Keith just turned 10 years old and received his official Trainer Card from the Pokemon League. He was now eligible to receive a starter pokemon from Professor Rowan, but Keith had other plans. Rather than begin his quest to become a pokemon master in a region he was familiar with, he managed to convince his parents to let him journey to the Hoenn region to pursue his dream. He vowed to return to Sinnoh one day as a pokemon master.

Upon arriving at the harbor of Slateport City in Hoenn, Keith was taken to Littleroot Town to meet Professor Birch and get his pokedex and starter pokemon. However, he wasn't expecting the conflict at hand.
Prof. Birch: I'm terribly sorry Keith, but I seem to have given away my last three starter pokemon yesterday..

Keith's heart sank. A big part of why he chose not to pick a starter from Professor Rowan before coming all the way to Hoenn was he didn't like either Turtwig, Piplup, or Chimchar.
"But don't you have any other pokemon? ANY pokemon will do, I just want to get started on my journey NOW!" Keith pleaded.

Seeing Keith's pleading eyes reminded Professor Birch of a young man he met once who went by the name Ash. There was no way he could deny him this opportunity! But he only had two pokemon on hand, which he was about to release today. Facing the ultimatum, Professor Birch decided to give one of them to Keith so he could begin his travels. "Well, I do have these two pokemon... But they aren't anything like starter pokemon." Prof. Birch said.

Keith replied, "I'll take one, I don't care about the type or even what pokemon it is."
Professor Birch took out two pokeballs and opened them, letting the pokemon out for Keith to choose from.
"Here is a Duskull and a Whismur that my nephew sent me to research and release. I suppose there's no harm in letting you have one since I was going to release them both today, so go ahead and pick one." Prof. Birch explained.
It was a pretty even choice, both were male, and both were basic pokemon with two evolutions, and neither was "better" in type compared to the other. After some thought, Keith eventually chose...