Argenta: The Frontier Brain Who Takes 170 Wins to Rematch

No other Frontier Brain keeps you waiting this long. Argenta runs the Battle Hall, the fourth-generation facility where battles are fought one-on-one, against a type the challenger picks before each match. The games place her at the end of the longest winning streak they ask of you, and give her a rule no one else follows. The manga, for its part, makes her the senior member who keeps everyone else in line.

Contents

• The Facility Where You Choose Your Opponent's Type
• An Opponent Who Matches the Player's Level
• In the Manga, the Battle Frontier's Senior Member
• Her Dragonite, Taken Down by a Berry
• Argenta at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Facility Where You Choose Your Opponent's Type

Argenta runs the Battle Hall in Platinum, then in HeartGold and SoulSilver. It's the facility where the challenger chooses the type they face.

In Single Battles, she shows up at only two points, and never otherwise. You need to string together 50 wins to see her appear the first time, then 170 to see her again; beating her earns you the Silver Print, then the Gold one.

That second meeting is the highest threshold in the entire building. No other Frontier Brain demands such a long streak before agreeing to battle, not even Palmer at the Battle Tower — and a streak, by definition, doesn't survive a single loss along the way.

An Opponent Who Matches the Player's Level

She doesn't battle by the same rule as the Trainers you meet before her. Argenta is the exception in the Battle Hall, fielding a Pokémon whose level is set to match the player's, an adjustment presented as a matter of fairness rather than difficulty.

This approach fits with what the game says about her elsewhere. She takes it as a given that everyone has a place in this world, a line echoed in the portrait the mobile game paints of her, where she comes across as a Hall Matron of quiet elegance.

That same mobile game added her on September 18, 2023, in the outfit she wears in the main series games. There, she teams up with a Skarmory: along with her dragon from the manga, it's the only Pokémon the series explicitly assigns to her.

In the Manga, the Battle Frontier's Senior Member

The manga adaptation only brings her in for the Platinum arc, but gives her a rank the games say nothing about: there, she's the most senior member of the Battle Frontier. She enters the story alongside Palmer and Thorton, and it's Dahlia who introduces her to the heroine, Platinum.

Her seniority mostly serves to set her colleagues straight. She scolds Palmer for getting absorbed in a battle at the Battle Factory when the Frontier has more pressing matters to deal with, and slaps Thorton when, beaten by Platinum, he bursts into tears instead of admitting defeat.

Between reprimands, she investigates the interference that has cut off the Frontier's communications. The powers of Riley establish that the outage comes from outside the building, and she's the one who suggests the source lies to the north — the lead the group then sets off to follow.

Her Dragonite, Taken Down by a Berry

Platinum, determined to improve, then asks to battle her. Argenta sends out her Dragonite and warns her right away that her Froslass's type advantage won't be enough to win the match.

The warning proves true on the very first exchange. A Steel Wing sends Froslass to the ground, and the Frontier Brain seizes the moment to scold her opponent for underestimating the Dragonite she was facing.

What comes next leaves her speechless: Froslass gets back up, strikes back and knocks the dragon out. Looking for an explanation, Argenta spots the item that let it withstand the hit, a Babiri Berry. Later, back alongside Dahlia, she feels a little recognition would not go amiss after handling every battle at the Frontier while the others were busy elsewhere, and blames her aches and pains on her age.

🐉 The Battle Hall's dragon has its own section: check out the Pokémon figures.

Argenta at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Argenta in Pokémon?
  Argenta is the Frontier Brain of the Battle Hall, the Battle Frontier facility featured in Platinum, then in HeartGold and SoulSilver. The manga makes her the most senior of the Frontier Brains.
• How do you battle Argenta?
  Only in Single Battles, and at the end of a streak: she shows up after 50 consecutive wins, then again after 170. Beating her earns you the Silver Print, then the Gold one.
• What Pokémon does Argenta use?
  The manga gives her a Dragonite, which she sends out against Platinum's Froslass. The mobile game has her battle with a Skarmory. In the Battle Hall, the rule is that her Pokémon is set to the player's level.
• Why is Argenta the hardest Frontier Brain to reach?
  Because no other Frontier Brain asks for so many wins in a row before showing up. The second meeting, at 170 consecutive wins, is the highest threshold in the Battle Frontier.
• Does Argenta go by other names in other languages?
  Yes: she's called Célosia in French and Mara in Italian, while English and most other versions use Argenta. In French, Argenta is also the name of a Kanto city, known in English as Pewter City.

In short

Argenta stands out less for her team, which is barely documented, than for the place the games give her: she's the Battle Frontier's final lock, the one you only reach after 170 flawless battles. The manga rounds out the portrait with a trait the games only hint at: a veteran who slaps a sore-loser colleague and demands the recognition owed to those who keep the place running. A Dragonite taken down by a simple berry reminds her along the way that seniority guarantees nothing.