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

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PikaShipping is the belief in love between Ash and Pikachu. It is one of the more popular human-Pokémon ships. It stems from the fact that Ash and Pikachu have a very close relationship, possibly more so than with Ash and any of his human friends.

The debate over Pikachu's gender is largely interlinked with debate over this ship. However since the release of the Diamond and Pearl games it was revealed that females have heart shaped tails while males (and Ash's Pikachu) don't. This isn't very conclusive however, due to the fact that all Pikachu before Generation IV have non- indented tails. Also, homosexual ships with Ash (like PalletShipping) are fairly common, making the point moot to a certain extent.

Evidence

Pokémon! I Choose You!

• Ash risked his life for Pikachu's safety. Pikachu, being taken back by Ash's kindness, used a great Thunderbolt and risked to be hurt for Ash's safety.

Pikachu's Good-Bye

• Ash attempted to free Pikachu for it to be happy, but Pikachu ended up changing its mind.

Talking A Good Game

• This ep actually highly centered around PikaShipping, even though many may claim it was an Abilityshipping ep. They mainly talked about the relationship Ash and Pikachu had. Since she was a little girl, Anabel developed a quality that allows her to understand the thoughts and feelings of Pokémon, and therefore being able to communicate with them in a conversation. With this, she can understand what Pokémon say when they talk. Pikachu even mentioned how Ash tends to go further than a normal trainer would.

Lucario and the Mystery of Mew

• Ash clearly states "I love you" to Pikachu right before he is swallowed by the orange antibodies.

Two Degrees of Seperation (Pictured)

• Ash risks his life to climb up the robot's arm and save Pikachu, even though the robot was going to blow up.

Mutiny in the Bounty

• When J turns Pikachu into a statue, Ash is the first time in the Anime seen to be very very angry and mad. He does everything, to save Pikachu, starting with jumping onto a driving car, and ending by grabbing Pikachu, while he´s in danger to fall out of the airplane.

A Secret Sphere of Influence!

• When Pikachu and Piplup discovered that Team Rocket stole the Adamant Orb, Pikachu insisted on telling Ash about it first. This shows that Pikachu trusts Ash to take care of these problems instead of taking care of it by itself.

Steamboat Willies

• After hearing that the boat left without anyone on it, and that it was heading for a waterfall, Ash put down his grocery bad and ,staring after the boat, whispered gently,"Pikachu.." in a caring tone. Later, Pikachu was running around the boat and head Ash's voice. When Pikachu saw him, Pikachu was very happy and relieved.

This article is part of Project Shipping, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each couple in Pokémon.