it was weaker, defeating it and winning Ash his sixth Badge in the Sinnoh region.
The Canalave Gym briefly reappeared on television in Double-Time Battle Training!, where it was revealed that Paul had just defeated Byron and earned his eighth Badge from him.
In the other rooms of the Gym, there are many rocks and Fossils that Byron has collected over the years, including a giantAnorith Fossil that Team Rocket tried to steal. There are also prehistoric Pokémon in other rooms, such as Omastar, Omanyte, Kabuto, Kabutops, Cradily, and Armaldo.
Bronzor was the first Pokémon used by Byron during his Gym Battle againstAsh. It went up against Ash's Chimchar, and was able to stand up to Chimchar's Flamethrower thanks to Byron's intensive training. It was able to cause significant damage to Chimchar before being knocked out by Flame Wheel.
Byron's Steelix was seen for the first time in Dealing With Defensive Types!. Steelix was the second Pokémon used by Byron when battling Ash, and proved to be a very tough opponent. It knocked out Buizel easily, and was able to cause massive damage to Chimchar. However it was eventually defeated by Chimchar after the Chimp Pokémon weakened the ground with Dig restricting its movement.
The Canalave Gym debuted in Brash Bronzong I. Platinum unknowingly ran into the Gym with Diamond and Pearl when she thought she heard her father's voice. They were whisked back and forth on the moving platforms until they arrived in front of Byron, who challenged Platinum to a battle for trespassing in the Gym in the middle of the night. At first, Byron's two strong defensive Bronzong held up easily against Platinum's Empoleon; however, after Platinum discovered her father locked up in a cage and assumed that Byron did it, she became very angry and knocked out both of his Bronzong with her Ponyta in one hit. Byron proceeded to give her a Mine Badge later, much to her surprise.
Byron's two Bronzong are his main battlers. He first used them against Platinum when she attempted to rescue her father after mistaking Byron for being his kidnapper but they were easily defeated by her Ponyta.
The Canalave Gym appeared in Challenge! The Fortress Of Steel!!. The Gym contains a giant steel structure, dubbed by Byron as "The Fortress of Steel". On the way to the Gym Leader, the challenging Trainer must face a variety of obstacles, including back-and-forth-swinging steel beams, a backwards-moving walkway, and a group of Steelix and Onix. Only those Trainers who clear all the obstacles may face Byron in a battle at the top of the fortress.
After hearing from Hareta about his loss against Cyrus, Byron invited the young Trainer to train at his Gym. With his impressive skills, Hareta managed to get past the obstacles and reach Byron. However, the battle was over quickly when Byron's Bronzor put Hareta's Piplup to sleep with Hypnosis and Byron had his Bastiodon charge at him, demonstration how he could've easily knocked Hareta over the edge. Byron scolded Hareta for not considering how much strength he had left, and told him to go training at Iron Island before they could battle again.
In the TCG
The following is a list of cards mentioning or featuring Canalave City Gym in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
Pokémon in Canalave Gym Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.
