Infected Argentinosaurus

* Infected
* Normal

The **Infected Argentinosaurus** (also known as the **Mad Sauropod** or the **Plague Monster**) was an individual *Argentinosaurus* that was infected by a disease that turned it rabid and murderous.

## Appearance

This sauropod was a large adult *Argentinosaurus* with the same bluish-green color and purplish tail as the rest of its herd. Following its infection, it quickly developed a zombie-like appearance, with putrid green skin, a slightly lighter green underbelly, and a lolling, bluish tongue. Mucus leaked from its nose and mouth, while its eyes watered heavily from the pain of the plague ravaging its body. The initial bite wound on its right foreleg festered as the rest of its flesh began visibly rotting at an accelerated pace. As the plague took full control, the *Argentinosaurus's* red eyes were robbed of their pupils and contracted thick yellow veins running across the surface, giving the creature a manic expression.

Shortly after going berserk and turning on its herd, the infected *Argentinosaurus's* condition rapidly worsened even further. Its flesh began liquefying and sloughing off of its body, exposing parts of its skeleton as the rest of its body gained an emaciated appearance. The intact areas of skin became covered in throbbing veins and boil-like pustules that audibly pulsed and bubbled, even when the beast was otherwise motionless. The sauropod's lips also rotted off, exposing unnaturally long and crooked teeth.

As it chased Spear and Fang, the infected *Argentinosaurus's* body became steadily more damaged, culminating in it ripping much of the remaining skin and flesh off of its sides in its efforts to escape a narrow ravine. This also revealed that there was nothing left within its ribcage, only a black void. After falling into a pit of lava, its skin gained a charred red appearance.

## Personality

Before the infection, the *Argentinosaurus* was quite peaceful and calm, enjoying eating fruits with its herd, only reacting aggressively when the infected hadrosaur bit it. After it succumbed to the disease, the *Argentinosaurus*, no longer in control of its own actions, was reduced to a violent beast driven by murderous rage. It immediately turned on its own kind, completely annihilating the entire herd, including nests filled with unhatched eggs. Upon spotting Spear and Fang, the *Argentinosaurus* tried to kill them without a second thought.

## Abilities

* **Speed:** Despite its large size, the sauropod moved quickly, able to catch up with Spear and Fang, and even managed to jump high towards the duo, although it is what it led to its downfall.
* **Strength:** The *Argentinosaurus* had tremendous strength that came naturally to its species. It was strong enough to overpower its former herd members, able to crush the entire abdomen of one member with the force of its forelimbs, and able to crash through thick trees as though they were twigs.
* **Durability:** Even with a decayed body, the *Argentinosaurus* survived multiple blows that would have been fatal if it was still normal. The infected sauropod also showed a high intolerance to pain, being able to endure the arid lava of the volcanic sona as well as a fall of several meters high. It even tore its skin without showing itself in pain, and on several occasions hurt itself without caring about its serious damage. The only thing that halted its rampage was molten lava, which proved so destructive to the sauropod that it burned into ashes.
* **Tenacity:** Due to the nature of the disease, the *Argentinosaurus* displayed an unnatural, tenacious need to kill. Even if it was hampered by a narrow ravine, it ripped itself free to continue its chase. Not even a pool of lava stopped it, though its refusal to give up proved to be its downfall.

## History

This individual *Argentinosaurus* was a part of a larger herd that inhabited a seemingly peaceful forest, which included a large watering hole and hundreds of trees for browsing. While feeding with its herd, the sauropod encountered a sick *Parasaurolophus* acting madly and with flesh rotting off its bones. Not seeing it as a threat, the *Argentinosaurus* continued eating before it was bitten by the infected *Parasaurolophus*. The giant herbivore reacted instinctually and killed the sick hadrosaur by kicking it off of its leg and into a tree, but its fate had already been sealed. The disease immediately began taking over the sauropod's body, causing it to become deathly ill. Feverish and struggling to breathe, the now-sickly *Argentinosaurus* walked to the watering hole and drank deeply, gazing at its reflection in the water before proceeding to vomit up massive amounts of blood.

The herd looked in fear as the sick sauropod flew into a panicked rage, thrashing wildly as the disease completely took over its body. No longer in control of its own actions, the dinosaur turned on its own herd and began rampaging through the forest, smashing nests filled with eggs, killing any of its kin who tried to stop it, and then chasing down the ones that tried to flee. Sometime later, Spear and Fang happened upon the massacre, unwittingly stirring the infected *Argentinosaurus* to action as it detected new victims. A brutal chase ensued through the forest, ending with the enormous dinosaur falling down a cliff in a blind attempt to get at its prey. After a hard landing at the bottom of the cliff, it began slamming its head on the cliff walls around it, knocking itself unconscious.

Later that night, Spear and Fang decided to try sneaking away from the seemingly inactive creature, only for it to stir awake and resume the chase with renewed ferocity. It was seemingly thwarted when it got itself stuck in the narrow exit of a ravine, but it managed to force itself through at the cost of most of the flesh on its sides. It proceeded to chase Spear and Fang into an active volcanic plain, but its aggression and weight would prove to be its downfall; its next attempt to lunge at its quarry only caused it to break through the rocky crust and fall into the lava below.

Despite slowly burning alive, the infected *Argentinosaurus* refused to give up, actively burrowing under the rock and bursting through ahead of Spear and Fang in an effort to catch them by surprise; ironically, this assisted their escape of the lava field, with its body and neck acting as a makeshift ramp to help the caveman and dinosaur reach solid ground on the other end of the plain. With its victims out of reach, the plague-maddened sauropod could only flail and roar in agony and impotent rage as its weight and crumbling limbs prevented it from escaping its fiery doom. Spear and Fang looked on somberly as the former *Argentinosaurus* was fully immolated, reducing it to nothing but ashes that blew away in the wind. ("Plague of Madness")

## Gallery

The Argentinosaurus prior to its infection.The Argentinosaurus sees the Infected Parasaurolophus.The Argentinosaurus continues watching the Parasaurolophus with confusion and mild concern.The Plague begins to take over the Argentinosaurus.The Argentinosaurus, about to fully succumb to the plague.The fully-infected Argentinosaurus roars.The Infected Argentinosaurus (in the background) stumbles towards its herd's nesting ground.The Mad Sauropod roars to the skies.Confronting a non-infected Argentinosaurus.The infected Argentinosaurus lunges through the lava field in pursuit of Spear and Fang.The Infected Argentinosaurus is all red now.
## Trivia

* Apart from the zombie-like nature and appearance of the disease, what illness the *Argentinosaurus* had contracted is unidentified. However, through examination, the symptoms resemble a mixture of both rabies and flesh-eating diseases such as Necrotizing Fasciitis or prion diseases such as CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease).
* Harkening to the show's representation of "classic" dinosaurs, the sauropod is based on the 1994 depictions of Argentinosaurs rather than the more accurate modern depiction.
	+ Despite this, particular aspects of its design are accurate to real world sauropod anatomy; the forefeet almost completely lack nails, except for an enlarged claw on the first digit.
* Some of its roars are actually from the Wither Storm from *Minecraft: Story Mode*, as well as those of King Kong from the 1976 film of the same name.
* The Infected *Argentinosaurus* shares many traits with the Night Feeder. Both have committed intensely brutal massacres without consuming the remains, leaving their scents in the carcasses of the victims which causes a strange reaction in Fang and were killed by fire. However, the *Argentinosaurus* was a tragic victim of its own illness, while the Night Feeder was aware and in control of its actions.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "David Krentz". (Post) *Facebook*.