The group began moving south and made good pace covering six kilometers with no sightings of grimm. The pilot woke up and only needed to be half carried since his leg was broken and all of his aura was drained when he was knocked out so he couldn't heal it. The mixed news turned into bad news when Luke began transmitting, communicating in Clicks of the radio.
Click-Click-Click 'Contact'. Dalton raised his hand signaling for a stop. Click-Click-Click-Click 'How many', Dalton asked and started to look around and received Click- Click-Click-Click-Click 'Five contacts'. Seeing as how they were in a steep valley that was so narrow that it would be impossible to stealth, he sent the message to Luke to open fire Click-Click *pause* Click-Click. BANG-BANG-BANG *pause* BANG-BANG. The sound of gunfire echoed down the valley as Luke opened fire on five beowolves with his massive fifteen millimeter armour piercing rounds taking them all down.
"Luke, stay there, we'll come to you. Keep your eyes peeled for more grimm and take them down." Dalton ordered, knowing that stealth was now more or less out of the option. He turned to the pilot and asked, "Can you shoot lieutenant?" he got a nod in response and gave him his sidearm to the pilot and the trio moved to where Luke was perched.
BANG-BANG. There was a staccato of sniper fire meaning there were more grimm on the way. They got to Luke and Dalton began to brief them,
"Luke, if you see any more uglies coming, take them down, I'll be right behind you. Professor, take rear guard and tell us if any grimm are coming up behind us. Lieutenant, stay in the middle of us and if any grimm gets too close, shoot it. Understood?"
They all nodded and set to work getting out of the killbox known as the valley they were in. While all of this was happening, Ozpin was studying the corpses of the dead beowolves, they all had a single bullet hole/crater all in the center of the head. Luke was certainly a crack shot and Dalton's plan was clear, simple, and easy to understand. Dalton would most likely the team leader when they assigned teams when they get to Beacon.
Dalton was staring at the oncoming horde of grimm when he suddenly froze up, yet had a look of concentration on his face. Luke knew what the look was so he backhanded him on the head and said,
"What is it? Anything you see that isn't right?"
"Cannon fodder." Dalton just stated, "Don't waste your sniper ammo on them, I got it."
He reloaded his grenade launcher and replaced the explosive shells with flechettes and took aim. He fired off the drum of seven in quick succession impaling the lead weave of beowolves and basically everything that didn't have armour was impaled be the flechettes and killed. He reloaded with high explosive shells and proceeded to shell the advancing wave of grimm. They were clearing a path through the grimm and was close to the exit when Ozpin called out,
"It seems that we have a deathstalker coming up from the rear."
Dalton called out, "Luke, take the stalker." and kept firing. Luke went up to a rock next to Ozpin steadying his rifle on it and opened fire. He hit the unarmoured joints between the leg and body crippling the massive grimm. He then fired a armour piercing round right in the beast's eye and was surprised that it die from the round. He proceeded to fire the rest of the magazine into the rest of the eyes until he finally penetrated an eye and hit the brain of the deathstalker. He mumbled to himself,
"What does it take to kill one of those damn things?"
Ozpin himself wasn't doing any fighting and was observing the way the two Ghosts were fighting. Dalton's grenade launcher was clearing out the grimm in swathes and the grimm wasn't even gaining any ground. Luke's marksmanship managed to take down a deathstalker that was the size of the one that team JNPR encountered during the first semester. It took the combined efforts of JNPR to take down that monster and this Ghost just took it down solo firing thirteen rounds. Impressive.
Beowolves began falling down the valley and a few landed in the middle of the group. The pilot noticed first and began firing at the falling monsters. Ozpin smacked the falling grimm away and Luke took his bayonet on his sniper and finished the grimm that Ozpin knocked over. They got to the point of their speed moving forward was faster than the grimm coming into the valley. Dalton was forced to use his battle axe on his grenade launcher since they were within the blast radius of his grenades. When he began hacking away at the crowds he called out to Luke,
"Hmm, the battle axe wasn't so useless after all. Eh Luke. Luke?"
"I guess you won the argument of the axe is mightier than the combat knife." Luke replied feigning heartbreak and embarrassment. Luke was wearing tactical glasses so he was able to track how much further they needed to go towards the evac site. He looked at the distance from their current position to the mouth of the valley and it was only fifty meters away.
"Fifty meters till we're out of this valley of death." Luke called out.
They managed to hack and shoot their way to the exit of the valley and were finally able to leave the shadows into the heavily wooded hills. They managed to lose the remaining grimm and proceeded to move for eight more kilometers before nightfall. They made camp near a river so they could converse without the grimm hearing and have fresh water available. After they made a fire, Dalton called out,
"Ammo check."
"I'm out. The pistol has no rounds, I still have the empty mags though." The pilot responded
Luke said, "Down to three rounds and two spare mags of five."
"I didn't expend any ammunition during the fight." Ozpin stated
Dalton finished "I'm down to two HE, four incendiary, and zero flechette rounds. Lieutenant, you might as well give that pistol back to me, it'll just be dead weight to you anyway." The pilot gave the pistol back to him and Dalton concluded, "We'll sleep in shifts of three hours. Lieutenant, I'm sorry but you need to sleep all night since your leg is the most serious injury that needs to heal as much as possible. I'll take first watch." with that the rest of the group fell asleep. The night passed without incident and everyone awoke more or less well rested, their breakfast consisted of the rations that Dalton had in his kit and some fish they caught. They got in a loose diamond formation and left heading for the plains just three kilometers away. Ozpin took this opportunity to learn more about his soon to be students and began talking with Luke.
"Mr. Canary, how is it that you are such a great shot? Miss Nikos of Mystral is the best shot at Beacon and you proceeded to out shoot her as if it was nothing yesterday, I only saw you miss once and that was because Mr. Wilson blew it up before you fired."
Luke responded with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, "Sir, I was a sniper for my company and spent at least three hours a day shooting, and honing my craft. I also had some of the finest instructors in all of Remnant teaching us and pushing us to new limits. Practice and training sir. Well, and the fact that my prosthetic arm doesn't tire out and is always steady is a massive advantage. Before I got my arm, I had a three to one thousand miss hit ratio, most of the misses were from my arm tiring out after shooting for so long."
Satisfied, Ozpin moved to Dalton, "Mr. Wilson, you had an opportunity to stay in the Ghost regiment, why did you choose to leave a life in the most legendary special forces unit behind to become a huntsman?" Dalton answered without a moment's pause,
"Sir, back in Atlas when we were just kids I met Luke. He was a troublemaker and racist just causing havoc. I managed to get him to change his ways and we became great friends. We made a promise to each other that we would be partners in whatever we do in the future. We made a decision that we wanted to become Ghosts and serve Atlas. But when Luke lost his arm I knew that I would leave with him because he is more important to me than my aspirations to become a Ghost were."
"So you're forever loyal to your partner because you two have come so far?" Ozpin
inquired.
"Yes sir." was all Dalton could say.
'Hmm. These two are among some of the most effective fighters that I've ever seen. Easily the most effective partner pair in compared to everyone in the first years. Dalton requires assistance in control of his semblance judging from the way he froze up in the valley yesterday yet was able to perceive the larger threats and the grimm's tactics. Luke needs more assistance in melee combat. Bayonet drills and martial arts simply won't suffice to withstand other students at Beacon'
They continued in silence for the rest of the way, avoiding grimm and hiding when needed. They got to the plains and Ozpin made a call to Beacon to send in the bullheads.
"Glynda. We're here and are now awaiting pickup. Tell the pilot to head to sector nine of grid 018020. Tell me when they are ten minutes out and we'll do the rest to let them know where we are."
Goodwitch spoke with a tired voice, "The bullheads are on the way. One gunship and one transport as well as Miss. Scarlatina as you requested."
"Thank you Glynda" and Ozpin hung up turning to the group, "The bullheads are on the way. When they're ten minutes out, they'll call us. Mr. Wilson, when we get that call, take an incendiary grenade and light the woods behind us on fire. We'll be gathered at the middle of the clearing. Check your weapons and do what repairs and cleanings you can now, when we light that fire, the gimm will be swarming here when the fire starts."
With that said they moved to the center of the clearing and began setting up fortifications to hold off the grimm. Dalton cut some trees down in order to make some ramparts where they can be centralized at. They finished construction of the ramparts and sat there waiting for three hours when Ozpin received a call from Goodwitch.
"The bullheads are ten minutes out."
"Thank you Glynda. We'll be home soon." said Ozpin who continued to Dalton, "Mr. Wilson, the signal fire if you would?" Wilson fired a grenade setting fire to the woods they came from. "Prepare for grimm to come here any moment now." Ozpin concluded giving everything one final look over.
Nothing happened for five minutes when a pack of uras broke through the woods. Luke opened fire on their unarmoured lower jaws picking them off until he ran out of ammo. Dalton fired two more incendiary grenades to the east and west leaving only the south as an escape path. He fired the remaining incendiary grenade as far as possible in hopes of cutting off additional grimm from coming. He fired his final HE grenades at two groups of beowolves. They no longer had any ranged capability and was now in melee combat. A pack of boarbatusks were charging at them when a salvo of rockets blew up the aggressors and the door gunners began providing covering fire. The cavalry has arrived. The transport bullhead landed with Velvet ushering the four inside the rear bay. The bullheads proceeded to move as fast possible to leave the area.
Inside the transport ship Velvet was set on healing the pilot's injured leg. After the pilot was taken care of she inspected everyone else for wounds. To Dalton's surprise, he had taken a slash to the back during the valley fight. He began berating himself for being stupid for not checking his back during the fight. Once she finished healing Dalton, everyone relaxed just wanting to enjoy the opportunity for sleep. Everyone not named Luke Canary that is. He took his spot next Dalton and switched to sit next to the faunus medic named Velvet and began chatting her up.
"Hey, the name's Velvet right?" Dalton realized what was happening instantly and face palmed, knowing that this wouldn't end nicely so he spoke up,
"Luke, you sure that you don't need to rest up? We've been fighting for quite a while ya know."
He whispered to Dalton, "I swear to Oum, you deny me this opportunity and you will regret it." louder, "Sorry about the the interruption from my partner, thanks for patching him up by way."
"Oh, it wasn't a big deal." Velvet said nervously
Ever being the single male he was, he said, "You sound on edge, everything okay?"
"It's just that you guys have been really nice and haven't really… well... made fun of me. I know that this is wrong but most people I meet from Atlas are generally not the most friendly towards faunus." Velvet spoke shyly still mixed on how to talk to the newcomers.
"Ya… I guess you're right. Most people from Atlas are a major ass towards faunus. Funny enough, I used to be a racist asshole until that guy right there found me and set me straight," he nodded to Dalton who just smiled and gave a look of 'tread carefully' to Luke, "I actually think you're kind of cute."
"Oh, uh, thank you." Velvet's face turned reddened as she spoke, "Well I guess people can change from their ways, and I thank you for changing his ways uh…" Dalton interjected,
"The name's Dalton, Dalton Wilson."
"Thank you Dalton. I only wish that other humans can change their minds like you did Luke. What did you before you applied to Beacon? I heard that Ozpin turned down bringing the rest of my team as backup saying that you two were all the backup he needed."
Luke told her, "Dalton and I were a part of the Ghosts. D, your hat?" Dalton passed his hat to Luke so he could show her.
"I didn't recognize the insignia until you told me. That explains why Ozpin turned down backup. Here." she gave the beret back to Dalton and continued, "Why did you guys leave? Being a Ghost is a massive achievement that normally isn't left behind so quickly."
Luke turned his arm into the dagger and said, "I lost my arm on the graduation test and if you have a prosthetic limb, you can't serve in the military." he turned his arm back to normal and continued, "Besides. D and I made a promise before signing up that we would be partners in whatever we do, never leaving the other behind." Dalton simply nodded in affirmation when Velvet looked at him.
At this point Velvet got comfortable being around the two former commandos and started to relax. They sat in a comfortable silence when Velvet yawned and said, "Well, the healings have me drained and I tired. I'm going to catch some sleep." and with that she gently put her head against Luke shoulder and quickly fell asleep. Luke had a look of shock not expecting that things would move this quickly while Dalton had a look of disbelief that Luke managed to get a girl to react like that so quickly.
It was during this period of shock that Dalton noticed that Ozpin was awake and listening and watching the whole time. He nudged Luke who was still very much in disbelief of what happened to get his attention. Afraid that he would awake Velvet he didn't move or say anything while Ozpin began talking,
"Normally upon entry to Beacon, students must pass an initiation test of and take a rigorous written entry exam, however since you already took the exam in Atlas, you won't have to take it at Beacon. Now, after seeing what you two were capable of during the crash, I dare say that both of you already passed that initiation test. What do you say lieutenant?"
"I say that they're ready for whatever's going to come at them." the pilot told Ozpin
"Then it's settled, you two just made made it into Beacon. Congradulations."
Dalton said thank you while Luke was still afraid that he might awake Velvet so he took his free hand that wasn't pinned by Velvet to get his scroll out. He went down to Ozpin and sent a text message to him saying 'thank you sir'. Ozpin decided to give up his ruse and said,
"You two both exemplify all the traits that a good hunter should have. Loyalty, dedication, and consideration for your teammates. Isn't that right Miss. Scarlatina."
Velvet 'woke up' and said, "Yes sir, they definitely do. You look cute when you're confused Luke."
At that point a very confused Dalton asked Ozpin,
"So that entire shoot down was all a test? A screening process for Beacon?"
Ozpin told him the of the entire process and how it was supposed to happen,
"No, not exactly. The Dropship was to simulate an engine malfunction and land in the Emerald Forest several kilometers away from Beacon Cliff. At that point you two were supposed to fight your way through some small packs of prepositioned grimm and we were going to evaluate your performance. The nevermore shooting us down was completely out of our control and we just decided to carry on about our test. Speaking of the Emerald Forest, we should be able to see it momentarily." He said the last part with a anticipating smile wondering what the boys' reactions were going to be and opened the cargo doors...
Dalton moaned, "Son of a bitch…"
Luke just stuck out his hand and received a fifteen lien card as a payment for his bet.