Meanwhile, Sofia was sitting in the school library, still hurt by what Doug, Earl, and Martin said. Hugo passed by the library when he saw his girlfriend so sad.

"Sofie, what's wrong?" Hugo asked. "Why didn't you want to try out for the team?"

"I did want to try out for the team, but the other boys told me not to," Sofia told him.

Hugo didn't like the sound of that. "Did they tell you not to try out for the team just because you're a girl?" he asked. He may have told Sofia not to try out for the flying derby team at Royal Prep the first time they met, but that was when he was a different person.

"No, they said I was too little—they didn't mean it in a bad way though," Sofia said.

"Too little?" Hugo frowned. "You may be barely my size, but you're still a flying derby champion. Your small physique can be useful."

"That's what I told them, but they still think I'm too little," Sofia sighed. "They just won't give me a chance. This is even worse than how you treated me when we first met."

Hugo couldn't believe those boys treated Sofia like that. "I'm sorry, Sofie," he apologized.

"Thanks," Sofia smiled. "Well, aren't you going to participate in the flying derby?"

"Tryouts are cancelled," Hugo told her.

"Why?" Sofia asked.

"For some reason, those boys left," Hugo replied. "It seemed like they weren't interested in the flying derby anymore. Well, even if they did participate in the flying derby, I wouldn't have wanted to do it without you anyway."

"Thanks, Hugo," Sofia smiled.

Nobody knew that Martin, Earl, and Doug were shrunken, so throughout the day, the teachers marked them absent, which surprised Mr. Ellis, the headmaster.

"Where could those boys have gotten to?" Mr. Ellis frowned.

"We're going to need all the help we can get to find them," Sir Bentley declared.

"I'll see if I can get my brother and sister-in-law to help," Grimtrix declared.

"Thank you," Mr. Ellis smiled.

Meanwhile, at Ever Realm Academy, Axel and his classmates were getting their tests back, and he had the highest score.

"Great job, Ax," Roderick smiled.

"Thanks, Roderick," Axel smiled back.

Suddenly, the headmaster, Sir Robert, came and whispered in the teacher's ear. The teacher said, "Prince Axel, you'll have to be excused for the rest of the day—it's an emergency."

"Okay," Axel said, getting up.

When Axel and Sir Robert came out, the latter told the former that he was needed at the Corinthian Sports School to help search for three missing students.

"Okay, I'll go and help," Axel declared. He left Ever Realm Academy and flew to the Corinthian Sports School on his flying horse.