2. Yarn


Up on Mt. Wildwood, just off the trail and in the woods, Nise was alone, practicing his Arm Thrust move, pummeling away at the trunk of a tree. He was determined today to get his lunch without zapping the apples off. With every smack, leaves and branches would sway but no apples would fall.


"Oopaa!"
He delivered one last extra-forceful thrust at the tree.


Nothing.


*So weak,* he thought to himself, looking at his paws. They were nicked up from the bark that his thrusts had peeled off the tree.


Feeling frustrated, he stopped for a break. He walked down to a nearby stream and stuck his face in it to drink.


After he came up for air, he sat down and put his scarf back on. Perhaps it was a little warm for it today, but he kept it because his friend Yarn Emolga, who made it for him, always wears one too. So does their third friend Sparks. They never complained.


Nise felt a tap on his shoulder. He let out a spooked shout, and threw a backhanded punch at whoever was behind him


That someone caught his punch.


"Ha! Never fails," the voice behind him said. Nise knew this voice. He got up and turned around.


Sure enough. An Emolga with blue eyes, a slight blue tint in her fur, and her own purple scarf.


"How ya doin ', Nise-san?" she asked


"Yarn. Uh, I uh…"


Yarn took one of his scratched up hands and began caressing it with both of hers. "And oh my, what have you been doing with your poor paws?"


"Uh, what are you—"
"—Doing here? Stroking your lovely paws of course, silly."


Nise blushed from the sheer embarrassment.


"They're so soft and cute like the Shinx I fondled back in town–anyway!"


His blush intensified.


"Lemme help you with that." Yarn took his other paw and rubbed them both against her cheeks. She grinned wide as her electric sacks let out little jolts. The stream of electricity flowing into Nise through his arms actually felt great. His injuries and fatigue having been healed, she finally let go of his hands.


Nise almost felt woozy from how much blood had rushed to his head. His entire face was pink. He couldn't even bear to look at her.


"Uh… thanks as always, Yarn." No matter how many times this had happened, it never felt any less embarrassing. Yarn truly had no shame.


"Anytime Nise-san!" She winked. Nise felt one wrong word from a nosebleed at this point. "But seriously, why were your paws so beat up?"


*Oh Thank the stars. A change of topic.* Nise's blush lessened "Well I, uh, I was hungry." He pointed past Yarn, who turned and looked at the apple tree. The bark had been peeled off in the sections Nise had been training.


Yarn jumped up, caught the wind beneath her flaps, and glided towards one of the branches. She snatched two apples off that branch with her tail and flew back down.


She offered Nise one, and they ate together. It wasn't totally ripe, and a tad sour.


Over lunch, Nise explained everything in more detail.


"Training, huh? You know, even I can't topple trees at my level."


Nise tossed his apple core in the stream. "My dad was a Pawmo. Mom said, back when he was level 40 he could absolutely knock trees down, in like two punches. It's natural for us fighting types to want to be as physically strong as we can be. But I guess I didn't inherit his IVs…"


Yarn said, "You've also said Sparks was an inspiration. The sheer power he contains in his tiny body. His boundless energy and stamina. All paired with youthful naïveté."


Nise recalled various moments.


*Sheer power…* In an abandoned building, Nise and Yarn were on the ground, about to be incinerated by a Flareon when Sparks slammed into it from the side with a humongous Volt Tackle.


*And boundless stamina…* In a room strewn with toys, Nise was on the ground, clearly spent and wanting to get away. His plan to test his female transformations had backfired as Sparks had been using "her" for about an hour and was still going.


Nise shook his head, and finally said, "I mean, since I evolved a year ago, I've been training, and even harder than that since you introduced me to him personally and we became Team Sparks. But it's frustrating that this is still all the further I've gotten!. …Uh, but why bring him up?"


"Why don't we go meet him then? You've never actually practiced fighting with us before, because you were worried we would just curbstomp you."


"Well duh! The level gap between us is too great!" Nise shouted. He caught this and lowered his voice and shook his head. "Hell, I'm weak even for my level. How could I possibly battle either of you yet without almost dying?"


"Sparks doesn't think you're weak."


Nise looked down at his paws. "Anyone would say that to not hurt their friend's feelings."


Yarn also stared at his paws. "No, really. You seriously surprised him when you two met yesterday."


Nise turned to Yarn and tilted his head slightly in confusion. "Heke?"


Yarn giggled. "Cute. Anyway, yeah. He told me yesterday about meeting you earlier that day."


Nise tilted his head 45 degrees. "Heke?"


"And it sounds like you should be way stronger than your dad."


60 degrees


"Maybe even stronger than him!"


75 degrees


"Like, he said yesterday you gave him a Bewear hug so tight he couldn't break away."


90 degrees


"And also…" She leaned in close to whisper in his ear, "...that you have a nice see-oh-see-ka~ay! <3"


THUD! Nise's head hit the ground.


He picked himself back up, flustered again. "Now I know you're BSing me! Sparks and I haven't met in 3 days. I didn't hug him back then either. You were there."


Yarn shrugged. "Sparks might be a trickster but he's not a liar. Perhaps you just forgot?"


"I… I uh—"


Yarn then grabbed one of his paws with both of hers and stood up. "C'mon, let's go see him. If we're quick, he might still be at the Gourd Pond Park."


Nise took his hand back and clapped them together. He enveloped himself in a hazy blue mist and his body seemed to distort. When the mist faded, Yarn saw what looked like herself.


Well it wasn't perfect. Nise couldn't change the green of his ears. And of course his scarf didn't change.


"Let's… oh!" Nise held a hand to his throat, vocalizing and adjusting his voice. Finally in Yarn's tone, he said, "Let's fly!" and turned around and threw a dab.


Veins popped out of Yarn's head. She enveloped herself in a yellow light and grew to six feet tall. Then she planted one of her giant feet to the back of her copy's head, and he face-planted. "No. You run! Cringe-opath!"


"Hmm? Why?" Nise asked, muffled by the dirt.


Yarn stepped on his head again. "These paws didn't get beautiful AND strong gliding everywhere. You need to work on your legs too. It's also training!" She dug her heel in, giving him a noogie. "And second, don't you dare be crimping *my* style in front of *my* Sparks! Crimp your own!"


"Yes queen…" Nise transformed back to himself, except his fur remained Yarn's colors. Once Yarn got off him and returned to her normal size, he picked himself up and spat out some dirt. He just wanted to soak in the stream at this point.