Rumia had never been here before. Everyone knew better than to come to this place, since apparently what lurked below was dangerous, the most hated, unpleasant, dangerous youkai of Gensokyo.
The blowhole. A massive hole in the rock going down further than the eye could see, and yet, wind blew out of it, as if pushing anyone attempting to go down away.
"Well then, you lot need to go down here with Koishi and see what's going on." Reimu says.
Mystia catches on instantly, and looks at the miko. "So you're leaving us?"
"Yes. I need to get some more people to help." Reimu says.
"You're not gonna sit around and be lazy?" Wriggle adds.
"No! I'm going to get Marisa and some others!" Reimu snaps, annoyed. "This isn't something I want to handle alone, if my suspicions are correct! And trust me, we'll need them, last time something like this happened..."
Reimu suddenly went quiet, and looked sad.
"Someone didn't come back."
The others looked at Reimu.
"So... someone got lost?" Rumia says.
"Rumia, I think she means someone died." Mystia says.
"Nah, Reimu's too strong to let people die!" Rumia chips back.
"Actually, Rumia's right. Maybe. She certainly didn't die, that's for sure, she was already dead to begin with. Anyway, I have to go get the others. You go down with Koishi." Reimu says, before she takes off.
Cirno looks around, before she pokes Rumia's cheek.
"If Reimu's strong enough to not let anyone die, how strong does that make me?" Cirno says.
"The Strongest!" Rumia says, partially to stop Cirno poking her, and partially to stop Cirno going into 'prove I'm the Strongest' mode.
"That's right!" Cirno says. "And it don't matter how nasty the things down there are, they ain't stronger than The Strongest!"
With that, the fairy dived into the blowhole, and her friends, as well as Koishi followed.
"Are we there yet Koishi?" Rumia asked, before she noticed Koishi had vanished, making herself exist only subconciously to evade the incessant questions from Rumia and Cirno.
"That d-d-epends. Where are you going?" a quiet voice said, as a bucket rose up in front of Rumia and the others.
"Down to see a Satori person!" Rumia answered, not finding the talking bucket odd at all.
For a moment, some green hair, and a pair of eyes popped out of a bucket, before they popped back in.
"S-s-scary. Never seen something like you guys before." she says.
"She's scared of us?" Wriggle says, confused.
"N-n-not many surface people come down here, and suddenly, today, there's been a lot." the bucket says. "It's s-s-scary. I'm usually happy to hang here in peace and quiet."
"What's scary is being underground... feels so wrong..." Mystia mutters. "I'm a bird, not a mole."
Hearing that, the eyes pop up again.
"You're scared too?" the stranger asks quietly.
"Yes." Mystia says.
The head rises fully, revealing that inside the bucket was a green-haired loli.
"Kisume. I'm a Tsurube-otoshi... a bucket youkai. I-I guess you're going because of all the noise down there? A couple of monsters tried to come up yesterday, and I threw some will-o-wisps at them and scared them back down."
"This is bad... didn't Koishi say they hadn't been coming up yet?" Wriggle says.
"Yeah." Rumia comments.
"That means things are getting even worse down there than when Koishi left." Mystia adds.
At this point, Koishi re-appears.
"Hi Kisume, sorry, we gotta run!" Koishi says, before wrapping around what seemed like rose plants, except with blue and orange flowers, around the three youkai and the fairy.
"I'm gonna take us down there fast!" Koishi says, before suddenly, the five started to fall instead of flying down, reactions ranging from Cirno screaming "Weeeeeee!" to Mystia panicking.
Then, about twenty seconds later, the ground became visible, and the group stopped falling, and landed softly. Koishi released the roses binding the group, and ran down a tunnel, swiftly followed by the others.
When Rumia and the others caught up, Koishi was standing on a bridge, looking around. Below the bridge was a seemingly bottomless pit.
"Parsee?!" Koishi called. "Are you here?"
"Who's Parsee?" Rumia asked, flying towards Koishi.
"Don't fly over the pit!" Koishi said. "You can't fly over it, it's enchanted. The only way across the bridge is to go across the bridge!"
"Oh." Rumia said, landing and walking towards Koishi instead. "OK... who's Parsee?"
"The keeper of the bridge. She's a Sin Youkai, Envy particually. She lives here and guards the bridge it. A little crazy, but she's good inside really." Koishi says. "She's also the only one who can fly over the pit, since this is her territory."
"If you keep talking about all you know about me, I'll get jealous about how little I know about you, Koishi... paruparuparu..." a voice said, before a blonde-haired, young-looking woman with pointed ears rose up from below the bridge. It looked like she had been in some fights.
"Why were you hiding Parsee?" Koishi asked.
"I was hiding to lick my wounds... and because I saw something I've been waiting over 1,000 years to see. She returned."
"Who returned?" Koishi asked, tilting her head.
"Yeah, who?" Rumia asked, joining in on the head-tilting.
"The one who started the city, and brought the youkai down here to hide. She came down here, with the same loving face as all those years ago... Byakuren Hijiri." Parsee said. "I guess you don't know about it, you were born down here, after all. I was the last youkai she saved, and because of that, I took it to guard this bridge, to protect the youkai in her place. Now she's back... I don't have to stay here all the time anymore..."
"Is that so~?" Rumia asked.
"... This surface youkai isn't that bright, is she?" Parsee said, before looking at Koishi again.
"Anyway, things are getting worse. I can hear the crashing of Yuugi fighting every now and then, and the heat from Utusho's fire, add in the fact that some monsters escaped and tried to go above..."
"That's all I need to hear, I'm wasting time. I got help, Reimu's coming with Marisa and some others later, let them past." Koishi said.
"That's not your job to choose..." Parsee said.
Koishi gives Parsee a look, a look similar to her usual carefree one, but, for some reason, felt very sinister. "It's not my job to choose, but it's not yours either. Unless you'd want sis to tell Okku to go up above. I'm sure you'd have fun stopping her."
Parsee muttered to herself. "A thousand years of stopping people crossing this bridge is a hard habit to break quickly... I'll try not to bother them."
With that, Koishi contained onwards, and the others followed her.
"I wonder who Okku is. She seemed scary enough to make that pointy-ears change her mind." Wriggle says.
"You'll meet her soon. I think the fairy will get on with her." Koishi says.
"Really? Well, as long as she knows I'm the Strongest..."
"You sound just like Okku when she boasts to the other crows..." Koishi replied, before the tunnel ended, and the group entered a clearing, a large cavern, with a path leading down to a large city.
The city was filled with stone buildings, with traditional looks, even though many were damaged. Right at the far end of the cavern, however, was a massive, untouched building, which looked somewhat like a cathedral, with many stained glass windows, with markings resembling flowers and eyes, as well as fire.
"Welcome to the Ancient City above Former Hell." Koishi says. "This is where the Yama used to live before they moved to Higan. Now it's home to many types of youkai, especially the Oni. We're headin' to that fancy building on the other side, that's my house... the Palace of the Earth Spirits. We need to see my big sis."
"Who... is your sis anyway?" Mystia says.
"Possibly the most hated woman in Gensokyo." Koishi says.