>>52894376I don't know about being the endgame ship, but I definitely believe that at some point it crossed their minds to make Dawn a permanent cast member, or even Ash's substitute.
She's really similar to him in many ways, faced similar developments (from cocky shitter, to sad bitch, to what she became afterwards), has a good simple design, has a shillmon and, most of all, was the first and only companion until Goh to be referred to in the opening as a main character. To this day, the 3 characters who were MCs in the anime are Ash, Dawn and Goh.
Add to that the fact that the hosts of that one TV show I forgot the name of were shocked when it was revealed Dawn wasn't staying for Gen 5, and, well... It's kinda suspicious. I really do think she was originally planned to stay. She even did battling and had a full team, which was a new thing for companions at the time
