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A horrified gasp emanated from Jounouchi's mouth. He twitched forward, but stopped himself. He took in a deep breath, "Please..." was all he could manage. What else could he say?

((He was a lot more liked in the Avengers than in Hulk. Not even just Bruce Banner but the Hulk himself. They animated his facial expressions better and gave him way more personality. But it is still hard to do a Hulk movie that isn't just 'let's capture him!' My personal favorite Hulk story is Planet Hulk, but that's a bit too... different for the movieverse I think. In it Iron Man, Dr. Strange, and some others deemed him too large of a threat, so sent him to an uninhabited planet. He struggled enough to send the ship off course though, landing on one that had a lot of different alien species, and was similar to a Roman gladiator planet, where they took slaves and made them fight. Hulk built a team and actually made friends and fell in love, but it wasn't stupid or forced; it was really well-written.

That is exactly how I feel, including hoping I never need to worry about that regarding my own body. Lawl at the cows.

Agreed.))

Jounouchi cursed under his breath, looking over at his sister, deep lines of worry etched around his eyes. He gave her the most self-loathing, apologetic look, hating that he let her get involved in this. That this thing was after him, and was endangering Shizuka because of it. And Jounouchi couldn't do a damn thing about it. He was a failure as a brother, and the only thing he could do was be sorry. Pathetic.

((Thinking over it a bit, I think the best bet would be to actually make both Bruce and Hulk the protagonists. Two opposing, different characters with different goals, yet we have to empathize with both of them. Usually it's Bruce as the protagonist with Hulk as the 'misunderstood, chased monster' rather than a being we can fully relate to. But instead, they could do a movie where the two are starting to work out their situation, Bruce slowly trusting Hulk more and more to be a hero, Hulk reluctant to be relinquishing control back to Bruce. And then there could be a threat that needs Bruce's expertise as much as it does Hulk's strength, so they need to learn to balance their abilities in a way that can handle both sides of the threat.))

Jounouchi barely registered when the shot went past his own head, only worrying about Shizuka. Alright, he would talk to this damn demon. Anything to stall for time to... to do what? There was no way to pinpoint where the thing was, and even if he could, it'd be able to kill Shizuka before he made it over to stop it. Maybe it would run out of bullets soon? That could be something to stall for. It wasn't the best plan, but it was the only thing Jounouchi could come up with right now, and having that was better than nothing, "...I didn't know how this would go down..." he admitted, "But there was no way I was gonna put Shizuka at more risk by not showing up." his breath was shaky as he spoke. He licked his dry lips nervously, "Her safety is the most important thing to me."

((Sounds like an absolute blast. Good luck to you. XP

And I think that's exactly my point, that there hasn't really been a Hulk movie where we can fully empathize with him as a character. But if we put him on an equal level with Bruce plot-wise, that would help a lot. As far as an actual threat, I'm no writer, but if it was something like maybe the Leader (he is super intelligent from having gamma radiation to the head, and was seen being 'created' at the end of the last Hulk movie) using gamma radiation to make a team of differently-enhanced villains (one with strength like the Hulk, one that is just plain radioactive, one that can regenerate, etc.), then the Hulk would need to do the fighting, while Bruce would need to be working on a cure or a way to stop their enhancements, because that many would just be too many for even Hulk to handle. Obviously that's just a hamfisted plot I came up with on the spot, but just use it as an example for a driving point they could share.))

Jounouchi knew this could be used against him in the future, but right now he was willing to do anything to stall time for Shizuka. And it wasn't like the spirit wouldn't be able to figure out new ways to torment him anyway with his answers; it showed that it obviously already knew what was important to Jounouchi by taking his sister.

So he barely bristled at the insults, trying to remain calm as he slowly relayed his answers, "...number two is my friends." that was an easy-enough answer, and the creature would already know it could hurt him through his friends to begin with. For the third, he had to think a moment on what it was, "...number three is doing good in the world. Being able to be useful somehow and benefit something." he finally said.

((Yeah, time always goes too quickly on vacation.

I'm really the same way, characters being my biggest focus, definitely more than plot. I think the difference with us here is that I do see the Hulk as human, and can see him as an interesting (not one of my favorites, but still interesting) character. I can see why that's not so doable with the movie-verse, but with how much I've read of him in comics, he is definitely his own being with his own personality. Just less intelligent and more emotional than your average person. As for Iron Man, though I did like the plot, it was still the characters that drove it for me. In this case I simply like Tony Stark, where's you don't, so that's all there is to that. XD))

Jounouchi grit his teeth, having to hold back his retort at first. He wanted to threaten the thing, warning it not to touch Shizuka. He wanted to say his selfish desire was seeing this damn ghost go ******** off. But satisfying his anger and pride was not worth putting his sister into danger, so he considered again, answering honestly, "...I want to become a world-famous duelist. Be successful enough doing something I love that I can move out and not have to worry about money."

It wasn't something that was too difficult to admit. Jounouchi knew there were better duelists than him, but it wasn't like he hadn't already been proclaiming his dream of being a 'true duelist' in the past. It just took changing that to 'world famous' to seem selfish enough.

((Happy Easter! Haha I slept in and missed my whole family get-together. XD

Oh god Twilight. I've only seen the first movie, but I definitely liked it better than the books. I don't necessarily think inner monologing is a bad writing choice. I think it is a more difficult writing choice that requires extremely interesting characters to pull off well, which Twilight certainly does not. So the books were just way too boring to me with that writing style, and though the movies tried to capture it, in failing to do so I thought it became more interesting. XD I agree humanizing Hulk would be easier than an inner monologue movie. The Planet Hulk animated movie and the Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes TV series managed to do a decent job in my opinion, at least better than the movies. Granted they also made him talk more and more intelligent in those.

Haha, I know, we've been over this before. I agree with you about how sickening those type of people are in our world, but I think for me, I have a difficult time hating even the worst people. I still feel like it would be better to get them to 'see the light,' and that they still have the potential to be good people. That's probably why I like Tony so much. He starts off as someone that is just sickening and terrible and represents so much of the bad, privileged people in the world, but he learns how wrong his company and his lifestyle are, little by little. He stops manufacturing weapons in Iron Man, he learns to have a steady relationship in Iron Man 2, he realizes he is willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of others in Avengers, and he learns how to live humbly and work hard with very little in Iron Man 3. Granted, he still has a long way to go in the movieverse, but in the comic world he ends up becoming one of the most hardworking, self-sacrificing heroes. He loses the friendship and respect of most of his friends for the sake of bringing the best possible, least-violent end to the Civil War, making himself the bad guy to save everyone else from having to do so. He devotes his company and all of his technology to superheroing, alternative energy solutions, funding the Avengers, and improving world technology, and on multiple occasions loses everything trying to do what's right. He barely sleeps or does anything for himself because he spreads himself through SHIELD, the Avengers, United States and world politics, charity... currently he is out in space trying to work out problems there, and has an armor on Earth that he can control when he is needed there too. Now, he still has some of that 'Tony' personality, sleeping around, drinking problems (though he's been sober a long time now), being extremely into himself, but he knows when to be serious and how to be a hero. Granted, movie Tony is still a child compared to comic Tony, but I feel like he is on his way, slowly, to become that kind of man. His is a story of redemption and constant self-improvement to me, and that is something I can support in any person. The more people seeking those things, no matter their past crimes, the better the world can become. But at the same time I totally understand where you're coming from and why you would find him repulsive. XD I wonder though, do you not feel the same way about Kaiba because you were in a different place in life when you got introduced to him? I mean, he constantly tried to use his money and power to make the world revolve around Duel Monsters, the biggest focus of his toy company, as well as to make himself the greatest duelist with the best deck. XD))

Jounouchi froze, just for a moment leaving this horrifying situation, and going back to the much simpler confrontations he was used to. It didn't last though; before he even had time to give his usual response, he remembered what their situation was right now. And instead of feeling just the typical anger and frustration at Kaiba's cruel comments, he felt shock, disgust, and even betrayal. How could Kaiba go back to his stupid, pointless mocking in such a dire situation? Was he really that desperate to put others down, even at their worst moments? When other peoples' lives were on the line?

A deep feeling of hate boiled up in Jounouchi's gut. He turned to Kaiba, all of the respect and humanizing he had slowly been building for the other washing away in that one look, "What the hell is wrong with you? I know you don't give a s**t about anyone but you and your brother, but dammit all, Shizuka and Anzu are in danger and all you can think of is insulting me?!"

((I'm more happy that I didn't have to wake up early just to have to deal with all the family members I don't like. XD My mom would be offended if I just chose not to go, but this way I got out of it.

Yeah, I could definitely see that being another idea that could work. Instead of Bruce and Hulk needing to learn to balance control, they just need to learn to work together and, you know, actually be able to stand each other.

Haha, oh those negative Brits. Fair enough as far as your feelings on Kaiba go. He did have a lot more hardship than Tony, and he probably is a virgin. XD I think he's done a lot more bad in the world, but you're coming from a stance that even though he currently has a lot of privilege, he used to have nothing, right? I also did not like how easily Tony and Pepper got together. That was one thing that just seemed too cliche and simple. It's interesting how our opinions on characters change/would be different. Like with Yuu Yuu Hakusho, I used to detest Kuwabara in the dub anime. When I read the manga a long time later though, I was like, "Oh, he's not so bad." then as I kept going, I liked him more and more to the point where he became my second-favorite character and I started shipping him with my favorite. XD))

Jounouchi's face reddened, clenching his fists. He held himself back from going after Kaiba, still too worried about Shizuka to fully take his attention away from her.

He was about to tell Kaiba to just go ******** off if he only cared about being an a*****e in this type of situation, but remembered that the spirit wanted them both here. "Does it matter?!? The thing told me to be honest and selfish, not realistic, so I was!! Now do all of us a favor and just shut the ******** up with your insults for once!!"

((Yeah, I think globally Kaiba actually improved the world, but it's still hard to applaud him for that when he tormented and tried to kill so many people out of a petty need to win. XD I think it would be better if for now Tony and Pepper stopped working out, and he had to find himself in a place where he could try to get her back, try to find another steady relationship, or go back to sleeping around. It would make him value a companion more if he really had to work for the first two options. Poor Kuwabara. He seems like the character that all the child fans tend to hate. XD))