Pokemon One-Shots and Headcanons

Sick

The bright morning sunlight filtered through the gap between the blue curtains, rousing Ash's Pokemon from their slumber. Pikachu stretched out with a yawn, his stomach rumbling in hunger. Greninja stirred awake next, sitting up and rubbing his eyes tiredly. Hawlucha gave a High Jump Kick to the blankets to wake himself up before rousing Noivern. Talonflame woke up last, blinking sleepily as his eyes adjusted to the light. The five Pokemon looked out the window, a puzzled sound escaping them when they saw that it was late morning.
"Ash?" Pikachu asked, shaking the boy's arm, but he continued to snooze on.
"Something's wrong," Greninja said, staring worriedly down at their trainer. "Look at his face-it's all flushed." 
He was right. Ash's face was red and his breathing was labored. Every few moments, he shifted around as though he were uncomfortable. Pikachu reached out and felt his forehead, drawing his paw back immediately when he felt how warm Ash was.
There was no doubt about it-Ash was sick.
"What should we do?" Noivern asked anxiously.
"First, we need to get one of the others," Hawlucha decided. "Clemont would probably be best, he knows the most about medicine after all. Or Serena, I'm sure she'd want to help too."
"I'll get him," Greninja said, getting to his feet and leaping out of the tent. He found Clemont, along with his sister, Bonnie and their other friend Serena all sitting around their half-finished breakfast. Serena stood up as soon as she saw Greninja and walked up to him.
"Greninja, is Ash awake?" the honey-blond girl asked anxiously. Greninja shook his head. "Where is he?"
"He's sick," Greninja replied, trying to tug Serena towards the tent to emphasize his point.
"Is something wrong with Ash?" Serena asked.
"Yes, I said he's sick!" Greninja yelled, losing his patience slightly.
"All right, lead the way," Clemont said, getting up from his breakfast as well. Bonnie swallowed her last mouthful and the three healthy trainers followed Greninja back into the tent.
Inside the tent, Ash's condition seemed to have deteriorated even further. His breathing was even more labored than before and there were beads of sweat trickling down his forehead. Serena let out a gasp when she saw him and rushed forward, coming to kneel by the edge of his sleeping bag.
"Ash? Can you hear me?" she asked worriedly.
"Ash, come on. Wake up," Clemont said gently, shaking the sick boy's shoulder.
Slowly, Ash's eyes fluttered open and he looked up at his friends. That was when they realized he was even sicker than they'd thought. His normally vibrant, lively brown eyes were glazed over and lifeless. They focused on a point just beyond Serena's shoulder and filled with wild terror. He seemed to be looking at something only he could see.
"Ash! Ash, wake up!" Serena cried, shaking her crush desperately. But Ash simply continued to stare blankly, though after a few moments the fear disappeared.
"I....where...." Ash mumbled, nearly incoherent with fever.
"What's wrong with him?" Greninja asked fearfully. "I've never seen an illness like this before."
"I don't know...." Pikachu muttered. "Ash doesn't get sick a lot, so hopefully this is just his body overreacting."
"Let's hope so," Talonflame said grimly.
Clemont straightened up again and looked down at Ash. "We need to take him to the hospital," he said decisively. "But we'll need some way to carry him there, since he can't walk."
Greninja stepped forward. "I'll do it," he said, carefully maneuvering Ash to be carried over his shoulder. "He's so light," he murmured, but only the other Pokemon understood him.
They walked to the hospital next door to the Pokemon Center and sat down to wait in the lobby. Pikachu hopped onto his trainer's shoulder, hoping to get a response out of him. However, Ash remained completely unaware of his surroundings. His mouth was moving, but no sound was coming out and they were beginning to fear the worst.
"I don't think he has a common cold," Hawlucha murmured, looking anxiously at the raven-haired boy.
"What could he have, then?" Noivern asked.
"I'm not sure," the forest champion replied grimly.
"Let's hope someone can take a look at him soon though, because he's only going to get worse," Greninja interjected. He had placed Ash on the seat next to him and was watching over his trainer.
Finally, fifteen minutes later, a young doctor approached their group. His eyes widened in concern when he saw Ash and he immediately called for two other doctors, both women. They placed Ash on a stretcher and carried him away, moving as quickly as possible without making him feel worse.
"That can't be good," Clemont said nervously. "Usually doctors will talk to the family or friends of the patients before taking them in to check on them. If they don't...."
"...then it means there's probably something seriously wrong with the sick person?" Serena finished, worry filling her eyes.
Clemont nodded. "Let's go see how he's doing," he said.
The others nodded and followed Clemont in the direction they had seen the doctors rush off with Ash's body in. After wandering the hallways for a few minutes, they finally found the first doctor who had spoken to them coming back the other way and immediately ran up to him.
"Excuse me, sir, could you tell us where our friend is?" the Lumiose city gym leader asked politely.
The young doctor looked at him. "You're Clemont, the Lumiose gym leader, correct?" he asked. Clemont nodded. "I'm Dr. Jaeger. Your friend is in the room down at the end of the hallway on your left. I was just about to come get you."
"Thank you, sir," Serena thanked Dr. Jaeger.
"It's all right, young lady. Please, follow me," the doctor said, leading them down the hallway. "Here, he's in here," he said, ushering them into Ash's room.
The sight that greeted them filled Ash's Pokemon with cold horror. Their trainer was lying on the bed, in no better shape than he had been before, except now his eyes were closed again and there were bruises forming underneath his eyes. He was still sweating, evidence that the fever was persisting.
"His temperature was recorded at a hundred and six degrees," Dr. Jaeger told them seriously.
"Is that bad?" Noivern asked. "I don't know much about human fevers."
"Bad? He's lucky to be alive," Pikachu answered.
"Is he going to be all right?" Serena asked anxiously. "You can take care of him, right? He'll get better soon, won't he?"
Dr. Jaeger hesitated for a moment. "We can do our best to cure him, yes," he replied at last, "but that's not a guarantee. I'm not sure, but I think your friend-"
"Ash," Bonnie interjected. "His name is Ash."
Dr. Jaeger nodded. "Yes. As I was saying, I have a feeling your friend Ash might be suffering from a deadly illness no one has seen for thousands of years. According to the stories, anyone who contracts this fever has almost no chance of survival."
Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena all gasped in horror. Pikachu felt as though he was going to faint and had to be steadied by Greninja, who didn't look much better himself. Hawlucha was shaking his head no and trying to comfort Noivern at the same time. Talonflame just stood there in shock.
"What-what is it called?" Clemont managed to ask eventually.
"It has no name," the doctor answered.
"If-if he does have it," Serena began, sounding as though she were trying not to cry, "how-how long do you think he-?"
"The prognosis isn't entirely clear," Dr. Jaeger said gently. "There have been reports of cases where the infected person survived for two months after contracting the disease. But in most cases, death occurred within just a few days."
"A few days?" Bonnie exclaimed.
"Will he wake up before then, do you think?" Serena asked.
"I'm not sure about that," Dr. Jaeger admitted. "If this is what I think it is, I've never treated anything like it before. My guess would be that he'll wake up at least once, but whether or not he'll be aware of your presence I can't be sure."
"I guess we'll just have to hope for the best," Clemont said with a sigh.
"Indeed," Dr. Jaeger agreed. "Now, I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but I'll need you to wait outside while we do some more work on Ash here. You may come back in as soon as we're done."
Knowing that there was no way they'd be able to argue with him, the group nodded and left the hospital room. They settled themselves just outside the door and waited anxiously to be let back in. Ash's Pokemon all split off to do their own thing, trying to distract themselves from the news that their trainer might be dying. Well, all of them except Greninja, that is, who contented himself with staring blankly out the window.
"Greninja? What's wrong?" Hawlucha asked, coming to stand beside the frog-ninja Pokemon.
"I was just thinking," Greninja muttered, not meeting his friend's eyes. "What if Ash is....I mean, what if he's really...."
"He'll be fine," Hawlucha said with more confidence than he felt. "He won't die. This is Ash we're talking about."
Greninja nodded, still looking out the window. "I hope so," he sighed. "I really hope so."