Pokémon Diamond and Pearl/Lake Verity

Once you go to Lake Verity you will see a girl (or boy, depending on which gender you chose) and an old man standing and talking at the shore. They will thereafter exit, politely asking you to move aside so they may do so. Your rival notices that they left behind a bag of some kind. He says there's no harm in going into the grass for a second to see what's in the bag. That turns out to be wrong, as you are attacked by a Starly, at level 2.

Starter Pokémon Choices

Watch the cutscene, and you'll be forced onto the tall grass, and into a battle. THIS IS WHERE YOU CHOOSE YOUR STARTER

#387 Turtwig	#390 Chimchar
Turtwig Turtwig is an effective all-around balanced Pokémon, knowing Withdraw right from the start, and learns Absorb and Razor Leaf at Levels 9 and 13. Coupled with the Overgrow ability, which allows it's Grass attacks to increase in power by 1.5 when HP is low, makes an effective early fighter, and it evolves into Grotle at Level 18 and Torterra at Level 32, the latter of which will be Grass/Ground type, and will be effective in Gyms 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8. Turtwig has 5 weaknesses, which are fire, ice, poison, flying and bug, after it evolves into Torterra it's weakness to poison is eliminated.	Chimchar Chimchar focuses on attack, and can learn Leer, Taunt, Facade, and Calm Mind as well as a variety of other physical and Fire attacks. The ability Blaze allows his Fire attacks to deal 1.5x damage at low HP, but it's real claim to fame is it's early evolution - evolving at Level 14 to Monferno (though it only evolves to Infernape at Level 36). These latter two forms are also Fighting type, much like the previous generation's Fire-starter's evolution chain, with other attacks learnable like Feint, In Fight, and Punish. This makes him useful in Gyms 1 (once evolved), 2, 5, 6, and 7. I HIGHLY recommend taking Chimchar because, besides Ponyta/Rapidash, he is the ONLY Fire-type that you will be able to obtain in the game until you have seen all 150 Sinnoh Pokémon, and Fire-types are very much needed in the regular game of Diamond/Pearl. Also, Chimchar has only 3 weaknesses, water, ground and rock.
#393 Piplup
Piplup Piplup is basically the "advanced player's Pokémon" of the Diamond/Pearl generation, with a very poor early attack range ranging from Bubble to Bide - not exactly the greatest variety. However, once he evolves to Prinplup at level 16, things look up a bit, with attacks such as Metal Claw and Bubblebeam, and Empoleon (whom is evolved to at Level 36) has a second type of Steel, and can learn good attacks such as Aqua Jet, Mist, and Drill Peck. Thus, this Pokémon is generally not very useful in gyms, likely only being effective in Gyms 1, 5, 6, and 7. Although it does only have 2 weaknesses, thunder and grass.

Choose whichever one you feel is the best or your favorite, as they will all help you in your journey. You should easily defeat the Starly with your new-found Pokémon. For more information on pokemon's strengths, weaknesses, and move sets, I suggest looking them up in www.Serebii.net's DPPt pokedex.

The Battle

Your first battle

Keep slamming it with attacks 'till it's killed. Each of the starters start with a damaging move (Scratch, Tackle or Pound) and a stat reducing move (Growl or Leer). Starly should be defeated fairly easily.

After the Battle

After you defeat the Starly (and gain some Exp. Points) the young person you saw earlier will come back to fetch the briefcase, and sees that you took a Pokémon each. (S)he says something about it being "bad" and rushes off. You will exit the lake front and walk up to the girl (Dawn) or boy (Lucas) and the old man (Prof. Rowan). Some dialogue will go back and forth, ending with an invitation back to Prof. Rowan's lab if you have the chance. You'll get that chance very soon, but for now head back home to your mother and get healed.