My Pokémon Advanced Series Rewrite — Hints toward Advanceshipping (Pokémon Advanced)
Being an Advanceshipper since childhood, I wanted to make this post so you all can get an idea on how many hints toward Advanceshipping there will be in my rewrite of the Pokemon Advanced series. And yes, one of my top objectives for rewriting the advanced series is making Advanceshipping more hinted at. And since there’s A LOT of hints in my Advanced series rewrite, I decided to make several posts, one detailing the Advanceshipping hints in one season each, plus a fifth post taking about the Advanced series movies.
So to start this off is the first Advanced series season (and the 6th season overall); Pokémon Advanced.
AG 001 - “Get the Show on the Road!” - After Ash’s Pikachu destroys May’s bicycle accidentally, she angrily goes to scold Ash for it while he’s resting in Professor Birch’s laboratory. As she quietly opens the door, she sees Ash and Pikachu resting contently together, and she forgives him without telling him, and at the same time, May begins to develop a secret crush for Ash. Later on, May guilts Ash into letting her travel with him. Once he says that she could come along, May strikes a triumphant pose by the camera and yells, “YES!” to show her enthusiasm to the audience. This, coupled with the previous scene where she secretly spies on him and forgives him for his kindness toward Pikachu, shows that May might be taking a liking toward him. AG 002 - “A Ruin with a View” - During the middle of the episode, Ash is eager to ask a few other Trainers about the Petalburg Gym Leader. Hearing this, May desperately grabs Ash and asks him if they could go eat instead, and if he could show her around the Pokémon Center so Ash wouldn’t find out her dad is the Gym Leader; some say this is so Ash would not treat her any differently. Despite his earlier enthusiasm, Ash agrees and they eat. During their meal with Brendan Birch (who decided to accompany Ash and May for a bit), Ash and May talk, and Ash becomes May’s mentor for the very first time, teaching her how to capture and battle with Pokémon. When Ash and Brendan go off to spy on Team Magma, May refuses to be left alone and goes along with them, though she only wants to be close to Ash. Later, at the end of the episode, when Ash and May are preparing to leave for Petalburg City, Brendan says he’ll stay at Oldale Town for a while longer; therefore leaving only Ash and May the ones in route for Petalburg City. AG 003 - “There’s no Place Like Hoenn” - After Max is introduced to Ash’s Treecko and May’s Torchic, Max says that Ash would be a perfect match for May, causing both Ash and May to blush embarrassingly and May quickly denies Max’s statement (though she secretly DOES have a crush on Ash). Later during lunch, when Ash asks Norman to a gym battle, Max says that May would be impressed by Ash’v victory, causing Ash and May to blush embarrassingly once again. Later, when Team Rocket steals May’s Torchic, she falls to her knees in despair. Seeing this, Ash crouches down next to her and tells her not to worry, promising that he will get her Torchic back for her. Additionally, at the end of the episode, when Max voices his desire to travel with Ash and May, they both show a shocked expression on their faces, possibly implying that they wanted to travel together, alone. Though Max admits that he’ll help them in terms of Pokemon education. AG 004 - “You Never Can Taillow" - Though this may have just been stubbornness, she grabs Ash’s arm and asks him if they can eat. Though Max also grabbed onto Ash, May did it first. Later, she asked Ash where their food was first, instead of asking Max. She took particular offense to Ash’s mentioning of Brock, sarcastically apologizing for being useless compared to him. When the Taillow were about to attack Ash and friends, Ash gets in front of May in a protective way. AG 011 - "A Bite to Remember" - When a group of Mightyena shows hostility towards the group, May hides behind Ash for protection, even though Brock could provide protection just as easily. However, Ash was closer to May than Brock was.
AG 017 - "Stairway to Devon" - When Ash and May discover that a Team Aqua intruder is in the building and that Max could be in potential danger, May clasps her hands and asks Ash for reassurance and support. Once Ash comforts her, she is relieved. This is the first of many scenes where May continually looks toward Ash for support and reassurance, further expanding on their mentor/student dynamic.
AG 018 - "On a Wingull and a Prayer!" - Ash, May, Brock and Max end up in a deserted place where there are no boats or ferries for them to reach Dewford Island, where Ash’s next gym battle will take place. They manage to find a beach port which is deserted and May happily says that at least they found a beach, to which Ash irritably replies that, "A lot of good that does if we’re going to miss the boat anyway, May!”. May then becomes quiet and after hearing Ash say that he was really eager to go to Dewford Island for his next gym battle, she determinedly says that she will find a boat on her own while the others can relax. Later, while searching for a boat, May looks out to the sea and thinks about Ash yelling at her earlier on, which makes her slightly blush.
AG 020 - “Brave the Wave" - On Dewford Island, May decides to strip into a bikini right on the beach. However, instead of just running down to the shore to take a swim, she purposely poses in her bikini in front of Ash and her little brother and asks what they think. Ash appears to be embarrassed by the situation, but so is Max (who could arguably seem even more embarrassed) for understandable reasons. Though it’s not seen, Ash does blush bright red from seeing May in her bikini and posing in front of him.
AG 024 - “A Corphish Out of Water!” - When Ash learned from the tape recording that his friends and Team Rocket are all trapped in separate cages (during Team Rocket’s scheme to capture Ash’s Pikachu) and a high tide was coming in, Ash, Pikachu, Corphish and Nurse Joy rush to the rescue in the motorboat before everyone drowned. Ash’s Corphish used Crabhammer to destroy the cages and everyone is free, but Max realized May was nowhere to be seen. Horrified to learn that May’s cage is already underwater, Ash dives in along with his Corphish and see May was about to drown. Corphish used its Crabhammer once more to destroy May’s cage and Ash held May in his arms and swam to the surface before he held her above him to get her reach the surface first. May opened her mouth, took in the fresh air before Ash and Corphish stood up from underwater. May thanks Ash by given him a hug on the neck causing them both to blush before being helped out of the water by their friends and Nurse Joy.
AG 032 - “Abandon Ship!” - When Ash and May are standing together on the abandoned ship’s deck, Ash continuously stares at May while saying nothing, and he even blushes slightly.
AG 033 - "Now That’s Flower Power!" - When Drew was criticizing May’s ability as a Coordinator, Ash stands up, the camera moving to show his face only, and he quickly went to defend May, who’s clearly upset from Drew’s criticizing.
AG 034 - “Battle at the Museum” - When Ash and Brendan are about to have a battle at the beaches of Slateport, May steps in between them, saying that they should visit the Slateport Oceanic Musuem first. The boys agree, though Ash agrees more. Later when Team Aqua arrives, May gets behind Ash. After Team Aqua leaves, Captain Stern gives Ash, May, and Brendan a Spheal each. May’s shiny female Spheal begins to take a liking to Ash’s regular-colored male Spheal.
AG 035 - “Battle on the Beach” - When Ash and Brendan are having the Pokémon battle at the beaches of Slateport City, May secretly routes for Ash to win. After Ash beats Brendan, May congratulates the two, as do Brock and Max. However, May secretly congratulates Ash more.
AG 037 - "Win, Lose or Drew!" - After witnessing May lose her first ever Pokémon Contest, Ash blames himself for her loss. He says, "It’s my fault. I wish I’d spent more time with May, teaching her.” Later, May cries backstage as everyone tries to cheer her up, but to no avail. May’s shiny Spheal is just as sad as May. Although everyone tries to cheer May up backstage, the camera zooms in on Ash when he says something to May. When Max and Brock consoled May, the camera was focused on all of them. Ash’s Spheal does manage to cheer up May’s shiny Spheal.
With that, that’s all the Advanceshipping hints in Pokémon Advanced (season 6). The next one will detail the Advanceshipping hints in Pokémon Advanced Challenge (season 7).















