Ash is a Labrador belonging to Lily West.
History[]
Early History[]
As a puppy, Ash once belonged to owners who sent her to an Adelaide Guide Dog School, however the young Labrador was too shy and unassertive enough to warrant enough training. Her owners - upon deciding to move overseas - were annoyed with Ash for failing the Guide Dog School, and left her at a shelter as they headed to the airport.
In the months after the Dark Star's return, Lily West asked for a pet dog, leading to Jack and Zoe to arrange a trip to the dog shelter where Ash was kept. Lily was quickly taken by the gentle Ash, and so the Wests decided to adopt her and the Poodle Roxy. Lily would play with Ash on the farmland often, though Ash adamantly refused to ever fetch the tennis ball anyone threw for her, and was allowed to sleep on Lily's bed up until she left to attend Stanford.
In November 2016, when Jack was called to a meeting at Pine Gap, Ash was brought along on the Sky Warrior to the facility. Ash and Roxy were petted by General Abrahamsom before being left with Lily and Alby in the waiting room as Jack was being briefed. However, the Labrador was knocked out by a sleeping gas leaked into the facility, and was summarily taken away along with Jack and the others by a group of people led by Iolanthe.
The Four Legendary Kingdoms[]
and the others would wake up two days later inside a train-mounted cage, as a man calling himself Hades announced the beginning of the Great Games of the Hydra in the Underworld.
When Jack was reunited with his friends in the interim before the next Challenge, Ash barked happily at his return and nuzzled up against Lily while Iolanthe Compton-Jones explained to the group about the Four Legendary Kingdoms with Jack being used as a last-moment replacement Champion with his human and canine friends being used as hostages to ensure his participation
After the Third Challenge, Ash ate with the others, and was wary of the strange Neanderthal man E-147.
The following day, Ash remained in the hostage train carriage during the Fourth and Fifth Challenges. Having learned that all the hostages were going to be executed, Jack fired an RPG at the train tracks, sending Ash and the other hostages crashing onto the staircase. Once Jack grabbed Ash, Alby, Roxy and Scarecrow's hostage Tomahawk, they began their escape from the Underworld.
Ash remained with the group when they later returned to the Underworld to free Jack and Lily, and returned home to the West farm when the ordeal was over.
The Three Secret Cities[]
In the days after returning from the Underworld, Ash remained near to Lily at most times.
When Jack and the others prepared to go to New York, Ash was left behind on the farm with Roxy and E-147, with the minotaur being tasked with looking after the two dogs and being reminded not to try and eat them.
The Two Lost Mountains[]
While Jack and the team were off undertaking the Trial of the Cities, E-147 dutifully looked after Ash, Roxy and Horus, and though the Labrador allowed E-147 to rub her belly, she made no effort to play when the minotaur threw a ball for her. By the third morning, Ash and Roxy had gotten used to E-147, and both slept on his bed during the night, which caused the surprised-yet-pleased minotaur to start adoring them.
When the team started basing themselves at Hades's estate in Alsace-Lorraine, a private plane was arranged to fly Easton, Ash, Roxy and Horus to them. As they arrived at the estate, E-147 assured Jack that the dogs were well and reported that he had been a good dog minder and had not eaten Ash or Roxy; Jack understood that what he was really try to say was that he adored the dogs, and so praised his work.
Ash remained at the estate over the next few weeks, and after Lily, Stretch and Aloysius Knight, all comatose after hearing the Siren bells' tone, were brought into a room to rest, E-147 - now Easton - placed blankets in the same room so that Ash and Roxy could stay and watch over them.
Later, when Yago DeSaxe and his forces invaded the estate, Ash and Roxy chased after Alby and Easton as they were rushing the sleepers to the escape train below. After emerging onto the platform, however, a piece of the ceiling was dislodged and fell between the dogs and the carriage. Fenced in and afraid, Ash whimpered behind the concrete until Easton turned back to start carrying her, even as approaching bronzemen emerged from the elevator. As he neared the carriage, Easton threw Ash onboard, but he was unable to follow and subsequently captured.
After the team later reunited outside Dijon, Ash was likely kept on the team's newly-acquired Super Galaxy up until the team set off for the Supreme Labyrinth.
The One Impossible Labyrinth[]
After Jack had averted the Omega Event and saved the world, he returned to his farm, with Ash continuing to live with him. As Easton began living in a cottage on the property, Ash began playing with the minotaur often and occasionally sleeping at the foot of his bed.
One morning a couple of years later, Ash was sitting by Jack's feet on the porch when Jack suddenly threw the ball she had always refused to fetch and told her to get it. As he had used the ability of total command when he spoke, Ash had no choice but to fetch the ball and return it to him, to Jack's amusement.
Trivia[]
- Where Ash, Roxy and Horus were during the primary events of The One Impossible Labyrinth is unknown; they are not not mentioned to be with any on the teams outside the Supreme Labyrinth. As it is unlikely that they were onboard the team's planes during the approach to the Labyrinth's Gates, it is likely that they were left somewhere safe in Cairo before the team departed.