Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own Bruce Banner nor the Hulk nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc.

Tuan aka The Abysmal as well as the plot related to them, the monsters and the military, are original by me, but they're still set in the Marvel Universe so I still hold no rights to them.

Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.


PART 7: Experience and Heart

Time to fight! Time for fun! Time to teach the kid about the strongest one there is!

Puny Banner was amused, the Hulk could sense it, as well as his proposition that they might go easy on their younger cousin. The Hulk didn't mind Puny Banner's input as much as he had before, now that it came as a suggestion instead of a terrified demand. It was a suggestion, and one which Banner knew very well was up to the Hulk to oblige or not. Gone were the days where Puny Banner would throw all of his will against the Hulk, making it hard to think and to fight.

His opponent was about the same size, the difference being the eyes, which were seemingly completely shut, and the hair, which was longer and darker. But the skin was green and the muscles mighty!

The Hulk stomped hard on the ground, sinking the floor a few inches, and took the punch that was thrown at him with the flat of his hand. The concussive force blew a strong wind around them, pushing leaves and branches to bend, and one of his opponent's eyes flicked open momentarily. Yelling, more punches were thrown, and the Hulk grunted as he took most of them in the torso.

Yells in a language that Hulk didn't understand followed after him as he was pushed back by the blows, his patience quickly wearing thin. Before it ran out, the Hulk managed to grab one of the fists properly. Immediately, he pulled his opponent close and rammed his other fist into his belly to the sound of a roar.

It was as if an explosion had occurred.

"Terrible fighter!" The Hulk yelled, pulling him to the side and then throwing a full swinging fist at his face. The wind jostled, and the body flew away, crashing through trees for a great distance.

Puny Banner once again suggested that he go easy, but nobody knew more about being Hulk than the Hulk, and the Hulk was not interested in only making the new boy angrier. So he immediately leaped to give chase.

The Hulk was no stranger to fighting. He had fought great beasts, but also many fakes pretending to be him. From his younger cousin to fish ears and also the red general who called him a monster for decades and chased him to the ends of the earth, when in the end, he just wanted to be like Hulk.

That part, the Hulk could understand. Who wouldn't want to be the Hulk? But the Hulk was the Hulk, the strongest one. No one else could be the Hulk.

Animals went silent and ran away. Insects fled the jungle altogether. Trees cracked and fell by the hundreds as the battle raged, and the two roared, exchanging blow after blow, getting angrier and angrier. The Hulk started to get annoyed by how durable this opponent was. He started to get really annoyed! One might even say: angry!

Like beasts, they tore into each other, and what the Hulk had in experience, his opponent had in tenacity. The boy just would not stay down, and would rarely even flinch no matter the kind of hurt the Hulk put into him. Their Eyes reddened, and with green blood all over each other, both fresh and dry, they kept hurting each other, and healing the hurt, and on and on, pushing each other beyond whatever limits others would expect of them

The Hulk was marginally aware of Puny Banner trying to get a thought in, but there was no time for that.

His opponent again screamed in a language the Hulk didn't understand, but he got the gist of it, so he bellowed right back. "No! Hulk is strongest there is!"

Finally, after a long time, the Hulk managed to land a sudden kick on his opponent's elbow, right after he had sunk his fist into a face-full of rock and dirt, having missed Hulk completely. With thunderous shock, the arm cracked broken, and the kid's eyes flipped wide open in shock.

A proper flinch.

"HULK!" The Hulk grappled him and pulled him against the broken arm, to worsen it and cause more pain, all while bringing his own arm around the boy's neck. "STRONGEST!"

The boy yelled in his foreign language, but that level of rage didn't need translation. Spittle came off his mouth, and he tried to bite onto Hulk's forearm, but no way would that work on his muscles. Or maybe it worked. There was so much blood and painful sensations that the Hulk had no idea whether the biting was working. It sure didn't stop him. It only made him madder.

"HULK!" he repeated, pulling the boy down to a really uncomfortable position. "STRONGEST!"

The boy shivered and trembled, and tried to jump, but the Hulk expertly shifted his weight around and kept him from getting free. "THERE IS!"

The Hulk proceeded to choke the boy out, to the sound of a bellow, for it took a huge amount of strength to succeed in what he was trying to do. So he bellowed, and roared, using it as fuel for his strength.

Part of him wanted to finish the fight properly. Grab a tree and sharpen it with his teeth and stake the bastard through the chest, but mostly, he was aware he was fighting a younger version of himself. Someone who didn't know what was happening or that the Hulk wasn't a true enemy. That part of him knew how bad he would feel later if he hurt his opponent for real.

And Puny Banner was reminding him of that, too.

"Hulk knows!" he yelled in protest, feeling the body giving its final spurts of strength. "Hulk not need to go all out! Hulk far stronger!"

He said it, but the Hulk was starkly aware of how evenly matched they had been. If it weren't for his fighting experience and the harmony with Puny Banner, it wouldn't have been so easy.

Banner doubted that it had been easy, but the Hulk blew his nose and pressured the neck further, waiting for the body to give in and transform back.

"Easy!" the Hulk said, ignoring the pains in his body, and the blood dripping over his left eye. "Hulk can fight boy all day!"

The Hulk felt the body in his arms starting to shrink, and so he took a breath, and instantly, the anger began deflating in him. He was tired.

They were getting old, Puny Banner emoted, amused. The Hulk growled, but damn it, he couldn't disagree. Only then did he notice it was raining. When had it started raining?

The Hulk took another breath and looked down, at the kid. He was so puny now, puny like Banner, which meant the fight was over.

The Hulk smiled through gritted, bloody teeth, and chuckled.

It was a good fight, Puny Banner thought, and the Hulk could see that he wanted to come back. And that was fine with the Hulk. What came next was boring and probably involved a lot of talking, which was annoying. Not something the Hulk liked, not at all.

The Hulk chuckled, gazing at the unconscious youth with some pride. It had really been a fun fight!


Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time. I can't answer some types of review for some reason so I'll say it here: Thank you for the kind words, I'm really glad you're enjoying it!

Haha, that was fun. Sorry that his English isn't as good as in the movies, and his intellect not as developed, but I think the movies really did go a bit too far. I like this style more :). Hopefully it's enjoyable for you as well.

Next part, Bruce and the young hulkling will have words, and lot will be revealed about what's going on. Who is the kid, how he became the Hulk, etc. Check back tomorrow!

(Reminder that this story happens in the same timeline/universe as Spider-Man: Repulse, but it's self contained like that one is)