Dawn's Piplup

Dawn's Piplup was the first Pokémon that Dawn obtained at the beginning of her travels in Sinnoh, given to her by Professor Rowan.

## Personality

Piplup initially would not accept food from Dawn; as described in the Pokédex, Piplup as a species is very proud and dislike accepting food from people. However, he seems to have a large appetite for Pokémon food and does not like having any taken away from him. He shows signs of having a short temper, frequently getting into disagreements with other Pokémon and his Trainer. One of his distinguishing traits is his tendency to lose it when things go wrong, such as when a Chimchar stole the last of his food in *Following A Maiden's Voyage!*, when he repeatedly missed out on eating a Berry and started a fight with a Shinx in *The Rise of Darkrai*, or when Dawn said Ash's Gible did not have ill intent when he was practicing his Draco Meteor in *Piplup, Up and Away!*.

Despite his prideful and fierce attitude, Piplup was fairly weak at first, being easily defeated by Nando's Budew in his first battle. He has grown in strength since then, helping Dawn catch a Buneary in *Setting the World on Its Buneary!* and a Buizel in *Buizel Your Way Out Of This!*.

Piplup is Dawn's main battling partner, being used more than any of her other Pokémon and having helped her win her first two Contest Ribbons in the Sinnoh region. He seems to be very competitive and will always try to overcome the odds to impress Dawn and get her fullest attention. He often wants to be the first one to start an event for Dawn and commonly tries to peacefully talk to enemies, rather than just attacking them, as seen in *The Psyduck Stops Here!*.

It has been shown that Dawn and Piplup have a close bond with each other. In *Staging a Heroes' Welcome!*, he helped Dawn recover her confidence by shooting Bubble Beam at her face. Two episodes later, in *Strategy with a Smile!*, he barely edged out May's Glaceon by only half a point to help Dawn win the Aqua Ribbon.

In *A Breed Stampede!*, Piplup was shown to be quite adamant and overconfident. He even tried to stop Piloswine from charging. However, each attempt resulted with him being launched into the sky and knocked out. Despite this, he would get straight back up on his feet even when completely knocked out. He tried again when Piloswine had already evolved into Mamoswine, but the result was the same.

Ever since Ash's Gible made his debut in *A Meteoric Rise to Excellence!*, Piplup has constantly been the target of his Draco Meteor, mostly by accident but considered a running gag. This event was expanded in *Piplup, Up and Away!*, where Piplup ran away from the group following another accidental attack. However, these events helped him learn Hydro Pump. Comically, it was implied in *Dealing With a Fierce Double Ditto Drama!* that Draco Meteor can be used to differentiate Piplup from other members of its species.

## History

### Prior to Series

Piplup is Dawn's main Pokémon and traveled with her through the Sinnoh and continues as Dawn works to become a Top Coordinator.

## Gallery

Using Bubble BeamUsing BideUsing WhirlpoolDawn Piplup Drill Peck.pngUsing Drill PeckUsing HeadbuttPiplup and Dawn
## Trivia

* Piplup is the only Water-type starter Pokémon owned by one of Ash's friends to not have evolved at least once.
* Of all 191 *Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl* episodes, Piplup was only completely absent from 17.
* Piplup has used the most moves out of all of Dawn's Pokémon, at a total of 8.
* Piplup is the second Pokémon in the anime to stop evolving while the process is happening, the first being Ash's Bulbasaur.
* Piplup was referenced by Ash in *Going for the Gold!*, when he and his friends met a troop of many Piplup at the Ambrette Aquarium. Ash recalled that Dawn's Piplup had been rather prideful and stubborn.
* Starting in Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension, Dawn keeps Piplup out of his Poké Ball, apart from rare cases like in Pokémon Contests.
* The opening sequence of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl shows Dawn's Piplup coming out of his Poké Ball with a trail of stars behind him. However, Dawn did not use a Star Seal with Piplup's Poké Ball until *Yes in Dee Dee, It's Dawn!*, three seasons later.
* Dawn's Piplup has been given a redesign since his return in *Nightfall? Nightmares!*, now having blue eyes like in the games, instead of having black eyes as his depiction from *Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl* to *Pokémon the Series: XY*.
	+ This seems to be exclusive to Dawn's Piplup, because another Piplup shown earlier in the same series had the black-eyed design used in previous series.