Never in my wildest, though still grounded in reality, dreams could I have guessed the ending they'd give this ship.At many points during this whole process I was very skeptical that anything would come of it, and I had pretty much concluded that Serena's last focus episode was the last real bit of Amour we'd get. Even watching this episode, it looked like Serena was just going to get on her plane and be lost in the folds of time.
This morning though, I am a very happy AmourShipper.
***
I'll leave the above portion totally unedited, to preserve my initial reaction for future generations, but now that I've watched the escalator scene about a dozen more times I'd like to write something a little more substantive.
Overall, that scene has to be one of the most beautifully executed moments I've seen in Pokémon.
They all get to the escalator to see Serena off, and her and Ash have their last exchange. Then she turns to go down the escalator and I thought, "So that's how Amour ends I guess? They didn't even shake hands or anything." Then they show Serena's face and you can see in her expression that she's thinking something like, "You know, I might never see him again." And then in a moment I never saw coming, Serena walks back up the escalator, the moment happens seamlessly, and she is carried back down. One of the best parts, you can see it in Ash's eyes after his initial surprise fades that maybe, just maybe, he gets it.
Brilliant. Given how they developed the ship over the course of XY, I honestly don't think they could have given us a more satisfying conclusion than this.
Lastly, I've always said Ability is my OTP and I was one of the first people to jump on the Ash x Lillie bandwagon, but after today, after the way this ship was so beautifully resolved, I can say with no doubt now:
Amour will always be my genuine One True Pair.
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