Backstory: Mel was always excited about what might come in the future, whether it would be new technology or a new event. The future seemed endless with possibilities. However, that changed when he was of age, he had gotten his first Pokemon, a Snubull. All seemed well until Mel realized how aggressive the Fairy-Type Pokemon was, but it was all too late when the Snubull, out of a fit of rage, scratched him in one of his eyes, blinding him in that eye. The Snubull was taken away from him and when he learned that he may never see out of that eye again, he realized that maybe his future was much grimmer than expected. His optimism for what was to come only worsened after Team Flare tried to destroy the world. Even before that, his life was getting bumpy, often being bullied and teased that he didn't have a pokemon like everybody else and some even called him "cyclops" because of his eye. If it weren't for the Snubull he was so excited to get, his future Wouldn't have been so bad, or so he thought. If he wasn't so excited about what the future foretold and was blind to his Snubull's aggression from the very start, he wouldn't have become blind in a literal sense. So, instead of looking at the future, he looked back at the past. The past of pokemon and people, of technology and businesses. Mel didn't want to see the future anymore, as he thought that the bright and naive times he had before the Snubull was the ideal past. He wished to bring that back so desperately, and in his pursuit of looking back at history and the past, realized how much better the world would be if they would've stuck to the past of bliss and harmony instead of resorting to advancement for the sake of it all. When he was old enough, he started a program called the History Of Pokemon Protection, or H.O.P.P for short. With this program, he planned to slowly bring back the past and remind everybody, both Pokemon and trainer that it was much better in the past than it was in the present and that it would be better to go back to those days. On top of that, thanks to his beliefs, he hated Fairy-Type Pokemon, as they were technically newly discovered, yet loved Steel and Dark-type Pokemon, as they seemed to have been discovered long ago. Out of spite of the Snubbul that made his future so terrible, the first Pokemon that stayed with him became a Steelix, as Steel was super-effective against Fairy. He also got himself a Drapion, an Umbreon, and an Aggron through various trades and deals he made with companies that wanted to support his program. Mel was content living in Kalos until he heard about the history in Galar. Intrigued, he moved the location of his H.O.P.P headquarters there so he could investigate and hopefully try to show the people in Galar how better the past was compared to the future. Mel did try to team up with Chairman Rose, but that went south quickly once he realized that they had contrasting views. Now, he tried his best to spread the word of the past, even if it means trying to get rid of things of the future, like new pokemon...
"In order to make a better future, you must fuse it with the past. Only when that happens will everybody see that by doing so, you may actually have a bright future," - Mel Nevolant