>>39893205Calem is weird. Generations still shows him as the protagonist, but Masters giving him a Meowstic is definitely weird and seems to suggest he could be treated as the rival instead here. We'll have to wait and see with him. I personally think that its just because the Gen 6 starter Pokémon are being swapped around to other characters due to them having to handle (Ash)Greninja differently.
Gen 4 and 7 are the only Gens where (afaik) TPCi has never shown either gender to be considered the "main" one. Flint using Infernape puts Dawn and Lucas in a similar situation as the Gen 6 characters, with them seemingly unable to give them the starter Pokémon to more traditionally show them as protagonist characters. Especially because, with Barry using Piplup, Chimchar would presumably be the one used to determine the true protagonist.
As for Gen 7, it's all up in the air really. The only way we'll ever know is if they introduce Elio and Selene with starters, and then give Kukui an alt (Masked Royale?) with the counterpart starter.
I do hope they do all of this and confirm the unknown characters though. Seems silly to start better defining the characters and their personalities and roles in the "canon", but leave a couple gens ambiguous for no reason.
