User blog comment:Sanky123/Pokemon Firered/@comment-24687156-20160916170147

Charmander or Bulbasaur. You will get much better water types than Blastoise.

Now, bulbasaur is good against first few gyms, while charmander has some other ways of dealing. Level it up to 13, and it will learn a steel type move, I do not remember which. Then for cerulean (water type) gym, you can use a Pikachu you can catch in viridian forest.