#because tj has influenced me to see Lucas as a grass type enjoyer lol

[waywardstation]

Earlier this year I made a post outlining Akari’s Hisui team; I’ve been meaning to do one for her pre-Hisui team as well!

I put some thought into these choices as well, as just like the first team I put together, I appreciate how @tjs-stuffs analyzes different pokemon trainers’ teams to see what it says about them.

Dawn’s Pokemon team choices and reasonings why are listed below.

—————

LADY ♀ | LVL 43 PURUGLY

SASSY NATURE

Akari/Dawn’s “starter”. Dawn did not get a lab-provided starter pokemon as she did not follow that path and begin a journey at ten. So her starter was one of her mom’s pokemon; her (at the time) glameow was her pokemon that Dawn was closest to, and her pokemon most experienced with contests, and so Johanna gave Lady to Dawn as her first pokemon to start doing contests with.

There isn’t anything about the Glameow line that really lends itself to Dawn’s character, but due to the anime I know people are aware that Johanna has a glameow, so I wanted Dawn to have one to cement that connection a little.

—————

BLINK ♀ | LVL 41 LUMINEON

ADAMANT NATURE

As a wild finneon it was familiar with Dawn, friendly with her when she was little, and hung around when she’d play by the ponds near her town. Lucas helped her catch it as she wanted a water pokemon to be with her when starting a team; she was not a strong swimmer. A buizel was suggested for this, but Dawn wanted her childhood friend.

The Lumineon line is noted to attract its prey by lingering in the dark and using its bioluminescence to draw them in, but this very same light will attract its own predators too. This was a characteristic that made me want to put it on her Hisui Team — her “light” is what brought her her opportunities in Hisui, but it was also what caught Volo’s attention and made him turn on her.

In the end Mantine won over Lumineon, but I still wanted Dawn to have one for the similarities, so I put one on her Pre-Hisui team.

—————

CORAL ♀ | LVL 40 GOREBYSS

ADAMANT NATURE

Dawn’s first Pokémon caught outside of Sinnoh, when on a trip to Hoenn with her mom to do her first contest with her. It was beached and needed help. She caught it, and Lucas later traded with her to help it evolve — she went with Gorebyss as she thought it was pretty and would pair very well with Blink in contests.

There is not much about Gorebyss that connects it to Dawn’s character. Rather, I made the pick based on Dawn’s preferences for a Pokemon that might do well and look nice in contests.

—————

SHERBET ♂ | LVL 45 BEARTIC

LAX NATURE

Dawn’s second pokemon that came from outside of Sinnoh, on a trip with her mother to do a musical in Unova. Johanna had actually caught it as a cubchoo when Dawn was very young as she had met and gotten attached to it. It was not much a fan of participating in contests, however. Johanna traded it to Dawn when she began to show an interest in battling, as it was much more invested in battles and wanted to go with her.

While there is not much to connect it to Dawn with, I picked the cubchoo line as I saw that they were a pokemon actually mentioned by name in PLA, despite not actually being present in the game. I liked the PLA connection to a non-PLA pokemon.

—————

ALLOY | LVL 43 BRONZONG

MODEST NATURE

Dawn’s first pokemon she caught herself after considering turning away from coordinating to be a trainer. Caught as a bronzor, it had been attracted to her location after watching her training attempts in Mt. Coronet’s caves. It was inspired and wanted to join her team to train with her.

I picked the Bronzor line as Bronzong are pokemon noted to have come from ancient times, 2,000 years ago, and were supposedly revered for its powers to open portals from other worlds to bring rain and help crops thrive. I thought it was fitting seeing as Dawn went back around 200 years instead, and came through a “portal” with people believing she had something special about her.

—————

NANO | LVL 27 ROTOM

QUIRKY NATURE

Dawn’s last Pokemon she added to her team. A rotom was a Pokemon she’d wanted for a while — at first for coordinating, due to its ability to change into many different forms, and then for its versatility in battle; it could serve well in both categories — and after training her team up a little more, she went out in search of one. So she tracked it down in the Old Chateau. It took multiple attempts over many nights to catch it.

I picked Rotom for Dawn’s team because a Rotom is one of the most versatile and adaptable pokemon out there, able to switch between many forms with no permanence or final decisions. Dawn is supposed to be someone who can adapt to fit many different situations; it’s how she survives in Hisui. And even before Hisui, she was balancing options as both a trainer and a coordinator — neither option was “set” for her, just like how a rotom’s forms are not set (unlike eevee or milcry; while they also have many different variations, all of them are final and cannot be undone).