Troy and the Captain of Ringdom

Mighty Maddie

Maddison, Max and Mrs Riecke were having a nice time at the latter's childhood home in Wisconsin. They built so many memories in this town over the years and for only the first time, the Rieckes were in this marvelous city without the bread winner and the first seed of the family. Max and Maddie continued looking out for any of their mates from the years past - staying with their grandparents for too long was taking a tender toll.

Maddie sat with her grandpa and grandma on the front porch of their country house. The heavy winds smothered the shrubs and grasses. Mrs Cosgrove just finished telling her favorite granddaughter a good old folktale and anyone would normally expect Maddie to fall asleep, on hearing the end of the story, but instead, the reverse became the case. Mrs Cosgrove fell asleep on her rocking chair right beside her husband. Maddie saw both of them resting and simply smirked. She then laid face up on the porch.

The stars became a sight for Maddie's sore eyes for the next ten minutes. She then began to feel the winds become all the more violent - that felt a bit unusual. Maddison got up to her feet and the first site which her eyes caught was a dark figure in the distance. Out of curiosity, she walked towards the figure whom unknown to her was a familiar foe. As she got closer and closer the figure who was now identified as Joao, swung a sword at Maddison's face and it stopped only when it's tip was within a metre of piercing Maddie's forehead. Maddison knew that was a huge warning not to take a step further; her heart raced faster than a vibrating tuning fork.

Joao now took her own steps forward as she observed the presence of Mr and Mrs Cosgrove. Max and Mrs Riecke were both inside the country house watching a Saturday evening programme on television. Maddison knew better than screaming to get their attention; else she'd risk getting either or even both of them killed. Mrs Riecke initially planned to stay a single weekend at her parent's place, but Maddison fueled a bid to extend their stay by a week - Max was initially against Maddie's suggestion but seeing that it kept him from school for one full week was enough reason he needed to be in support of the decision. For a minute now, it felt like Maddie's decision to stay in Wisconsin for another full week was about to backfire.

"Maddison Riecke" Joao said now standing face to face with her opposite number.

"Maddison Riecke? I think you're in the wrong house lady. Maybe you could check a couple of blocks down the aisle. There's no Maddison here" said Maddison in an already infructuous bid to keep the curtains closed on her identity.

"Where is the green amethyst?" Joao asked.

"Green amethyst? I don't know what you're talking about lady. What's a green amethyst?" Maddison sarcastically stated.

"You better not mess with me mortal. Any more stunts and I push my sword into your thick empty cranium" said Joao who once again indicated she was in no mood for any of Maddie's silly pranks. Maddie knew she had to think of something, and fast, as Joao seemed to be breathing down her neck. If she revealed the location of the green amethyst, then the game was surely up. Joao could jump across a portal straight to Warsaw in the snap of a finger.

Maddison performed a stunning back flip, showing she had a few tricks up her sleeve as well. Maddie snapped a button on her wrist which alerted some of her drones to come to her aid. In few seconds, dozens of Maddie's drones swarmed Joao - that would definitely keep her busy for the time being. Maddie ran towards her grandparents and drew their long naps to an abrupt end.

"Grandpa, Grandma! Get up!" Maddison yelled while patting them gently. Not long after, Mrs Riecke and Max popped out of the house after being disturbed by the noise from outside the house. Maddie was left wondering how the noise from Joao's surge against her drones wasn't enough to wake both of her grandparents!

"Mom, Max, get grandpa and grandma to the basement to get some cover. Seems like this creep is going to be here for a while" Maddie said pointing her left hand in the direction of Joao when making her final sentence -

"What about you Maddie?" Mrs Riecke asked momentarily looking at the drones who were doing a spectacular job wearing Joao out.

"Just go. I have a plan" said Maddison.

"No young lady! You're coming with us! I'm not losing anymore of my loved ones" Mrs Riecke said, about to give out a tear while the boldness of her little girl urged her to be strong.

"It's alright Mom. I'm promise I'm not gonna die" Maddie said.

"You promise?" Mrs Riecke asked just to be sure.

"Maybe! Now go!" Maddie said as she pushed Max and her Mom before turning back and sprinting in the direction of Joao. They then headed to the country house basement just as Maddie instructed. Mrs Riecke looked to the skies once more, before she headed straight down to get safety.

A couple of moments later, Joao had completely finished each of Maddison's sophisticated drones. Maddison felt a lot more of surprise than dismay - she just witness a paranormal who had so much will and resolve to not leave Wisconsin without getting what she came for, take out a large bulk of her machines. Maddison attempted to push another one of her dangerous wrist buttons but Joao was well ahead. The stealthy killer swung her electricity defying whip straight at Maddison's wrist causing some pain on both arms and ultimately shorting the circuits in the wristband.

Joao walked towards Maddison with some giant strides to obtain the information she needed or murder the little mortal if she attempted to play any more sudden tricks. The pain in Maddie's arm now began to feel even more excruciating. Joao used her sword to lift Maddie's head by raising it up from underneath her jaw. She felt Maddie must have gotten a big taste of what she could be capable of.

"I'm going to give you one last chance...smart little girl" Joao said, establishing firm eye contact with Maddison.

"I think smart is a huge understatement" replied Maddison with a rare shade of confidence.

"You're smart and you have a big mouth. Anyway, if you are as intelligent as they say you are, I believe you should be able to make the right choice..." said Joao, pausing momentarily as if she felt something.

"Tell me where the green amethyst is or I will cut open your throat and send your miscreant soul straight to hell!" Joao concluded. Maddison took some time before making her next utterance. As if fate were on her side, a trio of mega spaceships came into the scene; hovering in the air just behind Joao. The common feature of all the spaceships was huge blue letter 'R' drawn right across their fronts and rears. They had huge loaded plasma blasters pointing at Joao and Maddie instinctively realized that they were on her side.

"I'm not the miscreant soul here...you are!" Maddie said after which she pulled down Joao's sword and swung her right boot straight at her (Joao's) cheek. Maddison reacted very quickly as she rolled away to give room for the spaceships to work their magic.

In turns, each of the hovering spaceships sent huge nuclearesque blasts straight at Joao. Maddison ran to take cover behind her grandparents' rocking chairs. She waited there for close to ten minutes while the aid which had come to her rescue engaged in an intense fire exchange with Joao.

Joao soon got completely worn out and so she boarded a portal back to Inversia to spare herself a sultry defeat. Maddison sustained a couple of minor scrapes and cuts here and there, but it was nothing a first aid kit couldn't fix. She mustered enough strength to get up and approach the owners of the UFO's that just saved her life. Although, she was careful enough not to let her guard down - they could be anybody she didn't suspect!

Men from each of the three ships now stood side by side supposed waiting to have a word with Maddison.

"Who the heck are you guys?" said Maddison.

"We're from the RUV. We came here to prevent you from handing Joao information about the location of the green amethyst" one of the men said. The three men were now identified by Maddie as Lieutenants Berge, Steve and Caglar, thanks to their conspicuous name tags!

"Woah! Woah!! Woah!!! What's an RUV?" asked Maddison. The young scientist was even more stunned by the fact that the lieutenants already knew the reason Joao was here. However, knowing who she was dealing with first was a safer option.

"We're the Ringdom Undercover Vigilantes...affiliates to Ringdom Incorporated. We're the only other ones who know about the green amethyst's location and it's full capabilities" Lieutenant Berge stated.

"So how'd you know that I knew where the stupid stone's located?" Maddie bore to ask.

"Two weeks ago our firewall experienced a major breach..." Lieutenant Berge began.

"We discovered that someone hacked into our secret information storage searching for information about a special stone..." Lieutenant Caglar continued. Maddison began to feel a bit uneasy, knowing that she had become the subject of the conversation.

"Well...anyone could have done that you know?" said Maddison before a long awkward chuckle as her attempts to switch the subject proved futile.

"Not just anyone Maddison. The firewall has about five discontinuous blockage units, but you managed to pass through all of them with ease..." said Berge.

"Look I'm sorry for breaching your firewall alright? I just really needed to do it to get my brother back...I meant no harm. Honest" said Maddison who sincerely felt remorseful.

"We're not here to demand your apology Maddison. We'd like you to work on our secret undercover team..." Caglar stated, creating a new twist.

"Really?!" Maddison exclaimed in volumes.

"Yeah...the Intel gathering department could really use a brain like yours. So on behalf Ringdom Incorporated, What'd you say to joining this team?" said Lieutenant Berge who was all smiles while stretching out his hand to shake his prospective ally.

"I say yes!" Maddison exclaimed, receiving the hand shake from Lieutenant Berge. She couldn't even control her loud giggly excitement. This might just be the route to living here crime fighting ambition.