A/n
Hitting you with another intermission story because I feel so bad about taking a break 😔 (back at Uni... sophomore year... yay...)

This one is the horse and fox wielders so... it'll be FUN. Tianma is a mythological creature horse that sometimes has dragon-like appearance so I wanted to make the wielder have both the horse and dragon BUT- I haven't shown the dragon yet in the fic and I think I really cooked with its power design so I don't want to spoil that here sorry 🥲😅 rip

Zhou Dynasty, 803BC, the disappearance of the dragon kwami.

"Huli..." Tianma pulled her face back slightly. Huli Jing leaned closer to make up for the lost space. Her eyes, oh how emerald they were, bore into Tianma's with such a passionate intensity that the wielder of the horse miraculous was at a loss for words—similarly losing her breath which hitched slightly as Huli Jing leaned in.

"We will recover the dragon," Huli Jing assured, "I promise."

"You're helping me..." Tianma said in surprise. Currently, the two stood upon the roof of the city's great sorcerer. Tianma had her sharp boomerang blade just millimeters from Huli Jing's lower gut, and the fox themed vigilante had the fiery end of her flute lightly placed against Tianma's chest. Tianma knew this was a threat but she still couldn't help but silently yearn for Huli to raise the flute to her chin, using it to perhaps bring her face closer—

Tianma flushed and squeezed her eyes shut, furrowing her brows to show her frustration.

"We can't be rivals if you're significantly weaker than me, now can we?" Huli said, and as if reading Tianma's mind, she brought the end of her flute under Tianma's chin.

"I-"

"I'll make the wretch whole stole it from you regret being born," Huli said, finally pulling away. Tianma opened her eyes and saw Huli was already leaping off the roof before she could get a word in. She touched her own throat, gasping for breath. Her heart was practically jumping right out of her chest! She quickly summoned a portal by her side using the miraculous's power and fled back home.

She detransformed, nearly collapsing in the process. The portal vanished as Kaalki materialized at her side.

"Jing Qi!" Kaalki gasped, "I apologize for my profanity but what the actual fuck was that?!"

"Kaalki I think I'm in too deep!"

"No shit!" Kaalki snorted, "now why'd you run back home? Longg has been stolen!"

"I think I-"

"I cannot let the master hear of this!"

"I know! I know! I just don't know if I can go back out there right now! Not like this!"

"Longg is too powerful to be used for evil purposes. You better get to him before bad things are done or even worse, Huli Jing gets him first!"

"Huli..." Tianma nearly fainted.

"Now is not the time! Jeez, what's gotten into you?!"

"It's nothing!" Tianma shook her head, trying to make her odd invasive thoughts disappear.

"I don't need a resting period. The sorcerer who took Longg has gone west and Huli Jing is already on the prowl."

"What good am I without Longg?! How am I supposed to save them?"

"I feel insulted," Kaalki proclaimed.

"Sorry," Tianma bowed her upper body to Kaalki apologetically.

"You're stronger than you think. Sure, Longg gives you flashy abilities. But you'd be nothing without me. You're the fastest hero in the world. Don't let Huli Jing win this race."

"Right. I can do this."

"Yeah, SO WHAT ARE WE STILL HERE FOR YOU RAT—"

"SORRY!"

Transforming again, Tianma created a portal which would take her west. She now kept over the edges of the west wing of the city homes. The rich pedestrians of the night observed her in awe, keeping silent so that they may go about their unholy business without penalty enacted by the noble hero Tianma. To them, she was a demigod of the sky and fire. Huli Jing was also a demigod, however of the dreamland from which she drew her nightmares.

Tianma seriously had to stop thinking about Huli Jing.

Up ahead, a golden and orange dressed woman bounded over rooftops similarly to Tianma. She played her flute, summoning illusions around her as if knowing Tianma was there and wanting to taunt her. Some of these illusions swept back and enveloped Tianma who was not fooled by them. The flute playing itself, however, was the most sweetest sound on the ears. Tianma could live a thousand lifetimes and never would she hear something so wonderful again. The only thing that could possible make a better sound was if Huli Jing played her flute again. Every time she played that flute, it was better than the last.

"Your fowl tunes are dreadful for the night pedestrians. Perhaps you should cut it out before the city receives a noise complaint," Tianma said, catching up to Huli Jing by using her portal. Illusions hugged around Tianma who swore she could feel them squeeze her gently like a tender hug. Tianma waved them away and Huli cut out her playing.

"If that's so,then maybe you ought to stop yelling all the time. It might make those precious pedestrians' poor ears sore."

"What even was the point of such useless illusions?" Tianma jabbed as the illusions caressing her gradually vanished.

"Oh, only to draw you near," Huli grinned as she said this right before disappearing in a flash, almost as if she'd kept at an ungodly speed. Tianma chased and summoned another portal.

Banter like this continued as they chased each other around the city. Tianma was the fastest hero alive, but Huli was always faster. Eventually, they came upon the sorcerer who'd stolen the miraculous of the dragon. Longg was incapacitated by an ancient spell that kept them suspended from movement and general consciousness.

Huli Jing always wore a mask. Of course, so did Tianma, but hers was thin and gold. Huli had the mask of a fox. She could only see those emerald eyes when Huli was close, and sometimes, she could catch a smile when Huli tilted her head in a certain way.

Right now, that smile was all Tianma could see. Her lips curved perfectly, her laughter caressing her ears like a sweeter song that already proved Tianma's previous belief about the flute wrong. This joy Huli experienced was in combat with the sorcerer who battled her illusions with his own imitations of dragons and evil spirits. The way Huli danced was as if she were fighting. When she wasn't laughing, she played her flute, and when she wasn't making music she was laughing. Tianma couldn't think of a better sound.

"You can't even take down a magician with such powerful magic? How can you call yourself a savior?" Tianma boasted, barking herself over Huli and taking down the sorcerer with her legs, physically slamming him into the ground. "Where is the choker? The jewelry that holds the power of the dragon?"

"Good luck finding it without me!" The sorcerer hissed, cracking something between his teeth.

"Hey—"

The sorcerer vanished in a puff of smoke. Tianma froze, her cocky behavior coming to an abrupt halt. What. The. Fuck.

"It's a trick, he's still here," Huli said, "of course, you wouldn't know that. How can you even say you're a hero when you're this unobservant?"

"Longg..." Tianma shrank as she looked to her kwami who looked frighteningly dead. "I've failed."

"Ugh! Such a downer!" Huli complained.

"I've lost..."

"Titi," Huli said, referring to a name she usually called Tianma to piss her off, "you can't possibly be this stupid."

"Shut up! I had one job! Keep the dragon away from the eastern kingdoms. This man is from those eastern cities and now he's gone! Longg is right here but I can't take him unless I have my choker!"

"I know I beat you all the time but now you're really talking like a loser."

"Shut up!"

"It was a simple spell that allowed him to mimic your power. But he's weak! He'll only be so far!"

"My ancient soul..."

"Nonsense."

"I can't."

"God, you're so pathetic sometimes. How can you be worthy of being my rival if you are defeated like this so easily."

Tianma didn't respond.

"You cannot let a fight be so unentertaining. I've never been so bored."

Tianma didn't respond.

"This was all meaningless if you just sit there and give up." Huli approached and crouched in front of Tianma, discovering she was crying in her defeat. "How can you give up so quickly when you have yet to unmask me?"

"Oh please," Tianma wiped away her tears, "we both know you don't believe that'll ever happen."

"There's a chance," Huli said, leaning close to Tianma's face again. "Find the right key and it might fall right off."

"You know where he is?"

"I do. But I'm not just going to tell you so easily."

"Oh really?! Come on—"

———

"What do you mean you don't remember what happened after that?!" Pollen threw her arms up in the air in annoyance.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," Kaalki shrugged.

"TRIXX!" Pollen looked to the fox kwami, ready to pry the answer out of him but Kaalki reacted fast enough to portal him right out of the room.

"Sorry, it's a secret I swore I'd keep for the next million years."

"That's so far from now! How will Nino ever know what happened?" Pollen wined.

"Too bad for him I guess," Kaalki shrugged.

"I wasn't even listening," Nino said between a snore.

"Of course you weren't," Pollen pouted, "that story makes me miss Tryxx. Someone tell a better one. Sass, you've been awfully quiet."

"I've been quiet for a reason," Sass hissed.

"Tell us! I know there's at least one good story you have."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"About the legend of a certain snake and mouse... The ones who—"

"Shut up! Fine! I'm telling it on my own terms!"

A/N

Idek what this was oops.

Yall I have one of the most unprofessional professors rn like he's actually insane. Contemplating reporting him ngl like should I? Ehhhhhhhhh