Read or Die: The Mandate of the Six Rings of Heaven
What seemed to be an everyday chore for one normal, mild-mannered loser went from normal to all-out adventure as Leonard Rodriguez stumbles upon a situation when he discovers the whereabouts of the Six Rings of Destiny that was once wielded by ancient Hebrew king Solomon, meets trouble here and there and also meets new friends such as Yomiko Readman and the Paper Sisters! Random stuff, action, adventure, romance, intrigue and so forth ensues in this fic within the Read or Die-verse :)
Chapter 1: Okay, the Six Rings of what?
It was a breezy but mostly hot day on a typical afternoon in Los Angeles as Leonard Rodriguez, a stout-mannered happy go lucky Filipino-American guy comes strolling near Little Tokyo on his way on a bus stop as he carries his full bags that was of manga and a few fighting games. He struggled onward towards the stop as people he went by gave him some looks as to why he's been carrying all those bags himself. He didnt mind the attention, but Leonard seems so exhausted and with the hot sun going all out on him to no end. He desperately need rest for sure.
He then settled nearby the brick wall near a tree which offered shade and made a sigh as he put his bags down. "What a trip! Anime Jungle sure is something when you know they have a treasure trove of stuff you want. But then the thing is its so far from the bus stop." Leonard lightly complained
As he rested, a shadowy figure with shades appeared past him out of nowhere and leered. He was no more than in his late 40's and was a tall, somehow easy type of guy with caucasian looks.
"Hello there, my friend care to hear a legend I've read about with the voices of the ancients?" The man said in a more medium British accent. He smiled onwards to Leonard now looking like he was gonna give him like an offer or something.
"Hi the pleasure's mine, but right now I'm not interested in any fairy tales at the moment. I got a bus to catch up soon in the next 17 minutes so if you'll excuse me, I gotta jet out of here sir." Leonard then smiled to the earnest man before him
The man then continued to smile. "Oh sorry to intrude and by all means go ahead. I didnt mean to take up your time."
Leonard looked at the man a little with his eyes fixed on him onwards. "Sure thing, and I didnt catch your name sir."
"My name is Lawrence Moore, I'm a tourist here in my first time in America. I work for the Imperial Museum in the Arts and Mystical sections which are in jurisdiction with the Special Library Division."
"Ah I see. My name's Leonard Rodriguez. I'm from here and well I hope you enjoy yourself today Mr. Moore." He then waived at him while he was about to leave. Leonard then smiled a bit at the shadowy man.
Lawrence then looked at him and went on a light of a shout. "Before you go, can I tell you one thing about something I would share to you?"
The young man stopped and turned to his head on the man. "Alright shoot then."
"Have you ever heard of the Special Six Rings of the Divine?" Lawrenced asked. Leonard's eyes then was a bit wide but at the same time doesnt know about the topic he had brought up.
"No sorry I haven't sir. But I gotta get going, so maybe some other time." Leonard said with a bit of a smile.
Lawrence then smiled as well and allowed Leonard to be off on the bus. "Some other time then, ?"
"Sure thing." Was all Leonard said when the bus came and headed off, leaving Lawrence with a a smile he did not expect.
Meanwhile on the other side of the streets. A lone black unmarked car was parked near the trash bins and one of its doors opened the door looking onward on the bus Leonard was in and gave out a leer on the situation unknown to the man in the bus.
"Everything's going according to plan. Start phase 1, Maryanne. And inform my secretary to make sure the package is going to be delivered soon once he acquires the missing ring maps.
"Understood, sir." Maryanne said in a well-commanding tone, as Joseph "Joker" Carpenter looks on in the horizon, and a smile went across his face in joy.
"Just a little more and Gentlemen will rise again." Joker said inside with full anticipation of what may lie ahead.
P.S. Hopefully of what I wrote with this is going ok so far. Sorry for the long intro of my character in there as he's fullyin the Read or Die realm so it'll be getting to know more of him. But in later chapters I'll be adding more and more of the ROD characters as everything is in place, and in so forth this is taking place in the anime series after the OVA version so its gonna be something interesting here heh :)
