Fantina

Fantina メリッサ Melissa
"The Alluring, Soulful Dancer"
[[File:File:Fantina.jpg|{{{size}}}]] Artwork from Diamond/Pearl
Gender	Female
Hometown	Hearthome City
Region	Sinnoh
Trainer class	Gym Leader, Coordinator
Generation	IV
Games	Diamond, Pearl
Leader of	Hearthome Gym
Badge	Relic Badge

Fantina (Japanese: メリッサ Melissa) is the Gym Leader of Hearthome City's Gym, known officially as the Hearthome Gym. She hands out the Relic Badge to trainers who defeat her. She specializes in Ghost-type Pokémon. She is apparently not from the country the games are set in, and often peppers her speech with phrases of French.

Her dress shares many elements as the design of the first Pokémon on her party, Drifblim: it has a yellow "X" over a puffed out skirt of striped purple fabric.

In the games

Fantina uses Ghost-type Pokémon in her battles. For defeating her, trainers receive the Relic Badge, TM65 Shadow Claw and are able to use Surf outside of battle. She considers herself to be a Contest Expert and refuses to let the hero challenge her until they have four badges. Fantina speaks French and is an immigrant from another country. Upon arriving in Sinnoh, she decided to become a performer, so she dresses up in fancy outfits for Pokémon Contests. She also studied Pokémon and eventually attained the title of Gym Leader.

Fantina can occasionally be competed against in Super Contests, in which she uses her Drifblim.

Quotes

In front of the Contest Hall at player's first visit to Hearthome City
Oh, I'm so sorry! Please excuse me. Are you entering a Contest? Tehehe... Enjoy yourself, please! Incidentally, Fantina, the Hearthome Gym Leader, also happens to be a Contest expert. And you may ask yourself, how do I know this? Well, I am Fantina! You may challenge me, but not yet! You must become much stronger. Then, you may challenge me!

Before Battle
"Ohohoho!! Finally, you have arrived! Since I came to this country, always I try to learn new things. They hold Contests in this city? I say to myself, enfin, I will excel. That's why I dress this way. C'est une performance! Also I study Pokémon very much. I have come to be Gym Leader. And, uh, so it shall be that you challenge me. But I shall win. That's what a Gym Leader does, non?"

After sending out last Pokemon
"Oh, heavens. What is this? Is this my final Pokémon?"

When defeated
"You are so fantastically strong. I know now why I have lost."

After being defeated
"I am dumbfounded! So very, very strong! You, Your Pokémon, so strong! Your power is admirable! I shall honor it with this Gym Badge!"

In the Pokemon Special Manga

Fantina has appeared at the Super Contest Hall. When two women were making rude comments about rookie contestants, she sent out her Driftblim to carry them out and throw them into a garbage can.

Pokemon

Fantina has these Pokemon:

• Driftblim
• Mismagius

Names

Language	Name	Origin
Japanese	メリッサ (Melissa)	A name that would sound "exotic" and foreign to a Japanese person, but does not to many westerners. This obviates herself as a foreigner. It means "bee" in Greek.
English	Fantina	Comes from fantôme, the French word for phantom, in reference to the fact that she speaks French and she uses Template:Type2 Pokémon.

Trivia

During the Gym battle in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Fantina exclaims "Never give up, never surrender!", the catchphrase from the 1999 science fiction comedy Galaxy Quest.

External links

1. Serebii.net's Sinnoh Leader Page

Gym Leaders of the Sinnoh region
Oreburgh Gym Roark	Eterna Gym Gardenia	Veilstone Gym Maylene	Pastoria Gym Crasher Wake
Hearthome Gym Fantina	Canalave Gym Byron	Snowpoint Gym Candice	Sunyshore Gym Volkner