AN I don't own Pokemon or any of the Pokedex information. They belong to Nintendo.

Flashback 7 years

"I'm sorry Mrs. Ketchum, but your son has an unknown illness affecting his insides. We suspect that he will survive to his eleventh birthday," a doctor told Delia while Ash sat in a room next door. Delia bursted into tears as she grabbed the doctor's hands.

"Isn't there anything you can do to help him?!" Delia asked them as she fell to the ground and covered her face with her hands. The doctor looked down at Delia with a sad face before she bent down to look into Delia's eyes.

"I'm sorry Delia, but there really isn't anything we can do other than give him some medicine to keep him from coughing up too much blood everday," the doctor told her. Delia kept crying, but slowly nodded her head in understanding. Delia stood up, got the subscription for the medicine, and went to the room next door to tell everything to Ash.

There was a lot of crying that afternoon.
_

Flashback 5 years

Ash smiled as he ran through Route 1. He saw a group of Spearow who looked at him with a critical eye before he through some pokefood out to them. They chirped happily as they began eating it before looking up at Ash and nodding to him in a way to say 'We accept you kid'. Ash nodded back and kept running through the route before seeing the river. He jumped in and began swimming around happily.

It was the anniversary of the doctor visit two years ago. It took Ash awhile to accept the truth, but after he did, he decided to spend everyday as if it was his last. He wanted to enjoy every second of it. He visited the route everyday after he turned five to meet and befriend pokemon. He became friends with the Pidgeys and Pidgeottos that lived here and was on neutral terms with the Spearows. The Rattatas loved him since he always brought them food.

He also befriended the group of Magikarps that lived in the river that he was currently swimming in. He was happy he had so many pokemon friends because all of the human kids his age avoided him like the plague. They all thought he was contagious and they didn't want to get sick even though his disease wasn't contagious. The kids' parents had told their kids they couldn't get sick from Ash, but they didn't believe their parents and continued to ignore him. One girl tried to be his friend, but after a coughing fit that ended with him coughing up a lot of blood, she avoided him even worse than the other kids.

Ash sighed sadly as he remembered this, allowing himself to sink under the water. He looked around under the water and saw two lights begin shining. He swam further down to get a better look when suddenly a large mouth opened and rushed at Ash. Ash closed his eyes and waited to get eaten. Suddenly he felt himself rising out of the water. He opened his eyes and looked around, shocked to see himself about 30 feet in the air.

"RAHHHHH!" whatever he was on yelled out. He was then placed on the ground and looked up. A larger than normal red Gyarados was looking down at him. Ash was shocked to see this, but he was even more shocked to see that it wasn't rampaging which was something that he knew Gyaradoses do. He looked at it closer and saw a twinkle in its eye. "Magikarp?!" Ash yelled up to it. Gyarados nodded its head happily as it bent down and licked Ash. Ash giggled as he pushed Gyarados off.

This Gyarados use to be a female gold Magikarp that was three times the size of a normal Magikarp. It seemed to have evolved into a fourty-two foot long Red Gyarados. Ash smiled as he rubbed her side making her coo in delight.

After a few more hours of playing with her, Gyarados was out of the water and curled around Ash who was resting next to her. "So Gyarados do you want to join me on my journey in the future?" Ash asked her. He knew he wouldn't live that much longer, but he always wanted to be a pokemon trainer, and he was going to be one before he passed away as well as be the winner of the Indigo League. Ash was going to be the champion before he died.

Gyarados didn't wait to answer as she wrapped Ash up with her body and nuzzled her head against his body making him giggle.
_

Present

"Ash! Wake up! Today's the day you leave!" Delia yelled up to Ash's room. Delia sighed as she heard scrambling around in Ash's room before she went back to fixing breakfast. She really wasn't looking forward to this. Ash just turned ten yesterday, and the first thing he asked for was to go on a Pokemon journey. She was worried about Ash since he wasn't suppose to live past his eleventh birthday and she wouldn't even get to see him for most of this year.

Ash quickly ran downstairs in his traveling clothes (His canon Kanto clothes). Ash fixed his hat into the right position and entered the kitchen. "Hi mom!" he yelled happily as he hugged her and sat down to begin eating. Delia smiled at her son before noticing something red coming out of the corner of his mouth.

"Ash! Have you been coughing up blood again?" Delia asked him with worry clear in her voice. Ash just chuckled nervously before looking down. She sighed to herself before setting their food down. Ash began to tear through his food as quickly as possible which caused his mom to giggle as she watched him.

"So Ash, what pokemon are you picking out?" Delia asked him. Ash just smiled at her before taking another bite out of his pancake.

"Well mom...I know there is two other kids who are starting their journey today so I was going to let them go first. I don't care about which pokemon I get because I'll become friends with any of them," he said happily as he finished his food and put his dishes in the sink. He ran back upstairs to get his backpack which he finished packing and ran out the door.

"I'll be back after I get my pokemon mom!" Ash yelled to her as he left. Delia just smiled before finishing her own food so she could clean the dishes and get some extra stuff for Ash that she was keeping as a surprise for him.

Ash continued running for about two minutes until he saw a car full of girls and Gary Oak walking out of the laboratory with a pokeball. Ash made sure not to be seen by Gary considering Gary was always the one who made fun of Ash for having no friends, being sick, etc. Ash disliked him greatly, but he didn't hate the kid. Gary lost his parents when he was young and had everything that he asked for given to him by Professor Oak which made him grow to be a spoiled brat. In truth, Ash felt sorry for him.

After watching Gary drive away with the girls, Ash headed on inside the laboratory. "Hey Professor Oak!" Ash yelled happily. Professor Oak looked over at Ash and smiled at him.

"Hello Ash my boy. You ready to begin your journey?" Oak asked him making Ash nod his head happily. Oak smiled as he gestured for Ash to follow him to the back. Ash walked after Oak and smiled at all of his assistants who smiled back at him. Ash saw a foreign pokemon sitting on a desk being examined by one of Oak's assistants.

The pokemon looked over at Ash and gave off a mischievous smile. "Professor Oak what pokemon is that?" Ash pointed at it. Oak looked over in the direction Ash was pointing and smiled as he saw it.

"Aw, that's a Rotom from the Sinnoh region. I caught it and brought it back to study. Rotoms are capable of possessing different appliances giving it different forms such as Heat Rotom and Wash Rotom plus three other forms. These pokemon are genderless as well, but something that we found out about this Rotom which made me want to study it even more is the fact that this pokemon is female which should be impossible," Oak explained to Ash who smiled at the Rotom. Rotom smiled back before letting the assistant continue examining it.

Ash continued following Professor Oak until they reached the pokemon decision room. He saw only one pokeball left making him smile as he picked it up and released the pokemon inside of it. "Char!" Charmander yelled as it appeared outside of the ball. It looked around and saw Ash who was bending down to be eye level with it.

"Why hello Charmander. I am Ash Ketchum and I am beginning my pokemon journey today. So I was wondering, how would you like to come along with me?" Ash asked it making it smile happily and jump into Ash's arms while happily yelling its name. Ash smiled as he patted its head while holding it in his arms.

Oak smiled at the scene before remembering something. He turned around and picked up his last pokedex. He knew Gary wasn't going to try and fill it up for him, but Leaf said she was going to. He knew he could trust Leaf, but having two people help him would be even better.

"Ash, I have a present for you. This is the pokedex. It can tell you the information of any pokemon in Kanto. There is an updated version called the National Pokedex, but I only give it to people who do something that I think makes them worthy of having it. I want you to have it and try to fill it for me will you?" Oak asked him with one of his 'Oak smiles' on his face.

Ash thought about it. His one dream that he wants to accomplish before dying is to win the Indigo League, but helping Professor Oak could be like a sidequest for him. Ash nodded his head as he took the pokedex from Oak and placed it in his pants' pocket. Oak then grabbed a trainer's belt and five pokeballs.

"Here you go Ash. Consider this a 'Happy Birthday' present since the pokedex is your 'Congratulations on starting your journey' present," Oak told him as he handed the items to Ash who grabbed them and put them on. Ash then grabbed Charmander's pokeball and smirked as he saw the flame emblem on it. Right before he returned Charmander he remembered his pokedex.

"Ah that's right. Might as well scan you Charmander," Ash said as he grabbed his pokedex and scanned Charmander. "Charmander, the Lizard Pokemon. "The flame on its tail indicates Charmander's life force. If it is healthy, the flame burns brightly. This Charmander is female and at level 5. It currently knows the moves Scratch and Growl. It also has the ability to learn the egg move, Dragon Pulse thanks to having a Kingdra for a mom." the Pokedex told Ash.

"Wow! Charmander you're awesome!" Ash told Charmander making her blush as she buried her face into his chest as he hugged her making him chuckle. Ash soon returned Charmander and placed her pokeball on his belt. He then bowed to Oak and ran home to see his mom off.

Ash smiled as he patted Charmander's pokeball while running back to his house. As he rounded the corner that led to his house, he felt his chest begin to burn in pain causing him to fall to the ground. Unfortunately, as he fell, his hand hit Charmander's pokeball bringing her out. Charmander appeared in front of him in a happy position only to be confused as there was no fight. She turned around and saw Ash beginning to cough up huge amounts of blood. "Char!" Charmander yelled as she ran to his side. She tried to get him to stand up, but he wouldn't budge.

"Char *cough!* Charmander. That's my house *cough**cough* Get my mom," Ash said before falling onto his back and staring up at the sky with blood running out of his mouth. Charmander quickly ran in the direction of his house.

"Of course *cough* This happens to me when my *cough* journey begins," Ash mumbles as he loses consciousness. The last thing he sees is a large majestic bird flying over head. He grabs his pokedex and scans the pokemon with shaking arms.

"Unknown pokemon. Not from Kanto so unable to give you information on the pokemon," the pokedex told Ash. Ash smiled before finally losing consciousness and his pokedex falling next to him.

"I wonder where Ash is," Delia mumbled to herself as she sat on the couch waiting for Ash to return. As she sat there, the door flew open and a Charmander ran in.

"Char!" it yelled to her causing her to jump up in shock. She looked at the Charmander in confusion and waited to see if it was going to do something to her. After a moment passed, the Charmander ran up to her and grabbed her dress and began pulling at her.

"You want me to come with you?" Delia asked and the Charmander nodded to her and ran out the door. Delia followed Charmander going as fast as she can to keep up with the surprisingly fast Charmander. She finally stopped running as the Charmander also stopped. Delia took a moment to recover her breath before looking over at what the Charmander wanted her to see and gasped.

"Ash!" Delia yelled as she ran over to him and began shaking him, but didn't get a response. Charmander also began shaking him with tears in her eyes. Delia started to cry before looking over at Charmander and asking her to get Oak to come here so they can get Ash to the hospital. Charmander nodded and ran off to Professor Oak's lab.

"Don't worry Ash, we'll get you feeling better," Delia told him while hugging his head to her stomach.

AN That's the end of the first chapter. Don't worry it will be longer. Anyway this is an idea I had a few days ago. So this is a fic about a sick Ash. Okay, I know some people will find Ash getting a Red Gyarados unfair since he's new to the whole pokemon trainer thing, but don't worry. He won't use Gyarados for a fight unless it's against Team Rocket or until at least the third gym.

So to be clear, Ash is predicted to only live until he's eleven. I still don't know how to end this fic so please don't ask if something will happen that will allow him to live because I don't know yet.

Anyway, I want to hear what you all want the Ash pairing to be. It can be an Ash/Human or Ash/Pokemon or Ash/Harem. Just give me ideas so please name the person.
The only person who can't be paired with Ash is Misty who won't be traveling with him unless a lot of people want her to. Even if she does end up traveling with him, I don't want the fic pairing to be Pokeshipping because that pairing is so popular and while I also love that pairing, it's too common and I want something more unique.

So please tell me what you want the Ash pairing to be, give me ideas for that as well as pokemon for Ash to catch. They can be Kanto or foreign.