Power of Netship

“Aah!” The customer gasped. “Frankie! Get over here! I found some!”

Frankie was so relieved to see the red string in her teammate’s hands. After searching far and wide for a crafts store, this one was open and fully stocked with just what they were looking for. Even so, time was running short. If they still couldn’t make the nets in time, none of this would even matter to begin with.

It was no small purchase, that was for sure. They rang up a few big rolls of the stuff, plus two sets of knitting materials, and took to an empty bench on the street. The needles were hard to use and doing the whole thing on their collective laps was a challenge, but it wasn’t exactly the hardest thing they’d had to do. Just slow. Very… very… slow.

She knew it wouldn’t help, but Frankie couldn’t stop checking the time on her phone. One moment they had hours, a while later they were running with a few dozen minutes to spare. The faster they went, the worse the nets started to look, but there didn’t seem to be another way.

“Is… this a net? Does this constitute a “net…?” Frankie held up her finalized creation with anxiety, despite its relative sturdiness.

“It looks great!” Encouraged Katie. “How’s mine?”

The big sister had done a little… well, a lot better. Her perfect red net, mirroring Frankie’s blue, looked about as good as it could’ve given the circumstances. The little sister hoped the design would prove useful, even if she didn’t have too much faith in her own.

“Let’s… go give them a shot. Make sure we can use ‘em.”

“Okay!”

They stood out in the middle of the street and tried to ignore the passing crowds as they slowly caught snow in their tiny nets.

“They seem to work.” Frankie was at the very least satisfied, though something was gnawing at her that she couldn’t quite put her finger on yet.

“What’s the plan for when we actually get out there catching coins?”

“We’ll find the best spot… maybe somewhere open… and then we’ll both just start catching.”

“We’re not gonna split up?”

Frankie blinked.

“I… no, I don’t really… remember what happened last time we did that?”

“Fair, but Bozo can’t hurt you this time.”

“That’s… that’s not what I’m saying. I feel like… without you, things just… go wrong. And fast. I mean… you did just fine without me, but I… I’m not that smart.”

“Don’t bully yourself!” Katie threw her net over her sister’s head. “If you wanna stick together, let’s stick together.”

Frankie swallowed her fear and smiled

“In that case… I think I’ve got an idea. We won’t be catching much on our own… not with these little things, anyway.”

The sisters took a seat back on their bench. With the last of her remaining thread, Frankie haphazardly stitched the two tight nets together.

“How’s that?” She pridefully remarked. “It’s like a giant fishing net! Just think of everything we can catch with that!”

“I know!” Katie laughed. “Now that it’s infused with the power of friendship, there’s no way we can lose!”

“That too, I guess.” Frankie rolled her eyes.

Katie took some time to admire the design before they started practicing with it. It wouldn’t be easy to coordinate their movements on the snow, but they were sure they could manage it. They had all the time in the world, Katie thought.

Frankie burst into a scream.

“What? What?” Blinked her confused and honestly a little frightened sister.

“IT’S TIME! RUN!” She shoved her phone screen in the girl’s face, before they both immediately got up and ran to the town square, where a meeting was beginning…