Wriggle was sitting on a log looking at ants running around it. She sighed to herself.

"Everyone is getting stronger. Even Mystia, while she isn't getting stronger in terms of actual fighting power, is getting getting stronger in the way of connecting the hearts of others, and getting more and more support. Even then, she's still stronger than me. I'm useless."

Wriggle had these thoughts for months. Everyone around her kept getting stronger. Rumia especially, but Cirno and Daiyousei had both grown in power tremendously, and even Kogasa was stronger than before, and she didn't even really fight, more accidentally win in attempts to surprise people.

But no-matter how much she tried in private, she couldn't become stronger. Not enough to matter, at least.

"Well, I guess I should go to the Garden of the Sun and check the insects there." Wriggle said, before she flew off. She knew about the dangers of the place with it being Yuuka's residence, but she knew in truth Yuuka did not mind her presence much, that much was shown by her still being alive. And Wriggle had to make sure Yuuka wasn't doing anything to the plants that would harm the insects, for plants and insects co-exist.

Wriggle reached the Garden of the Sun, and started to fly from flower patch to flower patch, and it was not long until she spotted Yuuka, who seemed to be tending to a patch of daffodils.

Wriggle watched Yuuka, and noticed that the daffodils were changeing. Some changed to a light blue, while others turned lime green. They grew, and throrns grew on their stalks. The shapes of the petals changed slightly.

Yuuka chuckled, before the Daffodils changed back to normal. Wriggle knew Yuuka could manipulate plants down to the molecular level, but she didn't know Yuuka's control was so precise, and so swift. However, it was exactly this sort of thing that made her worry for the insects. If Yuuka changed the plants in a way that it harmed the insects that pollinated them, it would not be good for the insects or the flowers.

Then Wriggle noticed Kogasa sneaking up behind Yuuka. She knew Kogasa occasionally came here, but Kogasa could be found pretty much anywhere, she spent a lot of time roaming around.

Then, Kogasa took Yuuka's infamous pose, before fireing her 'Imitation Spark' at Yuuka, the wave of light washing over her, and the thin beam just bounceing off her back.

Yuuka simply turned, with a smile.

"If you want to sneak up on me, you probably shouldn't go through the sunflower patch back there." Yuuka said sweetly, before she grabbed Kogasa by the umbrella, and threw her away.

'Did Yuuka just give her advice?!' Wriggle thought to herself, with surprise. 'Kogasa just tried to surprise her and while she punished her, she still helped.'

Yuuka then turned to Wriggle.

"You are not very good at hiding either." She said. Judgeing from her tone, she was in a 'good' mood for Yuuka. So Wriggle just decided she may as well try.

"Can you help me get stronger!" she shouted, causing Yuuka's smile to vanish to a blank face.

"Well, I was wondering when you would get the courage to ask me something like that." Yuuka said.

"Wait, what?" Wriggle asked.

"Well, your power is like mine. My power is the 'manipulation of flowers'. Yours is 'the manipulation of insects'. Put simply, you are not using your power to even a tenth of it's potential, a potential I know." Yuuka said. "You 'manipulate' the insects to do your bidding, but you do not... manipulate the insects. I can command a flower to grow and snare something, and it will. You can command an insect to fly somewhere and it will. That is the basic level of our powers."

"Wait, you don't mean..." Wriggle said, figuring it out, as Yuuka changed the daffodils to red.

"You should be able to manipulate insects. Down to the genetic level." Yuuka said. "I imagine your control won't be as good as mine, simply because insects die a lot easier than plants, but still, there are many things you could do with an insect I imagine. Changing the makeup of the venoms they carry. Making their shells tougher. Making them larger. I assume you know how much stronger an insect is in comparison to it's size. Now imagine an insect the size of me."

Yuuka lifted her right arm, which turned into the branch of an apple tree, complete with flowers.

"And you can even apply this to yourself." She said. "After all, you are an insect too."

Wriggle was surprised that Yuuka was being so helpful, and watched as she picked up an Ant, before she walked over, and put it in Wriggle's hands. Wriggle felt a little annoyed, since this action probably doomed the ant to being lost from it's colony, due to the scent trails fading quickly, and could tell the ant was confused and scared.

"Common ants have a venom. However, the amount of the venom is not even close to enough to cause harm a human." Yuuka said. "I want you to change that ant, or another one if you accidentally kill it, so that it can cause me any amount of discomfort or pain. If you can change that puny ant to the extent that it can cause discomfort to one such as me, you will be good enough with your power that you will be far, far more powerful, and able to refine your manipulation yourself." Yuka explained.

"And how do I do that?" Wriggle asked.

Yuuka shrugged. "I just will the plants to do what I want. They know better than to do otherwise."

Wriggle sighed. "So the plants are just so scared of you that they change their genetic makeup? The insects are not scared of me like that, and I'm nowhere near as strong as you."

Yuuka whacked Wriggle on the head so hard she almost passed out. "No! The key is the will! The will of those who dominate brings about ability of manipulation! And with the fact that it took so long for you to pluck up the willpower to ask me to help doesn't bode well for how long it'll take you to develop your power!"

The youkai narrowed her eyes and had a sinister look. "You'll never become useful to your friends at that rate."

"Fine, but even then, I don't know anything about venoms and such. I can't make this ant far more toxic if I don't know anything about toxins." Wriggle protested.

"You don't know anything about poisons?" Yuuka said, as if such a thing was common knowledge and everyone would know about venoms and poisons.

"You speak as if you're a master of them..." Wriggle said.

"I know a fair bit. I just prefer brute force, but back when I was not as strong, poisons were my forte. I defeated foes many times my strength back in my early days with deception and poison. Venom-drenched thorns on a rose, for example." Yuuka explained. "However, venoms are not something I should teach you, with how long it has been since I have used them, I could very easily accidentally kill you."

"You could do that anyway Yuuka..." Wriggle said. "You can hold your strength back enough when you're beating me up..."

"Holding back physical strength is one thing, making a mistake with a venom is another entirely. If you want someone who can teach you about that sort of thing, seek out the venomous doll." Yuuka said. "I think Medicine is her name. Likes Suzuran."

"Yeah, I've seen her a few times while gathering ingredients for Mystia on Youkai Mountain. Don't know much about her, she just flies off whenever we meet, almost as if she doesn't want to interact with others." Wriggle said.

"She used to be pretty vicious." Yuuka said. "However, she's stopped acting that way, but due to being young, she cannot fully control her own power yet. She constantly releases a light toxic mist around herself, which can cause harm to those nearby. It's not a strong venom, and I expect an insect like you would be able to withstand it, insects have rather good tolerance to such things, but she does not know that."

"And you think she's better than you to teach?" Wriggle said.

"Her body naturally produces poisons. It's just excess from her breath. Like you breathe out Carbon Dioxide." Yuuka said.

"Carbon Diwhatsize?"

Yuuka just smiled.

"Anyway, time for you to leave." She said, before she swung her parasoul at Wriggle and sent her flying, out cold. Yuuka's infamous mood swing.

Wriggle was chatting to Rumia about the events of the day, and asking for her thoughts.

"I've never seen this youkai." Rumia said. "I have heard of her from Alice once however. She's a doll that came to life, sort of like Kogasa. Alice didn't make her, she came from the outside world. Apparently she attacked some people during the Flower Veiwing Incident a few years back, but then ran into Eiki, who set her straight from her new-born rampageing."

Wriggle nodded. "Can you help me out with find..."

Rumia gave Wriggle a look. A serious look.

"Wriggle, you won't get stronger if I just baby you." Rumia said. "Besides, I have enough right now making sure that Maribel and Renko are alright. Rika's helping but still... she's Rika. Leaving them alone with Rika is probably as bad as leaving them with Yuuka."

Rumia paused.

"I am a little surprised that Yuuka helped you, and Kogasa, for that matter. That said, I remember back when Elly had Enkura pinned to the wall. Yuuka helped there, in her own way. I'm starting to think that deep down, Yuuka's actually good. Maybe if it wasn't for Titania, she'd be the most loved youkai of Gensokyo, instead of the most feared."

Wriggle nodded. "I don't think Yuuka herself is a bad person either. I never really thought that. Remember, Yuuka's ancient, and youkai have been... well... like Yuuka, for years and years. Without Yukari around anymore, she may be the oldest youkai there is. And that's if Yukari was older in the first place."

Rumia got up, stretching her arms into their usual pose.

"Well, I need to take Maribel and Renko to Sanae again. They seem to get along well, all coming from the outside recently. Maribel can't open a gap all the way to the Moriya Shrine yet, and they don't think they're strong enough to go alone yet. Maribel knows how important she is... and how much of a potential target that makes her."

"Yeah, but Rumia, you have to remember." Wriggle said. "Maribel and Renko won't grow if you baby them too much. Even if Yukari's last request was for you to look after Maribel."

"Heh, what I'm doing is completely different. I'm not helping Maribel get stronger, I'm just making sure she gets to Moriya safely!" Rumia said, before she looked at Wriggle.

"You don't need to change if you don't want to, you know. Strong or not, you're still our friend."

"Hah! What kind of pal would I be if I was too weak to help you guys out!" Wriggle said. "It's not fair you guys get into danger and I just watch."

"There's something I think. To become strong, you need a reason to become strong. Be it revenge like Mokou, or to protect something like Tenma. To spread peace like Hijiri or Miko, or to lead a race like the Deva. If your reason to become strong is to protect your friends Wriggle, I'm sure you'll become really strong!"

"How do you know that?" Wriggle asked.

"Because that's my reason too, silly." Rumia said.

Wriggle laughed.

"Then what's Yuuka's reason?"

"It's just a theory Wriggle. I've not figured out where Yuuka fits in it yet."

Author Notes:

Chronologically, this part happens while Kanakuma is recovering, but before Suika and Yuugi reunite with her. This mini-arc is split across a few timeframes, since Wriggle doesn't instantly get stronger. [And there's a 2 year timeskip between Arcs 6 and 7, mainly for Maribel and Renko]