#both ayako and dawn have the skills in their respective spheres to back up their ego. and they both know it

[dawnedon]

While it's not something Dawn is very outward or forward about, she has a sense of pride/ego within herself. Not just in her own capabilities/accomplishments, but in her team as well. She's not cocky or in your face about it (not like a certain Weavile on her team), rather, Dawn's pride is more elegant in nature, if such a thing makes sense. Her ego is graceful, perhaps a bit of an oxymoron, and she never makes a huge showing of it.

Dawn simply prefers to utterly crush any challenger that does make it past Sinnoh's wall of Elites, simple and without a hotheaded attitude. For opponents that come in cockily without much to back it, she may be a bit more stinging in letting her foes realize that she knows she's better. There's a good reason why she's undefeated for a decade - it truly takes someone with skill to back her and her team into a corner, and it's why she suffers her first loss to May. A trainer, and a Champion, with an undefeated streak and impressive amount of accolades as her.

It doesn't help either that Giratina, Dawn's bonded legendary, has a nasty ego herself. This overlap in similar feelings (something that they share), only amplifies Dawn's pride. It's something she's trained herself to keep reeled in over the years, as being a sore winner is just as bad, to her, as being a sore loser. She takes her wins with tact and grace, though there will always be that pride in the back of her head that bolsters her self-confidence (in battle, at least), and confidence in her team.