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Choose Piplup, thats wht i did, and with him it was so easy to go throughout the game, his evolutions learn great attacks, specially empoleon, wich is also steel, choose piplup, plus hes the cutest :)
My personal choice would be Chimchar as the only other fire type untill you earn National Dex is Ponyta plus Chimchars final Evo Infernape boasts high speed and attack to go with a fairly decent attack moveset. But the choice, as they say, is yours :P
I got Turtwig as my starter.It was pretty easy to train.I got chimchar from my cousn a little later in the game.Out of the both that I trained I liked Chimchar better.
I chose Turtwig. That's just me because I always start with Grass Pokemon and I'm not sure why. Turtwig has good Defensive stats, Chimchar is good as an offensive starter, and Piplup is like Mario in the Super Smash Brothers series - it's very well-rounded in stats.
But your choice is up to you.