>>25000563I always assumed that they were exceedingly rare, especially considering they could never be found in the wild until gen 6, and even then it was only in friend safari, and that the ones you are offered by the professor are basically offered to you because they picked you out as special, or in the case of gen 3, because he was planning to study them and you just happened to bond with one.
It wouldn't make much sense for a pokemon that is not found wild in the region to be so numerous that they are handed out to every single trainer. Odds are it's a special treat for the professor's chosen elite. Remember Wally? He didn't have a pokemon and he went to Norman for help catching on. That's probably how most kids have to do it, or inherit one from a family member. Those that *do* have starters are just lucky enough to have found a very rare pokemon or to have been given one by someone else who happened to have one and bred it.
