Well, things just get worse for our heroes every Monday, don't they? And today is Monday! So let's make things worse! Poor Team CVFY (plus one?)

As always, I love hearing your thoughts on the story. So please, please please feel free to leave me a message down below, over on my Twitter", or on my . If you happen to use my , consider becoming a supporter! I, unfortunately, finally lost the ability to use my old writing laptop. That meant that I had to get a new one this last week when I really couldn't afford it. Anything helps offset that little burden, so... yeah.

Anyway! Comments! You had a lot of them this week! So let's get to them right away!

An Anonymous Guest wrote:

Just finished chapter 18. Ah, what wonderous benefits a "triplet" relationship can result in, lol. Perhaps they'll realize that, too, hmmm?

Great story so far!

Bookah replies:

Thank you so much! These three are always such a riot when they get to trying to get in touch with just how they feel about one another. The silly schmucks. XD

FeugoFox42 wrote:

I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed Winter Hunt. With how you've chosen to do this story, seeing the Coco Bomb from everyone's perspective was very different; I loved it for that reason.

Look forward to reading Spring Hunt soon

Bookah replies:

I have to admit, I was very worried about how I handled that event. It wasn't the Coco Bomb itself that worried me. It was the fact I basic showed that scene four times. I was afraid people would get annoyed or bored with it, even though I really wanted to show just how differently each member of CFVY understood that moment, and how each came away with a different understanding of what it meant. It's a relief to hear you liked it.

FeugoFox42 later wrote:

And like that, you've given more character growth to Neo that canon has. I appreciate it

Bookah replies:

Well, the whole reason I did this story was to learn more about these people. We know so little about them. So even though my story certainly is not, (and never shall be) canon, it's a means for all of us to get to know them a bit better. Neo included. Thank you for the comment!

GrimmKaiju wrote:

A great chapter and fight scene with an even match for Yatsuhashi. Chapters like this make it fun to imagine what that fight would look like. With the White Fang member now dead I wonder if the crew will keep fighting or possibly abandonship.

Bookah replies:

I try to get enough description in to give people a feel for a fight, while keeping the combat descriptions as minimal as possible to keep the flow going. It's a hard balance! But I've seen too many people write fight scenes that drag, or make no sense. So I'm glad that you liked this one!

As for the crew, well...

CoopBro wrote:

I'm curious to see how Velvet and Fox are holding up. Now being in combat, I wonder if Tawnee will give Velvet some problems again.

Bookah replies:

Funny you should mention all that. Allow me to present...

Animus Strait

Velvet pounded down the corridor after the snake faunus. The woman was quick, and maneuverable as well. Velvet could keep up with her on any straight section of passageway, but lost ground each time the woman went around a bend. Unfortunately, the ship's corridors were full of bends. Rounding yet another corner, Velvet found herself outside, on a catwalk that skimmed along freight containers stacked a dozen high, and with no sign of the snake girl.

She paused, her ears twitching, as she listened for clues as to the woman's whereabouts. She heard Fox come up behind her and slide to a stop, saying nothing. She could hear the various rumbling sounds of the ship. Hear gunfire from down below as Coco cut loose on someone. She could not, however, hear a snake.

"Damn…" she swore, turning to look at Fox.

Fox leapt at her, tackling her to the deck just as something flew past her head. They tumbled together as Velvet felt the deck strike her in the back hard, and she caught sight of the White Fang woman pushing off the deck where she had landed after missing her strike. Velvet grabbed Fox, rolling and twisting towards the woman, causing her to overshoot a second time.

Fox bounced upward, Velvet following, and the snake faunus spat on the deck and turned to begin running again. Velvet groaned and took off after her again.

Rounding a corner in the catwalk, she blew past a surprised crewman, hearing him exclaim in shock. A meaty blow sounded immediately after, marking Fox's simplistic means of ensuring that the man wouldn't be shooting anyone in the back as the pursuit continued, and Velvet winced a bit in sympathy. Still, it was clear the crew was not inclined to let stowaway huntsmen wander about at will, so she was grateful for Fox' actions nevertheless.

Another turn resulted in her losing sight of the fleeing terrorist, and Velvet slowed to a stop once again. This time, however, she didn't merely freeze and listen. She quickly began taking in her circumstances visually as well.

It was dark out, though the ship's lights fought the night in an ostentatious display of power. The arclights made the catwalk a place harsh with reflected light and pockets of inky black shadow. Velvet shielded her eyes as she slowly turned, checking for any place her target might have climbed or hidden.

A motion caught her eye, and she quickly turned to catch a scaled tail slithering away into a deep, shadowy alcove. Velvet eyed it, and carefully gestured to Fox, pointing to where she had just caught the betraying movement. From the corner of her eye she saw him nod, then gesture towards a side passage. Velvet nodded, and the two split up, Fox trying to get ahead of the woman, while Velvet slowly padded forward, bare feet quiet on the deck.

She braced her fists before her as she slipped into the shadow, her senses stretched to detect any movement while her eyes rapidly adjusted. She heard nothing, and no murky movement disturbed the black as she waited a few seconds, and then she began moving. Her feet shifted slowly, carefully, as she stalked along the catwalk, waiting for the woman to attempt another ambush.

At the far end of the catwalk, a figure occluded the light, and she recognized the tall, slender shape of Fox. She paused, watching him, and the man shook his head with a shrug. She nodded, and redoubled her examination of the space she stood in.

A bang of metal from above betrayed her foe's position. Velvet jerked her head up to see the woman, tail dangling, as she climbed upward on a series of girders, wires, and anchor points for the stacked shipping containers. Velvet frowned, staring upward, and debated what to do next.

Fox answered that question for her. With a quick windmilling of his arms he punched the girder beside him, sending the metal ringing and groaning. The catwalk beneath her rippled, and the entire structure above her warped and swayed under the force of the blow. She heard a shocked cry above, and the snake woman was suddenly falling, bouncing off a bracer as she descended.

Velvet shot forward to intercept the woman. She grasped the railing beside her, stopping the forward motion of her shoulders as her feet continued on, sweeping up into the air. She gave a powerful kick, striking the woman just before she would have struck the deck. So propelled, the faunus rocketed away from Velvet, and straight to Fox. With a quick punch, Fox stopped the White Fang terrorist, causing her to flip ragdoll-like in the air before crashing down to the deck, unconscious.

"That wasn't so bad," Velvet smiled.

Fox shook his head as he bent down to grab the unconscious faunus' shoulders and started dragging her back into the light. "Can I ask a question, Velve?"

"Sure."

"Why are your tits hanging out?"

Velvet gasped and jerked her head downward to see the soft, creamy flesh of her breasts revealed even in the dark shadows of the catwalk. She jerked her hands up to seize her jacket top, pulling it closed and fumbling for the zipper. She could feel her skin warm with embarrassment. "They… uh… caught us at a bad time."

Fox paused in his dragging, and Velvet could see the arched eyebrow. "Us?"

Velvet gave an awkward giggle. "Yes, well… we might have been… and not had time to dress after, and…"

Fox shook his head and began dragging the limp snake woman once more. "I don't know whether to give you a high five, or slap you in the back of the head for having the worst timing ever."

Velvet gave a nervous laugh. "Well…"

"Which one?"

She flinched, and felt her shoulders hunch a bit defensively. "Um… both?"

Fox paused once again, then sighed. "'Bout fucking time…" He shook his head wryly. "But now that you've zipped up, a little help? We need to find something to tie her up, and or find a place to lock her in. I do NOT want to risk a round two against those." He nodded toward the woman's open mouth and the inch long, needle-like fangs stretching past her incisors.

"Snakes hunt hares," Velvet grumbled. "So I know what you mean." She bent down and grabbed the woman's legs. Together they struggled down the catwalk towards better lighted areas. "Good lord, she's heavier than she looks."

"Tell me about it," Fox replied. "She's got to be all muscle."

They rounded a corner then, finding themselves standing on a narrow stretch of railed deck between stacked shipping containers and the open sea. Velvet took a deep breath of the salty air, and looked down the walkway in the hopes of finding somewhere they could put their captive.

Just then, the ship gave a strange lurch. It wasn't a fast roll, even compared to many of the usual motions they'd become accustomed to since the ship had left port. Instead it was almost leisurely, a simple tipping. It wouldn't normally have caught Velvet's attention, except that it kept going, much further than she was used to before the roll slowed and then stopped.

Startled, Velvet dropped the woman's feet and seized the rail. Fox similarly dropped his portion of the burden, letting the faunus' head bounce off the deck with an unpleasant thump, as he, too gripped the rail.

"That doesn't feel right."

Velvet nodded, and stared out over the side. "Was that some sort of weird wave? Are we entering a storm?"

Fox shook his head. "The stars are still bright, so I doubt it's a storm. I don't know enough about waves, though, so…"

The ship began rolling back upright, the motion just as lazy as before. The pair said nothing, simply riding the motion as they watched one another. The deck beneath them leveled out, hung there for a second, and then began slowly tilting in the other direction.

A klaxon began ringing, although out on deck it was less painful for Velvet's hearing than it had been below decks when it rang earlier. Almost immediately a voice becan clamoring for attention.

"Engineering casualty, pumps three and four! Damage control to pumps three and four immediately!" The voice paused a moment, and then continued with a near panic. "Stop shooting up my ship!"

Velvet caught Fox' eyes with her own. "That doesn't sound good."

"Nope. Not one bit." He quickly bent down and scooped up the fallen faunus again. "We'd better get her someplace fast."

Velvet nodded, bending down to seize the woman's feet. She twisted so that she could face forward, hooking the woman's ankles above her hips, one foot resting atop her camera case, and she began hurrying towards the bow.

Just as they closed on the forward section of the ship, a crewman rounded the corner of the forwardmost stack of shipping containers. The woman slid to a halt as Velvet did likewise, and they stared at one another for a moment.

Velvet's eyes slipped downward to where the woman held a gun. Half a second later the woman likewise looked down at it, then shrugged. She tossed it over the side. "No time for that, or for you either."

Velvet breathed a sigh of relief. "How bad is it?"

The woman glanced sideways as the ship began rolling to the side again. "Feel that?"

"Yeah?"

"She's wallowing. You people have ripped all kinds of holes in her, and with those two pumps down, we can't get the water out fast enough."

Velvet blanched. "So we're sinking?"

"Unless we can get the pumps working again."

Velvet nodded. "Anything we can do?"

"Yeah. Get out of my way."

Velvet squeezed up against the shipping container beside her, feeling Fox do so as well. The crewman pushed past them with a dark look, and hurried off without another word. Velvet turned her head to watch her go, and caught Fox looking towards her.

"Do you have a vague sense of guilt too?" she asked.

"A bit, yeah." Fox jerked his chin down towards the woman they were carrying. "Let's get her secured quickly."

The ship's roll was slowing, the deck canted at enough of an angle to make footing a bit treacherous, and Velvet was finding it difficult to move forward and keep her balance while managing the awkward load. The motion stopped, and then the agonizingly slow movement back towards plum began. Velvet sighed in relief as this made the footing easier. She began moving to make the turn towards the centerline of the ship.

The deck suddenly went out from under her feet, and she felt herself airborne. A roaring crash overwhelmed her hearing, becoming almost a physical sensation of being punched, and she dropped the feet she was holding to wave her arms around, flailing for something, anything, and felt a wave of relief run through her as her hand tangled with the railing beside her.

She heard Fox shout, and then the deck slammed up into her hard enough to leave her certain her ass would have spectacular bruises later. She gave a cry of pain, rolling over onto her stomach, and then pushed herself upward, careful to keep a grip on the railing.

Fox was similarly pulling himself upwards, eyes wide.

Velvet stared at him for a second, then suddenly felt a moment of panic. "Where's the faunus?"

"Over the side!"

Velvet threw herself against the rail to look down into the waters alongside the ship. The ocean was black, a few ripples of white topping waves forming the ship's wake as it passed through the sea. Nothing else could be seen, and Velvet felt a moment of despair.

Killed another one, have you? You really do hate our own kind, don't you?

Velvet grit her teeth against Tawnee's accusation, and began climbing the rail, before being tackled back down to the deck by Fox.

"Velvet, no!" He screamed. "There's nothing you can do!"

Velvet fought a second, then stilled, biting her lower lip.

She felt Fox relax and begin climbing off her. "Besides," he said. "We have bigger problems now."

Velvet peeled open her eyes and felt a moan rip free of her throat at what she saw. Beside the stricken ship, arching high into the air, was the biggest grimm she had ever seen. It's body was fish-like, with fins and a dorsal spike multiple stories tall coming up off its back. As she watched it twisted, rolling upside down in the air, and began descending downward, the spike aimed at the ship's side. Just before it crashed into the side of the forward superstructure a second time, sending the ship shaking and twisting once again, it opened its mouth in a massive, toothy grin.

"How are we supposed to fight a grimmwhale?"

Beside her, Fox grimaced. "I don't know."