Spirit - Another Dragon Ball Fanfiction

Chapter 85: A New Challenger

Goku clenched his teeth as he felt his power drop for a short instant, then spike back up again. Something was wrong. He had to finish the fight now. So he gritted his teeth and roared, and when he gave a war cry you could hear something like a Great Ape roaring like a faint secondary voice. Goku rocketed forward and kneed Jiren directly in the stomach, shocking everyone but Whis, who seemed calm but was still frowning. Goku raised his hands into the air, above his head, and brought them together like he was holding something in between them. He charged up a dark blue energy wave and blasted Jiren right in the face. The energy wave swerved in his hands a few times before he stopped holding it and did a backflip as the wave dissipated, revealing that Jiren didn't have the slightest injury. Goku landed on the side of the pillar in the center of the arena that displayed how much time was left, and he crouched. Then he rocketed off of it with one fist forward, aiming directly for Jiren. As he got closer and closer, Goku shouted another battle yell and as he got to Jiren's location, he pulled back the fist that was forward and punched with his other one. The attack sent up a massive explosion that created a mushroom cloud of smoke and shook the entire arena for a few moments. 

"Saiyans..." Jiren mused, "Quite interesting beings. But..." The smoke became clear enough that you could see... Jiren having caught a now-normal Goku's punch. The silver glow had faded from Goku's eyes, and after a second the aura around him vanished. Goku's eyes widened as Jiren looked up at him. "This heat... will be your downfall!" Jiren materialized a Power Impact (a small, red, extremely strong energy blast) in one hand and fired it. The red energy ball grew so that it surrounded Goku and carried him off in its flight path as Goku screamed in pain. "It appears to have only been temporary." Khai noted. Belmod smiled, reassured, and stopped grasping his hair. "Of course. No one could achieve Ultra Instinct so easily." Jiren was about to detonate the blast by clenching his fist, but his eyes widened as he seemed to notice something. He held out his other hand and caught Hit's fist without looking.

"So close!" Champa growled. "Warriors are most open when finishing their enemies. Jiren doesn't even have that weakness." Vados remarked. The Power Impact around Goku faded until it was gone, and he fell to the ground, completely burned out. "Goku!" Yamcha shouted, running over to where his friend fell. He bent down on one knee as he checked on his comrade. "You alright? Can you move?" Goku struggled just to lift his head, but he managed to say "I... think... so... Ow! Never mind." "Yeah, you can't move now. Just... just rest up, OK?" Vegeta landed on the other side of Goku and stared down at his fellow Saiyan, folding his arms. "Explain yourself. Just what was that earlier?" Goku grinned, though it looked like a pained one. "I'm... not too sure myself." "Hmph. What a waste of time." Vegeta said. Suddenly Ribrianne appeared on the other side of the crater, at the edge of it. Vegeta and Yamcha both got ready to fight. "You stay down for a while. In the meantime-" Vegeta began when he was interrupted by a small breeze. He and Yamcha turned to see that Goku was gone. "Kakarot?" Vegeta called. "Goku? Where'd you go?" Yamcha asked loudly. They both looked at each other, then turned towards Ribrianne. "Grrr... We'll have to look for Kakarot later!" Vegeta said angrily. Yamcha scowled and nodded. "Yeah." 

"Assassin from Universe 6. What do you want?" Jiren asked, finally looking down at Hit. Hit didn't seem scared. "I'm working." He tried to punch Jiren with his free hand, but Jiren caught it with his other hand and then used that to send Hit rolling in midair. He readied a punch, but Hit used his Time-Skip ability to dodge the attack and end up behind Jiren. However, as he tried to elbow the Pride Trooper, Jiren evaded the shot and punched Hit in the face. He began throwing hundreds of punches, all of which were blocked, but Hit was still getting pressured badly. He tried using Time-Skip to land a chop from behind on the side of Jiren's neck, but Jiren turned around and dodged again, throwing another punch, which Hit again used Time-Skip to avoid. Jiren's eyes widened for a second, and then they became sharper. "So this is Time-Skip." 

"That guy is really strong!" Future Zen-Oh remarked, pointing at Jiren. "I like him." Zen-Oh said. "He's called Jiren." Future Zen-Oh informed his counterpart. "That guy he's fighting is called Hit." Zen-Oh informed his alternate self. Hit appeared on the flat stage, while Jiren was standing on a rock and looking down at him. "So these are the attacks that Son Goku took from Jiren. Now I've felt them. They're heavy indeed." Hit faced Jiren fully as the Pride Trooper stared down at him. "You." Jiren said, "Do you seriously intend to beat me?" "That's my job!" Hit replied as he used Time-Skip again. He moved up onto the rock Jiren was standing on and stared him down. Hit's body was surrounded by a purple aura. Toppo watched from a distance. "That guy. He's doing surprisingly well against Jiren." Jiren stared at Hit for a few moments- then turned and punched what seemed to be empty air. 

Hit suddenly vanished, then reappeared in front of Jiren's fist, having raised one arm to block it. "What was that?" Krillin asked. "Hit can hide in a separate space he's created by storing the time he's skipped. In the real world, he leaves a phantom of himself." Whis explained. "How can his attacks be detected and not work when he's in another space?!" Champa cried. "What frightening strength." Vados remarked. Hit attempted to punch Jiren, but his attack missed- barely, but that was all Jiren needed to nail Hit in the face again. Hit tried to sweep-kick Jiren's legs out from under him, but Jiren hopped into the air and did multiple somersaults before stomping on Hit's stomach with both feet. Hit used Time-Skip to escape from under Jiren, then tried to punch him from behind. Jiren turned and crossed him in the face. Another Time-Skip. Hit appeared behind Jiren once more, but Jiren spun around and kicked him in the ribs. Hit tried to perform yet another blow to the back with Time-Skip, but Jiren just flipped, kicking Hit while in the middle of somersaulting again. Hit went for a frontal attack this time, using Time-Skip yet again, but Jiren just punched him in the gut. Things weren't looking good for the assassin.