Quoted By:
I see the water """"pattern"""" as a means of immersion rather than a pattern.
10 year olds want to walk alongside or ride their starter Pokemon. They want to go inside buildings with it and what have you, just like Ash. That doesn't really work well with a fish or an eel, you know? Turtles, alligators, pinnipeds, sure. They all have limbs that can locomote on dry land.
Grass is grapping at drinking utensils, and I'm on the fence about Fire. We won't know for certain until Gen 8, but I think Fennekin may have been the first nail in the coffin.
