A/N: Please note that this is of course Fan Fiction, therefore the events described would be slightly deviated from the orginal telling. This chapter is set before Duelist Kingdom.

And nope, I in fact do not own Yugioh or anything else I write about.

Chapter 1

Diem Schlotfaz was never the type to be commanded. She was never the type to even take an order. Hell, it was hard enough just to give her a little advice. Diem was the type who lived by her own rules, and would constantly fight against the demands of society and especially against the demands of her family.

Living this way earned her far too many enemies and far too few friends. The friends she did 'have'? Who needed them? Most of them only existed and stayed because of her privileged status in this foreign land.

Her family was German in origin, and is very wealthy, not to mention extremely influential. Though the family had moved to Egypt over two years ago, the same power existed here as well as Germany. Their home was filled with many maids and servants, important politicians and corporate elite were frequent guests.

All attempts by her parents to bend her to their will were quickly proven not to work. Just the simple routine of getting Diem in an expensive dress and at the dinner table to entertain the guests was always a most difficult thing to do. She hated having to use a fake smile, laugh and tell lame fake jokes, pretend to like fake people. Though she was a teenager, and these feelings were common, she could still swear she was adopted. The perfect black sheep had a name, and the name was Diem Schlotfaz.

On one particular night, Diem laid on her bed with her music going at full blast. She was continuously shuffling through her duel monsters deck trying to decide on which cards to change. Though she rarely lost a game, some of her cards were proven to be dead draws, especially if they were to appear in her opening hand. Just as she was about to exchange a few cards, her door opened with her angry mother yelling something. The music was way too loud for Diem to hear what she was saying, but nonetheless she watched her animated fit of anger. Finally, her mother walked across the room and punched the power button with the side of her fist to silence the noise.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I could hear this horrible mess from outside," said her mother.

"Hi mom," was only response Diem gave as she returned her eyes back down to shuffle through her deck.

"Everyone is trying to sleep, the Montuez's children are staying in the guest bedrooms, so wouldn't it just be great if you did not try to annoy the hell out of everyone!" her mother finished angrily.

Diem didn't bother to look up as her mother stormed back out of the room.

"At least shut the door!" Diem called out after her mother was already long gone.

She lazily rolled off her bed and slammed the door, then began to get ready for the nights events. As often as possible, she would be out of the house and gone for as long as she could. Though she definately stood out in a crowd with her long blond hair and deep dark blue eyes, she was never in fear of any danger. Staying out most of the night and playing high stakes duels was now the only activity she enjoyed, not to mention the only one she found exciting. Besides, she actually felt more in common with people she dueled who she could barely communicate with than her own family.

Going through a pile of clothes, she searched for something better to wear. At last she found one of her favorite shirts, solid black with large white letters that read 'Ask Me About My Deck.' She smiled and put it on along with a skirt that she tailored to conceal a slender knife, though she had yet to have to use it. With a pair of sneakers and a hoodie, she grabbed her deck and purse and opened the door to make sure the coast was clear. Looking down at her gold watch, it was only a quarter past ten.

She darted silently down the hall, down two flights of stairs and out the side door of the house without being seen. Al-Jizah was a city that was always awake, but still she felt it was too early, the fun didn't really happen until after midnight. Walking down the sidewalk towards the center of the city, she got a taxi to stop quite quickly. With someone that looked like her in place such as this, it was obvious to assume that she had money. The driver was very polite but did not talk much, about ten minutes later the taxi stopped in front of one of the best hangouts for gamblers, 'The Melting Gold.' Diem tipped the driver well and hopped out into the cooling night.

One of the best things about Egypt to her, was the fact that age did not mean as much as other places. She walked past several groups of people sitting outside and through the large doors. Almost instantly her name was shouted from across the room.

"Diem, over here!" called out a familar voice.

Her eyes scanned the large room until seeing a familar face waving his arms over his head, trying to get her attention.

Smiling a little bit, she walked over to sit at the last open chair at a table for four. A burning hookah sat on the tabletop.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you in," said Mikhail, a boy her age she had met a few months previous. His english was good, despite his heavy accent.

"That's because you owe everyone too much money to show up often," Diem returned, making everyone at the table laugh.

"Sit, sit, sit," said Mikhail smiling.

Diem took a seat as Mikhail put more tobacco into the basin of the hookah.

"This is a lot better than the last, it came all the way from Cuba," he said.

"And how did you manage to buy it then?" asked Diem.

"Buy it?" Mikhail said, making everyone at the table laugh again.

It was obvious to most people who knew Mikhail that he was a better thief than gambler. Across from Diem sat Yunus, a good friend of Mikhail. Across from Mikhail sat Alyasa, who was Yunus's on again/off again girlfriend. All three were keen card players that Diem had befriended and at times they were proven to be trustworthy partners in team duels.

All four inhaled deeply on the hookah, at last Diem finally agreed that this was much better. They ordered drinks and sat and talked for nearly an hour, as it had been nearly two weeks since she had seen any of them. Yunus was excited to try out a deck that he had just constructed until he suddenly stopped talking. He looked up sternly at a small group of hooded figures that just entered through the side door. Diem and alot of other people turned to look as well, four people wearning dark purple cloaks moved briskly along the wall and into the duelist dens.

"Who were they?" Diem asked after a long moment of silence.

"It's a group or something," Mikhail said. "They are organized too, they only play duel monsters and they play it as dirty as they can. They are cruel and will do anything to win, be like me and stay away from them."

"What would be the fun in that?" Diem said as she stood up and walked towards the door they had just entered. The other three quickly following behind.

End of Chapter 1

A/N- Hope you enjoyed it, this could be a long series. I have ideas of carrying through the Battle City arc, Diem of course playing an important role. The take on it would be of course slightly more mature than the show would allow.

So let me know what you think, also any ideas and designs would be great. R&R.