Why does the Gen. 2 Red have an Espeon in Mt. Silver?

Question

Doesn't make sense why he would to me.

Espeon♂ Lv.73

Mud-Slap
Swift
Reflect
Psychic

In HG/SS his Espeon was replaced with a Lapras, and that makes more sense because Red (Ash) traveled the Orange Islands with a Lapras but an Espeon??? Wha? Where'd that come from?

Answer 1

Red isn't ash. Alot of people think this. He's an alternative character who appears in manga but not the show. How red got the the eevee though, he saved it from team rocket as they were expirementing on the eevee to make it change it's form at will (jolteon, vaporeon and flareon as these were the only 3 during kanto) and then after red saved the eevee, during a battle they grew a trainer bond and he decided to keep eevee.

Answer 2

There's only one reason: because Gamefreak gave him an Espeon. That's all there is to it.

Comments

I was hoping for an answer other than this...

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There isn't one. Red and Ash aren't universally accepted to be the same person either. And if Red's team was based on Ash's, shouldn't is be Pidgeot instead of Lapras?

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I thought he released Pidgeot....then again he released Lapras too but didn't he have Lapras when Pidgeot was gone?