People have already brought up that this group of characters seems to be quite forgettable, but I'd like to go over why I feel that is. But firstly, I'd like to clear up that I will refer to Calem as the "rival" (as I selected the female protagonist) and the other four as "friends." It's been a while but I believe there was an interview with Masuda around the time of the original release of X & Y where he elaborated that he wanted there to be a feeling of traveling in a modest-sized group of friends, which would explain why you don't battle them as often throughout the adventure and they do not have the same sort of "you're my rival!" feeling to them that past games' actual rivals had.
The overall big problem I have with them is a lack of growth. These characters all have set personalities, but don't undergo any sort of change as the story progresses. While the game does try to hint at this, it's almost always done in a haphazard fashion: for instance, Trevor seems very content in just filling out his PokéDex, which is all fine and dandy. But after you defeat him in the final battle you have with the group on the bridge, he feels...unusually sad, going so far as to ask himself, "Do I just not have what it takes?" Trevor, why are you getting so down on yourself? Just earlier you were saying how comparing filled-out PokéDex entries was your "own kind of Pokémon battle!" Why is it that now of all times you're questioning yourself? It just doesn't make sense! If you were going to have an internal conflict over whether filling out your PokéDex, rather than becoming a traditional Pokémon Trainer, was a worthwhile endeavor, you should have started questioning yourself a lot sooner, and not leave it for a three-sentence discussion at the very end of the game.
Tierno's desire to make a "Pokémon dance team" is admittedly cute, but all it serves as is his character quirk and nothing more. He knows from the get-go what he wants to do and nothing ever changes about it, nor does he at the very least act as a guide to help the other characters grow in any way. I will admit, I thought it was a nice touch to have each friend have their own "goals" in mind, and they were all very different from each other. But that was all they had in terms of personality, and it didn't serve them any sense of depth or growth. They are, in an almost literal sense, one-dimensional in their execution.
And Shauna... is interesting. It's very clear throughout the story that the writers wanted you to care about her. But she feels very forced, rather than a true friend. She mentions that the "goal" of her journey is to make lots of good memories, but what about those memories is good? That they were spent with your friends sometimes? Because the times I as the player was forced to be with the group of friends felt very unnecessary--to be frank, they felt like a waste of time. Because I didn't care for Shauna, the fireworks scene didn't have as much impact on me despite it being intended as a major bonding scene, and because that scene felt like a waste of time, it ultimately made the entire "Get back Furfrou" incident feel like padding rather than meaningful puzzle-inspired gameplay. The time you listen to the ghost story in the "haunted house" serves no purpose whatsoever. And the only time Shauna appears to show even a remote amount of depth is when she tells the player "Why are you traveling, <player>? Everyone is working really hard at what they want to do. But I'm just all about memories! I'm kinda just goofing around!" But she ends it with a goofy "Just kidding! ♪" and runs off. What am I supposed to make of this? Her questioning herself as to why she is traveling could have been used as a very effective plot point about the importance of friends and making memories. But she never changes, she never shows any depth. She would have been a much more interesting character had she any sort of conflict that made her grow as a character throughout the game. And players generally care about the more interesting characters, which would make those scenes where you're supposed to "bond" with her all the more meaningful.
And last but certainly not least we have Calem. Calem really is the most underutilized of the group. As your actual rival, he challenges you a lot more often than your "friends." He is also a lot more involved in the plot, assisting you against Team Flare every so often. And he...has an inferiority complex. He spends the beginning of the game talking big about how his parents are good Trainers and that means he's got to be a good Trainer, too. And then when you start beating him, he gets noticeably upset about it (or as noticeable as they can be, considering the lack of different facial emotions on the X & Y character models). For a very brief time--and by brief I mean maybe one sentence, two at max--it seems like he wants to almost ignore the protagonist. But then he's all fine, everything is great between us, nothing is wrong.
Like... why? It is a very normal feeling to have: you want to be great at something, but someone--maybe even someone who has less experience than you in whatever that something is--is just always proving to be better than you. That makes people sad! That makes people frustrated! That's normal! Calem's emotions over always losing to the protagonist could have been handled in a much more constructive manner. If he had actually taken the time to separate himself from the rest of the friends, it would offer a lot in terms of story elements: firstly, the friends would have to react to it and cope with it, lending to their own growth. Secondly, Calem would have time to grow and understand that those feelings are normal but that should not impact his friendships. And the major things that could have been learned by this are what I feel would be perfect messages to have within a Pokémon game: Calem would learn that it's okay to lose--that doesn't make him any less close to his goal. While it's natural to compare yourself with others (especially in competition), the most important thing is to measure your own progress with yourself. How much you have improved, how much you have grown since you began. And, it would show that it's normal for friends to not always agree. Sometimes they get mad at each other, and sometimes someone needs their own space for a bit. It's not always going to be the rose-tinted "everything is perfect all the time and there's never any sort of arguments!" And that's okay. You can still overcome those hard times and remain friends. That seems like a great message Pokémon games could send to their younger audience, and would really make these "friend" characters feel real, complex, and more like actual friends. But since the writers chose to make him get over his inferiority complex at the drop of a hat, he lost what had the potential to be a lot of very intriguing, and all too real, character development.
Ultimately I can't bring myself to chose who among these characters are the "best" of the group. While some certainly have more potential than others, in the end none of them take advantage of it. And considering that one of the core themes of X & Y involve the bonds you create with people, it's disappointing that I felt those bonds between me and my supposed "friends" were missed opportunities where real emotional attachment could have been.
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