Hello faithful viewers, I figured it was time for a new fic, so here we have my version of Dragon Quest V. Dragon Quest V: Ace's Journey. I'll be putting Gallade's Arm on hold for a long time, so I want to put something new up. Mostly I'm doing this so I can see how well I'm doing when writing from the perspective of the main character.

Now for the part you all knew was coming, the part I knew was coming, and the part that my laptop knew was coming…

Disclaimer: I, Lord Genesis Shadow, do not own the Dragon Quest Series. That is reserved for Square Enix.
…

I stared up at the ceiling of the cell they called a room for a few minutes before I stood up. It was morning, and we'd soon be starting our 'work'. Ten years went by painfully slow, but I never gave up my resolve. The only thing I had were the clothes they gave me, which were stained with years of sweat and dirt from all of the hard work I did every single day. Moving rocks, carrying bags of who knows what, picking away at rock walls with a pickaxe, and even running inside a giant wheel to pull up some kind of equipment on a rope, every single day was a new adventure in pain and hard work. But, with all of that work, my muscles grew stronger, and even though we barely had any food, it kept my strength up. One thing they never took as well, aside from my spirit, was my purple cloth turban. They said it was to keep the sweat out of my eyes, but I liked to use it for something else. That day, they'd probably put me on rope detail, which meant I'd get a sharp knife to cut some rope. Maybe I could hide it in my turban, or even if I can't I can always use a pickaxe if we get into a fight. And the slave drivers had whips. If I could beat just one, I could take his whip and give them a taste of their own medicine. Ten years of being whipped, I planned some big payback when I'd get the chance. Or, at least that was what I'd hoped.

I thought about my features. I had seen my reflection at times, and I thought I'd matured a lot since I'd started my life as a slave. I had brown eyes and hair, covered by my turban, which my father had given me as a child along with a purple cloak, which was now somewhere else. I used to have a stick I'd walk around with, but that had been broken by some strange creature called Ladja. I hated that man. He'd knocked me and Harry out, along with my pet Sabrecat Saber. I don't know what happened to Saber, but I prayed that he was alright. I had grown from a tiny boy into a fairly tall young man, standing at about five foot seven. I was well muscled thanks to all the years of incredibly difficult work, but that would only serve to help me when I found a decent weapon.

An old acquaintance of mine, Harry, who was once the prince of Coburg, was with me. I looked over to him as he slept on his blanket. He reminded me that I wasn't alone here in my wish to escape. He and I tried many things when we first arrived, but we were just kids, so we were unable to do anything useful. The only good thing was that I still had my magic to work with. Harry barely had anything like that, only a few bits of knowledge. I once more looked over his features. He was my only friend, my best friend here, and we knew that anything we did, we did together. His green hair always intrigued me, and he looked a lot different than when we were kids. He was taller, about five foot nine inches if I had to guess, and he looked to weigh barely one hundred and twenty pounds. He had managed to sneak a knife when nobody was looking, and he planned to use it when he got a chance to help us escape the next time we tried.

He used to be a spoiled brat that treated very few people with respect, and that was true with me. He'd told me that I was to be his 'Lackey', but only because he felt like he wanted someone to boss around. I'd played along, since I figured we'd eventually become friends, and my only other friend back then was a girl named Bianca. As my thoughts turned to her, I began wondering how she was doing. We'd saved Saber from a couple of mean kids. That day we found them, we were told to defeat some ghosts in a tower. After we'd done that, we were given this beautiful gold orb by the ghosts. We had to defeat some monster, but we'd let him go because he and his monster friends just wanted a place to call their own after being kicked out of some place called Nadiria. She was about two years older than me, which would put her at eighteen years old now. That meant that I was sixteen now, so I wasn't yet a real adult.

"Hey Ace, what are you thinking about over there?" Harry asked. I looked over at him and shrugged. "Have another dream about bein' whipped?"

"No, I'm just thinking." I said.

"I hope you aren't coming up with another one of your escape plans." He said. I shrugged.

"Maybe I am." I said. It was our usual game. I'd act like I was the leader; something that he figured was for the best. After all, I was way stronger than he was, and I knew my magic well. "I'm almost back to full strength. How about you Harry?"

"You know, I think I can manage." He said. "Just let me know what's up, and I'll try to help out." He used to be the leader, coming up with the plans. But after three years, he began giving up. I kept going, so he decided that he'd follow my orders from then on. He used to be a prince, but now he figured I was a king compared to him since I wouldn't give in. He said that if I ever gave in, that's when he'd call it as well. As long as I had a spark of defiance, he'd follow my plans. "So, another day, another meal, right?" I nodded. I stretched as he sat up from his blanket.

"I think I'll take a walk." I said. "Get some more thinking done." I started walking when I saw the new girl, Maria. She seemed bothered. I walked up to her and she looked over. "Hey, welcome to the pit. Everybody here calls me Ace." I held out my right hand and she slowly reached out with hers. "You're, Maria, right?" She nodded.

"Yes." She said. "I spoke up for the slaves, and now I'm here with you all. I guess it shows how smart I am." I shrugged as she let go of my hand.

"Well, brains aren't required for this job." I said jokingly. "Look at me; I've been trying to escape for ten years." She looked at my arms and the many scars on them, as well as the ones on my legs and the one down my right eye. "If anyone here is smart, it'll be you." She smiled slightly. "Don't worry; at least we get three square meals a day, a place to sleep, and plenty of company." She nodded slowly as the door opened. It was one of the slave drivers, and I recognized him. He was the one that gave me the scar on my eye.

"Okay, get up; it's time to get to work." He called. He cracked the whip twice and everyone stood up and began filing toward the door.

"Don't worry, they may seem mean, but you get used to it." I said. She nodded as she walked past me. 'Oh no, another one that plans to give up all hope right away. We need more people if we're ever getting out of here.' I walked over to the door as the last of the others walked out.
…

I grabbed my tool of the day, a pickaxe, just as I'd figured. The only problem was that they were listed by number, and only if one broke was it not counted, and then it was thrown away elsewhere. That meant that I couldn't take it back to the cell to hide it somewhere. I walked down the path toward the place I'd be working. My magical energy was fully recovered, as was my body. I'd come up with a plan and start it later. I walked further down the path and saw a lot of the others standing around and I heard two whips cracking repeatedly. I jogged down and saw Harry looking at something.

"What's going on Harry?" I asked. He turned to me. "Who's getting it this time?"

"That new girl, Maria." He said as he turned to the spectacle. I saw her on the ground, the whips striking her repeatedly, and I felt a surge of anger. "They're really getting into it this time. I've never seen them acting this vicious." I stepped forward, my plan now formed, but not for escape. "Ace, what are you doing?" I ran forward and I heard him behind me.

"I'm doing what my father would have done." I said. The two slave drivers looked at me as I spun the pickaxe in my right hand. I stepped up as he pointed at me. I assumed the stance my dad's friend Sancho taught me to use with an axe.

"You'd better step back if you don't want another whipping, turban boy." He said. Harry stood beside me, pulling out the knife he had stowed away.

"She's had enough; let her get some medical attention." I said.

"She got dirt on my shoes, and I won't let her off easy." He said. "She doesn't know how we do things around here yet."

"Well then, I guess you two won't be part of what goes on here." I said threateningly. He growled as I heard Harry groan.

"This is really going to hurt, isn't it?" He asked.

"Probably, but maybe this'll get these guys to lighten up." I said. I stepped forward and dodged a swing of the whip, and I heard Harry sidestep one as well. I swung the pick and missed by inches, but I'd caught my target's shirt sleeve. I pulled back and he stumbled slightly. I turned the pick in my hand and tossed it, but I missed completely, hitting only a rope behind the large wheel that held it in place. It didn't fall, but it tilted slightly. 'Come on Ace, you can do better than that. Sancho would be so sad that you missed that slave driver.' The slave driver swung his whip at me but I caught it in my right hand. 'Now we're getting somewhere. Payback time for all those whippings, though I'll probably end up getting the worst whipping yet thanks to this stunt.' I pulled on the whip and began tugging to get it from him. I saw Harry out of the corner of my eye. He was doing pretty well, though he looked like he was having a little trouble. There wasn't any blood, but he looked to have taken a few hits.

"What's going on here?" A guard called. I turned my head but did not let go of the rope. I recognized the guard. He was one of the nice ones, the one that got Harry and me some medicine when we'd really gotten a bad whipping for an escape plan a few years back. I let go of the rope, remembering that Maria was his sister. He'd told me the day before. "Explain yourselves, and explain why, why this girl is bleeding and on the ground, and furthermore explain why two slaves are fighting you."

"Sir, these two slaves attacked us for no reason whatsoever." One of them lied. "We were doing our job, teaching this girl not to be disrespectful, and they just attacked out of the blue with a pickaxe and a knife!"
…

I stood at the side of the cell door. We'd been locked up for a few hours and Maria was getting medical attention for her wounds. Thankfully they had something really powerful that healed any wounds called Yggdrasil Dew. It came in a little bottle with a stopper. It was dew collected from leaves of an old tree, and a leaf of it was actually inside the bottle. The leaf would revive people from death, but letting it marinate in water for a few days would take that revival power and spread it through the water. It made it less potent, so that it wouldn't revive people from death, but it would fully cure any wound just by drinking it, fully restoring the life energy of the person, even if they were less than an inch from death.

"Well, I guess we've earned some time off." Harry said suddenly. I nodded. "Do you think that girl's going to be alright?"

"Yes." I said. "They'll give her that Yggdrasil Dew, and she'll be right as rain in a minute flat. It worked for us after all, didn't it?" He laughed. There was a sound of opening doors and I looked to see that our door was opening as well.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"I don't know." I replied. He stood up from the floor and walked over to me. "I say we check it out." I stepped forward and he followed, likely turning his back so that he could watch out for anything behind us. I saw the guard from before and Maria standing by another open door that lead to the barrels they used to send out any dead slaves. "What's going on here?" They turned to us.

"I'm letting you three escape." He said. "I've heard a frightful rumor that they're going to kill all of the slaves when they've finished this whole thing. I can't let them kill my dear sister."

"What's that got to do with us?" Harry asked.

"You two stood up for her, you protected her." He replied. "I want to know that all three of you are safe. I'll stay behind to help the other slaves when I can." He walked into the room as Maria followed. Harry and I walked forward and we saw a barrel tied off. "This is the barrel that your stuff got put in, all of it, from when you got here." I nodded slowly. My old cape and everything from my childhood was in that barrel, and it was a big barrel. "You know what they use these for right?" We all nodded grimly. "As terrible as it sounds, you three have to get in and ride out the tide and go somewhere safe. You have to take Maria somewhere she'll be safe." I nodded quickly, my old feelings of strength returning. Helping people was something I did all the time as a kid, and even as a slave I helped whenever I could. Harry nodded with me, since he was onboard anything I went with. "Come on, hurry. I'll cut you loose when you're all in, but you need to hurry." We all nodded as I stepped up to the barrel, opening it. Harry walked over and climbed in as I gestured to Maria.

"I, I don't know." She said. She turned to her brother. "What if they find out what you've done?"

"Then I'll have paid for my past mistakes." He said. "And I'll be able to watch over you from Heaven Maria, but you have to be safe, and you must be strong, for both of us." She nodded and hugged him. It reminded me of how close I was to my father, Pankraz. "Now go, please, before someone comes along." She nodded and I helped her into the barrel. "Before you go, what are your names?"

"My name is Milliardo, but everyone calls me Ace." I said. "Because I've always been lucky." I looked at the barrel as Harry stuck his head out for a moment.

"Come on, we've got to go." He said. He ducked back down and I smiled.

"And that's Harry, my old buddy from Coburg." I said. "Thanks, we'll pray for you." He nodded and I climbed in. He closed the lid and there was only darkness. He pushed the barrel into the water and I felt that we were moving.

"Um, thanks." Maria said. "I hope everything turns out alright."

"It will Maria, I promise." Harry said.

"Harry, that was my line." I said jokingly. "I help people feel better, you agree with everything I say and you go along with my plans."

"Hey, sometimes I want to know what it's like to be you." He said. "Speaking of, pass me that hat of yours, so I can complete the illusion." Maria giggled quietly as I scoffed.

"Get your own." I joked. "It took me a week to get this thing back to normal the last time you tried it on."

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad." He jokingly argued.

"You lost the pin in the water." I said. "It took me six days to find it, and six hours to get it exactly the way I like it." They both laughed as I grabbed a bag. I started looking through it. "Okay, enough jokes for now, let's try to find which bag has our stuff." I felt a strange metal thing and I ran my fingers along it. "Okay, I've got a metal staff here, so this is at least part of my stuff."

"I've got something here that feels like a cape." He said. "I don't know what color it is though. Yours was purple, mine was red."

"I think I've found a length of chain." Maria said.

"Oh, that's mine." I said. "That's a chain whip." She passed it to me and I felt the familiar metal handle. "Thank the Goddess that those guys didn't have these back there. I've hit myself once with this thing, and it really hurts."

"Okay, I think I've found a pair of pants, but again, I don't know if they're mine or not." Harry said. "What kind of belt did you use as a kid Ace?"

"Rope." I replied simply. "I just tied it around my waist, and that held all right. My dad always said you could never have enough rope."

"Okay, then this is mine." He said. "This has a leather belt."

"Where did they put my dress?" Maria asked. I felt through another bag and felt something soft, like underwear, but it felt too soft to be what men wear. I blushed, thanking luck for the total darkness around us.

"Uh, I think it might be in this one." I said as I closed the bag. I held it out to her. "I found, something that doesn't feel like a man would wear. It might have been the dress, but it could have been something else."