• English / United States: Dawn
• Japanese / Japan: ヒカリ
• Japanese (Romanized) / Japan: Hikari
• Japanese (Trans) / Japan: Hikari
• French / France: Aurore

Dawn is the female protagonist of the Sinnoh based games (Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl).

Game canon

If chosen by the player, Dawn leaves her hometown of Twinleaf Town, getting a starter from Professor Rowan, taking on Gyms, taking down Team Galactic, and becoming the Sinnoh champion. If not chosen, she lives in Sandgem Town, and acts as Professor Rowan's assistant. Another character, Akari, strongly resembles her, and may be an ancestor or descendant of her, or neither at all.
Dawn appears in Pokémon Masters EX, where her original sync pair is Turtwig, which can be evolved into Torterra. In her Palentine's 2021 outfit, she owns an Alcemie as her Sync Pair. In her Sygna Suit outfit, she owns a Cresselia as her Sync Pair. She is known to be scatterbrained.

Pokemon the Series

Dawn is a Pokémon Coordinator whose hometown is Twinleaf Town in the Sinnoh region. Her mother, Johanna, was a famous coordinator and Dawn decided to follow in her footsteps. Dawn started her journey off one day by heading to Professor Rowan's laboratory to receive her starter Pokémon. After the events that transpired at the laboratory, she decided to choose Piplup as her starter Pokémon.

Dawn met Ash Ketchum and Brock during the first day of her journey. She decided to travel with them as they journeyed through the Sinnoh region. Being inexperienced, journeying with Ash Ketchum and Brock had proven to be very helpful as she had learned a great deal about Pokémon from the both of them.

Dawn's favourite saying is "Daijōbu! (大丈夫)" which translates as "I'm fine" and she is constantly heard saying it. In the English dub her catch phrase is "No need to worry!".

Kenny is constantly teasing Dawn and calling her Dee Dee, short for Diamond Dandruff, (ピカリ, Pikari in the Japanese original) a nickname he came up with one day after she got shocked by the kindergarten's Plusle and Minun which caused her hair to go all frizzly and sparkle. ("ピカピカ", "pikapika" is an onomatopoeia for "sparkling".) Dawn revealed the way she got her nickname to Ash Ketchum and Brock when her childhood fears were revived after she encountered Ursula's Plusle and Minun before the Daybreak Town Pokémon Contest.

Dawn was the first main character to lose in the first round of any competition. She lost in the appeals of both Hearthome and Solaceon contest. Those defeats put Dawn on the path she needed to be as after a brief recharge and positive influence by Ash Ketchum and Zoey she made it to the Grand Festival and by making it past fierce battles with the likes of Ursula and Jessie she made it to the finals. A distinction no other main character has ever achieved. Although defeat was the outcome her dream is still alive.

By courtesy of Cynthia, Dawn decided to train at Cynthia's Eastern Unova estate until the day the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup started. Ash Ketchum was surprised to see her there as he thought she was still in the Johto region.

In the second round of the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup, Dawn was matched up against Iris. Despite Iris' Dragonite not following her commands, Dawn's Mamoswine ended up loosing the battle in a hard fought match between two very strong Pokémon. Dawn was eliminated from the tournament after that battle. After the Junior Cup reached it's conclusion Dawn revealed that her next stop would be Blackthorn City, Johto for an upcoming Wallace Cup.

Much later, Dawn met Chloe Cerise as she was adventuring through Sinnoh to go see Johanna participate in a contest. Since the two were heading to the same destination, the two traveled together and ended up finding an injured Cresselia. Trying to protect it from both Matori as well as Darkrai, she and Chloe end up stumbling upon Ash and Goh. They fight off the Matori Matrix and learn Darkrai and Cresselia need each other. Dawn makes a few further appearances afterward.

GOTCHA

Dawn made a cameo in this animated music video.