The morning started with a scream.

Michael Sterling was sitting in the hotel lobby drinking his third coffee. He heard the noise coming from the spa area.

"That sounded like Arthur," Michael said putting his cup down.

He walked quickly towards the spa. The glass doors were steamed up.

When Michael opened the door he stopped.

He could not see the pool. He could not see the jacuzzi. He could not even see the floor.

The entire room was filled with white foam. It was a mountain of bubbles. It looked like a cloud had crashed into the hotel.

"Help!" a voice shouted from inside the white mountain. "I am lost in the soap!"

Michael waded into the foam. It came up to his waist.

"Arthur?" Michael shouted.

"I am here Boss!" Arthur voice replied. "I cannot find the exit!"

Suddenly a giant figure rose from the bubbles like Godzilla rising from the sea.

It was Diego Nunez.

The Bull was covered in foam. He had a beard of bubbles. He looked very happy.

"Hola Boss!" Diego roared. "Welcome to the cleaning party!"

"Diego," Michael sighed. "What did you do?"

"I wanted a bath," Diego explained. "The bottle said relaxing foam. So I used it."

"How much did you use?"

"All of it," Diego said. "And then I found another box in the cupboard. So I used that too. More bubbles means more clean right?"

"No Diego," Michael said. "It means we have to pay for the cleaning."

Enzo Silva the Pitbull popped up next to Diego. He was swimming in the bubbles.

"It is like snow!" Enzo shouted. "But warm! I like it!"

Arthur stumbled out of the foam near the door. He looked like a snowman.

"My eyes," Arthur wiped his face. "They sting. And I taste lavender. Why does Diego always cause disasters involving water?"

"Because he is a force of nature," Michael said pulling Arthur out of the room. "Come on. We have a match tonight. Let the hotel staff deal with the foam."

Later that afternoon the team bus arrived at the Seoul World Cup Stadium for the final game of the tour.

The opponent was FC Seoul. The local heroes.

The squad was tired. The game against PSG had been brutal. Kenji Sato was gone. The midfield felt a bit empty without the Engine.

Michael stood on the pitch watching the warm up.

He looked at the academy players who had traveled with the squad. Most of them were just there for the experience carrying bags and cleaning boots.

But one of them was different.

Leo Stone.

The fourteen year old kid Michael had signed earlier in the summer. He was now fifteen. He had celebrated his birthday on the plane.

Leo was juggling the ball on the sideline. He was small. Very small. He looked like a mascot. His kit was baggy on him.

But the ball was glued to his foot.

Arthur walked over. He smelled strongly of lavender soap.

"Boss," Arthur said. "We have a problem. Isaiah has a tight hamstring. He cannot play ninety minutes. And Jamie Vardy drank three energy drinks so he is vibrating but he cannot run forever."

"We need a spark," Michael said. "Someone to come off the bench."

He looked at Leo Stone.

"Arthur," Michael said. "How brave are we feeling?"

Arthur looked at the kid.

"He is fifteen Boss. If a defender sneezes on him he will fly away."

"Watch him," Michael said.

Michael walked over to Leo.

"Leo," Michael said.

The kid stopped juggling. He caught the ball on his neck.

"Yes Boss?"

"Did you bring your boots?"

"I always have my boots Boss," Leo said. "I sleep with them."

"Good," Michael smiled. "Because you are on the bench tonight."

Leo eyes went wide. "The bench? For the first team?"

"Yes. We sold Kenji. We have a space. Do not be scared."

"I am not scared," Leo said. He dropped the ball and kicked it up into his hands. "I am ready to dance."

THE MATCH: BARNSLEY VS FC SEOUL

The game was sticky.

FC Seoul played well. They were organized. They ran hard. They wanted to beat the English team.

Barnsley looked heavy.

Enzo Silva was trying his best to cover the ground Kenji used to cover but Enzo was a tackler not a runner. He chased the ball but left gaps behind him.

Kai Sora was trying to dictate play but the heat was making him slow.

MINUTE 40

FC Seoul scored. A quick counter attack caught Diego Nunez out of position (he was still thinking about the bubbles probably). The striker slotting the ball past Jan Visser.

1 to 0.

The crowd cheered. The home team was winning.

HALFTIME

The locker room was quiet.

"We are slow," Michael said honestly. "We are heavy. We ate too much BBQ and we sat in too many jacuzzis."

"The bubbles made me soft," Diego admitted poking his own bicep.

"We need energy," Michael said. "We need something unpredictable."

He looked at Leo Stone sitting in the corner. The kid looked tiny next to the giants of the first team.

"Leo," Michael said. "Warm up."

The room turned.

"The baby?" Diego asked. "Boss he is a child. They will break him."

"They have to catch him to break him," Michael said.

MINUTE 75

The score was still 1 to 0. Barnsley were knocking on the door but nobody was answering.

Jamie Vardy had come on. He was running around causing chaos but he had no service.

Michael signaled to the fourth official.

SUBSTITUTION FOR BARNSLEY.

OFF: KAI SORA.

ON: LEO STONE.

The crowd murmured. Who was this kid? He looked like he had won a competition to be on the pitch.

Kai walked off. He high fived Leo.

"Good luck little man," Kai said lowering his sunglasses. "Do not lose the ball."

Leo ran onto the pitch. His socks were pulled up over his knees.

"He looks like a hobbit," Arthur whispered covering his eyes. "I cannot look."

MINUTE 80

Jan Visser caught a cross. He threw the ball out to Leo Stone on the right wing.

The FC Seoul left back saw the kid. He smiled. He thought this was free candy.

He ran at Leo to smash him.

Leo did not move. He waited.

At the last second Leo dropped his shoulder.

He did not touch the ball. He just moved his body.

The defender bought the fake. He slid past Leo tackling the air.

Leo tapped the ball forward.

"Whoa," Arthur said opening one eye.

Another midfielder came to crush the kid.

Leo did a roulette. A spin.

He spun around the midfielder. He was so small he went under the arm of the opponent.

He was free.

"PASS IT!" Jamie Vardy screamed from the box.

Leo did not pass. He drove inside.

A center back stepped out. A giant Korean defender.

Leo stopped. He put his foot on the ball. The defender stopped.

Leo looked left.

He passed right.

It was a no look reverse pass.

It slid through the legs of the defender.

It rolled perfectly into the path of Jamie Vardy.

Jamie did not even have to break stride.

He hit it first time.

BANG.

The ball flew into the bottom corner.

GOAL.

1 to 1.

Jamie Vardy did not run to the corner flag. He ran straight to Leo Stone.

He lifted the kid into the air. Leo looked like a doll in Jamie hands.

"YOU MAGIC MOUSE!" Jamie screamed. "WHAT WAS THAT PASS?!"

Leo grinned. He looked tiny and huge at the same time.

Michael felt the phone in his pocket vibrate violently.

[SYSTEM ALERT]

[ACADEMY GRADUATE DEBUT]

[NAME: LEO STONE]

[ATTRIBUTE UNLOCKED: THE PHANTOM]

[DESCRIPTION: HE CANNOT BE CAUGHT. HE MOVES BETWEEN THE SPACES.]

"The Phantom," Michael whispered. "We found him Arthur. We found the ghost."

MINUTE 90

The game ended 1 to 1.

Barnsley won the Seoul Super Cup on goal difference (thanks to the goals against Atletico).

But nobody was talking about the trophy.

They were talking about the kid.

The players walked a lap of honor. Diego Nunez was carrying the trophy. But he grabbed Leo Stone and put the kid inside the cup.

"King of the cup!" Diego roared. "The baby is the King!"

Leo laughed sitting inside the silver trophy waving at the fans.

THE FLIGHT HOME

The plane was quiet. Most players were asleep.

Diego Nunez was snoring loudly. It sounded like a chainsaw.

Enzo Silva was sleeping with his head on Diego shoulder.

Michael sat at the front with Arthur.

"We did it Boss," Arthur said quietly. "We survived the tour. We have money. We have a team."

"And we have a ghost," Michael smiled looking back at where Leo was sleeping curled up on two seats.

"He is special," Arthur admitted. "I was scared. But he is... slippery."

"He will need time," Michael said. "We cannot play him every game. He is fifteen. But for twenty minutes? When the legs are heavy? He is a weapon."

Michael opened his laptop.

[PRE SEASON COMPLETE]

[SQUAD STATUS: READY]

[NEXT MATCH: PREMIER LEAGUE GAME 1 VS WOLVES]

He looked at the squad list one last time.

GK: Jan Visser / Sam Jones

DEF: Diego, Pavard, Tom, New Guy?

MID: Kai, Enzo, Leo

ATT: Isaiah, Danny, Jamie, Erik

It was a strange squad. A mix of giants and midgets. Veterans and babies.

But it had personality.

"Arthur," Michael said.

"Yes Boss?"

"When we get back remind me to ban Diego from the spa."

Arthur chuckled. "I think the hotel in Seoul already banned him for life. They are still cleaning up the bubbles."

Michael closed his laptop. He looked out of the window at the clouds below.

They were flying back to England. Back to the rain. Back to the Premier League.

The Dynasty was awake. The pieces were in place.

And Michael Sterling had a feeling that this season was going to be the most fun yet.

"Sleep well Arthur," Michael whispered. "We have a lot of work to do on Monday."

The plane flew on carrying the Misfits home.

And somewhere in the cargo hold the Seoul Super Cup trophy was shining in the dark.

And next to it was a bottle of lavender bubble bath that Diego had stolen as a souvenir.

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