>>54696217I think it was cool world building wise.
In the previous games, every child and teen seemingly wants to be a trainer, and the end goal of the trainer's journey is to face the Elite 4 or fail along the way.
Bianca is the exception and she's kinda shamed for it until she eventually becomes a professor's assistant, but she still tried.
In XY, the game shows you through your friend group that not every teen hitting the road with a pokémon is setting their sights on the Elite 4.
Tierno, Shauna and Trevor aren't even trying, they're just vibing and they mostly know that they don't wanna become career trainers - Tierno wants to be a dancer, Trevor a professor of sorts and Shauna your personal ona-hole.
Only Serena/Calem are determined to become the Champion and your true rival, and that, to me, makes it more interesting and better characterization, because now the choice not to do it was on the table.
