"Are we sure we're going the right way?" Lux asked as they followed the road, "Every path looks the same."

"Pretty sure," John replied, the map still in his hands, "The closest village should be on the left fork in the path, which we took."

"If you say so."

"I do," John barked back at his teammate.

"I'm just trying to be helpful."

"I can handle a map."

"Right," Lux said, "I'm sorry. It's just…something feels off. Like we're being watched."

"Well, the Grimm have been running rampant out here even before Beacon, so I'd say that's a valid concern."

"No, not like that!" Lux insisted, "I've been feeling Grimm tailing us since we left Mistral. This is different."

"Bandits?"

"I don't know."

"Well then, everyone keep an eye out," John said, "Lux, that goes double for you."

"Got it," Lux replied, doing his best to tune out any excess noise. Their footsteps, the wind that blew through his messy hair, the rustling of the foliage that surrounded him for several miles, all of it could distract him from clues to a potential ambush. He scanned the tree line as he listened, searching for enemies hiding in the branches. The sound of rustling branches too loud to be the wind caused him to whirl around, quickly identifying the distinct barrel of a sniper rifle.

"Open fire!" he heard someone hiss from behind a thicket of trees.

Everything seemed to slow to a crawl to Lux, much to his relief. He needed all the time he could get. He took a closer look at the barrel, noting the angle at which it was pointed, then making a mental image of his teammates' positions. If they were there and the sniper was aiming at that angle, then…

Lux drew the hilt of his weapon that rested on his left hip as he darted to intercept the shot. The Hard-Light Dust inside the hilt shaped itself into a shield as he threw himself in front of Saffron. A crack rang out as the assailant pulled the trigger, launching a round that would have gone through Saffron's head had Lux been caught unaware. The quick save wasn't perfect, however, as the shot ricocheted off of the shield's downward angle and hit Lux in his right knee, forcing him down onto it with a grunt.

The gunshot prompted his teammates to turn around. "Lux!" Saffron shouted, "Are you alright?"

"Take cover!" Lux replied, quickly getting back to his feet to block another shot, this one aimed at him. As he cried out his warning, at least a dozen of what he could only assume to be masked bandits burst from the trees, wielding rifles and wrist-mounted swords. Blaze was the second one to draw his weapons, firing off several warning shots from his shotguns as he ducked behind a tree. John and Saffron quickly followed suit, with John drawing his rifle and Saffron, her pistol. As the blade-wielders drew in, Lux ignited his other hilt, forming a sword to counter their slashes.

Blaze lunged at the nearest group, bashing one of the attackers in the face with the grip of his right shotgun. The individual at the receiving end of the blow stumbled backward, the area where they were hit flashing a gray color, before getting thrown backwards by a blast from Blaze's left shotgun. Another received a kick to the shins before also getting blown away, followed by the last member of the cluster.

A pair of bandits charged Lux, one with a rifle and the other with a blade. Lux deactivated his weapons as he ducked behind a tree to dodge a salvo, then linked the two hilts together before slowly pulling them apart. The gap between the hilts was filled with hard light, as did the other ends, although one side formed a pointed tip. He glanced out from behind the tree, then, when he saw that the one with the blade was within reach, sidestepped past the bandit and held them close to himself, pulling the pole of his spear into his opponent's throat.

The other bandit tried to find an opening to shoot as Lux brought himself and his hostage within range. The Faunus hit the rifle-wielding foe with the blunt end of the spear before twirling the weapon around to hit them with the blunt end once more. He planted his left foot against his captive and pushed off, breaking his spear as he stumbled backwards and rolled to prep himself for another attack. The captured bandit fell forward into their comrade, who braced them before taking aim at the Huntsman who was now open for attack.

Lux once more connected his hilts, but this time, he didn't pull them apart. As the axe blade formed, he thumbed a switch that turned the blue blade a red-orange. The bandit with the rifle fired on Lux as he ran past the tree, slashing at it as he did so. The trunk caught fire from the Dust infused blade as it fell, forcing the bandits to stumble backwards. Before they could fire another salvo, Lux brought the axe down into the trunk, creating an explosion that sent burning shards of wood flying everywhere, including into the bandits.

Lux ducked as another shot from the sniper flew past his head. "Can someone handle that?" he asked as he was forced to retreat behind another tree.

"On it!" Saffron replied. As she charged out from cover, her pistol began to unravel, wrapping around her forearm. She vaulted over a bandit before swinging her arm cannon into another, knocking them to the ground. The bandit she leapt over swung at her with their sword, she rolled to the side and tapped something into the cannon, causing blueish-white lines to appear on the barrel. She fired a blast of energy into the bandit, freezing them solid, then leapt into the air to kick them in the face, shattering the ice and leaving them sprawled on the ground.

The sniper took another potshot at the Huntress as Saffron inserted a magazine into the cannon. She pumped her arm before bracing the cannon and firing a missile at the tree the sniper was perched in. The tree shook violently from the blast before allowing gravity to take hold on it and falling to the ground. The bandit fell with it, quickly clambering to their feet and trying to regain their position.

The markings on Saffron's arm cannon turned purple as she fired a dart at the retreating sniper. As the dart took hold, it turned purple as well, dragging the bandit backwards towards the Huntress. Saffron tackled the sniper onto the ground before they could turn and shoot at her, pinning them to the ground with her foot. As they tried to reach their sniper rifle from the ground, Saffron's arm cannon markings turned yellow and she fired a beam of electricity into the back of the bandit's head. As the sniper twitched and spasmed on the ground, Saffron turned towards her teammates, ready to assist them.

Her eyes widened. "Lux, look out!" she shouted.

"Huh?" Lux said as he turned to see the danger.

Before he could react, however, a purple mass slammed into him, knocking him onto the ground. The mass dragged him along the ground, creating an indent in the dirt. Lux finally managed to kick the assailant off of him, causing them to skid to halt and kick up a cloud of dust.

As the dust cleared, the Huntsmen were able to see what had intervened: a man in scale-like purple armor with blood-red accents, with a pointed purple mask that covered the upper half of his face, but not his mouth. Two flasks lined his hip, one coarse and the other a smoother texture, as did a long dagger with a purple hilt and a silver blade. His jaw was metallic, seemingly modified with cybernetics, but the manner in which it was modified was unknown. His yellow-orange eyes scanned over the team of Huntsmen, his tongue flicking out to reveal it to be forked like a reptile's.

"Who are you?" John asked, leveling his rifle at the new target.

"You're already familiar with me and my business," the man said, "I am Shiva Porphyrius. You know me as the man in charge of the Nebula Syndicate."

"Are you here because we locked up Abellio?" Lux said, glancing past Shiva at the recovering grunts that now clearly belonged to him.

"In a way," Shiva replied, "Frankly, your little raid was merely a nuisance. Cid ran only a part of the organization. A rather important part, yes, but like a lost arm, it can be replaced, however much the replacement leaves something to be desired.

"No, I'm here to thank you for your interference," Shiva continued, "I don't get out very often, not anymore. Unfortunately, as the boss, I'm not allowed to get my hands dirty, not unless some fool dares to make problems. And make problems you did."

Lux's wolf ears perked up at the growls coming from all sides. "We got a pack of Beowolves incoming," he whispered to his teammates.

Shiva gestured to his henchmen, who quickly moved to surround the Huntsmen. "So from the bottom of my heart, thank you," he said, before lunging at Team JLTS with a roar. Lux ignited his sword and shield in time to deflect a slash from Shiva's dagger, turning to dodge a swipe from a Beowolf creeping up behind him. Shiva gutted the beast with a flick of his wrist, kicking it aside as it began to vaporize.

John fired off a burst from his rifle in Shiva's general direction, managing to land a few hits while the man was distracted. Shiva swung the blade in John's general direction, causing it to fly loose from the hilt, although still attached by a cord. The flail knocked the rifle out of John's hands, forcing him to draw his pistol. He tried to retrieve his rifle, but two Nebula grunts stood between him and his weapon.

John pressed a button on the side of his pistol, causing the barrel and slide to swing down over his hand and two blades to unfold on either side of his sidearm. One of the grunts stabbed at him, an attack he quickly sidestepped. He thrust his sword towards the grunt's arm so that the limb slid between the blades, then twisted, bending their arm so that they were forced to their knees. He finished off the grunt with a punch to the face, then dived past the other grunt, picked up his rifle, and fired until the grunt was incapacitated. More grunts began to move towards him, and he prepared to keep them busy while the others handled Shiva.

Blaze and Saffron charged Shiva as Lux moved to hold off the Beowolves circling around them. Shiva expertly parried a swing from Saffron's arm cannon before redirecting Blaze's shotguns to hit Saffron, sending her flying away. Before Shiva could attack, Saffron fired another ice blast at his feet, freezing him in place. Blaze took the opportunity his teammate created and took aim to deliver a point-blank shotgun blast.

Shiva used his flail to grab one of his men, dragging him over to use as a shield. Blaze was about to pull the triggers when he noticed that the man's Aura flickering, until it finally shattered, leaving a shot at the range they were at to be fatal. The Huntsman hesitated, not realizing that Shiva's Aura was pushing outwards from his feet, cracking the ice. Finally, the ice at his feet shattered and Shiva lunged at Blaze, pushing his grunt aside and knocking Blaze to the ground before Blaze could fire a shot.

Lux suddenly felt a wave of heat wash over him, prompting him turn to see a fireball hurtling towards him. He dove to the side and looked at Shiva, who nonchalantly blew a small flame out of his mouth as he returned the coarse flask to his hip.

"He can breathe fire!" Lux shouted.

"What? How?" Saffron asked.

"I don't know! Just try not to get barbecued!"

While Blaze broke off to handle the Beowolves, Shiva lunged at Saffron and Lux, swinging his flail wildly. Lux tried to hit the maniac, but Shiva knocked him backwards, allowing a trio of Beowolves to pounce on him. Saffron began to charge up an ice blast, trying to keep Shiva busy so she could assist Lux, but Shiva swung the blade of his blade forward into the barrel of the arm cannon. The Ice Dust in the arm cannon detonated, freezing the area around it and encasing Saffron in ice.

Blaze fired two shells into the Beowolves clawing at Lux, giving the Faunus an opening to behead the last one and return to the fray. He raised his shield to block another fireball, suddenly turning the same red-orange as before. Lux's eyes widened as Shiva lashed out at the shield, realizing the intent. The shield exploded on contact, causing Lux to drop it as he flew backwards and skidded on the ground.

"His fireballs are Dust-based!" he cried out to Blaze, "Try to detonate it in his mouth!" Blaze took aim at Shiva, but four more Beowolves tackled him, forcing him out of the fight while Shiva kicked Lux in the stomach.

"I'm afraid your friends are too busy to save you, little pup," he said. Lux spat at his opponent before rolling to the side to avoid the retaliating slice. As he got to his feet, he stabbed a Beowolf trying to maul him from behind before throwing the smoking corpse at Shiva. The creature evaporated before it could hit the flail-wielder, but when the smoke cleared, Lux was nowhere to be seen.

As Lux moved to pounce on Shiva from the trees, Shiva simply flicked his forked tongue, tasting at the air around him. Lux jumped from the branches, his weapon formed into an axe to deliver a finishing blow. His eyes widened as Shiva turned to face him, catching his axe at the handle and kicking the weapon's owner away. Lux slammed into a tree, knocking the wind out of him as his Aura flared and broke.

Shiva was on him immediately, pinning Lux to the ground and rolling up his left sleeve. "From Nebula comes stars," he whispered as he returned his weapon to the form of a knife, "Let's see how many stars you can make." Shiva stabbed the blade into Lux's arm, carving into it the shape of a star as Lux screamed in pain. "One…" Shiva counted as he started another star, "Two…"

The sound of ice shattering caused Shiva to stand up and turn around. Lux had enough strength to roll free from contact with Shiva as Saffron planted both feet on his chest. Her body flashed with lime green bolts of electricity, zapping Shiva and sending him tumbling backwards as his Aura broke. Saffron fell to the ground, her Aura also shattered by her Semblance.

"Alright," Shiva growled as he got to his feet, "No more games." Blaze fired his shotguns at him, but at the range he was at, the pellets were easily stopped by Shiva's armor. Shiva turned towards the last Huntsman still standing and opened his mouth to launch another fireball.

A gunshot rang out as Shiva's mouth exploded, throwing the man onto the ground and causing his body to begin smoking. Lux and Saffron looked up to see John's silhouette regain his appearance and lose transparency, his rifle still smoking as he lowered it. The two Huntsmen made sure they were the only ones still standing before rushing to help their teammates to their feet.

"Are you alright?" John asked.

"Yeah," Lux said, wincing as he wiped the blood from his arm, "I'll be fine." He glanced over at the charred body of their attacker. "I guess I did say I wanted him six feet under, didn't I?" he remarked, "Didn't expect for that wish to come true."

"We can't stay here," Blaze said, "More Grimm are probably on their way, thanks to all our commotion."

"Right," Saffron said, "Lux, can you walk?"

"He got my arm, not my legs," Lux replied, "Can someone grab my hilts?"

"On it," John said, scooping the devices off of the ground and tossing them to his teammate, who then stowed them on his hips. Once they had all recovered their belongings, they proceeded to get far away from the area as quickly as possible.


As the team fled the scene, a figure stepped out from the shadowy forest. They waited until the Huntsmen were out of sight, then made their way to Shiva's smoldering body. They took the smooth flask from his belt, poured out some of the liquid onto their clawed gloves, rubbed them together for a moment before placing them on his chest. Shiva's eyes shot open before immediately falling closed once more, and the figure grabbed his body and began to carry it away.


This is the first time I think I've ever written a straight up fight scene in my stories. How did I do? If there is any part of my story that I want feedback on, this is it. Anyways, has anyone else noticed that there hasn't ever really been a character vs character fight in RWBY where the Grimm have been heavily involved? The only one I can think of is the Ruby vs. Neo and Torchwick fight in Volume 3, and the Grimm could barely be considered participants. It's a shame. I think it would make for some entertaining fights, personally. Regardless, I am still having fun writing this story, and I hope those who are reading are also enjoying it. Thank you!