The Pink Corruption (virus)

Pink Corruption described by Cube in Episode 1

*Were you looking for the namesake series?*

**The Pink Corruption** is the titular virus that corrupts and dements its victims. A single touch can infect one within minutes, except for Heroes, who get a piece broken off of their head instead.

   The symbol of the Pink Corruption is a pink octagram, which replaces the triangle marking of infected shapes. As seen in Episode 5, the pink octagram can be used as a communication device by corrupts, presumably to get in touch with Dub while on missions. It is not known exactly how this works.

## Symptoms

### Infection

The Pink Corruption is quite similar to a common cold or the Coronavirus, however with widely different results. Those who are infected by The Pink Corruption will start sweating excessively, like a fever. The inflicted will often involuntarily jerk their head and body backward from time to time, briefly flickering the color pink as this happens. They also find it very difficult to stand, and may also have trouble speaking, as did Cube when he was first infected. In his case, he struggled to walk for a while, and at his very worse, he appeared to be panting heavily before collapsing onto the ground. Iris subsided the infection just in time to keep anything else from happening, however, for other shapes that don't get purification before it's too late, they will turn pink and begin to infect other shapes, becoming aggressive, ruder, and (sometimes) much more confident. (For example, corrupted shapes are likelier to insult anyone who is not corrupted [corrupt-to-corrupt insults exist, but are much rarer and only used on those lower than the user].) They also have a chance of gaining new physical traits (with the most common being hair), and most corrupts are considered a separate individual from their pure counterpart. These symptoms are delayed in caretakers and do not exist in heroes, instead, the latter will take some damage and potentially break into many pieces.

### Purification

Any corrupted shape who has been exposed to a hero's purification blast or a caretakers triangle long enough can be converted back into their original color. Once purified, the shape will either pass out or become disoriented and dizzy until they become fully conscious again. Not long after, the shape will have fully recovered and returned to their regular lives, unless they are corrupted again.

One exception is Cube, who despite being half corrupted at the time of purification, was not fully healed of his infection. This may be due to the use of a triangle instead of a cleansing blast, suggesting a hero is stronger than a triangle for cleansing, and this means that, potentially, Circumsphere may get infected once again over time.

It can be hard to purify a corrupted shape since they will do whatever they can to avoid this eventuality or, even worse, kill/corrupt the shapes trying to purify them (especially the former in the case of heroes).

### Permanent

Dub and Barracuda are the only monsters that are known to have this- permanent corruption is a state in which a shape (or in this case, monster) cannot be purified, even if they choose to relent from their ways (as seen in the short Cube's Concert, where Dub remains corrupted). So far, the only permacorrupts are the controllers of the virus.

## Weaknesses

### Heroes

Heroes cannot get infected and instead shatter after 3 to 6 hits. They can also purify the corruption.

### Caretakers

Cube took longer to infect because of his connection with Cyan. It is unknown whether this applies to other caretakers, however other corrupts seem to know that caretakers get corrupted slower. Cube's corrupted half, Cubic, was very much alive and conscious from inside his soul, however, he needed to gain enough power to completely take over, which was his ultimate goal throughout Episode 5. Cubic claims that Cube's bond with his hero would make him stronger, however, it is unknown how this would be the case.

## Cures

#### Tree Purification

This cure was used by Iris to temporarily cure Cube in order to stop Cubic's control despite his efforts. He has also used this on Commando Circumsphere.

#### Heroes' Mature Form

Revealed in Episode 6, Cyan uses this to cure **Cube** to fully stop Cubic once and for all, but however, the former infected shape can get infected again.