How about this for an idea re: Ash's future Fire type?

[Pewter City Geodude]

Lately, the issue of who will fill the Fire slot on Ash's team has been a hot topic. Some suggested Numel, but the Numel ep passed without a capture. Some suggested Torkoal, but Flannery has one...although there's a Torkoal ep coming up, so who knows? And Torchic is already taken, so that's all the R/S Fire types. So other people have suggested that Ash won't get a Fire type at all, but a Poke that is good with Fire attacks....which leads me to this theory:

In the games, when you save the Weather Institute from Team Aqua/Magma, you get a Castform as a reward, and the guy who gives it to you says that they have lots so it's ok to take it. As we know, Castform can change the weather, and change its type to correspond, which would include using Sunny Day to become a Fire type, and being able to use a Fire-type Weather Ball. Do you think that that scenario from the games will also happen in the anime? Maybe they'll have lots of Castform, and Ash will save them from being stolen by one of the Teams, and the Weather Institute people will give him one as a reward.

What do you think?

[Animelee]

Let's see. It can get Rock Head, Fire Head, Ice Head, and Water Head, so, you do have a great point. Satoshi/Ash doesn't have a Rock, Fire, or Ice-type on his current team, and Castform can basically cover all three. :o

[Pewter City Geodude]

Too bad Castform doesn't change to a Rock type during a Sandstorm in the games. But I think Sandstorm does make its Weather Ball Rock type though. And don't say Rock Head, it's too easily confused with the Ability of that name. :P

[Zak]

No, Castform doesn't quite.... fit for him, IMO. But...

....Whoever said Ash HAD to get an R/S Fire type? Given how surprising the writers are being, for all we know he could capture an old Fire type, like Slugma. Maybe the many appearances of Slugma are hinting that? Houndour would also work, since he's never had a Dark type. He could also withdraw Cyndaquil. Plus, we've been seeing a lot of Magby's in Hoenn lately.... any foreshadowing? Perhaps a Ponyta could be their means of transportation? Brock could phone Liza for Charizard, again...

The Johto writers wanted us to get used to the new Pokemon, since this was the first time we had a new generation. But the Hoenn writers are being so absolutely random, anything can happen. Might I add that May is a BEGINNER trainer. I would feel sorry for her if she trained only R/S Pokemon all her career.

~Zak

[Pewter City Geodude]

Originally posted by Zak
....Whoever said Ash HAD to get an R/S Fire type?

And that would be exactly the point of this thread, since Castform isn't a Fire type. I see your point, but the whole point of the anime is to show off the games, so they'll obviously focus on the new Pokes.

*is currently listening to Two Perfect Girls and LOLing* :D

[Animelee]

I haven't trained a Castform yet, so I forgot it wasn't actually able to change its head into a rock.

[Chris 2.1]

True, AG is here to showcase the new Pokemon, and as far as fire types are concerned, each fire Pokemon HAS been showcased save for Combusken, although it was seen early in 'A Bite To Remember'

So yes, they showcase new Pokemon but the fire ones are being showcased so there is no need for Ash to catch one, is there?

[Gravy]

Actually, Combusken was shown in AG 34 I believe...heh, just watched the ep last night :P

Meh, who's to say he'll catch a pokémon that has anything to do with fire type moves? I'm guessing they'll end up giving him a random pre-evo poke, like Trapinch or summinc... although, sometimes I doubt they'll give the guy anything else to battle with.

[Zak]

No, Geodude, I meant maybe Ash will get an OLD Fire type.

~Zak

[Light_Togetic]

You know, this just goes to prove how few there are of fire type pokemon. I mean, there were only two new R/S fire types besides Torchic/Combusken/Blaziken! Fire is one of my favorite types, and I really wish they had made just a few more new ones...

Anyway, Ash doesn't really need a fire type per say, but I personally think he needs one. What I would like him to catch is a Houndour. Ash needs both a powerful pokemon that can get some cool attacks, and a tough-looking one. Right now he has Treecko, Pikachu, Taillow, Corphish; all pokemon that are relatively cute. I know Treecko acts tough, but, let's face it, it doesn't exactly look tough doing it. Why not catch a bit of tough to balance out the cute? ;)

Or you could always bring back Charizard! ...meh, that'll never happen... >_<

[Pewter City Geodude]

I like that Trapinch idea, since Flygon can learn Fire attacks. Ash's team for the Hoenn Championship would be a force to be reckoned with if it included both Flygon and Charizard. Oddly enough, I think Flygon really fits him, I can see him with one.

[Gravy]

Well, I was kinda thinking that if he did get a Trapinch, it would only evolve once, so he'd be stuck with a Vibrava. Although, I could could see them pulling off another Yanma with that. In other words, it would go around smashing windows and such. Would be funny for a while, but it would wear thin very quickly ^_^0
Erm..well, I must admit he does need at least one powerhouse for the league battles. If he truly is going to start over, they'll have no choice but to give him one from Houen.

[Nikku-San]

I dunno... Castform is rather... strange looking. It's odd appearance could cause controversy... I won't say what part I'm talking about, but I think it's pretty obvious...

Gravy, I love the new addition to your sig. :D