u/Fake_Dragon

First the starter, Charizard, suits red.

Then I unfortunately played only with Charizard up until snorlax, defeating misty and Brock was painful.

Then you get an eevee in the Celadon mansion, jolteon is arguably the best choice for reds team

Hitmonlee or hitmonchan was debatable but i chose hitmonlee cuz it's faster

Lapras is an obtainable

It was a tough decision between kabutops, omastar, and aerodactyl, but the scientist who gave aerodactyl requested red to do it so aerodactyl it is.

Torterra being the starter for lucas

Bibarel is the first pokemon we capture since in the story Dawn expects us to do so in the early routes, so i chose him

Then we get Togekiss from cynthia

I chose Rampardos since we do have an explorers kit in the bag, while it's completely optional, the fact that a lot of arceus plates are there in the underground leads me to think mining is completely relevant

Considering how eevee has special sites to evolve and it's also a gift, glaceon

Then lucario is another egg given to us by riley

A case could be made for why rotom isn't in the team, but why would the protagonist go back to the mansion after getting cut? The only mention for rotom we get in story is when we try to interact with the tree when passing through the forest. As for porygon, the guy just says "i found it, you can have it" so yeah, too small of a backstory.

Giratina doesn't have to be captured, so not in the team.