A short 5-minute walk later, and Samus has reached the festival. The one on the ground anyways. A simple glance at the night sky reveals a massive floating island -Amity colosseum, Ozpin had called it- basically sitting on a giant crystal. The whole thing could be around the size of Itorash, Raven Beak's flying fortress, but it's hard to tell from the ground. Ozpin told her that something called Dust- with a capital D- powers just about everything. So, she has to guess that giant crystal is made from it and keeping the colosseum in the sky. She also sees dozens of ships in the sky. Samus isn't mesmerized by the sight, she's from a space-faring civilization after all, but it's still impressive that a planet-bound people can still make such incredible displays of technology.
She went around the fairgrounds, and despite it being fairly empty, it manages to unlock long-forgotten memories of her time with her family. Every once in a while, she would be taken to a marketplace. The scale was nothing compared to this; she's only covered around half of the land in the half-hour since she started exploring. But she still feels nostalgic, even if she can't remember any details. Samus didn't know how much she needed this.
She's roused out of her reminiscence by shouts of shock and horror immediately placing Samus on high alert. Static loudly hisses from seemingly everywhere, likely coming from the various intercoms dotting the fairground, before a voice rings out.
"This, is not a tragedy." The voice echoes through multiple sources. She backtracks to find the food stand that had a holoprojector. It was displaying the tournament before, but if whoever is causing this is hacking all the speakers at once, there's little doubt that they won't be displaying something on the media. "This was not an accident."
"This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children to men who claim to be our guardians, but who -in reality- are nothing more than men" The projected screen is displaying a red screen with a chess piece. A Queen.
"Our academies' headmasters wield more power than armies, and one was audacious enough to control both!" What does she mean by that?
"They claim to use this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here?" The screen now displays what Samus assumes to be from the floating colosseum. One of a young girl on her knees shaking visibly. and across from her, an android torn apart, laying in pieces on the ground.
"One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by a star pupil? What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think Grimm can tell the difference." The voice goes on and on, only giving just enough time for her words to set in, moving on to the next, more outrageous topic just before you are able to properly process them. It's a brilliant manipulation tactic, incredibly effective at inciting fear and anger. Two emotions that attract Grimm the most. Samus already knows where this is going.
"And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? First a dismemberment, and now this?" The screen switches to display a video of a young woman with bushy, thigh-length hair breaking another combatant's leg. "Huntsmen and huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy. Yet I have witnessed neither." Samus tunes the rest out. She's well aware of these situations, even seen it first-hand on more than one occasion. A broadcast whose sole purpose is to build up hate and fear is never the end of it. Especially one on this scale. With something like this, a terrorist attack always follows, or, in this case a Grimm attack.
"... our kingdoms are at the brink of war, yet we, the citizens are left in the dark."
"So I ask you, when the first shots are fired, who do you think you can trust?" With that final rhetoric, the screen reverts to static, and the intercoms around the fairgrounds go quiet.
Not even three seconds later, sirens blare. "Alert, incoming Grimm attack. Threat level Nine. Please..." The warning did not come early enough. Already it was being drowned out by beastly roars and human screams of fear, pain and anguish. With a deep growl, Samus envelops herself in a golden light.
.
.
A/N
I wanted to show Samus enjoying herself at the fair, but I couldn't figure out how to write it, which makes me a little sad.
That's it for this chapter's notes. :)