Ash's Next Starter

[AZKnight]

The episodes for the next season of the anime are already being released, and you know what that means. Ash ditches his super powerful team! No more Infernape. No more Torterra. No more Staraptor. No more Gible. All Ash will start over with is Pikachu, like he has since Hoenn. Now this means one of two things: He will catch the local bird and he will catch one of more of the starters of the region. Now Ash has already caught Mamepato, at least according to released episodes and what I found on Serebii. So which starter will he catch? Will he catch more than one? How will it happen? Yada yada.

Just a general discussion on which starter he is most likely to choose. We can also diverge into discusses what other Pokemon he will / has caught as time goes on.

In the first two regions, Ash had all three starters and those are now unique cases. In Hoeen he only had Sceptile while the other two were given to May and Brock. In Sinnoh he had Infernape and Torterra. These last two regions are also unique because his starters all fully evolved. Before only Charizard fully evolved, Bayleef got to its second stage, and only in Sinnoh did Cyndaquil evolve. Whatever starter[s] he ends up getting this region, I think it will fully evolve, too. Before they probably didn't want him having all three fully evolved starters because Ash isn't the best trainer out there. Giving him one or two though sounds more reasonable. As far as which starter I think it will be either Fire Pig or Water Otter [Seriously, I'm too lazy to learn the Japanese names]. The reason I think the Grass Snake is out is because one of the traveling partners is going to be Dent. Who is Dent? Why he's one of the three Gym Leaders of the first Gym! In other words, he's going to be the new Brock. Now Dent is a Grass user and uses the Grass Monkey, but I don't know if he'll have that Pokemon in the anime. I'm just guessing that they would give him the Grass starter more than Ash. As to whether Ash gets Fire, Water or both, don't know. Fire Pig is my pick for the first one being obtained, and the Water starter will be second or given to the female traveling companion.

What do you guys predict?

Edit: Oh, and I don't watch the anime anymore. I just read character updates and episodes that seem interesting on Serebii.

[Ice]

[color="#008080"]See I was thinking of this a few days ago. Tho I feel he will either get the grass or fire starter this time round.[/color]

[AZKnight]

The Grass Starter is a strong possibility because of his track record. He has had every Grass starter, three Fire starters, and just two of the Water starters. There's also no telling what his travel partners will have because they have broken the mold. We do not have the female counterpart as the female character and Brock has been replaced by Dent to fill the older brother role.

I really should learn the girls name...

[Amethyst]

If Dent is grass, I think it's unlikely that they'll given Ash Tsutarja. Pokabu and/or Mijumaru seem like a possibility, but somehow I doubt there's -not- going to be a female counterpart. Wait, wasn't Iris supposed to travel or something? Or what's her role?

[Maelstrom]

or he could impress the grass gym leader and that'll convince him that he could raise the grass starter???
kinda like how you got hitmonlee or hitmontop for beating the fighting dojo in good ole kanto.

[AZKnight]

Ash caught *coughstolecough* himself a Mijumaru! Oh, and it has the same personality as his Chikorita. How original!

But will he catch the other two?

[Stars]

Maybe Jesse will get Tsutarja.

[Maelstrom]

she gets nostalgic for good ole Arbok? and Seviper. wait, is seviper still with her? I can see that little snake in the grass being a team rocket pokemon.

[AZKnight]

Apparently Jessie has Seviper, Yanmega, AND Wobbuffet in storage. All she has on her right now is Koromori, the ugly bat Pokemon. I guess it makes sense that she would have it, since in the games Team Rocket always had those type of Pokemon. In the beginning Jessie and James had Arbok and Weezing, which were standard for Team Rocket in the games. Koromori will probably be a standard Grunt Pokemon in these games, too.

Buuuuuut....

Brock owned the Zubat line which was a signature Team Rocket Pokemon, James has been more of a Grass Trainer (which I like), and Jessie a mixed bag with an emphasis on snakes and bugs. So while they've never given Team Rocket a starter, I could see Jessie with Tsutarja since it is a Snake Pokemon. So Jessie is a strong choice for Tsutarja besides Ash, and I don't know enough/anything about the new traveling partners to know if they will be likely recipients of the other two starters.

Edit: Ash has now claimed Pokabu as well. And guess what? It steals the origin story of Charmander! Yep, Pokabu got abandoned by its previous trainer because it was not strong enough and failed to defeat a Shikijika (the Grass deer). Which means someday Ash may have his own Ganon, Lord of Darkness! But will he manage to catch the final starter? Or will Jessie and Team Rocket finally get in on the starter action? Tune in next time!

[N8theGr8]

If Gary comes back and gets Smugleaf, I will be the happiest person ever.