Haha, the first time, I went with Bulbasaur, because I think he's the cutest. He was so easy to level too! Especially since the first two gym leaders were Brock and Misty.
This time, I started with Charmander! And I kinda struggled with Misty lol cause I had to work on Pikachu AND Oddish. But I'm liking the challenge so far. Which one's your favorite starter pokemon?
Oh and for Gyarados, I just left magikarp at the day care lol and came back for him when he was level 19 so I could watch him evolve.