It was Friday afternoon, and the girls were engaged in one of their favorite leisurely pastimes: couching.

With her head resting on Pyrrha's thigh, Ruby looked up. "I'm gonna go on a run with Weiss tomorrow morning. You wanna come with?"

Setting her book to the side, Pyrrha paused for consideration. "I'd love to, if it's okay with the ol' Ice Angel."

"She'll be fine with it, so long as you don't mention that nickname."

Pyrrha chuckled and resumed her light reading (a recommendation from Blake, as it were). A few pages later, a thought occurred to the Vytal runner-up. "Would you mind if I invited Ren as well? He also wanted to improve his stamina, so I feel like he and Weiss would be good workout partners since they have similar goals for this year."

"Sure!" Ruby replied, still playing a game on her scroll. "The more the merrier."

And so, a pristine and quiet morning in the Emerald Forest was interrupted by a group of rowdy teenagers.

"Hey, Weiss! How does it feel to be slower than Jaune?" called Ruby from the front of the pack.

"Shut it… phew… you dolt! Besides, Jaune improved a lot during our freshman year," Weiss yelled/wheezed from the back.

"Aw… Thanks, Weiss."

"Quiet, Arc!"

"Eh…?"

Pyrrha and Nora shared a laugh as they trailed behind the redheaded speedster. "It's not fair how she has both a speed semblance and ridiculous endurance," said Nora, wiping some sweat from her brow. Glancing up ahead, the Valkyrie frowned. Ruby looked like she was lightly jogging, as opposed to the relatively heavy running the others seemed to be doing.

Trying to keep the proud smirk of her face (her Ruby was awesome after all), Pyrrha replied. "Well, she can't really help her semblance being what it is, but she worked hard for everything else. Out of all of us, her physique is most like that of a racer."

"Yes, yes. We all know how much you love her physique, Pyrrha."

Hoping that the workout perspiration was hiding her blush, Pyrrha attempted to jostle the shorter girl, only to realize that Nora must have sensed the imminent danger and took off ahead with a burst of speed.

Narrowing her eyes, Pyrrha gave chase.

Minutes later, the running party slowed to a stop.

"Break time!" Ruby voiced loud enough for everyone to hear. "We'll stop here before we get too deep into the forest. We don't want to run into any Grimm while we're not fully armed."

While the others took a breather, Yang walked over to her sister. "I feel like you could handle at least one Beowolf with your bare hands now, though, Rubes."

"Mmm, maybe."

Pyrrha spoke up. "I've been meaning to ask you about that, Ruby. You continued training over the summer with your dad and Yang right?"

Turning to address her girlfriend, Ruby nodded. "Yup."

"I look forward to seeing your progress then."

"Why not see it now?"

"I beg your pardon?"

Smirking, Ruby goaded Pyrrha on. "How bout a quick spar while Weiss-cream catches her breath?"

"Hey!"

Pyrrha smiled, noting the competitive glint in Ruby's eyes. Zoning herself in for a quick beat-down, er.. spar, Pyrrha lifted herself off the ground and walked towards the small clearing where Ruby stood ready. Tapping their fists together signaled the start of their practice round.

Stepping back, Pyrrha allowed Ruby to throw the opening sequence, not expecting anything drastically different from their spars before summer break. And boy, the Invincible Girl was in for a surprise.

Pyrrha assumed that Ruby would keep her distance and use her leg strength to her advantage, but the shorter girl rushed in close. Two jabs forced Pyrrha's blocks downward, and Ruby tried to follow up with a cross and right hook aimed at Pyrrha's jaw. The Mistral champion was undeterred, however, and brought her hands up in time to protect her face. After a left inside leg kick and another attempted right hook, Ruby pushed away, allowing Pyrrha to recover and respond.

Pyrrha opened with a jab followed by a purposefully weak left cross. Ruby, distracted by her opponent's open guard, didn't notice Pyrrha's powerful right hook before it was too late. The small girl stumbled back from the hit, then nodded to continue. Pyrrha pressed on with one of her favorites: a jab-cross start with a lead uppercut from the left. Lastly, as her body was rotated clockwise, Pyrrha rose up and threw a powerful right cross that drove through her girlfriend's block.

Staggering back, Ruby once again nodded. Pyrrha's eyes softened ever so slightly. "You sure?"

"Yup."

"Okay then."

As soon as those words left Pyrrha's mouth, Ruby was on the offensive. She closed in again with a jab, cross, and left leg body kick. Pyrrha took it in stride, but was surprised once more as Ruby quickly put some distance between them and open fired. Another left inside kick was followed by a cross, hook, and a ridiculous roundhouse kick to Pyrrha's mid-section. She even heard a few winces from the audience that had gathered. The Invincible Girl didn't have time to recover, though, as Ruby rocked her with a jab-right knee-left elbow combo.

Before Pyrrha had a chance to get back into it, Yang broke it up.

"Alright, you two. That's enough for now," she said stepping in between them. "Save the rough-housing for the bedroom… Or not. Yeah, definitely not. Forget I said that." Coughing awkwardly, Yang threw Ruby a water bottle to share with her partner.

"Thanks, Yang." Ruby said gratefully.

"No prob, sis. You ready to head back?"

"Yup!"

As Ruby turned towards the rest of the group, she was caught off-guard by their collectively slack jaws. "What?" she asked, confused.

Weiss spoke for them. "When the hell did you learn how to do that?"

"Oh, you know. Over the summer."

Blake whistled, "Damn, Ruby."

"Heh, thanks, Blake. It's not a big deal. Between Goodwitch, Pyrrha, and my family, I had a lot of help," Ruby said bashfully.

"Why was I not informed of this?" demanded Weiss, hands on her hips. Ruby laughed nervously. "Ah, well… I was going to surprise you?"

"You just forgot to tell me didn't you?"

"My bad."

"Tch. So those early mornings towards the end of the semester when you would leave the room?"

"Training."

Weiss pinched Ruby's side. "Idiot. You had me worried for no reason when you were so lethargic in Port's class for a week or so."

Any ill will from the pinch dissipating, Ruby hugged Weiss's arm tightly before landing a chaste kiss on her best friend's cheek. "Thanks for worrying about me, Weiss."

And though the Schnee heiress tried her best to respond with a glare, she couldn't keep a smile from appearing. Sighing, she ruffled her team leader's hair. "You looked good out there, Ruby."

"Thanks, Weiss. I've been working hard."

Linking their arms together as they walked back, Weiss gave Ruby another smile.

"I can imagine."

Omake:

As the group of teens walked back to the school, Ren held a hand up, causing everyone to freeze. "I sense something, and it's close. Be ready."

Ren summoned Stormflower (despite wearing short sleeves); Blake whipped out the hunting knife she had strapped to her thigh; Yang readied her fists, deadly weapons in and of themselves; and the rest were on their toes, eyes narrowing in anticipation.

And before they knew it, it hit them.

"From above!" someone managed to yell out. The crew scattered, a crater of shattered earth now appeared where they were all standing a moment earlier. And as the smoke cleared, a lone figure was revealed.

He had a moustache. He was also shirtless.

"Gah! My eyes!" screamed Weiss as she shielded her face.

"Ohohoho! Look what we have here! I see that you all are returning from a morning run. On a weekend no less! Indeed, these are the trappings of excellent huntsmen," said Port, whose boisterous voice was a stark contrast to the serene environs.

Pyrrha stepped forward. "Professor?" she asked, hand tentatively raised.

"Yes, my child?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Why, I was testing the launch pads of course!"

"I see… But why are you shirtless?"

Timeline:

Ch. 13 = Trappings

Ch. 9 = Pyrrha's Rival

Ch. 11 = What's Next?

Ch. 12 = Help from an Unlikely Source

Ch. 7 (sophomore year) = The Dance

Ch. 14 = Going on a Run

Ch. 2 = On Butterflies

Ch. 3 = Stars

Ch. 4 = Lingering Flowers

Ch. 8 = Go

Ch. 5 = Philosophy of Ruby

Ch. 6 = Chocolate

Ch. 1 (senior year) = Just a Touch of Spice

Ch. 10 (post-Beacon) = Knowledge

Bear in mind that this timeline is flexible. Based on my general outlines, this should be how things have played out; however, I may have written small details in the chapters that would lead the reader to think otherwise. If this is the case, feel free to let me know so I can fix the discrepancy.

Peace,

Iota Xi