Shauntal: the Elite Four novelist who writes her opponents

She takes notes while everyone else battles. Shauntal sits on the Unova League's Elite Four, champions the Ghost type and has never kept that post separate from her other career: she writes novels. With a book and pen always within reach, she turns the Trainers who leave a mark on her into characters, and recites her own pages before a battle begins.

Contents

• A Novelist Who Draws on Her Opponents
• Her Room at the Unova League, and a Team Swap
• In the Manga: The Battle Subway, Then the Tournament's Bitter End
• Japanese Star Anise, a Black Cat and Two Outfits
• Shauntal at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A Novelist Who Draws on Her Opponents

Shauntal starts writing the moment a Pokémon battle comes into view, and she makes no secret of it. Her notebook and pen are part of her look just as much as her black-and-purple outfit, tailored to her favorite type.

That habit has a direct effect on her books: every Trainer who has left a mark on her ends up, in one form or another, in her fiction. She doesn't write about strangers; she writes about the people she battles.

The excerpts she quotes before her matches therefore read like a thinly disguised who's who. Among them you'll recognize N, as well as Volkner, to whom she gives "Do you know Thunderbolt?" as his very first line.

Other portraits are barely veiled. In her hands, Flint becomes the Fire-type master with the voluminous hairdo, Alder's journey inspires the story of a Trainer who finds his first partner again through his Volcarona, and Looker is identified only by his code name and his sly Croagunk. She even points out how closely Agatha's name and features echo those of Bertha.

Her Room at the Unova League, and a Team Swap

At Unova's Pokémon League, Shauntal occupies the southwest room. The player isn't forced into any order: all four rooms open at once, and nothing says you have to start with hers.

One quirk sets her apart from her three colleagues. She is the only one of the four whose favorite type doesn't match that of any member of the Johto Elite Four, while the other three each have a counterpart there.

The post-game of both pairs of games brings her out of her room: you can run into her at the villa in Undella Town, but only in spring and summer. The appearance is strictly seasonal.

Between the two pairs of games, her lineup changes by a single slot: Jellicent gives way to Drifblim in the second installment. Shauntal is the only member of the Unova Elite Four to rework her team like this from one installment to the next.

🔮 Ghost-type specialists have their own section: check out the Pokémon figures.

In the Manga: The Battle Subway, Then the Tournament's Bitter End

The manga adaptation gives her a real role. White first spots her on the Battle Subway, which Shauntal rides without any authorization whatsoever, with the sole aim of gathering material for her next book.

The two Trainers then come across Tornadus and Thundurus. Shauntal clearly delights in fanning the flames of the clash in front of a stunned White, until Landorus arrives to calm the two beasts and leaves with them. She then crosses paths with a stranger trying to catch them with Poké Balls, and goes on her way without stopping.

On the eve of the League tournament, Golurk carries her along with Grimsley to the organization's headquarters, where the full Elite Four gathers. Her colleagues fret over the defeat suffered by Alder; she mostly sees it as material for her next novel.

Events prove her wrong. The tournament has barely ended when Team Plasma cuts the celebrations short by raising N's Castle all around the stadium; the Elite Four chases N all the way to the roof and runs into a hooded man who holds the Forces of Nature trio under his control and wants to awaken their Therian Formes. The four of them send out their best Pokémon and still fail: their opponent escapes with the three Legendary Pokémon.

Japanese Star Anise, a Black Cat and Two Outfits

Her Japanese name, Shikimi, refers to the Japanese star anise, a toxic plant that French speakers also call anis étoilé japonais — hence her French name, Anis. In Japan, it's burned as incense to honor the dead, which makes her affinity for the Ghost type easy to read.

In the original Japanese, the same word also names a town that only the anime features, which the French version calls Créminiville (Cremini Town in English). Shauntal herself has never set foot in an official animated production, with one exception: the GOTCHA! music video.

Her design, on the other hand, comes from somewhere else. In an interview with Nintendo Dream magazine, Yusuke Ohmura explains that he drew inspiration from a black cat: Shauntal's scarf outlines a feline head whose nose would sit right on her oval brooch. A rare and fully intentional detail: she's left-handed, in her official artwork as well as in her sprites.

The mobile game has featured her since launch and now gives her two looks: in her canonical outfit, she teams up with Chandelure; in a Halloween costume, it's Froslass that joins her in a nighttime parade while she investigates a supernatural phenomenon. On the trading card side, her debut dates back to November 2023 and the Paradox Rift expansion.

Shauntal at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Which type does Shauntal specialize in on the Elite Four?
  The Ghost type. She occupies the southwest room of Unova's Pokémon League, where the player takes on the four members in any order they like.
• Why is Shauntal described as a writer?
  Because she starts writing whenever a Pokémon battle comes along, and every Trainer who has left a mark on her reappears in her novels. She quotes excerpts from them before starting a battle.
• Does Shauntal's team change between the two Unova installments?
  Yes: Jellicent gives way to Drifblim in the second pair of games. She is the only member of the Unova Elite Four to change her lineup from one installment to the next.
• Does Shauntal appear in the anime?
  No. She has never featured in an official animated production, except for the GOTCHA! music video.
• Where does Shauntal's original name come from?
  From the Japanese star anise, a toxic plant called shikimi in Japanese, which is her original name (French speakers call the plant anis étoilé japonais, hence her French name, Anis). It's burned as incense to honor the dead, which ties in with her favorite type.

In short

Shauntal is the only member of the Unova Elite Four whose profession reaches well beyond battling: her opponents don't just leave defeated, they leave published. From the Battle Subway she rides as a stowaway to the novel excerpts she recites before a battle, every appearance feeds the same engine. A Ghost-type specialist who collects the living.