Shauntal

Shauntal in Black/White
Shauntal
Species	Human
Hair color	Purple
Eye color	Brown
Voiced by	Kira Buckland (2019)
Debut	Pokémon: Black/White Versions

Shauntal is a member of the Elite Four of the Unova region who must be battled in Pokémon: Black and White Versions as well as their sequels. She specializes in Ghost-type Pokémon.

Background

Shauntal was a powerful Pokémon trainer who also bore a strong love for literature. She herself was an aspiring writer and seemed to get ideas for her books from the Pokémon battles that she took part in. Her room within the Pokémon League was a giant library filled with books, and challengers were carried up to the floor on which she awaited by mysterious ghostly forces. Shauntal was very passionate about Pokémon and would apologize to her own Pokémon whenever they lost a battle. She believed that everyone with a Pokémon had a story and that stories involving both people and Pokémon were more interesting than stories about just one or the other. Shauntal not only wrote about the challengers who faced her, but she also quoted excerpts of her writings to her challengers.

In Pokémon: Black and White Versions, she was first defeated by N. This defeat inspired her to think up a passage based on his personality, but it was one that she found sad. Hilbert/Hilda arrived within the same day and also challenged her. After being defeated, she felt dumbstruck by her loss, but she also felt that Hilbert/Hilda was a great trainer. She was later defeated by Hilbert/Hilda again in the trainer's second challenge of the Elite Four. She also visited Cynthia's villa, where she mused about the story possibilities in such things as the Rainbow Wing, Silver Wing, Giratina and the Distortion Zone. Shauntal admitted that despite all her research, she was never able to figure out Cynthia's age.

She appeared again two years later in Black and White 2, where she was challenged and defeated by Nate/Rosa. During their first battle, she started with an excerpt from her writing that described N's current status. After being defeated, she told the trainer about the importance of both fortitude and understanding pain, claiming that a bond with Pokémon can be endangered if one focuses on just winning. During rematches, she recited excerpts about other past challengers she had faced. As in the first Black/White, she also spent time at the villa and spoke about the same subjects as in the previous games.

Pokémon Roster

In Black and White, she uses the following Pokémon in battle:

• Cofagrigus
• Jellicent
• Golurk
• Chandelure
• Froslass (rematches only)
• Drifblim (rematches only)

In Black 2 and White 2, her overall roster is the same, except that her Jellicent is replaced with a Mismagius. The Mismagius is not used until rematches, and instead her Drifblim is used in the first match with her. When playing in Challenge Mode, she also uses a Banette in the initial fight and a Gengar (in place of Jellicent/Mismagius) in rematches.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Shauntal and her Chandelure appear as a playable sync pair that unlocked at random through the Sync Pair Scout feature. She was also featured as an opponent in Chapter 12 of the Main Story, in which she had just arrived in Centra City and was looking for a team for the Pokémon Masters League. Flint convinced her to team up with him. Together, they challenged and were defeated by Scottie/Bettie. In the wake of the battle, Shauntal volunteered Flint to join the Scottie/Bettie's team, while she decided to step back from fighting in order to observe things as an author. She would also be featured as an opponent in the Unova Challenge of the Champion Stadium mode, which imitated the Elite Four line-up from the fifth generation.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Shauntal made several appearances in the Black/White arc. She initially appeared as a stowaway on the Battle Subway looking for ideas for a book, and she ended up teaming up with White while contending with Thundurus and Tornadus. She later met up with the rest of the Elite Four during the Pokémon League's tournament and attempted to fight members of Team Plasma, who she saw as worthy book subjects.

Trivia

• Her name is possibly extended from the word "haunt". Her Japanese name is Shikimi, which is also the name of a plant used to decorate Buddhist graves, in addition to resembling the Japanese words for 'ghost' and 'death'.
• One of the novel excepts she reads before rematches in Black/White implies that Volkner had previously battled her. This is repeated in Black 2/White 2 along with new excerpts referencing Flint, Looker, Agatha, Bertha and Alder.
• She mentions that she chose her scarf with a certain Pokémon in mind, although it is uncertain what particular Pokémon she is referring to. Her character designer has said that it was actually supposed to resemble a black cat, which is the general motif of her appearance.