Ichigo shoots a web ball at Yoruichi, who leaps in the air to avoid it. Ichigo shoots a webline to the large walk next to her, and leaped from the ground as he twists his body to perform an aerial kick whilst Yoruichi was still in mid air. The older woman responds by performing a backflip before she kicks Ichigo's thigh, twisting her leg on top of his before using her other leg to kick him in the face.
Ichigo grunts in pain as he loses his momentum, falling on the ground. He regains his balance, as when he gets close to reaching the ground, he uses his agility on ti land safely before backing away to give himself some room. Yoruichi uses Flash Step in front of him and runs toward Ichigo to engage in Hakuda combat. Ichigo narrowly responds in time by blocking a jab before swinging a right at the woman, who ducked and sweep kicked him to the ground.
Ichigo was ready to get up before feeling Yoruichi's fingernails pressing his throat. "I suggest you stand down." She says amusingly.
"Tch." Ichigo scowls as he begrudgingly admits his defeat. "Am I getting anywhere close with these new powers?"
"Well you blocked my punch, and you are getting better at using those webs of yours." Yoruichi replies with a grin as she extends her hand toward Ichigo. "So you have improved a little."
"Little isn't exactly enough. I need to master these new powers so I can just get those bozos off my city." Ichigo replied, accepting Yoruichi's gesture as he uses it to help himself get up.
"You take what you can get. Besides, if I were you I'd be more worried about focusing on improving your Soul Reaper powers." Yoruichi said as she crosses her arms.
Ichigo avoids the direct eye contact as he admits it. "Yeah, compared to fighting Aizen I know this stuff is small, but it's still my town that's being threatened. I'm not going to sit by and let some assholes do whatever they want." Ichigo repeats what he already said.
"Well have it your way then." Yoruichi shrugs her shoulders. "But like I said, you are showing improvements. Let's take a break."
And so they do, both student and master sit on a rock next to each other, Ichigo stretching his neck as the sounds of his bones cracking is heard.
"So, how do things go at school?" Yoruichi asks.
"Why ask about my school?" Ichigo grumbles at the question.
"Oh, just can't help but be a little curious." Yoruichi flashes a teasing grin. "For example, is there any girl that caught your eye?"
"Excuse me?" Ichigo almost chokes from the question.
"What, it's a simple question. Boys your age oughta be interested in pretty girls, you know, right before you're about to enter through the most gruesome war imaginable." Yoruichi teases. "Or are you simply interested in older women… like me for example?"
"To hell with that!" Ichigo spat. "I'm busy enough as it is, having a little romance seems to be the least of my concerns!"
"Oh come on, you know I'm just teasing you." Yoruichi scoots closer. "You sure you don't want to share? I promise I'll keep it a secret."
"Last I checked, you live with a guy that basically knows everything, and sharing my taste in girls is the last thing I want to do." Ichigo scowls as he crosses his arms.
"Pity." Yoruichi shakes her head in amusement. "And I was considering giving away my little secret as well."
"And what would that be?"
"Not unless you tell me yours first."
"I somehow get the feeling it won't end well, so no thanks." Ichigo refuses. "Anyway, I'm gonna be leaving now." He gets up from the rock he sat on.
"And where are you headed?" Yoruichi asks.
"Off to meet with somebody to help me a little more on what the hell is going on with Karakura Town." Ichigo answers before shooting a webline that reaches Urahara's latter. "See ya!"
Yoruichi watches him climb with the speed of a tiger as he gets out of the underground chamber. "What's got him in such a hurry…" She murmurs to herself as she kicks up her legs playfully.
Black Cat is standing on top of a rooftop, lightly patting her foot against the pavement as she waits for her companion to show up. It isn't until she hears the sounds of webbing that she turns around to see the Spider swinging high in the air, firing his webs until he lands in front of her.
"About time you made it." Black Cat remarks with her arms folded.
"Hey, I was just a few minutes late." Ichigo responds.
"That can make all sorts of differences. Lucky for you we're not doing anything serious." Black Cat turns back, her beautiful white hair swinging in doing so.
"So… what are we doing exactly?" Ichigo asks.
The last time they met, the Black Cat told him to meet up with her, to "show him the ropes" as she put it. Ichigo had agreed, though he couldn't get her to answer why.
"There's a certain gang that I've been keeping an eye on for quite some time, and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to show you how pros like me handle this job." Black Cat stretches her arms in an exercise.
"What gang?" Ichigo becomes curious to know. He's been dealing with gangs selling highly illegal weaponry, so was there something he overlooked?
"Ever heard of the Dragon Tail?" Black Cat turns around to face the young man.
"Uh…" Ichigo blinks. That was a new one. He's fought and beat different types of gangs and criminals from schools and as a vigilante, but this name was a new one for him. "No, I don't think I did." He blinks.
"Right, thought so." Black Cat puts her hands on her hips. "I dunno too much about them either, other than they're a gang of thieves that are looking for some ancient artifacts."
"Ancient artifacts?" Consider him puzzled already. Usually he'd hear weaponry or some other illegal means of getting what they would likely want, but this was new to him. "What for? The guys I found are a bunch of punks that I'm familiar with."
"Not so much with this one. I dunno why they're after these things, but my guess is—"
They were interrupted as the sounds of glass shattering reached their ears. "That's our cue!" Black Cat fires a grappling hook before she takes off swinging.
"Hey, hold on!" Ichigo follows right after, firing a web at a similar place where Black Cat hurled. "I still have more questions to ask!"
"No time for that!" The female heroine exclaims as she swings towards the commotion.
Ichigo grunts in annoyance as he follows the feline heroine. It didn't take them very long before they arrived at the crime scene, seeing several men with dragon symbols on their backs. 'Is that the gang she's mentioned?' Ichigo thinks.
Black Cat swoops in as she lands on the street, firing her grappler at one of the members of the supposed Dragon Tail gang before yanking him towards her, giving a clean blow to the gut.
"Stop her!" One of the members shout an order, pulling out their guns so that they'd shoot the heroine.
The Spider's thought is the opposite as he fires two pairs of webbing, the first man's hands were stuck with his gun, being unable to fire, and the second man had his eyes blinded by the webbing.
The Spider fires another pair of webbing at the two men, making their heads collide together. Black Cat comes through as she ties up the two men with a silver lining that'd trap even a Komodo dragon.
"Nice one, but I wanted to show you a more proper way of taking these guys down, but you weren't bad." Black Cat compliments with a smile.
"Reflex, wasn't really thinking straight." Ichigo nonchalant replies.
"Alright now let's see what these guys wanted." Black Cat crouches down toward the men she tied up.
"Crazy little punks—!"
"When I get out of this I'm gonna—!"
"Alright, boys, I believe you have an explanation as to why you'd attack an innocent man's shop like that. What were you guys trying to steal?" Black Cat asks.
"You alright, old man?" The Spider asks as he turns around to face an old shopkeeper.
"I... I am fine…" The shopkeeper murmurs. "They haven't stolen anything."
"We won't tell you squat!" One of the gang members yell.
"Are you boys really gonna make this hard for yourselves?" The Black Cat puts her hand at front, before making a "shing" sound as claws extend from her fingernails. "Cause this kitty isn't afraid of being rough…" She leans her face closer, giving a small glare. "Now where does your Dragon Tail gang get from robbing a place like this?"
"The Dragon Tail?!" The second member yells in surprise. "We don't work with those bastards! Our loyalty is only to The Dragon!"
"The Dragon…?" Black Cat is confused. "Wait, you're saying there's another Dragon group like yours?"
"Beat it, lady! We won't tell you shit!" The first member cusses, refusing to share any information.
"Alright… fine." Black Cat backs away, retracting her claws. "Be that way. I'll let the police handle you. Come on, Spider, we're done here."
"Huh?!" Ichigo is baffled as he watches Black Cat leap from the ground and swing away with her grappling hook. "Hey, wait!" Ichigo follows suit, spinning his webs as he follows his feline companion. It wasn't until they were far from the store that they landed on a rooftop. "You mind telling me what that was all about?! Why did you stop?!"
"I was wrong that these guys were from the Dragon Tail. I never heard of a group called The Dragon before." Black Cat tells him.
"So? Why stop with the interrogation?!" Ichigo doesn't understand. "I could have just forced them to tell them what they're after!"
"We don't know who these guys are or what they want." Black Cat informs him. "Have you ever heard of a gang like this?"
"No, and I don't see why that matters." Ichigo crosses his arms, giving Black Cat a glare.
"Because they're an anomaly." Black Cat answers him. "It's better to let the police handle this one. Why would an unknown gang steal something that's practically worthless like a bunch of common thugs?"
"Well," Ichigo isn't sure how to answer this. "I don't know…"
"Exactly. We'll get information out of them, sooner or later. But right now there's something else I gotta do, so I'll contact you either later today or tomorrow." Black Cat jumps from the rooftop, using her grappler to swing around the city.
"But," Ichigo is left utterly confused. He throws his arms in mid air before slapping them against his thighs. "Well that's just great." He fires his web, now heading to the opposite direction where Black Cat was going. "One moment she calls me, and then the next she just leaves. Make up your mind, why don't ya." He expresses his irritation.
Ichigo is walking towards the hallways of his school as he makes an attendance for his next class while holding his bag. He slides the door open as he walks towards his desk, ignoring the chattering from his classmates.
"Ichiiiiiiigooooo!" The orange haired teen hears Keigo shouting his name, jumping from his desk in an attempt to hug Ichigo, only for the former to push his bicep forward and hit Keigo's face.
"Aw, come on, what was that for?!" Keigo complains, rolling over the floor with hands buried on his face.
"You were being a nutjob, so I was doing what I'm supposed to do." Ichigo answers bluntly as he ignores Keigo before taking a seat.
"Say, Ichigo, did you hear what happened to the other student from another class?" Mizuiro asks him as he stands next to Ichigo.
"No, what happened?" Ichigo asks in curiosity as he zips his bag open.
"Apparently he blew a fuse and just ditched school completely." Mizuiro informs him.
"What?" Ichigo whirls his head in confusion. "What do you mean ditch school?"
"I'm not too sure on the details, but from what I heard he said something about a gang coming after him, ran from class and hasn't come back since." Mizuiro tells him.
"A gang?" Slowly, Ichigo becomes tense. "Which school are they from? And when did this happen?"
"See, that's the strange part." Mizuiro replies. "He didn't specify, from what I heard it was something about dragons. And from what I checked, there isn't any middle or high school related that involves dragons. Did you or Chad do something to provoke these guys?"
"Dragons…?" Ichigo murmurs, and for a brief moment his eyebrows go wide as he remembers what he and the Black Cat took out hours ago.
"And for the record, it happened right before the second class started. Others are still talking about it, saying he's gone crazy or something." Mizuiro says.
"What's his name?" Ichigo asks.
"Uh…" Mizuiro notices the sudden change in Ichigo's body language. "If I remember right, his name was Philip Chang."
"Gotcha." Ichigo gets up from his seat, picking up his bag before he sets off leaving.
"Uh, where are you going?"
"Off to find this Phil guy. No telling what this gang will do to him when they find him." Ichigo says.
"But what about—"
"Think of some excuse while I'm gone. I'll call Chad if things get bad." It was the last thing Ichigo tells him before exiting the class.
"What was that about?" Keigo asks Mizuiro as he stands up.
"No clue." Mizuiro shrugs his shoulders. "Guess Ichigo just wants to save the poor guy who's being targeted."
"But it's not even him they're after. I mean, doesn't it seem a bit weird?" Keigo asks. "Some dude is gonna get beat up, it can't be so important for him to ditch class again."
"I don't think so." The raven haired teen pulls out his phone from his pocket. "Remember what Ichigo told us right before summer vacation started? He's been a target for bullying for a pretty long time just because of his hair color, so was Chad for his skin color and height, so maybe he's being sympathetic and wants to help the poor guy out."
For once, Keigo seems to think, putting a small frown. "Yeah… when you put it like that, I guess you're right."
Ichigo looks behind to see if anybody was watching him as he hid himself in alleys. He pulls out the costume from his bag and quickly undresses himself to change into his vigilante costume. Once that is complete, he puts his bag behind a trash can and leaps over against a wall, pressing his claws through the bricks as he climbs higher. Once he gets on the roof, he leaps in the air before firing a web, soaring through the air as he looks high and low.
'Alright, think Kurosaki, if you were a scared guy who's being targeted by a gang, where would you hide?' Ichigo tries to think. He couldn't help but think back to his childhood days, before his mother died, where he was being picked on for his hair color and reported it to the teachers, only for them to do little to nothing to stop it.
He was scared, but didn't want to admit it to his mother or anybody else, thinking he could be tough. It wasn't until after his mother's death that he started to toughen up. His first fight… he still remembered as to how his tough guy persona all started out.
"Come on, Kurosaki! Just catch it already!" An older boy, who was Grade 6, pushed a young Ichigo, who's barely older than 10 years old, making him fall on the ground.
"Make him call his ghost buddies!" A second boy stood besides his friend, a gnarly smirk plastered on his face.
"Guys, come on…" Ichigo tried to get up, brushing a bruise on his cheek as he took a look at his backpack that they had on their hands. "Can't we do this another time? I'm starving here…"
"That's funny, we're getting hungry as well." The first boy shakes his backpack. "In fact, we've been getting hungrier as of lately. We could use a little extra lunch. You don't mind sharing a little bento with us, do you, Ichigo?"
Reluctantly, Ichigo grumbled to himself. "Fine."
Though they didn't hear him. "Hey, what did he just say?" The second boy leaned down, looking down on the young boy.
"Maybe he's calling his ghost buddies." The first boy got over to Ichigo, putting his hand over his head. "Listen here, you little weirdo, you don't belong in this place, in fact you don't belong here at all. If you really want us to stop picking on ya, then dye your hair back to black like how it was."
"Are you deaf?" Ichigo bluntly asked. "I told you it's my natural hair color, how many times do I have to repeat this to you?"
"Hey, if he can talk to ghosts…" The second boy leans close to his friend's ear. "You think he's talking to his dead mommy?"
This was something Ichigo heard, and for a moment he felt his heart skip a beat. "Oh yeah!" The first boy grinned from ear to ear. "Say, Kurosaki, how's mommy been? Must be tough knowing she ain't here to protect your sorry butt anymore."
Ichigo took a shaky breath through his nostrils.
"Oh yeah, didn't she have orange hair as well?" The second boy snarked. "What a bitch. Like mother like son, both of them being freaks."
"Take that back…"
"Huh?" Both boys hummed at the same time, watching Ichigo stand up as he clenched his hands into fists. "Oh, this is new." The first boy said. "Did we upset you?"
"You take back what you said about my mother…" Ichigo spoke in a raspy breath, his eyes giving a different life. "Now." He commanded.
"What are you gonna do about it? Fight back?" The first boy taunted him.
"Take. It. Back." Ichigo gave a warning, taking a raspy breath as his body shook.
"Mommy is gone now, ya dumb brat." The first boy insulted him. "Besides, she wasn't that good looking to begin with. She was uglier than—"
Ichigo exploded. "TAKE IT BACK!" He roared, for the very first time seeing red as he threw his fist at the boy's face, making him fall down, letting go of his backpack. The second boy was in shock. Ichigo, blinded by rage, sat on top of the first boy and began pummeling him. "Take it back! Right now! Take it back!"
"Get off him you disgusting freak!" The second boy pushed him away from the first boy, making Ichigo fall down. In shock, he saw Ichigo getting up immediately, his eyes that of a wild animal's, lunged blindly at the second boy, headbutting his head against his nose before grabbing his collar and kneeing him in the stomach, throwing him down on the ground like trash.
"Rarh!" Ichigo kicked the second boy while he was down. "You take it back! Right now! Both of you! Nngh! Rarh! Ahh!" He shouted violently as he kept kicking him on his sides. He went back to the first boy, and with strength no 10 year old should ever be in possession of, the orange boy lifted him with but a single hand while pummeling his face with another, continuing to do so until his nose bled. "TAKE! IT! BACK!" It wouldn't take long until his skull gave out.
"What's going on here?!" The cry came from a teacher coming over.
Ichigo holds his grip on a pole, making a flip over it before firing another web to help him swing across. 'Great, I should have thought of a better method instead of just randomly wandering around. It's not like I could just find this guy by his Spiritual Pressure.'
This wasn't like hunting a Hollow, or even finding that pigeon bird that Chad had, this was a human being who most likely had a negligible amount of Spiritual Pressure, and he had no way of contacting the Black Cat to help him either. So the only one who could help were the police. But how could he find them, Ichigo wonders.
It's then that an idea popped into his head.
'Wait a minute… those guys back at the shop…' Ichigo thinks of an idea as he makes a backflip in the air before firing another web to swing across. 'They must be with the police by now. I don't know if they'd allow me to barge in, but maybe I can lend them some information on this Philip guy.'
He swings diagonally high on the right on a 45 degree angle before landing on a rooftop. He pulls out his cellphone and dials the police. He waits for a good minute before his phone call gets accepted.
"This is Captain George Stacy, what's your emergency?"
"Hi, I'd like to report that there's a link between The Dragon gang and a student that's gone missing." Ichigo says.
"I'm sorry, who is this?" The Captain asked, his tone suspicious.
"An anonymous source. Those gang members that the vigilante and Black Cat caught hours ago, they're in your custody aren't they? I think I might give you a clue as to what they were doing."
"And I should take your word for this, why exactly?"
"Look, you can help me save a life or ignore it. There's a high school student on the run from the same gang that tried to rob that shop hours ago, saying something about Dragons coming after him. I don't know the full story, but there's a deeper connection than some robbery that happened. Ask the men that you caught and try to get a word out of them."
"And how exactly do you know this? How long has he been missing? And what's his name?"
"I have my sources, that's all I'll say." Ichigo replies. "That's why I'm asking for your help. He hasn't been missing for very long, and his name is Phillip Chang. He's been missing for about—"
"If you're serious that this kid is being targeted, just call again when you find him. I'll dispatch a squad to search around the city."
The sounds of windows shattering reach the young man's ears, making his eyes widen as he whips his head to see where it was coming from. To his surprise, he sees several members, and a man in a white dragon costume dragging a student who wears the same outfit from Karakura High. "Actually, you might wanna do that right now! There's an attack on the Karakura Restaurant!" He exclaims before ending the call, firing a web to swing his way toward the danger.
Ichigo makes it with no time to spare, seeing the student being dragged into a van before they close it. "No you don't!" The young vigilante exclaims, firing a web ball at them, though only hitting one of them as he missed his other target.
"Get Philip Chang away! I will take care of the man myself!" A man in a white costume, donned in a dragon-like theme with large red furs covering his body yells out as he steps outside.
'Who in the…' Ichigo is left puzzled by the man's appearance, but that didn't matter, he had to focus on saving Philip. The van begins to drive off, and before Ichigo performs his next move, his danger sense comes into being, and instinctively he lets his web go as the man in white costume leaps far from the ground, delivering a roundhouse kick, only to miss.
"Hang on!" Ichigo rolls on the ground while dodging bullet shots, performing a diagonal kick to the gang member's face, sending him crashing against the pavement. Ichigo fires a web at the van, only to get tackled by the lightning quick speeds of the man in white costume, crashing against the restaurant as tables and chairs alike are sent flying. "Gah!" The teenager grunts in pain. "Get off!" He kicks the man in his gut, getting him off him.
"None shall get past the White Dragon!" The man exclaims, putting a defensive stance. "Especially not by the likes of you!"
'I don't have time for this.' Ichigo thinks in annoyance. He shoots a web ball at the White Dragon, only for his enemy to react quickly by diagonally kicking the ball away through skill and raw might.
Ichigo leaps and uses his acrobatics, spinning his body before firing two webs between the White Dragon, hurling himself with an increase of momentum, but the White Dragon ducks out of the way, and grabs Ichigo by the back of his hoodie and kneeing him in the back. "Gagh!" Ichigo yells out in pain, right before getting tossed aside.
"Come now, did you expect this to be an easy challenge?" The White Dragon walks towards Ichigo with a smirk plastered on his face.
Ichigo didn't say anything, rather he grabs a chair and throws it at his opponent, who backhands it, destroying it in the process. This was used as a distraction as Ichigo blinds him with his webbing, right before kicking him straight in the face, making him fly out of the restaurant.
The youth lunges forward. It was now time for him to be on the offensive. The White Dragon stirs up, and to Ichigo's surprise, the eyeballs above his head shoot out a wave of fire at him. "Shit!" Ichigo cusses as he narrowly leaps out of the way.
"Your reaction time is quite impressive!" White Dragon exclaims. "Very few people have escaped this attack at this distance!" Ichigo looks back to see if anyone got harmed, and thankfully there weren't. To his shock, he felt his body getting launched by a strong kick from his opponent.
"Gah!" The Spider grunted in pain as he got launched through a wall.
"But now let us see how you fare in hand to hand combat!" White Dragon puts on a defensive stance, waiting for his young opponent to come out. He didn't have to wait for long as web balls launched through the hole. White Dragon reacts by launching another wave of fire claws, melting the dense balls.
Ichigo bursts through the hole just in time and dodges the flame of fire. He twists his body in mid air, and the White Dragon shut down his fire. Ichigo launches an ax kick, to which White Dragon raises both of his arms above his head to block the blow. Ichigo backflips away, and the White Dragon leaps off the ground and launches a spin kick, to which Ichigo jumps back, only to get elbowed to his gut.
White Dragon launches a hook at Ichigo's head, and Ichigo moves his head sideways as he pushes his enemy's arm away. White Dragon raises his knee, and Ichigo awkwardly responds by slapping his enemy's knee away from him. White Dragon throws a jab to Ichigo's side, making a direct blow. White Dragon throws a fist in a diagonal manner, but Ichigo reacts accordingly by bending backwards, planting his claws on the ground and launching a bicycle kick, making a blow against White Dragon's chin.
White Dragon then responds by grabbing the young vigilante's leg and expertly uses his martial arts skills to pin Ichigo down. "Fool! You fight like an amateur! I should have known a rookie would stand no chance against someone who mastered half of the martial arts on the planet!" White Dragon exclaims.
"Nngh…" Ichigo is struggling in the wrestling position he was stuck in.
"It is time to end this…" White Dragon then fires a stream of gas, making contact with Ichigo.
Ichigo begins coughing and starts losing consciousness. Beginning to feel desperate, he lets his instincts take control as he aims for White Dragon's neck and shoots a web ball, narrowly making a direct contact. "Gagh!" White Dragon gags, making him stumble back as he holds his neck in pain. "You…!"
"Hey, never said I was much of a fair fighter in these types of brawls." Ichigo chuckles weakly, beginning to lose his consciousness, but he stubbornly keeps himself awake. He was relying on those skills to help him in this situation.
"Why you…" White Dragon snarks in anger. To Ichigo's surprise, claws extend from his enemy's fingers. "I'll put you out of your misery!"
The man in the white lunges at him, and Ichigo in his disorientated state unleashes his own claws, and the two make a "clang" sound as they clash. It barely lasted seconds before the more experienced opponent lunges his own claws through Ichigo's stomach, piercing his flesh as blood spews out.
"Gagh!" Ichigo stops himself from coughing blood, now feeling even worse as he hastily stumbles, his world spinning as he sinks to his knees, clenching his gut in pain. "No…" He weakly speaks as he could barely hold himself together. He feels worse than before, not just the physical pain but something else as well.
"Surprised…?" White Dragon breathes hastily. "These are tipped with poison." It was clear his throat was damaged. "And you… my friend… it's all over for you."
"Shit…" Is all that Ichigo could muster before everything becomes black to him.
"Welcome…"
Beginning to regain his consciousness, Ichigo groans as he begins to open his eyes bit by bit. As the light comes back to him, he sees an empty darkness surrounding him as he sees the White Dragon and his gang members below where Ichigo was hanging. "Hunh…?" The teenager tilts his head, feeling as though his body was hanging on to something as he notices his whereabouts. "Where… am I?"
"It doesn't matter… you won't live long enough… to know where you are." The leader stammers as he lightly holds his throat.
"I asked where are we damn — ungh!" Ichigo yells, only to grit his teeth in pain as he feels a sharp threshold take over, remembering being stabbed in the gut.
"You're quite resilient." White Dragon comments. "Even with my sleeping gas and my poisoned claws, you're still hanging to life. Most men would have already died by my claws. Killing you would have sufficed… but I had another idea of what to do with you."
Ichigo tries to move, but he finds himself unable to move properly. He looks down to see a tub of burning oil beneath, and he was hanged by a rope wrapping his body. As his eyes dart to the area, he spots a student wearing a Karakura High uniform tied up in a chair, his appearance resembling that of an Asian man, but not the one was familiar with as far as Ichigo could tell. 'Is that…?!' Ichigo thinks in surprise, as he finally found who he was looking for.
"Boys…" White Dragon turns to face his crew. "You know what to do…"
"Alright, Chang, which Dragon crew are you willing to join? It better not be the Dragon Tail!" One of the members brings his foot down against the pavement, bringing his face closer to the young student.
"You wouldn't want us to make a long distance call from Hong Kong, would you?" The second Dragon gang threatens.
The student's face goes pale. "No! You wouldn't!" he shouts. "You couldn't!"
"Oh but we can, young man." White Dragon retorts. "The Kingpin has paid a great deal of money to take care of him." He points his finger to Ichigo. "But more importantly… you will see what happens when you disobey The Dragon." He turns back to the vigilante. "Vigilante… who's name I do not know… try to hear me, below you lies the vat of oil. They use to lubricate Mannequin making machines. If Philip Chang chooses to ally himself to The Dragon, then nothing shall happen to you." Despite this, it was nothing more than a lie. After all, why would he spare someone he was hired to supposedly kill. There was no reason. "But if he refuses… then in a moment you shall be dropped to the vat, where you will burn." He turns back to Chang. "Now, Philip Chang, the final hour is upon you! What is your answer!?"
Ichigo starts to hover lower from his binding, the heat and smell begin to fill his nostrils. Philip Chang makes raspy breaths, clenching his fists tightly as he shakes from his trap, desperately thinking on what to do. But remembering back to his past, he squeezes his eyes shut, making his final decision.
"I am sorry, honorable vigilante! But I cannot — no — I am forbidden to do this!" Philip yells.
"Then you… have sealed this man's fate! He is but an example… to those who stand in The Dragon's way!" White Dragon exclaims, and nodding to another member, he completely releases the vigilante from his shackle, before he directly drops into the pool of oily fire.
"NO!" Philip shouts in outrage. "He had nothing to do with this!"
"That's just one man who will die if you keep resisting!" White Dragon yells. "And so will many others! Will you still defy?!"
"You know me well, I can never do that!"
"You're still clinging onto that ancient oath after all this?! Either way… it means nothing to me. We are no longer… in your homeland."
To everyone's shock, the oil tank bursts into pieces as Ichigo uses all his strength to get out. "You damn bastards!" he yells as his clothes have started burning. "You're not getting out of this!"
"You…!?" The White Dragon is in a state of shock. "How are you—?!"
"Kill him!" One of the members pulls out their guns and rapidly starts shooting bullets, only for Ichigo to leap in the air, avoiding the bullets before grabbing the man's arm, twisting it enough until it breaks. "Aaaaah!" The man yells in excruciating pain, and Ichigo grabs him before throwing him against another member, launching them both against the ground.
"My turn." Ichigo growls, his claws already out despite his suit burning.
The White Dragon immediately responds with a flying kick, only for Ichigo to dodge him with ease. He shoots a web at the gang member who dropped him in that oily fire, and Ichigo leaps in the air, pulling The Dragon member in the air before hitting him with a clothesline, making sure to hold back enough to make him unconscious.
Ichigo tears apart his suit, including some of the lower regions that stop at his knees before throwing them away into the oily fire. Danger rings in his head, and Ichigo leaps away as White Dragon shoots out a flame of fire from his head. Before another Dragon member could make any actions, Ichigo shoots a webline at his chest, yanks him toward him and presses his head against the ground.
Now it was just him and White Dragon. "So you remain alive…" White Dragon cautiously approaches his foe. "You're much tougher than I gave you credit for."
"To hell with your crap." Ichigo spat. "I've had just about enough. I don't know what your deal is with that kid, but now you've done it by burning me alive." Ever since he acquired these new powers, his strength was far too great for humans to handle, so he made it a point not to kill anybody unless there was no other choice, but for people like these, he didn't have to worry about holding back.
"Insolent youth, you talk as though you can take me down at any moment!" Angered by this, the White Dragon leaps in the air and shoots his flame of fire.
Ichigo backflips as he puts his hands on the ground, dodging the attack, having had enough fire for one day. He uses raw might in the hopes of overpowering his new foe, as engaging him in hand to hand combat would put him in a disadvantage like before. White Dragon lands on the ground, and Ichigo fires a web right beneath the man, sliding downwards quickly enough so The Dragon doesn't catch him.
"What the —?!" White Dragon barely has the time to look behind him, about to use his sleeping gas, but his younger opponent was faster than him, and Ichigo unleashes a swift but devastating blow on the White Dragon's chest, making the man's entire world go black as he gets launched through a metal wall.
"Hah…" Ichigo pants, cringing in pain as he feels the burns bashing his body, not to mention the poison was still running in his system. So he wasn't quite up to full strength. "Shit…" He collapses on his knees, his hands resting on the ground.
"Are… are you going to be alright?" Ichigo turns his head to look at the frightened, and rather traumatized Karakura student, looking concerned for his safety.
"I'll be fine…" Ichigo groans as he tries getting up, using his inner strength to do so. He shakily gets up and walks over to Philip. "I took a lot worse than this." Though he speaks the truth, he keeps forgetting his human body isn't as resilient as his Soul body. Which makes the injuries far more painful. "So… mind telling me what the hell that was all about?" He asks as he helps Philip get untied.
"What do you mean?" Philip asks in confusion as he gets untied.
"Don't play dumb with me." Ichigo replies in annoyance. "From everything I heard and seen you seem to have a history with these guys. I can't be sure but the leader said something about someone hiring him. I don't know what problems you have with these clowns, but I need to know so I can save this city that's going out of control.
Philip gets up, looking uncertain as he darts his eyes before sighing. ''Very well… I suppose I owe you that much since you saved my life. If this town is truly in danger, then I do not wish to repeat the incident, so I will tell you my tale." He takes a raspy sigh. "You see... I am not a native of this country. I come from Hong Kong, and I suppose that's where it all started. You see, several years ago, during my days as a violent delinquent, I was involved in trouble with a certain gang that tracked down where I live, and they wanted me dead. To that, they'd risk anything in their path to get what they wanted. They threw a grenade bomb through my window, and out of desperation, I jumped through another window to escape, not even bothering to warn my own parents about the bomb. I was fortunate to have escaped… but my parents… were not so fortunate."
Ichigo, having had a portion of his mask torn off, widens his eyes as he recognizes where this was heading. "I couldn't, and still am trying, to control my temper. Because of that, my parents died whereas I lived, though I'd give anything back to not make that happen, I wish it would have been me instead…" Philip clenches his fists, his body shaking as he recalls his past events. "Because of that, my entire life changed. To atone for my misdeeds, I swore an oath to my grandparents that I would never raise my fists in violence again. So I moved in with distant relatives of mine here, but even coming here I knew that someday my past would catch up to me. I was originally supposed to have gone halfway across the world, but we didn't have money for that, so this was all that could be afforded."
Ichigo lowers his head, recalling his mother's death at the hands of Grand Fisher. He understood what it was like to lose someone like that. "You must have gone through a lot then." Ichigo mutters. "I'm sorry. I'll call the authorities and have these punks get arrested, so I'll stay with you until then. But do you happen to remember another guy they mentioned while I was hanging on that thing?" He points to the oily fire.
"Uh, Kingpin, if I recall correctly."
"Right… thanks for that." Ichigo nods his head, reaching for his phone… until he remembers that it was burned when he got dropped in that tank. "Oh no…"
"What is it?" Philip asks.
"Uh, you wouldn't happen to have a cellphone with you, would you?" Ichigo nervously asks.
"I think one of them took it…" Philip points to the unconscious gang.
"Right… let's go get that real quick." Ichigo stumbles as he quickly begins to search where Philip's phone was. 'Yoruichi is gonna kill me when she finds out about this…'
"What the hell did I put all that effort into!?" Yoruichi headbutts Ichigo at the back of his head as she is healing him within Urahara's underground chamber.
The teenager had successfully found Philip's phone, to which he thankfully always carried with him, as it was hidden within one of The Dragon's minions. He contacted the police and gave their whereabouts once Ichigo found where they were at, and the White Dragon would be contained in a more secure cell. He couldn't have gone back to school with the condition he was in, which meant he couldn't go to Orihime as her Spiritual Pressure still resided within the school. It was awkward and a bit difficult to swing by Urahara's place in the condition he was in, but once he got inside… well… Yoruichi wasn't too happy with what she saw.
"Gyaaa!" Ichigo comically yells out as his body aches, with Yoruichi's hands holding on to him as she was healing him with a green glow surrounding her hands. "Watch it! Aren't you supposed to heal me?!"
"I'm considering just leaving you the way you are because of your careless actions ruining the suit I made for you!" Yoruichi yells into his ear.
"What, and my life isn't important?!" Ichigo argues back. "I was held in a friggin 'oil tank and poisoned! What was I supposed to do?!"
"Not get your ass handed to you, for one!" Yoruichi rebukes. "And two, maybe bring your Combat Pass with you if you were in such a tight situation! You might have died for all you know!"
"If I died that easily I wouldn't have made it through the Soul Society the way I did!"
"Really now?" Yoruichi makes a sly grin. "May I remind you who was it that saved you after your fight with Kenpachi? Or the other times that Squad 4 member kept healing you? I don't think you're as tough as you make yourself out to be."
Ichigo growls in response.
"But either way…" Yoruichi stops with her healing. "You should be mostly fine now. My knowledge in healing isn't quite up to par with Squad 4, but these injuries you sustained and the poison should be out of your system."
"Oh, thanks…" Ichigo gets up, checking himself out. It still stung, though nowhere near as much as before. "Yeah, I do feel a lot better now. Thanks."
"Yeah, yeah…" Yoruichi rolls her eyes as she crosses her arms. "Just don't expect me to make you a new suit anytime soon. I'll force Kisuke to make one, should take him a few minutes to make one anyways. But either way…" Yoruichi gives a more serious look. "I'm serious about what I said before. Don't die before the war starts. We need your power, and I'm not gonna bother explaining to your family how you died."
"Right… sorry." Ichigo murmurs. "I don't plan on dying, not anytime soon. But destroying the suit you made wasn't a complete waste. I did learn a little bit about who might be after me."
"Oh?" Yoruichi's interest peaks. "And who's after your handsome looking mug?"
"It's a guy named Kingpin." Ichigo answers. "There was this guy, around my age, that got kidnapped by these gangs called The Dragon or whatever, and they're not ordinary guys either, their leader had powers rivaling my own. They had a history with the guy, going back for years."
"Alright, so what's the problem?" Yoruichi asks.
"Well… earlier they made this… mess. A loud one at that. I get they couldn't have been soundless, but they could have been more subtle. I mean, these guys are pros, if they only had business with the kid, then why make it so loud when I was nearby? They could have done that and I wouldn't have even noticed it…"
Yoruichi sees what Ichigo was talking about. "Well I'm not that involved in your vigilante business, so I can't be sure, and I certainly never heard of this Kingpin either. You're gonna have to find that out on your own."
"And here I was hoping you'd help me." Ichigo jokingly replied with a smirk.
"You do your own thing, besides you gotta learn how to do stuff on your own. There's more to fighting than just pure muscle." Yoruichi tells him. "Is that all you wanted to tell me?"
"Yeah, that's about it." Ichigo tells her before firing a web at the letters. "Thanks for patching me up, Yoruichi." Seeing her say nothing, the boy leaps from the ground, bidding his farewell to the older woman.
Well that should just about wrap it up for the rewrite of Chapter 11, the reason it took so long was because my Co-Author and I had a LOT of problems coming up with what stories we could come up with that would fit in with the "Spider-Man" stuff before the second Arrancar arc invasion, what made it all the more difficult was we couldn't use any standard Spider-Man villains that are well known because they reside in America and it wouldn't make sense for Kingpin to hire those guys when it'd be easier to just find someone in Japan and fit more of Ichigo's style, because this isn't Peter Parker, we gotta be careful how we do things around here.
Which is where the White Dragon comes in. For those who don't know he's a minor villain that came from the 70's Comic Book era, he doesn't exactly come from Japan but it's from the same continent so it's close enough. Thankfully we managed to come up with multiple stories which should hopefully come out soon as well.