PearlShipping

This article is about shipping. As hints and evidence for ships are mostly speculation, this page may contain personal points of view.

File:Dawncheer.jpg

Dawn in the cheerleading outfit she wore to cheer for Ash.

PearlShipping (Japanese: サトヒカ SatoHika) is the possible pairing between Ash Ketchum and his newest traveling companion, Dawn, from the Pokémon anime.

Evidence

Dawn's hints

• In Dawn of a New Era, Dawn felt that Ash didn't respect or acknowledge her and both argued with each other through out most of the episode, so she challenged Nando to a battle hoping to make Ash realize how good she was as a trainer, and in the end after Nando managed to explain to them that there was no reason to argue both apologized to one another and exchanged a few very sentimental words thus strengthening their new friendship.
• In Setting the World on its Buneary, Dawn was having a bad hair day and had her Piplup fix her hair. Before fixing her hair, she refused to let Ash see her for fear of having him judge her, or that she was simply being self-conscious. She also asked Ash afterwards if he would like his done too.
• In Mounting a Coordinator Assault, Dawn commented on how awesome Ash looked when making his appeal in the Jubilife Contest.
• In O'er the Rampardos we Watched, Dawn donned on a cute cheerleading outfit and she and her Pokémon began cheering and dancing for Ash to win and thus giving him the confidence to earn his first gym badge in Sinnoh. This is a first since neither Misty nor May ever went to such lengths in any of Ash's battles; they usually sat at the side lines discussing if he would win, though they would usually throw him a few cheers.
• In Buizel Your Way Out Of This, when Ash shows Dawn his Misty lure, Dawn says, "I has never seen a lure like that," and Ash's reply was "This? Cool huh? I got it from Misty a long time ago." With this said Dawn seemed a little shocked that she had never heard of Misty and is found to be a little jealous of her. When Brock notices this he tells her that Misty was an old friend of theirs that they used to travel with and Dawn seemed to calm down a little.
• In One Big Happiny Family!, Dawn copied Ash on saying her name then her hometown when introducing herself. It might show a form of admiration.
• In Tanks for the Memories!, Dawn was crying about her recent contest failure. When Ash approached her, she didn't want him to worry about it and played along with his assumption that she had dirt in her eyes. Then Ash says he is hungry and Dawn suggests that they get ice cream so that Ash wouldn't have to worry about her.
• In Lost Leader Strategy!, Dawn says that she wonders if her contests are holding Ash back, showing that she cares about his dreams almost more than her own.
• In A Triple Fighting Chance!, Dawn cheers Ash again with more dancing for his Gym battle against Maylene.
• In Chim - Charred! , Dawn had to be restrained by Brock from coming to Ash's aid in calming Chimchar.
• In the movie The Rise of Darkrai, when Darkrai first appears in front of Ash and company, Dawn runs over to Ash's side. In another scene, when Ash was about to fall off the tower Dawn rushes over to save him.
• In Cream of the Croagunk Crop!, when Ash ran into Crasher Wave and fell to the ground, Dawn was really concerned if Ash was alright. In another scene Dawn was so frightened by the appearance of the Croagunk, that she held on and hid behind Ash.

Ash's hints

• In O'er The Rampardos We Watched, Dawn is dressed in a cheerleading outfit to cheer Ash on. When she started cheering with her Pokémon Ash notices this and says, "Geez, thanks Dawn." As he said this he had a big grin on his face.
• In Settling a Not-So-Old Score!, Ash calmed her nerves down after she had made what she thought was a bad appeal, and even used her frequent catchphrase "No need to worry!" (Japanese: "Daijōbu!") to console her and giving her a very loving and kind look.
• In the movie The Rise of Darkrai, Ash tried to save Dawn from falling off the basket. Whether it was a reaction or not, Ash wanted to save her. Then when Dawn lands on a nearby building, Ash is shown giving a sigh of relief that she is okay. In another scene, when both Ash and Dawn are falling off the tower together, Ash holds Dawn tight so that she doesn't leave him.
• In A Maze-ing Race!, Ash's concern is continually focussed on Dawn while he is split up from her and Brock, worrying the most about her being Template:M2 by an Onix. Ash and Dawn also simultaneously deliver Dawn's trademark "No need to worry!" at the end of the episode.
• In Tag! We're It...!, Ash signs up Dawn in the Hearthome Tag Battle Tournament to cheer her up after her recent contest loss. When he tells her this she is against it because she is thinks she wouldn't do well, but Ash tells her that he thinks she will do great. He also tells her to try her best. When she agrees he raises his hand with a big grin on his face to give her a high five.
• In Team Shocker!, Ash is deeply saddened when Dawn loses in the appeal round for the second time.
• In Tanks for the Memories!, Ash was really worried for Dawn when she was crying and assumed that she had dirt in her eyes, though she was really upset about her recent contest loss.
• In Cream of the Croagunk Crop!, during the Croagunk Festival Ash offers some food to Dawn and asks her to dance.

Other hints

File:HighfiveDP.JPG

Ash and Dawn high-fiving.

• As Dawn's Buneary seems to have Template:S on Ash's Pikachu, this could be a sign that Dawn may have a crush on Ash since Professor Oak and Brock have said in the past that Pokémon represent the feelings of their masters, and when two Pokémon fall in love, there is a good chance the trainers will too. However, some can point out that Buneary developed this crush before Dawn caught it.
• In Settling a Not-So-Old Score, Kenny seemed jealous of Ash and Dawn being together.
• While Dawn battled a revived Aerodactyl in Wild in the Streets! Ash was fascinated with Piplup and Buneary's new dodging tactic that he asked Dawn to help him practice for his rematch. He then had Pikachu, Aipom, and Turtwig use them in O'er the Rampardos We Watched in his rematch with Roark, again in Getting the Pre-Contest Titters in his match against Kenny, and a few other times since, the tactic becoming a regular (if not frequent) feature in Ash's strategy.
• Ash and Dawn are often seen exchanging high fives whenever one of them accomplishes something, which might possibly portray a deep friendship, as Ash has rarely ever given a high five to anyone else on the show.

File:Promo PokemonMovie11.JPG

Pikachu the Movie poster

• Like Misty and May, Ash's Pikachu also destroyed Dawn's bike. However unlike the first two girls, she never once pestered him about it, not even mentioning it until Cycling Road several episodes later.
• Ash and Dawn usually aren't there without one another.
• Ash and Dawn are the only main characters to trade Pokémon with each other: Ash's Aipom for Dawn's Buizel.
• In Our Cup Runneth Over!, when Contest Master Wallace mentioned the importance of the love between the trainers and their Pokemon, Dawn agreed and looked at Ash, as if she just realized something that involves Ash. Ash then looks back at Dawn and stares at her in confusion.
• In Pruning a Passel of Pals!, Dawn was proud of Ash because he and Buizel were able to pull off the Aqua Jet-Ice Beam combo that Dawn attempted to perform with Buizel in A Stand-Up Sit-Down!, turning the opponent's Ice Beam against it.
• One of the posters for Giratina and the Sky Warrior depicts Pikachu and Piplup sitting on Ash's and Dawn's heads, respectively. Some fans have pointed out that the distance portrayed between Dawn and Ash is very small. However, other fans point out how Ash's hair, which can usually be seen from the sides of his hat, is not present. This may mean the trainers are not really wearing their hats.

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Giratina and the Sky's Bouquet: Shaymin DVD cover

• In Cream of the Croagunk Crop!, Ash and Dawn were together for the entire episode.
• The Japanese DVD cover for Giratina and the Sky Warrior shows Dawn and Ash standing back to back, with Brock nowhere to be seen.
• In DP094, Brock left both Ash and Dawn to take care of the Pokémon. Both of them said that they would stay with each other taking care of the Pokémon showing that they don't feel uncomfortable being alone without Brock. Both working together and trying their best to help Pachirisu is a sign of that their friendship is getting stronger.
• Ash and Dawn are always there for one another when one of them are in trouble or upset.
• When Ash and Dawn get into arguments they make up faster then Ash and Misty or Ash and May ever did. This is shown in The Champ Twins! when they were in a fight about losing their tag battle, but they made up five minutes later.
• The opening High Touch! is sung by Ash and Dawn. The lyrics imply that they have a strong friendship.
• In By Your Side ~Hikari's Theme~ at the beginning of the song when all of the pictures of Dawn are playing they show Ash's Hat, this could be a hint.
• In High Touch!, Dawn gives Ash a slight push in a friendly way, followed by a thumbs-up from Ash.
• A Domino's Pizza Kids 2008 Commercial in Japan featured Ash and Dawn as well as some Pokémon. In one of the scenes, Ash can be depicted holding Dawn's waist.
• So far, Ash has watched all of Dawn's contests. He did not do this with May because he would sometimes be training his Pokémon instead of watching her.

Similarities

• Just like Ash's Pikachu, Dawn's Piplup wasn't ready to obey her when they first met. Eventually, they became fast friends.
• Both Dawn and Ash saw a legendary Pokémon at the beginning of their journeys (Ash saw Ho-Oh in Pokémon - I Choose You! and Dawn saw Mesprit in Following a Maiden's Voyage!), meaning she could possess an important connection to the legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh like Ash possesses an important connection to the Pokémon of Kanto and Johto.

• They have both seen a member of the Lake trio: Dawn and Mespirit in Following a Maiden's Voyage!, and Ash and Azelf in Pruning a Passel of Pals.

• Like Ash, Dawn is extremely confident, but unlike Ash she rarely looks back on her mistakes, and she is always looking to the future hoping that her dream of being a master coordinator comes true (just like Ash when he started out).
• Dawn is the only main character in the series, aside from Ash, who owns an Electric Pokémon.

File:Pearlshippy.PNG

Scene from The Rise of Darkrai

• Neither the father of Ash nor the father of Dawn have ever been seen, as far as what has been introduced in the anime. They also are only children with no siblings.
• They both have childhood rivals, Ash's is Gary Oak and Dawn's is Kenny.
• Though Ash had previously participated in an unofficial Pokémon contest before, he first participated in an official contest at the same time as Dawn.
• Both Ash and Dawn have owned a powerful Pokémon that refused to obey them (Ash's Charizard and Dawn's Buizel).
• They are the only main characters who battle members of the Elite Four.
• Both of their starters were able to defeat their evolved forms. Pikachu beat Lt. Surge's Raichu while Piplup beat Kenny's Prinplup.
• They both released the second Pokémon they caught: Ash released Pidgeot and Dawn released Pachirisu. However, Dawn recaptured Pachirisu and Ash said he would come back for Pidgeot (though he has yet to do so).

File:Dominos Ad Nov08.jpg

Scene from a Domino's Pizza commercial for Q4 of 2008.

• Their starter Pokémon protected them in the beginning (Pikachu saved Ash from Spearow, Piplup saved Dawn from Ariados).
• As of Lost Leader Strategy!, Dawn's Piplup seems to have become an out of the ball Pokémon, as it rarely stays inside its Poké Ball anymore, and is often seen being carried around by Dawn just as Ash carries around Pikachu on his shoulder.
• In DP088, Dawn rented an affectionate Grimer whose behavior is similar to that of Ash's Muk.
• In DP094, Pachirisu becomes ill from having too much electricity, which also happened to Ash's Pikachu between Hoenn Alone! and Get the Show on the Road!.

Alternate names

• SatoHika (サトヒカ), the Japanese name of the pairing.
• AADL, standing for Ash And Dawn Love.
• ShinouShipping; please note that this name conflicts with Template:S, the pairing of Lucas and Dawn in the games, also referred to as ShinouShipping.
• Sakari is also occasionally seen, a name taken from Satoshi and Hikari.

On Bulbagarden forums

• PearlShipping General Discussion

External Links

• http://fan.akuseru.org/sakari/ The fanlisting for the relationship between Ash and Dawn.

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This article is part of Project Shipping, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each couple in Pokémon.