Something new, please. We've already had a team of phonies and two that could be loosely considered eco-terrorist groups, so I don't want to see anything fit into those categories. However, in a whim I just received, I found a team that would be both refreshing yet nefarious, challenging yet pervious. Yet before I explain, I need to give a history...
Go into the past roughly 300 years, when Pokeballs were carved out of Apricorns or otherwise formed from rudimentary parts by trial and error. Yet amongst the group there was a legendary trainer known only in the modern day as Blanche, the Knight of Shinou. This tall, stately figure was known to ride around on his loyal Rapidash suffering nary a burn, a gallant figure that was trusted and feared over the continent. With his unparalleled skills in Pokemon taming, he founded the precursor to what would become known as the Pokemon League, appointing the most challenging trainers he found on his exploration to position within the Consortium of Four, coloquially known as the Elite Four. He took the role of the first Champion of the League, whose claim was undisputed.
He never foresaw that he would lose, and he trained his son and daughter to be fine Pokemon trainers following in his footsteps. However, that one fateful day he heard that his childhood friend, Lloyd was intensely disgruntled he was not granted a position on the Consortium of Four, even after one of the members died and was replaced. For this he sought vengeance on his old compadré, training up a fearsome and sweeping through the Consortium of Four. Then, in a timeless battle with Blanche himself, he managed to eke out victory against his Rapidash using the Grass starter of the new generation. The provisions mandated that whoever defeated the Champion in a sanctioned match would be made the new Champion, and with this Lloyd promptly replaced all members of the Consortium of Four, forbidding their ancestors and Blanche's from ever holding a position in the Pokemon League again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, enter the modern world. Blanche's descendants are still alive and thriving, operating in a group known as The Betrayed, divided into two camps based on whether they trace lineage to his daughter or son. The former are called the Fionites after her name, Fiona, and the latter are known as Normanites after his name, Norman. Regardless of whether they are Fionites or Normanites, they all wear the glimmering white armory that Blanche wore while riding along the countryside on his Rapidash. Even now, they are all still barred from taking the Pokemon League challenge, and now that they issue out proper trainer licenses, they aren't even official trainers. Yet, all of them have seemed to adapt Blanche's incredible finesse in befriending Pokemon, making them ample de facto trainers in their own right.
As a descendant of Lloyd, they hold a special grudge against you for the past confrontations your ancestor gave their ancestors and are still giving them to this day. However, you don't hold the same cruelty that Lloyd possessed in his management of the Pokemon League, you merely wishing to go about on your journey as you attempt to claim the title of Champion. Still, they fail to recognize this, and thus they will come down on you, and hard - they will use the cream of the crop when it comes to AIs. You meet up with a certain Normanite called Bianca, acting essentially as a vicious rival throughout the game and challenging you even outside of the scope of The Betrayed. When you face their leader, a wise yet brutal Fionite elder, he will give you quite the suprise as he uses a Rapidash descended from Blanche's own as you meet up in a clash of the titans.
In the end, you are able to coerce them to work out their troubles with the Pokemon League peacefully, and the old restriction borne of irreverent rashness is lifted at long last. Bianca turns from a hellbent rival into a charitable adversary, encouraging you to beat her to the Championship yet at the same time doubting your potential to do such. Throughout the rest of your gameplay, the two of you establish a firm love-hate relationship as you continually and simultaneously support and egg on each other.
