Narrator: One world, where the streams ran red with the blood of patriots.

Suddenly a gigantic Automaton Scorcher Hulk was seen towering over a Helldiver squad who all prepared to fight.

Winter: What in the name of Oum is that?!

Soviet: That dear Winter, is a Scorcher Hulk and how it feels fighting one of the bastards.

Narrator: There are a thousand different hells in the galaxy. There is only one: Malevelon Creek.

Everyone then saw the Galactic Map and the two fronts.

Port: I assume that those white dots are planets?

Soviet: You would be correct, the yellow being Terminids while the red are the Automatons.

Narrator: In the early days of the Galactic War, as the Helldiver Corps spearheaded the Super Earth offensive across the galaxy, a sense of overconfidence had permeated throughout its ranks.

Ironwood: Overconfidence is never good.

Winter: It never is.

The picture then changed showing a Helldiver squad fighting off a horde of Terminids, one Helldiver was holding up the flag as he raised his Machine Gun in the air firing, the second one was having its gun stolen from a Hunter as a Warrior was in the middle of jumping onto him, the third one was burning the bugs to hell with his flamethrower while the fourth was covered in bug guts with a Bile Titan head next to him as h  blasted bugs with his Liberator meanwhile behind them were Hellpods and ordnance landing while Eagle fighters flew past an E-710 facility.

Summer: They're surrounded...

Velvet: That situation doesn't look good...

Ciel: They're going to need help if they're going to survive.

Narrator: The opening battles against the insectoid "Terminids" on the worlds of Heeth and Angels Venture had been extremely promising and the Corps eagerly expected to extend the offensive across the whole of the neighboring Umlaut Sector.

The screen was back to the Galactic Map as it focused on the Automaton front.

Narrator: Amidst the excitement of this initial campaign, the first reports from the distant Automaton Front, centered in the Severin Sector, were almost entirely overlooked.

Clover: That's terrible...

Elm: They need to address their other front!

Narrator: The Helldivers mobilized there reported especially brutal fighting on one world that acted as the gateway to the rest of the sector. The planet was known as Malevelon Creek.

The screen then showed a picture of the Creek as all they saw was gray and blue with few bits of yellow.

Narrator: It was a primordial world of dense alien jungles. Twisting, slender tress, and thick ferns with spiky fronds, all blanketed under an ethereal blue-tinged mist that turned the horizon into a haunted soup of moving shapes and shifting shadows.

The camera then panned showing off the world with few blips of yellow from some plants.

Yang: That looks like a terrible planet to fight on.

Jaune: I can only imagine walking through the forest then, bang.

Narrator: There was no day or night on Malevelon Creek, only an eerie twilight that persisted on the edge of both.

The footage of a Helldiver running back was then seen as Automatons were seen chasing after him.

Narrator: Tens of thousands of Helldivers had already perished on the planet, even as their frantic reports and pleas for reinforcements were dismissed as exaggerations and panic-induced overreactions.

Ironwood: If there is anything I've learned serving Atlas... it's that you should never downplay a situation until you've seen it yourself...

The same ending picture of the Helldiver Recruitment PSA was then seen.

Narrator: The Super Earth High Command, fresh off the capture of Heeth, was reluctant to pull resources away from the advancing Terminid front, and so the initial defenders of Malevelon Creek were forced to endure some of the most intense fighting of the war, in almost complete isolation.

The picture of an Automaton dropship was then seen exploding as a Helldiver laying down watched it happened appeared before everyone's eyes suddenly the picture changed to a picture outside a Malevelon Creek base as their banner was on display while a Helldivers decapitated head was displayed on a pike in front of them.

Everyone looked shocked at the head just being pierced and on full display with no body attached.

Coco: Oh my Oum!

Port: Those robots are relentless and brutal it seems!

Ozpin: It would appear so, after all, its not just a helmet. It's a whole head.

Narrator: Gradually however, as tales of the fighting began to spread across the Galactic Wide Web, the extent of the merging disaster on Malevelon Creek became more widely known.

Winter: I would hope so...

Narrator: Helldiver reinforcements flooded into the Severin Sector, but rather than shoring up the front's crumbling defenses, their arrival only deepened the chaotic nature of the battle.

Blake: How?!

The footage the turned to a Helldiver squadron looking on a planets holographic map.

Narrator: The arrivals were all veterans of the Terminid Campaigns, but against a fundamentally different kind of enemy, they found their tactics and strategies hopelessly outmoded and ineffective.

Ozpin: Which leads to more deaths...

Glynda: They need to change everything they do.

Qrow: Or be slaughtered.

The image the changed to 3 Helldivers accepting their fate behind a bush as lasers flew through the air and the Automatons charged on their position with the fourth Helldiver being stabbed by a Commissar as only 1 remained as the other 2 Helldivers had bled to death with an Automaton trooper shooting up a flare.

Ironwood: They've accepted their fates.

Vine: Dying to an enemy on another world.

Narrator: Veterans of a hundred drops, Helldivers who had held the line against overwhelming waves of razer clawed-arachnids, were now effortlessly blasted into a bloody mist by advanced weaponry, or crushed from above by dropships loaded with strange machines.

May Z: Fought through so many drops against bugs... only to get cut down in seconds against bots...

The screen changed once again showing a Helldiver traversing through the jungles of Malevelon Creek as lasers flew past, with only red eyes being able to show where the enemy was.

Narrator: They were relentlessly, mercilessly, pressed from all sides, hammered by mortars, tanks and brutally effective fighting socialists.

Ironwood: The Automatons have their own tanks?!

Soviet: Yes, and ever since we defeated the Vanguard force, they've gotten stronger.

Winter: H-how...?

Soviet: Gunships and Factory Striders.

Clover: Gunships are how they sound, but what's a Factory Strider?

Soviet: These, are Factory Striders we Helldivers nicknamed Walkers.

Everyone looked at the AT-AT looking headass seeing the giant cannon up top with the two machine guns at the front.

Soviet: These damn things drop off standard Devastators and are as tough as nails. As Factory Striders are extremely tough targets, with many of them being able to survive several 500kg bomb direct hits.

Ironwood: The armor on these things...

Ruby: But how are they so strong... where did they come from...

Soviet: These things were made from the Cyborg race from the planet of Cyberstan and are currently headquartered there.

Ruby: Woah...

The scene then changed to show a tank being dropped onto the battlefield.

Narrator: The Automatons prepared defensive positions, laid mines, and could quickly redeploy when threatened.

Yatsu: The Helldivers need to keep calm or they'll keep making mistakes.

The image from the warfare archives was then pulled seeing a Helldiver trying to cross a river with his Shield Generator and shotgun as lasers flew everywhere in the sky.

Narrator: No matter how many were cut down by small arms or reduced to slag from orbital fire, the jungle forever glowed with red lights, piercing through the mist. Casualties skyrocketed and morale plummeted.

Mercury: Pretty obvious why.

Ruby: Reduced to slag?

Weiss: It's the by-product of smelting ores and recycled metals.

Ruby: Oh, wait that means even after turning probably hundreds to this slag, there was no change...?

Blake: Seems like it.

A picture of a Helldiver squad traversing through the tall ferns as behind them were groups of red eyes unknown to the Divers.

Narrator: Many Helldivers transferred back to the Terminid front while those that remained on Malevelon Creek struggled to counter the immense numbers and devastating tactics of the Automatons.

Ozpin: I expected so, sometimes people will leave their struggles behind for easier times instead of pressing through.

Ironwood: Something the next generation need to learn.

Ironwood then looked over to the students from the other academies as they listened to the Massacre of Malevelon Creek.

Soon another picture from the First Battle of Malevelon Creek appeared showing a Helldiver retreating with another Helldiver using an Automaton turret, shooting down a Devastator.

Narrator: Under severe pressure but lacking an effective strategy, Super Earth High Command focused on establishing a defensive posture, but this could only delay the inevitable.

Raven: 'Of course, these weak Helldivers perished against their stronger foe.'

The footage then changed to a Helldiver fighting off multiple trooper Automatons.

Narrator: The beachhead established by the Helldivers on the planet eroded day by day, with even the most successful defense unable to shift the momentum of the wider fighting.

Marrow: If the most successful couldn't shift the tide, what could...?

Narrator: Yet amongst the Helldivers deployed to the Creek, a new cadre of veterans was emerging.

Glynda: Cadre of veterans?

Narrator: Many of its members had fought the Automatons since day one while others had answered the desperate call for reinforcements and refused to leave for easier battlefields once the nature of the fighting had presented itself.

A successful squad of Helldivers was then seen relaxing as two Helldivers were seen sitting down enjoying some Liber-Tea while two Helldivers were posed on top of a destroyed Automaton Dropship with one holding up the Super Earth Flag. Meanwhile all around them were the heads of Trooper and Commissar Automatons.

Willow: They look more...

Qrow: Victorious than what we've seen.

Willow: You're right, they do. Two of them are even drinking tea...

Narrator: Together the Old Guard of Malevelon Creek and these steadfast recruits combined the lessons of both theaters, and committed themselves to fighting the battles no one else could.

Ironwood: So, these are veteran Helldivers?

Everyone the looked to Soviet who smiled at the sight of victorious Creek Crawlers.

Soviet: Correct, I'd like you all to meet, the Creek Crawlers, some of the most experienced Helldivers across the Corps.

Winter: The Old Guard of Malevelon Creek...

Ciel: The Creek Crawlers...

The Atlesian militants watched as the video changed its footage showing a Detector Tower (Eye of Sauron) detecting a single Helldiver who had a standard issued AR-23 Liberator and drop down visor as he prepared an assault on the tower as Troopers spotted him.

Narrator: Where other Helldivers merely held the line, these warriors advanced relentlessly; sometimes by miles, sometimes just inches.

Clover: They're adapting to their surroundings.

Harriet: More tactical in general.

Narrator: They snaked their way through robot infested swamps day after day, enduring the most terrible of hardships at even the slightest chance to push the line forward.

Jaune: Pushing through no matter the cost...

Bolin: They got the biggest balls I've ever seen.

Roy: I seconded that.

Narrator: They rescued scientists, collected samples, and spread democracy across the Creek in a hundred other ways.

Glynda: Rescued scientists... there are still civilians on the planet...

The footage then changed to an extreme close up shot of a Helldiver with a broken visor of his SC-34 Infiltrator helmet who's visible eye seemed like it had seen the hell.

Ruby: L-look at him...

Nolan: He's been through hell...

Ironwood: That eye is a gateway to a world of pain, and suffering.

Ozpin: I can tell he's seen things not even we could dare to imagine.

Everyone continued to listen to the narrator seeing that traumatized man stare directly into the camera giving some chills.

Narrator: To them, defending the world was not enough, it had to be retaken and there could be no substitute for what the fight required.

Oobleck: They're going to reclaim the world, but when is the question?!

Soviet: Actually we've already reclaimed the Creek.

Everyone looked to Soviet with a happy expression or surprise.

Ruby: Really?!

Soviet: Da, April 1st is the day the Creek was liberated.

Summer: How many... how many people died trying to reclaim the planet...?

Soviet: Malevelon Creek is the only Automaton planet with 25+ million KIA while having a Operation time of less than nine weeks. It is currently #6 in terms of the deadliest Automaton planets, though the planets above it have significantly higher operational time. But that's currently

Gwen: Oh my Oum...

Dew: So many dead...

Glynda: That's a quarter of Remnants population...

Ironwood: Did... did the veterans and did receive any type of honor?

Soviet nodded.

Soviet: Every year on April 3rd, Super Earth citizens will unite for a full 3 minutes of their lunch break in solemn remembrance of those who gave their lives to free Malevelon Creek. In addition, all Helldivers have been issued a special commemorative cape, so they may carry the memory of their fallen companions into battle.

Robyn: At least they're being recognized.

Narrator: They wore the shattered gears and sensors of slain Automatons as grim trophies, their faces smeared with oil as they immersed themselves in the silicon viscera of the enemy.

Yang: Geez, talk about brutal.

Ruby: To be honest, the Automatons deserve it.

Narrator: They came to be known as the Creek Crawlers.

Everyone then saw a propaganda poster on screen showing a foot stomping down on a trooper head with the words "DON'T LET THE ENEMY GET UP!"

Winter: Don't let the enemy have time to recover.

Marrow: Or else they'll regret it.

Narrator: Units like the Creek Crawlers and others that made a name for themselves during the fighting turned their struggle into a great propaganda effort.

Ozpin: A smart idea, show the struggles and have more join the effort.

Clover: Hey I got a question.

Soviet then looked over to Clover as he took another bite from his popcorn.

Soviet: Sup?

Clover: It said units like the Creek Crawlers, are there any others that gained names?

Soviet: As far as I know, the only Helldiver group that gained a name like the Creek Crawlers but are sprawled across units are the Draupnir Devils.

Clover: Huh, thanks.

Soviet: Mhm.

The propaganda photo then changed to black and white showing a Hulk firing off a laser at a Helldiver.

Narrator: The Creek was elevated to an almost mythical status, a place where a Helldiver could test their mettle and prove themselves.

Weiss: Test their mettle? Are you saying this deadly planet practically became a training ground?!

Soviet: To an extent yes, the only people I've seen on the planet when it was lost were new recruits or battle-hardened veterans such as myself... god the Creek was a nightmare...

Fiona; Wait you were there?!

Soviet: Yup, during the First Battle of Malevelon Creek, I remember this battle I had, a teammate, callsign T2. Poor bastard was cut in half right in front of me.

Fiona: R-right in half?!

Soviet: Yup, later on squad leader, Q1 turned into a fine red mist being hit by a tank cannon.

Ruby: W-what about you're last teammate...?

Soviet: B4... straight up sacrificed himself to destroy the last command bunker.

Pyrrha: How did he sacrifice himself...?

Soviet: Defended a Hellbomb, surrounded by Devastators and Hulks from a bot drop. I can still remember his final words.

Ozpin: What were his final words?

Everyone then listened to Soviet.

Soviet: His words were and I quote, "Go on to extract without me! I'm taking down these clankers one way or another!" And then BOOM! I saw a massive explosion go off while I was trying to make my way to him as I saw the Command Bunker collapse.

Everyone then learned of the sacrifices the men were doing to defend the planet. 

Narrator: But in an ironic twist so common in war, the symbolic value of the planet would be the primary cause of its fall.

Sun: Wait what?!

Roy: What happened?!

The footage then changed to another world as an E-710 fuel station was seen in the distance with a Helldiver making his way to there.

Narrator: So desperate was Super Earth to liberate Malevelon Creek, that other, equally important worlds were overlooked.

Ironwood: Their supply lines...

Narrator: When Automatons established beachheads on Mantes and Draupnir, they threatened to cut off access to the entire Severin Sector.

The picture then changed to massive black and white explosions on the Creek.

Narrator: In at least two instances the Creek was isolated from further reinforcements, as neighboring worlds were lost, only to be hastily reinforced as fierce Super Earth