Location: Magicon Empire; Magicon System; Terra; Imperia; FBC

In the end, we manage to score five goals in fifteen minutes, even if we still lose the game. But that doesn't matter, it was our best showing against the coaches so far, and they are visibly proud of us in the end.

What that means is that we are allowed to try John's crazy tactics in a second game against them, and for a few moments, it actually works quite well before the coaches adapt and wipe the floor with us.

Now, today's training is finished, and we come together in the center of the field for a final talk. "I'm impressed," coach Dalton starts by praising us. "Not only did you make us work very hard, but you also made a stupid and reckless tactic work for you."

Coach Zero agrees. "That's true… While it's far away from a tactic to use for the full game, it might be valid in certain situations. So, if you think it'll give you an advantage tomorrow, you're hereby allowed to use it."

Alec accepts the praise with poise and smiles broadly. "Thanks, Coach Dalton, Coach Zero. We won't disappoint you!"

The next morning comes with another round of classes, and I meet up with Lisa, Bernd, and Victor for the History of The Empire class. Normally, they all play hooky, much to the annoyance of Professor Bishop, but today, all three of them are there, and most of the other RMA students are in attendance as well.

I admit, this is the first history lesson where I'm not there for Professor Bishop's lesson. No, this time, I'm here to trash-talk my opponents. I boldly sit next to Lisa in the back instead of my usual seat near the front of the room.

Professor Bishop is not there yet, so I look at Lisa with a big grin. "Are you scared yet? Because I would be… We're so ready for you tonight!"

Good thing that the others all know that I am Lisa's retainer. Otherwise, a comment like this would have caused a big uproar. Now, it only causes chuckles and calls of "hear, hear" and whatever else.

Lisa looks back at me with a deadpan expression. "You wish. You've only played against trash teams so far… We're gonna show you how a real team is playing the game!"

Before I can say something in reply, Professor Bishop, who must have arrived in the meantime, interrupts me. "You can discuss your petty little rivalries after the lesson. Now it's time for me to tell you about the Great Depression during Empress Galinda Benson's reign in the years 5680 to 5695 of The Empire. It all started with…"

I'm not really listening, as I'm still exchanging playful insults with Lisa. We keep the noise down, but the result is the same. When the lesson ends, I know next to nothing about the Great Depression…

Luckily, I can easily fix this with a visit to the library. History things are very well documented. But not today! I have to prepare for the game. That means no Utility magic course, and I also miss out on Lisa's weekly gathering at her apartment. Well, I don't think it even takes place today as Lisa has to prepare too.

That's how I find myself standing in my dorm's small kitchen and preparing a light meal for lunch. The other three are still in their classes and will come directly to the Gravity Ball stadium afterward.

I've got another meeting with my team and the coaches in about an hour. There, we'll discuss final details and slowly start with the warm-up. Once that is done, the game can start!

It's time!

Probably the most important game of this year's college Gravity Ball season can start. The winner will make a giant step toward winning the first year's championship.

Apparently, there haven't been two teams head-to-head for a long time. RMA dominated the first-year's championship for decades. And now here we are. The team from FBC is at the top of the table with one point more than RMA.

It's big. So big that even the second to fourth-year teams watch from the stands. Hell, I think I even saw Headmaster Benson up there in the VIP section just now.

I stand together with my team in our half of the field. Lisa's team waits for us on the other side. I know that she's playing an offensive position, but besides Donnie from Lisa's gatherings, who's wearing goalkeeper gloves, I don't know a single one of her teammates.

Two of them are rather big, so my guess is that they're the defenders. But the other three… I can't place them. We'll see once we get into position, I guess. The coaches from both teams stand at the sidelines, and the stands are filled to the last place.

The interest in the game was so big that both our schools decided to relocate the venue to the big stadium in the heart of Imperia. It's where the Terran Spartans play normally, and I'm a bit intimidated by the atmosphere.

A marching band starts playing the national anthem, and the stands quiet down. Just to sing along loudly as soon as the first verse starts.

After that, the referee asks us to get into position and asks the team captains to meet her in the middle. Both Alec and Lisa step forward and talk with the referee. She flips a coin and awards Alec the win. He obviously chooses that we get to start with the first kickoff, which means that we can start with attacking.

He gets back into position with a smile on his face and does a fist bump with all of us. "Let's do this, team!" He calls out, and I put on my game face. Time to teach RMA who the real champions are this year.

The referee blows the whistle, and Frieda kicks the ball toward one of Drew's catchers. Lisa's jumper reacts very aggressively and immediately teleports in between and intercepts the ball with his bat.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

It now flies toward Lisa, who is rushing along the sidelines. I suppress a laugh at the bewildered look on the jumper's face when Drew's catcher crashes into him and, therefore eliminates him for five seconds. It's very unconventional but perfectly legal to do so.

Alec is already on his way to intercept Lisa while Amanda stays close to our goal. Gary is covering the other offensive player from Lisa's team. I see a frown on Lisa's face when she is forced to pass the ball to one of their waiting catchers.

That's when I teleport to intercept. I guess she wanted to make a play with their jumper. I appear right between the ball, facing the catcher. Therefore, I immediately notice it moving toward me.

Nice try, but that's our move! I make a split-second decision and simply hit the ball on the top so that it's moving straight down.

"What are you doing?" I hear Drew's voice in my head when he notices me diverting from the game plan.

"Sorry, saw the enemy controller copying your move and had to improvise."

I teleport straight down and arrive on the ground under the ball, preparing to swing my bat again. We're still deep in our half of the field, so there's no defensive player close to me. Drew's specialized Communication spell is convenient. It's extremely short-range, but I can stay connected to it through teleports.

That's why I don't miss Alec's reply to my improvisation comment. "Gotcha, we're executing John's plan now!"

A series of "understood" follows, and I react accordingly. I abort my bat swing and kick the ball back toward our own goal instead. A pair of Drew's catchers receives the ball and bounces it between each other. Meanwhile, my whole team, apart from Amanda, rushes forward like madmen.

Amanda jogs toward the middle line, where she stops right between Lisa and the other attacker. Drew passes the ball to her, and she immediately hits it with her bat so that it flies on toward Alec.

Lisa's whole team stops for a moment, trying to comprehend what the hell we're doing. Her jumper reacts the fastest and teleports right after his penalty countdown finishes.

That's my cue, and I teleport as well. I appear a bit before him and kick the ball straight up where Drew has positioned another catcher. It bounces the ball forward at an angle, and the ball finally arrives before Alec.

Lisa's team loses all cohesion, and one of her defenders tries to block off Alec. The other one covers John. That leaves Frieda and Gary wide open because Lisa realized way too late that she should help out on their defense as well.

Alec shouts another short command through the Communication spell, and we react accordingly. He then passes the ball over to Gary, who ducks, letting the ball fly past him. The enemy jumper appears next to him, dumbfounded, and receives another penalty, courtesy of Gary's bat.

I teleport again and use my bat to stop the ball from exiting the field. Then I pass it to one of Drew's catchers and join the others in rushing forward.

A few passes and one more teleport later, the ball reaches Frieda right next to the goalpost. Donnie, the goalkeeper, stretches himself to cover a large portion of the goal. But Frieda didn't earn her position in our team for nothing. Such situations are exactly where she excels.

She fakes a swing with her bat and lets go of it at the end of it. The bat clatters to the ground next to the goal. Unfortunately, Donnie isn't fooled and stays in position. Frieda doesn't care, though, and continues to do something like a back handspring.

Then the ball arrives, and she kicks it with her foot midway through her handspring. It flies right past the baffled goalkeeper and into the goal. One – nil for us!

Lisa's team didn't find their rhythm throughout the whole attack. They were always a step too late, and our overwhelming number of attacking players was too much for them. John's crazy plan actually worked!

Lisa shakes her head and scowls in my direction. I smile back at her, and we form up for another kick-off. This time, Lisa gets to start.

"Good job, guys. Now concentrate! We can't let them score now," I speak into the Communication spell once we're done cheering for our goal.

The referee whistles again, and Lisa passes the ball to the second attacker. They play more conventional with straight passes and non-fancy movements across the field.

I notice one very important thing, though. They are fast! So fast that our defense is immediately pressured. Even Amanda has to support both Alec and Gary in a defensive role.

Our clear weakness with the missing goalkeeper becomes apparent, and both Drew and I have to make some last-minute saves. The problem is that we have to react so fast that we can't make a good pass to our teammates, so every time we save the ball on the goal line, Lisa's jumper is there and initiates a new attack.

If things continue like this, it's only a matter of time until one of us messes up and they score.

"We need to take out their jumper!" I call out through our Communication spell.

"How?" Amanda asks in reply.

Drew comes up with a plan. "Amanda, stay close to Alec… Sara, I try to save the next ball about a meter before our goal line and make it drop straight down. We've only kicked the ball far out so far, that might cause a second of confusion for their jumper. Once it drops, I need you to pass it on to Alec. The jumper will intercept, but Amanda can catch him if he's close. And uh, if I mess up, save it on the line, and we try again."

I can't come up with something better in the split second we took to talk, so I agree. Amanda sends her agreement too, and slowly gets closer to Alec, who is currently busy covering Lisa.

It doesn't take long until the other attacker gets into position and takes another shot at our goal. Two of Drew's catchers move out to meet it and manage to make a weird double bounce.

But it works! The ball loses its momentum and begins to fall down. I catch a look of surprise on the other jumper's face just before I teleport and continue to pass the ball toward Alec.

The jumper shakes his head and proceeds to teleport as well. As always, he gets the ball before it arrives, even close to Alec's bat, but the damage is done! Amanda is in range and swings the bat at his back. He swears loudly when he enters his five-second penalty.

Even better, Amanda gets control of the ball, and for the first time in what feels like minutes, we can start our own attack.

And what an attack it is. The ball flicks between John, Frieda, Amanda, and two of Drew's catchers and finally arrives up in the air close to the left goalpost. I teleport and kick it in. Two – nil!

The goal comes at a cost. Donnie was already jumping toward the ball when I arrived. So instead of catching the ball, he catches me… Which leads to a penalty, effective immediately after Lisa's kickoff.

A penalty that hurts because Lisa scores a goal before my five-second time is over… Two – one.

After that, we try John's tactic a second time… It backfires spectacularly. One of Lisa's defensive players intercepts the ball and passes it straight forward. Their jumper is a fraction of a second faster than me and kicks it toward Lisa, who just has to swat it into our empty goal. Two both.

Then it's halftime, and we enter our cabin. Coach Zero is furious and yells at us to get it together. Coach Dalton plays the good cop and says we're doing good so far but asks us to stop trying John's tactic. The surprise is out of the bag, and it won't work again, he says.

The second half starts with a kick-off for Lisa.

This time, we manage to defend quite easily because the other attacker makes a slight mistake. A quick counterattack leads to John scoring his first goal. Three – two.

After that, it goes back and forth until the score is five – five, a few moments before the final whistle.

Lisa's team started playing it very safe a few minutes ago. I've got the feeling that they are happy with the draw. But we're not, and so we start one final push toward the goal. Alec and Gary stay back to defend against a possible counterattack – we've learned our lesson.

The other five of us focus on the attack and pass the ball through our rows. Then it happens! Three seconds before the game is over, one of Drew's catchers manages to hit the other jumper in the back. He's out of the game!

We react lightning-quick and go all in. After a short discussion, Alec joins the attack as well, and we overwhelm Lisa's defense. The ball reaches me, and I kick it in with the final whistle.

We all look at the referee. She nods. The goal still counts! Six – five.

We've won!

The cheers are endless.

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