You can just call me Rocket Girl. I'm a 24 year old collage student living in America. I first got into Pokemon in 2007 when Pokemon Diamond/Pearl came out in the US. Yes, I'm an extremely new viewer to the show. I hated Pokemon with a passion when it first came out, and wanted it to die a horrible, horrible death. I hated how popular it was because it was taking ratings away from other shows I really liked. I swore I'd never like a show that, in my opinion at the time, was causing the death of my favorite shows.

Well after a few years Pokemon's popularity died down, and eventually it just seemed pointless to hate the show when it was no longer a huge ratings threat. I started checking out some of the opening and ending themes on You Tube and discovered that the Japanese version had some really nice music. I also discovered Dogasu's site, which is the big reason I tried out Pokemon. I enjoyed reading his comparisons, and it was surprising to know that someone just a few years older than me could be so into a little kids show.

So I bought both games, and when Cartoon Network aired the first three episodes together as a movie in April, I sat down and finally decided to see what all the fuss was about. Well needless to say, I was hooked. Cartoon Network was also running some older Kanto episodes, and I made sure to record them all. For awhile the show was on 3 times a day, and I couldn't get enough of it. I finally got what the big deal was 10 years ago.

I knew basically nothing about the show, so when I first watched I was a little confused on some things. For instance, I didn't know how Ash could know Jenny when he had only just arrived in Sinnoh. Yes, I knew that little about the show. The only things I knew were basic information about the characters, what a big deal it was when Misty left, and how everyone hated May at first. I heard about some of the big ships like Ash/Misty and Jessie/James of course. I also found it kinda funny that all these people thought James was gay, yet a lot of other people thought Jessie and James belonged together. Funny how 4Kids could pull that off.

But back to Rocketshipping. Much like my entrance into the Pokemon fandom, how I got into Rocketshipping is quite different as well. No, it wasn't Holy Matrimony. or any of the old Kanto episodes that started it surprisingly enough. It was those first three episodes of Diamond and Pearl. Or to be more specific, what is technically the second episode of the series.

James had just learned that Jessebelle and his parents were on the way to Sinnoh. I was very thankful Meowth explained who Jessebelle was, because i had no clue who she was, or even that James was rich.

So James wanted to leave for reasons that I now understand completely, but at the time all I knew was that he didn't like this woman or his parents. One of the few things I knew about the characters was that Jessie was known for being a bitch. So when James said he wanted to leave, even though he explained with very good reasons why, the first thing I thought would happen is that Jessie would complain for a bit, and then grudgingly agree to leave.

But when James explained why he wanted to leave she didn't complain. At all. She didn't even whine, she just said something like "Well I guess it can't be helped." and that was that. It took me by surprise that she was that calm about the whole thing, and I clearly remember thinking "Aww, I guess she really does care about him afterall."

I don't know why that moment struck me, but it just did. It was such a small thing really, but it's what first sparked my interest in Rocketshipping.

So like I said, I was obsessed with the show. And the more I watched, the more I liked Rocketshipping. The hugging, and the way they interacted. You can just tell they belong together. And before I knew it, I was obsessed with Rocketshipping.

Even though hints are few and far between at the moment, I think it says something about Rocketshipping that someone who is completely new, and once hated the show, got into it with Diamond and Pearl. Rocketshipping may not be as popular as it once was, but I think I'm proof that it's far from dead.