Rare Pairings

[Teebs96]

hi.
I'm a really big Plainhiveshipper (Bugsy x Whitney). The two have fueled most of my creative efforts of the past year, I've shipped them since my tumblr days in like 2014, but I've really driven a lot of energy into it lately. I really do love them so much. I am not the ONLY Plainhiveshipper online, but its a very rare paring and most of the content of it you'll see online has been my doing.

I love them together so much.

 

[Tokiwa]

I scoured the Neverending Romance list and Tumblr but I couldn't find the names of these ships:

Raihan x Gloria (Sword, Shield)

Moon x Lillie x Serena (SuMo, XY)

The long list does lack the names of ship from Let's Go to SV and PLA.

 

[Herbizarre]

One that has been growing on me lately is Riley x Cynthia (RukarioShipping I think it's called). I like to think they were in a small group training to become the Aura Guardian when they were younger, but Cynthia decided to pursue her passion for mythologies instead of continuing down that path like Riley does. I suppose that's also a good way to explain why we feel intimidated when we have to battle Cynthia : her innate Aura passively flares up during battle lmao

 

[SunGodNika1997]

Gotta go with Misty x Serena. Started off as a joke between me and my AmourShipper friend, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it might just work. Who needs Ash anyways?

 

[c la fet]

One that has been growing on me lately is Riley x Cynthia (RukarioShipping I think it's called). I like to think they were in a small group training to become the Aura Guardian when they were younger, but Cynthia decided to pursue her passion for mythologies instead of continuing down that path like Riley does. I suppose that's also a good way to explain why we feel intimidated when we have to battle Cynthia : her innate Aura passively flares up during battle lmao

My sister likes this pairing too !

But the aura guardians are from Kanto and Cynthia's family is from Hisui, and it's also implied that Riley is way older than he looks so I don't think they were raised together.

I'm curious, what do you think of
descentshipping (Riley/Queen Airin) ? I think it's pretty cool too.

 

[JollyYoshi]

CyrusXCynthia is a ship that I support as a “tragic ship”. I’d like to believe that there was some relationship between them when they were younger but I’m not sure where it’d go from there. I would not necessarily want this ship to end happily. (Also known as Mizuhiki shipping)

Another interesting one would be RikaXCyrus. It probably doesn’t make that much sense as Rika is probably much younger than Cyrus. (I know Cyrus is 27 in DPPt but I feel like SV takes place at least two decades after DPPt)

 

[DigitalGen6]

I made a list of ships I supported in one shipping thread. One second, I’ll bring it over.
Edit: Aaaand found it! Neverending Romance -- The Shipping List Revival

 

[Teebs96]

a mutual of mine got me into vanivilleshipping (serena x trevor) and i think its really cute.

 

[YellowFromViridianForest]

I love rare pairs, particularly in the game/manga verse. I love seeing how people do their dynamics, especially since a lot of times these character never interact so a lot of it is the author's imagination. I'll even read a rare pair fanfic I don't ship if the summary/character pairing is interesting enough.

Some of my favs are:
Games
May/Red
Red/Kris
May/Kris (I read an interesting fanfic about these two on fanfiction.net)
Kris/Leaf
May/Dawn

Manga
Sabrina/Blue (not sure if this is super rare or not, I feel like it is uncommon thou)
Sapphire/Platinum
Platinum/Cynthia
Platinum/Blue
Crys/Yellow
Crys/Sapphire

I once I've read a Misty/Dawn (anime verse) fanfic on fanfiction.net years ago which was quite interesting.

EDIT: Should have also specified that Blue is the girl.

 

[sleepwick]

this thread being active again today gives me an excuse to finally hop in here...rarepairs are basically my entire thing at this point so heres my unnecessarily long list of ships that for some of them i think im like..the only person online who actively ships them + makes content for/talks about them. i put them in spoiler tags bc my lists are probably absurdly long and i also added explanations for them. minor spoilers for the sword and shield manga in the second spoiler (the thing it talks about is already out in the english translation). there is mentions of manga stuff in the first one that could be potentially spoilery but it doesn't mention actually what it is. i tried to add ship names where i knew them/if i could find them on the list (and for my sonia x royal twins ships i just used the names i submitted since theyre not currently officially named on there)

Spoiler: my main ones

sordward x sonia (RewriteShipping) - if you know me, this one is self explanatory. basically my entire existence online and offline revolves around them at this point. my own mother knows about this ship it's that bad. i dunno i just think they're really cute together and have a lot of potential for relationship and character development, they work off of each other quite well in the games (albeit, with a negative relationship there) but it's fun to imagine them working towards having a better more friendly relationship with each other and it eventually becoming something more. also they give me big guy has a crush on a girl and is bitterly in denial about it

shielbert x piers (RawShieldShipping) - similar case with the above, before i was really big into sordwardxsonia as my main main ship this was my main one that i almost exclusively drew for like a year! i dunno i genuinely think they look rly good together like aesthetically. theyre so different and it works well. i think it works well bc piers is the last person who would ever enable him to act the way he does and i think that would be really really good for shielbert actually.

shielbert x sonia (InaccuracyShipping) - another similar case/nearly identical to with sordward and sonia, but i think this one has some of its own unique charms outside of just being basically the same ship as that one. personally i've always gotten the impression based off of the star tournament that shielbert seems to be...generally friendlier based on him just having more positive interactions with others compared to sordward. anyway i think shielbert and sonia would chat about fashion and go on shopping dates together. dunno why i just get those vibes.

piers x sonia (CuteDarknessShipping) - WHERE DO I START WITH THIS ONE...it's so good in the games but their backstory in the manga? absolutely immaculate. i almost think piers' appearance in the postgame would've been better if they had that backstory there too. but even if it very much seems like in the games they didn't know each other i think their relationship in the postgame alone is very sweet even if we dont get much of it. plus, this one has the bonus of the fact that ive seen sordward and shielbert be included in more piers x sonia comics than i have in any general swsh fanworks so i appreciate it. thank you for your service to our community piers x sonia shippers.

shielbert x gordie (StoneShieldShipping) - this one stems from my friend randomly pinging me on discord one day asking if it would be called SherbertShipping (it's not, but we didn't know that it was named on the shipping list at that point) and i appreciated the pun so much that it stuck with me. this one is really funny bc i kinda saw them as bitter ex's at first, joking about like "damn imagine you break up with someone and then he hits on your mum" (in reference to shielbert + melony's star tournament interaction), but eventually? i started thinking this one is actually really REALLY cute. i can kinda see shielbert actually being a big fan of gordie for some reason. i also like to joke abt this one that the reason why they didn't give us interactions w the sword exclusive gym leaders + the twins is bc they were too much of cowards to show us shielbert also hitting on gordie.

Spoiler: others i like

avery x shielbert - their galarian star tournament interaction is cute and they seem like they could be friends but also i mostly only talk about this one for jokes. i kinda almost think itd be one sided on avery's side.

klara x sordward - similar case that i mostly like it for jokes, but this was actually my main sordward ship before sordward x sonia! i think they'd date and keep breaking up as a publicity stunt. (it doesnt work)

shielbert x melony - i dont rly ship this one so to say but i do like the idea of shielbert having a thing for her. im not immune to the shielbert being into older women jokes that came about as a result of the star tournament, sorry.

caitlin x marley (SpoilGothShipping) - i was surprised this actually had a ship name on the list when i checked! my friend suggested a hc that thorton and marley might be related and for some reason by brain instantly went to thorton introducing marley to caitlin and marley immediately developing the biggest crush on her.

schilly(i dunno if i should be using her eng name instead so to clarify the fem protag from the swsh manga) x hop (AlacrityShipping) - woo the one manga ship here...im not personally huge on the manga but i really like this one! its cute and i wish they had done more with it. i know it does have a bit of an audience just due to it kinda being implied that he has a thing for her, but i think it also gets outshone (in the eng fanbase at least) by the fact that...swsh manga just doesnt seem as popular as the others. and i also think dynameistershipping might be more popular but im not sure.

kris x lyra (NewReplacementShipping) - i honestly dont have much to say abt this one...idk rly why i started shipping it even before their appearances in masters finally confirmed theyre separate people. i guess i just like their designs together and im kinda surprised it isnt more popular.

whitney x bugsy (PlainhiveShipping) - got into it bc of teebs. i dont have much to say abt it aside from that but i think its super super cute and ive enjoyed drawing it (infact, im drawing it rn for an art trade with teebs)

shauna x trevor x tierno (KantoStarterConfirmedShipping) - i LOVE polyships but this one? all time fav. i just think they're so cute both in game and in the manga and the anime and i think as a trio theyre underrated. i actually like screamed out loud when i saw their frame together in the gotcha video it meant soo much to me. theyre super super cute.

sonia x ingo - started solely bc of my tomodachi life playthrough. it was kind of cute and i actually drew it once! sadly, they're divorced now in my save T__T

and these arent even all of the rarepairs i like, just the ones that came to mind.

 

[JollyYoshi]

one other ship I don’t fully support but think is cool is EthanXDawn

I came to ship Ethan and Dawn after seeing this fan art where Ethan’s holding an umbrella under the snow and Dawn’s under it too looking embarrassed. I always have shipped Ethan with Lyra but maybe it’s time for a change?

 

[sleepwick]

I came to ship Ethan and Dawn after seeing this fan art where Ethan’s holding an umbrella under the snow and Dawn’s under it too looking embarrassed. I always have shipped Ethan with Lyra but maybe it’s time for a change?

aaaa i've seen the art you're talking abt it's super cute! that and some other pieces of fanart ive seen around pixiv + twitter have made me think abt the ship fondly on more than one occasion, even if i don't personally actively ship it. maybe someday it'll become something i'm more fond of, but for a long time i was never huge on cross-region/game ships, but that's changed a bit with pokemon masters existence (which can i say, has led to some really fun and cool rarepairs, even if i don't personally enjoy a lot of them)

 

[YellowFromViridianForest]

kris x lyra (NewReplacementShipping) - i honestly dont have much to say abt this one...idk rly why i started shipping it even before their appearances in masters finally confirmed theyre separate people. i guess i just like their designs together and im kinda surprised it isnt more popular.

I believe that there a few fics out there, but ya not really that popular. Maybe since people see Lyra as a replacement character for Kris, they feel as that they're basically the same character so why ship them. I think that's also an interesting ship—fics I read sometimes touch on the "replacement" part and some don't even mention it all, keeping them two separate characters.

 

[sleepwick]

Maybe since people see Lyra as a replacement character for Kris, they feel as that they're basically the same character so why ship them.

oh definitely this is a major part of the reason considering, well...their ship name. honestly i was so relieved when they were confirmed to be separate in masters and to see them interact with each other...i guess i just never rly got the angle of them being the same character essentially bc of how different they were in design and overall vibes. but now (from what i've seen and had people comment on my posts on social media), a lot of people have moved on to headcanoning them as siblings instead. i guess its just one of those ships thats never really clicked for most people

 

[c la fet]

caitlin x marley (SpoilGothShipping) - i was surprised this actually had a ship name on the list when i checked! my friend suggested a hc that thorton and marley might be related and for some reason by brain instantly went to thorton introducing marley to caitlin and marley immediately developing the biggest crush on her.

That's because of their eye shape right ? When I tried to find a partner for every Sinnoh character, I put them together because of this

 

[sleepwick]

That's because of their eye shape right ? When I tried to find a partner for every Sinnoh character, I put them together because of this

im not sure if that's what exactly led to it, but it was definitely part of it when i looked at them side by side that made me go. "huh they do kinda look similar". their hair also looks kinda similar imo, but i think its less so the style and more just bc they both have dark hair.

 

[Brilliant Gold]

Games
Ethan x Dawn (Goldlight Shipping) - Like JollyYoshi, I got into this paring from seeing fan art of the two and reading fanfiction. I think my favorite fan art of the two, though it's not technically them, is of a fan ancestor of Ethan giving Akari hot chocolate and she looks embarrassed.
Lisia x Wally (HoennRemake Shipping) - The two look really well together with their blue and green colors. Plus they both have Altaria.
Victor x Mallow - After seeing that storyline with Mallow and the Appletun.
Marley x Marnie - Another case of a Pokemon Masters storyline. I love how Marley tried to relate to her about opening up to others.

Anime
Tierno x Nini - I'm probably the only one who ships these two because Nini wasn't liked as much as Serena's other rivals. I can picture the two coming up with dance routines together.
Alain x Astrid - They really had good chemistry in the opening of Mega Evolution Act I. I was really hoping she would be a recurring character for those specials.
Ritchie x Sakura - I mean they both parallel Ash and Misty in some way. I wished they would have met during an episode of Chronicles.
Shauna x Sawyer - I think I started shipping them after seeing Sawyer with her, Tierno, and Trevor watching the Masters Eight in Kalos. I'm surprised there's no fan art of these two when Miette and Sawyer have one and a few fics.
Trip x Georgia - I don't know how much of a rare pare this one is because I've seen a good amount of fan art for it. Would have loved to see these two battle at some point to see how they would play off each other.

 

[YellowFromViridianForest]

well...their ship name. honestly i was so relieved when they were confirmed to be separate in masters and to see them interact with each other...i guess i just never rly got the angle of them being the same character essentially bc of how different they were in design and overall vibes

Honestly, talking about Lyra and Kris being separate/the same/maybe both? characters brings me back when Lyra was announced as the new female protagonist in HGSS. I wasn't even that old then, I was only 13 but man do I feel old now. Interestingly, in the Pokemon Special manga Lyra doesn't appear at all, but Crys (Kris' manga counterpart) wears her clothes instead when the HGSS arc came out. So there is no manga verison of NewReplacement!

 

[sleepwick]

Honestly, talking about Lyra and Kris being separate/the same/maybe both? characters brings me back when Lyra was announced as the new female protagonist in HGSS. I wasn't even that old then, I was only 13 but man do I feel old now. Interestingly, in the Pokemon Special manga Lyra doesn't appear at all, but Crys (Kris' manga counterpart) wears her clothes instead when the HGSS arc came out. So there is no manga verison of NewReplacement!

View attachment 172416

yeah, when i was first reading hgss pokespe i was kinda bummed out that we didn't get a lyra counterpart, but i think crys looks cute in her outfit so i cant really complain too much bc i love crys specifically a lot.

but i can at least say it means that via manga newreplacementshipping being nonexistent it doesnt fall into this weird pattern i tend to have of not liking the manga counterpart of my favorite game ships as much as i like the games versions.

 

[YellowFromViridianForest]

but i can at least say it means that via manga newreplacementshipping being nonexistent it doesnt fall into this weird pattern i tend to have of not liking the manga counterpart of my favorite game ships as much as i like the games versions.

I feel that for my ships. I tend to keep it separate from the game and manga ship counterparts usually.