yeah I found the rivals of Gen 5 to be somewhat interesting with Langley trying to bust dragons and that girl who kept failing as a Connoisseur and getting mad about it. I think that's the way to go with a bunch of recurring rivals every so often throughout as opposed to pointless people traveling with Ash again.
Well, if they have any brains, the rivals of Gen 5 were some kind of test and they'll push the series in this direction since it was successful.
Then again...
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