Okay, what hints besides viewing her as a friend were given that Ash has even the slightest romantic inclination to Serena (which doesn't really mean much: Waylon Smithers crushes on Mr. Burns, and other than viewing him as a friend, he has never shown any indication of having mutual feelings of romance for Smithers.)? I'm not even a Pokeshipper at all (or, heck, any shipper anyways), yet even I have to admit there was slightly more hints towards them actually having a crush on each other and such being mutual than Serena and Ash did. At least with Misty and Ash, they actually DO act more like how 10 year olds actually would act with the whole "cootie" stage and whatnot. Serena acts more like a hormonal teenager with her crush on Ash despite explicitly being 10.