The RWBY TF Saga - Two Steps Back (Pyrrha TF)

After the Beowolf incident, Ryan and Alex’s ride home was mostly silent. Alex was busy revelling in the post-fight adrenaline, while Ryan was praying to whichever gods might be listening that no one else saw Alex fighting the Grimm. People had certainly seen the Grimm, seeing as there were screaming civilians fleeing the scene, but so long as no one saw the fight itself, no attention should be drawn to their situation.

As they neared their apartment building, however, Ryan remembered a certain something that had been forgotten amidst the confusion of the Grimm attack. “Hey Alex-” he started, before immediately getting cut off.

“Yang,” Alex corrected.

Ryan didn’t even acknowledge it this time, his mind focused on other matters. “About before, what happened at the doctor’s? Did your last name really just “slip your mind” like that?”

“Well, uh, yeah.” Alex wasn’t exactly sure what to say. He’d already described it in his own words back at the doctor’s office, and now Ryan had just repeated it back to him.

“But, how does that even happen? How can you just forget your name?”

“I didn’t “forget” it. It just… wasn’t at the forefront of my mind, I guess.”

Ryan frowned. As far as he was concerned, it felt like Alex was in denial, or just trying to come up with excuses. “Tell me your name.”

“Ryan, what are you doing? You already-”

“Tell me your name.”

“Well, I mean, if you wanna get technical, right now I’m Yang Xiao Long,” Alex joked, seeing if he could lighten to mood a bit.

“Your real name.” It was clear Ryan was not in the joking mood.

“Alex.” Alex rolled his eyes, not taking this as seriously as Ryan was.

“Full name.”

“Alex F… Fotia.” For the second time in a matter of minutes, Alex had struggled to remember his surname.

“See? It happened again! Are you really gonna say it just slipped your mind again?”

“Well… I mean, I did still remember it, right?” Alex was starting to see the truth in what Ryan was saying, but was still taking the situation fairly well.

“Well, yeah, but it took you longer to remember than it should. You shouldn’t have to think that hard just to remember your own name.”

“Ryan, really, it’s not that big a deal. I mean, how often to I even use my last name for things?”

“Yes, Alex, it is a big deal! What if you start to forget more than that? What if you forget your friends? What if you forget who you really are?”

“Ryan, I get where you’re coming from, really. But this was just me being a bit slow to think of my last name a couple times. I think you’re blowing this out of proportion.”

Ryan sighed, realising that, by himself, there was no way he’d be able to get Alex to take this seriously. “I hope you’re right,” he mumbled.

If Alex was starting to forget his surname, Ryan had no doubt that more might be on the chopping block. Even worse, he was now starting to worry about his own memory. He’d transformed not long after Alex, would his memory start going too? He could still remember his surname, Argent, clearly. Maybe it had something to do with how well Alex had taken to being Yang. He’d requested several times that he be called Yang, and had even stated earlier that, given the choice, he might not want to turn back. Did that have something to do with him forgetting his surname? Was his love of being Yang forcing the transformation further? Regardless, Ryan knew this was something he’d have to discuss with Blake when they got home.

The pair sat in silence for the rest of the car trip. They eventually pulled in to their apartment’s parking lot, and found their designated parking spot. “Well, that was more excitement than I thought we’d be getting today,” Alex said as he got out of the car.

“Come on, let’s just get back to the apartment before anyone sees us,” Ryan replied, promptly making his way towards the apartment building.

Alex rolled his eyes, but followed behind his friend after locking the car. “You know, it’s only a matter of time before someone finds out.”

“Don’t care. The longer we can go without anyone finding out, the better.”

“Yes, boss,” Alex said jokingly, as he did his best to keep up with Ryan’s walking speed. Ryan didn’t bother responding to that, instead focusing on getting back to their apartment as quickly as possible. Having had his fun, Alex seemed content to follow in silence. They eventually reached the correct apartment, and after looking around to make sure no one was watching, they went inside. That was when Alex decide to break his silence. “Honey, I’m home!” he practically shouted as he closed the door behind him.

“Alex!” Ryan said, trying to somehow raise his voice without actually shouting.

Regardless of their shenanigans, Blake came out of Alex’s room to greet them. “Welcome back. Any results?”

“Nothing. But-” That was all Ryan was able to say before Alex interrupted.

“Dude, you really should have been there! There was this Beowolf in the street, and I totally kicked its ass!”

“What!? A Beowolf!?” Blake turned to Ryan, not entirely trusting Alex to stick to the truth. Ryan nodded. “And Alex just fought it?” Ryan nodded again. “And he won?”

Ryan nodded, but actually spoke up this time. “He said he just relied on his instincts.”

“Sure did! I guess Yang’s body just knows how to fight.”

“Hm…” Blake began pacing back and forth, putting a finger to his chin in thought. “I suppose it’s good you were able to fight it off, but if Grimm start showing up more frequently, that’s going to be a serious problem. We might need to start carrying our weapons with us when we go out.”

“What!?” Ryan said, thinking about how much carrying a mechanical scythe around would make him stand out.

“I understand why you might not like that, Ryan, but our world doesn’t have huntsmen and huntresses to protect it from Grimm. So, if Grimm attacks start happening more frequently, then we’re going to need to take on that role ourselves. Especially if we’re able to simply rely on our instincts in a fight like Alex did.”

“Yeah… I guess so.” As cool as he thought the cast of RWBY looked while fighting, Ryan wasn’t exactly looking forward to having to swing around Ruby’s scythe himself.

“Okay, with that out of the way, how’d the actual doctor’s appointment go?”

“I’ll let you handle this one,” Alex said, heading into his room while simultaneously pulling his scroll out of his pocket.

Ryan could only shake his head at Alex’s antics, before responding to Blake’s question. “Dr. Tonian believes our story, but she couldn’t figure out how this happened, or how to reverse it. She did send some samples away for testing, though, and she wants the rest of us to pay her a visit too, so she can get a larger sample space or something. She’s probably gonna have a field day with your ears.”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” Blake replied, having a little as he thought about how a doctor would react to his two sets of ears.

“And… um… I’m kinda worried about Alex.”

“Hm? Why for?”

“It’s just… I think he’s starting to forget things about himself. When Dr. Tonian asked for his name, he actually had to stop and think about what his last name was. He said it just slipped his mind, but when I asked him again later, the same thing happened.”

“I see. That is a problem.”

“What should we do?”

“Well… to be honest, I’m not sure there’s anything we can do. Until we find a way to reverse the transformation, I doubt we can really stop any of the side effects.”

Ryan let out a sigh of disappointment. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“I may have found something out, though.”

“Really!? What!?” Ryan’s mood perked up the moment Blake spoke those words. Considering Blake’s discovery of how the transformations spread had reinvigorated Ryan’s motivation to search for a cure, this should have come as no surprise.

“Well, I was looking around through the files on Alex’s computer, and-” Blake was cut off as a tone started playing from his pocket. Reaching his hand inside, Blake found the source was his scroll, which was currently trying to alert him of an incoming call.

“Don’t answer it,” Ryan said, remembering what had happened when he had answered Aaron’s call without thinking.

“You don’t need to remind me. I’m not Alex.”

“I heard that!” Alex called out from his room, his tone clearly showing he didn’t take offense to it regardless of his reply.

Blake continued as if he hadn’t even heard Alex. “I just wanted to see who it was.”

“So, who is it?”

“…It’s Nate.” Nate was Blake’s roommate, who he shared his apartment down the hall with. He was probably wondering where Blake was, just as Aaron and Blake had wondered about Alex and Ryan.

Blake was going to decline the call and put his phone away, but before he could, his answering machine message started playing through the phone’s speakers. “Hey, this is Blake. Probably can’t answer right now, so leave a message. Or not, you could always call back later, I guess.”

After a beep, Nate’s voice came through the speaker instead, Blake and Ryan silently listening to his message. “Uh, hey Blake. It’s Nate, in case you couldn’t tell. Um, you did say you’d be back, like, today or yesterday, right? Just making sure. I guess either I got the got the date wrong, or you were just delayed or something. I dunno. So, I guess I’m just calling to make sure you haven’t died in a car crash or something. Message me back when you get the chance, will ya? Thanks. I’ll see you when you get back.”

With another beep, the message cut off, and a little icon appeared on the screen to indicate that Blake had received a message. Ryan could tell by the look on Blake’s face that he hadn’t taken the message well. “You okay?” Ryan asked.

Blake paused before speaking, probably gathering his thoughts. “Yeah, I just feel bad ignoring him like this. I mean, after you guys vanished for a week or so, I know I started to get worried, so I know exactly what he’d be going through. It’s better this way, though. I don’t want him getting caught up in all of this.”

“Um, yeah. Quick question, you know how it’s spread through phone calls so far?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, do you think there might be a chance that it could have spread through your answering machine?” Blake paused for a moment, thinking over the facts to see whether Ryan’s scenario could logically occur with what they knew of the transformations. Then, without a word, he quickly rushed towards the front door. Ryan was obviously taken off guard by this, seeing as he was used to seeing Blake calm and collected. “Blake, wait! What are you-”

“I need to make sure Nate’s okay!” He was already at the front door now, and had pulled it open.

“But what if he didn’t transform? You’d just be expos-”

“I’m not taking that chance!” Blake practically slammed the door closed, and ran down the hallway.

Ryan groaned. “Am I the only one here who cares about keeping this a secret?”

Meanwhile, Alex was speaking to himself in the other room. “Hm, so we’ve got all of Team RWBY, and Jaune. So then, next is probably-”

“Alex, you’re not helping!”

~~~

“He was meant to be back yesterday, right?” Nate mumbled as he paced around his apartment. He double checked the calendar that his roommate had hung up in the kitchen, but it seemed neither of them had marked anything on today or yesterday’s date.

He frowned. His roommate Blake had left for a few weeks to visit it family, but he was almost certain he was supposed to get back some time yesterday. Of course, he could have just been delayed by traffic or something, but considering some of his other friends seemed to have gone missing recently, Blake’s absence was starting to make him worry. He felt the need to do something. He couldn’t just sit around worrying. So, he decided the most logical thing to do would be to simply call Blake and see if he was okay. He pulled out his phone and dialled Blake’s number, before holding it to his ear.

After ringing for a while, Blake’s voice suddenly came through the speaker. “Hey, this is Blake. Probably can’t answer right now, so leave a message. Or not, you could always call back later, I guess.”

Nate sighed as he heard his roommate’s answering machine message. He was worried this might happen. That said, it could just be that Blake wasn’t able to answer because he was on the road. Blake knew better than to check his phone while riding his motorcycle. Since he couldn’t talk to Blake directly, Nate figured he might as well leave a message. He quickly composed himself as he heard the beep from the answering machine, and figured out what he wanted to say, while doing his best to mask any worry that might be coming through in his voice.

“Uh, hey Blake. It’s Nate, in case you couldn’t tell. Um, you did say you’d be back, like, today or yesterday, right? Just making sure. I guess either I got the got the date wrong, or you were just delayed or something. I dunno. So, I guess I’m just calling to make sure you haven’t died in a car crash or something. Message me back when you get the chance, will ya? Thanks. I’ll see you when you get back.”

With his message finished, Nate pressed the button to end the call. Now all he could do was hope Blake would get back to him soon. “Alright. Now I’ve just… gotta wait.” Nate didn’t like waiting. He stood around for a moment, before tossing his phone onto the counter in the kitchen and heading to his room. “I need to make my mind off things.” As he left, though, his phone suddenly reconstructed itself, now appearing to be some sort of futuristic smartphone. If he’d seen it, Nate would probably have recognised it, but alas, he did not. Not that that would have helped him deal with what was coming next, anyway.

Nate sat down at his computer, his fingers dancing across the keyboard as he navigated his web browser of choice. Unbeknownst to him, said hands were starting to take on a rather different appearance. His hands shrunk down a bit, while his fingers lengthened and slimmed down. His nails didn’t get much longer, but they did smooth out, as if they’d been trimmed down neatly instead of bitten down as they’d been before. The skin on his hands paled, and any hair on them receded back into his body, traits which were beginning to spread across the rest of his skin. His skin softened for the most part, but his palms toughened as if he’d been fighting for most of his life. Similar things were going on in his feet; they shrank down a little, while his toes lengthened a bit, and his nails trimmed down neatly. If Nate had been aware of what was happening, he probably would have thought his hands looked a bit too feminine to be his, but thanks to what was causing the transformation, he remained completely unaware of what was happening to his body.

As the transformation progressed, Nate navigated his way to RoosterTeeth’s website. A new volume of RWBY had launched recently, and like a lot of his friends, Nate was a rather big fan of the show. As he opened up the page for the first episode, or “chapter”, as RoosterTeeth called them, the changes continued up his arms and legs. His arms slimmed down dramatically as most of the fat they held seemed to completely burn away. His arms became much stronger, but still retained their slim form as his muscles compacted down. Similarly, his legs became much stronger, and while they did slim down quite a bit, they still retained some fat, which redistributed itself to make his legs look shapelier.

With his arms and legs changed, the clothes that covered them now started to reshape. The sleeves of his shirt split off and travelled down his arms, the tops stopping at the middle of his upper arms, while the other end travelled down to cover up his hands, becoming a long pair of gloves. They darkened to a dark brown colour, while the left glove started to thicken and harden. The harder areas of the glove split off as the material and colour changed dramatically, becoming a golden arm band and bracer. Meanwhile, down below, his sneakers hardened into leather, and tightened to fit his new feet. The heels of his shoes grew out to a point, while they grew upward to cover up past his ankles. His socks crawled their way up his legs, stopping at midthigh level as their colour and material changed, becoming a pair of dark brown stockings. His pant legs separated from his jeans around his upper thighs, and they then further split into two pieces around his knees. These pieces tightened and hardened as the material changed like his glove had done, cladding his legs in golden armour.

By now, Nate had started to watch the episode, but just as the opening scene had finished, and it was transitioning to a fight scene, he heard his front door unlocking. Was it Blake? Did he get home alright? Nate paused the video, and got up from his chair, still failing to notice anything different about his body. The front door slammed open, and a voice rang out. “Nate?! Nate, are you here?!” That was not Blake’s voice. The voice did sound familiar, but in the heat of the moment, Nate wasn’t able to figure out who it belonged to. Regardless, it certainly didn’t belong to someone who should have a key to his apartment. Was it a robber? Did they pick the lock? Why were they shouting? Not thinking straight, Nate quickly shut the door to his room, and pressed his back against the door as a makeshift lock.

“Nate? Is that you?” He heard the voice getting closer to his room. As sweat started to form on his forehead, the changes to his body continued. His shoulders pushed inward, while his hips jutted outward. His waist caved in on itself and his core became toned, any fat that resided there redistributed itself to his chest and rear. This ultimately resulted in his butt inflating to match his new hips, and a decently-sized pair of breasts forming on his chest. Despite how feminine his figure now was, he still possessed the one part of his body that designated him as male, although that wouldn’t be for long. His genitals began to shrink down, getting smaller and smaller, until they finally disappeared. In their place, a slit opened up on his crotch, leading into the new female reproductive system that was forming inside of him.

Nate could feel the door rattling behind him. “Nate? Are you in there? It’s me, Blake,” the voice said through the door. It definitely didn’t sound like Blake, so Nate refused to budge. As “Blake” continued to try and get the door open, Nate’s clothing changed once more. What was left of his pant legs merged together to make it a skirt, while the colour changed to the same dark brown of his boots. A red cloth seemed to appear out of nowhere, wrapping itself around his waist, before a thin belt appeared over the top of it, a round plate on the belt holding the cloth in place. The rest of the cloth was left to drape down his right side, reaching all the way down to his ankles. Underneath his skirt, his boxers shrunk down and tightened around his crotch, becoming a pair of panties. Up top, a bra appeared out of nowhere to contain his new breasts under his shirt. Said shirt split into two parts just above his breasts. The bottom part tightened around his torso, turning brown, with a yellow strip running down the middle, and golden patterns curling around the top of it. The top was held as tight as it was by a cord that woven its way through the back of it.

“Nate, I know this might be weird for you, but please, just open up!” Might be weird for you? What was this person talking about? Were they talking about how they broke into his apartment? In that case, why on earth would he open the door? Regardless of “Blake”’s persistence, and Nate’s confusion, the transformation continued. The top part of Nate’s shirt, which had yet to transform, began to shrink around his neck, hardening as the legs of his pants had. It became a golden gorget to match the rest of his armour, and as it tightened around his neck, it forced it to slim, down, his Adam’s apple being pushed back in as his vocal chords provided him with a new, higher-pitched voice. His face reshaped next, his cheekbones rising while his jawline softened. His lips puffed up slightly, while his nose shrunk down dramatically, and his cheeks gained a reddish tinge. His eyes grew larger, while his irises turned bright green.  His eyelashes grew darker and longer, while his eyebrows thinned down and turned the same red as the cloth around his waist. His hair practically exploded out of his head, turning red as it cascaded down his back, before it suddenly pulled itself together into a ponytail. A golden circlet wrapped itself around his forehead, looping underneath his fringe, as a chain with a small ornament drooped next to each ear.

As the unawareness was starting to wear off, a golden shield and a red and gold spear formed on his back, pushing him forward slightly as his back was against the door. And that’s when everything that had happened to Nate suddenly hit him at once. That slight push forward from the shield, combined with “Blake” trying to open the door, and the lack of unawareness making him unfamiliar with his new footwear, caused him to fall face first to the floor. “Ow,” Nate mumbled, lifting himself off the ground as he wondered why his chest felt so much bigger. He was in for the shock of his life when he looked down and saw his newly earned cleavage.

“Aaahhh!” Nate shouted, well and truly freaked out by the breasts that seemed to be hanging from his chest. His hands reached up to feel them, and his face immediately flushed red at the sensations it sent running through his body. They were definitely real. But more than that, his hands looked different too. “Wha-? What’s? What?” He couldn’t seem to form a cohesive sentence, as he looked over his new body, realising it seemed to look vaguely familiar. His voice seemed familiar too. But in the shock of the moment, he wasn’t able to tell where he recognised it from.

Before he had a chance to figure it out, he heard a voice behind him again. “Nate?”

Nate slowly turned around, and immediately realised why he thought their voice sounded familiar. Standing in from of him was Blake Belladonna, one of the main characters of RWBY. He looked down at himself again, that new piece of information putting his current body into perspective. He realised that he now had the body of Pyrrha Nikos, yet another character from RWBY. But if he’d been turned into Pyrrha, then was this person who looked like Blake…

“Blake?”

Blake nodded, crouching down close to the floor with his roommate, giving a sad smile as he tried to be reassuring. “I’m sorry you got caught up in all this,” he said, placing a hand on Nate’s shoulder.

Nate didn’t understand what was going on at all. “Why are you apologising? What’s going on!? Why do you-? Why do I look like Pyrrha!?” Every little movement reminded him that his body wasn’t his own. He was scared.

Blake let out a deep sigh. “It’s a long story.”