Burning down the house;; Akhor

[AKHOR DRYZEIRAN]

Akhor was not a fan of traitors either. In fact, he absolutely despised them. That was the only thing he and Cid had in common. However, he would have locked Ash's father up, not killed him, and he certainly would not have done anything to the rest of the family if they were not rebels either. He hated the way that Cid went about doing things. It always had to be the painful, bloody, and destructive way, and it annoyed Akhor to no end.

Akhor finished with her arm, and selected another strip, with which he gathered moisture leftover from Feraligatr's Water Gun from the grass. Once he had, he began to gently wipe away the blood and dirt from Ash's face, and around her eyes. One of them was truly damaged, he could see that. He paused as she spoke, mentioning her family again, and his eyes narrowed. He stared at her momentarily, and then proceeded as if he hadn't heard her.

"Can you see?" He inquired, leaning back so that he wasn't hovering over her any longer. He let his eyes scan what parts of her body he could see, checking for other wounds. It seemed like he'd gotten the important ones. The rests were scratches and bruises that would heal fine on their own.

[ASHAH-RAINE WOLFE !]

No-one in the family really knew why Cid was the way he was. H'd been fine as a child, and even as a teenager, but then something happened, or atleast it must have done, that changed him into the man he was today. This isn't to say he was a golden boy or anything, because he could be a brat, but young boys could be like that at times, but not all of them turned out like Cid. He was completely heartless, and unsympathetic. He just didnt' care about his family, or that they were his flesh and blood. He could care less about any of that, as the only person he looked out for was himself.

Ashah allowed Akhor to wash out her eyes, but only because she felt somewhat intimidated by him. If truth be told she didn't like people touching her, or things going near her eyes, espeically now that one of them was causing her a lot of pain. She would have protested, but she didn't have enough fight in her to do so, and she was concentrating on the fact that he wasn't answering her question. He wasn't answering, so something had to be wrong ... Right?

Ashah did have one last big wounf, but it wasn't serious like her eye, the only thing was that it was kind of in an embaressing place. The too large shirt hid it, though some of the blood from it was on the shirt itself, but there was a deep cut running from her hip, around the back of her thigh and ending up in the inner part. She would certainly never point it out to anyone, especially not a guy she didn't know, and currently there were more important matters. "Please, answer me." She requested, deciding to ignore his last question in return. Thankfully she could see uot of one eye, but the other ...

[AKHOR DRYZEIRAN]

Akhor set aside the now bloodied and dirty strip of cloth, turning his attention back to Ash when she spoke. So now she was ignoring him, hm? Not bad. It was an effective strategy really, as it was clear they were at an impasse. She would not answer his questions without him first answering hers. He supposed he could take it to the next level and simply rise and threaten to leave, but what if she called his bluff? Oh well, he supposed she'd find out sometime, so he might as well tell her now.

"Anyone who was in that house is dead." He replied. Akhor wasn't the most sympathetic of people, nor sensitive in the least. While someone might be a little nicer about announcing that news, he simply reported it. He had no idea who was in the house, but someone who seemed like he could be her father certainly had been. She mentioned two other people, but he didn't know if they were there. His attention had been drawn by the Growlithe, so he hadn't looked around anywhere else, and he'd had to focus on Ash since then.

"Now, can you see?" Just like Akhor to expect after telling her that that she'd just absorb it, accept it, and move on just so that she could answer his question. But he was not a very patient person, and as such was not going to sit and wait for her to come to terms with things.

[ASHAH-RAINE WOLFE !]

Ashah could be fairly intelligent when she wanted to be, which included why she had ignored Akhor's question in hopes that he would answer her own. The female could have taken a few guesses as to why her family were not around her, but she didn't want to think the worse. After all, she'd been knocked out cold before she knew what had happened to anyone, so she really had no idea where they were, or if they were okay. She was worried, and that was why she was so adamant about being answered. She would not be happy until she was.

Akhor's words caused her to freeze in place as she registered them and tried to let them sink in. Rather than immediately begin crying, she was in a state of shock as she simply sat there and seemed to be deep in though. Dead? But they couldn't be ... They had been eating dinner and smiling and were happy the last time she could remember. Everything had happened so quickly though, and it was hard to believe they were all gone. She hadn't even gotten to say goodbye to any of them, and now she would never see them again ...

Growlithe caught her attention as he began growling at Akhor. Most pokemon understood human words, and Growlithe was no exception, and personally he believed that Akhor should have been a little nicer about it, and not immediately begin asking his own questions.

Ashah slowly rested her hand on top of the pokemon's head to calm him. "A little ..." The female answered quietly, her voice distant. She was in physical pain, but it was nothing compared to the emotional that had just washed over her, but she didn't know how to react to it.

[AKHOR DRYZEIRAN]

Akhor shifted positions, placing one knee down on the ground, and keeping the other up in a half-kneeling position. He let his gaze rest on Ash's face, gauging her reaction to what she'd just been told. He really hoped she'd didn't just break down and bust out crying or something. He really didn't handle crying very well, especially when it came from little kids. He hated kids. Thankfully, Ash was not a child, so that made things easier, but he still would not appreciate having to deal with her crying.

She did no such thing, much to his surprise and pleasure. She seemed to go into shock for a moment instead. His attention was pulled away from her by the growl the red pokemon admitted, and he stared at it a moment, an eyebrow raised. What was its problem? Obviously Akhor didn't realize that he'd been a little... Well, a lotta, insensitive to Ash right there. He wouldn't care if he did though.

Turning back to Ash as she answered, he sighed quietly and rose to his feet, "Do you have any other wounds?" Obviously he couldn't see what was below her clothing. He gestured to the strips of cloth, "You can bandage them yourself if you need to." Clearly he was suggesting if they were in a more private place, then she could do it herself.

[ASHAH-RAINE WOLFE !]

Ash was still in shock, and as such even though she really wanted to cry, her body wouldn't allow her to. She couldn't believe what had happened. Didn't want to. A part of her immediately wanted to get up and go after Cid and demand to know why, but she already knew why. Her father had been a rebel, and Cid didn't like people like him, so he punished him by crushing him and his family. Ash was lucky that she had survived, but she didn't feel that way right now. A part of her wished that she was dead as well so that she didn't have to feel this way.

She barely heard what Akhor spoke, and remained quite motionless. Inwardly she was freaking out, but outwardly she was distant and quiet. She'd never felt a loss this great. Her grandfather and grandmother had died, but both at seperate times, but this was worse than even that. Her mum, dad and her beloved twin were all dead. They weren't only her family, but her friends to, and now she was left with nothing. Not even a home, or her full sight. She didn't think her day could get any worse. Or her life for that matter.

"What am I supposed to do now?" She asked quietly, mostly to herself. She had no where to go and no-one to go to. All she had was her Growlithe, who lay beside her still, staring up at her with big sad eyes as he fully understood what she was feeling. The female didn't even care about her other wounds, and so she made no move to begin wrapping them. What she cared about was what she would do next, but she really had no idea where to start.

[AKHOR DRYZEIRAN]

Akhor sighed impatiently at Ash's question, rising to his feet and stepping back. He removed Lucario's pokeball from his belt, and a moment later in a flash of red light, the pokemon was back inside. He secured it to his belt once more, before turning back to the female and responding, "I believe I just told you." He answered, his tone reflecting the impatience he clearly felt, "If you don't have any other wounds, then you're coming with me."

The male crossed his arms about his chest, watching her as he spoke, "You can stay with me until we find something else to do with you." His eyes flickered momentarily to the Growlithe, then back to her, "Can you stand?" If not, he did have pokemon that could carry her for him. Likely he'd just have her ride Arcanine. Houndoom would kill the both of them if he tried to make her to do that.

[ASHAH-RAINE WOLFE !]

Personally Ashah didn't care that Akhor was feeling impatient, but neither did she notice. Her mind was focused on other things, such as the fact that her uncle was a murderer, she had no home, no family and all of her belongings were destroyed. Right now she was pretty much an empty shell, with nothing left to her name. She didn't care about material posessions, but it was the fact that not only had Cid left her with no parents and no twin, but she had nothing in which to occupy herself with and begin to try and move on with her life. There was nothing else to think about, but what had happened to them.

The female wasn't sure at all why this male was helping her, and she was even less sure if going any where with him was a good idea. It wasn't that she didn't trust him exactly, it was just that she had no idea who he was, apart from his name. Her head hurt so much, and her eyes were stinging, especially her right one which she still could see nothing out of, which made for looking at him quite hard and all she could really make out was blurry outlines. She was sure she wouldn't walk into any thing if she tried, but still, it would be nice to see details.

The female bit her lip as she pushed against the ground with her hands and forced herself to her feet. Growlithe was behind her as she moved, just in case she fell, though he was well aware that there wouldn't be much he could do about it. The girl got to her feet okay, but it was remaining on them that was the problem. She was still quite wobbly and shaky, due mostly in part to the wound she had hidden under her shirt which was causing her the most pain aside from her eye. She felt so numb everywhere else though at the same time, that she wasn't even thinking about it.

"Are you sure its okay?" She aske,d her voice distant, and quiet. She meant ofcourse if it was okay that she stayed with him. She didn't want to intrude.

[AKHOR DRYZEIRAN]

Akhor watched the girl, unsure of his conclusion about her. So far she didn't seem anything like her Uncle Cid. But she'd also just undergone a devastating disaster, and it was difficult to tell if she was just in shock, or if she truly wasn't as much of an annoying jerk as her Uncle was. He assumed they wouldn't have a lot in common, he supposed, considering the man had tried to kill her, and had succeeded with the rest of her family. Now that he thought about it, her father had been a rebel. One of the 'good guys' so to speak. It was likely his daughter was no different.

The male watched carefully as she rose, doing quite the opposite of Growlithe, as he was prepared to let her fall if she started to wobble again, "Yes I'm sure." He responded. She wouldn't be staying with him, really. Just in the same place, which was absolutely huge. He'd stick her in another room nearby.

Akhor's eyes scanned her, suspicion flickering across his expression as he met her gaze, "You're in no shape to walk." He informed her. She could barely stand after all, "Are you sure you're not wounded anywhere else?" He inquired, drawing a pokeball from his belt, "Because if you get blood on Arcanine, you're giving him a bath." The pokemon would absolutely love it too, but he would not be the one to do the chore if this girl wasn't being entirely honest with him.

The male released the pokemon within', which, when fully formed, towered at least 6 foot, as its head was even with Akhor's, and clearly weighed no less than 300 pounds. The moment it appeared, it yawned, and immediately dropped its head forward, stretching its front legs.

[ASHAH-RAINE WOLFE !]

Ashah and Cid couldn't possibly be any more different than they already were. Ash didn't go out of her way to hurt people like her uncle, she wasn't cruel in any way, she tried to help people and she hated fighting. Cid was all around an abuser, and he didn't care who got in his way, because he would do any thing to get what he wanted, which included, obviously, killing hhis own family. He had a son to, which few people knew about, but he rarely saw him and he certainly didn't care much for the young child either.

There was just one trait that Cid and Ash shared, that wasn't blood, and that was stubborness. The female was stubborn enough to not pay any attention to her unwrapped wound, even though there was a chance that it could cause her problems later on. Right now she didn't care much for herself however, and her mind was solely on the fact that her family was dead. She'd gotten away with some scratches and a blinded eye, but that was nothing compared to what happened to them, so she was determined to not start worrying about herself.

She turned to meet Akhor's gaze as he looked at her, and rather than answer him, she just averted her gaze. Giving a pokemon a bath was not something she'd be against. If anything it would give her something to do. Akhor wouldn't know this, but Ashah liked taking care of pokemon, and she had breeded some of her father's before. Basically spending time with them, which included keeping them in good shape was something that she enjoyed. "I'm fine." She answered him quietly, eventually.

The first to go up to Arcanine when he materialised, was Growlithe. He took a few steps forwards to sniff him, and then, frightened of his size, retreated behind Ashah whom was the second to approach, though it took some effort. She was near enough ready to fall back onto the ground. She managed however to reach a hand out caitiously to Arcanine, to see how he would react to her.

[AKHOR DRYZEIRAN]

Akhor, however, would not be happy to learn that Ash still had a wound that she wasn't doing anything about. This would all be a huge waste if she died on the way back, and he didn't like doing things for nothing. He didn't like being lied to either, even if it was by a stranger who didn't really owe him the truth. Though in this case, as far as he was concerned, Ash certainly owed him at least that. He'd saved her life after all. For his own selfish reasons, sure, but had done so nonetheless.

Akhor nodded slightly in response to her words, taking it to be the truth. After all, who would want to risk bleeding out and dying? He wouldn't see it as stubborn, but rather as stupid.

Arcanine was certainly Akhor's nicest pokemon. Second would be Lucario, but he didn't lean into either category of nice or mean. Arcanine on the other hand absolutely loved people, and was very playful. He watched the tiny Growlithe curiously, and almost seemed to laugh when it retreated. His attention went immediately to Ash when she approached, and without warning, ran his giant tongue across her hand, licking her.

[ASHAH-RAINE WOLFE !]

(( Eww ... Giant doggy slobber ))

Ash was perhaps being a little of both; stubborn and stupid. In a way she felt like she deserved to be in pain, so while half of her wasn't registering the pain any way because of her shock and the sudden numbness that had taken over her, the other half wanted to suffer, just so that she could feel a little fraction of what her family had felt when they died. She didn't really expect Akhor to understand, but then again she didn't know anything about him. Maybe he'd been through a similar kind of pain once before.

In the very least, when Arcanine licked her hand, the female felt a little better. She had been worried that the pokemon might not like her, and would be more like his master. Akhor didn't seem like the overly friendly type, though she supposed he had saved her life, so she would have to one day repay him. Honestly right now she felt somewhat safe around him ... She would never be able to explain why though.

Where as most people might have complained about the slobber on their hand, Ashah didn't particularly care. She loved animals and pokemon, and out up with their mess all the time. Growlithe in particular loved to lick her cheek and jump up on her right after running about in the mud. Now that she had established it wasn't dangerous to get closer to the canine pokemon, Ashah steppd even closer, this time more to his side, though she wobbled slightly on her legs, and patted the top of his head, though she had to reach up a little.

Growlithe saw this as a good sign, and hurried out from behind his mistress and then under Arcanine's legs to come to the other side of him, where he sat and looked up at him curiously. One day he would be big and strong like Arcanine, so he was interested in him.

[AKHOR DRYZEIRAN]

((XD, yup!))

Arcanine was clearly smiling, a thing he did endlessly, even as Akhor rolled his eyes in response to his over-excitement. Considering the fact that personality-wise he hardly fit in with the rest of the male's pokemon, Arcanine never seemed down. He didn't let the other pokemon effect him, regardless of the fact that they found him kind of annoying sometimes due to his complete polar opposite personality. They all got along though, for the most part.

Arcanine lowered his head slightly when Ash went to pet it, happy to receive the gesture.

"Alright, that's enough. Let's get going." Akhor clipped the pokeball back to his belt. He was clearly speaking to the pokemon, rather than Ash. Arcanine would stand there all day and let Ash pet him if that was what she wanted, seeing as he absolutely loved it.

Arcanine let out a rather loud woof of acknowledgement, which for him was actually rather quiet, and yet still seemed to sound half like a roar. A moment later, he lowered himself to the ground, making it possible for Ash to climb on. He didn't mind the idea of being ridden at all. Houndoom on the other hand would kill both Ash and Akhor if they tried to get her to allow it.

[ASHAH-RAINE WOLFE !]

((And I thought my dog's was bad O.o Just imagine it though ... =O ))

Arcanine, Ash decided, was quite a lot like her little Growlithe. The pup loved to be petted, and played with and he could get very over excited, which she showed by licking people's faces and jumping up on them like any normal dog would. Really he was treated more like a pet or a part of the (now gone) family. Ashah loved him to bits, and would never let any harm come to him, just like he tried to protect her. Obviously when the pokemon evolved, and became stronger it would be much more easy for him to do that.

Had it been any other time, Ash might have let a smile cross her face, but she really wasn't in the mood. It was clear however that she quite liked being able to pet Arcanine - really any kind of distraction was nice, as she found that even though she was beyond upset, she wasn't able to express that, so having some thing else to do was nice. Pokemon were her world, so they were the best distraction for her obviously. And the great thing was that Growlithe wasn't at all jealous. He was far too interested in the much larger form of himself.

The human's eyes flickered towards Akhor as he spoke and then immediately back as Arcanine lowered to the ground. She climbed carefully onto him, finding him large enough so that she could sort of lay down on his back. His fur was soft and comfortable, and one of her hands immediately started playing with it, in a petting motion. She found it soothing and calming, and the pokemon had seemed to like being touched, so she didn't think that he would mind it now either.

Growlithe tried his best to imitate Arcanine when he barked, and mimicked him, though his was rather pathetic in comparison. He took a few steps forwards, closer to Akhor, lookewd up at him with a rather stern expression, not entirely trusting him, and then turned back to Ashah and Arcanine, barking again and running to stand beside the bigger pokemon.

[AKHOR DRYZEIRAN]

((I know, it's be really gross! Lol))

Arcanine waited until Ash was settled atop of him before rising back to his feet. To him, it was child's play in a matter of effort to carry her. He could barely feel her up there, but he did enjoy the slight sensation her lightly playing with his fur incited. Akhor never pet him, so he was forced to get it from other people, like Cid's son, who had a tendency to follow Akhor around. He'd just have to add Ash to list of people who would pet him.

Akhor raised an eyebrow in response to the look he sustained from Growlithe, obviously not intimidated, and then stepped forward, starting back down the path. Jolteon was at his side a moment later.

Arcanine turned to look down at the small red pokemon, a grin on his lips. Without warning, he leaned forward and licked the entire side of the Growlithe, nearly knocking the smaller pokemon over in the process. And with that, he set off after Akhor down the trail.

Akhor turned to look over his shoulder, slowing slightly as Arcanine approached, "You mentioned your Uncle." He began, "Was he in the house?" The male already knew the answer, but he wasn't ready to let Ash know what his relationship was with Cid just yet.