PalletShipping

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PalletShipping
GENERAL
Pokémon
Character	Ash Ketchum
Character	Gary Oak
Canonical?	Fanon
Status of Relationship	Childhood Friends/Rivals
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Slash
Also Known As	ShigeSato, SatoShige, ShiShi
Tropes	• Childhood Friend Romance • Childhood Friends • Rivals to Lovers

4 11

PalletShipping is the slash ship between Ash and Gary from the Pokémon fandom.

Canon

Clefairy and the Moon Stone

En route to Cerulean City, Ash and his friends notice a small piece of graffiti Gary left on a sign saying, “Gary was here! Ash is a loser!” Ash then tears off down the road to catch up with his rival. Ash also becomes very aggravated by this small note, which is proof that Ash takes to heart what Gary says to him.

The Battle of the Badge

Ash and the gang find Gary and his cheerleaders wounded in the final Kanto gym. While Brock goes crazy about the wounded girls, Ash exclaims Gary's name and runs over to him, cradling him and seeming truly worried about his “hated” rival. Gary tells Ash what happened to him, right there in Ash's arms. Later in the same episode, after Gary seems to have recovered a bit, Ash is battling Team Rocket and Gary seems rather worried about him when he gets shocked; he even spouts some encouraging words to Ash (which is a rare event, considering he is almost always taunting Ash). Gary is also the one who leaps in to tackle Meowth, making sure that Ash gets the badge from the gym. The final bit in this episode is the very end when Gary actually compliments Ash, saying that he is a decent trainer.

Showdown at the Po-ké Corral

This episode takes place shortly after “The Battle of The Badge” when Ash and Gary meet up at Professor Oak’s lab. Ash had originally traveled there to speak to Professor Oak about the Indigo Pokémon League. Upon realizing Gary is there, however, Ash completely forgets about asking Oak and instead runs to Gary. Ash then takes him by the shoulders and shakes him while begging for information about the League, which he could have just as easily obtained from the Professor. After a bit of arguing, they stop and finally admit that both of their training techniques are good, and finally end up hanging out, walking around the Professor’s ranch like friends and chatting about their Pokémon. In this episode Gary also winks at Ash a few times, and they end up battling Team Rocket together in perfect union, without a second thought.

A Tent Situation

During the episode every time someone mentions Professor Ivy, Brock isolates himself with depression because something happened between them and he had a crush on her. When Misty mentions Gary, Ash does the same thing.

The Rivalry Revival

After a battle with Gary in “A Tent Situation”, Gary has left and Misty inquires if Ash would like to know where Gary is going. Ash acts as if he doesn’t care, exclaiming that why he should. Later he goes to Professor Oak’s lab and asks him where Gary is heading anyway. Upon finding out that Gary is going to the Johto Region, he apparently chooses to go to Johto himself based on Gary’s decision, beginning his trek there in the next episode.

Power Play

At the beginning of this episode, Ash and the gang stumble across Gary battling a trainer who has a strong-looking Alakazam. Gary uses his Umbreon to defeat the Alakazam and Ash gets excited, sliding down a rather steep cliff to get to Gary as the latter begins to walk off. Ash momentarily gets Gary’s attention and asks for a battle, which Gary refuses. Ash seems genuinely hurt by being rejected by Gary, even though it was just a battle. Later, when Ash is still in a bad mood from his rejection, Misty asks “What’s the matter with you, Prince Charming?” That very night, Ash is still seemingly hurt and angered by the rejection, and claims that he'll stuff his face until he meets up with Gary again so that he’ll have plenty of strength. After defeating Team Rocket’s mecha, Gary says, “Now’s our chance, Ash,” even though Misty and Brock are present. When Gary goes to switch on the water handle, Ash immediately says, “I’ll go with you!” even though Gary doesn’t ask for company. Ash and friends all try to turn the handle and Gary decides to help them by putting his hands on Ash’s and pulling the handle with them. Towards the end of this episode, when the power has returned to the city, Gary starts to depart when Ash calls Gary’s name in an almost wistful sort of way. Gary stops and tells Ash that he did a good job getting the power back on and that next time they meet they will battle. Ash is overjoyed as he watches Gary walk away.

Extreme Pokémon!

When Ash learns that Gary is in a race, he swears to beat him. Also, when Ash falls off his skateboard and falls down the hill, Gary calls his Arcanine to block Ash from continuing to roll.

A Claim to Flame!

Ash arrives at the Silver Conference. Upon arrival, he realizes that Gary is participating in the Conference, and seems somewhat bothered by that fact. During the night, Ash thinks about Gary and the Conference and cannot fall sleep. He decides to take a walk, during which he bumps into Gary. The two of them end up sitting by a lake, under a starlit sky, and talking for a while. Gary gives Ash some very professional-sounding advice, and Ash inquires if he is alright. Later, they agree that they are friends, and Gary calls Ash “Ashy”. Later, in the same episode, Gary is also the one who says that Ash should be the one to carry the Silver Conference torch.

Can’t Beat the Heat!

Ash beats Gary in a battle during the Silver Conference. Professor Oak and Delia are watching the battle, and Professor Oak says that even though Gary would never admit it, Ash is his most important friend. Delia replies that Ash is no different in that respect. After the battle, Gary tells Ash to meet him, and ends up giving the latter his half of a Poké Ball (of which they had each carried half throughout their entire journey). The two of them then hold hands. Then he says he will cheer for Ash in the second match.

Playing with Fire!

Gary tells Ash that he’ll be watching Ash’s next battle. As Ash keeps battling with Harrison, Gary keeps smiling. Ash also talks to himself about how badly he wants to win for himself and to make Gary proud of him.

Gotta Catch Ya Later!

Ash and Gary say their final goodbyes before Gary leaves to go do his research. Before they part, Ash decides to give Gary back his half of the Poké Ball and Gary promises to take good care of it. Later, Ash is sitting around thinking about how all of his friends are gone, and decides he wants to be like Gary and get a whole new start by going to Hoenn, basing another important life decision on being like Gary.

The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing

Ash is feeling rather down about losing a battle when he receives a postcard from Gary. He imagines himself standing and talking with Gary in response to the letter. After doing so, Ash gets a burst of determination and decides to work harder. Professor Oak also makes a comment about how Gary is a medicine for when Ash feels dejected.

Home is Where the Start is

Ash runs into Gary and his Electivire. The two later battle and Gary wins, telling Ash that even though he beat the Battle Frontier, there are many trainers and Pokémon that he doesn’t know about in Sinnoh, and that the world is a big place. He then says goodbye, saying he’s heading back to Sinnoh. Ash takes Gary’s words into consideration and makes the decision to follow Gary to Sinnoh, basing yet another travel decision on Gary’s own. Ash leaves for Sinnoh the very next day.

Fanon

Palletshipping was once the most popular ship in the fandom when the TV show was still airing along side PokéShipping, These two ships would often have ship wars that lasted till the end.

Palletshipping’s popularity dropped partly due to the lack of interactions between the two characters since Gary left to pursue his dreams to become a Pokémon Professor like his grandfather.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Gary/Ash tag on AO3

Ash/Gary tag on FanFiction.net

TUMBLR

Ash×Gary tag on Tumblr

ShigeSato posts on Tumblr

PalletShipping posts on Tumblr

TWITTER

Ash×Gary posts on Twitter

ShigeSato posts on Twitter

PalletShipping posts on Twitter

DEVIANTART

Ash×Gary tag on DeviantArt

SatoShige tag on DeviantArt

PalletShipping tag on DeviantArt

INSTAGRAM

Ash×Gary hashtag on Instagram

ShigeSato hashtag on Instagram

PalletShipping hashtag on Instagram

ART

ShigeSato tag on Pixiv

PalletShipping tag on TikTok

Ash×Gary tag on TikTok

Trivia

• This ship is more popular in Japan, very possibly because the original contains a larger amount of hints, which, as PalletShippers point out, are edited or made less suggestive in the dub.

Gallery

Variations

OriginalShipping refers to the ship between Red and Blue/Green, their game counterparts.