Chapter 446
Silence stretched—not awkward, but weighted.
Luis felt it first. Not pressure exactly. More like being seen, the way adults on Springdale Close Street sometimes looked at you when they were deciding whether you were useful or disposable.
He swallowed, then spoke.
"Pokémon are… partners," Luis said carefully. "But not in the way people like to pretend."
Alex didn't interrupt.
Luis continued, choosing his words like stepping stones. "They're living beings with power. If you treat them like friends without understanding what they are, you'll die. A trainer's job is to survive with them. Anything else is a lie."
He finished and waited, hands clenched in his lap.
Alex nodded once. Not approval. Acknowledgment.
Then his gaze shifted to Lena.