So we're at least 15 episodes into XY&Z (those of us following the fansub just hit episode 13, Greninja vs. Zard-X), and Ash still has only one and a half rivals total. I count Tierno as .5 since his dancing team prioritizes battling, leaving the remaining one rival to be Sawyer. It's hard enough to count Sawyer as a rival, too, since he made Ash himself his goal instead of the title of Pokémon Master. It's such a stark contrast to the previous two generations, where Ash had at least two reappearing rivals at his journey's beginning, with more rivals steadily appearing later on.
It bothers me that Ash hasn't had any other recurring rivals after journeying through seven gyms, yet Serena has somehow managed at least three recurring ones despite debuting for Pokémon Performances only immediately after Ash obtained his fourth badge. At this rate, I'm almost near the point where I'm hoping Ash could face Alain at the Pokémon League, even though I'm pretty sure that Alain is badgeless.
tldr; Ash really needs to find some serious rivals right away, or his Kalos Pokémon League Tournament run won't be as exciting as one could hope.
(OR one could look at it the other way, noting that a lack of rivals could potentially mean an easy win at the Pokémon League, resulting in that long-awaited tournament victory for Ash)
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Um, since the topic is on the board right now, let's go with...40 more episodes left. It took a little over 50 to get to when Goomy first appeared, and that's about the length of episodes I'm expecting of XY&Z total.