In the typical Pokemon game, you begin your journey and have to start building a team from the few Pokemon available to catch within the first route or two. This is different with Scarlet and Violet, as these games bring a surprisingly satisfying selection of Pokemon to catch throughout a much larger first explorable area.
This area is known as South Province Area One and is available early in the game as you travel alongside Nemona to your first day at the Academy. As soon as you reach South Province Area One, you will get free rein and get dibs on any Pokemon you encounter. This is a great place to start building a team within the prologue phase, as the real story kicks off once you reach the Academy.
While some have been chosen for their reliability and core team member potential, others have been selected because they are new Pokemon and an exciting choice to start training early on. Either way, you can find every Pokemon on this list within the roads, grass, ponds, trees, and sky areas of South Province Area One.
Lechonk
Everyone lost their minds when Lechonk was revealed in teasers and trailers leading up to the game, and it’s easy to understand why. Not only is this little pig Pokemon adorable, but Lechonk’s name is totally hilarious, too, causing it to become the center of many memes before Scarlet and Violet’s release.
Plenty of fans had planned to capture Lechonk as soon as it was revealed. Some plan to keep one as an essential member of their team, while some wish to grab one for the novelty or Pokedex purposes, and others want to capture Lechonk simply for the meme. No matter why you want to capture Lechonk, the good news is they’re available as one of the first Pokemon you’ll encounter. Plenty of Lechonk can be found running around all locations throughout South Province Area One, meaning you’ll have no trouble finding one.
Fletchling
Fletchling is one of the most popular low-level bird Pokemon since its debut on Pokemon X and Y. This is because its final evolution, Talonflame, has massive potential as a reliable, core member of your team. Talonflame brings excellent speed and offensive capabilities to the table, as well as its dual typing covering both the Flying and Fire types.
Most people have at least one Flying-type Pokemon on their team for a good portion of the game, and Fletchling is the best early-game choice for this role in Scarlet and Violet. Not only is it relatively easy to find, often flying around trees or hopping along the grass, but Fletchling is also very easy to capture at this stage. Talonflame is known to do quite well in competitive battling with its Gale Wings ability, so if you’re looking to invest in a great Pokemon that’ll cover Fire/Flying type moves, pick up a Fletchling. It’ll be worth the investment once it fully evolves at level 35!
Buizel
Buizel is a good choice for covering a Water-type spot in your team and only gets better when it reaches level 26 and evolves into Floatzel. Floatzel has massive potential to be a significant threat to your opponents, is one of the fastest Water-type Pokemon with a speed stat of 115, and can be seriously hard to stop when combining its Swift Swim ability with its type coverage.
Luckily, Buizel are scattered throughout the South Province Area One, mostly found near streams, ponds, rivers, and other bodies of water. Specifically, as you enter the area from the direction of the lighthouse, you can find Buizel by the stream to the left of the bridge. As a reliable choice to kickstart your team, Buizel is a great Pokemon to pick up here at the start of the game. Buizel also evolves fairly quickly at level 26, so if you level grind for a bit, you can get Floatzel in your team early and have a seriously competitive Pokemon on your hands.