Yuro Sensei knelt in front of the class. The students were already kneeling on the bamboo mats cushioning the floor. Bruce had his place in the back corner of the group. Having changed attire since his arrival, Bruce wore the traditional white robe of a keikogi, identical to all the other students.

"Consider well the elemental forces in this world as they can teach you many things," Yuro Sensei instructed. "Let us begin with fire. A forest grows strong with tall trees, but when a fire comes through, it consumes them and takes their strength as its own. If you can use the strength of your opponent against them, they will fall. Can anyone see a problem with the strength of fire?"

"It has no defense," Bruce answered when no one else seemed inclined to speak up.

"Explain," Yuro Sensei instructed.

"Fire is all aggression," Bruce clarified. "It rushes to the attack, but it doesn't have anything in reserve should its first assault fail."

"Quite so," Yuro Sensei confirmed. "Throw water on it, and it's extinguished. Cover it with dirt, and it's smothered. Remove the air, and it suffocates. Fire, for all its power, has many weaknesses. Although it can consume the strength of the trees for fuel, increasing its own power, this too is a weakness as it must continue doing so or it will starve. When a forest has been completely burned, a flame will die out because there is nothing left. Remember this well. While it is a good tactic to use an enemy's strength against them, you must have strength of your own to be able to stand when you are alone."

Yuro Sensei paused momentarily to give his students time to consider his words before he moved on to the next thought.

"Let us now consider the wind," Yuro Sensei stated. "It is never seen, but by what it touches, we can detect its presence. The wind can be fierce enough to tear down a building, but it can also be gentle enough to move a feather. In life, not just in fighting, you must know how much power is required in a given situation. If you use too little, you will be ineffective, but too much will be destructive. What is the weakness of the wind?"

No one spoke, and the silence dragged on.

"It's unfocused," Bruce said. He didn't want to be the only one answering the questions, but he couldn't sit by and do nothing when he had the correct response. "When it hits an object it can't move, it splits, going around it in multiple directions. The wind couldn't take a single pencil out of a jar of many; it's all or nothing."

"You identified its weakness. Now, tell me its strength, Wayne-san," Yuro Sensei ordered calmly.

"Beyond brute force, the wind has persistence," Bruce replied. "After many years, it can gradually wear away stone, even those larger than it can move. It's relentless."

"Good," Yuro Sensei commended. "Keep in mind you will all face many great obstacles in both life and battle. Be as persistent as the wind, and you will achieve what no one thinks you can do. Next, we will speak of the earth. What is the strength of earth?"

"It's solid and resilient," one of the other students spoke up, taking the pressure off Bruce to come up with all the answers. "The ground can take much damage but still regenerates if given enough time."

"Quite so," Yuro Sensei agreed. "Does it have a weakness?"

"Unless there's an earthquake or landslide, it's immobile," a different student responded.

"Indeed," Yuro Sensei confirmed. "Although it can take great punishment, it pays for its toughness by being nearly immovable. Do not focus all your efforts here in becoming stronger and tougher to the exclusion of all else as mobility and agility are also required to prevail."

Silence filled the room while the students considered the instructor's teachings.

"Lastly, we shall discuss water," Yuro Sensei informed his class. "It reshapes itself to any container holding it, but it doesn't become less than itself by doing so. Water can take great impacts, absorbing everything from a single drop of rain to a burning meteor, but it is never destroyed no matter how violent the impact. When water is heated, it becomes vapor and escapes. When frozen, it hardens to such a degree, it can shatter the vessels attempting to hold it. Water is the ultimate in flexibility, but does it have a weakness too?"

"If frozen, it can be broken," Bruce answered first. "If specialized equipment is used, the hydrogen and oxygen can be split from each other, rendering them into flammable gasses."

"Good, very good," Yuro Sensei praised, his voice remaining even and calm at all times. "He who never stops looking for a weakness in his opponent shall surely find one, for no man is without weakness. Keep this in mind in regard to your opponents as well as to yourselves. Seek your own weaknesses with an eye for improving them, or your enemies will surely exploit them."

                                                                                                 ***

The echoing thunder of two gunshots brought Bruce immediately awake. He bolted upright on his sleeping mat, his heart racing out of control and his breathing equally fast. A cold and clammy sweat coated his skin, making him shiver. It was the same nightmare he'd had for years, the figure coming out of the dark to kill him along with his parents. He knew he wouldn't be getting back to sleep anytime soon. Standing up, he changed from his pajamas to the training robe and pants of his white keikogi.

Sliding back the shoji screen serving as his door, Bruce exited his room and moved quietly toward one of the training areas. He thought some exercise might wear him out enough for him to go back to sleep, but he didn't want to wake the other students in the process. The air of the flower garden still retained some of the warmth of the previous day, but because of the nightmare induced sweat, Bruce felt chilly as the breeze brushed past him in the moonlit darkness of the dojo grounds.

Reaching his destination, Bruce slipped inside and slid the shoji screen closed behind him. Lighting a match, he touched the burning end to the first of many candles. The candles were arranged in a circle around the central training area. The curved platforms where the candles resided were of different heights, getting higher as they progress out from the center. Because of the number of candles, Bruce was forced to use several matches to complete his work. Once all the candles were flickering brightly, Bruce stood in the center of the room and took several deep breaths while preparing. He'd undertaken this particular training before, but it required great focus.

When he was ready, Bruce punched outward toward the candles on his left. His fist neared them without touching. However, the wind generated by the force of the punch was sufficient to extinguish three of the candles. A punch in the opposing direction eliminated three more. Bruce switched his next attack to a kick and snuffed out four of the burning wicks. He chained one strike after another until all the candles were out, thin ribbons of smoke trailing upward. It was only then Bruce noticed he was not alone.

"Yuro Sensei," Bruce said, quickly bowing in respect to his teacher.

"You are training late this night, Wayne-san," Yuro Sensei observed. He entered the room and knelt down on the bamboo training mat covering the floor, gesturing silently with one hand for Bruce to do the same.

Bruce did as he was instructed and knelt down in front of his teacher, waiting for the man to speak.

"For what reason are you here tonight?" Yuro Sensei inquired.

"I had a nightmare," Bruce explained. "I thought some exercise might help put me back to sleep."

"Exhaustion tires both the body and the mind," Yuro Sensei told him. "Nightmares are a problem of the mind only. Close your eyes and remember the nightmare. Tell me what you see."

Bruce shut his eyes and visualized the horrible dream, seeing every detail in perfect clarity as it was only half a nightmare. The other half was a memory.

"I'm in an alley," Bruce said, trying to keep his voice steady. "It's cold, dark. My parents are with me."

Bruce flinched when the gunshots fired, sounding in his ears as loud as if the gun were in the room and not just in his mind.

"Continue," Yuro Sensei said gently but firmly.

"A mugger shoots my father," Bruce went on. "The thief breaks my mother's pearl necklace while trying to take it, shooting her too. The gun is pointed at me. I can't move as he kills me too. Sometimes, other people try to help, but the dream always ends the same, my death."

"This is more than a dream," Yuro Sensei told him. It was not a question. "You told me of the deaths of your parents when you first came here, but this nightmare is not about them. It is about you. The dream doesn't end with their deaths but your own. Why do you see yourself as the target, Wayne-san?"

"They never caught the man responsible," Bruce answered. "I've always had the fear he might come back to finish the job. I know it's crazy, but I can't shake the feeling."

"Continue to visualize it in your mind," Yuro Sensei stated. "This time, change things. Make yourself not the child as you were then, but the skilled fighter you are now. How would things have been different?"

In his mind, Bruce grabbed the gun as he had been taught, ripping it from the attacker's hands before slamming his knee into the man's midsection. Taking a hold of the criminal gasping for breath, Bruce hurled him face first into a group of metal trash cans where the man laid still and didn't threaten Bruce's family any further.

"I saved them easily," Bruce said, opening his eyes. "But, it doesn't change anything. I know what really happened."

"Dreams are in the mind as much as memories and the imagination," Yuro Sensei explained. "Changing your dreams doesn't alter the reality of your situation, but it may help you sleep through the night. The next time you have this nightmare, focus your mind and change things as you did now."

"I will practice," Bruce promised.

"You are always practicing," Yuro Sensei observed. "To what end?"

"I have to be the best," Bruce answered.

"You will fail," Yuro Sensei stated bluntly. "No matter what you do, there will always be someone who is stronger or faster than you, and when you face them, you will lose."

"Are you saying I shouldn't even try?" Bruce questioned.

"No," Yuro Sensei denied. "When someone believes they've achieved a superior level of ability, a loss can have a shattering effect. You must enter every battle knowing you can lose but fight against that possible outcome."

"If I'm considering defeat in every fight, wouldn't it make me more prone to losing as my confidence isn't as high as it could be?" Bruce inquired.

"I said loss, not defeat," Yuro Sensei corrected softly. "Defeat is a state of mind, not a state of being. It is where the mind and body have both given up. If you refuse to quit, even when bested by a superior foe, you will never be defeated. One of the greatest victories you can have over an enemy is to deny him your defeat, to remain strong and defiant to your last breath. That is a victory capable of haunting your rivals long after your life has ended."