Assuming you were a Professor Tree, which 3 pre-existing Pokèmon will you assign as starters?

I’m assuming we’re going with the traditional Grass-Fire-Water set-up here?  Let’s see… we want Pokémon that are straightforward, likely to be easy to raise and well-behaved.  For the most part, starter Pokémon seem to be chosen along those lines anyway.  Something docile like a Chikorita, for instance, is likely to be very forgiving of a new trainer’s skill in comparison to something like a Foongus or, gods forbid, a Ferroseed.  Squirtle is clearly easier for an inexperienced child to work with than, say, Psyduck or Staryu.  Of the Pokémon that aren’t already starters in one region or another… Skiddo seems like it’d make a really good choice for the Grass-type, being a thoroughly domesticated species with a calm and gentle nature.  Energetic, helpful Buizel seems like a natural choice for a Water-type; Poliwag might also make a decent Water-type starter, but its general helplessness on land is a distinct drawback for trainers who don’t have experience with Water Pokémon (could be worse, though – Sycamore gave Tierno a Corphish, of all things, and I still have no idea what possessed him to pick a mean-tempered bastard of a Pokémon like that).  I’m kinda stuck on the Fire-type.  A lot of Fire Pokémon are temperamental (Vulpix) or outright dangerous (Litwick).  There’d be a lot of sense to picking Growlithe, whose loyalty and bravery are excellent traits in a first partner, although a two-stage Pokémon who requires a stone to evolve seems less than ideal – I might prefer Litleo, or maybe even Numel, whose passive personality and long history of domestication make up for the fact that it’s… well, a little slow, if you catch my drift.