also, while these silhouettes seem to be gym leaders...
one of the names is Hoku, who also features as the rival of the japanese boy in the trailer. Curiously, however, this Hoku also picks the starter weak to Shohei's Litten, which is Rowlet (props to you, Hoku)
What does all of this mean? Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. id say its either:
- 1 of 2 rivals whos connected to a gym leader and battles you for the badge,
or
- connected to a flying or grass gym and always picks rowlet, no matter what you do.
And, i mean, not like itd be the first time a gym leader used a starter mon, since gardenia did. fairly certain in the elite fours lance used charizard too, and flint infernape,
another thing to support this is that, when the player is seen choosing their starter, only the professor and the cousin seem to be present - no one else, which has been in every generation aside of 2 (because silver would steal a pokemon) and 3 (because birch.jpeg). if the rival already had his pokemon decided, they wouldnt need to be there, and this eliminates the problem of not being able to have the same starter.
