Wriggle looked around the grove on Youkai Mountain. She frequented this secluded grove for rare ingredients from a tree which grew there. It seemed to be the only tree of it's kind, but it's fruit grew daily. However, no-one harvested the tree, everyone except Wriggle avoided the grove. Only one or two fruits would be picked before Wriggle learnt about the grove from her insect friends.
For it was the site of a ruined shrine, with a river passing behind it. A ruined shrine was seen by many to be a cursed place, and the inhabitant did not help matters, being a Curse Goddess. Specifically, the Curse God was Hina Kagiyama. Hina dolls floated in the river, although they were tied to the shore so they did not float downstream.
Wriggle had no fear of the Curse Goddess and her misfortune like most others, for she trusted her insects, who had lived in the hidden grove for generations. Hina had explained that the tree and the fruit it bore were very special, only growing on holy ground, such as that of a shrine. While the god of the shrine had long since left, and the shrine fallen into disrepair, Hina found it a fitting home, and eventually got used to someone actually visiting the shrine.
"Hello Wriggle." Hina said, spinning around slowly. Wriggle wasn't too irked by Hina's quirk, especially as she explained that her spinning was directly linked to her misfortune absorsion. Besides, Wriggle had put up with far worse quirks, such as Yuuka's violent mood swings, and Kogasa attempting to surprise anyone and everyone. Not to mention Cirno's boasts.
Wriggle still remembered when she actually thought Cirno was the strongest.
"Do you know where I can find Suzuran around the mountain?" Wriggle asked.
Hina spun a little faster.
"Why would you seek such toxic flowers? Surely the Night Sparrow does not aim to poison the humans." Hina said. "If that is your intent, I won't take away the misfortune that would befall you for following that path."
"Oh no, no. I'm looking for a living doll who likes Suzuran. She can control poison, and I need to learn about poisons to get stronger."
Hina paused spinning for a moment to show a surprised face, before she returned to spinning.
"Why would you want to know about poisons, and what would that have to do with you getting stronger?"
Wriggle explained to the Curse Goddess what happened with Yuuka, and how Yuuka told her to develop her powers. Hina listened, spinning the whole time.
"Ah, I guess that would make sense. Although I think Yuuka's bar is set a little high. To make a tiny insect be a disruption to her... is unreasonable. That said, I know a very simple way anything you do to the insects could be magnified."
Wriggle looked at Hina wide-eyed.
"Make them larger. If an ant can carry ten times it's own weight, a bigger ant can still carry ten times it's own weight. And they can inject more venom with their sting or bite. In proportion to their size, insects are amazingly strong. So that carries over to when they are larger too." Hina said. "Anyway, you'll find the Suzuran about a mile to the south-southwest."
Wriggle thanked Hina and was about to leave, when thinking about Yuuka reminded her of something.
"Wait, Hina, you're a God, right?"
"Yes and no." Hina said. "Why?"
"Well, we might need your help one day in a battle." Wriggle said. "I know you're not a fighter, but you could still help, surely your powers to ward misfortune could help."
""Perhaps." Hina said. "However, I should explain that Curse Gods are different to most gods. We do not require faith to exist, nor do we feed off fear, although some do to strengthen themselves. We simply are. As such, we are a lot weaker than true gods. In fact, Suwako has the ability to control Curse Gods such as me."
"Suwako can control you?" Wriggle asked. "Has she ever done that before?"
"Yes, and no." Hina said. "So if the god you anticipate to be an issue is her, can't help you. Sorry."
"Well, thanks for your help." Wriggle said, before flying off.
Hina waited for Wriggle to fly off, and stopped spinning, since she was in private and there was no-one to protect from the misfortune around her. Then, she sighed.
"I really hope she doesn't wake up. I remember the fight where she was sealed still..."
Wriggle reached the Suzuran field, which was on a small hill near the base of the mountain, and she quickly felt a little light-headed.
"I shouldn't hang around here too long. I may be resilient to these sorts of things like an insect, but there's so much Suzuran here..."
Moments after, Wriggle heard a voice.
"Then leave."
"Are you the poison doll?" Wriggle asked.
"Yes. You shouldn't be here." The voice said again. Wriggle looked down to see a small, blonde figure in red and black below her, with a far smaller doll hovering around her. Wriggle couldn't tell if it was like Kogasa, with the small doll being the real thing, or if the small doll was a familiar.
"I need your help though." Wriggle said.
The doll looked up to Wriggle, and this time, flew in front of her. She was smaller than a fairy.
"Why would you possibly need my help? And no, I'm not going to poison one of your enemies." The doll said.
"I need you to teach me about poisons." Wriggle said.
The doll looked shocked. "I'm still a young youkai... I'm in no position to be teach..."
"It dosen't matter if you're not very good at teaching. I just need you to help." Wriggle said. "You'll get better."
The doll sighed.
"You're persistent, although I should have expected such since you came here to seek me out instead of waiting for me to visit Yuuka. Fine. Medicine. Medicine Melancholy."
Wriggle smirked, and held out a hand.
"Wriggle, Wriggle Nightbug."
The doll looked at the hand, as if she did not know what to do, so Wriggle grabbed hers.
Before she started to foam at the mouth and passed out, falling to the ground. She heard Medicine cry: "Idiot!"
Wriggle woke up, feeling awful, and noticed she was in the Garden of the Sun. Yuuka was looking at her disapprovingly.
"You really are an idiot, aren't you? I told you she was venomous, and what do you go and do? Shake her hand. You are a moron." Yuuka said. "You would have died if Medicine had not learnt how to make an anti-venom to weaken every single venom she was coated in at the time, so she could carry you over here."
Wriggle groaned, before she laughed.
"Yes, but isn't that the best way to learn about a venom? To experience it first hand with your body. I can't learn this sort of complex and precise stuff with my head, so I'll let my body and my instincts learn it instead."
"... And here I thought you were just an idiot for coming to my garden so often and being a victim of mine over and over. Now I just think that you are a masochist." Yuuka said.
Wriggle just laughed, before she looked at Yuuka.
"Fine, I'll show you." Wriggle said, getting up slowly.
"You think I of all people am not aware of the power of natural selection and adaptation? But you are pushing it to it's extreme!" Yuuka said.
"Which is exactly what my power is supposed to do! It's exactly what your power does! If I can reactively use my powers to adapt to these venoms, than surely that too is developing my powers!"
Yuuka looked at Wriggle, before she laughed.
"You're funny. Fine, but one slip-up and you could die! This is a very risky method of increasing your powers, Firefly!"
"Yes, but the reward is that I should get stronger quicker, right?" Wriggle said. "Good, because I want to get stronger so I can protect my friends, or they don't get hurt having to protect me at least."
A few months passed, and no-one saw much of Wriggle during that time. Of course, this was before for a large amount of time, she was with Hina at the ruined shrine, in dreadful pain due to her insistence on learning about Medicince's toxins first-hand. Amazingly, however, it seemed to be working. Every single time, Wriggle would be out of commission for less and less time.
Wriggle returned to the Garden of the Sun, an ant in her hand, and found Yuuka amount the sunflowers. The youkai looked at her.
"Well then, it's been a while since you were last here. I guess you've been training all this time." Yuuka said.
Wriggle remained quiet. While she hadn't grown or changed, something about her seemed more mature as she approached Yuka, and placed the ant on the back of her hand.
"Ah, so you are confident that you have learnt how to use your powers." Yuuka said, before the ant grew to being just small enough that it fit on Yuuka's hand. "Oh, so you figured out things other than just venoms."
Yuuka looked at Wriggle, who was clearly deeply focused. Insects were more complex than plants, and Wriggle had far less experience than her, so it made sense. But she had expected it to take years for the youkai to reach this far, not months. Her determination was surely something.
Then the ant bit her hand. The jaws actually penetrating her tough skin, before it sprayed it's acid over the wound. Yuuka swatted the insect away, and was surprised to find it survived her strength, scuttling away over the ground, getting smaller. Yuka shook her hand off. She expected discomfort, but that actually stung. To Yuuka, it was like a bee sting to a human, but that was still far more than she expected.
Then, Yuuka found herself stumbling, off-balanced, from a blow to the head. To her surprise, Wriggle had kicked her in the side of the head while she was distracted. She noticed that Wriggle's leg looked darker than usual, and Wriggle's movements looked different.
'She reinforced her exoskeleton and changed her legs from the weak legs of a firefly to something like a grasshopper, which have powerful legs. Although her youkai form makes it hard to tell by simply looking...' Yuuka thought, as she stopped falling halfway, and simply grabbed Wriggle's leg.
"Yes, you've got stronger." She said. "I'll acknowledge that much. But you'll need another two thousand years before you can even think of challenging my strength."
With that, Yuuka swung Wriggle by the leg, and threw her out of the Garden. Wriggle landed, but remained just conscious from the impact, groaning with a grin.
"Yuuka of all people can feel my kicks now... I'm not gonna be in the way anymore..." Wriggle said weakly, before she went out cold.
Author Notes:
Basically, Wriggle's understanding of her powers makes her far stronger both with her insects and with her physical abilities. She's not on the physical level of the stronger youkai, but she's certainly stronger than before now. At her current level, she could probobly put up a fight against someone like Nue alone, whereas before, everyone was losing to her at once. She'd still get crushed by someone like Byakuren in a physical fight however, and needs time to metamorphosis herself or focus on the insects.
I'm probobly gonna do the Renko chapter first. Maribel's chapter won't be so much about her training, since her training is specifically self-discovery, but more about how she and Renko are adapting to Gensokyo as Maribel is getting used to her powers.
After that, it's the final two arcs. Back to the main story.