In the Pokemon games you take on the gym challenge, a series of 8 official battles against 8 elite trainers throughout the region. Each one of them specializes in one type, and you have to prove your worth by defeating them and collecting a badge from them when you do. Got 8 badges? You can challenge the elite four and champion.

It's a neat concept, easy to understand but still a daunting task for a rookie trainer such as yourself. Of course, taking on 8 trainers means one of them has to be the first. How is it exactly determined which one that is? I have no clue. Do they pull straws? Is it first come first choice? Whatever method it is, they stick to the result. Probably for familiarity sake, Pokemon games and the anime tend to follow the same structure/order when it comes to obtaining the badges.

There are very few exceptions to this though, and the first one can be found in the Sinnoh region. You see, in the original Diamond and Pearl you come across a gym that you have to ignore for now and challenge later during your adventure. This isn't new as this happens literally at the first gym you encounter in all of Pokemon (Viridian City in Kanto). The anime follows the same steps, ignoring this gym until later during the season. What's strange is that the Sinnoh region's third game, Platinum, seems to have a different path as you actually do just end up fighting this gym leader as soon as possible. I'm talking about Fantina, the Ghost expert and the gym leader of the Hearthome City Gym.

Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl

After you make your way down Cycling path and through Mt. Coronet, you reach the Eastern half of Sinnoh for the first time. The first city you encounter here is Hearthome City. It's one of the biggest of the region, and is therefore home to a gym. Only you don't actually end up challenging this one right away in any Sinnoh game except Platinum. You first meet Fantina in the Contest Hall, which you get invited to by some people whose Buneary you help catch. Your mom is also there, as she apparently used to be a big contest star.

In Diamond and Pearl, Fantina talks for a bit and then you don't see her again until later, with her gym unavailable for challengers. In Platinum, you can battle her right after the Contest Hall interaction.

I'll cover the Platinum side first as she is the third gym leader here, while being the fifth in Diamon/Pearl etc.

Her gym is another one that got a revamp in Platinum. There's a giant maze of Duskull statues, but the room is pitch black. You, as well as the trainers wandering around, all carry flashlights that allow you to see a few tiles in front of you. You have to find a mat hidden somewhere on the floor with a symbol on it. At the back of the room there are several doors. The door with the matching symbol leads you to the next area, the others will send you to the beginning. If you shine your light on a trainer, or they shine theirs on you, you engage in a battle. The gym is really fun, I have good memories of trying to get past a trainer to see if the mat was on that side of the room.

After two floors of this you reach Fantina. She has three Pokemon. The first is a Duskull, a tiny ghost type that mainly exists to spread status conditions with Will-o-wisp. The next is a Haunter, doing the same annoying things but with Confuse Ray and Hypnosis this time. Fantina's ace is a Sinnoh original. Well half anyway, it's an evolution to a Pokemon from an older generation. Mismagius is the evolved form of Johto's Misdreavus, and is a scary opponent. It knows the powerful move Shadow Ball, along great coverage in Psybeam and Magical Leaf. Normal types are recommended as she will be forced to use her weaker attacks.

In the other Sinnoh games, Fantina can be challenged after the events in Celestic Town. Her gym is quite bizarre and unoriginal, giving you math problems with the right answer in front of one of the doors. Probably one of the worst gym designs in all of Pokemon, and it has nothing to do with the Ghost type.

As the fifth gym leader, you'd expect her to have a bigger team, but she still uses just three Pokemon. Haunter and Mismagius remain, but Duskull is swapped out for a Drifblim, another Sinnoh original! It can boost its evasion rate with Minimize, so try to use high accuracy moves on it.

Defeating Fantina grants you the Relic Badge. She doesn't show up in any further story events, but can be rematched in Platinum and in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

In the Platinum Post-game, she'll battle you in the Battle Zone, a small island separate from mainland Sinnoh. She uses the fully evolved forms of her Gym Team, including a Dusknoir (a Sinnoh exclusive evolution to Hoenn's Dusclops). She also adds a Banette to her party.

In Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Fantina can be challenged for a rematch in her gym instead. She uses the same Pokemon as in Platinum, but adds a new Sinnoh exclusive evolution in Froslass, evolving from Hoenn's Snorunt.

In both titles, Fantina can be a potential opponent in the Pokemon Contests. She uses her Drifblim, nicknamed Loony. She is also a potential Battle Tower opponent in the remakes.

Pokemon Black 2, White 2

Fantina returns alongside her fellow Sinnoh Gym Leaders for the Pokemon World Tournament. She can be fought normally in the Sinnoh leaders and Type Experts challenges. She uses a lot of the Pokemon from her Sinnoh teams, but adds two new Sinnoh exclusive Ghost types in Rotom and Spiritomb. These are very rare Pokemon, so it's nice to see them get some representation. Rotom especially is seldom seen in battle.

She additionally can be fought in the Legendary Challenge! Her legendary of choice is none other than Giratina! (in its Origin Form, no less). Fun fact, this Giratina is in this form despite not holding the Griseous Orb, normally illegal. How did she get that approved by the tournament organizers? Ref!

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Fantina is a neat character. I haven't mentioned yet, but it's pretty obvious that she is a foreigner to Sinnoh. She speaks with a very heavy French accent, even including French sayings in her dialogue. Whether that means she's from Kalos, I'm not sure. Fun fact: in the French Version she speaks with a heavy English accent instead!

Her visa situation aside, I like that we have a gym leader not just interested in Pokemon battling. Contests were a huge part of Hoenn and Sinnoh, so it's cool to see that represented by an important character. The fact that she can be your opponent in those adds to this and makes her feel less like just some NPC.

Fantina is kind of in an awkward spot story wise. A lot happens before and after you meet her, but Hearthome City is kind of boring in comparison. It's not relevant at all to the plot of the game, and nothing involving Team Galactic happens here. No conflict, nothing. It'd be hard to shoehorn her in somewhere else instead, so I'm not blaming them too hard for this one.

I hope we one day find out what made them demote Fantina to the third gym leader position. Did she lose too many battles? Did she lose a bet in a contest showdown? Too many questions...