Chapter 42: Lillie’s Tears

Chapter 42: Lillie's Tears

After lunch, everyone headed to the Grass Field for Lillie's match. Her opponent was a trainer named Snake from Unova, known for his formidable skills.

Lillie's first Pokémon was Clefairy, while Snake sent out Liepard. On paper, Lillie had the type advantage. Recently, with Fairy-types officially recognized, Pokémon researchers like Professor Elm and Professor Oak had also introduced Dark and Steel types to the world, along with Eevee's new evolutions.

The world's timeline was shifting, making it harder to predict the appearance of rare Pokémon and Legendaries. The future of this world was going to be very different.

Despite Lillie's type advantage, Snake's sheer battle experience overwhelmed Clefairy, resulting in a double knockout.

For their second Pokémon, Snake sent out Eelektross, while Lillie chose Nidoqueen.

Ron smirked. Lillie is lucky—Nidoqueen's Ground typing nullifies Electric moves. But Eelektross has Levitate, which means it's immune to Ground-type moves. This fight is going to be an even match.

Lillie made the first move.

"Nidoqueen, use Attract!"

Nidoqueen winked seductively, sending out waves of pink hearts. Snake's Eelektross froze in place, completely captivated.

Lillie seized the opportunity. "Now, Ice Beam!"

Snake frantically shouted for Eelektross to wake up, but it was useless. The Ice Beam hit perfectly, freezing Eelektross solid.

Ron sucked in a sharp breath.

"Damn. Lillie's luck is insane."

Next to him, Mallow and the others nodded in agreement, equally shocked at her fortune.

Eelektross's gender is visually indistinguishable, so Attract was a gamble—Lillie bet that it was male and won. Then, her first Ice Beam proc'd a freeze status. With that two-layered luck, the battle was already decided.

"Finish it, Nidoqueen! Hyper Beam!"

Nidoqueen charged up a massive energy blast and fired point-blank, shattering the frozen Eelektross. Snake groaned in frustration as he recalled his Pokémon—his second Pokémon had been knocked out without landing a single hit.

Snake sent out Aggron as his final Pokémon.

Ron frowned. This is bad.

Lillie had already used Attract, Ice Beam, and Hyper Beam. Snake won't make the mistake of sending out another male Pokémon, which means Attract is useless. Plus, both Ice Beam and Hyper Beam are resisted by Steel types. That only leaves her with one unknown move.

Lillie didn't hesitate. "Nidoqueen, Earthquake!"

A Ground-type attack, quadruple effective against Aggron.

But Snake didn't panic. "Tank it, then use Heavy Slam."

Ron's eyes widened.

"Shit. That Aggron has the Heavy Metal ability!"

Heavy Slam deals more damage if the user is significantly heavier than the target. Normal Aggron weighs 360 kg (794 lbs), but Heavy Metal doubles that to 720 kg (1,587 lbs). Meanwhile, Nidoqueen only weighs 60 kg (132 lbs).

This is a one-shot kill move.

Aggron braced itself, enduring Earthquake before charging forward at terrifying speed despite its massive weight.

Lillie bit her lip. She believed in Nidoqueen's bulk and commanded another Earthquake.

But the moment Aggron made contact, everything changed.

The Heavy Slam impact was devastating—Nidoqueen was launched across the battlefield, dragging deep trenches through the grass before violently crashing into the stadium wall. A massive crater formed, sending chunks of debris flying everywhere.

The battlefield fell silent.

Ron's expression darkened immediately.

"That was way too much force!"

The referee hesitated before raising a flag.

"Nidoqueen is unable to battle."

"No shit, referee! It got sent into the goddamn wall!"

Lillie's face paled as she ran to Nidoqueen's side, holding up its Pokéball with trembling hands. Ron immediately leaped from the stands, landing beside her and taking the Pokéball from her hands.

"I'll take Nidoqueen to the Pokémon Center," he said, not waiting for a response before sprinting off.

By the time Ron returned, Lillie had already lost.

She had sent out Omastar, but her mind was too preoccupied with worry over Nidoqueen. Distracted, she couldn't battle at full strength and was ultimately defeated by Snake.

When Ron returned, Lillie burst into tears, burying her face into his chest, soaking his shirt.

Ron glared at Snake, his voice ice-cold.

"You don't have anything to say?"

Snake didn't even flinch. "What's there to say? Winning and losing is part of being a trainer. If she can't handle it, she shouldn't be here."

Ron gritted his teeth, anger flaring inside him.

"Technically, you're right. But I don't give a damn. I stand by my people. If I see you in the next round, I'll make you regret stepping onto that battlefield."

Snake simply shrugged and walked away.

Ron clenched his fists.

Snake was a veteran trainer. Lillie, in comparison, had barely started her journey. Sure, winning and losing were part of battling, but Snake had no reason to go that far—he knew that kind of attack would cripple her Pokémon for the remainder of the tournament. That wasn't competition. That was cruelty.

---

Back at the Pokémon Center, everyone waited in silence as Nidoqueen remained in the emergency ward.

Lillie sat silently, staring at the floor, tears still rolling down her cheeks. Lusamine hugged her daughter, gently stroking her hair, trying to comfort her.

Ron, meanwhile, was not thinking about comforting anyone. He was negotiating with the system.

He had checked the match schedule—Snake was set to battle in the Ice Field tomorrow.

Ron was going to make sure Snake's next opponent was him.

"System, change the bracket. Make me his opponent."

"Ding. That request does not align with the main quest flow—"

"I don't give a damn. Name your price. Diamonds? Gold? Popularity Points?"

"10,000 Diamonds. 10,000 Gold. 10,000 Popularity Points."

Ron didn't hesitate.

"Take it."

"Ding. Bracket modification complete."

Ron closed his eyes and clenched his fists.

He looked down at Lillie, who was still sobbing softly, then looked toward the emergency room where Nidoqueen was being treated.

He hoped tomorrow would come quickly.