>>54564144As an XY enjoyer I'll try to address some common criticism
>FriendsTrevor, Tierno and Shauna all being half-assed Rivals is just wasting all of their potential. They should be focusing on meaningfully different parts of the Pokémon Trainer experience.
Trevor is into the Pokédex, and that's how he should be competing with you. Not just saying "you found X, I found Y" either. After you get to Lumiose he should mostly stay there and help the Professor, and evaluating your Pokédex should be comparing it against his progress. He would give you rewards like the Professors' assistants in other games, like False Swipe, useful items, or even Mega Stones. You should also find him seeking out places with rare Pokémon, like talking to people at the Fossil Lab.
Tierno would hugely benefit from Kalos having Contests or some equivalent. Not just him either, it would perfectly fit the region's whole theme of "beauty" and be a more natural place to introduce characters like Lysandre and Diantha instead of running into them in a random cafe. Diantha being a Contest star in addition to the Champion would perfectly suit her character and give her that much more depth. Tierno being a partner and Rival in contests would make his "dance" teams less of a joke, and maybe he could Tutor his dance moves for some of your Pokémon.
Shauna plays the nice/weak Rival role well enough already. She represents a more casual player who doesn't have a clear goal, and dabbles in what all of her friends are doing (again, Contests would suit her too). She doesn't need to be changed, she just needs to be battled more than twice.
Calem/Serena is maybe the most boring rival in the series. They're a battler with no competitive drive who is constantly depressed and defeated by you beating them. If you wrote them in almost any other way they'd be fine. Give them more of a drive for battle, let them show real frustration when they keep losing. Let them get a Mega Ring before the postgame.
