Why would it all come together?

In DP, nobody really expected that the series would ship Ash with Dawn so blatantly, even to the point of Ash evoking strong feelings for Dawn and giving them a song solely dedicated to Pearlshipping, a duet between Ash and Dawn called High Touch. Dawn was the runner-up in the Sinnoh Grand Festival and the winner of the Wallace Cup. Ash went 4th place in the Lily of the Valley conference. Ash never said goodbye to Dawn, he said her catchphrase instead. There is a reason why he went 4th place there, it just wasn't his time yet.

In BW, the first opening theme song is a reference to Dawn's voice being with Ash. Dawn made a cameo in BW2 but left for the Wallace Cup and never said goodbye again. Ash knew that he'll see Dawn later, knowing their separation is just temporary.

In XY, while they could have introduced Dawn but Dawn wouldn't seem right for Kalos. Ash only went 8th place in the Vertress Conference, it just wasn't Dawn's time yet. It just wasn't there, and because there were no Sinnoh remakes and they had to remind people of Hoenn. So they introduced Serena and introduced Amourshipping. Again, nobody expected how Serena would have such a strong crush on Ash and how Serena saw Ash was the same way how Ash saw Dawn. XY itself was a self-contained series, with few references to past series except for Pikachu liking ketchup and the mention of Dawn's Piplup. Cilan and Iris got no cameos at all, especially when Cilan was a lot more popular than Iris. Most people don't notice this, but Amourshipping and Pearlshipping share very interesting parallels although still quite distinct from each other. Serena was the runner-up in the Master Class and Ash finally became runner-up to a Pokémon league tournament for the first time. They finally set in place the motion to proceed with the culmination. Serena became an equal to Dawn in this sense, and later Ash followed suit.

But because of his loss to Alain, yet while not being aware that Ash had finally became a runner-up, the fans were just really upset and assumed things would return to the status quo by introducing completely new characters and all. But what they overlooked was that Ash's Alain was a parallel to Dawn's Zoey and Serena's Aria. But so far, we have no information on the protagonists' names for Sun and Moon and they seem to be blank canvases that they can have any name. But when Serena's name was the moon, who can be the sun? It can't be Ash, his name relates to wisdom. The closest of Ash's companions to have a name related to the sun was Dawn, the light of the sun. And we also have no information, not even a confirmation of a greenlight on a new Pokémon series.

But if they had to bring back Serena for Sun/Moon, they would also have to bring back Dawn. Why? Because their main intention wasn't to supplant Pearlshipping with Amourshipping. Serena's and Dawn's personalities were opposites to each other, and so were Amourshipping and Pearlshipping being opposites to each other. The writers would most likely not let Amourshipping hog all the attention, so they intend to bring back Pearlshipping as a counterbalance and a foil to it. What would make Sun and Moon appealing? The same reason why they had to avoid introducing girls who look and act like Iris as part of the main cast. Tomboys have largely lost their appeal to most people. Thus, they would have to bring back Dawn and keep Serena to move onto Alola. In terms of a marketing standpoint, this can make sense. By switching things around and introducing novel concepts, just think about it, Ash and TWO girls who happen to be the major protagonists of previous games?

I don't believe they would make up series just on a whim. It was meticulously planned years beforehand. XY may have been a negative response to BW, but I don't think that would be it. BW was intended to be a break of sorts. The developers were still working on XY, as BW was more like something to separate DP and XY.

The one thing that can make this theory fall apart is when XY ends on a bitter note and Serena ends up staying in Kalos. But with all this development regarding Serena and Amourshipping, how else would they convince fans to watch Sun and Moon series? Think about it, they should have expected a backlash from the viewers with the league loss. I don't think a repeat of BW with two Iris-like companions would help. Even Dawn was still more popular than Iris while BW was on air. But I have a feeling that Alola would be like a mix of Kanto Battle Frontier, Orange Islands and Sinnoh.



Even if Serena travels with Ash to Alola, I don't think they would make Amour canon and Ash have only one major character with a crush on him. They might bring back a heavyweight ship and a well known female cast member, and her name is Dawn. Dawn as I have stated numerous times, while dissimilar and opposite to Serena in many ways, serves as the perfect foil for her. Dawn as we know is the first girl who had a major impact in Ash's life, the second being Serena but to a lesser extent. So if Serena travels to Alola, I think they'll most likely bring Dawn to even out and balance out Amourshipping and Pearlshipping. And cause Piplup is just so cute to the Japanese.

They could bring back the other girls, but I doubt it because they have been plausibly written out. BW expanded on the concept of Ash and Dawn's tight solar bond, and in XY there was a mention of her Piplup as a way of remembering Dawn and serve as a foreshadowing device for Serena.

They could have brought Dawn back for XY but it would be off. Severely off for a variety of reasons. XY had no contests but the Contest Spectaculars from ORAS was adopted by Serena. And besides, the name Dawn, Hikari allude to a solar origin. Opposite from that of the name Serena, which alludes to a lunar origin.

I don't think XY would end with a bittersweet ending. Serena could either stay in Kalos or come with Ash to Kanto. Indeed, Serena hasn't met Oak or Delia yet in the XY story in person. She has indeed yet to meet the most important girl in his life- Dawn. But in the case of Kalos while she could train to be a performer. There are a few things off. Lumiose city is almost completely razed to the ground because of Lysandre's actions, Serena might not like the way Yashio/Palermo does things and that her real reason of traveling is to be by Ash's side. In order to understand him better to the point of Dawn and Ash's strong bond.

Indeed I feel that Dawn herself is a strong catalyst for Serena's emotional transformation and character development. They are indeed polar opposites but they also share a lot more similar experiences. Pokémon has been in a rut for a while, and Amourshipping encouragef people to come back. People love Serena almost as much as Dawn, Why? Why would they alienate their viewers even more despite Ash losing the league? I mean XY hyped up Ash so much and introduced a confirmed canon crush on Ash. They can do something bigger, by introducing Dawn back to the series. Japanese love Dawn and Pearlshipping so much. They even ship Dawn with Serena or involve both Pearlshipping and Amourshipping interactions based on fanarts and fanfics.

Sinnoh remakes are around the corner, the protagonists still remain unnamed, some old characters like Cynthia would return, etc... And indeed this feels like a mix of Battle Frontier and DP if my observations were true. The plans for Sun and Moon were drafted years before the release of XY judging by my gut feeling. I am not saying that my predictions will definitely happen but iI think they plan something big after Gen7. There's too many Pokémon, it's in desperate need of a complete reboot. Introduce a new series that is based on Ash but from an alternate reality like how ORAS was. Might as well conclude the series with Ash, Dawn and Serena- the Eclipse, the Sun and the Moon.

It is planned. Ash and Dawn were considered equals. Serena could attain the same status. But Ash came in 4th place in Sinnoh. Dawn was the runner-up. The Sun reached its point, but it was not yet time for the Eclipse to shine. Ash lost in BW and ended up in 8th place. They decide to introduce Serena and have both Ash and Serena as runner-ups. Then the Moon and the Eclipse align with the Sun. The sun had reached its zenith but the moon reached its zenith before the Eclipse did. So with this, they set into plan their motions for a final end to the current storyline. Hopefully Sun and Moon will be the climactic end to Ash's journey. Because Ash, Dawn and even Serena deserves a perfect rest for good. The mention of just Dawn's Piplup in XY is important, especially since XY was a self-contained story with few allusions to other generations with that one exception of Dawn's Piplup. Why? So they wanted to tease Pearlshippers or are they laying clues in front of us?

Are my predictions true? Not necessarily, but they provide a level of thinking that is of a higher level. They are based on connections and correlations throughout the storyline, its characters and their relations to the real world. It's just as good as any other theory, except it feels as though it were a giant conspiracy waiting to be uncovered. The similarities are becoming increasingly uncanny and yet it's right underneath our noses this whole time.

The reason why they avoided direct cameos is because
1) XY and XYZ are contained stories with very little previous references. The closest we got is Dawn's Piplup but not Ash's Charizard and Sceptile.
2) BW was horrible, but they did illustrate Ash and Dawn's bond.

But my theories will definitely be proven wrong when:
1) Serena stays in Kalos and doesn't get out of there. Honestly, Lumiose City is almost in ruins, there is nothing left for anyone but to witness Team Flare lay waste to everything.
2) Ash's arrival in Kanto isn't awaited by Dawn. I feel that I mean Ash got second place, the same spot Dawn got in the Sinnoh Grand Festival.

So far we have had no new announcement of a Sun and Moon series at all. XY the series was announced on June the 30th. On June 12th, Serena's name was mentioned in CoroCoro and on September the 15th, Serena was confirmed to appear in the series.

They have not mentioned a Sun and Moon series, nor have they revealed the names of the protagonists, if they have any.

In order for Amourshipping to be validated, Serena and Grace have to meet Delia in the series like how Dawn and Johanna were acquainted with Delia. There's simply no way that Serena has to be stuck in Kalos, especially since she wants to relive the time she was in Pallet Town. The writers created Amourshipping and probably had it planned since XY was first developed when BW was still on air. It was in a sense the natural foil to the dominant Pearlshipping. Thus they are paving the way for Serena to be an equal to Dawn and Ash.

Dawn in her dream had wore a Piplup costume. Serena wore a Fennekin costume but it wasn't a dream.
Dawn invited herself into Ash's group while Ash asked Serena to join his group.
In an interview with Yuki Kaji (Virgil and Clemont's seiyuu) on Tumblr, he said that if they answered it they would lose their jobs in regards to the question of Amourshipping in the next gen series. But even if Serena is in Alola, which is the more likely option, having only Serena would make people have the idea that Amourshipping is canon. But the producers would most likely want to avoid this headcanon so they have to introduce a third person also in a major ship with Ash. By only having Serena would enrage many devout Pearlshippers in Japan, so the producers have to remain neutral in regards to both Pearlshipping and Amourshipping. It was intentional on their part for Serena to be Dawn's opposite and Amourshipping to be Pearlshipping's opposite. There was a reason why in a largely self-contained series as to why Professor Oak and Delia, along with Ash's own Charizard and Sceptile were not mentioned at all. Yet he bothered to remember Dawn's Piplup in a response to Serena's comment. This could foreshadow Serena encountering Dawn at around the end of XYZ.
If Serena comes to Kanto with Ash and Dawn is waiting for Ash's return:
Dawn would likely introduce Alola region to Ash and how they should go to Alola together. Serena, upon hearing that Ash could be traveling to another region with another girl, gets jealous and says that she wants to come along as well.

WAIT A SECOND! Dawn designs clothes but allows her mother to stitch them for her. Serena makes clothing but could either use her designs or other peoples' designs. This can make sense! Dawn designs the clothing, Serena makes them for the next generation series!