Where do starters come from?

[mew69]

I always wondered how the regional professors end up having 3 starters of grass, fire, and water respectively. They're obviously not found in the wild (excluding the anime), so where could they possibly receive them. I kind of thought that they're an in-dangered species, and that humans take good care of them, and maybe there's an organization that prevents pokemon species from extinction, and the few that they have breed, and they send them to a regional professor. I'm just taking a wild guess here. Anyone have a good theory?

 

[Usagi-Zakura]

They're probably found in the wild SOMEWHERE, the player just can't find any. (Same way as Murkrow is found in Eterna Forest...yet not in all the games).
In Gold and Silver they pretty much said it straight: "These are all rare Pokèmon that we just caught"
They could also come from specialized breeders.

 

[Venusaur]

My bet is specialized breeding operations. As far as random speculation goes, it would be pretty cool if the breeder in Gen V wasn't just another mom-and-pop operation but also the front end of a ranch specializing in breeding starters where you could interact with (but not catch) the Pokes. There could even be a field where you see the local starters and another, only accessible after you get the National Dex, where you can see other regions' starters.

 

[Battaman]

Space?

 

[Thunder410]

Oh, i know this one......
In the Pokemon Platinum guide they said something like "The Pokemon League trains rare starter pokemon for the local professor to give to beginning Trainers."
The League is the only ones that get them, obviously they breed them and this one guy, i don't remember who, but he trains them up to lv. 5 to make sure they are acceptable to give to new trainers. Hope this helps!

 

[Barry]

They come from a Gameshark.

 

[Mijzelffan]

obviously they're catched in places you can't reach. Treecko's might be found left from Prof. Birch's lab for instance, just in a secret place unreachable for normal trainers. It would explain how some trainers only get starters with rematches.

 

[Metabee]

In the episode Brock got his Mudkip, there was a guy who bred Mudkips to give to the professors to give to the little kiddie-winkles. So obviously they come from breeders who specialize in those particular kinds of Pokémon.

 

[Trainer Yusuf]

They are captive-bred, duh.

 

[IslandWalker]

My bet is specialized breeding operations. As far as random speculation goes, it would be pretty cool if the breeder in Gen V wasn't just another mom-and-pop operation but also the front end of a ranch specializing in breeding starters where you could interact with (but not catch) the Pokes. There could even be a field where you see the local starters and another, only accessible after you get the National Dex, where you can see other regions' starters.

This appeared in the anime once, it was a Mudkip breeding facility. They gave Brock a baby Mudkip which became his Marshtomp.

EDIT: Duh, didn't read all posts. X-Scissor beat me to it.

 

[pikachu200]

Maybe they or their assistants steal them from their mommies on really remote areas when they're eggs

 

[Takoto]

I always assumed they were specially bread... but that their evolutions were somewhere in the wild, just places you can't get to in-game.

 

[Falconwing]

because of rarity and power (I guess they're an extinct species) the pokemon leagues started a program to protect the starters and protect them from the wild...

that made no sense.

I think they just live in places you can't get to.

They're from the void.

 

[Itsuki]

When one starter and another starter love each other very much....

Yeah, I'd think it was special breeding centers. That makes the most sense to me XD

 

[Vsyoravno]

All the starter species are plentiful in the wild in Fiore and Almia...just sayin'.

 

[Moonlight Umbreon]

Then,the starters should come from fiore and almia in small quantity and then they're given to special breeders.