>>57959892
So I worked out the kinks of my OC's backstory, but then opened up a whole other can of worms with how the overall story of the region plays out. The Player (Protagonist) is sent 10 years into the future by a Pokémon with dominion over Time (Arceus/Dialga/Celebi) and has to continue their journey as if nothing happened, but they learn gradually about their predicament. The Rival (my OC) suffered a number of crushing defeats against the Player & in fact lost one of their Pokémon during their "final" battle against each other (likely either their Morpeko or Weavile- which causes serious, gutting trauma) leading them to changing their entire Type Specialty from Dark to Poison to mitigate all of Dark's weaknesses, becoming the 8th & final Gym Leader of the Region (possibly Unova?) after Roxie leaves the Gym to pursue her career as a Rock Star- but returns after the Rival- whom I'll call Magenta for simplicity's sake, requests their return (or maybe Klara? Idk) in order to challenge the Pokémon League to become the Champion and final challenge in their shared journey. The Rival's Starter will depend on the Type chosen by the Player as usual- but those wouldn't be the official starters of the region obviously.