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

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

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

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 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 DP062, 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.
In DP068 Dawn cheers Ash again with more dancing for his Gym battle against Maylene.
In the movie The Rise of Darkrai when Darkrai first appears in front of Ash and co, Dawn runs over to Ash's side.

Ash's hints

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.
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.
In DP061, Ash is deeply saddened when Dawn loses in the appeal round for the second time.
In DP062, 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.

Other hints

File:HighfiveDP.JPG

Ash and Dawn exchanging a high five.

Dawn's Buneary seems to have a crush 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.
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 DP075, when Contest Master Mikuri 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.

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 EP001 and Dawn saw Mesprit in DP001), 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.
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 we know. They are also the only children known not to have 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).
Their starter Pokémon protected them in the beginning (Pikachu saved Ash from Spearow, Piplup saved Dawn from Ariados).
As of DP066 Dawn's Piplup seems to have become an out of the ball Pokémon, as it never stays inside its Poké Ball anymore, and is often seen being carried around by Dawn just as Ash carries around Pikachu on his shoulder.

Alternate names

The Japanese name is サトヒカ, or SatoHika.
Some fans use AADL which stands for Ash And Dawn Love.
PearlShipping has also been called ShinouShipping, however this name conflicts with FortuneShipping (The pairing of Lucas and Dawn in the games) as both these shippings can be referred to as ShinouShipping.

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.