Pokemon Coordinators: 3# Dawn (Japanese: ヒカリ Hikari)

Dawn is notable for her confidence, since she is always looking towards the future rather than dwelling on her mistakes, although she has learned that this is not always enough. In the Japanese version, her catchphrase is, "Daijōbu!" Although not consistently translated in the English dub at first, she began to regularly use "No need to worry!" In stark contrast to May's inexperience and self-doubt at the start of the Advanced Generation series, Dawn was overly confident and assured in her own strength in the beginning.

She began her journey with her Piplup. Unlike May, she knew from the beginning that she wanted to be aCoordinator. After meeting Ash and Brock, she decided to journey with them, as their experience would likely be helpful to her. Like Ash, she is lucky enough to have seen a legendary Pokémon at the start of her journey, the projected soul of Mesprit in Following A Maiden's Voyage!. She lost her first Contest in Arrival of a Rival! and ended up getting support from her mother who told her to rely on her friends. Eventually, in her second official Contest, Dawn narrowly beat her childhood rival Kenny to gain her first ribbon.

She had a bicycle, but like Misty's and May's bikes, Ash's Pikachu destroyed it with its Thunderbolt. However, she did not mention this to Ash until more than 30 episodes after it happened. She also had a large suitcase full of dresses, but her mother made her leave it at home due to its impracticality. She also has a Contest Pass for the Sinnoh region, and her Contest cry is "Spotlight!" (English) or "Charm up!" (Japanese). Johanna gave Dawn the first ribbon she earned as a Coordinator for good luck. Dawn returned the ribbon after she battled Zoey in the Grand Festival.

In Dawn's Early Night!, when she competed in the Hearthome City Contest, she lost in the Appeal Round, making her the first of the main characters to lose a Contest by losing the appeal round. In Team Shocker!, she lost the Appeal Round for second time in a row. This marked a notable change in Dawn's character. Previously, she had only occasionally been seen training for Contests. After the second blow to her self-esteem, she didn't know what to do and was still very upset throughout Tanks for the Memories!. After this, she began to become more focused and regained her confidence afterbattling Maylene in Crossing the Battle Line!. Dawn began to practice in earnest and eventually was able to break her losing streak in Strategy With a Smile! and was able to win the Wallace Cup after narrowly defeating May in the final round. Dawn has since maintained her new found focus and humility. After learning of the next Contest in Celestic Town, she became very dedicated in her training, and actually overworked her Pokémon in A Lean Mean Team Rocket Machine!. Due to her hard work, she managed to win the Contest in Battling The Generation Gap!. In A Breed Stampede!, herMamoswine began to disobey her after evolving. Despite this, she is still eager to train it well.

Dawn is also known to be very upset when losing Contests, specifically when not getting through the Appeal round. This was proved in the Hearthome City Contest, and later the Solaceon Town Contest.

Dawn entered the Sinnoh Grand Festival in Last Call, First Round!, using her Buneary and Cyndaquil in the Appeals Round. She progressed through the round and battled Ursula first in the next episode. With Mamoswine and Pachirisu and a new combination, she was able to defeat her rival's Gabite andFlareon. The following episode, she defeated Jessilina and progressed to the finals to fight Zoey. After a very close fight between her Piplup and Togekiss and Zoey's Glameow and Gallade, however, she lost. After the competition, Zoey told Dawn that Candice was throwing a victory party for her inSnowpoint City and that Dawn was also welcome; however, Dawn declined the invitation, stating that she still wants to support Ash in his upcoming battle at Sunyshore Gym and in the Sinnoh League. She then thanked all the Pokémon that had traveled with her through Sinnoh for their hard work and pledged to not give up her dream of being a Top Coordinator.

Over the course of her journey in Sinnoh, Dawn was able to come up with various combinations to show up her Pokémon's looks and strength. This began with something as simple as making her Piplup's beak grow longer, when using Peck, a combination she used even until the end of the Grand Festival. She later followed with simple spinning, a technique her Piplup and Buneary practiced for a while in Oreburgh City. The way it was used was adapted by Ash in his first Gym battle in Sinnoh. Later on, Dawn began with more complex combinations, such as Flame-Ice and Ice Chandelier, moves that were both powerful and beautiful. After a lot of practice, Dawn's Pokémon were able to master these combinations in battle. Coincidentally, both of these were used to defeat Ursula.

Young Dawn

While she is the only female main character not to have a sibling, she has two childhood friends that appeared in the anime, Kenny and Leona, both of whom call her Dee Dee (Japanese: ピカリ Pikari) sometimes. Dawn has prevented them from telling Ash and Brock about the reason why she has this nickname, but in Yes in Dee Dee, It's Dawn!, it was revealed that the reason for the name was due to her hair glittering (ピカピカ pikapika) after being shocked by the class pets in her kindergarten, Plusle andMinun, making it appear that she had Diamond Dandruff. Due to the trauma from being teased by her entire class with the nickname, she is very reluctant to let others know the origin of the name. She seems to be closer to Leona than to Kenny. Kenny functions as a rival for Dawn alongside Zoey. Zoey also functions as a semi-mentor to Dawn and helped her recover from her second loss. All three are competing for their first time in the regional Contests. Leona, however, challenges Gyms. She also seemed to be childhood friends with Barry when she was little, and was very upset that he didn't remember who she was.

Dawn in her winter clothes

Dawn is much more different than any of Ash's other friends. Dawn has more concern about her appearance, as she will not show herself to Ash or Brock until she feels that her appearance is perfect. That may be a reason why she decides to sleep inside a tent while the others sleep outside. However, she has recently been seen sleeping outside with the others, such as in Tears for Fears!. Every time she's going to be on camera, she needs to take a moment to brush her hair before going on, such as inLast Call, First Round!. In The Bells Are Singing!, Dawn revealed that she was the one to designBuneary's vest (but also admitted that her mother was the one to sew it). In Arriving in Style!, she demonstrated her talent for designing again, sketching many different dresses for the Hearthome Collection, though she rejected all of them.

Dawn's Pokemon