Chapter Text
Yang Xiao Long jolted awake, feeling a strong grip on her shoulders shaking her hard. She slowly opened her eyes to see Blake standing over her, a look of rage on her face.
“What did you do to Yang?” she roared. Yang pushed Blake’s arms away, opening her mouth to speak. However, she was surprised to find that no sound came out. Blake grabbed her again, and Yang recoiled far more quickly than she had intended. “Tell me!” Blake demanded. Yang raised up her hands and shook her head, trying to show her innocence without speaking. Her hair fell down over her face as she did so. Her pink hair. Something certainly wasn’t right.
“Blake, what’s going-” Ruby began, stepping through the door behind Blake and stopping as her gaze fixed on Yang. “What’s she doing here?!” she exclaimed. Yang attempted to explain, choking on her words until something eventually managed to come out.
“I’m… Yang…” she rasped, forcing the explanation out. Her voice sounded unfamiliar.
“You’re… what?” Blake asked, confused. She took a step back, giving Yang some space. “What the hell is going on here?”
“Don’t…” Yang was cut off by a coughing fit, not used to talking being this difficult for her. She slowly climbed out of bed and stood up, being sure to make no sudden movements as Blake and Ruby backed away cautiously. She stumbled as she straightened her legs, her center of gravity different than it was before. Her whole body was smaller, and she found herself having to look up at Blake.
“She can talk?” Ruby wondered aloud.
“I don’t know if that’s Neo?” Blake replied.
Neo? Yang thought. Am I…? A look of terrified revelation washed over her face as she suddenly made a dash for the bathroom, moving faster than she thought she could as she expertly dodged around Ruby to get through the door into the dorm’s hallway. She ran to the end of the hall and barreled through the door, coming to a stop at the sink and staring into an all-too-familiar face. Her eyes were brown and pink, as was her hair. It was somewhat jarring to see the face of Neopolitan without her signature smug grin, but not as jarring as seeing her face in the mirror. What’s going on? Yang questioned. Why am I not me? She gripped the edges of the sink, staring down at the floor. She closed her eyes and felt her body begin to shift. Fear turned to confusion as Yang opened her eyes to see the floor getting farther away, the hair hanging above her eyes changing back to a familiar yellow. She looked back into the mirror to see herself, fully dressed in her usual jacket and skirt, her gauntlets around her wrists. She stared for a moment in awe, completely speechless.
“Yang, where were you?!” Ruby shouted from behind her. “Somehow Neo snuck into our dorm and was sleeping in your-”
“Ruby, that was me,” Yang explained, turning to face her sister.
“Yang?” Blake gasped. “Are you okay?”
“Y-yeah,” Yang assured her. “Somehow I woke up as Neo.” There was a pause as everyone tried to process what was just said.
“You WHAT?!” Ruby yelled.
“Yang, that’s…” Blake muttered.
“Yeah, I know it’s crazy, but…” Yang stopped, closing her eyes and envisioning her reflection from a minute before. She felt her body change and heard her teammates gasp in unison. She opened her eyes to see the stunned expressions of Ruby and Blake, as well as Weiss walking down the hall towards the bathroom.
“What’s all this commotion?” she asked. “You three are being very lou- EEEEEEK!” she shrieked, looking over Blake’s shoulder. “What’s she doing here?!”
“That’s Yang,” Blake said. “She uuuhhh… turned into Neo.”
“That’s crazy talk. People can’t turn into other people,” Weiss dismissed her. Yang smirked, giving her body a quick glance up and down before instantly morphing into her duplicate.
“That’s crazy talk,” she repeated in Weiss’s voice. Weiss screamed, jumping backward. Ruby burst out laughing, as did Yang, who shifted back to her normal body. Blake let out a chuckle, glancing behind her to look at Weiss, who was using her body as a shield.
“Yang, how can you do that?!” Ruby asked gleefully.
“I don’t know,” she laughed excitedly. “Now let’s see what else I can do with this.”
The team headed back into their room, Blake shutting the door behind them. Yang stood in the center of the room, while Weiss, Blake, and Ruby sat on the beds on either side of her.
“Any suggestions for what to turn into?” Yang asked.
“Can you be me?” Ruby suggested. Yang obliged, becoming a copy of her sister. “Woah!” she gasped, leaning in for a closer look as Yang slowly spun around to show off every detail.
“That’s amazingly spot-on,” Blake complimented her.
“Thanks,” Yang chuckled in Ruby’s voice. “I guess five minutes of practice is all I needed.”
“I’m guessing you can turn into me then too,” Blake said. Yang nodded, taking Blake’s shape for a few seconds before shifting back to normal.
“Yang, please don’t let all this power go to your head,” Weiss pleaded. “I’m sure we’re all aware of the pranking potential this has.”
“Oh, I know exactly what I could get up to with this,” Yang confirmed.