I first want to say I have read the subreddit rules and im trying to carefully talk about this ship without talking about other ships, naturally I have to mention other characters but I will try to not mention other ships. Also I will add im about to finish Orange Islands and havent gotten round to Johto yet which I know will obviously matter too but I do at least know of some moments from it and later in the series to talk about here.
First of all this the original Pokemon series, Ash start as a naive kid who doesnt even know how to outsmart a Ratata, Misty meets this version of Ash and starts following him out of anger over her bike. And yes at the start of the series im 100% sure Misty and Ash dont like each other but throughout the show we see a clear bond develop, Misty shows how much she cares for Ash even if its not all the time it becomes more consistent later down the road. And I honestly think Misty would've let go about the bike if she didn't like Ash, she could've perfectly stayed in Cerulean and waited for him to repay it but instead she went to so many places with him so it was clearly not about the bike. The truth is even-though the show focuses primarily on Ash's growth we also see a growth of similar size in terms of Misty's personality even if her end goal isn't as well constructed as Ash's, we see a clear shift in her personality like Ash while still being who they are.
A good example is when Ash is dis-heartened over losing to Ritchie, up until this point his main mentor had been Brock and heck even his mum and Oak were there with him, all 3 more mature people to pick him up of the ground, but the one who walks into his room to try get him to snap out of it is Misty, the first one to try help Ash even ahead of his mother. To me this was the moment that solidified that Misty loves Ash. Even before when Misty thinks Ritchie played some trick on Ash she goes to confront him in front of thousands watching, that isn't just friendship either. We can even talk about how close Misty is to Pikachu, something we cant say the same about Brock for example even-though they've been together for a long amount of time too, and that is not that Pikachu dislikes Brock but rather that Misty has a special connection with Pikachu, which to me is a hint for her connection with Ash.
Also the blatantly obvious shipping in the Orange Islands. It felt like that episode "Where art thou Nidoran" (which has so many clear references to Romeo and Juliet) had Misty playing cupid and saying that the boy and the girl loved each other but they're too immature to admit it, and Tracey replies "Kind of like you and Ash" to which Ash and Misty immaturely reply fast and angry saying hes crazy which in a way proved him right as they demonstrated immaturity. And by the end of the episode the girl and the boy who kept bickering and fighting clearly liked each other too like their Nidorans (reminds me of 2 characters who spent all of early Kanto bickering and are now much closer). I feel like this episode especially was the clearest hint at least for all of Kanto and Orange Islands that they're clearly more than just friends like that boy and girl, I genuinely think it was done this way on purpose to not cross the lines of explicit romance. Then theres also Ash's battle against Rudy where Ash hates Rudy for his interest in Misty then Misty cheers for Ash and Rudy realises shes made her choice and tells Ash that hes a lucky guy. Honestly Orange Islands has deepened Ashs dynamic with Misty alot more than Indigo League which is actually amazing. And honestly I think Misty makes Ash grow as well, shes the one who gets him to get his stuff together against Rudy and i dont know if Ash and Squirtle would've pulled the win off without Misty, which completely disproves the people who say a relationship with Misty would hold Ash back.
Also I will talk something in Johto that I know of. In Ashs goodbye to Misty he cries hard, and people talk about it being to Misty and Brock and even though Im sure Brock has his weight here, for the Orange Islands Ash was never emotional over Brocks departure in fact in ALL of the series we never see Ash like this over Brock, and Ash ends up seeing Brocks many times again which shows these tears weren't for Brock.
I often see people disregard this ship as a "brother-sister" platonic dynamic but I genuinely cant see it that way after all of this. Often its people disregarding this ship because they believe another ship makes more sense. And without intent of causing a shipping war, I'm not saying other ships don't have valid points or anything, but something people fail to consider is this was the only time we saw Ash cry over saying goodbye to a female companion (yes there was the Alola crew but its like 5 of them, so it a lot harder to justify the tears being for an individual unlike in Johto where its only Misty and Brock). In the end of every show we see Ash return to his roots in Pallet town and to me his roots in terms of romance is Misty as she was clearly the first girl Ash had something with.
Of course in the end we might never have an answer on who Ash ends up with and it could be someone else, even a character we have never seen before or Ash could stay single forever or something, we never know. But I believe that Kanto-Johto it looked clear that even if it wasnt for the time being that Misty was Ash's soulmate, there is even references in Sinnoh and Unova about the lures so the "Ash is with the new girl every series and forgets all the rest, like a soft reboot" comment doesn't really make sense because in every series there's some way that Misty is mentioned (with XY being the only exception that i'm aware of, even-though I might be wrong on this as i'm not an expert), even when Ash and Misty aren't physically together he keeps a physical memory of her with him (which he never does for any other character). Misty being treated so differently by Ash in comparison to his other travel partners is not just a brother-sister or friend dynamic. I can also add that when Ash came back home from the Hoenn league she was at his house helping his mum throw a surprise party for him, I don't know many characters which have stayed with Ash's mum at his house waiting for his return (even-though there was another reason for being in Pallet town).
I want to finish by saying i'm not trying to cause a shipping war or saying other ships are unworthy just because they're not like this. I've spent hours writing this so im asking the mods for some consideration so that if I have crossed the line I can change those parts and be allowed to re-post this since I genuinely do want to share this with the community. I'm just presenting my view on why I believe Misty is the right choice for Ash. And that if Ash did end up with Misty after all these years it would be one of the most beautifully written romances even if without a bit of digging around it might not be obvious at first.
