It had been days since Liko had been acquainted with Sprigatito, and in short, things weren’t going well.

Sure, it was a little on the nose, coming all the way to Kanto to receive a starter Pokemon from back home in Paldea, but all it had done since they’d met was either scratch or ignore her. 

So what was a girl to do?

In Liko’s case, let all her frustration out in privacy.

Wordlessly, she collapsed onto her bed and released a muffled scream into the pillow. A few punches into the mattress for good measure, and that was enough venting for now. Thankfully, there wasn’t anyone around to notice her-

“…something wrong, Liko?” Ann’s voice shattered her privacy.

Rigid as a board, Liko slowly turned to face her other new acquaintance. Splashed out across her own bed, surrounded by a perfect pile of clothes and food wrappers, she was as loud and messy as ever.

Wide eyed and thin lipped, Liko’s screams were suddenly internal once again.

”I uh…” she mumbled, her words buffering at the gate. What could she say? She was annoyed at herself because she was incompetent as a trainer? That her supposedly compatible partner Pokemon wanted less than nothing to do with her? 

“Nothing I guess.” She shrugged. “Sorry Ann. Must’ve been weird huh?”

”Nah, I get it,” Ann grinned, sloping off of her bed and instead sitting next to Liko. A comforting hand squeezed her shoulder, gently sliding downwards. “You’re in a new place, with new life stuff, new Pokemon to look after, this sharing a room with you…” She flounced. “Sometimes you just gotta let it out, am I right?”

”That's about the gist of it,” Liko smiled. It was nice Ann was trying to comfort her, but now of all times? It was pretty much the opposite of the privacy she was hoping for…

”Did screaming help?” Ann blinked obviously.

”N…not really.” Liko said. It was all very much ruined by her being there.

”Aw no, that’s a real shame.” Ann squeezed her shoulder again. “Wanna know what I do?”

”Uhh…” Liko’s mind was working overtime. She wasn’t about to ask for mental help advice from a girl who ate her cereal with a knife to save on washing a spoon, but something told her she was going to receive it.

”…sure?”

”Awesome.” Ann bit her lip. “Okay, first things first. You wanna be in front or behind?”

Liko just blinked at her in bewilderment.