"I'm Wriggle Nightbug, Firefly Youkai of Insects. Would you please stop shooting at me now?"





Name: Wriggle Nightbug
Species: Youkai Firefly
Power: Wriggle has the power to manipulate insects, and uses them - mostly fireflies and butterflies, although she has been known to employ very dangerous insects such as harvest mites when greatly angered - to spawn showers of colorful danmaku by empowering them with her own energy, thus causing them to prove spiritually damaging - although physically near-harmless - upon contact with a living being, attacking said being's soul directly and wearing away at their power as opposed to their actual physical body. Her fighting style essentially consists of a contest of endurance, with her goal being to conserve her energy until her opponent is too tired to move, and her opponent's goal to outlast her by timing out or breaking all of her spell cards, thus exhausting her power quickly.
Appearance: Wriggle is... not an intimidating individual. Standing at only four feet 10 inches, she is fairly small in comparison to almost everyone she meets, save youkai close to her own relatively young age (for a Youkai, anyhow). But, really, what did you expect from a Youkai of insects? But, what she doesn't have in size, she makes up for in her rather distinctive appearance and manner, the flowing, two-tailed black cape she wears being lined on the inside with a bright red color, and otherwise seeming made specifically to flare out dramatically around her as she flies. Compared to the rather demure stylized white blouse, baggy blue shorts, short white stockings and black dress shoes she wears, it is certainly rather memorable.

Her short, straight hair is a bright teal in color, tending to catch the light of the fireflies which surround her almost constantly and of her own two faintly gleaming antennae and reflect it, causing her hair to glisten and shimmer as it flutters out around her in the faint breeze kicked up by her flight. It always seems just a little unkempt, as though she simply doesn't care to comb it, but is naturally straight enough that it doesn't ever really change much regardless of her lack of effort to maintain a distinctive hairstyle. Even when ruffled by the wind in the sky, it generally settles back into the same old fashion.

Her eyes are a bright blue-green, almost seeming to glow with a light of their own - although this is probably just the light from her previously mentioned antennae, which have a tendency to glimmer, especially when she is excited, in lieu of the usual light made by the dancing fireflies on which her existence and appearance are based - that contrasts with her otherwise somewhat pale, thin and fragile appearance. Being a nocturnal individual, and being based on insects, all of these things are natural features to her, her soft, pale skin, childishly thin physique, and generally doll-like nature all coming together to form the ethereal sight of the would-be great youkai of insects: Wriggle Nightbug.



Personality: Wriggle is - for a Youkai - a rather kind - if somewhat tomboyish - girl. While she tries to act with a dignified manner and can be very proud - causing her to take insult rather easily, such as when referred to as a mere "bug," or when insects are disrespected in her presence - she sees no purpose in rudeness to those who treat her with sufficient respect. She always acts with an almost childlike energy, remaining confident, spirited, and determined even in the face of certain defeat. In her treatment of other people, she is almost always witty and sarcastic, but helpful regardless, even if she tries to remain aloof and perhaps a little arrogant about it, making her seem just a little bit "tsundere" at times, since despite her showy theatrics and her superior attitude, Wriggle is still a generally nice person who just wants a bit of respect, a side of herself she shows more of and less of her respect-seeking pride to her friends. In the end, she is still a young girl, even if she is also a Youkai, after all.

As a general rule, during the day, she leaves Humans alone and keeps to herself. When, at night, travelers wander alone through the wilderness, she will sometimes appear to them, but aside from the usual posturing and theatrics put on by Youkai to garner respect and fear from the Humans who behold them, she does little to threaten or harm them. In fact, to those who respect the importance and power of insects - especially fireflies (Hey, she has a right to some pride in her species, doesn't she?) - she is a generous benefactor, lighting their way with her fireflies and guiding them safely to the Human village, keeping lesser Youkai and fairies from playing tricks on one who would otherwise be defenseless against them.

To fellow Youkai and to Humans with the power to stand on par with Youkai in a contest of danmaku - Read: Marisa, Sakuya, Reimu, and so on - Wriggle is generally fairly apathetic, not really bothering to pick fights with those who have already beaten her, although despite her rather poor combat record, she still does her best to justify, maintain, and otherwise protect her pride as a Youkai, either by offering them assistance or by eliminating other low-level youkai and such to save them trouble, thereby making herself useful somehow and at least allowing her to keep some shreds of the dignity she had before being utterly trounced by mere Humans four times in the same unnaturally long night (In her defense, she only attacked the shrine maiden, thinking her an easy target. The magicians, half-ghost, and maid of the Scarlet Devil just started shooting while she was recovering from the first battle, blasted her out of the sky without even looking to see who or what they were firing at, called her out, then started shooting again.) - after which she was subsequently defeated by a Tengu with a camera who never even fired a shot, which was another severe blow to her reputation amongst her fellow Youkai, save those who had come into contact with said Humans and Tengu, which leads to her personal group of friends, and her manner around them.

To those friends who still see her as a respectable fellow Youkai - these mostly being weak, childish Youkai who were defeated easily by the same people who disgraced Wriggle, the shrine maiden and the witch - Wriggle is much more forthcoming than to Humans or youkai she wishes to impress - with whom she adopts the posturing, mysterious stance and the distant, unconcerned sarcastic mood described above, respectively. She spares even her friends none of her wit, and still does not take insults to herself or to insects well, but even if she was to be insulted, she would only react with mild irritation. After all, by this point, she knows that any and all of these jabs at her reputation are in jest, and so she isn't really angered all that much by them. The youkai firefly instead takes on a role of slight superiority, acting the part of an older sister to most of her comrades and helping them out with whatever needs doing, paying visits to make sure they haven't been blown up by a passing miko, and joining them in their various bits of fun.
Likes: Insects, especially fireflies, sweet food, flying, people who treat her with the respect befitting a Youkai.
Dislikes: People who treat her as a weakling, people who insult her dignity, people who insult insects, the cold, pesticides.
Fears: Being helpless, being alone, being blown up for no explicable reason, AGAIN.
Goals: To become a respected and powerful Youkai, and to help her friends achieve the same.
Relationships: Wriggle is on friendly terms with Cirno, Mystia, Rumia, and Daiyousei, and is an acquaintance of Mokou, Keine, and the rabbits of Eientei, although they don't know each other well at all. She is aware of Youmu and Yuyuko, although her only real experience interacting with these two is being shot down by them during the Imperishable Night incident. Similarly, she is also aware of the denizens of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and has conversed with Meiling on occasion during flights over the Misty Lake and the mansion itself, although she is by no means an acquaintance of theirs either. She actively dislikes Alice, Marisa, Reimu, Aya, and Yukari, having met, spoken with, and been defeated and disgraced by all of these individuals on at least one occasion, as well as because of their demanding, overbearing nature, which clashes with her own pride.



Background: (Pardon my somewhat non-canon backstory. This is something small I came up with to justify Wriggle's personality a bit.)

Wriggle is a rather young Youkai by comparison to most, having only recently reached that status after living as a normal firefly, slowly growing in power until finally she was reborn as a Youkai. Aware of herself and her nature from the beginning, she quickly developed an identity of her own and, taking her example from the other Youkai around her, who all squabbled for respect - and, in most cases, fear - from the Humans, Wriggle immediately began working to grow her own power over other Youkai by gathering respect also, using her ability to manipulate insects - all of whom she valued as fellow equals due to the knowledge that one day, any of them might be reborn as a Youkai as she had been, a thought which drove her to protect them as best she could, much to the confusion of other Youkai, who did not understand her reasoning - to gain an advantage over her fellow Youkai, as well as to intimidate Humans. While she never actually devoured anyone, even before the rules against harming Humans were in place, she did use their respect and fear to grow stronger, making a name for herself amongst the weaker Youkai of the Forest of Magic and the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, between which she made her home, and in which she wandered from day to day. Even after spell cards came into play, it seemed to her like things would never change.

And yet, they did. One day, a shrine maiden came wandering through her area of forest, guided by a Youkai she did not recognize. Reasoning that a powerful Youkai would have tried to intimidate the Human, and that all Humans were powerless in comparison to Youkai, Wriggle appeared before them, intending to frighten them a little and use their respect to further increase her own power and reputation, while also giving her the chance to exercise her abilities and make them stronger - which she frequently did, giving performances of the dancing fireflies to nobody in particular as a means of increasing her control. To her surprise, however, the shrine maiden met her appearance by opening fire with danmaku, forcing her to retaliate in kind. At first, she reasoned that the red-white miko would be weaker than herself due to her Human blood, and so refrained from using a spell card in their first clash. To her surprise, however, her normal attacks were unable to even graze Reimu, and she was soundly defeated. Further adding to her confusion, the Youkai actually helped the Human, and together, the two taunted her, then easily overcame even her spellcards, sending her plummeting to the ground in defeat.

By the time she returned to the air, things had only grown worse, and to her surprise, even more Humans quickly arrived, shooting her down again and again, oftentimes attacking her before they could even see her! These battles utterly ruined her amongst her fellow Youkai, and she was cast out by each and every one of them, all the days of hard work at gathering respect through cunning tactics and awe-inspiring shows of power rendered meaningless by a single night. For a while, she retired to her favorite shelter, a lake in a forest glade which the fireflies frequented every night - indeed, as a firefly, she had danced and soared there many a time herself. But she was searched out even there, and once again defeated by a mocking Tengu with a camera who evaded all of her spells without even firing a shot, forcing her to admit another scathing loss by the rules of danmaku.

It was then that she realized that there were certain enemies she would never be able to defeat, and resolved to, instead of striving for a victory she would probably never achieve, she would just keep on wandering from place to place, fighting her fellow Youkai when they attacked her and otherwise simply doing whatever she felt like to pass the endless days. When incidents came up, she just avoided them, deciding it was better not to get in the way of the ones who had disgraced her in the first place.

At times, she even frequented the Human village, after she found out through insects that other Youkai - such as the Night Sparrow and the Were-Hakutaku - did the same. Although she wore a hat to conceal her antennae, most of the Humans knew her anyway, but, she found to her surprise, almost none of them regarded her with much fear, the kindness she showed to those who treated insects with respect being enough to completely shatter the reputation she believed she had cultivated as a mysterious and powerful denizen of the forest. While they were wary of her intentions there, many of them simply ignored her, reasoning that she was ineffectual even if she was a Youkai. Although she ended up becoming rather successful - even respected - as a sort of Pied Piper who drew infestations of insects away from people and into the wilderness, and prevented mosquitoes and other such pests from bothering Humans, the apathy with which she was treated was enough of a blow to her already wounded pride to put an end to any lengthy visits.

So, for a while, she tried bothering the miko and the witch. After all, other Youkai they had defeated did this quite commonly. But this, too, did not work as intended. All that happened when she arrived at the witch's house was that she was chased from the premises by jeering jokes and cascades of laser beams, or ignored entirely and left outside - probably because the witch wasn't home and had more important people to deal with. And, when the firefly visited the Hakurei Shrine, she was generally told to either make herself useful and clean the shrine while Reimu lounged about with more important Youkai, or to leave. So, she gradually gave up these visits as well, and continued wandering about Gensokyo to pass the time.

Eventually, she stumbled across someone completely by accident. While wandering about the outskirts of the Human village in the hopes of procuring some food, she stumbled across a stand that sold grilled lamprey, purported to cure night blindness. To her surprise, she recognized the girl selling these things immediately as a Youkai, a Night Sparrow she had encountered a few times before during her days as insect-queen of the forest. This youkai, Mystia Lorelei, treated her kindly, understanding her situation due to being similarly defeated by the Humans who had disgraced Wriggle. Eventually, their interaction led the firefly youkai to join the sparrow's group of friends, consisting of several fellow weak Youkai who accepted her eagerly. Although they were a bit of a handful, they were the first real friends Wriggle had made besides the insects with whom she conversed daily. And so, she, too, accepted them with enthusiasm and kindness. After all, this was, in a way, what she had wanted from the very beginning: to be treated with kindness and respect by her fellow Youkai. In a way, this was actually better. After all, this kindness was inspired by joy and camaraderie rather than fear, which made Wriggle all the more happy to accept it. Sure, she wasn't powerful like she had originally hoped to be, but, then again, was that really that important?

She didn't think so.





Theme Song(s): Mooned Insect and Stirring an Autumn Moon ~ Mooned Insect
Other Information: The following is a complete list of her spell cards, and some brief descriptors.

Lamp Sign ~ Firefly Phenomenon: One of Wriggle's mainstay spell cards. It consists of her summoning several brightly glowing fireflies, the light of which becomes danmaku and arcs downward at a target, gaining speed as it falls, whilst Wriggle herself keeps up a steady barrage of firefly bullets. But, by shooting down the firefly familiars, one can easily hinder Wriggle's ability to fire many bullets, making this card largely ineffective save when used with a great deal of power. (I.E., Lunatic difficulty.)

Wriggle Sign ~ Little Bug: By far Wriggle's weakest spell card, and the very first she created. It consists of a three-pronged spiral of firefly eggs with her at the center. As the three columns whirl around, they hatch one by one and the larvae gather together in large bullet clusters and fire themselves one by one at a target. However, due to the rather puny number of bullets that actually end up headed for a target, this spell card is almost entirely useless, and is kept only as a memento and perhaps a means of tricking an opponent into underestimating her.

Wriggle Sign ~ Little Bug Storm: A somewhat improved version of the previous spell. Wriggle invented this card once she had grown somewhat in her strength, having practiced at controlling her abilities and exercised them somewhat. It works in mostly the same way as the original, but this time, there are six columns, each containing more eggs, and thus firing more bullets. Another mainstay spell card, as it can wear out an inexperienced opponent, while it costs relatively little energy to use, and can wipe out incoming bullets quite effectively, serving to defend her just as much as attack her opponent.

Wriggle Sign ~ Night Bug Storm: Another improved version. This one has eight columns, firing faster and releasing more bullets than before. While this costs a bit of power to use, it's fairly effective.

Wriggle Sign ~ Nightbug Tornado: The final version of her original spell card, containing ten overlapping columns and releasing a constant stream of danmaku in appreciable numbers. While this costs some energy to use, it's one of her more effective spells, and isn't nearly as power-consuming as some of her more advanced techniques, which generally require so much power that she cannot use them without several days of storing power in preparation.

Firefly Sign ~ Meteor on Earth: Inspired by her original spell card, this is a more ambitious and much more dangerous technique in which Wriggle, instead of hatching the firefly eggs, then launching them, spreads 10 columns of eggs across the entire area, encircling and caging in her target before hatching them and releasing a cascade of bullets from all sides. In the meantime, she herself fires wave after wave of danmaku, allowing her to catch off guard and opponent blinded by the light from her firefly legion who, occupied in dodging the first danmaku trap, fails to notice the follow-up fast enough. Unfortunately, this card is rather energy-consuming, causing her to, for the most part, save it for a last ditch effort under normal circumstances.

Firefly Sign ~ Comet on Earth: Yet another improvement on an already powerful spell card. It's essentially the same as described above, but packed with even more bullets which fire and move even faster. This is a spellcard you generally don't see her using, as it is utterly exhaustive and generally causes her to run entirely out of power the moment it times out or is broken. On the other hand, it can actually match blow for blow the spells of vastly more powerful opponents.

Hidden Bug ~ Hermit of an Endless Night: Another remarkably potent spell card, and yet another example of a spell that exhausts Wriggle's entire strength when used, forcing her to save it for a coup de grace or a last gasp for victory. This is yet another spell based on the theme of whirling insects hatching mid flight, but moves much faster and releases even more bullets than all of her other spell cards. It is a sort of link between her Wriggle and Firefly sign spell cards, in that she scatters the eggs over a fairly sizable area, but does not entirely enclose a target, instead sacrificing the flanking element for the advantage of compression she gains by focusing her bullets in such a manner. Despite this, however, it's nothing to be trifled with, and can generate a respectable amount of firepower.

Last Word ~ Unseasonable Butterfly Storm: Instead of eggs, this time Wriggle deploys butterflies in a remarkable shower of high-speed projectiles which whirl first one way, and then another, so as to confuse an opponent into diving right into an oncoming stream of danmaku. In addition to this, however, she herself also keeps up a constant stream of butterflies, sending wave after wave to completely surround and overwhelm a target, giving them little room to flee. The true threat of this spell is, however, the clever ploy which the frightening shower of projectiles conceals.

Using her power to manipulate insects, Wriggle conceals near-microscopic harvest mite larvae on the wings of the butterflies she launches. These larvae carry with them a somewhat modified but nonetheless dangerous disease, which has been altered to prove effective within minutes, even if its lethality has been dampened in accordance with the rules of danmaku. When a target is struck by a butterfly, countless of these mites crawl onto them, and begin biting them viciously from head to foot, injecting them with this poison. The effects of these bites cause fever, fatigue, dizziness, and, if bitten by a sufficient amount of the mites, a complete lapse into unconsciousness. Thus, when once struck, a target becomes unable to continue evading, their strength and will to move, as well as their concentration on the incoming storm of bullets, entirely sapped by the poison. This in turn causes them to be struck again, causing the cycle to repeat itself until they are simply unable to remain awake. This spell card, being a Last Word type, is the most powerful ability in Wriggle's repertoire - matching the spells of vastly stronger combatants such as Reimu or Marisa - and can only be used with an extensive amount of preparation, and only when she is utterly and completely determined to eliminate an opponent, causing her to pull out all the stops. But, due to her generally apathetic attitude toward fighting, she rarely reaches the necessary mental state in battle, and even if she did, she would almost certainly lack the strength to use such a high-level spell, as she literally must prepare herself, gathering power and storing it for later use, for days on end before her energy levels reach such a point as to be able to release this attack. Consequently, few people - even among her close friends - even know of this card's existence, as she almost never has, and probably never will use this card unless inescapably forced to do so. As a side effect of using this card, Wriggle herself generally ends up passing out from fatigue, which is another reason that it is a rather impractical, if effective ability.

Wriggle's official Youkai title is "Swarm of Bright Insects."