"Oh no, my water just broke!" shrieked Violet, who was staring at the puddle that had just formed under her feet.
"Violet!" shouted Brock, who in his haste to get to his wife's side, threw aside Misty's ring and pushed Ash over into the front row of seats. The gold ring went sailing high in a graceful arc and headed towards the nearby fountain.
"I've got it!" yelled Meowth, who went chasing after the ring. It bounced off of the Dragonite statue in the middle of the fountain and landed in Meowth's open mouth. With one gulp, the ring was gone.
"You ate my ring!" screamed a furious Misty. She seized the Pokémon by the throat and began throttling him. "Give me back my ring!"
"Ow! Ow!" screeched Violet, who clutched her swollen abdomen and sank to the carpet.
"Oh my…is there a doctor in the house?" the concerned minister asked the congregation.
Delia gave her husband a nudge. "Go on, honey."
Professor Oak stared at his wife in disbelief. "Delia, I may be a doctor, but I have a Ph.D…not an M.D.!"
"But you've delivered Pokémon babies before," Delia continued, prodding her husband in the direction of the pregnant woman in distress. "You're just like an obstetrician."
"Delia, the vast majority of Pokémon are hatched from eggs," Professor Oak protested. "There's a huge difference between that and..."
"I'm gonna kill you, Brock!" screeched Violet, who was in the throes of another contraction.
"I…love…you…too…honey," replied Brock through gritted teeth as all the bones in his hand were being crushed in his wife's grip.
"Honey, you're the only one who can help Violet," Delia insisted, pushing her husband in the direction of the altar.
Professor Oak nervously made his way to the pregnant woman and her whimpering husband. "Um…hello, Violet. How are you feeling?"
Violet replied by seizing him by the lapels of his jacket. "Get these babies out of me right now!"
"Um…okay…don't panic." Professor Oak carefully removed Violet from his tuxedo, looked around for anyone who could be of assistance, and spotted one of his former students. "Foster, come over here and give me a hand."
"You heard him, honey," Daisy said proudly. "Go help Professor Oak deliver Violet's baby."
Foster gave his wife a shocked look. "Daisy, just because I'm a water Pokémon professor, it doesn't mean that I know what to do when your sister breaks her water!"
"Oh, go ahead, honey," Daisy said, taking her daughter from her husband's lap. "Shelly and I will be right here rooting for you."
Foster hesitantly made his way to his former instructor's side.
"Foster, you and your wife just recently had a baby, didn't you?" Professor Oak asked.
"Yes. Six months ago," the younger man replied nervously.
"Good. Then you have a better knowledge of childbirth than I do," Professor Oak said, giving up his place at Violet's side. "So what should we do next?"
Foster anxiously surveyed the scene. "Uh…I think you're supposed to check and see if the baby's head is showing yet."
"Check and…?" The last thing in the world Professor Oak was going to do was lift Violet's skirt and perform a pelvic exam on her in front of the entire congregation.
"Anything I can do, Professor?" Tracey asked, kneeling down next to his boss.
"Call for an ambulance now," Professor Oak replied, hastily shoving his cell phone into his assistant's hands. "And tell them to hurry it up."
"Oh…oh….here comes another one," Violet moaned. Brock whimpered as his wife's crushing grip on his hand brought further tears of pain to his eyes.
Nearby, Lily and May were watching the entire scene and wondering what in the world they had gotten themselves into.
"Daisy didn't say anything about this when she had Shelly," a horrified Lily stared at her sister.
A curly-haired young man holding a camera appeared behind the two women. "This is so exciting," he said enthusiastically, snapping a picture. "The miracle of childbirth, caught on film!"
"Lily, tell your husband to put that camera away right now before I shove it down his throat!" shouted Violet, giving her brother-in-law a murderous glance.
"Todd, do you have to take pictures of everything?" Lily said, snatching the camera away from him.
"Aren't you going to examine her?" Foster asked his former instructor once more.
Professor Oak gulped anxiously and shot a nervous glance at the lower part of Violet's body. "I…uh…"
"Oh, you men are useless!" Daisy exclaimed in exasperation, handing Shelly to Lily and May. Daisy shoved her husband aside and took hold of her sister's free hand. "Okay, Violet, honey…you're going to have to start doing your breathing exercises. Pretend you're a Magikarp and blow the air out in short little puffs."
Delia tapped her husband on the shoulder. "Daisy's right. Let the women take care of this." Professor Oak gratefully gave up his place at Violet's side to his wife.
"All right, Violet dear," Delia said, gently mopping the sweat off of Violet's brow with her handkerchief. "I know it hurts a lot, but you have to listen to your sister and breathe through the pain."
"Thank you, Mrs. Oak," Brock said gratefully through gritted teeth as he removed his crushed hand from his wife's grasp.
"Professor Oak!" Misty shouted, shoving Meowth in her future father-in-law's face. "Meowth ate my ring! Do something!"
"I…didn't…mean…to…" Meowth choked, as Misty was holding him firmly by the neck.
"Make him give me my ring back!" Misty demanded. "Give him some medicine or cut him open or something!"
"Cut…me…?!" Meowth's eyes widened in horror.
"Misty, I'll see what I can do about Meowth later," he said, releasing the Pokémon from her stranglehold. "But right now, why don't you see what you can do to help your sister?"
"Leave it to my sister and Team Rocket to ruin everything!" Misty fumed, stomping off in Violet's direction.
"Thanks, Professor," Meowth said gratefully, rubbing his sore neck.
"You won't be so thankful after I give you a dose of laxative," Professor Oak said, taking Meowth by the arm. "Let's go inside the lab and…"
"Grandpa! Hey, Grandpa!" cried Gary.
Professor Oak turned around and saw Ash slumped in Gary's arms.
"Ash? What happened?" Professor Oak said, releasing his grip on Meowth (who quickly scurried away), and dashed to his stepson's side.
"It's okay, Ash. Take it easy," Gary said, helping his pale-looking friend to a nearby chair. "He said his stomach's been bothering him all day," Gary explained to his grandfather. "And I think he's running a fever."
"It's okay," Ash insisted. "Just had too much to drink last night, that's all."
Professor Oak felt Ash's forehead and discovered that Gary's diagnosis was correct. "Ash, you're burning up. Where exactly is your stomach hurting?"
"It was kind of in the middle earlier," Ash said, clutching his right side. "But now it's more over here."
"The pain is on your right side?" Professor Oak repeated.
"Yeah," Ash nodded. "But I think it's going away now."
"What's wrong with him, Grandpa?" Gary asked worriedly.
Professor Oak loosened Ash's tie. "Gary, do you remember your sixth birthday party?"
"Yeah, but what does that…?" Then the memory struck him. "Oh…appendicitis!"
Professor Oak nodded. "I just hope that ambulance Tracey sent for has room for two people. Stay with him, Gary. I've got to go find Meowth and get Misty's ring back."
"What did he mean by your sixth birthday party?" asked Ash as Professor Oak headed off in search of Meowth.
"You were there, Ash. Don't you remember? I threw up in the middle of my birthday cake and had to spend the rest of my birthday in the hospital getting my appendix taken out," Gary said. "Yeah, that was definitely the worst birthday ever. But don't worry, Ash," Gary patted his friend's shoulder reassuringly. "Once they get you to the hospital and get that appendix out, you'll feel much better."
"Hospital? I can't go to the hospital!" Ash protested, making an attempt to stand up. "I'm getting married today and then I'm going on my honeym…ow!" Ash clutched his side and sank down into his chair once more.
A furious Misty came storming up to the pair. "Ash, did you see where Meowth…what's wrong?"
"He's got appendicitis, Misty," Gary explained. "But don't worry. Gramps said that an ambulance is on the way."
"What?" Shocked, Misty sat down next to her fiancé and was alarmed by how pale he was. "Ash, why didn't you tell me that you were sick?"
"I didn't want to ruin our wedding day, Misty," Ash replied.
"Don't worry, I think Meowth and Violet have already taken care of that," Misty said, jerking her head in the direction of her sister.
"Brock, get back over here so I can kill you!" screeched Violet as another contraction hit.
Brock ran by, clutching his injured hand. "No! I can't take another contraction!"
Gary rolled his eyes. "I'm never getting married."
To be continued…