Rumia and Wriggle proceeded to do something they hadn't done before. They flew towards where the Master Spark came from. However, by the time they were there, the fight was clearly over. The Spark had ruined a few trees, fired from the ground, and Marisa was on her knee, clutching her left arm, and panting heavily, wincing.
The witch, however, noticed the two youkai arriving, and sighed.
"What brings you two idiots all the way out here?" she asked, pain clearly in her voice.
"We're helping Reimu find a book!" Rumia said happily.
"Which you apparently stole." Wriggle adds. "Before it got stolen from you."
Marisa looked surprised for a moment, wondering how these two childish youkai knew what happened, before she grinned.
"Well, if you guys solve this mess, I'm not being one-upped by Reimu. I hate it when that happens." She says with a grin. "I can't solve it, I took a nasty fall while fighting and I've done something to my shoulder, so I can't grip my broom to fly." Marisa began, pausing for a moment.
"Anyway, Aya keeps going on about how she can't let me beat up the thief without her tryin' to stop me, Tengu rules or something, like that Mountain mess a while ago. She probably won't let you through either." Marisa finishes.
The witch then looked in thought.
"I know, you guys can borrow this. It can amplify magical energy, and might give you what you need to blast them for me." Marisa says, holding out her Mini-Hakkero.
"You sure that's OK?" Rumia asks. "That's your Sparky thing!"
Marisa nods. "You're usin' it for me. And if ya don't give it back, I'll just come find you, beat you up, and steal it back, ze!"
Wriggle looked cautious, as Rumia happily takes it.
"How do we even use that thing?" Wriggle asks.
"You just focus your magical energy into the Mini-Hakkero. It's like an amplifier. I don't know what the result will be, so I'd suggest you only use it if you have to. May not be safe." Marisa says in a tone which seemed almost as if she was giving the device to the youkai just to see what would happen.
The trio looked at each other, as if expecting someone else to talk, before Marisa looked annoyed. "What are you dopes waiting for, go beat them up for me, Aya should be tired!"
-
"Ayayayaya... what kind of mess has she got into this time? It's so annoying; I have to defend her so the Tengu can deliver justice on their own, when they've investigated. It'll be too late by then..." Aya muttered to herself, flying around the Tengu Village on patrol. "She'll just go out in an hour or so and spread everything she gained anyway."
"Who's she?" Rumia asked, popping up in front of Aya, making the crow Tengu move back in surprise.
"What are you two doing here? I've never seen you further away from that forest than the Hakurei Shrine." Aya asks.
"Help'in Raymoo find a book and Marisa blast some people." Rumia says, before Wriggle can cover her mouth on the last part.
The crow Tengu just smileed, and put her hand on her forehead for a moment, before speaking. "Well, I don't exactly agree with having to protect the perpetrator either, but Tengu rules say I have to. If you want to find the one behind this, you have to get through me."
"Can't you just... let us through and pretend you lost?" Wriggle says.
"The Tengu are not that stupid." Aya said; before a sly grin crossed her face.
"However, there is one way. I'll make a bet with you. If you two can withstand this spellcard of mine, I'll stand aside. Going back on your word is not allowed for Tengu, and I can't say I didn't try and stop you either. However, if you can't withstand the spellcard, then you can't pass." Aya says. "Deal?"
Wriggle and Rumia look at each other for a few moments.
"You got any better ideas Rumia?" Wriggle asks.
"I dunno, why?" Rumia replies.
"Because I hear Aya's really good at danmaku!" Wriggle says.
"I got an idea, how about a trade!" Rumia suggests.
"A trade? The universal agreement between youkai. I guess if you have something of value I can stand aside too." Aya says.
Rumia takes this chance to pull out the Mini-Hakkero, and Dinner the frog. Aya just facepalms.
"The Hakkero isn't yours, I can't take that, and a frog isn't something I want. No." The Tengu says.
"OK, I'm out of ideas Wriggle." Rumia says.
"Then we have no choice. We accept." Wriggle says, as Aya gives a sly smile, and pulls out a spellcard.
"Let's get started right away then! This will only take a few seconds... Illusionary Dominance!" Aya declared, before she soared high into the sky, and began to move at speeds so fast that it appeared that she was in multiple locations at once, a blur moving in multiple directions simultaneously.
And suddenly, from the crossing lines in the sky, a dense rain of green, leaf-like danmaku begin to fall.
Upon noticing this, Rumia and Wriggle begin to dodge and weave, getting clipped and grazed by danmaku, but, it is very evident that they would quickly be overwhelmed, so instead of dodging and weaving, they decided instead to stand their ground, and fight danmaku with danmaku.
"Night Sign: Night Bird!" Rumia declared, before sending out waves of larger bullets, which collided with Aya's bullets, and either cancelled them or knocked them off course, like a defensive barrier.
Wriggle, on the other hand, just used a nonspell, using firefly familiars combined with her own danmaku to create a matrix of bullets akin to Aya's.
However, despite the two youkai outputting danmaku, Aya's attack was still getting through, and pushing their danmaku back, through sheer volume. Aya's speed and barrage was just growing more and more intense with every second. It was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed...
Except that moment never came. The danmaku stopped, and Aya floated in front of the two youkai, panting.
"Ha, that spellcard takes a lot out of me. I can't move at those speeds for long, it times out in but a few seconds." Aya says, adding, "And it was even shorter than usual thanks to Marisa earlier."
Aya panted a few more times, before she spoke again, a satisfied smirk flashing on her face before she started. "Well, the thief is Hatate Himekaidou. She probably stole the book for a story to outdo me. You'll find her in the building with the 'Kakashi Spirit News' sign on it. Can't miss her, she wears a ton of purple and white."
The frog took this moment to pop it's head out of Rumia's pocket, and croak loudly. Aya looked at it, before she smiled.
"I have an idea. If you let me give that frog to someone higher up on the mountain, someone might come to help you, you see, there's someone who lives on the peak who likes frogs a lot." Aya says.
"So, wait, you want the frog now?!" Rumia exclaims.
"No." Aya protested. "I know someone else who would want the frog. Besides, you called it Dinner. If you ate the frog she'd probably come and beat you up for it. Wouldn't you rather her possibly helping you?" Aya says.
"Oh yeah. That's what Cirno froze it to save it for." Rumia recalled.
"Sounds like an idea. We are not using the frog for anything." Wriggle commented, adding, "And if there's a chance someone could come and help..."
"I wonder if the frog lady is the same frog lady Cirno mentioned." Rumia interjected.
"Probably." Aya said in a tone which showed she didn't really care.
"She's almost as strong as Cirno Wriggle! We need to get on her good side!" Rumia said, waving her arms.
"Yes, having someone almost as strong as Cirno on our side is always good!" Wriggle agreed.
With that, Rumia pulled Dinner out of her pocket, and gave the frog to Aya, before the tengu flw up the mountain, far slower than her usual pace. The pair of youkai then looked across the Tengu village, before they stopped at the house Aya described. The Tengu houses were simple, wooden huts, with the exception of one which was in the center and was far larger and grander than the others.
The pair landed outside the hut with the sign that Aya told them about, and knocked on the door. Movement was heard within, before the door opened, and a tengu the pair had never seen before appears.
She was wearing a purple and black checkered dress, with a white shirt. She had twin pigtails in her brown hair, and was holding a device of some sort, yellow and black, which looked vulgarly like it one of Aya's 'Cameras'. She was also holding a scarlet book, and had, over her shoulder, a bag filled with papers.
"If you two don't mind, I'm about to make my rounds. Big story here." She said in a dismissive tone.