Arriving in Lumiose City: Your Starter, Hotel Z and First Captures

You step off the train at South Lumiose Station for a few days of vacation. Ten minutes later, your bag is gone, a starter is fighting at your side and the city has tipped into a nighttime tournament. This first chapter covers the three introductory missions: they explain real-time battling, capturing and how Hotel Z works, your headquarters for the whole adventure.

Missions

1 to 3

Z-A Rank

Z (starting rank)

Pokémon obtained

your starter, then your first captures

Wild Zone

1 (South Street)

Choosing Your Character

At launch, you choose your hero’s look from several faces and hairstyles, and so between Paxton and Harmony. This choice has one direct consequence: your Team MZ partner will be Taunie if you play Paxton, and Urbain if you play Harmony. The two characters have exactly the same role, the same dialogue and the same teams. In this guide, we therefore write “Urbain/Taunie.”

Mission 1: Get Your Bag Back!

You’ve barely left the station when you help Urbain/Taunie film a promotional video, and a Pancham runs off with your bag. Follow it through the streets of Vert Sector 8: the chase doubles as a movement tutorial (sprinting, jumping, climbing small steps). The thief finally turns on you and Urbain/Taunie hands you three Poké Balls: it’s time to choose your starter.

• ChikoritaNo. 5Grass

  Grass. It evolves into Meganium, whose Mega Evolution becomes Grass and Fairy.

• TepigNo. 5Fire

  Fire. It evolves into Emboar, whose Mega Evolution stays Fire and Fighting.

• TotodileNo. 5Water

  Water. It evolves into Feraligatr, whose Mega Evolution becomes Water and Dragon.

The battle against Pancham is your first taste of the real-time battle system: you move your character freely, your Pokémon attacks as soon as you press a move’s button, then each move recharges for a few seconds. No turns, no PP: everything comes down to rhythm and positioning. Our guide to the battle system covers every subtlety.

Mission 2: Escaping the battle zone

Night falls and the street changes its face: a pink barrier lights up, Trainers appear and challenge you. Without knowing it, you have just walked into a Z-A Royale battle zone. No time to linger: follow Urbain/Taunie to the “safe place” they point out, avoiding the Trainers’ line of sight.

That safe place is Hotel Z, a rather shabby establishment in Vert Sector 8. At the front desk, the manager A.Z., a soft-spoken giant, hands you the key to room 202. Take the elevator, enter your room, then open the door to Urbain/Taunie when they knock.

Mission 3: First Steps in Lumiose City

The next morning, go down to the front desk then meet Urbain/Taunie in the hotel courtyard. They offer you a first real Trainer battle. Their team depends on your starter: they field the two Pokémon you did not choose, at Lv. 5.

Next, head to the Pokémon Center across from South Lumiose Plaza. There, they explain healing (free, as always) and the PC. Remember that there are Pokémon Centers in every district and that they also serve as fast travel points.

Wild Zone 1 and Your First Captures

Urbain/Taunie then takes you to Wild Zone 1, straddling the Sectors 8 and 9. The wild Pokémon of Lumiose City live in these enclosures bounded by green holographic barriers. They give you 10 Poké Balls when you enter, then 10 more after your first capture: a Fletchling.

1. Approach slowly, preferably crouching and from behind: a Pokémon that hasn’t seen you is far easier to capture.
2. Aim and throw the Poké Ball directly from exploration, without starting a battle. A successful “surprise” throw noticeably increases your chances.
3. If the Pokémon resists, have your starter fight it to lower its HP, then throw another Ball.
4. Register at least five species in the Pokédex: Weedle, Pidgey, Pichu, Mareep, Bunnelby, Fletchling and Scatterbug live here.

01

Wild Zone no. 1

Vert Sector Southern Street

🔓 Opens from main mission 3 (“First steps in Lumiose City”)

🌿 Tall grass

WeedleNo. 3-4 · Alpha 15-16PidgeyNo. 3-5 · Alpha 15-17PichuNo. 4-5 · Alpha 16-17MareepNo. 3-5 · Alpha 15-17BunnelbyNo. 3-4 · Alpha 15-16FletchlingNo. 3-4 · Alpha 15-16ScatterbugNo. 3-4 · Alpha 15-16

👑 Fixed Alpha Pokémon

PidgeyAlpha 24-26

✨ Special encounter (side mission 017)

MareepNo. 11 · Unique

🎒 Items in the zone (12)

Item	Where?
Poké Ball × 10	Given by Urbain/Taunie when you enter the zone.
Poké Ball × 10	Given by Urbain/Taunie after catching the Bunnelby.
Potion × 5	Given by the man near the food stand.
Lumiose Galette	Given by the vendor on your first visit.
Pretty Feather × 3	Obtained once side mission 17 is completed.
Poké Ball	In front of a bush in the north of the zone, not far from the battle area.
Paralyze Heal	In front of the west exit.
Potion	Near the north exit.
Potion	In the west corner.
TM103	On the roof of one of the buildings.
Revive	Further along the same roof.
Pearl	On the roof in the west corner of the zone.

The Pokémon Lab and Mable’s Research

Once you’ve registered five species, head to the Pokémon Lab, Professor Sycamore’s former lab on Floral Avenue. There you meet Mable, a former Team Flare scientist turned deputy director. She shows you her research screen, accessible from the main menu: capture, defeat or observe Pokémon to fill her objectives and earn rewards (TMs, items, and eventually the Shiny Charm).

Finally, go back to Hotel Z to meet Urbain/Taunie: the next mission opens the doors of the Z-A Royale.