not looking forward to it either if they're gonna be like the ashxserena shippers overblowing it on youtube calling it the new ashxmisty, or the people acting like anyone that thinks its just a crush "watched selectively". I'm gonna probably not watch this season just to avoid the mess and how it'll be the b/w 2.0, only way I'll watch it is if the writing is as good as xyz or if misty does somehow make a return(which I highly doubt, I would hope so though since she's the one that fits for a returning character the most for this region). otherwise I'll pretend it doesn't exist just to avoid the rabid shippers and the bad writing.
You can watch it without browsing for the Pokemon shipping XD
It's very possible there won't be any pairing in Pokemon. All that matters is Ash getting a good title for himself, seeing new pokemons and pokemon battles.
It's likely in the last episode of the series, you'll see Ash x Pikachu fulfilled to the max