PokéShipping

"I'll go look for him. And Ash is never really alone because he's got -- me."

- Misty; Pokémon the Movie 2000: The Power of One

PokéShipping is the het ship between Ash and Misty from the Pokémon fandom.

Canon
Ash and Misty met in the first episode of the anime, when Misty fished Ash and Pikachu out of a river. Ash and his Pokémon were running from a flock of Sparrow at the time, so he 'borrowed' Misty's bike to get Pikachu to a Pokémon Center as quickly as possible. The wild chase inevitably ended with Ash and Pikachu completely destroying her bike, and as a result, Misty made it her mission to track him down and get him to pay her back. However, after tagging along with Ash for a period of time, Misty grew attached to him, eventually caring about him enough to call him her best friend and even develop an often hidden crush. The bike was eventually forgotten completely, and after all the adventures, trials, and life changing moments they experienced on their journey together, the two consider each other very good friends and best friends to this day.

Original Series
During their time traveling together, others often referred to Ash and Misty as though they were a couple, which sparked embarrassed blushes and denial from both of them almost every single time, without fail. Some notable in-canon shippers include Tracey, Daisy, Nurse Joy, Melody, Danny, and even Team Rocket. Ash and Misty both had a habit of getting jealous when a potential suitor showed interest in the other. Notable examples of this include Misty's anger at Giselle when she managed to get a blush out of Ash, Misty's shocked and angered reactions when Melody and Bianca kissed Ash in the second and fifth movie respectively, Misty's rivalry with Macey, which was spurred on by Macey's open flirting with Ash, and Ash's angry reaction toward Fiorella, Danny, and Rudy managing to capture Misty's romantic interest. The last three examples are particularly notable because they are the only time in the anime's excessively long run that Ash has ever shown jealousy over a girl. There are also a large number of other affectionate displays between the two, some of which may be left up to interpretation and some of which are objective signs of romance.

Ash and Misty are no longer traveling together in the current iteration of the anime, but references have been made to the fact that they still keep in touch. Misty is seen watching several of Ash's big battles, Misty appears to be already filled in on Ash's current adventures every time she meets up with him, and the Best Wishes ending, Let's Join Hands, out and out confirms that Ash still keeps in contact with his former traveling companions via e-mail, letters, and phone calls. Misty was revisited in the Pokémon special, A Date With Delcatty, in which it is heavily implied that she still has strong feelings for Ash and is waiting for him to return from his journey. When a boy named Georgio asks her out on a date, she tells him she can't go, to which her friend Casey asks her if there is someone else she has in mind. Misty blushes and nervously avoids the question only for her Psyduck to come out of its pokéball and chuckle at her because it knows who she really likes. Ash's feelings for Misty were hinted at again in the Diamond and Pearl episode, Buizel Your Way Out of This!, in which Ash is shown to be excessively protective of the special fishing lure Misty gave him as a present, going as far as to keep it away from his friend Dawn and practically fight her for it when she wants to use it. Later in the episode, a wild Buizel steals the lure and the rod its attached to for itself, causing Ash to panic, become angry, and devote a significant portion of the episode to getting it back. When he finally does retrieve it, he is noticeably relieved.

Advanced Generation
Misty was first mentioned by Ash in Tree's a Crowd.

She reappeared from The Princess and the Togepi to A Togepi Mirage!, where she met up with Ash and Brock again, along with meeting May and Max for the first time. In A Togepi Mirage, her Togepi evolved into a Togetic and helped defend the Togepi Paradise. Towards the end of the episode, Togetic decided to stay with the other Togepi to protect them, sharing one last tearful moment with Misty.

She made a cameo appearance in both Saved by the Beldum and Shocks and Bonds, where she was shown watching Ash competing in the Ever Grande Conference.

She also made three more appearances in this series; from The Scheme Team to A Real Cleffa-Hanger, as well as The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon. She later appeared in flashbacks in Gathering the Gang of Four. She was mentioned by Ash in the English dub of Jirachi: Wish Maker.

It was revealed in Cerulean Blues that Misty feared Gyarados, having climbed into one's mouth as a baby, and that she doubted her own ability to run Cerulean Gym alone. It wasn't until she selflessly protected her Gyarados from a Poison Sting assault that she was not only able to conquer her fears but regain the confidence to run the Gym with a now obedient Gyarados.

Sun & Moon Series
Misty reappeared as a recurring character during the Sun & Moon series, starting with Alola, Kanto!. Misty and Brock reunited with Ash when he and his classmates arrived at the Kanto airport, then compared Kantonian and Alolan Pokémon with the class at Professor Oak's lab. Later, Misty and the rest of the group worked together to defeat Team Rocket, who Misty was angry to find were still up to their old tactics of stealing Pokémon. Afterwards, the group had a party and learned from Professor Kukui that the class had plans to head to Cerulean City for a Gym battle.

In When Regions Collide!, the group arrived at Cerulean City, where Misty and Brock assisted Professor Kukui's lecture on the mechanics of Gym battles and the Pokémon League. Misty defeated Lana and Mallow in a Multi Battle, but she and her Mega Gyarados lost against Ash and his Pikachu. She and Brock then bade Ash and his classmates farewell and accepted Ash's offer to visit Alola sometime in the future.

Misty reappeared in SM102, where she and Brock visited Ash and his classmates in Alola after Lana invited them. She also explained that her sisters took charge, and implied that Cerulean Gym was facing enough challengers that she simply needed a break. Whilst Brock remained at the Pokémon Center, Misty accompanied Ash and the others to Treasure Island, where they enjoyed Mantine Surfing and playing with the Pokémon before Team Rocket attempted to steal the Mantine. However, with the help of Gyarados and several Z-Moves, she and the others managed to send Team Rocket flying.

Misty reappeared SM103, where she accompanied Ash, his classmates and Brock to Akala Island where they visited Paniola Ranch and later met Island Kahuna Olivia. At the end of the episode, Brock and Misty left Alola to return to Kanto.

Fanon
Misty's crush on Ash is reciprocated but Ash is simply oblivious to his own feelings and treats Misty as a friend, even if he actually has romantic feelings for her. Many fanworks depict them as adults, where Ash finally matures and recognizes Misty's feelings for him. These can be categorized as the "growing-up" genre, revolving around how Misty has to live the cupid life for nearly a decade before she and Ash get together.

PokéShipping is the most popular Pokémon ship and one of the most popular shippings in all of anime. It's also one of the most popular shippings between Ash and a female companion. It's biggest rivals tend to be Ash with his other female companions and rivals or Misty and his male companions.

Fandom
DEVIANTART

FAN FICTION
 * Ash/Misty on FanFiction.Net

WIKIS

Trivia

 * The ship name comes from Pokémon, making a reference to the first anime season Pokémon Gotta catch' em all!.
 * Thus far, Misty is the only one of Ash's traveling companions to ever get a strong reaction out of him on the subject of romance. She is the only traveling companion he has ever given a crush blush to and the only traveling companion he has ever gotten jealous over.
 * There is a long history of ship wars in the Pokémon fandom. Pokéshipping, being one of the oldest ships, has been prevalent throughout pretty much every era of ship-to-ship combat. It participated in a massive war with the Palletshipping (Ash x Gary). GoggleShipping (Ash x Giselle) and BoulderShipping (Ash x Brock) fanbase near the beginning of the series, there was a war between Pokéshipping and Advanceshipping (Ash x May) during the Advanced Generation, and Pokéshipping and Pearlshipping (Ash x Dawn) fought in the DP era. In the Best Wishes era, there was a war between Pokéshipping, CafeMochaShipping (Ash x Cilan) and ImaginationShipping (Ash x Bianca). Since the XY era, the Sun and Moon era and the Journeys era, Pokéshipping, Amourshipping (Ash x Serena), AureliaShipping (Ash x Lillie) and FirstFriendShipping (Ash x Go) are the four largest ships in the fandom, and the ship wars are still continuing on.
 * NegaiShipping (Ash x Iris) is the most similar to PokéShipping because Misty and Iris are tsundere-like girls and both of them are the strongest PokéGirls. There is not much rivalry between both shippings since they support each other.
 * Misty has romantic feelings toward the "Red character" (Ash variants) in multiple interpretations of the Pokémon story. In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Misty is shown to have a crush on Red early on and even struggles to confess to him in later chapters. In the The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga, Ash and Misty are again shown to have crushes on one another and even openly flirt from time to time. Misty's crush is further referenced in Pokémon Comics, the Ash & Pikachu manga, Pokémon Live!, and various 4Kids spin off songs and promotional material.
 * Pokéshipping has also received a wide variety of references outside of the official Pokémon franchise throughout pop culture. The romantic undertones of Ash and Misty's relationship were hinted at in episodes of Robot Chicken, MAD, Pokémon 'Bridged, Smosh, Game Theory, Maré Odomo's comic series, Letters to an Absent Father, the StarBomb song, I Choose You To Die, and the ALL CAPS song, Trainers in Love. An unofficial Pokémon musical, appropriately titled, Pokémon: The Mew-sical was also put on by a handful of students at Yale University with one of the major plot points being Ash and Misty's difficulty confessing their feelings to one another. A recording of the show can be viewed in its entirety here.
 * A girl from an unused flash-forward scene from Pokémon the First Movie was thought to be Ash and Misty's daughter from the future, as she is shown alongside an adult woman resembling Misty. Movie's director Kunihiko Yuyama denied this theory by saying the adult woman isn't Misty actually and the resemblance between the two is unintentional.

Variations

 * HanadaShipping refers to the ship between Red and Misty
 * MangaPokéShopping refers to the ship between Red (Pokémon Adventures) and Misty