Fantina

"The Alluring, Soulful Dancer!"
Fantina
Species	Human
Hair color	Violet
Eye color	Violet
Base	Hearthome City
Voiced by	Karen Strassman (2019)
Debut	Pokémon: Diamond/Pearl Versions

Fantina is a gym leader of the Sinnoh region who appeared as an opponent in Pokémon: Diamond, Pearl and Platinum Versions as well as the remakes Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. She is the fifth gym leader to be battled in all versions of that generation except for Platinum, in which she is battled third. She specializes in Ghost-type Pokémon.

Background

Fatina was a foreigner to Sinnoh who was determined to learn new things. She became enamored with Pokémon contests, which lead her to dress glamorously and become a contest expert. She also studied Pokémon, which led her to become the gym leader of Hearthome City. In Diamond and Pearl (as well as Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl), Lucas/Dawn first met her at Hearthome's Contest Hall, where she said she would only accept Lucas/Dawn's challenge after they had become much stronger. The player could only take the challenge after beating the first four gyms as well as delivering the Old Charm to Celestic Town. In Platinum, however, Fantina could be challenged immediately upon arriving in Hearthome. She was also previously challenged and defeated by Barry.

After Lucas/Dawn defeated her in a gym battle, she was initially dumbfounded, but she still honored the player trainer's admirable strength with the Relic Badge and TM 65: Shadow Claw. She left Lucas/Dawn with a reminder that there were stronger trainers out there in Sinnoh, while advising them to have patience and slowly become stronger. The player could also compete against Fantina in Super Contests, and in Platinum there was a chance of her appearing at the Battleground where she could be challenged to a rematch. She would also visit the player's villa on random days, where she would admit to being impressed by Dahlia's dancing abilities. In Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, she could be challenged to rematches at her own gym instead in the postgame, and she could also appear as an opponent at the Battle Tower during both single and double battles. For double battles, she fought alongside Gardenia.

Fatina reappeared in Black and White 2 as one of the competitors in the Pokémon World Tournament held at Unova. She took part in the Sinnoh Leaders, World Leaders and Type Expert Tournaments, as well as the special download tournament "The Battle Between Legendary Pokémon".

Pokémon Roster

Fantina has a Drifblim named Loony that she uses to compete in Super Contests. As for battling, she uses the following Pokémon for the Gym Challenge in Diamond, Pearl, Shining Diamond and Sparkling Pearl:

• Drifblim
• Gengar
• Mismagius

In Platinum, she uses Duskull and Haunter instead of Drifblim and Gengar. In both Platinum and Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, she uses the following Pokémon for Battleground rematches:

• Banette
• Mismagius
• Drifblim
• Dusknoir
• Gengar
• Froslass (Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl)

At the Battle Tower in Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, the Pokémon she can use includes Mismagius, Dusknoir, Gengar, Banette, Shedninja, Crawdaunt, Sableye, Spiritomb and Dragonite.

In Black 2 and White 2, her tournament roster could include Mismagius, Drifblim, Spiritomb, Dusknoir, Gengar and either Rotom (in the Sinnoh Leaders Tournament) or Jellicent (in the World Leaders and Type Expert Tournaments). For "The Battle Between Legendary Pokémon", she used Origin Forme Giratina, Mismagius and Drifblim.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Fantina and her Mismagius appeared as a playable sync pair that could be recruited at random through the game's Sync Pair Scout feature. She has also used Drifblim as a sync partner for some battles. She also appeared as an opponent in Chapter 24 of the Main Story, where she had formed a team with Elesa and Sabrina to compete in the Pokémon Masters League tournament. They were defeated by Scottie/Bettie's team as their third round opponent during the finals. Fantina also appeared in the Story Event "The Star of the Contest", where she took part in Pasio's sync pair contest along with Scottie/Bettie, Dawn and Wallace, and she ultimately lost. She also took part in a talent competition during the Solo Event "Town Square Street Fair", in which she won against Korrina but lost to Kiawe, as well as a Contest Spectacular with Lisia, Wallace and May in the Story Event "Pasio Friendiversary".

Other Appearances

Other Media

• She eventually appears in the Pokémon anime's Diamond & Pearl series, after several episodes set up her having left Hearthome City to develop a new fighting style. When she finally appeared, she defeated both Ash Ketchum and another trainer named Zooey. In a pair of later episodes, she was shown to have returned to Hearthome City, and the latter episode depicted Ash's gym battle with Fantina, which he won. She reappeared later in the series as a special guest judge for the Sinnoh Grand Festival and awarded Zoeyn with the Ribbon Cup upon her victory.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Fantina appeared during the Diamond/Pearl arc where she rode her Drifblim around and saved Dia and Pearl following their first clash with Cyrus. She then brought them and Platinum back to Hearthome City, where Platinum defeated her for the gym challenge. Fantina was later shown to have lent her Drifblim to Pearl, and at the end of the arc, Fantina was among the gym leaders who battled Team Galactic's commanders at the Spear Pillar.

Trivia

• Her English name is a play on "phantom" and possibly refers to "fantasia", which is a name for the slow tango. Her Japanese name is Melissa, named after a plant genus as well as to make her foreign nature obvious and possibly play on the English word 'malice'.
• She speaks with a French accent and occasionally uses French words. In the Japanese and French versions, her original language is instead English.
• Her dress is designed to resemble Drifblim.