Location: Magicon Empire; Magicon System; Terra; Imperia; Spartans Stadium

Lisa is the first to come over and congratulate me. She hugs me right in the middle of the field, and the cheers somehow get even louder. After that, I shake hands with Lisa's other teammates and the referee. Alec, Frieda, Drew, John, Amanda, and Gary do the same.

Then, we all slowly walk back through the player tunnel into the changing rooms. I can still hear a few claps and whistles, even through something like three closed doors. But slowly and surely, the noise dies down as the spectators leave the stands.

Once we're changed and showered, the seven of us meet back up in the common room of our team's area, where our coaches are waiting for us. This leads to another round of high-fives before Coach Zero speaks up.

"That was amazing! Great job. We won't hold you back today… Go celebrate. We can do the post-match discussion tomorrow."

Coach Dalton nods along sagely while taking a big gulp from a bottle that looks suspiciously like vodka. He finishes with an "aaaahh!" and then speaks up. "Do as she says, we won't do anything else. You should have seen the faces of the RMA coaches. Hah, that brought them back down from their "we are better than you trip!" Now we're off, I've got a bottle to kill."

The coaches leave, and I stare at the now-closed door, dumbfounded. Wow, drunk Coach Dalton certainly is something.

"Hey Sara, aren't you close to Lisa Song or something?" Frieda's comment shakes me out of it.

I look at her and nod. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, do you think her team would want to join us when we go out somewhere? Or will they be angry because they lost?"

I think for a moment, then shake my head. "Naahh, Lisa isn't like this. I think they'd be down if we asked. Wanna go over with me and check?"

"Sure!"

I look at the others, and they all either nod or give me a thumbs-up. Then I leave the room together with Frieda, and we cross the hallway to stop before another door. Frieda lifts her hand and knocks.

A few seconds later, Donnie opens the door. His sad face disappears once he sees me, and he puts on a goofy grin. He turns around to shout into the room. "Guys, pizza girl is here!"

I snort and punch his shoulder. Frieda gives me a weird look. "Donnie is an idiot," I reply with a chuckle. She shakes her head but doesn't comment.

Seconds later, Lisa joins us and asks what's up.

"We wanted to ask if you guys would be down to go out in the city with us."

Donnie and Lisa share a look, then Lisa replies. "Oh, absolutely. We'd love to. When can we leave?"

Now it's Frieda's and my turn to share a look. I shrug, and Frieda replies. "I don't know… Right now?"

"Sounds perfect, just give us five minutes to pack our things," Lisa answers.

Before the two of them can step back into the room, a voice coming from my right clears its throat. "Lady Song, one moment, please."

We all stop and turn. Standing about five meters away from us is a middle-aged man wearing a suit. His hair is gelled back with about a ton of the stuff. He smiles slightly and continues to speak. "I'm really sorry to cross your plans like this, but your mother, the Duchess, would like to meet you before you go out tonight."

He then looks at me. "She's also asking for your presence, Miss Green. If you'd please follow me, I'll lead you to her Grace's lounge."

Lisa nods and says a few words to Donnie. I do the same with Frieda, telling her that they can text me the location they end up in, and I'll join them as soon as possible. Then, Lisa and I follow the butler dude toward an elevator.

It's already waiting for us, and we step inside. The butler dude presses the top button, and we shoot upward. The music barely starts playing, and then we already arrive with a ding. The doors open to a hallway, and butler dude asks us to follow him.

We pass a few doors, which are all to our left, and if my sense of orientation is correct, this is the side where the Gravity Ball field is located. So I guess these are V.I.P. areas or something.

After about ten doors, there is a noticeable gap. The eleventh door is much further apart. A bigger room? Of course, butler dude stops right before the eleventh door and knocks.

Seconds later, it swings open, and butler dude beckons us to enter. He stays outside and closes the door behind me. I barely notice because I'm distracted by what I see before me!

And I'm not talking about the room… Sure, it looks better than every designer outlet, and the paintings on the walls are probably worth a fortune.

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But no, what catches my gaze are the two people on the sofa facing us. They're happily talking about who knows what while sipping on their sparkling wine.

"Mom?" Lisa calls out.

"Dad?!" I blurt out at the same time. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hey, kids," Dad puts his glass aside and smiles a goofy smile. "Fancy seeing you here."

Finally, my mind catches up with what I just said, and I look around with a mild panic. Luckily, the room is empty. Close one. I'm an idiot.

Lisa's the first one to find her words again. She inclines her head toward Dad. "Duke Valterion… Nice to see you."

Dad, of course, interrupts her. "Nothing of that, Lisa! You're a close friend of Sara's, so call me Aidan or Uncle Dan if you want."

Xin Song, next to him, snorts. "As if she would call you uncle. Your sons never called me Aunt Xin."

"True," he chuckles. "Anyway, please sit down. We have to celebrate your match, and we've got some news for you."

We do as he asks while I think about what just happened. It becomes more and more obvious that the Big Five act like one giant family.

Two champagne glasses appear before us, and we raise them for a short "cheers." Both Dad and Xin Song congratulate us for our outstanding performances today before Dad starts to make a few funny jabs again. This time, I'm the victim…

"You should really stop calling the Duke of the Valterion family Dad, Miss Green. Some people might start to suspect something."

Lisa almost spits out her drink and chokes on it. I give him a dry laugh in reply. "Yeah, yeah… I know, Dad."

That even gets a short laugh out of Duchess Song. I look at her and tilt my head. Then I shoot a mischievous smile toward Dad. "So, Aunt Xin, what news do you have for us?"

Dad's mouth drops open in shock. "You didn't!"

"Sure did."

Duchess Song speaks up with a big grin. "You better pay up, Dan. Anyway, yes, we've got some exciting news for you. Lisa, you're with us?"

Lisa shakes herself out of her laughter. "Yeah, sorry, I'm listening."

"Good, have you heard about the Junior National Team?"

While I vaguely remember to have read the name before, Lisa jumps up. "No way! Are you saying what I'm thinking? That's insane!"

"Yes way, the scouts were here in the neighboring box… And well, you know us. We might have eavesdropped a bit… Let's just say they were impressed. A lot. So I think you've got a good chance of getting a call soon. Your controller friend too, Sara."

I nod slowly. "I'm not sure I understand… I've heard the name before, and national teams sounds big, but what's the deal?"

Lisa looks at me with big eyes. "Right, I always forget that you didn't grow up here… Sorry, bad words! The Junior Team is the biggest thing ever. The best young players throughout the whole Magicon Empire! They play against their counterparts from all the other nations out there. But the crazy part is that the players are almost exclusively fourth-years and fresh graduates. And now they are considering adding us! Can you believe it?"

I have to admit, that sounds amazing. Getting to play against the best young players of other nations out there will be really big. And it also means we are part of the best players within the whole Magicon Empire! "Wow!" Is all I reply.

Dad chuckles. "Just don't let it get to your head… The Earth Adventure happens before that anyway, so you've got time to mentally prepare for it. It might also be worth considering getting rid of Sara Green then… The Junior National Team is a great way to get your name out there, you know."

I nod at him. "Yeah, I know… The disguise is starting to bring more issues than benefits. I think after our time on Earth, it's time for the big announcement Grandpa John wants to make."

Lisa does a quick double-take but then looks like she remembers that I am indeed directly related to the Emperor.

Dad gives me a thumbs-up. "That sounds like a plan. I'll tell John and your mother so that they can start some preparations."

"Thanks, Dad!"

Xin Song looks at Dad and speaks up too. "Just don't forget about little old me. We still have to fix the little mess our daughters brought upon us with the retainership."

She then looks back at us. "But that doesn't concern you right now… So go out and celebrate! Your friends should have arrived by now."

I check my interface, and there really is a message from Frieda. They found a nice place to hang out and are waiting for us to join them. Lisa's team is with them, which probably explains why it's an Italian restaurant - we're talking about Donnie after all. The message also includes the directions from the closest jump room, which means we're pretty much ready to go.

I look at Lisa, and she nods, clearly thinking the same. We say our goodbyes and end up hugging our respective parent each, then I cast a Teleportation spell, and we vanish.

The evening out with Lisa's team was very nice. We had a very good time and stayed up way too long. Luckily, I now know Tim's Anti-Hangover spell and also a weak version of a Refreshment spell.

That's why I'm completely fine to visit my Leadership course on Wednesday morning. Today, the instructor tells us that we'll be doing something different. As we've learned a lot about leadership in the past months, he thinks now it's time to do a bit of a practical exercise to apply our knowledge.

Therefore, he divides the class into groups of ten people and gives each of them an assignment. Each group has to show an example of bad and good leadership concerning a situation.

My group's job is to prepare a role-play where a CEO has to inform his employees that 15% of all jobs in the company have to be cut because of an economic downturn.

We're pretty quick to find an example of bad leadership, and I get to play the CEO while most of the others take roles of different employees. Additionally, one also plays a member of the worker's union.

We form up in one corner of the classroom, and I stand before the nine others in my group. Well, standing is the wrong word… I stand on top of my telekinetic bench so that I'm physically above all the others, and they have to look up to me. A camera drone floats close to my face, and I put on a smug expression.

I stare them down for a good 30 seconds before I speak up with a bored voice. "We failed to reach our targeted annual revenue. Therefore, we have to start cutting down on our expenses! That starts with the low performers among you."

I pause for dramatic effect, then lift my arm and point at two different people. "You and you, you missed your sales target… You're fired." I continue to point out other people and list different reasons why they are fired. "You've been sick too many days – fired! You're a fan of the Drevin Cowboys – fired! You two look ugly – fired!"

The workers union guy cries out in outrage, but I just grin at him. "You've annoyed me for a long time now… You're fired!"

We end our recording, and I cringe inwardly. That was so bad! I really hope such things don't happen in real life!

Now comes the hard part… We have to do the same again with an example of good leadership. I find this exponentially harder as the situation doesn't change… The leader still has to fire some employees. How can we make this a better experience for everyone involved?

In the end, we don't come up with anything concrete when the lesson ends. Luckily, we can continue with the assignment during the weekend and next week's lesson.

As I'm not present in next week's lesson, my group decides to meet up on Saturday afternoon. I hope we can come up with something then!

After that, I leave the classroom and meet up with Lydia. Time for another round of Improvised Combat!

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