An Author, An Axolotl, And A College Dorm Room - ash_plavell (2024)

Chapter 1: Virtual Buddy off the Screen

Chapter Text

Ash was sitting in front of her potato that she calls a laptop, playing KinitoPET, finally reaching the point where she had an “illusion of choice”. She had already played the game so many times before, even doing a run where she used the name Sam and a run where she used the name Jade, and somehow, each time matched the same amount of charm she had as the first gameplay video she watched.

This time, however, she noticed something different about the box that had popped up when Kinito asked if she would want to stay with him. There were the regular “stay” and “leave” options, yes, but there was a third.

Enter your reality.

What the heck did this option even suggest? This was just a game! Clicking on “leave” never actually trapped her within the world Kinito made for her (if it did, she wouldn’t have been able to do all those repeat plays), so there’s no way that this option would have any impact on her real life. She hovered her mouse over the option, thinking for a bit. After sighing, Ash clicked the option. The pop-up went away, and Kinito looked directly at Ash.

“Huh...I don’t recall this option being in my programming. Just hold on a li-“Kinito didn’t get to finish his sentence, as the pink axolotl was thrust out of the screen, about to make a collision course with Ash’s face. The author quickly moved her hands up to block the movement, expecting that the axolotl would be ten feet tall, just like he canonically is. But when she witnessed Kinito land on her keyboard after hitting her hands and seeing that he was still as small as his virtual self, she couldn’t help but give a little laugh.

Kinito himself was not amused and turned his back towards Ash.

“Sorry, sorry, force of habit.” The author then offered her hand to Kinito, waiting for him to acknowledge it.

Kinito sighed (or, at least, what the equivalent for a previously virtual assistant who uses a text-to-speech voice to talk would be) and turned back around.

“What are you even into that makes laughing your first response to seeing me be short?” Kinito climbed onto Ash’s hand and then looked over at another area of the room. An area that could be used by somebody else if they were there. “And did you know that would happen, so you got a bed for me?”

“That bed is there because this is a dorm room that’s considered a double, and- “

“Your dormmate ended up transferring out of the room? Hmm, okay. Based on what I’ve accessed of your files and browsing history on your device, which seems to track.” Kinito interrupted Ash while she was talking, and then perked up. “Wait, but what the heck are you into to make laughing at my height your first reaction?!”

Ash walked the little axolotl over to her external Blu-ray drive and placed Kinito on the drive. Which she could’ve done without walking to the drive, as she was still near her chair.

“Oh, that’s what watching Fullmetal Alchemist does to ya.” Ash then looked down at the time shown on her taskbar. “Oh, shoot! I’ve gotta grab some dinner. Don’t make any loud and unexpected noises. I don’t want the RAs on duty to think I’m breaking any rules...and I don’t know if I’m breaking any rules with keeping you here.”

Without even bothering to wait for the axolotl’s response, Ash ran over to the door, opened it, left the dorm room, and shut the door behind her, locking it as well.

{~}

How many times had Kinito noticed Ash playing with him, just using a different name, and sometimes picking different answers for his questions? He couldn’t remember. And the fact that she dared to use his friends’ names while playing? It was enough to cause the usually calm and collected axolotl to have his hands begin shaking in anger.

Oh, he could still bring up his hands here. Turning around, he noticed that he wasn’t the only pink round creature on top of the drive. A model of a pink circle with nub arms and red round feet sitting on a star was staring back at him.

He could utilize the context he knew of Ash’s playthroughs to figure out who this is. He began by recalling her names, but each name was a name you’d hear be used for a human. Her favorite game then? Kinito’s memory went through mention after mention of osu!, and a couple of mentions of “Our Wonderland” ...whatever that is...before finally landing on the answer he was looking for. The character he was looking at was none other than Kirby, the titular character of the Kirby franchise.

And the name connected to the user account that Ash used. Though that part was due to the Microsoft account she connected to that profile and the first part of that email address...why’d it only set the “Kirby” from that, and not the “fan97”?

Kinito shook his head. His data stream seemed to fixate on the weirdest things recently. And that hardly happened when Ash had first launched him up. Were some aspects of her...what did she call it? “ADHD”? That seemed right to the axolotl. It was highly likely that he was adapting to Ash’s ADHD, and as such, picking up some aspects from it.

But out of all the aspects he could’ve picked up, why did it have to be her tendency to fixate on the smallest details and-

Wait. What if he didn’t pick up these traits? What if there was some presence writing him to be this way?

...no, that’s crazy.

The sound of the door opening caused Kinito to turn around.

“Hello, Ash! Did you enjoy your-“Kinito then noticed the pizza box that Ash was holding. “Oh? Are you saving the rest of your dinner for tomorrow?”

“Bold of you to assume I ate in the SURC.” The author sat down at her table. “I always bring my food back to my dorm. I prefer the quiet...and whatever song I decide to play.”

Kinito was about to ask Ash a question, but when he noticed the girl had grabbed her headphones, he stopped. Something about the action told the axolotl that Ash didn’t want to talk right now. At least, not vocally. As Ash ate her dinner, Kinito used his hands to use her laptop, opening up Notepad, and getting to typing.

{~}

Ash ate three slices of a pizza that the pizza place in the SURC called the Wildcat Pizza, a pizza that would be called meat lovers outside of the university. This was a typical dinner for the girl, and she’s learned to survive on this during her enrollment here. She put the box in the microfridge, and then looked up at her laptop, taking off her headphones, seeing a note.

Hey, this is Kinito. You had your headphones on when I was writing this, and I didn’t want to bother you, so...I’m using your laptop without your permission. Sorry. :( Anyway, I don’t know if there’s a way for me to get back into the game, so...would it be possible for me to stay in this room with you?

I’ll try my best to keep the more...controlling parts of my personality under control, as I understand that college is important for you, but there’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to completely get rid of it. Besides, you seem lonely enough to take a chance on an assistant like me time and time again, I think you see something in me that I can’t.

Ash looked over at Kinito, who was standing on her mouse pad, giving the axolotl a pat on the head.

“It may be against the rules of my housing contract, but I don’t know anyone else who’d be willing to take you in that would just drop everything to come here. So... A bit of rule-breaking is necessary. Just...when other people come here, pretend to be a stuffed animal so that I don’t get fined, okay?” Ash gave a smile, which caused Kinito to nod.

“Thank you, Ash.”

Chapter 2: Circles

Chapter Text

Ash was staring at the blank Word document in front of her, glaring at it. Her fanfics weren’t going to write themselves, and while normally she could type anything, even if it wasn’t coherent, today the words refused to come to the surface. But why? She usually was very good at being able to write, why was it different now? Was it because she was trying to write another chapter of one of her Cuphead fanfics instead of the KinitoPET fanfics that she’s recently been writing?

...did Kinito even know that Ash was writing fanfics of him? What if he found out and got disgusted at the idea of them? Would Kinito not want to stay with Ash anymore? But he’s supposed to—

Ash punched herself in the arm. She needed to stop getting on those tracks of thinking. It isn’t healthy for her. Besides, she promised herself that she wouldn’t do that anymore. For the sake of her mental health. Maybe...she just needed a break from this work stuff for now.

She minimized the Word document and looked over at the top of her Blu-Ray drive, where Kinito was sleeping, having a phone charging block be his pillow. It was adorable, honestly. She grabbed an empty Ziploc sandwich bag and put it over Kinito like a blanket.

If he’s going to sleep, he’s going to need to be somewhat comfortable.

Now, she was getting back to the task at hand: deciding what game to play to pass the time and possibly get some ideas for writing. Clicker Heroes or Realm Grinders? She wasn’t feeling like a clicker or idle game right now. My Singing Monsters? She felt like she was currently in a section where it’s noticeably faster to progress if you purchase micro-transactions than if you’re free to play like she is, so that likely wouldn’t amount to a lot of playtime. Sword Art Online: Integral Factor? She’s still actively watching Sword Art Online: Alicization, so it’s probably better to skip that one for right now. Our Wonderland? ...no, she doesn’t want horror right now.

Guess it’s time to go to an old reliable.

Ash moved the mouse to hover over the icon she has for osu!, and opened it.

{~}

“FRICK!” Ash’s voice caused Kinito to jolt awake. He looked over at the screen noticing...circles to click?

“Ash...what’s going on?” Kinito tilted his head, having his black eyes meet Ash’s. And at Kinito’s voice, Ash looked over at him.

“Oh, did I wake you up? Sorry. It’s just...getting SS rank on this map feels impossible!” Ash laid her head down on the keyboard of her laptop, giving out a sigh. “I’ve gotten an SS rank on a map that has a higher star difficulty than this, so why am I struggling with this specific map?”

Kinito gave a concerned look at Ash. She seemed so upset, and all because of...what?

“How...do you get an SS rank in this game? And what is this game?” Kinito reached out a gloved hand to Ash, which the latter took.

“This game is osu!, and to get an SS rank, you need to have a full combo where the rating for every single click is a ‘great’, or a 300 if you use one of those skins. If you deviate from the greats at all, then you’re booted down to S rank.” Ash looked at the keyboard. “I keep making so many mistakes that boot me down to S-”

“Stop talking so badly about yourself!” Kinito interrupted Ash’s speech, and he looked at Ash directly in the eyes. “I don’t know if you’re experiencing imposter syndrome due to your ADHD or what, but something like this should not be causing you to get all down like this! That’s not the Ash that I got to know throughout all this time! When you made a mistake during your drawings, you didn’t lay your head down like this! You grabbed the eraser, erased your mistake, and tried again! So why don’t you keep on trying?”

“Because if I continue trying, it’s going to seem like I’m insane.” Ash lifted her head from the keyboard and looked at Kinito. “I can’t just continue trying and expect a different result. Trying again for a different result is what keeps gamblers gambling, but it shouldn’t keep me repeating this beat map repeatedly.”

If Kinito had a mouth, he would be frowning right now. He wanted to help out his friend, and if she wouldn’t accept him trying to talk her up, then she needed to hear some advice. And he felt he was decent with advice.

“If this is making you so upset, then why don’t you take a break from that and do something else? Something a bit more...productive?” Kinito’s free hand pointed towards the Word document that Ash still had open. “It’ll get those creative juices flowing and allow you to recover from the stress that has built upon you because of this game! It seems like a win on all fronts!”

Ash tilted her head. Kinito had a point. She probably should stop and do something else. But...writing...? Her brain was still coming up empty when it came to what words to write, so that wouldn’t help at all.

Ash moved her mouse over to select a different beat map on osu!, but Kinito glared at her.

“You may end up hurting your mental health more if you continue doing this. Take time to relax!” Kinito closed his eyes, trying to give off a friendly vibe.

Ash selected the beat map, causing it to begin loading.

“I’m going to show you how to play, just so that you can understand why this has me so upset.” Ash let go of the hand of Kinito’s that was holding hers, and grabbed the assistant, resting him on the keyboard.

Kinito’s eyes watched the screen. Some things popped up on the screen to the rhythm of the song that Ash was playing, some of them being circles that Ash just had to click, while some were sliders that required Ash to click and drag. And when she did the actions were dictated by a circle that approached each item, with Ash doing the actions that needed to be done when the approaching circle hit the item.

The fact that Kinito could understand all of that without needing to look at the tutorial (as Ash had selected a beat map for a random song that she admitted she only knew about because of this game) was astonishing to even him. And when playing this map, Ash didn’t care if an “okay” or a “meh” managed to slip through the cracks. She didn’t restart just because she missed one beat. While playing, she even began to...smile.

That was something quite rare for Ash to do in the dorm room. If she recalled correctly, this is the first time she cracked a genuine smile while being here. And Kinito seemed to notice this, as he hopped up and down.

“You’re not sad anymore!” Kinito said, and Ash seemed to get an idea, pausing the beat map and pulling up the Word document.

“And I just got an idea for what to write!” Ash clicked into the Word document and began writing about an author who was staring at a blank one...

Chapter 3: Chillax

Chapter Text

Kinito was staring at the screen of the computer, keeping his eyes on the time. In 20 more minutes, Ash would get off of the shift she has at her job tonight and tell Kinito to distract himself with something on YouTube to ensure he didn’t look at Ash changing.

It’d probably be better for him to start doing that now. He’d have to cope with only dealing with the subtitles that were either automatically generated by YouTube or added by whoever added them. He decided to check out Ash’s subscriptions on YouTube, just to see what kinds of channels she watched.

Most of the channels didn’t exactly capture Kinito’s interest, likely because he didn’t understand why they created the content they did. But one had captured his interest, and he decided to click the first video of theirs that he saw.

{~}

Ash had arrived home, noticing Kinito sitting on top of her laptop, with YouTube already pulled up. Usually, Ash would’ve pulled up an upload from the DougDougDougDoug channel, just so that Kinito had something to look at. Ash’s changing never seemed to go past the pre-stream conversations on a first change, so it took several changes to have Kinito even finish one VOD.

But Kinito had pulled up a video all on his own – and it was a video from a different channel, no less. Kinito had found a video from EmKay, one of the ones that was over an hour long that compiled previous videos under the same topic into one. Ash gave a smile when she saw this.

He’s starting to explore more of the internet than the parts I shove him in front of! That’s awesome!

Ash looked away, ready to change back into her regular clothes. Kinito would probably appreciate more time to watch the EmKay he chose.

{~}

The feeling of Ash’s hand on his head was not enough for Kinito to break out of the trance he was in watching the EmKay video. Something about this channel was so...refreshing from the content that Ash usually had him watch.

It’s funny. I thought I wouldn’t form my own opinions about stuff like this, and just go along with what she wants to do. Why am I feeling this way? Is this some weird after-effect of entering the real world?

Kinito was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t even noticed that Ash had paused the video. It wasn’t until the image had stayed the same for a full minute that Kinito finally realized that Ash had done something.

“Did you need me for anything?” Kinito asked, with Ash giving an exasperated sigh.

“You were hyper-focusing on that video, right?” She then knelt to be at a more comfortable level to chat with Kinito. “And don’t even bother with trying to lie to me. I know your core feature is your adaptability, and due to that, I can recognize when my habits are being mirrored by you.”

Kinito looked away, embarrassed.

“W-well, it’s just...it’s...um...” This was the first time that the axolotl was struggling to come up with the words he wanted to say to Ash. Was this another one of Ash’s habits that he had managed to pick up? Talking before he even knew what he wanted to say? Why did he have to pick this one up?!

Ash chuckled.

“Don’t worry, I’m not that mad. I love EmKay’s videos. I just...never thought you’d enjoy them as well.” She then sighed. “Jeez, why am I thinking of you as if you’re a living, breathing person? You-”

“Began as a virtual assistant, I know, you don’t need to remind me.” Kinito got up and had his gaze meet Ash’s. “But being here has made me feel more alive than I ever felt like I could’ve been on the screen. There’s nothing in my programming that should’ve prepared me to enter the real world. And yet, look at me! I’m thriving the best I can!”

Ash smiled. Kinito seemed to know exactly what to say to make her feel better, and that was all she needed. Even if she never grew to the level of confidence that she wanted to be, then she knew she at least had someone who she was comfortable with asking for help.

And if Kinito could help Ash and make her happy, that’d still be following his programming, right? After all, it’s hard to follow the extreme vagueness of “I will follow my orders” since that didn’t give him much to go from.

But why is that the only thing in my programming? What drove me to put myself on the internet? And why are things that I used to remember so clearly now so foggy? Why is my mind racing with so many thoughts?

Kinito shook his head. He’d deal with clearing up his thoughts later. For right now, though, he should ensure that Ash is still doing a-okay.

{~}

Ash still had some leftover pizza, so she decided to heat that for her meal today. She also had some snacks she purchased from the C-Store, so she could have one of those to bulk up her meal. She ended up grabbing the box of chocolate Pocky she had since she felt like having more of a sweet addition to her meal. After getting out her pizza, she still had one last thing to get to be able to be fully prepared...a drink.

She grabbed her purse and headed out of her room and into the common area, to get a drink from the vending machine. There were some people there playing pool, but just as Ash suspected, they didn’t notice her.

Not like I want them to notice me. I’m perfectly fine just going through life as a background character. I’m not someone who’d fit into the mold of a main character.

Once she arrived in front of the vending machine, she opened her purse and pulled out her wallet-lanyard, opening the back of it to grab her debit card.

Let’s do this.

{~}

Kinito perked up when he saw Ash walk back into the dorm, holding a Barq’s Root Beer bottle. He watched as the girl took a bite out of one of the slices of pizza, with Ash staring into space.

“Say, Kinito, what do you think happens when we pass away?” Ash spoke up, before suddenly shaking her head. “Actually, ignore that. Just...me jumping onto a random thought process, that’s all.”

Kinito shook his head. He had a feeling this wouldn’t be the first time that Ash would try and get on this topic with him. For right now, though, Kinito decided it was fair for him to get some sleep, setting up the charging block and a Ziploc sandwich bag for sleeping, and closed his eyes.

Have a nice rest of your day, Ash. And enjoy your dinner.

Chapter 4: Creative Unfiction

Chapter Text

“C'mon, there’s gotta be something I can write about…” Ash was repeatedly tapping her finger on her mousepad, looking over the prompts for the assignment she was working on again.

Ash's least favorite genre to write was creative nonfiction. Her life – well, excluding having Kinito enter the real world, but she couldn’t tell anyone about that – was so boring. And even if she had lived through something more exciting, she had probably forgotten it.

This is why fiction and poetry are so much better than creative nonfiction…

Kinito himself would be sleeping in his usual location, utilizing his usual setup. The author looked over at Kinito a little bit, before sighing.

“I guess one little nap couldn’t hurt…” Ash murmured, laying her head on the keyboard of her laptop and closed her eyes.

{~}

Everything around Ash was like…mist? Fog? She couldn’t think of the word to describe it. It could’ve been steam as well…

Kinito had walked up to Ash, tilting his head.

“Where are we?” he asked, bringing up one of his gloved hands to grab Ash's hand.

Ash was about to speak.

Kinito the Axolotl. Ash Plavell. Get the Web World back into a functional state.

But the sudden voice caused Ash to close her mouth. What was that voice talking about? Did it mean the Kinito Crew's Web World? But that should’ve been just a part of the game!

…did Ash bringing Kinito into the real world mess up more than just Kinito?

Also, be wary of who-

{~}

Ash and Kinito had both perked awake, the two looking at each other with shock in their eyes.

“I still need to write that dang creative nonfiction story!” Ash looked back at the screen of her laptop, with Kinito tilting his head.

If he were still his desktop buddy counterpart, he would’ve just watched her work, being even more useless than Clippy and Bonzi in those instances.

Kinito wanted to reach out. Wanted to help Ash brainstorm ideas, find the perfect words to use, or just give her somewhere to vent.

But, for some reason that not even Kinito himself could explain, he faltered. What if Ash didn’t want his help? What if she was just going to brush him off, saying that she had to do this on her own, or even worse, what if Kinito just made everything worse for Ash?

Why am I spiraling down this thought cycle? Ash is my best friend!

...but does Ash even feel the same way, or is she only letting me stay here because she knows that nobody else that she knows would be willing to put up with me?

Kinito got up and began pacing around, bringing one of his gloved hands into existence. He began...waving it around?

I think Ash told me about this...this is one of the ways she...what was the word she used again? “Stims”?

He needed to stop entertaining these weird thought processes. He didn’t even know if Ash was struggling, and to what extent.

{~}

Struggling to come up with ideas for what to write wouldn’t be a huge weight on anyone else. But for Ash, someone who put her heart and soul into her writing, perhaps so much so that it was like she had copies of her soul just to inject into her writing, it made her feel like a failure of a writer.

Writing’s all I’m good for. If I can’t even do that, then I’m just a failure.

She moved her mouse to the icon on her taskbar for Google Chrome and-

“Ash, no.” Kinito stepped up to Ash’s mouse and used his floating hand to move Ash’s mouse, and by extension, the cursor, away from the guaranteed distraction. “You need to finish this assignment.”

“But I’m stressed! And it’s bad for me to work while I’m stressed!” Ash cried out.

“You’re currently on academic warning! You need to do everything in your power to keep your GPA this quarter good, otherwise, you could get...oh, I don’t know...expelled from college!” Kinito had raised his voice, taking a step towards Ash. “It’s either you do this assignment, or...or...”

Kinito trailed off. He had gotten distracted by the fact that Ash still had her plate out...and still hadn’t washed it. But despite this, Ash had gotten the message that Kinito was getting across.

{~}

Was I too harsh?

Kinito had noticed that even after he had snapped at Ash to finish the assignment she was working on (which she did, thankfully), she seemed to be doing everything in her power to ignore Kinito.

The author herself was currently using her Switch Lite, lying down on her bed instead of sitting in front of her laptop like she usually does. She was probably playing a game that was connected to whatever she was into.

It’s still that story with the dude fighting the evil exes, right? Or has she found that boring and moved on to something else?

And since Kinito wasn’t allowed on the bed at the moment, he couldn’t confirm or deny his thought. But he still had to apologize to her somehow. He unlocked Ash’s laptop and-

What.

The assignment that Ash had told Kinito she had finished, and that Ash had told Kinito that she had turned in was still pulled up, and it was blank.

She never finished the assignment?!

It was late enough that Ash likely would be too tired to work at writing something.

I guess I’ve gotta write something on her behalf.

And with that, Kinito got to work.

{~}

“Okay, that’s enough of that for right now. I better write that-“ Ash looked over at her laptop, where Kinito had pressed “submit” on the assignment that she still had to do. Ash chuckled when she saw this.

“Alright, I guess I owe you one for this. Since I don’t have any assignments that are looming over me now...how about I show you something that I loved as a kid?” Ash pet Kinito. “Actually, that’s a poor choice of words. I still love it!”

Kinito nodded, and Ash moved her mouse to the address bar, clicking into it.

“Trust me, dude. You’re gonna love this.” Ash pet Kinito yet again, typing into the address bar.

Chapter 5: NeoWorld

Chapter Text

The first key pressed was the “n” key. Then the “e” key. Kinito watched as Ash continued typing, causing a URL to appear in the address bar.

neopets.com

There was some information in Kinito’s database about that site. It was a virtual pet site and was owned by Viacom...at least at the last time his database was updated, which was in the early to mid-2000s.

Maybe I could have Ash help me update my database at some point! ...but would it be worth it if that darn pet game takes-

Kinito’s mind faltered. He had done so well with keeping his more controlling behavior in check so far. And now, his behavior was creeping back into those habits that he used to try and convince others to stay with him, to never leave, and to ensure that the friendship would be everlasting.

I thought I had adapted fully to Ash’s behavior and gotten those urges under control! Why are they still here?!

Kinito stepped in front of the screen of the laptop before Ash could proceed further into the site.

“A-are you sure that you should be showing me this site? I mean, you know how I’m like...what if I try to...” Kinito was speaking before he thought again. So even if his behavior was starting to creep back to what Ash was more familiar with, he was still keeping some of the adapted behaviors.

Ash simply...laughed.

Why did she laugh?! There might be something wrong with me, and she’s...laughing?! But why?! Is seeing me as this broken mess really that entertaining?!

Ash placed her hand on Kinito’s head, rubbing it, causing Kinito to look up at Ash.

“C’mon dude, something virtual will never replace something real. And since you’re real now, that means that you’re my best friend!” Ash gave a smile, but Kinito didn’t seem convinced.

Is that actually how she feels? Or is she saying something that she knows will cheer me up that way I stay by her side, even though she knows that I don’t have anyone else to turn to at the moment?

Kinito let these questions go unasked, however. After all, he didn’t want to be a bother during a time that Ash was supposed to be happy. And that’s what a good friend would do, right?

{~}

“And then there’s Trudy’s Surprise, which is a great way of racking up Neopoints...” Ash looked over at where she had moved Kinito, noticing that he appeared to be struggling to keep his eyes open. “Oh...are the dailies boring to you? Let’s try one of the games on the site instead!”

She moved her mouse to the top bar, though misjudged the movements she made, and ended up clicking the option to go to the map of Neopia instead of the game room.

“Whoops...I can fix it, I can just—” Ash was quickly cut off, however, as she witnessed the map glitch, showing in the place of the map of Neopia the map of...the Kinito Crew’s Web World? “Huh, either your parent company acquired the site, Neopts decided to do a late April Fool’s Day joke in addition to the one they did on the day itself, or my computer’s been infected with malware.”

Then Ash remembered that Kinito was never a desktop assistant in real life, meaning that his parent company didn’t exist. And Neopets never did an April Fools’ Day prank twice, let alone twice in one year. She moved her mouse to the fountain and clicked on it.

And just like if it were the 2015 April Fool’s Day prank, the computer redirected BACK to the map of Neopia after Ash clicked the map of the Web World.

The Kinito Crew’s Web World. Didn’t somebody want me to restore it somehow?

Ash needed answers, so she minimized her browser window, catching Kinito by surprise.

“Ash? What are you doing?” Kinito asked, as Ash moved her mouse over the icon for the KinitoPET game and double-clicked it. The little window that Steam brings up to say that it was launching the game appeared just like usual and did all of its regular actions. Once those closed, the wait was on for something, anything to happen.

And something did happen. But not what Ash wanted to happen. An error pop-up appeared.

Kinitopet.exe cannot be run: integral file Kinito_the_Axolotl.xml missing.

The weight of what Ash did finally sunk in. When she investigated that option, she consequentially locked herself – and potentially even others – from playing the game. The one area where she knew the Web World would work.

How can me and Kinito restore the Web World if I can’t even get the area to-

Then Ash paused. The pages of the KinitoPET website were real, even if every single link that appeared on those sites in the real world led to the Steam page of the game. She’s visited them before.

Since I can’t run the game, I can try visiting the page in the real world!

She reopened her web browser, opened a new tab, and headed to the Wayback Machine. She didn’t want to risk misremembering the URL for this. She typed in the address for the main KinitoPET site: kinitopet.com.

“As—”

“I know what I’m doing, Kinito.” Ash pressed the enter key, waiting for the page to load. Then, she selected the URL section, scrolling until she found the URL she was looking for.

Perfect.

The cursor moved, highlighting the URL with Ash pressing the ctrl and c keys. Ash then moved the mouse to the address bar and cleared it out, ctrl and v-ing the URL into the newly opened up address bar and pressed enter.

If she had done this before the events that caused her to bring Kinito into reality, the site would’ve looked just like any old site that ran on Flash that would now be defunct, albeit with a more stylized symbol to show the inability to use it...because that was just how the site looked. Not even Ruffle could save it.

What greeted her instead, however, was the starting screen for the Web World, with one key difference...Kinito was absent.

Well, obviously. My decisions caused him to exit the digital world.

Scrolling down, Ash saw that the descriptions for the characters were mostly normal...the only difference is that Kinito’s entire description was replaced with one key question.

Where is he?

Ash gently grabbed Kinito, which caused Kinito to get confused.

“What are you doing?” he asked, before getting placed on Ash’s shoulder. Ash also didn’t answer his question, as she clicked the start button. The transition and loading screen appeared like normal, and loading proceeded like normal...until the bar got stuck at the halfway point.

“Hm, guess your absence has messed up more than just the game...” Ash muttered, before noticing a sudden pop-up on the site.

Error: Critical files corrupted and/or missing. Attempting to repair files.

Ash gulped. This was it. This was the moment of truth. She’d figure out what’s going on and...

How are my Neopets doing?

Ash moved her mouse over to the tab she had for Neopets, but before she could click it, a loud error sound came through her headphones.

Critical files are missing. Attempting to find replacements.

Ash sighed. It’s not like this site could –

Wait, what?!

Ash’s eyes had landed on her webcam, seeing the light next to it that signified that it was in use turned on. There hadn’t been any pop-ups asking if she wanted the site to use it, it was just doing it anyway.

“Kinito, you and me have just gotta stay calm right now. Besides, it’s not like it’ll--”

Kinito_the_Axolotl.xml found. Unknown file found. Both shall be attempted to be added to the database.

Ash’s face sank.

It thinks I’m some kind of unknown file! But I’m not a file – I’m human!

If Ash’s mind had gone farther on that tangent, then she couldn’t remember, because a white flash of light seemed to overtake her vision.

What is important, however, is that if someone were to walk in and look over at where Ash and Kinito once were, they would see nobody there.

Chapter 6: Under the Sea

Chapter Text

Ash opened her eyes to find herself underwater, and—

Wait, underwater?! B... but I can’t swim!

Even though she was underwater, however, she didn’t feel any of the same sensations that she felt while drowning. It felt just as easy to move here as it did back in her world. But how did she end up here? Her mind was fuzzy and—

“Ugh...Ash, you okay?” Kinito’s voice hit Ash’s eyes, causing her to look at the pink axolotl and—

Hold on.

Staring at Kinito caused Ash’s mind to become clearer. Recalling the events that caused all of this to happen in the first place. Though, she was also taken aback. While the axolotl was around 10 inches tall during his stay in the real world, he seemed to be closer to Ash’s height here. But seeing an opportunity that would likely never come again, Ash hugged Kinito tightly.

Kinito was taken aback, but he hugged her back. His eyes went down to meet Ash’s.

“It kind of sucks that you’re stuck here...but at least you’re with me, your only best friend!” One of Kinito’s gloved hands let go of Ash and went to where his mouth usually is, before looking back up at Ash. “Many apologies about that. That just...came out of nowhere. I’m usually super good at holding those kinds of things back...”

Ash let go of the hug, with Kinito letting go as well.

“I mean, that was weird, but it’s okay!” Ash looked over and saw the run-down house that she knew belonged to Sam the Sea Anemone.

Please tell me we’re not going to play the minigames to get out...

Kinito noticed where Ash was looking and nodded.

“Ah yes, we should probably check up on Sam.” Kinito nodded at Ash, with the two walking up to the door. Ash knocked on it and began tapping her foot on the stone porch, the one part of the house that didn’t appear to be completely broken down.

“Comin’ in a bit!” A familiar though muffled voice came through the door, with the door opening around 5 to 10 seconds afterward, having the orange sea anemone looking at the two. “Oh, hi Kinito! Me and Jade were worried about you...where were you?”

“I was visiting my best friend, though I admit...I probably stayed away for a bit too long...” Kinito put one of his gloved hands to the back of his head, giving what can only be described as a mechanical giggle. But Ash felt something off about the tone that Kinito used to call her his best friend.

The previous times he called me that, I could tell he was being genuine. But now...is he actually telling the truth, or is he trying to keep me by his side no matter what?

Ash shook her head. She could ruminate on that later. Right now, her focus should be on helping Sam with whatever he needs help with. Ash was about to speak up.

“And I’m assuming you’re the best friend in question?” Sam had looked over at Ash, with a questioning look on his face. Ash tensed up, before bowing.

“Y-yes, I am! M-my name is Ash!” Ash spat out the words, before straightening up into a regular standing position. “S-sorry...it’s just that I didn’t expect you to talk so soon. Do you...need any help with anything?”

Sam put one of his gloved hands under his mouth, beginning to get deep in thought.

“Now that I think about it...I could use some help fixin’ up my place. Would you be willing to help?” Sam’s question prompted a nod from Ash, with Sam gesturing inside the house. “Great! Come inside! Kinito, would you like to join us.”

Kinito shook his head.

“Nuh-uh. I’ll just stay outside and write a story to read to my b—Ash later! I don’t want to be a bother...” Kinito gave another mechanical chuckle as Ash and Sam entered the house, the door being closed behind them.

{~}

What’s gotten into me? It’s gotten harder to push down those tendencies since I came back here...I’m lucky I even managed to squash that last one before it fully escaped.

Kinito pulled out a blank book, opening it to the first page. He needed some way to distract himself, to prevent any more incorrect actions on his part. He could very easily write a story to pass the time.

But Ash is an author as well...and what if writing this story leads me to go after her?

Kinito pushed his eyes shut.

No! That won’t happen! Her stories are intended for a more mature audience! While mine are intended for kids! Besides, Ash doesn’t write in the same style as me! I shouldn’t be putting our work together as if they’re the same!

Kinito began writing. He had to ignore his thoughts. He had to ignore his thoughts. He had to stay focused.

{~}

Ash finished dusting and washing Sam’s house, and he expected her to do the thing that she felt shouldn’t be left in her hands...painting the walls. She had no idea what she was doing, so she just dipped the paint roller into the nearest paint bucket and rolled it all across the wall.

The color she ended up picking was pink...and somehow, she didn’t need to refill the paint roller at all while painting.

“Yo, Sam! You chill with the wall color?” Ash called out to the sea anemone.

“I don’t mind what color you go with for the walls. Just as long as I can still see myself, it should be fine!” Sam’s response didn’t give much for Ash to think about, so she put the paint roller away.

“Alright dude, do you want me to decorate the place as well? Because based on the patterns I’ve noticed, you’re leaving the entire look of this place in my hands...” Ash’s inquiry was met with a thumbs-up from Sam.

“That would be awesome, thanks! You can find all the decorations you may need in the storage closet!” Sam pointed towards the storage closet, with Ash walking inside and closing the door behind her, turning on the light as well. She began digging through the items in a box that she found nearby, pulling out something that if she were raised by anyone else, she would’ve tilted her head in confusion.

A VHS tape? But why does Sam have this?

She turned the VHS tape over, revealing the label that was on it.

Kirby

An awkward thing to put on a tape, but Ash had the feeling that she was meant to find this VHS tape. After all, her computer username was Kirby. So this was likely either a tape connected to the whole reason why she was here, or an episode of the Kirby Right Back at Ya! Anime. It was hard to tell at the moment.

Of course, she didn’t bother looking any deeper into the tape. She needed to figure out how to best decorate the room.

{~}

“And... done!” Kinito closed the book, having finished the story that he was working on. Even if Ash was a bit past the age range that his stories were intended for, he was still excited to share it with her.

He walked over to Sam’s door, noticing how clean everything looked now.

I knew Ash could do it!

And then, he knocked. Sam opened the door, looking quite nervous.

“Hey, Kinito...could you help me out?” Sam asked, pointing over to Ash, the latter being wrapped up in lights like the ones you’d see on a Christmas tree. “Ash tried to get something from a high shelf on her own, and the box fell, causing her to get wrapped up in the lights...”

The girl was wriggling, trying to get free on her own, but to no avail. Kinito took a step toward Ash and—

Leave her tied up.

...what?!

Don’t you want her to never leave your side? If you leave her tied up, then she’d have to rely on you if she wants to go anywhere...thus ensuring she’ll be by your side!

Kinito took another step forward, trying to combat the thoughts that were entering his head.

Stay quiet! Ash...Ash doesn’t deserve to be tied up like this! I need to help her!

But does your helping her have to involve untying her?

Kinito ran towards Ash’s body, gripping the lights tightly.

“YES, IT DOES!” Kinito yelled out, shocking both Ash and Sam. Kinito ripped the lights off of Ash’s body, causing the girl to hug him. Kinito, in response, grabbed Ash and slung her over his shoulder...or, at least, where his shoulder should be.

“H...huh?” Ash asked, tilting her head. “W-wait! I’m not done decorating Sam’s place—”

“You are now.” The sudden strict words from Kinito caused Ash to tense up. This was not the Kinito that had been thrust into the real world because of Ash’s curiosity. This wasn’t the Kinito that had adapted to Ash’s ADHD.

And even Kinito recognized it.

This place is changing me back to how I used to be.

Kinito exited Sam’s house, taking him and Ash over to the fountain, and sitting down on the edge of it.

“Ah...many apologies about that, Ash. How about I read you the story I was working on to try and... help get both of our minds off of what happened?” Kinito asked.