The First Battle

[Aladdin]

Aladdin almost jumped as he saw Clopin's weapon sliced at his shins. He was knocked off his feet and landed on his back.  He suddenly realized that he'd probably die if he didn't retreat. He didn't like to run or hide from a fight, but if he didn't who knew if he would survive. He got to his feet and looked at the sky.

Aladdin cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled, "Carpet!" For a moment there was nothing. Then, a dazzling blue carpet flew in. He patted the carpet as he climbed on. He then directed the carpet upwards and flew away from the battle and headed to Africa and Pride Rock. Now he was no coward, but he didn't see much of a choice.

[Nasira]

No! It's not fair! He can't just go! He has to pay for what he's done! "GET BACK HERE!!!" a furious Nasira howled. "COWARD!!!" She sent a barrage of dark magic at the carpet's beige tassels. But it was futile. Aladdin was already out of her reach. Nasira could only glare daggers at the magic carpet until it was nothing more than a black dot among the clouds. Aladdin got away - again. She had been so close too! 

When Jafar was killed, Nasira felt sad, bereft and lonely, but most of all, she felt angry. Jafar's last years should have been spent in triumph and luxury. Instead, he had been ruined by the Freedom Fighters and had died thinking himself a failure. The death of Nasira's brother had made her aware that there were no guarantees. Of course, she had known that before, but now it was brought home to her. It made her ask herself if the life she led now was the one she really wanted. She knew she did not want to spend it looking over her shoulder. To kill Aladdin was to live. 

A gunshot split through the air and her thoughts as loud as thunder but without the raw power of a storm. Nasira felt a heavy blow that made her stagger, almost losing her balance in the process. She felt something hot running over her right shoulder. Mad with terror, she looked around.

That was when she saw Hikaru.

[Jenn]

Jenn glared at the retreating form of Aladdin. While the rest of those around her may not be able to reach him, she could. With a flash of her wings, she took to the sky after the flying carpet.
Perhaps it was simply because he had a head start, but Jenn couldn't get close enough to use her blade. Luckily this wasn't her only form of attack.

As she gave chase over the skies of Australia, her hand glowed as she summoned a hoard of holy crystals, firing them at Aladdin and the carpet.
Summoning so many at once hadn't been such a good idea however, as she could already feel the toll it was taking on her grace, feeling somewhat weaker already.
Seeing a lost cause, Jenn let out a heavy sigh as she gave up her chase, turning and flying back to the battle to help her allies. 

[Hikaru]

Kshck-Klink

Hikaru ejected the cartridge from her rifle, and then loaded the next rubber tipped bullet into the chamber. The round that had crashed into Nasira's shoulder had been non-lethal. Hikaru, not just the Freedom Fighters, didn't want to kill. Merely incapacitate if she could manage it. She had hoped catching Nasira on the shoulder would disarm her and force her to retreat.

Hikaru's old Overseer looked up and locked eyes with her. She didn't look away. Hikaru kept her gaze straight with Nasira's. Her expression was controlled, even, unreadable. If Hikaru had any fear of the necromancer... she didn't show it. With out flinching or hesitation, she lifted her rifle, aimed, and cocked...

She shot again.

[Nasira]

Nasira did not bother dodging. Instead, she cognitively reached out to the void, and her opacity decreased until she was spectral in appearance. The now-translucent necromancer calmly stood still, her dark eyes deadlocked on Hikaru's wine red ones. The latter's bullet went right through her, but the small, rubber projectile might as well have been shot through thin air. Her wiry body remained unmarked, and she, having felt nothing, took a single step forward. Though Nasira could still be seen by the living, she could not be touched. Necromancers were beings that could live in and out of death while maintaining a physical living state. This incantation in particular temporarily made Nasira invincible by essentially turning her into a ghost. 

There was a downside: though the spell was incredibly useful for evading danger, it was useless for combat. On top of lasting for only a minute and having a long cooldown, Nasira could not interact with the realm of the living while in ethereal form. She had to stay nonconfrontational and silent for the entire duration of the spell.

She only needed it to evade the bullet, so Nasira dispelled it prematurely, and she became opaque again. Her staff then materialized in her left hand. Hikaru was going to pay - in blood. Nasira was hell bent on blotting out whatever hope the less-loyal members of the legion had of leaving. It was time they understand that they were in the legion for life. 

"Burn." An inferno of blue flames exploded from her scepter. The cool green grass between Hikaru and Nasira crinkled to black tendrils before crumbling to ash.

[Hikaru]

Hikaru lifted up her rifle and stared back at the... ghostly appearance of Nasira evenly. She hadn't seen the overseer in combat before. In fact Hikaru knew little of the woman's capabilities, only that she was very powerful. She was not an opponent to take on lightly and that's why Hikaru had decided to engage from a distance, she hoped it would give her a chance to observe, to learn, to-

"Burn."

Okay, well, not that.

Hikaru ducked behind the over of rocks she had been perched by, an inferno of flames blasting past and blackening the rock and earth about her. The very air burned in Hikaru's mouth, drying her out as if she were roasting in an oven. She couldn't stay here Nasira had the superior fire power... Literally. Hikaru couldn't be sure how long Nasira could hold the flame. This wasn't like counting the rounds of an enemy's rifle. For all she knew Nasira could hold this flame indefinitely and walk casually up to Hikaru's cover and roast her at her leisure. No, she needed to move.

Hikaru took the time just long enough to unclip her ammo from her rifle and pocket it. She then planted the butt of the rifle down and leaned it against the rock.  She didn't want to abandon precious resources, but she couldn't be sure the gun wouldn't impede her in the coming combat. She just had to hope she would have a chance to circle back and recover the weapon later... if she survived Nasira... 

Hikaru slipped out two evenly weighted throwing knives from a pocket at her thigh, flipped her hood up over her head, and then sprinted out from the other side of the cover of the rocks. She moved hoping to flank Nasira, but she could only guess at where the woman had been. She might have shifted positions after launching her flames at Hikaru. She kept her eyes open and aware of her entire surroundings for Nasira's follow up.

[Nasira]

Nasira could not find forgiveness in her. Had Hikaru just run away, Nasira would have brushed that off as cowardice and would not have held that big of a grudge. But what Hikaru did was much, much worse. She joined them. The same lowlifes that killed Jafar. Nasira had heard Hikaru did not have the stomach for the "messier" part of being a Blackblood, but loss had burnt any sense of pity out of her. Hikaru had made her choice. Now she can die with them. 

"I should have killed you when I had the chance," she seethed. "I should have known then what you were." 

Nasira advanced as her quarry had feared. A murder of crows plucking pieces of meat from a dead pony took to the sky to avoid getting burnt to a crisp in a flurry of wings and annoyed caws. Just when the evil necromancer got close enough to burn Crow's former acolyte to an unrecognizable char, the latter suddenly hurdled from the other side of the rock pile. Livid, Nasira pivoted, and in the place of fire, she sent a salvo of dark magic to grab a hold of Hikaru's soul and rip it from her body.

[Kopa]

Kopa made his way through the fighting masses, making sure he wasn't spotted by anyone. He hadn't really thought the whole thing through and he glanced around to see the necromancer Nasira and Hikaru. They seemed to be in a heated battle. Literally. Kopa wondered if he should make a move to help Hikaru.

The young prince wasn't much for decisions. Although, there weren't many options. Only two. Help Hikaru or walk away. Kopa, being the idiot he was, made the choice to help. He had no idea of the necromancer's abilities and only knew that she could possibly burn him to a crisp. He leaped towards Nasira, claws out, not knowing if he would make a hit on her or not. He had roared just moments before he lunged, which now seemed stupid since he might have alerted her to his presence.

[Hikaru]

The magic blasted at Hikaru almost faster than she had time to register. There was no way for her to dodge, to even attempt to tumble out of the way of the dark tendrils. She could only shift her stance and brace herself to take whatever attack came her way. To absorb the pain and move on.

But she didn't feel pain.

As the hooks of black magic sunk into her, she felt something she had been utterly unprepared for.

A deep, numbing ice. It sank deeper than flesh, deeper than bone. It sank into places Hikaru had never felt before. Her breath caught, and escaped her with a puff of fog as if she were in standing in a winter night in some place far colder than this Australian battlefield. She took a half step back, and felt a tug. An absolutely foreign, and terrifying tug at the very center of her.

Hikaru's face only bore a hint of the wild panic that thrummed beneath the ice. Her eyes wide, lips drawn into a thin grim line. She needed to do something before she lost completely to the numbness. Something. ANYTHING.

And then like thunder a roar shattered through her ears, and with it, banished the ice.

A lion, Kopa, had drawn Nasira's attention, broken the necromancer's concentration on Hikaru. The spell breaking just enough for Hikaru to jerk free, and run aside in a herky-jerky kind of stumble.

She was alive. She was more than alive. Kopa had saved her from something that went beyond death. Something so foreign to her Hikaru couldn't even begin to guess what had been happening. She didn't fear death, didn't fear pain. But whatever Nasira had almost done to her... That had been terrifying.

[Nasira]

Nasira had the power to absorb souls and utilize them. If she got a soul, she could add its former owner's abilities to her own, augment her own powers or use it as a temporary power source. Consequently, "Hikaru" would become an empty shell. She would no longer have her memories or sense of self. She would just cease to exist - a fitting end for a traitor.

But it was not Nasira's day or Hikaru's time. Suddenly, a loud roar cut through the necromancer's focus as sharply as a blade, freeing Hikaru in the process. Nasira swiveled in time to see a young lion coming right for her and dematerialized to avoid getting mauled.

"Would you like to take her place?"

There was a flash of violet and out of a deep sangria shade of smoke, Nasira reappeared behind Kopa and tried to blast him, furious he had ruined her spell.