Dawn received her Cyndaquil as an egg after she defeated Kotone in a battle during the Johto Festa in Suiren Town. Team Rocket noticed the egg while they were flying away and
Meowth used his extender arm to capture the egg.
While escaping from a wild Ursaring,
James noticed that the egg was glowing, signifying that it was close to hatching.
Dawn was able to recover the egg in time to watch it hatch.
Dawn's Cyndaquil didn't get along with her Piplup just after it hatched as they fought a lot.
While in Brussel Town,
Dawn decided to start training for her next contest which would take place in Daybreak Town. Since the contest would consist of double performances, she wanted to find a suitable partner for her Mamoswine for the double battle rounds. As
Dawn's Mamoswine failed to work well with both
Dawn's Piplup and D-Pachirisu,
Dawn decided to try out a collaboration between her Cyndaquil and the Twin Tusk Pokémon. Even though Cyndaquil and Mamoswine lost the practice battle against
Zoey's Kirlia and Leafeon, it turned out that Cyndaquil was a suitable partner for Mamoswine and
Dawn vowed to perfect their combination move, Flame Ice, and use it in her next contest.
Dawn's Mamoswine was used alongside
Dawn's Cyndaquil in the battle rounds of the Daybreak Town Pokémon Contest. Their combination move seemed to be imperfect, as the ice that engulfed Cyndaquil's Flame Wheel attack melted really quickly. Even though they hadn't mastered Flame Ice yet, Mamoswine and Cyndaquil managed to win through all of the battle rounds, eventually reaching the finals where they faced off against
Ursula's Plusle and Minun. Plusle and Minun proved to be two pretty strong opponents for Mamoswine and Cyndaquil, especially due to their combined Encore attack. However, after encouraging
Dawn, who was feeling desperate, and helping her overcome her fears, Mamoswine and Cyndaquil managed to master their Flame Ice combination and pull off a last-minute victory, helping
Dawn earn her fifth ribbon and a place at the Grand Festival.