They lined up, both teams of five staring each other down.
To Y/N, three things were immediately clear. One, was that the World Five were unlike anything he'd ever faced. Two, was that there was a clear difference in height and build between the two teams. Compared to the likes of Dada Silva, all of Team Red looked like twigs.
And third, they weren't taking it at all seriously. Only Julian wasn't laughing with the others, talking with a polite smile on his face. Everyone else was joking, messing around, without any care.
Rin looked mightily pissed off, his entire body tensed up as he placed a soccer ball down in the centre of the field. Y/N scurried over to Bachira, whispering quietly. "What happened to Rin?"
"He spoke some English with them, while you and Loki were having that talk. Said something about sigh-see-ing? Oh, and trau-ma-tic, whatever that means." Bachira attempted to pronounce the English words.
Y/N laughed. "Does he even know what those words mean?"
"Do you know what they mean?"
"Yeah." Y/N grinned, momentarily switching from Japanese to English. "I know a bunch of different languages."
"What does that mean?"
"Wae nahante malhaji geulae?" Why don't you tell me? Y/N spoke in Korean next, grinning even wider at Bachira's confused gaze.
"That was Korean, right?"
"Yěxǔ, yěxǔ bù shì。Dàn bù zài shì le!" Maybe, maybe not. But not anymore!
"Stop playing with me!"
"Mais c'est tellement amusant!" But it's so fun!
"I'm serious."
"Ernsthaft ungebildet." Seriously uneducated. At Bachira's frustrated, pouty expression, Y/N relented, returning to Japanese. "I'm kind of a language freak, alright? They just come to me naturally."
"It is pretty cool." Bachira admitted. "Just not when I don't understand a thing-"
He darted off in an instant, surprising Y/N. He hadn't been paying attention at all to the game, and he didn't realise Rin had just started it. He'd begun by passing to Isagi, who had been ready to receive.
The whistle blew overhead to signal the game's start. The field was immediately a rush of action, as both teams headed headfirst at each other.
Bachira received the ball off Isagi, going up against Cavazos. The World Five member looked more like a boy than a man, even though he was much older than all of the Bluelock players. His rainbow-dyed hair shone brightly, and he seemed half asleep as he faced off against Bachira.
Y/N was near Bachira, ready to steal- support the ball in case Bachira couldn't get through. It didn't really matter though, as Cavazos barely bothered moving. Instead, he just watched Bachira as the bumblebee did a roulette around him, moving to block off the obvious route.
Cavazos made a small noise of appreciation, moving across Y/N's field of view. "Oh! Good spin!"
Before he could be cut off, Bachira tutted. "No, I'm taking one more touch." He switched the ball from one foot to the other with lightning speed, pushing past Cavazos as he used his body to shield the ball.
"Nice, Bachira!"
With that, everyone kicked it up a gear. Y/N eyes flickered around the field, drawing in all the information he needed. He was going to try this game, as hard as he could.
Isagi was moving up to support Bachira. "Bachira! Play a one-two!" Cavazos was keeping pace with Bachira, a hand held out to his chest to try and steal the ball away. Most of the World Five hadn't moved, just watching the field of play. Adam Blake and Dada Silva had assumed more defensive positions.
Julian was hanging around the midfield, and Luna was on the other side of the field from the ball. By comparison, most of Y/N's team was near the ball, supporting Bachira's run forwards.
Y/N hung back, observing as Julian sped back towards Isagi. Even now, when he wasn't trying hard, the speed was incredible. He knew Julian would've improved, but it was beyond anything Y/N had played against before.
He was raring to go up against it.
With some fancy footwork, Isagi had pulled two of the other team to focus on him. Bachira sent a long cross, shaking off Cavazos long enough to fire it. "Best regards!"
Instead of it going to Isagi, it was way overhit. Y/N grinned as, across the field, Rin appeared fully unmarked. Luna had been near enough to prevent that, but he'd let it go through, choosing instead to just nod as Rin fired a shot off towards the goal.
It was a nice shot. No trap, no hesitation, just a speedy, curving ball directly into the top corner.
They're improving so fast. Is it this environment? Their drive? Whatever it is, it's working like crazy.
Aryu stood near Y/N. The entire time, he hadn't budged an inch. "They did not play properly."
"I know." Y/N replied, eyes trained on the other side of the field as Bachira celebrated. Isagi had an excited, ready face on, and Rin looked cold as ever.
"Still, I must say." Aryu continued. "A new move we hadn't practised, formed from the chemical reaction of all three of their skills. Right now, they're capable of taking a bite out of world-class players. "
"Uh..." Y/N drew out, grimacing. "Not really. Even tiny-ass puppies can bite."
🥕🥕🥕
They restarted the game quite quickly. Isagi and Bachira were incredibly hyped from the goal, but Y/N knew better to write the game away that easily. Just because they'd scored one, didn't mean it would be easy to score four more.
Julian took the ball straight from the kickoff, walking forwards at a leisurely pace. Y/N hung back in defence, allowing his four teammates to take forward positions as the lone player approached.
From the way the World Five was grinning, it looked like it was going to be a show. Blake stood with his hands on his hips, not worried in the slightest as he looked over at them. Luna was watching everything with a critical eye.
Julian winked at Y/N discreetly, before approaching Isagi. He placed a foot on the ball, swaying slightly as he looked around their position. "Um... Is this okay?" He shrugged. "At this distance, you've got nothing but weak spots."
Then like that, he began to move.
And holy, did he move well.
It took him barely a few seconds to get past Isagi. His speed was... inhuman. Each stride took him further than Aryu's legs would, and he accelerated so fast that Isagi was left completely stunned. Y/N's eyes widened, and the buzz of excitement in his chest grew as he watched Julian run past not one, not two, but three of his team.
Rin was the only person between Julian and Y/N. With narrowed eyes, he threw himself into the speedster's path. He spoke in broken English. "Your route is too obvious."
Julian wasn't fazed in the slightest. "You've got good foresight." He grinned. His next touch was even wider, sending the ball flying past Rin as he sped up even more to reach it. He teleported past, receiving the ball again and continuing on his rampage. "But I'm fast."
Then it was Julian against Y/N. Both boys had huge smiles on their faces as Julian ran left. Y/N followed, accelerating even faster than the speedster. They were simply on a different level to everyone else, nobody even bothering to try and break them apart.
"You've gotten faster." In the blink of an eye, Loki switched directions. His foot stopped still, the sole digging into the ground. Then he went right.
Y/N was already there. His entire momentum had stopped in an instant, and he threw himself right, following Loki. "You have as well." His chest was pounding crazily hard, and the blood in his veins was singing with adrenaline. This was what he'd wanted for so long. Someone who could challenge him.
Loki attempted to dash round Y/N's right, but he held out a foot, body shifting across. Both of them were constantly analysing each other, watching for any miniscule shifts in posture or mindset. "Your stops and starts are good as ever."
"Yours could use some work." Y/N joked. "Bit sloppy."
"Your top speed could use some work." Loki retorted, still smiling. "Bit slow."
He took off, even faster than before. Y/N's eyes widened, before he followed, running from the centre of the field all the way to the side.
When they'd just started running, Y/N was far faster. But in the few seconds it took them to reach the edge, it was clear that Loki was simply built differently. He constantly sped up, not showing a hint of a limit as they accelerated.
Y/N gritted his teeth, sucking in a deep breath as he forced his legs to work faster. He blinked.
And Loki wasn't there.
He'd cut in on the inside, leaving Y/N to go straight past him. Y/N stopped his momentum in a flash, changing directions to go after, but the quarter of a second head start Loki had gotten put him a few steps ahead.
He barely managed to catch up, palm pressed to Loki's chest as the French prodigy tried to push him away. They were headed more for the goalpost than the goal itself, and with a burst of speed, Y/N got in front of Loki.
He pressed the other boy towards the goal line, pinning him between the goalpost and himself. Loki attempted to duck around him. His foot left the ball for a split-second, and he leant a little awkwardly.
Y/N took the opportunity. After all, when was he ever going to get such an easy shot at stealing the ball?
But before he could take the ball, Loki moved. He leant even farther forwards, his back foot scooping up the ball and flicking it against his heel. The ball went up and over his head, and Y/N was left trying to steal thin air. He tricked me? He wasn't awkward at all!
While Y/N had moved forwards, Loki was already in front of the goal. His eyes practically glowed with excitement, and with his left foot, he fired off a shot into the top corner of the net.
Y/N grinned. "That was sick!"
"Your eyes need work too." Julian commented, breathing heavily. "You got tricked a little too easily there."
"That was well played." Y/N slapped Julian's shoulder, also breathing heavily. "But you know I'm shit at defence, right?"
"Run it again then. I'll stop you."
"Sure, sure." Y/N waved him off, heading for the goal to retrieve the ball.
He picked up the ball, walking straight for the centre of the field with it in his hands. Aryu had an awed, wide-eyed look on his face. "They're both godly sprinters."
Bachira grinned. "He's scarily fast, Y/N. Too fast for you?"
Y/N just shrugged, placing the ball on the ground. "Not likely."
The World Five were watching him with mild interest as he took his first step, moving slowly and simply walking upfield. His teammates fanned out behind him, ready to support, but Y/N knew better than to pass. The skill gap between them and the other team was painfully obvious.
The first player to approach him was Julian. Y/N met the other's eyes, smiling as he slowly walked forwards. "Not gonna tackle me? I have all the time in the world." He didn't bother speeding up, keeping his slow movement forwards.
"Out of stamina?" Julian slowly approached him as well, poised on the balls of his feet.
"Something like that."
Y/N waited. He stayed patient, slowly eating up ground as he calmly walked forwards. Julian hesitated, holding back. "You've always been the sneaky one. What are you planning?"
Shrugging, Y/N paused. "Not enough time to find out."
He launched himself forwards with blinding speed, heading straight for Julian. The other boy tensed, ready to defend, but Y/N stopped a few steps away, moving the ball from foot to foot.
The burst of speed had spurred on Julian, though, and he moved forwards to try and tackle him. That was all Y/N needed. He watched Julian's centre of balance shift towards him, towards his left side, and his feet start to push him forwards.
As Julian lunged for the ball on Y/N's left side, he switched it, running right and going straight past. He broke out with laughter, speeding up as he ran down the pitch.
Sae's dribbling methods are kind of overpowered, no? This counter-dribble thing works so well...
He came up against Adam Blake next, who had seen the danger and rushed to defend. He seemed calm, sighing deeply as he faced off. "You're one annoying kid, you know that?"
Y/N didn't slow. He kicked the ball high up into the air, and as Blake used his superior strength and physique to bat Y/N out of the way, the smaller boy slipped under his arm.
Blake received the ball well, trapping it with his chest and bringing it down fully in his control. But before he could begin to run, from behind him, Y/N's foot reached under his armpit to hook the ball up and over his shoulder.
Blake grunted with surprise, jumping to stop the ball, but it was too late. Y/N had gifted him the ball only to steal it right back, and had moved on to the next World Five player.
There was only one left between him and the goal. Both Cavazos and Silva had stayed on the sides of the fields, not expecting Y/N to get past three of their players by himself. Luna was the last man remaining, his green eyes piercing into Y/N's as they neared each other.
After a second of watching, he frowned, face suddening growing serious. The mocking smile on his face faltered, and Y/N's grew as he ran at him with a zigzagging, uncontrolled rhythm. "Notice anything?"
"No way..." Luna breathed.
He attempted to tackle, but Y/N breezed past with ease. He ducked from side to side, his body moving fast and his legs moving faster as he switched the ball's place. One second, it was on his left, the other it was on his right.
Luna tracked the ball's movements. There was a small pattern he thought he could see. The ball was on Y/N's right now, so in a second he would switch it to his left.
He went for it, ready to tackle on Y/N's left side. But he paused with shock when Y/N nudged the ball past him on the right side, having kept the ball there the entire time. "Yes way."
Getting past Luna in the space of a heartbeat, Y/N was through. It only took him half a second to line up his shot, and blast it straight into the bottom corner of the net.
Bachira cheered, and across the field, the World Five's faces changed, becoming more serious as Y/N heard incredulous scoffs ring out. Luna spun on his heel, eyes narrowed as he walked slowly towards Y/N.
"You've got to be kidding me." He exclaimed. "Who are you?"
"Y/N L/N." The boy pointed at his player card on his shoulder, mocking him. "Why, are your eyes not working?"
"You little shit." Luna smiled dangerously. "What is that ability?"
"It's just a thing I have." Y/N laughed. "You can't read me, can you? The captain of La Real... you're known for your gamesense and your eyes, but you can't read a seventeen-year-old kid?"
"That's basically a cheat code." Luna bared his teeth. "You've got no actual skill, pequeña rata sin valor." Worthless little rat.
Instead of being confused at what Luna said, as was intended, Y/N narrowed his eyes right back. "¿Quién marcó el gol aquí?" Who scored the goal here?
"Do you have a death wish?" Luna smiled sweetly, not even bothering to veil the threat. "Get me the ball. I'll crush that fragile little ego of yours."
"Get yourself the ball." Y/N replied coolly. He turned his back on the frustrated Luna, beginning to walk back to his own half.