Rare Pairings

[Teebs96]

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.

PLAINHIVE MENTION

hi its fun to see you here hehehe

as much as i like avery i don't really ship him with anyone, so for you, i'll support avery x shielbert

 

[sleepwick]

as much as i like avery i don't really ship him with anyone, so for you, i'll support avery x shielbert

bless

i also like avery x klara, but that one does seem to be at least...i wouldnt say its super popular but its also not super super rare. to be fair though for a long time this one didnt have much going for it due to them being version exclusive, but certain fan media + official media changed my mind on it quite a bit.

oh speaking of klara: klara x oleana. no idea where it came from(now that i think abt it, im assuming its because theyre both poison users but that did not click in my brain until now), but it's cute. i didn't really personally support it at first but it grew on me quite a bit! i hope they get to interact at some point in pokemon masters

 

[Emelie]

I have always been interested in the Volkner x Cyrus ship but I haven't seen much content for it. I think they are very similar characters in a way, it's almost strange that they never interact in canon. I think I would have preferred that over the interaction he got with Sophocles in Masters since he mostly comes across as a naive kid while Volkner could possibly relate to Cyrus since he has experienced depression as well.

Blaine x Fuji also seems like it could be an interesting ship if you combine Blaine's plot from the manga with Fuji's plot from the anime.

Kris x Lyra sounds crazy and possibly a little bit meta. I'm a fan of the old theory (creepypasta?) that Lyra is the unused female protagonist from the Spaceworld demo and replaced Kris because she wanted to go on an adventure as well. Could make for an emotional plot, maybe even have her feel guilty for having replaced her. I like to imagine that she would eventually regret having left the old world of the beta and all of the unused Pokémon (now when they became popular again because of the infamous leak) behind which adds to her guilt. But that is a very wild idea lol.

 

[DigitalGen6]

Kris x Lyra sounds crazy and possibly a little bit meta. I'm a fan of the old theory (creepypasta?) that Lyra is the unused female protagonist from the Spaceworld demo and replaced Kris because she wanted to go on an adventure as well.

Lyra and old Leaf/Green (what I call her) both have the same hair color/eye color, so it makes sense to me.

Could make for an emotional plot, maybe even have her feel guilty for having replaced her. I like to imagine that she would eventually regret having left the old world of the beta and all of the unused Pokémon (now when they became popular again because of the infamous leak) behind which adds to her guilt. But that is a very wild idea lol.

Yeah. Plus, I see them as AU characters from each other (with Kris being in one timeline and Lyra being in another, you can see my Pokémon timeline if you don’t understand what I’m saying)
Plus I kind of prefer NewBarkShipping/QuestShipping (I’m not saying your ship is bad, I’m just not super big on it)

 

[sleepwick]

coming back here bc i remembered another one via posting it on twt...

back in 2021 when i was in a discord vc with some of my friends one of them brought up that when they were playing the swsh postgame and saw sonia's assistant they were like "awww sonia got a gf" before the betrayal happened, and honestly that single story put the idea in my head and made me start shipping them. honestly i dunno why bc i never rly tend to care about characters that dont have unique designs let alone ship them, but god do i really love sonia's assistant + the idea of this ship for some reason. what can i say, as is going around on social media right now, i'm a big fan of the "toxic doomed yuri" dynamic.

though i don't think this one really meets the bar of being considered toxic and doomed considering sonia does welcome her assistant back to work in the lab in the dlc. now that im talking abt this maybe i'll try to come up with a ship name at some point if it doesnt already have one.

 

[carpology]

i don't actually do much shipping for pokémon, which is surprising for me, and when i do most of it is just mainstream stuff... but one rarepair i do like is volo/adaman (i think it's called appraisalshipping). i can't really explain why i like them at all? i just do.... i don't know how rare it is, but i also think anime clemont/ash (i have no idea what the ship name is) is pretty cute. i read it once in a fic and immediately liked it. their dynamic is very sweet. oh, and another one would be jessie/delia (hanamusashipping). it may be a little more popular nowadays, but i follow the creator (i guess?) on tumblr and love what they do with them.
i hope it's okay to bring up nonromantic pairs because i have a few of those i'm obsessed with at the moment, but if it isn't i apologise... i really like diantha & serena with diantha being a sort of mentor figure to serena. it suddenly occurred to me recently and i've been thinking about them ever since (in a 'rotating them in my mind' sort of way). i also like lysandre & shauna--they're also an "i read them in a fic and immediately liked it." this also may not really be 'rare,' but i really really like volo & akari, especially the version i have for a sort-of au of mine. they both love pokémon, are essentially outcasts and seen as strange by others, like battling, etc. i really think they would get along.

 

[Welkamo]

Nonromantic/platonic ships are based as all heck. Lysandre & Shauna is a pretty interesting one, don’t think I’ve seen much of them interacting.

 

[sleepwick]

i don't know how rare it is, but i also think anime clemont/ash (i have no idea what the ship name is) is pretty cute. i read it once in a fic and immediately liked it. their dynamic is very sweet.

this one's called diodeshipping! im a huge huge fan of this one, it isn't super rare, but it does get outshone a lot by other ships i feel. i think it's very sweet and personally when i was watching the xy anime i always kinda got the vibes that clemont had a thing for ash.

i hope it's okay to bring up nonromantic pairs because i have a few of those i'm obsessed with at the moment, but if it isn't i apologise... i really like diantha & serena with diantha being a sort of mentor figure to serena. it suddenly occurred to me recently and i've been thinking about them ever since (in a 'rotating them in my mind' sort of way). i also like lysandre & shauna--they're also an "i read them in a fic and immediately liked it." this also may not really be 'rare,' but i really really like volo & akari, especially the version i have for a sort-of au of mine. they both love pokémon, are essentially outcasts and seen as strange by others, like battling, etc. i really think they would get along.

also all of these r super fun, i love seeing platonic pairings because it's really nice to see how other people interpret those characters in that way, if that makes sense. i think it's nice to see those explorations of characters as a duo outside of romantic stuff. i have some sorta rare platonic pairings(i dunno if it counts, but its mostly me enjoying certain duos together in a usually familial way) as well for the xy characters! a platonic/familial pair i've always enjoyed is (rival) calem & diantha and i've kinda headcanoned calem as diantha's son for some reason, even if it doesn't really make sense ingame. same kinda goes for me seeing sycamore & diantha as siblings. someone i was mutuals with in 2020 i think brought it up to me and my brain latched onto it.

 

[Welkamo]

I am a firm believer in the 8th gym leaders all being friends in some way or form

 

[sleepwick]

8th gym leader friend group would be so fun...i'm a huge fan of when people do various stuff like that. i think my personal fav is people who draw and write all of the professors interacting (especially if they include sonia, and sometimes hop). i've seen a few interpretations of sycamore and sonia being friends and i think it's really fun.

speaking of professors and platonic pairings, i also really enjoy sycamore & rowan, and i've also seen sycamore & cynthia as a result of it being canon that sycamore studied under rowan in sinnoh.

 

[carpology]

Nonromantic/platonic ships are based as all heck. Lysandre & Shauna is a pretty interesting one, don’t think I’ve seen much of them interacting.

i'm having a hard time describing the dynamic i've seen, but it's basically been like shauna balances lysandre's kind of... morose presence with some lightheartedness, and they keep each other in check because they're both pretty straightforward. i'm very bad at describing it haha but i do think it's enjoyable.

I am a firm believer in the 8th gym leaders all being friends in some way or form

i 100% agree. i think, at least for me personally, out of all of the games, they feel the most interconnected and like they know each other and talk to each other often, including leon and sonia.

a platonic/familial pair i've always enjoyed is (rival) calem & diantha and i've kinda headcanoned calem as diantha's son for some reason, even if it doesn't really make sense ingame. same kinda goes for me seeing sycamore & diantha as siblings. someone i was mutuals with in 2020 i think brought it up to me and my brain latched onto it.

i've also seen similar! i haven't seen calem as diantha's son before, but i have seen calem as sycamore's son. i can see it either way, honestly, they do all look oddly similar... i've also seen sycamore & diantha as siblings and i really like that as well. it just kind of makes sense? like if they suddenly announced it was canon, i wouldn't question it at all.

 

[sleepwick]

i'm having a hard time describing the dynamic i've seen, but it's basically been like shauna balances lysandre's kind of... morose presence with some lightheartedness, and they keep each other in check because they're both pretty straightforward. i'm very bad at describing it haha but i do think it's enjoyable.

honestly even from this alone i can generally get the vibes. it definitely sounds interesting and fun.

i've also seen similar! i haven't seen calem as diantha's son before, but i have seen calem as sycamore's son. i can see it either way, honestly, they do all look oddly similar... i've also seen sycamore & diantha as siblings and i really like that as well. it just kind of makes sense? like if they suddenly announced it was canon, i wouldn't question it at all.

i think both go well, yeah! i feel like with most pokemon fans i've met it's always either been a 50/50 that they either headcanon some variation of this family or have just never considered any version of it ever lol

 

[sleepwick]

also obligatory me bringing up galar stuff on the topic of platonic stuff i like:

i think my fav platonic galar pairing has and always will be sordward & gloria. im a big fan of guy whos kinda a jerk to everyone with this one random kid who he respects an immense amount. i think its cute, and i could see him really trying to look out for gloria. even in the star tournament where we see sordward still generally not be the nicest person to most people he talks to (except for i guess marnie and allister?) he's like...unusually polite towards the protagonist and very clearly wants to impress them. plus i think it's funny to just kinda read the them accepting the protagonist as being the "true royalty" thing as them basically going "yeah ok youre part of the family now", even if i know it's not like that at all in the actual context context.

also his interaction with marnie in the french version of the dialogue has always been rly funny to me, im not fluent in french so i cant give a direct translation that well (and also just because im going off of memory), but one of my twitter mutuals translated all of sordward and shielbert's french dialogue and sordward's dialogue with marnie during the tournament essentially is something along the lines of him calling her a damsel in distress and saying he'll save her. but aside from that it's not rly one of those ones i've ever considered drawing together or even portraying being friends/interacting outside of the tournament.

also i really like sonia & bede as a VERY rare platonic pair, like i've never seen it at all before rare, because part of me kiiinda ships opal x magnolia for some reason, so i guess that'd make sonia and bede siblings now if you subscribe to the headcanon that bede and opal are familial (which i personally do) and/or also that shes specifically like an adoptive grandmother to him

 

[carpology]

also i really like sonia & bede as a VERY rare platonic pair, like i've never seen it at all before rare, because part of me kiiinda ships opal x magnolia for some reason, so i guess that'd make sonia and bede siblings now if you subscribe to the headcanon that bede and opal are familial (which i personally do) and/or also that shes specifically like an adoptive grandmother to him

i just have to say i'd never considered sonia & bede before, but now that you've said it i am immediately a huge fan. i haven't played swsh since like it came out so i don't remember much honestly, but from what i remember... i think they'd be perfect. you are a genius

 

[demonerium]

oohhh hi i came in at just the right time, platonic pairs are so good and way too underappreciated! i am fond of platonic/found family team rocket executives personally, i cannot really see any of them as romantic due to personal interpretations so i really enjoy them as a little close knit group of friends who would commit crimes for each other

i am also a big fan of platonic sidney and phoebe, they strike me as besties who get into trouble together but i usually see them as romantic so figured i'd bring them up. and i enjoy the platonic dynamic between lance and silver a lot, as well as thinking about the rocket executives babysitting a younger silver before he left team rocket

for romantic ships though i need to push perishsongshipping (proton/karen), my rendition of it has a lot of backstory and personal headcanon thrown in but i think it's good. i tend to headcanon karen as a former rocket grunt alongside proton who left/escaped and made something honest of herself, meanwhile proton just gets deeper into the crime lifestyle and they meet up years later after rocket disbands like. Hey .

also a fan of ariana/melony in the sense that i like the ariana is silver's mom theory and i think two moms should hold hands and one of them is a sweetheart and the other is a bit messed up

i have a lot more rarepairs but i will stop here for now :]

 

[DigitalGen6]

also a fan of ariana/melony in the sense that i like the ariana is silver's mom theory and i think two moms should hold hands and one of them is a sweetheart and the other is a bit messed up

My headcanon is Ariana is Silver’s mom and Mars is her younger sister
Anyway, Lillie/Marnie anyone (DevigelShipping)? Would it work? DevigelShipping comes from “devigel” (which I got from Pretty Rhythm), or a fusion of devil and angel.
Marnie’s seen as a “devil” (she’s not really bad, ya have to love that sugar-and-ice personality of hers, no?) while our Lillie can be seen as an “angel” (innocent and sweet). Put them together and what do ya have? DevigelShipping!

 

[sleepwick]

Anyway, Lillie/Marnie anyone (DevigelShipping)? Would it work? DevigelShipping comes from “devigel” (which I got from Pretty Rhythm), or a fusion of devil and angel.
Marnie’s seen as a “devil” (she’s not really bad, ya have to love that sugar-and-ice personality of hers, no?) while our Lillie can be seen as an “angel” (innocent and sweet). Put them together and what do ya have? DevigelShipping!

i've actually seen some fanart of this one! i'm kind of a sucker for pairs with opposing aesthetics but in general i think it'd be really cute even just based on their personalities.

 

[sleepwick]

this reminds me actually, recently i've seen a user on twitter start shipping penny/marnie and its absolutely adorable, and it's also entirely possible that they maybe knew each other while penny was still in galar. it's something i had never thought abt before but it's made me also think about the possibility of penny with the other galar kids as well.

 

[Herbizarre]

I've already discussed this in Page 11 of the thread (precisely here), but I wanted to add a few more PLA rare pairs :

Gaeric/Mai (which I dubbed "ClanMentorShipping", though it's only a shipping name I suggested on the Shipping Name Revival thread a while back). It's like ClanLeaderShipping, but with Adaman & Irida's respective mentors. I think they'd get along just fine.

Lian/Sabi (which I named "TitaniaShipping". Again, not an official name for the time being). It would likely be a precocious crush type of thing on Sabi's part at first, but would bloom into a genuine relationship some time later.

Cyllene/Sanqua (which I coined "SubtleBrushShipping". Just like the others, nothing official). I like to think that Cyllene would be the one of the only persons patient enough to stand still for a portrait painting, and when you consider how workaholic she is, Sanqua could have practiced painting her portrait in secret without Cyllene knowing. And one day, the latter would stumble upon all the sketches, and they might hook up from there.

Granted, I'm biased towards ships I've coined names for, but I genuinely like those ones. The last one would mess with the timeline as we know it, but even this has never stopped a shipper before. =P

 

[demonerium]

Cyllene/Sanqua is a good one i've never thought of before..... i like sapphic Cyllene ships a lot, i like it ! Lian/Sabi sounds super cute too

My main PLA rarepair is Volo/Melli idk man i just think they both suck and they should suck together <3 Also a big fan of Cyllene/Zisu, i wish more people appreciated them