Ashleigh:  Hey everyone!  Welcome back to another chapter of Radical Dreamers!

Ice:  Yay!  Another chapter!  Totally awesome!

Ashleigh:  Well, why are we wasting time talking?  Let's get the chapter started!

Ice:  YAY!

Ashleigh:  -_-  Someone help me.

Ice:  -_-  That's mean.

Ashleigh:  ^_^  Well, there's no time like the present!  Here's the chapter that has taken us so long to write!

Ice:  It's a good thing it's being put up!  I was getting bored.

Ashleigh:  Why would you be bored?  You spent a large amount of time shopping with Joey.  If I remember, you made him sit down and watch you try on clothes.

Ice:  ^_^  So what?  He had fun!

Ashleigh:  Yeah.  Sure.  That's why he almost fell asleep.

Ice:  -_-  How would you know?  You weren't there.

Ashleigh:  *coughhiddencameracough*

Ice:  What was that?

Ashleigh:  Nothing.  Is it my turn to do the disclaimer?

Ice:  Yup.

Ashleigh:  Ice-dragon1018, and myself, Ashleigh-Kaiba, don't own YGO.  Never have, never will.  We only own Danielle, the Black Crest, Ashli, and everyone or everything that you don't recognize.

Ice:  Which isn't much.  V_V  I'm so poor.  Well, on with the story!

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". . ." = talking (in the story)
'. . .' = thoughts (in the story)
*. . .* = Ashli's voice over/narration throughout the story
^&&^ = change of scene
~*~. . .~*~ = Flashbacks, future scenes, etc.
blah blah blah = inanimate objects speaking out loud

~*~*~*~*~

The bell signaling the end of that period rang sharply; to almost everyone's surprise the bell was on time for once. Ashli pulled her bag from off the floor where it had been sat besides the desk and threw her books in it.

She glanced over to Danielle, who seemed to be slowly putting her books away.  A few moments of observation allowed Ashli to find out that Danielle was a little shy.

The lilac haired girl stood up from her seat and threw her bag over her left shoulder. Danielle looked up at her suddenly.  As ocean blue eyes met turquoise green, an odd feeling ran through Ashli. An odd burning sensation which made the lilac haired girl feel flustered.

Ashli stopped for a moment giving Danielle a quizzical look; the red haired girl looked back in confusion at her. Ashli brushed the feeling away and began to head for the door.  As she was leaving the classroom, Ashli couldn't help but turn to look back at the new girl.

As she walked down the corridor, Ashli pulled the black crest from her bag. Strange; for some reason it felt like it was on fire. Her hand began to feel like it was burning and with a small yelp she dropped the crest to the floor.

The crest which was no bigger than her hand, was designed to look like a black flame, with two oval designs in the middle. Ashli looked down at it as she rubbed her sore hand. The next thing she saw sent shivers down her spine.

The oval designs in the middle snapped open revealing a pair of flame red eyes with hints of yellow and orange. Ashli took a step back from the object on the floor; her eyes were wide. Even though she had seen those eyes before, it had never grown hot like that.

'Is something here making it react that way?' Ashli asked her self.

As she had taken a step backwards, she had accidentally collided with the person behind her.

A feminine voice let out a small gasp as they fell to the ground behind the lilac haired girl. Ashli turned around to see Danielle sitting on the floor.

"I'm sorry!" Ashli apologized, rather quickly as she leaned forward, her hands resting on her knees. "You okay?"

Danielle looked at the lilac haired girl, sure Ashli seemed friendly enough, and nodded slightly as she got back to her feet.

While Danielle was dusting herself off, Ashli turned back to the black crest, its eyes were still open. The lilac haired girl kneeled down on the floor and shakily picked it up. It seemed as if the crest had cooled down a little bit.

"What are you looking at?" Danielle asked from behind the lilac haired girl; Danielle's eyes fell on the black crest a look of curiosity washed over her.

"Oh, this? It's nothing really!" Ashli lied, as she stood up and turned to face her new classmate.

"That's one of the weirdest things that I have ever seen….and those eyes are creepy!" Danielle stated, shivering slightly.

Ashli chuckled. Ever since the night she had fought Sartura, nothing seemed to scare her anymore. Ashli uncurled her fingers from around the crest; she wished the eyes would close.

For some unknown reason, Danielle suddenly reached out her hand, placing it on top of the object held in Ashli's hand. As she did so, her own eyes grew wide as did Ashli's. She tried to move her hand away but she couldn't.

A familiar voice ran through Ashli and Danielle's minds as they stood like statues.

You shall arise……… this is your fated day……… arise………you shall be re-born with this power, a power lost, a power forsaken.

The power of the radical dreamer, the power to become a master thief………

As the voice faded, Danielle pulled her hand from the black crest and looked at Ashli in shock.

"What did you do to me?" The red haired asked, her eyes narrowing.

"The black crest responded to you….as it did to me….." Ashli replied, blinking her eyes slowly.

"What do you mean by responded to me?" The confused red haired girl questioned, keeping her eyes on the lilac haired girl.

"You are like me. Your spirit is different somehow and the black crest responded to your spirit and bestowed powers unto you…" Ashli sighed. "That's all I can say here, but if you want to know more meet me at the field behind the school!"

Danielle shook her head.

"I don't understand!" She yelled. "Powers? What powers?"

Ashli smirked and her eyes grew slightly mischievous.

"The power to be different, the power of the legendary Kaitou Ritz!" She smirked at Danielle.

"But Kaitou Ritz is a fairy story!" Danielle snorted. "She's an imaginary girl created to teach kids about the wrongs of stealing…"

Ashli cut Danielle off, looking a little annoyed!

"Look, if you can prove she's fake, well fair enough. But I have first hand experience. That story was based on a real life thief!"

"Whatever!" Danielle sighed looking at the girl "Um, do you know where our next class is?"

"Yeah, come with me..."

* I guess looking back at that moment I can say it was one of the most crucial points in my life. Back then, I suppose I never thought about it that much, but then again, at that point on I should have realized just how much everything was about to change for everyone, for Danielle, for me. . .*

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Ice:  Yes!  *punches the air*  Another chapter done!

Ashleigh:  ^_^  And there are gonna be more chapters!

Ice:  Ya know, I think we should update faster than we normally do. . .

Ashleigh and Ice:  *stare at each other*  Nah. . .

Ice:  *grins evilly*  It's more fun to torture the readers with evil cliffhangers!

Ashleigh:  *backs away smiling nervously*  You know you scare me sometimes.

Ice:  ^__________^  THANKIES!

Ashleigh:  *looks upwards and sighs*  Someone help me.

Ice:  Nobody can help you now!  For I am. . .BATMAN!  *runs around cacklingevilly*

Ashleigh:  *groans*  Please don't tell me she got a hold of the coffee. . .

Kaiba:  *enters*  Okay, I won't tell you.

Ice:  Mwahahahahaha!  *runs over to Kaiba and steals his wallet*

Kaiba:  Hey!  That's mine!  *chases Ice around*

Ashleigh:  --__--

Ice:  *still running away from Kaiba*  Please review!!