Cleffa/Shellder/Gastly Theory

Ok, so we all know how Gastly is a deceased Shellder and that Gangar is a Clefable's shadow, but how is this possible? How could Gastly's family connect to both Shellder and Clefable.

Let's instead look at the third set: Shellder and Cleffa. Both of these pokemon average one foot in height. Shellder is an average 9lbs and Cleffa average's 6.6lbs. Shellder is labeled as a shy and withdrawn pokemon and you never see what's hidden within it's shell. Cleffa is a happy pokemon, but very skittish and rarely seen by humans.

Shellder and Cleffa are one in the same.

Not only are their heights the same, but their weights are off by only a few pounds.

There's more evidence behind this than just height and weight. We don't know where Cleffa comes from {It's only theorized that it comes from the moon because of its shape} And we don't know what's in the shell of a Shellder. The 'eyes' of Shellder are white circles with small dark centers. Cleffa's eyes, while shaped 'differently', are small and dark. The shell ends up messing with the lighting on the inner body with the pink body around it's eyes making it look white, as well as warping the shape. In Pokemon Stadium 2, you witness Cleffa stick out it's tongue. The same exact tongue of Shellder.

When a Shellder becomes brave enough, it decides it wants to leave its shell. It will never leave it's shell on its own, however, because many Shellder die when they remove their shell. As a result, they do it with a buddy and they promise each other that they'll stay together. More commonly than not, both Shellder will die trying to remove their shell and become Gastly. They then break their promise on the grounds that there is no reason to stay together. On extremely rare occasions both live leaving their shell and become Cleffa. Excitement takes over and they both run off to explore, usually breaking their promise by accident.

In between these moments, however, one will survive, becoming a new Cleffa, and one will die, becoming a Gastly. These ones, however, stick together and keep their promise, despite the fact that the Cleffa rarely sees the Gastly. When one of them manages to evolve in the wild, the other one does as well. The Clefairy no longer has any memories of its life in a shell and little, if any, memory of its old friend whom is still following it.

The only sign that the Clefable ever had its old friend is the ghostly shadow that it always has. Even in the dark.

To summarize, Shellder is a Cleffa that's too scared of the world to come out in it. When it tries to escape it usually dies, becoming a Gastly, and Gangar is the dead Shellder keeping its promise to the still living buddy it has, Clefable, to stick together.