NegaiShipping

NegaiShipping is the het ship between Ash and Iris from the Pokémon fandom.

Pokémon Black & White
It all begins in the Unova region, where Ash and Iris meet for the first time in the episode "Enter Iris and Axew!". This time, the way they meet is unique, as Ash notices something moving in the bushes and only sees the top of Iris' hair, believing it to be a Pokémon. Scanning it with the Pokédex, he thinks it's an Axew and decides to throw the Poké Ball at it. Iris gets angry about it until Ash apologizes.

Iris blushes slightly upon meeting Ash, and throughout most of the episode. Later on, after Pikachu and Axew are stolen by Team Rocket, Ash jumps off a tree and falls down to the ground. Iris immediately jumps down from the tree, asking if Ash is all right, rather than trying to save the Pokémon. Iris also later thanks Ash for saving Axew, even though it was Oshawott who saved him. The morning after meeting Iris, Ash seems a little disappointed when she has suddenly gone missing. Iris then tells Ash that because of his actions she has started to change her view of him and she starts traveling with him.

In the episode "A Sandile Gusher of Change!", During a rescue of some Pokémon, Ash loses his grip on a bridge made of Sandile, but Iris is there to grab his wrist, keeping hold of him as the Sandile righten themselves to safety. Afterward, the two look to each other and smile, having silently reconciled their differences. It is to be noted, however, they shared this look a moment later with the main Sandile; ultimately, it means, "A job well done." Later, the two decide to relax in the new thermal bath created by the geysers.

In "The Battle Club and Tepig's Choice!", Iris shows concern for Ash when he tries to get close to an abandoned Tepig and tells him to be careful. After Ash succeeds in calming the Pokémon down, Iris watches Ash as he unties the rope around Tepig's snout and feeds it. She seems surprised by Ash's treatment of the Pokémon and smiles warmly.

In "Triple Leaders, Three Threats!", during Ash's gym battle with Chili, Cress, and Cilan, fans of the brothers stayed on one side of the arena to cheer on the Gym Leaders, while Iris stays on the opposing side and quite blatantly gazes at Ash with a look that could easily be interpreted as attraction or cool admiration (among others, both positive and negative, given she's been calling him a "kid" up until now, and not kindly). Later, in the following episode "Dreams by the Yard Full!", After his battle with Cilan, Ash happily shows his Badge to Iris and asks her opinion. Iris criticizes Ash for his choices in battle and this upsets him, not expecting that answer from her. Cilan comments on the nice "flavor" that Ash and Iris have together. Iris moves to leave and Cilan asks if they were not traveling together. Indignantly, Iris states "We're not together!" and leaves, which is a common expression said by tsundere characters. Also, Ash seems to be upset when Iris declares that he and she are not traveling together and takes off on her own. Later, once Cilan has formally joined Ash's travel party, Ash and Cilan are on their way to leave Striaton City. As Ash wonders where Iris is, she appears from a tree, surprising him. After being asked by Ash to join him and Cilan on their journey, she is overjoyed and excitedly accepts his invitation.

In "Saving Darmanitan from the Bell", When Ash and Iris were eating, Cilan states they're quite alike, which makes Iris angry and said to Cilan "You think I act like him?". Later in the episode "The Bloom is on Axew", During the battle between Iris and Cilan, Iris seems to pay just as much attention to Ash as the battle at hand. Most of the time she and Ash argue over battle strategies and why she doesn't want to battle him. During this time, Iris is too busy arguing to tell Axew how to counterattack, and it ended up taking a Solar Beam at close range. Throughout the episode, Iris is surprised that Ash wants to battle her so much. Ash is annoyed that Iris would not battle him and that she battled Cilan instead. He continuously asks her for a battle throughout the episode.

In "A Rival Battle for Club Champ!", When Trip was leaving after he "canceled" the request to battle, she took up for Ash and helped convince Trip to change his mind. Iris blatantly gazes at Ash with a look that could easily be interpreted as attraction or cool admiration for the second time, during his battle with Trip. Later, in the episode "The Battle According to Lenora!", In the Nacrene City Museum, Iris is very attentive to Ash as they enter the Nacrene Gym. When Lenora examines how Ash behaves as a trainer, Iris feels flirtatious with him. She later helps him with his depression after Ash lost to Lenora in their first Gym Battle.

In "Sewaddle and Burgh in Pinwheel Forest!", When the group is lost in the Pinwheel Forest, Iris claims to know the way out by "listening to the forest". Cilan says that this was merely non-scientific explanations, but Ash agrees that going with your hunches is the best way to go. Soon Burgh appears and teaches the way on how to gain the trusting from Pokémon. They eventually manage to exit the Pinwheel Forest to go to Castelia Gym.

In "Dancing With the Ducklett Trio!", when Ash and Pikachu fall into a hole and get separated from the group, Iris and Axew are concerned about him, because the hole closes itself, like if the Earth were swallowing Ash. Iris is willing to use her Excadrill to try and find them. Even though Excadrill doesn't listen to her, Iris doesn't hesitate to ask it for help, unlike in "The Bloom is on Axew!" when Ash is the one to finally convince her to use it to rescue Axew. Later, Iris again shows a look of concern when Ash battles Sandile, knowing that Pikachu was at a disadvantage. Later, Iris is very upset when the Ducklet Trio reappear, because they stole Ash's cap and other two objects.

In "A Venipede Stampede!", when Ash tries to help an injured Venipede, Iris constantly worries for him, because of the Venipede's Poison Point. She is concerned for him when he becomes poisoned due to contact with the Pokémon. Later, when Ash jumps in the path of Lampent's Shadow Ball to protect the boss Venipede and is hit, she rushes to his side and holds onto his arm.

In "Emolga the Irresistible!", When Iris, Axew, and Emolga are cornered by a group of wild Swoobat, Ash and the others come to their aid. Iris looks relieved and only acknowledges Ash and Pikachu, despite Cilan and Bianca being there as well. Later, Iris eventually catches Emolga with her Poké Ball and Ash compliments Iris for doing so.

In "The Dragon Master's Path!", When Team Rocket steals Axew and Druddigon, Iris uses her senses to try and find the two Pokémon. When Iris finds out where they are, Cilan and Emmy begin to doubt Iris and think that she is going the wrong way. However, Ash assures them that because of Iris's senses they would find Axew and Druddigon. Ash then tells them that he will believe in Iris, and follows after her. This shows that Ash has confidence in Iris's abilities and her bond with Axew. At the end of this episode: Iris and Ash decide to share their similar major goals: Ash's major goal is becoming a Pokémon Master and Iris's major goal is becoming the Dragon Master.

In "Facing Fear with Eyes Wide Open!", When Ash and Oshawott are ambushed underwater by a school of wild Tympole, Iris seemingly senses the danger and looks toward the lake while wondering if they are all right, despite Oshawott not being a Dragon-type Pokémon. In the episode "Gotta Catch A Roggenrola!", On several different occasions when Ash was in mortal danger, Iris screamed his name with obvious strain in her voice. Meanwhile, Cilan and Mr. Garrison didn't say a thing.

In "Reunion Battles in Nimbasa!", during the Club Battle tournament Ash faces off against Burgundy in the first round, and right before his battle, Iris shows concern for Ash and wonders who he'll use to fight with. Ash says he's using this chance to test someone. After this, Ash moves on to the battlefield while Iris stands up and follows him to the edge of the area designated for spectators.

In "The Club Battle Hearts of Fury: Emolga Versus Sawk!", during Iris's battle against Stephan in the second round of the Club Battle tournament, Ash expresses concern for her when she is losing the battle, due to Stephan being Ash's rival rather than a supporter. When she finally manages to turn things around and defeat him, Ash states that Iris is awesome.

In "Club Battle Finale: A Heroes Outcome!" Ash manages to pass to the finals and willingly wants to battle Iris at this point if Iris defeats Luke. In the semifinal match of the tournament Iris's Axew goes against Luke's Golett. Iris tells Axew to use Scratch but it is ineffective due to Golett being part Ghost-type. Georgia insults Iris for not knowing that, and Ash defends her by saying the battle has only begun. He also expresses concern for Iris when she and Axew are cornered during the battle. Iris manages to win and it's her next turn to battle Ash in the finals. Iris chose Excadrill for battling Ash's Pikachu and both Ash and Iris promise each other to do a good battle. Cilan doesn't know who he want to support, although he equally supports both of them. Iris manages to defeat Ash and he congratulates her for winning the Club Battle.

Pokémon Black and White: Rival Destinies
In "Enter Elesa, Electrifying Gym Leader!", When Bianca decides to keep her promise to her father and end her journey, the group is saddened to see her leave. However before Bianca's father can take her away, Iris insists that Ash say something to him and change his mind about letting Bianca travel. This is notable since it shows how much faith Iris has in Ash. Also, she didn't ask Cilan, who is a better speaker, despite him being able to do the same thing.

This is the first major hint to this ship. In “Lost at the Stamp Rally!”, Iris is very bored listening to Cilan's long speech about the Stamp Rally, so she decides to go alone with Ash with the excuse that he had promised to take her on a tour of the Nimbasa City. First they walk together until they reach a stadium. When Ash asks what Iris wants to see first, she points to a poster of the Gurdurr vs Darmanitan teams match. Iris reveals to Ash that she is a big fan of the Gurdurr team since they trained in the Village of Dragons, which happens to be her hometown. After watching the game, Iris is thrilled that her team has won the match, to the point of blushing in Ash's presence. Then, Iris proposes to Ash to have a game of tennis, to which he accepts on the condition that he will not lose to her. After playing, they both went to the Musical Theater. where they both sat together for a while until Oshawott came out of his Poké Ball to want to get on stage. Later, when Iris buys some Casteliacones for both of them, she finds a female Axew different from her own male counterpart wearing it in her hair. Their meeting alone together ends when they manage to find Cilan and Erina, the real trainer of the female Axew.

In "Scraggy and the Demanding Gothita!" When Iris says that Scraggy and Axew are as competitive as rivals when they battle and that when the battles over they're best friends, she smiles at Ash. Later, when Katharine tries to get Ash to trade Scraggy, she is worried that Ash will lose Scraggy. Cilan shows no concern over the battle.

In "The Lonely Deino!", the group is working at a daycare where a shy Deino's Trainer has yet to return. Iris, knowing how much Ash was looking forward to his Gym battle, tells him and Cilan to go on ahead to Driftveil City without her while she waits with Deino. Ash and Cilan both decide to wait as well, and Ash reassures Iris that if that Deino is her friend then it's also a friend of theirs. Iris looks relieved to hear Ash say that.

In "Rocking The Virbank Gym Part 2!", Iris was adamant in cheering for Ash during his final Gym battle, despite Roxie having considerably more fans. To that end, she and Axew cheered as loud as they could, beat on drums, came up with a cheer, and eventually she even dressed up and painted her face (and Cilan's) to give Ash an extra boost of confidence. After the battle was settled she cheered loudly when he won.

In "Piplup, Pansage, and a Meeting of the Times!", Ash is upset when someone touched him from behind, but he relieves that she is Dawn. Ash decides to introduce Iris to her. In "Expedition to Onix Island!", Dawn decides to play along with Iris, both calling Ash a “little kid” and leaving him to enjoy himself on his own. When Ash explores the Onix cave, he is sure that the Rock Snake Pokémon always live there. Dawn says that is not always true, to which Iris replies that he is a “kid who thinks he knows everything”. They both look into each other’s eyes in amusement, which this does not please an angry Ash, who decides to enter the cave alone. But when a group of Woobat come out of the cave, Ash falls in fright, causing Dawn and Iris to say together that Ash is a “little kid” for the third time, leaving him alone with Cilan. Once inside the cave, the Onix come out to attack everyone, causing Dawn and Iris to become even more separated from Ash and Cilan, each fleeing for their accounts. Since then, Ash doesn't show concern about Dawn and Iris, despite her Piplup being with Ash and Cilan.

In "The Mystery of the Missing Cubchoo!", Iris and Dawn start thinking that Cilan is very annoying, to the point that when he manages to solve the mystery, Dawn and Iris are quite critical of his speeches, to the point of pushing him away by telling him to his face that he is annoying. This shows that Dawn and Iris are already starting to enjoy the company with Ash more than with Cilan.

In "Iris and the Rogue Dragonite!", a rogue Dragonite is causing trouble and has hidden itself away in the town's power plant. The group decides to help, and Iris believes that she can get through to Dragonite if she talked with it. Officer Jenny quickly protests the idea, but relents seeing no other way. She gives Ash a Poké Ball to use to catch Dragonite, should there be no other option. However, Ash quickly declines, stating that he believes that Iris will be able to handle it.

In "Battling Authority Once Again!", Ash is happy when Iris defeats Dawn in the Junior Cup. Later, in "Ash, Iris and Trip: Then There Were Three!", In the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup Semi Finals, Ash and Iris are pitted against each other. During their battle Ash's Krokorok evolves into Krookodile and attacks Iris's Dragonite. Dragonite (which until then had been obeying Iris's commands) goes out of control, and starts blindly attacking the arena. Iris pleads with it to calm down, and Ash seeing Iris's desperation decides to end the battle before things get worse, making Ash to pass to the finals and Iris getting disqualified. Ash in turn, loses to Trip and he in turn loses to Alder, the Unova champion at the time.

Pokémon Black and White: Adventures In Unova and Beyond
In "Beauties Battling for Pride and Prestige!", Moira, Mona and Cher, three ladies from Unova, insult Iris and her Pokémon and even taunt them, quickly running away. Iris, enraged, pursues them at all costs, but feels even worse when they escape in their personal bus. She and Ash go to an old lady who knows the ladies and she tells them they are at an event where they show off all their Pokémon. However, the old lady warns them that only women can attend this event. Despite this, Iris, with a desire for revenge, decides to enter with her friends anyway regardless of these conditions. Ash is discouraged to enter, due to the fact that he is a man, but Iris comes up with an idea for him and Cilan to dress up as women to battle Moira, Mona and Cher.

In the final battle against Moira and her group, Iris asks Ash to borrow his Snivy, to which he agrees. Iris and Snivy form a great team and defeat Moira's Cinccino easily. This is notable, as Snivy is a high-level Pokemon and it possibly reflects how well Ash and Iris work together and how much they trust each other, as well.

In "A Village Homecoming!", the group makes a stop in the Village of Dragons, Iris's homeland, where Iris introduces her friends to the village Elder. She goes into more detail about Ash and explains how he has collected his Badges and intends to challenge the Vertress Conference, and that she'll continue to travel with him to support him. Ash seemed especially interested in the village and it's uniqueness. The Elder then expresses how she is grateful Iris has such great friends before asking Ash if she's a handful. Ash's response causes Iris to snap at him in embarrassment.

In "Drayden Versus Iris: Past, Present, and Future!", Iris is constantly feeling anxious about her rematch with Opelucid City Gym leader Drayden. Ash continually gives her words of encouragement, helping to set her mind at ease, and enthusiastically cheers her on in the ensuing battle. Once the battle is over, Iris happily returns the favor and encourages Ash to do his best in the Vertress Conference, the Unova League.

In "Curtain Up, Unova League!", before the Leagus starts, Ash is too nervous to sleep the night. Iris wakes up seeing Ash staring out the window and he apologizes for waking her up before she tells him it'd be best if he got his rest for the next day. In the episode "A Unova League Evolution!", Iris enthusiastically cheers Ash on in his battle in the Vertress Conference against Cameron, stating he'll definitely win, even when the others think it's a long shot. Ash loses the battle, but Iris moves down and sits with him in the stands as they all watch Cameron's battle against Virgil until the League ends.

In "Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion!", When the group arrives at a Kanto Fair, both Ash and Iris (despite her attempts to remain calm) are excited by all the festivities. Iris wants to learn much more about the region and its Pokémon, even expressing an interest in visiting there sometime. As proof of the statement above, when Iris saw Ash running around due to his excitement she stated "And there he goes, running around just like a little kid." in a giddy voice rather than her usual irritated voice. Also, after Iris says this, she runs around with Ash giggling with joy which makes Cilan state that she's acting like a kid herself.

In "Ash and N: A Clash of Ideals!", reaching the White Ruins, the group meets up with Professor Juniper's father. They find the Light Stone, only to have it stolen by N. When Ash chases after him, he and N both fall down into an underground cavern. Iris immediately falls to her knees with a worried look on her face, before she tries to follow them down into the cavern, only to be dissuaded to do so by the Professor. She looks extremely distraught that she can do nothing to help and loudly screams out Ash's name in concern.

In "Farewell, Unova! Setting Sail for New Adventures!", after Team Plasma's final defeat, the group returns back to Professor Juniper's lab. The Professor asks what they are going to do now, to which Ash replies he'll probably make his way home. Iris appears to be saddened by this, but then boldly declares that she wants to keep traveling with Ash and visit Kanto to learn about the dragons there, even if that means leaving Unova, her home region.

This is another major hint. In “The Path that Leads to Goodbye!”, Iris kept getting angry at Ash or he kept getting angry at her for certain things and after Ash gave Iris a bitter apple she attempted to throw it back at him (although Cilan caught the apple before it hit Ash), and Iris angrily declared she and Ash weren't friends anymore and then she stormed off. When Iris noticed that Team Rocket had stolen Pikachu and Scraggy she freed them both and then she and Ash worked together to send Team Rocket "blasting off again". Iris and Ash made up and both gave each other gifts (she gave Ash an apple and he gave her flowers).

Having to stop travelling with Ash because she has to go to Blackthorn City to challenge its gym leader Clair, Iris felt a little bad about the times they had spent together through between joys, arguments and “childish” fights. She thanked Ash for what they have experienced together. Then, she gets on the Magnetic Train with Cilan and they leave for Johto, leaving the group for good and leaving Ash and Alexa alone.

Pokémon Master Journeys
Years later, in the episode “Thrash of the Titans!”, Iris personally sends a letter to Ash with the goal of challenging him to a Pokémon battle at the Opelucid Gym in the Unova region in the World Coronation Series. Ash and Goh then head to Unova to enter the gym. Iris suddenly appears and surprises everyone and especially Ash with her own champion costume. In doing so, she reveals that she is the strongest trainer in Unova, which allowed her to become the champion of the region. However, the two begin to fight in a "childish" manner when Iris says that Ash's childish behavior never changes.

During the argument, Ash brings his face close to Iris's regardless of the intensity of the fight. Fortunately, Drayden stops this fight and says they must settle this with a battle. Ash and Iris use their Dragonite to fight, plus Iris later uses her Haxorus and Ash uses his Dracovish. In the end, Ash wins the battle, moving up to the Ultra Class of the Coronation World Series. Iris promises to battle Ash again later as he leaves the Unova region.

Pokémon Ultimate Journeys
When Ash manages to defeat Raihan, the data of the World Coronation Series is updated, where Ash and Iris become two of the 8 masters along with other 6 champions from other regions. Initially, Ash is in the 8th place, while Iris is in the 7th place. Together, they are currently participating in it, aiming to become world champions by entering the Masters Tournament.

In episode JN115 they both are shown running into the Masters Eight meeting together and later on exchange a gaze and a smile at each other when being presented in the tournament's opening ceremony. When the tournament begins, Ash is introduced, followed by Iris. Seeing them together, Goh supports them both. When the Tournament begins with Leon vs. Alain, Iris stayed in the Masters Room with another 6 champions, with Ash being abscent. Cynthia asks why Ásh is not with everyone in the Masters Room, Iris replies that he preferred to go with his closest friends Hop and Goh to sit in the audience.

In JN116, when the battle performed by Lance and Diantha is over, the next battle is Cynthia vs. Iris. Ash, without his friends Hop and Goh, goes down to a passage where he meets Lance to talk to him, but he just clarifies that all his battles end "here" and leaves. Iris appears eager to see Ash and they both show their excitement to witness the most important battle in Iris' life, after her previous battle with Ash. He encourages Iris to use all her power and spirit in her battle against Cynthia. Iris rushes to attend her battle, while Ash returns to where Hop and Goh were.

In the following episode JN117, Iris has the support of Goh and mostly Ash. During the battle, when Iris finally uses Haxorus to fight Cynthia's Garchomp, Ash blushes "Pikachu cheeks" style. Even a wind of energy coming from the battle makes Iris show off, due to the fact that her champion outfit is a long skirt semi-open to the ground and the strong wind made her show off her legs, which impresses Ash. However, regardless of the best battle Iris had in her life, she lost to Cynthia's Mega-Garchomp. Hop and Goh express their concern over Iris's defeat, but Ash, without warning, goes to comfort her without them.

Back in the passage, Iris is very depressed about her defeat. Ash finds her, which makes Iris want to keep her happiness because of how amazing her opponent was. However, she couldn't take it anymore and started crying. Previously in "Thrash of the Titans!" Iris promised Ash to battle him in higher classes pointing to the Masters Tournament and now she cries because now she can't fulfill her promise. Suddenly, Goh arrives on the scene. Both Ash and Goh finally get Iris to regain her hopes and Iris and Goh promise Ash to support him in person in his next fight against Steven Stone.

Fanon
Fans of this shipping consider that Ash should be with Iris because Ash wants to become a Pokémon Master and Iris wants to become a Dragon Master. Both are Pokémon Trainers. And they say that Iris is the strongest trainer of the PokéGirls. Ash might feel hatred for Iris, but at least there are more feelings he showed more to her than to the others.

Ash and Iris have almost the same habits and the same personality, as they both carry their main Pokémon on their shoulders (Pikachu and Axew), they both want to become masters, they are childish representing that the anime is kodomo (only for children) and they are almost at the same level, so fans consider Iris to be the real Ashley (the female version of Ash).

When Ash and Iris are alone in Nimbasa City, fans consider this the best moment for both of them. They even said that this was the best of all the dates Ash could have had, even though they both hadn't planned it.

In the shipping war, the popularity of this ship has varied over the years. This shipping was popular along with Pokéshipping during the Best Wishes series of the anime, because Misty and Iris have similar personalities (Both of them are tsundere-like girls). However, with the arrival of the XY series, this shipping drastically dropped in popularity. Most of Pokémon fans formerly considered Negaishipping was the worst Pokémon shipping due to Iris arguing a lot with Ash and calling him "a little kid" repeatedly. However, Iris has a lot of support from all the people who don't like Serena or AmourShipping.

With the recent news of Ash being Alola champion and later Iris returning as Unova champion, this shipping has regained its lost popularity, although it still has a long way to go to become the most preferred ship by all Pokémon fans, like PokéShipping. Later, with the news that Ash and Iris have entered the Masters Tournament together, NegaiShipping regained even more fans, to the point of becoming the ally of JourneyShipping and rival of PearlShipping and more recently AmourShipping, as all these ships regained popularity with the returns of Ash's respective female companions. Now their fans expect NegaiShipping to become canon, whatever it takes. They even think that this ship should be made official in the Pokémon anime to reduce the criticism the haters have been making of both Iris and NegaiShipping, and thus, reduce rather controversial issues such as "discrimination against dark-skinned people". Still, it is one of the Pokémon ships that has very few fics and is the least written in AO3.

It rivals with WishfulShipping (Iris×Cilan), ImaginationShipping (AshxBianca), PokéShipping (Ash×Misty), AdvanceShipping (Ash×May), PearlShipping (Ash×Dawn), AlohaShipping (Ash×Mallow), AureliaShipping (Ash×Lillie), and BlueAngelShipping (Ash×Lana). The giant rival of this shipping is AmourShipping because Iris has a totally opposite personality to Serena. This became more serious to the point that all AmourShippers are automatically considered Anti-Negaishippers.

Fandom
FANFICTION
 * Ash/Iris tag on FanFiction.net
 * Ash/Iris tag on FanFiction.net

DEVIANTART

FAN POP
 * Ash and Iris Club on Fanpop

Trivia

 * The name of the ship comes from the Japanese word "negai" which means wish, making a reference to the Best Wishes series of the anime.
 * SatoAi, the Japanese name for this ship, comes from the original Japanese names: Satoshi (Ash) and Airisu (Iris).
 * “Thrash of the Titans!”, the episode where Iris returns in Journeys, makes reference to the movie “Clash of the Titans”.
 * Of all the female companions who have returned to Journeys, Iris has the most interaction with Ash, plus she is Ash's closest friend, along with Hop and Goh. This is usually seen by the NegaiShippers and JourneyShippers as proof that Ash is likely to choose Iris, Hop or Goh for his bride in the near future.