Ascension│Bluelock x male reader

26. Bluelock Man

The room was... strange.

Y/N didn't exactly know how a place like this could exist in real life. It was something out of an anime, something out of a book, out of a video game.

White walls on all sides, made from large individual panels. Each panel was moveable, able to retract from the wall in a split-second. A cannon would always follow, firing off a soccer ball into the room. As Y/N had found out, the balls could come from any direction, at any time.

There was no physical goal. Every shot, a hologram of a goal would appear on one side of the field, as well as a tall, animated figure called 'Bluelock Man'.

Y/N hadn't bothered kicking the first few balls. Instead, he was simply watching, observing how the system worked. The soccer ball was physical, and he could kick it like any other. But somehow, the holographic goal and goalkeeper could also both touch the ball, with Bluelock Man able to punch the ball aside at a level Y/N only expected from world-class goalkeepers.

There was a speed element to it. The room was quite large, and before a panel retracted and a ball shot out, a small red dot would glow on the floor, like a laser sight.

Y/N would have to dash to that dot, accelerating quickly in a completely random direction. The ball would shoot out a moment later, and he would have to trap it, before firing off a shot.

He missed the first few shots. If he didn't fire a shot within a second of trapping it, the goal would completely disappear, and Y/N would have to pass the ball to the goalkeeper and give up the attempt.

High up on the wall, a timer was counting down. Y/N had 90 minutes to score 100 goals. If he didn't he assumed his Bluelock journey was over.

Once he'd figured out how it worked, he stood directly in the centre of the pitch, waiting for a tiny red dot to appear. He was going to beat this challenge.

There! In his peripheral vision, a small red dot sprang to life, glowing on the floor. Y/N felt his feet move before he'd even registered the dot, sprinting by instinct to the spot.

He accelerated fast across the field, reaching the dot fast. It blinked out of view as he reached it, and a hatch opened up behind him at the same time as the holographic goal spawned.

The ball fired out fast, spinning in the air as it flew towards his back. He'd heard the noise of the panel, and sidestepped to one side, using the outside of his foot to slow the ball and send it up into the air.

Exhaling calmly, he moved so the goal was in front of him, and drew back a leg. He hit a clean shot, the top of his foot connecting solidly and sending the ball flying towards the top right corner.

The goalie reacted faster than he'd expected, crouching and leaping across the goal, but it wasn't fast enough to stop the ball hitting the back of the net. A small spray of digital confetti flew into the air, and high above, the number of goals needed went from 100 to 99.

"'Kay." He once again readied himself in the centre of the room, jogging over to the spot where it would be easiest for him to receive a ball. The holographic goal blinked out of existence as he did so, with the physical ball just dropping to the floor.

He waited, eyes flickering around the room.

Within a few seconds, the red dot appeared, in the far corner of the room. Y/N was sprinting for in as soon as he registered, barely making it there before a hatch opened up and the ball fired out.

He spun on the ball of his foot, doing a simple trap by tapping the ball midair. A quick glance over the room revealed the goal on the complete opposite side, and he fired a shot along the ground.