“Come on, Pa," said a 10-year-old boy.

“I've already told you, Ruben, biovirtuals can be dangerous. I'll get you one when you turn fifteen," he responded, frowning.

“But everyone at school has one, and it's hypocritical of you; you're a military officer who designs biovirtuals," he grumbled back.

2That's precisely why I know what they are capable of. They are not toys. End of discussion," his tone was firm.

Ruben left the table in anger. He then made a decision: he would design his own biovirtual. The opportunity would arise on the same day his family received their new home materializer. The previous one had broken down, and it was a basic necessity. Ruben had memorized the usage code from watching his mother create raw materials for dinner. He "borrowed" the memory and the designer program from his father's computer, as he had seen him use it before and knew the access code. Finally, the design screen opened.

“Let's see. Everything is in English," he tried not to raise his voice.

Ruben didn't expect this setback and, not having his automatic translator at hand, decided to proceed without it.

Let's see, "animal" or "plant." I guess it's animal or plant, but plants don't move. Oh, wait, my father mentioned that biovirtual plants require fewer resources and are easy to maintain. If it's good for the military, it should be good for me.

Then he looked at the plant options and saw cactus. He recognized the name and chose that one. For the weaponry, he picked the first one he saw: "Flail." Then he noticed the option "metamaterials" – he knew that word, as everyone did – it's where biovirtuals got their powers from. He saw a name he had come across before, but couldn't recall where: "Proteus." However, a warning popped up, "Fire Vulnerable," and several options appeared. Once again, he selected the first one he saw: "Intumescent," and the warning disappeared. "This is too easy," he thought. He decided to add another metamaterial, "Electroactive Polymer," because he believed it would grant elastic powers. "Shape: Humanoid, No-Humanoid." Fed up, he chose "Humanoid." Then he saw an option: "Elite Soldiers Only, Dangerous." "If it's for elites, it must be strong," he thought. He selected "Deep Connection," which opened a yellow and black window that said, "Warning! This Is Experimental And Potentially Lethal, Do you want to continue? Yes No." He chose "Yes," and a final window appeared. "Reproduction: Sexual, Asexual or Non-reproductive." He knew he had to put "non-reproductive" in all experimental cases in case something went wrong and had to terminate it, no matter how sad that would be. But just then, his mom shouted:

“What do you want for dinner?”

“Whatever," he replied with some concern.

What he didn't notice was that he accidentally pressed "Asexual." Finally, he clicked "Finish" before anyone arrived. Just in time, his mom came in.

“What are you doing?” She asked, worried. “You know you shouldn't use the materializer without permission.”

A large, dark seed came out of the machine.

“They asked me to bring an avocado seed from school, and since you were busy with dinner, I didn't want to bother you," he hid his true feelings behind a smile.

“Look, using these machines is something for adults, and although your intention was good, you must ask me before using them," she thought about changing the machine's code again.

“Okay, Ma," he took the memory without her noticing and gave his mother a hug.

He went to his room and installed a common biovirtual management program on his brain chip and planted the seed in a pot, waiting expectantly. The next morning, he woke up and found nothing in the pot where he had put it. He looked towards the garden and saw it – a humanoid cactus about half a meter tall with a friendly face seemingly carved on it. It was even smiling. The boy came down immediately and connected virtually with the plant. But something strange happened – he felt very thirsty, but as if the thirst was not his but the plant's. He thought it was a normal part of virtual connections and brought a pitcher of water from the house. The creature jumped with excitement, and he could feel the joy the plant felt.

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2I'll call you Rufo," he said, excitedly. The creature reacted positively. Up until that moment, he never believed plants could feel anything. He assumed it was something to do with biovirtuals and went to get ready for school. He had breakfast quickly, for the first time in his life, he couldn't wait to get to school and show off his new biovirtual to his classmates.

As he left the house, he was greeted by his usual friend, Gerardo.

“Hey, Lalo, have you seen my new biovirtual? Come here, Rufo," Ruben said. The cactus came out of the garden and followed them. His friend was astonished to see the strange creature.

“Wow, where did you get that? It doesn't look like anything I've seen before," he said.

“My dad designed it specifically for me," he said with pride in his voice.

“Lucky you. I had to buy mine with my parents' help, and I have to take care of it. Let's go, Berta," and a one-meter-tall bird with the shape of a crane and blue feathers descended from the sky.

When they arrived at school, they encountered two older boys, Emilio and Ramiro. They had their biovirtuals,  a giant red rat and a black and yellow crow.

“Look, it's Jerry and Ruby. If they give us their lunch, we'll let them pass," Emilio said.

“My name is Ruben," he said trembling. Rufo hid behind him.

“Oh, so you're telling us what your name is.” Ramiro said mocking him, grabbing his shirt and throwing him to the ground.

“What if we teach him a lesson, Rama?" Emilio said.

Then they both started kicking the boy. He filled with anger and helplessness. Then Rufo extended his right arm with force, hitting Emilio. The other kids gathered around to see what was happening. Emilio said:

“What the heck was that?”

“It was my friend's new biovirtual," said Gerardo, helping Ruben get up.

“Oh, yeah? Well, we have our own," Ramiro said mockingly.

His crow started pecking at Rufo, but it was in vain. It even used electric shocks, but nothing happened. The cactus seemed to break, but it was actually the biopolymers expanding, creating a two-meter-tall monster with its neck, arms, and legs made of elastic material and its hands shaped like heavy spiked balls. It extended one of its hands, which made a whistling sound as it flew through the air and hit the bird, its bones cracking on impact. The same fate awaited the rat, which didn't have time to react. The expression on its face had changed to one filled with anger as it looked at the bullies, seemingly saying, "Your turn."

“Destroy them," Ruben said, feeling his anger multiply a thousandfold.

“What? Are you crazy?" his friend asked.

“No, I'm fed up with those two bullies bothering and tormenting me. I'm tired of the punches and mistreatment; I want them to suffer." His friend's expression mirrored that of the creature, which scared Gerardo more than anything he had experienced before. Emilio and Ramiro, on the other hand, ran away, but the biovirtual intercepted them. With one blow, it lifted them off the ground, and they fell like rocks.

“HAHAHA! Who's laughing now, worms?" Ruben's mind filled with the negative emotions the creature felt, amplifying them in a loop until he passed out, but the creature didn't. It remained full of anger and resentment, laughing with a high-pitched, eerie voice.

“HAHAHA!” It screeched, striking anything that moved.

It was chaos; everyone ran away. A red truck with sirens arrived, bearing the inscription "Biovirtual Management Team."

“What the heck is that thing?" one of them exclaimed.

Seeing that it was a cactus, they poured gasoline on it and lit a match, setting it ablaze. But from the flames emerged the biovirtual, smiling malevolently, half of its body charred and its "skin" peeling off. Chirring with its eerie laugh:

“HAHAHA!” And it attacked, moving its arms like whips at those closest to it, hitting them with its hard, steel-like hands. Its lugubrious face had a fixed expression.

Not knowing what to do, they took out weapons with perforating bullets and fired, but it was in vain. The creature took refuge, retracting its polymers to its original size, and only attacked by occasionally throwing its arms. Finally, one of them had an idea. He grabbed a hose with liquid nitrogen and approached it enough to spray it, and the creature let out a horrendous screech before exploding into thousands of pieces.

The inspectors took care of everything, but they didn't pay much attention to the pieces, which started sprouting roots a few days after the incident.