Quoted By:
I hated the instant 'oh we're best friends' vibe you get from the group in X/Y. You've barely met them and they don't feel like friends or rivals.
Why not have a rival that actually beats you and insults you in a cut scene? Or, in Sun and Moon, there's a brief moment where they insult you and your starter. That's instant dislike for them, and even more thrill to fight them with your starter.
If you lose against them, they insult you again. Over time slowly seeing you as a true trainer, even vaguely becoming tsun. By the end they apologize, but then promise they will defeat you next time.
Or even involve the rival with the team of the region. Get them indoctrinated into the moral ideals that gets grunts recruited into the team. Have them show up in the uniform.
