Disclaimer: The ideas and concepts used in BLEACH belong to Tite Kubo, as well as any regular characters. Most of the characters in this story belong to me. Thank you.


After a very tense few seconds, El Diablo decided to come out of his terror crouch and look up. He felt alright, no catastrophic cut down his mask and his tiny limbs were still attached, so he assumed the kind shinigami had shown him mercy at the last second. He was wrong. Shin was angrily glaring through the dark shadow on his face at where his sword was connected. The metal of Shin's sword, despite his best efforts of single-handed strength, was unable to even mark El Diablo's skull. It was simply to tough...

"What the hell!?" Hoji exclaimed. Suichi was writhing on the ground and clutching his mouth fretfully.

Dammit Hoji! Suichi thought. Think of a less painful way to exorcise a Hollow from me next time!!!

"Impossible..." Shin flatly growled. El Diablo, now realizing the shinigami's distress, decided to gloat.

"Ha! Fool!" Diablo declared. "I, in my mighty greatness, am far too powerful to be injured by the likes of you! You're a few thousand years away from injuring my pure, awesome form of awesomeness! AWE at my thickheaded-ness and TREMBLE!!!" Hoji was quietly snickering, holding a closed fist near his mouth to cover his building grin. Suichi got up and started groaning.

"You're a bastard, Hoji" Suichi groaned. "Still, I'm pretty surprised that it worked."

"What worked?" Hoji laughed. Shin pressed down, his raw physical strength still enough to at least pin Diablo under his sword, and looked over.

"He didn't release Haganerensa," Shin assumed, "you did. Your mind released it."

"He was holding it the right way" Suichi said. Suichi was able to observe passively while possessed and flashed back to the moment just before Hoji's Tatsukite crashed beneath him. El Diablo gripped the sword tightly with two hands in an attempt to strengthen his guard against the spell and Suichi incanted mentally in a flash. It worked, and through very strict and powerful spirit field manipulation, Suichi was able to command his weapon to pull him away from the blast area.

"...heh!" Shin sneered with an open grin. He glowered down at the struggling little Hollow, crouching painfully and waving its arms helplessly. "I'm glad. Here I thought it was a Hollow being ingenious to an unknown extent. But it was the training we've done as partners that allowed you to respond as quickly as you did. Finally! Something useful has come out of you Suichi!"

"He's just kidding" Hoji quickly added. "Useful things come from you all the time...I guess."

"Thanks you guys" Suichi angrily said. "Really, you're great trainers..." Now the shinigami were focused on the Hollow once more. El Diablo felt the eyes on him and stopped moving. His nerves were shot.

"Oh no" he though out loud. "What do I do!? These three guys are really really powerful! Especially this Shin guy! I can see how he defeated Danzig, with all that strength and without even using an advanced sword! I might be in trouble...unless I can use my secret move on them..."

"Should we tell him?" Hoji asked.

"Nah" Shin said, raising his sword for Diablo and lifting him up with his foot. "He's dumb enough not to care."

"FOOL!" Diablo shouted, stomping and furiously wagging his finger from Shin's flexibly raised foot. "I will show you the consequences of mocking me! Prepare to enter a realm of pain and doom!"

"Really?" Shin said with a playful smile. Diablo jumped from Shin's foot to his face and gave him a stern, surprisingly powerful punch to the face. Shin disappeared and reappeared crashed into the tree line an instant later. His cheek was smoking.

"TCH!?" Hoji grunted. Diablo hopped up and made a spinning kick to Suichi's jaw.

"No way!" Suichi shouted. "I'm not getting hit like that again!" Suichi used his chain as a shield, pulling it straight form his arm and absorbing the blow with it. It was still powerful enough to send him backwards. Now Hoji, with his arms crossed passively observing things rather than helping, was the target.

"Hehehe!" Diablo laughed. "I'll enjoy beating you up, baldy!"

"Eh?" Hoji grunted. His brow started twitching slowly, then picked up in to a shake. "Baldy...? Me?" Diablo made a punch, but Hoji effortlessly blocked it with his gauntlet. He snarled with his face shrouded in shadows and started growling like an animal. "WHO THE **** IS BALD!!!!?!?!?" Diablo was surprised, so much so that he let Hoji grab him with his bladed hand and shove him into the ground. Hoji kept the tiny Hollow balled up in his fist and started beating him repeatedly off the ground.

"Damn" Suichi noted. "Just...damn..."


"Ow..." Shin lowed. He slowly raised himself up and palmed at his bruised cheek. "That hurt. Crap. I was so entertained by his humorous form that I forgot he was a Hollow. Of course he's going to have some kind of super-strength..." Shin looked over at Hoji, who was rapidly punching the ground with a loosely balled fist and was able to catch a glimpse of El Diablo in that fist, looking distressed and dizzy. His toughness is a product of his size. All that power condensed into a tiny form will undoubtedly be much more resilient than a giant Hollow with paper-thin skin...I'm embarrassed. I should have assumed that earlier... Shin decided to get up and walk out of the forest he was cleanly slammed into.

"Hoji!" Suichi called. "Are you even hurting him!?"

"Let me check" Hoji answered over the smashing of the ground. Hoji stopped, looked at the tiny Hollow in his fist, and saw red. A liquid splatter of formless red where Diablo was. "Crap..." The hole Hoji had pounded into the ground was empty, but Hoji could see the traces of red sinking into the ground. "Keep you yaps shut!" Hoji alerted. Suichi and Shin both wordlessly nodded and took their weapons to guard themselves.

The three now started slowly pacing around. Shin used his pressure to project a field underneath him, deep into the ground, and used it as a radar to detect movement of any possible measure. Suichi chilled the air around him so whatever came near him would have to slow down in the extreme cold. Hoji sniffed a few times, hoping his keen senses would pick up movement and scent in the wind he controlled.

If he attacks me Hoji though I'll call Shin and throw him with Torakaze. Shin will slice him up, regardless of what form he takes...

If he comes for me again Suichi thought I'll use a spell to freeze him and let Hoji or Shin kill him. If Shin can't cut him I may not even be able to freeze him, but I can hope...

If he comes for me Shin thought, he'd better be satisfied with the life he's lived... Moments passed as the shinigami continued making unclear patterns of walking around. Shin tried to stay in one general area but came close to the other two on occasion, shivering as he got near Suichi. Hoji was tempted to just start pummeling the ground again, but declined. He wanted, for once, to remain patient. El Diablo waited, but not underground. He had long ago reached the roots of the trees and came up through them into his whole form. He didn't think, as he knew he would end up talking and the shinigami would hear him.

"Well" Shin said, "I suppose that's that. Let's keep going. We've got ground to cover..."

"Shin?" Hoji said. Shin had taken his sword in a more playful and relaxed manner, holding it in his left hand and tapping the blade into his right repeatedly.

"He's gone" Shin said, tilting his head onto his shoulder. "He may be an idiot, but he knows that now we mean business. Great job Hoji."

"Uh...thanks" Hoji said. He and Suichi deactivated their swords and sheathed them. "But Shin, seriously, we can't be a hundred percent about him leaving!"

"You may be right" Shin lowed. "In that case, stay alert." Shin's upbeat attitude towards not killing an enemy was a huge surprise to Hoji and Suichi. So much so they decided to take the farther flanks and carefully watch the sides of the road for movement. El Diablo stalked the three from a distance, going from one side of the road to another by leaping from the higher tree branches.

"As soon as their guard is completely down" Diablo whispered almost silently to himself, "I will attack the strongest one! Then I take his body and use it to kill every shinigami I can! Shin Kenpachi, I hope you can live with yourself after I possess you, because I'm going to make you commit every atrocity known to this pitiful, evil society!" Shin continued grinning as he walked, seemingly unaware of the danger that followed him so intently.


After a long while of walking, the group had fallen out of the collective guarded status and resumed casual conversation, although Shin kept tapping his sword rhythmically into his right hand.

"What kind of tattoo should I get?" Suichi asked. "Because I was thinking about something for on my back. Something people I just killed will see before they die, like a snake or demon or the gates of hell."

"You know what would look good?" Hoji said to Suichi. "Does your assassin group have, like, a motto or a code?"

"We have a code of conduct" Suichi explained "for when inside the main mansion of our leader. The only real rules are not to fornicate in plain view and to clean you weapons if you decide to kill someone privately."

"You have a weird assassination family, dude" Hoji said. Suichi laughed casually and Hoji started laughing humorously. Shin even started laughing quietly. This was the chance EL Diablo wanted. He jumped out behind the group and used his power, paralyzing them all in stance.

"WHA!?" Hoji grunted.

"HEHEHE!" Diablo laughed. "Once again, your foolish emotions have caused your downfall! I converted the carelessness of your happy attitudes into weight, and now you're all trapped!" Hoji and Suichi tried to counter the pressure and close their open mouths, but to no avail. They were sitting ducks, and they knew Diablo's plan already. "Now to possess Sin Kenpachi and take my proper revenge! HEHEHEHEHE!!!" Diablo transformed into his red, liquid form and leaped at Shin. Shin's sword, as planned, was stopped in his hand and Diablo was coming for him. In triumph he turned with his killing glare fixed on the amorphous blob of red in the air. "EH!?"

"My guard is never down" Shin said "until my enemy is dead." Diablo wanted to stop, but knew he couldn't in this form with this kind of energy behind him. Hoji and Suichi now wanted to smile wider, but failed to properly. "Reaping time, Shikei!" Shin's sword, in its proper positing, released into its scary scythe form. Shin turned, took a step with his right foot, and spun on the balls of his feet. As he spun he let his scythe extend and scrape the fine surface of Diablo's form.

"AAAHHH!!!" Diablo screamed. Shin spun forward, scythe overhead, and stomped down with his left foot. His scythe followed, backed with the kinetic energy of his whole body, and sliced a clean cut into Diablo's elastic form. Out of fear, Diablo had hardened his normal liquid form into a rubbery, bouncy form and now had a rather large gash rippling through his new body. Shin's scythe sliced into the ground and murdered the dirt, turning the patch of earthen brown into dead black instantly. Such is the power of death.

"Tch?" Hoji grunted, now out of his trance. He grabbed Diablo and started pulling him like the rubber putty he was.

"Ow!" Diablo shouted. Hoji heard his painful remark and pulled harder. "OW! Stop that, you fool! I'm stuck in this form now!"

"Really?" Shin said. He rested his scythe on his shoulder and clutched Diablo's flat surface hard. The scratch he made had disappeared, just as if he had cut into a puddle of water. Suichi came out of his trance last and grabbed Diablo, seeing how much fun Hoji was having just pulling and twisting while the Hollow screamed in pain.

"I'm usually not one for torture" Suichi remarked.

"Who cares!?" Hoji gleefully said.

"This thing is dangerous" Shin noted. "With this level of reliance and strength, and this pairing of powers, we can't very well let it roam the country side as it pleases." Suichi and Hoji took a break from torturing El Diablo and looked at Shin. After quickly considering the factors, they decided Shin was right.

"What should we do with him?" Hoji asked.

"You can let me go" Diablo kindly offered. The shinigami share mutual stares of general disgust, coupled with the previous incidents of total mistrust. Obviously, that suggestion was right out.


"HEY! YOU FOOLS!" El Diablo shouted as the three walked away. "How dare you, HOW DARE! I swear, once I get down I'm going to make you regret ever meeting me! Fools! You will never escape the wrath of EL DIABLOOOOO!!!" As a final act of cruel vengeance against the little Hollow, the boys decided to twist him up in his new rubber form and make him into a scarlet rope which they stretched around the base of a huge, thick tree and tied him too. Suichi made a sign that said 'Sacred Talking Demon Seal. Please do NOT remove the Rope', the proverbial final blow to the powerful little Hollow's ego...

Thus Shin Kenpachi and his group continued on to carry on with their original quest. A minor sidetrack that led into a great battle of wits, but ultimately ended as a practice in futility.