Aquacorde Town is certainly bigger than Vaniville. This beautiful riverside town contains some shops and facilities not present in Vaniville. Most importantly, it is where you can get your first ever Pokémon!
Pick your starter[edit]
Immediately upon arriving at Aquacorde, you will be invited over to a table by the two neighbors from before. They will introduce you to two more friends. Tierno is the cheerful boy who is fond of dancing while Trevor is a more reserved kid who aspires to travel across Kalos. Tierno will suggest giving each other nicknames to make the whole group closer. You can choose from a bunch of premade ones or make one yourself. Tierno and Trevor will present you with three Pokémon. You can only pick one, and you can't find these Pokémon anywhere else in the entire region, so choose wisely!
| #650 Chespin | Chespin is a Grass-type, which only gives it an advantage in the first few gyms while having more trouble in later gyms, especially once it gains the Fighting typing after evolving into Chesnaught. Chespin and its evolutions are based on the Fighter class in traditional RPG terms, being able to sponge physical hits while dealing back beefy attacks of their own. However, it is fairly slow, the slowest out of all the Kalos starters. You will have no shortage of physical Grass-type moves as you level-up, from Vine Whip to Needle Arm to Seed Bomb to eventually Wood Hammer. You will have to look to TMs to take advantage of Chesnaught's Fighting type, as the only Fighting move it learns is Hammer Arm at level 60, long after it has fully evolved. It also learns some useful coverage moves naturally to be used against Pokémon it has a type disadvantage against, like Rollout and Bite. |
|---|---|
| #653 Fennekin | The Fire-type Fennekin would be the best choice for clearing gyms, being able to do double damage on most of the Pokémon you will face in the first gym while either resisting or doing neutral damage to the later gyms, which by then it would have evolved into Delphox, which has an additional Psychic type. The Fennekin evolution line are based on the Mage class archetype, with an affinity for using powerful special attacks, complemented with nice Speed. It learns plenty of specially-based Fire attacks, as well as a few Psychic attacks to make use of Delphox's Psychic sub-type, with Psyshock in particular being especially useful for letting you defeat specially bulky Pokémon. Unfortunately, its level-up movepool is mostly limited to Fire and Psychic moves, so you'll need to look to TMs for additional type coverage. |
| #656 Froakie | Froakie starts out as a Water-type, but it also gains a Dark-type for its final evolution, Greninja. Its typing gives it a few weaknesses against the gyms in the latter half of the game, though Water/Dark type does grant an immunity to Psychic-type attacks. Froakie and its evolutions represent the Rogue archetype, with great Speed and high offensive power, but being very frail. In fact, it is actually the fastest Water-type Pokémon in the game. Froakie is the ideal choice if you like powering through battles, but one sufficiently strong hit will quickly knock it out. Froakie's movepool is way more diverse than the other two starters, learning Extrasensory for Fighting-types and Bounce for Grass-types if you're willing to hold off evolving. |
After picking your starter, Shauna will pick the one with a type weakness to you, such as Chespin if you picked Fennekin, while Calum/Serena will get the remaining Pokémon. Trevor will give you a gift from Professor Sycamore, the Pokédex! It is a device that records the Pokémon you've encountered and caught, and one of your objectives is to fill it up. Tierno will give you the Prof's Letter, which is addressed to your mom. If you wish to begin your adventure, you must give it to your mother first, so let's make a quick trip back to Vaniville!
As you try to leave, Shauna will challenge you to your first Pokémon battle!
- Shauna (If you picked Chespin):
- Froakie (Lv. 5)
500
- Shauna (If you picked Fennekin):
- Chespin (Lv. 5)
- 500
- Shauna (If you picked Froakie):
- Fennekin (Lv. 5)
- 500
Your first battle is going to be breeze, even when compared to the first battles in previous Pokémon games. Your starter Pokémon comes with a move that is the same type as your Pokémon, Vine Whip for Chespin, Ember for Fennekin and Bubble for Froakie. Shauna's Pokémon will always be weak to these attacks, so keep throwing out these elemental attacks until you defeat her. Shauna will heal your Pokémon after the battle, and you can continue back to Vaniville Town.
Town facilities[edit]
There are a couple areas of interest to go to while you're in Aquacorde. There is a salesman wandering around the fountain who will give you a Potion when you talk to him. It heals 20 HP when used on your Pokémon, in or out of battle. It is quite helpful when you're far from any towns or if your Pokémon's health drops dangerously low during a battle. Conveniently, there is a potion shop nearby that only sells Potions for 
300.
In the building next to the Pokémon shop, the woman at the counter will completely heal your Pokémon for free. It is more economical to rest your Pokémon here than to buy tons of Potions, but less convenient. You will be making frequent visits back here until you manage to make it to Santalune City, which is two routes away.
Opposite of these two facilities is a store that only sells Poké Balls for 200. Poké Balls are needed to catch new Pokémon, so you should buy more if you plan on catching them on the next few routes. If you buy 10 or more Poké Balls at once, you get a Premier Ball as a bonus. This item functions exactly like the Poké Ball, so the differences are merely aesthetic.
Finally, there is a Photo Spot near the river. You can take a photo of yourself as a souvenir, which will actually be stored in the Nintendo 3DS Camera app on your system!
What's next?[edit]
Now that you've seen every part of Aquacorde Town, it is time to venture into Route 2!