A shady download unleashes a ravenous (and fat) monster in a certain protogen! Has the Monstrous machine met his match? If you like this story make sure to check out my other ones!
Malware Detected
By Prowler Purple
*CRACK* The familiar sound of a soda can popping open was followed by the loud gulps of a hearty chug. *GLUG* *GLUG* The chubby blindfolded protogen sitting in the living room swished the drink around in their nanite filled visor and began analyzing its contents. “Hmm… Processing… Detecting a high volume of phosphoric acid. Confirmed! This one is coke, and the one I drank before is the off brand. I can tell because regular coke does not contain citric acid, and the one before had a higher pH of 2.387. Case closed!”
“Woah AM, you’re like, scary good!” Vincent, the chunky arctic fox behind them, was in shock! His friend AM could tell which soda was which just by tasting it while blindfolded! “AM, how on earth did you know all of that?” The protogen removed their blindfold and flashed a sly smirk on their visor. “Well, I’m something of a chemist myself. Also I’m mostly a machine. Speaking of, is the update finished for the game?”
The pair turned to their TV to see if their brand new console had finished installing essential updates. FORTY TWO PERCENT COMPLETE. ETA: ONE HOUR. “Come on, this is taking forever. This is why I play on PC! I hate these stupid console exclusives.” Vincent complained. “Feel the evening breeze on your soul! Let joy make your body whole!” The protogen’s face turned into an oscilloscope and started belting out relaxing tunes.
“AM, what are you doing?” Vincent questioned. AM turned off the radio and explained, “I’m running my relaxation program! You’ve been so on edge ever since the download began. Why don’t we acquire some food while we wait? The Knight Castle restaurant is only a block away.” Although Vincent was on edge, he could always use something to eat. “Alright, let’s head out. But I want to be back in time for the game!”
The fox put on some shorts and a casual shirt, while the chunky white protogen struggled to fit their league of lions hoodie over their large midsection. AM had a smooth metallic chest that led into a ball of white fluffy belly and then into round metal hips. The protogen was due for some replacement parts as their belly and paws were getting fatter than their mechanical parts. After a brief bout with the hoodie, they gave up and let a bit of the hoodie ride up on their stomach as AM headed towards the door.
*DING DONG*! The doorbell rang as the pair headed out. AM answered and was greeted by the postman with a strange looking package. “Delivery for Ambrose? Sign here please.” The protogen signed their name for the package and received the strange black box. “What did you order? Some new parts? Or did you get some RAM or something?” Vincent questioned as the protogen tore open the box. Inside was a small and tightly sealed piece of technology that almost looked like a space age USB.
“It… it’s an upgrade drive. These things make changes to a protogen’s SSD on an emotional level. They’re so rare I never thought I would ever receive one, much less for free in the mail!” AM explained as they inched the device closer to their mouth. “Hey! What are you doing! Isn’t that a little dangerous? You don’t know what that thing could do to you! For a computer, you’re not too bright if you think it’s a good idea to put random data onto your hard drive! That’s a one way ticket to virus express!” Vincent yelled.
*CRONCH*! AM opened up their visor revealing an internal mouth area and chomped down on the drive. “WHAT! Why would you do that?” Vincent was shocked at the lack of caution from his usually reserved friend. AM shrugged, “We’re both bored. Besides, I need some upgrades anyway. You know, nothing ventured, nothing gained? Besides, what could possibly go wrong?”
*BZZZT* *ZAP* *WHIRR* AM began sparking and glowing all over! Their usual light blue outlines began glowing an array of different colors, and the protogen’s visor went completely dark! *BEEP* The windows shutdown sound effect played as the flashing ceased. AM’s visor then flashed a loading screen and read: UPDATING… INSTALLING NEW FILES… INSTALLATION COMPLETE… RESTARTING PROGRAM… *BEEP*!
AM’s face returned to the visor as the windows startup sound effect played. “AM! Are you okay?!?” Vincent grabbed the protogen and shook him back and forth, jiggling the fat machine’s belly. “Woah! Be careful with the merchandise! I’m expensive to repair!” AM released himself from Vincent’s grip, appearing to be functioning properly. “Geez, you just scared me! What did you install anyway?”
“I’m unsure. I could scan myself but that would take forever! Besides, we’re both hungry! I’ll do it when we get back. Let’s go, we’ve had enough distractions.” AM headed out the door without a care in the world, much to Vincent’s dismay. “I sure hope he didn’t do anything too drastic…”
The Knight Castle was packed with hungry customers. So much so that there was only one table left for the pair to sit in. After a decent wait, they were greeted by a fake-smiling dog waiter. “Welcome to Knight Castle! What can I get for you today?” AM smirked and announced, “I want thirty sliders, five French fries, and four large cherry cokes.” “I want the same, except make mine diet cokes.” Vincent added.
The waiter sighed and mentally prepared himself to deal with the annoyingly large order as he trudged off. “By the way Vincent, do you feel alright? That whole sparking thing was pretty weird…” Vincent went on, but AM was completely out of it. YOU… ME… SAME… EAT… “WHA! Who said that?!?” AM suddenly snapped back to reality.
“What? It’s only me talking, AM. Are you positive we don’t need to get you checked out?” Vincent was now genuinely concerned. “It’s fine, must have just been a quick audio error. Won’t happen again.” AM didn’t want to show it, but they were worried too. They were hearing voices in their head, and what the voice said didn’t make much sense, either.
“Here’s your order.” The waiter set down a pyramid of sliders and a mountain of french fries. “Ooo! Food’s here. Are you as hungry as I am, buddy? AM? Uhh…” Vincent looked up to see AM sparking once again. *ZAP* *WHIRR* He began making an array of sounds that even the other customers noticed. EAT… ID… EAT… MUST… CONSUME… The voice in AM’s head was… taking over! It was like control was being ripped away from the protogen!
Suddenly, the protogen began to… change. Their light blue outlines faded into an ominous crimson color. Their mechanical parts seemed to shoot outwards and grow as new plating seemed to fit itself onto their hips and shoulders! The normally six-foot protogen expanded to an astonishing seven and a half feet tall! With a *SNAP* their back grew a hunch and small spikes began to protrude from their back all the way down to their tail. Their paws grew long fangs, and Their fur seemed to puff up with extra fluff. Lastly, AM’s visor glowed with a frightening visage of snarling fangs and angry red eyes that were full of malice.
“HRAAAGH!” The mechanical monster roared and slammed their claws down on the table, breaking it in two! Then they leapt to the floor and began ravenously chowing down on the scattered food. *MONCH* *CRUNCH* *NOM* *GLUP* Giant claws swiped at the pile of scattered food and left giant scratches in the floors. The new AM opened it’s jagged maw and stuffed a huge clawful of food inside like a monster. The sixty sliders on the floor were erased completely in ten swipes and the fry plate was next to go.
Vincent was horrified. He was crouched under the smashed table and watched his former friend tear through their food. He quickly ran behind the counter with the rest of the panicking patrons. AM was busy cleaning up the entirety of the fries. AM opened their visor wide and dumped as many fries as they could find into their awaiting mouth. This monster only had food on its mind as it tore through every last fry in ten seconds.
Once AM’s shattered table was cleared, the beast stomped through the restaurant and began ransacking the other patron’s meals. It was all pathetic scraps for them, though. As most people only got enough food for one bite from the protogen. *MONCH* *MONCH* *MONCH* “ROOOOOOAAAR! MORE! NEED MORE!” The protogen yelled as it turned it’s gaze to the counter.
Like a lightning bolt it dashed on all fours up to the counter and grabbed the waiter by the tail with a claw. “MORE FOOD! HUNGRY! ME EAT NOW! RAAAAAAUUUGH!” “Yes sir! Yes sir, anything! Please just let me go!” AM flung the waiter into the kitchen, and he and the staff began preparing sliders and fries as fast as they could.
*GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRGLE* The monstrous AM looked down at their own fat belly. It still sagged and sloshed, but it now growled with a never before seen ferocity. AM patted their wide stomach, and stomped over to the drink machine. “AAAAARGH!” AM tore the top off and grabbed six thick pipes. They slammed a claw on every button on the soda machine and bit down on every pipe. Not a second later, soda began shooting from the pipes straight down AM’s throat.
*GLUG* *GLUG* *GLUG* *GLUG* *GLUG* It was as if the monster’s stomach was bottomless. Vincent could see AM’s belly physically grow as they filled themself to the brim with all kinds of soda. For the next five minutes as the staff prepared as much food as they could, AM drank the soda machine dry. Eventually, the pipes began to sputter and stop emitting the sugary beverages. AM hopped down from the machine with a *THUD* and a *SLOSH*.
His wobbly gut was enormous and growling. It looked like an actual boulder that was the size of an average cabinet. *GUUUUUURRRRBUUUUURRRRRBBBLE* AM pressed a large claw into his fat belly and opened wide. *BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRAAAP*! The belch shook the entire restaurant! By the time everyone recovered, AM was snarling in front of the register.
“NEED FOOD! NOW! EAT! HRAAAAAUUUGH!” AM smashed the counter with a swipe of their claws, and stood menacingly over the patrons. “Here you go! Here you go! Now I’m out of here!” The employee opened the door to the kitchen and dashed out of the restaurant, followed by all of the patrons. AM punched down the door with a *CLANG* and stood over the mountain of meat before him.
There had to be over a hundred sliders stacked up messily before AM, as the cooks were certain this monster wasn’t too concerned with garnish or table manners. AM reared their head over the pyramid of food and grabbed one slider with their tail. They flung the sandwich into their mouth and tasted it. “FOOD… FOOD!” AM licked their jagged visor and smacked their sloshy stomach. *GUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRGGGLE*
AM then pounced on the pile like a football player and began tearing through sliders without grace or concern. They skewered dozens of sandwiches with their claws and shoved their entire paw into their mouth to eat multiple at a time. AM shoved their whole visor into piles and began loudly swallowing whole sliders at a time. *MONCH* *MONCH* *MONCH* The sliders were disappearing at a rate that would not be possible for a normal fur.
As the protogen ate, their belly grew and grew! Their stomach sagged all the way down to their gargantuan metal hips as they ate more and more without a second thought. The machine’s hunger seemed to be insatiable! By the time Vincent arrived in the kitchen, the protogen was nursing it’s bulging stomach that housed over one hundred and sixty sliders and a lifetime supply of soda. It then unleashed an ear destroying *UUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRP* right in Vincent’s face.
“A...a...are you done, buddy?” Vincent sheepishly asked. “ROOOAR!” *CRASH* AM punched a giant hole in the wall! They attempted to run through it, but their belly got stuck. “AAAAARGH! HRRRRRG!” AM began trying to push their way through the wall, but their gurgling belly had an entire foot extra to get through the DIY door. *CRUNCH* AM eventually brought half the wall down when they finally squeezed through. They patted their belly and dashed off on all fours to hunt for more food. “Oh no… I ought to go catch him…”
An hour later of tracking the giant through the town, Vincent caught wind of his trail near the donut shop. And by caught wind of, he of course meant saw the giant, seven and a half foot, and big bellied protogen-shaped hole in the wall. The shop was cleared of customers, but there was one normal sized fur inside. Well, maybe not normal sized.
The only fur left was a familiar looking protogen with a rather large stomach. AM was back at their normal size, and their lights had returned to their normal blue. “AM! Is that really you?” Vincent asked as he helped the fat protogen up. AM’s face returned to his visor with drowsy looking eyes. “Ugh, talk about a hangover.”
“This is no time for jokes! We have to get this checked out, AM! You got some kind of super evil mega virus or something. What do we do?” AM ran an internal scan and knew the only true solution to the problem. “Well, the only way to completely purge my system of this thing is to do a full reset. That would be fine if not for the fact that it would also purge… my memories. I’d forget about you… I don’t want that, Vincent! You’re my best *URP* friend.” AM stated as he stifled some more belches.
“Let’s just go home. We can decide what to do from there, and maybe we can research a cure. Here I'll help you up.” Vincent struggled for a minute to get the protogen around his shoulder, as his massive belly got in the way. Eventually he was able to get an arm around him, but his growling gut was pressing into his side at all times. “This is gonna be a long walk…” He said as he began the trek home.
As they stumbled home, the full moon revealed itself from behind the clouds. It shone like a brilliant crystal ball in the sky. AM fixed their gaze on the moon and their eyes widened. “No! Not the full moon! I’m… I’m…” Vincent gasped and gained some distance as the protogen stumbled and… did nothing. “Ahh, just kidding! I’m not a werewolf, silly!” AM smiled at Vincent, who was not amused.
“This is no time for jokes! I really thought you were about to transform! Don’t do that again! But at least it brings up a good point. What causes these transformations?” Vincent pondered. “Well, the first signs were voices in my head telling me to eat. Then they told me they were me, and I refused. Then the food in front of me came, and I couldn’t help myself. So from my best estimate, it seems like this invader reacts to any stimuli that has to do with food. My taste, smell, touch, sight, or anything else.” AM seemed to be on point with their guess.
“Well, I’ll keep you away from any food. I’ll get on the internet and see if I can find any solutions. But I have a question, how do you know it’s not you?” Vincent’s question seemed to offend AM. “Of course not! Why would you even say something as preposterous as that!” AM blushed as they continued their waddle. Deep down they knew that the voice was a part of them, as much as they didn’t want to admit it.
EAT! EAT! YOU… HUNGRY! YOU… ME… SAME… “No, you’re not…” AM said out loud. “What are you talking about?” Vincent asked from his computer. “Oh, it’s nothing…” AM didn’t want to tell his friend that he was awake during his transformations, and that he knew that form was based on his own dark desires.
“I can’t find anything, man. I’m so sorry. You… you may have to reset. It’s ok if you forget about me.” Vincent was downtrodden, but determined. “No way, I refuse. I’ll find a way to stop this. Vincent, I have a confession. The transformations… they’re actually based on…”
*GUUUUUUUUUURRRGLE* AM looked down at their large stomach. Their belly shrunk down a bit from earlier, but their arms, legs, and face had rounded out with chubby fat. Their nonmechanical parts still got bigger with them, and AM’s need for replacement parts got a lot worse. Their weight was about to skyrocket. “Vincent, I need something to eat. I can’t sit around here with no food forever.” AM whined.
“No way, dude. Until we find a solution, we aren’t mentioning food in any way, shape, or form. Food will be but a fleeting afterthought for you. Understood?” “Food... food… FOOD!” AM’s voice suddenly turned violent as their color began to shift. “No! Did even the thought of food cause this? Or is it because you’re so hungry? Just control yourself, AM!”
AM began to grow as their lights took on a familiar red hue. The spikes from earlier returned, and their layer of military-like metal plating sprouted back up. The screen flashed jagged fangs and evil red eyes. “HRAAAAAH! WHERE FOOD? VINCENT KNOW WHERE FOOD?” The protogen stood over the fox. “You know my name? AM can you hear me? Please you have to listen to me! MMPH!” AM shoved his belly into the fox, squishing him against the wall and his fluffy midsection.
*GUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRGLE* “ME NEED EAT! ME AM! AM IS ME! VINCENT NOT GET IT? NOW FEED AM!” Vincent was confused at the monster’s ramblings. “Mmph! What do *GASP* you mean? Get off!” The fox couldn’t lift the giant gut off of him! “Just forget about me, AM… just go off and be happy…”
Something snapped in AM, and they knew they had to confess. “VINCENT… ME TELL… LIE…” To Vincent, something sounded quite different! It was almost like he was really speaking to AM! “AM, is that you?” AM got off of his friend and explained, “MONSTER IS… ME. PROGRAM IS… EXTENSION… OF PERSONALITY… IT CALLED… ID.” Vincent didn’t understand.
“So what you’re saying is, this whole time you’ve been in control? Why didn’t you tell me? And what do you mean this is an extension of your personality?” AM punched a hole in their cabinet and began inhaling entire boxes of cereal at a time. “NEW PROGRAM MAKE AM… FEEL EMOTION HARDER… INSTINCTS STRONGER… ALL HUNGER FROM NEW FORM… FROM ME THE WHOLE TIME… SORRY… ME JUST HUNGRY…”
AM’s belly let out another *GUUUUUUUUUURRRBLE* as they finished all of the food in the cabinet. “So, it just gives you this new form and intensifies your instincts and emotions? How hungry are you fatty?” AM growled at Vincent. “Okay, sorry! So, if you’re under control I don’t think we need to get you reset!” AM flashed a scary grin and jumped for joy! *THUD* When they landed they rattled the whole apartment and sloshed their large belly.
“Okay, this can stay only if you don’t break anymore walls or furniture. Do you agree?” AM patted their gut and hissed, “ME MAKE… NO PROMISES… IT EAT TIME NOW!” AM tore open the fridge. “Let me help you with that, big guy. Vincent hopped on the protogen’s belly and opened a family sized bag of chips. The ‘monster’ opened up wide, and Vincent dumped an avalanche of chips in! AM didn’t stop to breathe or chew as they inhaled every last chip. “GOT… ANY MORE?” “Alright, let’s party!”
Delivery after delivery came, but the protogen was never satisfied. Eventually, Travis the delivery guy came to deliver his last delivery of the night. The axolotl arrived at a small apartment and knocked on the door. “RAAAAAUGH!” “What the?” Travis almost dropped the order as he heard a terrifying roar on the other side of the door. The door swung open revealing an arctic fox.
“Hey, thanks. I’ve got a lot of protogen to feed here!” The door opened revealing a monster of a protogen with a humongous belly! They had a scary red face, but it bore a smile! Their dome of a stomach was distended past their knees, and was about a foot away from the floor. They sat on a struggling couch but took up the whole thing! *GUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRGLE*
“VINCENT... GET FOOD YET? AM HUNGRY! AM SMASH!” The protogen smashed a coffee table with a claw. Travis dropped the food and dashed out faster than AM could say ‘food.’ “Wait! Don’t you want a tip, Travis? Oh well, I’ve got a lot of belly to rub!” Vincent ran off to comfort his large friend’s belly.
THE END