Dawn's Piplup/Anime/History/BW

Piplup accompanied Dawn to Unova prior to All for the Love of Meloetta!. In the following episode, he was able to reunite with and meet, , and his new object of affection—a  that had been following Ash's group since they were in Virbank City. He also socialized with all of the group's other Pokémon when they were brought out of their s, and found a rival in Ash's Oshawott, who had feelings for Meloetta too. Later on, he had a battle with Cilan's Pansage, during which he used to send Pansage's  back at him. When the Grass Monkey Pokémon used, he negated the move using a variation of Counter Shield. After that, Pansage used, but Piplup countered with. As the two beams collided, they rose into the sky and exploded, creating a beautiful fireworks display. This left Meloetta greatly impressed, causing it to disrupt the battle and start dancing with Piplup.

In Jostling for the Junior Cup!, Piplup was used in the first round of the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup, going up against Ramone's. Using Drill Peck, he was able to defeat his opponent, thus allowing Dawn to proceed to the second round.

In Goodbye, Junior Cup - Hello Adventure!, Piplup grew sad while saying goodbye to Meloetta before leaving for Johto with Dawn. Oshawott then confronted him one more time, but their contempt soon turned into sadness and they bade each other a teary farewell. After that, Piplup jumped onto the plane and departed.

He reappeared in a fantasy in The Dream Continues!.