>>31359417I'd say Totodile, but not for the reason you would think. A four HM moveset is surprisingly good in-game, since Surf and Strength are not only strong 100% accurate moves, but also have perfect neutral coverage between them. Cyndaquil is going to have a hard time getting perfect coverage even with three moves, and Chikorita can just forget it. Also, since the other two slots for Totodile becomes filler (unless you want to run something like Ice Punch), you might as well teach it Cut and Whirlpool.
As for companions, I'd say Geodude is golden in early Gold/Silver. It can be found two different places before Falkner (40% encounter at route 46 and 60% in Dark Cave), and has an excellent match-up against the first three gyms and many, many trainers. Totodile and Geodude leaves you weak against Grass, so I'd recommend you find a flying/bug/poison type like Pidgey, Spearow, Hoothoot, Ekans, Caterpie, Zubat, Spinarak, Gastly...
Looking at that list, it's actually not a problem to find something that beats the grass starter.
