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- Kenny – “My goal is to win and get ahead on you”
- Dawn – “Thanks, Kenny... you're embarrasing me.”
- — “Old Rivals, New Tricks!”[src]
PenguinShipping is the het ship between Kenny and Dawn from the Pokémon fandom.
Canon[]
Kenny and Dawn are childhood friends, who are now Contest rivals. Even though not many hints exist due to Kenny's lack of appearances, it has been shown that he and Dawn know each other well. As a running gag in the series, Kenny calls Dawn Dee-Dee (ピカリ Pikari).
Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl[]
All starts in the episode "Getting the Pre-Contest Titters!", when some boy appears for the first time and Dawn was with her hair frizzled. The boy greets her and says "Dee-dee". Dawn remembers that his name is Kenny since he is the only one who calls her by that name, he tells her that Dawn has grown up because she has a Pikachu, but Dawn tells him it's from Ash and also states that she spent time with Ash and Brock traveling all the way.
Everyone goes to the nearest Pokémon Center. Dawn tells that Kenny hails from Dawn's homeland, Twinleaf Town, but he came out before her and that she knew him in their childhood. Kenny sits down with the group and sends out his Prinplup, the first Pokémon he obtained on his journey. While Ash checks his Pokédex, Dawn's Piplup walks up to Kenny's Prinplup, and Prinplup slaps it away. Kenny apologizes and explains that Prinplup does not like when others get too close. As Piplup and Prinplup attempt a stare-down rivalry, Kenny reveals he too is a Pokémon Coordinator, and tells Dawn that he watched the Jubilife Contest on television. Dawn is surprised to hear that Kenny has become a Coordinator, as she does not remember him being interested in Pokémon Contests when they were younger. Kenny tells Dawn that he made it to the final round of his very first Pokémon Contest, but lost to Zoey and her Glameow.
Ash and Brock want to hear the stories and Kenny agrees. The first is about a day when her mother took her to the hairdresser to get a haircut, but Dawn didn't like it and cut her own way, Kenny comparing her to a Chimchar. Ash and Brock laugh at this and Dawn scolds them for being immature and that this happened in daycare. The second is a play in which she was disguised as a Slowpoke performing with two children dressed as Pikachu and Zubat. Dawn sneezed and almost slipped, but she grabs onto a scenery sun and brings the whole setup down, then Dawn started crying, everyone obviously laughed at that. The third story is about a day when she went to school in her pajamas and with two different shoes and she said "not to worry", Ash says so since he heard that since they met her, but Dawn got upset from these stories. Dawn challenges Kenny to a battle, but he refuses and does it with Ash's Pikachu to make Prinplup stronger. Dawn calls Kenny a baby because of the way he talked.
Later, The Floaroma Contest starts up the next day. Backstage, Kenny and Dawn are preparing. Dawn embarrasses Kenny due to the fact she is wearing a dress. When Kenny sees Dawn in her Contest dress, he is momentarily speechless. She starts flirting with Kenny and asks him if he thinks she's pretty. (Though she may have done this to make him embarrassed or was just playing around.) He blushes and quickly tries to change the subject.
In the next episode "Settling a Not-So-Old Score!", Dawn relaxes nervously backstage as Kenny complements her performance, but she doesn't believe he is sincere as they watch Jessie's performance. Dawn asks Kenny about when he started taking an interest in Contests, but Kenny told her she never noticed. Kenny seems jealous of Ash and Dawn supposedly being together. He promises to Dawn after Jessie's appeal that he would make "that Seviper lady look bad." Kenny performs last with his Alakazam. It uses Light Screen to box itself in before using Shadow Ball to shatter the box and quickly using Teleport to escape. It follows with Hidden Power to envelop it in a ring while levitating up, ending with a fireworks appeal.
While the Contest Judges decide, Ash and Brock go backstage to calm a nervous Dawn. The judges announce the final eight, with Kenny, Jessie and Dawn making it in. The computer randomly pairs up the Coordinators for the Contest Battles, pitting Dawn against Jessie in the first round. Ash and Brock leave, wishing both Dawn and Kenny luck, as Dawn and Kenny anticipate that they will face each other in the final round. Kenny mentions that he watched her Jubilife performance and wanted to duel her, being the reason he entered the Floaroma Contest. After their Contest performs, Kenny loses to Dawn. They part ways, promising that they would meet again in the next Contest.
In "Journey to the Unown!", Kenny arrives and mocks Dawn for not knowing that Aipom evolves into Ambipom. He refers to Dawn as Dee Dee, with mysterious nickname puzzling Ash yet again, but Dawn insists he not to go there. Kenny reveals that he is looking forward to the Solaceon Contest, and Dawn replies that she and Aipom will be hard to beat. Ash is keen to finish his match against Kenny, but Kenny declines, and says he was going to see Dialga and Palkia.
Dawn and her friends accompany Kenny to the ruins, where they marvel at the entrance featuring a Dialga and Palkia statue. Kenny offers to battle right now, right in front of the Dialga and Palkia statues, and Ash agrees to it. Ash and Kenny don't know who should go first, which causes Dawn to bring out her Pokétch App, the Coin Toss. Once the Coin Toss is done, it is decided that Ash goes first. He has a battle with Ash and his Turtwig where Ash interrupts to ask Kenny if he taught him how to use energy ball. He then enters the Solaceon Ruins with the others to rescue Dawn. When Dawn is being lifted into the Solaceon Ruins due to the confused Unown, Kenny calls out her name. He does this again when Dawn falls, later in the episode. He is the only one who does this on both occasions. Towards the end of the episode, he wants to make sure Dawn did not find out how scared he was inside the ruins. When Brock says, "Everyone has secrets hidden in their closet," Kenny gets embarrassed. In the end they manage to rescue her and discover that Dawn's Aipom had evolved into Ambipom.
In "Team Shocker!", Kenny uses Breloom in the Solaceon Contest and makes it through to the next round after combining Energy Ball with Stun Spore and Mach Punch. When Dawn doesn't make it through the appeal round, Kenny says, "Oh, c'mon!" indicating that he wants Dawn to be there with him in the Contest, but Dawn tells him not to worry and that he should prepare for the second round. Kenny uses Prinplup for the final of the contest where he fights Jessilina's Dustox, but Kenny loses. At the end, also, when saying goodbye to her, Kenny shouts that he won't let Dawn quit Contests no matter what; when walking away, he sees that Dawn isn't waving goodbye like the rest, and looks upset.
In "Stopped in the Name of Love!", Kenny also appears and after calling Dawn Dee-Dee (much to her annoyance), asks if she's entering the Sandalstraw Contest. Barry reveals that he is best friends with Kenny despite having met him only recently and that they stopped by Sandalstraw Town because Kenny plans to enter the Pokémon Contest while Barry has his eyes on the upcoming Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament. Barry shows Ash a flyer about the event and Brock mentions that a Trainer and one of his or her Pokémon will partner up as a team to enter. Barry summons Empoleon in order to train, planning to enter with it. As everyone watches, Piplup starts to glow, causing Piplup to jump around. Kenny mentions that Piplup is starting to evolve into Prinplup. Everyone's excited, but Piplup braces himself, stopping the evolution and becoming so exhausted to the point of collapse. Brock urges everyone to go to the Pokémon Center. Kenny tells Dawn that her Piplup began to evolve because of what a great Trainer she is. When Piplup runs away, Dawn runs over to Kenny and the rest of the group, and Kenny is the one to ask her what is wrong.
This is a major hint in "Old Rivals, New Tricks!". Kenny comes up to them and tells Dawn that she should be focusing on the Sandalstraw Town Pokémon Contest for her fifth Ribbon. She tells him that she was just putting the finishing touches on their moves and says that she's entering Ambipom for both rounds which surprises Kenny. Dawn explains to Kenny that she thought Ambipom would be a good choice as she has experience in both performances and Contest Battles. She also mentions that she got Ambipom in a trade with Ash and that she wants to win for him as well. Kenny, after making his appeal, talks alone with Dawn about watching her at the Wallace Cup and how he's going to follow, win, and get ahead of Dawn. In response, she blushes, holding her heart, and says, "Please, you're embarrassing me!" Also while waiting for the results of the appeal rounds, Dawn is nervous and tells Ash about her worries about Kenny. She blushes while doing this. Kenny does not advance to the second round in the Sinnoh Grand Festival, since in his Contest his Floatzel was injured in a combination, this causes great disappointment to Kenny but also to Dawn.
In "Last Call, First Round!", At the end of the episode, Dawn seems concerned about Kenny leaving the Grand Festival so soon. Kenny then tells her, "Make sure that you don't lose to that girl with the Plusle and Minun, 'kay Dee-Dee?" Dawn replies, "It's Dawn", smiling then giggling. Kenny responds with, "Finally, a smile," and she laughs some more.
Finally, in "Four Roads Diverged in a Pokémon Port!", Dawn sees Kenny training his Floatzel, with Jasmine. Kenny wants Dawn to travel back to Twinleaf Town with him so that they can start training for the next Grand Festival together. But Dawn's not sure about going with him because she wants to root for Ash in the Sinnoh League. Kenny then tells her that he will battle Ash, and if he won, she would have to travel back home with him. When Kenny tells Dawn that he wants to go on a journey with her, he says, "I know this is a bit sudden, but I had to tell you how I feel!" He then runs off, and Dawn seems to be conflicted about Kenny's offer to go back to Twinleaf Town with him or going to the Sinnoh League with Ash. Brock approaches Kenny when Kenny wanted to have Dawn go on a journey with him, and offers to tell Kenny the secret of love. Even when Kenny said he isn't interested, Brock tells him the secret anyway: to keep putting his heart on the line. Kenny then admits Brock has given him hope. When Dawn sees how upset Kenny is after agreeing to let her go with Ash, she becomes saddened. Later, she leaves a note—as well as a Piplup figurine—behind at the Vista Lighthouse, wishing Kenny luck in the future. She then waves goodbye to Kenny while she's on the boat heading to Lily of the Valley Island as he stands at the lighthouse. At the end of the letter she left at the Vista Lighthouse, it reads, "P.S: One more thing, and I hope you don't mind, you looked kind of handsome when you beat Ash."
Other series[]
Although Dawn reappears in the Black & White series in the episode "Piplup, Pansage, and a Meeting of the Times!", and much later in the "Journeys" series in the episode "Nightfall? Nightmares!", Kenny does not personally appear in any of these episodes, not even in a cameo, nor does Dawn make a mention of him, implying that Dawn wants to focuse in her Coordinator Class more than him.
Quotes[]
- Kenny – “I'll challenge Ash to battle now. If I manage to win... Then, Dawn, I want you and I to go on a journey together [...] I know this is a bit sudden, but I had to tell you how I feel!”
- Dawn – “Hey, Kenny, wait!.”
- — “Four Roads Diverged in a Pokémon Port!”[src]
Fanon[]
PenguinShipping is one of the most popular within the Diamond and Pearl series fanbase. One of the reasons for its popularity is that Kenny is Dawn's childhood friend, so fans think it's very likely that Dawn will end up marrying Kenny in the future more than other guys Dawn has met like Ash and Khoury. Another reason for their popularity is that both debuted in one of the seasons, considered the best by fans. Even AmourShippers tend to pair Dawn with Kenny, as both ships share the "Childhood Friend Romance" and "First Girl Wins" tropes. However, this is disliked by PearlShippers due to the debate about who is Dawn's closest friend.
As for PenguinShipping rivals, PearlShipping, BrightShipping (Khoury/Dawn) and FortuneShipping are most shipped alternatives on Dawn's side. But since Dawn is the only ship option for Kenny, this also ends in aforementioned debates.
Fandom[]
FAN FICTION
- Dawn/Kenny tag on AO3
- Dawn & Kenny tag on AO3
- Kenny/Dawn tag on FanFiction.net
Trivia[]
- "PenguinShipping" comes from the fact that both Kenny and Dawn have Piplup's evolution family, (Dawn having a Piplup and Kenny having a Prinplup that evolved into Empoleon) and all three of these Pokémon are based in penguins.
