Santalune City is the location of the Santalune Gym, the first of eight gyms in Kalos that you must challenge. It is also where you can find the first Pokémon Center, as well as the Trainer's School of Kalos. While you can check out Route 22 and train there to prepare for your gym challenge, you can't move on to Route 4 until you defeat the gym leader.
Facilities[edit]
Pokémon Center[edit]
Opposite the Route 3 entrance is the Pokémon Center, a facility that can be found in almost every city. Inside, you can talk to the nurse at the front counter the heal your Pokémon. You can also access the PC at the counter, which lets you store and organize Pokémon that you own with Someone's PC or have Professor Sycamore check the progress of your Pokédex by selecting Professor's PC.
There are two additional sections at the back of the Pokémon Center. To the left is a changing room, where you can change into any clothing that you currently carry. You already have some alternative clothing that your mom packed for you, and you can get more from the boutique next door.
To the right is the Poké Mart, a shop that sells many essential items for Pokémon Trainers. The left cashier's inventory differs depending on how many gym badges you have. Since currently you have none, you can only purchase Poké Balls and Potions. Once you've defeated the Santalune Gym Leader and obtained the Bug Badge, you can purchase Great Balls and Super Potions, improved versions of the Poké Ball and Potion respectively, status-restoring items like Antidotes and Paralyze Heals, Escape Ropes that lets you instantly return to the entrance of a cave as well as Repels that makes you less likely to encounter wild Pokémon.
The right cashier, on the other hand, sells different items depending on which Pokémon Center you visit, and they are even absent in some centers. For Santalune City's Poké Mart, he sells a variety of battle items. These items will temporarily boost a certain stat of your Pokémon when used in battle. However, the effect will wear off once the battle ends or if the Pokémon is withdrawn, other than the Guard Spec., which affects all of your Pokémon for five turns. Although they're cheap, it isn't very economical to use them in every battle. Instead, save them for key battles, such as with the Santalune Gym Leader.
| Left cashier | Right cashier | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Poké Ball |  200 |
X Attack | 500
|
| Great Ball | 600 |
X Defense | 550
|
| Ultra Ball | 1200 |
X Sp. Atk | 350
|
| Potion | 300 |
X Sp. Def | 350
|
| Super Potion | 700 |
X Speed | 350
|
| Hyper Potion | 1200 |
X Accuracy | 950
|
| Max Potion | 2500 |
Dire Hit | 650
|
| Full Restore | 3000 |
Guard Spec. | 700
|
| Revive | 1500
| ||
| Antidote | 100
| ||
| Paralyze Heal | 200
| ||
| Awakening | 250
| ||
| Burn Heal | 250
| ||
| Ice Heal | 250
| ||
| Full Heal | 600
| ||
| Escape Rope | 550
| ||
| Repel | 350
| ||
| Super Repel | 500
| ||
| Max Repel | 700
| ||
Boutique[edit]
To the right of the Pokémon Center is a boutique. You can find these shops in some cities in Kalos. They will sell an assortment of clothing and accessories to you, and they also feature a changing room for you to try out new clothes. The boutique in Santalune City only sells hats. Its inventory changes daily, so if you can't find anything you want, you might find a hat you like the next day.
Trainer's School[edit]
The Trainer's School is where aspiring trainers attend to learn about the mechanics of Pokémon battling. Talk to the students inside to learn about the intricacies of battling, or check the whiteboard at the back to learn about status ailments. You can also talk to the old man to get three X Attacks and X Defenses. As stated above, these items increase your Pokémon's Attack and Defense respectively, but wears off as soon as you switch that Pokémon out or after the battle ends.
Residential area[edit]
Inside one of the houses around the city is a hiker who will offer to trade his Farfetch'd with a Bunnelby. While you can find Farfetch'd in the wild later on, they are somewhat rare compared to how common Bunnelby is. Farfetch'd is also quite useful for challenging the Santalune Gym, as it is part Flying-type, which resists Bug-type moves and comes with Aerial Ace, which is super effective against Bug-types.
In another house, a boy will give you a Great Ball. It has a better catch rate than a normal Poké Ball, so it could come in handy for any Pokémon that you will have difficulty catching.
The café on the hill[edit]
At the northwest corner of the city, there is an outdoors café on top of a small hill. While it seems to serve no purpose, there are actually three items hidden there. Check the flowerpots at the front of the café to find a Super Potion. Then, investigate the lamppost to find an Antidote. Finally, you can find another Great Ball by checking around the bottom-right corner of the hill.
Get the skates[edit]
As you get to the front of Santalune Gym, talk to the roller skater to start a trainer battle!
- Roller Skater Rinka
- Zigzagoon (Lv. 7)
224
After the easy battle, Rinka will give you the Roller Skates! Now, whenever you use 
to move around, you will automatically equip the Roller Skates. With the Roller Skates on, you not only move faster, but also have more freedom of movement. However, you can't use Roller Skates inside most buildings, you can't dash with Roller Skates and you will move through tall grass at walking speed if you are skating.
Santalune Gym[edit]
The Santalune City Gym specializes in Bug-types. This means most of the Pokémon the gym trainers use are weak to Fire-type, Flying-type and Rock-type attacks. Although you haven't seen any Rock-type Pokémon, there are quite a few Flying-type Pokémon in the previous routes that are quite common. If you have Fennekin as your starter or have managed to catch Pansear in Santalune Forest, you can also tear through the gym with super effective Fire attacks.
The entrance of the gym is a plain photo gallery. Slide down the pole at the center to reach the lower level of the gym to start your challenge. The main part of the gym is a huge spider web. There are certain paths on the web that you can take to advance. The gym's trainers are located at set points on the web, and will challenge you if you cross their path. Ultimately, you must make it to the back of the gym, where Viola awaits!
- Youngster David
- Ledyba (Lv. 10)
- 240
- Youngster Zachary
- Spewpa (Lv. 10)
- 240
- Lass Charlotte
- Kakuna (Lv. 7)
- Combee (Lv. 9)
- 216
Gym Leader #1: Viola[edit]
The camerawoman who never lets a single smile escape her focus.
- Surskit (Lv. 10)
- Quick Attack
- Bubble
- Water Sport
- Vivillon (Lv. 12)
- Harden
- Tackle
- Infestation
- 1920
Viola's first Pokémon might catch you by surprise if you were planning to end the battle quickly with a Fire-type Pokémon. Surskit is a part Water-type, with both Bubble and Water Sport that can seriously weaken Fire-types. Meanwhile, her Vivillon is a more standard Bug/Flying type, with Infestation as its most notable attack. Infestation deals damage for two to five turns, but more importantly it prevents you from switching your current Pokémon out, so make sure to send in a Pokémon that is strong and healthy enough to hopefully defeat it by itself. Viola's Pokémon both share a weakness to Electric-type attacks, so a Pikachu from Santalune Forest can easily defeat them both.
After the battle, Viola will give you the Bug Badge, which lets you use Cut outside of battle and makes Pokémon up to Lv. 30 obey you. Additionally, she will give you TM83 Infestation, which as you have witnessed in the battle before, is a Bug-type attack that deals damage over 2 to 5 turns and prevents the opposing Pokémon from switching out.
Continuing on your adventure[edit]
You have earned your very first badge, but it will be quite a while until you can challenge the second gym in the Kalos region. Your next destination is to head off to Lumiose City, which you can reach by travelling along Route 4 to the north of Santalune City.
As you near the exit to Route 4, Viola's sister, Alexa will give you an Exp. Share. When this key item is activated, Pokémon that aren't in battle will still receive half of the experience points earned after defeating a Pokémon, while the Pokémon you used will still receive the normal amount of experience points gained from battle. This is one of the most useful items in the game, as there is absolutely no practical downside to using it. However, it could cause your Pokémon to gain levels too quickly, reducing the difficulty of future battles, so you might want to leave it off so that the rest of the game remains challenging.
Items[edit]
- X Attack (x3): Given by teacher in Trainer's School.
- X Defense (x3): Given by teacher in Trainer's School.
- Great Ball (x2): Given by a boy in one of the houses; hidden at the southeast corner of the small hill.
- Super Potion: Hidden in one of the flower pots on the hill.
- Antidote: Hidden at the lamppost on the hill.
- Roller Skates: Given to you after defeating Roller Skater Rinka.
- TM83 Infestation: Given by Viola upon obtaining Bug Badge.
- Exp. Share: Given by Alexa after obtaining Bug Badge.