Chapter 2: The Absolute Best

TEN YEARS LATER

WUDANG MOUNTAINS
JANUARY 15, 17:23 GMT+8

Bruce stood in the ring as tall and straight as a spear as his opponent stepped in to face him. He had been spending the first two years of his college life on martial arts training in China's Wudang Temple and was continuing his efforts to rise after a year of working to achieve the rank of purple belt. Today, he would be facing Ben Turner, who was from the States and also considerably wealthy. At a signal from Master Wong Fei, Bruce and Ben came at each other.

Bruce flung several punches and blocked a number of blows from Ben, but he could see that his opponent was one step away from becoming a full-fledged master as his belt rank was red and black. But Bruce was not one to give up. He started this training for a purpose and he was going to see that purpose carried out. At one point, he attempted to deal a sweeping kick to Ben's head only to have his right leg caught in a grip that he felt could crack his tibia at any moment. But his next move surprised opponent and onlookers alike.

Bruce raised his other leg, but instead of kicking at Ben, he went for the right leg. Ben bent his leg out of the way, but Bruce managed to land a chop to the back of his knee. Now free, Bruce caught himself with his left hand and caught Ben by the ankles and then slammed him face-up onto the stone floor of the training field.

Master Fei approached the exhausted Bruce and said with a rare smile, "Most impressive, Mr. Wayne. Your training in the States has brought you far, but your training here is bringing you further still. I think it is fitting that today, you receive the rank of brown belt."

Bruce was admittedly surprised that a simple sparring match would raise his rank, but considering the time and effort he had put in to attaining it, the reward was well-earned. Bruce exchanged his purple belt over a brown one and then gave a bow to Ben Turner, who said to him, "I gotta hand it to you, Bruce, you put on quite the show against me. You've clearly been training back home in America."

"Well, after five years of training in boxing, I did start as a white belt when I was thirteen," replied Bruce. He finished his explanation with a smile as though the lingering ache in his heart had lessened. But there were those whose view of Bruce Wayne's rise as a martial artist was less than respectful.

Warren Lawford, Gunther Hardwicke, and Armand Lydecker had been rivals to Bruce since his arrival at the martial arts school. They were each wealthy young men, but their wealth had made them cold-hearted and their thrill-seeking lifestyles had made them shockingly arrogant. Warren in particular took a dislike to Bruce, and today he could take it no more and said, "I wonder how much it still hurts to know that he did nothing to save the parents he bankrupted before their deaths. Probably nothing that time in an orphanage wouldn't fix."

That remark stung Bruce to his heart, and not for the first time, he was compelled to strike Warren out of pure anger for the slight to his late parents' honor. He did not have to, though, for Master Fei rushed up behind Warren and gave him a twisting kick to the head that sent him reeling to the ground.

"Do not talk ill of matters you know nothing about, Warren Lawford!" the kung fu master said sternly.

"I talk about what I know is true, Master," answered Warren with sarcasm dripping over the last word. "And I think your praise has swelled Wayne's overgrown head too much."

Master Fei growled, "Praise is earned and not given, boy! Now if your place in my academy means anything to you, prove it!"

Warren Lawford smirked and replied, "I will." Then he turned to his partners and said, "Hold him steady. It's time one of us put Wayne beneath our boots."

Gunther and Armand rushed at Bruce and seized him by his arms, and then Warren ran at Bruce with the intention of striking him until he either broke his body or his spirit. However, the three had not counted on Bruce's ingenuity. Gunther and Armand had their knees jabbed by Bruce's feet, and the sudden stab of pain forced them to relinquish their hold on his arms. Then he did a chop to their heads, knocking them out, and then turned to face the sneering Warren Lawford.

Warren attacked Bruce with rapid punches and swift kicks, but while Bruce Wayne was not yet a master, he knew better than to rush into a struggle and avoided most of Warren's strokes to tire him. He blocked several strikes and then managed to land a few blows to Warren's unguarded stomach before he knocked the unscrupulous youth off his feet with a back kick.

Now Warren Lawford was mad. He took a decorative sword from the arena wall and ran at Bruce with a scream of hateful glee. But before he could even swing at the young man, Master Fei hit him in both legs with a nerve attack and Warren hit the stone floor hard. Master Fei then released the pressure and hauled Warren to his feet with a face that could have set new milk on fire.

"Warren Lawford, you and your two friends have dishonored the guán with this unnecessary conflict!" the master stormed.

"We were putting Wayne in his rightful place!" spat the arrogant boy.

In his anger, Wong Fei struck Warren Lawford in the face hard enough to make him spin, and he boomed, "Your shameless arrogance is a poison!"

He then rushed over to Gunther and Armand and flung them to the ground beside their friend, and he thundered, "For what you have done, you are cast out of the guán! Now go!"

For that whole moment, Bruce stood still and merely watched as Master Wong Fei stepped back and let the rest of his students angrily drive the three bullies out from the gates of the Wudang Temple. He felt no pride in their humiliation, only shame for their careless deeds and reckless abandon of what their training should have taught them. When Master Wong Fei approached him, Bruce expected a reprimand from him for allowing himself to be drawn into the spotlight as a target, but instead the master was smiling.

"Your wisdom and quick thinking have served you well, Mr. Wayne," the old master said. "Shall we continue?"

…

After his time of mastering the art of kung fu, Bruce took his plans to prepare to fight against crime in the States to another level. He and Alfred traveled to Japan, where Bruce was accepted into a local dojo, where he would train under the sensei Yorushi. In another three years, Bruce had made steady progress training in judo as well as taekwondo, tai chi, aikido, and more. Now he was preparing for his final year of training at the dojo before he would continue to learn on his own back home in the States.

It was on a spring evening that Bruce was preparing to spar with Yoru's most skilled student, Tatsu Yamashiro. She was a few years younger than Bruce, but she had been coming to the dojo since childhood and had grown eager for greater challenges. Bruce knew that if he was going to win this sparring match, he would require a strategy based on the moves of his opponent.

In moments, Bruce and Tatsu began their match in the sight of Yoru Sensei and the entirety of the dojo's students. He dealt swings, punches, and strikes while attempting to avoid his opponent's kicks. He managed to block some blows, but he learned the hard way that Tatsu Yamashiro had worked to earn her red belt. She forced him back and had him backing away from her around the ring, and Bruce had a hard time blocking her two-pronged attacks. It seemed that Bruce might lose the match, but then he noticed a flaw in Tatsu's tactics: she was continually leaving her midsection unguarded.

The next time Tatsu went for a punch to the head and the stomach, Bruce made a double-punch strike to the stomach before Tatsu could stop him, and she collapsed to the floor with a groan of pain. Then to her great surprise, Bruce helped her up with a smile that held no arrogance or derision, for that was not his way.

"Very impressive, Wayne-san," said Tatsu with a rare smile. "You are learning faster than most young men I have trained with, and even white belts could outmatch them."

"Do not be certain of the strength of your fellows, Tatsu Yamashiro," came the calm voice of Yoru Sensei. Then he turned to Bruce and said, "Nevertheless, she is right, Wayne-san. Your long hours of training have served you well in the ring. Soon, you will have mastered the fighting art that is judo, and then you will prove that you can be what all of us strive to be: the best. But for now… another round between you both?"

"As you say, sensei," answered Bruce, and he and Tatsu Yamashiro prepared to spar with each other once more. Only this time, they would have to go at each other harder as per their training.

THREE YEARS LATER

By his twenty-fifth birthday, Bruce Wayne had mastered a hundred styles of kung fu, both primary forms of judo, taekwondo and savate, aikido, karate, and even Muay Thai and Krav Maga aside from his continued practice in boxing. But in his time away from the States, Bruce had been doing more than training for a life of fighting crime in Gotham.

True to his word, he had been taking courses in all matters of business at the most prestigious schools in Europe and Asia. Soon, he had graduated with a masters degree in business administration, human resources, and entrepreneurship with a few minors in business analytics and economic studies. Now, after spending seven years away from home, Bruce had made up his mind to return to America and start fixing up his hometown.

On the final day of his stay in England (at Alfred's request), Bruce had been weight training for several hours with a twenty-minute break in between each set and was now lifting a bar sporting five ten-pound weights on either side. As he finished his twentieth rep on his fifteen set, Alfred came into the hotel fitness center with a hand towel on his arm.

"Thank you," Bruce said to his former guardian. Then he asked, "Is everything in order back in the States, Alfred?"

"Indeed so, Master Bruce," his butler replied. "According to the will and testament of your late father, the Wayne family fortune belongs only to you as the only surviving heir of your house. And more importantly, you've not only inherited your parents' home and wealth. You've inherited your father's business as well."

Bruce knew that this day would come. When he was young, his father had been in charge of the family industry that had increased the Waynes' wealth by its most considerable amount in fifty years. Now Bruce knew he would have the opportunity to pursue his lifetime goal of benefiting the people of Gotham City on the working side of his life, and he would take to it like a bee on a flower.

"Let's pack it up, Alfred," he said with authority. "Tomorrow morning, we'll be at the airport before dawn."

A/N: How was the second chapter? Feel free to let me know, and don't worry about when Bruce Wayne becomes Batman in this fanfiction. We just need to see him in Gotham again before his debut.