PearlShipping

PearlShipping is the het ship between Ash and Dawn from the Pokémon fandom.

Diamond and Pearl
Before the two met and not long after Dawn started her journey with her partner Piplup, she came across Ash’s Pikachu, the two got separated not long after they had arrived in Sinnoh. Dawn took it upon herself to help the lost Pikachu find his trainer after she learned that she came across one is not wild. When she did meet the trainer, Dawn is stunned at the lengths that Ash would go to for his Pikachu and is shown very worried for him when he confronted Team Rocket, despite just meeting him recently. He later invites Dawn to join on his journey and she happily agrees, even showing no hard feelings over the bike that Pikachu fried, unlike Misty or May.

In “Dawn of a New Era” the two argue and fight throughout the episode but upon being called out by Nando, both Ash and Dawn make up over a campfire.

The Rise of Darkrai
When Dialga and Palkia battle...

DP Battle Dimension
In “Chim - Charred”, Ash’s and Paul’s battle is called off when Chimchar goes on a rampage right after Ursaring was defeated. When Dawn attempts to help Ash calm the Chimp Pokémon, Brock stops her.

BW Rival Destinies


In “Piplup, Pansage, and the Meeting of the Times!”, Dawn and Piplup surprise Ash and Pikachu as the latter explore Cynthia’s summer villa in Undella Town. Immediately, Ash wanted to battle Dawn after a long time, but Cilan wishes to use his Conoisseur experience against a veteran trainer from another region.

Dawn suggests having a vacation at a deserted island in the following episode, though Ash is initially reluctant due to special training for the Junior Cup. He only accepts when the young Sinnoh trainer mentions a special Onix inhabiting the island. Jervis gives the four a ride there. Once on the island, they take a short break and lunch before initiating the search for the special Onix. When Ash leads the others in entering a cave, he stumbles back when Woobat come out. Dawn begins to agree with Iris that Ash acts like a “little kid”, something Cilan suspects that the girls are “discovering some common ground”. The boys and girls, along with their Pokémon, were forced to separate after wild Onix began to chase them. They shortly reunite when more Onix chase them. After multiple attempts by Meloetta, Piplup, and Oshawott in defending the trainers, the Shiny Onix awakens and commands the normal Onix to leave them alone. With Dawn realizing that the green Onix is the special one and Ash never seeing such before, the four takes this as a sign of a morale boost for the Junior Cup. Returning to the town on Jervis’ motorboat, the four and their Pokémon listen to Meoletta’s song.

In “Goodbye, Junior Cup—Hello, Adventure!”, Ash and Dawn have a proper battle. Cynthia declares a draw after Pikachu and Quilava show no signs of backing down. Dawn later parted with Ash and his friends on a plane back to her hometown.

Master Journeys
In “Nightfall? Nightmares!”, Dawn briefly recalls to Chloe about her Sinnoh journey with Ash and Brock, though without mentioning both of their names.

When the two tend to an injured Cresselia in “A Midsummer Night’s Light!”, Dawn once again mentions both of her former travelling companions in the same manner, Ash being a “Pokémon fanatic” and Brock a doctor in training. When the Team Rocket trio tries to capture Cresselia for their organization, the Dawn, Chloe, and their partners run to the coast while protecting the Lunar Pokémon. Feeling trapped, they hear footsteps, which reveal to be Ash, Goh, Pikachu, and Grookey. The two veteran trainers meet again, with Chloe and Goh asking how she knew Ash. Dawn confirms to Chloe about the “Pokémon fanatic” being Ash. The four and their Pokémon defend Cresselia and Darkrai from Team Rocket, wanting to capture the two legendary Pokémon for themselves. At the last moment, the two were able to subdue the grunts with most of the former’s power and the latter’s illusion. The four trainers witness Darkrai clearing the night clouds and Cresselia rejuvenating before departing to their respective islands. The next day, the four are on the beach, with Ash, Dawn, and Goh having fun on the water. Chloe asks them to start moving to the next Pokémon Contest, but her Eevee is seen having so much fun that she herself joined the three in their frolic.

When Dawn’s Piplup was “kidnapped” by her alternate world self in “The Gates of Warp!”, she calls Ash over the phone to help investigate her partner’s disappearance. He, Goh, and Chloe fly to the Sandgem Town in the Sinnoh region to meet the trainer. Ash cheers her up with croquettes, to which she tries to not worry about herself. At the picnic, Dawn shares her moment with her alternate world self with the three. When the alternate world Team Rocket kidnaps Lucario and Inteleon, Dawn, Goh, and his Grookey follow them through the gate. Ash and his Pikachu try to do the same, but the alternate Meowth pins both of them down with a Dark Pulse. The gate closes behind them, Chloe, and Eevee, with the young trainer shouting out Lucario’s name in lament. At the end of the episode, the four successfully entered through another gate against Cynthia’s warning. Optimistic, Ash is about to begin the search for Dawn, Goh, and their missing Pokémon when he stumbles upon his own alternative world self.

In the next episode, Ash and Chloe are able to catch up with Dawn, her alternate self, and Goh as the alternate Team Rocket were able to steal more Pokémon. The children were able to track them down to the Spear Pillar atop Mount Coronet, defeating the alternate Team Rocket at the cost of them becoming young children and devolving their Pokemon back to eggs. They pray to the constantly fighting Dialga and Palkia to calm them down, restore everything back to normal, and return them to their world.

Fanon
This is among the more popular anime-based shippings, along with PokéShipping (Ash×Misty), AdvanceShipping (Ash×May) and ContestShipping (Drew×May). Fans of this ship consider Ash should be with Dawn because of their high level of friendship, camadarie, and chemistry develope throughout the series.

Ash and Dawn show in many occasions to keep an eye on one another a lot. Between the two, there is a mentor-student relationship with Ash often tutoring Dawn on being a Trainer, and the two quickly bond thanks to the fact that they have similar personalities. Because of the Coordinator class, a few fans presumed that Dawn would have returned in the XYZ anime series to become a Pokémon Performer, but she did not; though she eventually did return for Journeys.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

DEVIANTART

PIXIV

TUMBLR

WIKIS
 * PearlShipping on Bulbapedia

Trivia

 * The ship name comes from the Diamond and Pearl series of the anime, where Dawn makes her debut.
 * Dawn and Ash are the only main characters in the anime's history to get a duet song
 * The manga adaptation of the Diamond and Pearl anime by Sakai Takayuki notably excludes all other main characters besides Ash and Dawn, with their friendship in original adventures being the main focus of the manga's run, Dawn is also a full-time Pokemon Trainer there like Ash rather than a Coordinator like in the anime.

Variations

 * AmourInterditShipping — the polyship between Ash, Dawn, and Serena
 * ComakariShipping - the polyship between Ash, Dawn and Paul
 * DP Trio — the polyship between Ash, Dawn, and Brock
 * ThreeWayTieShipping — the polyship between Ash, Dawn, and Zoey
 * TogetherShipping — the polyship between Ash, Dawn, Lyra and Khoury
 * TripearlShipping — the polyship between Ash, Dawn, and Misty
 * WallaceCupShipping — the polyship between Ash, Dawn, and May
 * YajirushiShipping — the polyship between Ash, Dawn, and Iris
 * SilentProtagonistShipping — the ship between Dawn and Red, Ash’s game and manga counterpart