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You’d barely come into this outlet from being plugged in. You were very new, being the latest model of surge protector, but you liked where your office ended up. Your station was pretty minimal since only a couple new games were added to your area of the arcade so far, so you went through the other outlet to visit your coworker and explore.
But exploring had got you somewhere shady, a corner of a game called Sugar Rush that wasn’t exactly populated. Far in the back, very little collision detection here.
A sound was heard, like rustling leaves or…skittering. “Who’s there?”
No answer, but more skittering and you backed up into the nearby cliff of caramel. “I-I’m just looking around, no need to do anything drastic.”
“But what if I want to be drastic, dear?” cooed a voice, and a massive creature emerged from around a boulder of chocolate. He had a human-ish sprite head but the rest of his body was sugar coated nightmare fuel, bright colors and shiny candy shell over an oversized insect body with a neck made of a candy necklace, long and flexible as it lowered to look at you. “You’re not someone I’ve see before. Are you from a new game?”
“N-no, I’m the navigation guide for the smart surge protector in the expansion. Navi, for sort.”
“oooh, that’s quite a big job for such a small sprite, hoohoo. Then again, you’re definitely dressed like you work in a central station…” The bug man walked around, the thud of his huge legs hitting the ground making you nervous.
“wh-who are you?”
“Let me introduce myself, silly me,” he chuckled and raised up a bit, folding his clawed hands in front of his chest to show the gleam of his hard candy claws. “You can call me King Candy, or KC for short.”
“Y-you certainly have the presence of the man in charge.”
“Why thank you, little treat, that’s the nicest thing anybody’s said to me since I became the most powerful virus in the arcade!” His laugh turned sinister as you realized what he’d just said.
“Virus???” you were afraid. Just a little program that sends alerts to the user if power goes out, that’s you job, and you had no firewall to speak of.
“Don’t look so nervous, sweetie, I’m not going to kill you,” the king bug was low to the ground, his claw back touching your cheek, “I just wanted to see who you were, that’s all. Unless you’d like something else?”
“I-I just wanna go home, Mr. KC. I won’t bother you anymore.”
“NO bother at all, sugar crumbs,” he giggled, “but…well, I have a bit of a problem and I think you can help me. Would you do that for a poor old man? I’ve been in this arcade since the eighties!”
“That long?! Sugar rush was only launched in the early nineties, though!” You had the whole of the internet at your disposal after all, coming with wifi of your own even if it was very weak.
“Well, I did say I was a virus, right? I went by a different name then and started as a sprite in my own game. Then things went wrong and I ended up here, what’re ya gonna do?” He used his hands to talk a lot, and moved his neck with it. “Anyway, would you help me a little, sweetie?”
“It depends on what you want…” you want to be on his good side for the moment till you can get out and alert the proper authority of this encounter.
“I just need you to keep me company for about…oh, half an hour? I’m waiting for a particular spawn that happens here and when it happens, I’ll let you go about your business. It’s more about needing a buddy than anything, huh huh, silly me, all lonesome out here,” he waved his hand as if to dispel an unpleasant thought.
“That’s…okay. Yeah, I can do that.” You didn’t mind waiting on a spawn for a bit. Besides, you wanted to know more about this very strange character. A sprite that became a virus on his own? That’s interesting.
“Oh, good!” he grinned, showing sharp teeth that you had not seen before and grabbed you in both hands, “You’ll be going home fine, don’t you fret, but thank you in the meantime for your cooperation.”
“Huh?” was all you got out before the huge bug shoved you into his mouth head first.
No time to process what was happening, it all went too fast. You were in his mouth, then a loud swallow squished around your ears and you were half gone, then all gone on the next one, sliding down the fleshy tube inside that weird neck of his.
You screamed, panicking and squirming as best you could in the tight throat until you got dumped into a larger chamber where you desperately clawed for a way out at the walls, but there was none.
“Oh hush, you aren’t getting hurt, silly,” came the voice of the bug, and you shivered in place, “Good. Like I said, I just need someone to fill the space till the spawn happens. Then a bunch of tasty things will be taking your place and you’ll be let go. And I wasn’t kidding about being lonesome, hoo no, I haven’t had someone to talk to for five years now.”
“I-I…” you couldn’t speak really, just sob as you quaked in fear.
“Just be a good listener then, since you seem a bit tongue tied. Ooh now I wish I’d tried that out so that could be a pun. I love puns.”
“KC, I’m just scared.”
You’d barely squeaked out the words, but he heard you, “Oh, I totally get it. I was too when I got eaten by the cybug the first time. Then again, I was eaten for keeps, you’re just in storage for the moment.” A scratching sound came from the floor, it was muffled but you found where it was. “I can feel where you’re at, y’know, so don’t fret about getting lost in there. From what I can feel, it should be plenty soft in there, hm? Why not lie down and relax instead of sitting there all balled up?”
“O-okay,” you did as he told you, and found that the soft wisteria walls were indeed quite cushy and giving, cupping your body like it was made for you.
“Really, you’d think everybody would understand eventually that I’m a bit preoccupied with keeping my energy up to bother scheming at the moment but noooo,” He sighed, “still, I’m very glad you came along Navi. Life is boring without someone to talk with.”
“I only was exploring. But I guess,” You’re uneasy but try to release the tension in your body, “if it really helps you to have me here, I don’t mind so much…I just wish you’d been more upfront about what was happening.”
“You’d have run, then.” It was a plain statement, and you had to agree. “But so would anyone. I’ve learned a lot about people just being on the sidelines for five years. A lot more than I knew when I was trying to be in the spotlight all the time, for sure. And people don’t take kindly to the statement, ‘oh, let me just swallow you whole and let you sit for a bit while we talk, it’s just more comfy for me!’”
“Well, no, no they wouldn’t like that,” you admit, and he chuckles, making the ground vibrate.
“No, they don’t. It’s a bit to on the nose, dear. Now it was kind of fun trying to figure out how to get you to agree without ruining the surprise, but I think my skills are a bit rusty when it comes to sweet talking. You were so nervous already!”
“The virus part didn’t help.”
“Ah,” there’s a move, but you can’t see what he did of course. “I guess I still am too proud of myself for that. Oh well, you’re ensconced nicely so it went better than expected. Especially since you taste so nice, too. All clean and sparky, like soda water.”
“I didn’t think about if I tasted like something,” you muse as you feel him moving around.
“Most people don’t, I’d wager, but when you can just slurp people up like candies, well, you get to thinking about things like that. A bit of an intrusive pattern to my thoughts, but I’m not complaining about it. It makes me more dangerous and creepy, right? A much better villain than just a simple little man in a car.”
“You were a villain to begin with?” You ask, and he laughs.
“I was actually the main character of a racing game, so no. I was supposed to be the hero, but…well, jealousy and I are well acquainted.” He settled somewhere, and you could now make out other soft sounds inside him with you. Whooshes of breath, burbling lower in his guts, a thump of a heartbeat, a kind of organic symphony and only you could hear it.
“You got still,” he posed the thought as a question.
“I was listening to everything in here. I’ve never heard any kind of audio like this before.”
“I’d think not unless you’d gone to a womb level at some point,” he hums a little, “but the music part usually drowns everything out in those kind of places, so…hm. What’s it like, if you don’t mind sharing?”
“It’s…everywhere, kind of echoy. A lot of wet kind of sounds, but deep, big. Your breathing is really loud, and your heart, but the gurgle sounds are the loudest.” You’d closed your eyes now, the faint glow of his flesh not making it through.
“Makes sense,” his voice was soft, thoughtful. “It’s weird knowing there are parts of your own body you won’t ever be able to see.”
“It is.” You’re genuinely relaxing now. Nothing has hurt you, or destabilized your code, so you’re okay with staying in this strange guy’s stomach for a bit. At least until something changes. “But it’s kind of cool I can see it, and tell you about it.”
“True,” KC shifted, “and the spawn will happen soon. Just be ready to be shot out of there at a moments notice. OOH, when that choco beast spawns I’ll have a feast again. It just takes so long to come back and my metabolism is through the roof! Honestly, I’d starve if there weren’t three different places for this.”
“Sounds rough.”
The two of you go quiet, and you almost start dozing when suddenly, “Oop, times up, dear!”
And you go hurtling upward and out, “Pweh, ugh. There you are. Now run along and I’ll see you again some time. I had a wonderful chat!”
“O-oh yeah,” you don’t even bother trying to get the slime off your body, just nodding and waving goodbye. That was weird. This arcade is weird.