AmourShipping

AmourShipping is the het ship between Ash Ketchum and Serena from the Pokémon fandom.

Pre-Pokémon the Series: XY
Ash and Serena were childhood friends, first meeting at Professor Oak's Summer Camp at the age of 5. Said meeting was formed after Serena found herself lost in a forest. Young Serena became startled by a Poliwag, falling over and injuring her knee. She began to cry from her situation, until Ash popped out from nearby. He had apparently been chasing the Poliwag that scared Serena. Noticing her injured knee, Ash pulled out a handkerchief and wrapped it around Serena’s knee, causing her to blush. Before helping her up, he stated that it was a “good-luck charm” and that it’d help the pain go away. Serena struggles to stand as she’s pulled to her feet, but Ash tells her “don’t give up until it’s over”, a line that would stick with her years from then. He then escorted her back to the camp’s center.

They didn’t meet again until years afterwards, as Serena left back to her home region of Kalos upon the camp’s completion.

Pokémon the Series: XY
It isn’t until partway through the season that Serena is introduced. She is seen firstly as she slumps to her sofa to watch TV after a Ryhorn racing session with her mother. As she watches, she sees a boy dangling from the top of Lumiose Tower in an attempt to calm a frantic Garchomp. She quickly recognizes it to be Ash and grows excited, setting out a plan to find him.

Pokémon the Series: XYZ
In “Battling at Full Volume!”, Ash trains Pikachu and Greninja on a river. Serena throws a towel to Ash in the hope of not catching a cold. He catches said towel, assuring her that he will be fine, and sneezes. The next day, Serena asks Bonnie to wake Ash up. He comes out of his tent, and tiredly walks towards Serena. When he gets close to her, Serena feels some romantic tensions, then Ash says “Iron Tail, Pikachu!” and falls down. Serena checks his forehead, and says to Clemont and Bonnie that he has a fever. Back in Ash's tent, Serena tries to cool his temperature with a washcloth but does little to lower his fever. Clemont and Bonnie go out to find some medicine, leaving her and Pikachu to take care of the young trainer. Meanwhile, another trainer named Jimmy is searching for Ash. Serena borrows Ash's clothes to battle the punk-rock trainer in his place. Midway through the battle, Team Rocket kidnap Ash's Pikachu and Jimmy's Pikachu Spike, and blows Serena's cover. A recovered Ash commands Greninja to stop their truck. Jimmy sees Serena as a trainer equal in spirit as Ash.

In “The First Day of the Rest of Your Life!”, Serena ponders on her next move after her loss. She, Ash, Clemont, Bonnie then watch the news of the Prism Tower lighting up once again. The next day, Serena leads the three to a park somewhere in Lumiose City, where she and two other Master Class finalists (Shauna and Jessilee) do their Showcase Performance exhibition. Shortly after, everyone joined in dancing along with the performers. Back in Clemont and Bonnie’s father’s apartment, Ash and Clemont offered Serena help in making dinner. The next morning, Ash, Serena, and their friends see Serena's mother off, where the latter offers them a visit anytime to her home. Then they part with Tierno, Shauna, Trevor, and Sawyer. Clemont and Bonnie were about to return to the Lumiose Gym, and Ash allows Serena to “stay with [him]”. They went to the airport, where Ash affirms that it will open soon. Next, they walk around Lumiose City and eat one of their famous foods. Ash and Serena then have a Pokémon battle on the same battlefield from the first episode of the XY series, the latter admitting that she never had a proper battle. Serena lets out Braixen, and Ash commands his Pikachu. The battle is called off, with Ash admiring her Pokémon that support her and “always cheering [her] on and on”. This motivates Serena to turn down her mentor’s offer and decide to go on a Performance training journey.

Fanon
This ship is one of the most popular ships in the Pokémon anime. It's also one of the most popular ships between Ash and a female companion. The popularity of the shipping began during the first season of the XY series due to Serena being revealed to have known Ash in her childhood, and had a canonical crush on him. Additionally, in the season finale of Pokémon XYZ, before leaving for her flight to Hoenn, Serena went up the escalator and kissed Ash on the lips and leaves down the escalator as she goes to her plane and leaves for Hoenn. This made fans very excited and fanboying and fangirling that Serena managed to kiss Ash. Tetsuo Yajima, the director of Pokémon XYZ, confirmed on Twitter that while they couldn't show the kiss so that the episode could air on TV, it definitely happened. He also said that Ash and Serena would possibly become a couple in the future of the Pokémon anime. It rivals with AdvanceShipping (Ash×May), PearlShipping (Ash×Dawn), AlohaShipping (Ash×Mallow), AureliaShipping (Ash×Lillie), and BlueAngelShipping (Ash×Lana). The major rivals of this ship are PokéShipping (Ash×Misty), NegaiShipping (Ash×Iris) and FirstFriendShipping (AshxGoh).

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Ash/Serena tag on FanFiction.net
 * Ash/Serena tag on FanFiction.net

DEVIANTART

PIXIV

REDDIT
 * r/AmourShipping on Reddit

WIKIS
 * AmourShipping on Bulbapedia

Trivia

 * The ship's name comes from the word amour which means “love” in French. It is because Serena is originally from Kalos, a region based on France in Pokémon X and Y; and she fell in love with Ash since childhood.