All-in-all the trip took nearly a week before they finally arrived. Sadly, only three of these days had been spent on dry land, and Bruce had been pushing their workouts. Now though, they had arrived and the real training cycle could begin. Even with that the days started the same- for the most part at least.
Felicity was starting to get tired of the same of monotonous routine, but she understand that it was necessary; so she kept going. At least she was really starting to get used to the feelings that came along with these workouts; how they hurt even more the next day and that no matter what she did they were probably never ending. But now she could look forward to something new, as Bruce had finally decided on plans for what would happen next.
They'd been in Japan, in around the same area, for at least a week when Bruce finally settled on a check of basics he wanted her to have mastered before moving on to more skills. It was relatively straightforward; mostly covering the work out she'd been doing every day for two weeks. Of course, there were a few changes to make it slightly more difficult; Felicity was expected to do a course that involved 50 push-ups, 20 curls (while hanging from a bar), what would hopefully be a six minute mile run and then the salmon ladder. She wasn't sure where or when Bruce acquired one, but it was a new challenge. It hadn't been an exercise before, only being added on now and Felicity was expected to do it; her only advantage being that she knew how it was done.
It was early when she started her test. She made it okay through her push-ups, and even her curls, but the mile slowed her down just a bit, as her muscles were starting to get tired. She finished the mile in 7 minutes, not quite on par, but it wasn't bad; certainly better than any other mile she'd ever run. She was delaying with a water break, but she knew the salmon ladder would be coming soon, and she didn't want to fail here; she was determined. She was worried a little about her muscles, but if the her muscles could adjust from the small training she'd done in Starling to the training on the Island, to this rigorous training than she should at least be able to move up the ladder.
It was only half an hour later when Felicity was done, her only acknowledgement a nod from Bruce. Knowing she had a two day break before her new tasks started, she let herself collapse on her bed, hoping that maybe she'd get lucky and wouldn't have to move until then.
Two days later, Felicity woke early to a knock on her door. Dick was standing there, a stack of paper in hand.
"You ready Felicity? It's strategy day!" She wasn't sure how she was supposed to respond so she just followed him down the hall to a conference room. It was there that they spent the rest of the afternoon running through scenarios and working on tactics. Felicity found it relatively easy; this was the kind of thing her brain was good at, well usually of course.
The next day Dick showed up at her door in work-out clothes.
"Come on Felicity. It's sparring day!" Following him down the hall she wondered how much this would hurt in the morning. Over the next three days they sparred; one-on-one, two-on-one, attacking, defending, defense (and a training of sorts) for weapons that are commonly used, like knives, guns, switchblades; even keys. Even past that they covered other basics from different martial arts forms to help with adaptability. When they came to the actual one-on-one sparring they had some time with different moves. Mostly punches, including hooks, jabs, and uppercuts, but Felicity learned the power of the elbow. Finally after three days they thought they were moving on, but Bruce added in an extra exercise. On the fourth day Bruce covered sweeps, grabs, holds, and how to flip people. Without realizing it, Felicity was improving on flexibility and strength up to what was practically gymnastic.
Bruce had to run an errand after that so both Felicity and Dick had the day off, but Felicity didn't stay still; instead trying some of her tactical skills to follow Bruce through the city. After following for 15 minutes she started to get worried. One would expect Batman to notice this sort of thing; she wasn't even trying to be too quiet.
Finally he stopped, outside of a non-descript building. Felicity debated turning around and heading right back home, but her curiosity got the best of her. Instead of sneaking this time, she marched into the building like she belonged there and no one questioned it. She caught sight of him turning a corner and she followed right up to the door he went through. She leaned against the door and upon realizing it was so thin decided to stay and listen in. She couldn't catch all the conversation- Bruce and his companion kept switching between English and Japanese, but she did hear her name. It didn't take much more for her to put together what he was doing. Bruce was trying to find out about her, but besides guessing that he was Batman, and that she worked with superheroes before, what secrets did he believe she could be hiding? She couldn't stay after that, not knowing how much longer she had, so she turned and ran.
Felicity didn't speak to Bruce upon his return, but he had been deep in thought anyway. The next few days after that were spent one sword fighting. Bruce was really trying to condense everything so they just covered some stuff; working long hours with bokken, and then iaito before finally moving on to a katana. For the most part he just covered cuts, slices, and jabs, along with throwing knives (among other small sharp objects) and used both moving and non-moving targets. It had reached the point now where he would go out more often; leaving them to practice and try to master everything, mainly because Bruce wasn't giving them enough time to truly learn it all.
It was another two days later that they started with archery. Having worked with Oliver just a little she kind of knew how to do this; correctly at least. They spent three days practicing their stances, and aim before Bruce finally tried to sum everything up. It was like they went back to Day 1 with the workouts and everything, before moving into sparring, swordsmanship, and finally archery. It was definitely archery that Felicity was best at and it was that day she was determined to show it off.
When Felicity walked up to her target area she was taking deep breaths trying to calm herself down. Stopping, she readied herself, standing perpendicular to the target, and spreading her feet so they were just about shoulder width. Standing, she pulled an arrow from a quiver and set up; placing the arrow on the shelf, nocking the arrow to the string, and placing one finger above the arrow, and two below pulled the bow up and took aim. She felt steady where she was so she pulled the string back, all the way to her cheek (even she was surprised by that) and then released. The arrow hit the target in the middle ring. It wasn't a bulls-eye, but she also didn't miss- so she'd take it. Turning around she saw Dick had disappeared and it was just Bruce standing there now. Putting her bow over her shoulder she walked up to him. Not even giving her a chance to speak he started.
"Impressive. Now tell me about your past. I've heard too many things to know what's true." Felicity didn't move.
"Well, what have you heard?"
"I've heard stories of growing up in Vegas, I've heard about your experiences at MIT, and about how smart you are, but what I am most interested in is the connections people make with other superheroes. There are so many of them I can't believe it, but there have also been some serious villains mixed in there. And if you are mixing with the other side I'm going to have to take care of you." Bruce tried to be menacing and intimidating in his last sentence, but Felicity didn't flinch. They had started a stare down when Felicity first approached him, now no one broke it; instead they stood there frozen and unblinking, just waiting to see who would crack first.